Marketing often comes down to making your customers intelligent enough to buy your products or services. They have to understand what it is you're selling, how it'll help them, and how much better it is than any other solution. Market segmentation, is the selection of groups of people who will be most receptive to a product. The most frequent methods of segmenting include demographic variables such as age, sex, race, income, occupation, education, household status, and geographic location; psychographic variables such as life-style, activities, interests, and opinions; product use patterns; and product benefits. Much segmentation involves combinations of these methods that can be targeted with a distinct marketing mix. The segmentation of a company’s market allows for a greater ability to reach its key customers in most cases. AM General's Hummer began in 1979 with competition for the development of a High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) to meet the Army's highest standards. AM General's prototype Hummer went to test in the Nevada desert in July 1980 - only 11 months from its design board beginnings. After extensive evaluation, the Army awarded contracts for test vehicles to General Dynamics, Teledyne and AM General. Within 10 months, AM General delivered its Hummer prototypes to the Army proving grounds. After a five-month test period, the Hummer was judged as the superior technical offering. AM General was awarded the initial Hummer production contract in March 1983, calling 55,000 vehicles to be delivered over five years. Following the Hummer’s success and notoriety in the Persian Gulf War, AM General introduced a civilian vehicle in 1992. Currently there are seven different civilian models available at more than 40 Hummer dealerships in the United States and 12 international distributors. AM General also supplies Hummers for use in heavy construction, mining, oil and gas exploration, fire and rescu...
