SENSE OF BRAND OR

SENSITIVE TO BRAND

DIMITAR TRENDAFILOV

Assistant prof. at New Bulgarian University – Sofia

Managing Partner and Researcher at Brand in Trend Consulting Agencytrendafilov.dim@gmail.com

dtrendafilov@brandintrend.net

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Tipping pointsTipping points(Jeremy (Jeremy BullmoreBullmore))

Speaking about brands and their images among the target groups, we mean their fame, reputation and added value stored in only possible place – people’s mind;

Advertising, packaging, price and promotions as stimuli have this in common - they are all within the control of the marketing company, but precisely, only their creation and transmission. “Their perceptionhowever, is not.” (2001: 7; author’s italic).

Brand management usually causes headache to the marketers since the way we as consumers interpret ‘body language’ of brands everyday is apparently trivial but can be of great significance (ibid.: 10)

Anthropology of shoppingAnthropology of shopping

Paco Underhill (2009: 3-4) announced that new branch of anthropology should be devoted to study of shopping, interacting with retail environment (any in and outdoor commercial space), “the actual, physical premises, including but not limited to every rack, shelf, counter and table display of merchandise, every sign, banner, brochure, directional aid…”, and many more features.

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The first principle of shopping science states that there are certain physical and anatomical abilities, needs and limitations common to all people which every retail environment should takes into consideration (ibid.: 39).

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FromFrom 2 2 to to 55--DD marketingmarketing((Martin LindstromMartin Lindstrom))

Since long time marketing has been dominated by 2-D concept for brand perception.

In the course of time our senses become dulled and we count on models formed in childhood. But about 80% of the parents’ purchases are influenced by their children whose senses are at least 200% stronger than those of the adults.

Relatively few people deliberately think of taste or smell where they are interviewed about automotive category but, in fact, a lot of them eat and drink coffee in their cars, and sensorial associations could be positive as well as negative.

Multisensory message directly influences the perceived quality of the product and from that point the value/price of the brand.

About 40% of the consumers in USA and Britain – the largest markets of McDonald’s - agree that the brand restaurants smell like stale oil.

(M. Lindstrom 2005: 67-68)

Our senses work in combination. “The higher the number of sensory memories activated, the stronger the bounding between brand and consumer” (ibid.: 69).

ibid.: 70

We ‘evaluate’ brands mostly through senses, but most probably through their combination and gradation according to the Attention – Information– Feeling – Bonding process.

Perceptions and filtering of informationPerceptions and filtering of information((Michael Solomon Michael Solomon et al.et al. 2006: 362006: 36))

Often it appears that messages we chose to pay attention to have different effect than their sponsors’ intentions since each of us leave his/her own ‘mark’ on the communication units perceiving meanings corresponding to our own personality, experience, patterns, bias, desires, etc.

Sensation – ‘immediate response of our sensory receptors to such basic stimuli‘ as light, color, sound, smell, material structure…’

Perception – ‘the process by which the stimuli are selected, organized and interpret’ (in this way we assign meaning to ‘raw’ data from the outer world).

Basic schema of the perception processBasic schema of the perception process

In the POS the whole environment has its influence - the space mapping in the particular zone, brands’ names, package design, colors and their harmony… All this is preceded by the consumer experience with the product and cultural attitude towards the various types of goods.

ibid: 37

SightSight

From 65 to 80% of communications pass through the visual channel.

Recently design has been developing even among brands of widespread and everyday use goods (experts point out that packaging is simultaneously ‘first moment of truth’ and ‘the last 5 seconds’ of marketing).

Colors are ‘seen’ in different way by different cultures, by different sexes as well as different languages.

Our eyes can ‘tell’ us that we are replete more persistently then our stomach sensations do – for instance, if we eat our food from bigger box we are willing to eat more food than 50% more than usual quantity (or from smaller box) and even we could say that we have not hadenough.

SmellSmell

Aromas awaken memories and activate emotions, reduce stress, and

influence people’s mood.

Aroma is processed by the oldest/primary part of our brain – limbic

system. There some of the most memorable event of our life are kept.

Aroma marketing is more than 90 million USD industry, available in

various sectors. Producers put aromas which are fixed as suitable for

their goods as suits, underwear, etc. General Motors, for example, has

elaborated its own aroma in order to put it into the leather seats of its

automobiles since they should smell like lady’s handbag but not like

cigarette lighter liquid.

SoundSound

Usually music creates good mood and a lot of purchase appeals pass through sound channel. Thanks to the new technologies, supersoundin the form of ray could be pointed towards the people passing at a significant distance from the device and in that manner an advertising message could to be heard only by the particular person.

Music serving as a background at a store or restaurant is among the main tools influencing the consumption.

Phonetic structure in the brand names also has influence on our perceptions about the substance and quality of the physical products. It is accepted that brands that have vowel ‘I’ in their names are perceived by the consumers as lighter than these with vowel ’a’ in them.

TouchTouch

Tactile and overall skin feelings could be key factors in consumer’s choice not only if consumer has opportunity to ‘feel with her fingers’while she estimates the product but we should consider that touch is an inpouring in the closest personal space.

People associate qualities of fabrics and surfaces with the feeling resulting from the touch which is used by the cosmetics specialists who, for instance, have invited ‘tender’ in catch packages for shampoos.

Usually men value more fabric suggesting roughness and cruditywhilst women look for more mildness.

The prominent design of the Coca-Cola bottle significantly enhances the experience and bonding.

TasteTaste

Very often food and drinks, which we are used to consume from our

childhood and in most of the cases are products of the local culture,

determine our perceptions of taste and companies take into

consideration the peculiarities of the given market when they launch

and communicate their products.

There are laboratories working out new tastes and producers actively

use the so called ‘electronic tongues’, which imitate almost 100% of

the capacity of the human one, in order to make various tests on

different tastes of food and medicines. Some of them count on

‘sensory panelists’ – ordinary consumers or well trained ones to rate

the products comparing them with the competitors production.

Sensory thresholds Sensory thresholds (Solomon (Solomon et al.et al. 2006: 46)2006: 46)

They are study object of psychophysics observing the way by which physical environment penetrates the personal life, and they depend on age and several individual idiosyncrasies.

The absolute threshold – signifies the lowest intensity of a stimulus, i.e. the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a given sensory channel (hoardings are good channel but we need time to see the message or sound of a dog whistle is too high to be registered by human ears).

The differential threshold – signifies “the ability of a sensory system to detect changes between two stimuli”. It is relative and since what matters is given marketing context and sensory channel by which should the information be provided.

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Situation/s of consumptionSituation/s of consumption

It is defined by factors which are beyond the consumer or product characteristics. The effects could be behavioral (having fun with friends) or perceptive (having bad mood, time pressure, etc.) in particular situation for which the product is needed

Very often self-image is a reason determining consumption according to the role we want to play in given context (‘man about town’ or ‘old fellow’, etc.).

Even ‘habitual’ purchase is actually not too simple and is not one and the same routine act every time. Nowadays, especially for important products as cars, loans and real estate, we are well informed before even entering the shops/front offices/dealers and there a large set of factors and stimuli waiting for us – store fittings, sales members, other shoppers, promo-materials, etc., and usually we come out with more products than wanted.

Issues concerning purchase and Issues concerning purchase and aftermarketingaftermarketing activities activities (Solomon (Solomon et al.et al. 2006: 300)2006: 300)

Pre-Purchasing conditions – Context of purchase – Post-Purchasing Conditions

Dimensions of consumersDimensions of consumers’’ emotional statesemotional states((James Russell James Russell ии Geraldine Pratt, 1980 in Solomon Geraldine Pratt, 1980 in Solomon et al.et al. 2006: 3012006: 301))

Two main dimensions determine what would be the reaction of the shopper: positive or negative

Experience Marketing Experience Marketing

For the first time the conception appeared in 1997 in B. Joseph Pine and James Gilmore’s book called “The Experience Economy”.

Experience, along with the product benefits, is ‘qualitative’ revolution in market demand which even more powerful knit together physicalgoods and services related with them, providing new, higher level of valuation on behalf of the consumers.

Since we are talking about ‘experience’, it means that it concerns consumer as a center both of marketing efforts and of business as a whole (thence, the two authors mentioned say that consumer is the new product!).

In broader sense the notion of ‘experience’ includes satisfaction of knowledge and aesthetic needs of the consumer.

Strategies Strategies /1/1

Strategies Strategies /2/2

The modules (or possible

strategies) should offer stimuli

which consumer should react

to (sensually, intellectually,

bodily, and socially)

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The so called ‘experience providers’ embrace communications, identity (brand name, logo, symbols), product design, availability, co-branding, situation (context) of consumption (P-of-P), websites, people (appearance and communication skills of the employees). These are the key means for creating and implementing of good marketing program oriented towards experience.

Strategies can vary according to geographical market, consumer segment chosen, product or/and service.

StrategiesStrategies /3/3

Depth – (Enriching vs. Simplifying) if manager should put in motion only one

or two providers, or should add more of them?

Breadth – (Broadening vs. Shrinking) if manager should step to only one of

the modules of experience or should use several (combination) of them?

Possible approaches in

marketing programs:

Intensity (Intensifying vs.

Diffusing) - if the level of

experience should be increased

or decreased?

The 6The 6thth ‘‘sensesense’’

Culture is an accumulation of shared meanings as well as (written or not) rules, norms, rituals, and traditions among the members of given society or organization (Solomon et al. 2006: 498-9)

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According to T. Parsons (1973) there are different levels of symbolism in any culture. That’s why should never exclude cultural influence when we talk about attaining knowledge through our senses; the “raw” experience is always put in frames of given models and meaning in order to be organized product and the individual is not just a passive receiver. Since commercial communication in particular market is part of the whole system of signification it forms and sometimes overcodes our perception by means of culture.

Culture and ConsumptionCulture and Consumption

Culture is both the ‘lens’ through which human beings see all phenomena around them and ‘blueprint’ of all human activities. Some drivers are available to determinate consumer behavior (ibid.: 73).

Culturally Constructed World

Advertising/FashionSystem

Fashion System

Individual Consumer

Consumer Goods

Divestment Ritual

Possession Ritual

Exchange Ritual

Grooming Ritual

Key: Instrument of Meaning Transfer

Location of Meaning

MOVEMENT OF MEANING

Media/Social networks

Transformation acts

(McCracken 1988: 72)

The 7The 7thth ‘‘sensesense’’

Previous experience is immanent part of consumer’s delight, bonding, and

brand ‘evangelism’.

Models and habits formed predominantly in childhood, in family culture and

reference group, and with a circle of certain goods play dominant role in our

brand preference, particular purchase choice, and our passive or active

attitude towards given products and categories.

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Even omnipresence Culture

needs ‘data storage’, i.e.

memory to be able working. It

embraces practices, rituals, role

models, and storytelling.

Buying BrainBuying Brain

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Even in a typical supermarket our brain react as if it is in a jungle. It searches for dangers and tries to avoid potential threats – for instance, it dislikes straight lines and sharp edges (Pradeep 2010: 171-2).

There are seven dimensions (pillars) of the Shoppers Experience Framework based on human brain evolution and capacity, which influence consumer choice (ibid.: 174 ff): Information (search to find), Environment (life situations), Entertainment (more positive emotions), Education (permanent quest for knowledge), Simplicity (comfortable with the given store layout), Self-worth (‘I’m a smart shopper’), and Community (always need to belong).

Bayler, Michael, Stoughton, David (2002), Promiscuous Consumers: Invisible Brands. Delivering Values in Digital Markets, Oxford: Capstone Publishing;

Bullmore, Jeremy (2001), Posh Spice & Persil, The Brands Lecture; Available on: <http://www.britishbrandsgroup.org.uk/library> [Accessed 11 Dec. 2008];

Desmond, John (2003), Consuming Behavior, New York: Pelgrave Macmillan;

Foxall, Gordon (2005), Understanding Consumer Choice, New York: Pelgrave Macmillan;

Joseph, Jim (2010), The Experience Effect. Engage Your Consumers with a Consistence and Memorable Brand Experience, New York/Tokyo: American Management Association;

Lindstrom, Martin (2005), Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, New York: Free Press;

Lindstrom, Martin (2008), Buy-ology. Truth and Lies about Why You Buy, New York/London: Doubleday;

McCracken, Grant (1988), Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Bloomington, USA: Indiana University Press;

McCracken, Grant (2005), Culture and Consumption II. Markets, Meaning and Brand Management, Bloomington, USA: Indiana University Press;

Parsons, Talcott (1973), The Idea of Culture in Social Sciences, Cambridge: University Press;

Pine, Joseph, Gilmore, James (1999), The Experience Economy. Work is Theatre & Every Business is a Stage, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press;

Pradeep, A. K. (2010), The Buying Brain. Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons;

Solomon, Michael, Bamossy, Gary, Askegaard, Soren, Hogg, Margaret K. (2006 [1999]), Consumer Behavior. A European Perspective (3rd ed.), Harlow, England/New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.;

Tisch, Jonathan M., Weber, Karl (2007), Chocolates on the Pillow aren’t Enough. Reinventing the Customer Experience, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.;

Underhill, Paco (2009 [1999]), Why We Buy. The Science of Shopping, New York/London: Simon & Schuster.

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