Advertising in pervasive computing age: Understanding the lifestyles of the new middle class in emerging markets

Computing and Artificial Intelligent technology has changed the ecosystem of advertising industry and social economy. Observations on social changes can help enterprises and advertisers better adapting to this pervasive computing age. This study aims to examine the lifestyles of the new urban middle class in emerging market and their attitudes towards advertising. We carried out an investigation in four Tier-1 cities in China and identified six comprehensive lifestyle factors: trendy and success-driven, “Western is best,” petty bourgeoisie lifestyle, money conscious, lifestyle of health and sustainability, and pragmatic struggling lifestyle; and further segmented new urban middle-class consumers into four groups: experiencers, strivers, trendy achievers, and pragmatists. The attitudes of four lifestyle segments towards advertising have been examined. The study provides precise user portraits of the growing middle-class consumers and intra-class differences in the emerging market.