MKT201 - Week 3

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MKT201 - Week 3

• Perception (Ch. 2)

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Chapter Overview

• Introduction
• Sensation Perception Perceptual Process
• Sensory Systems
• Vision, Smell, Hearing, Touch, Taste
• Perceptual Process
• Exposure Sensory Thresholds, Webers Law,
  Subliminal Perception
• Attention Perceptual Selection, Schema-based
  Perception, Stimulus Organization
• Interpretation - Semiotics

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Sensation and Perception

• Sensation
• The immediate response of our sensory receptors
  (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic
  stimuli such as light, color, sound, odors, and
  textures
• Perception
• The process by which sensations are selected,
  organized, and interpreted
• The Study of Perception
• Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give
  them meaning

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Figure 2-1 An Overview of the Perceptual
Process
Consumers act/behaviour is influenced by his/her
perception about the situation. 3 stages of the
process of perception (1) Exposure (2)
Attention (3) Interpretation
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Vision
Sensory Systems
Smell

• Visual Elements in Advertising,
• Store Design and Packaging.
• (red arousing, blue - relaxing)

Sound

• Odors Can Stir Emotions or Create
• Feelings Such as Happiness/ Hunger.
• (pheromone, cologne, fragranced clothes)

Touch

• Research Has Analyzed Effects of
  Background Music Speaking Rates
• (relax or stimulate consumers)

Taste

• Shown to Be a Factor in Sales Interactions.
  (cultural concern)
• Product Texture

• Ethnicity Affects Taste Preferences.
• (flavor, hot spicy, )

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Sensory Systems

• External stimuli, or sensory inputs, can be
  received on a number of different channels.
• Inputs picked up by our five senses are the raw
  data that begin the perceptual process.
• Hedonic Consumption
• The multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
  of consumers interactions with products

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Advertisements Appeal to Our Sensory Systems

• This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the
  contribution made by all of our senses to the
  evaluation of a driving experience.

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Sensory Systems - Vision

• Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in
  advertising, store design, and packaging.
• Meanings are communicated on the visual channel
  through a products color, size, and styling.
• Colors may influence our emotions more directly.
• Arousal and stimulated appetite (e.g. red)
• Relaxation (e.g. blue)

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This ad targets which senses?

• This Finnish ad emphasizes the sensual reasons to
  visit the city of Helsinki.

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Sensory Perceptions - Vision

• Some reactions to color come from learned
  associations.
• (e.g. Black is associated with mourning in the
  United States, whereas white is associated with
  mourning in Japan.)
• Some reactions to color are due to biological and
  cultural differences.
• (e.g. Women tend to be drawn to brighter tones
  and are more sensitive to subtle/fine shadings
  and patterns)

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Perceptions of Color

• This ad campaign by
• the San Francisco
• Ballet uses color
• perceptions to get urban
• sophisticates to add
• classical dance to their
• packed entertainment
• itineraries.

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Sensory Perceptions - Vision

• Color plays a dominant role in Web page design.
• Saturated colors (green, yellow, orange, and
  cyan) are considered the best to capture
  attention.
• Dont overdo it. Extensive use of saturated
  colors can overwhelm people and cause visual
  fatigue.
• Trade Dress
• Colors that are strongly associated with a
  corporation, for which the company may have
  exclusive rights for their use.
• (e.g. Kodaks use of yellow, black, and red)

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Perceptions of Color

• As this Dutch detergent ad demonstrates (Flowery
  orange fades without Dreft), vivid colors are
  often an attractive product feature.

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Discussion

• What do you think about the visual elements
  (color, size, styling, etc.) of the following
  logos

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Discussion Question

• First Heinz gave us Blastin Green ketchup in a
  squeeze bottle. Now they have introduced Funky
  Purple ketchup.
• What sensory perception is Heinz trying to appeal
  to? Do you think this product will be
  successful? Why or why not?

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Sensory Perceptions - Smell

• Odors can stir emotions or create a calming
  feeling.
• Some responses to scents result from early
  associations that call up good or bad feelings.
• Marketers are finding ways to use smell
• Scented clothes
• Scented stores
• Scented cars and planes
• Scented household products
• Scented advertisements

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Smell in Advertising

• This ad pokes fun at the proliferation of scented
  ads. Ah, the scent of sweat.

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Sensory Perceptions - Sound

• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects peoples feelings and behaviors.
• Muzak uses a system it calls stimulus
  progression to increase the normally slower
  tempo of workers during midmorning and
  midafternoon time slots.
• Sound engineering
• Top-end automakers are using focus groups of
  consumers to help designers choose appropriate
  sounds to elicit the proper response.

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Stimulus Progression
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Sensory Perceptions - Touch

• Relatively little research has been done on the
  effects of tactile stimulation on the consumer,
  but common observation tells us that this sensory
  channel is important.
• People associate textures of fabrics and other
  surfaces with product quality.
• Perceived richness or quality of the material in
  clothing is linked to its feel, whether rough
  or smooth.

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This Caress Ad Uses Tactile Stimulation as a
Selling Point
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Applications of Touch Perceptions

• Kansai engineering A philosophy that
  translates customers feelings into design
  elements.
• Mazda Miata designers discovered that making the
  stick shift (shown on the right) exactly 9.5 cm
  long conveys the optimal feeling of sportiness
  and control.

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Tactile Quality Associations
Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics
Perception Male Female
High class Wool Silk Fine
Low class Denim Cotton
Heavy Light Coarse
Table 2.1
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Sensory Perceptions - Taste

• Taste receptors contribute to our experience of
  many products.
• Specialized companies called flavor houses are
  constantly developing new concoctions to please
  the changing palates of consumers.
• Changes in culture also determine the tastes we
  find desirable.

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Exposure

• Exposure
• Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of
  someones sensory receptors
• Consumers concentrate on some stimuli, are
  unaware of others, and even go out of their way
  to ignore some messages.

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Sensory Thresholds

• Psychophysics
• The science that focuses on how the physical
  environment is integrated into our personal
  subjective world.
• Absolute Threshold
• The minimum amount of stimulation that can be
  detected on a given sensory channel. (billboard
  size ? big enough)
• Differential Threshold
• The ability of a sensory system to detect changes
  or differences between two stimuli. The minimum
  difference that can be detected between two
  stimuli is known as the j.n.d. (just noticeable
  difference).

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Webers Law

• The amount of change that is necessary to be
  noticed is systematically related to the
  intensity of the original stimulus
• The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a
  change must be for it to be noticed.
• Mathematically
• K A constant (varies across senses)
• ?i The minimal change in the intensity required
  to produce j.n.d.
• I the intensity of the stimulus where the
  change occurs

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Subliminal Perception

• Subliminal perception
• Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of
  the consumers awareness.
• Subliminal techniques
• Embeds Tiny figures that are inserted into
  magazine advertising by using high-speed
  photography or airbrushing.

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Subliminal Perception
(usu. sexual nature)
(self-help tapes - stop smoking, lose weight, )
Auditory Messages Messages on Sound Recordings
Low-Level Auditory Stimulation Threshold Messaging
(barely listened e.g. I wont steal, )
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Subliminal Messages in Ads

• Critics of subliminal persuasion often focus on
  ambiguous shapes in drinks that supposedly spell
  out words like S E X as evidence for the use of
  this technique. This Pepsi ad, while hardly
  subliminal, gently borrows this message format.

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Subliminal Perception

• Does subliminal perception work?
• There is little evidence that subliminal stimuli
  can bring about desired behavioral changes.
• poleshift.org http//www.poleshift.org/sublim/po
  v/Direction_of_Gaze.html

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Attention

• Attention
• The extent to which processing activity is
  devoted to a particular stimulus.
• Attention economy
• The Internet has transformed the focus of
  marketers from attracting dollars to attracting
  eyeballs.
• Perceptual selection
• People attend to only a small portion of the
  stimuli to which they are exposed.

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Attention and Advertising

• Nike tries to cut through the clutter by
  spotlighting maimed athletes instead of handsome
  models.

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Perceptual Selection
Experience Result of Acquiring Information Over
Time
Perceptual Filters Past Experiences Influences
What We Decide to Process
Perceptual Selection Means that People Pay
Attention to Only a Small Portion of Stimuli to
Which They Are Exposed. How do Consumers Choose
What to Pay Attention To?
(a) Personal Selection Factors
Adaptation
Perceptual Defense
Perceptual Vigilance
(dont pay attention)
(related things)
(dont want to see)
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How do Consumers Choose What to Pay Attention
To? (b) Stimulus Selection Factors
Size
Color
Create Contrast so That Stimuli is More Likely to
Be Noticed. Remember Webers Law.
Position
Novelty
e.g. front page, right-hand side
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Personal Selection Factors

• Experience
• The result of acquiring and processing
  stimulation over time
• Perceptual vigilance
• Consumers are aware of stimuli that relate to
  their current needs
• Perceptual defense
• People see what they want to see - and dont see
  what they dont want to see
• Adaptation
• The degree to which consumers continue to notice
  a stimulus over time

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Factors that Lead to Adaptation

• Intensity Less-intense stimuli habituate because
  they have less sensory impact.
• Duration Stimuli that require relatively lengthy
  exposure in order to be processed tend to
  habituate because they require a long attention
  span.
• Discrimination Simple stimuli tend to habituate
  because they do not require attention to detail.
• Exposure Frequently encountered stimuli tend to
  habituate as the rate of exposure increases.
• Relevance Stimuli that are irrelevant or
  unimportant will habituate because they fail to
  attract attention.

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Stimulus Selection Factors

• Size
• The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to
  the competition helps to determine if it will
  command attention.
• Color
• Color is a powerful way to draw attention to a
  product.
• Position
• Stimuli that are present in places were more
  likely to look stand a better chance of being
  noticed.
• Novelty
• Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places
  tend to grab our attention.

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Discussion Question

• What technique does this Australian ad rely on to
  get your attention?
• Does the technique enhance or detract from the
  advertisement of the actual product?

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Interpretation

• Interpretation
• The meaning that we assign sensory stimuli.
• Schema
• Set of beliefs to which the stimulus is assigned.
• Priming
• Process by which certain properties of a stimulus
  typically will evoke a schema, which leads
  consumers to evaluate the stimulus in terms of
  other stimulus they have encountered and believe
  to be similar.

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Schema-Based Perception

• Advertisers know that consumers will often relate
  an ad to preexisting schema in order to make
  sense of it.

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The Priming Process
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Stimulus Organization

• A stimulus will be interpreted based on its
  assumed relationship with other events,
  sensations, or images.
• Closure Principle
• Principle of Similarity
• Figure-ground Principle

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Stimulus Organization
The Gestalt Perspective (Summarized as The Whole
is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts) Provides
Several Principles Relating to the Way Stimuli
Are Organized
2. Principle of Similarity Consumers Tend to
Group Objects That Share Similar Physical
Characteristics
1. Closure Principle People Tend to Perceive
an Incomplete Picture as Whole
3. Figure-Ground Principle One Part of the
Stimulus Will Dominate (the Figure) While Other
Parts Recede Into the Background (the Ground)
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Gestalt Principle

• This Swedish ad relies upon gestalt perceptual
  principles to insure that the perceiver organizes
  a lot of separate images into a familiar image.

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Principle of Closure

• This Land Rover ad illustrates the use of the
  principle of closure, in which people participate
  in the ad by mentally filling in the gaps in the
  sentence.

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Use of the Principle of Similarity
Green Giant http//www.greengiant.com/
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Figure-ground Principle

• This billboard for Wrangler jeans makes creative
  use of the figure-ground principle.

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Semiotics The Symbols Around Us

• Semiotics Field of study that examines the
  correspondence between signs and symbols and
  their role in the assignment of meaning.
• A message has 3 components
• 1) Object the product that focuses the message
• 2) Sign the sensory imagery that represents the
  intended meanings of the object
• 3) Interpretant the meaning derived

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Interpretation

• The Eye of the Beholder (viewer)
  Interpretational Biases
• Consumers tend to project their own desires or
  assumptions (or biases) onto products and
  advertisements.
• E.g. Benetton a black man and a white man
  hand-cuffed together (racial tolerance VS racism)

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Semiotic Components
Figure 2.2
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Semiotics (cont.)

• Signs are related to objects in one of three
  ways
• 1) Icon a sign that resembles the product in
  some way
• 2) Index a sign that is connected to some object
  because they share some property
• 3) Symbol a sign that is related to a product
  through conventional or agreed-upon associations
• Hyperreality The becoming real of what is
  initially simulation or hype

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Office Space and The Red Stapler
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Perceptual Positioning

• Positioning Strategy
• A fundamental part of a companys marketing
  efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix
  to influence the consumers interpretation of its
  meaning.
• Many dimensions can establish a brands position
  in the marketplace

Lifestyle Competitors
Price Leadership Occasions
Attributes Users
Product Class Quality
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Perceptual Map

• Figure 2.3 HMV Perceptual Map