This is part 2 of Demographics and Psychographics. Jump to Part 1
Values are the deeply rooted principles or standards which are universally accepted among the target audience. They explicitly guide what they believe, their attitudes are toward a specific topic, and ultimately, how they behave.
They are created in all of us by a wide-ranging number of influences during our lifetime, such as our family, culture, society, race, gender, education and socio-economic background. Because they are so ingrained in our psyche, they are the most powerful of motivators.
We each have our own personal values. What I’m focusing here are universal values, which Sir Isaiah Berlin defined as “values that a great many human beings in the vast majority of places and situations, at almost all times, do in fact hold in common, whether consciously and explicitly or as expressed in their behaviour.”
Ironically (but not surprisingly) there is no universal agreement on what comprises a list of universal values. Shalom Schwartz developed the first list of universal values at the University of Michigan in the 1980s. Since then, others have created new or adapted the original list. Some argue the list shoulds more than 100 values, others to as few as 15. Because I first starting using universal values at Burson-Marsteller, I continue to use a list developed by its sister company at the time, Wirthlin International. I like this list because it’s comprehensive and concise without being simplistic. There’s only 22 values so it’s not unwieldy.
(The list is one of my most popular articles, so it’s . But you download a PDF here.)
Why are universal values so important to creativity?
Universal values are helpful when defining the target audience by its attitudes or behaviour, particularly to identify what values they may use or tap into when making a decision about a subject, issue, product or service. If you can somehow translate the persuasive value into the idea, it makes the idea that much more compelling and engaging for the audiences.
For example, if you look back to the earlier post on , you’ll see our team identified through focus groups that our primary audience (Australian wine drinkers) connected to premium wines through two primary values. The dominant value was accomplishment – that is, “The wine I serve says everything about me.” The sub-dominant value was belonging and acceptance, – that is, “I want to be seen as knowledgeable, so I can impress my friends.”
These values helped us create ideas, they helped to set the tone and style for the campaign, and we used wording in the campaign messages to underscore and reinforce those values to our audiences.
The only way to determine the universal values of a collective group is to ask them directly or, less so, indirectly. Never arbitrarily choose the values without discussion with the key audience. Focus groups are the most common method in business to do this, although there are many other effective methods such as questionnaires, surveys, voting and polling.
In other words – like most of this website suggests – never assume.
How have you used values in the past? Please add your thoughts and comments here.
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