Early Adopter' (those who buy things first) and 'Opinion Shaper' (those who spread word of mouth) are terms with which we're all familiar, whether we've read Gladwell's Tipping Point or not. We've called them Pioneers and Promoters.

These elusive consumers are worth their weight in gold for advertisers: Pioneers because of their vanguard nature and their passion for their subject, promoters for their willingness to lead and a desire to disseminate knowledge. Whilst these terms conjure up images of technophiles, fashionistas, or trendies who hang out in 'Dream Bags and Jaguar Shoes', this isn't necessarily always the case.

In a pioneering study, Channel 4 identified these consumers understanding what makes them tick. Bristol School of Business and the University of Stirling provided the academic theory to quantifiably define Pioneers and Promoters while Rosenblatt built on these learning's via focus groups, blogs and accompanied shops to help us get under their skin learn what they thought of brands, advertising and to put it bluntly, how best to target them.

The results are fascinating. Pioneers are extremely passionate about their subjects and are often only a Pioneer in one category, Promoters on the other hand are more motivated by helping people, more into breadth than depth of knowledge and can (though not always) spread word of mouth in several categories.

We expected these alpha consumers to be cynical towards brands and advertising with its emphasis on the mainstream, the opposite was in fact true. They embrace marcomms, fully understanding it, sometimes to an almost professional level. We discovered that both groups praise brands which treat them intelligently, have a high degree of credibility, authenticity and individuality, facets which they claim overlap with their impressions of CH4 (and in fact themselves!).

As with all media, understanding our key audiences provides the over-riding crux and challenge of communication. In trying to reach pioneers and promoters, TV continues to sit at the forefront of the media mix and within TV, Channel 4 is the brand they respect and relate to.

For more information, please contact Helen Croxson , Ian Kennedy , or Lydia Marcal