When you’re writing ads alone on your laptop or drafting promotional emails on a deadline, it can be too easy to forget that you’re not simply completing another marketing task. You’re speaking directly to your target audience. That’s why you want to be as specific as possible, by using their language, appealing to their motivations, and reaching them on the marketing channels where they spend time.
In this article, we’re sharing real-world examples of ads and emails that address their target audience directly and effectively that you can use for inspiration.
Before we jump into the examples, let’s go over what exactly a target audience is—and why it’s so important in improving your marketing tactics and outcomes.
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What is a target audience?
Many of the search ads, social ads, commercials, and other marketing promotions that you see are created with the target audience in mind. A target audience is a group of people with shared attributes you intend to reach with your marketing campaign or materials.
Here are the common attributes of a well-defined target audience:
When the target audience is missing or muddy, it’s obvious. Take this commercial from T Mobile that was somehow a Super Bowl spot in 2024, for example.
It is entirely unclear who this is for—Scrubs fans? Musical fans? Aquaman fans? Suburbanites with internet issues and parties to host? As far as I can tell, there’s no specific customer profile in mind. That’s what makes this commercial so frustrating for me. This seems like it was created with a little something for everyone, but by appealing to everyone, you’re often appealing to no one. And this makes your marketing and advertising ineffective.
12 real-world target audience examples
The examples below feature brands, marketing assets directly reaching a specific group of people, and a breakdown of that target audience. We may have the full brief of demographics, motivations, pain points, and all—not many people share their target audience definition publicly—but there’s a lot we can infer. And with that, there’s a lot to learn from.
Here we go.
1. Lowes: Suburban parents
This television commercial from Lowes promises to help turn any backyard into a summer hot spot, or, well, all summer hot pots. This campaign ran in the summer of 2020 and highlighted products that can make a backyard filled with fun, quality time, and escape even during lockdowns and quarantines.
Here’s who they’re targeting:
Demographics: Parents ages 30s-40s with young kids who are suburban homeowners with disposable income.
Motivations: Spending quality time outside; making memories for their kids.
Pain points: Pandemic-related closures limiting summer plans and family memories; unusable or unwelcoming yard space.
2. Jeni’s Ice Cream: Corporate gifters
I received this email a few weeks ago from Jeni’s, which makes delicious and occasionally odd flavors of ice cream sold in scoop shops, grocery stores, and through their website.
Let’s start with the imagery. The open Mac laptop reads tech, finance, startups—and, of course, money. It’s clear that the focus is a corporate audience. The copy is also telling. While “a lot of gifts” is vague, it’s also casual and implies being busy. This tracks with the rest of the wording—promising a “quick” way to send more than 25 gifts at once.
Here’s this target audience example breakdown:
Demographics: HR professionals, marketers, and entrepreneurs who are primarily women.
Pain points: Time—this busy target audience is looking for fast and efficient solutions.
Marketing channels: Email, appropriate for a dedicated professional.
It’s hard to think of a Peloton ad and not think of the Peloton ad. But this commercial takes a different tactic (and, well, a less problematic and less viral one).
Here, Peloton is appealing to those new to fitness and interested in establishing a routine, regardless of physical goals. Instead, this ad stresses that taking Peloton classes can be fun.
Here’s who we can infer they’re targeting:
Demographics: This is wider, but it’s still limited to those who can afford to shell out more than $1,000 for a bike and $40 for a monthly subscription.
Motivations: Trying something new, enjoying fitness, finding a routine that works, engaging in community.
Pain points: Fitness programs that are solitary and intimidating.
In this Google Ad, this national bank is speaking to a specific audience: Veterans. USAA has an exclusive marketing contract with the United States Military, so its ads often include portrayals of veterans and those in service to appeal to this specific audience.
USAA still includes this in the ad copy. Take a look:
Here’s a breakdown of this target audience example:
Demographics: Veterans, specifically those interested in owning a home.
Pain points: Cost and confusing mortgage processes.
Marketing channels: Google Search.
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5. Northeastern University: Ambitious college grads
In this commercial, Northeastern University highlights its co-op program and the opportunity to get real-world career experience while still enrolled in a full-time program. In this case, it’s a graduate degree program, which makes its target audience and their motivations clear.
Here’s a potential breakdown of their target audience:
Demographics: Recent college graduations in their 20s living in urban settings with corporate career aspirations.
Motivations: Getting farther in a career faster with more education.
Marketing channels: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
6. FIGS: Emergency Medical Responders
FIGS scrubs are comfortable, youthful, and, most prominently, stylish. The sets come in bright colors, muted palettes, or bold ombre. The company offers tapered legs, jumpsuit styles, and grandfather collars. A lot of their marketing highlights these features, updated scrubs that you’re excited to grab for the day at work.
But this commercial shifts focus and takes a different tone entirely, and it’s clearly targeting a different audience. The emergency medical providers at the motorsport racing track pictured count on their well-fitting, durable gear not to inhibit their movement when seconds matter most. With this spot, FIGS highlights its durability, comfort, and reliability—and the grave impact of scrubs that fall short on any of these.
This target audience example includes:
Demographics: Emergency medical professionals. This isn’t exclusive to motorsports, think paramedics, ER staff, ICU nurses.
Motivations: Reliability in high-stress, high-stakes moments. No one needs their scrubs sagging down as a distraction in those moments.
Pain points: Ill-fitting scrubs.
Marketing channels: TV, Instagram, Facebook.
7. Maisonette: Parents with fashionable babies—in the Northern Hemisphere
Maisonette is an ecommerce marketplace for boutique baby and kids clothing, toys, and more. I saw this marketing email from the brand (where I love to virtually window shop) in my inbox in the fall:
The subject line is already doing some work in telling us the target audience. The convention of an “edit” is used in fashion often. Vogue, for instance, regularly publishes with this structure: “The Essentials Edit,” “The Fall Edit,” etc. Fashionable kids and babies—or, really, parents who find this appealing.
Then, the copy in the first part of the marketing email and the products pictured define the target audience even further—locating it specifically in the Northeast where the temperatures are dropping.
Here’s a closer look at this target audience example:
Demographics: Parents of babies, toddlers, and young kids who live in the Northeast.
Motivations: High-quality clothing, guaranteed to be cute and chic.
Pain points: The same squishy, puffy, shapeless coats as every other kid.
8. Cozy Earth: Women in search of casual, cute, easy outfits
Cozy Earth has served me this ad a few times now, and with good reason. The Instagram video ad shows a woman in her late 20s or early 30s in a curated, neutral homey setting getting dressed for a very temperate fall day, starting with a long, flowy dress and layering on a soft cable-knit sweater and accessories. The effect? Effortlessly put together. And the caption underscores this focus: “Maximum style, minimal effort.” The dream.
Here’s a potential breakdown of their target audience:
Demographics: Women ages 20s to 30s, with disposable income (based on Cozy Earth’s pricing).
Motivations: The women in this target audience want to look nice and up-to-date…
Pain points: But their primary pain point is a lack of time: to get ready, to plan outfits, to keep up with trends. Minimal effort means minimal time.
Marketing channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.
9. Grammarly: Customer experience leaders
Grammarly is a professional tool to review writing for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as provide AI-powered suggestions to improve tone, clarity, and more. It’s used in educational settings and in workplaces alike.
In the ad below, Grammarly is targeting a specific professional: CX, or customer experience, leaders.
The jargon—something that a writing tool is keenly aware of—is on purpose. CX for customer experience appears in the headline, and then we see CSAT, or customer satisfaction, scores in the caption. By using this specific language, Grammarly is speaking directly to its target audience as an insider. So when it promises to share the secrets to other CX leaders’ communication skills, it’s speaking with authority. In this case, it’s jargon done right.
Here’s a closer look at their potential target audience:
Demographics: Customer experience or customer service leaders.
Motivations: Improving CSAT and NPS scores with stronger communication.
I’ve received a few pairs of Bombas socks as gifts, and my primary association with the brand has been its purpose-driven marketing commitment to donate one essential item to someone experiencing homelessness for every item purchased. A great cause.
Lately, I’ve been seeing the brand’s Sunday slippers, grip slippers, and more across my Instagram feed. This video ad below is a great example—even though I’m not the target audience. In the clip, a healthcare worker getting up for the day slips into her Bombas slippers to get ready, pulls on scrubs, and Bombas compression socks that she swears by to avoid tired, achy feet during her long shifts.
Here’s a closer look at the potential target audience for this ad:
Demographics: Healthcare workers who are on their feet for long shifts.
Motivations:
Pain points: Sore, tired feet from long hours at work—and activities like long runs or weekend weddings on off days.
Marketing channels: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
11. Optimizely: Content marketers
Most of these examples are B2C because, without access to the campaign briefs, it’s often easier to determine the target audience for these ads. But here’s a great B2B example from Optimizely.
This sponsored Instagram post could easily appear on Instagram or even as a display ad. It’s targeting content marketers interested in learning more about organizing content effectively and strategically for long-term value. Clicking through the CTA leads the interested marketer to indeed learn more—with a detailed how-to guide accessible behind a form.
Here’s a breakdown of this target audience example:
Demographics: Content marketers working in B2B or B2C with large workflows and multiple team members.
Motivations: A streamlined content workflow that performs well.
Pain points: The ad speaks to these directly: “Clunky workflows. Errors creeping in.”
Here is a perfect example from Wellnessliving, a software commonly used by gyms and workout studios. In this Instagram Story ad, Wellnessliving is targeting owners of yoga studios. It’s incredibly clear, and the ad is effective in its simplicity.
The static image Story ad shows two women in yoga gear smiling and features a simple headline: “Grow your yoga studio revenue by 57%” with a clear CTA to book a demo. You know who it’s talking to, what the offer is, and where clicking the link will take you. Talking to your target audience doesn’t have to be more complicated than this.
Let’s look at this target audience example breakdown:
Demographics: Yoga studio owners—or owners-to-be.
Motivations: Growing a studio with more classes, more students, and more revenue.
Marketing channels: Instagram, YouTube.
Use the real-world target audience examples to focus your next campaign
Here, we’ve shared real-world examples of sponsored Instagram posts, promotional emails, search ads, and more that address their target audience directly and effectively. These ads feature members of the target community, use insider language, and appeal to emotional motivations of the target audience. Now, use these examples as inspiration for your own marketing materials to write stronger, more effective campaigns that your target audience can’t resist.
