Advertising Principles

and Practices

The Consumer
Audience
 Questions We’ll Answer
• Why is consumer behavior important to
advertisers?
• What cultural, social, psychological, and
behavioral influences affect consumer
responses to advertising.
• How does the consumer decision process
work?
• What is the difference between
segmenting and targeting?

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-2

 Dove Redefines Beauty
• What critical consumer insights drove the marketing
campaign?
• How is Dove changing the definition of real beauty?
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Visit the
Site

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-3

 How does consumer
behavior work?
• Consumer behavior: how consumers select, purchase,
use, or dispose of products, and the needs and wants
that motivate behaviors
• Consumers: people who buy or use products or adopt
ideas to satisfy needs and wants
• Customers: consumers who buy particular brands or
patronize specific stores
• Prospects: potential customers who are likely to buy
the product or brand

Principle:
Buyers may not be the users
and users may not be the buyers. Buyers and users
often have entirely different needs and wants.
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-4
Influences on
Consumer
Decisions

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-5

 Cultural Influences
• Norms and Values Core Values:
– Norms: a culture’s
1. Sense of belonging
boundaries for “proper”
behavior 2. Excitement
– Values: the source of 3. Fun and enjoyment
norms, which represent 4. Warm relationships
underlying belief systems 5. Self-fulfillment
• Subcultures 6. Respect from
– Smaller groups of cultures others
defined by geography, age, 7. A sense of
values, language, traditions, accomplishment
or ethnic background 8. Security
• Corporate Culture
– How various companies
operate (formal vs.
informal)
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-6
 Social Influences
• Social Class
– The position you and your
family occupy within your
society
– Determined by income, wealth,
education, occupation, family
prestige, value of home, and
neighborhood
• Reference Groups
– Models for behavior such as
teachers, religious or political
figures, religious groups, ethnic
organizations, your peers
• Provide information
• Means of personal
comparison
• Offer guidance
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-7
 Social Influences
• Family
– Two or more people who are
related by blood, marriage, or
adoption and live in the same
household
– Household: all those who
occupy a dwelling, related or
not.
– Lifestyle: your family situation,
values, and income that
determines how you spend your
time and money

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-8

 Social Influences
• Demographics
– Statistical, social, and economic
factors that characterize a
population such as age, gender,
education, income, occupation,
race, and family size
– Identifies audiences and helps
advertisers develop messages
and select media
– U.S. Census Bureau collects
demographic data every 10
years

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-9

Social Influences: Demographics
• Age
• Gender
• Family Status
• Race and Ethnicity
• Education
• Occupation
• Income
• Geography
• Sexual Orientation
Principle:
Your income is a key demographic factor because you
are meaningful to a marketer only if you have the
resources needed to buy the product advertised.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-10

Social Influences: Demographics
• The Greatest Generation (born in teens through the late 1920s)
– Fought World War II, opened up college education to the middle class;
lived frugal yet financially satisfying lives.
• Silent Generation (born mid- to late-1920s to the war years)
– Active seniors, had the most “positive impact” on America having built the
post-war economic boom of the country.
• Baby boomers (born between 1946–1964)
– Largest category; final years of their careers; lived through Civil Rights
movement, anti-Vietnam war protests; moon landing.
• Generation Jones (mid- to late-1950s to mid-1960s)
– Dream of affluence trying to “keep up with the Joneses.”
• Gen X or Baby Busters (born 1965–1979)
– Independent minded, somewhat cynical, concerned with their physical
health and financial future.
• Generation Y or Echo Boomers (1980–1996)
– More technologically savvy, forming brand relationships, more altruistic.
• The Millennium Generation (2000 and after)
– More brand conscious.
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-11
 Psychological Influences
• Perception and State of Mind
– Your past experiences with a brand, what others say, and
mental states affect behavior
• Needs and Wants
– Innate (primary) needs: water, food, shelter, and sex
– Acquired (secondary) needs: esteem, prestige, affection,
power, learning, and beauty
– Want: based on a desire or wish for something.
– Satisfaction/dissatisfaction
– Cognitive dissonance

Principle:
An item we need is something we think is essential or
necessary for our lives; an item we want
is something we desire.
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-12
 Psychological Influences:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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 Psychological Influences
• Motivations
– Motive: an internal force that
stimulates a certain behavior
• Attitudes
– Based on deeply held values, and
resistant to change
• Personality
– Brand personalities can be created
to make brands distinct from
competitors.

Principle:
Strategies that are designed to affect attitudes focus on
establishing, changing, reinforcing, or replacing them.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-14

 Psychological Influences
• Psychographics
– Activities: work, hobbies,
social events, vacation,
entertainment, shopping
– Opinions: self, social, future,
political, business, culture,
economics, education,
– Interests: family, home, job,
food, media, achievements,
recreation

Principle:
Often, differences in consumer behavior lie in
psychographics—consumers’ interests and lifestyles —
rather than in demographics.
Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-15
 Psychological Influences
• Lifestyles
– Looks at patterns of
consumption, personal
relationships and leisure
activities.
– Yankelovich Monitor’s
MindBase
– VALS
– Products are linked to
lifestyles in the way they
reflect the interests of
people and the settings in
which the products are
used.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-16

 The VALs System
The VALs System categorizes
consumers according to psychological
traits that correlate to purchase
behavior.
• Thinkers and Believers—
motivated by ideals; abstract
criteria such as tradition, quality,
and integrity.
• Achievers and Strivers—
Visit the
motivated by achievement,
Site
seeking approval from a values
social group.
• Experiencers and Makers—
motivated by self-expression and
the need to stand out from the
crowd or make an impact on the
physical world. Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-17
 Behavioral Influences
• Usage Behavior
– Usage rate: quantity of purchase—light, medium, heavy.
– Brand relationship: past, present or future use of product
— nonusers, ex-users, regulars, first-timers, switchers.
– Innovation and adoption: how willing people are to try
something new.
– Perceived risk: what you have to gain or lose by trying
something new.
• Experiences
– The experience of buying vs. acquiring the product itself.
– Our decisions are based on our experience with the brand.

Principle:
In many product categories, 20 percent
of the users buy 80 percent of the products.

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 Behavioral Influences:
Diffusion of Innovation Curve

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 Trends in Consumer
Buying Behavior
• Trends and fads
– Related to lifestyle and psychographic factors as
well as desire for choice in a consumer culture.
– Young people are very involved in trends.
• Trendspotters: researchers that identify trends
affecting consumer behavior
• Cool Hunters: specialize in trends that appeal to youth
• Brand proselytizer: consumer paid to positively
influence people about a brand
– “Take charge” mentality of today’s consumers

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The Consumer Decision Process
• Traditional View
– Need recognition
– Information search
– Evaluation of alternatives
– Purchase decision
– Postpurchase evaluation
• Low-involvement or
high-involvement
– In low involvement,
there’s little or no
information search

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The Consumer Decision Process
• Paths to Brand Decisions
– Depends on product and buying situation
– Planners must know how the process works for different
product categories (e.g., cars vs. candy bars)

Path Goal Example Advertising’s Objective

think–feel–do learning, interest computer game, CD, DVD Provide information, emotion

think–do–feel learning, college, a computer, provide information, arguments

understanding a vacation

feel–think–do needs a new suit, a motorcycle create desire

feel–do–think wants cosmetics, fashion establish a psychological

appeal

do–feel–think impulse a candy bar, a soft drink create brand familiarity

do–think–feel habit cereal, shampoo remind of satisfaction

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-22

The Consumer Decision Process
• Influences on B2B Decision Making
– Many individuals involved; decision by committee
– Rational and quantitative criteria dominate
– Often based on specs who bid on the contract; low bid wins
– Long time between initial contact and decision; decisions
last a long time and are supported by a contract
– Quality is hugely important and repeat purchases are based
on performance
– Personal selling is important; advertising’s role is to used to
generate leads for the sales force.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-23

 Segmenting and Targeting
• Segmenting
– Dividing the market into groups of people who
have similar characteristics in certain key
product-related areas.
• Targeting
– Identifying the group that might be the most
profitable audience and the most
likely to respond to marketing
communications messages.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-24

 Segmenting and Targeting
• Market aggregation strategy
– When planners use one marketing strategy that will appeal
to as many audiences as possible–“Coke is it!”
– Treats the market as homogeneous (single, undifferentiated,
large unit).
• Market segmentation
– Marketers recognize consumer differences and adjust
strategies and messages accordingly (Diet Coke vs.
Caffeine free Coke).
• Target market
– From these segments, marketers identify, evaluate, and
select a group of people with similar needs and
characteristics who are most likely to be in the market for
the advertiser’s product.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-25

 Types of Segmentation
• Demographic segmentation • Behavioral segmentation
• Life style segmentation • Benefits segmentation
• Geographic segmentation • Values and benefits-based
• Psychographic segmentation segmentation

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Sociodemographic Segments
• Based on when you were born and lifestyle factors
– Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Echo boomers
– Gray Market (young seniors age 60–75, older seniors 70+)
• Other lifestyle segments
– Dinkies: double income young couples with no kids
– Guppies: gay upwardly mobile professionals
– Skippies: school kids with purchasing power
– Slackers: high school kids who don’t care or do much
– Bling bling generation: coined by rappers and hip hoppers;
flashy people with a high rolling lifestyle and costly
diamonds and jewelry
– Ruppies: retired urban professionals; older consumers with
sophisticated tastes and a generally affluent lifestyle

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 Niche Markets
• Subsegments of a more general market defined by
some distinctive trait
– Ecologically minded moms who don’t use
disposable diapers
– Skateboarders
– Classical music enthusiasts
– Educationally oriented senior travelers

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-28

Profiling the Target Audience
• Markets are divided into segments; then
profitable segments are selected as target
audiences.
• A profile is a description of the target audience
that reads like a description of someone you
know.
• Behavioral targeting is getting more attention
due to new practices in Internet marketing.

Prentice Hall, © 2009 5-29