Impact of Sensory Stimuli on Consumer Perception: Logo Changes & Packaging Study, Transcripciones de Psicología del Trabajo

¡Descarga Impact of Sensory Stimuli on Consumer Perception: Logo Changes & Packaging Study y más Transcripciones en PDF de Psicología del Trabajo solo en Docsity! TEMA 3. PERCEPTION. On October 4, 2010, Gap, Inc., the well-known American clothier, made a business move it would immediately regret: it unveiled a new company logo that was intended to convey a “more contemporary, modern expression.” This consisted of replacing the iconic white capitalized serif type (GAP) on a navy blue background logo with one featuring black Helvetica lettering (Gap) partially superimposed on a small blue square at the right-hand corner (see http://www. guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/12/gap-logo-redesign). According to company spokesperson Louise Callagy, it was believed that the logo change would signify Gap’s transition from “classic, American design to modern, sexy, cool” (Flinn & Townsend, 2010). Unfortunately for many companies, best-laid strategic plans often are undermined by the very targets they are intended to influence. In the contemporary Web 2.0 era, reactions to a marketing action can be nearly instantaneous and can spread like wildfire within hours, which is exactly what happened in Gap’s case. Negative online commentary belittled the graphic redesign, with unflattering comparisons of the new logo to “the emblem of some failed low-fare spin off of a major airline” and “that awkward cap-sleeved tee with the rhinestone letters you find while thrift shopping that’s neither vintage nor new, but definitely not cool.” To its credit, Gap was listening to the consumer conversation and quickly reacted. Within days, the company announced that it would be returning to its 20-year-old original logo design, starting on its Facebook page, “OK. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers ... we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.” The Gap case 1s not unique—other companies have similarly encountered consumer resistance in the face of a logo change (e.g., Starbucks) or alteration in packaging (e.g., PepsiCo’s Tropicana), signifying how tinkering with a long-standing, familiar brand element is a risky proposition, particularly among loyal customers of the brand who perceive such changes as a threat to what the brand represents for them, This point is reflected in the following comments from one critic of Gap’s logo change that were written on Gap’s Facebook page: Your new Jogo makes your brand Jook cheap and unappealing; it’s just ugly. There’s something classic, expensive and of very high-quality with your old logo .., | could just imagine what your shopping bags will look like ,,, like your [sic] walking out of K-Mart. (Goldwert, 2010) Similarly, when PepsiCo introduced a new package for its line of Tropicana fruit juices in 2009, disenchanted consumers no longer perceived the juices as an upmarket brand associated with pleasure, closeness, and quality, but as a “generic brand” or a “store brand” (Milutinovic, Gibault, & Kimmel, 2011; Swanson, 2011). The familiar, classic orange with a straw design conveyed the positive attributes that consumers had learned to associate with Tropicana juices. In a psychological sense, the fundamental processes that lie at the heart of these kinds of reactions are perceptual in nature. People depend on the information they acquire from their surrounding environment to interpret and assign meaning to what is going on around them. This is how we react to many marketing stimuli as well, in the sense that meanings are primarily influenced by the stimuli we encounter from our interaction with products and brands (Batey, 2008). Consumers often respond negatively to change because in their minds, change alters what a brand subjectively represents to them. Although innovation is the lifeblood of the consumer marketplace, it also is true that consumers are more comfortable with the familiar than they are with surprises—a point that we will return to in later sections of this book. Tinkering with an established visual identity as a short-cut means of evolving a brand, without first taking into consideration the potential for customer resistance, can prove to be a recipe for disaster (see Box 3.1). THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION “Perception” is an example of a psychological term that has entered everyday parlance, with the end result being that its meaning has become somewhat unfocused and ambiguous. Thus, at the outset, it is important to clarify what the term represents for psychologists and marketers. Generally speaking, perception refers to a set of psychological processes that enable individuals to experience and make sense of their surrounding environment; that is, it pertains to an individual’s awareness and interpretation of reality. Perception encompasses the active cognitive processes of selection, organization, and interpretation—mental activities that are typically referred to as “higher order” in the sense that they go beyond the merely physiological processes (collectively referred to as “sensation” that make it possible for us to receive information about the world around us. Unprocessed information (e.g., light, sound, texture) received via the sensory systems provides the basic raw material for vision, hearing, taste, and touch (see Figure 3.1). For example, our eyes contain specialized receptor cells (rods and cones) that are responsive to a small range of electromagnetic energy, enabling us to recognize something visual in the environment through electrical impulses transmitted to the brain, The raw information is perceived—that is, rendered meaning on the basis of innate human abilities, prior learning, and past experiences. A red object resting on a table might be perceived at a quick glance as a Coca-Cola soft drink, without any apparent indication of the brand name, Perceptual principles are critical to the marketing process because subjective experience has a profound effect on consumers’ reactions to marketing phenomena. As evidenced by the Gap logo case, many difficult lessons have been learned when marketing decisions havé been made without a concern for consumer perception, including new product launches, promotional campaigns, and pricing considerations, For instance, Starbucks was forced to pull from 3,000 North American outlets its “Collapse Into Cool” promotional poster for the popular coffee chain’s new TazoCitrus drinks when numerous consumers complained that the poster’s imagery (flying insects surrounding two tall iced beverages) was overly reminiscent of the September }1 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center. Although thé ad—which Starbucks refused to have reproduced here—had nothing to do with the tragic¢ events, the combination of the term “collapse” and the unfortunate choice of illustration was perceived by some consumers as insensitive on the part of the company and a malicious attempt to capitalize on the misfortunes of others (Roeper, 2002). This example reflects the fact that although people may receive information about the environment through the senses essentially in the same way, perception tends to be more individualistic. Thus, what one consumer might perceive as a rather innocuous promotional poster from an internationally. known coffeehouse chain, another may interpret as an insensitive and offensive allusion to a national tragedy. In short, from an individual perspective, objective reality is a personal phenomenon that is based on one’s needs and desires, values, expectations, and personal experiences, along with other psychological factors, any of which may influence how some external stimulus is received and processed. In the Starbucks case, it has been suggested that the poster for the new frosty drinks would not have aroused any consumer antipathy had it not included the word “collapse” in the slogan (Mikkelson & Mikkelson, 2007). Take a look at the poster (http: Www.snopes.com/rumors/cool.asp) and imagine a somewhat different slogan, such as “Experience cool pleasure.” Is the poster still reminiscent of the attacks on the World Trade Center? perfectly still. Thus, stimuli that are unexpected, unique, or in direct contrast from their surroundings are more attention-getting than those that are non-changing, repetitive, and similar to their background or surrounding context. Personal factors also play a role in whether marketing stimuli are attended to by consumers. When we are fatigued, our senses dull, we become less sensitive to our environment, and much goes unnoticed. People are typically more acutely aware of surrounding stimuli and informational cues that are personally relevant. Perceptual vigilance describes the tendency for people to have a heightened sensitivity to stimuli that are capable of satisfying their motives (¢.g., “I noticed that Coke night away because | was so thirsty”), whereas perceptual defense pertains to the tendency for people to screen out stumul: that are too threatening, even though exposure may have occurred (e.g., “I probably didn’t see the soft drink because I’m trying to stick to my diet”). The relevance of these perceptual notions to marketing should be apparent. Marketers and advertisers clearly want consumers to perceive their offerings and messages (i.e., to select them), but must counter consumers’ tendency to screen out marketing-related stimuli or remain insensitive to them, whether it be an advertisement in a magazine, a package on a store shelf, an email that announces a promotion, and so on. The problem of capturing consumer attention has increased in recent decades as the number of offerings and marketing communications to promote those offerings have steadily proliferated. Indeed, the excessive bombardment of promotional messages has led to advertising clutter, the “proliferation of advertising that produces excessive competition for viewer attention, to the point that individual messages lose impact and viewers abandon the ads (via fast-forwarding, changing channels, quitting viewing, etc.)” (Lowrey, Shrum, & McCarty, 2005, p. 121). Beyond the most obvious case of television advertising, the problem of clutter also characterizes consumers’ growing aversion to other marketing formats, including outdoor signage, email spamming, Internet popup messages, and SMS messaging. Clutter is likely to impede message recall, especially when one considers that a majority of consumers engage in multitasking, such as using their PC or mobile phone while watching television (Greenspan, 2004; see Box 3.2). The ability for any one promotional message to break through marketing clutter in order to capture attention, arouse interest, and have its intended effects has become exceedingly difficult. Marketing research must be carried out to determine the appropriate strategies for Capturing attention and enhancing recall; for example, by developing messages that are at odds with commonly-held beliefs, adding a lot of white space or vivid colors in print ads, incorporating humor or allusions to sexuality in message content, presenting incomplete stimuli that stimulate audience involvement in the message, and so on (see Exhibit 3.2). In retail settings, where the number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) continues to rise—the average number of products carried by a typical supermarket has more than tripled since 1980, from 15,000 to 50,000 (Food Marketing Institute, 2009)—effective product packaging and display are required so as to be noticed and selected by shoppers. Given all the competitive stimuli in a typical supermarket, the average package has about one tenth of a second to make an impression on the shopper. As a result, many consumer goods companies now view product packages not only as containers for shipping and storing products, but as three-dimensional ads for grabbing shopper attention (Story, 2007). This is seen in Pepsi’s striking bottle designs for its Mountain Dew soft drink, Evian’s luxurious glass container for a one of bottled water, rounded Kleenex packages bearing artistic imagery, the growing line of high concept design vodka bottles, and NXT’s body care products for men bearing light-emitting diodes that light up the product every 15 seconds to illuminate air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. OVERVIEW OF THE SENSORY SYSTEMS A better understanding of the psychological processes underlying consumer selection and attention can be gleaned from an overview of the various sensory modalities. Nr Exhibit 3.2 Enhancing consumer attention The visual sense The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 8.c.-322 8.c.) once asserted that “perception begins with the eye.” Because people tend to rely most heavily on their sense of sight, visual stimuli are among the most attention-getting. Visual elements are frequently exploited by marketers in the design and display of products, product packaging, the layout of promotional messages, and shop fittings. As described by Marty Neumeier in The Brand Gap, Our visual system is hardwired to discern the differences between the things we see, starting with the biggest differences and working down to the smallest. It looks for contrasts, It recognizes the differences between subject and ground, big and small, dark and light, rough and smooth, fat and thin, motionless and moving. (Neumeier 2006, pp. 34-35) Although Neumeier’s account may suggest a rather automatic process by which the visual system operates, it bears noting that vision is an active sensory system; that is, although our eyes help us navigate, differentiate, and make sense of the world around us, the act of seeing is largely accomplished by the brain (Batey, 2008). In other words, the visual system involves more than simply noticing and focusing on something with our eyes, but is a process that also involves editing certain details, constructing meaning, and interpretation. Among the various aspects of stimuli that capture the selective attention of consumers, movement stands out as one of the most compelling. By definition, movement is change, and as noted, change is attended to because it suggests new information. Thus, marketing stimuli typically are designed to incorporate a lot of movement, which may take more traditional forms, such as the numerous edits in a television commercial or the blinking neon lights on a firm’s storefront, as well as more nontraditional innovations. For example, using LED technology, the Dutch makers of Medea vodka included an electronic band of bright blue lights on Medea bottles that could be programmed to display one of three scrolling messages. in addition to the novelty factor another stimulus factor that effectively attracts attention—the bright moving lights on the bottle enabled the Medea brand to stand out from Exhibit 3.3 Apparent motion captures attention the competition on the store shelf. As illustrated by Exhibit 3.3, even the suggestion of movement (so-called “apparent motion”) can be effective in drawing the eye to a promotional message. Another stimulus characteristic with obvious attention-getting potential is color, which is one reason color choices are critical when it comes to the design of products, packaging, advertisements, and store displays. Attending (o different colors has been found to have physiological effects on the human body; for example, blood pressure tends to increase when we are exposed to colors at the lower extreme of the electromagnetic spectrum (such as red) and decreases in the presence of colors at the higher end (such as blue and violet). Moreover, these colors have been found to have a significant impact on eating behavior (see Box 3.3). The color of food also has the capacity to strongly influence taste expectations. In his book Mindless Eating, food and behavior researcher Brian Wansink (2006) recounted the story of a World War II US Navy cook who faced something of a rebellion among his ship's crewmates when, due to limited supplies, he could only serve the yellow-colored lemon Jell-O gelatin dessert despite his fellow sailors’ growing demands for the more popular red colored cherry Jell-O. Relying on a bit of ingenuity in the kitchen, the cook placates the disgruntled crew by adding red food coloring to the lemon Jell-O. Although the desert fully bore a lemon flavor, it looked exactly like the cherry variety, and the sailors happily consumed what they believed to be cherry Jell-O. This anecdote serves as an example of the psychological concept of “expectation assimilation” (also referred to as “confirmation bias”), which highlights the power of expectations on consumers’ reactions to product and brand offerings. If one has a strong expectation that a food will taste very good, or very spicy, or very sweet, chances are that it will be experienced as anticipated. Researchers have demonstrated that consumers rate orange juice as sweeter the richer the orange coloring on the container, similarly, ground coffee packed in a yellow can is more likely to be perceived as weak, a blue can as mild, and a brown can as too strong (Batey, 2008). When it comes to serving food, presentation is important, a point reflected in the French expression, “Nous goGtons d'abord avec nos yeux” (“We taste first with our eyes'') and the Japanese notion “katachi no ayi'' (“the shape of the taste”). Wansink (2006) demonstrated thé power of presentation in his study that manipulated how a cafetena presented its customers with a free brownie dusted with powdered sugar. Claiming that the brownie was based on a new recipe that the cafeteria was considering for its dessert menu, customers were given the brownie (identical in all other respects) either on a snow white piece of china, a paper plate, or a paper napkin. Not only was the brownie rated as “excellent” when served on china (compared to “good” and “nothing special” for the other two servings, respectively), customers said they would be willing to pay an average of US$1.27 for the desert on china compared to US$0.76 on a paper plate and US$0.53 on a paper napkin. Returning to the influence of color, Wansink carried out another test to assess the impact of color on the amount of food a person consumes. In this case, people were provided with huge bowls of M&M’s candies—varying only in terms of the variety of colors—to snack on as they viewed a video. The bowls either contained seven colors of M&M’s or ten colors. Despite the fact that it is common knowledge that all M&M’s taste alike regardless of the color of their coating, test subjects snacking from the bowls with the greater variety of candy colors consumed an average of 43 more M&M’s (99 versus 56). Wansink attributed this finding to the likelihood that the greater variety of colors implied more variety in taste, thereby increasing the eater’s expectations about how much the M&M’s would be enjoyed and how much is normal to eat. One issue of concern that combines the influence of presentation and color pertains to the increasing tendency for supermarkets to eliminate their butchers and purchase precut, “case~ ready” meat from processing plants (Burros, 2006). The meat then is put on supermarket display wrapped in airtight packaging treated with carbon monoxide gas instead of oxygen, As a form of “modified atmosphere packaging,” the carbon monoxide, itself harmless at the levels used, serves to preserve the red coloring of the meat (and the rosy color of tuna) well beyond the point at which the food could no longer be considered fresh. The problem is that because consumers typically rely on color as an important indicator of freshness, they may be misled into assuming that a deep red coloring of a food that has exceeded its “use of freeze by '' date is nonetheless acceptable to purchase and eat. Because meat that is exposed to oxygen tums brown even though it still is fresh, consumers often presume the food is spoiled, resulting in an annual estimated loss of USS1 billion in sales for retailers, Colors have symbolic meanings for people as a result of religious, political, cultural, and aesthetical influences, and such meanings impart a significant influence on why certain Visual stimuli are noticed and preferred. For example, according to some American product designers, lower income consumers prefer simpler colors (i.¢., those that can be easily described, hke “grass green” or “sky blue”), whereas higher income consumers show & greater preference for more complex colors (such as “gray-green with a hint of blue”), Lower come consumers tend to view complex colors as “dirty” or “dull” (Kanner, 1989). Color is a critical element in international marketing, but the same color will have different meanings and associations in different cultures. This is especially apparent in terms of the emotional links associated with specific colors. In North America, one is said to be “green with envy,” and thus a print ad that ran in the United States for Bosch washing machines boasted that “Our competition is green too. With envy” to convey the energy saving properties of the product as well as its strong competitive advantage. By contrast, a French print ad for Volkswagen’s Golf Wembley automobile proclaimed that some new colors were available at VW’s competitors, including “green with rage” and “red with shame.'' In other countries, “seeing red” suggests the association of the color red with anger, rather than shame. In many Western cultures, white is a color that connotes goodness, pungency, cleanliness, and refinement, whereas in Asian cultures it is the color for mourning. These associations are strong determinants of the preferred color of a wedding dress, with Chinese and Indian brides preferring a red gown, which for them conveys happiness, joy, and good fortune. Some online suppliers of Asian bridal wear reaffirm these associations with descriptive names for their companies, such as Redd Bridal Couture for a London-based specialist in Indian bridal wear and Red Hot Brides for a Chinese online bridal wear firm. The popularity of colors waxes and wanes over the years, a considerably important pom! for automobile makers, given that about 34% of car buyers will opt for another model if their first choice in color is unavailable. During the first decade of the current century, stiff mixed with tints of cool blue, and green and grays infused with more hues in red, blue, and purple were among the emerging color trends in the car industry. Silver and black reigned & the world's most popular automobile colors in 2010 (DuPont, 2010). The 1990s ushered in a 10 -8 new color trend, with manufacturers emphasizing the lack of color in the design of vanous products. Thus, a vanectyl of clear-colored products, or those with transparent extensors singing from colas (PepsiCo's Crystal Pepsi: and Coca-Cola's Tab Clear) and beers (Millet Brewing Company's Miller Clear) to laundry detergents (Purex Free & Clear) began © proliferate in the marketplace. Eliminating any hint of color ts @ means of conveying the purity and freshness of a heavily wrinkled and the bottom half nice and smooth. The ad copy running vertically down the page read, “skin that feels like this to skin that feels like this,” effectively enabling the poster to stand out while emphasizing how the spa could assist in the transformation of unhealthy to healthy skin. Beyond their effects on selective attention, tactile cues also convey symbolic meanings for consumers, leading people to link underlying product qualities © varying textures (Solomon ef al , 1999). Fabrics that are smooth to the touch, such as silk. typically are equated with luxury and thus are perceived as classy and expensive, whereas denim 1s perceived as lower-class, practical, and durable. Marketers often frame thief promotional messages to suggest implicit haptic connotations, as evidenced by expressiv¢ slogans and taglines like “smooth as silk” (That Airways, Kessler Whiskey), “reach out and touch someone” (AT&I), “let your fingers do the walking” (Yellow Pages), “the Midas touch” (Midas Auto Service), and “touching is believing” (iPhone). The long term slogs® for Allstate Insurance, “you're in good hands with Allstate,” along with the corresponding symbol depicting two open hands, successfully conveys the promise that personal care and competent service will be offered by the company. Despite the fact that researchers to date have devoted relatively less attention to the ty sense of touch and its implications for marketing than other sensory modalities, interest in =i, haptics appears to be on the rise as marketers investigate the impact of virtual and catalog by shopping, and other situations in which the physical examination of products is not possible (see Box 3.5). Research has focused on differences in product attributes that encourage * touch and individual motivations to touch (Peck & Childers, 2008). As for product attributes, when products vary in a diagnostic way on a property such as texture, sofiness, weight, and a3 temperature, they are more likely to be touched by shoppers prior to purchase (Klatzy & =k Lederman, 1992, 1993). Thus, clothing, which varies on texture and weight, will encourage more touch than DVDs, which vary little on material attributes that would provide useful diagnostic or comparison information. Researchers have found that consumers show a Sy greater preference for products varying in diagnostic properties (e.g., bath towels, carpeting) Way when they are presented in an environment that allows for physical inspection than a nonCy touch environment (e.g., the products are verbally described) (McCabe & Nowlis, 2003; the Peck & Childers, 2003). No such difference was apparent for products lacking in variation Eres, on material properties (e.g. videotape, rolls of film), suggesting that written or verbal Vi descriptions can compensate for the lack of touch. hes People differ in the need to extract and use information obtained through touch and wari it appears that this individual difference—the so-called “need for touch” (NFT)—serves to moderate the relationship between direct experience with a product and confidence in bea judgments about the product, as well as the amount of time people spend touching a product wwe to extract information about it. High NFT consumers report less confidence than fow NFT ines consumers in their judgments about products they are unable to touch (Peck & Childers, Vink 2003); however, for all material properties other than texture, high NFT persons spend less darts time than those with low NFT exploring a product with their hands, perhaps because of the Fa former’s greater efficiency in extracting the information (Peck & Childers, 2004). A lot on Sense of taste " As is the case with touch, the sense of taste (also referred to as the “gustatory sense”) provides a direct means for consumers to sample a product prior to purchase and consumption. Although taste is less likely than the other sensory channels to provide marketers with a few means of capturing the attention of consumers, its significance in shaping brand preferences, pet influencing new product formulations, and explaining the effectiveness of in-store sampling cal! cannot be denied. Food manufacturers go to great lengths to assure that their products taste pio as advertised and are acceptable to consumers. As with the other senses, cultural differences exist in terms of how tastes are perceived and, as a result, international marketing efforts sometimes require that the composition of ad food products be modified to conform to local preferences. For example, when Nabisco oh introduced its popular Oreo cookies into the Japanese market, they first reduced the va Sugar content in the cookie batter to meet Japanese tastes and promoted the cookies as nef having a “bitter twist” (Schiffman, Hansen, & Kanuk, 2008) Nonetheless, some Japanese i Consumers still found the product to be too sweet and preferred to eat the wafers, but not , r) the cream. Backtracking on its initial launch, Nabisco then introduced new Petit Oreo wp Non-Cream cookies consisting solely of a single water without the cream. The importance of maintaining high flavor standards 18 something that is obvious to the producers of f baby foods, despite the fact that newborns possess low levels of taste sensitivity. As food producers surmised, parents tend to taste baby food prior to serving it, and they assume that what tastes good according to their more sophisticated taste standards, will also taste good to their babies. Importantly, our sense of taste is strongly influenced by, and goes hand in hand with, our other sensory systems, a point that was alluded to earlier when we considered the impact of packaging color on taste expectations. In fact, roughly 90% of what we perceive as taste is determined by our sense of smell, which is why our sense of taste appears dulled when we are coping with a blocked nose from a common cold (Batey, 2008). Wine connoisseurs rely heavily on three senses—taste, vision, and smell when evaluating the quality of a wine. They assess the richness of the color of the wine in the glass, they carefully evaluate the bouquet by smelling the wine, and they taste the flavor of the wine by letting it linger for several seconds in the mouth. Less obviously, the taste of the wine also may be affected by nondiagnostic haptic cues provided by the serving container; that is, wine is perceived as better tasting when it is served in an expensive crystal glass than a disposable plastic cup. (The touch qualities of the serving container are considered “non diagnostic” because they do not provide input about an inherent quality of the product itself.) The role of haptic cues in taste perception was validated in a series of experiments that focused on the influence of the firmness of a cup on consumer evaluations of the beverage contained inside (Krishna & Morrin, 2008). Overall, the researchers found that the nondiagnostic haptic qualities of a serving container (i.e., a firm cup versus a flimsy cup) affected how a beverage (in this case, mineral water) was evaluated, but not for all persons tested. Study participants who were identified as having a strong desire to touch products prior to purchasing them (dubbed “high autoelics'' by the researchers) turned out to be least influenced by touch in their taste evaluations. Compared to the high autoelics, those participants classified as less inclined to touch products (“low autoelics' ') more negatively evaluated the water served in a flimsy cup and expressed a greater willingness to pay more for a beverage packaged in a firm bottle. These findings were obtained regardless of whether the participants directly felt the serving containers or were told about the containers in a verbal description without actually feeling them. The researchers explained these findings by emphasizing the importance of whether the salient touch qualities are diagnostic or not. That is, people who like to touch products are more influenced by the sense of touch when the cues are diagnostic to the task at hand (e.g., the crispness of a biscuit or sweetness of a cookie). But when the haptic cues are non diagnostic in nature (e.g., the texture or firmness of a food product’s package), such individuals are more capable than low touch-oriented consumers to adjust for the cues. In short, if you are planning on reducing your dishwashing lume by serving your dinner guests a meal on disposable plastic dinnerware, you may find that your guests will not appreciate your cooking as much as they might have had you used your good china, especially if your guest list is heavily represented by low autoelics. Because of the importance of taste for consumers, food companies often administer taste tests to determine individuals’ ability to discriminate flavors and to assess preferences for specific tastes. Such tesis provide a means of assessing consistency of taste across batches of the same product and enable companies to identify which among alternative product formulations is most preferred by consumers. Although a comparison of the various taste~ test methodologies is beyond the scope of this book (see Peck & Childers, 2008 for details), one commonly-used approach that bears mentioning is the blind taste test, which involves ordinary consumers, as opposed to trained taste experts, who rate product characteristics with identifying characteristics (such as the brand name or label) hidden from view. If not carefully administered, a blind taste test can prove to be unreliable and misleading, &8 was evidenced in research leading up to what is arguably the most famous product Reformulation, New Coke. in what is now a well-known story, in 1985 the Coca-Cola Company altered the original formulation of its benchmark soft drink, Coca-Cola, in favo, of a sweeter venation (Hartley, 2009), The decision to change the taste of Coke came on the heels of rival soft drink firm PepsiCo’s successful “Pepsi challenge” campaign, which publicized findings that consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke in blind taste tests. Coca-Cola subsequently conducted 200,000 of its own taste tests to verify that its new Coke flavor outperformed that of the original Coke and Pepsi. Within one month of the introduction of the new flavor, the Coca-Cola company was receiving more than 5,000 telephone calls a day, along with angry letters, from unhappy Coke drinkers who felt betrayed by the company and who demanded that the original Coke be brought back. Less than three months later, the company did just that, apologizing for changing the beloved traditional product and reintroducing it as “Coca-Cola Classic.” What the company had not taken into account is that consumers are more likely to prefer the more distinctive or unique alternative in a blind taste test in this case, the sweeter-tasting soft drink. But whereas taste tests typically involve having the consumer take one or two sips of a beverage, when consumers drink a soda, they may ingest an entire can in a single sitting and can become overwhelmed by a more distinctive (i.c., sweeter) offering. Moreover, Coca. Cola failed to recognize that in a rapidly changing world, consumers like to have some constants to rely on, even if those constants are merely soft drinks, candy bars, or fast-food restaurants. The “new Coke” fiasco might have been avoided had the company gradually altered the formulation over time and not announced the product change (Dubow & Childs, 1998). The auditory sense C Although it is estimated that up to 83% of marketing communication principally engages consumers via the visual channel, hearing (or audition) can be an equally powerful modality for marketers to reach and have an impact on their targets (Kluger, 2010). The utility of sound In capturing consumer attention and inducing various responses is perhaps most obvious in the context of advertising jingles and background music in advertising and retail settings. Indeed, music has long been a prominent feature of television and radio advertising, witb estimates of the proportion of TV commercials using music and serving as the main creative ingredient ranging from 75% to 90% by the early 1990s (Kellaris, Cox, & Cox, 1993). Jingles are frequently repeated musical phrases that are sometimes used to reinforce & company’s slogans. Like slogans, jingles can provide continuity to a brand’s communications, which is a basic reason why jingles are capable of capturing attention. As they become attached to a product or promotional campaign, a familiar jingle can readily conjure up the relevant product in the consumer’s mind. This was evidenced by a famous early 1960s radio jingle for Maxwell House coffee, which simply consisted of the exaggerated sounds of 8 bubbling coffee pot percolators. Just hearing the first few notes of the percolator “song” was enough to capture attention and stimulate recall for the product. Because music in marketing contexts can provide continuity across a series of advertisements, it can assist in product and brand differentiation. Certain background music¢ can create an aura of power, prestige, or affluence, and when combined with strong visual images, as one might imagine for a luxury car advertisement, it can have powerful effects on the viewer, Researchers have established that music can influence consumers’ mood states, message reception, and message processing. In one marketing study, music was used to induce either a good or bad mocd for participants, who were either made aware of thé source of their mood or not. Those individuals who were not aware of the source of their mood evaluated a product more favorably when they were in a good mood than in a bad mood, whereas this difference was not apparent for those who were aware that music had influenced the way they felt (Gom. Goldberg, & Basu, 1993). It appears that people draw logical conclusions about their feelings, and if they are not aware of the cause of their mood, they assume that their feelings present relevant information about their evaluations of a uct. The impact of music-induced mood on shoppers’ evaluations of stores appears to be less straightforward, with evidence pointing to the mediating role of attitudes towards store service and sales personnel (Dubé & Morin, 2001). Interestingly, the tempo of background music in retail settings appears to influence how long consumers linger and how much they spend. rock concert, but feel quite differently about it when you encounter one of your business professors while wearing it to shop at the local mall (unless, your professor mx similarly attired) Products, packages, branda, and advertisements all are perceived within some context: products appear within the context of other products on the store shelf, print ads appear in the context of other ads, a magazine or newspaper, and so on. As a result, our perception of these things will vary accordingly, especially when further influenced by expectation, and other personal characteristics. For example, survey researchers must be alert to the possibility that respondents’ answers may differ according to the context in which the question appears. A general question asking a respondent to rate his or her hiking for a brand may diffe, depending on whether the question precedes or follows additional items pertaining to the brand's attributes and benefits. In a similar way, a brand might be perceived as higher or lower in quality if you see it first or last among a row of competing brands on display. To better explain the process of perceptual interpretation, it is useful to bear in mind that people create their own mode! (or personal reality) of how the world works as they navigate through unique and familiar situations and environments, As a consumer encounters Vanous sensations within the context of a specific marketing environment, the information those sensations provide is considered relative to recalled knowledge acquired from prior experiences. It 1s in this sense that schemas—imental templates or organized structures of beliefs and feelings—play a pivotal role in determining the interpretations or assumptions arrived at by the perceiver. A schema reflects one’s expectations and knowledge about some particular aspect of the world that has previously been experienced by the individual (Batey, 2008). Once encountered, objects and events are assigned to schemas composed of elements with similar characteristics; thus, the schema to which a perceived element is assigned wil pizy a crucial role in terms of how that element is later evaluated (Solomon et al., 1999). Consider for a moment what a schema for the brand Mercedes Benz might encompass ‘ that ts, the elements or characteristics that are integrated as a cognitive representation of Mercedes Benz in the consumer's mind: Chrysler, automobile, transportation, sedan, coupe. luxurious, expensive, silver, big, well-engineered, and so on. Now compare this with the elements associated with a schema for snack foods: small, savory, sweet, crackers, chips cheap, plastic wrapper, and the like. Whenever a consumer encounters an object that could be & Mercedes Benz, a snack, or something cise, it is mentally compared with the associates within one’s vanous schemas to determine which meaning is most appropriate (Babus & Harris, 2011). In some cases, certain properties of a stimulus will evoke one schema rather than another through a cognitive process known as priming. Brand names, logos, and other markets soul) can serve as powerful primes that activate particular schemas and, in so doug. influence expectations about a product's attributes or performance and elicit automatic effects on behavior For example, imagine that as you are on your way to purchase a pair of running penis at a local sports shop you pass either a high-end store (eg , Nordstrom), where yo" are exposed to images of luxury and prestige, or a discount store (¢.g , Walmart), where YOu are exposed to images of thrift and savings Do you think that the store you passed would influence your purchase of running pants? Apparently yes, according to research! to this question. When this type of sconano was systematically manipulated in a marketing study, it was found that consumers exposed to a low prestige name (Walmart) chose products of higher value and lower prestige relative to persons exposed to a high-end brand name, product or brand on different occasions, You may view your ragged and tom black leather Coat with pride while attending a rock concert, but feel quite differently about it when you encounter one of your business professor while wearing it to shop at the local mall (unless your professor w similarly attired). Products, packages, brands, and advertisements all are perceived within some context: Products appear within the context of other products on the store shelf, print ads appear in the context of other ads in a magazine or newspaper, and so on. As 4 result, our perceptions of these things will vary accordingly, especially when further influenced by expectations and other personal characteristics, For example, survey researchers must be alert to the possibility that respondents’ answers may differ according to the context in which questions appear A general question asking a respondent to rate his or her liking for a brand may differ depending on whether the question precedes or follows additional items pertaining to the brand's attributes and benefits, In a similar way, a brand might be perceived as higher of lower wm quality af you see it first or last among a tow of competing brands on display m a store. To better explain the process of perceptual interpretation, it is useful to bear in mind that people create their own model (or personal reality) of how the world works as they navigate through unique and familiar situations and environments. As a consumer encounters Various sensations within the context of 4 specific marketing environments, the informanog those sensations provide is considered relative to recalled knowledge acquired from pnr experiences. It is in this sense that schemas—mental templates or organized structures of beliefs and feelings—play a pivotal role in determining the interpretations or assumptions arrived at by the perceiver. A schema reflects one's expectations and knowledge about some particular aspect of the world that has previously been experienced by the individual (Batey, 2008). Once encountered, objects and events are assigned to schemas composed of elements with similar characteristics; thus, the schema to which a perceived element is assigned will play a crucial role in terms of how that element is later evaluated (Solomon et al., 1999). Consider for a moment what a schema for the brand Mercedes Benz might encompass ‘ that 8. the elements or characteristics that are integrated as a cognitive representation of Mercedes Benz m the consumer's mind: Chrysler, automobile, transportation, sedan, coupe. Buxunous, expensive, silver, big, well-engineered, and so on. Now compare this with #& elements associated with a schema for snack foods: small, savory, sweet, crackers, chips. cheap, plastic wrapper, and the like. Whenever a consumer encounters an object that could be & Mercedes Benz, a snack, or something else, it is mentally compared with the associanoss within one's vanous schemas who determine which meaning is most appropriate (Baba & Harrs, 2011). In some cases, certain properties of a stimulus will evoke one schema rather than anothé through » cognitive process known a6 priming. Brand names, logos, and other marketing souls can serve as powerful names that activate particular schemas and, m so dong. influence expectations about a product's attributes or performance and elicit automatic ettec® on behavior For example, imagine thal as you are on your way to purchase a pair of running$ penis at a local sports shop you pass either @ high-end store (e g , Nordstrom), where you'' are exposed to images of luxury and prestige, of a discount store (¢ g , Walmart), where YOU are exposed to images of thrift and savings Do you think that the store you passed would influence your purchase of running pants? Apparently yes, according to research pertine™ $0 this question. When this type of scenario was systematically manipulated in a marketoF study, 1 was found that consumers exposed 10 a low-prestige name (Walmart) chose product? of higher value and lower prestige relative to persons exposed to a high-end brand name, & indication that brand names can serve as a prime to activate purchasing goals (Chartrand, Huber, Shiv, & Tanner, 2008). In a related study designed to assess the impact of brand logo priming, research participants who had been exposed to Apple logos scored higher on a creativity test than those exposed to IBM logos (Fitzsimons, Chartrand, & Fitzsimons, 2008). in a follow-up study, participants primed with logos of the Disney Channel behaved more honestly on a test than persons primed with logos of the E! Channel. These findings appear to be due to the Apple brand's associations with (he goal oriented schema of “being creative” and the Disney Channel’s association with “being honest,” respectively. MAKING SENSE OF BRANDS Many of the points discussed in this chapter are relevant to the process by which people come to assign meaning to brands. Brand image is traditionally conceptualized as an enduring or long-lasting perception of a brand, or mental image that reflects how a brand is perceived. In their seminal Harvard Business Review paper, Burleigh Gardner and Sidney Levy (1955) emphasized that brand image is based on much more than a product's objective qualities or characteristics, but also on the brand’s psychological, social, and symbolic dimensions of meaning. Importantly, they posited three essential points about brand image: (1) that brand image is largely a subjective phenomenon, (2) that brand image is not inherent in the product, and (3) that the perception of reality is more important than the reality itself. As an example, think about what the brand Bic means to you. Chances are that when you consider the iconic French product line, the primary meanings that come to mind are “convenient,” “inexpensive,” and “disposable”—-meanings that have been associated with Bic since the company’s launch of low-cost, non-refillable, plastic ballpoint pens in the late 1950s, and followed over the years by disposable cigarette lighters, disposable razors, and expensive office supplies (magnets, sticky notes, mouse pads, etc.), Yet, from 1988 to 1991, Bic attempted to extend its primary brand meaning to the perfume market in the US, Europe, and some African and Middle Eastern countries. ‘The four inexpensive perfumes (two for men and two for women) came in small glass spray bottles that looked like cigarette lighters, and the promotional campaign (‘Paris in your pocket”) featured stylish people using the perfumes. The quality of the scents notwithstanding, the perfumes failed because the longterm meaning of the Bic brand, which suggested detached and impersonal utilitarianism, did not transfer to the more personal and intimate perfume category. The company suffered @ similar failure when it launched a line of Bic’s women’s underwear, featuring a line of disposable pantyhose. Although the disposable element was obvious, the inks with Bic’s other products were not, and like the perfumes, the idea of buying an intimate product such a6 underwear did not correspond with the prevailing brand meaning. The lesson learned in the Bic case is succinctly summarized by a basic theme in Gardner and Levy’s early paper. People buy things not only for what they can do, but also for what they mean, This idea especially resonates in more contemporary views of what a brand 1s, For example, Neumeser (2006, pp. 2 3) rejected the views holding that a brand is a logo, a Corporate identity system, of a product: So what exactly is a brand? A brand 1s @ person’s gut feeling about a product, service, Or company. It’s a gut feeling because we're all emotional, intuitive beings, despite our best efforts to be rational. It’s a person’ gut feeling, because in the end the brand is defined by individuals, not by companies, markets, or the so-called general public. Each person creates his or her own version of 1. While companies can’t control this process, They can influence it by communicating the qualities that make this produlll MUL than that product. When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. In other words, a brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is. Of course, what consumers say a brand is, or the meanings they associate with it, ig strongly influenced by the sensory stimuli they encounter as they interact with the brand, Neumeier acknowledges this point when he points out that companies can communicate qualities in an effort to shape consumer perceptions, and the more brands can leverage multiple sensory touch points (smell, touch, sight, etc.), the stronger and more vivid a brand meaning becomes for the consumer. Dove soap’s pure whiteness conveys purity and its oval shape triggers positive associations regarding touch (such as creamy and soft), and these associations in no small way reinforce Dove’s positioning as a moisturizing beauty bar (Batey, 2008). CONCLUSIÓN The relevance of perception to each of the elements of the marketing mix cannot be understated. Perceptual processes influence a multitude of customer responses to marketing efforts, from the attention-getting properties of product packaging and advertising to product design and brand meaning. Both marketers and consumers must be attentive to perceptual principles because of the central importance of subjective experience or personal construction of objective reality that determines reactions to marketing phenomena. Although sensory stimuli can facilitate the processing of marketing information, thereby making it easier to navigate the growing complexities of the contemporary marketplace, they also can bias and mislead us in the impressions we ultimately form and the ways we make sense of the world, &@ contradiction that is likely to continue to entice further research for years to come. As Peck and Childers (2008, p. 215) deduced, “If it tastes, smells, sounds, and feels like a duck, then it must be a... duck—perhaps.”