The Human Element An Introduction to Y&Rs 4Cs

4Cs is an acronym short for Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation. Two big ideas in a short name. Taking them in turn ...

1. Consumer Characterisation
4Cs is a values segmentation designed to explore Priorities in Brand Choice as they operate in an individual person. There are seven groups, each based on a single priority. Priority for...

SURVIVAL

Resigned. Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Resigned roles. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older) Struggler. Alienated, Struggler, disorganised - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills (eg car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice involves impact and sensation. Mainstream. Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favouring big and well-known value for money family brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group. (Average demos) Aspirer. Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics ... image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive pack more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical/sales type occupation) Succeeder. Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation ... support status quo, stability. Brand choice based on reward, prestige - the very best . Also attracted to caring and protective brands ... stress relief. (Top management) Explorer. Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try new brands. (Younger - student)

ESCAPE

SECURITY

STATUS

CONTROL

DISCOVERY

ENLIGHTEN MENT

Reformer. Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality, favouring natural simplicity, small is beautiful. (High education)

2. Cross-Cultural
Uniquely among values segmentations, 4Cs groups are comparable across countries, offering a new marketing perspective on the world - beyond geography. How is this achieved? The basic building blocks of 4Cs are 45 cross-cultural values statements developed over the past 12 years, grounded in universal theory. An iteration process is used to construct a culture-customised algorithm adjusted to the local norms and meanings. This procedure ensures cultural comparability and at the same time delivers optimal local discrimination of behaviour. The result is solid confidence in findings, implications and conclusions. 4Cs is a standard variable in BAV databases:

Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Colombia Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Belgium Thailand

Hungary Italy Japan Mexico Netherlands Portugal Poland Russia South Africa Taiwan Singapore

Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States Venezuela Chile Greece China (mainland) India

Also available in national omnibus studies 4Cs is also installed in several robust, rolling-data, large sample (10,000 to 25,000) national omnibus studies such as TGI and Gallup:

3. Uses and Applications

4Cs can be used to examine any human activity involving choice - and has been successfully applied to issues ranging from politics to taste in movies, apart from its primary function in brand positioning and targeting. The usefulness of any and all types of marketing research can be enhanced by the addition of 4Cs. Some of the options ... Conceptual Development Understanding and experience of the seven 4Cs mind-sets provides a model that can be used to develop hypotheses about varieties of response to products, brands, ads, situations. Output can range from creative solutions to insight-enhancing research content. Qualitative Focus groups, for instance, recruited by 4Cs type are qualitatively different to the more normal demographic approach. As opposed to conflict and confrontation of opinion, a group of people with consistent values can explore issues in more depth and subtlety, and produce more useful surprises. The dominant/passive respondent problem is largely avoided. Ad-Hoc Quantitative The simple inclusion of 30 six point agree statements adds an extra 4Cs dimension to analysis, especially useful in conjunction with product field attitudes, brand image, reasons for purchase and lifestyle behaviour. Apart from useful surprises that uncover the values involved in apparently obvious consumer needs (eg economy, quality, aesthetics, health etc) the combination of 4Cs and product field measures can be used to make devoted product field segmentations that surpass the usual approach because they set the product field in the context of the whole human being. BAV All BAV studies worldwide include 4Cs - connecting to the powerful BAV diagnostic measures as well as basic brand use and media habits. This ready-to-go facility can be used to provide insight for projects both large and small. Syndicated databases Most countries have at least one continuous large sample industry database of brand use, media and lifestyle. Installing 4Cs in these databases opens up new possibilities for inexpensive and timely investigation, extending to small brand and area sub-samples. Media Selection Matching the values profile of a target group to that of candidate media adds quantifiable editorial environment to the criteria normally used in media selection. This has serious implications for cost-effectiveness Creative Communication 4Cs is about the human element, and connects intimately and easily with the life experience and perceptions of the colleagues and clients with whom we work. Abstract statistical input can be brought to life, especially useful at the creative interface - as creative people need to envisage and empathise with the one person that the target market resolves into at this stage.