Technical jargon: What does persona mean?

In the English-speaking world, they are usually called Jamie, Christine, Sara, Richard, Emily or, more down-to-earth, Urs, Markus, Maria, Peter, Ursula (when talking about baby boomers) or David, Laura, Luca, Sarah, Jessica, Céline (when talking about millennials), and marketers and communication experts think they know everything about them. They use elaborate charts to explain their preferences, behavior, goals and motivations in order to convince customers of the proposed concept. That it will accompany these personas on their path (or "journey") and compel them to the consumer happiness demanded and briefed by the client.Until recently, target groups were simply described generically: "women over fifty", at some point this became "all females over fifty with an awareness of beauty" and later "females over fifty with an affinity for fashion and cosmetic care products" through to "self-confident, professional, middle-income females with an affinity for branded products and the need to use only high-quality cosmetic care products for their skin".Today, a persona is simply called "Maria". This not only saves letters, but also suddenly creates space for reflection. Everyone thinks they know "Maria", but everyone knows someone else. And this is exactly where the problem used to lie: the more refined the target groups became, the more exclusionary their descriptions became, so it's only natural that marketers and communication experts are now suddenly singing the praises of Mary - and not just at Christmas time. They still want to sell her the same thing: Some cosmetic product that is good for her skin and is supposed to make it look younger thanks to some nutrients and ingredients. But she no longer needs it. Either because she doesn't care or because she has long preferred cosmetic surgery.Benno-Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner und Partner.