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.
1 comment:
Bloody nora, get you!!!
Right time to post mine I think....
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