A modern metropolitan mix

Marketers targeting city-dwellers can no longer rely on well-documented national differences such as the North-South divide. New research on urban lifestyles shows that each city has to be targeted in its own way.

The Urban Behaviours survey, carried out by Henley Management College and research company Teleconomy, has revealed five key lifestyles – Transitory Balanced, Live to Works, Party Animals, Hearth Lovers and Have it Alls – among 15- to 35-year-olds in major UK cities.

The Transitory Balanced group comprises city-dwellers who have some degree of equilibrium in their lives. They have managed to strike a balance between their working, home and social lives. These people tend to live with their parents and are more likely to live in the North. Many Transitory Balanced individuals are 15- to 21-year-olds who are still in education or in early employment – going through a transitional period in life.

Live to Work people are clearly career-driven. Work is the dominant factor in their lives, in terms of mental and physical time. They are likely to spend more time at work than average, and to allow work to infiltrate other parts of their lives. This group is predominantly female, and members are likely to own their home and live in the South.

Party Animals are the complete opposite of the Live to Works and, as the name suggests, people in this group love to party. Party Animals do not allow work to dominate their lives, seeing it more as a means of subsistence and a provider of funds to pay for their socialising. People in this group are more likely to be male and to live with their parents or friends. Party Animals are predominantly found in the North and many have moved into their chosen city in the past three years.

Hearth Lovers are generally keen to get home, either to spend time with the people they live with or because they enjoy the comfort of the home. Like the Party Animals, members of this group see work as a means of subsistence – but rather than funding socialising, their wages often go on home improvement. Hearth Lovers tend to have many financial and social commitments and have probably lived in the city for more than seven years.

Finally, there are the Have it Alls who give equal precedence to two aspects of their lives, one of which is usually work. These people tend to be either home- and work-driven or social- and work-driven. They have serious commitments in their lives and are likely to be office workers.

The survey shows that the highest proportion of Party Animals are found in the North – 33 per cent live in Leeds and 30 per cent in Manchester. Leicester, Bristol and London have a higher proportion of Live to Works.

The research aims to help marketers understand the motivations, influences and attitudes influencing UK city-dwellers’ everyday purchases and lifestyle choices.

For instance, Party Animals are always glued to their mobile phones, so are less likely than the average person to mind being interrupted at work – this suggests that they will be the most receptive to SMS marketing. More than three-quarters of Party Animals say their mobile phone is very important to them; 75 per cent use their mobile at work for personal calls; and nearly 30 per cent use their mobiles on their way to and from work.

This contrasts significantly with Live to Works. These individuals are less likely to use their personal mobile at work, despite spending more time there – and only 34 per cent of them view the mobile phone as “very important”.

In terms of internet access and use, 72 per cent of Live to Works and Party Animals have internet access at home. That figure falls to 60 per cent among Hearth Lovers and 58 per cent for the Transitory Balanced group. Although both the Live to Works and the Party Animals tend to have internet access, they use the Web for very different reasons. Live to Works are mostly likely to use it for banking, whereas 48 per cent of Party Animals use the internet to download music and films.

The research also looked at where members of each group do their food shopping. Only three per cent of Hearth Lovers visit an out-of-town shopping centre regularly, compared with almost 30 per cent of Have it Alls. In line with their love of their home, 69 per cent of Hearth Lovers are the most likely to use a shop that is close to where they live. Only the Live to Works are likely to use the internet for their grocery shopping.

The survey highlights significant regional differences, for example 40 per cent of people in the South are driven and motivated by work compared with 22 per cent of people in the North. But it also shows that there can be significant differences within and between individual cities. Marketers targeting city-dwellers should be taking both issues into consideration.