VALS is a tool used by market researchers to define audience segments. It profiles consumers' lifestyles to understand their behavior in the marketplace and predict future behavior. VALS segments consumers into eight categories based on their attitudes, interests, and opinions. These categories are Achievers, Experiencers, Believers, Strivers, Thinkers, Just Getting By, Survivors, and Pioneers. The document then provides a brief description of each VALS category.

1. Alex Harris

2.  VALs, an acronym for Values,
Attitudes and Lifestyles, is a
tool that market researchers
use to define certain niches
of an audience.
 It is a type of lifestyle
profiling which helps define
how a consumer behaves in
the market place, as well as
predicting future behavior.
 VALS have been further
divided into age categories,
adult and teenage. It is
important to consider
teenage VALs are today they
are the biggest consumer age
group.

3.  Successful, sophisticated, ‘take charge’
people with high self-esteem. They are
interested in their own development and
expressing themselves. Image is important,
not as evidence of status or power but as an
expression of their independence and
character. They are concerned with social
issues. Their possessions and recreation
reflect a cultivated taste for the finer things
in life. Likely to be established or emerging
leaders in business and government.

4.  Mature, satisfied, reflective people who
value order, knowledge and responsibility.
Most are well educated and in (or recently
retired from) professional occupations. They
are well informed about world and national
events. They are conservative, practical
consumers; they look for durability,
functionality and value in the products they
buy.

5.  Successful and career and work-oriented
people who like to feel in control of their
lives. They value stability and are deeply
committed to work and family. Work provides
them with a sense of duty. Their social lives
will be centered around family, church and
career. They favour established, prestige
products and services that demonstrate
success to their peers.

6.  Young, enthusiastic, impulsive and rebellious.
They seek variety and excitement, looking
for the new, the offbeat and risky. Still
formulating life values and patterns of
behavior they quickly become enthusiastic
about new possibilities but are just quick to
cool. They hold an awe for others’ wealth,
prestige and power. They find outlets in
sport, outdoor activities and social activities.
They are avid consumers and spend much of
their income on clothing, music and film.

7.  Believers are conservative, conventional
people with concrete beliefs based on
traditional values; family, church, community
and the nation. They follow established
routines. As consumers, they are
conservative and predictable, favoring
American products and established brands.
Their income, education and energy are
modest but sufficient to meet their needs.

8.  Strivers seek motivation and approval from
the world around them. They are striving to
find a secure place in life. Strivers are
concerned about the opinions and approval
of others. Money defines success for them
but they don’t have enough of it and often
feel that life has given them a raw deal.
They emulate those who own more
impressive possessions but what they wish to
obtain is often beyond their means.

9.  Practical people who have constructive skills and
value self-sufficiency. They live within a
traditional context of family, practical work, and
physical recreation and have little interest in
what lies outside of the context. They
experience the world by working on it; fixing a
car, growing vegetables, etc. and have enough
skill, income and energy to carry out their
projects successfully. They are politically
conservative, suspicious of new ideas and
respectful of government. They are unimpressed
by material possessions other than those with a
practical or functional purpose i.e. tools.

10.  Chronically poor, ill educated, low skilled
and without strong social bonds. Their chief
concerns are for the here and now and
ensuring security and safety. They are
cautious consumers. They represent a very
modest market for most products and
services but are loyal to favourite brands.