Who We Are is Very Important. What We Are is Not.
Demographic Labels Shows What We Are
Sometimes I find something that makes me weep with joy because it shows how harmful and hurtful demographic labels can be.
This commercial from a Danish TV station is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen.
Why does it make me weep?
Because we’ve spent 5+ years proving this point. We’ve analyzed a half-million surveys from around the world, and it’s painfully clear: demographic labels are a terrible way to understand each other.
Yet we continue to use demographics to profile target audiences for everything.
Those half-million surveys in our database proved something else too: while we might share emotions, experiences, and beliefs, it’s our values that bind us together in the most powerful way.
We can now use our shared human values to understand groups of people and how they move through the world.
Values Thinking is the best way forward for any product, service, brand institution or idea.