Chapter 2 Perception

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Chapter 2Perception
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Sixth
Edition
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Opening Vignette Parmalat

• What was Garys perception of Parmalat?
• Why is shelf-stable milk popular in Europe?
• In the focus group research, what were the U.S.
  consumers perceptions of Parmalat?
• What is Parmalat doing to overcome the obstacles
  associated with marketing shelf-stable milk in
  the United States?

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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
• Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give
  them meaning

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An Overview of the Perception Process
Figure 2.1
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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

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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 products 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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This ad targets which senses?

• This Finnish ad emphasizes the sensual reasons to
  visit the city of Helsinki.

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Sensory Perceptions - Vision

• 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
  and are more sensitive to subtle shadings and
  patterns)

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Perceptions of Color

• This ad campaign by
• the San Francisco
• Ballet uses color
• perceptions to get urban
• sophisticates to add
• classical dance to their
• packed entertainment
• itineraries.

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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.
• Dont 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. Kodaks use of yellow, black, and red)

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Perceptions of Color

• As this Dutch detergent ad demonstrates (Flowery
  orange fades without Dreft), vivid colors are
  often an attractive product feature.

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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?

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VIDEO Snapple

• Snapple drinks were revived by the Whipper
  Snapple product, thanks to consumers forming
  their own perceptions about the product.

Click image to play video
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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
• Scented clothes
• Scented stores
• Scented cars and planes
• Scented household products
• Scented advertisements

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Smell in Advertising

• This ad pokes fun at the proliferation of scented
  ads. Ah, the scent of sweat.

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Sensory Perceptions - Sound

• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects peoples 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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Stimulus Progression
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Sensory Perceptions - Touch

• 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.

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Applications of Touch Perceptions

• Kansai engineering A philosophy that translates
  customers feelings into design elements.
• Mazda Miata designers discovered that making the
  stick shift (shown on the right) exactly 9.5 cm
  long conveys the optimal feeling of sportiness
  and control.

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Tactile Quality Associations
Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics
Perception Male Female
High class Wool Silk Fine
Low class Denim Cotton
Heavy Light Coarse
Table 2.1
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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

• Exposure
• Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of
  someones 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

• Psychophysics
• The science that focuses on how the physical
  environment is integrated into our personal
  subjective world.
• Absolute Threshold
• 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).

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Webers Law

• The amount of change that is necessary to be
  noticed is systematically related to the
  intensity of the original stimulus
• The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a
  change must be for it to be noticed.
• Mathematically
• K A constant (varies across senses)
• ?i The minimal change in the intensity required
  to produce j.n.d.
• I the intensity of the stimulus where the
  change occurs

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Subliminal Perception

• Subliminal perception
• Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of
  the consumers awareness.
• Subliminal techniques
• 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

• Critics of subliminal persuasion often focus on
  ambiguous shapes in drinks that supposedly spell
  out words like S E X as evidence for the use of
  this technique. This Pepsi ad, while hardly
  subliminal, gently borrows this message format.

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Attention

• Attention
• The extent to which processing activity is
  devoted to a particular stimulus.
• Attention economy
• The Internet has transformed the focus of
  marketers from attracting dollars to attracting
  eyeballs.
• Perceptual selection
• People attend to only a small portion of the
  stimuli to which they are exposed.

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Attention and Advertising

• Nike tries to cut through the clutter by
  spotlighting maimed athletes instead of handsome
  models.

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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 dont see
  what they dont want to see
• Adaptation
• The degree to which consumers continue to notice
  a stimulus over time

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Factors that Lead to Adaptation

• Intensity Less-intense stimuli habituate because
  they have less sensory impact.
• Duration Stimuli that require relatively lengthy
  exposure in order to be processed tend to
  habituate because they require a long attention
  span.
• Discrimination Simple stimuli tend to habituate
  because they do not require attention to detail.
• Exposure Frequently encountered stimuli tend to
  habituate as the rate of exposure increases.
• Relevance Stimuli that are irrelevant or
  unimportant will habituate because they fail to
  attract attention.

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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 were 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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Discussion Question

• 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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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

• Advertisers know that consumers will often relate
  an ad to preexisting schema in order to make
  sense of it.

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The Priming Process
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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
• 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.

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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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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

• 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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Semiotic Components
Figure 2.2
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Semiotics (cont.)

• Signs are related to objects in one of three
  ways
• 1) Icon a sign that resembles the product in
  some way
• 2) Index a sign that is connected to some object
  because they share some property
• 3) Symbol a sign that is related to a product
  through conventional or agreed-upon associations
• Hyperreality The becoming real of what is
  initially simulation or hype

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Office Space and The Red Stapler
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Perceptual Positioning

• Positioning Strategy
• A fundamental part of a companys marketing
  efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix
  to influence the consumers interpretation of its
  meaning.
• Many dimensions can establish a brands position
  in the marketplace

Lifestyle Competitors
Price Leadership Occasions
Attributes Users
Product Class Quality
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Perceptual Map

• Figure 2.3 HMV Perceptual Map