Chapter 1 Consumers Rule

18.10.2013
Perception
Sensation and Perception
• Sensation:
– The immediate response of our sensory receptors (eyes,
ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic stimuli such as light,
color, sound, odors, and textures
• Perception:
– The process by which sensations are selected, organized,
and interpreted
• The Study of Perception:
Cross Cultural Studies in
Consumer Behavior
Assist. Prof. Dr. Özge Özgen
Department of International Business and Trade
– Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give them
meaning
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An Overview of the
Perception Process
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Sensory Systems
• External stimuli, or sensory inputs, can
be received on a number of different
channels.
• Inputs picked up by our five senses are
the raw data that begin the perceptual
process.
• Hedonic Consumption:
– The multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
of consumers’ interactions with products
Figure 2.1
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Hedonic
Consumption
Advertisements Appeal to Our Sensory Systems
• This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the contribution
made by all of our senses to the evaluation of a driving
experience.
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Sensory Systems - Vision
• Marketers rely heavily on visual
elements in advertising, store design,
and packaging.
• Meanings are communicated on the
visual channel through a product’s
color, size, and styling.
• Colors may influence our emotions
more directly.
– Arousal and stimulated appetite (e.g. red)
– Relaxation (e.g. blue)
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Sensory Perceptions - Vision
Red color stimulates appetite
• Some reactions to color come from
learned associations.
– (e.g. Black is associated with mourning in the
United States, whereas white is associated with
mourning in Japan.)
• Some reactions to color are due to
biological and cultural differences.
– (e.g. Women tend to be drawn to brighter tones)
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Perceptions of Color
Sensory Perceptions - Vision
• Color plays a dominant role in Web page
design.
• Saturated colors (green, yellow, orange, and
cyan) are considered the best to capture
attention.
– Don’t overdo it. Extensive use of saturated colors can
overwhelm people and cause visual fatigue.
• Trade Dress:
– Colors that are strongly associated with a corporation, for
which the company may have exclusive rights for their use.
• (e.g. Kodak’s use of yellow, black, and red)
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Perceptions of Color
Discussion Question
• First Heinz gave us
“Blastin’ Green” ketchup
in a squeeze bottle. Now
they have introduced
“Funky Purple” ketchup.
• What sensory perception
is Heinz trying to appeal
to? Do you think this
product will be
successful? Why or why
not?
• As this Dutch
detergent ad
demonstrates
(Flowery orange
fades without Dreft),
vivid colors are often
an attractive product
feature.
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Visual Communication Differences through Culture:
Cosmetic Ads in Europe
Sensory Perceptions - Smell
• Odors can stir emotions or create a calming
feeling.
• Some responses to scents result from early
associations that call up good or bad
feelings.
• Marketers are finding ways to use smell:
–
–
–
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Scented clothes
Scented stores
Scented cars and planes
Scented household products
Scented advertisements
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Visual Communication Differences
through Culture: Cosmetic Ads in Asia
Visual Communication Differences
through Culture
• Western visiual communication is
deeply affected by the convention of
writing from left to right.
• Centeral composition 
– Centering is fundemental principle in visual art in
many Asian countries.
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Sensory Perceptions - Sound
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Sensory Perceptions - Sound
• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects people’s feelings and
behaviors.
• Muzak uses a system it calls “stimulus
progression” to increase the normally slower
tempo of workers during midmorning and
midafternoon time slots.
• Sound engineering:
– Top-end automakers are using focus groups of consumers
to help designers choose appropriate sounds to elicit the
proper response.
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• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects people’s feelings and
behaviors.
– Jingle bells  During new year shopping...
– 118 80
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Sensory Perceptions - Touch
Tactile Quality Associations
• Relatively little research has been done on
the effects of tactile stimulation on the
consumer, but common observation tells
us that this sensory channel is important.
• People associate textures of fabrics and
other surfaces with product quality.
• Perceived richness or quality of the
material in clothing is linked to its “feel,”
whether rough or smooth.
Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics
Perception
Male
Female
High class
Wool
Silk
Low class
Denim
Cotton
Heavy
Light
Table 2.1
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Fine
Coarse
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Exposure
Sensory Perceptions - Taste
• Taste receptors contribute to our
experience of many products.
• Specialized companies called “flavor
houses” are constantly developing new
concoctions to please the changing
palates of consumers.
• Changes in culture also determine the
tastes we find desirable.
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• Exposure:
– Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of
someone’s sensory receptors
• Consumers concentrate on some
stimuli, are unaware of others, and
even go out of their way to ignore some
messages.
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Sensory Thresholds
Subliminal Perception
• Psychophysics:
– The science that focuses on how the physical environment
is integrated into our personal subjective world.
• Absolute Threshold:
• Subliminal perception:
– Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of the
consumer’s awareness.
• Subliminal techniques:
– The minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected
on a given sensory channel.
• Differential Threshold:
– The ability of a sensory system to detect changes or
differences between two stimuli. The minimum difference
that can be detected between two stimuli is known as the
j.n.d. (just noticeable difference).
– Embeds: Tiny figures that are inserted into magazine:
advertising by using high-speed photography or
airbrushing.
• Does subliminal perception work?
– There is little evidence that subliminal stimuli can bring
about desired behavioral changes.
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Subliminal Messages in Ads
Attention
• Attention:
– The extent to which processing activity is devoted
to a particular stimulus.
– Eye-tracking
• Selective Perception:
– We actually see what we want to see and expect to
see, even if it is not there.
– Effect of culture
• +IND  Selective perception process is stronger
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Attention and Advertising
Personal Selection Factors
• Experience:
– The result of acquiring and processing stimulation over
time
• Perceptual vigilance:
– Consumers are aware of stimuli that relate to their current
needs
• Perceptual defense:
– People see what they want to see - and don’t see what they
don’t want to see
• Adaptation:
• Nike tries to cut through the clutter by spotlighting
maimed athletes instead of handsome models.
– The degree to which consumers continue to notice a
stimulus over time
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Stimulus Selection Factors
• Size:
– The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the competition
helps to determine if it will command attention.
• Color:
– Color is a powerful way to draw attention to a product.
• Position:
– Stimuli that are present in places we’re more likely to look
stand a better chance of being noticed.
• Novelty:
– Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend to
grab our attention.
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• What technique does
this Australian ad rely
on to get your
attention?
• Does the technique
enhance or detract
from the
advertisement of the
actual product?
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Unexpected Things
Discussion Question
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Unexpected Things
Attention to Stimuli
• Interpretation:
– The meaning that we assign sensory stimuli.
• Schema:
– Set of beliefs to which the stimulus is assigned.
• Priming:
– Process by which certain properties of a stimulus
typically will evoke a schema, which leads
consumers to evaluate the stimulus in terms of
other stimulus they have encountered and believe
to be similar.
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Schema-Based Perception
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Stimulus Organization
• A stimulus will be interpreted based on its
assumed relationship with other events,
sensations, or images.
• Closure Principle:
– People tend to perceive an incomplete picture as complete.
• Principle of Similarity:
– Consumers tend to group together objects that share the
same physical characteristics.
• Figure-ground Principle:
• Advertisers know that consumers will often relate
an ad to preexisting schema in order to make sense
of it.
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– One part of a stimulus will dominate (the figure) and other
parts will recede into the background (the ground).
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Gestalt Principle
• This Swedish ad relies upon gestalt perceptual
principles to insure that the perceiver organizes a
lot of separate images into a familiar image.
Principle of Closure
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Principle of Closure
• This Land Rover ad illustrates the use of the principle of
closure, in which people participate in the ad by
mentally filling in the gaps in the sentence.
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Principle of Similarity
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Figure-ground
Principle
Figure-ground Principle
• This billboard for Wrangler jeans makes creative use of
the figure-ground principle.
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Semiotics: The Symbols Around Us
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Semiotic Components
• Semiotics: Field of study that examines the
correspondence between signs and symbols
and their role in the assignment of meaning.
• A message has 3 components:
– 1) Object: the product that focuses the message
– 2) Sign: the sensory imagery that represents the
intended meanings of the object
– 3) Interpretant: the meaning derived
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Figure 2.2
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