Segment Personas: What Would Ocean and Duke Wear?

Marketers for Lululemon, the hugely successful maker of workout clothing, design new products and programs by thinking about what Ocean and Duke would wear, what they need, what they like and what they don't like.

Ocean is 32 years old, a graphic designer who's physically fit, well educated, and affluent.

Ocean is married to Duke, a 34-year-old architect who's also interested in staying fit.

Ocean and Duke are segment personas (also known as buyer personas), fictitious profiles representing how the customers in a target market behave, live, and buy. Giving them a name and a lifestyle turns buyers into real people rather than nameless, faceless customers who are indistinguishable from nonbuyers. Segment personas also help the firm avoid assumptions or misperceptions about who its buyers are and what they want/need. So Lululemon uses personas to inspire its designers and stay focused on the needs and activities that are relevant to customers in the targeted segments.
 
Intuit, which markets Quicken, Quickbooks, Mint.com, and other financial services-related tech products, has an informative explanation of the what and why of personas here. Content Marketing Institute explains how to keep personas fresh and up-to-date here. And Hubspot describes the value of developing negative as well as positive personas here.