Business 2 Business - 3-4-09

Many different types of organisations use each others business to help establish their business and sell their products to, but the way they are sold is different to they way products are sold to the public consumer.

Businesses sell to businesses more than to the consumer, but the consumer does not realise this. This is done behind the scenes as sometimes businesses do not spend money but products.

By looking at three different companies who have different target audiences, competition and price, allows for a more in depth understanding of why businesses sell to each other. Coca-Cola has approx 50 million potential customers within the UK, Financial services software has 100s and MRI scanner manufacturer has 1 – NHS. Coca-Cola costs between £1-£5, financial services software costs £50,000 and MRI scanner manufacturer costs £825,000. The MRI scanner manufacturer has fewer clients so can not afford to lose any, as does the financial services software, this leads to them having a closer relationships with their client. This would build up trust and due to the amount of money involved they will want to do best for their clients. The best way for them to promote new products is personal selling, going to the client and telling them face to face enabling the client to feel the relationship developing and trusting in the company. Coca-Cola’s relationship with its consumers is a lot more difficult and they have such a large potential audience that speaking to individuals would be a lot of man power. As like consumers talk about new and good products businesses will do the same. In London there are many different businesses and staff will talk to each other, companies like financial services software will want their customers to tell others about the software and think about buying it. The relationship that the company has formed allows for this to take place especially if the client trusts the company enough to recommend it.

Business will always buy for a need and never a want; they will not buy on impulse. They will undertake the whole of Kotler’s Buyer Decision Process, by a group of people rather than one individual.

As my final week I thought I would put in an advert that whenever I watch it I become a kid again and want to be back there. Yes, you guessed it … Disney. I love this advert because it is exactly how I feel when I think about going there and while I’m there. I know my parents get excited about going to so it’s a little reflection of my family. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Thanks for reading and I’ll speak over the summer – Year 1 – DONE!!!

Culture 27-3-09

Culture can affect the way in which an individual looks at a product or situation. By understanding different cultural backgrounds, allows for advertisers to use certain techniques when aiming at a specific audience.
“A culture is the configuration of learned behaviour and results of behaviour whose component elements are shared and transmitted by members of a particular society.” Ralph Linton (1945)
By learning the different ways different cultures act and the way in which different activities are undertaken, understanding why the customer acts a certain way becomes clear. Different cultures come from different influences on an individual’s life, family and friends, education, government and religion. All playing a vital rule in the way the consumer looks and understands different subjects.

Culture is made up from different essential components, Beliefs, Values and Customs.
Beliefs – Mental and verbal processes undertaken that reflect an individuals knowledge of a product or service. E.g. Green – environmentally friendly.
Values – the guides in which individuals use for what they believe is appropriate behaviour, often accepted with members of a particular market audience.
Customs – modes of behaviour that are culturally approved in specific situations. E.g. If a policeman shots a terrorist – socially will accept it because of the situation.

Things which seem normal to some cultures are completely different in others. Christmas is a prime example showing the different ways different countries celebrate the same occasion. In Jaclyn Fierman’s book, Christmas shopping around the world, describes the different ways in which Father Christmas arrives to the children. In Italy a witch flies down and drops the presents through the chimney, in Syria he arrives on a camel and in Scandinavia they celebrate him coming with reindeer's like in the UK. What we think its just a simple fact of how Father Christmas arrives changes all over the world.

Geert Hofstede’s theory looks at the way national cultures vary and the way these can be measured. This analysis explained four dimensions to show the variations in culture across national boundaries, Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism. For England the analysis demonstrates the strong feelings towards individualism and masculinity.Power distance and uncertainty avoidance are ranked lower for England than the first two. Once looking at England, by investigating another country enabled for a comparison of these four factors. Italy showed some of the same factors as the UK but Italy ranked higher in power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Although Italy is seen as individual, the UK is ranked higher, with Italy being only slightly higher on masculinity. While looking at Italy different ways in which their country has their own symbolic references compared to those that the UK has. Stereotypes are used when individuals think about other countries, myself finding it harder to create a stereotype of the UK but a lot easier describing one of Italy.

The advert I chose for culture looked at the relationship between certain animals. Stereotypically cats and dogs fight, with cats trying to eat the fish. This advert shows a change in roles with the use of language. The advert works well as it brakes the normality of a fish, changing the perception of the fish to the audience.

Social Class 20-3-09

“Social class is a division of society made up of persons possessing certain common social characteristics which are taken to qualify them for intimate, equal status relations with one another, and which restrict their interaction with members of other social classes.” Krech, Crutchfield & Ballachey in Dubois 2000.

These two diagrams below show the way in which social class has developed over the past century.

These showing three different classes developing into seven classes, creating a diamond shape from the previous triangle. These changes have occurred as individuals have began to move up social classes, either by income or marrying up.

Different countries have different social classes and these are determined in different ways. Below is a table showing the different social classes in Great Britain and those in India. These social classes can have more importance to particular countries than to others, some finding it hard to associate with those below their class.



Classes are often determined by what occupation an individual has, their income, education or family background. These are visible by they way they dress and are groomed, with their tone of speak giving a distinction between upper and lower classes and titles that may be held.

Their income and social class run alongside of each other, helping to understanding why individuals are in that class. Status symbols are used to show others an individuals place within society. Incomes have began to increasing changing the social classes of individuals, this is due to a rise in women working bringing more money into a household and a rise in graduates being able to do higher paid jobs.

Individuals have their own opinions on the way in which social classes are worked out and the way in which they are seen. Social mobility of an individual can be done quickly and often as needed, this shows that there is not one thing it is based on and individuals can change quickly. An example of this is marrying up the social ladder. The income factor in purely based on the head of the houses income rather than the dual income of the whole family, this could change the social class of the family as the women in the house could also be working. Individuals may dress like they belong to a particular class but actually don’t, this can cause confusing so ignores the subject of the actual class.

Social class shows a better indication of symbolic purchases; these could range in price but would involve cosmetics and liqueurs. Income shows a better indicator of non-symbolic purchases, these would high expense like fridges or cookers. Using both social class and income shows indication of expensive and symbolic products. This way individuals can show their personality with their wealth, example cars and homes.


This Rolex commercial is aimed at the Higher Class as it is an expensive company. The sports shown are those connected with the higher class, Show Jumping, Tennis, Golf. Over the top of the commercial is an opera song, a show which the lower class would not go to as it is often expensive and is associated with money.

Kids Grow Older Younger - 6-3-09

Sorry once I started writing I couldn't stop!!

“Kids Grow Older Younger”

“Kids Grow Older Younger” was broadcasted in 1992 showing how children now look at media and how the industry is aiming branded products at them. The show visited different members of the industry finding out many disturbing facts.

From watching the programme it gave incite in the way advertisers use brand loyalty from a young age. Children begin to recognise advertising around 2-4 years old, just when they will be able to talk and point things out that they want. £30 million is spent on children’s advertising a year, but why so much? Children are able to persuade adults to buy different products either because of the brand or, as research has shown, packaging plays a major role when advertising towards children. Stereotypically girls would go for a product with bright colours and boys with dark colours. Boys seem to be more sucked into brands due to the sponsorship connected with brands and sports. At the moment within the market children have been hooked to High School Musical enabling marketers to put the actors’ faces or even the writing and they will want the product. It is then down to the parent to say no that not good for you or you can not have it.

Brands build up the Child's identity being able to fit within a group of friends. Children look at brands as if they were a human, whether they are fashionable or popular. If the child does not have a certain brand they will often be bullied at school for not being ‘cool’. This can be due to parents not having the money or simply not thinking they are suitable. Advertisers are aware of the bully that takes place, aiming at these bullies to get the latest brand to promote it, as the rest of the kids in the playground look up to him/her. Children will try and play parents to buy them presents of they are good. To do this asking for something, being told ‘No’, asking again later and told if your good, behaving for the rest of the day, then asking again and the parent will more than likely say yes. This technique is used by children allowing them to achieve their goal, getting the product.

Peter Cooper, a consumer psychologist, explained about the two different types of mothers. Regressive mothers like to keep their child a child for as long as possible. Continuing the idea of their innocence and they need to be looked after. Dettol shows this as they want to look after the children.

Progressive mothers want the kid to grow up and be able to look after themselves. BT show this in their advertising as the child is allowed to be alone surfing the Internet.

Nowadays, children are having to grow up fast due to different fears that are scaring the nation, paedophiles, exams, divorce, all playing on the child’s mind. These fears come from factual news and soap operas which are often watched as a family before bed. These programmes show in-depth stories that realistically could happen to anyone.
http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/speaker_pres/data/35 This article I found really interested me, showing the target age changing and what mothers thought about the fact of their children growing older younger.

Pocket Money 2008 -

As children begin to want to buy their own products parents give pocket money enabling them to have some responsibility. These children want to adapt to adult lifestyles so buying products that will imply this. Toys have been effected buy this as now 9/10 year olds are more interested in fashion and music rather than sitting with a toy. Crisps and sweets have felt a decrease due to the healthy eating lifestyles that parents and school are promoting. Money used for CDs have moved to sharing folders for mp3 players, so children are growing up faster.

The increase in technology and neighbourhoods has changed the way pocket money is spent. Due to the potential dangers of playing on the street, children are more restricted than in the 1970s, this allowing the money to be spent on items that will be used in the home. Only 7% of boys said that they don’t like video games, showing that many are stuck in front of a screen. By using the entertainment in homes, surfing the Internet will increase pester power again as the child will need a credit card to buy a product, not using the pocket money. Within the report it was found that less affluent families are more likely to indulge their children finically.

Girls always want to buy clothes were as boys will only want it for the brand or logo. 7-10 like to save money to show that they are good at something; where as 4 out of 10 over 11s spend money without thinking about it.

These figures show that children buy what they want and it will more often than not it will be aimed at someone older than them.

Piaget’s Theory - http://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_171870_1%26url%3D

This theory shows the development of children towards advertising and the way they look at it.

International food advertising, pester power and its effects.

Pester power is a pejorative term for children making requests of their parents (Brown,2004). It can cause great strain on the family relationships, parent would have the better judgement, child wants the unhealthy food. Spungin (2004) argued by advertising to children, companies are encouraging the child to nag their parents into buying something that is not good for them, they don’t need or the parent cant afford.’

Pocket money allows for the child to have their own spending power, creating early loyalty with brands, having more power over the adults purchasing behaviour. Adults want to protect their child from the market causing the child to have constricted access to bad purchasers. McNeal explains that brands and stores offer security to children in the same way that pillow a blanket does. Market research agency Datamonitor describes how these circumstances have formed due to the prepared play divorce/ working a parent off against each other.

Like with adults, children will buy what their friends are buying, showing that advertising does not work, word of mouth is more affective.

Palan & Wilkes (1997) identified three strategies the child uses, bargaining, persuasion and emotion. Marquis (2004) found that in French- Canadian ten year olds girls are mostly likely to use persuasion and boy will use emotion. When food shopping with the children lower-social-class households agree with the statement ‘I buy what the children want.’ In Sweden parents spoke openly about the fact they don’t take their children food shopping because it causes too much stress and exhaustion.

There is an increase request for foods high in fat, sugar and salt, indicating the crease in conflict when in the shop causing the purchase of less healthily foods. An example, sweets near the checkouts are at eye level of the child making then want them and maybe causing a conflict.

This weeks advert shows girls trying to look at lot older than they are but still playing with dolls. This advert works as it uses bright colours and the children used are ones that the girls watching can relate to as their will be those girls in their class at school. Bratz have also used technology for the girls in continue interacting and grow up faster as they are unsupervised using the Internet.

Family 20-02-09

What is family?
In the 1960s families were the individuals that you lived with and were closest to. Nowadays the idea of family has moved to not only those blood related but those extremely close friends. I find this easy to relate to as one of my closest friends is seen as my sister and my family see her as another daughter and sister.

Nuclear Family – father, mother and children who live together in the same house. Typically in the UK there are 2 adults and 2 children, where as in china it is 2 adults and 1 child.
Extended Family – nuclear family plus other relatives such as grandparents, aunts etc. in the 21st century these relative can live all around the globe.
Family of Orientation – the family you are born into.
Family of Procreation – the family founded through marriage.

Family structure has changed over the past decade with an increasing number of birth outside marriage, increase in divorce rate, increase in step families and increasing number of widowed living alone. All of these linking into one another and the way in which the birth rate used to and how it changes. There are increasing widowed women as men have a shorter life expencency and these are the over 50s. There are a large population of them making them a large group for marketers to aim for.

Nowadays in Britain there are two breadwinners within the household,1/4 of married women work at lease 30 hours, causing Britain to have the highest women employment rate in Europe. This then leads to their children becoming latch key (have their own key to house) allowing them to do what they want when they get in from school. This also allows marketers to target women as they have more disposable income to spend.
This advert uses the problems in society to market towards couple who are staying together but may have problems using these products as a way of keeping the couple together.

In the 1960s the model of the family life cycle (FLC) was put together, each individual regardless of age goes through each of these stages. Sometimes they can go through them more than once.

Stage Title Characteristics

1 Bachelor Young, Single, Not living at home
2 Newly married Young, No Children
3 Full nest I Youngest child under 6
4 Full nest II Youngest child 6 or over
5 Full nest III Older married with dependent children
6 Empty nest I Older married, no children living at home
7 Empty nest II Older married, Retired, No children living at home
8 Solitary survivor I In labour force
9 Solitary survivor II Retired

Nowadays this model is being questioned due to the divorce rate and those who do not get married or have children. This is the new version of the FLC showing different stages that have become increasingly popular in the 21st Century.

Within the family different individuals play different roles. Field (1969) identified three dimensions who each influence a decision.
Discernment – know about the product
Price – who pays
Satisfaction – who uses
In the 60s the father would be the one who worked and brought home the money. The man earns and the woman spends. In the 21st century the women also brings home money so when deciding on certain products an individual can be one or all of Fields dimensions.

Family Buying Organisation

When buying a product individually consumers go through the buyer decision process, when a family wants to buy something each person have a different piece of input to make an influence on the final outcome. This table shows the different roles when planning a family holiday.
Role What they do? Who?
Gatekeeper Has information Mother, Father, Children
User Who will be going Mother, Father, Children
Influencer Ideas of where to go Anyone
Buyer Who will pay Mother, Father
Decider Makes final choice Mother, Father (this can change depending on the family)

Below, this diagram shows the different husband and wife influences when buying a product.

The fridge is slightly towards the wife as she will want it to match with the rest of the appliances in the kitchen. The husbands clothing is towards the wife more than hers is towards him as she will buy him cloths as stereotypically men are less fussy about pants and socks than women are about their cloths. This diagram was created in 1974 when there was typically the traditional family of Father goes to work, mother does everything else and there are two children. Children having no influence on what is bought. A more recent study shows that children have larger influence on techniqueial products than the mother.

It is seen that the children know more about technology than the mother so would have a bigger influence. This shows how the development has changed from just the parents to the whole family.

This advert shows the different aspects of family life from growing up to playing in the adventure parks. This advert relates to anyone as pizza hut aims at a large audience – this adverts aims at family and somewhere they can go together.

Generational Marketing 13-02-09

Looking at age, rather than generation, does not enable the marketer to see what they have been through and the way they will react to particular products. Generation enables marketers to see where they have come from and when they grew up.

World War II 75/85 Year olds 1930s
MODS and Rockers 60/70 Year olds 1940s
Hippies Rebellion against state 1950s
Punks Rebellion against government 1960s
New Romantics Anti-punk – Feminine/Well off 1970s
Millennials good with technology Born before 1980s

Tweens
Falling birth rates in 1990s – 2000-2005 Tweens decreased
8-14 (differ between persons)
Kids of baby boomers
Nothing edgy and sarcastic – silly and stupid
Email is most likely to be used

Teens
15-18 – 7.5 million teens
Getting old quicker
Ignore ads
Social networking
9/11, Black president, War

Generation X
46 million worldwide
18-29
Practical
Edge
Friend rather than family
Independent
Latch key – Own key and do everything for themselves
Subcultures – yuppies

Young baby Boomers


Over 50s
Environment, ethical, travel
21 million 1/3 population
Saga M&S Debenhams
Sinatra

This video shows the way in which communities in the USA are getting all different generations to interact with each other. This enables the over 50s to see and hear about what the teens and younger are doing. The community centre holds another part of the influences that would persuade a young buyer as they may have learnt different thing from this older generation.


This week I found the Zafira and Mariva adverts from Vauxhall as I found that this appealed to young children as there are two young boys in it, it is humorous for the male audience and females would think that they boys are sweet with there deep voices.

Groups 30-01-09

Consumers belong to groups and these groups influence what they do, wear and act. During the beginning of the millennium, Burberry was the associated brand with Chavs. This was not the publicity that the real Burberry brand wanted as ‘fakes’ began to appear and the Burberry check was put on everything. The real Burberry would place the checked pattern on the inside of the clothing trying to disassociate themselves with the Chavs. The day the former soap star Daniella Westbrook and her daughter stepped out in head to toe in Burberry checked the company had to change and change fast (L.Jones, June 2008).
Groups can consist of 2 or more individuals who:
Have the same values
Have a role within the group, leader, follower etc.
Experience interdependent behaviours – they are dependant on the way other in the group act.
Groups can influence other groups and individuals in the way they act. Using the Burberry example individuals either wanted to be associated with the Chav image or not causing a decrease the in real Burberry’s merchandise. Group influences can be seen on the street, were a group of young teenagers will be crowded other passers by, may cross the road or go a different way to avoid them.

Below shows the different group types that we have influences from and those who we don’t want to be associated with. Individuals pasts shows these different group types making each individuals unique, therefore making it harder for the marketer to target anyone particular group.
Maslow looked at the way in which individuals need. His hierarchy of need showed the 5 different needs that the social animal, Man, needs.

Marketers and advertisers use ‘belonging’ as a pivotal message in ad campaigns. They know that the individuals wants to belong to a group so by using belonging it enables them to interact and comply with the audiences needs.

The need to belong comes from the social comparison theory that each individual sets their selves. Social comparison theory describes the way we look to the behaviour of others to provide a guide and to reassure our self evaluation. Consumers are selective about who they use as bench marks but will usually be a close peer or a person of equivalent standing. The main influence of groups is the acceptance of certain expectations of behaviour e.g. rules, norms. An individual can react to this pressure by compliance, internalisation, identification or counter conformity. This video shows the way in which group influences have on an individual, but there are always those who don’t follow the crowd.




During this week I found an advert which made me laugh as I am always being laughed at for my blonde moments so at least there is one person out there worse than me!!

Involvement, Values, Attitudes 23-01-09

The level of involvement which is used when buying a product varies dependant on what the product is. The more interested the consumer is in the product the more involved they will be. Laurent & Kapferer (1985) argue that there are four different components regarding the amount of involvement used.
1 – Importance and Risk
This looks at six different aspects that the consumer wants the product to undertake. Finance, Time, Performance, Ego, Physical and Social. An example of this would be a kettle, Finance – Is it worth the money, Time – how long will it last, Performance – does it work, Ego – is it branded, Physical – will it burn me and Social – does it look attractive/match.
2 – Probability of making a bad purchase
3 – Pleasure value of the product category
4 – Sign value of product category (Symbolism)

Our values differ from each individual, but individuals do not always act according to their values. these values come form past experiences and individuals backgrounds.

Key events happen all over the world, developing peoples value system. This timeline shows events that happened in my life and those that happened around the world. Some have affected me more than others as they are a lot clearer in my mind. September 11th and my brother being born are extremely clear, knowing exactly what happened and describe every detail.

By looking at the Harvard tests (WEB) different ways to see how different individuals react around people who they see as different and they relate to them. I chose to do the mental illness to see how it would say I reacted and what I think about them. I had to answer a few questions and then quickly put words in or out of a group named at the top of the screen. I found this very difficult as I was trying to go fast rather than concentrating. These were my results.

This research has many different questionnaires including association with men and work rather than women and racism. These tests show individuals fit into specific categories because of their past experiences. Personal events develop on individuals way of thinking, developing to their personality.

VALS2 (Values,Attitudes,Lifestyle Survey) categorises individuals into groups depending on answer given. Below is the first few questions of the questionnaire.

This psychographic research combines detailed demographic data with AIO statements,(Attitudes, Interests and Opinions) which VALS completes by choosing mostly agree, slightly agree, mostly disagree, slightly disagree. Once I had taken the questionnaire, my results showed achievers and experiences. I found that they did describe me well as my past experiences have contributed to this.

This video shows how attitudes can change due to experiences. Lee Evans explains how children will try and see what they can and cannot get away with.

This week I found an Advert for Jeep which used the idea of animals well, giving the car character.

This character enables the viewer to begin a relationship with the car, like when you see a puppy for the first time there is as an automatic bond. Many people would have seen animals react like this after getting dirty or wet so it is a familiar idea. This idea of juxtaposition enables a humour contrast with the car and animal.

Gift Giving 19-12-08

Involvement when buying friends and relatives presents can change depending on the relationship and whether they are easy or hard to buy for. During the Christmas period presents are exchanged allowing marketers to dress their products in a new way to make consumer buy because it’s Christmas!! Toblerone chocolate change their packaging as the Christmas season arrives.

This is to persuade individuals to buy it, but why do they buy the product? By understanding the involvement needed to buy chocolate for someone else will give this understanding.

Different products have high or low involvement when purchasing them. Kotler’s decision process, shows how quickly the brain will buy some products but will take longer on others.
This table shows the involvement with some products. A low involvement purchase would be one that could be routine on the shopping list, milk, bread, no thought actually goes into what is being purchased. A high involvement purchase would be a house or car, this would take a lot of time to think about the purchase as other brands would be involved leading to undertaking the decision process slowly. Thinking about the product, feeling/using the product and buying the product happen in different orders depending on the level on involvement. Here shows the order individuals undertake these stages depending on the level of involvement.
High Involvement think-feel-do – cars, technology.
Low Involvement think-do-feel – beans, bread
Experiential/impulse feel-do-think – chocolates, crisps
Behavioural influence do-think-feel – clothes

Laurent & Kapferer (1985) argued that the involvement in which the consumer undertakes is affected by four components.
Importance & risk (Finance, Time, Performance, Ego, Physical, Social): These six attributes, collectively, build up how the consumer will by the product and problem that may come with it.
Probability of making a bad purchase: if the product does not work or problems occur with it, making it not a worthless buy.
Pleasure value of product category: The enjoyment from the product or buying the product for someone (seeing how happy it makes them)
Sign value of product category: what others will think about the product and does it stand for anything.

When gift giving it is about the emotionally connecting the giver and the recipient. This emotional shopping aims at the goal of finding something special for that individual, with the gift communicating a message. Problems arise with gift giving when the giver’s and recipient’s value drivers differ (Danziger,2004).

When shopping takes place it’s the experience that matters to the buyer, this is why shops will decorate and products will slightly change their packaging. Shops know that this experience is important wanting the buyer to enjoy themselves and remember the experience. La Senza put scented beads into their bags allowing the consumer to be able to remember them when they arrive home, maximising pleasure. In this clip of Love Actually, over exaggeration is used to humour the way shops try to maximise pleasure using different plants, beads and ribbons. (Sorry about the bad picture!)



As it’s Christmas I found four Christmas commercials which clearly integrate Christmas with their advertisement. These are enjoyable as they use the colours associated with Christmas and snow, something everyone wishes for. Coke is a famous Christmas advert as they changed Father Christmas from green to red, many millennial babies will easily relate to it as this is when they know it is Christmas.

Heusitics, Memory & Nostalgia - 12-12-08

Heuristics

Fast and frugal heuristics – making quick decisions when there is a lot of choice (Williams 2001).
The process can happen in a few seconds cutting out sections of Kotler’s Buyer Decision Process.
Search for information – can be cut down into criteria like cost,
Stop searching (heuristic rule)
Make a decision (heuristic rule)

When selecting the product, fast and frugal heuristics will choose the product due to four things.
Recognition – Branding – More like to buy a product known rather than a new one.
Minimalist – Advertising – used in conjunction to recognition once recognised plus one random criteria e.g. recognition plus nice label.
Take the last – Habit – way chosen last time used again.
Take the best – Branding/USP – assesses the options but still only uses one criteria.

By adding and adapting heuristics to products, they enable consumers to think what they want to look like to others, e.g. birds eye chicken or Tescos own chicken.
- Pricing – lowest/best deal – Tesco Value
- Promotion – free gift/offer – Tea bags
- Novelty – newest item – fashion clothing
- Variety – break the mould/something new – cereals
- Herd – most popular – Nike
These heuristics enable consumers to buy products to their own personal need, financially would look for promotions and pricing.

Learning

‘Every time an advisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer learns something … and remember what he learned.’ (Britt 1955)

Learning theory looks at two sections about the brain. When the brain is in gear the individual undertakes Cognitive Learning where they have to complete complex problems. When the brain is not in gear, it undertakes Behaviourist Approach where the stimulus response to the connections.

Memory

‘Learning is the acquisition of knowledge and memoir is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge.’(Blackmore 1988)

This diagram shows the memory process, from the initial input to storage in the brain.

Small pieces of information are stored in our brain, this information is placed in nodes linked to a knowledge structure. Links are formed across structures and can be lead triggering, this is what marketers use to remind consumer of a brand or event. This diagram shows the relationships that occur in the memory process.

Nostalgia

‘Nostalgia has been described as a bitter-sweet emotion, where the past is viewed with both sadness and longing.’ (Soloman,2000)

Advertisers use nostalgic themes so that consumers can link the happiness/good feelings that they felt to the product. The 5 senses enable this to work well, especially when more than one is used.
Sound – Music – ‘Never had a dream come true’ reminds me of my Grandad.
Sight – Images –Iconic fashions
Smell – Smells – perfumes, ice cream
Touch – Feel – silk
Taste – cider
The Christmas Marks and Spencer adverts enabled the older generations to connect with the films being re-mastered and the actors within them. The font of the writing also makes the audience think about old films and the credits on them.

The advert I choose for this week was Heineken, this advert shows of the male humour and them trying to look clever. It works well as both the man and the dark haired lady thinks they have one over the other person.

Gender reactions to charity ads & Direct mail - 28-11-08

Different genders respond to different parts of adverts because of the way each brain works. In research, a group of people were brought into a room and later asked to name various items in the room. The men remembered the big picture of an office, like chair, placing of desk. Where as the women remembered more intimate details vase of flowers, photo of children on desk. This shows that when advertising to each sex understanding what the main things they will notice and remember is vital.

Schiebe and Condry (1984) examined advertisements according to product type and found major gender differences in the values promoted in advertisements. Advertisements aimed at women look at stressed beauty and youth where as with men these adverts look at ambition and physical strength.

Advertisers have huge problems when advertising for men and women having to have complete different adverts for them both to notice it. For women adverts will be:
More detailed
Finely distinctions – women appreciate the different types of each individual.
The adverts for men will be:
Less complicated
Easy to see some sort of free-bee
Shown the whole picture
These simple differences show the way in which men remember adverts and women remember.

When advertising for charities they will normal aim at women as they are stereotypically more sensitive than men. When looking at a group of adverts, conclusions were gathered that women will look at them in more detailed e.g. the way the child looks and says something making the viewer think how lucky they are. Where as the men will just look at it at face value.

Male and females have different responds to direct mail. Females will respond to an emotional style and charities used this in their fund-raising mail-shots. Males respond to a factual style of direct mail. Females like conversational language where as men would prefer chatty language and factual statements. Women prefer strong colours where as men prefer neutral colours. So when advertising it is best to choose what gender you are target rather than trying to aim at both.

Young boys and girls have different advertising needs as when advertising for a boy, they are normally fast paced with action where as girls adverts are more feminine. This can be reflected on the way in which the adverts are portrayed as adults.

This week I found an advert which shows the way men and women can miscommunicated. McDonalds, to me, is a children’s place to eat but this advert aims at the teenage/young adult generation.

Enterprise Week - 21-11-08

During enterprise week I attended 3 different presentations about the world of marketing communications. They enabled me to meet people from the industry and begin my networking. They gave different tips and opinions about how to enter the industry, enjoy every moment!


What next?


Eight members of the industry joined us, enabling us to ask questions about any part of the industry. Don Cowley, part founder of the Account Planning Group, media planner and account planner. Jayne Barr, founder of Creative consulting Ltd working with BA, Clarks, Aviva and Shell. Andrew Canter CEO and founder of Contentworx, also lecturing at universities. Steve Cox, media director Titan outdoor and a founder member of Radio Advertising Bureau. Rob Lawerence after graduating in 1994 moved from managing broadcast business to strategic Director. Jamie Matthews set up INITALS in May 2006 with Kevin Twitty and won Best Newcomer Agency Award for 2008. Ivor Peters Managing Director of Primal PR, since 1993 creating award winning campaigns. Allan Rich spent his 45 year working life in advertising and is excutive director of Cello Group.
‘ Well run business will always survive a recession’ – Allan Rich


Through the recession companies have to concentrate on what they do best. Allan Rich explained three things:
1. Focus on the Brands that are most likely to survive.
2. Concentrate on 100 Brands
3. Businesses do the same, concentrate on what they do best.
Ivor Peters explained that it is not just about getting the brand in the best magazine but the best way to communicate the brand.
1. Measurement – Measure what they do.
2. Accountability – Are they going to be transparent.
3. Innovation – Enthusiasm for the Brand.

‘Everything starts with the consumer’ Andrew Canter
Advertising has to adapt to time, a 30 second advert does not work in the same way that it used to. Digital concepts have begun to take over, digital screens on the underground and buses. Other countries are using digital but in different ways.
‘Advertising is a powerful source’ Steve Cox

Graduates

The graduates talk was interesting as it enabled me to see where they had got to after they had completed their degree. These are the main points I got from the speech and will be able to use in the future.
· Digital – Everything will change to digital. Need to be able to understand and use it.
· Networking – Get out and make your name heard.
· Employers want – Creative minds, understand company, able to try anything.
o Change CV depending on what interview/company you are applying for.
Dissertation is your calling card!! Do something passionate about so you wont loose interest and will be proud of it at the end.
Get out what you put in!!

Advertising’s Role in a More Complex World

Tom Vick – Group Business of Leading Communications agency JWT London
1991 – 2 or 3 channels
Simple
Phone, Fax, Face to Face – No mobile!!
Though technology is new media, this does not mean its the end for traditional media, they just have to fight for their spot! They need to deliever message effectively. Oldest form of advertising now seen as new – Word Of Mouth.

Online killed TV Killed Radio Killed Press Killed Post

5 Point Plan
· Forget above and below the line
· Definition of advertising – ‘the action or practise of drawing attention of public.’
· Restructure companies around brand nor the company or geographic.
· Education of older markers. Mixture of learning and discipline. Understand Business!
· Learn from the Youth, young staff to train older employees. They have grown up using this technology.
The future holds an interesting future with advertising and younger people have mobiles, and technology is developing rapidly. The credit crunch is causing strange changes within the industry, so its all very exciting!!

This week I tried to find an advert that was someone presenting an idea to a panel, like an agency would do a client. I found the Orange advert with Darth Vader, this worked so well because of the status Vader has and use humour contrasting with the Star Wars collection.

Personality & Self Concept 31-11-08

Personality :

'A person's unique make-up, which consistently influences the way the person responds to his or her environment.' Solomon 2000

Within Kolter et al’s Factors Influencing behaviour, Personality and self-concept can be investigated to develop a deeper understanding of the buyer. Personality has many different definitions but they all combine to explain it is the way in which the character responds to the environment.

“Personality: Character, nature, temperament, make-up, persona, identity.”
The Concise Oxford Dictionary
“Those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment”
Schiffman & Kanuk (2004)

Eric Hollander’s research into personality shows four different aspects of the human personality. (KC Williams,1981 pg133)
The External Aspect: how the person interacts with other people. This can be anywhere towards anyone. Example: Neighbour to neighbour over the garden fence.
The Internal Aspect: a combination of their values & attitudes. This aspect can not always been seen but evolves as the person develops friendships.
The Dynamic Aspect: faced with a new situation how do they adjust to it. Example: Social adjustment.
The Consistent Aspect: their characteristic style. This is the part of a person personality that does not change as it is part of that individual.



Above is a clip from Only Fools and Horses. This shows great examples of all four of these aspects. The external aspect is the way in which Del Boy interacts with the women and Trigger. Two different interactions can been seen here with trigger, before the fall Del Boy is positive about going and speaking with the girls with Trigger but after he is very quickly spoken and blunt with Trigger as he wants to leave because of embarrassment. The internal aspect is more difficult to see during this clip but can be seen in the way Del Boy reacts to the fall. He wants to be seen as cool and manly so this fall has made him embarrassed then blaming Trigger for ‘cramping his style.’ The dynamic aspect is Del Boy falling through the bar. His easiest way to deal with this new situation is to escape. From previously watching Only Fools and Horses I can see the continuing characteristics of Del Boy, the Jack the Lad act with his briefcase of second-hand goods he tries to sell. This clip is very popular with the public as it is able to interact with each part of a different person’s personality.

Freud can be caused when pleasure seeking and social responsibility conflict, loud parties can cause problems for neighbours. An individuals personality consists of three different parts, ID, Ego and SuperEgo.
ID – Maximises pleasure – looking after yourself without caring about those around you. Selfish.
SuperEgo – Conscience - respecting those around you and their rules
Ego – the mediator
Each of these work together and collectively create an individuals personality.
Karen Horney (1945) developed a theory of personality, describing that an individuals personality is developed from a level of anxiety felt at being a dependant child.
Compliant – going towards others – affection/affiliation - likely to prefer brands
Aggressive – going against others – power/domination – old spice Masculine
Detached – turning away from others – isolation/indifference – tea but no brand loyalty
Each person can relate to a group, personally I find myself Compliant as I like brands as I find them secure.

Many different personality types use Facebook and other Social Networking Sites. These individuals can show there personalities though images, status, friends, groups and applications. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites as people of all ages all around the globe use it. Each individuals page shows there personality, photos show the individual themselves, status’ show how they are feeling, friends shows the people that influence them and groups and applications show the things in which they are interested in.

Self Concept:

'The beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates those qualities.'

Materials can be a way in which individuals express themselves as others see what they are publicly consuming. Newcomb defined self-concept as ‘the individual as perceived by that individual in a socially determined frame of reference.’ Self-concept does not necessarily reflect reality – an individual regarded by others as successful may see themselves as a failure. Self-concept can affect the way individuals react to those around him and the way they look at their and others lives.

William James (1980) argued that self-concept derives from social comparisons with others. These others can be peers, family members and idols (celebrities). Mead (1934) argues that self-concept is formed directly from social experiences- not just the reaction from others but also social and cultural values which we internalise. Due to the way in which media has evolved over the past decade due to Internet and the development of technology, images of the perfect person has cause many individuals to aspire to be like these. Many young teenagers as they are developing and finding who they are can easily be influenced causing the media to be discriminated when the development of anorexia and other body related problem begin to rise. I found this video in youtube about one girl whose sister had died because she did not feel beautiful, she did not see what everyone else did.


Self-Image – the kind of person we think we are – usually comprises social roles, body image and personality traits.
Ideal Self – the kind of person we would like to be which may be slightly or totally different from our self image. The larger the gap the lower the self esteem.
Self-Esteem - is the extent to which we like ourselves, whether we accept or approve of our self-image.
Within the life that I live I play many different roles from being an older sister, daughter, girlfriend, friend, student and flat mate. Each have made and influenced the way in which I look at myself and the way I act. They have affect the way that I look at my self as I have learnt to love the way that I am and not want to change it. Giving me the self esteem not to want to be something, or someone, that I truly am not.

Below shows one example of the way in which advertising is trying to get the public to see what individuals with low self-esteem see when they look in the mirror, this is an example of anorexia.


Props and products can be used to become part of an individual’s extended self, power dressing in the office. We make inferences about people based on their consumption patterns, thinking that we know an individual without actually knowing them. Symbolic self completion theory looks at the way in which individuals still define themselves using products to boost their image, e.g. Teenagers and cigarettes, young men and fast cars. Conspicuous products are those in which will been seen by others and they way the individual wants to been seen, these include cars, clothes, drinks. Functional products are more likely to be linked our actual self, these include magazines, milk, biscuits.

Individuals want to be accepted developing the way in which they see themselves and those around them.

This week I found a Hyundai advert which I found funny and shows the way in which appearance can deceiving.

Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning 24-10-08

STP Marketing

STP marketing looks at the different ways in which is best to target the specific target audience.

S – Segmentation
When segmenting the company looks at the profile of the planned target audience. This enables companies to identify and analyse their potential customers. To obtain this information, companies include ‘About yourself’ parts of a questionnaire receiving information about their age, gender and other personal attributes. By doing this, grouping can then be developed either by geographical location or by one of their personal attributes.

T – Targeting
By using the techniques of segmentation, the company are able to see the group they want to target. Once choosing the target group desired action can take place, if a target group is not chosen the product would not have potential buyers. Once the target audience is chosen and the product is well known the company can spread out to other target audiences but can fall back on the audience where it is already established.

P – Positioning
The positioning of the product is important when selling the product as the target audience needs to know about it and this is done mainly by advertising. Word of mouth is a huge influence on deciding the fate of a product. The advertising and positioning of the product and its campaign needs to parallel with the target audiences life style.


When looking at hair products they have used segmentation to their advantage targeting different colours, types and gender of hair.
Head and Shoulders have developed from one type of shampoo into many different types. Below is their product website showing all the different types of hair that could go with each of their products. By providing different types of hair products for specific types of hair enables the company to aim at smaller target audience.


This week I found a well known advert recognized all over the world and a saying that would be used in many different countries. Many different versions of this commercial appeared. The target audience for this commercial is young adult males who enjoy a relaxing beer with friends.