ENGAGE: Knowing your audience
BACKGROUND
Culture Segments is a universal, sector-specific segmentation system for arts, culture and heritage organisations devised by Morris Hargreaves McIntyre. The Pen Portraits which follow provide detailed summaries for each of the eight Culture Segments, exploring who they are, the role the arts play in their lives and how they interact with Australia’s cultural landscape.
The data used in this report was collected through the Australia Council for the Arts’ Connecting Australians: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey. A quantitative survey of 7,537 people, aged 15 and over was carried out online (6,456) and over the telephone (1,081).
SEGEMENTING THE AUSTRALIAN POPULATION
The principal objective of Culture Segments is to provide the sector with a shared language for understanding audiences, with a view to targeting them more accurately, engaging them more deeply and building lasting relationships. Culture Segments is based on people’s cultural values and motivations. These cultural values define the person and frame their attitudes, lifestyle choices and behaviour.
Which segment are you? Take this very short quiz to find out.
ESSENCE
The Essence segment tend to be well-educated professionals who are highly-active cultural consumers and creators, they are leaders rather than followers. Confident in their own tastes, they will act spontaneously according to their mood and pay little attention to what others think.
(11% of Australia’s adult population)
- Discerning, Spontaneous, Independent, Sophisticated
- Tend to be well-educated, highly active cultural consumers and creators
- Confident in their own tastes and pay little attention to what others think
EXPRESSION
The Expression segment is in tune with their spiritual side. They are confident, fun-loving, selfaware people who accommodate a wide range of interests, from culture and learning to community and nature. Expression like experiences to be authentic and enjoy opportunities to understand the creative process.
(29% of Australia’s adult population)
Receptive, Confident, Community, Expressive
In tune with their creative and spiritual side
Confident, fun-loving, self-aware
Wide range of interests, from culture and learning to community and nature
AFFIRMATION
Affirmation welcome culture as a way of enjoying quality time with friends and family at the same time as improving themselves as individuals. They are interested in less traditional art forms but will continue to attend large, mainstream events and activities as they offer a low-risk means of satisfying these varied needs.
(12% of Australia’s adult population) Self-identity,
- Aspirational, Quality time, Improvement
- See culture as a way of enjoying quality time with friends and family
- Culture also a way of improving themselves
- Arts tend to be one of many leisure choices
ENRICHMENT
The Enrichment segment is characterised by older adults with time to spare who like spending their leisure time close to the home. They have established tastes and enjoy culture that links into their interests in nature, heritage and more traditional artforms.
(6% of Australia’s adult population)
- Mature, Traditional, Heritage, Nostalgia
- Like spending their leisure time close to home
- Have established tastes
- Enjoy culture that links to beauty, history, nature, heritage and traditional art forms
STIMULATION
The Stimulation segment is an active group who live their lives to the full, looking for new experiences and challenges to break away from the crowd. They are open to a wide range of experiences, from culture to sports and music, but they like to be at the cutting edge in everything they do.
(13% of Australia’s adult population)
- Active, Experimental, Discovery, Contemporary
- Live their lives to the full
- Look for challenges and opportunities to break away from the crowd
- Open to a wide range of experiences but like to be at the cutting edge
RELEASE
The Release segment tend to be younger adults with busy working and family lives who used to enjoy relatively popular arts and culture, but have become switched off as other things have taken priority in their lives. Consequently they feel they have limited time and resources to enjoy the arts and culture, although they would like to do more.
(12% of Australia’s adult population)
- Busy, Ambitious, Prioritising, Wistful
- Tend to be younger adults with busy lives
- Work and family commitments have squeezed out culture in recent years
- They have limited time and resources to enjoy the arts, but would like to do more
PERSPECTIVE
The Perspective segment is settled, fulfilled and home-oriented. The arts and culture are low among their priorities, however their underlying spontaneous nature and desire to learn provide a focus for engaging with arts and culture.
(7% of Australia’s adult population)
- Settled, Self-sufficient, Focused, Contented
- Fulfilled and home-orientated
- Spontaneous and their appetite for discovery drives their engagement
ENTERTAINMENT
The Entertainment segment tend to be conventional, younger adults for whom the arts are on the periphery of their lives. Their occasional forays into culture are usually for spectacular, entertaining or must-see events, and compete against a wide range of other leisure interests.
(9% of Australia’s adult population)
- Consumers, Popularist, Leisure, Mainstream
- The arts are on the periphery of their lives and compete against many other interests
- Occasionally foray into culture for spectacular, must-see experiences