EXTERNALFACTORSTHATAFFECTPLANNING 115- Howaboutunderwearthatknowsyourglucoselevelisrisingandautomaticallyinjects
youwithinsulinorclothingthatsensesa heartattackcomingandtellsyoutotake
a pill?
Allthesemiraclesarepossibleintheamazingworldoftomorrow. Thesearenottechnologies
ina lab, butworkingprototypes,manyjustabOuttohitthemarket.Thepotentialformar-
ketersinjustfiveyearsmakestoday's Webofferingslooklikeawarmupact.Whilethese
serviceswillrelyontheInternettocommunicatebetweennewfangledgadgetsandmore
intelligentservers,mostoftheserviceswon'tbebasedonHTML,forpracticalreasons.
Forexample,youcan'teffectivelyruna Webbrowserona cellphonescreen,andyoudon't
wantoneinsideyourshirt.
Thepitfallsformarketersarealsoobvious.Whiletoday'sWebisopen,eachofthese
newtechnologieshasa potentialgatekeeper-cellphoneoperators,cablecompanies,appli-
ancemakers,and,asnotedintheIntegratedMarketingbox,consumerswhoarenotenthralled
withthecomputer.
SocialTrends
Thesocialenvironmentincludesallfactorsandtrendsrelatedtogroupsofpeople,includ-
ingtheirnumber,characteristics,behavior,andgrowthprojections. Sinceconsumermar-
ketshavespecificneedsandproblems,changesinthesocialenvironmentcanaffectmarkets
differently. Trendsinthesocialenvironmentmightincreasethesizeofsomemarkets,decrease
thesizeofothers,orevenhelptocreatenewmarkets.Wediscussheretwoimportantcom-
ponentsofthesocialenvironment:thedemographicenvironmentandtheculturalenvironment.
DemographicChanges
Whereasbeliefs,values,andcustomsdescribethecharacteristicsofthecultureandsub-
culture,demographicsdescribetheobservablecharacteristicsofindividualslivinginthe
culture.Demographicsincludeourphysicaltraits,suchasgender,race,age,andheight;
oureconomictraits,suchasincome,savings,andnetworth;ouroccupation-relatedtraits,
includingeducation;ourlocation-relatedtraits; andourfamily-relatedtraits,suchasmar-
italstatusandnumberandageofchildren.Demographictraitcompositionsareconstantly
changing, andnoAmerican,Japanese, orBrazilianis "typical"anymore.Thereisnoaver-
agefamily,noordinaryworker,noeverydaywage,andnotraditionalmiddleclass.
Still, marketingmanagersmustunderstandconsumersintimately. Often,thebestthey
candois takea snapshotandtrytounderstandwhatis happeninginourcultureintheearly
yearsofthiscentuTy.Asweseenext,sometrendsareold;othersarenew.Forinstance, the
agingofthepopulationhasbeengoingonforseveraldecades,butbirthsandbirthratesin
recentyearshavebeenmuchhigherthanexpected.Immigrationisalsogreaterthanpre-
dicted,andsoisthebacklashagainstit.Interstatemigrationtothesouthandwestareold
trends.WhatisnewisheaviermovementfromtheNortheastthanfromthemid-Westand
rapidgrowthinthemountainstates. Next,weexamineninedemographicchangesandhow
theyaffectmarketmg.
- HouseholdsaregrowinRmoreslowlyandgettinRolder.Abouthalfofallhouse-
holdsareaged 45 andolderandgrowingatanannualrateof 1 %comparedwith
nearly2%inthe1980s.Marketingcommunicatorsmustplanfora greaternum-
berofmiddle-agedhouseholds,consumerswhoareexperiencedandhavea bet-
terunderstandingofpriceandvalue.Theseconsumersshouldhaveaninterest in
high-qualityhouseholdgoodsandin-homehealthcare.