The Mortensen Urban Dweller Persona

Applying Pruitt & Adlin's suggestions, I gathered data for the phase1/phase2 planning/gestation steps built a list of facts that are broadly useful in understanding me and people like me. Phase 3-5 are not applicable in this case, so I will progress into an examination of the implications of these facts for my persona.

What a marketer needs to know about a person like me as I would be before or after MBA school...

...I'm a young, single, heterosexual, professional with high discretionary income and no dependents.
...I have a high appetite for risk-taking, travel, nightlife, unique cuisine.
...The most valuable thing to me is free time.
...I own a passport.
...Immediate family live in another state.
...I have a gym membership.
...I drink more than 10 drinks per week outside the home, often with meals.
...I have a graduate degree.
...I live in a US top 20 sized city within 2 miles of the downtown financial district and within 2 miles of work.
...I am a frequent business traveler.
...I am liberally inclined.
...I do not possess any firearms.
...I do not take part in organized religion.
...I did not grow up within 100 miles of where I currently live.
...I am 29 year old, and will never turn 30!

Implications of these features for the Urban Dweller persona:

The 3 most important facts about me from the list above are 1) free time is hugely important to me, 2) high discretionary income, and 3) single without dependents. This leads to the important insight that I am willing to spend extra to save time. I am willing to have a smaller home to save time and live closer to activities and people I enjoy. This means I choose apartments closer to where I work and shop. I take cabs frequently. I shop infrequently and often through online shopping channels. Because of these things, I am rarely exposed to few children and families in my immediate environment . People like me live close together around other people like me.

Due to demographic changes over time, people like me are a growing segment. The demographic transition that comes with greater wealth has led more people to choose to have smaller families or remain single voluntarily because it allows more free time. Perhaps as a bioproduct of increased urbanization, more people are choosing to rent apartments in good locations rather than larger homes farther from work.

There is an international component here to observe. The features that define me are very similar to what groups of people exist in other countries, particularly in countries who have migrated the farthest along the demographic transition. Countries like Korea, Japan, UK, France, Germany all have large segments like me in greater % than we would expect in the United States. The US has an overall population density of about 83/sq mi versus about 1200 for South Korea. We would expect more single urban dwellers with habits like mine to exist in a country like that.

The travel component is also key. I am a mobile member of the workforce that has lived in several major markets between growing up, studying, and career. The messages that appeal to me are different than people who live where they grew up and will have families in the same markets they currently live. Themes of legacy, family, stability, the home are certainly important to me, but they are less important to me than consumers who stay close to their immediate family. Advertising messages that work on others might not appeal to people like me the same way.

Summary:
A team that designed a product for a customer like me would need to know what kind of tradeoffs I tend to make so they can optimize the perfect design for me. They need to concentrate on the time-saving aspects of products that will enable an Urban Dweller like myself (who never has enough time) to live life that has more risk, excitement, travel and fun. People like me will be willing to pay or give up other things to achieve those goals.