Photo Credit: Getty
For decades, marketers have wrestled with the same challenge: how to connect messaging and media targeting with the real motivations that drive consumer behavior. We’ve had endless cycles of targeting models—psychographics, affinity groups, micro-segmentation—all in search of the perfect signal. Yet the industry’s most persistent problem remains unsolved: how to bridge meaning and measurable performance.
Today, we finally have that bridge. It’s called Values-Driven Marketing (VDM).
What is values-driven marketing?
VDM is a breakthrough discipline grounded in behavioral science. It recognizes that values—what matters most to people in life—are the most powerful predictors of behavior. These values aren’t just beliefs or attitudes; they’re enduring motivations such as:
- Tradition: family, heritage, and stability
- Freedom: creativity and independence
- Achievement: success, recognition, and luxury
Unlike demographics, which tell us who a person is, or psychographics, which hint at how they think, values reveal why people act. When marketers understand and activate these motivations, the results are transformative.
Why now?
We’re in an era of unprecedented consumer expectation and media fragmentation. Audiences are more diverse, more skeptical, and less loyal. The old metrics of age, gender, and income no longer predict behavior or belief.
Match the message to what matters
VDM isn’t a theory. It’s a proven performance framework.
- An increase in ad preference by +23-points.
- Double-digit lifts in click-through rates.
- Significant gains in relevance, likability, and recall.
In other words, when you match messaging to what truly matters to people, you don’t just make them feel understood, you move them to act.
When marketers use VDM, media planning and creative strategy are aligned. You’re not just pushing impressions; you’re orchestrating meaning. When campaigns align with audience values, the creative feels more authentic, media more efficient, and measurement more meaningful. It’s not about chasing trends. It’s about building durable relationships based on behavioral science.
VDM enabled GoHealth Urgent Care to shift from broad demographic targeting to high-precision targeting of two priority values types: Achievement and Freedom. This organization is a national on-demand care network that partners with leading health systems to operate co-branded urgent care centers across the U.S. By aligning existing creative with these values types, GoHealth saw dramatically higher engagement among those audiences, compared to standard demographic segments. Ads targeted to Freedom audiences outperformed the standard audience by 82 percent, and Achievement-targeted ads doubled click-through rates, proving that VDM-driven targeting generates significantly stronger interest than demographics alone.
Closing thoughts
As marketers, we’ve mastered the mechanics of reach, frequency, and conversion. What we’ve struggled with is cutting through noise and earning attention. VDM gives us a sharper bullseye. It connects at the level of belief, performs at the level of behavior, and grows brands that people don’t just buy from, but connect with deeply.
In an era where every impression is contested, connection is the ultimate competitive advantage, and VDM paves the way to success.
