The Family

Family is one of the most important thing during a human life. We all come from a family and this give us a sense of belonging to a functional group which are one of the basic needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Our families give us an identity. They provide us with a moral, social and economic support. The definition of the family is a group of the individuals living under one roof and usually under one head, persons of common ancestry and people or groups of people regarded as deriving from a common stock.
It is difficult a define a family in such a basic way because of sociological and cultural reasons because of how families live.

Dr Landa says that today the idea of the family itself is changing and is sometimes being replaced by other groups whose links are based on confidence, mutual support and a sense of common destiny. Religious groups, office colleagues and homosexuals are now sometimes seen to operate as ‘family’. This new way of thinking about the family is radically different and is not based on correct biblical teaching.

Changes in the family structure:
- Increasing number of births out of marriage
- Increase in one parent families (1/7)
- Increase in step families
- Nuclear family is being challenged by the “horizontal” family of step children & step parents
- Increasing no. of widowed living on own.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=350


Further demographics show the changing family structure:
- Average household size is 2.4 people in 2001
- Dramatic increase in one person households 12% in 1961, 26% in 1990, 6.8 million in 2001 – 28%
- More than 50% of women over the age of 65 years live on their own
- Life expectancy for women is 78.8 years for men is 73.2 years
- Divorces have increased to 1 in 3
- 7% of households in 2001 – single parents

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1cjf_u_Q-ho


Family life cycles have many variations. Children living with married parents tend to experience less material hardships than children living with a single parent which can cause behavioural problems during school age.

The family structure is an important consumer and marketers should remember there are different preferences due to age, sex and family status. For example during a shopping expedition the family tends to buy things suitable for children thru to elderly people.

Children can have a big influence on their parents decisions and choices by constantly voicing their opinions.

Generatiomal Marketing

The way that we promote products and services is a according to a specific generation. Each generation require a certain marketing targets. In recent years marketing companies are looking at generations for a target audience.

Target generations can include:
1. Mature citizens born between 1909 to 1945
2. Baby boomers were born between 1946 to 1964
3. Baby busters or Generational Xers born 1965 to 1980
4. Millenials or Generational 2001erswere born after 1980



We can see that there are strong fluctuations thru out the years, mainly caused by the Second World War. This then caused a rise in the population in the 1960s, due to the fact that the post war babies were now reproducing.
Marketers have to consider many different aspects when looking at the target audience. This means that the success in generating the right product can create a relationship and build brand awareness.



Our task in the lecture was to look at the over 50’s generation who could be considered to be the ‘ young olds’. We needed to find what there favourite brands were and why? And how they valued these brands? These tended to be well established high street brands such as Marks and Spencers, John Lewis and Debenhams, and in more recent years the likes of Asda which has branched out in to clothing and electrical goods thus providing a complete shopping experience. In the above stores it is possible to purchase items for everybody, grandchildren, children and themselves. This has created a marketing advantage that the stores promote to the full via advertising to cover all generations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJO1vJ4e9AI

This generation group accounts for the largest population in the United Kingdom and has great influence among friends and family. They have considerable brand awareness and are likely to relate to a particularly store because of product reliability. This generation group is very difficult to get to change their views due to long term brand awareness.