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