Theater class

A recent study (1) of theater goers indicate that they fall into three mutually exclusive classes – wealthy, working and intellectual, each showing distinct preferences, price sensitivities and processes of decision-making. The intellectual class shows the highest willingness to pay, prefer dramas and form their opinions independent of reviews. The working class shows the lowest willingness to pay, prefer comedy and ignore reviews while the wealthy class show more willingness to pay and prefer shows that get high reviews.

The findings make intuitive sense and it has implications for marketing, pricing and even policy. One interpretation of the finding is that both working and wealthy classes follow less complex decision processes. In the case of the working class, they pick the cheapest comedy available and in the case of the wealthy, they go for the best rated production. In other words, it is easier to predict the behavior of these populations and designing marketing campaigns and pricing for them are relatively easier. But in the case of the intellectual class, who follows a more complex decision process with independent selection without a price preference, only the type of production is predictable. Even that is difficult as drama covers a broader swath of productions compared to comedy. In short, this class makes it difficult for marketers to target.

In this context, it will be interesting to study if such classes exist elsewhere – in on-line purchases, mall and restaurant goers and even voters. Identifying classes that follow simple decision processes could be important for both marketers and politicians.

Working class prefers comedy and the intellectual class goes for drama. Published: Friday, August 24, 2012 - 10:07 in Psychology & Sociology. Source: Plataforma SINC