MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Consumer Behaviour
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Thursday, January 8, 2015: Week 1
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The behaviour that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy
their needs.
Learning Objectives
 1.1 To understand the evolution of the marketing concept, the most prominent
tools used to implement marketing strategies, the relationship between value and
customer retention, and the objectives of socially responsible marketing.
 1.2 To understand how the Internet and related technologies improve marketing
transactions by adding value that benefits both marketers and customers.
 1.3 To understand the interrelationships among customer value, satisfaction, and
retention, and technology’s revolutionary role in designing effective retention
measures and strategies.
 1.4 To understand consumer behavior as an interdisciplinary area, consumer
decision-making, and the structure of this book.
Why Ads are Successful?
 Because they implemented marketing strategy that answers the needs of their
consumers.
-Engaged with target group (promotions, s. media, ads)
-Understand the emotional response of consumers and how that translates
to buying
 Example: With Tim Hortons Ad
-Link to most popular Canadian sport/hero
-Pride of our nationality
-Multiple media (internet, TV ads, radio ads, social media public relations through
community involvement, accessibility of locations)
How does technology affect the Marketing Mix?
 Interactive and novel communication channels
 Customizing products and promotional messages
 Better prices and distribution
Information Processing
 How consumers interact with the information they are exposed to everyday
 How that information gets saved in memory
 How that information gets retrieved and used in the future to make decisions
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
TH – Information Processing
 Nothing would work without a product consistent with the target group’s needs
 Incoming messages are salient, meaningful and relevant to the target group and
emotionally charged; get through the sensory register
 Messages are available in multiple media (more likely to get through the sensory
register; more likely to be processing in short-term memory)
 Messages make you think: more likely to be processed long enough in short-term
memory to get passed on to long-term memory
 Multiple memory traces to information in long-term memory; durable traces b/o
repetition; more likely to be remembered
 This is the goal of any marketer

Tuesday, January 13, 2015: Week 2
Marketing Concept
 The essence of marketing consists of satisfying consumers’ needs, creating value,
and retaining customers.
 Assumes that to be successful, a company must determine the needs and wants of
specific target markets and deliver the desired satisfactions better than the
competition
 Marketing objectives:
-Profits through customer satisfaction
Example:
How does Classico’s ad relate to the marketing concept?
-Classico’s pasta sauce presumably contains the same ingredients that consumers use
when they make their own sauce. The product fulfills consumers’ needs. Marketingoriented companies do not try to persuade consumers to buy what the firm has already
produced, but rather to produce only products that they know they can sell, thereby
satisfying consumers’ needs and turning them into loyal customers.
Development of the Marketing Concept
Production Concept  Product Concept  Selling Concept Marketing Concept
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Marketing Concept Requirements
 Consumer Research
 Market segmentation, targeting and positioning
 The marketing mix (4 Ps)
-Product or service
-Price
-Place
-Promotion
Socially Responsible Marketing
-The societal marketing concept requires marketers to fulfill the needs of the target
audience in ways that improve, preserve, and enhance society’s well-being while
simultaneously meeting their business objectives. Not all companies focus on society,
but some companies believe socially responsible marketing is a part of organizational
effectiveness. Further, not-for-profit advocacy organizations like PETA (People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals) are driven by a mission to encourage actions that are
ethically and morally right. The ad features a celebrity and urges us to “share the world”
with animals to protect and improve the natural environment.
 All companies prosper when society prospers
 Companies, as well as individuals, would be better off if social responsibility was
an integral component of every marketing decision
 Requires all marketers adhere to principles of social responsibility
Successful Relationships
 Customer value
 High level of customer satisfaction
 Customer retention
Customer Value
 Defined as the ratio between the customer’s perceived benefits and the resources
used to obtain those benefits
 Perceived value is relative and subjective
 Developing a value proposition
Customer Satisfaction
 The individual’s perception of the performance of the product or service in
relation to his or her expectations
 Customer groups based on loyalty include loyalists, apostles, defectors, terrorists,
hostages, and mercenaries
Customer Retention
 The objective of providing value is to retain highly satisfied customers
 Loyal customers are key
-They buy more products
-They are less price sensitive
-Servicing them is cheaper
-They spread positive word of mouth
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
 Segmentation: process of dividing the market into subsets of consumers with
common needs or characteristics
 Targeting: selecting one or more of the segments to pursue
 Positioning: developing a distinct image for the product in the mind of the
consumer
 Positioning strategy can be determined on a number of different bases
Successful Positioning
 We’re the one that…
 Communicating the benefits of the product, rather than its features
 Communicating a Unique Selling Proposition for the product
Communication Strategy
 Advertising objective
 Target
 Benefit/Promise (strength/gender)
 Support (Reason to believe it)
 Tone/ Brand character
Example: Secret Deodorant
-Advertising objective: Increase marketing by 2%
-Target: Women (athletic or on the go)
-Benefit/Promise: Strength and gender (women)
-Support: pH balance
-Tone/Brand Character: dependent
Motivation Process
Types of Needs
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Innate Needs
-Physiological (or biogenic) needs that are considered primary needs or motives
(thirst, hunger, shelter).Need a home
Acquired Needs
-Generally psychological needs that are considered secondary needs or motives
(self-esteem, affection, learning, prestige). Kind of home we buy (to entertain, for
shelter, to satisfy ego)
Types of Motives
 Latent Motives
-Motives that the consumer is unaware of or unwilling to recognize
-Harder to identify
-Require projective techniques to identify
 Manifest Motives
-Motives that the consumer is aware of and willing to express
 Rational Motives
-Goals chosen according to objective criteria (e.g., price, provides greatest utility)
 Emotional Motives
-Goals chosen according to personal or subjective criteria (e.g., desire for social
status, fear-based, pride-based, affection-based)
Motivation
 The driving force within individuals that impels them to action
-Produced by a state of tension due to an unfulfilled need
-Course of action is selected based on thinking process and previous
learning
-Leads to conscious/subconscious attempts to reduce the tension
Theories of Motivation
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes

Thursday, January 15, 2015: Week 2
Trio of Needs – McClelland
 Power
 Affiliation
 Achievement
Laddering
 Consumer research uses laddering to elicit consumers’ preferences towards
certain products or services
 Consumers’ preferences are categorized into three dimensions:
-Attributes of a product/service
-Consequences
-Values
 Product: decaffeinated coffee
 The consumer is asked to identify the product’s attributes
 On the basis of the attributes, you start probing: “Why is that important to you?”
 E.g.:
-Look at myself (v)
-Better for me (v)
-Healthier (c)
-Sleep better (c)
-Not jittery (c)
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
-Refreshing (A)
-Caffeine free (A)
Motivational Research
 Qualitative research designed to uncover consumers’ subconscious or hidden
motivations. Consumers are not always aware of, or may not wish to recognize,
the basic reasons underlying their actions.
 Projective Techniques: are indirect and unstructured methods of investigation
which have been developed by psychologists and use projection of respondents
for inferring about underline motives, urges or intentions which cannot be
obtained through direct questioning as the respondent either resists to reveal them
or is unable to figure out himself. These techniques are useful in giving
respondents opportunities to express their attitudes without personal
embarrassment. These techniques help the respondents to project their own
attitude and feelings unconsciously on the topic under study. Thus Projective
Techniques play an important role in motivational research or in attitude surveys.
 Example:Word Association Test: An individual is given a clue or hint and asked
to respond to the first thing that comes to mind. The clue can take the shape of a
picture or a word. There can be many interpretations of the same thing. A list of
words is given and you don’t know in which word the researcher is most
interested. The interviewer records the responses, which reveal the inner feeling
of the respondents. The frequency with which any word is given a response and
the amount of time that elapses before the response is given are important for the
researcher.
 For e.g.: Out of 50 respondents 20 people associate the word “ Fair” with
“Complexion”.
The Measurement of Motives
 Self reports
 Qualitative research
 Motivational research
Motivational and Marketing Strategy
 Identify the needs and goals of the target market
-Identify both latent and manifest motives
 Use knowledge of needs to segment the market and to position the product
 Use knowledge of needs to develop promotional strategies
 Reduce motivational conflict
Consumer Involvement
 The level of personal relevance that a consumer sees in a product
 Enduring Involvement: long-lasting involvement that arises out of a sense of high
personal relevance
 Situational involvement: short-term involvement in a product of low personal
relevance
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Cognitive Involvement: rational level involvement in products that are considered
to be major purchases
Affective Involvement: emotional level involvement in products

Tuesday, January 20, 2015: Week 3
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Factors Leading to High Involvement
 Level of perceived risk (social, financial or physical)
 Level of personal interest in product category
 Probability of making a mistake or buying the wrong product
 Number and similarity of competitive brands available
Involvement and Marketing Strategy
 Central processing preferable (high involvement)
-Process message arguments
-Attitudes more enduring
 Peripheral processing (low involvement)
-Use heuristics based on peripheral cues
-Attitudes less enduring
 ELM model
 Choose media according to level of involvement
-Print media for high involvement
-Television for low involvement
 Choose messages according to level of involvement
 Find ways to raise level of involvement
Personality
 The inner psychological characteristics (the specific qualities, attributes, traits,
factors, and mannerisms that distinguish one individual from other individuals)
that both determine and reflect how we think and act
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
 Thursday, January 22, 2015: Week 3
Presentation

Tuesday, January 27,2015: Week 4
Perception
 The process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture of the world
 How we see the world around us
-Negative Confirmation: It starts with expectation. This determines satisfaction and
dissatisfaction
Information Processing – “Boxes in the head”’ framework
-Marketers try to grasp the attention of the ‘watcher’ for at least 20 seconds
-E.g. Numbers are only 7 numbers generally for a reason because 7 is the average
number individuals are likely to remember
Sensation
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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The immediate and direct response of the sensory organs to stimuli (units of input
to the senses, as captured by the sensory receptors).
Sensory receptors: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin (sight, sounds, smell, taste, touch)
E.g. The Tim Horton’s inside the Stone Road Mall, Guelph is overpowered by the
smell from Lush right across the walkway.
Absolute Threshold: Lowest level at which an individual can experience a
sensation
Differential Threshold or J.N.D.: The minimal difference that can be detected
between two similar stimuli
Weber’s Law
 The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for the
second stimulus to be perceived as different
Marketing Application
 How to break through the absolute sensory threshold to gain attention
 Personal Relevance: resonate with your target consumer; engage consumer
 Message Characteristics: celebrity endorsers, length, contrast, simplicity, music,
colour, humour, unexpectedness
 Message Placement: take the message to the consumer
Ambush Marketing
 Placing ads in places where consumers do not expect to see them and cannot
readily avoid them
Experiential Marketing
 Allows customers to engage and interact with offerings in sensory ways in order
to create emotional bonds between consumers and marketing offerings
Subliminal Perception
 Perception of very weak or rapid stimuli received below the level of conscious
awareness
 A limen or liminal point is a threshold of a physiological or psychological
response
Is Subliminal Persuasion Effective?
 Extensive research has shown no evidence that subliminal advertising can cause
behaviour changes
 Some evidence that subliminal stimuli may influence affective reactions
3 Aspects of Perception
 Selection
 Organization
 Interpretation
Selective Perception
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Selection: Conscious and unconscious screening of stimuli
-Depends on three major factors: Consumer’s previous experience,
consumer’s motives, and natured of the stimulus
Concepts Concerning Selective Perception:
-Selective exposure
-Selective attention
-Perceptual defense
-Perceptual blocking
Selective Exposure: Consumers actively choose stimuli that they want to see
Selective Attention: Consumers decide how much attention they pay to stimulus
Perceptual Defense: Consumers screen out psychologically threatening stimuli
Perceptual Blocking: ‘tuning out’ of stimuli
Principles of Perceptual Organization
 Figure and Ground: Definition of figure depends on the background
 Grouping: Information is organized into chunks
 Closure: Incomplete stimuli create tension
Perceptual Interpretation – Potential Distortions
 Physical appearances
 Stereotypes
 First impressions
 Jumping to conclusions
 Halo effect
Perception and Marketing Strategy
 Make perceptual selection work in your favour
-Increase accidental exposure
-Use the J.N.D.
-Draw attention to your ad using contrast and other principles
Find creative ways to reduce blocking
Perceived Risk During Perception
 The degree of uncertainty perceived by the consumer as to the consequences
(outcomes) of a specific purchase decision
 High-risk perceivers are narrow categories
-Limit their choices to safe alternatives (e.g. investments)
 Low-risk perceivers are broad categorizers
-Wide range of alternatives preferred
 In which situations might a consumer make a decision that involves risk?
-High-ticket items (hockey, cars, homes)
-Consequences of making an incorrect decisions is high (medication,
hockey program for children, nursing home for parents, golf course
membership, university to attend)
-Financial of health well being may be involved
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
How Consumers Handle Risk
 Seek information
 Stay brand loyal
 Select by brand image
 Rely on store image
 Buy the most expensive model
 Seek reassurance (w-o-m word of mouth; guarantees, warranties)

Thursday, January 29, 2015: Week 4
 Short-Term Memory Encoding
Goal: Elaboration/Processing Encoding Stage
 Repetition (rote learning)
 Thinking: elaborating, relating to the self
 Comparing: e.g. to info in memory
 Evaluating: integrating information
 Choosing: relying on an integrated evaluation or matching benefits to needs
 Reasoning: forming new connections
 Long-Term Memory Encoding
Goal: Remembering (recall)
 Retention: Information is stored in long-term memory
 Enhance retrieval
 Strengthen links
 Induce storage in clusters
 Avoid interference (fan effect)
 Use retrieval cues where possible
Cognitive Learning and Marketing Strategy
 Use rote learning to teach consumers about the brand
 Use knowledge of information processing to help consumers store, retain and
retrieve messages.
Learning Processes
 Intentional: Learning acquired as a result of a careful search for information
(Explicit)
 Incidental: learning acquired by accident or without much effort (Implicit)
Implicit Memory
 Previous experiences aid in the performance of a task without conscious
awareness of these previous
 Can involve priming – refers to a finding in which exposure to a stimulus at time
1 influences responding to a related stimulus at time 2
Implicit Memory – Research
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Priming task (word frequency count) – yes or no
Exposure to ‘text ad’ (intentional versus incidental exposure)
Study 1: recall task (explicit)
Study 2: word stem completion, ad slogan generation
Conclusions of Implicit Processing
 Provides facilitation on a later task
 That task could be brand choice
 Marketers should measure implicit memory

Thursday, February 12, 2015: Week 6
Case Studies
1. Statement of Problem– 5%
2. Analysis (SWOT)– 30%
3. Alternative strategies – 20%
4. Recommendation – 15%
5. Assessment on our theories used in case study– 30%
-Not all information is useful
-Can search for additional information, not required but it will need to be referenced
-No limitation on the number of appendixes
-Focus on the information but shift it, you’re making a contribution not just regurgitating
-Theoretical pros and cons would be nice in the analysis
-Recommendation should not be something that is first appearing in your text should be
an analysis already
-Should be implementation and why
Cunard Line LTD
-Get people onto the boat
-Somehow summarize how important the advertising has been, maybe from information
processing standpoint it would be productive as an appendix
-Positioning: We are the ones that luxurious, high quality and tradition cruises and have
been doing it for 150 years
-Analysis in the time period that the report was created
-Queen Elizabeth 2 is their most prestigious
-Instead of dollars off they are adding value
Midterm

Tuesday, February 24, 2105: Week 7
Chapter 8: Consumer Attitude Formation and Change

A learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable
manner with respect to a given object
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes

A positive attitude is generally a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for
purchase
-Mercedes seen as ‘top of class’ but intention to purchase is low
Characteristics of Attitudes
 Attitudes are associated with an “object”
 Attitudes are learned
-Can ‘unlearn’, but difficult
 Attitudes have behavioural evaluative and affective components
-Predisposition to act
-Overall evaluation
-Positive or negative feelings
 Attitudes have temporal consistency
 Attitudes have direction, degree, strength, and centrality
-Positive or negative
-Extent/degree of positive or negative feelings
-Strength of feelings (conviction)
Closeness to core cultural values
 Attitudes occur within a situation
Four Basic Functions of Attitudes
 The Utilitarian Function
-How well it performs
 The Ego-defensive Function
-To protect one’s self-concept (defend against internal and external threats
 The Value-expressive Function
-To convey one’s values and lifestyles
 The knowledge Function
-A way to gain knowledge
How are attitudes learned?
 Classical conditioning: through past associations
 Operant conditioning: through trial and reinforcement
 Cognitive learning: through information processing
Attitude Models
 Structural Models of Attitudes
-Tri-component Attitude Model
-Multi-attribute Attitude Model
-Both assume a rational model of human behaviour
 Other models of attitude formation
-Cognitive dissonance model
-Attribution theory
The Tri-component Model
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Cognitive Component: knowledge and perceptions acquired. Through direct
experience and information from various sources
Affective Component: Emotions and feelings about the object
Conative or Behavioural Component: Action tendencies toward the object
A simple Representation of the Tri-component Attitude Model
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Cognitive: The knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of
direct experience with the attitude object and related information from various
sources
Affective: A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand
Conative: The likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific
action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object
Multi-attribute Attitude Model
 Attitude models that examine the composition of consumer attitudes in terms of
selected product attributes or beliefs
-Attitude-toward-object Model
-Theory-of-Reasoned-Action Model
Attitude-toward-object Model
 Attitude is function of evaluation of product-specific beliefs and evaluations
Ao = ∑neibi
i=1
Where:
Ao = Attitude towards the object o
ei = importance of attribute i
bi = belief that brand has a certain level of attribute i
Theory of Reasoned Action
 A comprehensive theory of the interrelationship among attitudes, intentions, and
behaviour
 Incorporates normative beliefs
 Specific to a situation
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
A Simplified Version of the Theory of Reasoned Action
Ao = ∑neibi+ ∑nNBjMCi
i = 1, and j = 1
Where:
Ao = Attitude towards the object o
ei = importance of attribute i
bi = belief that brand has a certain level of attribute i
NBj = normative belief or a referent j
MCj= motivation to comply with person j
 Example: Choice of destination for reading week
Answer:
 Ao= Please rate how likely it is you will go skiing in Aspen for reading week (17 scale, “very unlikely” / “very likely”)
-Please rate the extent to which you think you will purchase Tide laundry
detergent with you going shopping later today.
 bi = Please rate the extent to which you think you would get a lot of exercise if
you went skiing in Aspen (1-7 scale, “very unlikely” / “very likely”)
-Please rate the extent to which you feel Tide will get your clothes clean
 ei = How important is it to your choice of destination for reading week that you
get a lot of exercise (-3 to +3 scale, “not at all important”/ “extremely important”)
-How important is it to your choice of laundry detergent that it gets clothes
clean
 NBjMy friend thinks I (1-7 scale, “should not/should”) go to Aspen for reading
week.
-My mother thinks I should not/should buy Tide laundry detergent
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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MCj Generally speaking, how much do you want to do what your friend thinks
you should do? (-3 to +3 scale, “not at all”/ “very much”.
How Can We Try to Change Attitudes?
 Add a belief (if positively evaluated)
 Highlight the importance of a belief
 Increase the strength of a belief
 Target normative beliefs
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 Behaviour precedes attitude change
 Discomfort or dissonance occurs when a consumer holds conflicting thoughts
about a belief or an attitude object
 Post-purchase Dissonance: Cognitive dissonance that occurs after a consumer has
made a purchase commitment
Attribution Theory
 Examines how people assign casualty to events and form or alter their attitudes as
an outcome of assessing their own or other people’s behaviour
 Examples:
-Self-perception theory
-Attribution toward others
Self-Perception Theory
 Attitudes developed by reflecting on their own behaviour
 Judgments about own behaviour
 Internal and external attributions
 Consumers are likely to accept credit for successful outcomes (internal
attribution) and to blame other persons or products for failure (external
attribution)
 Foot-In-The-Door Technique: consumer compliance with a minor request affects
subsequent compliance on a larger request. Consists of getting people to agree to
large requests after convincing them to agree to a small and modest request first.
The rationale behind this method is that agreeing to a small request creates a bond
between the requester and the requestee.
 Door-in-the-Face Technique: large request is turned down so follow it with
smaller one
Attitude-Toward-the-Ad Model
 A model that proposes that a consumer forms various feelings (affects) and
judgments (cognitions) as the result of exposure to an advertisement, which, in
turn, affect the consumer’s attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Attitudes and Marketing Strategy
 Appeal to motivational functions of attitudes
 Associate product with a special cause or event (CIBC run for the cure)
 Influence consumer attributions
 Alter components of the attitudes
-Change relative evaluation of attributes
-Change brand beliefs
-Add an attribute
-Target normative beliefs
 Change beliefs about competitor’s brands
 Self-perception attribution:reflects the way people see themselves in the
causalities they form about prior behaviors and the attitudes they develop
thereafter.
Defensive Attribution: People generally accept (or take) credit for success (internal
attribution), but assign failure to others or outside events (external attribution)

Thursday, February 26, 2015: Week 7
Chapter 12: Subcultures and Consumer Behaviour
Subculture: A distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable segment within a
larger, more complex society. A subculture has beliefs, values, and customers that set
them apart from the other members of the same society
Society’s Cultural Profile
Two Elements:
 Unique beliefs, values and customs of specific subcultures
 Central or core cultural values and customs shared by most of the population,
regardless of subcultural membership
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Generation Z
 Also known as Digital Natives or the Homeland Generation
 Highly connected
 Most are children of Generation X
 Most diverse American generation ever
 Expected to earn less than their parents
Teens and Tweens
 Fickle customers and changing lifestyles
Teens
Tweens
Aged 13-17
Aged 8-12
More independent in their behaviour
Share many traits with younger siblings
Alienated by marketers who talk down to
Families important to tweens in terms of
them
social lives
Surf the internet, cerate content
Generation Y
 Embrace technology
 Confident
 Want fast product turnover, personality relevant promotions and interactive
marketing platforms
Six Segments of Millennials
1. Hip-ennials: They believe that they can have an impact on the world and make it
better. They are aware of what’s going on globally, give to charity, and search for
information regularly. Although they read social media content, they do not
produce it.
2. Millennial Moms: They enjoy traveling, getting in shape, and treating their
“children” as they were treated (pampered). They are confident, very family
oriented, and proficient in technology. They participate in social networks online
and are very attached to their peer groups.
3. Anti-Millennials: They care mostly about their businesses and their families, in
contravention of the Millennial “norms.” They do not buy green products like
most Millennials do. They seek comfort instead of change, whereas most
Millennials embrace different activities to make lifemore interesting.
4. Gadget Gurus: They are always looking for the next big gadgets, usually from
Apple, and will stand in line to get them first. They are highly egotistical, wired,
free spirited, and laid back. They often create content online and tweet
continuously. Gadget Gurus are male dominated and single because they live in
their own world.
5. Clean and Green Millennials: They take care of themselves and support others.
Social causes, ecological issues, philanthropy, and positive outlooks on life drive
them.
6. Old-School Millennials: They did not adopt many of the typical Millennial rituals,
like updating their Facebook pages during meals. They would rather meet people
in person than online or through text, and read books instead of blogs. They are
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
independent and self-directed, whereas most Millennials wants mentors and
constant feedback from their managers.
Generation X
 Spending power > $1 trillion
 Cynical; do not like to be singled out/marketed to
 Do not like labels
 Purchase prestigious and pricey brands
 Oppose insincerity
Older Consumers
 Cognitive age
-Feel age
-Look age
-Do age
-Interest age
 Chronological age categories
 New-age elderly
Marketing to Older Consumers
 Promotional appeals
-Promotes the right products
-Use the right appeals
-Focus on the future
-Use emotional appeals
 Older people and technology
Men vs. Women
Men
• Superior affects and purchase intentions as a result of ads that are comparative,
simple and attribute-oriented.
• Less loyal to local merchants than female counterparts.
Women
• Superior affects and purchase intentions as a result of ads that are verbal,
harmonious, complex and category oriented.
• Shopping motives
-Uniqueness
-Assortment seeking
-Social interaction
-Browsing
Role of Gender
 Consumer products and sex roles
 Depictions of women in media and advertising
 Working women
-Stay-at-home housewives
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
-Plan-to-work housewives
-Just-a-job working women
-Career-oriented working women

Tuesday, March 3, 2015: Week 8
Decision Making
Levels of Consumer Decision Making
Extensive Problem Solving  Limited Problem Solving  Routing Response Behaviour
Factors That Affect the Type of Decision Making Process Used
 Importance of the decisions
 Extent of previous experience
 Existence of well-established decision criteria
 Amount of information at hand about each alternative
 The number of alternatives available
Consumer Decision Making – The Process
 Need Recognition – actual vs. desired
 Pre-purchase Search – memory; act of shopping; online search; contacts
 Evaluation of alternatives
Need or Problem Recognition
 The realization that there is a difference between actual and desired states
-The higher the gap, the stronger the need (or bigger the problem)
Pre-Purchase Search
 Types of information sources
 Types of information sought
 Factors affecting extent of information search
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Types of Information Sought
 Brands or alternatives available
 Evaluative criteria to be used
-Generally, product features
 Ratings of brands on evaluative criteria
Factors that Increase the Level of Pre-purchase Search
Product Factors: Higher search when
 -It is a long-lasting or infrequently used product
 -There are frequent changes in product styling
 -Large volume is purchased
 -The price is high
 -There are many alternative brands
 There is much variation in features
Situational Factors: Higher search when”
 Experience is lower
 Previous experience was unsatisfactory
Social Acceptability: Higher search when:
 Purchase is a gift
 Product is socially visible in use
Value-Related Factors: Higher search when:
 Purchase is discretionary
 All alternatives have both positive and negative qualities
 No agreement among users exists
 Conflicting information is available
 Other considerations exist
Consumer Factors: Higher search when:
 Consumers are well educated, have higher income levels and are younger
 Consumers are low in dogmatism and low in perception of risk
 Level of involvement is high
 Shopping is seen as an enjoyable activity
Evaluation of Alternatives – Types of consumer Choice Processes
 Affecting choices (emotion-based)
-More holistic; an overall evaluation
-Based on how one feels about a purchase
 Attribute-based choices
-Have pre-determined evaluative criteria
-May require both external and internal search
-Complicated decision rules may be used
Consumer Decision Rules
 Procedures used by consumers to facilitate brand or other consumption-related
choices
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Consumer Decision Rules
 Compensatory
-Brands evaluated in terms of each relevant criteria and the best brand (or
one with the highest score) is chosen
 Non-compensatory
-Positive evaluations for not compensate for negative evaluations
 Process by brand or by attribute
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Thursday, March 5, 2015: Week 8
Non-Compensatory Consumer Decision Rules
Conjunctive Decision Rule
 Product attributes are identified
 A minimally acceptable cutoff point is established for each attribute
 Brands that fall below the cutoff point on any one attribute are eliminated further
consideration
Disjunctive Decision Rule
 Consumers identify product attributes
 Established a minimally acceptable cutoff point for each attribute
 Accept the brand that meets or exceeds the cutoff for any one attribute
Lexicographic Decision Rule
 Product attributes are identified
 Product attributes are ranked in terms of importance
 Brands are compared in terms of the attribute considered most important
 Brand that scores highest on the first attribute is chosen
 If there is a tie, the scores on the next attribute are considered (Elimination by
Aspects or EBA)
Issues in Alternative Evaluation
 Lifestyles as a Consumer Decision Strategy
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
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Incomplete information
Non-comparable alternatives
Series of decisions
Consumption Vision
-Mental picture of the consequences of using a particular product
Coping with Missing Information
 Delay decision until missing information is obtained
 Ignore missing information and use available information
 Change the decision strategy to one that better accommodates for the missing
information
 Infer the missing information
Information Search and Marketing Strategy
 Get products into consumers’ evoked set
 Limit information search if your brand is the preferred brand
 Increase information search if your alternative is not the preferred brand
 Use point-of-purchase advertising effectively
Alternative Evaluation and Marketing Strategy
 Identify decision rule used by target market and use suitable promotional
messages
 Influence the choice of evaluative criteria
 Influence the rating of your product on evaluative criteria used
Customer Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction
 Dissatisfaction occurs when there is a gap between expected and actual
performance
Outcomes of Post-purchase Evaluation
 Actual Performance Matches Expectations
-Neutral feeling
 Actual Performance Exceeds Expectations
-Positive disconfirmation of expectations
 Performance is Below Expectations
-Negative disconfirmation of expectations
Purchase, Post-purcahse Processes and Marketing Strategy
• Encourage trial
• Encourage purchase and repeat purchase
• Increase brand loyalty
• Make efforts to increase customer satisfaction and decrease dissatisfaction
• Create symbolic meanings for products
• Check if consumers make store-first or brand first decisions; market accordingly
• Develop good relationship management strategies
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
Low Effort Decision Making
 Emotional in nature
 Choice tactics
-Habit
-Brand loyalty
-Price tactic
-Normative tactic
-Affect tactic
-Variety seeking
-Performance related tactic
Levels of Consumer Decision Making
 Links to Attitude Formation and Decision Heuristics
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Tuesday, March 10, 2015: Week 9
Chapter 15: Marketing Ethics and Social Responsibility
Societal Marketing Concept: Calls upon marketers to satisfy the needs and wants of their
target markets in ways that preserve and enhance the well-being of consumers and
society as a whole, while also fulfilling the profit objectives of their organizations.
Consumer Socialization
 Consumer Socialization: if the processes by which young people acquire skills,
knowledge, and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the
marketplace.
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes

Perpetual stage (3-7 years old):during which children begin to distinguish ads
from programs, associate brand names with product categories, and understand
the basic script of consumption.
 Analytical stage (7-11 years old):during which children capture the persuasive
intent of ads, begin to process functional cues regarding products, and develop
purchase influence and negotiation strategies.
 Reflective stage (11-16 years old):when children understand advertising tactics
and appeals, become sceptical about ads, understand complex shopping scripts,
and become capable at influencing purchases.
 Discussion Question: At what point is it ethical for marketers to communicate
with children? Does it depend on other factors besides age (e.g. socioeconomic
status; product category)?
Answer:
There is a consensus that even if children understand the purpose of promotional
messages, marketers must take special care in advertising to them because of the amount
of time kids spend viewing TV and online.
Marketing to Children
 Advertising to children is of particular concern because kids tend to imitate
behaviour and are not old enough to correctly process and evaluate the
information they see. These guidelines are constantly under review and there has
been a particular concern with advertising of food to children and increases in
childhood obesity.
Packaging to Increase Consumption
 Short, wide glasses
 Clear candy jars
 Transparent sandwich wrap
 Visible, aromatic food
 Organized food presentation
 Multiple offerings
 Minimal variations in serving bowl size
 Not tracking consumption
 Large inventories
 Bundling small packages
Manipulating Products and Messages
 Context effects, JND
 Covert marketing
 Product placement, advertorials and infomercials
False or Misleading Advertising
 Puffery
 Truth-in-advertising laws
 Promotional violations in drug marketing:
MCS2600 Winter 2015 Notes
1. Unsubstantiated effectiveness claims: Representing the drug as more effective than the
evidence available suggests; representing the drug as useful in a broader scope than the
research evidence indicates.
2. Omitted risk information: Failure to reveal risks resulting from using the drug
correctly; failure to present information on side effects; stating the risks in unclear
language.
3. Unsubstantiated superiority claims: Presenting the drug as more effective or safer than
others in spite of the fact that there is no evidence supporting such a claim.
Privacy Issues
 Using Wi-Fi signals from smartphones to track consumers in stores
 Do not call list
Cause-Related Marketing: Firms contribute a portion of the revenues they receive from
selling certain products to causes that are socially desirable and supported by the
American public.
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Thursday, March 12, 2015: Week 9
Final Exam
 Chapters 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15
 Links on course link: 2015, attitudes, subcultures, decision making, and ethics
 Part a: 40 multiple choice
 Part b: 2 short answers, each with 2 parts (Each short answer with 20 marks)
 Exam out of 80 total
 What is the decision of method that takes the most effort? The theory of reason
action
Project Presentation
 Communication strategy
 What they have been following show ads
 Assessing the effectiveness of what they have been doing in a theoretical way
(information processing, enhancing retrieval, theories of motivation, what
advertiser thought the motives were, asses whether they are on track with the
motives the marketer believes)
 Attitude formation
 Decision making, what decision strategy the marketer used
 Decision strategy you need to identify
 Each competitor have a communication strategy, show their ads, interpret the
effectiveness
 Any recommendation has to be supported by a theoretical analysis
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