1.As a marketer in an electronics company, you noticed that one of your consumers entered the following post on Social Media; “I do not believe electronic companies' messages and advertisements. All t

Lecture notes, Consumer Behavior textbookConsumer Behaviour (MKT 3230) Chapter 1 – An Introduction to Consumer Behavior ← What is Consumer Behaviour?:  Consumer behavior: the study of the processes involved when individual s or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services , ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires ← Consumer Behaviour is a Process:

 In early stages of development, consumer behavior wa s referred to as “buyer behavior ” – reflecting an emphasis on the interacti on between consumers and producers at the time of purchase  Consumer behavior is more than just a purchase, it i s an ongoing process  Exchange: two of more organizations or people give and receiv e something of value o Integral part of marketing  It involves the issues that influence the consumer before, during, and after a purchase ← Consumers’ Impact on Marketing Strategy:

 Understanding consumer behavior is good business  Firms exist to satisfy consumers’ needs better than their competitors  Consumer response is the ultimate test of whether a marketing strategy will succeed  Knowledge about consumers is incorporated into virt ually every facet of a successful marketing plan  Understanding consumers can help the marketer ident ify threats to a brand and opportunities for it  The purpose of understanding consumer behavior is t o predict the future ← Segmenting Consumers:  Marketing segmentation: identifies groups of consumers who are similar to o ne another in one or more ways and then devises market ing strategies that appeal to one or more groups  Building loyalty to a brand is a very smart marketi ng strategy, so sometimes companies define market segments by indentifying th eir more faithful customers or heavy users  Demographics: statistics that measure observable aspects of a pop ulation, such as birth rate, age, income, etc  Statistics Canada is a major source of demographic data on families  Changes and trends revealed in demographic studies are of great interest to marketers, because the data can be used to locate an d predict the sizes of markets for many products 57 4 Psychographics: differences in consumers’ personalities, attitudes, va lues, and lifestyles ← Demographics:

← 1. Age:

 Consumers of different age groups obviously have di fferent needs and wants  Marketers initially develop a product to attract on e age group and then try to broaden its appeal later on  Ex: red bull started for bars, nightclubs, gym, young people, and now adapting for commuters, cab drivers, car-rental agencies to stay a lert on the road ← 2. Gender:

 Many products are targeted at either men or women  Differentiating by gender starts at a very early ag e  Ex: diapers – pink for girls, blue for boys ← 3. Family Structure and Life Stage:

 A person’s family structure and marital status is a n important demographic variable, because it have such a big effect on a consumers’ sp ending priorities  Ex: young singles and newlyweds go to gyms, bars, con certs, movies, etc  Ex: families with children buy health foods and fru it juices  Ex: single parents with older children buy more jun k food  Ex: older couples and dual-career couples use home maintenance ← 4. Social Class and Income:

 People grouped within the same social class are app roximately equal in terms of their incomes and social standing in the community  Working in roughly similar occupations, similar tast es in music, clothing, art, etc  Share many ideas and values regarding the way life should be lived  The distribution of wealth is of great interest to marketers because it determines which groups have the greatest buying power and mar ket potential ← 5. Ethnicity:

 Canada and multiculturalism go hand in hand  Immigrants from all over the globe  Highest per capita rate of immigration in the world  Diverse in out languages and in the cultural consum ption that stems from out different ethnicities  Ex: everyone eats sushi all over world  Ex: Vancouver: English is now a minority language ( trilingual labeling of some products) 57 4 ←6. Geography:

 The climate changes drastically from region to regi on in Canada, which makes segmenting some products by region obvious  Within region, there are some different cultural poc kets and hence differences in food tastes  Ex: New Brunswick highest consumption of white brea d, Alberta leads in bubblegum sales, cornflakes sales highest in prairies, etc ← Lifestyles: Beyond Demographics:

 Consumers also have very different lifestyles, even if they share other characteristics such as gender or age  Factors that determine which products will push our buttons, or even those that will make us feel better:

o The way we feel about ourselves o The things we value o Out attitudes to things and others around us o The things we like to do in our spare time ← Relationship Marketing: Building Bonds with Consume rs:

 Key to success is building relationships that will last a lifetime between brands and customers (a bond)  Regular interaction with customers  Giving them a reason to maintain a relationship wit h the company  Relationship marketing: making an effort to interact with customers on a re gular basis, giving them reasons to maintain a bond with t he company over time  Marketers significantly influence lifestyles and co nsumption habits: combinations of Integrated Marketing Communications, rewards, and soc ial media create strong loyalty ← Marketing’s Impact on Consumers:

 We all live in a world that the actions of marketer s and the media significantly influence  Surrounded by marketing stimuli in the form of adve rtisements, stores and products competing for our attention and our dollars  “At the mercy” of marketers, since we rely on them t o sell us products that are safe and that perform as promised, to tell s the truth ab out what they are selling, and to price and distribute these products fairly ← Marketing and Culture: 57 4 Popular culture: the music, movies, sports, books, celebrities, and other forms of entertainment consumed by the mass market o Both a product and an inspiration/influence to mark eters  Many people do not seem to realize how much their v iews of the world around them are affected by marketers o Ex: Mythical creatures such as Pillsbury dough boy which is a “Spokes character ”  Consumers-generated content: consumers themselves voice their opinions about products, brands, and companies on blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites, and even film their own commercials that thousands view on sites o Also an important part of marketing’s influence on culture o Ex: Doritos super bowl commercial, Rebecca Black’s s ong “Friday” ← The Meaning of Consumption:

 People often buy products not for what they do but for what they mean  The roles of products play in our lives go well bey ond the tasks they perform  A person will choose the brand that has an image co nsistent with his or her underlying needs  Help us to form bonds with others who share similar preferences ← The Global Consumer:

 The majority of people on Earth live in urban cente rs  One by-product of sophisticated marketing strategie s is the movement toward a global consumer culture, in which people around the world are united by their common develop to brand-name consumer goods, movie s tars, and celebrities  We owe much of this interconnectedness to developme nts in technology that allow us to link with companies – and with each other – r egardless of our physical location  U-commerce: the use of ubiquitous networks, whether in the form of wearable computers or customized advertisements beams to us on our cell phones  RFID tags: plastic tag containing a computer chip and a tiny antenna that lets the chip communicate with a network (many products alre ady have these) o Ex: in grocery stores it will tell them when to res tock and when items are expired  Rise of global marketing means that even smaller co mpanies are looking to expand overseas – and this increases the pressure to under stand how customers in other counties are the same as or different from the cust omers in the host country ← Virtual Consumption: 57 4 Electronic marketing increases convenience by break ing down many of the barriers caused by time and location o Ex: 24/7 shopping without leaving home  B2C commerce: businesses selling to consumers  C2C commerce: consumer-to-consumer activity  The web also provides an easy way to consumers arou nd the world to exchange information about their experiences  Digital native: students that have grown up “wired” in a highly net worked, always-on world where digital technology had always existed  Horizontal revolution: information flows across people o Characterized in part by the prevalence of social m edia  Social media: the online means of communication, conveyance, collab oration, and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities, and organizations enhanced by technolog ical capabilities and mobility  Synchronous interactions: ones that occur in real time (ex: texting back and forth)  Asynchronous interactions: ones that don’t require all participants to respond immediately (ex: you text a friend and get an answe r the next day)  Culture of participation: a belief in democracy o The ability to freely interact with other people, co mpanies, and organizations o Open access to venues that allows users to share co ntent from simple comments to reviews, ratings, photos, stories, etc o Power to build on the content of others from ones o wn unique point of view ← Marketing Ethics and Public Policy:

 In business, conflicts often arise between the goal of succeeding in the marketplace and the desire to conduct business honestly and to maximize the well-being of consumers by providing them with safe and effective products and services ← Business Ethics:

 Business ethics: rules of conduct that guide actions in the marketpl ace – the standards against which most people in the marketpl ace judge what is right, wrong, good, or bad  Ethical business is good business  Consumers think better of products made by firms th ey feel are behaving ethically  Notions of right and wrong do differ across people, organizations, and cultures  Because every culture has its own set of values, bel iefs, and customers, ethical business behaviors are defined quite differently ar ound the world 57 4 Various cultures and organizations may conduct them selves differently in certain situations  These cultural differences certainly influence whet her business practices such as bribery are acceptable  Giving “gifts” in exchange for getting business fro m suppliers or customers is common and acceptable in many counties, even though this practice may be frowned upon in Canada ← Prescribing Ethical Standards of Conduct:

 Professional organizations often devise a code of e thics for their members  Prescribed code of ethics guidelines:

o Disclosure of substantial risks with a product o Identifying added features that will increase the c ost o Avoiding false or misleading advertising o Avoiding selling or fundraising under the guise of market research  Intentionally or not, some marketers do violate thei r bond of trust with consumers  In some cases these actions are actually illegal  Industry is increasingly coming to realize that eth ical behavior is good business in the long run, since consumer trust and satisfaction tran slates into years of loyalty  Sometimes consumers’ buying behavior is not consiste nt with their positive attitudes about ethical products  Ex: Are you willing pay more for fair trade coffee that helps various cultures?

← Needs and Wants: Do Marketers Manipulate Consumers? :

 One the most common criticisms of marketing is that marketing techniques (especially advertising) are responsible for convin cing consumers that they “need” many material things and that they will be unhappy and somehow inferior people if they do not have these “necessities” ← Do Marketers Create Artificial Needs?:  A need is a basic biological motive, while a want re presents one way society has taught us to satisfy that needs  The need is already there – marketers simply recomm end ways to satisfy it  A basic objective of advertising is to create aware ness that these needs exist, rather than to create the needs ← Are Advertising and Marketing Necessary?:  Do marketers give people what they want or, do they tell people what they should want?

 Critics suggest we buy things we do not need, just b ecause we can 57 4 On the other hand, products are designed to meet exi sting needs, and advertising merely helps to communicate the products’ availabili ty  Advertising is an important source of consumer info rmation  Consumers are willing to pay for advertising becaus e the information it provides reduces search time ← Welcome to Consumer Space:

 Marketer space: companies called the shots and deci ded what they wanted their customers to know and do (dead and gone)  Many people now feel empowered to choose how, when, o r if they will interact with corporations as they construct their own consumer s pace (and make consumer decisions)  People still “need” companies – but in new ways and on their own terms  In today ’s consumer space, we have the potential to shape out own marketing destinies ← Public Policy and Consumerism:

 The welfare of the consumer is protected by many la ws at the deferral, provincial, and municipal levels  The main thrust of regulation is to protect the con sumer from unfair business practices and to protect eh broad interests of soci ety  Consumer behavior can play an important role in imp roving our lives as consumers  Consumers depend on governments to regulate and pol ice safety and environmental standards  Protecting consumers is more problematic this centu ry as the majority of manufacturing has moved offshore  Ex: lead in paint on baby toys ← Consumer Activism and Its Impact on Marketing:  Adbusters is a not-for-profit organization that adv ocated for “the new social activist movement of the information age”  Adbusters sponsors numerous initiatives intended to discourage rampant commercialism  Adbusters’ initiatives such as “buy nothing day” and “Turn off TV week”  Culture jamming: aims to disrupt efforts by the corporate world ot d ominate out cultural landscape  Corporate social responsibility (CSR): voluntarily choose to protect or enhance their positive social and environmental impacts as they g o about their business activities 57 4 This is often driven by consumer demand, as companie s attempt to differentiate themselves in the marketplace  Corporate giving: marketers donate their own money to good causes  Cause-related marketing: others promise donations to charity as purchase in centives  Green marketing: approach in which they offer products in ways that are less harmful to the environment  Social marketing: the promotion of causes and ideas (social products) , such as energy conservation, charities, and population contr ol o Ex: The United Way  Techniques to encourage positive behaviors such as increasing literacy and discouraging dangerous activities such as drunk dri vers  Consumer researchers are studying and rectifying wh at they see as pressing social problems in the marketplace  Transformative consumer research (TCR): helping people or bringing about social change ← The Dark Side of Consumer Behavior:

 Sometimes consumers’ are their worst enemies  Consumers’ desires, choices, and actions often result in negative consequences to the individual or the society in which he or she li ves ← Addictive Consumption:

 Consumer addition: a physiological or psychological dependency on prod ucts or services o Ex: alcohol, drugs, cigarettes  Many companies profit from selling addictive produc ts or by selling solutions to addiction  Any product or service can be seen a relieving some problem or satisfying some need to the point the reliance on it because extreme  Addiction to technology – “Crackberry ” ← Compulsive Consumption:

 The expression “born to shop” is quite literal  These consumers shop because they feel compelled to do so rather than because hopping is a pleasurable or functional task  Compulsive consumption: repetitive shopping, often excessive, done as an anti dote to tension, anxiety, depression, or boredom o Ex: gambling  Compulsive consumption is distinctly different from impulse buying 57 4 The impulse to buy a specific item is temporary, and it centers on a specific product at a particular moment  In contrast, compulsive buying is an enduring behavi or that center on the process of buying, not the purchase themselves  negative or destructive consumer behavior can be ch aracterized by the following three common elements:

o 1. The behavior is not engaged in by choice o 2. The gratification derived from the behavior is s hort-lived o 3. The person experiences strong feelings of regret or guilt afterwards ← Illegal Activities: ← Consumer Theft:

 Shrinkage: the industry term for inventory and cash losses fro m shoplifting and employee theft  This is a massive problem for businesses, and the co st is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices  Fraudulent abuse of exchange policies in retail  Unethical activities include lying and taking credi t for someone else’s work ← Anti-consumption:

 Anti-consumption: rebelling against the idea of consumption itself  Product tampering, graffiti and political protests w here property is destroyed ← How Do We Find Out About Consumers? – The Role of C onsumer Research:

 Marketers often wish to find out about consumers’ at titudes, opinions, behaviors, and preferences because by understating the consume r, the marketer is best able to appeal to relevant needs  Marketers often engage in various forms of consumer (marketing) research  Two ways this can be done are by collecting:

o 1. Primary data o 2. Secondary data  Primary research: data is collected by the researcher specifically fo r the research question at hand  Secondary research: researcher uses data collected by another entity to answer a new research question ← Primary Research: ← Survey Research:

 Survey: a method of data collection in which the respondent s self-report answers to a set of questions posed by the researcher 57 4 Most common forms: written surveys, online surveys, a nd phone surveys  Pro: data from a lot of people within a relatively short period of time  Con: doesn’t allow consumers to provide as rich an d etailed responses ← Focus Groups:

 Focus groups: small group sessions with approximately 6-12 consum er participants  Moderator who leads a group discussion involving a product, concept, or marketing message  Often used when a new idea of product is being test ed, or the researchers want to generate new ideas for what strategic direction to take next  Pro: elicit more rich, detailed, and narrative feedba ck from consumers  Con: social influence can play a role, dampening the expression of consumers’ true individual attitudes ← Interviews:

 Interviews: in-depth, direct contact with consumers  One -on-one interaction with an interviewer and responde nt  Pro: rich, in-depth data, minimize any impacts of gro up factors influencing consumer responding  Con: takes longer and more expensive ← Observational Research:

 Observational research: directly observed, in either a natural context or a controlled setting  Pro: directly tracking and measuring real behaviors , truthful  Two types of observational research:

o 1. Ethnographic research: researchers observe and record how consumers behave in real-world contexts, often to understand t he meanings consumers subscribe to different consumption experiences o 2. Centered in technological forms of behavioral ob servation  Scanner technology and clickstream data gathering ← Qualitative Research:

 Storytelling: consumers are asked to tell researchers about their experience with the product  Role-playing: consumers are asked to put themselves in a particul ar role and act out how they would respond to a particular marketing st imulus  Photos/pictures: a way to represent their consumption experiences  Diary: tracks responses and behaviors over a period of ti me  Pros: more subjective, experiential, and narrative 57 4 Cons: consumers will have trouble in providing accu rate, unbiased responses  Projective techniques: presentation of an ambiguous, unstructured object, ac tivity, or person that a respondent is asked to interpret o r explain o Used when they believe consumers will have trouble providing accurate, unbiased responses  Such techniques are used when the marketer wants co nsumers’ subjective reactions to things like brand names, colours, and advertising images ← Experimental Research:

 Experiments: used when the researcher wants to make cause-and-ef fect claims  Random assignment: puts participants into groups or experimental cond itions  Each person has an equal chance of ending up in any of the experimental conditions  If random assignment to conditions is done properly , each group should not differ on important factors before the experimental treatment is given  The researcher then holds everything constant acros s the different experimental conditions  The only difference is the key manipulation of the causal factor the researcher wants to examine  Independent variable: the variable that the researcher manipulates  Dependant variable: the variable that the researcher measures ← 57 4 Chapter 9 – Individual Decision Making ← ← Consumers as Problem Solvers:

 A consumer purchase may be a response to a perceive d problem  These situations are encountered by consumers virtu ally everyday of their lives: they realize that they want to make a purchase and go th rough a series of steps to do so  Steps:

o 1. Problem recognition o 2. Information search o 3. Evaluation of alternatives o 4. Product choice  FIGURE 9-1: Stages in Consumer Decision Making  Because some purchase decisions are more important than others, the amount of effort we put into each differs  Automatic vs. complicated decisions  The intensive decision-making process gets even mor e complicated in today’s environment where we have so many options to choose from  We can think of this profusion of options as consum er hyperchoice  Consumer hyperchoice: a condition where the large number of available opt ions forces us to make repeated choices that many drain psychological energy while decreasing our abilities to make smart decisions 57 4 Having extensive options available has also been su ggested to have negative psychological consequences for individual consumers  Consumers who are characterized by a desire to look at all of the options in a way that allows for the best possible choice (maximizer s) are more anxious and depressed than their satisficing counterparts ← Perspectives on Decision Making:  Traditionally, consumer researchers have approached decision makers from a rational perspective  Rational perspective: people calmly and carefully integrate as much infor mation as possible with what they already know about a produc t, painstakingly weigh the pluses and minuses of each alternative, and arrive a t a satisfactory decision  Rational = maximize utility, happiness, satisfaction  “Think at the margin” – the additional benefits exc eed additional costs o Marginal benefit > marginal cost  Sometimes we buy things irrationally o Impulse buy  Economics of information: collect just as much data as we need to make an informed decision  Well put ourselves out to collect as much informati on as we can, so long as the process of gathering isn’t time consuming ← Stages in Consumer Decision Making:  Although these decision making steps are followed b y consumers for some purchases, this process is not an accurate portrayal of many purchase decisions  Consumers simply do not go through this elaborate s equence for every decision  Purchase momentum: occurs when these initial impulses actually increas e the likelihood that we will buy even more (instead of l ess as our needs are satisfied), almost as if we get “revved up” and plunge into a s pending spree o Purchase momentum: occurs when consumers buy beyond needs o Irrational  Rational system of cognition that processes informa tion analytically and sequentially using rules of logic, while others rely on an experi ential system of cognition that processes information more holistically and in para llel  Decision makers actually possess a repertoire of st rategies  A consumer evaluates the effort required to make a particular choice, and then he or she chooses a strategy best suited to the level of effort required  This sequence of events is known as constructive pr ocessing 57 4 Some decisions are made under conditions of low inv olvement  In many of these situations, the consumer ’s decision is a learned response to environmental cues  Behavioural influence perspective: concentrating on these types of decisions and under these circumstances managers must concentrate on assessing the characteristics of the environment that influence m embers of a target market o Consumers buy based on environmental cues, such as a sale  In other cases consumers are highly involved in a d ecision, but this involvement might not lend itself to the rational approach  Experiential perspective: stresses the gestalt, or totality, or the product or the service o Consumers buy based on totality of product’s appeal  Marketers focus on measuring consumers’ affective re sponses to products or services and develop offerings that elicit appropri ate subjective reactions ← Types of Consumer Decisions:  Continuum – anchored at one end by habitual decisio n making and at the other by extended problem solving  Many decisions fall somewhere in the middle and are characterized by limited problem solving ← Extended problem solving:

 Consumer feels that eventual decision carries a fai r degree of risk  Usually for expensive products and high risk produc ts  Risk can be due to financial expense or social risk (what people are going to think of you)  Eventual purchase decision is perceived as a risk  Consumer collects extensive information  Internal and external search  Careful evaluation of brand attributes (one at a ti me) ← Limited problem solving:

 Buyers not as motivated to search for information o r to evaluate rigorously  Buyers use simple decision rules to choose  Straightforward choices  Simple decision rules to choose among alternatives  Cognitive shortcuts (ex: “I buy the brand leader ”, e tc) ← Habitual decision making:

 Choices made with little to no conscious effort, rou tine 57 4 Automaticity: choices made with little/no conscious effort  Efficient decisions: minimal time/energy  Repetitive behavior allows consumers to minimize th e time and energy spend on routine purchase decisions  Challenge for marketers - consumers must be convinc ed to “unfreeze” their former habit and replace it with new one  FIGURE 9-2: A Continuum of Buying Decision Behavior ← Problem Recognition:

 Problem recognition: when we experience a significant difference between our current state of affairs and some state we desire  Occurs when consumer sees a difference between curr ent state and ideal state  Problems arise in one of two ways:

o 1. Actual state-need recognition A person’s actual state can decrease if he or she r uns out of a product or buys a product that doesn’t adequately satisfy th eir needs, or if he or she has a new need or desire  Actual state moves downward  Ex: run out of gas, holes in shoes, etc o 2. Ideal state-opportunity recognition Occurs when we’re exposed to different or better-qua lity products, or a particularly compelling price  This happens because our circumstances change  As our frame of reference shifts, we make purchases to adapt to the new environment  Ideal state moves upward and is lifts from actual  FIGURE 9-3: Problem Recognition: Shifts in Actual o r Ideal States ← Information Search: 57 4 Once a problem has been recognized, consumers need a dequate information to resolve it  Information search: the process in which the consumer surveys his or he r environment for appropriate data to make a reasonab le decision ← Types of Information Search:

 A consumer may explicitly search the marketplace fo r specific information after a need has been recognized (a process called prepurch ase search)  On the other hand, many consumers, enjoy hunting for information and keeping track of developments just for the fun of it (i.e. browsing) or because they like to maintain current information for future use (they e ngage in ongoing search) ← Internal Versus External Search:

 Internal search o Scanning memory to assemble product alternative inf ormation  External search o Obtaining information from ads, retailers, catalogs, f riends, family, people- watching, , environment, etc. Consumer Reports o External searches are surprisingly low o Low income shoppers search less ← Deliberate Versus “Accidental” Search:

 Our existing knowledge of a product may be the resu lt of directed learning, wherein on a previous occasion we had already searched for relevant information or experienced some of the alternatives  Even though a product might not be of interest, expo sure to advertising, packaging, and sales promotion activities might result in inci dental learning  In some cases we may be such an expert about a part icular product category that no additional search is undertaken  Frequently, however, out own existing state of knowle dge is not satisfactory to make an adequate decision and we must go outside ourselv es for more information  Obtaining information from ads, retailers, catalogs, f riends, family, people-watching, Consumer Reports , environment, etc.

 Prepurchase vs. Ongoing Decision:

Prepurchase Search Ongoing Search Determinants Involvement with purchase Involvement wi th product Motives Making better purchase decisions Building a bank of information for future use Outcomes Better purchase decisions Increased impulse buying 57 4 ←Online Search:

 When we search online for product information, were a perfect target for advertisers because we declare our desire to make a purchase  Many of us shop without leaving home via Yahoo, Goog le and other internet sites  “New info shopper ”: individuals who automatically g o to the internet first  social media platforms pay a major role in the sear ch process to get other people’s opinions  People more often search for products, rather than b rands o Failure on the part of marketers ← Do Consumers Always Search Rationally?:

 We don’t necessarily engage in a rational search pro cess where we carefully identify and evaluate every alternative before we choose the one we want  Maximizing: a decision strategy that seeks to deliver the best possible result o High involvement consumers  Satisficing: a decision strategy that simply tries to yield an adequate solution – often as a way to reduce the costs of the decision making process o Low involvement consumer o Especially prevalent for decisions about durable go ods even when these products represent significant investments  Bounded rationality: since we rarely have the resources (especially the time) to weigh every possible factor into a decision, we will often happily settle for a solution that is just good enough  The tendency to avoid external search is less preva lent when consumers consider the purchase of symbolic items (ex: clothing) o Most of it involves seeking the opinions of peers  Consumers are often observed to engage in brand swi tching, even if their current brands satisfy their needs o People just like to try new things  Variety seeking: the priority is to vary one’s product experiences p erhaps as a form of stimulation to reduce boredom o Desire to choose new alternatives over more familia r ones  Variety seeking is especially likely to occur when people are in a good mood or when there is relatively little stimulation elsewhere in their environment  Sensory-specific satiety: pleasantness of food just eaten drops wile the pleasantness of uneaten foods remains unchanged o So even though we have favourites, we still like to sample other possibilities 57 4 oThe idea of diminishing returns – with each additio nal consumption, we lose happiness with the product ← Mental Accounting: Biases in the Decision Making Pr ocess:

 Mental accounting: framing a problem in terms of gains/losses influen ces our decisions  Sunk-cost fallacy: reluctant to waste something we have paid for  Loss aversion: people put much more emphasis on los s than they do on gain  Prospect theory: a descriptive model of choice, finds that utility i s a function of gains and losses, and risk differs when consumer faces opt ions involving gains versus those involving losses ← How Much Search Occurs?:

 Search activity is greater when:

o Purchase is important o There is a need to learn more about purchase o Relevant info is easily obtained/utilized o One is younger, is better-educated, and enjoys shoppi ng/fact-finding o One is female (compared to male) o One places greater value on own style/image ← Amount of Information Available:

 More information is not always better for the consu mer  We know that consumers have limited capacity in the ir short-term memory and adjust to their environment by making it more manag eable  Therefore, when in choice environments with more inf ormation than we can easily process, we truncate the environment to deal efficie ntly with a subset of it ← The Consumer’s Prior Expertise:

Perceived risk: belief that product has negative or uncertain cons equences  Risk can be a factor when products are expensive, co mplex, or hard-to-understand  Risks can be objective (physical danger) and subjec tive (social embarrassment)  Product choice is visible to others and run the ris k of embarrassment if we make the wrong choice  Consumers with greater “risk capital” are less affe cted by perceived risks associated with the products  FIGURE 9-5: Five Types of Perceived Risk ← Evaluation of Alternatives:

 Choosing from many available alternatives is much o f the effort that goes into a purchasing decision ← Identifying Alternatives:  Extended problem solving: carefully evaluate severa l brands o More extended processing occurs in situations where negative emotions are aroused by conflicts among the choices available o This is most likely to occur where difficult trade- offs are involved  Habitual decision: may not consider any alternative s to his or her normal brand 57 4 Evoked set: the alternatives actively considered during a consu mer’s choice process  The evoked set comprises those products already in memory (the retrieval set) plus those prominent in the retail environment  Inept set: options you know about but do not think are good options because you are not looking for them o Very hard to get off this list. Why product launche s, brand extensions are important o Like first impression when you meet someone o Ex: Windows Mobile Microsoft has always struggled to get into mobile g ame (started in 1996, boomed in 2005 and sizzled out in 2010)  Rogers started providing it twice and both were col ossal failures  Couldn’t unfreeze behaviour and get off the inept se t list (people still won’t touch Microsoft mobile)  Inert set: options you don’t know about and do not c ome to mind at all  Consumers often consider a surprisingly small numbe r of alternatives in their evoked set  A marketer who finds that her or his brand is not i n the evoked set of many consumers in the target market has cause to worry  A new brand is more likely to be added to the evoke d set than is an existing brand that was previously considered but passed over  FIGURE 9-6: Identifying Alternatives: Getting in th e Game ← How Do We Put Products into Categories:  The category we assign to a product is important, be cause it influences what we compare it to and how we use it  The category in which a consumer places a product d etermines the other products he or she will compare it to, the way we classify a brand in our minds places a big role in how we evaluate it  When faced with a new product, we refer to existing product category knowledge to form new knowledge 57 4 Having extensive options available has also been su ggested to have negative psychological consequences for individual consumers  Consumers who are characterized by a desire to look at all of the options in a way that allows for the best possible choice (maximizer s) are more anxious and depressed than their satisficing counterparts ← Perspectives on Decision Making:  Traditionally, consumer researchers have approached decision makers from a rational perspective  Rational perspective: people calmly and carefully integrate as much infor mation as possible with what they already know about a produc t, painstakingly weigh the pluses and minuses of each alternative, and arrive a t a satisfactory decision  Rational = maximize utility, happiness, satisfaction  “Think at the margin” – the additional benefits exc eed additional costs o Marginal benefit > marginal cost  Sometimes we buy things irrationally o Impulse buy  Economics of information: collect just as much data as we need to make an informed decision  Well put ourselves out to collect as much informati on as we can, so long as the process of gathering isn’t time consuming ← Stages in Consumer Decision Making: 57 4 ←Stages in Consumer Decision Making:  Although these decision making steps are followed b y consumers for some purchases, this process is not an accurate portrayal of many purchase decisions  Consumers simply do not go through this elaborate s equence for every decision  Purchase momentum: occurs when these initial impulses actually increas e the likelihood that we will buy even more (instead of l ess as our needs are satisfied), almost as if we get “revved up” and plunge into a s pending spree o Purchase momentum: occurs when consumers buy beyond needs o Irrational  Rational system of cognition that processes informa tion analytically and sequentially using rules of logic, while others rely on an experi ential system of cognition that processes information more holistically and in para llel  Decision makers actually possess a repertoire of st rategies  A consumer evaluates the effort required to make a particular choice, and then he or she chooses a strategy best suited to the level of effort required  This sequence of events is known as constructive pr ocessing 57 4 Some decisions are made under conditions of low inv olvement  In many of these situations, the consumer ’s decision is a learned response to environmental cues  Behavioural influence perspective: concentrating on these types of decisions and under these circumstances managers must concentrate on assessing the characteristics of the environment that influence m embers of a target market o Consumers buy based on environmental cues, such as a sale  In other cases consumers are highly involved in a d ecision, but this involvement might not lend itself to the rational approach  Experiential perspective: stresses the gestalt, or totality, or the product or the service o Consumers buy based on totality of product’s appeal  Marketers focus on measuring consumers’ affective re sponses to products or services and develop offerings that elicit appropri ate subjective reactions ← Types of Consumer Decisions:  Continuum – anchored at one end by habitual decisio n making and at the other by extended problem solving  Many decisions fall somewhere in the middle and are characterized by limited problem solving ← Extended problem solving:

 Choices made with little to no conscious effort, rou tine Automaticity: choices made with little/no conscious effort  Efficient decisions: minimal time/energy  Repetitive behavior allows consumers to minimize the time a nd energy spend on 57 4 Repetitive behavior allows consumers to minimize th e time and energy spend on routine purchase decisions  Challenge for marketers - consumers must be convinc ed to “unfreeze” their former habit and replace it with new one  FIGURE 9-2: A Continuum of Buying Decision Behavior ← Problem Recognition:

 Internal search o Scanning memory to assemble product alternative inf ormation  External search o Obtaining information from ads, retailers, catalogs, f riends, family, people- watching environment etc Consumer Reports 57 4 watching, , environment, etc. Consumer Reports o External searches are surprisingly low o Low income shoppers search less ← Deliberate Versus “Accidental” Search:

 Prepurchase vs. Ongoing Decision:

Prepurchase Search Ongoing Search Determinants Involvement with purchase Involvement wi th product Motives Making better purchase decisions Building a bank of information for future u Outcomes Better purchase decisions Increased impulse buying 57 4 ←Online Search:

 We don’t necessarily engage in a rational search pro cess where we carefully identify and evaluate every alternative before we choose the one we want  Maximizing: a decision strategy that seeks to deliver the best possible result o High involvement consumers  Satisficing: a decision strategy that simply tries to yield an adequate solution – often as a way to reduce the costs of the decision making process o Low involvement consumer o Especially prevalent for decisions about durable go ods even when these products represent significant investments  Bounded rationality: since we rarely have the resources (especially the time) to weigh every possible factor into a decision, we will often happily settle for a solution that is just good enough  The tendency to avoid external search is less preva lent when consumers consider the purchase of symbolic items (ex: clothing) o Most of it involves seeking the opinions of peers  Consumers are often observed to engage in brand swi tching, even if their current brands satisfy their needs o People just like to try new things 57 4 Variety seeking: the priority is to vary one’s product experiences p erhaps as a form of stimulation to reduce boredom o Desire to choose new alternatives over more familia r ones  Variety seeking is especially likely to occur when people are in a good mood or when there is relatively little stimulation elsewhere in their environment  Sensory-specific satiety: pleasantness of food just eaten drops wile the pleasantness of uneaten foods remains unchanged o So even though we have favourites, we still like to sample other possibilities 57 4 oThe idea of diminishing returns – with each additio nal consumption, we lose happiness with the product ← Mental Accounting: Biases in the Decision Making Pr ocess:

 Search activity is greater when:

 Moderately knowledgeable consumers tend to search m ore than product experts and novices  There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between knowledge and external search effort  FIGURE 9-4: The Relationship between Amount of Info rmation Search and Product Knowledge 57 4 Moderately knowledgeable customers are usually the most happy with their decisions o “Ignorance is bliss” – experts are picky (blissful ignorance effect)  Experts o Selective search: efforts are more focused and effi cient o Quick search because they know what they want  Novices o Rely on others’ opinions, “nonfunctional” attributes, and “top down” processing o Quick search because they don’t know anything about what they want 57 4 Perceived Risk:Perceived risk: belief that product has negative or uncertain cons equences  Risk can be a factor when products are expensive, co mplex, or hard-to-understand  Risks can be objective (physical danger) and subjec tive (social embarrassment)  Product choice is visible to others and run the ris k of embarrassment if we make the wrong choice  Consumers with greater “risk capital” are less affe cted by perceived risks associated with the products  FIGURE 9-5: Five Types of Perceived Risk ← Evaluation of Alternatives:

 Not only do people group things into categories, but these groupings also occur at different levels of specificity  Typically, a product is represented in a cognitive s tructure at one of three levels  The middle level, known as a basic-level category, is a typically the most useful in classifying products, since items grouped together at this level tend to have a lot in common with each other but still permit a range of alternatives to be considered  The first level, the broader superordinate category, is more abstract, while the third more specific subordinate category, often includes i ndividual brands  Not all items fit equally well into a category ← Strategic Implications of Product Categorization:

 The way a product is grouped with others has very i mportant ramifications for determining both its competitors and what criteria will be used to make this choice  Product Positioning:

o Positioning strategy: marketer’s ability to convinc e the consumer that his or her product should be considered within a given cat egory o Ex: Tropicana + Omega 3  Identifying Competitors:

o Many different product forms can compete for member ship on superordinate level of categorization o Products and services that, on the surface, are quit e different actually compete with each other at a broad level, often for consumers’ discretionary dollars 57 4 oConsumers are often faced with choices between non- comparable categories, in which a number of attributes exist th at cannot be directly related to one another o The comparison process is easier when consumers can derive an overlapping category that encompasses both items and then rate each alternative in 57 4 terms of that superordinate category  Exemplar Products:

o If a product is a really good example of a category , it is more familiar to consumers and, as a result, is more easily recognized and recalled o Judgments about category attributes tend to be disp roportionately influenced by the characteristics of category exemp lars o In a sense, brands that are strongly associated with a category get to “call the shots” by defining the criteria that should be used to evaluate all category members o But “moderately unusual” products stimulate more in formation processing and positive evaluations  Locating Products:

o Product categorization can also affect consumers’ e xpectations regarding the places they can locate a desired product o If products do not clearly fit into categories, cons umers’ ability to find them or make sense of them may be affected (ex: frozen d og food) ← Product Choice: Selecting Among Alternatives:  The decision rules that guide choice can range from very simple and quick strategies to complicated processes requiring a lot of attenti on and cognitive processing  Future creep: company’s overwhelm us with more and more features (spiral of complexity)  Often assume the more features the better  Positive benefits of additional features: consumers preferences are displayed to others behavior  Con: the anticipation of having to actually use the complicated product in front of others enhances the attractiveness of a simpler, fea ture-poor product ← Evaluative Criteria:  Evaluative criteria: dimensions used to judge the merits of competing op tions  Number of criteria ranging form very functional att ributes to experiential ones  Criteria on which products differ carry more weight in the decision process 57 4 Determinant attributes: specific attributes that are actually used to diffe rentiate among choices  Marketers can play a role in educating consumers ab out which criteria should be used as determinant attributes  Marketers even may invent determinant attributes o Ex: Pepsi’s freshness date stamps on cans  The decision about which attributes to use is the r esult of procedural learning, in which a person undergoes a series of cognitive step s before making a choice  These steps include identifying important attribute s, remembering whether competing brands differ on those attributes, etc  In order for a marketer to recommend a new decision criterion effectively, their communication should convey three pieces of informa tion:

o 1. It should point of that there are significant di fferences among brands on the attribute o 2. It should supply the consumer with a decision-ma king rule, such as, “If (deciding among competing brands), then (use the att ribute as a criterion)” o 3. It should convey a rule that can be easily integ rated with the way the person has made this decision in the past. Otherwis e the recommendation is 57 4 p p likely to be ignored because it requires too much mental work ← Neuromarketing: How Your Brain Reacts to Alternativ es:

 Neuromarketing: uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, a brain- scanning device that tracks blood flow as we perfor m mental tasks  Marketers measure consumers’ reactions to movie trai lers, choices about automobiles, the appeal of a pretty face, and loyalty to specific brands ← Cybermediaries:  Cybermediaries: an intermediary that helps to filter and organize o nline market information so that customers can identify and eval uate alternatives more efficiently  Cybermediaries take different forms:

o Directories and portals are general services that t ie together a large variety of different sites (ex: Yahoo) o Website evaluators reduce the risk to consumers by reviewing sites and recommending the best ones o Forums, fan clubs, and user groups offer product-rela ted discussions to help customers sift through options 57 4 oIntelligent agents are sophisticated software produ cts that use collaborative filtering technologies to learn from past user beha vior to recommend new purchases  The long tail: idea is that we no loner need to rely solely on big hits to find profits o Companies can also make money if they sell small am ounts of items that only a few people want if they sell enough different ite ms  Electronic recommendation agent: a software tool that tries to understand a human decision maker ’s multi-attribute preferences for a product category by asking the user to communicate their preferences  Brand advocates: people who supply customer reviews ← Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts:

 To simplify decisions, consumers often employ decisi on rules that allow them to use some dimensions as substitutes for others  Heuristics: mental rules-of-thumb that lead to a speedy decisi on o Especially where limited problem solving occurs pri or to making a choice  Ex: Higher price = higher quality, buying the same b rand your mother bought  Can lead to bad decisions due to flawed assumptions (especially with unusually named brands) ← Relying on a Product Signal:

 One frequently used shortcut is the tendency to inf er hidden dimensions of products from observable attributes  Product signal: the aspect of the product that is visible acts as a product signal for some underlying quality  When product information is incomplete, judgments ar e often derived from beliefs about covariation, or associations among events  Other signals or attributes believed to coexist wit h good or bad products are well- known brand names, country of origin, price, and the r etail outlets that carry the product  Consumers tend to be poor estimators of covariation  They tend to see what they are looking for ← Market Beliefs: 57 4 ←Market Beliefs:

 Market beliefs: consumers often form specific market beliefs about relationships in the marketplace  These beliefs then become the shortcuts – whether o r not they are accurate – that guide their decisions o About companies, products, and stores 57 4 Price-quality relationship: we tend to get what we pay for  Other common marketing beliefs o All brands are basically the same o Larger stores offer better prices than smaller stor es o Items tied to “giveaways” are not a good value ← Country of Origin as Heuristic:

 A product’s “address” matters  A product’s country of origin in some cases is an i mportant piece of information in the decision making process  Country of origin effects can function as a stereot ype  Stereotype: a knowledge structure based on inferences across pr oducts  Though stereotypes are often biased or inaccurate, t hey do play a constructive role in simplifying complex choice situations  Country-of-origin effects stimulate consumer intere st in the product  The country of origin acts as a product attributes that combines with other attributes to influence evolutions  When other information is available, experts tend to ignore country of origin information whereas novices continue to rely on I t  However, when other information is unavailable or am biguous, both experts and novices will rely on this attribute to make a decis ion  Ethnocentrism: tendency to prefer products or people of one’s own country/cultures products more favorably than do people who live els ewhere  People often feel they negatively effect their own domestic economy if they buy from other countries  “Industrialized countries make better products than developing countries.” ← Choosing Familiar Brand Names – Loyalty or Habit?:  Zipf’s Law: our tendency to prefer a number one brand to the c ompetition  Brands that dominate the market are sometimes 50% m ore profitable than their nearest competitors ← Inertia: Fickle Customer:

 Consumer inertia: tendency to buy a brand out of habit merely becaus e it requires less effort  A competitor who is trying to change a buying patte rn based on inertia often can do so very easily, because little resistance to brand s witching will be encountered if some reason to switch is apparent  Little to no underlying commitment to the product 57 4 Brand switching can frequently occur (cheaper price , original brand out-of-stock, point-of-purchase displays) ← Brand Loyalty:

 Brand loyalty: a form of repeat-purchasing behavior reflecting a c onscious decision to continue buying the same brand  Refers to a pattern of purchases over time where ac tual decision making occurs  For brand loyalty to exist, a pattern of repeat purc hasing must be accompanied by an underlying positive attitude toward the brand  Purchase decisions based on brand loyalty also beco me habitual over time, but the underlying commitment to the brand is much stronger  Brand parity: refers to consumers’ beliefs that ther e are no significant differences among brands  We are often less picky about where we buy our favourite brand s 57 4 We are often less picky about where we buy our favo urite brands ← Decision Rules:

 Consumers consider sets of product attributes by us ing different rules, depending on the complexity of the decision and its important to them  Some cases these rules are quite simple: people sim ply rely on a “shortcut” to make a choice  In other cases, more effort and thought are put into carefully weighing alternatives before coming to a decision  Differentiate among decision rules by dividing them into compensatory versus non- compensatory  Compensatory rules imply that one good attribute ca n “compensate” for other poorer attributes  Non-compensatory rules are where some poor attribut es may eliminate the choice despite its strength on other attributes ← Non-compensatory Decision Rules:

 Simple decision rules  Product with a low standing on one attribute cannot make up for this position by being better on another attribute  People simply eliminate all options that do not mee t some basic standards  When people are less familiar with a product catego ry or not very motivated to process complex information, they tend to use simple , non-compensatory rules  Lexicographic rule:

o The brand that is the best on the most important at tribute is selected 57 4 oIf two of more brands are seen as being equally goo d on that attribute, the consumer then compares them using the second most i mportant attribute o Processing by attribute  Elimination-by-aspects rule:

o Brands are evaluated on the most important attribut e o Specific cut-offs are imposed o Processing by attribute  Conjunctive rule:

o Processing by brand o Cut-offs are established for each attribute o A brand is chosen if it meets all the cut-offs, whil e failure to meet any one cut-off means refection o If none of the brands meets all the cut-offs, the ch oice may be delayed the decision rule may be changed, or the cut-odds themse lves may be modified o Note that this rule rates negative data more heavil y  Disjunctive Rule:

o The consumer develops acceptable standards for each attribute o Usually the standards are higher than the shopper’s minimum cut-offs for attributes o If a choice alternative exceeds the standard for an y attribute, it is accepted ← Compensatory Decision Rules:

 Give a product a change to make up for its shortcom ings  More involved in the purchase and thus are willing to exert the effort to consider the entire picture in a more exacting way  The willingness to let good and bad product qualiti es balance out can result in quite diff t h i 57 4 different choices  Simple additive rule:

o The consumer merely chooses the alternative with th e largest number of positive attributes o Most likely to occur when their ability or motivati on to process information is limited o Drawback: some of these attributes may not be very meaningful and important  Weighted additive rule:

o More complex rule 57 4 oThe consumer also takes into account the relative i mportance of positively rated attributes, essentially multiplying brand rati ngs by importance weights ← ←←←← 57 4 Chapter 10 – Buying and Disposing ← Introduction:

 Relationship marketing: building strong customer service experiences with l oyal customers in ways that foster a continued relations hip over time  FIGURE 10.1 – Issues Related to Purchase and Postpu rchase Activities 57 4 A consumer’s choices are affected by many personal factors… and the sale doesn’t end at the purchase ← ANTECEDENT STATES:

← Situational Effects on Consumer Behaviour:

 A consumption situation is defined by contextual fa ctors over and above characteristics of the person and the product  Situational effects can be behavioural or perceptua l o Behavioural: based on what were doing at a particul ar time o Perceptual: based on how we feel at a particular ti me  People tailor their purchases to specific occasions  The way they feel at a specific point in time affec ts what they feel like buying or doing  Smart marketers understand these patterns and tailo r their efforts to coincide with situations where people are most prone to buy  Ex: bookstores promote in June – “beach books”  The role a person plays at any time is partly deter mined by his or her situational self- image, according to which he or she basically answer s the question, “who am I right now?”  By systematically identifying important usage situa tions, marketers can develop market segmentation strategies to position products that will meet the specific needs arising from these situations ← Physical and Social Surroundings:

 Important cues include the person’s physical surrou ndings as well as the number and type of other consumers also present in that situat ion  Dimensions of the physical environment, such as déco r, smells, and temperature, can significantly influence consumption  Many of a consumer’s purchase decisions are signifi cantly affected by current groups or social settings 57 4 The presence or absence of other patrons ( co-consumers) is in a setting can function as a product attribute  The mere presence of another consumer is a retail c ontext can lead people to opt for a more expensive brand  If another consumer touches a product in the retail context, this can lead consumers to negatively evaluate the product, an effect refer red to as consumer contamination  Although the presence of other people creates a sta te of arousal, the consumer’s actual experience depends on his or her interpretat ion of this arousal  It is important to distinguish between density and crowding for this reason  Density: the actual number of people occupying a sp ace  Crowding: psychological state exists only is a nega tive affective state occurs as a result of this density  Perceptions of crowding in a retail context causes more variety seeking among consumers  The type of consumers who patronize a store or serv ice can serve as an attribute ← Temporal Factors:

 Time is one of consumers’ most limiting resources  “Time is money”  Our perceptive on time can affect many stages of de cision making and consumption  More careful information search and deliberation oc curs when we have the luxury of 57 4 taking our time ← Economic Time:

 Time is an economic variable  It is a resource that must be divided among activit ies  Times style: consumers try to maximize satisfaction by allocating time to the appropriate combination of tasks  People’s allocation decisions differ  An individual’s priorities determine his or her tim estyle  Time poverty: more pressed for time than ever before  Marketing high tech innovations allow us to save ti me  However, due more to perception than to fact (people may just have more options for spending their time and feel pressured by the w eight of all these choices) o Opportunity cost (trade off of which options we cho ose)  People in different countries also “spend” time dif ferently  With the increase in time poverty, rise in polychron ic activity (multitasking), wherein consumers do more than one thing at a time 57 4 oEx: eating ← Psychological Time:

 “Time flies when you're having fun”  Our experience of time is subjective and is influen ced by out immediate priorities and needs  More likely to be in a consuming mood at certain ti mes than others  Time categories - marketing messages:

o Flow time: become so absorbed in an activity we not ice nothing else. Not a good time to be hitting people with ads o Occasion time: special moments when something monum ental occurs. Ads clearly relevant to the situation will be given our undivided attention o Deadline time: any time when were working against t he clock is the worst time to try to catch our attention o Leisure time: during downtime, we are more likely to notice ads and perhaps try new things o Time to kill: when were waiting for something to ha ppen, more receptive to commercial messages, even for products we don’t norma lly use  Our experience of time is largely a result of our c ulture, because different societies have varying perspectives on this experience  Western consumers – time is a neatly compartmentali zed thing  Linear separable time: events proceed in an orderly sequence and different times are well defined  “There’s a time and place for everything”  Clear sense of past, present, and future  The psychological dimension of time, or how it is ex perienced, is an important factor is queuing theory  Queuing theory: the mathematical study of waiting lines o Waiting for product = good quality o Too much waiting = negative feelings o Marketers use “tricks” to minimize psychological wa iting time  Ex: mirrors  Around elevators, self-checkout ← Antecedent States: If It Feels Good, Buy It:

57 4 Antecedent states: a person’s mood or physiological condition at the time of purchase can have a big impact on what is bought an d can also affect how products are evaluated  Ex: people spend more in the grocery store if they have not eaten for a while, because food is a priority at the time 57 4 A consumer’s mood can have a big impact on purchase decisions  Two dimensions determine whether a shopper will rea ct positively or negatively to a store environment o 1. Pleasure o 2. Arousal  Different combinations of pleasure and arousal leve ls result in a variety of emotional states  FIGURE 10-2: Dimensions of Emotional States  Mood congruency refers to the notion that a mood st ate (either positive or negative) biases judgments of products and services in that d irection  Consumers like things better when they are in a goo d mood  Music and TV programming can affect mood, which has important consequences for commercials  When in positive moods, consumers process ads with l ess elaboration  They pay less attention to specifics of the message s and rely more on heuristic processing ← Shopping: A Job or an Adventure?:

 Shopping is a way to acquire needed products and se rvices, but social motives for shopping as also important  Shopping is an activity that can be performed for e ither:

o 1. Utilitarian (functional or tangible) o 2. Hedonic (pleasurable or intangible) – emotional reasons  Women “shop to love” and men “shop to win” ← Reasons for Shopping:

 Vary by product category, store type, and culture  Hedonic shopping motives can include:

o Social experiences o Sharing of common interests o Interpersonal attraction o Instant status 57 4 oThe thrill of the chase  Consumers can be segmented in terms of their shoppi ng orientation  Shopping orientation: general attitudes about shopping  These orientations may vary depending on the partic ular product categories and store types considered  Several shopping types have been identified:

o Economic consumer: a rational, goal-oriented shopper who is primarily interested in maximizing the value of his or her mo ney – utilitarian o Personalized consumer: a shopper who tends to form strong attachments to store personnel o Ethical consumer: a shopper who likes to help out t he underdog and will support locally owned stores against big chains o Apathetic consumer: a shopper who does not like to shop and sees it as a necessary but unpleasant chore o Recreational shopper: a shopper who views shopping as a fun social activity 57 4 pp pp pp g y ← PURCHASE ENVIRONMENT:

← E-Commerce: Clicks Versus Bricks:  Experience of acquiring the good may be quite diffe rent offline from online  This aspect of the transaction can provide added va lue over and above the good or service you buy  The growth of online commerce, can reach customers a round the world  Competition now comes not only from the store acros s the street, but also from thousands of websites spanning the globe  Some e-tailers take advantage of technology to prov ide extra value to their customers that their landlocked rivals cant  E-commerce does have its limitations:

o Security o Actual shopping experience ← Retailing as Theatre:  Competition for customers is becoming intense as no n-store alternatives multiply  Malls have tried to gain the loyalty of shoppers by appealing to their social motives, as well as by providing access to desired goods – “ more than a store” o Ex: Mall of America  Retail theming: the quest to entertain means that many stores are going all out to create imaginative environments that transport shop pers to fantasy worlds or provide other kinds of stimulation 57 4 Innovative merchants today use four basic kinds of themes:

o Landscape themes: images of nature, the earth, anima ls, and the physical body o Market space themes: human-made places o Cyberspace themes: images of information and commun ications technology  “Being” space: this environment resembles a commercial living room where consumers can go to relax, be entertained, hangout wi th friends, escape the everyday, or even learn o Ex: Starbucks – a place to be  Minipreneurs: one person business offering work-centered being sp aces ← Store Image:

 Stores might be thought of as having “personalities ”  Store image: personality of the store  Location, merchandise suitability, knowledge/congenia lity of sales staff  Store image can be a crucial part of the shipping e xperience for all kinds of products and services  The features of a store profile typically work toge ther to create an overall impression  Consumers evaluate stores in terms of both their sp ecific attributes and a global evaluate, or gestalt (overall impression is what mat ters)  Some stores are likely to be consistently in consum ers’ evoked sets, while others will never be considered ← Atmospherics:

 Careful store design increases the amount of space the shopper covers and stimulating displays keep them in the aisles longer  Because a store’s image is now recognized to be a v ery important aspect of the retailing mix, attention is increasingly paid to atm ospherics  Atmospherics: conscious designing of space and dimensions to evok e certain effects in buyers 57 4 in buyers  Colours/lighting, scents, and sounds/music affects ti me spent in store as well as spending habits ← In-Store Decision Making:  Despite all their efforts to “pre-sell” consumers t hrough advertising, marketers are increasingly recognizing the significant degree to which many purchases are influenced by the store environment 57 4 Marketers are scrambling to engineer purchasing env ironments to increase the likelihood that their products will be available to consumers at the exact time they make a decision ← Spontaneous Shopping:

 When a shopper is prompted to buy something while i n the store, one of two different processes may be at work  Unplanned buying: occurs when a person is unfamiliar with a store’s layout is under time pressure or reminded to buy something when the y see it on the shelf  Impulse buying: occurs when the person experiences a sudden, irresi stible urge to buy that cannot be resisted  Shoppers can be categorized in terms of how much ad vance planning they do  Planners tend to know what products and specific br ands they will buy beforehand  Partial planners know they need certain products bu t do not decide on specific brands until they are in the store  Impulse purchasers do not advance planning whatsoev er ← Point-of-Purchase Stimuli:

 Point-of-purchase (POP) stimuli: product display or demonstration that draws attention o A coupon-dispensing machine, or even someone giving out free samples ← The Salesperson:

 One of the most important in-store factors is the s alesperson, who attempts to influence the buying behaviour of the customer  Exchange theory: stresses that every interaction involves an exchang e of value; each participant gives something to the other and hopes to receive something in return  Commercial friendships: service personnel and custo mers to form fairly warm personal relationships  Relationships and a sense of connection to a salesp erson can be established relatively quickly  A buyer/seller situation is like many other dyadic encounters  It is a relationship where some agreement must be r eached about the role of each participant – a process of identity negotiation occ urs ← Has IT Destroyed Customer Service?:  Many times customer service systems fail  Examples:

o Call centers use activated response systems that do not satisfy the customer 57 4 oA custom-made guitar was destroyed on an airplane a nd no compensation offered until the Canadian musician posted a video song on You Tube ← POST-PURCHASE PROCESSES: ← Post Purchase Satisfaction:

 Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (CS/D): is determined by the overall feelings or attitude, a person has about a product after it h as been purchased  Marketers constantly on lookout for sources of cons umer dissatisfaction  Consumers are engaged in a constant process of eval uating the things they buy as these products are integrated into their daily cons umption activities  Companies that score high in customer satisfaction often ha ve a big competitive 57 4 Long-term memory: the system that allows us to retain information for a long period of time o Elaborative rehearsal: required for information to enter into long-term memory form short-term memory o This process involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus and relating it to other information already in memory ← Storing Information in Memory:

 Relationships among the types of memory are a sourc e of some controversy  Multiple-store assumes that STM and LTM are separat e systems vs. emphasizing the interdependence of the systems  These approaches are called activation models of me mory  Activation models of memory: the more effort it takes to process information (so - called deep processing), the more likely it is that information will be placed in long- term memory ← Associative Network Models:

 Associative network models propose that an incoming piece of information is stored in an associative network containing many bits of r elated information organized according to some set of relationships  Associative network models assume that it is the as sociations that form in consumers’ minds that lead to learning about brands and products o Ex: the more times a brand name (Volvo) becomes ass ociated with a trait or benefit (safety) in memory, the stronger the link be tween the brand and the benefit become  Knowledge structures: storage units that can be thought of as complex spi der webs filled with pieces of data  Information is placed into nodes, which are connecte d by associative links within these structures  Pieces of information seen as similar or associated in some ways are chunked together under some more abstract category  New, incoming information is interpreted to be consi stent with the structure already in place  According to the hierarchical processing model, a me ssage is processed in a bottom- up fashion: processing begins at a very basic level and is subject to increasingly complex processing operations that require greater cognitive capacity  If processing at one level fails to evoke the next level, processing of the message is terminated and capacity is allocated to other tasks 57 4 Links form between nodes as an associative network is developed  The consumer would recall only those brands contain ed in the appropriate category o Evoked set  The task of a new entrant that wants to position it self as a category member it to provide curs that facilitate its placement in the a ppropriate category ← Spreading Activation:

 A meaning can be activated indirectly; energy sprea ds across nodes of varying levels of abstraction  As one node is activated, other nodes associated wit h it also begin to be triggered  Meaning thus spreads across the network, bringing up concepts including competing brands and relevant attributes that are used to for m attitudes toward the brand  Spreading activation: allows consumers to shift back and forth between le vels of meaning  Memory trace could be stored in one or more of the following ways:

o 1. Brand-specific o 2. Ad-specific o 3. Brand identification o 4. Product category o 5. Evaluative reactions  Levels of Knowledge:

o Knowledge is coded at different levels of abstracti on and complexity o Meaning concepts are individual nodes o These may be combined into a larger unit, called a p roposition (also known as a belief) o A proposition links two nodes together to form a mo re complex meaning, which can sere as a single chunk of information o Propositions are integrated to produce a complex un it known as a schema o Schema: a cognitive framework that is developed through exp erience o Information consistent with an existing schema is e ncoded more readily o One type of schema that is relevant to consumer beh avior is a script o Script: a sequence of procedures that is expected by an ind ividual  Consumers learn to expect a certain sequence of eve nts and may become uncomfortable if the service departs from th e script  Ex: routine of a dentist appointment ← Analogical Learning: 57 4 Analogical learning: consumers can learn about new products and features by drawing an analogy (similarities) between the new p roduct and an existing product  Base: the existing product (original source of knowledge)  Target: new product (what the existing knowledge will be tr ansferred to)  Analogical learning can take one or two forms:

o 1. Attributes – identifiable features or properties of the produc t o 2. Relations – how the product relates to a desired outcome  What types of analogies are most effect may depend on the target market  Tend to think about products more in term of attrib utes ← Retrieving Information for Purchase Decisions:  Retrieval is the process of accessing information f rom long-term memory  Most of the information entered into long-term memo ry does not go away, it may be difficult to impossible to retrieve unless the appr opriate cues are present ← Factors in Influencing Retrieval:

 Some differences in retrieval ability are physiolog ical  Other factors are situation, relating to the environ ment in which the message is delivered by comparing energy production to a natur al process  Pioneering brand is more easily retrieved from memo ry than follower brands because the product’s introduction is likely to be distinctive and, for the time being, no competitors diver the consumer’s attention  The viewing environment of a marketing message can also affect recall  Post-experience advertising effects underscores how powerful marketing communications can be in shaping out daily experien ces  Believe that what we saw in advertising actually wa s out own experience with products  Appropriate factors/cues for retrieval:

o State-dependent retrieval/mood congruence effect o Familiarity and Recall:

As a general rule, prior familiarity with an item en hances its recall  Evidence indicates that extreme familiarity can res ult in inferior learning and recall  When consumers are highly familiar with a brand or an advertisement, they may attend to fewer attributes b ecause they do not believe that any additional effort will yield a gain in knowledge o Salience and Recall:

Salience: a brands prominence or level of activation in memory 57 4 Stimuli that stand out in contrast to their environ ment are more likely to command attention, which in turn increases the li kelihood that they will be recalled  Almost any technique that increase the novelty of a stimulus also improves recall (also known as the von Restorff eff ect)  Von Restorff effect: explains why unusual advertising or distinctive packaging tends to facilitate brand recall  Introducing a surprise element into an ad can be pa rticularly effective in aiding recall even if the stimulus is not releva nt to the factual information being presented  Mystery ads – the brand is not identified until the end of the ad (more effective at building associations in memory betwee n the product category and that brand – especially in the case of relatively unknown brands)  We recall mixed emotions (those with positive and n egative components) differently than unipolar emotions (tho se that are either wholly positive or wholly negative)  The latter become even more polarized over time, so that we recall good things as even better than they were and bad t hings as even worse o Pictorial (visual) Vs. Verbal Cues:

The available data indicate that information presen ted in picture form is more likely to be recognized later  To grab a consumers attention  Although pictorial ads may enhance recall, they do n ot necessarily improve comprehension ← Factors Influencing Forgetting:

 Forgetting is obviously a problem for marketers  Early memory theorists assumed that memories fade b ecause of the simple passage of time  In a process of decay, the structural changes in the brain produced by le arning simply go away  Forgetting also occurs because of inference  Inference: as additional information is learned, it displaces e arlier information 57 4 Stimulus-response associations will be forgotten if consumers subsequently learn new responses to the same or similar stimuli in a p rocess known as retroactive interference  On the other hand, prior learning can interfere with new learning, a process called proactive interference  Since pieces of information are stored in memory as nodes that are connected to one another by links, a meaning concept that is conn ected by a larger number of links is more likely to be retrieved  But, as new responses are learned, a stimulus loses i ts effectiveness in retrieving the old response  Consumers tend to organize attribute information by brand  Additional attribute information regarding a brand or similar brands may limit a persons ability to recall old brand information  Recall may also be inhibited if the brand name comp rises frequently used words ← Products as Memory Markers:  Products and ads can themselves serve as powerful r etrieval cues  Possessions most valued by customers are furniture, visual art, and photos  Attachment is the ability of these things to call f orth memories of the past  Our possessions often have mnemonic qualities that serve as a form of external memory by prompting consumers to retrieve episodic memories ← The Marketing Power of Nostalgia:

 Nostalgia: a bittersweet emotion, in which the past is viewed w ith both sadness and longing  “The good old days”  A stimulus can sometimes evoke a weakened response much later, an effect known as spontaneous recovery  This reestablished connection may explain consumers ’ powerful nostalgic reactions to songs, pictures, or brands they have not been expo sed to in many years  Retro brand: an updated version of a brand form a prior historic al period  These products trigger nostalgia, and researchers fi nd that hey often inspire consumers to think back to an era where (at least i n our memories) life was more stable, simple, or even utopian  Consumer preferences for nostalgic brands are relat ed to a need to belong and that consumption of nostalgic products can resolve belon gingness needs  Food can do the same thing – favourite recipes stim ulate memories of the past ← Memory and Aesthetic Preferences: 57 4 We like ads and products that remind us of our past ; prior experiences also determine what we like now  Nostalgia index - peoples tastes in such products a re influenced by what was popular during certain critical periods of their youth (~16 -30) ← Measuring Memory for Marketing Stimuli:  Advertisers naturally concerned about whether peopl e will actually remember these messages at a later point in time  We may be more likely to remember companies that we don’t like – perhaps because of the strong negative emotions they evoke  Recognition – have you seen this before?

 Recall – what advertisements did you see? (very low , models help) ← Recognition Versus Recall:

 One indicator of good advertising is the impression it makes on consumers  Two basic measure of impact are recognition and rec all  Under some conditions these two memory measures ten d to yield the same results, especially when the researchers try to keep the vie wer’s interest in the ads constant  Recognition scores tend to be more reliable and do not decay over time the way recall scores do  Recognition is a simpler process and more retrieval cues are available to the consumer  Problems with memory measures:

o Response biases – “yes”, also pleasers (tell them wh at they want to hear) o Memory lapses Polarization – changing what actually happened in t he past in a story when telling in the future, changing what the truth of the story was  A good day is an amazing day  A bad day is the worst day  Averaging when our memory is faulty o Memory for facts vs. feelings Facts are easier to measure  Feelings are harder to measure – how you actually f eel about a brand (better to measure feelings than facts) 57 4 Chapter 4 – Motivation and Affect ← Introduction:

← The Motivation Process:

 Motivation: refers to the processes that cause people to behave as they do  It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy  Once a need has been activated, a state of tension e xists that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate the need  The need may be utilitarian or hedonic  Goal: the consumers desired end state  Marketers try to create products and services that will provide the desired benefits and permit the consumers to reduce this tension  Discrepancy exists between the consumer’s present s tate and some ideal state  Drive: this degree of arousal  Personal and cultural factors combine to create a w ant, which is one manifestation of a need  Once the goal is attained, tension is reduced and th e motivation recedes  Motivation can be described in terms of its strengt h, or the pull it exerts on the consumers, and its direction, or the particular way the consumer attempts to reduce the motivational tension ← Motivational Strength:

 The degree to which a person is willing to expend e nergy to reach one goal as opposed to another reflects his or her underlying m otivation to attain that goal  Theories - people have some finite amount of energy that must be directed toward certain goals  Two basic theoretical categories that account for m otivational strength are drive theories and expectancy theories ← Drive Theory:  Drive theory focuses on biological needs that produ ce unpleasant states of arousal (ex: stomach grumbling during a morning class)  In marketing, tension refers to the unpleasant state that exists if a person’s consumption needs are not fulfilled  Homeostasis: goal-oriented behavior that attempts to reduce or e liminate this unpleasant state and return to a balanced one  Those behaviors that are successful in reducing the drive by eliminating the underlying need are strengthened and tend to be rep eated  A person’s degree of motivation, then, depends on the distance between his or her present state and the goal 57 4 Drive theory runs into difficulties  People often do things that increase a drive state rather than decrease it  Ex: delay gratification ← Expectancy Theory:

 Explanations of motivation focuses also on cognitiv e factors  Expectancy theory: suggests that behavior is largely pulled by expecta tions of achieving desirable outcomes – positive incentives – rather than pushed from within  Positive incentives: money, social status, etc ← Motivational Direction:

 Motives have direction as well as strength  They are goal-oriented in that specific objectives are desired to satisfy a need  Most goals can be reached by a number of routes, and the objective of marketers is to convince consumers that the alternative they off er provides the best chance to attain the goal ← Needs Versus Wants:  The specific way a need is satisfied depends on the individual’s unique history and learning experiences and his or her cultural enviro nment  Want: the particular form of consumption used to satisfy a need ← Types of Needs:  Biogenic needs: a need people are born with for cer tain elements necessary to maintain life o Food, water, air, shelter  Psychogenic needs are acquired in the process of be coming a member of a culture o Need for status, power, affiliation o Their effect on behavior will vary in different env ironments  Consumers can also be motivated to satisfy either u tilitarian or hedonic needs  Utilitarian needs: consumers emphasize the objectiv e, tangible attributes of products (functionality)  Hedonic needs: subjective and experiential, leading consumers to rely on a product because it meets their needs for excitement, self-co nfidence, or fantasy, perhaps to escape the routine aspects of life  Consumers may be motivated to purchase a product be cause it provides both types of benefits ← Motivational Conflicts:  A goal has valence, which means that it can be posit ive or negative  A positively valued goal is one toward which consum ers direct their behavior 57 4 They are motivated to approach the goal and will se ek out products that will be instrumental in attaining it  Sometimes consumers are motivated to avoid a negati ve outcome  They will structure their purchases or consumption activities to reduce the chances of attaining this end result  Because a purchase decision may involve more than o ne source or motivation, consumers often find themselves in situations in wh ich different motives conflict with one another ← Approach-Approach Conflict:

 A person must choose between two desirable alternat ives  Theory of cognitive dissonance: people have a need for consistency in their lives a nd that a state or tension is created when beliefs or behaviors conflict with one another  Post-decision dissonance can arise when the consume r must make a choice between two products, both of which possess good and bad qua lities  By choosing one product and not the other, the perso n gets the bad qualities of the chosen product and loses out on the good qualities of the unchosen one  Marketers often attempt to reduce approach-approach conflicts by highlighting the superiority of their brand  Ex: Mac vs. PC ← Approach-Avoidance Conflict:

 Many of the products and services we desire have ne gative consequences attached to them as well as positive consequences  When we desire a goal but wish to avoid it at the s ame time  Ex: fake furs, diet foods  Many marketers try to overcome guilt by convincing consumers that they are deserving of luxuries ← Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict:

 Choice between two undesirable alternatives  Marketers frequently address this conflict through messages that stress the unforeseen benefits of choosing one option ← Classifying Consumer Needs: 57 4 Henry Murray, delineates a set of psychogenic needs that (sometimes in combination) result in specific behaviors  Murray’s need structure serves as the basis for a n umber of widely used personality tests, such as the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS)  In the TAT, test subjects are shown four to six ambi guous pictures and asked to write answers to four directing questions about the pictu res o 1. What is happening?

o 2. What has led to this situation?

o 3. What is being thought?

o 4. What will happen?

 Each answer is then content-analyzed for references to certain needs  The theory behind the test is that people will free ly product their own subconscious needs onto the ambiguous picture  Murray believed that everyone has the same basic se t of needs but that individuals differ in how they prioritize them ← Specific Needs and Buying Behavior:

 Other motivational approaches have focused on speci fic needs and their ramifications for behavior  Individuals with a high need for achievement strong ly value personal accomplishment  Some other important needs that are relevant to con sumer behavior include the following:

o Need for affiliation (to be in the company of other people)  Ex: alcohol brand ads o Need for power (to control one’s environment) Want to feel in control  Ex: hotels, reports – everything is right there for you and your in control o Need for uniqueness (to assert one’s individual ide ntity)  Ex: Tylenol commercial ← Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

 Abraham Maslow  Originally developed to understand personal growth and the attainment of “peak experiences” 57 4 Maslow formulated a hierarchy of biogenic and psych ogenic needs in which levels of motives are specified  A hierarchical approach implies that the order of d evelopment is fixed – that is, a certain level must be attained before the next, high er one is activated  Adopted by marketers because it (indirectly) specif ies certain types of product benefits that people might be looking for, depending on the different stages in their development and/or their environmental conditions  Ideally, an individual progresses up the hierarchy u ntil his or her dominant motivation is a focus on “ultimate” goals  Most people spend most of their lives trying to fil l their ego needs and never move on to the fifth level of self-actualization  Maslow’s need hierarchy predicts that higher-order needs become the driving force behind human behavior as the consumer’s lower-level needs are satisfied  The theory says, in effect, that satisfaction does no t motivate behavior; dissatisfaction does  It is important to note that low needs are never to tally satisfied but are ongoing  We do not need to satisfy one need totally before t he next level of need motivates out behavior  Sometimes certain behaviors satisfy two needs at on ce o Ex: Mercedes (need for safety and prestige)  Criticism of Maslow:

o No measurement tool o Particular to Western culture  The point is that this hierarchy is widely applied in marketing because it remind us that consumers may have different need priorities a t different times and stages of their lives ← Motivation and Goal Fulfillment:

 People often set goals that are related to consumpt ion o Ex: lose weight, consume less energy 57 4 Consumers are more likely to achieve such goals whe n they set goals that are SMART o Specific – easier to achieve a clearly specified go al than a more general one o Measurable – concrete criteria by which goal attain ment can be assessed o Attainable – somewhat challenging, but attainable an d realistic o Relevant – something important to the goal setter o Time-bound – goal should have a targeted time point for completion  Ex: Nike – helped consumers to set and track goal s in ways that are very specific and measurable  Goal progress does not have to be real, and can simp ly be perceived to have strong effects on behavior  Puzzled consumer researchers whether the motivation to attain goals is always conscious, or if sometimes this can occur below the threshold of awareness  The motive to attain a goal can be activated in con sumption contexts without the consumer even being aware of it ← Consumer Involvement:

 A consumer’s motivation to attain a goal influences his or her desire to expend the effort necessary to attain the products or services believed to be instrumental in satisfying that objective  Involvement: a person’s perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values and interests  The word “object” is used in the generic sense and refers to a product (or brand), an advertisement, or a purchase situation  Consumers can find involvement in all these “object s”  Involvement can be viewed as the motivation to proc ess information and can be triggered by person, object and/or situation  If link between consumers goals and product informa tion, then consumer will be motivated to process information  Can be cognitive or emotional o Ex: cognitive: pharmaceuticals – utilitarian/functi onal reasons o Ex: emotional: buying a trip – hedonic/emotional re asons ← Levels of Involvement: From Inertia to Passion:  The type of information processing that will occur thus depends upon the consumer’s level of involvement  It can range from simple processing, in which only t he basic features of a message are considered, all the way to elaboration, in which the incoming information is linked to preexisting knowledge systems 57 4 Continuum ranging from absolute lack of interest in a marketing stimulus at one end to obsession at the other  Inertia: consumption at the low end of involvement – where d ecisions are made out of habit because the consumer lacks the motivation to consider alternatives o Make decisions out of habit (lack of motivation to be involved)  At the high end of involvement we can expect to fin d the type of passionate intensity reserved for people and objects that carry great me aning to the individual  Flow state: when consumers are truly involved with a product, an ad, or a website  Type of involvement:

o Emotionally or affectively involved with an object o Rationally or cognitively involved with a product o r purchase situation  FIGURE 4-5 ← The Many Faces of Involvement:

 Cognitive  Emotional  Involvement overlaps and means different things to different people  Three broad types of involvement – that relate to t he product, to the message, and to the situation ← Product Involvement:

 Product involvement is related to a consumer’s leve l of interest in a particular product  Many sales promotions are designed to increase this type of involvement  Most powerful way to enhance product involvement is to invite consumers to play a role in designing or personalizing what they buy  Mass customization: customization and personalization of products and s ervices for individual customers at a mass production price o Enhances product involvement  Ex: Nike ID, M&M’s, Dell computers, etc ← Message-Response Involvement:

 Marketers are experimenting to increase consumers’ i nvolvement with different message formats  Spectacles or performances, in which the message is itself a form of entertainment  Interactive mobile marketing: consumers participate in real-time promotional campaigns via their cell phones  Vigilante/guerilla marketing: freelancers and fans film their own commercials for favorite products 57 4 Consumers interest in processing marketing communic ations ← Purchase Situation Involvement:

 Differences that may occur when buying the same obj ect for different contexts  Ex: when you want to impress someone, you might try to buy a brand or product with a certain image that you think reflects good t aste  Increasing purchase situation involvement by appeal ing to hedonic shoppers whoa re looking to be entertained or otherwise engaged i n addition to simply “buying stuff” ← Segmenting by Involvement Levels:  A measurement approach that segments involvement by levels allows consumer researchers to capture the diversity of the involve ment construct, and it also allows for involvement to be used as a basis for market se gmentation  The company could then adapt its strategy to accoun t for the motivation of different segments to process information about the product ← Strategies to Increase Involvement:  By being aware of some basic factors that increase or decrease attention, they can take steps to increase the likelihood that product information will get through  The marketer can enhance the consumer’s motivation to process relevant information fairly easily by using one or more of t he following techniques o Appeal to consumers’ hedonic needs (emotional) o Use novel stimuli o Use prominent stimuli o Include celebrity endorsers to generate higher inte rest in commercials o Build a bond with consumers by maintaining and ongo ing relationship with them o Segmentation by involvement Ex: Harley Davidson – high involvement decisions, en thusiasts, best bike, etc)  The best way to boost consumer’s involvement with t he marketing messages they see and hear is to let them make the messages  Consumer generated content in which consumers produ ce their own commercials for favorite products is now a common marketing tac tic  This practice creates a high degree of message-resp onse involvement (also called advertising involvement), which refers to the consum er ’s interest in processing marketing communications ← Affect: 57 4 ←Types of Affective Responses:  Affect: refers to the experience of emotionally-laden state s, which can range from evaluations, to moods, to full-blown emotions  Evaluations: involves valenced (positive or negative) reactions to events that objects, that are not accompanied by high levels of arousal  Moods: temporary positive or negative affective states acc ompanied by moderate levels of arousal  Moods tend to be diffuse and are not necessarily li nked to a particular affect- arousing event  Emotions: happiness, anger, fear, etc, in contract to moods tend to be more intense and are often related to a specific triggering even t  Marketers use affective states in many ways:

o Positive moods and emotions are often highlighted a s a product benefit (ex:

Viagra) o Fragrances, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeinated beverag es are consumed for their mood-altering qualities o Negative state relief: helping others as a means of resolving ones own negative moods o Sometimes utilized by activating a negative mood on the part of the consumer showing a picture of a child starving in A frica, and giving the ability to donate and help the cause o Purchasing and consuming mood-enhancing products, su ch as chocolate  Mood congruency: our judgments are often consistent with our existin g mood states (ex: consumers judge the very same products more po sitively when in a positive as opposed to a negative mood)  Moods are most likely to be influential when they a re considered relevant to the particular purchase decision ← How Social Media Taps into Our Emotions:

 Social media platforms can play on affect  Common for people to express their moods and also t heir emotional reactions to products that these posts can be a treasure trove f or marketers who want to learn more about how their offerings make people feel  Sentiment analysis/opinion mining: a process that scours the social media universe to collect and analyze the words people use when th ey describe a specific product or company 57 4 Word-phrase dictionary: from sentiment analysis, researchers will create a w ord- phrase dictionary/library to code the data ← Discrete Emotions:  Consumer researchers have begun investigating the i mportant of specific emotions in the consumption environment  Examination of specific emotional reactions during consumption episodes can provide additional insight ← Happiness:

 Happiness: a mental state of well-being characterized by posit ive emotions  How we spent our money can influence happiness  Increased levels of happiness when they spend money on others, as opposed to themselves  As well, happiness when we spend money on experience s (ex: trips)  One possibility is that the key to happiness does n ot involve money at all, it involves time  Think about time motivates them to spend more time with family and friends, and less time working  Thinking about money, induces people to socialize le ss and work more  Secret to happiness might be fostering social conne ctions with the people who are important to us  What makes us happy can also vary throughout the li fespan  Meaning of happiness is not fixed and it can shift as people get older Envy:

Envy: a negative emotion associated with the desire to re duce the gap between oneself and someone who is superior on some dimensi on  Two distinct types:

o 1. Benign envy occurs when the individual believes that the superior other deserves his or her status When consumers experience begin envy over a product , they are willing to pay more for it o 2. Malicious envy occurs when the consumer believes that the superior other does not deserve his or her status Consumers do not desire the focal product, but are i nstead willing to pay more for a different product in the same catego ry  Feelings of malicious envy shown to produce negativ e attitudes and actions toward the envied other 57 4 ←Guilt:

 Guilt: an individual’s unpleasant emotional state associat ed with possible objections to his or her actions, inaction, circumstances, or int entions  Often activated in contexts where marketers want co nsumers to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as charitable giving  Extreme guilt appeals can sometimes backfire, and it can be more effective to activate guilt more subtly o Fear operates similar to guilt and very effective i n motivating behavior, but too much backfires and works the other way  Consumers guilt can be activated in retail settings too ← Embarrassment:

 Embarrassment: a social emotion driven by a concern for what other s are thinking about us  It typically occurs when unwanted events communicat e undesired information about oneself to others  Embarrassment in the consumer context most often ar ises when socially sensitive products are purchased o Ex: condoms, adult diapers, tampons, hair-lice shampoo , and pornography o Typically embarrassment goes away over time when pu rchasing these products  Purchase of these items involves exposure of person al information to a social audience  Embarrassment can also arise between consumers when a social custom or norm is violated o Ex: rejection of credit card on dinner date 57 4 Chapter 5 – The Self← Perspectives on the Self:

 Many products are bought because people are trying to highlight or downplay some aspect of the self ← Does the Self Exist:  This concept is a relatively new way of regarding p eople and their relationships with society  The idea that very human life if unique rather than a part of a group developed only in later medieval times  The notion that the self is an object to be pampere d is even more recent  The emphasis on the unique nature of the self is mu ch greater in Western societies  Many Eastern cultures instead stress the importance of a collective self, in which the person’s identity is derived in large measure from his or her social group  The self as divided into an inner, private self, and an outer, public self  Western culture tends to subscribe to an independen t interpretation of the self, which emphasizes the inherent separateness of each individual  Non-western cultures tend to focus on an interdepen dent self, whereby a person’s identity is largely defined by the relationships he or she has with others ← Self Concept:

 Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his or her own att ributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities  Parts of the self are evaluated more positively tha n others  The self-concept is a very complex structure  Attributes of self-concept can be described along s uch dimensions as their context (facial attractiveness versus mental aptitude), posi tively or negatively (self-esteem), intensity, stability over time, and accuracy (the deg ree to which one’s self- assessment corresponds to reality)  While the self-concept can be somewhat stable over time and situations, situational factors can influence how we feel about ourselves  Stereotype treat refers to the anxiety the consumer s feel when they fear they might act in a way that confirms the group stereotype o Ex: women are not as good as men at math  Such threats can occur in retail contexts too o Ex: female needs to take her can to a mechanic ← Self-Esteem:

 Self-esteem refers to the positivity of your attitu de toward yourself (self-concept)  Self-esteem is often related to acceptance by other s 57 4 High self-esteem: think they will be successful and will take risks  Low self-esteem: think they will not perform well  Marketing communications can influence a consumer’s level of self-esteem  Exposure to ads can trigger a process of social com parison, wherein the person tries to evaluate his or her self by comparing it with ot her people’s selves and those of media images  This form of comparison appears to be a basic human motive  Many marketers have tapped into this need by supply ing idealized images of happy, attractive people who just happen to be using their products o Often celebrities ← Real and Ideal Selves:

 When a consumer compares some aspect of him- or her self to an ideal, this judgment influences self-esteem  Ideal self: a person’s conception of how he or she would like t o be  Actual self: our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we d o and do not have  If we appear close to our ideal self, self-esteem is generally high  If we appear far from our ideal self, self-esteem is generally low  Products can:

o Help us reach ideal self (ex: products being endors ed by celebrities) o Be consistent with actual self (ex: appliances)  Impression management: we work hard to “manage” what others think of us – we strategically choose clothing and other products th at will represent us to others in a good light  The ideal self is partly moulded by elements of the consumer’s culture, such as heroes or people depicted in advertising, that serve as models of achievement or appearance ← Multiple Selves:  Each consumer is really a number of different peopl e  We have as many selves as we have different social roles  Each of us plays many roles, and each role has its o wn script, props and costumes  The self might be thought of as having different co mponents of role identities, with only some of these being active at any given time  Some identities are more central to the self than o thers, but others may be dominant in specific situations  Marketers may want to take steps to ensure that app ropriate role identify is active before pitching products needed to play that partic ular role 57 4 Place advertising messages in contexts o Ex: fitness and energy products at a marathon  If one of the aspects of the consumer ’s identity ge ts temporarily viewed in a negative light, this can have interesting implications for co nsumer behavior ← Virtual Identity:

 Physical and digital reality  Today these fictional depictions come to life as re al-time, interactive virtual worlds that allow people to assume virtual identities in cyberspace  Computer mediated environments: the Sims online, Webkinz, etc  On these sites people assume visual identities, or avatars, that range from realistic versions f themselves to tricked-out versions with exaggerated physical characteristics  Researchers are investigating how these online selv es will influence consumer behavior and how the identities we choose in CMEs r elate to our real life identities  Already we know that when people take on avatar for ms, they tend to interact with other avatars much as their real selves interact wi th other real life people ← Symbolic Interactionism:

 Sociological tradition  Symbolic interactionism: stresses that relationships with other people play a large part in forming the self  This perspective maintains that people exist in a s ymbolic environment, and that the meaning attached to any situation or object is dete rmined by the interpretation of the symbols  As members of society we learn to agree on shared m eanings o Ex: red light means stop  Our possessions play a key role as we evaluate ours elves and decide “who we are”  The meanings of consumers themselves are defined by social consensus  The consumer interprets his or her own identity, and this assessment is continuously evolving as he or she encounters new situations and people  In symbolic interactionist terms, we negotiate these meanings over time  We tend to pattern our behavior on the perceived ex pectations of others in a form of self-fulfilling prophecy  By acting the way we assume others expect us to act , we often wind up confirming these perceptions ← The Looking-Glass Self:

 Looking-glass self: the process of imagining the reactions of others to ward us 57 4 oPrinciple of similarity: consumers group together objects that share simila r characteristics They group like items into sets to form an integrat ed whole o Principle of figure ground: one part of the stimulus will dominate (the figure), while other parts recede into the backgroun d  Ex: picture with a dominant figure as the focus ← The Eye of the Beholder: Interpretation Biases:

 The stimuli we perceive are often ambiguous; its up to us to determine the meaning based on our past experiences, expectations, and need s  Consumers tend to product their own desires or assu mptions onto products and advertisements  Our assumptions influence our experience ← Perceptual Positioning:

 A product stimulus is often interpreted in light of what we already know about a product category and the characteristics of existin g brands  Perceptions of a brand comprise both its functional attributes (price, features, etc) and its symbolic attributes (self-image, etc)  Our evaluation of a product is typically the result of what it means rather that what it does  This meaning, as perceived by consumers, constitutes the products market position – and it may have more to do with our expectations of product performance as communicated by its colour, packaging, or styling tha n with the product itself  Position strategy: the way the marketer wants the brand to be viewed i n the eyes of the consumer o A fundamental part of a company ’s marketing efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix to influence the consumer’s inter pretation of the brand’s meaning  Brands go to great lengthy to position themselves d ifferent from competitors on attributes consumers care about  One issue for marketers s how to reposition their b rand in a way that updates the brand’s image for an evolving market o Ex: Volvo – endorsed Jeremy Lin (youthful brand ima ge, Chinese market) i i i i i 57 4 ←Positioning Dimensions:

 There are many dimensions that can be used to estab lish a brand’s position in the marketplace  These include the following: oPrice leadership Att ib t 57 4 oAttributes o Product class o Occasions o Users o Design 57 4 Chapter 3 – Learning and Memory← The Learning Process:

 The development of vivid memories is relevant to th e study of how brand attitudes are formed  Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior that is c aused by experience  Experience does not have to affect the learner dire ctly – can learn vicariously by observing events that affect others  Also learn even when we are not trying  Unintentional acquisition of knowledge is known as incidental learning  Learning is an ongoing process  Theories to explain the learning process range from those focusing on simple stimulus-response connections (behavioral theories) to perspectives that regard consumers as complex problem solvers who learn abst ract rules and concepts by observing others (cognitive theories) ← Behavioural Learning Theories:

57 4 Behavioural learning theories: assume that learning takes place as the result of responses to external events, as opposed to internal thought processes  Mind as a “black box” that cannot be directly inves tigated and emphasize the observable aspects of behavior  These observable aspects consist of things that go into the box (the stimuli or events perceived from the outside world) and things that c ome out of the box (the responses or reactions to these stimuli)  This view is represented by two major approaches to behavior learning:

o 1. Classical conditioning o 2. Instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning)  Consumers respond to brand names, scents, jingles, and other marketing stimuli on the basis of the learned associations or connection s they have formed over time ← Classical Conditioning:

 Classical conditioning: occurs when a stimulus that elicits a response is p aired with another stimulus that initially does not elicit a r esponse on its own  Over time this second stimulus causes a similar res ponse because it is associated with the first stimulus  Ivan Pavlov  FIGURE 3-1: Diagram of the Classical Conditioning P rocess: 57 4 Pavlov induced classically conditioned learning by pairing a neutral stimulus (a bell) with a stimulus known to cause a salivation respons e in dogs (he squirted dried meat powder into their mouths)  The powder was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - naturally capable of causing the response  Over time, the bell become a conditioned stimulus (CS) - did not initially cause salivation, but the dogs learned to associate the b ell with the meat powder and began to salivate at the sound of the bell only  The drooling, caused by a sound now linked to feedin g time, was a conditioned response (CR)  Pavlov applied primarily to responses controlled by the autonomic and nervous systems  Focuses on visual and olfactory curs that induce ph ysiological responses such as hunger, thirst, or sexual arousal  When these curs are consistently paired with condit ioned stimuli, such as brand names, consumers may learn to feel hungry, thirsty, or aroused when later exposed 57 4 to the brand cues  Classical conditioning effects can also emerge when a product that is originally neutral (ex: a conditioned stimulus) is paired over time with a product that produces an emotion-inducing responses (i.e. an unconditione d stimulus) ← Associative Learning:

 Associative learning: a form of classical conditioning, in which consumers learn associations between stimuli in a rather simple fas hion without more complex processes such as memory or cognition taking place  Can occur for more complex reactions to stimuli as well 57 4 Repetition:

o Associative learning effects are more likely to occ ur after a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus have been pa ired a number of times o Repeated exposures increase the strength of stimulu s-response associations and prevent the decay of these associations in memo ry o Many classic advertising campaigns consist of produ ct slogans that have been repeated so many times they are etched in consumers ’ minds o Associative learning will not occur or will take lo nger if the paired stimuli are only occasionally presented with one another o One result of this lack of association may be extin ction o Extinction: happens when the effect of prior conditioning are r educed and finally disappear o This can occur when a product is overexposed or for ms new associations such that the brand is not longer consistently paired wi th the original stimulus  Stimulus Generalization:

o Stimulus generalization: refers to the tendency of stimuli similar to a CS t o evoke similar conditioned responses o People react to other similar stimuli in much the s ame way as they respond to an original stimulus o “Piggybacking ” strategy  Stimulus Discrimination:

o Stimulus discrimination: occurs when a stimulus similar to a CS is not followed by a UCS o In these situations reactions are weakened and will soon disappear o Part of the learning process involves learning to r espond to some stimuli but not to other similar stimuli o Masked branding: deliberately hides a product’s true origin ← Marketing Associations of Conditioning:  Many marketing strategies focus on the establishmen t of associations between stimuli and responses  These conditioned associations are crucial to many marketing strategies that rely on the creation and perpetuation of positive brand equ ity  Brand equity: a brand has strong positive associations in a consu mer’s memory and commands a lot of loyalty as a result ← Repetition:

 More than three exposures is a waste 57 4 Marketers attempting to condition a particular asso ciation must ensure that the consumers they have targeted will be exposed to the stimulus a sufficient number of times to make it “stick”  Advertising wear out: consumers can become to used to hearing or seeing a marketing stimulus that they no longer pay attentio n to it  Ex: Got Milk ads – so they switch out different cel ebrities periodically so we don’t become bored ← Conditioning Product Associations:

 Advertisements often pair a product with a positive stimulus to create a desirable 57 4 association  Order in which the conditioned stimulus and the unc onditioned stimulus are presented can affect the likelihood that learning w ill occur  Generally, the unconditioned stimulus should be pres ented prior to the conditioned stimulus  Ex: it is more effective to play a jingle (UCS) and then follow this with the presentation of a soft drink (CS)  The technique of backward conditioning, such as show ing a soft drink (the CS) and then playing a jingle (the UCS) is generally not ef fective  Product associations can also be extinguished  A classical conditioning strategy may not be as eff ective for products that are frequently encountered, since there is not guarantee they will be consistently accompanied by the CS ← Applications of Stimulus Generalization:

 The process of stimulus generalization is often cen tral to branding and packaging decisions that attempt to capitalize on consumers; positive associations with an existing brand or company name  Strategies based on stimulus generalization include the following:

o 1. Family branding – a variety of products capitali ze on the reputation of a company name Ex: Google, Campbell o 2. Product-line extensions – related products are a dded to an established brand Ex: Dole, Mr. Clean, Oreo o 3. Licensing – well-known names are “rented” by oth ers  Ex: Maxim magazine 57 4 o4. Look-alike packaging – distinctive packaging des igns create strong associations with a particular brand  Companies with a well-established brand image try t o encourage stimulus discrimination when they promote the unique attribu tes of their brand o Ex: Louis Vuitton ← Instrumental Conditioning:

 Instrumental conditioning: also known as operant conditioning, occurs as the individual learns to perform behaviours that produc e positive outcomes and to avoid behaviors that yield negative outcomes  B.F. Skinner  Systematically rewarding them for desired behaviour s  Under classical conditioning, people respond involun tarily and fairly simply, often on the basis of very automatic responses  Under instrumental conditioning, people perform more complex behaviours and associate these behaviors with either rewards or pu nishments 57 4 p  Shaping: the desired behaviour may be learned over a period of time, as intermediate actions are rewarded  Shaping occurs when consumers are rewarded for succ essive steps taken toward the desired response o Ex: samples, coupons, reward programs  Also, classical conditioning involves the close pai ring of two stimuli 57 4 Instrumental learning occurs as a result of a rewar d received following the desired behavior and takes place over a period in which a v ariety of other behaviors are attempted and abandoned because they are not reinfo rced  Instrumental learning occurs in one of three ways:

o 1. When the environment provides positive reinforce ment in the form of a reward Positive reinforcement: reward is given, then the response is strengthened and appropriate behavior is learned  Ex: getting a compliment wearing a certain brand ma kes you want to wear and buy more of that brand o 2. Negative reinforcement also strengthens responses so that appropriate behavior is learned Negative reinforcement: removes something negative in a way that increases a desired response  Ex: retailer offers to pay the tax for the customer o 3. Punishment : occurs when a response is followed by an unpleasa nt event  Ex: heel of your shoe rip off after buying a cheap pair  We learn to not repeat these behaviours  In terms of positive and negative reinforcement, whe n a positive outcome is no longer received, extinction o the behaviour is likel y to occur and the learned stimulus-response connection will not be maintained  Either positive or negative reinforcement strengths the future link between a response and an outcome because of the pleasant exp erience  This tie is weakened under conditions of both punis hment and extinction because of the unpleasant experience Four Types of Learning Schedules: An important factor in operant conditioning is the set of rul es by which appropriate 57 4 An important factor in operant conditioning is the set of rules by which appropriate reinforcements are given for a behavior  The issue of what is the most effective reinforceme nt schedule to use is important to marketers, because it relates to the amount of effor t and resources they must devote to rewarding consumers to condition desired behaviours  Two general ways in which consumers are reinforced for desir ed behaviors include: 57 4 Two general ways in which consumers are reinforced for desired behaviors include:

o 1. Ratio schedules – reinforce the learner based on the number of responses that have been completed Ex: free gift after ten purchases o 2. Interval schedules – reinforce the learner after a certain amount of time passes since the appropriate response Ex: rewarded once a year by your band for being a v alues customer  FIGURE 3-2: Four Types of Learning Outcomes:

 Fixed-ratio reinforcement:

o Reinforcement occurs only after a fixed number of r esponses o Ex: 15 purchase for free th  Variable-ratio reinforcement:

o The behavior of a person is reinforced after a cert ain number of responses, but he or she does not know how many responses are required o People in such situations tend to respond at very h igh and steady rates, and this type of behaviour is very difficult to extingu ish o Ex: roll up the rim to win  Fixed-interval reinforcement:

o After a specified time period ahs passed, the first response that is made brings the reward o Under such conditions, people tend to respond slowly right after being reinforced, but their responses speed up as the time for the next reinforcement looms o Ex: last day of its seasonal sale and not reappear until the next sale  Variable-interval reinforcement:

o The time that must pass before reinforcement is del ivered varies around some average o Since the person does not know exactly when to expe ct the reinforcement, responses must be performed at a consistent rate o Ex: loyalty club member ← Application of Instrumental Conditioning Principles :

 Principles of instrumental conditioning are at work when a consumer is rewarded or punished for a purchase decision 57 4 Marketers often use shaping by gradually reinforcin g consumers for taking appropriate actions ← Reinforcement of Consumption:

 Marketers use many ways to reinforce the behaviour of consumers, ranging from a simple “thank you” after a purchase, to substantial rebates and follow-up phone calls ← Frequency Marketing:

 Frequency marketing: reinforces the behavior of regular purchasers by fi ving them prizes with values that increase along with the amo unt purchased  This operant learning strategy was pioneered by the airline industry with frequent flyer programs  Frequent buyer programs are not just about consumer s earning free trip sand merchandise  Retailers can use related databases to refine every thing from their merchandise mix tot heir marketing strategy on the basis of their d etailed knowledge of consumes and their purchases ← Cognitive Learning Theory:

 Cognitive learning theory: stresses the importance of internal mental processes 57 4 Cognitive learning theory: stresses the importance of internal mental processe s  This perspective views people as problems solvers w ho actively use information form the world around them to master their environment ← Is Learning Conscious or Not?:

 Expectations are created that a stimulus will be fo llows by a response (the formation of expectations requires mental activity)  Conditioning occurs because individuals develop con scious hypotheses and then act on them  Some evidence for the existence of unconscious proc edural knowledge  People apparently do process at least some informat ion in an automatic, passive way, which is a condition that has been termed mind lessness  When we respond to the stimulus in terms of existin g categories rather then taking the trouble to formulate different ones  Out reactions are activated by a trigger feature – some stimulus that curs us toward a particular pattern  Many modern theorists are beginning to regard some instances of conditioning as cognitive processes, especially where expectations a re formed about the links between stimuli and responses  Indeed, studies using masking effects, wherein it is difficult for subjects to consciously learn CS/UCS associations, show substant ial reductions in conditioning 57 4 ←Observational Learning:  Observational learning: occurs when people watch the actions of others and note the reinforcements they receive or their behaviours ; learning occurs as a result of vicarious, rather than direct experience  While behavioral learning theories propose that ind ividuals must directly experience the stimuli that influence their behaviors, cognitiv e learning theories can account for vicarious learning effects  This type of learning is a complex cognitive proces s; people store these observations in memory as they accumulate knowledge, perhaps usin g this information as a later print to guide their own behaviours  This process of imitating the behaviour of others i s called modeling  The modeling process is a powerful form of learning , and peoples tendencies to imitate others’ behaviors can have negative effects o Ex: TV shows/movies teaching children violence, Bobo Doll  For observational learning in the form of modeling to occur, four conditions must be met:

o 1. The consumer’s attention must be directed toward the appropriate model whom, for reasons of attractiveness, competence, statu s, or similarity, it is desirable to emulate o 2. The consumer must remember what the model says o r does o 3. The consumer must convert this information into actions o 4. The consumer must be motivated to perform these actions  FIGURE 3-3: Components of Observational Learning ← Applications of Cognitive Learning Principles:  C ’ bilit t l i i l b b i h th b h i f th i 57 4 Consumers’ ability to learn vicariously by observing how the behavior of others is reinforced makes the lives of marketers much easier  Can show what happens to models who use to do not u se their products, in the knowledge the consumers will often be motivated to imitate these actions at a later time  Consumers’ evaluations of the people they model go b eyond simple stimulus- response connections 57 4 The degree to which a model will be emulated depend s on his or her social attractiveness  Attractiveness can be based upon several components , including physical appearance, expertise, or similarity to the evaluator ← The Role of Memory in Learning:

 Memory: involves a process of acquiring information and sto ring it over time so that it will be available when needed  Data are input, processed, and output for later use i n revised form  Encoding stage: information is entered in a way the system will rec ognize  Storage stage: this knowledge is integrated with what is already in memory and “warehoused” unit needed  Retrieval: the mind accesses the desired information  FIGURE 3-4: The Memory Process  Many of out experiences are locked inside out heads and may surface years later if prompted by the right cues  Marketers rely on consumers to retain information t hey have learned about products and services, trusting that they will later apply it when they decide to buy  During the consumer decision-making process, this in ternal memory is combined with external memory – which includes all of the pr oduct details on packages, in shopping lists, and through other marketing stimuli – to permit brand alternatives to be identified and evaluated  Research supports the idea that marketers can disto rt a consumer’s recall of a product experience  What we think we “know” about products can be influ enced by advertising messages to which we are exposed after using the pr oducts  This post-experience advertising is more likely to alter actual memories when it is very similar to or activates memories about the act ual experience ← Encoding of Information for Later Retrieval:

 The way information is encoded helps to determine h ow it will be represented in memory  Encoding involves linking new information to existi ng knowledge in order to make the new information more meaningful  Incoming data that are associated with other inform ation already in memory stand a better chance of being retained  Memory for brand names may interact with one’s invo lvement in the product class ← Types of Meaning: 57 4 A consumer may process a stimulus simply in terms o f its sensory meaning, such as colour and shape  In many cases, meanings are encoded at a more abstra ct level  Semantic meaning refers to symbolic associations (e x: idea that rich people drink champagne) ← Personal Relevance:

 Episodic memories are memories for events that are personally relevant  As a result, a person’s motivation to retain these m emories will likely be strong  Often an important and compelling episodic event wi ll lead to memories that are quire vivid and unique, and are sometimes called fla shbulb memories  One method of conveying product information is thro ugh a narrative or a story N i d l l i f h i f i 57 4 Narratives persuade people to construct a mental re presentation of the information they are viewing ← Memory Systems:  According to the information processing perspective , there are three distinct memory systems:

o 1. Sensory memory o 2. Short-term memory (STM) o 3. Long-term memory (LTM)  Each plays a role in processing information  Sensory memory: permits storage of the information we receive from our senses o This storage is very temporary; it lasts a couple o f seconds at most o If the information is retained for further processi ng, it passes through an attentional gate and is transferred to short-term m emory  Short-term memory: also stores information for a limited period of tim e, and its capacity is limited o Working memory – holds the information we are curre ntly processing o Verbal input may be stored acoustically (in terms o f how it sounds) or semantically (in terms of its meaning) o Chunking: the information is stored by combining small pieces into larger ones o A chunk is a configuration that is familiar to the person and can be manipulated as a unit Ex: brand name o Three to four chunks is the optimum size for effici ent retrieval 57 4 Long-term memory: the system that allows us to retain information for a long period of time o Elaborative rehearsal: required for information to enter into long-term memory form short-term memory o This process involves thinking about the meaning of a stimulus and relating it to other information already in memory ← Storing Information in Memory:

 Associative network models propose that an incoming piece of information is stored in an associative network containing many bits of r elated information organized according to some set of relationships  Associative network models assume that it is the as sociations that form in consumers’ minds that lead to learning about brands and products o Ex: the more times a brand name (Volvo) becomes ass ociated with a trait or benefit (safety) in memory, the stronger the link be tween the brand and the benefit become  Knowledge structures: storage units that can be thought of as complex spi der webs 57 4 filled with pieces of data  Information is placed into nodes, which are connecte d by associative links within these structures  Pieces of information seen as similar or associated in some ways are chunked together under some more abstract category  New, incoming information is interpreted to be consi stent with the structure already in place  According to the hierarchical processing model, a me ssage is processed in a bottom- up fashion: processing begins at a very basic level and is subject to increasingly complex processing operations that require greater cognitive capacity  If processing at one level fails to evoke the next level, processing of the message is terminated and capacity is allocated to other tasks 57 4 Links form between nodes as an associative network is developed  The consumer would recall only those brands contain ed in the appropriate category o Evoked set  The task of a new entrant that wants to position it self as a category member it to provide curs that facilitate its placement in the a ppropriate category ← Spreading Activation:

o 1. Brand-specific o 2. Ad-specific o 3. Brand identification o 4. Product category o 5. Evaluative reactions  Levels of Knowledge:

o 1. Attributes – identifiable features or properties of the produc t 57 4 o2. Relations – how the product relates to a desired outcome  What types of analogies are most effect may depend on the target market  Tend to think about products more in term of attrib utes ← Retrieving Information for Purchase Decisions:  Retrieval is the process of accessing information f rom long-term memory  Most of the information entered into long-term memo ry does not go away, it may be difficult to impossible to retrieve unless the appr opriate cues are present ← Factors in Influencing Retrieval:

o State-dependent retrieval/mood congruence effect o Familiarity and Recall:

 Nostalgia: a bittersweet emotion, in which the past is viewed w ith both sadness and longing  “The good old days”  A stimulus can sometimes evoke a weakened response much later, an effect known as spontaneous recovery  This reestablished connection may explain consumers ’ powerful nostalgic reactions to songs, pictures, or brands they have not been expo sed to in many years  Retro brand: an updated version of a brand form a prior historic al period  These products trigger nostalgia, and researchers fi nd that hey often inspire consumers to think back to an era where (at least i n our memories) life was more stable, simple, or even utopian 57 4 , p , p  Consumer preferences for nostalgic brands are relat ed to a need to belong and that consumption of nostalgic products can resolve belon gingness needs  Food can do the same thing – favourite recipes stim ulate memories of the past ← Memory and Aesthetic Preferences: We like ads and products that remind us of our past ; prior experiences also 57 4 p p ; p p determine what we like now  Nostalgia index - peoples tastes in such products a re influenced by what was popular during certain critical periods of their youth (~16 -30) ← Measuring Memory for Marketing Stimuli:  Advertisers naturally concerned about whether peopl e will actually remember these messages at a later point in time  We may be more likely to remember companies that we don’t like – perhaps because of the strong negative emotions they evoke  Recognition – have you seen this before?

 Recall – what advertisements did you see? (very low , models help) ← Recognition Versus Recall:

← The Motivation Process:

 Motivation: refers to the processes that cause people to behave as they do  It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy  Once a need has been activated, a state of tension e xists that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate the need  The need may be utilitarian or hedonic  Goal: the consumers desired end state  Marketers try to create products and services that will provide the desired benefits and permit the consumers to reduce this tension  Discrepancy exists between the consumer’s present s tate and some ideal state  Drive: this degree of arousal  Personal and cultural factors combine to create a w ant, which is one manifestation of a need 57 4 a need  Once the goal is attained, tension is reduced and th e motivation recedes  Motivation can be described in terms of its strengt h, or the pull it exerts on the consumers, and its direction, or the particular way the consumer attempts to reduce the motivational tension ← Motivational Strength:

 Motives have direction as well as strength  They are goal-oriented in that specific objectives are desired to satisfy a need  Most goals can be reached by a number of routes, and the objective of marketers is to convince consumers that the alternative they off er provides the best chance to attain the goal ← Needs Versus Wants:  The specific way a need is satisfied depends on the individual’s unique history and learning experiences and his or her cultural enviro nment  Want: the particular form of consumption used to satisfy a need ← Types of Needs:  Biogenic needs: a need people are born with for cer tain elements necessary to maintain life o Food, water, air, shelter  Psychogenic needs are acquired in the process of be coming a member of a culture o Need for status, power, affiliation o Their effect on behavior will vary in different env ironments  Consumers can also be motivated to satisfy either u tilitarian or hedonic needs  Utilitarian needs: consumers emphasize the objective tang ible attributes of products 57 4 Utilitarian needs: consumers emphasize the objectiv e, tangible attributes of products (functionality)  Hedonic needs: subjective and experiential, leading consumers to rely on a product because it meets their needs for excitement, self-co nfidence, or fantasy, perhaps to escape the routine aspects of life  Consumers may be motivated to purchase a product be cause it provides both types of benefits ← Motivational Conflicts:  A goal has valence, which means that it can be posit ive or negative  A positively valued goal is one toward which consum ers direct their behavior 57 4 They are motivated to approach the goal and will se ek out products that will be instrumental in attaining it  Sometimes consumers are motivated to avoid a negati ve outcome  They will structure their purchases or consumption activities to reduce the chances of attaining this end result  Because a purchase decision may involve more than o ne source or motivation, consumers often find themselves in situations in wh ich different motives conflict with one another ← Approach-Approach Conflict:

2 Wh t h l d t thi it ti ? 57 4 o2. What has led to this situation?

o 3. What is being thought?

o 4. What will happen?

 A consumer’s motivation to attain a goal influences his or her desire to expend the effort necessary to attain the products or services believed to be instrumental in satisfying that objective  Involvement: a person’s perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values and interests  The word “object” is used in the generic sense and refers to a product (or brand), an advertisement, or a purchase situation  Consumers can find involvement in all these “object s”  Involvement can be viewed as the motivation to proc ess information and can be triggered by person, object and/or situation  If link between consumers goals and product informa tion, then consumer will be motivated to process information  Can be cognitive or emotional o Ex: cognitive: pharmaceuticals – utilitarian/functi onal reasons o Ex: emotional: buying a trip – hedonic/emotional re asons ← Levels of Involvement: From Inertia to Passion:  The type of information processing that will occur thus depends upon the consumer’s level of involvement  It can range from simple processing, in which only t he basic features of a message 57 4 are considered, all the way to elaboration, in which the incoming information is linked to preexisting knowledge systems  Continuum ranging from absolute lack of interest in a marketing stimulus at one end to obsession at the other  Inertia: consumption at the low end of involvement – where d ecisions are made out 57 4 of habit because the consumer lacks the motivation to consider alternatives o Make decisions out of habit (lack of motivation to be involved)  At the high end of involvement we can expect to fin d the type of passionate intensity reserved for people and objects that carry great me aning to the individual  Flow state: when consumers are truly involved with a product, an ad, or a website  Type of involvement:

o Emotionally or affectively involved with an object o Rationally or cognitively involved with a product o r purchase situation  FIGURE 4-5 ← The Many Faces of Involvement:

 Differences that may occur when buying the same obj ect for different contexts  Ex: when you want to impress someone, you might try to buy a brand or product with a certain image that you think reflects good t aste  Increasing purchase situation involvement by appeal ing to hedonic shoppers whoa re looking to be entertained or otherwise engaged i n addition to simply “buying stuff” ← Segmenting by Involvement Levels:  A measurement approach that segments involvement by levels allows consumer researchers to capture the diversity of the involve ment construct, and it also allows for involvement to be used as a basis for market se gmentation  The company could then adapt its strategy to accoun t for the motivation of different segments to process information about the product ← Strategies to Increase Involvement:  By being aware of some basic factors that increase or decrease attention, they can 57 4 take steps to increase the likelihood that product information will get through  The marketer can enhance the consumer’s motivation to process relevant information fairly easily by using one or more of t he following techniques o Appeal to consumers’ hedonic needs (emotional) o Use novel stimuli o Use prominent stimuli o Include celebrity endorsers to generate higher inte rest in commercials o Build a bond with consumers by maintaining and ongo ing relationship with them o Segmentation by involvement Ex: Harley Davidson – high involvement decisions, en thusiasts, best bike, etc)  The best way to boost consumer’s involvement with t he marketing messages they see and hear is to let them make the messages  Consumer generated content in which consumers produ ce their own commercials for favorite products is now a common marketing tac tic  This practice creates a high degree of message-resp onse involvement (also called advertising involvement), which refers to the consum er ’s interest in processing marketing communications ← Affect: 57 4 ←Types of Affective Responses:  Affect: refers to the experience of emotionally-laden state s, which can range from evaluations, to moods, to full-blown emotions  Evaluations: involves valenced (positive or negative) reactions to events that objects, that are not accompanied by high levels of arousal  Moods: temporary positive or negative affective states acc ompanied by moderate levels of arousal  Moods tend to be diffuse and are not necessarily li nked to a particular affect- arousing event  Emotions: happiness, anger, fear, etc, in contract to moods tend to be more intense and are often related to a specific triggering even t  Marketers use affective states in many ways:

o Positive moods and emotions are often highlighted a s a product benefit (ex:

 Social media platforms can play on affect 57 4 p p y  Common for people to express their moods and also t heir emotional reactions to products that these posts can be a treasure trove f or marketers who want to learn more about how their offerings make people feel  Sentiment analysis/opinion mining: a process that scours the social media universe to collect and analyze the words people use when th ey describe a specific product or company 57 4 Word-phrase dictionary: from sentiment analysis, researchers will create a w ord- phrase dictionary/library to code the data ← Discrete Emotions:  Consumer researchers have begun investigating the i mportant of specific emotions in the consumption environment  Examination of specific emotional reactions during consumption episodes can provide additional insight ← Happiness:

Envy: a negative emotion associated with the desire to re duce the gap between oneself and someone who is superior on some dimensi on  Two distinct types:

 Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his or her own att ributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities  Parts of the self are evaluated more positively tha n others  The self-concept is a very complex structure  Attributes of self-concept can be described along s uch dimensions as their context (facial attractiveness versus mental aptitude) positivel y or negatively (self-esteem) 57 4 (facial attractiveness versus mental aptitude), positively or negatively (self esteem), intensity, stability over time, and accuracy (the deg ree to which one’s self- assessment corresponds to reality)  While the self-concept can be somewhat stable over time and situations, situational factors can influence how we feel about ourselves  Stereotype treat refers to the anxiety the consumer s feel when they fear they might act in a way that confirms the group stereotype o Ex: women are not as good as men at math  Such threats can occur in retail contexts too o Ex: female needs to take her can to a mechanic ← Self-Esteem:

 Physical and digital reality 57 4 Physical and digital reality  Today these fictional depictions come to life as re al-time, interactive virtual worlds that allow people to assume virtual identities in cyberspace  Computer mediated environments: the Sims online, Webkinz, etc  On these sites people assume visual identities, or avatars, that range from realistic versions f themselves to tricked-out versions with exaggerated physical characteristics  Researchers are investigating how these online selv es will influence consumer behavior and how the identities we choose in CMEs r elate to our real life identities  Already we know that when people take on avatar for ms, they tend to interact with other avatars much as their real selves interact wi th other real life people ← Symbolic Interactionism:

 Looking-glass self: the process of imagining the reactions of others to ward us 57 4 A process of reflexive evolution occurs when an ind ividual attempts to define the self, and it operates as a sort of psychological son ar – we take readings of our own identity by bouncing signals off others and trying to project the impression they have of us  The looking-glass image we receive will differ depe nding on whose views we are considering ← Self-Consciousness:

 Painfully aware of themselves  Consumers sometimes behavior with little self-consc iousness  Self-monitoring o High = concerns about the image they are projecting in public o Low = not managing an impression and less likely to brand conscious  Some people seem to be more sensitive to the image they communicate to others, although we all know people who act as if they’re ob livious to the impression they are making  A heightened concern about the nature of one’s publ ic “image” also results in a more concern about the social appropriateness of pr oducts and consumption activities S l h b d id d if hi d 57 4 Several measures have been decided to quantify this tendency:

o High public self-consciousness = high concern for c lothing and cosmetics o High self-monitoring = more aware of how they are i n social settings and product choices are based on how others perceive th em ← Consumption and Self-Concept:

 Consumption of products an services contributes to the definition of the self  Consumers learn the different roles are accompanied by constellations of products and activities that help to define these roles  Some “props” are so important to the roles we play that they can be viewed as a part of the extended self ← Products that Shape the Self: You Are What You Cons ume:

 People use an individual’s consumption behaviors to help them make judgments about who that person is  We make inferences about personality based on a per sons’ choice of leisure activities, food preferences, cars, home decorating ch oices, etc  Just as a consumer ’s use of products influences oth ers’ perceptions, the same products can help to determine his or her own self- concept and social identity 57 4 A consumer exhibits attachment to an object to the extent that it is used by that person to maintain his or her self-concept  Objects can act as a sort of security blanket by re inforcing our identities, especially in unfamiliar situations  Using consumption information to define the self is especially important when an identity is yet to be adequately formed, as occurs w hen a consumer plays a new or unfamiliar role  Symbolic self-completion theory: predicts that people who have an incomplete self- definition tend to complete this identity by acquir ing and displaying symbols associated with it  During awkward stages, marketers create gender separ ate products for teenagers for them complete their self identity  The contribution of possessions to self-identity is perhaps more apparent when these treasured objects are lost or stolen  The dramatic impact of the loss of possessions is h ighlighted by studying post- disaster conditions in which consumers may literall y have lost everything during a natural disaster  Some people are reluctant to undergo the process of recreating their identities by acquiring new possessions ← Self/Product Congruence:  Consumers demonstrate consistency between their val ues and attitudes and the things they buy  Self-image congruence models: predict that products will be chosen when their attributes match some aspect of the self  These models assume a process of cognitive matching between these attributes and the consumer’s self-image  The ideal self appears to be more relevant as a com parison standard for highly expressive social products like perfume  In contrast, the actual self is more relevant for ev eryday, function products  These standards are also likely to vary by usage si tuation  Research tends to support he idea of congruence bet ween product usage and self- 57 4 image  Some specific attributes that have been found to be useful in describing some of the matches between consumers and products include rugg ed, delicate, excitable/calm, rational/emotional, and formal/informal  Problems: 57 4 Consumers classified into these categories show mar ked differences in consumption patterns 57 4 Chapter 7 - Attitudes← The Power of Attitudes:

 The term attitude is widely used in popular culture  Attitude: a lasting, general evaluation of people (including o neself), objects, or issues  Attitude object (A ):

oanything toward which a person has an attitude, whet her tangible or intangible  An attitude is lasing because it tends to endure ov er time  It is general because it applies to more than a mom entary event  Consumers have attitudes toward very product-specif ic behaviors as well as toward more general consumption-related behaviors ← The Functions of Attitudes:  Functional theory of attitudes: initially developed by psychologist Daniel Katz to explain how attitudes facilitate social behaviors  Attitudes exist because they serve some function fo r the person - they are determined by a person’s motives  Consumers who expect that they will need to deal wi th similar information at a future time will be more likely to start forming at titudes in anticipation of this event  Two people can each have the same attitude toward s ome object for very different reasons  The following at attitude functions identified by K atz:

o Utilitarian function:

Related to the basic principles of reward and punis hment  We develop some of our attitudes toward products si mply on the basis of whether these products provide pleasure or pain  Ads that stress straightforward product benefits ap peal to the utilitarian function o Value-expressive function:

Attitudes that perform a value-expressive function express the consumer’s central values to self-concept  A person forms a product attitude not because of it s objective benefits, but because of what the product says about them as a person o Ego-defensive function:

Attitudes that are formed to protect the person, eit her from external threats or internal feelings, perform an ego-defensi ve function o Knowledge function: 57 4 Some attitudes are formed as the result of a need f or order, structure, or meaning  This need is often present when a person is in an a mbiguous situation or is confronted with a new product  An attitude can serve more than one function, but in many cases a particular one will be dominant  By identifying the dominant function a product serv es for consumers (what benefits it provides), marketers can emphasize these benefits in their communications and packaging  Ads relevant to the function prompt more favorable thoughts about what is being marketed and can result in a heightened preference for both the ad and the product  The importance of an attitude object may differ qui te a bit for different people  Understanding the attitude’s importance to an indiv idual and to others who share similar characteristics can be useful to marketers who are trying to devise strategies that will appeal to different customer segments ← The ABC Model of Attitudes:  Attitude has three components: affect, behavior, and cognition  Affect: refers to the way a consumer feels about an attitud e object  Behavior/conation: involves the person’s intentions to do something wi th regard to an attitude object  Cognition: refers to the beliefs a consumer has about an attit ude object  These three components of an attitude can be rememb ered as the ABC model of attitudes  This model emphasizes the interrelationships among knowing, feeling, and doing  Consumers’ attitudes toward a product cannot be dete rmined simply be identifying their beliefs about it  ← Hierarchies of Effects:

 Although all three components of an attitude are im portant, their relative importance will vary according to a consumer’s leve l of motivation with regard to the attitude object 57 4 Hierarchy of effects: explains the relative impact of the three component s  Each hierarchy specifies that a fixed sequence of s teps occurs en route to an attitude  FIGURE 7-1: Three Hierarchies of Effects ← The High-Involvement Hierarchy:

 When highly involved, a consumer approaches a produc t decision as a problem- solving process  Steps:

o 1. He or she forms beliefs about a product by accum ulating knowledge (beliefs) regarding relevant attributes o 2. The consumer then evaluates these beliefs and fo rm a feeling about the product (affect) o 3. On the basis of this evolution, the consumer enga ges in a relevant behavior, such as buying the product  This careful choice process often results in a type of brand loyalty  The consumer “bonds” with the product over time and is not easily persuaded to experiment with other brands  The standard learning hierarchy assumes that a cons umer is highly involved in making a purchase decision  The person is motivated to seek out a lot of inform ation, carefully weigh alternatives, and come to a thoughtful decision ← The Low-Involvement Hierarchy:

 The consumer has collected only a minimal amount of information before acting and has an emotional response only after consuming the product  This is typical of a consumer who forms an attitude via low-involvement hierarchy of effects  In this sequence, the consumer initially does not ha ve a strong preference for one brand over another – he or she instead acts on the basis of limited knowledge and then forms an evaluation only after the fact  The attitude is likely to come about through behavi oral learning in which the consumer’s choice is reinforced by good or bad expe riences with the product after purchase 57 4 Consumers simply don’t care enough about many decisi ons  Concern about influencing beliefs and carefully com municating information about product attributes may be largely wasted  They are more likely to respond to simply stimulus- response connections when making purchase decisions  Consumers are not motivated to process a lot of com plex brand-related information  Instead, they will be swayed by principles of behavi oral learning, such as the simple responses caused by conditioned brand names, point-o f-purchase displays, etc  This results in what we might call the involvement paradox: the less important the product to consumers, the more important many of the marketing stimuli that have to be devised to market it ← Zajonc’s Model of Hedonic Consumption:

 Significance of emotional response as a central asp ect of an attitude  Experiential hierarchy of effects – consumers act o n the basis of their emotional reactions  This perspective highlights the idea that attitudes can be strongly influenced by product attributes irrelevant to the actual product quality, such as package design and colour, and by consumers’ reactions toward accomp anying stimuli, such as advertising and brand name  Even the emotions expressed by the communicator hav e an impact  Emotional contagion – messages delivered by happy p eople enhance our attitude toward the product  One important debate about the experiential hierarc hy concerns the independence of cognition and affect  On the one hand, the cognitive-affective model argue s that an affective judgment is but the last step in a serious of cognitive process es  Earlier steps include the sensory registration of s timuli and the retrieval of meaningful information form memory to categorize th ese stimuli  On the other hand, the independence hypothesis takes the position that affect and cognition involve two separate, partially independen t systems – affective responses do not always require prior cognition  The independence hypothesis does not eliminate the role of cognition in experience – it simply balances this traditional, rational emph asis on calculated decision making by paying more attention to the impact of aesthetic , subjective experience 57 4 This type of holistic processing is more likely to occur when the product is perceived as primarily expressive or when it delivers sensory pleasure rather than utilitarian benefits ← Product Attitudes Don’t Tell the Whole Story:  In decision-making situations, people form attitudes toward objects other than the product itself that can influence their ultimate se lections  One additional factor to consider is attitudes towa rd the act of buying in general ← Attitude Toward the Advertisement:

 Consumers’ reactions to a product are influenced by their evaluations of its advertising  Our evaluation of a product can be determined solel y by our appraisal of how it is depicted in marketing communications - we don’t hesi tate to form attitudes toward products we’ve never even seen in person, much less u sed  Attitude toward the advertisement (A ):

ada predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular advertising s timulus during a particular exposure occasion  Determinants of A include the viewer’s attitude tow ard the advertiser, evaluations ad of the ad execution itself, the mood evoked by the a d, and the degree to which the ad affects viewer’s arousal levels  A viewer’s feelings about the context in which an a d appears can also influence brand attitudes  The effects demonstrated by A emphasize the importa nce of an ad’s entertainment ad value in the purchase process ← Ads Have Feelings Too:

 The feelings generated by advertising have the capa city to directly affect brand attitudes  Commercials can evoke a wide range of emotional res ponses  These feelings can be influenced both by the way th e ad is done (the specific advertising execution) and by the consumer’s reacti ons to the advertiser’s motives  At least three emotional dimensions have been ident ified in commercials: pleasure, arousal, and intimidation  Specific types of feelings that can be generated by an ad include the following:

o Upbeat feelings: amused, delighted, playful o Warm feelings: affectionate, contemplative, hopeful o Negative feelings: critical, defiant, offended ← Forming Attitudes: 57 4 An attitude can form in several different ways, depe nding on the particular hierarchy of effects in operation  It can occur because of classical conditioning, wher e an attitude object (McDonald’s name), is repeatedly paired with a catchy jingle (“I ’m lovin it”) o Repeated often  Or it can be formed through instrumental conditioni ng, in which consumption of the attitude object is reinforced (ex: Pepsi quenches o nes thirst) o Reinforcement, modeling  Or the learning of an attitude can be the outcome o f a very complex cognitive process o Cognitive learning ← Not All Attitudes Are Created Equally:  It is important to distinguish among types of attit udes, since not all are formed the same way  Highly brand-loyal consumer has an enduring, deeply held positive attitude toward an attitude object, and this involvement will be dif ficult to weaken  Less brand-loyal may have a mildly positive attitud e toward a product but be quite willing to abandon it when something better comes a long ← Levels of Commitment to an Attitude:  Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude  The degree of commitment is related to their level of involvement with the attitude object as follows:

o Compliance:

The lowest level of involvement  An attitude is formed because it helps gain rewards or avoid punishments from others  Ex: friends at a bar, and one orders a martini, so th e other one does  Very superficial – likely to change when the person ’s behavior is no longer monitored by others or when another option b ecomes available o Identification:

A process of identification occurs when attitudes a re formed so that the consumer will then feel similar to another pers on or group  Conform to another person or group  Mid-level  Ex: want to feel similar to a celebrity 57 4 Advertising that depicts the social consequences of choosing some products over others is relying on the tendency of consumers to imitate the behavior of desirable models o Internalization:

At a high level of involvement, deep-seated attitud es are internalized and become part of the person’s value system  These attitudes are very difficult to change, becaus e they are so important to the individual ← The Consistency Principle:

 Principle of cognitive consistency: consumers value harmony among their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and they are motivated to ma intain uniformity among these elements  If necessary, consumers will change their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to make them consistent with other experiences  The consistency principle is an important reminder that attitudes are not formed in a vacuum  Significant determinant of the way an attitude obje ct will be evaluated is how it fits in with other, related attitudes already held by the consumer ← Cognitive Dissonance and Harmony Among Attitudes:

 Theory of cognitive dissonance: when a person is confronted with inconsistencies among their own attitudes or behaviors, they will ta ke some action to resolve this unpleasant psychological state or “dissonance”  Ex: smoking (either beautiful, or gross and killing people) – 2 sides to the ad  The theory proposes that people are motivated to re duce the negative feelings caused by dissonance by making things fit with one another  This can be done by changing the attitude or modify ing behavior  The theory has important ramifications for attitude s, since people are often confronted by situations in which there is some con flict between their attitudes and behaviors  A cognitive element can be something people believe about themselves, behaviors they perform, or observations about their surroundin gs  The magnitude of dissonance depends on both the imp ortance and the number of dissonant elements  In other words, the pressure to reduce dissonance is more likely to be observed in high-involvement situations in which the dissonant elements are more important to the individual 57 4 Dissonance reduction can occur by eliminating, addin g, or changing elements  Dissonance theory can help to explain why evaluatio ns of a product tend to increase after it has been purchased  Post purchase dissonance can occur in situations wh ere the consumer has a choice between more than one favorable alternative  The alternative one gives up is the forgone option  Consumers is motivated to resolve this by reconfirm ing that they made the right purchase after all, focusing on desirable qualities of the chosen option and actually liking it more after it has been selected  One implication of this phenomenon is that consumer s actively seek support for their purchase decisions, so marketers should supply them with additional reinforcement to build positive brand attitudes ← Self-Perception Theory:

 Self-perception theory: provides an alternative explanation of dissonance e ffects  It assumes that people use observations of their ow n behavior to determine what their attitudes are, just as we assume that we know the attitudes of others by watching what they do  The theory states that we maintain consistency by i nferring that we must have a positive attitude toward an object if we have bough t or consumed it (assuming that we freely made this choice)  Low-involvement hierarchy (after the fact): involve s situations in which behaviors are initially performed in the absence of a strong inte rnal attitude o After the fact, the cognitive and affective componen ts of attitude fall into line o Thus, buying a product out of habit may result in a positive attitude toward it after the fact – namely, why would I buy it is I did n’t like it?

 Foot-in-the-door technique: based on the observation that a consumer is more li kely to comply with a request if he or she has first agr eed to comply with a smaller request o Name for this technique comes form the practice of door-to-door selling o Plant his or her foot in the door so that the prosp ect could not slam it shut o By agreeing to do so, the customer has established a willingness to listen to the salesperson o Such factors as the time lag between the first and second request, the similarity between the two requests and whether the same person makes both request have been found to influence the effec tiveness of this technique 57 4 Low-ball technique: a person is asked for a small f avour and is informed after agreeing to it that it will be very costly  Door-in-the-face technique: a person is first asked to do something extreme and the is asked to do something smaller  In the latter case, people tend to go along with the smaller request, possibly because they feel guilty about denying the larger one ← Social Judgment Theory:

 Social judgment theory: assumes that people assimilate new information abou t attitude objects in light of what they already know or feel  This initial attitude acts as a frame of reference, and new information is categorized in terms of this existing standard  One important aspect of the theory is the notion th at people differ in terms of the information they will find acceptable or unacceptab le  Latitudes of acceptance and rejection: formed around an attitude standard o Assimilation and contrast effects o Brand preference  Ideas that fall within a latitude will be favorably received, while those falling outside this zone will not  Assimilation effect: messages that fall within the latitude of acceptance tend to be seen as more consistent with our own position that they actually are  Contrast effect: messages falling in the latitude o f rejection tend to be seen as even father from our own position than they actually are  As a person becomes more involved with an attitude object, his or her latitude of acceptance gets smaller – in other words, the consum er accepts fewer ideas that are removed from his or her own position and tends to o ppose even mildly divergent positions  This tendency is evident in ads that appeal to disc riminating buyers, which claim that knowledgeable people will reject anything but the v ery best  One the other hand, relatively uninvolved consumers will consider a wider range of alternatives  They are less likely to be brand loyal and more lik ely to switch brands ← Balance Theory:

 Balance theory: considers relations among elements a person might p erceive as belonging together  This perspective involves relations among three ele ments, so the resulting attitude structures are called triads 57 4 Each triad contains (1) a person (2) their percepti on of attitude object and (3) their perception of other person or object  These perceptions can be either positive or negativ e  People alter these perceptions to make relations am ong them consistent  The theory specifies that people desire relations a mong elements in a triad to be harmonious, or balanced  If they are not, a state of tension will result unti l somehow perceptions are changed and balance is restored  Elements can be perceived as going together in one of two ways:

o Unit relation - one element is seen as somehow belo nging to or being a part of the other (something like a belief) o Sentiment relation – the two elements are linked be cause one has expressed a preference (or dislike) for the other  Ex: Girl liking boy. Boy getting a tattoo. Girl doe sn’t like tattoos. Girl doesn’t like boy anymore, or has to change to like tattoos  The theory does not specify which of these routes w ill be taken  It does predict that one or more of their perceptio ns will probably change to achieve balance ← Basking in Reflected Glory:

 Consumers often like to publicize their connections with successful people or organizations to enhance their own standing  Ex: Budweiser connecting to Winnipeg Jets ← Marketing Applications of Balance Theory:

 Balance theory reminds us that when perceptions are balanced, attitudes are likely to be stable  On the other hand, when inconsistencies are observed , we are more likely to observe changes in attitudes  Balance theory also helps to explain why consumers like to be associated with positively valued objects  Forming a unit relation with a popular product may improve ones changes of being included as a positive sentiment relation in other peoples triads  Balance theory is useful in accounting for the wide spread use of celebrities to endorse products  In cases where a triad is not fully formed, the mark eter can create a positive sentiment relation between the consumer and the pro duct by depicting a positive unit relation between the product and a well-known personality 57 4 This balancing act is at the heart of celebrity end orsements, in which it is hoped that the start’s popularity will transfer to the product s  This creation of a unit relation between product an d star can backfire if the publics opinion of the celebrity endorser shifts from posit ive to negative (ex: Tiger Woods)  The strategy can also cause trouble if the star-pro duct unit relation is questioned, as when the celebrity gets caught using a competitor ’s brand ← Attitude Models:

 Attitude assessment can be complex  A consumer’s overall evaluation of a product someti mes accounts for most of his or her attitude toward it  When market researchers want to assess attitudes, it can often be sufficient for them simply to ask consumers questions  Problems:

o Product or services may comprise many attributes, or qualities, some of which may be more important than others to particul ar people o Peoples decisions to act on their attitudes are aff ected by other factors  For these reasons, attitude models have been develop ed that try to specify the different elements that might work together to infl uence peoples evaluations of attitude objects ← Multi-Attribute Attitude Models:  Beliefs about specific brand attributes can be pivo tal for a product o Ex: Listerine  Multi-attribute attitude models: popular among marketing researchers which assumes that a consumers attitude (evaluation) of a n attitude object (A ) will depend o on the beliefs he or she has about several or many attributes of the object  The use of a multi-attribute model implies that an attitude toward a product or brand can be predicted by identifying these specifi c beliefs and combining them to derive a measure of the consumers overall attitude  Basic multi-attribute models specify three elements :

o 1. Attributes are characteristics of the A o  Most models assume that the relevant characteristic s can be identified – the researcher can include those attri butes that consumers take into consideration when evaluating t he A o  Ex: scholarly reputation o 2. Beliefs are cognitions about the specific A (usua lly relative to others o similar to it) 57 4 A belief measure assesses the extent to which the c onsumer perceives that a brand possesses a particular attri bute  Ex: university or college is strong academically o 3. Importance weights reflect the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer Although an A can be considered on the basis of a n umber of o attributes, some are likely to be more important the n others (i.e. they will be given greater weight)  These weights are likely to differ across consumers  Ex: stresses research over athletics ← The Fishbein Model:

 The most influential multi-attribute model  The mode measures three components of attitude o 1. Salient beliefs people have about an A (those be liefs about the object that o are considered during evaluation) o 2. Object-attribute linkages, or the probability tha t a particular object has an important attribute o 3. Evaluation of each of the important attributes  Assumptions:

o We have been able to specify adequately all the rel evant attributes o He or she will got through the process (formally or informally) of identifying a set of relevant attributes, weighing them and summin g them  Although this particular decision is likely to be h ighly involving, it is still possible that the attitude will instead be formed by an overall a ffective response (a process known as affect-referral)  By combining these three elements, a consumers overa ll attitude toward an object can be computed  Formula = A = SB ijk ijk ikI o i = attribute o j = brand o k = consumer o I = the importance weight given attribute I by cons umer k o B = consumer k’s belief regarding the extent to whi ch brand j possesses attribute i o A = a particular consumer k’s attitude score for br and j 57 4 The overall attitude score (A) is obtained by multi plying a consumers rating of each attribute for all of the brands considered by the i mportance rating for that attribute ← Strategic Applications of the Multi-Attribute Model :

 Capitalize on Relative Advantage:

o If ones brand is viewed as being superior on a part icular attribute, consumers need to be convinced that this particular attribute is an important one  Strengthen Perceived Product-Attribute Links:

o A marketer may discover that consumers do not equat e his or her brand with a certain attribute o This problem is commonly addressed by campaigns tha t stress the products qualities or consumers  Add a New Attribute:

o Product marketers frequently try to create a positi on distinct from those of their competitors by adding a product feature  Influence Competitors’ Ratings:

o Try to decrease the positivity of competitors o This type of action is the rationale for a strategy of comparative advertising ← Using Attitudes to Predict Behavior:

 Multi-attribute models – major problem:

o Knowledge of a persons attitude is not a very good predictor of behavior o Very low correlation between a persons reported att itude toward something and his or her actual behavior toward it ← The Extended Fishbein Model:

 The original Fishbein model, which focused on measur ing a consumers attitude toward a product, has been extended in several ways to improve its predictive ability  An improve version is called the theory of reasoned action  Theory of reasoned action: this model contains several important additions to the original, and although the model is still not perfec t, its ability to predict relevant behavior is better ← Intentions Versus Behavior:

 Attitudes have both direction and strength  A person may like or dislike an attitude object wit h varying degrees of confidence or conviction  Distinguish between firmly held attitudes and those that are more superficial  An attitude help with greater conviction makes it m ore likely that it will be acted upon 57 4 Research consistently finds that consumer attitudes don’t always lead to the congruent behavior  One challenge for marketers, then, is ensuring that c onsumer attitudes translate into relevant consumer behaviors  Many factors might interfere with actual behavior, e ven if the consumer has sincere intentions  That in some instances past purchase behavior has b een found to be a better predictor of future behavior than a consumers behav ioral intention  The theory of reasoned action aims to measure behav ioral intentions, recognizing that certain uncontrollable factors inhibit predict ion of actual behavior ← Social Pressure:

 The theory acknowledges that power of other people in influencing behavior  What we think others would like us to do may be mor e crucial than our own individual preferences  Public attitudes and purchase decisions vs. in priv ate  Subjective norm (SN): a new element was added to include the effect of wh at we believe other people think we should do  The value of SN is arrived at by including two othe r factors:

o 1. Intensity of a normative belief (NB) that others think an action should be taken or not taken o 2. Motivation to comply (MC) with that belief (i.e. the degree to which the consumer takes others’ anticipated reactions into ac count when evaluating a course of action or a purchase) ← Attitude Toward Buying:

 Attitude toward the act of buying (A ):

actfocuses on the perceived consequences of a purchase  Knowing how someone feels about buying or using an object turns out to be more valid than merely knowing the consumers evaluation of the object itself  Ex: condoms – person might have a positive A toward condoms, A might be o act negative ← Obstacles to Predicting Behavior in the Theory of R easoned Action:

 Despite improvements to the Fishbein model, problems arise when it is misapplied  Other obstacles to predicting behavior are as follo ws:

o The model was developed to deal with actual behavio r, not with the outcomes of behaviors that are instead assessed in some studies 57 4 oSome outcomes are beyond the consumers control, such as when the purchase required the cooperation of other people o The basic assumption that behavior is intentional m ay be invalid in a variety of cases, including those involving impulsive act, su dden changes in ones situation, novelty seeking, or even simple repeat buy ing o Measures of attitude often do not really correspond to the behavior they are supposed to predict, either in terms of the A , or whe n the act will occurs act  One common problem is a difference in the level of abstraction employed o A similar problem relates to the time frame of the attitude measure  In general, the longer the time between the attitude measurement and the behavior it is supposed to assess, the weake r the relationship will be o Attitudes formed by direct, personal experience with an A are stronger and o more predictive of behavior than those formed indir ectly, such as through advertising According to the attitude accessibility perspective , behavior is a function of the person immediate perceptions of the A in the context o of the situation in which it is encountered  An attitude will guide the evaluation of the object , but only if it is activated from memory when the object is observed  The theory of reasoned action has been applied prim arily in Western settings  Certain assumptions inherent in the model may not n ecessarily apply to consumers from other cultures  Several of the following cultural roadblocks dimini sh the universality of the theory of reasoned action:

o The model was developed to predict the performance of any voluntary act  Across cultures, many consumer activities are not ne cessarily voluntary o The relative impact of subjective norms may vary ac ross cultures o The model measures behavioral intentions and thus p resupposes that consumers are actively thinking ahead and planning future behaviors  The intention concept assumes that consumers have a linear time sense (past, present, future)  This perspective on time is not held in all culture s Types of Normative Influence: 57 4 Norms are best divided into two categories (Robert Cialdini) o 1. Descriptive norms: norms that convey information regarding what other people commonly do o 2. norms that convey information regarding what is Injunctive norms:

commonly approved and disapproved of by others  Both types of norms can be powerful influencers on consumers attitudes and behavior  Communicating that others are engaging in a particu lar activity can increase compliance with that behavior o Ex: not littering, reducing energy consumption, votin g  Give consumers feedback on how they are performing relative to the descriptive norm o Ex: hotel towels – traditional message vs. descript ive norm message  It seems that curs that connect the descriptive nor m to the immediate setting (such as the specific hotel room the guest is staying in) enhances the impact of the descriptive norm 57 4 Chapter 8 – Attitude Change and Interactive Communications ← Changing Attitudes Through Communication:

 Consumers are constantly bombarded by messages indu cing us to change our attitudes (graphic pictures, peers, celebrity spokesp eople, etc)  Communications flow both ways – the consumer may se ek out information sources to lean more about these options  Persuasion: refers to an active attempt to change attitudes  Persuasion is the central goal of many marketing co mmunications  Basic psychological principles that influence peopl e to change their minds or comply with a request o Reciprocity: people are more likely to give if they receive something first  Ex: free samples, discounts o Scarcity: items become more attractive when they ar e less available  Ex: value limited edition items o Authority: we tend to believe in authoritative sour ce much more readily o Consistency: people try not to contradict themselve s in terms of what they say and do about an issue o Consensus: we often take into account what others a re doing before we decide what to do The desire to fit in with what others are doing inf luences our actions ← Decisions, Decisions: Tactical Communications Option s:

 To craft persuasive messages a number of questions must be answered  What determines effectiveness of the ad:

o Who will be the source of the message?

o How should the message be constructed?

What sort of appeal?

 Ex: humorous, informative, emotional, fear driven, sex, etc o What media will transmit message?

Print, TV, radio, billboard, etc  The media chosen usually corresponds to the type of appeal  Ex: TV for emotion o What target market characteristics will influence t he ad’s acceptance?

← The Elements of Communication:

 Marketers and advertisers have traditionally tried to understand how marketing messages change consumers’ attitudes by thinking in terms of the communications model 57 4 Communications model: specifies that a number of elements are necessary f or communication to be achieved  In this model, a must choose and encode a (i.e. in itiate the transfer source message of meaning by choosing appropriate symbolic images that represent this meaning)  There are many ways to say something and the struct ure of the message has a big effect on how it is perceived  The message must be transmitted via a , which might be TV, social media, medium magazines, billboards, etc  The message is then decoded by one or more , who int erpret the symbols in receivers the light of their own experiences  Finally, must be received by the source, who uses th e reactions of the feedback receivers to modify aspects of the message  FIGURE 8-1: The Traditional Communications Model ← An Updated View: Interactive Communications:

 Permission marketing: based on the idea that a marketer will be much more successful trying to persuade consumers who have op ted into their messages o Scientific approach – gets rid of wasted reach  Consumers who “opt out” of listening to the message probably weren’t good prospects in the first place  Wasted reach is the money spent on marketing to con sumers when consumers are never going to buy  Those who say they are interested in learning more are likely to be receptive to marketing communications they have already chosen t o see or hear  We have a voice in deciding which messages we choos e to see and when - and we are exercising that option more and more  The traditional model was developed to understand m ass communications, in which information is transferred from a produce (source) to many consumers (receivers) at once  This perspective essentially views advertising as t he process of transferring information to the buyer before the sale 57 4 A message is seem as perishable; it is repeated (fr equently) for a fairly short period of time, and then it “vanishes” as a new campaign ev entually takes its place  This classical model was strongly influenced by a g roup of theorists known as the Frankfurt School, which dominated mass communication s research for most of the 20 th century  In this view the media exert direct and powerful ef fect of individuals, and the effects often are used by those in power to brainwash and e xploit them  Receiver is basically a passive being who is simply the receptacle for many messages and is often persuaded to act on the basis of the i nformation they are “fed” ← Uses and Gratifications:  Uses and gratifications theory: argue that consumers are an active, goal-directed audience that draws on mass media as a resource to satisfy needs  The uses and gratifications approach emphasizes tha t media compete with other sources to satisfy needs and that these needs inclu de diversion and entertainment, and information  This also means that the line between marketing inf ormation and entertainment is continuing to blur  Media play both positive and negative role o Positive role: recipients are making use of the inf ormation in a number of ways o Negative role: undermine self-esteem as consumers u se the media to establish unrealistic standards for behavior, attitu des, and appearance ← Consumer Interactivity:  Consumers who are highly involved with a product an d who want to share their opinions with manufacturers are an invaluable (and often free) form of input that can shape marketing decisions in important ways  When the consumers interacts with the marketer to i nfluence the product, service, or outcome that is created, this is called customer co-creation o Ex: Dell computers, NikeID  Giving the customer a voice in how the product is o ffered often leads to not only more innovative solutions but also greater consumer engagement ← Who’s in Charge of the Remote?:  Exciting technological and social developments cert ainly are forcing us to rethink the picture of the passive consumer, as people are incre asingly playing a proactive role in communications 57 4 oArchetypes involve themes such as birth, death, or th e devil, that appear frequently in myths, stories, and dreams o Advertising messages often do invoke archetypes to link products with underlying meanings o Some brands have personalities that are quite simil ar to human personalities o Accurately and adequately measuring those personali ties has been problematic ← Trait Theories:

 One approach to personality is to focus on the quan titative measurement of specific traits  Traits: identifiable characteristics that define a person  Some specific traits that are relevant to consumer behavior include:

o Innovativeness o Public self-consciousness o Need for cognition  One way marketers try to use personality variables is to link product benefits with consumer personality type ← Are You An Innie Or An Outie?:

 Perhaps the trait dimension most relevant to consum er behavior is the extent to which a person is motivated to consume in order to please others or to fit in, versus 57 4 the extent to which a person consumers to express a unique sense of self without much concern about being accepted by a group  David Riesman first termed the and inner-directed outer-directed  Some cultures tend to stress individualism while ot hers reward those who try to fit in  Power of conformity (the impact of shaping ones beh avior to meet the expectations of a group)  Each of us to some extent is a conformist by defini tion, because as members of society we follow certain rules o Ex: agree to stop at red lights  One personality trait we can measure is the need for uniqueness  Idiocentrics: individualist orientation  Allocentrics: group orientation  Some difference between these two personality types are: 57 4 ←What Traits Are Useful?:

 The notion that consumers buy products that are ext ensions of their personalities makes intuitive sense  This idea is endorsed by many marketing managers, wh o try to create brand personalities that will appeal to particular types of consumers  One domain in which using personality measure has p roven very successful is dating services o Uses a combination of different measures of persona lity to help match consumers on core traits and values  Personality traits often interact with situational factors to predict how consumers will behave  Consumers high on the trait of public self-consciousness are more likely to make choices that allow them to present a positive view of the self to others o Avoid products with negative associations  Need for uniqueness has also been shown to drive product choice when t he specific consumption context motivates the relevance of this personality trait o More likely to desire unique, counter-normative, or u nconventional options when a consumption situation activates this need  Need for cognition can be achieved when the consumption situation prov ides the opportunity to effortful cognitive activity – or in other words, thinking  Consumers high in need for cognition enjoy thinking extensively about things like products and their attributes  Those low in need for cognition are more likely to take short-cuts or rely on their feelings when making decisions, as opposed to thinki ng carefully ← Brand Personality:

 Brand personality: the set of traits people attribute to a product as if it were a person  Many of the most recognizable figures in popular cu lture are spokes characters for long standing brands 57 4 g g oEx: Tony the Tiger, Geico Gecko, Jolly Green Giant  Like real people, these characters sometimes need a “makeover” to keep them fresh and young looking  Our feelings about a brand’s personality are an imp ortant part of brand equity  Brand equity: refers to the extent to which consumers hold strong , favourable, and 57 4 unique associations with a brand in memory – and the extent to which they are willing to pay more for the branded version of a pr oduct than for a non-branded (generic) version  Name recognition has become so valuable that some c ompanies are completely outsourcing production to focus on nurturing the br and o Ex: Nike  Some personality dimensions that can be used to com pare and contrast the perceived characteristics of brands in various prod uct categories include:

o Sincerity : down-to-earth, honest wholesome, cheerful Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Hallmark, Coke o Excitement: daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date Disney land, Pepsi o Competence: reliable, intelligent, successful Ex: IBM, Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail o Sophisticated: aspirations, upper-class, charming Ex: Grey Goose, Volvo, Rolex, Mercedes, Channel, BMW o Ruggedness: outdoorsy, tough Ex: Ford, Jeep, GMC, Nike, Marlboro  Brand Behaviors and Personality Trait Inferences:

 The marketing activities undertaken on behalf of th e product can also influence inferences about its “personality”  Consumers appear to have little trouble assigning p ersonality qualities to all sorts of inanimate products, from personal-care products to m ore mundane, functional ones  The creation of communication of a distinctive is one of the brand personality primary ways marketers can make a product stand out from the competition and inspire years of loyalty to it 57 4 This process can be understood in terms of animism  Animism: the practice found in many cultures whereby inanima te objects are given qualities that make them somehow alive  Two types of animism can be identified to describe the extent to which human qualities are attributed to a product:

o Level 1:

Highest order of animism  The object is associated with a human individual - spokesperson  Allows the consumer to feel that the spirit of the celebrity or endorser is available through the brand  A brand might be strongly associated with a loved o ne, alive or deceased (ex: my grandmother always served Kraft ja m) o Level 2:

Objects are – given human characteristics anthropomorphized  A cartoon character or mythical creation might be t reated as if it were a person, and even assumed to have human feelings  Ex: Jolly Green Giant, Michelin Man ← Personality of Positioning: 57 4 Personality of Positioning:  Brand’s positioning strategy is a statement about w hat that brand wants to be in the eyes of its consumers – especially relative to the competition  Marketers are used to thinking in these terms, routi nely describing their brands and the competition as if they were people  A brand personality is also a statement about how t he brand is positioned  Understanding this concept is crucial to the succes s of a marketing strategy – especially if consumers don’t see the brand the way it makers intend them to, which means the makers have to try to the product reposition o Ex: Volvo known as safe but repositioning as sexy t oo ← Lifestyles and Psychographics:

← Lifestyles: Who We Are, What We Do:  In traditional societies, consumption options are la rgely dictated by class, caste, village, or family  In a modern consumer society, people are more free t o select the set of products, services, and activities that defines them, and in tu rn, to create a social identity that can be communicated to others 57 4 A person’s choice of goods and services indeed make s a statement about who that person is and about the types of people with whom t hat person desires to identify – and even about those they wish to avoid  Lifestyle: refers to a pattern of consumption reflecting a per son’s choices of how he or she spends time and money  In an economic sense, a person’s lifestyle represent s that they have elected to allocate income both to different products and serv ices and to specific alternatives within these categories  Other somewhat similar distinctions have been made to describe consumers in terms of their broad patterns of consumption o Social class, advanced technology, information intens ive goods as entertainment and education  A lifestyle marketing perspective recognizes that people sort themselves into group son the basis of the things they like to do, how the y like to spend their leisure time, and how they choose to spend their disposable incom e ← Lifestyles As Group Identities:

 Lifestyle is more than the allocation of discretion ary income  It is a statement about who we are in society and w ho we are not  Group identities jell around forms of expressive sy mbolism  The self definitions of group members are derived f rom the common symbol system to which the group is dedicated  Terms: lifestyle, taste public, consumer group, symbol ic community, status culture  Patterns of consumption based on lifestyles often c omprise many ingredients that are shared by others in similar social and economic circumstances  Each person also provides a unique “twist” to this pattern that allows them to inject some individuality into a chosen lifestyle  Lifestyles are not set in stone – people’s tastes a nd preferences evolve  It is vital for marketers to continuously monitor t he social and scope to try to anticipate where these changes will lead  Important lifestyle changes are known as trends Products Are The Building Blocks of Lifestyles: 57 4 Products Are The Building Blocks of Lifestyles:Lululemon athletics known for comfortable clothing, but more importantly the company wants to play an integral role in creating consumer lifestyles around their products (“Lululemon Lifestlye”)  Marketers encourage a sense of community among prod uct users  We often choose a product precisely because we asso ciate it with a certain lifestyle 57 4 Lifestyle marketing strategies attempt to position a product by fitting it into an existing pattern of consumption and thus create a b rand personality that is relevant to a variety of products and situations  Because a goal of lifestyle marketing is to allow c onsumers to pursue their chosen ways to enjoying their lives and expressing their s ocial identities, a key aspect of this strategy is to focus on product usage in desirable social settings  People, products and settings are combined to expres s a certain consumption style  FIGURE 6-2: Linking Products to Lifestyles  The adoption of a lifestyle marketing perspective i mplies that we must look at patterns of behavior to understand consumers  We can get a clearer picture of how people use prod ucts to define lifestyles by examining how they make choices in a variety of pro duct categories  The meaning is in the relations between all the goo ds  Many products and services do seem to “go together ” , usually because they tend to be selected by the same types of people  In many cases, products do not seem to “make sense” if unaccompanied by companion products (ex: suit and tie) or are incong ruous in the presence of others (ex: antique chair in a high-tech office)  An important part of lifestyle marketing is to iden tify the set or products and services that seems to be linked in consumers’ minds to a spe cific lifestyle  Product complementarity: occurs when the symbolic meanings of different prod ucts are related to each other  These sets of products, called consumption constellations, are used by consumers to define, communicate and perform social roles ← Psychographics:

 Marketers often find it useful to develop products that appeal to different lifestyle groups  Consumers can share demographic characteristics and still be very different people  Marketers need a way to “breathe life” into demogra phic data to really identify, understand, and target consumer segments that will s hare a set of preferences for their products and services  When personality variables are combined with knowle dge of lifestyle preferences, marketers have a powerful lens through which to vie w consumer segments 57 4 Psychographics: the use of psychological, sociological, ad anthropolo gical factors to determine how the market is segmented by the propen sity of groups within the market and their reasons to make a particular decis ion about a product, person, ideology, or otherwise hold an attitude or use a me dium  Psychographics can help marketers fine-tune their o fferings to meet the needs of different segments ← Conducting a Psychographic Analysis:  The technique is more effective when the variables included are more closely related to actual consumer behaviors  Psychographic studies can take several forms:

o A lifestyle profile that looks for items that diffe rentiate between users and non-users of a product o A product specific profile that identifies a target group an d then profiles 57 4 oA product-specific profile that identifies a target group and then profiles these consumers on product-relevant dimensions o A general lifestyle segmentation, in which the resp ondents in a large sample are placed into homogenous groups based on similari ties in their overall preferences o A product-specific segmentation, in which questions used in a general approach are tailored to a product category – this allows the researcher to discriminate more finely between users of competing brands ← AIOs:  Most contemporary psychographic research attempts t o group consumers according to some combination of three categories of variable s  AIOs: the three categories of variables consumers are gro uped into – activities, interests, and opinions  Using data from large samples, marketers create prof iles of customers who resemble one another in their activities and patterns of pro duct usage  To group consumers into common AIO categories, resea rchers give respondents a long list of statements and ask them to indicate ho w much they agree with each one  Lifestyle is thus “boiled down” by discovering how people spend their time, what they find interesting and important, and how they vi ew themselves and the world around them, as well as by discovering demographic i nformation  The first step in conducting a psychographic analys is is to determine which lifestyle segments are producing the bulk of customers for a particular product  Researchers attempt to determine who uses the brand and try to isolate heavy, moderate, and light users 57 4 They also look for patterns of usage and attitudes toward the product  Marketers primarily target these heavy users  Heavy users may have quite different reasons for us ing the product – they can be further sub-divided in terms of the benefits they d erive from using the product or service  80% of profit from 20% of customers  Want to figure out who their loyal customers are (p sychographics)  Lifestyle Dimensions:

o All four areas give us a good idea of who someone i s and the types of products they might want to buy ← Uses of Psychographic Segmentation:  Psychographic segmentation can be applied in a vari ety of ways:

o To define the target market : this information allows the marketer to go beyond simple demographic or product-usage descript ions o To create a new view of the market : sometimes the marketer creates a strategy with a “typical” customer in mind. This st ereotype may not be correct because the actual customer may not match t hese assumptions o To position the product : psychographic information can allow the marketer to emphasize features o the product that fit in with a person’s lifestyle o To better communicate product attributes: psychographic information can ff f l i t t th d ti i ti h t 57 4 offer very useful input to the advertising creative person who must communicate something about the product o To develop overall strategy: understanding how a product fits, or does not fit, into consumers’ lifestyles allows the marketers to i dentify new product opportunities, chart media strategies, and create env ironments most consistent and harmonious with these consumption pa tterns o To market social and political issues: psychographic segmentation can be an important tool in political campaigns, and it can al so be employed to find commonalities among types of consumers who engage i n destructive behaviors ← Psychographic Segmentation Typologies:

57 4 Many research companies and advertising agencies ha ve developed their own segmentation typologies that divide people into segments  Respondents answer a battery of questions that allo w the researchers to cluster them into a set of distinct lifestyle groups  These systems are usually sold to companies that wa nt to learn more about their customers and potential customers  Many of these typologies are fairly similar to one another in that a typical typology breaks up the population into roughly five to eight segments ← VALS:

 VALS (values and lifestyles): the most well-known and widely used segmentation system  VALS divides people into eight groups, according to both psychological characteristics and resources, which include such factors as income, education, energy levels, and eagerness to buy  Groups are arranged vertically by resources and hor izontally by self-orientation  FIGURE 6-3: VALS Segmentation System  The top group is called innovators, who are successful consumers with many resources o This group is concerned with social issues and is o pen to change  The next three groups also have sufficient resource s, but differ in their outlooks on life:

o Thinkers: satisfied, reflective, and comfortable. They tend to be practical and value functionality o Achievers: career-oriented and prefer predictability over ris k or self-discovery o Experiencers: impulsive and young and enjoy offbeat or risky exp eriences  The next three groups have fewer resources:

o Believers: strong principles and favour proven brands o Strivers: like achievers but with fewer resources. They are very concerned about the approval of others 57 4 oMakers: action-oriented and tend to focus their energies on self-sufficiency.

They will often be found working on their cars, cann ing their own vegetables, or building their own houses  Finally comes the group with the fewest resources o Survivors: are at the bottom of the ladder. They are most conc erned with meeting the needs of the moment  The VALS systems has been a useful way to understan d consumers 57 4 ←Geodemography:

 Geodemography: refers to analytical techniques that combine data o n consumer expenditures and other socioeconomic factors with g eographic information about the areas in which people live to identify consumer s who share common consumption patterns  “Birds of a feather flock together”  People with similar needs and tastes tend to live n ear one another – so it should be possible to locate pockets of like-minded people wh o can then be reached more economically by direct mail and other methods o Ex: Wolseley  Single-source data: information about a persons act ual purchasing history is combined with geodemographic data ← Values:

 Value: a belief that some condition is preferable to its o pposite  A person’s set of values play a very important role in their consumption activities, since many product and services are purchased becau se they will help attain a value- related goal  Values often underlie and individual’s lifestyle an d psychographic profile  Values are central to what makes a consumer distinc t in their consumption and in society  Two people can believe in the same behavior (ex: ve getarianism), but their underlying belief systems might be different (ex: a nimal activism versus health concerns)  The extent to which people share a belief system is a function of individual, social, and culture forces  Advocates of a given belief system often seek out o thers with similar beliefs, so that social networks overlap and, as a result, believers t end to be exposed to information that supports their beliefs (ex: tree huggers rarel y hang out with loggers) ← Core Values: 57 4