Class Recap

Over the course, I understood better how consumers react, why certain types of ads are more attractive than other ones, what makes consumer buy some products, how by having so many choices sometimes we are better off, and how we can;t escape the market. The class made me realize what type of consumer I am, and how I can improve my consumer decisions to be better off. It also make me thing about the different marketing strategies and consumer behaviors in the US, compare to the ones in Mexico.

I really liked the books that we had to read. My favorite one was Predictably Irrational. I learned great things from all the three books, but I really liked the experiments and findings from that one. The in-class writing was good to review what we learned from the readings and the articles.I learned and understood better the subcultures, consumer rituals, brand personality, value-expressive influence, social marketing, gender differences in socialization, and many other topics from the articles and the chapters in the book.

I learned how to create a blog and make a habit of publish constant posts.This is good to improve your writing, understand, and discuss better a topic that is interesting to you. 

In overall, it has been one of my favorites courses at MSU. The class was really fun and interesting. It made me think and analyze my own consumer behavior.

The "big three" American ethnic subcultures

Ethnic subculture is a self-perpetuating group of consumers who share a common cultural or genetic ties, where both its members and others recognize it as a distinct category. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans are the three most important ethnic/racial subcultures in the United States 

Hispanics live in large, traditional, married-with-children families with lots of participation from grandparents. They’re moving to the suburbs, tend to be community oriented, and have high aspirations for their children’s.  By doing all this, they tried to create identity for themselves. These are different from the mainstream culture since families are closer and have a bigger impact on decisions. Especially the grandparents play a bigger role. Key issues to reach the Hispanic market are consumers’ degree of acculturation into mainstream American society and the recognition of important cultural differences among Hispanic subgroups.  

African Americans comprise a significant racial subculture. The differences we do observe more likely are the result of differences in income, the relatively high concentration in African Americans, but these differences continue to diminish as African Americans move up the economic ladder. There are clearly some differences between blacks and whites in consumption priorities and market place behaviors that demand marketers’ attention. Companies tried to target African Americans different from the mainstream. One example is Procter & Gamble program “My Black is Beautiful” for African Americans after the company found after doing some research that these women think mainstream media does not represent them very well. There are several different companies that launch different campaigns to attract African Americans to their market and to set them apart of the mainstream.

Asian Americans are known from being the most affluent, best-educated, and most likely to hold technology jobs of any ethnic subculture. All this are non-consumption things that set them apart from the mainstream and express their values and lifestyles. Asian Americans are known for trying hard in school and always be updated with new technologies. Asian Americans are much more likely than average Americans (mainstream) to buy high-tech gadgets. This consumption characteristic help them express their lifestyles. Also, not only are Asian consumers the most frequent shoppers of all racial and ethnic groups, but they are also the most brand-conscious.  Almost 43% of them say they always look for a brand name when they shop (Solomon pg. 494). Also Asians are more concerned about keeping their appearances. More than a 26% say they buy what they think their neighbors would approve of. This is higher than any other subculture or the mainstream culture. 

Rituals at MSU

Many of our consumption activities-including holiday observances, grooming, and gift giving-are rituals. A ritual is a set o multiple, symbolic behaviors that occurs in a fixed sequence and is repeated periodically. Some Universities developed rituals over the years. I want to share with you some rituals at Montana State University.

The undie run is when students show their Bobcat pride by peeling down to their blue and gold bloomers to run a spirited lap around campus.

Another ritual is the Catapalooza which is a three day festival on Centennial Mall, the main walkway through campus, to welcome new and returning students to campus.

Hiking the"M" is one of the old rituals. The "M" has long been a symbol not only of Montana State University, but of the Bozeman community. The "M" is loved and cared for by the students, faculty, and staff of Montana State University.

Bobcat Fest is a celebration of graduating seniors on Main Street each April that features a live band, free food, and other giveaways.

  

Blue & Gold Fridays are just that. Every Friday, everyone wears Blue and Gold gear to show their school pride. Go CATS!

And last but not least, one of the most exciting rituals at MSU. Cat/Griz is one of the longest standing football rivalries in the country. Each November, the Cats go head to head with the Grizzlies of UM.

There are several more rituals at MSU, But this ones are the biggest ones that occur every year.

Gen Y

Gen Yers were born between 1984 and 2002. They already make up nearly one-third of the U.S population, and they spend $170 billion a year of their own and their parents' money. Members of generation Y value being both footloose and connected to their "peeps" 24/7. Gen Yers tend to hold relatively traditional values and they prefer to fit in rather than rebel.

Millennials are hopeful about the future; almost all of them agree that it's important to maintain a positive outlook on life. President Obama campaign in 2008 tried to reach to the millennials by associations with the word change, new, progress, hope, and excitement.

Brand Personality

Brand personality is the set of traits of people attribute to a product as if it were a person, Brand personality changes over time. If you look at the top five most stylish brands in 1990's compare to what consumers now a days consider the top five stylish brands they are completely different ones. Forging a successful brand personality often is key to building brand loyalty.

Brand personality is a statement about the brand market position. Volvo faces a problem where the consumers don't see the brand they way it makers intend them to and they must attempt to reposition the product. The problem of the swedish manufacture is that their consumers associate their cars with safety, but the drivers don't see them as a sexy or exciting car. This makes hard to sell a sports car, and limiteds your potential customers. Volvo has been trying to change his image for years, but it hasn't been working so far.

Volvo keeps trying to change its image into a sexy brand. Volvo call it's new model the Naughty S60, and to launch the car in Europe, the company hosted underground parties in London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, and filmed a series of experiments. More than 3000 people were secretly filmed and measure guests' naughtiness, conformity, daring, confidence, curiosity and desire.

Not your typical beer ad

Beer commercials in general are comedic and appeal to our more immature nature. Typically, these are targeting a younger audience or the younger man that hides inside our not-as-young-as-we-used-to-be body. 

This ad from Guinness appeals to our emotions and to a deep-seated desire that most people have to be a better person. Most of all, it appeals to everyone in their target. 

I liked how the ad try to show something different, trying to address the emotion of a purchase or choice. Emotions play a big role when we make consumer purchases. They don't show the usual part that beer drinking is about chasing girls and party. They are showing the consumer how beer is a different part of their lives. 

Their brand is that Guinness is “made of more.” Their message is that people who drink Guinness are made of more. For most people, being “more” is what they want to be. Because when it comes down to it, who doesn’t want to be like the group of able-bodied guys that drink Guinness after their basketball scrimmage in wheel chairs, so they can include their friend who is confined to the chair?  Subconsciously, people will choose the beer so they too can be made of more. 

Value-Expressive Influence

Other people and groups often influence our decisions about what to buy. We seek out others who share our interests in products or services. Value-expressive influence is a form of reference group. A reference group is an actual or imaginary individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individuals evaluations, aspirations, or behavior.

Value-expressive influence include individuals that feel that the purchase or use of a particular brand will enhance the image others have of him or her. The individual feels that those who purchase or use a particular brand possess the characteristics that he or she would to have.

All this ads show more about the lifestyles you can have if you buy those products. What kind of people consume those products. What can you become if you wear that, consume that, drink that, etc. These brands are have a high value-expressive influence.

Materialism

Our possessions play an important role in our lives, and the desire that we have to accumulate them changes our values. Materialism refers to the importance people attach to worldly possessions. Most of the people are materialistic in a certain way. Many of us certainly work hard to attain our vision of the good life, which involves materialistic object that most of the times we really don't need them but it makes you feel good to have them.

Materialists are more likely to value professions for their status and appearance-related meanings, whereas those who do not emphasize this value tend to prize products that connect them to other people or that provide them with pleasure when they use them. High materialists prefer expensive products that they publicly consume. As the BMW ad that shows the luxury sport car covering the girl face.

Social Marketing

Consumer behavior can play an important role in improving our lives as consumers and helping us make better decisions. Social marketing try to encourage positive behaviors such as increased literacy and to discourage negative activities such as drunk driving. Social marketing theory and practice has been progressed in several countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and in the latter a number of key government policy papers have adopted a strategic social marketing approach.

We are engaging every time more in risky consumption behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and gambling. With social marketing, marketers can help reduce this behaviors and make us more conscious about the decisions that we make.

Audi vs BMW Billboard War

It all started from Audi featuring a billboard with the tag line "Your move, BMW." That's how Audi decided to promote its new A4 sedan in Santa Monica, California. A BMW dealership in Santa Monica decided to respond with buying a billboard close to it and showing their M3 car with the tag line "Checkmate"

After BMW response, it seems that Audi wasn't to happy about it. Audi decided to continue this billboard war by posting another billboard right nest to the "checkmate" featuring its luxury car R8 with the line, "Your pawn is no match for our king." 

The Bavarian company decided to respond to Audi's second billboard by bringing a zeppelin and flew it over the Audi tethered it to the R8 board and with an F1 car procalimed, "Game Over." And that was the end. The billboard war was over. Both manufacturers had a fair go at it and they both said that they succeeded, and not only in sales. It was on the internet entertainment for months, and they successfully achieved earned media.     

The Self and Body Image Distortions

Some people exaggerate between their self-esteem and their appearance in such a way that they sacrifice their health and distort their bodies to achieve what they consider is a desirable body image.

The media and advertising have a big role in sending messages to the society of the ideal of beauty for men and women. Women in particular tend more to pick up the messages from the media that their body reflects their self-worth.

The most common distorted body image is cause from eating disorders, which prevalent among young woman. Anorexia and bulimia are the two most common eating disorders.

Also like woman, media images and ads encourage men to attain a certain physique. That's the reason a lot of guys tend to use steroids. The media tries to set an image of men being physical strong. Recently, theres been several scandals in the athlete media of athletes using steroids. Certainly athletes are not immune to this pressure.

Gender Differences in Socialization

I feel like many commercials provide gender socialization for male and female. They try to show the way that how men and women should look or act. That is the reason they are different marketing strategies for different countries. Advertising is constantly showing how you should act, how you should look, and who you can be if you posses that product. You constantly see ads about luxury cars like Mercedes showing how your life could change or who you can become if you buy that car. These types of car ads are usually target to men.

There is also a lot of sex-typed products out there. This means there are products that consumers associate them with one gender or another.

I want to share this ad from Heineken that shows the differences or priorities between what men and women supposedly want.

1984 Apple Ad

After reading Steve Jobs biography written by Walter Isaacson this summer, in one of the chapters they talk about this ad and how it need it to be perfect to grab the consumers attention presenting the Apple Macintosh personal computer. 

This ad is consider one of the most memorable, and successful ad in American television commercials. 
The interesting part of this ad was that Apple was trying to show a meaning of saving humanity from conformity. They were trying to show the fight for computer technology. 

Big brother in the screen is intended to represent IBM, which in that time, they pretty much had industry control. This is what Steve said before the commercial: "It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers initially welcoming IBM with open arms now fear an IBM dominated and controlled future. They are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom. IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control"

He was right about how 1984 won't be like 1984.