Finding the Consumer Target Needle in a Demographic Haystack
Executive Summary
In planning a go-to-market strategy for a decidedly narrow-focused consumer good, Wicked Tuna was seeking to identify and effectively target a strong market using strategies that traditionally rely heavily on demographic data and consumer assumptions.
But these conventional methods are typically biased and depend on limited data and preconceived notions about consumer behavior, creating blind spots that prevent a comprehensive understanding of the true market landscape and hinder the ability to reach the most relevant consumers. In short, Wicked Tuna had identified a target, but it was limited in scope based on the data being applied.
Recognizing the limitations of these standard methodologies, Virtuoso consultants adopted a differentiated, unbiased data-driven approach to redefining Wicked Tuna’s targeting strategy. By leveraging data analytics through a proprietary AI program and psycholinguistics (the study of the relationships between linguistic behavior and psychological processes), Virtuoso removed biases apparent in conventional demographic data, revealing untapped market potential.
This innovative approach enabled a more precise and effective way to target potential consumers by focusing on deeper, cognitive-driven motivations, resulting in a highly effective campaign that set a new standard for market segmentation in the seafood industry.
Understanding the Limitations of Traditional Marketing
Prior to teaming up with Virtuoso, Wicked Tuna was using a traditional marketing playbook. Grounded in demographic segmentation, it assumes that age, gender, income, and location are sufficient indicators of consumer behavior. But this traditional targeting methodology limits findings and can lead to superficial market views that miss crucial opportunities for differentiation.
“Traditional segmentation is based on prior actions of the target, or those that look like them. Actions taken only once someone has consciously evaluated how that behavior would be perceived and determined that was desirable, ” asserts Dr. Christopher Nocera, Chief Data Scientist at Virtuoso. “The inherent flaw in the current approach is it precludes (in some instances large populations) from consideration despite their relevance to the brand or product. Failure to act in a certain way historically may be a result of a lack of understanding their psychological motivations, more than evidence of disinterest in a product.”
The campaign initially focused on targeting an audience familiar with the “Wicked Tuna” TV show, with the goal of transitioning the related seafood brand into a household name.
James Dowd, Virtuoso’s Chief Creative Officer, envisioned it as, “The Boar’s Head of seafood.”
But the original, narrow approach was rooted in biased assumptions that did not account for the complexities of reaching a broader market.
A Different Kind of Data-Driven Approach
Faced with these challenges, Virtuoso utilized a fresh approach that leveraged data to envision a more sophisticated, effective marketing strategy. Utilizing Krakin, a proprietary, cutting-edge analytics platform designed to dig deeper into the intricacies of consumer psychology, the team was able to move beyond surface-level demographics to uncover deeper insights that revealed a wealth of previously untapped underlying motivations, attitudes, and values that drive consumer behavior.
“If you get to the heart of why someone is making any decision, that provides you with everything you need,” Nocera explains. “It gives you a different perspective. What the deeper data dive reveals is the intersection or overlay between psychographics and demographics. It shows us how consumers act, not just who or what they are.”
That more nuanced understanding of the market informed a more precise and effective targeting strategy. Understanding the “why” behind consumer decisions, rather than the “who” helped Virtuoso focus on the deeper motivations that influence consumer behavior and develop a robust framework for audience targeting that significantly outperformed traditional demographic methods.
In essence, Virtuoso was able to redefine and significantly expand Wicked Tuna’s target market. “Moving beyond superficial categorizations to uncover hidden target audiences,” states BJ Kito, Virtuoso’s Chief Executive Officer, “was really the first step in a genuinely unique approach to building a more diverse customer set.”
Core to that change were the personas created for targeting and campaign development purposes.
“We previously developed personas and archetypes based on assumptions and bias,” says Dowd. “What Krakin revealed essentially challenged our long-held beliefs, decades of experience, and industry practices. But once we saw how deeply and broadly we were able to segment, we knew we had a way to reach consumers and differentiate Wicked Tuna in a completely new way — a way that went far beyond traditional marketing services.”
That differentiation led to an overall business and creative campaign strategy ensuring that all marketing efforts were aligned with broader objectives and market realities.
Campaign Implementation and Execution
With a refined Wicked Tuna consumer base in hand, Virtuoso was able to develop highly targeted and localized campaigns tailored to specific audience psychological segments.
“By leveraging Krakin’s advanced capabilities, we were able to help Wicked Tuna gain previously unattainable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and trends,” notes Kito. “For example, some people unknowingly preferred imagery depicting packaged goods, while others needed to see a fresh dish on the table before finding out it was frozen. Insights like this allowed for the creation of highly effective creative content that appealed to both psychographic and demographic characteristics, thus maximizing reach and engagement across the board.”
The strategic deployment of these campaigns was not without challenges. Virtuoso faced time limitations, working under the pressure of getting the product on the shelves as soon as possible.
However, leveraging a new data-driven approach proved invaluable in overcoming this hurdle.
“Having Krakin help us get to this level of insight in an extremely short time, in such an efficient way was a critical part of getting the message out to the right people, in the right markets and platforms, in the right way,” emphasizes Kito.
How a Different Take on Data Drove Success
The Wicked Tuna campaign serves as a compelling testament to the power of data-driven marketing in transforming business outcomes; to how advanced analytics can overcome the limitations of conventional marketing methods.
By addressing data biases head-on and ensuring that all marketing efforts were grounded in robust data analytics, Virtuoso delivered high-quality insights and executed the campaign effectively within a constrained time frame. This not only showcased the efficacy of their approach but also demonstrated the importance of moving beyond conventional wisdom to achieve market success.
