Perception

Definition of perception in my words:  Perception is how our senses interpret something. This can be done through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, feeling and tasting. We use these five senses and then process them to understand what we are observing. In order to perceive something we need little understanding of the subject itself and therefore create a basic understanding of it through our senses. For example, if you were to see someone dressed in certain way, this would alter your perception of them and you would think their personality is related to how they dress, however in reality this could be completetly different. Another example is that if two people look at a color and they both agree that it is blue there is no way for them to know it is the same colour even though they both agree.

How marketers use perception:
Marketers use perception in order to manipulate the way the advertise a specific product. This can usually help in enchancing the features which it contains and can encourag people to want to purchase the product using just visuals as well as emphasis on the product itself. Even if there is a non desirable product, by addapting its features this can alter a persons perception of it.

Here is an exmple of an advert which uses perception:

Lecture:

During the lecture as a class we discussed how the five senses can be used in order to change a person perception of a product or services. We looked through a number of different adverts and anlysed how they have used perception to maniuplate a product. Overall we decided there is no one specific sense which has the most effect on perception as they all play an equal role. However visuals are very key when advertising for the majority of products.

Definitions of perception: 

1.     1. 'Perception is a process which involves the recognition and interpretation of stimuli which register on our senses.’ (Rookes and Wilson 2000)

2.       2. ‘Perception is conscious sensor experience.’ (Goldstein 2009)

Websites and journals which looks at perception:

http://www.perceptionweb.com/

References:
Rookes and Wilson, 2000
Goldstein, 2009

Tweens

Tweens are those aged between nine-twelve years old. They are usually described as those who have not yet crossed the line between becoming a teenager from a child and are there for in an in between age group. They are often going through stages of life where they are developing physically, emotionally and socially.

The term ‘Tweens’ was predominately created by marketing teams as a specific target market whose needs were not being met. This was also a innovative and modern market which would not have been around many years ago.

The tween generation carry a number of different characteristics which are visible in the modern world. 

• They thrive for social time
•   Enjoy taking part in activities 
• They are major users of technology e.g Internet, Phones and Social networking sites
•   Like to achieve goals

Tweens spend a great deal of money on products and services and are always wanting to update what they have in order to gain a higher social status which is particularly important to them. “Tweens have a spending capacity of around 61 billion Euros per year” (Solomon et al, Consumer Behaviour, Pg 438) The demographic is fairly large and growing into the future therefore this is very important for businesses to consider when designing products and services.

Overall the Tween market is growing with a higher demand therefore businesses must ensure their needs are met or they would be losing a large demographic of potential customers if they do not do so. This is also a very new modern group which allows businesses to be innovative and grow. There is a high demand for this market and it is a very large and innovative group to target products at, a Mintel report shows there are a number of children who adapting to an adult lifestyle at a very early age, "Children are developing adult-type lifestyles younger, and rejecting the traditional behaviors that would once have characterized childhood." (www.mintel.co.uk Accessed: 05/05/2011)

Here is an example of a new doll which is aimed at this target market. There are a number of things which differentiate these adverts from children and teenage adverts including characters used, environment, music and overall theme. The language used is also aimed at those who are not yet teens but are no longer classified as children.

Here is another advert which targets a new magazine to the tween market:

 

A Mintel report which looks into the spending habbits of teenagers within the UK shows that they tend to spend a wide range of money.  "Over four in ten of those aged 11+ admit ‘I spend money without thinking’. ( www.mintel.co.uk Accessed: 05/05/2011)

Reference:

1. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective: Fourth Edition:2010             Michael R.Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren askegaard, Margaret K. Hogg
2. http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=300256/display/id=362102#hit1 ( Accessed 05/05/2011)
3. http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=300256/display/id=362102?select_section=362104  (Accessed 05/05/2011)

Learning and Memory

Learning is the process which takes place when something is understood and possessed by a person. It is a process which is done over a lifetime and is ongoing. It is when someone processes their experiences and information gained into how they behave and act, also what their attitudes are.

“Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in behaviour which comes with experience” (Solomon et al, Consumer Behaviour, Pg 246) 

Memory is when you store information and experiences and are able to think back to them in different points of the future. There are three aspects which take place in order to store information as a memory; these are encoding, storage and retrieval.

“Memory involves a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed” (Solomon et al, Consumer Behaviour, Pg257)

The main theories which can be applied to marketing are the cognitive and behavioural learning theory.

The behavioural learning theory suggests that people learn through what they see around them and as a direct response to their environment. This theory excludes the thinking process when looking at specific stimuli. For example those who receive positive feedback from purchasing a product are most commonly likely to purchase this product again.

This theory is used by the majority of marketers in order to focus a certain product and how people respond to them. “Many marketing strategies focus on the establishment of association between stimuli and responses” (Solomon et al, Consumer Behaviour, Pg 252)

Classical conditioning is when two unrelated objects are placed together in order to gain a certain response. Even though a person may not like a certain stimuli, when it is placed with something else it may lead to them liking it.

Here is Youtube video which demonstrates a key study into classical conditioning by Pavlov (1927)

Overall products which are marketed in a certain way can change how a person feels towards them. If they are associated with something which makes individuals feel good, this will automatically lead to them also liking the product. Therefore when marketing product businesses must be careful to ensure it is associated with something which is positive. 

If people do not originally like a product but see other people around them using a specific product or service, this leads to them wanting it regardless of how they feel towards it. This is very important as marketers must ensure it is portrayed positively without knowing what it actually is.

Product examples:

The celebrities used in these adverts encourage consumers to want to purchase the clothing even if they do not like it at first as this is the new and current trend being set. This shows that positively representing clothing can influence consumers buying decision.

Lecture:

During the lecture we were asked to write down a shopping list in the correct order from what we could remember. This was quite hard to do as there were ten different types of products on the list; the ones which were related to one another were those which were mostly remembered.

References:

1. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective: Fourth Edition:2010                        Michael R.Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren askegaard, Margaret K. Hogg

Gender differences in buyer bahviour

Gender is the most common way in which products and services are differentiated both when designed and marketed. It is one of the easiest ways to differentiate products. The responses which are received by marketing companies through advertising using genders is very different. Male and females respond differently, this can be based on the colours of the advertisement, the actual product or service and the theme of what is being marketed. Males prefer dull neutral colours whilst women prefer bright, ‘feel good’ colours.

  

The language which is used to market a product or service can alter weather it is targeted at males or females. Most marketing which is targeted at females is written in a conversation format, however on the other hand males prefer a talkative informal style. Males tend to scan through things and come to a quick decision whereas women read more into information and analyse it before making a decision. 

 

One important study is by Schiebe and Condry (1984). During this study advertisements were looked at and were analysed by product types. The main differences which were found were the gender differences which the values in the adverts promoted. Females mostly worried about beauty and physical appearance while Males focused on their strength and careers.

Lecture:

During the lecture we were shown a video clip from Youtube, from this we gave our opinions on what we thought of it. This then allowed us to assess how we think differently depending on the gender we are. However as it was an advert related to a charity the majority of the class had a similar response to the advert.

Generation X and Y marketing

Generation X or baby busters is commonly applied to those born in the 1960’s to the early 1980’s. These types of people are seen by the marketing industry as very hard to market to as they prefer products not to be over commercialised as this is very off-putting to them. The people in this generation are those who have been affected by the recession which took place in the 1900’s. 

The reason why marketers still focus on this age group is because they have a high flexible income. “Busters in their twenties have an estimated annual spending power of $125 billion” (Solomon, Pg 440).This market share is those who are most commonly at work and have a family to support therefore marketers consider these greatly when targeting product. Specific markets which target people from this generation include cosmetics, beer and fast foods. The reason is that at this age particularly women tend to care about their skin and how they look and therefore tend to buy cosmetic products to help them. The majority of people in this age group are at work and therefore rely on fast food or ready made meals to feed themselves and family. Those people in this age group who are single, in particular men largely consume beer therefore this is a key product which is marketed to this group.

However some negative factors are that although marketers focus products to this age range, they may be less likely to spend as they are also the age that are most commonly saving for homes or paying back loans/debts. 

Here are some adverts aimed at this age range:

 

Generation Y are those who are born between the years 1978- 1999. This age group are those who have not yet settled down, either in fulltime education or still trying to settle down in a career path. The majority of this age range focus on brands as being very important to them.This age group is more flexible with where they spend their money and are more advanced with the modern world. One area in which they focus on spending in particular is the technological market. They are easier to reach through modern digital marketing as they are constantly using the internet.

Although they spend a lot of money one negative factors is they are restricted with the amount they have to spend as they are less likely to receive loans and if they do, the amount they receive would be very basic depending on what their job is.

Here are some adverts targeted at this audience:

I also found a useful video on youtube about marketing to generation Y

References:

1. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective: Fourth Edition:2010                        Michael R.Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren askegaard, Margaret K. Hogg

Culture

Culture is based on a number of different factors and can help influence buyers in the decision making process. The key factors which culture is based on are family and society values/ attitudes, the way people perceive the difference between right and wrong, a group of memories and the way a community learns.

Definition in my words:

This is a quality which an individual person holds from their upbringing and environment. A culture can be defined as the way people behave and beliefs of a certain social, age or ethnic group. Culture is mainly formed from family attitudes, values and attitudes which are given by society, as well as family values and rules. 

Main components of a culture:

·         Values

·         Beliefs

·         Customs

Culture affects everything that we as people do. It is one of the main aspects which influence our decision making process. There are number of different theories into consumer buyer behaviour which incorporate culture into them.

Here is a culture framework which shows there are some key initial values which are considered and on the top of this list is culture:

Source: http://www.ishir.com/cmmi.htm (Accessed: 24/04/2011)

One theory which looks into culture is Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) Cultural Framework. This is a way in which marketers are able to asses how culture affects a specific market and takes into account a number of different aspects:

Source: Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-international-marketing-culture.html (Accessed: 24/04/2011)

A communities culture greatly affects how likely they are to purchase a certain product. Religion also  plays a major factor as marketers must ensure what they are marketing is suitable for a specific market group. An example is when marketing Christmas products, businesses are more likely to approach a country with a wider Christian population rather than one that has more of a Muslim population.

When marketing a product organisations must consider a culture and whether the product would be acceptable within the community. A lot of marketers have to rethink their marketing strategies as different cultures see things in different ways, for example western culture may accept a certain marketing message however in eastern cultures it may not be acceptable.

If marketers do not adapt their marketing strategies for different cultures it may lead to marketing and products to be banned which gives an overall negative image to the product and brand. This also can cause them to lose a large target market and cause a loss in revenues, therfore a lot of marketers are investing a lot of money and time into adapting their strategies.

Lecture:

During the lecture we were asked to look at different cultures and build a stereotype based on their culture. Some of the things we looked at included five famous people to come from a country, favourite food, religion, and national values.

We looked at the USA. The five most famous people which we came up with were Michael Jackson, Madonna, Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. The most famous food which was agreed was burgers and chips. The majority of the people from the country are Christian.

Although we were just generalising what we thought of a particular country this does not mean every individual is like this, however this is mainly what marketers use when marketing a specific product. 

References:

1. http://www.ishir.com/cmmi.htm (Accessed: 24/04/2011)
2. http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-international-marketing-culture.html (Accessed: 24/04/2011)

Group conformity, opinion leaders and peer pressure

Definition: 

“A collection of individuals who have regular contact and frequent interaction, mutual influence, commonwork together to achieve a common set of goals.” (www.businessdictionary.com Accessed: 26/04/2011)

In my words:

A group is a set of people (two or more) who share a set of common interests; these include sets of social norms, experience co-dependent behaviours and have role relationships.

People who are a part of a group can sometimes feel pressurised by their group members and can react negatively to this type of pressure. The main ways in which they react to this type of pressure includes, Internalisation and identification, Counter conformity and Compliance.

Studies into group conformity:

One study which looks into group conformity is an experiment conducted by Asch (1958) in which a group of people were shown different line lengths and asked to match them with another on a card. All of the people gave the wrong answer as this was a part of the experiment, the person who was being tested also conformed to the rest of the group and gave the same answer. (www.age-of-the-sage.org Accessed: 26/04/2011)

In consumer behaviour a lot of people are influenced by how others react to a certain product or service. Even if they do not originally agree with the idea, if the majority of a group around them agrees then they will also conform to the idea weather they internally agree or not.

Opinion leaders

Definition:

“People who are knowledgeable about products and whose advice is taken seriously by others” (Solomon Pg 407)

Opinion leaders are those who influence other people around them easily. They often change their attitudes and behaviours. These types of people are those who tend to be the initial people to buy a latest product. This then encourages other people to also buy the particular product or service as they think the person who originally bought it is right to do so.

Opinion leaders can not be generalised as there are different types of opinion leaders depending on the product or service and their expertise on different topics are varied. For example one opinion leader for electronics, and another for fashion/retail.

These are very important in marketing as they are the basis in what makes a product or service successful and encourages others to also purchase. A lot of trends in buying often originate within city centres and then are spread across the country.

I think this is one advert where opninion leaders has been used and really caught my eye. The use of celebrities encourages people to also want to give blood, I know it's for a good cause and a lot of people would give blood regardless of the celebrities being in the advert but I think this may have encouraged a lot more people to also give blood.

This advert is one which also uses celebrities to enhance its products and encourages others to also use it. Celebrities are very common opinion leaders to use in marketing as they are key people who encourage consumers to purchase.

References: 

1.   http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/group.html ( Accessed: 26/04/2011)
2.    http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html ( Accessed: 26/04/2011) 
3. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective: Fourth Edition:2010      Michael R.Solomon, Gary Bamossy, Soren askegaard, Margaret K. Hogg