Community analysis

Community analysis

Content page

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...3

“Middle middle” class in the community…………………………………………………..4

Data used to compare and contrast my perception …………………………………………6

Using of advertising in the community……………………………………………………..7

Comsumption patterns and social class and status quo……………………………………..8

Introduction
The community that would be discussed in this community analysis is the Netherlands. This community is not a community in the United States, but the data of Flagstaff, Arizona will be used to discuss this community. Nevertheless, the geographical data of the Netherlands will be notified in this introduction to give an impression of this community.
The Netherlands is a small country in Western Europe. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The Netherlands had an estimated population of 16,785,403 on 30 April 2013. It is the 10th most populous country in Europe and the 63rd most populous country in the world.
The majority of the population of the Netherlands is ethnically Dutch. A 2005 estimate counted: 80.9% Dutch, 2.4% Indonesian, 2.4% German, 2.2% Turkish, 2.0% Surinamese, 1.9% Moroccan, 0.8% Antillean and Aruban, and 7.4% others. (Population and population dynamics; month, quarter and year". Statistics Netherlands. Retrieved 12 June 2013.)
In this analysis the social class will be discussed. In the next section the ‘middle middle’ class in this community will be reviewed and examples will be given.

“Middle middle” class

In the Netherlands, a typically ‘middle middle’ class does not exist as it does in the United States of America. The class within this community is determined by income. For this section, the income will be used to determine people in the social class. The average income in the Dutch community is € 24,000,- (approximately $ 33,000) and this will be considered as the ‘middle middle’ class.
In order to prepare a list of criteria for the ‘middle middle’ class in the Dutch community, first of all the demographics are discussed.

Population and size
To determine the population with an average income in the Dutch community, an average income between € 20.000 and € 30.000 is considered. According to the CBS, 2.377.000 people have an income between € 20.000 and € 30.000. Only personal income is considered in this and not the household income.

Occupation
In the United States of America, occupation is probably the most widely applied single cue we use to initially evaluate and defines individuals we meet. Obviously, in the Dutch community this cue is very important as well. Although, in the Netherlands, people with an average income, live in similar houses. People with an average income, cannot afford to live in houses those are too expensive. There is a difference in which region the person with an average income is located, because occupation in the big cities are more expensive than in small towns.

Education
Usually, people with an average income don’t have a University degree. People with an average income, usually got a middle education level degree. The school system is different in comparison with the American school system. Only the smartest students are allowed to study at a University. For the rest of the students, other education programs are provided, such as professional schools and school that are like community colleges. The ‘middle’ class usually graduated in professional schools.

By considering the following questions, there will be an insight given in how people are judged within this community:
Are people in the community judged by what cars they drive, what neighborhood they live in, which sports they play, or what sorts of clothes they wear? What is typical behavior in the community?
In this community, people actually are judged in what cars they drive. If someone drives a BMW, people think they are richer and have more to spend than others. This is a general thought, although some people don’t really care about cars, and spend their money rather on something else.
It’s more likely to get judged in what neighborhood you live. If someone lives in a slum area, it’s not easy to interact with people that live in the richer areas. In the Netherlands, there is not a big difference in areas across the country, but you will always get richer parts in the country than other parts.
People are not judged in which sport they play. The most popular sport in the community is soccer, but no one will judge you if you play another sport. Of course, if you play Golf or other exclusive sports, people will think that you have something to spend.
Looking at the typical behavior in this community, there are no big differences. Of course the richer people want to show what they can spend, and the poorer people have to watch their pennies. In this community, the society is pretty close leveled, so there no big differences will occur.
Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, Consumer behavior; building marketing strategy (2010). http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/home/default.htm In the next section, data will be used to compare my thoughts with the real data. Although, it’s hard to use the data of Flagstaff to compare my thoughts of the Dutch community, it will be interesting in the differences between my perception and the data.

Data used to compare and contrast my perception
In this section I will compare and contrast my perception by visiting Claritas at the PRIZM website. The data I use for this section is not the data of the community that was talked about. It was hard to find similar data of the Dutch community, so I decided to use the data of Flagstaff, Arizona.

Demographics
According to the PRIZM website, the community of Flagstaff has an average income of $39,700. This average income is close to the average income of the Dutch community.
The occupation of the ‘middle’ class group is quite similar as in the Dutch community. The people in the middle class are either renters or owners of the house. How older the people in de middle class are, the more common it is that they are owners of the house.
The education level of the ‘middle’ class in this community is either a high school degree or a college degree. I think this corresponds to the Dutch community as well. The smartest people are not in the ‘middle’ class.

According to the website, the typical behavior in the community is similar to the behavior in the Dutch community. People in the middle class don’t spend their money on things they cannot afford, even if they are judged by driving bigger cars or occupying bigger houses. They use their money for the things they need.

After I looked at the data of the community of Flagstaff, we can determine how marketing people can use these data to develop marketing strategies to target this market. In the next section will be discussed how marketers can use the data of the community. http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp Using of advertising in the community

The website PRIZM is very helpful for marketers to determine their strategy to target their market. If we look at the ‘middle’ class of Flagstaff, there are 5 different groups to consider in this area. For example, one of these groups is ‘grey power’. To see how a marketer can adapt his marketing strategy to this group, this group will be discussed.

Grey power
The people in this group are 65+, are owners of their house, and don’t live with their children in the same house anymore. The interests of this group are:
1) Shop at Lord & Taylor
2) Own stationary bike
3) Read Barron's
4) Watch Frontline
5) Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
For marketers this is very useful, because they can determine what products this group uses. For example, Mercedes can target particular product types to this group in this community. The marketers of Mercedes now know that this group of people is interested in the car type ‘Mercedes-Benz Sprinter’. They don’t have to develop a strategy for another product type for this market. The same applies for all the other interests.
When a group has several interests, and they are known, consumption patterns will exist. Marketers can examine in what product class these interests will fall, so they know what other products might be interesting for the group in the community. For example, when people shop at Lord & Taylor, they don’t have to watch their pennies. Lord & Taylor is a shop for people that are able to spend a reasonable amount of money on clothes. So this means that the same people might be interested in products of the same price class, but other than clothes. For instance, marketers of Nixon Watches may consider this as a target group, because Nixon Watches is not the ultimate high-end brand, but they sell watches that not everyone can buy.
In the next section, the consumption patterns and the social class will be discussed. It’s important to examine if advertisements differ in social classes.

Comsumption patterns and social class and status quo
After I compared the data of Flagstaff with my own thoughts and perception of the Dutch community, the consumption patterns in each social class will be discussed.
Of course there are differences in consumption patterns in each social class. The people in the upper class have more to spend than people in the lower class. In the Dutch community, there are barely differences in advertisements to each social class. The advertisements in this community are the same to every class, but people in each class will only pay attention to the products they are interested in.
The advertisements in the Dutch community will not reinforce the status quo. The advertisements don’t arouse affairs between people in the social classes. Every person in each social class knows what they can spend and how they want to live, without judging others. For example, if there is a commercial on TV about the new BMW, poor people won’t be hostile against richer people, because they know they know that they won’t be judged by richer people by not having a BMW.