Segment Nicknames

What is a segment nickname?

Firms will often give a descriptive nickname to the market segments. A well-known example of a nickname is ‘baby boomers’, which refers to the generation of people born after 1945 up until the early 1960s. Subsequent generations are now referred to as Generation X, Gen Y and now Generation Z.

The purpose of a nickname is to quickly identify and understand the market segment inside the firm when discussing it in reports, presentations and meetings. Two examples of nicknames are provided below in the segment profile example.

The two nicknames are ‘young and serious’ and ‘losing it’. In this case they refer to two possible market segments for a chain of fitness centers. As indicated by the nickname, the ‘young and serious’ market segment is a younger group of consumers (18 to 30 years) and quite serious about their fitness and physical appearance. Whereas the ‘losing it’ market segment are those consumers predominately interested in losing weight.

Each firm will develop their own segment nicknames. Ideally they should be memorable and descriptive of the key need/s of the market segments.

To see how this works, please refer to Segment Profile Examples as well as Brand Personas.