City of Essen

Essen, a central city in the Ruhr area, is notable for its blend of dense urban areas and extensive green spaces. With approximately 580,000 residents, it is the fourth-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite its industrial past, Essen boasts many cultural landmarks like the Museum Folkwang and the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zeche Zollverein.

Essen’s economy is bolstered by major corporations like RWE AG and ThyssenKrupp. The city also hosts around 50 annual trade fairs, attracting 1.5 million visitors, and is home to the University of Duisburg-Essen and Folkwang University of the Arts, enhancing its international reputation. Additionally, Essen is a shopping hub with major centers like Limbecker Platz.

WeststadtHalle

The WeststadtHalle, a refurbished former AEG Kanis industrial hall, aims to become a cultural and social hub for Essen's Weststadt. It offers various spaces for events, emphasizing modern urban development with excellent infrastructure, including nearby public transport and major highways.

• Cultural Hub: Museum Folkwang, Zeche Zollverein, Aalto Opera House.
• Economic Powerhouse: Home to 9 of Germany's top 100 companies.
• International Trade: 50 trade fairs annually, drawing 1.5 million visitors.
• Educational Excellence: University of Duisburg-Essen and Folkwang University.
• Shopping Destination: Major centers like Limbecker Platz.
• Strategic Location: Well-connected by public transport and highways.
• Modern Development: The WeststadtHalle as a vibrant example of urban regeneration.

Sociodemographic analysis examines the fundamental characteristics of the target audience. This includes gender, age, marital status, household composition, occupation, and income.

Primary Age Group for the new WeststadtHangout: The primary age group consists of individuals aged 16 to 27 from Essen and surrounding areas. The target audience includes both male and female teenagers and young adults.

Gender: The target audience for WeststadtHalle includes both male and female individuals.

Primary Age Group: The primary audience consists of event organizers and attendees, primarily adults aged 18 (as for the most events are held at nights) to 65 from Essen and the broader Ruhr area.

Marital Status, Household, Occupation, Income: The primary audience comprises students, apprentices, and young workers, mostly single and living with their parents, with low or no income.

Sinus-Milieus

 The gold standard for target group segmentation 

To define the target audience more precisely, various methods can be used, one of which is the Sinus-Milieus by the Sinus Institute. This model combines demographic characteristics such as education, occupation, and income with the real-life worlds of people to holistically understand everything important in their lives. Established as a solid model, it focuses on the norms, values, life goals, lifestyles, and attitudes of people. This approach provides an accurate picture of what drives people and how they can be influenced.

The Sinus-Milieus group individuals based on similar outlooks and lifestyles, incorporating basic value orientations and everyday attitudes towards work, family, money, and consumption. There are intersections and transitions between different milieus.

For strategic concept development, it is crucial to focus on the defined target group. This makes it clearer how to reach the target audience and understand the types of people involved. With this background knowledge, communication can be precisely determined and appropriately coded. The primary goal is to spark the interest of the desired target group, prompting them to take action, while also attracting adjacent groups to expand the target circle and enable market expansion.

The desired target audience of the WeststadtHalle is aged approximately 18 to 60 years and falls into 7 Sinus-Milieus, categorized into 3 main groups: the mainstream milieu, the unconventional young milieu, and the societal leading milieu. These milieus are described below.

Mainstream Milieu (Middle)

Bürgerliche Mitte (Middle Class)

• Represents the performance-oriented and adaptable middle class.
• Characterized by a general acceptance of social order, striving for professional and social establishment, and a desire for secure and harmonious conditions.

Unconventional Young Milieus

Adaptivpragmatisches Milieu (Adaptive Pragmatists)

• The mobile, goal-oriented young middle of society with a pronounced pragmatic approach to life.
• Success-oriented, willing to compromise, hedonistic yet conventional, with a strong need for flexibility and security.

Hedonistisches Milieu (Hedonists)

• The fun-oriented modern lower class/lower middle class preferring to live in the here and now.
• Characterized by a rejection of societal conventions and expectations of performance.

Societal Leading Milieus

Sozialökologisches Milieu (Socio-Ecological)

• An idealistic, consumption-critical, and consumption-conscious milieu with a strong ecological and social conscience.
• Skeptical of globalization, advocates of political correctness, and champions of diversity.

Expeditives Milieu (Experimentalists)

• The highly individualistic digital avant-garde.
• Unconventional, creative, mentally and geographically mobile, always seeking new boundaries and changes.

Milieu der Performer (Performers)

• The multi-optional, efficiency-oriented elite with global economic thinking and a penchant for avant-garde style.

Liberal-intellektuelles Milieu (Liberal Intellectuals)

• The enlightened educational elite with a liberal attitude, post-materialist roots, a desire for a self-determined life, and diverse intellectual interests.