marketing and society quiz - course content so far

mrkt 351

sensory marketing

• engage consumers senses and affect perception, judgement and behaviour

• create an integrated, specialized, and consistent brand experience

  • singapore airlines- their attention to detail in experiencing their brand —> scent used in plane, flight attendants use same perfume, lounges use same perfume (associate the smell with them), design of their uniforms is similar to the seat design - gustatory elements all distinct and unique to singapore airlines

sensation vs perception

• sensation - what you are seeing

  • stimuli our senses detect

• perception - what you are interpreting'

  • perception affects the way we experience our world and is our selection, organization, and interpretation of a sensation

    • exposure - coming in contact with a stimuli

    • attention - devoting some mental activity to stimuli

    • interpretation - shaped by expectations, meaning assigned to sensory stimuli

      • not perfect - it can be biased when what we perceive is different from what we sense, eg. duck vs rabbit - we all saw something different

        • cultures, situations, people - more people will see a rabbit around easter time

perceptual bias: elongation bias

• a longer vs shorter cup - both have the same amt but one is skinny and tall and the other is short and wide → we perceive the tall one to have more liquid

• people underestimated the amt they drank in the shorter glass

• applies bc in marketing and product sizing - coca cola cans are either tall slender or short wider packaging = tall packaging dec the amount of coke ur consuming (actual consumption) but inc the amt u think ur consuming (perceived consumption)

exposure: sensory thresholds

• the absolute threshold = minimum stimulus interaction needed to perceive

  • the lightest shade of green u need to detect that it is green

• differential threshold = the just noticeable diff between 2 stimuli

  • noticing the diff in shades of green and blue - ability to detect change in shading

• webers law = idea that its easier to the detect difference between 2 stimuli when they’re smaller in quantity or measurement vs when they’re larger

  • easy to tell diff betwn 5 and 10 grams - harder to tell difference between 105 and 110 grams

    = we don’t equally perceive differences in stimuli equally across all levels

JND - just noticeable differences

• can be visual, gustatory, cognitive, etc

• influence when decision making

  • sizing

  • changing ingredients

  • change in price

• portion size perception - changing product size

  • one dimension has been changed

  • 3 dimensions have been changed

• elasticity of price with respect to price = very elastic i/t of size means that it changes a lot with price (price is sensitive to size change)

  • low elasticity: price not sensitive to size change

shrinkflation

when you decrease the size of product but keep price constant - saving money with no consequences since the customer doesn’t even recognize it - raw materials cost increases

• helps control prices but you get less

• labour vs material costs → we can accept the price so long as there is an explanation

• can reduce overconsumption of food

subliminal perception

in our unconscious mind, unconscious perception of a stimulus = below the absolute threshold level

brands hide messages in their branding

mere exposure effect / familiarity principle

• people tend to develop a preference for things just bc theyve seen them before and thus it feels familiar

• we like familiar things - seems safe and more trustworthy, shortcutting to judgements

  1. safety - they make us feel safe, and we like to feel this way

  2. fluency = easy to process (fluent stimuli) - tend to like easy more than difficult

• does this work forever? no, the tedium affect - no marginal benefit of seeing it more (adaptation or habituation) - start to dislike something when you see it too much

• adaptation - we adapt to positive things but also we get bored with the status quo - we also adapt to negative stimuli (affects happiness levels for eg - you recover happiness levels after tragedy)

attention

• not many ads do you recall seeing in a day

• the number you’re actually exposed to - 3,500 ads a day

• and about 10k brand exposures (eg apple logo on macbook)

• we are bombarded by ads → sensory overload

  • depends on avail of mental resources - when you’re tired this is harder

  • depends on motivation

  • political: people from one party ignore info from the other in the us

perceptual selectivity

people attend/devote mental activity to a small portion of the stimuli theyre exposed to

attention in ads - making ads more memorable

• pleasant stimuli

  • ship my pants

• surprising, novel

  • epic split volvo

• easy to process

• fulfill current goal or need

  • now targeted through social media, tailored ads to keep you remembering

  • flip effect is perceptual defence - ignoring bad stimuli

• repetition

perception vigilance

• big coca cola can in desert in chile

• try to influence based on what you’re doing

• during miss america tv show - promote beauty and weight loss products to prey on insecurities

• shocking images on cigarette packages

  • depends on smoking status, generally speaking not effective bc they ignore the images - perceptual defence

  • upside down u, using low amts of scary images works more than very scary. at the middle point (max), it does have an optimal impact but then too severe doesnt do anything

  • frequent smokers ignore offensive images

sticky ideas

• false ideas that stick

• shock factor, repeated exposure

1. simplicity

2. unexpectedness

3. imagery

4. credibility

5. emotions

6. stories

if an image is too scary

• people won’t pay attention

• bell curve of influence, want to be at the peak

why has the food environment changed over the past 40 years

• unhealthy foods being pushed

• more processed foods

• dont cook as much

• cheaper to have processed foods

• sedentary lifestyles

• globalization and technologicalization process in agriculture

  • can make food easily and in abundance

• marketing of hyper-palatable foods and large portion sizes

• huge lack of regulation and education

cost of overeating on society

• health public spending

• env cost - 30% of land and 90% fresh water for food

• 7% of ghg emissions

• meat is the main culprit - then dairy, chocolate, palm oil

• food waste

number one seller of food

taste

halo effect and horn effects

• perceived calories

• cocacola - horn effect

• minute maid has higher number of calories

snickers vs cottage cheese

• feature products with ambiguous labels

• “farm fresh”

• our associations influencing buying decisions

increasing the nutritional quality of food is difficult

• hard to communicate

• hard to preserve tastiness

• unhealthy = tastiness beliefs

• health halos lead to overconsumption

change the normality of portion size

add a smaller option and list the small as regular

behavioural economics

• rational is the default in econ —> consumers make the best informed decisions to max their utility — NOT TRUE

• behavioural perspective - perspectives from anthro, soci, psych to explain people’s real and actual behaviours

  • rational perspective is unrealistic

choice architecture

• presentation of choice information

  • what decisions we make, what we buy, etc

  • presenting the info in ways that can influence our behaviour positively

  • food marketing ex - nudge towards smaller portions as making the smaller portion called regular → nudge towards healthier decision making

  • rarely neutral - ppl who support nudge theory think that we are always presented w info, so why not present info that will push us to be good

  • organ donation - if you have to opt out, more ppl will be donors

• default effect: action has been preselected for you and that action is the one you’ll take if you dont decide

  • imply norms

nudge

A nudge is a specific type of intervention that modifies choice architecture with the goal of shifting behaviour in a predictable way and without restricting freedom of choice.

• cant forbid any options

• what about adding options

• a tax is not a nudge

• autoenrollment is a nudge

• reminders are nudges

prosocial behaviour

• benefit others or society at some cost to the self

  • also experience warm glow - feel good about doing something good

  • moral elevation - other kinds acts make us feel good

  • positive self concept

  • signal to others

intention action gap

sustainability

• 65% want to support companies but only 26% do with sustainable missions

• shift framework

  • social influence

  • habit formation

  • individual self

  • feelings and cognition

  • tangibility

SHIFT framework for assessing nudges

• social influence

• habit formation

• individual self

• feelings and cognition

• tangibility

social influence

• The attitudes, expectations, and behaviors of others play a large role in how consumers behave, particularly in the context of engaging in pro environmental actions.

  Social Norms

  Social Desirability

  Social Group Membership

  
  

descriptive norms

can backfire when a number is too low

• telling us what ppl are doing

dynamic norms

communicating norms, diff norms change behaviours differently

• telling us there is a shift

curtailment

the action or fact of reducing or restricting something.

habit formation

Habits are automatic, relatively uncontrolled behaviors that are easy for people to perform. Break bad habits:

• Discontinuity

• Penalties

Form new good habits:

• Make it easy

• Prompts

• Incentives

• Feedback

individual self

Appeal to people’s self interest

• people want to maintain a positive view of themselves

• remind ppl of the product’s past identity (eg for repurposed products)

feelings and cognition

consumers are influenced by feelings and intuition- system 1 (using a recycled pen makes people feel happier) and by deliberative cognitions - system 2 (clear labelling)

positive emotions: warm glow, pride

negative emotions: fear, guilt

information, framing, labelling

tangibility

• Communicate local and proximal impacts

• Matching temporal focus

• Encourage desire for intangibles

• Concrete communications

using the shift framework

• clarify context

• identify target and drivers

• apply and select tools

• test strategy

• implement and evaluate outcomes

segmentation

creating groups of consumers based on an attribute eg geography, psychographic, etc

behavioural targeting

looking at peoples behavioural attributes and targeting them that way

• target most attractive segment

positioning - deciding value proposition

statement: to target , brand name is the brand of competitive framework that point of differentiation/value bc reason why

what is the value of the differentiation w different target markets

• consumers target your needs

• motivation: processes that activate goal-orientation to satisfy needs

• activation of a need → tension that consumers aim to reduce for eg with consumption

• tension is aka drive

  • survival needs

  • functional needs

  • psychogenic needs

• homeostasis - once we satisfy the need were in the steady state

brands create value by addressing consumers’ needs

how can this be abused?

• cambridge analytica - social-emotional contagion

• researchers conducting FB experiment, manipulated 700k newsfeeds randomly, one group was exposed to more (-) content and one was exposed to more (+) content → independent variable

  • tone of their subsequent posting was reflected

  • can change ppl’s behaviours without their knowledge

• what you’re exposed to will impact your behaviour

• no consent, cant withdraw

• information asymmetry

• cambridge analytica ran misinformation campaigns to get ppl to vote for trump and ted cruz

rushing homeless black people to do a face scan, no real consent with financial benefit

unhealthy products are targetted to minorities

• cocacola

targetting fb job ads just to men

reference groups

• individual group with particular relevance for an individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behaviour (eg liberals, beliebers)

• usually identify with many reference groups

brand communities

set of consumers who share set of social relationships based on usage of or interest in product or brand

• important because it implies that it is popular, sense of belonging, increases loyalty

• consequences of brand loyalty: become a walking ad for the brand, cheaper to maintain repeated purchases

propinquity

• like attracts like

• being in a desirable group can boost our self esteem

• need to belong, need for affiliation

• in groups are a part of people’s extended self

group cohesiveness

degree to which members of a group are attracted to each other and value their group membership

aspirational reference groups (out group)

• idealized or aspirational figures

• influencers

dissociative reference groups (out groups)

dissociate with them because they are not desirable according to us (eg samsung making fun of out group apple users)

conformity

• asch experiment - line length

• we will conform to the group and we will go along even if we dont believe what others say

• waiting room experiment

• can get someone to stand up after every beep, can get someone to stand even when they dont know why they’re standing

people conform because:

• informational conformity - majority must be right - influenced by others from a young age which continues into adulthood

• normative conformity

  • need to be liked

  • avoid conflict

  • fear of being rejected

social norms

used to encourage socially approved behaviours and discourage social disapproved behaviours

injunctive social norms

• you should do

  • issue is that they dont often work bc ppl dont like being told what to do esp from authority

  • threatens freedom

  • psychological reactants

descriptive social norms

what most ppl are doing

dynamic social norms

talking about a trend - norms are changing in a positive way

normative influence

• using both descriptive and injunctive

• if the number of people doing bad something is high, descriptive norms can backfire

  • people still think its okay bc so many ppl do this thing

• more compliance when you make behaviour concrete

• if your in group engages in a behaviour, then you will too

• referencing authority figures is ineffective

when do we defy our groups

usually when a higher authority figure tries to impose something

other group effects

• deindividualization - individual identity submerged in a group

• social loafing - people dont devote as much effort when there is a big group (hence fixed gratuity for large groups at restaurants)

• diffusion of responsibility - people are less accountable for the outcome of a decision when there are more ppl involved (eg bystander effect)

behavioural learning theory

• habits: uncontrolled, automatic behaviours, easy to form

  • can form unintentionally

  • can be deliberately cultivated or eliminated

static norms

current state of behaviour

classical conditioning

• stimulus that people like paired with something you want them to like, thus creating an association

• pavlov’s dog: ringing the bell and food

• unconditioned stimulus - stimulus that causes a response = piece of meat = salivation

• conditioned stimuli - salivation - ringing the bell → didnt cause the response but these are associated

• the conditioned stimuli produces the response even without the unconditioned stimulus

  • just having the bell causes the dog to salivate

  • this response = a conditioned response

• same thing with mcdonalds - exposed with arches, association, just the arches makes someone salivating

• the office - dwight expecting altoid

classical conditioning in marketing

• using sex appeal to market product

• celebrity endorsement - justin beiber, paired with neutral brand, brand is associated with JB - if you like JB then you like calvin klein as well

• product placement in movies - neutral product in movie you love

stimulus generalization

• capitalizing on existing positive associations for a brand to new products

• positive feelings toward one stimulus = positive feelings towards another stimulus

• product line extensions = similar products (eg coke zero, diet coke)

• brand extension = new product in new product category

  • good example of leveraging brand equity

    • differentiating

    • target new segment

  • coca cola buys other company’s and their equity

similar to halo effect

piggyback off other brands

• brand imitation trying to steal some of the brand eqiuty for themselves, similar packaging

  • capitalizing on consumer inattention

  • not a sustainable strategy

operating conditioning

• classical → automatic

• operant → voluntary

• positive reinforcement - add a pleasant stimulus (chocolate)

• negative reinforcement - remove an unpleasant stimulus (avoid negative outcomes like bad breath, tax free shopping)

  • stores removing tax, the tax is the unpleasant stimuli

  • discounts may also fall under this

• punishment - add an unpleasant stimulus (electric shock)

  • penalties for shoplifting, high taxes, high insurance rates

• operant conditioning needs to be constantly reinforced

• depends on the type of consumer

different types of rewards

• fixed ratio - eg stamp card

• variable ratio - eg mcdonalds monopoly game

maximizing effectiveness of rewards

• timing: in theory, reward/punishment should be immediate

• fixed ratio is good for initial learning eg new brand

• established = variable ratio reinforcement

doesnt have to be monetary rewards

• tokens - no monetary value but can be motivating

• eg strava can be shared with friends and you can brag on SM

issue with imposing a tax

• disproportionately impacting low income households, rich are unaffected

• careful to not burden consumers who are already vulnerable