1. Tapestry vs. Prizm Assignment
Fullerton, CA. 92831
I grew up in Fullerton, which is a growing city in Orange County. Fullerton is popular for their
orange trees, Cal State Fullerton, and nightlife of downtown Fullerton. In 1988, my parents
moved to Fullerton after they got married. My family and I have lived in the same Fullerton
house for over 23 years. My father was born and raised in Fullerton and always loved the feel of
the city. He has watched it grow from a small town to a richly evolving city. He always believed
Fullerton would be a perfect city to raise a family. By living in Fullerton, I have developed a
richer understanding of the people, culture, and environment.
1. When I logged into the BAO website, I typed in my zip code into the search box. I typed in
92831 for Fullerton. The Top Three Tapestry Segments for Fullerton were Segment 05 Wealthy
Seaboard Suburbs, Segment 35 International Marketplace, and Segment 63 Dorms to Diplomas.
Segment 05 Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs
The Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs are established and affluent neighborhoods in metropolitan
areas. They do not frequently move and are slow to make changes. The segment includes low
diversity with mostly white residents with more than half of the population being married for
over 15 years. Their income consists of a variety of sources which include interest, dividends,
and rental properties. The Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs are not do-it-yourselfers. They love to
shop, travel, read the newspaper, do recreational activities, and the top segment for watching
home shopping channels. The median age is 43.2 years old. The median household income is
$98,852. The median home value is $379, 345.
Segment 35 International Marketplace
The second top Tapestry Segment of Fullerton is the International Marketplace. The
International Marketplace is the second most diverse of the Tapestry segments with more than
half being Hispanic. It consists of developing urban markets with culture and household types.
This segment is also diverse as at least one person in the household has difficulty speaking
English. The population consists of young and household families. Family is the top priority for
this segment. They buy groceries, diapers, children's' clothes and keep in touch with relatives
overseas. The preferences of the International Marketplace includes watching television and
listening to contemporary radio. The median age is 32 years old. The median household income
is $40,370. The median home value is $272, 968.
Segment 63 Dorms to Diplomas
The third top Tapestry segment for Fullerton is the Dorms to Diplomas. The Dorms to Diplomas
segment consists of the college students and are the youngest of the Tapestry age segments. The
majority share residency with one or more roommates and work part-time in the low paying jobs
2. which include the educational services, food service and retail industry. They are less ethnically
diverse as well with 71% of the segment being white. In addition, these segments live in dorms
and off-campus. The Dorms to Diploma residents have a carefree lifestyle and focus on
education. They own laptops, cell phones, iPods, digital cameras, bank online, and use on-
campus gyms. The median age for this segment is 21.9 years old with the median household
income being $23,807. The median home value in these neighborhoods is $160,730.
After visiting the Tapestry Segmentation PDF link to see which segment I fit into, I choose the
Dorms to Diplomas segment for the best fit for my lifestyle.
Pleasant-Ville are family oriented and live in single family homes. They are middle-aged
married couples and 40% of households have children. They enjoy where they lived and bought
their houses for much cheaper the current value. The median age is 40.8 years old. The median
income is $74,355. The median home value is $279,632. The residents work in a variety of
different occupations. The Pleasant-Ville residents spend majority of their time with family.
They enjoy dining out, playing board games and attending sporting events. They like sightseeing
vacations and listen to contemporary music. They keep ahead of current events and usually work
out at home. Pleasant-Ville segments are do-it-yourselfers and use coupons when shopping.
Why I belong: I belong to this segment because Fullerton is a Pleasantville town. It ranks 4th on
the Top Tapestry Segments. The household home value is pretty accurate as my home is worth a
little bit more than the $279,632. The median income results are very accurate too. My father
makes over $80,000 a year which falls into the category of a media income of $74,355. I am very
family oriented. The residents homes in are built between 1950 and 1970. My family's home was
built in 1960. In addition, two-third of Pleasant-Ville residents bought their house before 1995.
My parents bought their house in 1988. The occupations for this segment are also diverse, which
is similar to my lifestyle. My father works as a tow truck driver and owns a bar. His two jobs are
very different than the average residents in the United States. The preferences are very similar as
well. For the preferences, Pleasant-Ville segments do not hire additional help for their lawn
service. This is similar to my family as we are very do-it-yourselfers. We do not have a gardener
and my mother does most of the yard work at our house. My family and I also love baseball
games. Our family had season tickets for the Los Angeles Angels last year and consider
ourselves big sports fans. My family and I love NASCAR and we are very dedicated to watching
races on television like the majority of Pleasant-Ville residents. The Pleasant-Ville segment likes
to work out at home, use a PC, and check e-mails. I am very interested in obtaining a healthy
lifestyles and I enjoy exercising at my house to stay in shape. I also use a PC and regularly check
e-mails.
Why It's wrong: I found a few factors that did not fit into my lifestyle. When looking at the
socioeconomic segment, my family does not make additional revenue from rental property,
interest or dividends. For the preferences, my family and I are not too big into coupons and
3. discounts. We try to keep track of coupons, but majority of the time we always forget the
coupons or too impatient to wait until a discount occurs.
Part 2: Nielson PRIZM Report
1. Zip Code 92831 most common PRIZM segments are 29 American Dreams, 65 Big City Blues,
54 Multi-Culti Mosaic, 01 Upper Crust, and 31 Urban Achievers.
29 American Dreams
Segment 29 American Dreams are ethically diverse. One-third speak a language other than
English with about half of the residents being Hispanic, Asian ot African-American. The median
income household income is $56,067. The lifestyles favorites include visiting the zoo and
reading the Tribune. Their favorite media channel is E! Channel. The average age is less than 55
years old. The income is upper middle and have professional employment levels.
65 Big City Blues
Segment 65 Big City Blues are middle-aged singles in the metro area. They are highly
concentrated in the Hispanic-American culture. The population consists of 45% Hispanics. They
face challenges with low incomes, uncertain jobs and education. They are mostly renters and are
under the age of 55 years old. The median household income is $33,242. The lifestyle
preferences include going to soccer games and shopping. They watch Univision and drive the
Kia car.
54 Multi-Culti Mosaic
Segment 54 Multi-Culti Mosaic consists of many first generation Americans. They live in urban
homes and are determined to improve their living status. The Multi-Culti Mosaic segment are
mixed between Hispanic, Asian, and African-American families. The median household income
is $35,770. The average ages are between 35-54 years old with a lower middle income. The
4. lifestyle preferences include going to basketball games and shopping. They prefer to read People
magazine Espanol and watch Spanish language television. Their preferred car is the Acura ZDX.
01 Upper Crust
Segment 01 Upper Crust are wealthiest residents in America. They do not have any children and
majority are over the age of 55 years old. The Upper Crust earns over $100,000 a year and have
a postgraduate degree. The median household income is $108,992 with a high majority owning
their own homes. Upper Crusts have a higher amount of discretionary income. They shop at high
end retail stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and drive a Lexus. They also watch the Golf Channel
and vacation in Europe.
31 Urban Achievers
Segment 31 Urban Achievers are younger residents without children living in urban areas. They
live in port cities and one of the first stops for traveling immigrants. Urban Achievers are
ethnically diverse and college-educated. The median household income is $36,412, which is
lower middle income. The average age is under 35 years old. They work white collar and mixed
jobs. Their lifestyle preferences include reading comic books and watching soccer. They shop at
FedEx Office and drive the Toyota Yaris.
For the PRIZM report, my family did not relate too well to any of the specific choices for the
Fullerton zip code area as shown above. After searching through many of the segments, my
family and I would be classified under MayBerry-Ville.
MayBerry-Ville are white, middle income couples who do not have children. They are old-
fashioned and like to stay home and watch television. They are aged 45-64 years old and have a
high school diploma. MayBerry-Ville residents own their own houses and are highly paid blue
collar workers. They spend their income on boats, campers, motorcycles and trucks. Their
lifestyle preferences include watching NASCAR and going hunting. In addition, they shop at
Sears Department Stores and drive GMC trucks.
Why I belong: MayBerry-Ville are between the ages of 45-64 years old. My mother and father
fall into this age range. They are also of white ethnicity which is another common similarity.
MayBerry-Ville residents have homeownership and are highly paid blue collar workers. My
father is a tow truck driver who earns an upper class income. My parents also own their own
home and spend their money on discretionary aspects. My dad is not much of a saver and likes to
spend his money on fun things for the family to do. He has a boat, sea doos, and motor home. In
addition, one of the main similarities with this segment is the lifestyle preference of watching
NASCAR. My father, sister and I are huge NASCAR fans and enjoy watching racing together
every Sunday afternoon.
Why it's wrong: This segment is classified as upper income couples who do not have children.
My parents have two children so this part of the description is not accurate. My family also does
not have a motorcycle or drive a truck as forms of transportation. Another difference is that my
family does not go hunting. I believe this is because we live in the city where there is not much
wildlife. My family prefers other recreational activities do to as a family.
5. Part 3: Discussions
1. I felt the Tapestry Segmentation was more accurate than PRIZM. The Tapestry Segmentation
consisted of higher detailed information and more precise segmentation targets. I was able to
learn more detailed information about preferences of the target population. The Tapestry
Segmentation gave a greater detailed area of demographics, socioeconomics, residential and
preferences. In addition, the Tapestry Assignment provided additional statistics and percentages
of the median levels of income, age and home value. When comparing the "I Belong With"
sections, I felt my family fit fairly well into both of the programs. PleasantVille and MayBerry-
Ville were the two categories that fit my family for the PRIZM and Tapestry segments. The
PRIZM segmentation was more accurate to my family lifestyle choices than the Tapestry
Segmentation, but I felt the Tapestry Segmentation provided richer information of the actual
population target. It also took a lot longer to find a fitting segmentation for the PRIZM as many
were very similar to each other. The PleasantVille was very accurate on my family's income,
spending time with family and the home building structure. It was interesting to see the
similarities with own family. My family spends a lot of time together watching baseball games
and playing board games like the description listed. In addition, the Tapestry segment of
PleasantVille was listed on the top four segmentations for Fullerton while MayBerry-Ville on the
PRIZM report was not one of the top six outcomes.
2. Tapestry and PRIZM reports had many similarities and differences. Tapestry and PRIZM both
gave detailed information about segment preferences and demographics. They both provided
household income medians, ages, occupation, education, and ethnicity. There were also some
differences. The Tapestry provided a greater amount of detail on lifestyle preferences. The
Tapestry reports showed extra details like the computer used and what those segment residents
do for fun. I also enjoyed learning about where residents exercise and their involvement with
newspapers. A difference with the PRIZM report was more information about media lifestyle. I
was also able to learn about what channel residents watch and the specific magazines they read.
In addition, I learned what each segment drives for their vehicle. I thought that was very
interesting how every segment was a little different on their vehicle preference. Overall, both
programs are very insightful and helpful in determining market segmentation.
References:
Tapestry Segmentation Summary Table:
http://downloads2.esri.com/support/whitepapers/other_/2010_Tapestry_and_Group_S
ummary_Tables.pdf