The profile that emerges enables companies to design marketing campaigns that address customers' lifestyles. Since cluster systems include information about media use, they can also help place media dollars. Cluster systems are also useful for site selection. If you want to locate a store in Washington, D.C., you could physically drive through its neighborhoods to try to get a feel for who lives in them. The lifestyle data in cluster systems help businesses plan product designs or modifications.
Clusters sell advertising, too.
Cable Networks, Inc. sells time on cable television systems. Advertisers are far more impressed by a cluster-coded map than they would be with a page of basic statistics, she says. Clusters tell us a lot about where different kinds of Americans live. Some clusters are scattered across the country, while others are concentrated in just a few areas. But even a seemingly homogeneous area will sometimes show surprising variety when delineated by clusters.