PRACTICE PAPERS

Segmenting global markets by

generational cohorts: Determining
motivations by age
Received in revised form.

Charles D. Schewe
is Professor of Marketing at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and principal
in Lifestage Matrix Marketing, a consulting firm focusing on the ageing of
populations. He received his MBA from the University of Michigan and his PhD from
the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He has published
over 50 articles in academic journals and over a dozen books. In 1979, he had a
Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Lund where he continues to be a frequent
visiting professor.

Geoffrey Meredith
is President and Founder of Lifestage Matrix Marketing, a research and consulting
firm located in Lafayette, California. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School
of Business. He has over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, having
held senior vice president positions at Ogilvy & Mather, Ketchum Communications
and Hal Riney and Partners, all in San Francisco.
Keywords:
Generational
cohorts, market Abstract
segmentation, Marketing has long rested on the use of market segmentation. While birth age has been a
consumer values, useful way to create groups, it describes segments but in itself does not help to understand
consumer segment motivations. Environmental events experienced during one’s coming-of-age years,
behaviour however, create values that remain relatively unchanged throughout one’s life. Such values
provide a common bond for those in that age group, or cohort. Segmenting by ‘coming-of-
age’ age provides a richer segmentation approach than birth age. This approach, known to
work in America, is used in this paper to create generational cohorts in Russia and in Brazil.

INTRODUCTION and highly successful approach is being

Finding groups of consumers with
strong, homogeneous bonds is the ‘Holy
Grail’ of marketing. When such
similarities exist, marketers can offer the
same (or very similar) product,
Charles D. Schewe distribution and/or communications
University of programmes to a large number of
Massachusetts
Umass potential customers who are more likely
Amherst to respond in the way desired.
MA 01003
USA Efficiency in marketing is realised and
Tel: +1 413 256 0914 marketers and consumers benefit. Many
Fax: +1 413 253 3338
e-mail: schewe@
ways to segment markets have long
mktg.umass.edu been known. Now a fresh, innovative
recognised (Meredith and Schewe,
2002). Established in the USA,
generational cohort marketing is being
used by especially astute marketers
around the world.
Cohorts are groups of individuals
who are born during the same time
period and travel through life together.
They experience similar external events
during their late adolescent/early
adulthood years. These ‘defining
moments’ influence their values,
preferences, attitudes and buying

Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817 51

Charles D. Schewe and Geoffrey Meredith
behaviour in ways that remain with
them over their entire lifetime (Meredith
and Schewe, 1994; Ryder, 1965). Shared
experiences during the highly
influenceable ‘coming-of-age’ years
(approximately 17–23 years of age) are
embedded in these values, or ‘cohort
effects’ and they remain relatively
unchanged throughout life.
Today, many call marketing to birth
groups generational marketing. Cohorts
are not generations as each generation is
defined by its years of birth. For
example, a generation is usually 20 to 25
years in length, or roughly the time it
takes a person to grow up and have
children. But a cohort can be as long or
short as the external events that define
it. A cohort defined by the Second
World War, for example, may be only
six years long.
WE ARE WHAT WE EXPERIENCE WHEN
COMING OF AGE
The notion of cohorts rests on the
assumption that individuals are highly
influenced by events occurring during
their coming-of-age years; however, do
different cohorts really recall different
events and experiences as influential in
one’s life? If certain events were
influential, when did they occur?
Schuman and Scott (1989) conducted a
study that addresses these questions.
They asked 1,410 Americans to recall
three national and world events over
the past 50 years that were especially
important to them and tell why they
were important. The Second World War
and the Vietnam conflict were
mentioned most frequently by all age
groups. An interesting pattern occurred,
however, as individuals who were
between 16–24 years old during the
Second World War (1941–1945) and 15–
27 years old during the Vietnam conflict
(1965–1973) were significantly more
likely to recall these events as being
especially important to them.
Schuman and Scott (1989) also found
that individuals who experienced these
events during their formative years
52 Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
were able to cite personal experiences as
reasons why these events were
influential to them. For example, a 72-
year-old woman, referring to the Second
World War, stated ‘my husband was
away from me for three and a half years
and it changed my life a lot. I had a
child when he was gone, and I had to go
through that alone’ (1989, p. 373).
Individuals who did not come of age
during the Second World War or
Vietnam were unable to give these
kinds of accounts. Instead, they cited
less personal reasons for the importance
of these events. Because the latter
respondents could not attach personal
meaning to these historical events, it is
unlikely that their values, attitudes and
behaviour were strongly influenced by
them.
Similar patterns emerged for
individuals’ recollections of the
Depression, advances in
communications and transportation,
John F. Kennedy’s assassination,
terrorism and the development of
nuclear weapons. Individuals who were
in their 70s during the time of the study
were the most likely to mention the
Depression and advances in
communications and transportation as
influential to them. These individuals
would have been in their teens and early
20s, coming-of-age years, during these
events. Additionally, this age group was
able to give personal accounts of the
Depression years, the development of
the radio, television and jet aeroplanes.
Similarly, individuals who would have
been in their teens and early to mid-
1920s when Kennedy was assassinated
in 1963 were the most likely to mention
this event as influential. Finally,
terrorism, which hit a high note in 1979
with the hostage crisis in Iran, was
recalled most often by younger
members of the sample who would have
been in their late teens during that crisis.
These younger individuals were also the
most likely to cite the development of
nuclear weapons as important collective
memories.

Thus, Schuman and Scott (1989)
clearly demonstrate that similarly aged
individuals have similar memories.
These memories are recalled
predominantly from adolescence and
young adulthood. Additionally,
individuals appear to have personal
experiences with the events that they
cited, suggesting that these events are
likely to influence them in the future.
Holbrook and Schindler (1989, 1994)
also illustrate the importance of young
adulthood memories. They show that
young adulthood experiences are likely
to influence consumers well into their
adulthood. Although ‘young adulthood’
is defined fairly broadly, Holbrook and
Schindler (1989) found that consumers
are most prone to the socialisation of
music at around 23 years of age and
movie stars at 14 years of age (Holbrook
and Schindler, 1994). Similarly, the
socialisation of preferences for apparel
occurs in young adulthood. When asked
to rate their preferences for pictures
exemplifying various types of women’s
apparel over the decades, men showed
the most preference for apparel that
women were wearing when they (the
men) were around 24 years of age
(Schindler and Holbrook, 1993).
Cohort effects are life-long effects.
They provide the communality for
each cohort being targeted as a
separate market segment. Since these
cohorts can be described by the ages of
their constituents, they offer an
especially rich vehicle for marketing
campaigns. In the USA, seven distinct
cohorts have been delineated as
internally homogeneous on values and
at the same time heterogeneous
between cohort groups (Meredith and
Schewe, 2002). These groups are
shown in Table 1.
The existence of cohorts has been
found in other developed countries
(Meredith and Schewe, 2002). Yet it is
the nature of the defining moments
within these other cultures that defines
the topography of the cohort terrain.
Different defining moments create
Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts
cohorts with different dates, different
lengths and different values.
CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR
COHORT FORMATION
Not all countries do in fact have cohorts
as found in the USA. For cohorts to
form, there are some key requirements.
These are mass communication
capabilities, literacy and social
consequences.
Today, developed countries are
technologically advanced. But for the
impact of a defining moment to be felt
by a society, that event must be
conveyed to them. Today, local, national
or world events are broadcast to almost
every home in the USA within minutes
of them occurring, allowing each
individual to be apprised of historical
events. This happens throughout so
many countries of the world. Even
Saddam Hussein received much of his
intelligence information about the
Desert Storm war of 1990 via television,
watching CNN in his bunker. This fast
and continuous flow of information,
however, does not occur in many
developing countries.
When events are communicated by
word of mouth, they appear to have
less credibility and less of an impact
than if communicated by newspaper,
radio or television. The transfer of
information can only be imagined in so
many of the countries of Africa or in
Tibet, Mongolia or Borneo. In such
situations, the impact of events would
be severely diminished as time and
interpretation take their toll.
Education affects all aspects of a
country’s culture, from economic
development to consumer behaviour.
Literacy also has a profound effect on
the existence and formation of cohorts.
In countries where the illiteracy rate is
high, many individuals may not
understand the implications,
importance or impact of a defining
event. Thus, it is unlikely that this event
will influence their values.
Along similar lines, defining
53
Charles D. Schewe and Geoffrey Meredith

Table 1 Seven American cohorts

Cohort profile Cohort description

Depression cohort (born from
1912–1921; came of age
during the Great Depression;
aged 83–92 in 2004)
Second World War cohort
(born from 1922–1927; came
of age during the Second
World War; aged 78–82 in
2004)
Post-war cohort (born from
1928–1945; came of age after
WWII; aged 59–76 in 2004)
Leading-edge baby boomer
cohort (born from 1946–1954;
came of age during the
turmoil of the 1960s; aged
50–58 in 2004)
Trailing-edge baby boomer
cohort (born from 1955–1965;
came of age during the first
sustained economic downturn
since the Depression; aged
39–49 in 2004)
Generation X cohort (born from These are the latchkey children of divorce who have received the
1965–1976; came of age
during a time of instability
and uncertainty; aged 28–38
in 2004)
N Generation cohort (born from The youngest cohort is called the ‘N Generation’ or ‘N-Gen’ because
1977–?; came of age during
the ‘Information Revolution’;
aged 27 and under in 2004)
This group’s coming of age experience consisted of economic strife,
elevated unemployment rates and having to take menial jobs to
survive. Financial security — what they most lacked when coming
of age — rules their thinking.
Sacrifice for the common good was widely accepted among
members of this cohort, as evidenced by women working in
factories for the war effort and men going off to fight. Overall,
this cohort was focused on defeating a common enemy and their
members are more team-oriented and patriotic than those of
other generational cohorts.
These individuals experienced a time of remarkable economic
growth and social tranquility, a time of family togetherness, the
Korean conflict, McCarthyism, school dress codes and moving to
the suburbs. Overall, this cohort participated in the rise of the
middle class, sought a sense of security and stability, and
expected prosperous times to continue indefinitely.
This group remembers the assassinations of John and Robert
Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was the loss of JFK that
largely shaped this cohort’s values. They became adults during
the Vietnam War and watched as the first man walked on the
moon. Leading-edge boomers were dichotomous: they
championed causes (Greenpeace, civil rights, women’s rights),
yet were simultaneously hedonistic and self-indulgent (pot, ‘free
love’, sensuality).
This group witnessed the fall of Vietnam, Watergate Nixon’s
resignation. The oil embargo, the raging inflation rate and the
more than 30 per cent decline in the S&P Index led these
individuals to be less optimistic about their financial future than
the leading-edge boomers.
most negative publicity. This cohort has delayed marriage and
children, and they do not take these commitments lightly. More
than other groups, this cohort accepts cultural diversity and puts
quality of personal life ahead of work life. They are ‘free agents’
not ‘team players’. Despite a rocky start into adulthood, this
group shows a spirit of entrepreneurship unmatched by any
other cohort.
the advent of the internet is a defining event for them, and
because they will be the ‘engine’ of growth over the next two
decades. While still a work in progress, their core value structure
seems to be quite different from that of Gen-X. They are more
idealistic and social-cause oriented, without the cynical, ‘What’s
in it for me?’ free-agent mindset of many Gen-Xers.

moments need to have societal Eastern European nations, Lebanon and

consequences for them to be cohort
forming. For example, the death of
Princess Diana, even though it was
emotionally difficult, is unlikely to be a
cohort-defining event because it had
little social impact. In fact, it is not a
defining moment even in England. In
sharp contrast, the death of JFK was a
defining moment because it stole from
the American public the optimism that
the Camelot White House provided.
These conditions are certainly found in
all developed countries of the world and
in some emerging countries (India,
China may be examples of good areas for
cohort analysis). But most under-
developed countries today do not
provide fertile ground for cohort analysis
and cohort segmentation marketing.
SAME HISTORY, SAME COHORTS
Generational cohorts can be used to
segment various age groups in the USA.
But can these same cohorts also be used
to segment target audiences on a global
scale? The answer depends on which
age group is considered and in which
countries. It has been shown that other

54 Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817


countries also have various generational
cohorts embedded within their societies,
and these cohort values can be tapped
by marketers to build rapport with
customers and increase sales.
The USA and the UK share many
striking similarities in terms of defining
moments and cohort values (Scott and
Zak, 1993). The Great Depression, the
Second World War and the Cold War
were all important events that shaped
the coming of age years of youths in
both countries. This is not unexpected,
given the extremely close cultural and
historical ties between the two nations.
In Brazil, however, there was no
Second World War cohort at all. Brazil
did not participate in that war but
remained neutral. Hence the Second
World War did not really impact Brazil
in any meaningful way — therefore it
was not a ‘defining event’ as it was in
most of the developed countries around
the world.
In contrast, in Russia, not only was
there a Second World War cohort, but
the cohort spanned 12 years, from the
beginning of the war in 1941 until the
death of Stalin in 1953. The Iron Curtain
was drawn and the impact of the war
remained. In Russia, the Second World
War was such an overwhelmingly
important ‘defining event’ (23 million
killed) that its influence lingered more
than a decade — well after other
countries had moved on. Thus different
cultures and histories can have very
different cohort structures, but those
with similar cultures and histories often
share similar cohort classifications.
COHORTS AND DEFINING MOMENTS
AROUND THE WORLD
Within a given country, defining
moments come from both national and
international events. Some cohort
defining moments are unique to a
nation, such as economic or political
change, or even the spread of
technology within a society. Other
defining moments come from events
that occur outside the country. Random
Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts
samplings of people from various
countries show the 20th century events
listed in Table 2 as examples of defining
moments that had a global reach, while
those listed in Table 3 had more of a
country-specific or regional impact.
Whether defining moments are regional
or global in scope, they all contribute to
the development of shared values.
The Second World War was
mentioned as key for almost all
countries, but its interpretation is
different in different countries, as
Jacqueline Scott and Lilian Zac found in
their 1993 study of collective memories
in Britain and the USA:
‘. . . Although both Britain and America
regard World War II as the most
important event of the last half century,
the meaning attached to the war is
different in the two countries. In the
United States, the war was associated,
especially by younger respondents, with
the prosperity that followed the war, an
association that does not figure in British
responses at all. More interestingly,
mentions of patriotism and the common
spirit of the wartime years is also absent
from British recollections’.
This shows that while many countries
may experience the same defining
moments, socioeconomic, cultural,
geographical, religious and political
differences can profoundly change the
impact that these events have from
country to country. In Britain, the War
was actually fought on their soil. The
sound of air raid sirens was often heard,
Table 2 Examples of global defining moments
Event* Date
The First World War 1914–1918
Great Depression 1920s and 1930s
The Second World War 1941–1945
Cold War and threat of 1946–1953
nuclear war
Advent of television 1940s and 1950s
Energy crisis 1970s
Fall of Berlin Wall 1989
Development of the internet 1990s
Dissolution of Soviet Union 1991
Gulf War 1991
*These events are not ranked in order of impor-
tance, but by date.
55
Charles D. Schewe and Geoffrey Meredith
Table 3 Examples of country-specific or regional defining moments
Event*
John Profumo scandal
Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment and
release
Cultural Revolution
Six Days War
Khmer Rouge Rule
Assassination of Anwar Sadat
Falklands War
Assassination of Olof Palme
Tiananmen Square massacre
Manuel Noriega’s arrest and extradition
to USA
Japanese Economic ‘bubble’ bursts
Irish legalisation of divorce
*These events are not ranked in order of importance, but by date.
and fear of bombings became a part of
daily life. Meanwhile, in America,
except for the 450,000 who actually
fought the battles, the war was more of
a distant story. This may account for the
differences in patriotism and spirit.
COHORTS IN RUSSIA AND BRAZIL
Extensive research was conducted in
both Russia and Brazil to identify the
cohort structure that exists in each
country. Academic literature and
general news media for the 20th century
were scanned. Sociologists and other
behavioural scientists were interviewed.
Historians and other experts were
conferred with. This phase resulted in
the structuring of cohorts in each nation.
Then focus groups were conducted in
each country to gain further insight into
the true nature of the cohorts. What
resulted from this process forms the
basis for the following descriptions.
Russia
During the last half-century, Russia has
gone through tremendous social and
political change — a situation that has
had a very real impact on the country’s
cohort structure. In Russia, six different
cohort groups have been identified (see
Table 4 for more detail).
The collectivisation cohort
This cohort came of age from 1929–1940
and corresponds to the Depression
cohort in the USA. Cohort members
56 Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Date Country affected
1963 UK
1964 and 1990 South Africa
1966–1976 China
1967 Jordan, Israel and Egypt
1975–1979 Cambodia and South East Asia
1981 Egypt
1982 UK and Argentina
1986 Sweden
1989 China
1989 Panama
1991 Japan
1995 Ireland
would be aged 81–92 in 2004. This
cohort experienced Stalin’s massive
campaign to force Russian peasants into
collective and state-run farms operated
by communist party representatives.
Five million peasants who had the
misfortune of accumulating more
property than their neighbours lost their
lives during this time. The plummeting
agricultural production that resulted
from collectivisation precipitated the
famine that is forever etched in this
cohort’s memory. Despite these horrid
outcomes, this cohort as a whole
regards the period relatively benignly.
As bad as it was, for many former serfs
(who had, in truth, been slaves as one
would define the term), collectivisation
was an economic improvement. Because
the mass exterminations, or pogroms,
were not publicised unless a family
member was taken away in the night
and shot, one tended not to know about
it. Without group awareness, an event
cannot be cohort-defining. The state was
seen as the liberator of the masses, and a
protector and saviour from the
predatory West. Thus, this cohort
values dedication to the communist
party, nationalism and belief in the
state, and they tend to be suspicious of
the West.
The Great Patriotic War (or Second
World War) cohort
This cohort spanned 12 years, from the
beginning of the War in 1941 to Stalin’s
 Table 4 Russian cohorts

Cohort Born Coming of age Age in 2004 Defining moments Key cohort values

Collectivisation 1912–1923 1929–1940 81–92 • Collectivisation of agriculture • Dedication to party

• Nationalistic
• Believe in and rely on state
• Suspicious of West
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Great Patriotic War 1924–1936 1941–1953 68–80 • The Second World War • Intensely patriotic
(WWII) • Cold War • Nationalistic
• Death of Stalin • Resent youth
• Feel unappreciated
• Against perestroika
The thaw 1937–1952 1954–1969 52–67 • Sputnik • Greater social and economic freedom
• International Youth Festival • Idealism
• Gagarin first man to orbit earth • Individuality
• ‘Prague Spring’ • Support perestroika
Stagnation 1953–1968 1970–1985 36–51 • Bad economic times • Erosion of faith in communism
• Emigration to the West • Inner-directedness
• Gorbachev’s rise to power • Pessimistic about future
• Cynical and withdrawn
• 30% prefer to live outside Russia
Perestroika 1969–1974 1986–1991 30–35 • Perestroika and glasnost • Political activists
• Chernobyl • Against central authority
• Parliamentary elections • 50% prefer to live outside Russia
• Fall of Berlin Wall • Materialistic
• Yeltsin elected President
• Soviet Union dissolved

Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts

• 1991 communist coup attempt
Post-Soviet 1975 and after 1992– 29 and under • Privatisation and economic reforms • Self-sufficient
• Chechnya War • Cynical, streetwise
• Stock market collapse • Materialistic
• Amoral
• Actively want to leave Russia
57
Charles D. Schewe and Geoffrey Meredith
death in 1953. Cohort members would
be aged 68–80 in 2004. The Second
World War was a unifying event that
brought Russians together like no other
official campaign could. It gave the
people oppressed by hardships a sense
of purpose and pride in a job well done.
Young soldiers were taught not to fear
death and not to lose their heads under
fire. The Cold War and the death of
Stalin are two other important defining
moments of this era. The Second World
War cohort enjoyed greater freedom
and personal initiative than its
predecessor, the Collectivisation cohort.
Through the schools, the Soviet
propaganda machine produced youths
who were fiercely ideological. Over and
over again, they were taught that only
the Soviet state would protect them
against the evil and decadent aggressors
— not only Germany, but England and
France as well. For a time, the USA
enjoyed a somewhat more positive
status, due to the war material provided
by the Lend-Lease Programme;
however, this ended with the bombing
of Hiroshima, as Stalinist propaganda
charged that ‘Russia is next!’ Even
today, this cohort is intensely patriotic
and nationalistic, they resent the
freedom of youth, feel unappreciated
and many are against the reforms of
perestroika.
The Thaw cohort
This cohort includes what would be the
post-war and the leading-edge boomers
cohorts in the USA. Their coming of age
years span from 1954 to 1969, and they
would be 52–67 in 2004. It is difficult to
imagine how these two cohorts could be
grouped together, but clearly this
cohort’s defining moments take a sharp
departure from those in the USA during
the same time period. After Stalin died
in 1953, the country began to change its
course. Nikita Khrushchev denounced
past abuses and freed the survivors of
the gulag. As a result, this cohort
absorbed the spirit of liberal reforms
that swept the country during this time.
58 Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Western products and fashions also
began to be allowed, and this helped to
give Russians a taste of the value of
capitalism. Sputnik, the International
Youth Festival, Yuri Gagarin’s orbit of
the Earth and the ‘Prague Spring’ are all
defining events for this group. Even
today, this cohort values greater social
and economic freedom, idealism and
individuality, and its members tend to
be supportive of perestroika.
The Stagnation cohort
This cohort came of age from 1970 to
1985, a time when the Soviet economy
deteriorated, hopes of liberalisation
faded away, and the Soviet regime
began to lose its legitimacy under the
leadership of Leonid Brezhnev. This
cohort would be aged 36–51 in 2004,
and roughly corresponds to the trailing-
edge boomers and Generation X cohorts
in the USA. No one particular event
stands out as a defining experience for
this group. Rather, a series of tactical
and strategic retreats sapped this
cohort’s collective energy. Defining
moments include bad economic times,
an increase in emigration to the West
and Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power.
Key cohort values include the erosion of
faith in communism, an inner-
directedness, pessimism about the
future, tendencies to be cynical and
withdrawn, and a preference for living
outside of Russia. Despite this
negativity, this cohort also retains a
perverse nostalgia for the stagnation
years. Those times might not have been
so good — but at least there was
stability and this is something that is
sorely lacking in Russia today.
The Perestroika cohort
This cohort came of age from 1986–1991
and would be aged 30–35 in 2004. This
group roughly corresponds with the
Generation X cohort in the USA. This
era of liberalisation began with Mikhail
Gorbachev’s 1986 campaign for glasnost
(‘openness’) and perestroika (‘political
and economic restructuring’). Other

defining moments include the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the first
parliamentary elections, the fall of the
Berlin Wall, Boris Yeltsin’s election as
president, the dissolution of the Soviet
Union and the 1991 communist coup
attempt. Unlike Generation X in the
USA, the perestroika cohort has played
an active role in the momentous social
and political changes sweeping the
country. They attended political rallies,
advocated parliamentary reforms, and
more. This cohort values political
activism, is opposed to centralised
authority, prefers to live outside of
Russia and tends to be somewhat
materialistic.
The Post-Soviet cohort
This cohort began coming of age in
1992, and they are largely still a work in
progress. This cohort roughly
corresponds to the N Generation cohort
in the USA. The post-soviet cohort
witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet
Union, followed by hyperinflation,
privatisation and economic reforms, the
devaluation of the ruble, which wiped
out people’s life savings, the
confrontation between Boris Yeltsin and
the Russian parliament, the Chechnya
War, the bitter 1996 presidential
campaign, the increasingly erratic
behaviour of Boris Yeltsin and the 1998
stock market crash. One thing that sets
this group apart is the lack of parental
supervision. Their parents were too
preoccupied with what was going on
around them to pay much attention to
their children, and teachers did not
know how to teach history and social
science during a time when the official
dogmas suddenly lost their meaning.
Many have called this cohort ‘an
abandoned generation’ because they
have become lost in the shuffle. As a
result, gang and drug activity have been
on the increase among Russian youths
in recent years. Key cohort values
include self-sufficiency, cynicism, being
streetwise, materialism, amoralism, and
a strong interest in living outside of
Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts
Russia. It will be interesting to see in a
few years if the devolution of Russian
society into one run by organised and
white-collar criminals will result in an
even more cynical value structure in this
cohort or the one that follows it.
Brazil: The Second World War played
a minor role
Like Russia, Brazil was found to have
six distinct cohorts (see Table 5).
Interestingly, while the Second World
War shaped the majority of young
people coming of age in the early 1940s
in North America, Europe and Asia, in
Brazil, it had little impact. As a result, as
noted earlier, the country has no Second
World War cohort. Instead, it has the
Vargas-era cohort, whose members
came of age from 1930 to 1945. This
cohort was named after Getulio Vargas,
a charismatic leader who ruled the
country with an iron fist through two
coups d’état attempts and two
constitutions. The middle class resented
the economic pressure of this era, the
terror with which they lived, the
persecution of political opponents, and
the repression of all kinds of dissent that
was inherited from the Great
Depression of the late 1920s. In fact, the
middle class resented the economic
pressure more than the authoritarian
regime. At the same time, the masses
surrendered entirely to Vargas’ skills as
a strategist. Protective labour laws and
other benefits counterbalanced extreme
poverty and massive unemployment.
Their access to formal education was
limited. The scarcity of industrialised
products led them to put more
emphasis on ‘being’ rather than
‘having’. Lack of imported goods
hindered dreams of consumption. Due
to massive, biased government
propaganda and the exaltation of
national values, members of this cohort
developed a strong cult of nationalism
as well as a perception of the state as the
solution for all national problems. In
general, people of this cohort are
nationalistic, look to the state for
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Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817

Table 5 Brazilian cohorts

Cohort Born Coming of age Age in 2004 Defining moments Key cohort values

Vargas era 1913–1928 1930–1945 76–91 • Vargas’ coup • Nationalism

• State as a solution
• Being is better than having
• Acceptance of authority
Post-war 1929–1937 1946–1954 67–75 • Vargas’ deposition/Dutra’s election to President • Moral tradition
• Value of having
Optimism 1938–1950 1955–1967 54–66 • Vargas’ suicide/President Kubitschek’s election • Country of the future
• Youth culture and looking abroad
The Iron Years 1951–1962 1968–1979 42–53 • Dictatorship instituted • Belligerence
• Social crisis • Alienation, silence
• Institutional Act No. 5 (abolished democratic congress) • Myth of grandiosity
• Value of education
The Lost Decade 1963–1974 1980–1991 30–41 • Amnesty for activists • Fear
• End of economic growth • Frustration
• Materialism
• Individualism
• Hopelessness
Be on your own 1975 and after 1992–present 29 and under • Government crisis • Self-sufficiency
• President Collor’s impeachment • Consumerism
• Change in currency to real • Recovery of ethical and moral values

solutions, accept authority, and feel that
having experiences is better than having
material possessions.
Another interesting Brazilian cohort is
the Iron Years. Its members came of age
from 1968 to 1979. Defining moments
include a widespread social crisis that
resulted from the political reins being
taken over by a dictatorship, and the
implementation of Institutional Act No.
5, which abolished the democratic
congress. While the leading-edge baby
boomers in the USA were enjoying ever
greater freedoms and liberalism, the
Iron Years cohort in Brazil lived through
a repressive and violent regime of
military dictatorship that often led to
hostility or alienation. Civil rights were
significantly reduced, censorship was
instituted and political opposition was
not tolerated. Peaceful protest was
everywhere in the form of lyrics of
popular music and in the people’s
emphatic and steadfast silence. In order
to counterbalance its own
authoritarianism, the military regime
was lenient towards violations of
traditional ethical and moral values. The
dictatorship used sports, festivals,
porno-farce movies and soap operas to
camouflage its savagery, resulting in a
system of programmed alienation of the
population. Taking advantage of others
was praised as a virtue on television.
The harmony of interpersonal
relationships was definitely broken, as
wariness, suspicion and cynicism
became, for the most part, substitutes
for genuine, candid and honest relations
among people. While these social
problems were running rampant, the
dictatorship provided economic
prosperity. There was increased
economic growth, an increase in
imports and exports, rapid
industrialisation and urbanisation, huge
investments in large infrastructure
projects and an expansion of the
educational system. But these economic
improvements were viewed as taking
place at the expense of social justice. As
a result, the sense of economic
Journal of Consumer Behaviour Vol. 4, 1, 51–63 #Henry Stewart Publications 1472-0817
Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts
accomplishment was diminished to a
myth. Key cohort values that this era
produced were a sense of belligerence
about government institutions,
alienation, repressed silence as a means
of survival, pride in what was Brazil’s
myth of success and the importance of
education, which was seen as a way out
of the social crisis.
Because each cohort group has
unique values and experiences,
marketers need to treat them with care
in designing products, planning
marketing executions and developing
promotional pitches. Considering the
Iron Years cohort, because of the
distrust that comes with alienation,
products targeted towards this group
should be filled with guarantees and
promotions should stress the quality of
the product’s features. Tag lines could
associate the product with the cohort’s
sense of lost freedom. For example, ‘The
Bank of Brazil will provide you freedom
from worry about the safety of your
hard-earned money!’ or ‘Grab for
freedom . . . Brahma Beer is your
accomplice in the Great Escape!’. Also
playing off the concern for freedom,
products that hint of finding new ways
to use them reflect an opportunity to
free-think, something this cohort was
denied during its oppressed coming-of-
age years. Since cohort members saw
the economic surge accompanied by
social injustice and the hope for better
times ahead, marketers might use
spokespersons and product
demonstrators who appear ahead of
their time to play off the optimism that
this cohort still has about the future.
Some suggestions for different
marketing approaches to each of the
Brazilian cohorts are shown in Table 6.
CONCLUSION
From a marketing perspective, this
fresh, innovative way of segmenting
consumers by cohorts may be a more
effective technique than those presently
employed. Consumers are savvier than
ever before, demanding personal
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Table 6 How to tap the Brazilian market

Cohort Marketing implications

Vargas-era cohort • Provide detailed information about the products

Post-war cohort
Optimism cohort
The Iron Years cohort
The Lost Decade cohort
Be on your own cohort
• Adopt entertaining marketing communications backed by Brazilian
culture and conditions
• Provide products that may benefit the whole family
• Emphasise simplicity
• Show the virtues of those who prefer the products and use
spokespersons who appear to be honest
• Show people actually using the products
• Avoid putting pressure on buyers
• Occasionally remind potential buyers of the country’s economic
progress, its industries and national pride
• Offer guarantees of all kinds
• Develop promotions based on the idea of freedom
• Use endorsers who appear to be ahead of their time and who are
shown as users of the products
• Emphasise fashionable products and fashionable users
• Favour products that can benefit their users’ individuality
• State that everybody in the crowd already has the products
• Employ spokespersons of high visibility who transmit an image of
honesty
• Stress variety, as tailor-made products will appeal to this group
• Resort to one-to-one marketing with a personal reply whenever
possible
• Use global themes in promotions
• Avoid erotic appeals
• Associate promotions with honesty values
• Favour mechanisms that allow bargaining (eg variable price
structure)

attention and products that suit their
lifestyle. They do not want to be
encumbered with mistargeted or
misguided products and promotions.
Cohort analysis can provide a sense of
familiarity and personal appeal to these
savvy consumers, bringing them one
step closer to making a purchase and
providing the groundwork for building
long-term relationships.
Cohort targeting helps in developing
and repositioning products to be more
in line with a given cohort’s desires. In
short, using a target cohort’s values as
product platforms allows for greater
accuracy in one’s product offerings.
Cohort analysis also aids in designing
communication campaigns.
Determining music, movie stars or icons
that cohorts identified with from their
coming-of-age years can be an effective
means of speaking to a given cohort.
These tactics work because they rely on
nostalgia marketing, reminding
individuals of the good old days.
Consumers readily recognise that the
marketer is talking directly to them.
Reflecting a cohort’s values in the copy
of an advertisement immediately tells
the cohort members that their inner
feelings are understood. Such marketing
executions resonate extremely well with
cohort members.
Finally, as cohorts age and enter new
life stages, they bring their coming-of-
age cohort value systems, wants and
needs with them. Cohort analysis can
aid in tracking and forecasting changes
that will take place. Cohorts will impose
their values and preferences on the way
they carry out their lives. Retirement,
grandparenting and the ‘golden years’,
for instance, are likely to mean taking
on very different rights and
responsibilities as the Iron Years cohort
moves into these life stages. As such,
understanding cohort values will allow
better forecasting of changes and, in
turn, more effectively meet marketplace
wants and desires.
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