CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND THE INFLUENCE OF BRANDS

• Think of an important purchasing decision

you have made

• What are some of the thoughts you have had

following your purchase? Any regrets?

• What has influenced those thoughts?

• How have you dealt with the discomfort?

• How has the company anticipated or dealt with

your discomfort?

Decision Processing

WHAT'S IN A NAME

If Shakespeare were writing today, he probably would leave out the lines:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose /

By any other name would smell as sweet.“

Why?

Because studies have shown that, in all probability, sticking that rose in a

Coca-Cola can or a MacDonald's wrapper would really make people

perceive it as smelling that much sweeter.

IS THIS PERCEPTION OF BRANDING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR RIGHT

The Answer is No

A brand is more than a name - it is the sum total of a consumer's

experiences with a recognizable product - and it is powerful.

HOW DOES BRANDING HELP PURCHASE DECISIONS

Branding on packaging acts as an important cue to guide

consumer choice in the retail environment.

From a psychological perspective, branding on packaging

serves two important purposes, crucial to decision making:

1) It guides consumers' attention, drawing attention to certain

brands.

2) It allows consumers to recognize and find familiar brands.

SOME EXAMPLES OF REMARKABLE BRANDING ON PACKAGING

THE IMPACT OF REDUCED BRANDING ON CONSUMER CHOICE.

Reducing the branding on packaging can influence

consumer behavior by

Reducing attention to and recognition of certain brands.

Strong evidence from the recognition data suggested that

reducing the size of a logo on packaging impairs consumers'

ability to recognize and find a brand they are looking for.

THE IMPACT OF COPYCAT BRANDING ON CONSUMER CHOICE.

Copycat branding can influence consumer choice.

There is an unmistakable impact of perceptually similar

(copycat) brands on an established brand.

In cases where an established brand was displayed alongside a

copycat supermarket brand, participants were slower and more

inaccurate in identifying the established brand.

CLUTTERED RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

In today's cluttered retail environment, consumers are overwhelmed with

choice.

In order to make such fast decisions, consumers need to use mental

shortcuts, or heuristics, to guide their choices.

Perhaps the most powerful mental shortcut available to the consumer is

branding.

Branding on packaging allows us to quickly and efficiently select from a

huge array of products.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS THAT GUIDE CUSTOMERS’ CHOICES

Different types of branding practices can effect consumers choices in a

number of different ways.

First, branding can influence whether consumers notice a product or not,

that is, how much attention is paid to a product.

Second, branding can influence whether and how quickly consumers

recognize a product. This recognition and subsequent memory retrieval

then have a knock-on effect on how consumers feel about that product.

Branding ultimately works as a signal. It allows consumers to quickly

recognize a product as one they are familiar with or one they like. It acts

as a memory cue, allowing consumers to retrieve relevant information

from memory.

BRANDING INCREASES PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE AND HELPS IN BUYING

DECISIONS

Brand image: defined by entire array of associations activated from

memory when consumers think about a brand

May involve product attributes and associations

May also include endorsers, ad campaigns, symbols, product slogans,

etc.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

Image analysis: involves examining the current set of brand

associations that exist in the marketplace

Identify attributes and associations that come to mind about the brand

Assess strengths of associations

Examine what an association represents in the consumer’s psyche

BRANDING GOES A LONG WAY IN BUILDING PRODUCTS

Every ad contributes to make the brand what it is in the minds of the

consumer – David Ogilvy

A company’s brand is the primary source of its competitive advantage

and is a very valuable strategic asset – David Aaker

It Emotional bond with the customer

It Generates relationships measurably stronger than ordinary brands

BRAND CHALLENGES IN A CHANGING WORLD

Brand management is as difficult as ever

Savvy consumers

Increased competition

Decreased effectiveness of traditional marketing tools and

emergence of new marketing tools

Complex brand and product portfolios

BRANDING IS BECOMING IMPORTANT

Brands are important as ever Why?

Consumer need for simplification

Consumer need for risk reduction

In this difficult environment, marketers must have a keen

understanding of:

Customers

Brands

The relationship between the two

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRANDS AND THE CONSUMER

It is important for the potential consumers to be aware of a product

so that it can become one of the purchasing choices.

A product needs to enter the awareness set before it comes to the

consideration set

If Manufacturers learn how to read their consumers, they can

influence their purchasing decisions.

And this is exactly what they do by branding a product and working

towards its selling power.

A brand allows organizations to differentiate their business from their

competitors. But more importantly, brands help to motivate

customer loyalty.

AIDA Model

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

Hierarchy of

Effects Model

Think

Feel

Do

Key Advertising

Effects Model Perception

Cognition Association

Affective Response

Persuasion

Behavior

Three Models of Advertising Effect

THE AFFECTIVE OR EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

• Mirrors a person’s feelings about something

• Stimulates wants

• Touches the emotions

• Creates feelings

Wants

• Influenced more by

emotion or desire

• Desire is based on

wishes, longings,

and cravings

Emotions

• Agitates passions or

feelings

WHY CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

They motivate consumers

They increase awareness

They create positive feelings towards brands, connect user to

brand

They are used as fire fighters

They provide credibility that reinforces consumer confidence in

brands.

They also act as trendsetters in categories such as fashion,

music, entertainment watches and mobiles.

(Eg: Swatch watch and Dev Anand’s hat.)

INDIAN CONSUMER MENTALITY

They look up to certain public faces and aspire to be one among them

Brand Ambassadors connect with a sense of attachment

They give Word of Mouth opinions to the Indian consumers

SIX USES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

Establishes Credibility

Attracts Attention

Associative Benefit

Psychographic Connect

Demographic Connect

Mass Appeal

BRANDING WITH CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE

Sometimes Brands leverage contemporary events to make a

connect with the consumer

It could be something to do with sports, politics or even a scientific

invention that could change the way people look at the world

It ultimately helps Brand recall and facilitates purchase

CUSTOMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY MODEL

Basic premise:

Power of a brand resides in the minds of customers

Challenge is to ensure customers have the right types of experiences

with products & services and their marketing programs to create the

right brand knowledge structures:

Thoughts

Feelings

Images

Perceptions

Attitudes

IS THE CUSTOMER

REALLY THE KING