Consumer Behavior:
A Primer
by
Gail Tom
*****
PUBLISHED BY
Gail Tom on Smashwords
Consumer Behavior:
A Primer
Copyright 2011 by Gail Tom
Cover design by Ryan Tom Tong
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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To Ray, Dale and Alice
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GOLD NUGGETS
Take a jar, like a two-gallon pickle jar. First fill it to the top with gold nuggets. Then pour in as much gold dust as you can, filling up all the spaces between the gold nuggets. Now dump everything out of the jar and separate the gold nuggets and the gold dust into two separate piles. OK. Now, this time pour in all the gold dust first. Then put in all the gold nuggets. What happens is that the jar can no longer hold all the gold nuggets. It’s best to put in the gold nuggets first. They are the most important. Then fill in the gaps with gold dust (i.e. the finer points and details).
This is the idea behind this book, Consumer Behavior – A Primer. It isn’t everything. It isn’t all-inclusive. It is just the gold nuggets. Once you have collected the gold nuggets, it is much easier to fill the gaps with gold dust. The jar holds so much more when you do it this way.
ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES
Each chapter in this book is accompanied by illustrations that you will find on myYoutube channel. The book and illustrations are designed to complement, supplement and repeat each other. It doesn’t matter whether you start with the book or whether you start with the illustrations. Just pick a chapter or an illustration and start. Pick and choose whatever interests you. You might not be interested in everything. That’s OK. Just explore what you like. You might find that your interest exceeds what is presented. That’s OK too. You can fill in the “gold dust.”.... Let your interest be your guide.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. Understanding the Consumer is the Starting Point
3. Perception
5. Motivation
6. Personality, Self Concept, Lifestyle
7. Attitude and Attitude Change
8. Small Groups and Word of Mouth Communication
9. Subculture
10. Culture
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CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
RATIONAL, IRRATIONAL AND PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL 1
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Making Sense of No Sense
In the study of consumer behavior, one of the things we are interested in understanding is how people make decisions. This is no small order since you can’t see the decision making process. Consumer decision making is a complex and very interesting mix of the rational and. irrational, objective analysis and intuition. Here are a few examples.
When presented with two glasses, a tall skinny one and a fat short one and asked which glass holds more liquid, most people will tell you that the tall skinny one holds more even though they both hold the same amounts of liquid. Even experienced bartenders will choose the tall skinny glass as holding more. 2 So, perhaps consumers drink less or feel like they are getting more value if they are served their drinks in tall skinny glasses rather than short fat glasses?
When people are given bigger servings, they eat more. Moviegoers given large (8.4 oz.) tubs of fourteen-day-old stale popcorn ate more (34%) than moviegoers served medium (4.2 oz) tubs of the same stale popcorn. The effect of the size of the container was even more pronounced when moviegoers were served fresh popcorn. Moviegoers given large size containers ate 45% more of the fresh popcorn than moviegoers given medium sized containers of fresh popcorn. 3
How many M&M candies people eat from a candy bowl depends upon the size of the serving spoon. If the serving spoon is bigger people eat more than if the serving spoon is smaller. 4 And how many M&M candies people eat depends upon the variety of colors. People eat less M&Ms from a bowl of M&Ms of all the same color, say all brown M&Ms, than from a similar sized bowl of M&Ms of mixed colors. 5
The subtle and inconsequential influence decisions.
When consumers are presented with two identical irons –one white and one black - and asked to pick up and examine each one, and then select the one that weighs more, consumers tend to indicate that the black iron weighs more. Objectively, each iron weighs the same. But that hardly matters. Consumers will tire more quickly using the black iron. Using the light-colored iron makes ironing a less onerous task for consumers.
People are shown three samples of pudding and asked to taste them. Then they answer a questionnaire asking them to choose the one that is highest quality, most chocolately, creamiest, and highest priced. They choose the one that is the darkest brown as the most chocolatey, highest quality and the one for which they would pay the most. They choose the lightest brown as the creamiest. But the thing is, these are not samples of chocolate pudding. They are vanilla pudding dyed various shades of brown. Even when people were told that this was vanilla pudding, they didn’t believe it! 6
Why is a fifteen minute wait in line at Disneyland so much shorter than a fifteen minute wait in line at the department store? Fifteen minutes is not always fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes spent in a line that keeps moving seems much shorter than fifteen minutes spent in a line that doesn’t move. It’s not objective reality that matters. It’s the consumer’s experience that
matters. 7
Consumer reality is not always the same as objective reality
Frames Are Not Just For Painting
Your child comes home with her first oil painting. It is not a Rembrandt. You notice that the perspective is off and the colors are not quite right, but you are very proud of it and hang it on the wall. One day you decide that the painting could use a frame. So you and your daughter take the painting to a frame store to have it framed. You are floored by the price, having had no idea that frames cost so much. But your daughter is beaming. You relent and let her pick out the frame. Home again you hang the painting back on the wall. Instantly you are amazed.
The painting looks so much better. The right frame, you realize, can make a big difference. Like paintings, marketing offers can benefit from framing. For example, what is the difference between these two signs?
In the first sign, you receive a discount if you pay cash. You save 5 cents a gallon. In the second sign, you must pay 5 cents for the privilege of using credit. In the first case, credit is framed as the reference price. In the second case, cash is framed as the reference price. It’s better to inform customers that paying in cash will save them 2.5 percent than it is to inform them that using credit cards will cost them 2.5 percent more. Using the first sign is more advantageous for the retailer.
The same reasoning is behind the decision to label hamburger as 80 percent lean rather than labeling the hamburger as 20 percent fat.8,9
A department store was puzzled to find that that instituting an everyday low price strategy for its fine jewelry did not improve sales as expected. The old strategy of periodic sales was more effective. One explanation for the unexpected outcome is the framing of the offer. Consumers perceive buying products at everyday low prices as spending money and buying products on sales as saving money.
In one study a group of shoppers were asked to compare these two signs and asked “Under which circumstance would you be saving more?” The majority of people chose the sales price situation. The majority of another group of shoppers who were asked “Under which circumstance would you be spending more?” selected the everyday low price situation. Objectively, shoppers would spend $45 in both the everyday low price and the sale price
situations. But when they buy at a sales price of $45.00 from its regular price of $60.00, they felt like they saved $15.00. When they buy at the every-day low price of $45.00, they felt like they spent $45.00. 10
Frame as a loss or frame as a gain.
Free Is Better
When people are offered the opportunity to purchase a Hershey’s Kisses candy for 1 cent or truffle for 16 cents, 75 percent of people chose the truffle. When another group of people were asked to choose between a free Hershey’s Kiss or a 15 cent truffle, 69 percent of people chose the “FREE” Hershey’s. In the situation where the Hershey’s candy was one cent and the truffle 16 cents, there is a 15 cents difference. In the other situation where the Hershey’s is free and the truffle is 15 cents there is a 15 cents difference. But in the first case 75 percent choose the truffle and in the second case 69 percent choose the Hershey’s. Fifteen cents is not always 15 cents. Free makes 15 cents worth less!11
In 2002, the online retailer Amazon.com introduced the policy of free shipping for purchases over $25. More recently, it has offered Amazon Prime. For $79 consumers have free shipping on their purchases for one year. On cyber Monday, free shipping is offered by many online retailers. Free shipping moves consumers to buy more and to buy more frequently.
Free makes it worth more.
Decoy Pricing
For the past several months, a gallery owner has displayed a painting that he cannot sell. Despite positive utterances praising its vibrant colors and energetic strokes, prospective buyers move on when they see the price.
The gallery owner receives the commonsensical advise to lower the price of the painting, but he decides on a rather unconventional strategy. He commissions the creation of a new painting similar to the unsellable one in style and technique, but on a much larger canvas.
The gallery owner hangs the new, larger painting next to the original unsellable painting and offers it at more than twice the price of the original painting. Within a day the original paining sold. The unsellable became the sellable because the too high price now seemed reasonable.12
Restaurants may offer menus featuring an item that is substantially higher priced than the next most expensive item, knowing that there will be few customers who will select the highest priced item. However, the highest priced item may nudge more people to select items more expensive than they would otherwise. In comparison to the most expensive these other items don’t seem that expensive anymore. The $15 Carnivore Burger is reasonably priced compared to the decoy priced $45 Ultimate Burger.
The right comparisons can nudge choice.
I Own It. So, It’s Worth More
On average, owners of a mug will sell it for about $5.00 On average, buyers will offer about $3.00 to buy it.13 Why this difference in price? Ownership adds value to the item. This is true not just for mugs and other relatively inexpensive items like candy bars and pen, but for more expensive things like stocks and bonds and tickets to the super bowl.
This happens because losing something or having to give up something hurts more than the pleasure we gain when we get something. This happens so often that it is called the endowment effect.14 As soon as we own an item it is worth more to us. It explains why people (irrationally) hold onto winning stocks longer than they should and sell it only when it starts to lose its value.
The endowment effect - the added value of ownership.
Opt In or Opt Out
Year after year the magazines arrive at your home. You subscribed a few years ago, well a lot of years ago, and you do enjoy the magazine, but you don’t really have the time to read it anymore so it just piles up and yellows with age. You really should unsubscribe and you really do mean to unsubscribe. In fact, you mumble that very thought under your breath every time one of the magazines arrives in your mailbox. But you get lazy, you forget and years later the magazine, like the Energizer Bunny, keeps on arriving.
In many companies, employees have the option to enroll in a retirement plan such as a 401K where the employer will match a portion of the employee’s retirement contribution . It is irrational not to enroll. It would be leaving money on the table. Surprisingly, a (too) sizeable percentage of people never enroll or enroll much later in their company’s retirement programs losing out on both the employer’s contribution and the compound interest that their contribution would accrue.15 People should enroll, they meant to enroll, but they got busy, they got lazy, they forget. Years later they still haven’t signed up.
In the first case, consumers have to opt out of the magazine subscription. In the second case, consumers have to opt in to enroll in the proffered retirement plan. In both cases, consumers have to over come inertia. Lacking that necessary bit of motivation, consumers stay the course –receiving magazines they don’t to read and leaving retirement money on the table when it should be tucked away and growing with the magic of compound interest.
Inertia is stronger than opt in and opt out.
SOMETHING TO DO
decisions, Decisions, Decisions
It certainly would be helpful to have the clarity of hindsight BEFORE we make important decisions. There may be help. If you are trying to make a decision and find yourself stuck in “paralysis by analysis” Simon might be able to help http://www.letsimondecide.com/ On the other hand, if it’s personalized recommendations you want, Hunch might be helpful http://hunch.com
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UNDERSTANDING THE CONUMER IS THE STARTING POINT
BEGIN WITH THE CONSUMER
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From Not Enough to Too Much
Rental of storage units is a booming business. People have so much stuff that it overflows their homes and garages, necessitating the rental of storage units to hold ever increasing amounts of stuff. It wasn’t always like that.
In the beginning, there was a scarcity of goods. The role of marketing was to produce goods and distribute them. The faster the goods could be produced and distributed, the greater the potential for profit. Demand for goods was greater than supply. There was a waiting market for the goods. The question: Do consumers want our product? never came up. Marketing was production oriented. The focus was inwards, on the company, and its ability to produce and distribute goods. It was “We will sell all we can produce.”
Demand > Supply
Over time, improvements, innovations and refinements in manufacturing and developments in the infrastructure lead to a situation where supply caught up with demand and it became necessary to add persuasion and sales to marketing. Marketers had to convince consumers that their product was better than their competitors.
Supply ~ Demand
Consumers today can choose among thousands of brands of items in grocery stores, tens of thousands of brands in mass merchandise stores, and millions of items on the internet. The world has flipped 180 degrees. Supply of goods is greater than demand.
Supply > Demand
Marketing today requires that marketers look outward and begin with a determination of consumer needs/wants/ desires. “We will produce only what we can sell.” The first question is: Do consumers want our product?
All the decisions that marketers are faced with today: Should we manufacture a new product? Should we change the packaging and update its appearance? Should we use fear in our advertising and scare people into buying the product? Or use humor and cajole people to purchase? Where should we distribute the product? Selective retail outlets? Mass merchandisers? Internet? Should we lower price below that of our competitors’ brands? How do we improve communication to improve customer loyalty? The answer to all of these questions rests upon an understanding of how the consumer will react. Understanding the consumer is the starting point.
The consumers’ needs, wants, desires interact with, affect and are affected by cultural, political, technological, economic changes. This makes the study of consumer behavior dynamic but unwieldy, exciting but risky…and always interesting.
The
Evolution of Marketing
Old marketing was production oriented. It was marketing 2 people. It was mass marketing. Marketing by saturation. Make it. Shove it out. It was a one way direction from marketer 2 consumer. Marketing today is consumer oriented. It is about marketing 4 people. It is mass customization. One-to-one marketing. Marketing by permission. It’s about creating things that make people want to come learn, see, engage.
As shown in the chart above1 marketing has evolved from a production orientation to a consumer orientation. In an agrarian economy, the products were fungible. Flour is flour. In the industrial economy, goods are tangible and product features become important. In the service economy, the product is intangible and today, marketers need to focus on providing experiences that are memorable.
The figure above2 illustrates the evolution of marketing from a production orientation to a marketing orientation for coffee. Producing a cup of coffee is 1 to 2 cents. Experiencing a cup of coffee is $2 - $5. “Starbucks creates a third place between work and home”3 Starbucks get what marketing 4 consumers means. So do these marketers:
Marketing Lessons
Product failures, successes and resuscitations provide a treasure trove of valuable lessons from which marketers can learn.
Product Failures: What Were TheyThinking?
Many failed products are testimonials to the lack of understanding the consumer’s reality. In the early 1990s Planters introduced Planters Vacuum Packed Peanuts. Consumers thought these vacuum-packed peanuts were bags of coffee beans. They poured them into the grocery stores’ coffee bean grinders. They didn’t get ground coffee – they got peanut butter and in the process gummed up and ruined the grinder machinery. The consumers were not happy, and store owners were not happy.
You may wonder how consumers could make such a mistake. Mr. Peanut was featured prominently on the package. The large-lettered label clearly stated that the contents were peanuts. This product was introduced, however, in the early 1990s, when vacuum-packed, flavored coffees such as hazelnut were also being introduced. In fact, Planters probably wanted to piggyback on the idea of “Fresh Roast” … fresh roast coffee – fresh roast(ed) peanuts. In the consumer’s mind, coffee and hazelnut go together, coffee and chocolate go together, peanuts and chocolate go together, so it may not be that far-fetched to think that coffee and peanuts go together. In addition, the lack of uniformity in the size and shape of the peanuts produced lumpy packages that, combined with the lighting conditions in the stores, may have reduced the legibility of the labeling.7
Nabisco’s Baker Tom’s Cat Food was different from other cat foods on the market because it was baked. The diagonal ribbon printed prominently across one corner of the package proudly declared it “The Only Baked Cat Food.” Consumers, however, did not really care how their cats’ food was made, only that their cats ate it. Apparently cats had a hard time chewing Baker Tom’s Cat Food and decided it wasn’t worth eating. Consequently, repeat purchase was not sustained. That’s what happens when you have a solution to a problem that consumers don’t have.8
People who smoke cigarettes enjoy the wreath of smoke that surrounds them. R. J. Reynolds invented a smokeless cigarette called Eclipse. This is a solution for nonsmokers who do not like cigarettes because of all the smoke that they produce. But who’s buying the cigarettes? Not nonsmokers. This is what happens when you forget who your target market is.9
Product Success: Consumer Classics
Consumer products such as Ivory Soap, Coca-Cola, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, Quaker Oats, and Hershey’s candy bars are part of the consumer landscape.
The Barbie doll has been a fixture in little girl’s toy boxes for three generations and has added significant income to Mattel’s bottom line. Introduced in 1959, the Barbie doll has been an incredibly successful toy. Ruth Handler, one of the founders of Mattel, captured the essence of the Barbie doll’s success when she explained that “toys don’t last, dreams do.” The Barbie doll is the embodiment of America’s dream girls. And as the American definition of femininity has changed over time, so has the Barbie doll. She has undergone over 40 facial variations (do we dare call them facelifts?) and her lifestyle accessories are like archeological fossils that record the changes in femininity in the United States since 1959. Barbie can be a babysitter, rock star, doctor, astronaut, beauty queen, presidential candidate – anything she wants. She has dozens of cars and motorcycles, owns over a dozen homes, and has well over 42 friends. When little girls play with Barbie, they can dream about their lives as adults.
The Barbie doll also has its detractors. Some wonder whether by playing with Barbie little girls are implicitly given a model of physical beauty that is impossible to attain. In fact, most little girls cannot grow up to be adults with Barbie-like measurements (38-18-34). Does Barbie teach little girls that success and happiness in adulthood come only to those who are beautiful? That material possessions are the key to happiness? Or is the Barbie doll just a toy, and these profound philosophical and psychological questions simply speculative?
Product Success: Consumer Fads
Not all products have to be long-lived to be successful, but they do have to be based on an understanding of the consumer. The Pet Rock came with a book of instructions on house-training: “Place it on some old newspapers. The rock will require no further instructions.” The Pet Rock was easy to train. With a little help, it could roll over. Its best trick was playing dead. Gary Dahl sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks at $3.95 each. You do the math. Dahl laughed deliriously all the way to the bank.
In the early 1980s Harvard-trained Ken Hakuta, now known as “Dr. Fad,” was exporting fish meal from the United States to his native Japan. One day Hakuta’s children received a package from their grandmother in Japan – inside was a slimy, rubberlike, octopus-shaped toy. Throw it on the wall, the toy “walked” (with the help of gravity) all the way to the floor. Hakuta forked over $100,000 for the Wacky Wallwalker’s North American distribution rights. He made more than $20 million.
Fads make an emotional connection with the whimsical needs of consumers. Whims are necessary and desirable fun. But whims are short-lived. The novelty wears off. Fads have to be constantly (re)invented.
Product Resuscitation: Cats Have Nine Lives
Most people know the Christmas story of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph was a misfit, shunned by all the other reindeer because he had a “very, very shiny nose.” Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa needed Rudolph and his enormous red nose to guide his sleigh. Rudolph became a hero. Rudolph did not change. The environment changed. In one environment Rudolph was a misfit, the butt of jokes. In a changed environment Rudolph was transformed into a hero.
Most products go through a life cycle from introduction to growth to maturity to decline. Some products, such as Coca Cola, Hershey’s, and Ivory Soap, have long life cycles, while other product such as Rubik’s Cube and the Pet Rock, have short life cycles. Amazingly some products come back from near death. Consider the story of Cheez Whiz. During the 1970s, it was a target of ridicule. It represented all things artificial. It was filler. Cheez Whiz was synonymous with things of questionable or marginal value. When the microwave oven came along and Cheez Whiz became wonderful. It was convenient. It was tasty. It was versatile. Cheez Whiz came back to life. Like Rudolf, some products shunned in one environment are valued in another.
Products can have more than one life
Marketing Reflects, Reinforces, Modifies, and Alters the Consumer’s Reality – for the Better? or the Worse?
Marketing interaction and communication with the consumer will alter, modify, and influence the consumer’s reality. For example, it is doubtful that consumers today would eat a cake of yeast or mix a package of yeast into a drink. Why? Because yeast is a baking product. In the 1930s, however, yeast was consumed for medicinal purposes: to aid digestion, clear the skin of acne, and calm the nerves. Today Listerine is a mouthwash. In the 1930s Listerine was used to treat dandruff. Lysol is used today as a household cleaner and disinfectant. In the 1920s Lysol was a feminine hygine product recommended by prominent medical authorities.
Cigarette smoking was once touted for its benefits. It was a digestion aid, a product recommended by doctors. It soothed the “T- zone.” Today cigarettes are deemed sufficiently dangerous to mandate printing of the surgeon general’s warning on the every package, and advertising on television is banned. Cigarettes advertisements now proclaim that they have less tar and nicotine and are less dangerous. It is hard to believe that Marlboro – the epitome of masculinity – was originally a pink-tipped cigarette designed for women.
Marketing can shape consumer reality
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PERCEPTION
REALITY IS WHATEVER THE CONSUMER SAYS IT IS.
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People See What They Expect to See
Take a look at Picture A and Picture B. Which picture shows a putty knife and which shows a spatula?
Most people identify the utensil in picture A as the putty knife and the utensil in picture B as the spatula. In fact, it is the same utensil/tool in both pictures. But consumers have learned to expect to find a putty knife in a toolbox and a spatula in a kitchen drawer.
Take a look at Picture C and Picture D. Which picture shows a paintbrush? Which picture show a basting brush?
Most people identify the brush in picture C as the paintbrush and the brush in picture D as the basting brush. People expect to find paintbrushes among painting supplies and basting brushes in kitchen drawers
Marketing must begin with an understanding of the consumer’s reality. The consumer’s perception of reality guides all marketing efforts.
Consumer expectations influence their definitions of reality.
Consumers Use Cues to Help Them Identify and Define Reality
Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Mix is a product found in the baking goods aisle in grocery stores. A picture of blueberry muffins dominates the package. The picture is juxtaposed with the words “Blueberry Muffins.” Consumers buy the product, go home, and bake the blueberry muffins. They pour the contents of the package into a bowl, noting the flour-like mixture and the little round blueberries; they add an egg and some milk; they stir, pour, and bake. They can smell the aromatic muffins as they bake. In a few short minutes the muffins are ready, and after a few more minutes of cooling, the muffins are consumed fresh. Delicious. Consumers will return to buy another package of Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Mix on subsequent grocery-shopping trips. End of story
Let’s rewind for a closer analysis. There are no blueberries in these “blueberry” muffins. However, there is nothing deceptive about the packaging. Clearly, stated on the front of the package are the words “imitation blueberry” right next to the words “blueberry, muffin.” But the cues that capture the consumer’s attention are the picture of the blueberry muffins and the words “Blueberry,” which is printed in blue. Most consumers never see the word “imitation,” even though it is right in front of their noses. Furthermore when consumers make these blueberry muffins, they see the blueberries in the mix and can taste them when they eat the muffins.
So what are those blueberries if they aren’t real blueberries? We can figure this out by reading the list of ingredients printed on the package. The ingredients are listed in order of amount. Not surprisingly, the first ingredient listed is flour, the most plentiful ingredient. The list includes a lot of ingredients that are not familiar, but one is – apples. Since the ingredients are listed in order of quantity, we see that apples make up only a very small fraction of the mix. So, the blueberries are little bits of apples died blue and flavored to taste like blueberries.
Marketers provide consumers with the cues to perceive Things the way they want them to be perceived.
What Is That? Isn’t It Obvious?
In 1982 samples of Sunlight Dish Washing Detergent were distributed to households in the Northeast during the summer. To illustrate a key selling point of Sunlight –that it contained lemon juice – the package featured the words “real lemon juice” and a picture of a lemon. Thirty-three adults and 45 children thought the product was lemon juice, put it in their ice tea, drank it, and became ill enough to call a hospital or poison control hotline.1 How could this happen? Consumers zeroed in on the salient cues: the words “real lemon juice” and picture of the lemon; consequently they identified the product as lemon juice. The fact that it was summer probably reinforced the perception that it was lemon juice. 1
The consumer’s perceptual process is lightning quick.
Products Can Come to Own Cues
Some marketers have deftly used cues to identify their products. Which brands come to mind when you see Pictures A and B? You can identify Picture A as Hershey’s kisses just by the shape. The distinctive “C” shown in picture B is Coca Cola. These cues are baked into the brands.
Cues can carve out an identity for the product and are powerful reinforcers and reminders.
All the Marketing Cues Must Comnmunicate the Same Message to the Consumer
The department store Target briefly carried pink-handled hammers. 2 As you may have guessed, they did not sell well. Although a woman might consider buying this hammer, for men it’s a hard sell. Pink just isn’t an appropriate color for a man’s toolbox. The hammer might be of good quality, but pink does not communicate strength.
Sending the consumer inconsistent cues confuses consumers. Toro Corporation developed a lightweight, efficient snow thrower, named Snow Pup. Research undertaken when sales lagged behind projections indicated that the name was at fault. Unfortunately, the name “Snow Pup” is inconsistent with the desired image of power. A pup is cute. It’s cuddly. But it is not powerful. The product was renamed Snow Master and sales increased substantially. “Snow Master” is consistent with power and ability. 3
Packaging is an important cue. An ermine and a weasel are the same animal. In its winter white fur, it is an ermine. With its summer brown fur, it is a weasel. Ermines are perceived as exotic, high class, and smack of sophistication and elegance. Our everyday conversations often portray the weasel as despicable, conniving, underhanded, and not to be trusted: “Don’t try to weasel out of this one!” and “You little weasel.”
Giving tricky cues may be good in a game of murder whodunit, but it’s not good for marketing your product to consumers. What is Thixo-Tex? You don’t know. Neither did consumers. When the product was renamed Rusty Jones and launched with an advertising campaign, sales of the rust-proofing product went from $2 million to $100 million in 4 years. 4
McDonald’s communicates cleanliness: clean tables, clean floors, clean counters, clean restrooms, and clean uniformed servers. McDonald’s communicates efficiency. Cash registers are programmed so servers do not have to spend time entering multiple keystrokes for each item ordered. McDonald’s communicates consistency. A Big Mac tastes the same at any McDonald’s in the United States. French fries taste the same whether they come from a McDonald’s in Las Vegas or in Fargo, North Dakota. The ingredients and preparation methods are identical at all restaurants.
Cues are used to say it once, and to say it again and again and again.
Brands Take on the Characteristics of the Product Category
Consumers who find Sunkist Fruit Gems, a soft fruit-flavored candy-like product, among the apples, oranges, bananas, and other fruits in the grocery store are likely to see Sunkist Fruit Gems as healthy and nutritious. Consumers who find Sunkist Fruit Gems in the candy section of the grocery store are likely to think of them as candy: tasty and fun to eat, but not nutritious.
If Mrs. Dash seasoning is a spice, you would put in the spice rack and use it in cooking. If Mrs. Dash is a salt substitute, you would put it on the table and use it when eating.
If Snickers is a nutritious snack chock-full of peanuts, you could eat it guilt free between meals. If Snickers is a candy bar, you might hesitate to eat it as a between meal snack.
When consumers want a snack, they think of junk food like chips, candy bars, cookies, ice cream, cake. They don’t think of carrots. Carrots is a vegetable. But what if consumers started thinking of carrots as a snack food? Then when they wanted a snack, they would think of carrots. That is the idea behind the introduction of Baby Carrots as an “extreme junk food.” 5 It is packaged like potato chips and has commercials reminiscent of commercials for Doritos Chips.
Mixed Sensory Modalities
Consumers were presented with two cups of the same orange juice. One was made more “orangey” in color with food coloring. Consumers dutifully reported that the two samples tasted different. 6
Consumers were quite satisfied with a tasty meal of blue steak and green French fries which appeared normal under special lighting. When the lighting changed to reveal the strangely colored food, satisfaction with the meal plummeted and some consumers became ill. 7