Use case
In which areas of consumption do consumers have the highest level of ecological awareness?
From paper straws to electrical cars, ecological issues have become central to our behavior and all aspects of our daily lives. We also know that brands are playing a decisive role in this green shift their communications, and marketing initiatives influencing everyone’s consumption behavior. However, not all sectors of activity and their consumers are concerned at the same level by environmental issues. Some are confronted with real ecological awareness, others less so. Which consumer sectors are most aware of environmental issues and which have not yet integrated ecological concerns? Through this case, SOPRISM aims to understand the level of interest in environmental issues for each consumer sector from the point of view of active users on META’s social networks.
Retail industry
The case of the mobility, energy, tourism, luxury, food and fashion industries
What are the basic audiences to discover which profiles (mobility, energy, tourism, luxury, food and fashion) are most interested in ecology?
To analyze the proportion of interest in ecological issues within several consumer sectors of the world’s population, six different profiles were built and compared using the SOPRISM audience intelligence platform.
For this study, over 7,000 criteria were compared between a target audience and a benchmark audience. The first one represents each active meta-user in the world who has shown an interest in certain criteria (e.g., thematic universe, brands, media, …) or certain behaviors (e.g., commuters, early adopters of technology…), and the latter represents every active meta-user in the world without any interest or restriction.
In order to understand how much interest in ecology there is in major consumer sectors, we have established 6 distinct profiles:
- People with an interest in the mobility industry (349,000,000 people who are interested in ways of transportation like air, road, or even rail transport; means of transport such as trucks, cars, bicycles, or even boats and helicopters)
- People with an interest in the energy industry (362,600,000 people who are interested in all types of energy and energy generation)
- People with an interest in the tourism industry (342,100,000 people who like to travel and go on adventures. They show interest in things like ski resorts, hotels, cruises, and backpacking, …)
- People with an interest in the luxury industry (301,200,000 people who are sensitive to art auctions, luxury watches, yacht clubs, private schools, and the luxury lifestyle as a whole)
- People with an interest in the food industry (267,600,000 people who have an interest in all sorts of cuisine, from gourmet food to street food.)
- People with an interest in the fashion industry (346,700,000 people who enjoy fashion, clothing, and accessories.)
The construction of these 6 audiences is based on a combination of carefully chosen criteria. This combination makes it possible to identify overlaps between the audiences of these different 6 industries. For example, we can identify that people with a luxury profile are neither more nor less interested in the other profiles (from 32% to 39%). Nevertheless, the profiles of mobility (41%), energy (44%) and tourism (45%) penetrate well into the luxury profile. Discover the double-entry chart illustrating in more depth the percentage of overlap between the 6 profiles.
“Concerning age, we notice that fashion profile tends to be younger than the world average.
The luxury, food, energy, and tourism profiles have a similar pattern with a higher proportion of 55+ than the 45-54 age group. The opposite is true for the mobility profile with a slightly smaller proportion of 55+.”
What is the proportion of users that are exclusively on Instagram, exclusively on Facebook and those who are on both Meta social networks?
From a social network point of view, we notice that the great majority of those profiles are exclusive Facebook users with the only exception of the fashion profile which, for the most part, only uses Instagram (45,8%). As you can also see, the overlap between Facebook and Instagram is bigger for the tourism profile (39,2%). This graphic helps you understand where to reach your audience. You will not mobilize social networks in the same way if you are a food brand or a mobile brand. This seems logical, but it can also guide your decision when allocating advertising budget between platforms.
What are the key socio-demographic characteristics of these consumer profiles?
Regarding gender, we notice that the mobility and energy consumer profiles have a larger percentage of men (about 60%). We also observe an almost equal parity for the tourism and luxury profiles, while for the food and fashion profiles, women are the most representative.
In terms of age, you can see that the fashion profile has a higher proportion of people between 18 and 34 years old. Discover all the socio-demographic insights.
Explore the key geolocation insights of these consumer profiles?
This graph shows the distribution of the 6 consumer profiles by major world region (shown below: Europe). Compared to the numerically active population without any restrictions by major region, this allows us to identify the most represented consumer profiles for each area.
In Europe, the food (18,4%) and tourism (15,9%) consumer profiles are the most represented when compared with the benchmark. The mobility profile (10,6%) is the smallest compared to the European population.
These insights show us that in Europe, we find more digitally active people interested in tourism and food than in mobility. The energy, luxury, and fashion profiles are not discriminating. Discover the insights for Asia, Africa, North, Central, and South America.
Now that we have discovered the 6 consumer profiles, let's look at our 4 green segments*:
In terms of environmental issues, we decided to look for these four dominant segments (the environmentalist, the renewable energy enthusiast, the waste sorter, and the climate-conscious) whithin the six consumer profiles. Those segments can be likened to personality traits and help us refine our understanding of the target audience. All four of these segments show concern for ecological issues in different ways. This allowed us to see which type of consumer profile cares more about these issues and what part of these issues they care the most about.
The Environmentalist
“I am interested in ecology, nature and the environment. I am a fan of recycling. Renewable energies are at the heart of my concerns. I am an environmentalist.”
The Renewable Energy enthusiast
“I am interested in all renewable energies: solar, wind, biomass, hydropower. I also have high ecological awareness, an interest in nature or waste management. I am a fan of renewable energies.”
The Waste sorter
“I am interested in waste management, selective sorting, and biodegradable waste. I am ecologically aware. I am an enthusiast of waste separation.”
The climate sensitive
“I am interested in climate and climate engineering. I have a high level of ecological awareness. I am a person concerned with weather and climate issues.”
* The segments presented here are the result of a combination of criteria and disciminative behaviors that were developed and tested by SOPRISM in order to highlight the affinities of each target group analyzed. Learn more about our analysis strategies.
Which consumer profiles are most interested in environmental issues?
Thanks to the profiling of the different consumer profiles, we can establish that the profile most committed to ecology is the profile of people interested in energy. We found out that the four green segments were more present in the energy profile, especially the Renewable energy enthusiast segment. Discover the TOP10 segments for each profile.
As far as the energy profile is concerned, even if we know that he is really interested in ecology, the audience profiling also allows us to discover what are the other facets of his personality. We can therefore notice that the energy profile audience is sensitive to health (77.2%) and advanced technologies (35.5%). More than half of the target audience is comprised of careerists (62.3%) and parents (79.3%). Another important aspect to consider in understanding the audience is the security aspect (35.9%). These are people who need to be reassured and feel safe in their choices, in their partnerships, and in their daily lives. Finally, the people interested in energies are also interested in quality products and have a developed general culture as well as a certain taste for educational activities, like enology for example (the dandy, 8.7%).
What are the most significant personas for each green segment within the energy profile?
Within the profile, we selected the most meaningful persona for each segment. This choice does not mean that it is the only valid persona, but it is the one that is the most significant, the most relevant compared to the others.
We can identify that the socio-demographic characteristics are quite explicit, the environmentalist and waste sorter segments are younger compared to the other two green segments. On a global level, people with an interest in energy and ecology are more likely to be found on the American continent, with the exception of climate sensitives, who have a share of their audience in Europe.
From a brand perspective, we’re talking about interest and sensitivity here. That is to say that a person can have an interest in a brand, whether it is positive or negative. Therefore, it could be that in this list we find brands with a negative interest in environmental issues. Whether positive or negative, interest in a brand or a thematic universe remains an essential insight in accurately understanding the people you are reaching.
Discover the details of the other personas of the 5 remaining profiles: mobility, tourism, food, fashion and luxury.
Get all the insights!
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