Apologies for not posting this sooner only just releised I hadnt posted this wipper snapper.
Did my first blog today with Ruth and I must say I throughly enjoyed it a great way to express your thoughts and opinions. Especially the opinions part I have some many to possibly express them all in one lesson would be very time consuming so to be able to pop them on the internet with an oppertunity of my thoughts being read by the masses well all in all thats quite exciting. Are first less was based around perception ad the theortical idea of the way we perceive people before we even got to no that person. Which I found most interesting and defiantley inspired me to right a good little first blog which Iam very proud of!
We live in a world full of images not just the ones we see but also the ones that people or brands portray. The way we perceive things within life is through the human art of perception this blog will explore how the human brain perceives things by the use of are five sense.
As far back as the 1760's, the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed that our knowledge of the outside world depends on our modes of perception. In order to define what is "extrasensory" we need to define what is "sensory" scientificpsychic (2006). Traditionally the five human sense are taste, touch, sight, smell and hearing. Using these five sense we can interpret things we see around us it is the start point for the perceptual process once the brain is triggered into thinking about another object or life form.
Marketeers can use all five sense to get a reaction out of consumers to make them become more aware of their product.
Vision
Marketeers rely heavily on seducing the consumer with visual elements for example advertising, store design and packaging. The power of colour can help marketeers to provoke positive and negative feelings like a dark black advert will promote a negative point of of view, whilst an advert with extreme bright colours will promote a fun and exciting view of the product or service on offer. Colour is pacifically important when branding a product colours represent feelings, emotions and can symbolise anythingfor instance you see soup in a red tin automatically you think tomato soup thats why when branding a product colour is key for marketeers so they can represent the right image and create a good perception for the consumer of the product.
Smell
Marketeers can use smell to provoke emotions and also to relieve stress this is helpful as a smell can give that product the cutting edge. Or even with a perfume for example a touch of pink my EX girlfriend as you can see I put the ex in capitals to stress the point that shes an ex for a reason. Anyway back to the topic at hand she used to were a touch of pink by Lacoste and the fragrance somehow made me perceive what a light touch of pink would smell like impossible as it is colour never the less product designer and marketers can create that illusion for the consumer.
Sound
Many aspects of sound affects peoples behaviours. By use of background music in adverts, stores ect. Marketeers can create the consumer to respond in different ways. The correct term for this is muzak It said to contribute to consumer buyer behaviour. To be honest I think sound can effect are mood for example music but it really depends uniquely to a person on what music or sounds affect them.
Touch
Marketeers can market the feel of their product differently sometimes based on the feel of product for example a jumper you can sense a quality in product which is true by touching a jumper from Primark compare to a Hugo Boss jumper without seeing the product well I could, maybe its just me or maybe I am a little sad but none the less this seems to be the case. Consumers will also consider the smoothness or finess of a product as indication of quality. Roughness can be a sort after quality for men and smoothness likewise for woman as we all no in the 21st century this is not always the case. Taste
Just from taste we can usually tell the quality difference between similar products without even looking at the packaging or can we? To be perfectly honest I prefer Sansiburys own cider to the big brands like Magners and Bulmers. Consumers are recruited by many company's to taste test products and for months on end they will continue this tasting process until the right taste goes along with their brand image. In my first perception essay for Ruth I also did a taste test of my own Pepsi vs Cola, Sprite vs 7up, Fanta vs Tango and it was astonishing as to how many people strayed from their original favourite when they were blindfolded and couldn't see what they were drinking which showed the majority of people bought a fizzy drink purely on the basis of brand image.
Conclusion
Sense are important part in marketing to the consumer once your brand is recognised to a consumer all they have to do is make up their perception on that product by using their senses. So by ticking the right boxes of all the five senses as to what your brand image, is trying to sell itself as is key in getting that consumer to purchase your product. You need to make your product honest and true to the brand so when consumers use there sense there perception is a good one. Yes more words of wisdom from myself. God has Jesus, Kotler has me good night!
Memory involves a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed (Soloman, 2006,p.72). Marketeers can use memory as tool when advertising by creating adverts that will trigger of past memories of the viewer to engage them with the product. Please take a look at the video below my friends so I can analyse it can you can marvel at how great I am.
This video taps into the hearts of people but can also unlock memories we have stored, everyone has lost someone in their life close to them and this advert is tapping in that and peoples emotions from previous memories to get a response out the viewer. These are called flashbulb memories (Flashbulb memories are distinctly vivid, precise, concrete, long-lasting memories of a personal circumstance surrounding a person’s discovery of shocking events uic.edu 2010) Therefore utilising memories in advertising is a a very useful marketing tool.
Nostalgia
Nostalgia: a bittersweet emotion when the past is viewed with sadness and longing; many "classic" products appeal to consumers memories of their younger days (Soloman, 2006,P.653). The statement above epitomises what this video is to me.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. This video is amazing I think I'm in need of a time machine. Nostalgia is great way to advertise to consumers by evoking a re-established connection may explain why consumers powerful nostalgic reactions to products, songs and pictures they haven't been exposed to in years. That's why bringing out new products based on peoples old love of the past times can ignite them to want a product that used to be a found memory for them such as VW did by bringing back the Beetle.
Say you were a company about to launch a product the key to making that product successfully is making sure you choose the right segment of the market to a line your product with, to ensure you hit the right target market within that section and to decide were you want to position yourselves in the current market.
First of all segmentation. When people talk about marketing their product which could be anything a brand a service or an the product itself, who are they marketing it to? Can you just market to everybody? Well, theoretically, you could and as Solman puts it in Consumer Behaviour (a European Perspective) in many cases, it makes a lot of sense to target a number of market segments. The likelihood is that no will fit any given segment descriptions exactly, and the issue is whether or not consumers differ from our profile in ways that will affect the chances of adopting the products we are offering (Solman,2006,P.9). This can be a benefit appealing to the masses but remember the bigger the market you enter the result can be higher costs and minimizing costs should look to maximise profit which should always be on the agenda.
When looking at where to market, you should always consider two things, targeting and positioning. How do you choose criteria for targeting? How do you position your product or service? You should realise that you will have to segment your market its rarely that your product is a need of everyone unless your are say the UK Post Office or commodities like bread and milk but even they full under different segments market eg. brown/white bread or full fat and semi skimmed milk.. Why segment you ask? Remember that needs are diverse all consumers are individuals some will follow similar trends yet every one is unique so you need to find to segment that appeals broadly to consumers of similar needs. Markets are rarely the same. Segmentation allows us to view the market from the customers position. We can design more focused strategies and its helps us to see opportunity to further product and see growth the brand.
In Solomans book of Consumer Behaviour he splits segmentation into 6 sub category's.
Age
Gender
Family Structure
Social class and Income
Race and ethnicity
Geography
These are the six main different factors you need to look at when choosing your market segment. The next phase really in marketing is who is your target look into who are the players within the market is one segment of the market being well served if so it might be an indication to stay clear of this as the competition will be a lot tougher. Possibly try to find a market segment with room for improvement and deliver a service or product better than them? Look into the size of the market your looking to target is there room for your company to grow? Thirdly a key I believe in is can you appeal to one group of consumers more than other firms the USP is so vital in giving you that edge over other companies.
Positioning the only way I can see to explain this is by comparing the positioning of another company for example Apple Mac computers are trying to brand their software as easy to use even to the extent were Microsoft are no trying to copy them Windows Seven to compete with there user friendly image and just the general cool things you can do on a Mac. So Mac positions there selves as being user friendly and cool but also position themselves with out over advert sing the fact that there Visual C software inside it is actually aimed at techies positioning themselves in two markets which is genius in my eyes. Which may add to the ultimate and endless success as Macintosh as company.
I hope you enjoyed my insight into segmentation, targeting and positioning. All resources were drawn from my knowledge and the almighty Soloman. Any other resources are listed as follows: Marketing Segmentation how to do it, how to profit from it Authors: Malcolm MacDonald and Ian Dunbar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzpGI9O9mVs.www.learnmarketing.net.
Enterprise week took place over a period of two weeks stretching from 9th November to the 27th of November 2009. The theme for enterprise week was to inspire and encourage students to express their ideas and to encourage them to turn into commercial success.
Enterprise week consisted of major talks from starting up your own business to the importance of social technology but what did Enterprise week really mean to me oh yes the Apprentice Challenge I just wish I could add some theme music in after I said that something to emphasise the immense event that is the apprentice challenge. To summarise for all you that are not familiar with this event it is ran in the style of of the popular TV show The Apprentice. I am not going to summarise the Apprentice for you if you don't know the show hang your head in shame I will give you one clue In the form of this picture.If you still don't get continue to hang your head in shame thanks. The apprentice challenge was there to test your business planning, marketing, time management, pitching, negotiation and selling skills. It consisted of twelve teams varying in group sizes from two to six with only one winner. Are team was 3 three, 3 boys 3 girls still a bit of a lame name in my view but still as I didn't want to rock the boat so to speak I went with the motto a happy team is a hardworking team!
On November the 9th we were ordered by the lovely Ruth to attend the Grand Plaza Hotel in Marlow Buckinghamshire were each 12 teams were to be randomly selected in a hat as to which sponsors they would have for the event. The Grand Plaza was lovely especially impressed with the free nibbles but more so the wine. 3 three were paired up with Dreams Ltd the International bed company which in my view was a result as the team they sponsored the year before won the event. After a brief chat with are sponsers Matt and Sarah we were given £50 to go buy some doughnts.
Challenge 1- The first challenge took place on November 9th 2009 form 11:00 till 15:00 this challenge is to create the most profit from selling doughnuts. Now you no why they gave us £50 for doughnuts. We sourced are doughnuts from a local cake factory and were given a pitch prior to the event in the Eden Centre High Wycombe each team. The nine teams with the highest profit then went through to the second challenge. Still drunk from night before I felt confident with my selling skills and with encouragement from my team and the man the myth the legend Patrick Zinga myself and the team resorted to local market selling tactics i think some of my catchphrase as goes: "Biggest Doughnuts in town, If you've had bigger ladies Ill be shocked" or my personal favourite "Best doughnuts in town if your not satisfied you can come personally slap me in the face" if that didn't work I just shamefully referred to singing simply the best by Tina Turner.
At the end of the day after selling all our doughnuts we made a rough profit of £70.00 which meant we were one of the eight teams that went through to the next round finishing 3rd overall.
Chalenge 2- The overall task was to make the most profit from a stall situated in Eden Shopping Centre in High Wycombe on the Saturday 20th November 2009 09.00 – 17.00.
However, the first part of the challenge was to pitch are proposed products and approach to Eden Management. This will take place on 17 November at 18.00 in the Management Centre at Eden. We where marked on the following:
· Presentation skills
· Business planning
· Marketing
· Project Management
· Selling skills
Six teams of the eight teams where selected to go forward to the second stage (3 three being one of the of course), which was to set up and run are own market stalls. Are team were then provided with an additional £200 on top of what we already had made from the previous challenge to create and sell a product or a service. The three teams with the highest profit were to progress to the third and final challenge.
We decided to go with the theme of little presents filled with sweets using Christmas as are hook for people to by them for loved ones as we were approaching the festive season. But like any ingenious idea it has it problems, as were team we each provided pacific roles not mentioning any names (TOM) but some people didn't take these roles as seriously as other people. Which resulted on the day not having any boxes to put our sweets in this meant spending most are budget on fancy shiny boxes n ribbon from Wilkinson's well as fancy as you get for Wilkinson's stores anyway. Although on the day we had Santa suits and decided to sing festive songs to get people in the mood due to the mix up in the boxes we made a loss and were therefore ousted out of the competition oh no not by Alan Sugar in a fancy board room but from some equally grumpy old lady in a small office who counted our money and sent us on our way.
Looking back on enterprise I felt it was great learning curve for me as individual I learnt about organisation, team leadership as I did take on a team leader role, sales and just how easy it is with a slight bit of determination and small amount of money how easy it is to make money if you really set your mind to it. Overall I really enjoyed my time in enterprise week and consider it a great success bring on next year Im going to show that grumpy old lady who the man is. Peace out hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Values: In general, important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. Values exert major influence on the behavior of an individual and serve as broad guidelines in all situations Business Dictionary (2010).
Values will tend to vary from person to person generally we associate people we get along with are people who have similar values for instance you most likely wouldn't see environmentalists socialising with farmers as they share different values. Values are an important part in what activities and products we tend to do or purchase because using these services and products it can help us to achieve a certain goal. For example lets look into theorists Kahles list of values.
Self Respect
Excitement
Being well respected
Self fulfilment
Sense of Accomplishment
Warm relationships with others
Security
Fun and enjoyment
Sense of belonging
These are the list of values we aspire to all our values are based on is which of these values are more important to us based on which values we see as more desirable. The services and the products we choose help us to achieve are desirable values for instance if our goal was self respect we might try to get a promotion or a better job which in case will give you more money power helping you to achieve more self respect for yourself. Or if your values underlie with fun and enjoyment you may save up some money so you can go on a party to holiday to say Ibiza which then will help you achieve your desirable goal of fun and enjoyment . This is all depending on your values and what you consider as fun and enjoyment or self respect as people may have the same desirable values yet they may want to achieve them for different reason, for example people who are vegetarians may have the same values but there underlying belief may be quite different (animal activism vs . health concerns) (Solman, 2006, P.312). That's why if marketeers are looking to market a product when evaluating a persons choice on why they would purchase the product they need to look on what at the underling fact of how this would improve someones end goal of their values are they buying this product this is the key to tap into how the product can become desirable to a consumer.
By creating a timeline I am going to show how major events have effected my life and altered my values.
My personal timeline!
1989- Birth my proudest moment and possibly a great achievement by god to make something so unique.
1995- Learning from my parents values and understanding write and wrong in life.
1996- My mum and Dad splitting up this helped me to become a stronger more tolerant person even as a child and taught me the value of security to make a family work as I wouldn't want my children to experience the same.
From 1996 to 2000- I went through everything at school from bulling to being popular this taught me to prioritise many things from the need to value a sense of belonging, taught me the importance of being well respected, the sense of belonging and the need for fun and enjoyment.
2001- 9.11 A sad time for many. I remember coming in from school and seeing it on news it really altered the way think about the security of myself and my family also made me realise that in life anything can happen so we need to not take for guaranteed the people we love.
2003- 19th of September the death of my best friend this change me as a person making my realise that life is short and that we must make the of each day enjoying it to its full potential.
2005- 11th of November the passing away of my closest friend which crushed me at the time but I now see that this is a reason for the drive I have in life and the want to achieve greater things.
2010- Haven't really learnt too much in the past five years apart from becoming more wiser and generally better to be honest I think it is possible my general values have gone out the window I would like to discuss why but I don't think blogging them would be appropriate
The primary VALS type represents your dominant approach to life. The secondary classification represents a particular emphasis you give to your dominant approach. Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteem. They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new ideas and technologies. Innovators are very active consumers, and their purchases reflect cultivated tastes for upscale, niche products and services Srategicbusinessinsights (2010). As you can see I have taken a values test to understand my own product ownership, media preferences, hobbies, additional demographics and attitudes I believe. A first type as Innovater reflects my nature of being a dominate person and also reflects my high self esteem plus my confidence. Also it make the assumption I am an active consumer which is correct as I have a taste for the richer things in life and I also believe purchasing these things improves my self image and portrays my attitudes in life.
My secondary type feel under experiencers which makes me motivated by self-expression. Young, enthusiastic, and an impulsive consumer. It implies I have an interest in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities. I feel my secondary type almost reflects me more although I fall under the category of an innovater as my primary result. I believe this because I feel I am an impulse buyer an tend to purchase products purely under impulse more so than just being an active consumer. I am also very sport reflated and love socialising which I feel are my main aspects in my life so although the test consider me an innovator as my primary type I feel in my mind that I am expierencer, so although the test gives you an insight into your values I believe for a test to some up your inner most values that you have developed over a long period of time would be very complex but the VALS test definitely gives you an insight into were your beliefs and actions lie.
My conclusion on values is clear after the lectures and my own individual research into the physiology behind what drives us to aspire to these values. Values are what we see as being important to us over the years peoples values change as their goals and desires may differ but essentially values is what makes are goals up as person and in turn alters the decisions we make in life as to which values we prioritise the most. This is why its key for marketeers to understand their target markets values so they can alter their products to make them more desirable to the consumers.
The differences between gender is apparent from the outset and that outset being early childhood more commonly known to us as babies. Right a question for take for example you have a 1 year old girl or boy of your own would you put your Barbie in a nappie meant for the opposite sex, the designs are the same purely on the principle of the colour difference eg. pink and blue? Well market research has revealed that many parents refuse to put baby boys in pink nappies (Soloman, 2006, p. 312)! This may seem ludicrous to yourself or even agreeable, but the companies creating the products for the consumer have installed a fix view about whats a male product and whats a female product in this case pink nappies for the girls blue nappies for the boys and consumers conform to these methods to help them choose the right product for the right sex even to extent were it could be deemed as wrong to put a boy in girls nappie or the other way round.
Sometimes we must just accept the simple genetic differences between genders and that somewhere in are DNA we are drawn towards different types of product purely based on human instinct and the way we have evolved. To expand on the previous sentence take food for example market researchers have observed when comparing the food preferences of both men and woman. Woman eat more fruit than men, men are more likely to eat meat. As one food writer put it, 'boy food doesn't grow. Its hunted or killed". Men are more likely to eat frosted flakes or corn flakes, while woman prefer multigrain cereals (Soloman, 2006, p.215). Also the sexes differ on the portion side of food men have greater portion as they perceived to want to be big and strong whilst woman have smaller portions to stay dainty and feminine. I mean is this just because of the way we evolved i suppose you could say men are naturally stronger physically there is no way to argue that its not just a installed view companies advertising and marketing teams its been apparent since the stone ages, the point I am trying to make is that is what decision are made on the way we conform to society's view upon our sex and what decisions are made by natural genetics of being a certain sex. Is the fact males eat frosted flakes rather than multigrain cereals a natural choice or the way company's makes the product seem to the consumer more fitting for a man rather than a woman?
The views I have expressed so far yes are some what stereotypical of what a man or a woman generally do. But sexual identity is really just as much a state of mind than it is of body especially in the 21st century were alot of males are now consider metro sexual by the way they look after them selves like the use of cosmetics also the clothes for men tend now to be more feminine and the way today's man expresses his emotions can be more sensitive and lady like. The common term used for this is sex typed traits the condition in which a gene responsible for a specific trait is located on a sex chromosome, resulting in sex-linked inheritance of the trait (answers.com 2010) which actually means some male chromosomes can be affected by female gene and where as females also can be effected by male genes. So its proven scientifically that although male or female you can have common traits of both sex's purely through the biology of the human body. So guess that why you always have the random young boy that wants a barbie and the random young girl who wants an action man not through company's influence on the toy market and advertising but just genetic make up, all the company's do is make the products that naturally girls or boys would be more attracted to due to our genetic makeup its our choice as consumers to decide whats right for us.
Females vs MALES
What makes a female tick is question that been puzzling me since puberty and no matter how old I get they never seem to out stand me with their differences and I am yet still the none the wiser to what goes on in the minds of females and the emotions they feel. Where as females seem to have us sussed out probably because most men are driven by testosterone and general lack of emotions compared to woman who's brains work at million miles an hour and want to no every detail of every please take a look at this clip funny but so true.
And think that's a nice way to end this blog stereotypically the difference has always been apparent but I think our genetic makeup makes us either more masculine or more feminine no matter what sex you are Its what we feel inside that really counts.
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