Scattered targeting - Why the Bolia demographic matters so much.

It occurred to me recently, that I have used the term “Bolia Demographic” very often over the last few years, and pretty much every time, I am met with a blank or inquisitive stare. So I realised that it might be about time for me to try and explain what I mean. And it could very well be that there is another, better and more technical term for what I am talking about.

A short explanation

To get us started, let me tell you what I define as the Bolia Demographic, but from the outside-in. The furniture brand Bolia was the first to make me realise what was going on, and later, others have followed. When they launched, they positioned themselves very well between Ikea on one side, and expensive designer furniture on the other. At about 2x-3x the price of Ikea, but still much cheaper and more accessible than designer furniture like Fritz Hansen, and with designs and quality that fit perfectly in that slot, they filled the gap for young professionals who made enough money and wanted to get something a bit ‘nicer’ than Ikea, but who could, or would, not buy the really expensive stuff.

Honestly, while I think price plays a big role, I think the signal value of not getting the things their parents would have wanted, plays a large part of the role as well. So young(er) people, who are on a trajectory of moving up in the world, and who have done it themselves, and want to be their own and have their own values. This also shows in some of the other brands who seem to have embraced the demographic (more on those later).

Why is this particular demographic exciting in the world we live in

I’m glad you asked… While it is always interesting to be able to target your customer base, no matter who they are, the Bolia Demo presents a new way of thinking in targeting and positioning. Traditionally, we would create demographics based on factors that are relatively easy to quantify. This could be age, job, income, kids, marriage, location and more. But that is really hard to do in the new world. The things that define the segment we are talking about are actually much harder to measure. We would want to look at things like:

• The feeling of self, not defined by other generations

• Sensibility, not overspending, but still not being as cheap as possible

• The value of nice things, as seen by the individual, not by what it cost or what fashion or legacy thinks

• The need to not feel like you are in over your head by buying things you cannot afford, but also not conforming to what everyone else is doing

• The feeling of being treated like you are doing great, and you deserve special attention

And that is why there are so many interesting things in this case. We cannot just rely on a few of the traditional metrics anymore. Instead, we need to lean into the modern way of approaching segmentation… also know as not relying on segmentation completely. As a marketer, you need to tailor your message to align with those values and feelings, and you need to do so via channels where you can convey your message. Trying to sell-sell-sell will most likely result in the opposite, or in missing the target, so you need to build trust, and you need to earn a place in the consumers world, where you show that you honestly agree with them on basic values. When, however, you decide that it is time to sell, you need to consider what will make them act. Is it price? Is it scarcity? What about just showing them that one thing that would complete their lives (I recently saw that a car brand offers a 12 volt espresso machine which I never knew I needed before).

Going deeper, who is doing this well

As I started researching this, and just noticing in general, I found quite a few companies/brands that are doing this very well:

• SAS - Introducing the Premium Economy/Plus travel class

• Norwegian - Same as with SAS, but without having business class. It’s affordable, but it’s not cheap as the regular low cost flights

• Sonos - Sonos is affordable, not cheap though, but they are brilliant at also differentiating their products, so they own the demographic we are talking about here, and let Ikea take the lower price version, and other expensive brands deal with the expensive verisons

• SEAT - Cheaper than Audi and Volkswagen on similar cars, and much better than the cheap offers from the more premium brands that costs about the same. At the same time, they are quality and fun.

• Bolia - ofcourse…

• Arket - H&M’s venture into the Bolia Demographic

• and many more

Now, I’m looking at this from a scandinavian point of view, so I am surely missing loads of other companies and brands. We also have quite a few companies here in Denmark that specialise in pimping kitchens from Ikea and the likes, by adding nicer fronts and tabletops etc, making them really nice, and still affordable for the segment we are looking at.

How do you get in on the action

First of all, you need to honestly serve the demographic. If your product does not fit into the mentioned values, maybe you can create a sub category? Much like when SAS introduced Sas Plus? Can you introduce private banking scaled to the demographic and add value? Can you create a more seviced version of what you do that costs slightly more, but adds true benefits to the user? There are tons of ideas, but you have to do it honestly, and you have to make sure you give the consumers value and meaning.

Then comes the part where you have to communicate. To be honest, I think we have all the tools now, to do this well.

• Choose interesting stories on instagram and facebook over traditional 30 second tv adverts

• Tell stories and inspire, don’t just sell

• Have ambassadors that resonate with the audience instead of being traditionally famous. Involve the customers early and often, both in development and storytelling

• Use AI an machine learning for targeting instead of assuming you know who you want to reach based on legacy

• Don’t be afraid of devaluing your traditional high cost business, so give the consumers what they need

• Don’t plan the next year of marketing and have that set in stone, you need to be agile

• Remove friction from interactions

• Make it worth talking about

• Care about, and focus on, the customer

You have to approach this from a point of honesty, stories, value, and you definitely should look into using technology and data to reach the right people, at the right time. And of course, you should not be afraid to reach out if you want to talk about this further!