Is consumer behaviour more a function of a person’s age?

One of the widely debated issues in developing marketing programmes that target certain age groups is how much consumers change over time. Some marketers maintain that age differences are critical and that the needs and wants of a 25-year-old in 2012 are not that different from those of a 25-year-old in 1982. Others dispute that contention and argue that cohort and generation effects are critical, and that marketing programmes must therefore suit the times.

Take a position: Age differences are fundamentally more important than cohort effects versus Cohort effects can dominate age differences.

Marketting discudiscussion

1 What brands and products do you feel successfully ‘speak to you’ and effectively target your age group? Why? Which ones do not? What could they do better?

2 What are the opportunities from database marketing and CRM? What are the pitfalls? How may the opportunities and pitfalls be moderated by company and market characteristics