Psychology of Consumer Behaviour - GSSC 1026 Introduction
Would
you trust your dough with this guy?
Would
you buy your vegetables from a giant?
Why do you choose one brand over another?
What is
Consumer Behaviour?
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals or groups and organizations on how they select,
purchase, use or dispose
of products services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.
In other words, it's what happens before a purchase, during a purchase
and after the purchase.
Role Theory
The idea that a consumer's behaviour
is like actions in a play. We all are actors playing a role when we purchase.
Consumers are "actors" on the marketplace stage:much of the consumer's behaviour is similar to actions
in a play
In life we all have many roles and our consumption practice may be altered by our role
we may be students. teachers, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, team member, team leader, etc.
Consumer behaviour is
a process that involves what takes place before the purchase, during, and
after
The purchaser
is not always the user. Who buys more men's underwear, men, women?
Sometimes a person is
influenced by a friend's recommendation or the recommendation from a person who leaves a review on a website
Consumer behaviour can
also involve groups where one is decision maker or when a few or all decide
What Impact do Consumers
have on Marketing Strategy?
Marketers are concerned
with satisfying consumer wants and needs
A marketer will try to persuade you that a product is not just a want but a need
The better marketers
understand consumers, the better they can satisfy them
Consumer behaviour is
important in every part of a marketing plan - Consumers are more involved than ever and more influential than they realize.
Market Segmentation
Segmentation is separating consumers into groups
marketers identify groups
of consumers who are similar in one or more ways to try to appeal to particular
groups
Demographics:
the observable measurements of a population's characteristics: birth rate,
age distribution, income, gender, family structure, ethnicity, geography (These are all measurable and defined)
Psychographics:
values,personality and lifestyles AIOs=Activities, Interests, Opinions
see Table 1-1 (pg 9)for
a statistical average of a typical Canadian (female,37.8.....)
Marketers want to create a relationship and maintain it. The marketer is not just interested
in this purchase but your future purchases."We have a "relationship"
with you."
Database Marketing
Marketers use all of the data through tracking of consumer purchases, and behaviour on social networks or websites to create specific appeals. Data comes from a multitude
of sources: when you send in a warranty, your points on any card like Air
Miles, Optimum, cookies on your computer.
Today's icon is
becoming more media savvy. The Geico Gecko for instance knows he is selling
you his insurance. Mr. Clean Stays Earnest, But Gecko Is Hip And Mr.
Peanut Gets A Makeover while Gecko speaks truth `This is an ad, and we
know you know it's an ad. Let's drop the pretense.
Marketing's Impact on Consumers
We are surrounded by
marketing stimuli
Much of world is filtered
through marketers
Popular culture is a
product of and an inspiration for marketers
"Once you "got" Pop, you could never see a
sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never
see America the same way again. The moment you label something you take
a step- I mean, you can never go back again to seeing it unlabeled."
- Andy Warhol from America.
The Campbell's Soup Can: first a product
sold to consumers and then elevated to pop culture art status by Andy
Warhol
Consumer-Generated Content/User-Generated Content
YouTube generation- where everyday people voice opinions, produce content on social networking sites like facebook, youtube, also mobile site like yelp, foursquare. Consumers create ads, and parodies. Part of Web 2.0, consumers are now more influential in process
Creates a blurred boundary between marketing/consumer/reality.
"Where's the Beef?" Marketer's pitch becomes everyday "meme" expression
A meme is an element of culture that spreads from one person to another within a culture. A meme carries cultural ideas, symbols, or practices an can be spread in writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme.
Memes and Catch Phrases
In 1984 Wendy's was a fast food outlet struggling to standout in a competitive market when a simple little commercial featuring 81 year old, Clara Peller was about to change the fortunes of the company and make an impact on popular culture with it's catch phrase "Where's the Beef" Wendy's annual revenue increased by 31 percent, and their little slogan even made its way into the 1984 presidential campaign when one candidate used the phrase against his competitor. Peller went on to become a mini celebrity appearing on talk shows and even Saturday Night Live.
Holidays have such a connection to spending how we acknowledge
cultural events: Christmas! Mother's Day. How many other days can you name? Is there buying involved?
As we have seen, some product icons such
as the Doughboy and Green Giant are more widely known than former prime
ministers!
The Meaning of Consumption
People often buy things
not for what they do but for what they mean ( a brand
of beer defines the person; a brand of running shoe tells who you are;
the music
you choose
"Choosey Mothers choose JIF"
A person can have a Self
Concept attachment:the product establishes the user's identity
"I am a Harley Rider"
A Nostalgic attachment:
the product links with the past
The Global Consumer/Virtual
Consumption/Consumer as Generator of Content/Social Networks
World has become smaller
because of media (The Global Village)
Consumers may be devoted to a brand, movie star, celebrity and feel a part of a group
Digital revolution has
caused significant change in consumer behaviour-We can shop/buy 24/7,
but is our information safe online?
Survey show more people are spending time online and are spending less time watching TV and reading newspaper less
With the rise of Social networking sites, marketers are realizing that more and more the consumer is the producer and creator of content. They are getting more an more involved in social media sites and allowing the consumer to create content
With this trend in person to person sharing comes the rise of viral content. Marketers are increasingly trying to create ads that will become viral. Expert at creating viral content are the British. See this Aug 2009 article Why do UK Videos Always Seem to Go Viral (outside link) See the T-mobile dance
Reality TV/versus Reality- shows are opportunities for companies to sponsor product placement
Viral - Memes
Cadbury Eyebrows
Viral + Social NetworksTHE OLD SPICE GUY
The Old Spice Guy viral ads were the hit of the summer of 2010. First came the commercials and then came the social networking experiment. The character began responding to specific tweets and facebook comments. According to Jeff Neff of Ad Age, Mr. Mustafa's 186 highly publicized personalized response videos generated more than 34 million views and a billion PR impression in a week, according to P&G. In a single week, views of the personalized ads surpassed the nearly 29 million viral video views of Mr. Mustafa's four TV ads since February. As of July 18, Old Spice, with 94 million views, had become the No. 1 all-time most-viewed sponsored channel on YouTube, Mr. Norton said. Old Spice had eight of the top 11 most-popular videos on YouTube on July 16. In the six days following the start of Mr. Mustafa's personalized videos, he reached more than 100 million followers." (http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096 )
Here he says goodbye and underneath is the case study
How do you follow this up? Well in the summer of 2011 Old Spice introduced their new spokesperson Fabio. But Mustafa wasn't gone, he came back to fight for his position on social media.
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing refers to "the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions."
Everyday people may be asked to:
develop a new technology,
carry out a design task
refine or carry out the steps to complete a task,
systematize or analyze large amounts of data
The idea has become popular in business because it harnesses the power of the crowd. It can be controversial. Wikipedia is an example of something that is crowdsourced.
Threadless is a clothing company with a popular e-commerce website selling a unique brand of T-shirt designed by you, for you - literally. They have no designers and pay no attention to trends. Anyone can design a T-shirt.The designs are posted and voted on by the community on its website. Designs with the most attention and votes get produced and sold on the website. Threadless crowdsources the design and then produces and sells them.
How much of our lives
is influenced by marketing? Are our perceptions
about reality shaped by marketing?
Is what we see real?
Think for a minute about the last big movie you saw in the cinema. How many brand name products can you recall seeing? Whether an old time western or a vision of the future, there's no doubt that multiple big name brand products found their way into the scenes.
Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction from 2014 featured 55 different brands. In 2015, Furious 7 of the Fast and Furious franchise was stuffed with 48 identifiable brands. Mercedes-Benz took the top spot in 2015 by prominently appearing in nine of the 31 top films that year. (Brandcameo Awards)
With consumers taking advantage of ad skipping techniques for television shows, marketers finding
new to get our attention. We watch a movies/TV and see products
strategically placed
You wouldn't be surprised to see placements in current shows, but now, retro shows in re-runs have virtually placed products that were not even available when the original show was produced Today
Companies digitally alter old episodes by adding new brands and product placement. This process is called "re-placement."
"Since when did Fred look so much
like the Dough Boy?"
In 2003, Absolut took placement to a new level when the product was embedded in the storyline of Sex and the City. In the show, a billboard ad featured a main character's struggling actor boyfriend positioned with an Absolut bottle between his legs, with the tagline "Absolut Hunk."
A video game user will be immersed in an alternate world that just happens to have some very familiar brands.
Music is not immune-Lady Gaga's video "Telephone" showed nine brands including her own brand of headphones within nine minutes.
Sports teams and stars openly sport logos of top brands. That live broadcast of a sporting event you are watching may have a virtually placed billboard that does not exist in the real stadium. That's Augmented Reality
TV movie The Last Ride (2004) was really an 84 minute commercial for the Pontiac GTO.
McDonald's has paid Hip Hop artists to integrate the Big Mac into songs
Reality shows like The Apprentice have their contestants using products or even working to create campaigns for brands.
News, once a place for objectivity, is not immune to placement with MSNBC's Morning Joe moderators drinking Starbucks coffee and saying they are proudly sponsored by Starbucks. Starbucks even sells a brand of coffee called Morning Joe Gold Coast Ground Coffee.
Commercial Alert, co-founded by Ralph Nader, a consumer activist group opposes advertising to children and the commercialization of culture. In 2004, they called on the US government to label product placements. The FTC rejected the labeling saying there was no harm done and that the placements did not deceive or mislead consumers as no claims about the products were made. In the UK broadcasters are required to inform viewers by displaying the letter 'P' for three seconds at the start and end of a program containing product placement.
No Space is safe
Toronto's downtown
is
becoming a clone of New York's times Square
If magazines could talk...oh yes they can Sept 18, 2009 issue of Time featured the first video ad in print from Pepsi. The video appeared in magazines sent to NY and LA Created by Americhip, each can handle 40 min. The screen is thin transistor liquid crystal 2.7 mm think with 320x240 resolution, battery lasts 65-70 min and can be recharged by a jack on back http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10313064-93.html
in 2006 CBS put ads on eggs; see eggvertising and
US Airways had advertising on its airsickness bags!
Shocking Interactive Billboards
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality. R enhances the real physical environment by overlaying virtual elements. These elements can be information or images seen through displays, augmented reality devices like Google Glass or through the camera or app on a smart device.
Examples are
the layered on field displays on a football filed during a match as seen on television,
the ads seen behind the batter during a baseball game during a television broadcast. Ads are virtually placed.
an app or display that layers information or images over the real world. (seeing how a sofa in a store looks in a picture of your home, seeing how clothes look on you without trying them on
pointing your smart phone or smart device at printed image and seeing images, text or video that adds information to the scene
With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive. Artificial information about the environment and the objects in it can be stored and retrieved as an information layer on top of the real world view.
Where real life is layered with information through the camera view of a smartphone. AR Browsers like Layar and Wikitude. These browsers and other applications like FourSquare use Geotagging and Geolocation to locate users and information that has been tagged at certain locations. The smart phones use the GPS and compass in the phone for user to check into locations and send and receive information.
There has been an explosion of interest bringing augmented reality applications and browsers to mobile devices with GPS, cameras and compasses. Mobile AR can create a new level of mobile interactivity in gaming, travel, retail, social networking and education applications. A view facing north on New York's Madison Avenue might show the name of a store with a special offer, the nearest ATM machines or subway entrances, or information and links to an historic building. You might find the nearest locations of subways or bars or be able to see virtual displays of information about objects. (source:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/01/05/urnidgns852573C400693880002576A20075C9C0.DTL
See how Stella Artois is using AR
Or this one from 2015 Augmented Reality Campaign for Walking Dead
Marketing/Business Ethics
Does the previous
heading sound like an oxymoron? Do marketers give
people what they want or tell people what they should want? Are people less happy
because of the gap they see in what the media tells them they need and what
they actually have?
Do marketers create
artificial needs?
Premium high octane gasoline
is used by one third of motorists, even though 80-90% of cars run well with
regular gas. Is this because of advertising? Is that ethical?
People feel imperfect so they are increasingly turning to cosmetic enhancements and surgery, even dogs get
plastic surgery. Is this the result of unattainable images of beauty that we see reflected in ads? Is that ethical?
What does it take to cross the line in the world of advertizing?
Organizations that monitor, regulate advertising
Marketers and business people are monitored by various codes of conduct. In the US the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) looks into advertising complaints in these areas: The nature of the products being advertised; The timing of certain ads; Commercials believed to be indecent or in poor taste and False and misleading advertisements.
There are also Canadian/American Marketing Associations. Advertising Standards Canadais a not for profit self regulatory body that administers the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, handles consumer complaints, and for a fee they give pre-clearance to ensure ads meet standards. There is also CRTC in Canada approves commercials for airing, the LLBO in Ontario monitors and approves liquor and beer ads, and television Networks and ad agencies that have screening committees
An organization called
About Face posts
articles and offenders of advertisements that promote false reality of
body image and negative stereotyping of women To read an article on body
image click. About
Face Facts (outside link)
The FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) received 3400 complaints in Jan 2005 about
a radio promotion- the "Breast Christmas Ever" where women
were asked to write essays and win breast enlargements. See Breast
Christmasfor the story
Woman caged
Ad reads: "Would you donate your body to fashion?" Tell
them you gave at the office.
Women of color make up a small percentage of "fashion" imagery
and when they are depicted, they are often made to
look wild, threatening or animal-like.
Gucci ad "Sponsor Starving Models by Buying our Clothes" advertising
campaign.
Not an answer to eating disorders!
THE COMMERCIAL CLOSET - ADRESPECT
Another organization that examines ads was formerly known as The Commercial Closet and now is known as AdRespect. They are a non profit educational project that explores "the range of representations of gender and sexuality in print and advertising." The organization does not enforce rules or attempt to pressure offenders; instead they honour excellence in LGBT portrayals, and try to raise ad industry awareness of the issues of homophobia and transphobia.Their best Practices Guidelines show how to create respectful representations of LGBT people.
From their website,
"Advertising is a powerful medium. Although LGBT-inclusive commercials are still relatively rare, they have tremendous power to promote visibility and change hearts and minds. That’s why it is so vital that advertising is inclusive of the LGBT community while avoiding homophobia and transphobia. AdRespect is here to educate, entertain, encourage best practices and bring awareness."
There's a common phrase that has been making the rounds for a few years. It goes something like this "If you're not paying for it, you're the product" or "When something online is free, you're not the customer, you're the product." The basic idea is that these so-called "free" online services are not really free. The cost may be our privacy. When consumers use these "free" services, money is made on the massive amounts of data extracted from the users. In this section we'll be talking about the techniques companies and marketers use to know us online. For them this is not the dark side, but for the consumers, these techniques may feel like a step too far into our private lives.
Behavioural Targeting
Behavioral targeting refers to a method of tracking frequent and popular searches made by a browser using sophisticated Internet technology. The purpose of behavioral targeting is to deliver more relevant advertisements and links to a browser based on what a computer perceives to be their interests and priorities of a user.
Every time we visit a website information is collected about us. One quarter of most popular sites place "cookies" on your hard drive to track information on you. This is called Behavioural Targeting.
Addressable advertising is sending a message or media content to a specific device or customer based on their address. The address of the customer may be obtained by searching viewer profiles to determine if the advertising message is appropriate for the recipient. The use of addressable advertising allows for fast and direct measurement of the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Personalized Viewer-specific Content, Behaviour-based Profiling, One example of this would be sending different ads to different households who may be viewing a program. The ad sent to each household would be specifically targeted to them.
Ads based on something we just did will produce a specific ad for us. For example, you buy a coffee at Tim Horton's in the morning, ads appear before you for things that will go with your coffee.
Watch how AT&T talks about Addressable Advertising
Fingerprinting
It is no longer just cookies that are tracking us, now marketers are using invisible techniques called Fingerprinting that use information about our devices to identify and track us.
Fingerprinting includes looking at the different characteristics of our mobile devices; for example our screen resolution, operating system and computer model. They triangulate this information figure out our location and follow us as we browse the web and use different apps. When they get enough info they can create a profile in a way similar to a fingerprint. This particular type of tracking happens in the deep background so we don't know about it. Every time we install something on our devices that item first learns about our system. Safari browser and Firefox have some protections against fingerprinting and there are some browser ad dons that can block fingerprinting. (Source https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/technology/personaltech/fingerprinting-track-devices-what-to-do.htmlandhttps://pixelprivacy.com/resources/browser-fingerprinting/)
Contests/Warranties
We innocently fill out
forms to enter a contest, or fill out warranties, but does the information
go where we think it does?
Computer Chips
Did you know that some
companies put a computer chip in their
products. It's called RFID technology. Marketers are also harnessing the power of NFC (Near Field Communications) to wirelessly transmit data between devices. A scan from your cell phone can quickly transmit data to your device.
According to arstechnica.com marketers in 2011 are using a new system called Footpath to track shopper's cell phone signals during their travels inside malls, "It uses monitoring units distributed throughout a mall or retail environment to sense the movement of customers by triangulation, using the strength of their cell phone signals. That data is collected and run through analytics by Path, and provided back to retailers through a secure website." The data can be used to encourage sales. Footpath the signal fingerprint of the phone and gives a record of where the phone has travelled. Data from this can be combined with other sources of data like surveillance video or point-of-sale transaction to potentially get a detailed profile of the phone's owner. Some suggest that this type of tracking may be illegal in the US. see more here)
Addictive Consumption
Buying can be an addiction. People become
addicted to drugs, but they can become addicted to buying: shopaholic,
internet junkie, stock trading addiction
Gambling
is becoming an increasing problem in Canada with over 340,000 people
from Ontario
admitting to a gambling problem.
Yahoo has a support
group forShopping
Addicts (outside link)-the site leaves cookies, and has
a flashing banner ad at the top to click to Yahoo Shopping!!
Foran article
on shopping addiction click the following How
to Manage Compulsive (outside link) Shopping by an Indiana
University professor
Compulsive Consumption
People shop to solve all sorts of problems such as tension, anxiety, depression
Gambling is an example
of consumption addiction
The "Consumed
Consumers"
are ones who actually sells themselves- by tattooing a company logo on
their head or selling a kidney!
see an example of Richard
Hamilton Detroit Basketball player who braided his hair like Goodyear tire
at Using your head (inside link)
One person may never
consider stealing, but would cheat on taxes.
Another would not think
twice about sneaking into a second movie free or burning a friend's CD.
In the past some would
buy
a CD, burn it and then return it. (Burn
'n Return)
Still another who would
never steal, would go to or other sites to download "free"
music, software or movies. The digital generation is used to having everything for free, and many don't see downloading illegally as anything wrong.
Consumer Theft or "shrinkage"
( not of the Seinfeld kind!) results in higher prices- most who shoplift
do not need the items and some can afford them
Anticonsumption
Most people agree that North American culture is very wrapped up in the world of buying. How many holidays can you think of that don't involve buying of things? As we have seen on the previous pages, we can not escape advertising messages. We've seen too that some people actually become addicted to buying. Are we too defined by our possessions? Anti-consumerists would say yes!
Anti-consumption can be defined as an ideology against the continual buying and consuming of products. Anti-consumerists believe that advertising plays a role in shaping our values and culture and is responsible for perpetuating the idea that the more possessions you have the more fulfilled you will be. There are a number of different types of anti-consumerism practices. Let's look at a couple of examples:
If a product or service is deliberately defaced it can be thought of as anti-consumption
Graffiti can be seen as anti-consumption. See the image here "The Joy of not being sold anything" or
Culture jamming is used to disrupt or subvert by defacing or altering ad material as a form of political expression. It is a movement against conformity. For more information on culture jamming see ADBUSTERS
Adbusters is one organization involved in the anti-consumerist movement. They describe themselves this way, "Adbusters is a not-for-profit magazine fighting back against the hostile takeover of our psychological, physical and cultural environments by commercial forces." Adbusters is known for their spoof ads, culture jamming and activism. For example Buy Nothing Day, a global day of protest against consumerism, and the Occupy Movement.
Adbuster
Spoof Ads above and culture jamming activities below
sign no SUV, fake parking tickets followed
grass in parking space
Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping
There's an evangelical
mission afoot- It's the Reverend Billy's Unholy War on Consumption -known
for his Retail Interventions...''We must exorcise this cash register,''
'We are drowning in a sea of identical details!'' his Church of Stop Shopping
and their performance art -guerrilla marketing activism may be coming to
a Starbucks or Walmart near you.
Reverend Billy, a mix of preacher, televangelist and activist, is a persona adapted by anti-consumerist performance artist Bill Talon. He works along side his Stop Shopping Choir to extol the evils of consumerism and advertising. Through their activism the group has been arrested numerous times
Reference as noted above and: Solomon, Michael R., Zaichkowsky, Judith and Rosemary Polegato. Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being. Canadian Edition. Toronto: Pearson Canada
Most people agree that North American culture is very wrapped up in the world of buying. How many holidays can you think of that don't involve buying of things? As we have seen on the previous pages, we can not escape advertising messages. We've seen too that some people actually become addicted to buying. Are we too defined by our possessions? Anti-consumerists would say yes!
