Module 5 - Part 1, Why Consumers Consume

Once a need has been established, advertising nirvana is to make consumption a habit rather than a conscious choice.

"She knew that over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors - habits - among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues."

The New York Times - "Warning: Habits May Be Good For You"

"Is it right to advertise to children?" said Dave Siegel, president of WonderGroup, a Cincinnati-based youth marketing agency. "The parents we talk to feel it's very appropriate."

As Generation Xers became parents, attitudes towards advertising changed, Siegel said. Parents these days ask their kids what they want, rather than the other way around. Sixty-nine percent of mothers said it makes their shopping easier when their child knows what brand he or she likes, according to the 2003 Yankelovich Youth Monitor, a survey consisting of in-person interviews with 1,080 mothers.

"Mom's not lazy. Mom's smart. She doesn't want to waste time and money," Siegel said. "Mom will take the child to the store and the child will point. Given that's how parents are, I think it's appropriate for advertisers to market to children at a younger age."

CBS Market Watch - "Aiming at the youngest consumers"

Module 5 - Part 2, The Development of a Consumer Culture

No one likes to be "pigeonholed". But finding common characteristics among consumers is the key to niche marketing.

Ebony - "Finding a Niche in Niche Marketing"

"Now, instead of pouring money into long-established marketing plans that target the White middle-class, many companies are developing strategies aimed at creating an initial buzz in the 'hood that reverberates all the way to the suburbs.."

"The Selling of Gender Identity"
by Judith Waters and George Ellis.
Printed in Advertising and Culture: Theoretical Perspectives, edited by Mary Cross.

Patterns of Consumption

Over the years, certain patterns of consumer consumption have emerged. In Part 3, we'll take a look at the environment in which a consumer makes a choice of what to consume. In Module 6, we'll look at the techniques used to influence that choice.

Psychology Today - "Seven Reasons Why We're Irrational Shoppers"

""Let's face it. We all sometimes buy things we don't really need, whether it's a pair of expensive designer jeans, an extra slice of cheesecake, or an upgrade of the smartphone we bought last year. More than just our taste and available income drive those unnecessary acquisitions.""

"In contemporary American culture, consuming is as authentic as it gets. Advertisements, getting a bargain, garage sales, and credit cards are firmly entrenched pillars of our way of life. We shop on our lunch hours, patronize outlet malls on vacation, and satisfy our latest desires with a late-night click of the mouse.

Yet for all its popularity, the shopping mania provokes considerable dis-ease: many Americans worry about our preoccupation with getting and spending. They fear we are losing touch with more worthwhile values and ways of living."

Social Utility

One of the most powerful tools at the Media's command is our need to be part of something ("Be Like Mike").

This is rooted in a deep fear of being alone. We'll study in detail later, how advertisers make us want material objects by preying on this fear. But in both film and TV, we invite the people we see into our homes, our families, and our hearts. You've heard about people who think the actors on the street are the characters they play in movies or TV? It's not a joke. People really do identify that strongly with figures in the media. These are called "parasocial relationships"

Your local and national news anchors are chosen not for their journalistic ability but for how well we "like" them. Stations pay thousands of dollars on focus groups to explain why they like and not like certain on-air talent. ("See the bubble headed bleached blonde/On the evening news")

This is what the "Q ratings" measure. And these ratings also play a major role in marketing and advertising.

This article describes exactly how and why women athletes are chosen to endorse products.

"A New Image: Female Athlete-Endorser"
The Cyber-Journal of Sport Marketing

Module 5, Part 3 - How Consumers Make Choices

Cultural Shifts

"Others, however, decry the essence of Costco. Teri Franklin, a mother of two in Seattle, said that Costco fed American consumerism and waste. 'Instead of a single board game, you're offered seven shrinkwrapped together,' she said. 'You'll probably end up playing with a couple and the rest will sit in the closet. But you really only wanted one.' She said she was not tempted to buy anything beyond bottled water and diapers at Costco. 'How many things do you need 42 of, really?' she asked."

The New York Times - "24 Rolls of Toilet Paper, a Tub of Salsa and a Plasma TV."

"Personalization, videos on product detail pages, and content marketing are among six important online shopping trends that are impacting ecommerce business practices, according to a new study."

Practical Ecommerce - "6 Global, Online Shopping Trends that Could Impact Your Business."

Business Week Online - "The Vanishing Mass Market"

"The progress of micromarketing appears to be inexorable, favored as it is both by economics and demographics. Certainly there is no stopping media proliferation, for it is providing consumers with what they crave: a wealth of new content and innovative modes of consuming it. The mass market will not disappear, nor will the mass media. But the fortunes of many of America's best-known companies now will rise or fall depending on how well they adapt to what is shaping up as a long and chaotic transition from the fading age of mass marketing to the dawning era of micromarketing."

As more and more shopping is done on the Internet, knowing who that shopper is and how they differ from "traditional" shoppers is critical to the survival of "e-business".

This "white paper" discusses some key differences between the internet and the "brick and mortar" customer.

"As much as Web browsing and email are making it easier than ever to communicate with customers, they're also creating enormous challenges in customer service as expectations rise exponentially. Organizations that understand the new rules for customer service quickly differentiate themselves from those that don't. That differentiation ultimately helps determine who wins in the new digital economy and who loses."

The New York Times - "Metrosexuals Come Out"

"Convinced that these open-minded young men hold the secrets of tomorrow's consumer trends, the advertising giant Euro RSCG, with 233 offices worldwide, wanted to better understand their buying habits. So in a private room at the Manhattan restaurant Eleven Madison Park recently, Mr. Martinson answered the marketers' questions and schmoozed with 11 like - minded straight guys who were into Diesel jeans, interior design, yoga and Mini Coopers, and who would never think of ordering a vodka tonic without specifying Grey Goose or Ketel One."

Business Week Online - "The MySpace Generation"

"A middle-aged father of two teens himself, Lawson spent a good deal of time poring over data about how best to reach youth like Adams. He knew what buzzer Mike Ziemer, 20, so clearly articulates: "Kids don't buy stuff because they see a magazine ad. They buy stuff because other kids tell them to.""

"The pressure on girls and women to look a certain way has always been around," she said. "What's different now is how many media outlets are part of the pressure. We see the images that create our ideas in such a bigger way because of loads more TV channels, magazines, Web sites and lots more marketing."

Sobel said the message is packaged differently, too. "Now that it is fairly acceptable for girls and women to want ‘power,’ the traditional message is targeted in a clever way to tie in appearance to ‘empowerment,’ success, competition and superiority.

"It borders on the unprofessional ... It looks like something that an office clerk did in PowerPoint on their free time. And no offense to the office clerk in saying that."

"I'd Walk A Mile For A Camel"

"A 2013 study conducted in low- and middle income countries showed that 22% of five- and six-year-olds surveyed were able to correctly identify Marlboro cigarettes..."

Advertising Age - "Report Slams Marlboro for Marketing to Teens Globally"

In 1997, the FTC cracked down on Joe Camel, saying that new evidence showed the ad campaign was specifically targeting children under 18. The following two stories from ABC outline the impact of smoking advertising on children.

Most successful advertising use several techniques to achieve information processing. The article below talks about creating a bond with the purchaser to encourage sales.

"Automotive marketers have the opportunity to experiment with their campaigns by trying innovative digital strategies and tactics that are proven to capture the attention of today's "always-on" consumer."

Advertising Age - "How Auto Marketers Can Take Advantage of Relevant Moments"