what the heck is ACORN?

What is ACORN?

"ACORN is the leading geodemographic tool used to identify and understand the UK population and the demand for products and services. Businesses use this information to improve their understanding of customers, target markets and determine where to locate operations.
here is a section of a chart i found that groups the population using the ACORN system, to view the whole chart follow this link: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/acorn_classification_system/

Informed decisions can be made on where direct marketing and advertising campaigns will be most effective.."

http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn/whatis.asp



ACORN groups the popualtion into different groups based on:

-Occupation
-Age
-Income
-Ethnicity
-Gender

The ACORN system groups the population within six “grades” from highest to lowest: A, B, C1, C2, D & E.
Grade A shows those at the “higher end of the spectrum”, thosewith academic occupations such as Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and those high up in the business sector.
Grade C1 and C2 are similar and very close. This grade band would contain the most 'average' working class population all those except the unemployed, including shop assistants, nurses, receptionists, teachers, mechanics etc,
When E is reached, we find the unemployed population, those living off benefits due to not being able to work (disability) or not feeling they need to work when benefits are on offer, these are the undesired group and a lot of the time are used in films as the undesired/enemy group (displayed as maybe homeless, muggers, thieves, anti-social, gangs ). Though we as an audience know that not all people in the lower grade would be like this, films use the stereotypes of many classes to encourage emotion in it’s audience (this being the same with stereotyping the upper classes as “heartless” or “snot-nosed”, although we know this is not always true, we engage with the characters in a film who give these characteristics).

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Target Audience.

Admittedly, again.. confused.
As i was i'll i had to catch up on a three hour lesson that i missed.
This included the ACORN system.
It's to do with Target Audience i've heard so i'll begin with Target audience explanation and the continue ACORN onto another blog. Because i do love to waffle on.. (;

In marketing and advertising, a target audience, or target group is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertising campaign, is aimed at appealing to. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status, etc. ...
http://www.google.co.uk/searchhl=en&safe=active&defl=en&q=define:Target+audience&ei=7kbgSvOTJdq6jAesx7SlBg&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAsQkAE

A target audience needs to be chosen no matter what product or piece of work you are producing, you choose a target audience that you feel your work ( what you believe you can achieve ) will appeal most to, andf then work towards what you know that target audience finds attractive.
Without targeting a certain area of people, it would be more difficult. It would be difficult for instance if your target market was a minority - it's easier to choose a majority area ( Teens, Women, Under 18's).

You have to know what you are aiming for in relevance to an audience, who would respond best to your style or your preferences ( in your product/work )
i foudn this website very useful in establishing the purpose of a target audience

https://spinproject.rdsecure.org/downloads/TargetAudience.pdf

now.. ACORN SYSTEM..
next post please ;D

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