Weeks 6 Notes Consumer Behaviour PDF

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this is the learning objectives and notes relevant to this weeks content....

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Week 6: Chapter: 11 - Understand what attitudes are Attitudes can be defined as the way consumers think and feel about and act towards some aspect of their environment, referred to as the attitude object. The attitude object can be anything from actual a physical object to an issue, behaviour, person, experience or event. Attitudes are the result of all the influences an individual experiences, and in turn influence, as well as reflect, the lifestyle individuals pursue. Attitudes, therefore, are the focal point of much marketing strategy. Attitude: an enduring combination of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of our environment. It is how we think and feel about and act towards some aspect of our environment, such as a retail outlet, a tv program, or a product, or some event such as a service experience. Attitude object: anything about which an individual can have an attitude, such as a physical object, issue, behaviour, other person, experience, event and so on.

Favourability: the positive or negative evaluation of the object or event Intensity: the strength with which the consumer can hold an attitude - Has been found to impede the process of attitude change - If a consumer has great confidence that their attitude is right, the more resistant that attitude is to change, a dynamic that will have an influence on certain marketing strategies. Confidence: the degree to which the consumer believes their attitude is right

- Be aware of the main components of attitudes The understanding of attitudes and the ability to use them for marketing strategy is clearer when they are perceived as having three component parts: cognitive (beliefs), affective(feelings) and behavioural (respond tendencies). - This model is referred to as the tri-component attitude model.

The cognitive component:

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Descriptive beliefs: connects an object or person to a quality or outcome Evaluative beliefs: connects an object to personal likes and dislikes, preferences and perceptions Normative beliefs: invoke moral and ethical judgements in relation to someone's act

In Figure 11.4, the cognitive component is measured by the beliefs consumers have about Coke Zero. Naturally, lack or inaccuracy of product knowledge could hinder the development of a positive overall attitude towards Coke Zero.

The behavioural component: reflects overt actions as well as statements of behavioural intentions with respect to specific attributes of the attitude object, or the overall object itself. In general, all three components of an attitude tend to be consistent with each other, as predicted by the principle of cognitive consistency. So, if marketing managers can influence one component, the other components may also be influenced, as the individual seeks to resolve any experience of cognitive dissonance.

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Finally, the behavioural component is often measured by the strength of intention to buy on the next purchase occasion, or by past purchase behaviour.

The affective component

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The affective component relates to how consumers feel about the product. In this example, feelings about Coke Zero are expressed in terms of taste, price and caffeine, as well as in overall terms.

- Understand the strategies that can be used to change attitudes Attitude-change strategies can focus on affect, behaviour, cognition or some combination of these. - Attempts to change affect generally rely on classical conditioning. - Change strategies focusing on behaviour rely more on operant conditioning. - Changing cognition usually involves information processing and cognitive learning. Attitude change strategies: are used to induce change in consumers, or societies attitudes towards a particular product or brand, or category.

Social marketing: marketing designed to change societal attitudes in an effort to enhance public health and wellbeing. - Widely used for health campaigns, reduce alcohol, smoking and environmental/animal concerns. Focusing and changing the cognitive component: common and effective approach to changing attitudes is to focus on the cognitive component. - For example, to change attitudes towards ciggy smokers, the cancer council began by presenting information on the negative health consequences of smoking on the packaging and everywhere. - Cognitive consistency, if a belief about an issue is influenced then affect and behaviour should also change. 4 basic marketing strategies are used to alter the cognitive structure of a consumer's attitude; changing beliefs, shifting importance, adding beliefs, changing the ideal.

Changing beliefs:

Shifting important:

Adding beliefs:

Changing the ideal:

Focusing and changing the affective component: it is increasingly common for a firm to influence consumers' liking of its brand without directly influencing either beliefs or behaviours. If the firm is successful, increased liking will tend to lead to more positive beliefs, which could lead to purchase behaviours should a need for the product category arise.

Marketers use 3 basic approaches to directly influence affect Classical conditioning: one way of directly influencing the affective component is through classical conditioning, with this approach a stimulus that the audience likes, such as music, is consistently paired with the brand name. - I.e, olympic swimmer stephanie rice promoting sun rice products, usain bolt promoting gatorade - Consumers start to associate one stimulus with another brand Affects towards the advertisement: as we’ve seen previously, liking the advertisement increases the tendency for attention and individuals to absorb the information. - Positive affect towards the advertisement may increase liking for the brand through classical conditioning, or it may be a more high-involvement, conscious process. Mere exposure: Although the issue is controversial, there is evidence that affect may also be increased by mere exposure. 39 Simply repeatedly presenting a brand to an individual could make the individual’s attitude towards the brand more positive. In other words, the continued repetition of advertisements for low-involvement products may well increase liking for and subsequent purchase of the advertised brands, without altering the initial belief structure.

- Understand the effects of marketing communications on attitudes Source credibility influences attitudes. It appears to be composed of two basic dimensions: trustworthiness and expertise. Influencing attitudes is much easier when the source of the message is viewed as being highly credible by the target market. Celebrities are widely used as product or company spokespeople. They are most effective when their image matches the personality of the product and the actual or desired self concept of the target market. Fear appeals make use of the threat of negative consequences if attitudes or behaviours are not altered. They are useful in persuasive messages for certain types of products and for government campaigns targeting certain behaviour such as smoking. Although fear appeals have been studied primarily in terms of physical fear, social fears are also used in advertising. Humorous appeals can also be effective in influencing attitudes. However, the humorous message must remain focused on the brand or main

selling point in order to be effective. It is not clear yet what causes comparative advertisements to succeed or fail. They therefore require extensive pre-testing. Emotional appeals can have a strong effect on attitudes towards both the advertisement and the product. The effectiveness of one-sided versus two-sided messages depends largely on the situation and the characteristics of the target audience. Non-verbal aspects of the advertisement, such as pictures, surrealism and music, also affect attitudes. - Understand the strategic implications of attitudes for marketers Attitudes, particularly the cognitive component, are the basis for market segmentation strategies such as benefit segmentation, and for new product development strategies. Because attitudes can be enduring and difficult to change, marketers must be careful to understand consumers’ attitudes before positioning their brands....