To put the country’s marketplace into perspective: today, there are more than 305+ million people living in more than 110+ million households located in over 200,000 neighborhoods, or Census block groups, across the country.
Businesses need information to break through the country’s crowded marketscape and understand, locate and reach their customers better. If a business can determine where the customers for their products are (on country, city, street or user level) they can calculate summary information for specific areas.This can help marketers to select customers with a certain radius of a point.
Such information can be valuable, businesses can easily determine where a new retail outlet can be located or determine what type of advertising to create and where it should appear, what kind of merchandising and products to put in their stores, etc.
“You Are Where You Live” website is based on a “lifestyle segmentation” system called PRIZM from Nielsen, a market research firm and part of the Nielsen Company. PRIZM, which was originally created over 30 years ago, classifies consumers into one of 66 categories based on census data, leading consumer surveys and compiled household files, and other public and private sources of demographic and consumer information.
For instance, the segment Bohemian Mix is defined as consisting of A collection of young, mobile urbanites, Bohemian Mix represents the nation’s most liberal lifestyles. Its residents are a progressive mix of young singles and couples, students and professionals, Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans and whites. In their funky rowhouses and apartments, Bohemian Mixers are the early adopters who are quick to check out the latest movie, nightclub, laptop and microbrew. PRIZM has a specific set of ZIP Codes where Bohemian Mixers are predominant. Similarly, the segment Middleburg Managers is defined as consisting of residents who tend to be middle-class and over 55 years old, with solid managerial jobs and comfortable retirements. In their older homes, they enjoy reading, playing musical instruments, indoor gardening and refinishing furniture.
PRIZM operates on the principle that “birds of a feather flock together.” It’s a worldwide phenomenon that people with similar cultural backgrounds, needs, and perspectives naturally gravitate toward one another. They choose to live in neighborhoods offering affordable advantages and compatible lifestyles. That’s why, for instance, many young career singles and couples choose dynamic urban neighborhoods like Chicago’s Gold Coast, while families with children prefer the suburbs which offer more affordable housing, convenient shopping, and strong local schools.
PRIZM is updated annually to reflect the latest available demographic and consumer information. “You Are Where You Live” provides a scaled-down version of the complete PRIZM system. Only a handful of the consumer spending, lifestyle and demographic data available through PRIZM at the ZIP Code level was used to create this ZIP Code look-up program.
