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Published
Sep 10, 2012
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The Datasexual, a new marketing concept?

Published
Sep 10, 2012

The age of the internet and social networks has given us the digital mum and the metrosexual—both terms coined in the 1990s. They are now poised to be supplanted by the datasexual. This neologism, another gem from the inexhaustible lexicon of the marketing folk, was coined by the American consultant Dominic Basulto in an article entitled "Meet the Urban Datasexual" published on Big Think. In it, the marketing and advertising specialist defines the datasexual as the digital equivalent of the modern urban man, obsessed with his style and physical appearance.


Nike + lets joggers track and share their performance. Nike screenshot.


For the Datasexual, the online sharing of as much information as possible about his life is a way of imbuing his daily reality with a sense of style and, thus, of making himself look more attractive to others. Even as the sociological reality of this concept remains to be verified, it has already piqued the interest of certain brands who see the monetizing possibilities of the millions of users’ shared data currently stored on the web. C&A, the international fashion retailer, has launched in its Brazilian stores “internet-connected hangers” which digitally display on the hanger itself the number of Facebook “likes” for each item in its collection. Nike, too, has created Nike+, an internet community for joggers that lets members track their performance and share it online.

"Sports is an area that is particularly well-suited for datasexuals in terms of marketing utility," said Lisa Wyler, the author of an article about this new target demographic, published on the St John’s branding and marketing agency’s blog. "This concept interests us because we think it might attract the attention of our clients. We all have a tendency to spread our personal information, with or without thinking about it, and certain brands, such as Nike, are looking into this tendency,” she explained.

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