June, 2026.- Nearly a third of Americans actively change how they present themselves across different social groups. Joyce Adams believes this should terrify any marketer still relying on static personas.
Adams, Senior Customer Success Manager at Attest, has studied what she calls the “adaptive identity” problem. The data is clear: identity is becoming increasingly situational. People shift how they speak, dress, and signal status depending on the moment. A single profile built from a survey or purchase history cannot capture a person. It reduces them to a snapshot of someone who has already changed by the time the message arrives.
The implications are severe. Forty-seven percent of Americans say income defines class, yet sixteen percent claim multiple class identities at once. Two people in the same income bracket can have completely different identities, anxieties, and reasons for buying. Targeting purely by income means hitting the right wallet but not necessarily the right mindset.
Even well-intentioned “inclusive” marketing can start to feel like judgment when it relies on fixed assumptions about people’s values and sense of belonging. And aspirational messaging that centers the destination can feel less like inspiration and more like a reminder of distance.
In this interview, Adams discusses what a CMO should cancel tomorrow morning (not a single metric, but the assumption that consumer understanding can stay fixed over time). She explains why context-aware marketing requires understanding which identity is in the room when the consumer sees the message. And she offers a path forward: stop selling arrival and start recognizing progress.
The “Adaptive Identity” Problem: 28% of Americans actively change how they present themselves across different social groups. Are brands still using static personas essentially marketing to a version of the consumer that no longer exists?
Static personas were always a simplification, but the data shows that approach is becoming a real limitation for marketers. When nearly a third of Americans say they change how they present themselves depending on the social context, we know identity is becoming increasingly situational.
If people are shifting how they speak, dress, and signal status depending on the moment, a single profile built from a survey or purchase history can’t capture a person. It reduces people to a single snapshot in time, missing the fact they hold multiple identities at once.
This is the problem for brands still relying on stable archetypes. They are building a strategy based on the snapshot of someone who has already changed by the time the message reaches them.
Income vs. Reality: 47% say income defines class, yet 16% claim multiple class identities at once. When a brand targets by income bracket, how much of the audience is it actually misreading?
Income was never a reliable stand-in for identity. The hard truth is that you often can’t see how much you’re missing because it most likely won’t be the obvious outliers that throw you off. While two people with the same income may look identical in the data, they may have very different senses of who they are and what they aspire to be.
Income tells you something useful, but it doesn’t tell you how someone feels about their position, how they move through the world, or who they are trying to become.Two people in the same income bracket can have completely different identities, anxieties, and reasons for buying. And if you’re targeting purely by income, you’re likely hitting the right wallet but not necessarily the right mindset.
The Risk of “Judgment-Free” Marketing: Over half of Americans have felt judged by strangers, and a third by employers. Can a brand’s attempt to be “inclusive” ever come across as just another form of judgment?
Consumers can usually tell when inclusion messaging is built on overly simple ideas about who people are.
Most people don’t fit neatly into a single label anymore. Someone might feel working class culturally, middle class financially, and still feel out of place in certain professional or social settings. Those identities overlap and shift depending on context.
This is where marketing breaks down. Even well-intentioned “inclusive” marketing can start to feel like judgment if it relies on fixed assumptions about people’s values, behaviours, or sense of belonging.
The brands that tend to land best with audiences are recognizing that identity isn’t fixed. It’s layered, situational, and constantly evolving. They reflect that complexity back in a way that feels closer to real life.
Frustrated Aspirations: 43% want to improve their social class, but 19% are frustrated by their current status. How does a brand sell an “aspirational” product without reminding the consumer of the gap they are frustrated by?
This is the tightrope every aspirational brand is dealing with right now. People who want to move up say they feel stuck and frustrated with no clear path forward, so aspirational messaging that centers the destination can feel less like inspiration and more like a reminder of distance.
Marketers should shift from selling arrival to recognizing progress. The Polyclass consumer isn’t waiting to arrive somewhere. They’re actively constructing who they are across multiple reference points. Don’t point to a life someone hasn’t reached yet. Reflect the identity they’re building. Meet them in that process, not at a finish line they’re not sure they can reach.
The Context Collapse: If identity shifts between professional, social, and private settings, which version of the consumer should a brand believe when the data points to all three?
All of them because the professional version, the social version and the private version are all the same person, just in different contexts. So, the question for marketers upon targeting is which identity is most activated at the moment of your brand interaction.
A financial services brand reaching someone at work is speaking to a different version than a food brand reaching them on a Saturday morning. Context-aware marketing goes beyond personalization and requires understanding which identity is in the room when the consumer sees the message. Brands that can map that will show up at the right time.
The Static Segmentation Hangover: If fixed profiles are dying, what is the first metric a CMO should cancel tomorrow morning to stop relying on outdated identity signals?
The bigger issue goes beyond a single demographic metric because it’s really the assumption that consumer understanding can stay fixed over time.
Too many organizations still treat insight as something produced for a campaign or project, then stored away once it’s been used. But people don’t stay the same for long. Aspiration, financial confidence, cultural behaviours, and personal values are constantly shifting and reshaping identity, often in contradictory ways at the same time.
Our Polyclass research shows this clearly. Millions of people no longer see themselves as fitting into a single category or label. They move between contexts, carry multiple influences, and adjust depending on the situation.
This creates a need to move away from static audience snapshots and toward a more continuous, connected view of consumers that builds over time instead of resetting with every new project or campaign. Those who do keep connecting evolving consumer signals will be able to make more accurate and confident decisions.
