Perception

Front 1

What's the definition of Perception according to (Mowen and Minor, 1997)?

Back 1

• Perception is the process through which individuals are exposed to stimuli, attend to those stimuli and comprehend them (Mowen and Minor, 1997).

Front 2

What's the definition of Perception according to (Solomon et al.)?

Back 2

• According to Solomon, perception is the process by which we select stimuli as light, colour and sound.
o The author is making this assertion through sensation and in a way that he refers to sensation as an immediate response of our sensory receptors to basic stimuli.

Front 3

Name 5 sensory stimuli and with examples from a marketing context:

Back 3

• Sight – use of colour to mediate mood in retail outlets (e.g. reds stimulating/arousing)
• Sound – use of music to mediate mood in retail settings (e.g. arousing/calming/etc)
• Smell – use of scratch and sniff panels on air fresheners to facilitate purchase
• Taste – addition of flavour to products to differentiate from rivals (e.g. pepsi from coke…hmmmm….)
• Touch (textures) – use of softeners in bread (to show freshness)/towels (to display higher quality)

Front 4

What is the definition of Semiotics according to Solomon?

Back 4

• It is a field of study that examines the correspondences between signs and symbols and their role in the assignment of meaning.
• E.g. ways in which underlying messages communicated by models and ads in a magazine are interpreted.

Front 5

Name and describe 3 components of messages (According to Pierce).

Back 5

• Object – focus of message (e.g. product-****, trousers perfume…)
• Sign – sensory imagery representing intended meanings (e.g. image of a bottle of perfume, actor in advertisement, sounds on a radio advertisement (examples of signs include, Icon, Index, Symbol, etc.)
• Interpretant – derived meaning (personal, subjective understanding)

Front 6

Identify 3 sign components & provide at least one example from within marketing for each: (e.g. 1= Symbol – 3-pointed star = Mercedes = Quality, exclusivity, etc. = developed through convention).

Back 6

• Remember (for adverts):
o Sign= Components of advert
o Object= product being advertised
o Interpretant = audiences
• There are many more, but components noted in Solomon et al (from Pierce’s work are:
o Icon – Michelin (Bibendum is made of tyres/ Ralph Lauren Polo (attire of the horseman logo)
o Index – Tommy Hilfiger (Links to American Values through colour association)
o Symbol – Apple’s shiny metal logo with a upwards line signifying progress and modernity
• Fashion offers particular insights into these concepts – Polo (the game) evokes higher status and more fashionable brands.
• Most fashion brands are symbols:
o Boss, GAP – emphasize text
o Versace – links to history and heritage through imagery & illustration (crests and mythology)
• Times changes the conceptualisation of signs – BMW logo may seem like a symbol, but the blue and white circle represents propeller blades in motion, so actually it was an iconic sign linked to their production of aeroplane engine.

Front 7

Select 2 different brands and consider how the issues noted above are employed within its marketing strategy:

Back 7

• E.g. Dacia v Jaguar
• Primark v Versace

Front 8

Explore the value/ usefulness of using perceptual models to explain consumer behaviour.

Back 8

Solomon’s simple model allows a useful frame for answers on the perceptual process. As a basic requirement, you should be able to demonstrate awareness of the stages of the model and be able to describe within them. The trick will be not to spend all your time describing in minute detail elements within the model. It is fairly easy (and expected) that you will have examples of sensation (sight and sound, etc)…and I would hope you look to provide novel ideas within this...perhaps more interesting to explore the usefulness of the model. For instance, are senses the only means of interpreting value within perception? Does value only exist for marketers if we believe that meaning can exist in similar forms across lots of people? If sign components can be as confusing and contradictory as noted above, how does this affect their usefulness? Should marketers even engage with techniques that require subconscious processing within individuals, what are the barriers to following this idea.

Front 9

• The issues regarding the sensory messages to interpretative processes?

Back 9

o Benetton advertisement – Black and White man handcuffed together
o People thought that the white man arrested the black man even though Benetton is known for promoting equality (maybe the same clothes? Evoking the same people?)
o Benetton tried to expose us to our own perceptual prejudice through the uncertainness of the message of the photo.
o Problem: sometimes we misinterpret the intended meaning because of our experience, culture and societal influences?

Front 10

What role does perception play in marketing? (Name one example)

Back 10

o Avoiding Clutter
• Certain periods such as Christmas where there is advertisement overload
• IBM buying 2-3 consecutive pages on the newspaper to catch attention
• Creating narratives – 1 commercial creates conflict, the consecutive than try to solve it
• Obscure places for advertising (Underground, shopping trolleys…)

Front 11

What is a "perceptual map", and why is it useful?

Back 11

▪ Perception is the process by which physical sensations such as sights, sounds and smells are selected, organized and interpreted. The eventual interpretation of a stimulus allows it to be assigned meaning. A perceptual map is a widely used marketing tool which evaluates the relative standing of competing brands along relevant dimensions.

Front 12

What are some of the "Marketing Stimuli"?

Back 12

▪ Marketing stimuli have important sensory qualities. We rely on colours, odours, sounds, tastes and even the ‘feel’ of products when forming evaluations of them.
▪ Not all sensations successfully make their way through the perceptual process. Many stimuli compete for our attention, and the majority are not noticed or comprehended.

Front 13

What are "thresholds of perception?"

Back 13

▪ People have different thresholds of perception. A stimulus must be presented at a certain level of intensity before it can be detected by sensory receptors. In addition, a consumer’s ability to detect whether two stimuli are different (the differential threshold) is an important issue in many marketing contexts, such as changing a package design, altering the size of a product or reducing its price.

Front 14

What are some of the factors that determine which stimuli we perceive?

Back 14

▪ Some of the factors that determine which stimuli (above the threshold level) do get perceived are the amount of exposure to the stimulus, how much attention it generates and how it is interpreted. In an increasingly crowded stimulus environment, advertising clutter occurs when too many marketing-related messages compete for attention.

Front 15

Is a stimulus attended to in isolation?

Back 15

▪ A stimulus that is attended to is not perceived in isolation. It is classified and organized according to principles of perceptual organization. These principles are guided by a gestalt, or overall, pattern. Specific grouping principles include closure, similarity and figure-ground relationships.

Front 16

What is the final step in the process of perception?

Back 16

▪ The final step in the process of perception is interpretation. We make sense of the world through the interpretation of signs: icons, indexes and symbols. This interpretation is often shared by others, thus forming common languages and cultures. The degree to which the symbolism is consistent with our previous experience affects the meaning we assign to related objects. Every marketing message contains a relationship between the product, the sign or symbol, and the interpretation of meaning. A semiotic analysis involves the correspondence between message elements and the meaning of signs.

Front 17

What are some of the levels that Signs functions on?

Back 17

▪ Signs function on several levels. The intended meaning may be literal (e.g. an icon like a street sign with a picture of children playing). The meaning may be indexical; it relies on shared characteristics (e.g. the horizontal stripe in a stop sign means do not pass beyond this). Finally, meaning can be conveyed by a symbol, where an image is given meaning by convention or by agreement by members of a society (e.g. stop signs are octagonal, while yield signs are triangular).