When it comes to labelling customers, brands are missing their target

The internet has long been a place where we’ve connected for trade, communication, swapping stories or entertainment — neatly and nicely wrapped but distinctly lacking in the human touch. Meaning that it’s never really been a place we could truly feel at home. It’s probably why we all know our home addresses, yet most of us don’t know the first number of our IP address.

The lockdowns of 2020 sparked a chain reaction. With separation enforced, and physical movement limited, all efforts and energies moved to the digital domain almost overnight.

Suddenly, the internet wasn’t just full of web-pages, it was full of people — a realisation of what the internet always sought to be: virtual neighbourhoods, where you can belong with those like you, wherever you are.

Has a new sense of belonging resulted in a new sense of identity? Our If Not Now, When? report revealed that customers did not identify with typical demographical indicators, such as geographical area. Instead identity is shaped by passions, beliefs, experiences and loved ones.

And so, if it’s no longer relevant to carve up a country into regions and infer that all people who live within them are alike, will this removal of ‘geographic bias’ begin to reshape how we think about the world?

We predict that the era of demographic thinking will evolve into the era of ethnographic and psychographic thinking. Postcodes are still easy and useful tools to help find your front door, but no longer do they have any direct steer on who you are as a person.

Download our If Not Now, When? report below, to find out more.