Marketers can jilt the competition by correctly anticipating who expecting wedding bells in the coming months

Weddings represent big business for marketers in many industries and latest insight from Kantar Media's TGI survey reveals a great deal about the almost two million-strong group of Britons who are expecting to tie the knot or at least become engaged in the next 12 months.

The peak age group for those expecting marriage or engagement in the next year is 22-30, with just under half of adults who are looking to get hitched in this range. Key areas in Britain are Scotland, where a fifth of 22-30 year olds anticipate getting engaged or married in the next 12 months, followed by Yorkshire & Humberside (19%) and the East Midlands (18%). Conversely, only 9% of Londoners in this age range expect an engagement or marriage in the next year, with similar figures in the West Midlands and North West.

Young adults planning to exchange vows in the near future tend to be open to trying new things and are easily influenced relative to others in this age group. This is evidenced by them being 26% more likely to buy products seen advertised and 23% more likely to feel that celebrities influence their purchase decisions. This is of course encouraging news for many marketers and media owners, but they should also be mindful that it's not always as simple as just convincing the individual. TGI shows that these wedding-preparers are 41% more likely than the average 22-30 year old to always discuss major decisions with their partner first.

It often happens that getting engaged or married naturally goes hand in hand with other major life events and it is important that marketers are aware of the opportunities that these can offer. For example, those aged 22-30 expecting engagement or marriage in the next year are two and a half times more likely than others in this age group to expect to buy or sell a property in the next year and similarly more likely to expect to undertake major home improvements and to have a baby.

Targeting 22-30 year olds looking to get engaged or married, TGI reveals that relative to the rest of the population they are 50% more likely to be amongst the heaviest fifth of cinema goers and just under 20% more likely to be amongst the heaviest fifth of magazine readers. They are also 88% more likely to admit to not being able to resist buying magazines and 55% more likely to cite magazines as the most useful medium in helping them to make purchase decisions.

Most popular film types for this group are romantic comedy and action/adventure.  Most read magazines include the store titles for Asda and Tesco, as well as Sky's magazines. In terms of paid-for titles, Heat, Closer, What's On TV and Cosmopolitan fare best. By identifying and targeting these individuals early in their wedding preparations, advertisers can steal a march on competitors and reap the rewards of accurately anticipating and acting upon key life events well before they happen.

As featured on Brad Bytes, February 2011