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Friday, 19 November 2010
First Assignment Submission – Week 6
Here we are at week 6, and it’s time to hand in my first assignment for this university module. For this assignment we were required to create a poster deconstructing a piece of packaging analysing all marketing messages (I chose to do my poster on Muller Stars yoghurt pots, mainly aimed at children) and 1,500 word essay defining perception, explaining the perceptual process and drawing on theorists such as Howard Sheth, Engel Kollart and the Blackwell Model. In addition to this, we were expected to explain and give examples of factors which might affect a person’s perception of the world around them e.g. gender, age, social class, level of education, race and ethnicity etc. Then as a conclusion, apply all of this theory towards my deconstruction of the packaging chosen e.g. How does the packaging capture attention? How does it relate to the senses? How does the target market interpret the colours, images, fonts, etc to form a clear opinion of the product?
I think I captured all of these points well and thoroughly within my assignment and completed it and handed my final copy into university before the 2 o’clock deadline we were set on Friday.
As a result of this, this week’s lecture was cancelled to give us more time to work on our assignment. A large and colourful poster and a 1,500 essay later, assignment one (“Packaging and Perception”) is done and dusted!
But, it’s back to work next week and we’re going to be learning about something new. Come back to find out more.
Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.
The Great Ice-Cream Wars Of The 1980’s
In relation to perceptual maps, ice-cream brands Haagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry’s have always been at the top of the scale so they have always been in competition with each other. Ruth showed us advertisements from both companies and how they both appeal to their target audiences.
Personally, Ben & Jerry’s is my favourite ice-cream brand J
You can click on the images above to view them larger.
Haagen-Dazs reigned as the United States’ top-selling super premium ice-cream during the 1980s. Their success partially resulted from their pure, unaltered ingredients they used as well as from its decadent reputation. However, their fastest-growing competitor, Ben and Jerry’s, marketed their also super premium ice-cream brand as a product for anyone and everyone.
Ben and Jerry’s began expanding their business to middle class consumers in the 1990s. “It’s hard to find two competitive brands neck-and-neck that are so very different in consumers’ minds,” Walt Freese, Advertising Age. He also stated that Haagen-Dazs was assumed to be “for the chosen few” but that Ben and Jerry’s were generally identified as a “super-premium for the people.”
Ben and Jerry’s became Haagen-Dazs’ most threatening competitor in the 1990s, branded its “super premium ice cream around fun and irreverence”. It also used a large percentage of their advertising budget to sponsor socially conscious events which proved very effective. “From April 2003 to April 2004, Ben and Jerry’s boosted its sales by 15.9%, while sales for Haagen-Dazs dropped 16.5%”.
In order for Haagen-Dazs’ sales to soar they launched a “Made Like No Other” campaign, mainly for ice-cream enthusiasts airing three television spots which they cost around $5-$10, which eventually went on to win a Gold EFFIE Award in 2005 in the snacks/desserts/confections category. The first, “Anthem” launched in May 2004 and won a 2005 Bronze Clio Award for the Original Music category. Goodby, Silverstein and Partners explained that “the advertising spurred a dramatic turnaround: sales and market share soared as old and new audiences were won over – reminded why they loved Haagen-Dazs once more.” Their other two television advertisements “Strawberry” and “Vanilla” both started airing in June 2004, with each of their adverts using the same taglines such as “Just perfect” and “Made like no other”.
With the help of this campaign, Haagen-Dazs’ sales raised and members of the advertising industry began to view the ice-cream brand more positively than before. In mid-2004, Gary Koepke (Modernista!) admired the campaign by stating “I like the new Haagen-Dazs ad with the tagline ‘made like no other’. It shows umbrellas opening on an empty beach and rain falling on a pond. It takes me by surprise. They’re not showing the typical scoop of ice-cream. The ad makes ice cream precious like a reward or a setting sun. It’s just nice. It’s different.”
Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.
Segmenting the Orange; Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning – Week 5
During our lecture, Ruth showed us a PowerPoint presentation on perceptual maps. At first it looked very scary and confusing as shown below. However, the theory behind this is followed.
You can click on the diagrams above to view them larger.
A vital decision, which can affect a product’s life length and its flexibility in a market over time, concerns their position. This requires thinking in the context of the competitive segment it occupies in its market, defined in terms of traits that matter to the target market. The important criterion is how close to the ideal on each of those features, compared with competing products, yours is to be judged by the target market. For example, Harrods in London is positioned as a high-class and high-quality and exclusive huge department store. In order to reinforce their positioning with their target market, they ensure that their product ranges, staff expertise, displays and overall store atmosphere are all of a high quality for their consumers.
Perceptual maps help to offer an insight into suitable competitive actions. For example, an essential decision could be whether to try and “meet the competition head-on or to differentiate your product away from them”. They can show just how far away from the competition your product is shown to be and where its weaknesses and strengths lie, directing to an understanding of the marketing tasks involved in improving the product which is being offered. If the purpose is to differentiate, the map can point out whether your product is sufficiently different in terms of characteristics that matter and whether nick markets exist that your product could be adapted to fit into. (Brassington and Pettitt)
By identifying the key aspects and then asking individuals to segment competitors within the perceptual map space, marketers can answer some fundamental strategic questions, such as which substitutes are seen by consumers as similar or dissimilar, and what opportunities exist for new products that hold attributes not represented by current brands. The perceptual map below shoes the iconic Burberry brand, showing its “old” position from the 1980s and 1990s, and the shift in perceptions of the brand in more recent years. (Solomon et al, 2010)
You can click on the diagram above to view it larger.
In addition to this, Ruth showed us her version of her perceptual map of biscuit brands, shown below. As a class, we all thought up more brands that could be added to our map. This then turned into a mini debate about the “best biscuits” – Jaffa cakes. Are they biscuits or cakes? J
You can click on the diagram above to view it larger.
We were then set a task to create our own perceptual map of jeans brands in small groups. The map that my group came up with is shown below.
You can click on the diagram above to view it larger.
Overall, a perceptual map can be used to “establish a customer’s viewpoint of the organisation relative to its competitors” (Egan, 2007). It also a form of a market research technique which consumer’s views about a product is traced or mapped on a chart. The product is analysed in terms of it performance, packaging, price, size, etc. to figure out where to segment them on the map. “These answers are transferred to a chart (called a perceptual map) using a suitable scale, and the results are employed in improving the product or in developing a new one.” (businessdictionary.com, 2010)
Main prep for this week was to complete my first assignment ready for submission during week 6. This required me to read through various textbooks, journals, reports and websites to find useful information that I could include and reference thoroughly within my work. I was also required to produce a poster analysing a type of packaging. The packaging that I chose was Muller Stars yoghurts which mainly appealed to young children due to the use of bright colour and cartoon imagery used.
We were also expected to read Brassington and Pettitt (Chapter 4) as outside reading. After reading and highlighting the important points within the chapter, I found that “Segmentation techniques are split into both macro and micro variables. Macro includes organisation characteristics, such as size, location and purchasing patterns, and product or service applications, defining the ways in which the product or service is used by the buyer. Micro leads to the definition, in some cases, of segments of one customer, and focus on the buyer’s management philosophy, decision-making structures, purchasing policies and strategies, as well as needs and wants.”
In marketing, five main categories of segmentation are defined as the following: geographic, demographic, geodemographic, psychographic and behaviour based. Each of these points cover a full range of characteristics which can be perceived as “descriptive”, “measurable”, “tangible” or “intangible”, “relating to the buyer”, “lifestyle” and “relationship with the product”. In practice, a multivariable approach to segmentation is likely to be put into practice, classifying a range of applicable characteristics from all categories to suit the market that is under consideration.
The implications of segmentation are extensive. The possibilities range widely. For example, from a niche strategy (which specialises in one particular segment), to a differentiated strategy (which targets two or more segments with different marketing mixes). The undifferentiated strategy hopes to cover the whole entire market with only one main marketing mix, is becoming more and more less suitable as consumers become more demanding recently, and although it does appear to assist the managerial burden, it is very exposed to competition.
Segmentation offers a variety of benefits to the consumer and to the business involved. Consumers get an offer that is better adapted to their exact needs, as well as the pleasure of feeling that the market is offering them a broader range of products for them to choose from.
The business can also use their segmentation as a basis for building a strong competitive upper hand, by understanding their customers on a meaningful psychological level and reflecting that in its marketing mix or mixes. This then forms bonds between the business and its product and/or service and customers that are very difficult for competition to break. There are, however, some dangers in segmentation, if it is not done properly. Weak definitions of segments, badly chosen selections of significant variables or inadequate analysis and performance of the outcomes of a segmentation application can all be unsuccessful and disastrous. There is also a danger that if competing marketers become too enthusiastic and keen in trying to “outsegment” one other, “the market will fragment to an unviable extent and consumers will become confused by the variety of choice open to them.”
In addition to this, I found some useful websites on the internet which explained segmentation, targeting and positioning very well.
Please read my next post about ice-cream brands in relation to perceptual mapping.
Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.Introducing Sensation and the Perceptual Process – Weeks 3 and 4
Wow! I’ve been at university for nearly a month now, although it really doesn’t feel like it! This week, Ruth explained that the best marketing provides simple but factual information and still meeting consumer’s wants and needs. This is defined as “the perceptual process”. There are three key stages: exposure (or sensation), attention and interpretation.
Sensation simply involves receiving stimuli through sensory factors, whereas the perception process involves receiving raw data from each of the senses and then “filtering, modifying or transforming the data completely through the process of cognition” (ICMR 2010).
This focuses on what we “add to or take away from sensations as we assign meaning to them” e.g. advertising appealing to your senses. (Solomon et al 2010).
The perceptual process is the “primary source of knowledge about the world around us” and “operates at a pre-conscious level of cognition” (Helm et al, 2006). This means organizing incoming information (e.g. visual advertising or advertising appealing to senses).
The different types of consumer stimuli that make up the perceptual process are sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. These are divided into two groups; sensation and meaning. “Sensation” refers to the immediate response of an individual’s “sensory receptors” (eyes, nose, mouth) and “attention”. “Meaning” is how a customer interprets (“interpretation”) these stimuli and their “response”. An overview of this is shown below.
(Solomon et al 2010) - You can click on the diagram above to view it larger.
My prep for this week’s work was to identify 2 useful articles on warc.com. However, when I tried accessing the website it would not let me view any of the articles. Although, here are some of the searches I found:
http://beta.warc.com/Pages/Search/WordSearch.aspx?q=sensation&Filter=ALL OF WARC&Area=ALL OF WARCI also discovered from outside reading that the study of perception focuses on what we “add to or take away from sensations as we assign meaning to them” e.g. advertising appealing to your senses. (Solomon et al 2010).
Come back next week to learn about perceptual maps. Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.
Gestalt Psychology – Week 4
Gestalt psychology is theory that looks at the human mind and behaviour as a whole. This was originally thought up by Max Wertheimer and Wilhelm Wundt. The development of this area of psychology was also influenced by a number of other theorists such as: Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
“There are wholes, the behaviour of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.” (Wertheimer 1924)
Ruth simplified this for us in our lecture by defining Gestalt Psychology (Psychology of the form) as the following:
ü Is there a rulebook for the way we think?
ü Figure and ground – Figure is the central element which captures our attention. Whereas, background is largely undifferentiated.
ü This argues that many stimuli acquire a pattern quality which is more than the sum of its parts.
Gestalt Psychology can be split into 3 main categories.
1. Grouping (Proximity and Similarity)
We tend to group together objects that share similar physical characters – Hence health and beauty brands sticking to certain colours and bottle shapes.
2. Closure
We tend to see an incomplete picture as complete – We need to fill in the gaps – We do it automatically. E.g. We can hear a couple of notes and we remember the whole jingle. For example, 118 118.
3. Stimulus Ambiguity
This is a stimulus that is said to be ambiguous when it does not correspond to an immediately recognisable shape or form. We need to find a context in order to interpret it. This is widely used in advertising.
I was lucky enough to find some websites which explains this in much more depth. The links are below.
Hope to hear back from you.
Erica.
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