Demographics

Data relating to a certain population, which may include age, gender, income.

Socioeconomics

A combination of social class (e.g. middle class, upper class) and economics (e.g. middle income, high income) to target certain groups

Socio-economic model

A way of identifying different demographics in a socioeconomic format with the use of lettering to represent different tiers. A is the highest income/social class whereas E is the lowest income/social class. This model is useful for certain products aimed at different price points. For example, expensive jewelry is unlikely to be targeted at people in the E category. Likewise, an advert for budget holidays should not be targeted at people in the A category. However, since this model only targets people based on income, there is no guarantee that the people being targeted will actually like or be interested in the product/service - not all rich people want jewelry and not all lower income people want a holiday.

Lifestyle categories model

This is a demographical targeting model which uses different lifestyle mottos and ideas to target people based on how they live and their personality. This model is useful for products or brands which attempt to sell a certain lifestyle along with the product. For example, an advert for an exquisite fashion brand would target people in the 'trendies' category as these people want a lifestyle which allows them to show off their personal taste.

Theories

Uses and Gratifications theory
Two theorists, Blumler and Katz, in 1974 devised a theory to encompass all of the needs of an audience when they use a certain media product. The uses are:

Entertainment - for enjoyment
Diversion - to escape from everyday life
Personal identity - to find something/someone to idolise
Personal relationships - to connect with others
Surveillance (information) - to gain knowledge

This theory is relevant to advertising as an advert is also a media product, so must satisfy certain uses. The most obvious one would be surveillance since most advertisements are designed to give the audience information about the product/service so that they have more knowledge in order to make a purchase/decision. However, some adverts do not give a lot of information, an example may be the "Compare the Meerkat" series of adverts.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The hierarchy of needs theory states that humans have 5 different tiers of desires and to move onto the next tier, we must first fill the previous. A person is said to be content and happy when all 5 tiers are met. The tiers are:

Physiological - food, water
Safety - shelter, good health
Love/Belonging - family, friends
Esteem - achievement, confidence
Self-actualization - morals, creativity

Certain advertisements may appeal to different tiers of the needs pyramid. An advert for a supermarket may appeal to the physiological tier, as food and drink are needed for survival. An advert for health insurance may appeal to the safety tier since insurance gives people a sense of something to rely on. Adverts that portray a very social lifestyle, such as ones that depict a group of friends doing an activity together, may appeal to the love/belonging tier and may make the audience believe that with the advertised product/service, they too can have this social life. Adverts featuring bold statements of personality such as models posing may appeal to the esteem tier as it shows confidence. Finally, charity adverts may appeal to the self-actualization tier as it appeals to a person's sense of morality and justice.

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/443061/The-Evolution-of-Advertising/