Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

This approach relies on information that is gathered in census returns. In

the UK the census information on family size, household size, occupation

and ethnic origin can be used to group residential housing into geo-

graphic areas that display similar profiles. There are several geodemo-

graphic forms of classification, one of the best known in the UK is

ACORN (A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods). The ACORN

classification identifies six major categories (one group is unclassified)

that can be further subdivided in seventeen groups (see Figure 4.9).

Segmentation 65

Categories Population (%) Groups Population (%)

A – Thriving 19.8 1. Wealthy achievers, suburban areas 15.1

2. Affluent greys, rural communities 2.3


3. Prosperous pensioners, retirement areas 2.3
   B – Expanding 11.6 4. Affluent executives, family areas 3.7


4. Well-off workers, family areas 7.8
   C – Rising 7.5 6. Affluent urbanites, town and city areas 2.2


5. Prosperous professional, metropolitan areas 2.1


6. Better-off executives, inner city areas 3.2
   D – Settling 24.1 9. Comfortable middle agers, mature home 13.4
   owning areas


7. Skilled workers, home owning areas 10.7
   E – Aspiring 13.7 11. New home owners, mature communities 9.8


8. White collar workers, better-off multi-ethnic 4.0
   areas
   F – Striving 22.8 13. Older people, less prosperous areas 3.6


9. Council estate residents, better-off homes 11.6


10. Council estate residents, high unemployment 2.7


11. Council estate residents, greatest hardship 2.8


12. People in multi-ethnic, low income areas 2.1
    Unclassified 0.5 0.5

Figure 4.9
The ACORN consumer targeting classification (Source: CACI Limited, 2004; © 2004; ACORN is
a registered trademark of CACI limited)

These seventeen groups can be further subdivided into fifty-four neighbour-
hood types. For instance, ACORN category C (Rising), group 7 (Prosperous
Professionals, Metropolitan Areas) is made up of two neighbourhood types.
One of these is neighbourhood type 19 that is categorised as ‘Apartments,
Young Professional Singles and Couples’. These types of neighbourhood