Titled ‘From Persona to Community, the Marketing of Consistency’, the study presents inspiring information for brand advertising.
The Communities Project is an innovative initiative that investigates the concept of belonging in the cultural, social, and emotional context of post-COVID-19 Brazil.
November 2025 – LIGA Pesquisas , a company with 13 years of experience in the Brazilian market and whose partners are Alice Whately Neves and Cláudio Queiroz, launches the study “From Persona to Community: The Marketing of Coherence”. A pioneering study, it investigates the multiple meanings of the term “community” based on the diverse life experiences of Brazilians, in a world marked by acceleration, conflicts between freedom and mental exhaustion, and an unprecedented explosion of information and social relationships.
This work reinforces and promotes knowledge that supports strategic decisions by brands and companies, and expands social dialogue in times of rapid cultural and social change, providing information that can strengthen the communication and marketing strategies of different companies and brands.
Alice, a partner at LIGA Pesquisas, explains: “Today, there’s a status symbol of people being multifaceted. They value this multiplicity, and communities have become a stage for this to happen. In the study, we saw that people are part of various communities, with more or less deep ties, but we asked: how does this impact marketing?”
In her reflection, she states that marketing is largely structured around “thinking in terms of personas,” which are often static, whereas today, individuals value a multiplicity of roles. “Thinking about personas in a static way doesn’t make much sense anymore. It makes more sense to think that each persona is a variation of roles, and in that sense, brands should think more about the ways they communicate with people,” she says. Alice suggests that, instead of thinking about a strategy heavily focused on personas, it makes more sense today to think about a strategy focused on various communities. “Before, marketing was based a lot on repetition, repeated messages, but today it should be based more on a message that can be more flexible and fluid, as long as it has coherence. We are in the era of coherence marketing,” she affirms.
This study is the result of a partnership between two consulting firms dedicated to understanding human behavior and producing research and consulting projects: LIGA Pesquisas and FYI Insights. More than just a study, this is a collective effort, built with listening, expertise, and enthusiasm.
Innovative Methodology
The research, which combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, maps how different generations and social classes perceive and experience community and belonging. Initially, 36 people aged 18 to 75, from social classes A, B, and C, were interviewed in qualitative focus groups that explored worldviews, expectations, fears, and social relationships. Subsequently, the quantitative phase reached 430 people throughout Brazil, using online questionnaires that allowed for the analysis of data according to generations (18–30, 31–59, and over 60 years) and social classes (AB and C).
Relevant Findings
New meanings for “Community” and “Belonging”
The study reveals that “community” and “belonging” have multiple meanings that vary according to social class, generation, and personal trajectory. Belonging is no longer a concept tied to fixed territories or groups, but is based on emotional closeness, listening, and bonds of mutual care.
Differences by Generation and Social Class
Young people from the upper and upper-middle classes value autonomy and broad cultural ties, while young people from the lower class prioritize affective bonds and groups focused on resistance and overcoming challenges. Adults in the upper and upper classes see family as a pillar and cultural spaces as a source of comfort, while in the lower class, belonging is associated with refuge and community solidarity. Older adults, especially those from the lower class, demonstrate nostalgia for times of strong community ties and value their ancestry.
Change in the Concept of Community
Communities are no longer just territorial or religious. They now include virtual collectives, lifestyle groups, and networks of emotional support. For different groups, the community experience varies between a life choice, an emotional refuge, and a need for the constant maintenance of bonds.
Social Class and Access to Belonging
Although all classes share the need for belonging, it is social class that determines access to and how this feeling is experienced. People in situations of social vulnerability face greater difficulties in building these bonds.
Multifaceted Subjects
The research reinforces that individuals operate in multiple social positions, being multifaceted in their experiences inside and outside the community, seeking more spontaneous and welcoming affections. It also discovered that people lacked communities and that the need for belonging is the driving force for this individual to participate in more than one community and give vent to their different facets/tastes/personas.
Relationship with advertising
The study also asked, “What topics or groups should appear more in brand advertising?” The majority (49.77%) pointed to “small entrepreneurs and small businesses,” followed by (40.42%) “informal work / self-employed people.” Additionally, 34.35% indicated “older people (senior citizens).”
For the advertising industry, this information is relevant because it can be an indicator for developing communication and positioning strategies within the concept of Coherence Marketing. For all groups (Young AB, Young C, Older AB, and Older C), for example, most respondents indicate: “I like it when a brand understands that we like many different things” (in purple on the graph). Also relevant are “When a brand creates a group that I identify with, I get closer to it” (in lilac on the graph) and “If a brand defends something I believe in, I come to admire it” (in gray on the graph).
Impacts and Opportunities
This study offers a unique and profound perspective on Brazilian social transformations in relation to shared senses of community and belonging. It also highlights the importance of recognizing differences and intersectionalities of class, generation, race, gender, and territory for communication strategies, public policies, and community actions.
More than just social groups, communities today are cultural responses to the contradictions of our time, offering emotional support, experimentation with identities, and collective security.
Understanding that people are not static personas, but communities in motion, is the guiding principle of Coherence Marketing. Brands that know how to translate their essence in these different contexts will have not only consumers, but allies.
“This study highlights the unprecedented nature of the research, its meticulous methodology, and its key findings, which present a new understanding of the community in present-day Brazil, relevant to the post-pandemic socio-emotional context and contemporary social dynamics,” concludes Alice, founding partner of Liga Pesquisa, emphasizing that the quantitative part of the study was developed by FYI Insights.
