Delvinia and Environics Analytics have announced the launch of a new database that links the PRIZM_C2 segmentation system to Delvinia’s AskingCanadians™ survey on mobile technology use. The new release, known as the AskingCanadians™ Mobile PRIZM_C2Link, enables marketers to target their customers based on their mobile habits and lifestyles.

The mobile survey was conducted by Delvinia, a digital strategy and customer experience design firm, using its AskingCanadians™ panel, an online research community of 160,000 members across the country. Fielded last December, the annual study recorded the responses of 20,505 Canadians who were then classified according to the 66 lifestyles types of the widely used PRIZM_C2 segmentation system. The resulting PRIZM-linked database provides 695 variables on mobile technology, including preferences for providers, the use of devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, and attitudes towards mobile features.

The collaboration between EA and Delvinia has resulted in a series of new media analytics tools designed to improve marketers’ ability to reach consumers. With the pervasive use of mobile technology, the EA-Delvinia partnership enables businesses and not-for-profits to gain detailed insights into the mobile habits of all segments of Canadian society as defined by the 66 PRIZM_C2 lifestyle types—including such segments as Young Digerati (younger, upscale urban trendsetters), Asian Up-and-Comers (successful, middle-aged Asian families) and Grey Pride (lower-middle-class, suburban apartment-dwelling seniors). Because PRIZM_C2 users can access over 11,000 variables on marketplace behaviour, lifestyles and values, the new mobile database can help marketers better target their products and services to their customers based on their mobile preferences, lifestyles and mindset.

“This new linked database is critical for marketers who want to understand not only what mobile media devices Canadians use, but why and how they use them,” says Jan Kestle, President and Founder of Environics Analytics. “Our PRIZM_C2 link to the AskingCanadians mobile survey helps marketers make more informed decisions in their mobile applications and allows them to develop compelling mobile advertising programs for specific lifestyle types that go beyond merely inserting ads into apps. And because the new database can be deployed in our ENVISION web tool, marketers can easily add mobile to their targeting plans.”

With its hundreds of variables on mobile usage, the PRIZM-linked survey provides a detailed look at how mobile technology has infiltrated nearly every corner of Canadian life.

Among the topics that users can examine:

• consumers who buy a smartphone based on the “cool” factor rather than its functional features
• mobile phone users who take photos of QR codes with their smartphone to get more information from companies
• those who send text messages to a company in exchange for a coupon
• shoppers who like to receive e-coupons over their phones based on their demographics
• consumers who download financial or money management apps for their mobile devices
• those who constantly check their mobile phones from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed

“With the explosive adoption of mobile technologies, from smartphones to tablets and e-readers, this data helps us monitor and understand the changing behaviours of consumers,” says Adam Froman, CEO of Delvinia. “Linking our AskingCanadians™ survey data with the PRIZM_C2 segments provides marketers and researchers with an unprecedented depth of knowledge into consumers’ mobile behaviours.”