Polarisation is becoming one of the biggest challenges for brand communications. Recent research by consumer insight consultancy Trajectory shows that sentiment in the UK has never been more divided. 

Whilst some consumers are buoyant and confident, others are feeling bleak, and the gap between them is growing. This polarisation is evidenced across a broad range of factors such as financial situation and outlook, optimism and political perspectives. 

This divide is being driven by several of the key demographic groupings that marketers have been following and using for planning for decades, such as income, region, gender and age. The key change that is having an impact right now is that groups typically considered as similar and aligned based on these demographics are fracturing. They have increasingly different life experiences and outlooks.

When it comes to economic optimism, right now, the reduced confidence and spending within lower-income households is experiencing a markedly deeper dip than for those in higher-income groups. However, many long-held assumptions stay true, such as regional disparities continuing with London being more optimistic, men feeling more positive about their economic outlook than women and younger generations being more optimistic about the economy.

So how do we navigate this pulling apart of what audiences are thinking, feeling and doing? These differences matter because if you’re a brand trying to speak to a broad consumer base, how do you craft messaging that lands with people living in such different realities?

If you’re aiming for the mass market, a common ground is often required, but this common ground is shrinking. And with it, the effectiveness of one-size-fits-all messaging. For example, if you’re talking to both someone working three jobs to manage cost-of-living pressures and another planning early retirement in their 40s, the same messages aren’t going to resonate, create a connection or ignite behaviour change.

Traditional audience segmentations by age, life stage or income aren’t cutting it. They don’t reflect current attitudes, outlooks or lived experience. It is time to rethink segmentation and focus on understanding shifting values and behaviours, identifying emotional as well as financial mindsets and developing messages that are genuinely relevant to the subgroups they intend to reach. 

This doesn’t mean that the answer is fragmenting a brand story. It is quite the opposite. There is a real opportunity in identifying the common threads – the purpose, the trust, the aspirations and the humanity.