Final Project

Portfolio task 4Self

Gibson vs. PRS

Knowing the brands

As one of the oldest musical instruments manufacturers, Gibson launched the first electric guitar in the 1930’s (Gibson.com). Starting the 70’s, its main marketing was being done by celebrity endorsers such as their most popular figures Slash (Guns’n Roses) or Angus Young (AC/DC), although print ads have always been around music shops and effective spots. As time passed, through its endorsers and advertising campaigns, Gibson managed to position itself among the top quality guitar manufacturers, reinforcing values such as traditionalism, quality and natural sound, all these backed up by the strong brand image created through the worldwide well-known endorsers (Juszkiewicz H, 2012) Moreover, the post-service and support offered by the brand towards its customers, helping them with their further evolution in their music career, made it be seen not only as a company but as a friend, by its users (Gibson.com), getting them to aspire for the fame and fortune given by a “Rock Star” life.

Paul Reed Smith (PRS), on the other hand, is a relatively new competitor for Gibson, entering the guitar manufacturers market in the late 1980’s. With brand values such as high quality, and a fine combination of traditional features with latest high-tech elements, it aims to give each of its player best value for their money. (prsguitars.com) From the very beginning it was focused only on this category on musical instruments, unlike Gibson who switched from manufacturing mandolins, and even before launching, it targeted popular endorsers to raise awareness upon the brand, as Paul identified how important word-of-mouth and aspirational trust were in the industry (Smith P, 1992).

Having Carlos Santana as their first endorser (prsguitars.com), from the very beginning the printed ads for the brand included this important figure. From here on, most of their prints and magazine inserts were accompanied by a popular endorser. Having the purpose to boost trust, credibility and power of the message (lecture slides, week 5),and get customers to aspire, this also demonstrated the rapidly growing interest in the brand showed by celebrities.

However, PRS didn’t stop here. The modern world brought in moreand more female guitarists, and the company was one of the first to use this as a way of both showcasing its openness to innovation and new trends, as well as approaching a new market segment. It quickly

became a fierce competitor for the Gibson Les Paul category.Compare, contrast, choose

Comparing the two brands, we can easily identify some differences. However, how does a customer chose which one suits them best? Purkey (1988) defined the Self-Concept as ‘the totality of a complex, organized and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her personal existence’. Taking the Gibson example first, considering the values they promote we can say that a typical customer would be an individual for whom the tradition and longevity of the brand is of high importance, who values the support the brand gives throughout his journey of becoming a musician very much, and aspires (ideal self) to the fame and recognition the Gibson Endorsers had during the 80’s-90’s. The campaigns the brand initiated throughout its history were mostly based on evidencing the gap between the actual self of a customer – suggested as being a regular person, with no special recognition, and the respected, passionate musician, keen to following his/her objective that possessing the guitar could turn him/her into (behance.net, Gibson.com).

All these suggestions about the brand somehow make customers feel like being a part of a group. Owning a Gibson guitar is, as Elliott A. (2007) suggests, a part of a symbolic interactionism, being also a result of the customer being part and entering contact with a certain group of people having similar interests, beliefs and values. This also applies to the Paul Reed Smith case.

Contrasting the two types of customers and relating them to the brands’ images, what can be said is that while a Gibson lover sees as being more important to be associated with the long history of the brand and the models it imposed during its existence, as well as the good quality

delivered, a PRS buyer is somebody who aspires to new models, new trends and innovative technologies, aware of the fact that the times have changed and he can get a better value for the money if he decides to go with a more modern brand. The manufacturer emphasizes these things from the very first contact with the guitar, having as a distinct feature the shapes used for the inlays – varying from birds flying, to bats, and even long complex shapes for the high-top models such as dragons.

Huitt, W. (2011) cites Franken in Educational Psychology Interactive, saying that ‘the self-concept gives rise to possible selves, and it is possible selves that create the motivation for behavior’. It can therefore be argued that a customer choosing PRS aspires to becoming a significant part in the evolution of music, being seen as somebody creative that brings a plus to what has already been created. Modern and daring, instead of sticking to the tradition, heritage and recognition coming from a long-lasting brand, he would rather win it with his own powers.

Trying to get an even higher share of the guitar market, PRS tried to configure new models of its products to match certain playing habits of its competitor’s – Gibson customers(leagle.com). However, this was the start of several disputes and law suits between the two manufacturers, as Gibson felt Paul Reed Smith infringed its copyrights in terms of design. Nevertheless, this action reinforces the willingness of the brand to satisfy its customers’ needs and give a good alternative to the options they already have

Concluding, it can be stated that on an emotional level it is highly important for a brand to deliver the product able to minimize the gap created between the actual self – who the customer really is, and ideal self – who the customer wants to be/wants to be seen as, while also approaching his ought self – how he actually should be like. The purchase decision will be taken differently for each individual because of different external and internal factors, such as group pressure and need of belonging, personal experiences, values etc, and it is important to emphasize the brand’s core identity in the advertising campaign as to persuade customers, making them aware of the discrepancy between their actual state and their desired position both for themselves, and within the society.

Portfolio task 5Group Influences

When talking about the buying decision making process there is no question that external factors play an important role in our perceptions and considerations. One of the most influential factors is the group pressuring. Willingness of being part of a group often determine a customer to change his aspirations and therefore buying behavior as to meet the expectations of the group he wants to be part of – as Wilson R suggests in the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (2007). Witt, R (1986) also talks about this influence, analyzing how its impact is greater for the low cost, non-durable items such as beer, cigarettes or deodorant.

Taking the example of beer consuming, Witt, R (1972) also points out how, because of the similarity among the brands, the Brand Choice Congruence becomes a very important additional factor in buying behavior – most times, an individual part of a group will consume the same brand as the group, as to be alike. Analyzing several campaigns from beer manufacturers such as Carlsberg, Guiness, Budweisser or Heineken, we can draw a mind map of the values beer consumption promotes, among which: “True lad” – Guiness, “Long-lasting Friendship” – Budweisser, “Beerfriender” – Heineken,”Motivation and Team Building” - JWT, using beer as a means, “Friends Test” – Carlsberg. Because of these, people generally have a positive impression upon beer consumption, and often use it as a reason for meeting with friends – “Let’s go for a beer”. Motivation towards the buying decision in this case is, therefore, related not only to the taste of the beer but also being part of their group of friends. However, this thing changes with cultural factors such as religion that might affect the group pressure or inhibit the likability of one to purchase the product in a negative way.

Taking a closer look at the beer commercials, most of them incorporate firstly the friendship value, and the beer is consumed among the close ones – which are also the primary reference group. Following a study undertaken at the University of Iowa, Fitzgerald, J.(2002) points out the link between the level of closeness attributed to the reference drinking group (close friends, colleagues etc) and the drinking behavior. It can therefore be argued that reference groups are highly influential in the alcohol consumption.

Going back to brand choice, beers such as Carlsberg and Heineken, for example, have similar target markets in the East European countries such as Romania. Witt, R (1969). suggest in ‘JMR, Journal of Marketing Research’ that in the case of a group, an important amount of the members chose consuming one of the brands due to one of the group members using it, so it is not only the other way around. Personal observation backed up these theories, as, after undertaking a personal primary research based on observation in two locations where beer was consumed, most friends groups consumed the same beer brand, and more than that, in one of the cases most people in the club consumed only one brand predominantly. This can be easily related to the primary and secondary groups’ influence. I also analyzed this on my personal group of friends, and the conclusions matched.

For the new consumers of beer, it is very likely to adopt the behavior being influenced by a close friend, and usually they tend to stick to the brand they are firstly introduced to, which is normally the brand their friend consumes (Urberg K, 1997). It is also likely for an individual to choose a brand from aspirational reasons, such as aspiring to be seen as part of a certain group of people – for example, Heineken is seen as a more luxurious brand, and its consumption in public places would suggest certain things about a person, as some would assume.(Moschis G, 1976) Continuing on this idea, it can therefore be concluded that as in the case of any other brand, its consumer takes with the physical product

Beer

Friendship

Loyality

Relaxation

Fun

SocialTeamwork

Good Time

Caring for others

Acceptance

the whole package of values that it promotes. In the case of Carlsberg, for example, these would be friendship, loyalty or good quality.

Concluding, we can say that group pressure and aspiration of being part of a group play a very important role in adopting certain habits – in this case beer drinking, and further on choosing a brand. Even if a customer is usually loyal to a brand, he can easily change it if the social circumstances put a pressure on his decision (Witt R. 1970). The peer influence increases with the degree of closeness in terms of the relationship, so the primary reference groups are the ones that model the customer behavior the strongest, being followed by secondary groups and other social norms and circumstances, as well as the available options for purchase.

Portfolio Task 2

Perception

‘Perception in the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting sensations into a meaningful whole. In the past, methods of studying stimuli and measuring responses to them were restricted to examining the five senses. Today, however, the view that perception uses merely sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch to comprehend the environment is inadequate’ (Wozniak H, 2013, p. 75). What she also says is that perception is subjective and is very important to pay attention to all the circumstances in which we want to deliver our message or act on a consumer’s behavior. Shopping malls are a good way of analyzing how marketers try to influence perception by making use of different tools that stimulate one or a combination of the five senses.

According to Dennis, C (2010) given the competition that exists among shopping centers, it is becoming more and more important for them to mix efficiently the factors that create atmosphere, as, citing Jugger (1999), 70% of the purchase decisions are made in store and at the point of purchase. Taking the Birmingham City Center example, there are several shopping centers, among which Bullring, The Pavillion, Mailbox and Pallasades. As Bullring is the most popular and biggest one, the focus of this analysis will be mostly on it. Because of its big size and variety of retailers, it is important for it to be well organized, as well as to give an interactive and complex shopping experience as to keep the customers engaged. The use of latest technology such as LED lighting for ads, screens and interactive touch screens is also of critical importance, as customers tend to have increasing expectations on this in the

past years (Spinner, J. 2011), and Bullring adapted well through the interactive store-locators and events points of information. Retail lighting also influences the customer perception so it is often different from high-top sections such as Selfridges to more common retailers such as SportsDirect (Spinner, J. 2011). However, it is important to consider the sustainability trend that increases in popularity nowadays, so natural lighting is an important element (Siakavellas, M. 2007), and Bullring evidences this through the big glass doors and partly transparent roof.

Using the observation technique, it can be highlighted the fact that hear each of the shopping center’s entry/exists there is at least one food place, varying from fast foods to dining places such as Del Villaggio or Café Rouge, giving customers the opportunity to have a meal either at the beginning or at the end of their shopping experience. They also contribute to it by arousing the smell sense, in the main area of the mall. Also, given the fact that the main entrance it on the top floor, the main dining areas with places such as Pizza Hut or Jamie’s Italian are situated on the bottom floor, as to increase the likability of being the final destination of shoppers, after a long journey through the mall. Throughout the shop there are several small food/drinks courts for giving a quick bite and enriching the diversity. They also contribute to arousing the smell sense, as well as the visuals, most times food and drinks being displayed. As a secondary role of the shopping malls is recreation and entertainment (Dennis, C. 2010), Bullring often holds special events, that take place most times on the bottom floor. A reason for this can be that, following what has been said before that the main entrances on the top floor, customers need to be kept engaged, not only by digital signage and food spots, but also by entertaining acts. These can take several forms, but most times are targeted to children, in the form of mini football spots or other activities (Disney shop is also on the bottom floor so the likability of children to be present there is even higher, and the presence of these spots also increases the traffic around the shop, as well a s around SportsDirect. Chang, E. (2010) also points out, by citing Porter (1997) how the functional attributes such as quality and availability of merchandise combines with intangibles such as music, smell etc in creating customer value for the shopping experience in the Chinese market, and relates it to the international trends.

The Selfridges segment of the shopping center is also a very good example of how a shopping experience can be improved by providing a great variety of options. Hosting a food court at the bottom floor, with generally high quality food and drinks, the luxurious perception of this corner is fluent as advancing towards the top floor, held by the presence of top clothing and

fragrance brands, as well as the lighting, level of sound and visual cues that, together with the proximity of products and presence of a better quality customer service create an exclusive atmosphere(Turley, L. 2000). The social surroundings also contribute to this, as most people are from a higher social class (Wozniak H, 2013)

Focusing now on a single retailer, I chose to take Superdry as an example. With a good design from the outside, large windows, wide entrance relatively low lighting, with spots on the products and loud house/electronic music coming out the shop, it gives the impression of a quality shop. The display of the clothes and interior design also affect the perception of the customer, giving him confidence in touching the products and walking around the shop, as the clothes’ proximity allows this. According to Seth, M. (1998) it is highly important for the products to be well organized in categories, and Superdry does this very efficiently, also by the type of clothing and the quality of products, most high quality products being placed on the central area. The presence of an online platform that allows the customers to buy from home also affects their perception in a positive way, making the brand look trustworthy and valuable (Jiang, L. 2013). On the top of all these, the service received in store, from welcoming to supporting staff and positive attitude of the cashiers complete the brand fluency and reinforce the good perception formed by the customers (Kenneth, T. 1993)

Concluding, it can be stated that, indeed, shopping centers do make a lot of use of perception influencing techniques, and due to factors such as proximity of shops, positioning and events they become more attractive to customers. Combined senses also influence customer behavior, so, in many cases the more complete the experience a customer is exposed to, the more likely it is for him to change his behavior.

Portfolio task 9

Social Marketing…for sustainable change

“Born” in 1970, social marketing is defined by Kotler and Andreasen as ‘differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. ‘Social marketing seeks to influence social behavior not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society’ (social-marketing.com). This definition has suffered more changes and interpretations as time passed, due to the growing and expanding of the marketing field (Andreasen, A. 1994). In the fast-moving world we live in, it is impossible for a social marketing campaign to be successful unless a broad understanding of the target customers in completed, as well as keeping the message simple and focused on the target segments. (www.dmnews.com).

Among different social marketing campaigns run by the government in the past years, like anti-smoking, mental health, anti-racism and so on (www.thensmc.com), a big emphasize has been put worldwide on household waste recycling. In the UK, the main campaign run by the government consists of “Waste prevention Programme”, as well as food prevention and improving the quality of recycled material or encouraging companies to recycle more. As the problem increases more and more due to the high degree of consumerism in the western world (Miles, S. 2006), and recycling campaigns create a trend in the consumers’ behavior in this direction, big companies such as H&M start take advantage of this, creating their own campaigns on encouraging this way of thinking, adding value to their brand by using this to raise their Corporate Responsibility (www.marketingweek.co.uk). Even though in the case of H&M they do not point at the consumerism, they encourage people to stop throwing away old clothes, and instead bring them to their shops. They also use recyclable materials for packaging and bio cotton (www.HM.com).

However, recycling is not a simple process. Aside from the fact that people have to be educated in this direction, they also have to learn how to separate products, hand them in, and on the other hand, the recycled products have to be marketed in such a way that people buy them over the new ones (Garechana, G. 2014). From an Elaboration Likelihood model, the recycling behavior needs time to establish within the community, and need a high involvement from the customers, therefore the campaigns and ads become more effective if they go on the Central Route, as learning processes have to be pursued (Lecture Slides, week 9). Even though the rational arguments for it are strong, not having a personal tangible

outcome from adopting this behavior, a customer needs to be touched also emotionally. In America, the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign had a strong impact by going on the emotional route with ads such as the ones from the “I Want to be a (bench/stadium/bicycle)” series, by combining appeals of nature, care or belonging (www.adweek.com). In the UK, more creative campaigns took place over the years, such as “We need your bottles” or “Break the Bag Habit”.

(www.pinterest.com). These also appeal to the social norms and peer pressure, which proved to be efficient in changing customers’ behaviors. (www.sas.org.uk/). Conventional media also often gets involved with the issue, many popular magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian (2014) trying to re-touch society on the rational level, showing them how they can benefit from things such as ‘old curtains’ by stuffing them into the walls instead of throwing them away, and improve thte insulation of their homes, saving energy and therefore money.

Being such a large scale project, waste recycling campaigns need a very strong emotional appeal on the society as to have an effect. The “eating bio” trend and health improvement campaigns in general had a strong influence on people adopting the recycling habit as well, because the values promoted are in some cases similar, as well as they match one another. Also, sustainable energy use campaigns and carbon/water footprint reduction advertisments keep society engaged with the ecological issue our planet faces, so the message is being remembered very often, being easier to asimilate (www.carbonfootprint.com).

Viral campaigns also play a very important role in social marketing, as they approach the younger audience, which is more likely to change attitudes and behaviors(research.allacademic.com). Big brands such as Coca Cola (Hand Revolt) and Volkswagen (Bottle Bank Arcade Machine) got involved with the recycling issue, creating their own ads and campaigns to influence society in this direction (www.sustaininteract.com ). Even though in general the emotional message is comunicated throughout appeals such as guilt or social pressure, accompanied by sad, low-tempo music (“I want to be a” ads series), fun and joy can be just as effective, as well as high-tempo music (Volkswagen Bottle Bank Arcade Machine Ad).

As a conclusion, it can be stated that social marketing is everywhere in the society nowadays. Even though it is not meant to raise profits, it has a big importance within the society as it is meant to raise the quality of life for citizens. It is highly impotant to understand the target market, as most times the “product” is an intangible, being a behavior, in order for a campaign to be successful, and it can be argued with the examples given above that the help of the big companies is of great importance for the gouvernment as to influence the population efficiently, even though corporations use this not necessarily for the good of the society but for raising their Corporate Resposibility profile and take advantage of modern trends in the society, such as recycling for gaining customers.

Portfolio task 10

Mitigating the purchase risk

One of the most important factors in taking the buying decision is, for a customer, the perceived purchase risk. This can be assessed from at least three perspectives – economic, functional and psychological (www.theautodealer.com), but this can be extended to dividing it into a total of six: functional, physical, social, psychological, financial and time (http://www.hort.uconn.edu/). In business, a definition given by the BusinessDictionary.com of risk is ‘A probability or threat of damage, injury, liability, loss, or any other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities, and that may be avoided through preemptive action.’ In the case of a customer, this can be translated into him being worried about the value he will get for the money he spends on a product.

Apple is the leader in the electronic devices industry (http://financials.morningstar.com). Taking the example of mobile phones, it is the first company to bring the advanced mobile web navigation on the market, with the launch of the first iPhone (crunchbase.com). The company’s main value promoted is innovation, followed by simplicity of use for its products (Apple.com; retailindustry.about.com;). Having above-average priced products, it is still the market leader for mobile phones and has an important market share in the PC and Gadgets industry. What made them successful, though, is not necessary the practical features that their devices have but rather the culture they managed to create around the brand, engaging emotionally with their customers (autodealermonthly.com). In the materialism era that we live in, teenagers and young people in general tend to be more easily persuaded by ads that run on an emotional rather than rational level, and Apple anticipated this very well in the 90’s, when they started to re-gain their popularity, by changing their slogan to “Think Differently”, and a tribute “To the Crazy Ones” (Forbes.com). From here on, the perception upon the brand started to shift to a brand committed to innovation, that puts its customers first and that encourages the free spirit and creativity (www.cnet.com/). It ranked 11th in the top 100 most powerful brands in 2012 (www.forbes.com), showcasing its extremely quick ascension.

One thing that helped the brand mitigate the customer purchase risk is, therefore, functionality. An apple lover will always know that he gets the product with the latest features on the market. Furthermore, the usability of using the device that the brand guarantees by its past products is another thing that incentivizes customers to go for it. Considering the target market, which is mostly made up of young people, what gets them to aspire and generates the gap between their actual self and the desired self is being part of the “Apple Community”, sharing the values that the brand carries. Another part of the Apple marketing that works incredibly well is the access to testing the products through Apple Store, showcasing once again how it puts its customers first, reassuring its high level of attention to their needs(www.cnet.com). If potential customers want to test a product, they can easily go to an Apple store and find there all the information they need. What’s more, there they also get to experience the contact with the brand through its representatives – people – that enhance the trust in the brand, being well prepared to answer any question, and build the relationship. This also mitigates the risk, and on a subconscious level transmit the message that if, after the purchase, there will be any problem with the device, help will always be at hand. This helps the decision-making process, speeding it up. After the problem is being identified, as the dissonance between the actual and desired self appears, the search for information and relationship building with the brand is being speeded up. This obviously helps in making the buying decision favorable for Apple, and the post-purchase evaluation usually is made more subjective if the experience that the customer had so far has been a good one and he is satisfied.

Being a relatively high-involvement purchase decision, the customer will most times take the central route to forming/changing the attitude towards the brand (lecture slides, week 9). However, the message transmitted by the ads is simple to understand and process, and the brand values are fluent throughout all its products’ campaigns, so the exposure to the message is relatively high.

Going further with analyzing the purchase risk aspects, it was already showed how the brand covers the functionality gap. In terms of economics, other retailers that distribute Apple iPhones have already seen how wanted is the product on the market, so they make use of new releases in order by creating special offers and bundles, for increasing their sales. As for customers it is a way of satisfying their wants – in this case obtaining the phone, it can be stated that it is a win-win situation. From a social point of view, it has already been discussed how the peer influence plays a critical role in adopting the brand.Either the product is recommended by a primary reference group member such as a friend, or the pressure comes from a secondary group influence(most people in the high school have an iPhone), societyhas an impact on the buying decision, as well as mitigates the perceived purchase risk – if everybodyis happy and has it, it must be good.

Concluding, it can be argued that minimizing the risk of a purchase is a strong aspect that any brand should focus on when marketing its product. Apple, by creating a culture around the brand and efficiently spotting the needs of its customers managed to impressively ascend and become a market leader in its industry. Positive comments in the press, together with customers’ satisfaction continuously reassure the potential customers about the brand, while it sticks to the values it promotes – innovation, simplicity and elegance.

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