Customer Insights: Personal Persona

Learning about personas has reminded me of a couple instances where marketers have created personas to target their product or brand to a potential consumer. One is Wal-Mart, and the other is Xbox 360.

About four ye

ars ago, Wal-Mart was slipping in comparison to their competition, Target, in attracting a customer segment that Wal-Mart wished to have: the "stylish female bargain shopper." Wal-Mart called her 'Gracie.'¹

Gracie has a higher disposable income than the typical Wal-Mart shopper. She shops more for what she wants than what she needs, and is trendier. Gracie usually tries to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart if she can help it, and marketing execs at Wal-Mart understood this. So, they tried to implement products that Gracie would probably buy. Modern clothes, electronics, etc.

JCPenny tried to do a similar change in trying to upscale their merchandise and they ended up alienating their current consumers. Wal-Mart wanted to bring in Gracie as a new consumer along with their traditional customers. (Whom they called 'Karla.')

Along the same lines, Xbox 360 has been trying to target a new group of consumers: 18-25 year old females. According to IBISWorld, close to 40% of women are gamers, having increased five percent in five years, and this statistic is making marketers adjust their strategies.²

The persona that Xbox 360 has created to attract these girls is the: 'Hyper Social Female.' According to them, the Hyper Social Female is one who isn't afraid to start a conversation at a party or event. She loves to impress her friends using all sorts of entertainment, and is a heavy social networker.

My belief is that Xbox is trying to target girls who want to play Rock Band, have a movie night with their Netflix account, or connect to Facebook using their Xbox Live account. And while I hope this strategy works, I don't believe leisure players will make a purchase for these purposes. My personal experience with Xbox girl gamers, is that they're not afraid to play first person shooters (FPS) and fighting games. (Even though I play, when I first think of Xbox, the primary association I have is: Halo, and the secondary association is: dudes...shooting other dudes.) But if Xbox has done their research, as I hope they have, I'd only assume the insights that they've gathered have led them to the persona for their product.

The reason I bring up 'Gracie' and 'Hyper Social Female' is not by mere coincidence. I'm a combination of the two personas.

The April persona:

April is in her early 20s and in college.
Since she's a student, she has limited funds, but doesn't want to have to cut back on style.
She likes to cook when she can, but since she's usually studying, she doesn't have much time. Going out to eat often isn't an option, and she'd like to keep her meals healthy if possible.
She's creative. She likes to work hard, but equally play hard. She's competitive, and very passionate about what she loves.
She doesn't really like to go shopping. Also, she doesn't necessarily like to party, but she's always hanging out with close friends.
She's a gamer. Has played enough massive multiplayer online games (MMOs) to know they're bad news for people with addictive personalities. Loves role playing games (RPGs), but isn't afraid to kick butt on an FPS.
She's not a tomboy, but not a girly-girl either. She likes to be a little different, but doesn't want to stand out.
It's easier for her to get along with guys than with girls, but she loves talking to people in general.

It's a little difficult to get into my different characteristics without wondering if I'm getting too nuanced. I mean, can I really speak for a group of 'people like me?' Are there 'people like me' out there? It's scary to know that the answer is yes, and marketers are targeting me (and the rest of 'us') on a daily basis; however, it is comforting to know that product designers are really trying to listen to consumer needs. And I'll be doing all of this one day! Woot!

And for added entertainment, here's a music video for a song called Video Game Girl by Parry Grip starring Olivia Munn. Do you think she's a Hyper Social?