A Study of the Impact of Values and

Lifestyles (VALS) on Brand Loyalty with

Special Reference to English Newspapers*
C.Anandan1, M.Prasanna Mohanraj 2 & S.Madhu3

Abstract
Indian Newspaper Industry is witnessing high growth, despite the rise of the Internet and of
telecommunications as viable sources of information. Earlier all the newspapers thought that the
opportunity for them was within their own geographical area. But, in coming years publishers will be
spending over Rs.1000 crores to invade into other’s territories. Unless the publishers recognize the
preferences of readers, it would be unlikely that they would succeed in winning the hearts of the
customers.

This research makes an attempt to recognize the preferences and segment the readers of the English
newspapers based on their psychographic profiles by using VALS. VALS is a way of viewing people on
the basis of their attitudes, needs, wants, beliefs and demographics. This research also analyzes the
influence of psychographic factors on brand loyalty based on Brand loyalty scale and suggests the
psychographic segments to be targeted by the brands to sustain in the competitive Market environment.
Different types of market dominance strategies for various market positions are also explored.

1. INTRODUCTION invade each other’s territories. The

Indian newspaper industry is witnessing
high growth. Earlier, all newspaper
owners thought that opportunity was
only within their own geographical area.
This situation is changing and publishers
are spending thousands of crores to
newspaper market is bound to grow. New
brands are coming into different
territories. Unless the publishers
recognise the preferences of readers, they
would not be in a position to win the
hearts of the customers.

* Received January 30, 2006, Revised August 8, 2006.

1. Director, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management, Coimbatore,
e-mail: canandrec@yahoo.co.in & director@svpitm.ac.in
2. Lecturer in Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Tiruchirapalli,
e-mail: prasanna@bim.edu & prasannasai_nitt@yahoo.co.in
3. Business Analyst in Satyam Computer Services Ltd at Chennai,
e-mail: Madhu_Sathiyaseelan@satyam.com
98 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
When looking for a newspaper, people are
interested in papers which correspond to
their beliefs and with which they can
identify themselves. This study makes an
attempt at recognize the preferences and
the profiles of readers of English
newspapers. Defining the profile of the
readers by looking beyond the
demographic factors will assist the
newspapers to design their marketing
strategies in a much better way. This is
how study into values and life styles
becomes relevant.
1.1 Values And Lifestyles (VALS)
VALS is a way of viewing people on the
basis of their attitudes, needs, wants,
beliefs and demographics. The VALS
program was created by the SRI
International in 1978 in an attempt to
understand people’s personality through
their behaviours amid the changing
values and lifestyles in 1970’s. VALS uses
psychology to segment people according
to their distinct personality traits.(see
Figure -1) Schiffmen (2004) points out that
VALS was redefined to maximize its
ability to predict consumer behaviour in
1989.By using psychology to analyze and
predict consumer preferences and
choices, the current VALS system creates
an explicit link between personality traits
and purchase behaviour.
The system identifies current and future
opportunities by segmenting the consumer
marketplace on the basis of the personality
traits that drive consumer behaviour. VALS
applies in all phases of the marketing
process, from new-product development
and entry-stage targeting to
communications strategy and advertising.
The basic tenet of VALS is that people
express their personalities through their
behaviours. VALS reflects a real-world
pattern that explains the relationship
between personality traits and consumer
behaviour. VALS specifically defines
consumer segments on the basis of those
personality traits that affect behaviour in the
marketplace. VALS uses psychology to
analyze the dynamics underlying consumer
preferences and choices. VALS not only
distinguishes differences in motivation, it
also captures the psychological and material
constraints on consumer behaviour (Cyber
Media Research).
For many years, demographics have
governed how communicators target
campaigns. The problem is that even
though individuals in a specific
demographic category share some
common characteristic, such as, age, sex
or income, the psychographics of these
group like values, motivations and beliefs
are not homogeneous. When attitudes,
motivations, personality characteristics
and belief systems are analysed
mathematically or statistically to
determine groups with substantially
different attitudes, the result is a
psychographic segmentation. There are
multiple motivations for a behaviour, and
people in a specific demographic category
have a wide range of attitudes. Using
psychographics can help communicators
improve the quality and accountability of
their campaigns by zeroing in on the most
receptive audience for their message. At
a time when communication overload is
common among all audiences,
communicators must send relevant
messages to those who are most receptive.

Morgan and Doran (2003) argue that
psychographic segmentation, if used to
design and implement a communication
strategy, can result in more effective and
efficient campaigns, and change the
communicator into a strategist rather than
a tactician, moving his or her work from
that of an inexact art to an exact science.
The eight segments of VALS system range
from the top with most resources and high
motivation, the innovators, to the bottom
part with least resources and low
motivation, the survivors. In-between are
Thinkers (more resources) and believers
(less resources) motivated by ideals ;
achievers( more resources) and strivers(
less resources) motivated by achievement
Figure -1: Figure showing VALS SEGMENTS
VALS - Framework
Primary Motivation
Ideals
THINKERS
BELIVERS
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 99
and experiencers (more resources) and
makers( less resources) motivated by self
expression.
1.2 Significance of Brand Loyalty
The success of any brand largely depends
on the ability to retain the customers and
maintain the brand loyalty towards it. All
the customer relationship management
and marketing strategies are aimed at
retaining the customers. Brands, which
have cultivated ardent followers, are
always successful. Their customers do not
change brands for certain extra attributes
of competitor brand or some extra
services or benefits. Brand loyalists are
less price-sensitive and this reflects in the
INNOVATORS
High Resources
High Innovation
Achievement Self- expression
ACHIEVERS EXPERIENCERS
STRIVERS MAKERS
Low Resources
Low Innovation
SURVIVORS
100 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
brand’s equity also. Marketers have
always believed that brand loyalty would
lead them to customer relationships,
which would enable them to make the
best use of customer lifetime value.
Traditional approaches to brand loyalty
have stressed the importance of the fact
that it is less expensive to maintain
existing consumers than to get new ones.
Consumers who are loyal to a brand are
likely to spend more on it and also likely
to spread the positive word of mouth to
other consumers, thus becoming
advocates of the brand (Ramesh Kumar,
2004)
Brand loyalty has a direct and obvious
impact on corporate profitability and
marketing efficiency. Strong brand loyalty
leads to improvements in the acquisition
and retention of profitable customers,
improves margins and market share, and
usually improves the hit rate on new
product development via product and
line extensions. The concept of brand
loyalty may be viewed as a behaviour
resulting from positive attitudes and
perceived value.(National Textile Center,
Auburn University)
According to Bloemer and Kasper (1995),
brand loyalty implies that consumers
bind themselves to products or services
as a result of a deep-seated commitment.
To exemplify this point, they rendered a
distinction between repeat purchases and
actual brand loyalty. In their published
research, they assert that a repeat
purchase behaviour “is the actual re-
buying of a brand” whereas loyalty
includes “antecedents” or a reason or fact
occurring before the behaviour. It occurs
because the consumer perceives that the
brand offers the right product features,
image, or level of quality at the right price
(Bill Nissim).
In the light of this information, it is clear
that brand loyalty can be an important
factor in the success of a company. Thus
brand loyalty enables long term standing
in the market place and reduces the cost
of acquiring new customers as well as the
minimising the cost of servicing for the
existing customers. The very concept of
loyalty seems to have become a dynamic
one, with the marketing literature
presenting different aspects of the
concept.
Brand loyalty also enables the marketer
to sail through tough times and in
estimating the demand. Brand loyalty is
an important asset contributing to a
brand’s equity. Aaker(1991) describes the
five levels of brand loyalty. The highest
of these is the “committed buyer.” Robert,
Reynolds and Kristy (2004) describes the
“ultimate committed customer” within
the category of “committed buyers,” as
the Harley-Davidson rider who wears the
Harley symbol as a tattoo.
1.3 Values and Life Style (Vals) and
Loyalty
Emotions and values are related in
consumption experiences. Allen, Karen
and Kleine (1992) describe the Consumer
as the latent variable that links emotions
and values in consumption experiences.
Emotions supplement attitude in
predicting consumption behaviour. Pitts,
Robert Jr. and Arch (1984) defines Values

as an abstract and complex construct that
can provide underlying continuity to
behaviour.
Values may prove to be one of the most
powerful explanations of, and influences
on, consumer behaviour. Clawson, and
Vinson (1978) express the importance of
values in predicting the consumer
behaviour that values can surpass the
contributions of other major constructs
including attitudes, product attributes,
degree of deliberating, product
classification, and life style. The value
expressed in a consumption experience is
the result of the emotions that accompany
the consumption experience. According
to Holbrook and Morris (1986) emotions
and values are intertwined in
consumption. Values drive loyalty
because they meet the deep-rooted
emotional needs of consumers.
VALS - short for values and lifestyles - is
a way of viewing people on the basis of
their attitudes, needs, wants, beliefs, and
demographics. Marketers use VALS to
understand why consumers make the
choices they do. The more marketers
know about the target, the better they can
design messages that resonate with the
target. By using VALS, marketers can
understand the motivations that stimulate
consumer behaviour, such as repeated
purchase of particular product or brand
or participating in a loyalty program (SRI
consulting Business Intelligence). Both
public television and radio of United
States track customer loyalty using the
VALS Psychographic segmentation
system developed by SRI Consulting
(Susan Myrland)
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 101
1.4. About the Newspaper Industry
Newspaper has always been one of the
most important providers of news and
entertainment, despite the rise of the
Internet and of telecommunications as
viable sources of information. People have
different norms, values, and beliefs.
Consequently, it is important for
newspapers to be able to tie customers to
them, to deliver something that satisfies
the customer and to give the customer an
incentive to be loyal.
For this research study, the leading
National level English newspapers
operating in South India, namely, The
Hindu, The Times of India and The New
Indian express have been taken.
2. PROFILE OF THE NEWSPAPERS
2.1 The Hindu
The Hindu started in 1878 as a weekly,
became a daily in 1889 and from then on
has been steadily growing to the current
circulation of over 9 lakh copies and a
readership of over 3 million .It has
achieved third largest English newspaper
in the readership. It is printed in twelve
centres namely, Chennai (Madras),
Coimbatore, Bangalore, Madurai,
Hyderabad, New Delhi, Vizag,
Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada,
Mangalore and Tiruchirapalli which are
connected with high speed data lines for
news transmission across the country.
The Hindu also publishes Business Line
(Business Newspaper), Front line (Fort-
nightly magazine) and sport star (Sports
magazine). It has also published many
books.
102 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
2.2 The Times of India
The Times of India was launched in
Bombay in 1838. Owned by Bennett,
Coleman & Co. Ltd. it is the largest
newspaper in the country with a strong
national presence. It is India’s most
widely circulated English daily and the
group’s premier mega-brand. The Times
of India is rated amongst the world’s six
best newspapers and attracts a daily
circulation level of more than a million
copies. It is published from Mumbai,
Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow
and Patna. The group also publishes
Economic Times, Femina, Filmfare,
Navbharat Times, Sandhya Times and
Times FM.
2.3 The New Indian Express
The New Indian Express, published by
Express Publications (Madurai) ltd, is
printed in fourteen centres. It has a major
presence in the four southern states of
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Kerala, and also Orissa. The group also
publishes newspaper. Dinamani in Tamil
and Kannada Prabha in Kannada, and
also magazines, Cinema Express in Tamil,
Malayalam Vaarika in Malayalam and
Tamilan Express in Tamil.
3. NEED FOR THE STUDY & STUDY
OBJECTIVES
According to a Price water house Coopers
(PwC) survey for the year 2003, (Business
World, 2005), it is estimated that the news
paper industry in India is around US$1.7
billion in 2003, and is expected to grow to
around US$ 2.4billion in 2008. Publishers
in India are ready to spend over Rs 1, 000
crore to invade each other’s territories.
There are a lot of new brands coming into
different territories.
Therefore, the basic need is to recognize
the preferences and the profiles of readers,
otherwise they could not win the hearts
of the customers. Segmentation based on
traditional variables may not be sufficient
in the competitive market therefore in
order to facilitate the segmentation of the
Newspaper market (English) we need to
find out the different profiles of the
customers based on values and lifestyles
and finally we need to explicit the
influence of psychographic factors on
brand loyalty.
Accordingly the objectives of the study
were as follows:
• To study the profile of the customers
of the newspaper (English) market
based on psychographic lifestyles by
using VALS.
• To develop the brand loyalty scale of
customers and to measure the loyalty.
• To find out the relationship between
Psychographic profile of the
customer and brand loyalty.
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 Research Design
In this study descriptive research design
was followed in this research because the
information collected was intended to be
used to describe the customers profile
based on the Values and life styles and to
explore the relationship between their
lifestyle and brand loyalty.

4.2 Sampling Technique
Fixed quota sampling has been adopted
for the three newspapers as stated earlier.
Samples have been collected from the
cities of Trichy and Bangalore.
4.3 Determining the Sample Size
A pilot study was conducted with 60
respondents (they are not included in the
main study) and the data were used for
determining the sample size. The
responses were sought with regard to
brand loyalty in terms of number of
purchase.
Sample size was determined using the
“sample size determination for a
proportion method”. The formula for
estimating the sample size (n0 ) is given
below:
Z 2 p (1 − p )
n0 =
e2
Where Z is the level of confidence desired,
p is the true proportion of success (brand
loyal customers) and e is the error
permitted.
For adjusting the sample size for the
population by applying the correction
factor, the actual sample size (n) is
calculated as below:
n0 N
n=
n0 + (N − 1)
The sample size was estimated at 95%
confidence level, with the permitted error
of 0.05. The ‘p’ was defined as the
proportion of the respondent who were
brand loyalists. The opinion on loyalty
was taken from the pilot study. N referred
to the Population. Here, the circulation
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 103
figure of newspapers in study area has
been taken as the Population.
Hence, Z = 1.96 (95% confidence level), e
= 0.05 and p=0.76 is applied in the
equation to estimate the sample size.
(1.962 ) 0.76(1 − 0.76)
n0 = = 280 .28
0.052
(280 .28 )(339776 )
n= = 279 .98
280 .28 + (339776 − 1)
The actual sample size is estimated as 280.
Since there are three newspapers and it is
decided to use ‘fixed quota sampling’ (so
that enough responses will be obtained
from the intended target audience), the
sample size has been fixed on the higher
side as 300.
The Total sample size of 300 customers
is divided into three equal quotas as
follows:
Brands Sample size
Times of India 100
The Hindu 100
The New Indian Express 100
4.4 Statistical tools
The data obtained for the study was
analyzed by using “Factor analysis” for
identification of Psychographic segments.
Factor analysis was conducted using 36
VALS items from SRI to uncover the
dimensions underlying the perception of
life-style indices. Exponential cluster
analysis is also used with factor analysis
for profiling the customers.
104 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
5. FINDINGS
5.1 VALS Segments
Factor analysis using varimax rotation
resulted in finding eight derived factors,
each having Eigen value greater than unity.
In the rotated factor matrix, those variables
which had factor loading of above 0.50
(ignoring the signs) are grouped under
their respective derived factors. Thus 36
variables (VALS statements) were then
loaded on the five factors.
(Rotated Factor matrix shown in
annexure I)
Factor 1: Innovators consisted of four
items reflecting how this lifestyle group
enjoying the finer things receptive to new
products and technology and they are
frequent readers of wide publication.
Factor 2: Strivers contained four items
describing people of this group as trendy,
fashionable and fun loving. They favour
stylish products. As they are motivated,
they concern very much about the opinion
and approval of others.
Factor 3: Achievers contained three
items characterising themselves as
change-leaders and people with high
self-esteem.
Factor 4: Experiencers consisted of three
items reflecting how this life-style group
liked excitement, thrill, new things and
challenges.
Factor 5: Survivors comprised three items
classifying people in this group as those
who are limited and with less resources
and living narrowly focused lives. Their
primary concern was safety.
Factor 6: Believers consisted of three items
depicting people in this group as
conservative and conventional. Their
education, income are modest but
sufficient to meet their needs.
Factor 7: Thinkers consisted only one item
classifying people in this group as those
who are interested in art, culture and
history.
Factor 8: Makers consisted of two items
classifying the people in this group as
those who are interested in making the
things in their own way.
5.2 Customers Profile of English
Newspapers
Exponential cluster analysis is used for
profiling the customers of three English
Newspapers, namely, The Hindu, The
Times of India and The New Indian
Express, based on their lifestyles.
5.2.1 The Hindu
The following table depicts the various
VALS segments of The Hindu Readers.
Segments Percentage of
readers in the
segments
Innovators 40%
Strivers 35%
Achievers 20%
Survivors 5%
Innovators are the major part of The
Hindu customers followed by Strivers.
Innovators are successful, sophisticated,
take-charge people with high self-esteem.
Because they have such abundant
resources, they exhibit all three primary
motivations in varying degrees. They are

change leaders and are the most receptive
to new ideas and technologies. Innovators
are very active consumers, and their
purchases reflect cultivated tastes for
upscale, niche products and services.
Image is important to Innovators. They
will read different categories of
publications. It is evident that most of the
customers prefer the Hindu because of its
image. So they have extended their
preferences across the various categories
of publications such as magazines and
books. They have made the Business line,
the Business Newspaper coming from The
Hindu publishing house, as one of the
largest business newspapers in
India(Source: Agencyfaqs) Strivers hold
the second major part of the Hindu
customers, followed by Achievers and
Survivors in that order.
5.2.2 The Times of India
Segments Percentage of
readers in the
segments
Strivers 45%
Innovators 30%
Experiencers 15%
Achievers 5%
Thinkers 5%
Strivers are the major bases of customers
of the Times of India followed by
Innovators.
Strivers are trendy and fun loving.
Because they are motivated by
achievement, they favour stylish products
that emulate the purchases of people with
greater material wealth. Strivers are active
consumers because shopping is both a
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 105
social activity and an opportunity to
demonstrate to peers their ability to buy.
Times of India is having strong youth
image and also pioneer in making page 3
culture. It has a track record of attracting
the youth through ‘infotainment’ (Source:
Agencyfaqs)
5.2.3 The New Indian Express
Segments Percentage of
readers in the
segments
Strivers 25%
Innovators 20%
Believers 35%
Makers 15%
Achievers 5%
The New Indian Express is enjoying the
rapport with the segments of Believers
and Makers. But, the Times of India and
the Hindu do not have the markable
presence in these segments. Believers are
motivated by ideals. They are
conservative, conventional people with
concrete beliefs based on traditional,
established codes: family, religion,
community and the nation. Many
Believers express moral codes that are
deeply rooted and literally interpreted.
They follow established routines,
organised in large part around home,
family, community, and social or religious
organizations to which they belong.
The New Indian Express, which is having
the readership of 2, 20, 000 compared to
above-mentioned two dailies (Saha, 2004)
The New Indian express is having rich
heritage of journalism and providing the
news in a conservative and traditional
106 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management

manner. So Indian Express is holding very 2. Unbiased News presentation

strong base among the believers who need 3. I am enhancing my language /
the traditional and conservative fluency by reading this paper
newspaper. 4. Wide coverage of political and sports
5.3 Measurement of Brand Loyalty news.
Amine (1998) suggests two different 5. More entertaining and colourful
approaches for measuring brand loyalty: pictures
the downstream one, based on observing 6. High print quality and easy to read
consistent purchases of a brand over a 7. I love this newspaper
period of time and the upstream
8. I will recommend this paper to my
approach, which focuses on the motives friends/relatives
that are behind repeat purchase of a
brand. Jacoby and Chestnut, (1978) define The behavioural component of brand
Brand Loyalty as biased (i.e., non loyalty can be found by calculating the
random), behavioural response (i.e., proportion of buying the Newspaper. This
purchase) expressed over time by some method has taken both attitudinal and
decision-making unit with respect to one behavioural component together
or more alternative brands and is a
function of psychological (decision- 5.3.1 Loyalty Scores of VALS Segments
making) processes.
Brand loyalty scale is developed based on
Based on above definition, the following Brand loyalty score calculated from the
formula was developed which links above formula.
attitude toward the favourite brand and
purchase behaviour. Loyalty scale Loyalty scores
Least loyal customers 20 – 39%
Brand loyalty
Less loyal customers 40-59%
Proportion of
S attitude towards Loyal customers 60-79%
purchase of
= favourite brand X favourite Strong loyal customers 80-100%

40 brandover
the last ten The customers are showing the loyalty
occasions towards newspapers across all the values
and life styles segments. The segment of
The following attitude statements are Makers is less loyal relative to other
evaluated on five point likert scale
segments.
reflecting the
Experiencers, Believers and Thinkers are
Readers attitude toward their favourite
the segments showing hard-core loyalty
newspaper are:
(100%) towards their newspapers.
1. Highly reliable and credible source Innovators, Strivers and Achievers are

The loyalty scale for the three newspapers
Times of India
Least loyal 15%
Less loyal 5%
Loyal 30%
Strong loyal 50%
showing strong loyalty (81%-89%)
towards their newspapers. The table
showing the Loyalty scores of VALS
segments is shown in Annexure- II
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
This study comes out with psychographic
profile of customers of the three leading
newspapers. This study found that brand
image of these Newspapers goes hand-in-
hand with Psychographic profile of their
customers. Strivers are the major bases
of customers of The Times of India.
Strivers are trendy and fun loving. They
are concerned about the opinions and
approval of others. Times of India is
having strong youth image and also
pioneer in making Page 3 culture. So
Times of India is utilising their
Psychographic profile of strong Strivers
base to project their brand image of suave,
modern, glossy and entertaining
newspaper.
The characteristics of VALS segment are
found to be similar with the findings of
study related to loyalty. Believers are
conservative, practical consumers; they
look for durability, functionality, and
value in the products they buy. They are
generally loyal customers. This study
also found that all Believers are strong
loyal customers. The New Indian
Express is having the highest percentage
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 107
The Hindu The New Indian Express
—- 10%
10% 5%
45% 60%
45% 25%
of (60%) of loyal customers as it is
having 35% of Believers in its customer’s
base.
7. SUGGESTIONS
The strategic framework is developed for
the newspaper marketers. This
framework suggests four types of market
dominance strategies, namely, market
leader, market challenger, market
follower, and market nicher for a
marketer to consider. These strategies are
primarily answering two following
questions:
Which VALS segment to be targeted for
each of the above categories?
What are the strategies to target these
segments?
These questions are answered below.
7.1 Market Leader Starategies
The market leader is dominant in its
industry. It has substantial market share
and often-extensive distribution
arrangements with retailers. It typically
is the industry leader in developing
innovative new business models and new
products. Market leaders have to defend
their Market share by retaining the
existing customers. Market leader should
have strong customer base of Thinkers
and Believers.
108 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
A Market leader in Newspaper have to
enhance its presence among Thinkers for
following reasons:
Thinkers are conservative, mature and
satisfied customers who look for
durability and value in the products they
buy. They tend to base their decisions on
firmly held principles. So they are very
hard targets for competitors. Even they
refer the brand to their friends/relatives,
if they are really satisfied with content.
Newspapers with rich content in national
and international news will be welcomed
thinkers, as they are alert to opportunities
to broaden their knowledge.
Believers are conventional and loyal
customers who prefer established brand in
any product category. They follow the
established routine. Believers will prefer
newspapers with rich content in regional
news. Newspapers can target these segment
by having the exclusive supplements for
covering the regional news. Thinkers and
Believers are the segments who will be cult
followers of the Brand.
With more than 2.4 million copies sold
every day, The Times of India has been
certified by the Audit Bureau of
Circulations as having become the world’s
largest selling English broadsheet
newspaper ahead of giants like USA Today
and Wall Street Journal, Times London and
The Guardian. The Times of India is the
pioneer in creating the page 3 culture by
targeting the strivers. Innovators are
holding second major customer base of this
newspaper. It can start to target the
Innovators as they extend their support
and preference to other category of
publications. But they don’t have
significant presence of Believers and
thinkers. From the findings it is found that
Times of India is relatively having less
loyal customer base compared to other two
newspapers .As a Market leader, they have
to target Believers and Thinkers to increase
the loyalty base, which will make the brand
travel towards cult status.
7.2 Market Challenger Starategies
A market challenger is a firm in a strong,
but not dominant position that is
following an aggressive strategy of trying
to gain market share. It typically targets
the industry leader, but it could also target
smaller, more vulnerable competitors.
Strivers are impulsive and easily bored.
So, Strivers are the vulnerable segment to
be targeted by Market followers. Many
of them seek to be stylish. And they are
concerned about the opinions and
approval of others. They are fashion
victims(Source: Scarborough Research ).
Rising disposable income among youth
will influence the rise of strivers.
The Hindu has been steadily growing to
the current circulation of over 900,000
copies and a readership of over 3 million.
Strivers hold the second major part of “The
Hindu” readers. The Hindu may start to
target these segments. The Hindu may
come out with the sections or supplements
dealt with entertainment, colorful pictures,
and stories about the latest trends in
fashions. The Hindu will get the
Advertisements from the advertisers
whose target audience are youth. Now The
Hindu is conducting the educational fair,
career fair etc. Similarly it may conduct the
fashion shows or sponsoring the fashion

shows to get the firm place in the minds of
Strivers. At the same time, it should not
deviate from its core content of
educational journalism so that it can retain
its Major segment of Innovators.
7.3 Market Followers Starategies
A market follower is a firm in a strong,
but not dominant position that is content
to stay at that position. The rationale is
that by developing strategies that are
parallel to those of the market leader, they
will gain much of the market from the
leader while being exposed to very little
risk. Market followers may follow two
options
1. Strengthen the loyalty of existing
customer base by delivering the core
benefits to their segments. They
should strengthen the segment of
Thinkers and Believers as they are
insulate to competitors promotions.
2. Expanding the customer base by
targeting the Brand Switchers. They
may target the Experiencers, strivers
and strugglers who are brand
switchers to expand the Market share.
Experiencers are impulsive and
rebellious. They are variety seekers
(Source: Doug Box)
The New Indian express is having
exclusive VALS segments such as
Believers, Makers, Achievers .The other
two newspapers do not have significant
presence in these segments. So the New
Indian express may utilise and tap the
potential among these segments. It can
utilise its editorial section to address the
societies’ need for justice. It can tie-up
with Non-Governmental Organisations
Anandan et al, A Study on The Impact of ... 109
(N.G.O) in promoting the civic awareness
campaigns, such as, anti-pollution, anti-
smoking movement etc. Believers will
show their hard-core loyalty as long as the
New Indian express will stay on their
traditional image
7.4 Market Nicher Strategies
In this niche strategy the firm concentrates
on a select few target markets. It is also
called a focus strategy. It is hoped that by
focusing ones marketing efforts on one or
two narrow market segments and
tailoring your marketing mix to these
specialized markets, you can better meet
the needs of that target market. The niche
should be large enough to be profitable,
but small enough to be ignored by the
major industry players. Makers and
Achievers are the faithful segments for
Market Niches.
Newspaper with political alignment may
target the Achievers. Achievers are value
consensus, politically conservative and
respect the authority. They will prefer the
newspaper, which will support their
political ideology.
7.5 Strategies For New Entrant
Experiencers are the vulnerable segment
for New entrant in the Newspaper
Market. Experiencers are young,
impulsive and rebellious. They seek
variety and excitement. They are
politically uncommitted and uninformed.
So they may not be loyal to any brand.
They can be targeted easily to boost the
initial sales. Survivors can also be targeted
for initial launch, if the Newspaper goes
for low-price and consumer promotion
tools.
110 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management
All the Newspaper brands should
concentrate on developing their image
and evolving in to changing needs of the
custome rs. They should address the needs
of Thinkers and Believers to strengthen
their loyalty base. General Newspapers
may utilize the Innovators’ willingness to
read all categories of publications.
Innovators may extend their loyalty to
other category of their favorite publication
like Business Newspaper, women
magazine and Sports magazine etc.
Newspapers should address the needs of
Strivers , to get youth and energetic
image.
8. CONCLUSION & DIRECTIONS FOR
FUTURE RESEARCH
This study has been an attempt at
examining various VALS segments and
their impact on brand loyalty particularly
in the context of major English
newspapers. Certain suggestions have
also been made for these newspapers
strengthen their loyalty base. Further
research in the area can possibly include
extension to different Brands and
studying relationship between geo-
demographic factors and VALS factors.
Similarly, the relationship between
lifestyles and preference for Regional Vs
English Newspaper can also be studied.
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ANNEXURE – I
Rotated Factor Matrix (loading criteria > 0.5)
VALS Statements F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8
I like to take the challenge
of doing something that
I have never none before 0.797
I like to try new things 0.759
I like to learn things even
if they never be any use 0.746
I like to do the new and
different things 0.696
I like to dress latest fashion 0.831
I want to be considered as
fashionable 0.657
I follow the latest trends
& fashions 0.559
I dress more fashionably
than most people 0.554
112 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management

VALS Statements F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8
I like being in charge
of a group 0.812
I consider myself as
an intellectual 0.666
I must admit that I like
to show off 0.478
I am always looking for thrill 0.770
I like lot of excitement in life 0.763
I crave for excitement 0.744
I am interested in only
few things 0.798
I make things of wood, metal 0.500
I make things to use 0.411
Just as my religion says the
world was created by god 0.803
The Indian government should
encourage prayers in schools 0.793
There is too much sex in
television 0.535
I like to learn about art,
culture and history 0.600
I like to look through hard
ware or automotive stores 0.696
I am interested in working
with engines 0.653

ANNEXURE II
Joint Matrix Showing Brand Loyalty Scale For VALS Segments
Segments Least loyal Less Loyal Loyal Strong loyal
Innovators 11.2 - 55.6 33.5
Strivers 4.5 13.5 27.2 54.4
Achievers - 16.7 33.3 50
Experiencers - 100 -
Survivors 25 - 25 50
Believers - - - 100
Thinkers - - 100
Makers 33.3 — 66.7 -