Acorn
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Acorn [1], published by CACI, is a pioneering geodemographic consumer segmentation of UK residential neighbourhoods. It is a classification of different groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle choices, preferences and behaviours, which provides a detailed understanding of the various types of people who make up a specified target audience or consumer base in a given catchment area.
It is intended to provide an accurate and comprehensive view of citizens through a classification that is built upon in-depth analyses of these social factors and population level datasets. It was developed as the first commercial segmentation tool and has maintained a leading position in the UK for more than thirty years.
The population is divided into a taxonomy of 7 categories, 22 groups and 65 types based on individual postcodes, where typically a category embraces between 2 and 4 groups, and a group embraces between 2 and 4 types. These postcodes are segmented based on an array of socio-demographic data related to individuals’ personal circumstances and the dominant social, economic and cultural characteristics of their communities as indicators of relative prosperity, deprivation, health and other lifestyle dynamics divisible by population and geographic area.
Acorn utilises a different classification system from Mosaic, the previous socio-demographic database used in MAST. For more information read about the transition to Acorn
Contents |
Acorn in MAST
MAST links STATS19 drivers and casualties to Acorn by using postcodes. This makes it possible to expose the socio-demographic profiles of the communities where they live in the Driver Acorn and Casualty Acorn dimensions
MAST also provides indexed reports, which compare the Acorn profiles to the underlying population.
Acorn Structure
Acorn Data Sources
Acorn utilises an array of government, administrative and commercial data to add additional value to their own proprietary datasets, CACI’s approach in developing this classification system has enabled the incorporation of new datasets which exploits the changes to government policies on Open Data. Unlike other classification systems, regular and continual updates to these large scale datasets give Acorn the capability for its data to be exhibited through a greater spectrum of geographies ranging from neighbourhoods to much larger scale areas based on the most recent data available.
Public sector Open Data and commercial data used include the Land Registry and data on resident age, welfare renumeration, housing and rental information alongside that from the Census and other national surveys. CACI's proprietary datasets cover a wide range of location data on prisons, housing and care home developments as well offices and student accommodation.
| Theme | Variable | Data Source | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | Age | CACI | Population and Household Projections |
| Geography | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Ethnicity | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Country of Birth | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Religion | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Housing | House Type | IPSOS/YouGov | FRS/Survey |
| House Tenure | IPSOS | FRS | |
| House Size | YouGov | Survey | |
| House Value | CACI | Ocean | |
| House Move | CACI | Ocean | |
| Family | Structure | ISER | Ocean |
| Number of children by Age | ISER | Ocean | |
| Children in household | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Household size | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Economy | NS SEC (% of people in employment) | ISER | Understanding Society |
| Social Grade | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Occupation | CACI | Ocean | |
| Education | Highest Level of Qualification | ISER | Understanding Society |
| Transport | Travel to Work (% of Workers) | ISER | Understanding Society |
| Car Ownership | IPSOS / YouGov | FRS / Survey | |
| Car Type | Kantar / YouGov | TGI Survey / Survey | |
| Mileage | YouGov | Survey | |
| Finance | Household Annual Gross Income | CACI / ISER | PayCheck / understanding Society |
| Disposable Income | CACI | PayCheck | |
| Outgoings | CACI | PayCheck | |
| Financial Attitudes | Kantar / YouGov | TGI Survey / Survey | |
| Benefits | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Financial situation | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Contactless | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Credit cards | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Current account, Savings and investment | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Loans | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Mortgage | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Insurance and Pensions | IPSOS / Kantar | FRS / TGI Survey | |
| Financial channel | Arrange current account (% of those who arranged CA in last 12 months) | IPSOS | FRS |
| Arrange commoditised financial product (% of those who arranged in last 12 months, or any with a loan) | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Arrange mortgage (% of all people with a mortgage) | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Manage current account | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Manage savings account | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Actively manage current account | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Digital | Internet Access: Frequency | IPSOS | FRS |
| Internet Access: Usage in Last Week | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Digital Attitudes | Kantar / YouGov | TGI Survey / Survey | |
| Technology at Home | IPSOS | FRS | |
| Overall Social Media Activity | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Social Media Activity (one or more times per week unless otherwise stated) | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| TV Subscription services | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| TV free online catchup / video services | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Online activity (one or more times per week) | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Researched the last purchase online before buying | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Bought the last purchase online using any device | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Sites regularly visited | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Shopping | Supermarket: main grocery shopping | Toluna | Online Survey |
| Food Shopping | Kantar / Toluna | TGI Survey / Online Survey | |
| Weekly supermarket spend | YouGov | Survey | |
| High Street Retailers - Propensity to Shop Brand in Catchment Area in which Retailer Trades | CACI | Retail Acorn | |
| Clothing & Footwear Stores | YouGov | Survey | |
| Furniture & Fittings Stores | YouGov | Survey | |
| Electrical Stores | YouGov | Survey | |
| Attitudes | Kantar | TGI Survey | |
| Tend to look out for adverts on | Toluna | Online Survey | |
| Environment | Action | ISER / Kantar | Understanding Society / TGI Survey |
| Attitudes | YouGov | Survey | |
| Community Safety | Crime Survey for England - Very Worried About: | Home Office | Crime Survey for England |
| Crime Survey for England - Police in this Area: | Home Office | Crime Survey for England | |
| Lifestyle | Newspapers | CACI | Ocean |
| Magazines Read | CACI | Ocean | |
| TV: channels watched regularly | YouGov | Survey | |
| Charities | CACI / Kantar | Ocean / TGI Survey | |
| Interests & Hobbies | CACI / YouGov | Ocean / Survey | |
| Follow Sports | YouGov | Survey | |
| Visited Pubs in the past 12 months | YouGov | Survey | |
| Restaurants - Most Often | YouGov | Survey | |
| Holiday Destination / Type | Kantar | TGI Survey | |
| Eating Habits | YouGov | Survey | |
| Health | Behaviours | ISER / Kantar | Understanding Society / TGI Survey |
| Devices | Mobile phone | IPSOS | FRS |
| Internet | Internet Access: Overall | IPSOS | FRS |
| Social Capital | Community | ISER | Understanding Society |
| Contentment | ISER | Understanding Society | |
| Channel Preferences | Receiving information related to local services (council, local health service, other public sector body) | CACI | Channel Preference Survey |
| Researching information about local services (council, local health service, other public sector body) | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Submitting information to Local Authority | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Making an enquiry (or complaint) about local services (council, local health service, other public sector body) | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Receiving information related to existing products and services from a utility provider, bank, retailer, leisure provider | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Receiving information related to new products and services from a utility provider, bank, retailer, leisure provider | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Submitting information to a utility provider, bank, retailer, leisure provider | CACI | Channel Preference Survey | |
| Making an enquiry (or complaint) about held products and services to a utility provider, bank, retailer, leisure provider | CACI | Channel Preference Survey |
