Brand Personality

Brand Personality: "The set of traits people attribute to a product as if it were a person" (Solomon, pg. 223).

Consumers give brands personalities without even realizing it. When consumers see products they instantly think if it is for active, rich, classy, cheap, etc. kind of people, just by how the product looks and by what they have heard about the brand. What do you think of when you hear the brands Victoria Secret, Lululemon, Tiffany, and Carlo Rossi?

When a consumer hears the brand Victoria Secret they most likely think sexy, quality, woman, pink, etc. If someone has never heard of Victoria Secret and saw the advertisement below they would instantly think the exact same things. This particular brand wants consumers to see them as a store with sexy clothing.

When a consumer hears the brand Lululemon they most likely think athletic, rich, outdoorsy, quality, etc. If someone has never heard of Lululemon and saw the advertisement below they would think athletic as well. This particular brand focuses on clothing for people who enjoy being comfy in cute athletic wear as well as for people who like to work out on a regular basis. 

What do you think of when you hear the brand Tiffany? Most of us think rich, classy, love, etc. If someone has never heard of Tiffany and they saw the advertisement below they would most likely come up with the same brand personalities as consumers who are familiar with the brand.

Lastly, what do you think of when you hear the brand Carlo Rossi? Most of us think college, cheap, sweet, etc. If someone has never hear of Carlo Rossi, but saw the big jug advertised they would most likely think cheap, college life, etc. as well.

Learning

"Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience" (Solomon, pg. 83). Many consumers will know what jingle goes to what product even if they do not purchase those particular products, this is called incidental learning (Solomon, pg. 83). Click the link below to see if you can correctly identify the brand by its jingle. Also, view the YouTube video to see 15 commercial jingles in under 3 minutes. Name That Brand!

Consumers are also learning about company logos on a daily basis even if they do not realize it. The more a person sees a logo, the more they become aware of the company. The problem companies run into a lot of the time is that consumers may know their jingle, logo, or slogan, but they may not know what exactly the company does. Click the link below to see how many logos you can correctly name. Which ones do you know, but have no idea what they are for? Can You Name The Logos?

Along with jingles and logos, slogans are very important in advertising. A company needs to make sure they have a catchy slogan so when someone thinks of a company they can instantly say their slogan. Click the link below to see how many slogans you can match with the brand logo. Can You Name the Slogan That Matches the Brand Logo?

Consumer behavior is influenced by the awareness of a product. If a consumer is aware of the jingle, logo, or slogan they are more likely to buy that product. The more known a product is, the more consumers can trust it.

Message-Response Involvement

This week's blog I am going to discuss the importance of message-response involvement. "A marketer can boost a person's motivation to process relevant information via one or more of the following techniques: 1) appeal to the consumers' hedonic needs 2) use novella stimuli 3) use prominent stimuli 4) include celebrity endorsers to generate higher interest in commercials 5) provide value that customers appreciate and 6) let customers make the messages" (Solomon, pg. 134).

Appeal to the consumers' hedonic needs: "Ads that use sensory appeals" (Solomon, pg. 134). This billboard advertisement for a nose hair trimmer did a great job of appealing to the eyes because it uses power-lines as well to really emphasize the importance of trimming long nose hairs. The use of other props besides just a billboard really grabs people's attention that are walking or driving by.

Use novel stimuli: "Using unusual cinematography, sudden silences, or unexpected movements, in commercials" (Solomon, pg. 134). This commercial by Planet Green uses unusual cinematography by relaying the message that if people wore less clothing energy would be saved because we would not have to crank up the AC. 

Use prominent stimuli: "Using loud music and fast action, to capture attention in commercials" (Solomon, pg. 134). This commercial by Park Ave BMW is an example of using prominent stimuli because there is constant loud music playing and cars driving fast.

Celebrity endorsers: "People process more information when it comes from someone they admire" (Solomon, pg. 134). This Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem is an example of using celebrity endorsement because many people look up to Eminem and if they see him driving a Chrysler they may go out and buy one too.

Provide value that customers appreciate: "Charmin bathroom tissue set up public toilets in Times Square that hordes of grateful visitors used" (Solomon, pg. 134). Pictured below is Charmin bathroom tissue providing value that customers appreciate by setting up bathrooms in Times Square.

Let customers make the messages: "Consumer-generated content, where freelancers and fans film their own commercials for favorite products" (Solomon, pg. 134). This commercial for the Samsung Galaxy Note is an actual fan-made commercial that turned out to work in Samsung's favor.

What Do We Need?

A lot of consumers look at products and say, "I NEED that." The real question is... do you really need that? There are a few different types of needs such as a biogenic needs, psychogenic needs, utilitarian needs and hedonic needs that help a person decide if they truly need something.

Biogenic needs are "certain elements necessary to maintain life, such as food, water, air, and shelter" (Solomon, pg. 120). "Fred water" does a campaign explaining that without water you will die, they are letting consumers know that water is a biogenic need.

Psychogenic needs are "needs for status, power, and affiliation" (Solomon, pg. 120). Consumers who believe they are upperclass would never think of purchasing lower-class items, they have a psychogenic need for the status they portray. The picture below is a picture of the rich vs. poor. The people living on the right have more of a psychogenic need for status, power, and affiliation than the people living on the left.

Utilitarian needs are when "we emphasize the objective, tangible attributes of products, such as miles per gallon in a car; the amount of fat, calories, and protein in a cheeseburger; or the durability of a pair of blue jeans" (Solomon, pg. 121). The two pictures below are miles per gallon of a Hummer and milers per gallon of a Prius. If a consumer had an utilitarian need for miles per gallon in a car they would for sure choose the Prius because it gets way better gas mileage than the Hummer.

Hedonic needs "are subjective and experiential; here we might look to a product to meet our needs for excitement, self-confidence, or fantasy-perhaps to escape the mundane routine aspects of life" (Solomon, pg. 121). A persons hedonic needs would be fulfilled by buying a Louis Vuitton purse because of the luxurious image it portrays and helps them escape the mundane routine aspects of life when carrying this purse. Everyone knows what the LV stands for and by carrying this purse a persons need for self-confidence could increase.