Proceedings of Global Business and Social Science Research Conference
11 - 13 May 2015, Grand Mirage Hotel, Bali, Indonesia, ISBN: 978-1-922069-75-7
Why Does The Hidden Menu Exist? Conceptualizing the
"Ghost Items"
Han, EunKyoung1 and Jin, ZhiLong2
We can order "Animal style burger" and "4X4 burger" which is not on the board in IN-N-OUT
BURGER. At a particular time, we can order a burger named "MC1035" in McDonald. There is
DIY(doing it yourself) menu made by consumer themselves in STARBUCKS. All of them are not
on the menu board and only ordered by a person who knows. We can call them as "Ghost items".
As a new trend marketing strategy, "Ghost items" has been mentioned frequently by experts and
practitioners. Some consumers also contact with ghost items when they consume. Somebody
feels a special feeling about the brand through "Ghost item". Despite of its importance, "Ghost
items" has been used indiscriminately without any accurate concepts or definitions.
The main purpose of this study is to conceptualize the "Ghost items" and to analyze the factors
that have a direct impact on the purchase behavior of consumers. Delphi study is used for
conceptualizing. Delphi study is usually performed to predict a future of something with expert
intuition when no other proper prediction method is found. It would be a good methodology to
gather experts opinions and judgments. And we also use projective technique method to analyze
the attitude towards the brand and brand loyalty. The projective technique method is often used
to figure out the attitudes and motivations behind the superficial emotion of the respondent. It
presents an unambiguous and incomplete stimulation to responders to identify the elements of
an attitude that cannot be obtained from direct questions. Particularly, it is effective in identifying
consumers` an unconscious attitude which is difficult to express in words. Theoretical and
managerial implications will be discussed.
Keywords: Ghost items, menu, Delphi, projective technique, secret, hidden, Marketing
strategy
1
Dr. Han, EunKyoung (Full-time Faculty), Department Journalism and Mass Communications, 25-2,
Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea. Email: bird24@skku.edu, Mobile: +82-10-3702-1226 FAX: +822-760-0930.
2
Jin, ZhiLong,( Master's & Ph. D Joint Program) Department Journalism and Mass Communications, 25-2,
Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea. Email: rlawlfyd@gmail.com, Mobile: +82-10-6275-7680 FAX:
+82-2-760-0930.