Brand Names versus Generic, what motivates people to buy?

This may be of use to some people was taken from here http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27492

Why and under what conditions are people more likely to buy brand names rather than their generic counterparts?

Introduction

You think you are having Kellogg's for breakfast, catching the news on CNN, driving to Texaco to fill up your Ford while listening to Kiss 100. You ponder changing to diet Pepsi like Madonna. You arrive at work and curse Microsoft for the blue screen. But that was not what really happened. You were actually buying a life, getting deeply connected to cars and cold drink. Your experiences took place on an elevated plane, one made of dreams and wishes. Warner Brothers creates your reality, Adidas promotes it, and Picasso illustrates it.

'The mind of which we are unaware is aware of us.' R.D. Laing

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

To better understand the phenomena of branding, I have explored Abraham Maslow's (1954) popular theory of human motivation. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs include deficiency and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next level and if in future a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. Deficiency needs in order of power are physiological, safety, love and self-esteem, followed by growth needs, cognitive, aesthetic and self-actualization. Branding implies that buying the brand will satisfy a subconscious desire. A psychological appeal is a visual or aural influence on your subconscious mind and emotions. These psychological appeals take advantage of the effect of millions of years of evolution on our minds and behavior, and that behavior is to buy. I have classified this essay according to Maslow's hierarchy, but only as a framework to expand other related psychological aspects, as it been criticized for being socio-politically insensitive. (Bulhan 1993)

Physiological

Brands unconsciously advocate that buying the brand can improve your chance at meeting physiological needs, concurred by Dichter's (1960) motivation research. Physiological needs are instinctive and they influence our mental responses and resulting behaviors to stimuli, even if we 'think' our reactions are conscious. People buy brands because brands satisfy their utilitarian value and provide enjoyment, i.e. brands enable people to affect and control the environment (Prentice 1987). A brand only has to show an attractive model and imply that he or she is attracted to the kind of person who uses the brand.

Maslow said, 'a feeling which, if left unsatisfied, produces anxiety or tension ... yet if satisfied, imparts a sensation of well-being'. Needs manifest as feelings. Feelings inform us of differences between how we want and how we do feel. The more the contrast, the stronger the motivation. Brands relate to humanness and uniqueness by helping us solve problems. Brands placate our negative feelings stemming from needs and support our feeling and thinking self through the decision-making process. We buy brands because we feel the brand understands us, not because we understand the brand.

Branding also exploits conditioning. B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning suggests that learning results from our responses to events in the environment. A response produces a consequence. We become conditioned to respond when a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is reinforced. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response, like verbal praise or a feeling of satisfaction. Classical conditioning is found in many beer ads which prominently feature attractive women. The women naturally elicit a favorable, mildly aroused feeling in most men. The beer is associated with this effect.

Security

The security need is a strong motivator to avoid doing certain things. Some fears include rejection or not fitting in, i.e. not using a brand everyone else uses. It is also the preference for the familiar rather than the unknown. Hence brands ensure the same set of values is adhered to with consistency. Consistency means security.

Branding takes place in a competitive environment, and persuades people to prefer the brand to competition. Global brands can provide relevant meaning and experience to people across multiple societies. 'In technocratic and colorless times, brands bring warmth, familiarity and trust,' says Peter Brabeck, boss of Nestlé.

Love and the need to belong

After safety needs are met, the urge for love and a feeling of belonging emerge. Brands have a cultish quality that satisfies this need. People empathize with characters that experience positive results from using a product, i.e. Head 'n' Shoulders.

Humans are inherently social and the most powerful information source for consumers are people to whom they look as a basis of self-appraisal. Group influence is determined by reference groups. The aspirational reference groups are those against who you compare yourself. Associative reference groups realistically represent your current equals. The dissociative reference groups are people you don't want to be like. Brands assign us to our ideal groups.

Esteem and recognition

We all need to feel important and worthwhile. This is the need for self esteem. 'If you can tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I can tell you what you are.' (Dale Carnegie) Everybody acquires an image of themselves, partly from our interactions with others. Research shows that the self-concept is perhaps the basis for all motivated behavior (Franken 1994). We develop and maintain our self-concept by acting and then reflecting on what we have done or can do, what others tell us about what we have done in comparison to our and others expectations and accomplishments. By using the brand, brand characteristics extend to us and we attain an image.

Social constructionism explains the symbolic function of possessions. Possessions are socially shared symbols of identity (Dittmar, 1992). We become creators, transmitters and recipients of the meaning of objects. The 'symbolic consumption' perspective proposes people don't just consume actual brands, but also or instead, consume their symbolic meanings. Research (Powderly and MacNulty 1990) identified needs for appearances and materialism are increasing.

By communicating identity, you and the brand connect and form a relationship (Belk, 1988). During the last century, in developed countries, there has been an increasing shift from buying to satisfy physiological needs towards buying as postmodern means of acquiring and expressing self-identity (Lunt and Livingstone, 1992). People buy and relate to brands in ways that fit their preferred self-image. "When I turned 50, my last kid left home, the cat died and I got me a Harley. I got me a life!" says Dianne Colwell, 61, a retiree from Daytona Beach, "It appeals to the wild side in all of us. I am a woman -- watch me roar!"

Charles Horton Cooley's theory of the looking glass self, postulates that we are who we are because of our perceptions of how others view and judge us and our response to their judgments. A brand is a collection of perceptions in the consumer's mind. (Buildingbrands) This definition illustrates that brands are very different from their generic counterparts. Brands are intangible. They positively influence people's perceptions.

Fromm's theory describes authoritarianism, who fuse themselves with others, i.e. within a brand name. We escape our separate identity by becoming like everyone else, eliminating the need to acknowledge our freedom, feel alone or take responsibility. Research illustrates people often use television to learn about desired lifestyles (O'Quinn and Shrum 1997). We try to imitate stereotypes by consuming similar brands (Dittmar 1994). We gain self-esteem from imitating the appearance, behavior and adopting the possessions of persons we admire. This supports Albert Bandura's observational learning theory, which assumes learning occurs through observing others. Fromm also proposes that the orientation of the modern industrial society is that success is a matter of how well I can sell, package and advertise myself. The surface is everything and branding represents the surface! Wicklund and Gollwitzer (1982) explain via symbolic self-completion, that people acquire and display possessions to compensate for perceived shortcomings in their self-concept.

Brands are the accessories needed to play various roles (Goffman, 1959), because they boost or give definition to self concepts (Solomon, 1983). People also express a need for uniqueness (Snyder and Fromkin 1977), which is an outcome of the social comparison process (Festinger 1954) and is satisfied by the inherent scarcity of some brands.

Branding's growth in the last century, has had a profound impact on people needs, the comparisons they make and how they identify with others.

Cognitive - knowledge & understanding

People selectively perceive what they want and it affects how people see risks in a purchase. We want to maintain consistency between our beliefs and our practices, even if it conflicts with reality. Brand names are the most prized means of avoiding perceived risk (Roselius 1971).

Internal search involves scanning your memory to recall previous experiences concerning solutions, sufficient for frequently purchased brands. Today we are bombarded with more information than we can process. Each brand represents a chunk of information, which is constructed by people to avoid explicit multiple attributes of each brand on purchase occasions (Peter and Olsen, 1994). Brands guide us through a variety of competitive products and help people reach better, quicker decisions, providing simplicity and reassurance. Brands come in varying quality ranges, though late-twentieth-century people take consistent quality for granted. We choose the quality level that suits our budget and needs. When offered a choice, respondents chose brand name first and price second. (Jacoby et.al. 1971; 1977) Research was conducted in the U.S. and involved mostly convenience goods.

Anything you learn becomes a part of the vast neuronal associations in the brain. When you learn that Kentucky is finger licking good or Nike evokes a positive reaction, your brain ties these concepts together into a neural association in your brain that gradually develops neural pathways to make your 'practicing' automatic. Neural pathways assist in quickly selecting products or services and avoiding perceived risk. Each link in long term memory creates new means of accessing information. The more associations the brand has, the better we recognize the brand (Keller, 1993). The associations between a brand, its heritage and values increases accessibility and recall of the brand and identifies the uniqueness of the brand.

Gestalts are learned patterns of response that become compelling, involuntary and rigid. Attitudes are learned predispositions to respond to situation(s) in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way. Brand loyalty is habitual, connected to gestalt learning. A favorable attitude and continuous acquisition of a brand progresses over time. Brands become an attitude, which can become gestalt.

'Our intelligence is imperfect, and newly arisen; the ease with which it can be sweet-talked, overwhelmed, or subverted by other hardwired propensities, sometimes themselves disguised as the cool light of reason, is worrisome.' (Sagan and Druyan, 1992). The subconscious appeals of branding can be countered by our intelligence, if we are aware of them, where they come from and how they work.

Aesthetic

Personal matters such as aesthetic taste and sensory emotion may also independently encourage consumption. Research has continually identified the emotional responses associated with brands, such as sensory pleasure, aesthetic beauty, or excitement (Alleres 1990). BMW's slogan for years has been 'Sheer Driving Pleasure'.

Self actualization

Self-actualization is the need to be all that you can be. Motives are the reasons for behavior, as we move towards our primary goal of feeling well. If a need is threatened or unsatisfied, wants emerge. Wants are our conscious expression of our striving to meet unconscious needs, which may or may not be conscious until they become specific problems. Brands provide solutions that satisfy our needs.

Carl Rogers theory suggests the actualizing tendency, the need to make the very best of our existence. Growing up, our peers and the media lead us astray with conditions of worth. They only give us what we need when we are 'worthy' and we therefore like ourselves only if we meet their standards, rather than actualizing our potential. Branding targets wanna-be's, who rather conform than face exclusion or ridicule; brands therefore are the standard of the masses. Does branding have a negative impact on the self?

Alfred Adler's theory, proposes a single motivation behind all behavior and experience; striving for perfection. Motivation involves moving towards the future, towards our goals and ideals, superficially personified via brands, rather than being driven by the past.

Beliefs, involve stories whose interpretation can give people insight into how they should feel, think and behave. Coca-Cola is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, if it doesn't value its customers, it will fail. Brands don't challenge your own personal god. In the developed world, some feel brands have expanded into the void left by the decline of organized religion. Brands have become a lifestyle, characterized by opinions, self-concept, motives, attitudes and personality, that tie them to everyday life. We have become more actively involved in the brand creation process, i.e. the ATM machine. This interaction strengthens the relationship that we feel with the brand. It is generally very difficult to change strongly held beliefs, even if inaccurate.

Value systems differentiate right feelings, thoughts and behavior from wrong ones and exist independently of formal belief systems. That could be its appeal. Implicit within the images and the lifestyle that brands portray, they involve a value system that is packaged for consumption.

Personality makes people prefer brands, explained by Carl Jung's work. Some brands appeal to our rational part (thinking), such as toothpaste which prevents decay. Others appeal to the senses, such as fashion. Some brands attract our emotional part, evoking feelings of affection and belonging. Some people intuitively feel comfortable with some brands, experiencing them as an extension of themselves, i.e. the Body Shop, with its environmental approach. Jung's theory suggests a collective unconscious, which indirectly influences all of our experiences, especially emotional ones. Examples of archetypes, which are part of the collective unconscious, are the immediate recognition of certain symbols (brand logos) and the meanings of certain myths. Brands harness the myth behind these meanings and enter the personal space of the consumer where they enhance, complement or transform our world. This explains the tendency of people to seek fulfillment of higher needs by means of products traditionally associated with lower needs. Brand personalities create a strong bond with people, i.e. Joe Camel.

Conclusion

But brands aren't as powerful as alleged, nor is the public as easily manipulated. Many established brands are in danger, losing customer loyalty. (Tom Barnes, Brands in Crisis) People have become increasingly unreliable. Every age group is relatively equally capricious. Brands are making more noise out of desperation. In the developed world, people are becoming closer to self-actualization, as deficiency needs are met and we move beyond them. Some traits consistently found in Maslow's self-actualizing subjects were that they see through phoniness, deception, and 'games' and avoid them, such as branding ploys. They cope with problems, rather than avoid them or find an answer in brand names. They accept themselves and others. Who you are is different from the brand you choose. They resent unfairness caused by social roles and prejudice, on which branding relies. They think for themselves, even in the face of social criticism. As humanity moves closer to self actualization, we will eventually disregard branding. But until then, as I have explained in this essay, branding will continue to influence the majority of lives significantly.

'Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.' Ludwig Borne.

noam chomsky manufacturing consent doc

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730#

Social Pressure And Perception

Solomon Asch Experiment 1958 - A Study Of Conformity

Imagine yourself in the following situation: You sign up for a psychology experiment, and on a specified date you and seven others whom you think are also subjects arrive and are seated at a table in a small room. You don't know it at the time, but the others are actually associates of the experimenter, and their behavior has been carefully scripted. You're the only real subject.

The experimenter arrives and tells you that the study in which you are about to participate concerns people's visual judgments. She places two cards before you. The card on the left contains one vertical line. The card on the right displays three lines of varying length.

The experimenter asks all of you, one at a time, to choose which of the three lines on the right card matches the length of the line on the left card. The task is repeated several times with different cards. On some occasions the other "subjects" unanimously choose the wrong line. It is clear to you that they are wrong, but they have all given the same answer.

What would you do? Would you go along with the majority opinion, or would you "stick to your guns" and trust your own eyes?

To Asch's surprise, 37 of the 50 subjects conformed to the majority at least once, and 14 of them conformed on more than 6 of the 12 trials. When faced with a unanimous wrong answer by the other group members, the mean subject conformed on 4 of the 12 trials. Asch was disturbed by these results: "The tendency to conformity in our society is so strong that reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people are willing to call white black. This is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of education and about the values that guide our conduct."

Why did the subjects conform so readily? When they were interviewed after the experiment, most of them said that they did not really believe their conforming answers, but had gone along with the group for fear of being ridiculed or thought "peculiar." A few of them said that they really did believe the group's answers were correct.

Apparently, people conform for two main reasons: because they want to be liked by the group and because they believe the group is better informed than they are. Suppose you go to a fancy dinner party and notice to your dismay that there are four forks beside your plate. When the first course arrives, you are not sure which fork to use. If you are like most people, you look around and use the fork everyone else is using. You do this because you want to be accepted by the group and because you assume the others know more about table etiquette than you do.

Reference:

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html

consumer behaviour

Over the past three months we have been looking at consumer behaviour patterns and have carried out research at Asda, Sainsbury’s and the co operative. One of our aims from this research was to find out how the global recession is affecting the way people shop.

This report outlines our research into how people behave differently in these stores and if the recession is changing the way these stores are advertising themselves to the consumer.
Our group has chosen five emotive brands (Pepsi, Pampers, Lloyd Grossman sauces, Warburton’s and Lynx) our aim was to discover how they connected with the mind of the consumer. This report will look at theories such as collectivism, individualism and globalisation. It will comment on our findings from the consumer research that was undertaken.
Consumer behaviour is the study of why people buy what they do, and can be explained by researching into the following-
*The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products)
*The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
*The behaviour of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;
*How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer.

All of this research helps marketers to see how they can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and strategies to effectively reach the consumer.

Consumption is a common concept in economics. As human beings we continually consume different products throughout our lives, some of these are basic needs and some of these are desires. Most marketers focus on our desires when introducing a new product for example - you already have a perfectly good car but you want a new one. It may be aspirational or appeal to our emotional side, or insecurities often we feel we have to have it but cannot justify why. One way which advertisers manipulate consumers is through Consumer capitalism - an economic and cultural condition where by the consumer demands are manipulated by the seller to their advantage, this will involve mass marketing techniques and will be on a large scale. People like to feel as though they have free choice over any decision they make, the reality is that they are subconsciously herded towards certain products, Edward Bernays became the “father of public relations” and used psychology and sociology principles together with motivational research techniques to manipulate public opinion and persuaded people to buy products such as cigarettes, which are damaging to ones health. Influences such a PR, past experiences with a brand and peer pressure can change people’s behaviour and views about certain subjects.

Other factors that effect what we buy are the theories of individualism and collectivism these are conflicting views of the nature of humans, society and the relationship between them. Individualists hold the view that the individual is the most important and although they do not deny that societies exist people who hold this view believe that society is made up of individuals.
Collectivist’s hold the view that the group - the nation, the community, the race, etc.
Are the primary unit of reality and the ultimate standard of value. People who hold this view do not deny the reality of the individual. But ultimately, collectivism states that the groups we interact with determine our identity, that our identity is composed of relationships with others.
Different brands can be marketed in both ways e.g. Lynx may make you feel the brand is talking directly to you as a 16 year old male but it is also talking to teenage males as a large group.
Identity is very important “it is not just a set of computerised data that distinguishes one person from another, identity is something much deeper and personal; ultimately it's about personal worth. Our identity is about how we perceive ourselves in relation to our families, our society, our gender, and our beliefs. It's also about how we perceive and value each other.” The brand preferences that we form a young age can distinguish who we are and can feel as though they are part of us.

Pepsi taps into these young people’s minds and connects with them at an early age, Pepsi’s markets itself towards young people with slogans such as “generation next” and “be young have fun drink Pepsi”. Pepsi originally found success by marketing itself as better value than Coca Cola when it introduced a 12 ounce bottle for 5 cents. Coca Cola was twice the price of Pepsi it was a strategy that worked in a time of depression, it boosted Pepsi’s status and by 1936 their profits doubled. This worked for Pepsi when it was first launched, and today Pepsi is using promotion again to try to outsell coca cola, supermarkets are consistently selling Pepsi at a lower promotional price. They seem to be using the strategy of price promotion again. Carbonated drinks tend to struggle with older consumers during recessionary times as they are considered discretionary purchases.
Pepsi still have their own base of loyal customers, who will always choose Pepsi over Coca Cola or any store alternative. It is made up of primarily a younger demographic.
Pepsi’s advertising campaigns frequently use celebrities to endorse their products they spend huge amounts of money to get the product into the minds of the consumers these celebrities can often be in the back of the mind of the consumer when making a purchasing decision.
Pepsi has become a global brand through the process of globalisation. This explained simply it is the process, by which the capitalist world-system spreads across the globe. It has brought about the choice of thousands of products to the masses. Globalisation has brought about free trade broken down barriers of social and cultural differences and meant that it has become easier for brands to have one global identity This has meant that some brands for example Jif have changed to Cif for the European market, and more recently Norwich union which is a very British brand has changed to Aviva, this is so it appeals to the European market.

In 2008 Britain entered the global recession, which has meant that people have had to re evaluate their shopping habits people have cut back on luxury items as their disposable income has shrunk.
They have had to rationalise their purchases the housing market has collapsed and the car industry is struggling everyone is being effected down to supermarket brands which have suffered because people are switching to the store’s own brand.
We carried out an experiment into items that were on promotion versus full price items and watched consumers to see whether price would effect their decision
We carried this experiment out in the crisps and snack aisle.
We found that Walkers were still the most popular product and most people decided to buy the large multipack which were on promotion, however larger families were choosing to buy the store brand multi-pack, which was considerably cheaper, these results are not isolated and show a trend towards people choosing cheaper store brands.

The recession has meant that advertisers have had to think of new strategies to get people spending.
“In advertising, different creative strategies are used in order to obtain consumer attention and provoke shoppers to purchase or use a specific product. Advertisers use different ways of thinking to create catchy slogans that capture consumer attention. Creative strategies promote publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.”
I have looked at how supermarkets have changed their advertising strategies during the recession. Asda have always been well known for their low prices, in 2008 they introduced a new slogan “why pay more?” Asda knew that its customers would be thinking about how they could save money and they knew most of Britain would be thinking the same. They wanted to attract consumers who currently shopped elsewhere by making price comparisons between all the major supermarkets. They used an independent price checker - my supermarket.com to show people that it wasn’t just false claims.

Sainsbury’s didn’t want to lose their customers to cheaper stores like Asda they knew that they were a higher priced supermarket, so they introduced “feed your family for a fiver”- which involved buying Sainsbury’s own brand products to make recipes.
They also introduced “switch and save” where they encouraged their consumers to switch to Sainsbury’s own brand and save 20% they started to advertise their basics range which they had not done previously.

People can be influenced by their peers into buying or using products or services. It is often more effective than advertising as people know that companies want to sell their products and wouldn’t ever highlight the negative aspects of their product. So consumers often trust family member and friends over any advertising they may have seen.
Peoples buying behaviour is also affected by their economic means, when people have less money they alter their behaviour accordingly they will cut back on discretionary purchases and even though their individuality is important to them they may hold back on large purchases that they want to make because they simply cannot afford them.

Buying behaviour we observed:
We counted people as they went into each store, Asda had the most customers compared to Sainsbury’s, showing that people are aware of Asda’s pricing position and I saw a lot of families and students who may be on a limited budget.
In Asda I was aware that people were much more aware of price, also there wasn’t the same stigmas around choosing economy brands that there were in Sainsbury’s- some people would have trolleys full of smart price food.
Couples- the man would push the trolley and the woman would fill it
I observed an argument over branded Chinese sauce the woman wanted the Sharwoods brand and the man wanted the Asda brand, as it was cheaper. They chose the Asda brand in the end.
I saw people put items back that they had in their trolleys when they saw similar branded items on promotion one example of this was Coca Cola and Pepsi. This was probably to do with the price difference rather than a particular brand preference as they were placed next to each other on the shelves.
People were still buying branded products but they were more aware of price and
promotion played a part in their purchase decision.
Some of the people shopping in Sainsbury’s were young professionals just picking up something for lunch so it was difficult to predict which brands they would buy in a weekly shop.
The majority of people that I observed in Sainsbury’s were older (probably due to the time of day and it was mid-week) but they weren’t as concerned about price, I saw a lot of people continue to buy Andrex toilet roll and McCain’s chips these items were not on promotion. Had it been a family doing a weekly shop I suspect that they may have been more price conscious, as Sainsbury’s money saving campaigns seem to suggest families are concerned about the rising cost of living.
To conclude consumer behaviour changes dramatically in times of economic trouble, people become a lot more aware of the purchases they are making (even if usually the decisions are processed at low attention, with little thought) when money is tight people start to cut back on non essential items and look at cheaper alternatives, brands such as Pepsi have been able to form emotional attachments with their younger more loyal audience, but may have to work hard to attract new ones who may choose lower priced store brands.

are brands in trouble?

branded suppliers were left reeling this week as Tesco and Sainsbury’s both launched concerted campaigns promoting their own-label ranges at the expense of brands.

Sainsbury’s announced a massive Switch & Save campaign, across all media, that will encourage shoppers to buy the retailer’s 15,000 own labels; while the Tesco website, Tesco.com, now flags up a cheaper alternative, usually own-label, when shoppers select a brand. Tesco’s initiative is backed by TV ads showing brands being replaced by cheaper alternatives.

Branded suppliers have reacted angrily to the initiatives, suggesting retailers were deliberately trying to damage brands. The CEO of one leading brand said the push showed the multiples were in trouble. “We are doing well. Evidently they aren’t,” he said. “It says more about them than it does about us.”

Another supplier said he was worried his business would suffer. “I see this as a deliberate attempt to damage my business by promoting competitors. I thought we had been singled out as some form of punishment for not toeing the line,” he said. “We were not told Tesco were doing this: we found out by accident because we check the retail price every day. I’m not happy. Of course it will damage sales.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said the new web feature was just part of its efforts to improve online shopping. “This feature just lets customers do what they can do in our stores – see what’s on offer,” she said. 
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “Our customers can make significant savings by switching from a brand to any of our own-label products.”

Sainsbury’s surveyed 1,000 people on their attitudes to brands and own labels. The survey showed 51% of consumers believed big brands were losing their importance and 35% thought they represented “pointless added expense”. Sainsbury’s said customers could save 20% by switching to own-label products.

Despite the lower retail price, supermarkets enjoy higher margins on own labels than brands. But The Grocer 33 database suggests own-label products are rising in price more rapidly than brand counterparts.

The Grocer Price Index indicates that while own labels remain significantly cheaper, the gap could be closing. The cost of an average The Grocer 33 basket is up 13.9% year-on-year. Own-label products increased by an average of 18.9% since last year, while brands rose just 8.6%.

The figures suggest Sainsbury’s has the smallest gap between own-label and branded price growth, at 6.9 points. Morrisons appeared highest at 13.9 points, with Waitrose, Asda and Tesco spread evenly in between on 8.7, 10.9 and 12 points respectively.

Individualism in Consumer Behaviour

Individual differences can affect what you buy.
For example, age. Teenagers tend to buy a variety of ‘fashion’ products. These products are usually the ones that are the latest in the market, or are featured in magazines. Older generation tend to use familiar products, maybe products that they’ve used for a long period of time. They show more brand loyalty with their products. They also go for higher end products and ‘stable’ companies that have been around for a long period of time. Maybe not try new things, as they are comfortable with using brands they are familiar with.
Gender can also affect what we buy, too. Women have more disposable products, toiletries, especially make up. They spend a lot of their money on looking good. Whether it be clothing or toiletries. The products they buy are in competition with the same sex. It’s all about ’the longest lashes’ or ’better skin’ when it comes to toiletries. They are a lot more fashion conscious, not necessarily to attract the opposite sex, but to keep up with other females. They go for products that are high fashion, and appear in magazines. Males use products, particularly toiletries, to attract the opposite sex. Although there may be competition between the same sex, this doesn’t seem as big an issue. They go for products that have the ‘cool’ factor. Products that look advanced and are more technological.
Individual tastes can also affect sales. Vegans and vegetarians may only use certain products from selected stores. They don’t go for products that have been tested on animals, so they only shop in stores that have a anti animal testing philosophy. Religion can also affect what consumers buy. For example, Muslims don’t eat pork.
Family life can also affect what people buy. Depending on the size of your family and work, you may not be able to afford the higher end products.

Repetition in learning - Repetition codes.

Repetition codes are not special "codes" so much as they are tricks to try to reduce the error rate. In a repetition code, data is transmitted multiple times, verbatim. The receiver reads enough of these repeats until a clear consensus emerges as to the value of the message.
Perhaps the most popular repetition code is "triple modular redundancy", sending the same message 3 times.
To send n data bits with k repetitions, nk bits need to be transmitted.
Other, more complicated codes can detect and correct occasional single-bit errors with much less overhead, giving a higher goodput data rate through the same channel.


Let's say we have a repeated message of 3 bits that is sent 3 times. When it is received, each message is different:
101
001
100
Because we didn't receive exactly the same message all 3 times, we have detected that some errors occurred.
We can see that the middle bit is almost certainly a 0, because it is the same in all messages. We can also see that the first and the last digit are likely to be a 1 because 2 out of 3 of the messages say that these values are 1. The transmitted message then was most likely 101.

Repetition Theory - Different forms of repetition

alliterationRepetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more stressed syllables.
assonanceRepetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.
consonanceThe repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words.
homoioptotonThe repetition of similar case endings in adjacent words or in words in parallel position.
homoioteleutonSimilarity of endings of adjacent or parallel words.
paroemionAlliteration taken to an extreme — every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant.
paromoiosisParallelism of sound between the words of adjacent clauses whose lengths are equal or approximate to one another. The combination of isocolon and assonance.

Repetition of Words
adnominatio (When synonymous with polyptoton)Repeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.
anadiplosisThe repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next.
anaphoraRepetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
antanaclasisThe repetition of a word whose meaning changes in the second instance.
antistasisThe repetition of a word in a contrary sense. Often, simply synonymous with antanaclasis.
conduplicatioThe repetition of a word or words in adjacent phrases or clauses, either to amplify the thought or to express emotion.
diacopeRepetition of a word with one or more between, usually to express deep feeling.
diaphoraRepetition of a common name so as to perform two logical functions: to designate an individual and to signify the qualities connoted by that individual's name or title.
epanalepsisRepetition at the end of a line, phrase, or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause.
epistropheEnding a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. The opposite of anaphora.
epizeuxisRepetition of words with no others between.
mesarchiaThe repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middleof successive sentences.
mesodiplosisRepetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
palilogiaRepetition of the same word, with none between, for vehemence. Synonym for epizeuxis.
paregmenonA general term for the repetition of a word or its cognates in a short sentence.
ploceA general term for the repetition of a word for rhetorical emphasis.
polyptotonRepeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.
polysyndetonEmploying many conjunctions between clauses.
symploceThe combination of anaphora and epistrophe: beginning a series of lines, clauses, or sentences with the same word or phrase while simultaneously repeating a different word or phrase at the end of each element in this series.
Repetition of clauses and phrases
anaphoraRepetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
coenotesRepetition of two different phrases: one at the beginning and the other at the end of successive paragraphs. A specific kind of symploce.
epistropheRepetition at the end of a line, phrase, or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause.
isocolonA series of similarly structured elements having the same length. The length of each member is repeated in parallel fashion.
mesarchiaThe repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middleof successive sentences.
mesodiplosisRepetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
repotiaThe repetition of a phrase with slight differences in style, diction, tone, etc.

Repetition of ideas
commoratioDwelling on or returning to one's strongest argument.
disjunctioA similar idea is expressed with different verbs in successive clauses.
epanodosRepeating the main terms of an argument in the course of presenting it.
epimonePersistent repetition of the same plea in much the same words.
exergasiaAugmentation by repeating the same thought in many figures.
expolitioRepetition of the same idea, changing either its words, its delivery, or the general treatment it is given.
homiologiaTedious and inane repetition. Unvaried style.
hypozeuxis
palilogiaRepetition in order to increase general fullness or to communicate passion.
pleonasmusUse of more words than is necessary semantically. Rhetorical repetition that is grammatically superfluous.
scesis onomatonA series of successive, synonymous expressions.
synonymiaThe use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a given subject or term. A kind of repetition that adds force.
tautologiaThe repetition of the same idea in different words, but (often) in a way that is wearisome or unnecessary.
traductioRepeating the same word variously throughout a sentence or thought.

Consumer Behaviour - Simple Math?

“There’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic, to
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR” - Written by Amey Upfold

AD 14 Consumer Behaviour and Cultural Influences
The Conclusion Report
Over a period of four months we have been studying the behaviour of consumers and examining why it is important and hindering for marketing companies to monitor this behaviour. We began by choosing two supermarkets, Sainsbury’s and Somerfield, to observe people buying their shopping and how the products communicate to them and influence their choice in brand. We then picked five major brands to study in detail and examine why they are so popular to the masses. We did this at a time of economic crisis, the recession starting 2008, and considered this as a major factor when examining our results.
Brand and marketing companies are always seeking new ways to gain interest in their products, as most products stay the same whilst their image and packaging may change several times to keep up with current trends. This is where research into why people choose particular products is useful, however it is also hindering as a significant amount of consumer behaviour is erratic and seemingly illogical to expectations. Many theorists believe to get around this, branding and marketing companies manipulate consumers into buying their products, a condition referred to as consumer capitalism.
“The many critics of advertising claim that it is a tool whereby consumers are manipulated by the producers of goods (on whose behalf advertising is waged)” - Sut Jhally, The Codes of Advertising.
The phrase Consumer Capitalism is controversial, as “It suggests manipulation of consumer demand so potent that it has a coercive effect, amounts to a departure from free- market capitalism, and has an adverse effect on society in general”.
This suggests that humans are easily manipulated into choosing when they shouldn’t and acting when they didn’t plan it, which at a time of financial crisis particularly would worry people.
However it is important to understand the criticism comes from when advertising appears to change from being informative (its original purpose) and persuasive.
“The origins of consumer capitalism are found in the development of American departments stores in the 1850s, notably the advertising and marketing innovations at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia”. In his book Land of Desire, Professor William Leach argues there was a deliberate effort to “detach consumer demand from 'necessity' (which can be satisfied) to 'desire' (which can never be satisfied)”.
It was this transformation of manufacturing companies selling and making money from the actual goods to making money purely from it’s image. This is the reason that modern day brands now appeal to the audiences feelings rather than their needs, referred to as emotional advertising. When choosing our five brands to study we specifically picked brands that stir up certain emotions in the way they advertise themselves. This involves appealing imagery, colours and even characters.
The Five brands:
Andrex - advertisers use symbols to summon up emotional responses. Consider the symbol X and what it connotes, ie kissing, x marks the spot, love. This symbol >< to some people appears as two mouths kissing. Now consider what a cuddly Labrador puppy connotes. The Andrex puppy has also weaved into our popular culture as an icon, as Labrador puppies are often referred to as Andrex puppies by children and adults alike.
L’oreal- advertisements heavily feature celebrity images, ideal figures and role models which consumers immediately connect with to the product as being the reason they look the way they do.
Lynx - very much a brand that focuses on one specific target market - the adolescent male meaning to attract a female. This type of advertising hones in on consumers individualism, defined as “the moral stance or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society or any other group or institution”.
Bisto - branded as a necessity to a good home- cooked meal and specifically targets families, defined as a “collective”. Collectivism is a moral stance opposite to individualism, and when concerned with advertising refers to a group of people targeted rather than a consumer as an individual, such as a demographic. The most recent Bisto campaign targeted the family by releasing a “Bisto Pledge” - families of all varieties promising to set aside a day of the week as family night, where they would all sit at the table and eat a home cooked meal (presumably with Bisto on top). Following this, the message the consumer sends out when buying Bisto is that their family is a main priority.
Coco Pops - whilst the TV advertisements appear to target children with the animated jungle characters and promises of “fun in a bowl”, they are actually mainly targeting the parents. Kelloggs, along with most major brands, have re-branded themselves as nutritious and an essential for a balanced, healthy diet. The marketing and packaging plays heavily on this fact to attract mums, knowing that the fun element of the adverts will ensure pester power. This phrase, which immerged in the 1970’s refers to the repetitive nagging of a child or infant towards parents to purchase them a certain current trend or fashionable item.
Going back to how advertisements weave into popular culture, they can also weave into our everyday conversation. A classic example of this would be of a young American student Lonnie Thomas, who when interviewed about President George Bush visiting his school replied “He kept going and going and going… like an Energizer bunny!”. (Advertising and Popular Culture). This does not necessarily prove that advertising manipulates us to buy, with its emotional imagery and connotations, but certainly proves that it affects our everyday life to an extent that maybe because of this intrusion we subconsciously choose a brand we relate to.
So, do women buy L’Oreal shampoo so they can toss back their hair and declare that they’re “worth it”? They would probably never admit this. In testing consumer response a survey was conducted asking people if they had ever borrowed money from a personal loans company, all of which replied a firm “no”. The only reason these particular people had been interviewed was because their names had been obtained from a personal loans database(Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion). This was one of the reasons we decided to observe consumer behaviour in the supermarkets without their knowledge and not ask questions - we believed just our observations would give us sound and qualitative data.

Major behaviour we observed
- Couples: When shopping together, the man tended to push the trolley whilst the woman loaded it up, brandishing a list.
- Male, alone: The 6 males we observed who shopped alone always wondered idly through the aisles, making it hard to track them as they collected their shopping in an illogical order according to the thought out layout of the shop. This suggests males, who along with our findings we observed rarely procured a shopping list, could be easier to manipulate with convenient offers.
As well as quietly observing from a distance and making notes in disguise as shopping lists, we conducted practical experiments on manipulation and collected quantitative data. One such experiment we dubbed “Pukka Pies Manipulation”, which began under the suggestion that maybe we could manipulate people’s decisions by making ourselves self-advertisements. We did this by approaching products with confidence, as a unknowing customer seemed indecisive nearby, loudly claiming positive attributes of the products. On three separate occasions the consumer chose the item we positively described, most notably a singular Pukka Pie box.
Our quantitative data consisted of observing the Reduced section of Sainsbury’s, noting who stopped to browse and who actually picked an item. These are the results:
Number of consumers who passed
36
Number of consumers who
stopped to look
13

We believe whilst though the reduced section is popular in it’s own way, the position of the rack needed to be nearer the end of the store closer to the tills (reduced is usually stock that no one wants to purchase anyway and is seen as an unplanned, last minute decision).
There are countless ways in which modern day advertising appears to be persuasive in a way that influences the consumers choice and sometimes disturbs people who don’t like to believe they can be swayed in their purchasing decisions.
Campbell describes some of the effective persuasive techniques in Media and Culture, such as-
- Famous person testimonial: When a person sees an advert featuring someone recognisable from other instances of popular culture such as film or TV, it establishes an instant feeling of trust in the brand being advertised. The consumer feels reassured by the fact the famous individual is associating themselves with the brand, connoting that if the brand is good enough for them, it’s good enough for anyone. George Clooney, for example, exerts a cool exterior playing himself in the recent TV campaign for Nespresso, an espresso making facility. Upon watching the advert the person does not necessarily feel they will be just like George Clooney by buying an espresso maker, but their opinion of the brand and product is lifted when they familiarise themselves with him and his connection with it as an essential to his life.
Other brands that appeared in the supermarkets we studied, such as L’Oreal, heavily feature famous person testimonial and rely on them to maintain their image of beauty and desire. Sainsbury’s itself is heavily advertised and promoted by famous TV chef Jamie Oliver, a down to earth cockney celebrity who installs faith in Sainsbury’s customers that the food they buy is satisfactory enough to please a trained well known cook.
- Bandwagon effect - This method gives them impression that “everyone” is using particular product. A good example of this is the line “The car in front is a Toyota” from the Toyota campaigns, simple copy suggesting that it is a vehicle everyone is purchasing and having fun with. This heightened sense of security is considered important in automobile advertising as it is what is referred to as a high involvement purchasing decision (similar to holidays and other costly purchases). Beauty products, what would come under as low involvement decision making, also use this technique to stand out from competition brands. They use voiceovers in TV campaigns often explaining how “9/10 woman prefer” their brand to any other, with the audience not questioning the means in which they collected this data. Conformity is powerful human motivator; “Popularity is like a magnet, advertising enhances it’s power to attract”.
The behaviour we observed in the supermarkets was of course low involvement decision making, none of the products available being too extravagantly priced such as when booking holidays or buying cars (high involvement decision making). Branding companies recognise and acknowledge that peoples decisions in supermarkets are quick instead of well thought out. Price is obviously a major factor, it goes without saying that if a product popular or not is reduced it will sell quicker than a competition brand not reduced. We observed this for example with Tetley and PG Tips teabags. Whilst Tetley Tea bags were on offer the shelf promoting this was empty of stock, despite being mere pennies less than the price of PG Tips and still more expensive than the supermarkets own brand.
Smaller influences to purchasing decisions include:
- Hidden fear appeal - plays on anxieties, examples spot treatment, bad breath (Listerine). As another example from our five chosen emotional brands, Lynx plays on the confidence of young adolescent males and the ways they can attract girls, one way being to smell nice. Lynx advertisements heavily feature women pursuing the central male who uses Lynx body spray/ deodorant.
- Irritation advertising - using repetition and intrusive methods to stick in consumers memories, people moan about this style of advertising but can not deny they are easily forgotten. A classic example of this would be the Mr Whipple advertisements, following which sales drastically increased despite audiences claiming the advertisements annoyed them.
- Comparative advertising- playing off similar brands. Some brands rely on the competition between them and other brands, even making a success out of something negative. Rent-a-car service Avis had always been 2nd to competition service Hertz. Yet when DDB created the campaign stating “We’re number two, why go with us? We try harder” the competition certainly increased in favour of Avis.
Advertising guru and co-founder or Ogilvy and Mather David Ogilvy stresses his view that research into a brand and why people buy it is imperative to its success. He lists his achievements in advertising campaigns and how this only came about by “doing his homework”
“When I got the Mercedes account, I sent a team to the Daimler- Benz headquarters… they spent three weeks taping interviews with the engineers. From this came a campaign of long factual advertisements which increased Mercedes sales in the United States from 10,000 cars a year to 40,000”.
Obviously this is clear evidence that researching into what interests people in purchasing particular products, in this case knowing more about the mechanics of a car, works to increase sales and brand loyalty.
To conclude my report, I believe research into how advertising affects a consumers final purchasing decision is important to a certain extent, but we can never completely predict the final choice based on behaviour theories. As it is quoted in Advertising Age, “In very few instances do people really know what they want, even when they say they do”.

Bibliography
1) PACKARD, V. 1957. The Hidden Persuaders. Canada: Ig Publishing.
2) SUTHERLAND, M AND SYLVESTER, A. 1993. Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer. 2nd Edition. Australia: Kogan Page Limited.
3) FOWLES, J. 1996. Advertising and Popular Culture. US: Sage Publications INC.
4) JHALLY, S. 1990. The Codes of Advertising - Fetishism and the Political Economy of Meaning in the Consumer Society. New York: Routledge.
5) FULOP, C. 1981. Advertising , Competition and Consumer Behaviour. Great Britain: The Pitman Press.
6) SCHUDSON, M. 1984. Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: It’s Dubious Impact on American Society. London: Basic Books, inc.
7) CAMPBELL, R ET AL. 2008. Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. 6th Edition. US: Bedford/ St Martins.
8) OGILVY, D. 2007. Ogilvy on Advertising. 2nd Edition. London: Carlton Publishing Group.
Definitions from Wikipedia (Individualism, Commercialisation, Consumer Capitalism)

Report on Global factors Affecting Consumer Behaviour and an Example of a Practical Theory being Successfully Applied to an Advertising Strategy.

This report is a summary of our recent studies relating to consumer behaviour. It describes some of the key theories, which impact consumer behaviour globally and outlines some of our findings whilst conducting research into the Andrex Toilet Tissue brand. It comments on how the brand interacts with the mind of the consumer, both emotively and subconsciously, and relates these findings to some of the popular theories surrounding consumer behaviour.

 

Over the last five years, particularly in the UK, there has been a growing common conception that every one of us is living in a so-called ‘Big Brother’ state. Governments are increasingly gaining the powers and ability to track our every move. Whether through the exploitation of anti terrorism laws, or research into peoples shopping habits, the human race is fast becoming part of a global experiment, having its behaviour scrutinized at every given opportunity. However, whether morally acceptable or otherwise, the information we gain about an individual, or social or cultural group is undoubtedly a huge advantage to achieving success in marketing and advertising strategy. This is highlighted by the billions of dollars, which get spent on anthropology by the worlds leading brands every year.

Consumer behaviour is affected by a number of social, economic and cultural issues. Throughout our research we took into consideration a variety of the differing issues and theories relating to consumer behaviour and the effect these may have on consumer choice. These are all factors where one issue can play a significant part in the other, such as: globalisation, the interlocking of economic spheres, consumption and the emergence of consumer capitalism.

 

Globalisation is defined as the process of locally based values principles, or societies if you like, being dissolved and transformed into one larger global community. It drastically affects marketing techniques, yet ironically it is some of these techniques, which have played a major part in globalisation. An example of this would be the introduction of American fast food giants McDonalds into the Asian market place. They began offering Asian consumers a choice to try foods commonly thought of as being part of their own Asian culture, but which had been manufactured by an entirely different (American) culture. Traditional American foods would be slowly introduced, once the emotional bond and trust had been strengthened and built up. Given time, Asian consumer’s attitudes to American culture and food would be manipulated to a point that it would be both accepted and thought of as a customary part of their own culture. The general belief of the masses would suggest that this transformation had happened accidentally, where as the reality would suggest it was anticipated long before the market shift and expansion was launched.

 

 Globalisation, can intentionally or otherwise remove social and cultural differences, which can often have a bearing on consumer behaviour and in turn, lead to brands developing a more consistent global identity, one which doesn’t have to worry about the backlash of possible misinterpretation in other parts of the world. This isn’t to say that marketers believe cultural issues are no longer important. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The more information a brand holds about the world and its contrasting inhabitants the more chance it has of understanding and manipulating them.

 

The interlocking of economic spheres is another aspect, which has affected consumer behaviour albeit for very different reasons all together. Whilst the McDonalds example in Asia is a more recent occurrence, world affairs have in the past left a lasting and sometimes damaging effect on consumer choice and their reasoning for the purchase of certain brands. After the First World War, America was seeking to take a vow of self-sufficiency in order to protect their country in the event of any further conflict. To do this they wanted to safeguard American brands from any foreign competition. This culminated in the 1922 Fordney-McCumber Tariff, which imposed steep taxes on all foreign imports. As a result consumers were turning their backs on the more expensive European trade names in favour of the cheaper American brands.  These actions led Spain to impose a tax on American imports and France to follow the actions of America.

Although this example was a step backwards for globalisation, the Second World War seemed to produce the opposite effect. The UK in particular soon developed a perception of America as ‘saviours’ and popular American luxury goods such as chewing gum saw Briton’s flocking to buy their products. This sentimental display of favouritism was a stark, yet understandable contrast to the matter of American consumers boycotting German brands such as Volkswagen and Budweiser during World War One.

 

More recently of course and perhaps the best example of interlocking economic spheres is the introduction of the European Union and the combined currency of the Euro. This has simplified the process of cross border trade within the European Union seeing previously ‘foreign’ brands becoming more cosmopolitan. Many people are beginning to redefine themselves as ‘European’.  Again this also has had an effect on consumer behaviour as stated in the book ‘Global Consumer Behaviour’ by Chantal Ammi: “Globalization has promoted the emergence of a new type of consumer and has had effects on industry in terms of culture, economics, marketing and social issues at every scale from local to global. We can see a proliferation of global brands and an alleged homogenization of cultures in driving regions: “Europeanization”, “Westernization” or “Americanization”.

 

The issue of consumption referring to consumer behaviour can be met with a fair degree of ambiguity.  Some people define consumption as the mere final process of purchasing goods or a service, where as others view it as the whole cycle including production and marketing of the product before it is consumed. A Keynesian theory for instance, would differ from that of the late Milton Friedman. Theories aside though an example of consumption affecting consumer behaviour and vice versa would be that of hire purchase, or more recently the tendency for individuals to purchase a car ‘on finance’ which is essentially the same thing. This could be extended to mortgages and the inclination of consumers to take advantage of the plummeting property market, by buying houses merely as an investment anticipating an improvement in the market to make a quick profit.

 

So far we haven’t seen much direct manipulation going on, but rather changes in consumer behaviour as a result of major political decisions and the changing state of the economy. However, the theory of consumer capitalism is one of large-scale manipulation through mass media techniques, which is carefully coordinated for maximum effect. Capitalism is the system by which a country’s trade and industry is controlled by private companies rather than the state. When applied to consumers, this theory is basically well thought out advertising strategy. In the UK we see large supermarket chains in particular broadening their market share and introducing themselves as major players in other fields. Tesco’s for example famous for its food, now offer one of the most competitive rates in car and home insurance.

 

One crucial factor relating to consumer capitalism is the highly influential role played by Edward Bernays, whose early twentieth century work in America saw him emerge as one of the founder fathers of what we know today as public relations. The nephew of famous Austrian Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, he became one of the first people to attempt mass manipulation of public opinion using the subconscious mind. The power and dangers of mass manipulation were later outlined by the fact that Joseph Goebbels admitted his propaganda campaigns were inspired by the work of Bernays.

 

Bernays’ own use of propaganda was based on tactics, which we can relate to in the current world of marketing and advertising. Many of his ideas were based on manipulating social groups. He talks about targeting the leaders to manipulate the entire “herd”. In his 1928 book entitled ‘Propaganda’ he says: “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway. But men do not need to be actually gathered together in a public meeting or in a street riot, to be subject to the influences of mass psychology. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn. His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group influences.”  This can be related to today by the example of a celebrity endorsing a certain product. For instance David Beckham by wearing Adidas Predator football boots will subconsciously play on the mind of teenage boys when making a consumer choice in a sports shop. Similarly supermodel Kate Moss modeling a specific dress will play affect the consumer choice of the young girls who aspire to be her.

 

Applying these theories to an individual brand, we looked at Andrex Toilet Tissue. Andrex has been a market leader in the toilet tissue industry for decades due to a combination of extremely effective marketing and advertising. Although as we will get on to later, the subconscious mind does play a part in manipulating the consumer choice, the main strength of the brand is the emotional responses it generates. These responses stretch much further than the basis of the product and what it is used for. Since 1972 the brand has used Labrador puppies in its ads, to communicate brand qualities such as softness, playfulness, happiness and maternal qualities such as care and responsibility. When people think of the mentioned qualities, they don’t think of toilet tissue, they instead think of Andrex and the Andrex Puppy. This emotional attachment also seems to generate an undeniable sentiment of brand loyalty, particularly amongst the female audience. Victor Geus, Andrex marketing manager, says about the brand: "We all have an emotional attachment to the Andrex puppy. It embodies positive qualities such as kindness and trust, but the puppy's more obvious appeal is its playfulness and its cuteness”… "Over the years, the Andrex puppy has won the hearts of the nation, and as a result has helped maintain the brand's leading market position.”  (Source: http://www.brandrepublic.com)

 

There are also hidden messages within the playfulness and cuteness of the puppies. They pull the toilet tissue around; subtly showing how long and strong the product is, yet at the same time maintaining the soft and gentle image. Adrian Mackay from the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers believes the Andrex advertising strategy is:

“Long Term – to make consumers believe that Andrex offers the best in softness, strength and length, which when combined with the emotional appeal of the puppy, make Andrex unbeatable,

Short Term – to pick up and emphasise individual attributes or the emotional appeal to build on the long-term proposition.”

 

Whilst researching the Andrex brand the following observations were made in the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Newport:

 

Andrex dominates the toilet tissue market with a huge majority share. This was reflected in the considerable amount of shelf space allocated to the brand. The brand was positioned on the right front side of the corresponding aisle, ensuring it would be the first product a consumer would see when entering the given aisle from the front of the store. Bog standard (pun intended) original four roll packs of white Andrex rolls were located on the middle shelf, with the more expensive coloured toilet tissue directly above it. Larger packs of all varieties were located on the bottom shelf. Further research suggests this pattern is not consistent through out all supermarkets. The cheaper Sainsbury’s own brand toilet tissue was at the other end of the toilet tissue section, meaning it would be the first product a consumer saw when entering the aisle from the rear. Both positions have their pros and cons and both supermarket and toilet tissue brands would have done their own research to study how people move through the store and which end they are more likely to enter. There is a common believe that people have tendency to take a right turn as apposed to a left. This would benefit Andrex’s shelf positioning, as they would originally turn right when entering the store.

 

When approaching the product, the majority of consumers entered the aisle from the front of the store and encountered the Andrex brand first. Most stopped and picked up the middle shelf items first, before spotting the ‘3 rolls free’ offer on the larger packs situated on the bottom shelf. They then put their original choice back and walked off up the aisle towards the rear of the store, with the larger but more expensive special offer packs. The majority glanced at the cheaper own brands and competitors such as Charmin but did not stop to have a proper look. The bulk of consumers who purchased Andrex had shopping trolleys and seemed to be conducting a more thorough shop, where as the few exceptions who chose the own brand seemed to have baskets or were carrying a select few items in their hands. Consumers who chose the own brand toilet tissue were interestingly predominantly male.

 

The Andrex product packaging appears to consist of a relatively simple design. The brand name is extremely large and covers the entire width of the product wrapper. Images of the popular and playful puppies are on selected varieties of the product only. This would suggest the manipulation had a reached a stage which could be related to Bernays’ theory of stamping the image into the mind of the consumer. The brand uses warm yet friendly colours, which portray the softness and comfort qualities perfectly. Light shades of pink, blue, yellow and green are all used and all are blended in with touches of white. This is almost certainly a fully intentional well worked out marketing tactic. In Vance Packard’s book ‘The Hidden Persuaders’, he tells us about the Colour Research Institute who performed a test using three different packaging designs which all contained a washing detergent. Unbeknown to the people testing them all three detergents were identical. One was predominantly yellow, another predominantly blue, and the last one blue with splashes of yellow in what the researchers thought was an “equal balance”. The test found that the consumers thought the yellow box was too strong and “ruined clothes”, the blue box left clothes “looking dirty”, and the mixed coloured box “overwhelmingly received favourable responses”. Being described as “fine” and “wonderful”. Andrex would be fully aware of such factors when designing their packaging in a demonstration of careful research into the market having a positive outcome in seeking the consumer behavioural responses they desire.

 

In conclusion we have discovered that consumer behaviour is a loose term that can be interpreted and acted upon in a variety of different ways. It can be described as how, what when and why people buy things.  The research conducted has outlined factors such as globalisation and consumer capitalism, which have changed the way consumers behave. The arrival of the Internet and advances in technology have succeeded in breaking down social and cultural barriers, but have not succeeded in stopping the masses from being continually manipulated by those who are learning more and more about them and the way they behave.