If she has it I'm having it in every colour...

Today's society is heavily influenced being apart of a certain clique in enable for one to feel apart of a group. This is driven by marketers by pressuring their target market to purchase one or more product that will gain them the social status that they inspire to be.

Furthermore it evident that one may follow others enable to protect their dignity or purely think ' oh is this what we are meant to do' and act before thinking ( as the clip above demonstrates) 

'Because we tend to compare ourselves with who are similar to us, many promotional strategies include 'ordinary' people' - Consumer Behaviour, Solomon.

The statement above is evident amongst most promotional strategies, one of which was highly successful and increased the sales for company, Boots, when they launched their new firming cream for 'real women' ( shown above). This form of advertising comforts other women that they too can look like a  'real women' when using the product. 

This need for one to feel comfortable in their social environment drives marketers into gold mines and by using print ads such as this that brings the feel of 'acceptance' across it is evident that group pressure is how to get the target market to buy. 

 The clip below illustrates the psychological perpective aof the consumer and how asks why does the consumer become an active member in consumer buying ( please excuse the annoying female robotic voice and awful piano music)

segmentation targeting and positioning

Segmentation and targeting is broken up into 3 parts:

1. What customers exist 
2. who will be the chosen customer
3. reaching the needs of the customer 

Once an organisation has developed and chosen both product and customer research is carried out to find out what the target market wants and needs. However,  some customers are known as the undifferentiated  buyer ( those that are treated all the same). This label only falls under the commodities that are in non competitive environment and all can offer the same frills to all customers.  

Furthermore, when considering a target market it is essential to consider the demographics of the buyer's surroundings. For example, if one country finds the colour red offensive to their culture a motovehicle organisation would avoid illustrating the colour red in any possible form, but if the same organisation is also advertising the product where the colour red is considered to be lucky then marketers would inject the colour everywhere. This example suggests that positioning a brand globally needs to adapt to the buyers behaviour, culture and the area's economic growth. 

'segments that are less dependent on demographics and more likely to borrow behavioural patterns and fashion across what were formerly more significant borders or barriers' - Consumer Behaviour, Michael Solomon. 

In addition, the scale on how large the segment depends on how price, product, positioning and distribution is. If the segment is on a small scale the risque of competitors are considerably low, however if its on a large scale competition will be left,right and centre. 

The diagram above show how positioning a segment relies on how the target consumer full fills their needs and wants from value and brand personality.  This may suggest that depending on whether the segment is apart of a niche market or has universal appeal the value of the product (premium, low price, value) has to engage and attract the consumers wants. 

nostalgia

As we age our nostalgic yearnings grow, making us more receptive to advertisers and marketers use of what researchers call “a longing for positive memories from the past - The Power of Nostalgia - Duncan, 27th January 2010

Marketers and Advertisers play on history land marks of a certain era to gain a positive image or trigger to the consumer. For example, the Hovis link above travels through the years of the United Kingdom reaches out to different generations and triggering happy and positive memories that trigger stories from the past. 

This form of marketing/advertising is a clever way of gaining awareness for the organisation and perceiving a positive personality for the product as well as the brand itself.  furthermore, it could be suggested that nostalgia is a form of advertising that has less chance of failing to gain or keep customers from purchasing the product/brand than a new,modern or futuristic advertising as the its most likely to gain publicity and public conversation in a positive way. 

Self-Concept..the consumer evaluates themselves before the product?

Self-Concept can be defined on how one looks at themselves in a positive or negative aspect or even how one aspires to become apart of a social group.

This self concept is exploited by marketing and is used in adverts by making the customer compare themselves to the synthetic images, leading to the consumer to aspire and gain access to the product that is being subconsciously sold to them.

'Exposure to ads can trigger a process of social comparison,where the person tries to evaluate their self by comparing it to the people depicted in these artificial images' -Michael R. Solomon. 


Furthermore, in recent studies females are more likely to look at an advert or television programme and compare themselves to the thin, attractive and elegant model that the brand uses. Resulting to the female having a lower self-esteem but rating the product being sold highly, in contrast to a female model that is less threatening to the female consumer and sustaining a positive self-esteem - but rate the product lower.

'the subjects who saw depicting normal weight models did not feel bad about themselves, but they did rate the brands lower' - Michael R. Solomon 

In addition to this, it is up to the seller to hold up a mirror to the buyer and attempt to convince that the buyer that they NEED this product in enable to be that model in the advert. The clip Below illustrates how low self-esteem works in a person and how a high self-esteem also is perceived in a person. Although the clip does not focus on buyers behaviour or from a sellers aspect, it demonstrates how these emotions are easy to inject positive self-esteem by purchasing their product.