Tapestry vs. Prizm Assignment

Fullerton, CA. 92831

I grew up in Fullerton, which is a growing city in Orange County. Fullerton is popular for their orange trees, Cal State Fullerton, and nightlife of downtown Fullerton. In 1988, my parents moved to Fullerton after they got married. My family and I have lived in the same Fullerton house for over 23 years. My father was born and raised in Fullerton and always loved the feel of the city. He has watched it grow from a small town to a richly evolving city. He always believed Fullerton would be a perfect city to raise a family. By living in Fullerton, I have developed a richer understanding of the people, culture, and environment.

1. When I logged into the BAO website, I typed in my zip code into the search box. I typed in 92831 for Fullerton. The Top Three Tapestry Segments for Fullerton were Segment 05 Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs, Segment 35 International Marketplace, and Segment 63 Dorms to Diplomas.

Segment 05 Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs

The Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs are established and affluent neighborhoods in metropolitan areas. They do not frequently move and are slow to make changes. The segment includes low diversity with mostly white residents with more than half of the population being married for over 15 years. Their income consists of a variety of sources which include interest, dividends, and rental properties. The Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs are not do-it-yourselfers. They love to shop, travel, read the newspaper, do recreational activities, and the top segment for watching home shopping channels. The median age is 43.2 years old. The median household income is $98,852. The median home value is $379, 345.

Segment 35 International Marketplace

The second top Tapestry Segment of Fullerton is the International Marketplace. The International Marketplace is the second most diverse of the Tapestry segments with more than half being Hispanic. It consists of developing urban markets with culture and household types. This segment is also diverse as at least one person in the household has difficulty speaking English. The population consists of young and household families. Family is the top priority for this segment. They buy groceries, diapers, children's' clothes and keep in touch with relatives overseas. The preferences of the International Marketplace includes watching television and listening to contemporary radio. The median age is 32 years old. The median household income is $40,370. The median home value is $272, 968.

Segment 63 Dorms to Diplomas

The third top Tapestry segment for Fullerton is the Dorms to Diplomas. The Dorms to Diplomas segment consists of the college students and are the youngest of the Tapestry age segments. The majority share residency with one or more roommates and work part-time in the low paying jobs

which include the educational services, food service and retail industry. They are less ethnically diverse as well with 71% of the segment being white. In addition, these segments live in dorms and off-campus. The Dorms to Diploma residents have a carefree lifestyle and focus on education. They own laptops, cell phones, iPods, digital cameras, bank online, and use on-campus gyms. The median age for this segment is 21.9 years old with the median household income being $23,807. The median home value in these neighborhoods is $160,730.

After visiting the Tapestry Segmentation PDF link to see which segment I fit into, I choose the Dorms to Diplomas segment for the best fit for my lifestyle.

Pleasant-Ville are family oriented and live in single family homes. They are middle-aged married couples and 40% of households have children. They enjoy where they lived and bought their houses for much cheaper the current value. The median age is 40.8 years old. The median income is $74,355. The median home value is $279,632. The residents work in a variety of different occupations. The Pleasant-Ville residents spend majority of their time with family. They enjoy dining out, playing board games and attending sporting events. They like sightseeing vacations and listen to contemporary music. They keep ahead of current events and usually work out at home. Pleasant-Ville segments are do-it-yourselfers and use coupons when shopping.

Why I belong: I belong to this segment because Fullerton is a Pleasantville town. It ranks 4th on the Top Tapestry Segments. The household home value is pretty accurate as my home is worth a little bit more than the $279,632. The median income results are very accurate too. My father makes over $80,000 a year which falls into the category of a media income of $74,355. I am very family oriented. The residents homes in are built between 1950 and 1970. My family's home was built in 1960. In addition, two-third of Pleasant-Ville residents bought their house before 1995. My parents bought their house in 1988. The occupations for this segment are also diverse, which is similar to my lifestyle. My father works as a tow truck driver and owns a bar. His two jobs are very different than the average residents in the United States. The preferences are very similar as well. For the preferences, Pleasant-Ville segments do not hire additional help for their lawn service. This is similar to my family as we are very do-it-yourselfers. We do not have a gardener and my mother does most of the yard work at our house. My family and I also love baseball games. Our family had season tickets for the Los Angeles Angels last year and consider ourselves big sports fans. My family and I love NASCAR and we are very dedicated to watching races on television like the majority of Pleasant-Ville residents. The Pleasant-Ville segment likes to work out at home, use a PC, and check e-mails. I am very interested in obtaining a healthy lifestyles and I enjoy exercising at my house to stay in shape. I also use a PC and regularly check e-mails.

Why It's wrong: I found a few factors that did not fit into my lifestyle. When looking at the socioeconomic segment, my family does not make additional revenue from rental property, interest or dividends. For the preferences, my family and I are not too big into coupons and

discounts. We try to keep track of coupons, but majority of the time we always forget the coupons or too impatient to wait until a discount occurs.

Part 2: Nielson PRIZM Report

1. Zip Code 92831 most common PRIZM segments are 29 American Dreams, 65 Big City Blues, 54 Multi-Culti Mosaic, 01 Upper Crust, and 31 Urban Achievers.

29 American Dreams

Segment 29 American Dreams are ethically diverse. One-third speak a language other than English with about half of the residents being Hispanic, Asian ot African-American. The median income household income is $56,067. The lifestyles favorites include visiting the zoo and reading the Tribune. Their favorite media channel is E! Channel. The average age is less than 55 years old. The income is upper middle and have professional employment levels.

65 Big City Blues

Segment 65 Big City Blues are middle-aged singles in the metro area. They are highly concentrated in the Hispanic-American culture. The population consists of 45% Hispanics. They face challenges with low incomes, uncertain jobs and education. They are mostly renters and are under the age of 55 years old. The median household income is $33,242. The lifestyle preferences include going to soccer games and shopping. They watch Univision and drive the Kia car.

54 Multi-Culti Mosaic

Segment 54 Multi-Culti Mosaic consists of many first generation Americans. They live in urban homes and are determined to improve their living status. The Multi-Culti Mosaic segment are mixed between Hispanic, Asian, and African-American families. The median household income is $35,770. The average ages are between 35-54 years old with a lower middle income. The

lifestyle preferences include going to basketball games and shopping. They prefer to read People magazine Espanol and watch Spanish language television. Their preferred car is the Acura ZDX.

01 Upper Crust

Segment 01 Upper Crust are wealthiest residents in America. They do not have any children and majority are over the age of 55 years old. The Upper Crust earns over $100,000 a year and have a postgraduate degree. The median household income is $108,992 with a high majority owning their own homes. Upper Crusts have a higher amount of discretionary income. They shop at high end retail stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and drive a Lexus. They also watch the Golf Channel and vacation in Europe.

31 Urban Achievers

Segment 31 Urban Achievers are younger residents without children living in urban areas. They live in port cities and one of the first stops for traveling immigrants. Urban Achievers are ethnically diverse and college-educated. The median household income is $36,412, which is lower middle income. The average age is under 35 years old. They work white collar and mixed jobs. Their lifestyle preferences include reading comic books and watching soccer. They shop at FedEx Office and drive the Toyota Yaris.

For the PRIZM report, my family did not relate too well to any of the specific choices for the Fullerton zip code area as shown above. After searching through many of the segments, my family and I would be classified under MayBerry-Ville.

MayBerry-Ville are white, middle income couples who do not have children. They are old-fashioned and like to stay home and watch television. They are aged 45-64 years old and have a high school diploma. MayBerry-Ville residents own their own houses and are highly paid blue collar workers. They spend their income on boats, campers, motorcycles and trucks. Their lifestyle preferences include watching NASCAR and going hunting. In addition, they shop at Sears Department Stores and drive GMC trucks.

Why I belong: MayBerry-Ville are between the ages of 45-64 years old. My mother and father fall into this age range. They are also of white ethnicity which is another common similarity. MayBerry-Ville residents have homeownership and are highly paid blue collar workers. My father is a tow truck driver who earns an upper class income. My parents also own their own home and spend their money on discretionary aspects. My dad is not much of a saver and likes to spend his money on fun things for the family to do. He has a boat, sea doos, and motor home. In addition, one of the main similarities with this segment is the lifestyle preference of watching NASCAR. My father, sister and I are huge NASCAR fans and enjoy watching racing together every Sunday afternoon.

Why it's wrong: This segment is classified as upper income couples who do not have children. My parents have two children so this part of the description is not accurate. My family also does not have a motorcycle or drive a truck as forms of transportation. Another difference is that my family does not go hunting. I believe this is because we live in the city where there is not much wildlife. My family prefers other recreational activities do to as a family.

Part 3: Discussions

1. I felt the Tapestry Segmentation was more accurate than PRIZM. The Tapestry Segmentation consisted of higher detailed information and more precise segmentation targets. I was able to learn more detailed information about preferences of the target population. The Tapestry Segmentation gave a greater detailed area of demographics, socioeconomics, residential and preferences. In addition, the Tapestry Assignment provided additional statistics and percentages of the median levels of income, age and home value. When comparing the "I Belong With" sections, I felt my family fit fairly well into both of the programs. PleasantVille and MayBerry-Ville were the two categories that fit my family for the PRIZM and Tapestry segments. The PRIZM segmentation was more accurate to my family lifestyle choices than the Tapestry Segmentation, but I felt the Tapestry Segmentation provided richer information of the actual population target. It also took a lot longer to find a fitting segmentation for the PRIZM as many were very similar to each other. The PleasantVille was very accurate on my family's income, spending time with family and the home building structure. It was interesting to see the similarities with own family. My family spends a lot of time together watching baseball games and playing board games like the description listed. In addition, the Tapestry segment of PleasantVille was listed on the top four segmentations for Fullerton while MayBerry-Ville on the PRIZM report was not one of the top six outcomes.

2. Tapestry and PRIZM reports had many similarities and differences. Tapestry and PRIZM both gave detailed information about segment preferences and demographics. They both provided household income medians, ages, occupation, education, and ethnicity. There were also some differences. The Tapestry provided a greater amount of detail on lifestyle preferences. The Tapestry reports showed extra details like the computer used and what those segment residents do for fun. I also enjoyed learning about where residents exercise and their involvement with newspapers. A difference with the PRIZM report was more information about media lifestyle. I was also able to learn about what channel residents watch and the specific magazines they read. In addition, I learned what each segment drives for their vehicle. I thought that was very interesting how every segment was a little different on their vehicle preference. Overall, both programs are very insightful and helpful in determining market segmentation.

References:

Tapestry Segmentation Summary Table:http://downloads2.esri.com/support/whitepapers/other_/2010_Tapestry_and_Group_Summary_Tables.pdf

Tapestry reference guide: http://www.esri.com/library/brochures/pdfs/tapestry-segmentation.pdf

PRIZM Segmentation Matrix:http://www.enertexmarketing.com/pdf/prizm-ne-segment-matrix.pdf

PRIZM Segment Snapshots: http://travelmontana.mt.gov/research/03.05files/PRIZM%20NE%20Snapshots.pdf

PRIZM tutorial:http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/tutorials/Nielsen_PRIZM/engage.html