How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 18)

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Top-Down Marketing

by

Charles Lamson

The traditional top-down marketing plan is still the most common format. It has been used for over 30 years and fits the hierarchigal organization of most companies. It is often appropriate for companies planning to launch completely new products. As Exhibit 1 shows, the top-down plan has four main elements: situation analysis, marketing objectives, marketing strategy, and tactics (or action programs). Large companies with extensive marketing plans sometimes include additional sections.

Exhibit 1

Traditional top-down marketing plan

Situation Analysis

The situation analysis section is a factual statement of the organization's current situation and how it got there. It presents all relevant facts about the company's history, growth, products, and services, sales volume, share of market, competitive status, markets served, distribution system, past advertising programs, results of marketing research studies, company capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, and any other pertinent information. To plan successfully for the future, company executives must agree on the accuracy of the data and their interpretation.

Once the historical information is gathered, the focus changes to potential threats and opportunities based on key factors outside the company's control---for example, the economic, political, social, technological, or commercial environments in which the company operates.

Look at the situation Mountain Dew faced in the mid-1990s. Whereas the 1980s had been the decade of the diet colas, the 1990s were turning into the decade of the big-flavored brands. The soft drink category was still dominated by the two mainstream colas with the most marketing muscle Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, and they were followed fairly closely by Diet Coke. But noncola drinks such as Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew were producing consistent gains. In fact, the noncolas were growing faster than the colas; and the folks at Mountain Dew were celebrating because with scant resources and extraordinary competitive pressure, their little niche brand had reached the number six position overall and was the number two noncola brand behind Dr. Pepper. They were still some distance away from Diet Coke, but the brand was emerging as a growth leader even while being outspent by Dr. Pepper. In a nutshell, that was the situation. And it spelled opportunity.

Marketing Objectives

The organization's next step is to determine specific marketing objectives. These must consider the amount of money the company has to invest in marketing and production, its knowledge of the marketplace, and the competitive environment. Mountain Dew budgets far less for advertising than Pepsi or Coke. As a result, Dew has to set less ambitious marketing objectives in terms of total volume, but not in terms of growth.

Marketing objectives follow logically from a review of the company's current situation, management's prediction of future trends, and the hierarchy of company objectives. For example, corporate objectives are stated in terms of profit or return on investment, or net worth, earnings ratios, growth, or corporate reputation. Marketing objectives, which derive from corporate objectives should relate to the need of target markets as well as to specific sales goals. These may be referred to as general need-satisfying objectives and specific sales target objectives.

To shift management's view of the organization from a producer of products to a satisfier of target market needs, companies set need-satisfying objectives. These have a couple of important purposes. First, they enable the firm to view its business broadly. For example, Revlon founder Charles Revson once said a cosmetic company's product is hope, not lipstick. An insurance company sells financial security, not policies. Because customer needs change, maintaining a narrow view may strand a company in a market where its products are no longer relevant. For example, if a button manufacturer thought his need-satisfying objective was to satisfy people's need for buttons, he might have completely missed the opportunity presented by new products such as Velcro and zippers, which satisfy a similar but broader need---fastening clothes.

Second, by need-satisfying objectives, managers force the company to look through the customer's eyes. They have to ask, "What are we planning to do for the customer?" and "What is the value of that to our customer?" One of the best ways to define a market is to think about customer needs first and then identify the products that meet those needs.

The second kind of marketing objective is the sales target objective. This is a specific quantitative, realistic marketing goal to be achieved within a specified period of time. A sales target objective could be phrased as "What are we planning to do for ourselves?" They may be expressed in several ways: total sales volume; sales volume by product, market segment or customer type; market share in total or by product line. Mountain Dew, for example, uses a number of measures for its sales target objectives: case volume, share of market, growth, and share of growth.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy describes how the company plans to meet its marketing objectives. Marketing strategies typically involves three steps: (1) defining the particular target markets; (2) determining the strategic position; and (3) developing an appropriate marketing mix for each target market. A company's marketing strategy has a dramatic impact on its advertising. It determines the role and amount of advertising in the marketing mix, its creative thrust, and the media to be employed.

Selecting the target mix     In top-down marketing, the first step in strategy development is to define and select the target market.

When General Motors introduced its new Saturn SCI model, for instance, it defined its target market as "college-educated import owners and intenders"---highly educated young adults (18 to 34) considering their first or second car purchase. They were further defined as 60 percent female, living in one- or two-person households, and seeking a vehicle with sporty styling, fun performance, fuel economy, a good warranty, and sound quality/reliability/dependability. They typically drive a Honda Civic, Toyota Corrolla, or Nissan 240SX.

Similarly, Mountain Dew defines its target market as active, young people in their teens as well as young adults 20 to 39 years old. In addition, the brand aims a significant portion of its marketing activities at urban youth, especially African Americans and Latinos. To Mountain Dew, the prototypical consumer is an 18-year-old, street-smart, male teen.

Positioning the product     The famous researcher and copywriter David Ogilvy said one of the first decisions in marketing and advertising is also the most important: how to position the product. Positioning refers to the place a brand occupies competitively in the minds of consumers. Every product has some position---whether intended or not---even if the position is "nowhere." Positions are based on consumer perceptions, which may or may not reflect reality. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Ogilvy's agency (Ogilvy & Mather), for example, differentiated Dove soap in 1957 by positioning it as a complexion bar for women with dry skin. Now, a half century later, every commercial still uses the same cleansing cream demonstration, and Dove is consistently the number one brand, spending some $153.6 million in advertising annually to maintain its 24 percent share of the multibillion-dollar bar soap market.

Many positions are available in a market. The big mistake many companies make is not staking out any position. They cannot be everything; but they do not want to be nothing. A company might pick a position similar to a competitors and fight for the same. Or it might find a position not held by a competitor---a hole in the market---and fill it quickly, perhaps through product differentiation or market segmentation.

Professor Ernest Martin proposes seven distinct approaches to developing a positioning strategy:

1. Product attribute---setting the brand apart by stressing a particular product feature important to consumers.
2. Price/quality---positioning on the basis of price or quality.
3. Use/application---positioning on the basis of how a product is used (e.g., Arm & Hammer).
4. Product class---positioning the brand against other products that, while not the same, offer the same class of benefits.
5. Product user---positioning against the particular group who uses the product.
6. Product competitor---positioning against competitors (e.g., Avis/Hertz), using the strength of the competitor's position to help define the subject brand.
7. Cultural symbol---positioning apart from competitors through the creation or use of some recognized symbol or icon.

The writers of Contemporary Advertising add an eighth approach: by category---positioning by defining or redefining the business category. A simple way for a company to get the number one position is to invent a new product category.

Xerox, for example, was originally known as the copier company; but with increased competition, the copier market became glutted, so Xerox tried to reposition itself as a problem solver. Now calling itself "The Document Company," it offers to use technology to find ways for everyone in an organization to manage and share useful information. But what it has really done is create a new business category occupied by one company: Xerox.

With all its high energy and exhilaration, "youth" is not only the positioning of Mountain Dew, it is the heartbeat of the brand. PepsiCo defines the Dew positioning this way:

To 48-year-old males who embrace excitement, adventure, and fun, Mountain Dew is the great-tasting soft drink that exhilarates like no other because it is energizing, thirst-quenching, and has a unique citrus flavor.

Determining the marketing mix     The next step in developing the marketing strategy is to determine a cost-effective marketing mix for each target market the company pursues. The mix blends the various marketing elements the company controls: product, price, distribution, and communications.

Mountain Dew was blessed with a broad marketing toolbox to draw upon. First, it offered consumers an energizing, thirst-quenching soft drink product with a unique citrus flavor and an image of youthful exuberance, exhilaration, and adventure. Then to build distribution, it used a variety of promotions to the trade that would enable grocers and other resellers to increase both volume and profits. While its price was competitive with other soft drinks, Mountain Dew promoted itself aggressively with free samples, premiums, and prizes at various street and sporting events---which effectively lowered the price to consumers.

Finally, Mountain Dew initiated an integrated communications program that included extensive advertising on TV, radio, outdoor and print media, and the Internet; sports and event sponsorships; appearances at grass-roots geographical events; plus a host of public relations activities---all designed to develop and promote the distinct Mountain Dew personality.

Companies have a wide variety of marketing strategy options. They might increase distribution, initiate new uses for a product, change a product line, develop entirely new markets, or start discount pricing. Each opinion emphasizes one or more marketing elements. The choice depends on the product's target market, its position in the market, and its stage in the product life cycle.

Marketing Tactics (Action Programs)

A company's objectives indicate where it wants to go; the strategy indicates the intended route; and the tactics (or action programs) determine the specific short-term actions to be taken, internally and externally, by whom, and when. Advertising campaigns live in the world of marketing tactics, which will be discussed in more detail in the next few posts. 

To be continued. . . 

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 237-243*

END

How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 17)

Basic Methods for Testing Ads

by

Charles Lamson

Although there is no infallible way to predict advertising success or failure, pretesting and posttesting can give an advertiser useful insights if properly applied.

Pretesting methods     Advertisers often pretest ads for likability and comprehension by using a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques.

For example, when pretesting print ads, advertisers often ask direct questions: What does the advertising say to you? Does the advertising tell you anything new or different about the company? If so, what? Does the advertising reflect activities you would like to participate in? Is the advertising believable? What effect does it have on your perception of the merchandise offered? Do you like the ads?

Through direct questioning, researchers can elicit a full range of responses from people and thereby infer how well advertising messages convey key copy points. Direct questioning is especially effective for testing alternative ads in the early stages of development, when respondents reactions and input can best be acted on. There are numerous techniques for pretesting print ads, including focus groups, order-of-merit tests, paired comparisons, portfolio tests, mock magazines, perceptual meaning studies, and direct mail tests.

Several methods are used specifically to pretest radio and TV commercials. In central location tests, respondents are shown videotapes of test commercials, usually in shopping centers, and questions are asked before and after exposure. In clutter tests, test commercials are shown with noncompeting control commercials to determine their effectiveness, measure comprehension and attitude shifts, and detect weaknesses.

A company's own employees are an important constituency. Some companies, in fact, pretest new commercials by prescreening them on their in-house cable TV systems and soliciting feedback.

The Challenge of Pretesting     There is no best way to pretest advertising variables. Different methods test different aspects, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages---a formidable challenge for the advertiser.

Pretesting helps distinguish strong ads from weak ones. But since the test occurs in an artificial setting, repondents may assume the role of expert or critic and give answers that do not reflect their real buying behavior. They may invent opinions to satisfy the interviewer, or be reluctant to admit they are influenced, or vote for the ads they think they should like.

Researchers encounter problems when asking people to rank ads. Respondents often rate the ones that make the best first impression as the highest in all categories (the halo effect). Also questions about the respondent's buying behavior may be invalid; behavior intent may not become behavior fact. And some creative people mistrust ad testing because they believe it stifles creativity.

Despite these challenges, the issue comes down to dollars. Small advertisers rarely pretest, but their risk is not as great, either. When advertisers risk millions of dollars on a new campaign, they must pretest to be sure the ad or commercial is interesting, believable, likable, and memorable---and reinforces the brand image.

Posttesting methods     Posttesting can be more costly and time-consuming than pretesting, but it can test ads under actual market conditions. Some advertisers benefit from pretesting and posttesting by running ads in select test markets before launching a campaign nationwide.

As in pretesting, advertisers use both quantitative and qualitative methods in posttesting. Most posttesting techniques fall into five broad categories: unaided recall, attitude tests, inquiry tests, and sales tests.

Some advertisers use attitude tests to measure a campaign's effectiveness in creating a favorable image for a company, its brand, or its products. Presumably, favorable changes in attitude predispose consumers to buy the company's product.

IAG Research has developed a syndicated data seevice called IAG Ad that the company administers for such clients as American Express, General Motors and Procter & Gamble. Using more than 80,000 surveys, IAG Ad key data about the ads that viewers watched the night before and generates a detailed performance analysis that includes brand recall, message understanding, likability, and purchase intent. This tool helps advertisers understand the actual effectiveness of their ads.

Similarly, Nissan interviews 1,000 consumers every month to track brand awareness, familiarity with vehicle models, recall of commercials, and shifts in attitude or image perception. If a commercial fails it can be pulled quickly.

Children's clothing manufacurer Healthtex consucted some posttesting and discovered that, while new mothers appreciated the information in the long copy format of their ads, more experienced mothers did not. For them, the headline and one line of copy were sufficient to get the point across. They already understood the rest. As a result, the company used the shorter format and redesigned the ads aimed at experienced parents.

The challenge of posttesting     Each posttesting method has limitations. Recall tests reveal the effectiveness of ad components, such as size, color, or themes. But they measure what respondents noticed, not whether they actually buy the product.

For measuring sales effectiveness, attitude tests are often better than recall tests. An attitude change relates more closely to product purchase, and a measured change in attitude gives management the confidence to make informed decisions about advertising plans. Unfortunately, many people find it difficult to determine and express their attitudes. For mature brands, brand interest may be a better sales indicator, and advertisers now measure that phenomenon. 

By using inquiry tests---in which consumers respond to an ad for information or free samples---researchers can test an ad's attention-getting value, readability, and understability. These tests also permit fairly good control of the variables that motivate reader action. The inquiry test is also effective for testing small-space ads.

Unfortunately, inquiries may not reflect a sincere interest in the product, and responses may take months to receive. When advertising is the dominant element or the only variable in the company's marketing plan, sales tests are a useful measure of advertising effectiveness. However, many other variables usually affect sales (competitors' activities, the season of the year, and even the weather). Sales response may not be immediate, and sales tests, particularly field studies, are often costly and time-consuming.

For consumer packaged goods, though, the cost of sales tests has been greatly reduced thanks to grocery store scanners. Finally, sales tests are typically more suited for gauging the effectiveness of campaigns than of individual ads or components of ads.

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 222-225*  

END

How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 16)

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The Need for Research in Marketing and Advertising

by 

Charles Lamson

Every year, companies spend millions of dollars creating ads and promotions that they hope their customers and prospects will notice and relate to. Then they spend millions more placing their communications in print and electronic media, hoping their customers will see and hear them and eventually respond.

Advertising is expensive. In the United States the cost of a single 30-second commercial on prime-time network TV averages around $130,000. Likewise, a single full-page color ad in a national business magazine averages $100 to reach every thousand prospects. That is too much money to risk unless advertisers have very good information about who their customers are, what they want and like, and where they spend their media time. And that is why advertisers need research. Research provides the information that drives marketing and advertising decision making. Without that information, advertisers are forced to use intuition or guesswork. In today's fast-changing, highly competitive, global economy, that invites failure.

What is Marketing Research?

To help managers make marketing decisions, companies develop systematic procedures for gathering, recording and analyzing new information. This is called marketing research (it should not be confused with market research, which is information gathered about a particular market or market segment). Marketing research does a number of things: It helps identify consumer needs and market segments; it provides the information necessary for developing new products and devising marketing strategies; and it enables managers to assess the effectiveness of marketing programs and promotional activities. Marketing research is also useful in financial planning, economic forecasting,and quality control.

Companies use marketing research to gather a lot of different types of information. It may be easiest to think of all these in terms of what one researcher calls the three Rs of marketing: recruiting new customers, retaining current customers, and regaining lost customers.

For example, to recruit new customers, researchers may study different market segments and create product attribute models to match buyers with the right products and services. Marketers need answers to many questions: What new products do consumers want? Which ideas should we work on? What product features are most important to our customers? What changes in the product's appearance and performance will increase sales? What price will maintain the brand's image, create profits, and still be attractive and affordable to consumers? Answers may lead to product and marketing decisions that directly affect the product's nature, content, packaging, pricing---and advertising.

On the other hand, to retain existing customers, a marketer may use customer satisfaction studies. Likewise, database of customer transactions may identify reasons for customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Today, companies realize that the best sales go to those who develop good relationships with individual customers. As a result, customer satisfaction is now the fastest-growing field in marketing research.

Information gained for the first two Rs helps the third, regaining lost customers. For example, if an office equipment manufacturer discovers through research that an increase in service calls typically precedes cancellation of a service contract, it can watch for that pattern with current customers and then take preventive action. Moreover, it can review service records of former customers and (if the pattern holds true)devise some marketing action or advertising appeal to win them back.

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 209-210*

END

How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 15)

Product Life Cycles

by

Charles Lamson

Marketers theorize that just as humans pass through stages in life from infancy to death, products (and especially product categories) also pass through a product life cycle. A product's position within the life cycle influences the target market selected and the kind of advertising used. There are four major stages in the product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

When a company introduces a new product category, nobody knows about it. By using market segmentation, though, the company may try to identify those prospects who are known to be early adopters---willing to try new things---and begin promoting the new category directly to them. The idea is to stimulate primary demand---consumer demand for the whole product category, not just the company's own brand.

During the introductory (pioneering) phase of any new product category, the company incurs considerable costs for educating customers, building widespread dealer distribution, and encouraging demand. It must spend significant advertising sums at this stage to establish a position as a market leader and to gain a large share of market before the growth stage begins.

When cellular telephones were introduced in the late 1980s, advertisers had to first create enough consumer demand to pull the product through the channels of distribution (called pull strategy). Advertising communications educated consumers about the new product and its category, explaining what cellular phones are, how they work, and the rewards of owning one. Sales promotion efforts aimed at the retail trade (called push strategy) encouraged distributors and dealers to stock, display, and advertise the new products.

When sales volume begins to rise rapidly, the product enters the growth stage.  This period is characterized by rapid market expansion as more and more customers stimulated by mass advertising and word of mouth, make their first, second, and third purchases. Competitors jump into the market, but the company that established the early leadership position reaps the biggest rewards. As a percentage of total sales, advertising expenditures should decrease, and individual firms will realize their first substantial profits.

During the early 1990s, the demand for cellular phones exploded, and category sales quadrupled every year. Many competitors suddenly appeared. With increased production and competition, prices started to fall, which brought even more people into the market. By 2005, 70 percent of all U.S. families owned cell phones.

In the maturity stage, the markeplace becomes saturated with competing products and the number of new customers dwindles, so industry sales reach a plateau. Competition intensifies and profits diminish. Companies increase their promotional efforts but emphasize selective demand to impress customers with the subtle advantages of their particular brand. At this stage, companies increase sales only at the expense of competitors (conquest sales). The strategies of market segmentation, product positioning, and price promotion become more important during this shakeout period as weak companies fall by the wayside and those remaining fight for small increases in market share. By the mid-1990s, for example, cell phones that once sold for $1,500 were suddenly advertised regularly for $100 to $200. Ads emphasized features and low prices, and the product became a staple of discount merchandisers. Today, of course, one can get a cell phone for free just by signing up for the service.

Late in the maturity stage, companies may have to scramble to extend the product's life cycle. Without innovation or marketing support, name brands eventually see their sales erode. If the advertised brand has no perceived advantage, people will buy whatever's cheapest or most convenient. Professor Brian Wansink, who directs the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, suggests that the reason many old brands die is less for life cycle reasons and more for marketing neglect. He points out that aging brands often pack plenty of brand equity. The challenge for marketers is to determine which brands can be revitalized and then decide how to do it. But with today's high price tag on introducing new products (often $100 million or more) revitalization should be the strategy of choice whenever possible. Marketers may try to find new users for the brand, develop new uses for the product, change the size of packages, design new labels, improve quality, or use promotion to increase frequency of use.

If they are not revitalized, products will finally enter the decline stage because of obsolescence, new technology, or changing consumer tastes. At this point, companies may cease all promotion and phase the products out quickly, as in the case of record turntables and LP albums, or let them fade slowly with minimal advertising, like most sheer hosiery brands.

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 188-190*

END

How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 14)

The Consumer Motivation Process

by

Charles Lamson

Motivation refers to the underlying forces (or motives) that contribute to our purchasing actions. These motives stem from the conscious or unconscious goal of satisfying our needs and wants. Needs are the basic, often instinctive, human forces that motivate us to do something. Wants are "needs" that we learn during our lifetime.

Motivation cannot be observed directly. When we see people eat, we assume they are hungry, but we may be wrong. People eat for a variety of reasons besides hunger. They want to be sociable, it is time to eat, or maybe they are nervous or bored.

People are usually motivated by the benefit of satisfying some combination of needs, which may be conscious or unconscious, functional or psychological. Motivation research offers some insights into the underlying reasons for unexpected consumer behavior. The reasons (motives) some people stop shopping at Ralph's Supermarket and switch to Vons may be that the Vons market is closer to home, it has a wider selection of fresh produce, and (most likely) they see other people like themselves shopping at Vons. Any or all of these factors might make a shopper switch even if prices are lower at Ralph's.

To better understand what motivates people, Abraham Maslow developed the classical model shown in Exhibit 1 called the hierarchy of needs. Maslow maintained that the lower physiological and safety needs dominate human behavior and must be satisfied before the higher, socially acquired needs (or wants) become meaningful. The highest need, self-actualization, is the culmination of fulfilling all the lower needs and reaching to discover the true self.

Need	Product	Promotional appeal
Self-actualization	Golf Lessons	“Realize your full potential”
Esteem	Luxury car	“Be in control of the road”
Social	Pendant	“Show her you care”
Safety	Tires	“Bounces off hazards”
Physiological	Breakfast cereal	“The natural energy source”

Exhibit 1

The hierarchy of needs suggests that people meet their needs according to priorities. Physiological and safety needs carry the greatest priority.

In advertising, the message must match the need of the market or the ad will fail. 

Advertisers use marketing research to understand the need levels of their markets and use this information in determining the marketing mix.

The promise of satisfying a certain level of need is the basic promotional appeal for many ads. In such affluent societies as the United States, Canada, western Europe, and Japan, most individuals take for granted the satisfaction of their physiological needs. So advertising campaigns often portray the fulfillment of social, esteem, self-actualization needs, and many offer the reward of satisfaction through personal achievement.

In focus groups for Nabisco SnackWells, for example, it became apparent that middle-aged women today have a high sense of self-worth. Wellness, to them, is no longer about looking good in a bathing suit; rather, it is about celebrating what they do well. The advertiser wondered if it could use women's positive attitude about themselves to change their attitude toward the concept of snacking. Nabisco's agency, Foote, Cone & Belding capitalized on the idea in a new campaign aimed at boosting women's self esteem. The message: "Snacking is not about 'filling' yourself, but 'fulfilling' yourself.

We all have needs and wants, but we are frequently unaware of them. Before the advent of the laptop computer, people were completely unaware of any need for it. But the moment a consumer consciously recognizes a product-related want or need, a dynamic process begins. The consumer first evaluates the need and either accepts it or rejects it. Acceptance converts satisfaction of the need into a goal, which creates the dedication (the motivation) to reach a particular result. In contrast, rejection removes the necessity for action and thereby eliminates the goal and the motivation to buy.

Modern researchers have translated Maslow's theory about needs and motives into more strategic concepts for use by marketers and advertisers. Rossiter and Percy, for example, identify eight fundamental purchase and usage motives. They refer to the first five as negativity originated (informational) motives and the last three as positively originated (transformational) motives.

Negatively Originated (Informational) Motives

The most common energizers of consumer behavior are the negatively originated motives, such as problem removal or problem avoidance. Whenever we run out of something, for instance, we experience a negative mental state. To relieve those feelings, we actively seek a new or replacement product. Thus, we are temporarily motivated until the time we make the purchase. Then, if the purchase is satisfactory, the drive or motivation is reduced.

These are also called informational motives because the consumer actively seeks information to reduce the mental state. In fact, Rossiter and Percy point out, these could also be called "relief" motives because consumers work to find relief from the negative state.

Positively Originated (Transformational) Motives

From time to time, we all want to indulge ourselves by buying some brand or product that promises some benefit or reward. With the positively originated motives, a positive bonus is promised rather than the removal or reduction of some negative situation. The goal is to use positive reinforcement to increase the consumer's motivation and to energize the consumer's investigation or search for the new product.

The three positively originated motives---sensory gratification, intellectual stimulation, and social improvement---are also called transformational motives because the consumer expects to be transformed in a sensory, intellectual, or social sense. They could also be called "reward" motives because the transformation is a rewarding state.

For some consumers, the purchase of a particular product (say, a new suit) might represent a negatively originated motive (they do not really want to spend money on it, but they have to have it for work). But for their consumers, it might be positively originated (they love to shop for new clothes). This suggests two distinct target markets that advertisers must understand and that may call for completely different advertising strategies.

Before creating messages, advertisers must carefully consider the goals that lead to consumer motivations. Chili's restaurants would make a costly mistake if its ads portrayed the reward of a romantic interlude if the real motive of most Chili's customers is simply to satisfy their need to reduce hunger with a filling, low-priced meal.

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 153-155*

END

Need

Product

Promotional appeal

Self-actualization

Golf Lessons

“Realize your full potential”

Esteem

Luxury car

“Be in control of the road”

Social

Pendant

“Show her you care”

Safety

Tires

“Bounces off hazards”

Physiological

Breakfast cereal

“The natural energy source”