Understanding "audience" is critical to achieving what you want. This quiz is designed to get you thinking about both the concept of audience in general and specific questions related to a product/service of your choice, what demographic you would choose and why.

1. What you need to know about your audience is what they want and what they want is a feeling, not a product. Very few products are sold on what they are or what they can do. Advertisers figure out what emotions the target audience wants to feel and they try to create that feeling around the product.

2. There is no such thing as a product that is marketed to everybody. Just because it can be used by everybody doesn't mean it is marketed to everyone. No ad campaign can appeal to every demographic. Even cars and iPhones, which are bought by both males and females, have ads that target either one or the other. This is because what males value and what females value are different. Car ads for males tend to focus on power and freedom. Car ads for females tend to focus on safety and functionality (available space for storage, etc). Likewise, no ad will target all age groups. How a 20 something uses an iPhone and how a 40 something uses an iPhone will be different. 

3. Many students correctly list all the major demographics in question 2 but then fail to apply all those demographics to chosen product (which must be a specific product by a specific company) in question 3. For example, how much does your product cost? Certain personal products are more expensive than others. Socio-economics matter. Just because your product is an everyday product like mouthwash, shampoo, or toothpaste doesn't mean it is marketed to everyone who uses these products. Cost of the product determines socio-economic target.

question 1: What do you need to know about your audience in order to be effective in selling to them?

question 2: What are the key "demographics" you must consider when figuring out who to best market your product to?

question 3: Identify a specific product/service (must be an existing product or service offered by a real company). What is the ideal demographic for this product/service? Why do you believe this is the best demographic? What do you believe this demographic "values?" In other words, what is important to them?

Here is a model of question 3: 

One product I have been seeing advertised a lot on television is Viagra.  This is a drug that is used to tread "ED" -- which is male erectile dysfunction.  The ads are very clear about one of their main target demographics, because they always give a statistic in the ad about what percentage of men over 40 experience ED.  Therefore, age and gender are clearly major factors, and men over 40 are the target demographic.  This makes sense, because it is mostly people who actually need or might need the drug who are going to buy it.

However, that is just the obvious part -- the logos.  Where the ads get really interesting is the pathos part.  They always start by showing a woman who is white, attractive, but not young (maybe 40) in some romantic and expensive-looking place.  Then, the man comes and joins her and she smiles, he smiles, and they cuddle happily.  This is really interesting, because it implies that they are marketing more to married couples -- or at least to married men -- than to single men.

The ads are much more about togetherness than about sexual power or freedom.  Even the way the ads are shot, with a kind of pretty soft-focus look, makes them feel much more feminine than you would expect (by feminine, I mean romantic and relationship-oriented rather than about power and freedom).  This implies that what the target-demographic men care most about is not the sex itself, but about making their women happy.  It is almost like the Viagra is a gift for the woman rather than the man.  Definitely, it is clear that the relationship is highly valued in the ad.  It is not about the man rediscovering his youth and power -- it is about having a good close relationship.

Finally, it is clear from the ads that there is an ethnic and socioeconomic aspect to the target demographic.  The couple is almost always white, and is always located somewhere that looks nice and expensive.  Also, they are always tastefully and expensively dressed.  I am not sure, but it makes me think that Viagra must be a very expensive drug so that only wealthy people can afford it.  Certainly, it is clear that they are marketing to people who are at least upper-middle class, or who want to think of themselves that way.  Given that that a high percentage of wealthy and upper-middle class people are white, it makes sense that the ads feature white people.

In conclusion, the Viagra ads are marketing to relatively wealthy men over 40 who value relationships and lifestyle more than sex, power or freedom.