PERSONALITY
AND
LIFESTYLES
What is Personality?
Freudian Theory
Pleasure
Principle
Sexual
Symbolism
Reality
Principle
Id
 Id desires pleasures (sex)
Ego
 Superego says its socially
unacceptable
Key
Concepts
Superego
 struggle between
Id (pleasure),
Superego (reason) and
Ego (moderates between Id
and Superego)
 Ego says I’ll find a socially
acceptable way (i. e. symbolic
sex)
 so that Superego is happy
and Id can have its pleasure.
Marketing Applications
 Products symbolically satisfy consumers sexual needs --substitute the product for the real thing
 Others focus on male-oriented symbolism - the so-called
phallic symbol.
Why does advertising use sex
as an appeal to the consumer?
Because it works.
Sex is the second strongest of
the psychological appeals,
right behind self-preservation.
Sexual desire’s strength is
biological and instinctive.
For many products it is possible
to find (or invent) a sexual
connection.
 The effectiveness of sex
in advertising is gender
linked.
 Men have minimal
criteria for sexual desire
 Basically, they are
concerned with a woman's
anatomy -- as long as a
woman looks young enough
and healthy, she is
desirable.
 in advertising it is easy to
get a man's attention by
using women's bodies and
associate getting the
woman if he buys the
product.
In general, female models are
placed in sexually exploitative and
compromising positions, sexually
submissive postures, and with
sexually connotative facial
expressions.
Media definitions of sexual
attractiveness promote either
extreme thinness or a thin waist
with large hips and breasts
 The sexual connection is much easier
to set up for men than for women.
Hanes Resilience" 1996
The use of sex in advertising to
women is more difficult
Although the use of healthy, fit
men may attract their attention
and create desire, willingness to
engage in intercourse is rarely
aroused strictly because of a
man's body
For a woman, sexual desire is a
complex mixture of such factors
as money, power, prestige, etc
To sell to a woman, advertising
relies on that modern idea about
how men and women relate -romance.
Although an ad may use a
man's body as an attention
getting device, he is usually shown
in a romantic rather than sexual
context.
Motivational Research
 assumes unconscious motives influence consumer behavior
 research tries to identify these underlying unconscious forces (e.g.,
cultural factors, sociological forces).
 Marketers can therefore better understand the target audience
and how to influence that audience.
 Qualitative as opposed to quantitative
 standard marketing research survey can’t reveal these motives
 Three major techniques
1. Observation
2. Focus Groups
3. In-Depth Interviews
BRAND PERSONALITY
A relationship between a brand
and a person - the type of person
the brand represents
The Quaker Oats man is a
paternal archetype conveying
old-fashioned goodness
A trustworthy, dependable,
conservative personality might
reflect characteristics valued in a
financial advisor, a lawn service,
or even a car
5 Major Brand Personalities
Sincerity: Down-to-earth, family oriented, genuine, old-fashioned.
E.g. Hallmark, Kodak, Coke. The relationship might be similar to
one that exists with a well-liked and respected member of the family.
Excitement: Spirited, young, up-to-date, outgoing. E.g. Pepsi.
Competence: Accomplished, influential, competent. E.g. HewlettPackard, Globe & Mail. Relationship might be similar to one with a
person whom you respect for their accomplishments, such as a
teacher, minister or business leader.
Sophistication: Pretentious, wealthy, condescending: E.g. BMW,
Mercedes, or Lexus (with gold trim) as opposed to the KIA, or the
VW bug. The relationship could be similar to one with a powerful
boss or a rich relative.
Ruggedness: Athletic and outdoorsy. E.g. Nike, Head.
Two elements affect an individual's relationship with a brand.
1. relationship between the brand-as-person and the customer,
which is analogous to the relationship between two people.
2. brand personality--I.e. the type of person the brand represents.
The brand personality provides depth, feelings and liking to the
relationship..
 One important relationship for many brands is friendship.
 Characterized by trust, dependability, understanding, and
caring
 A friend is there for you, treats you with respect, is
comfortable, is someone you like, and is an enjoyable person with
whom to spend time.
Dodge Neon
Your friend
What Creates a Brand Personality?
Packaging, advertising, marketing activities
The creation and communication of a distinctive brand
personality is one way marketers can make a product stand
out from the competition
BRAND EQUITY
1. the total value of a brand as a separable
asset
2. a measure of the strength of consumers’
attachment to a brand
3. The strength of the associations and
beliefs the consumer has about the brand
How do you feel about this brand?
Respect Segment
"My job is to help you get
accepted."
"You have good taste."
Intimidated segment
"Are you ready for me, or will you spend more than you can afford?”
"If you don't like the conditions, get another card."
"I'm so well known and established that I can do what I want."
"If I were going to dinner, I would not include you in the party."
Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique -- ZMET
 technique for eliciting interconnected mental constructs that
influence thought and behavior
 method combines neurobiology, anthropology, psychoanalysis,
linguistics, and art theory
 Tries to uncover the mental models that guide consumer behavior
 A tool used to asses the strategic aspects of brand personality
 based on the premise that brands are expressed in terms of
metaphors
 i.e. a representation of one thing in terms of another
 most marketers are so caught up in the literal, they neglect the
metaphoric
 Metaphor is central to thought and crucial to uncovering latent
needs and emotions. -- often non-verbal
 A lot goes on in our minds that we're not aware of. Most of what
influences what we say and do occurs below the level of awareness
 ZMET approach based on a nonverbal representation of brands.
 Participants collect a minimum of 12 images from their lives
representing their thoughts and feelings about a topic
 Then interviewed in depth about the images and feelings.
 digital imaging techniques are used to create a collage
summarising these thoughts and feelings
 person tells a story about the image created.
E.g.
Conventional research told Dupont that most women hate to wear
panty hose.
 Zaltman selected 20 panty-hose-wearing women and asked:
"What are your thoughts and feelings about buying and wearing
panty hose?"
 They collected a dozen pictures from magazines, catalogs, and
family photo albums that captured their thoughts and feelings about
the product.
 The women found images of steel bands strangling trees, twisted
telephone cords, and of fence posts encased in a tight plastic wrap.
 also chose pictures of two African masks hanging on a bare wall,
of an ice-cream sundae spilled on the ground, of a luxury car, and of
flowers resting peacefully in a vase.
 the women discussed each picture during an intense two-hour
session women have a love-hate relationship with nylons.
Wearing the product made her feel thin and tall. The ice-cream
sundae represented the embarrassment caused by stocking runs; the
expensive car, the feeling of luxury.
The images also brought out subtleties related to sexual issues,"
Green recalls. "Women would say, 'They make my legs feel longer.'
Why is it important to have long legs? 'Men like long legs.' Why do
men like long legs? 'They're sexy.' And eventually women would say
they wanted to feel sexy to men.
These findings led hosiery manufacturers and retailers to alter
their advertising to include not only images of supercompetent
career women but also images of sexiness and allure
Nestles Crunch
Subjects revealed that they
saw the candy bar as a small
indulgence in a busy world, a
source of quick energy, and
something that just tasted
good
Subjects brought in pictures of old pickup trucks, of children
playing on picket-fenced suburban lawns, of grandfather clocks,
of snowmen, and of American flags.
The candy bar evoked powerful memories of childhood, of
simpler times.
It was less a workday pick-me-up than a time machine back to
childhood.
Lifestyles
What is a lifestyle?
Lifestyles
Person
Product
Lifestyle
Setting
 Products are the building blocks of lifestyles
 Many products and services seem to go together usually because
they are selected by the same types of people
 Patterns of consumption based on lifestyles are often composed of
many ingredients that are shared by people of similar social and
economic circumstances
 for this reason marketing strategies try to position a product by
fitting it into an existing pattern of consumption
 focus on product usage in desirable social settings or contexts
Life Style Marketing
 Lifestyle marketing recognises that people sort themselves into
groups based on the things they like to do
 lifestyle marketing looks at patterns of behaviour to understand
how people use products to define lifestyles.
 Examine how they make their choices in a variety of product
categories - in context
An important part of lifestyle marketing is to identify the set of
products and services that go together
Product Complementarity
 occurs when the symbolic meanings of different products are
related to each other
 these sets of products, termed consumption constellations
 A consumption constellation is defined as a "cluster of
complementary products, specific brands, and/or consumption
activities used to construct, signify, and/or perform a social role”
By choosing distinctive product groupings laden with symbolic
meaning, consumers communicate their affiliation with a positively
valued, or aspirational, lifestyle.
 From this perspective, the meaning of a product is critically
dependent upon the context in which it is displayed or used
Consumers buy on the basis of product complementarity:
What other
products would
complement a
Rolex?
 Knowledge about lifestyles is important for
 defining the target market (beyond demographics)
 new product development,
 cross-merchandising
 promotional and media strategies
 creating a new view of the market (e.g. zinc cream)
 better communicating product attributes/benefits - to match a
person's lifestyle.
 reaching consumers
 For example, an apparel manufacturer wishing to license a line of
home-related products needs to know
 how its brand image in the sportswear category will translate
into purchases of linens.
 what linen styles will appeal to its sportswear customer,
 the optimal way to display these items at retail
 and how best to create advertising executions that place these
products in the appropriate lifestyle context.
Psychographics
 the use of psychological, sociological and anthropological
factors to construct market segments
 based on differences in choices of consumption activities
 Psychographics is a system for measuring consumers' beliefs,
opinions, tastes and interests.
 Demographic information tells us WHO buys
 Psychographics provides information on consumer motivations
for purchasing and using products and services and tells us WHY
they buy
Activities, Interests and Opinions (AIO)
 most psychographic research groups consumers according to
some combination of activities, interests and opinions
 marketers create profiles of customers who resemble each other in
their activities and patterns of product usage.
To group consumers into common AIO categories researchers give
respondents a long list of statements and ask them how much they
agree with each one
 Lifestyle is then boiled down by discovering
• how people spend their time.
• what they find interesting and important and
• how they view themselves and the world around them
VALS (Values and Lifestyles)
 categorizes consumers into 8 mutually exclusive groups based on
their psychographics and several key income related demographics.
 highlights factors that motivate consumer buying behavior.
 http://future.sri.com/VALS/valsindex.shtml
Use VALS to:
•Identify WHO to target
•Uncover WHAT your target group buys and does
•Locate WHERE concentrations of your target group lives
•Identify HOW best to communicate with your target group
•Gain insight into WHY the target group acts the way it does
VALS has been applied to:
•New product/service design
•Marketing and communications
- Targeting
- Product positioning
- Focus group screening
- Promotion planning
- Advertising
•Media Planning
•On-line advertising design and implementation
One way marketers try to use personality
variables is to link personality with consumer
personality type
Personality Type
Extroverted
Warm
Affiliative
Subdued
Introverted
Cool
Assertive
Energetic
Desired Auto Benefit
Freedom
Enjoyment
Tradition
Relaxation
Compromise
Control
Modernity/Fashion
Stimulation
LIFESTYLE TRENDS
 Society's priorities and preferences are constantly changing
 Essential for marketers to both track and anticipate them
 Needham's longitudinal lifestyle study since 1975
 Found that in late 1990s Americans wanted, in essence, gain
without pain.
TEN LIFESTYLE TRENDS
1. Unhealthy eating
 People are paying less attention to nutrition and diet.
 For more than 10 years, the percentage of people who make an
effort to increase their vitamin intake or fibre content and reduce
additives, cholesterol, salt, sugar, and fat has fallen rapidly.
 people say they may want to eat more healthfully, the reality is
people are moving in the opposite direction.
2. Fitness
 More than 50% of American men and women think they're in
good physical condition.
 That percentage has been falling for more then 20 years.
 While people indicate that exercise is a good idea, most are doing
little about it.
 Most forms of exercise have declined as regular activities
3. Environmental issues
 End of the 1980s, 70% said they would support pollution
standards, even if it means shutting down some factories.
 End of 1990s number is starting to fall.
 End 1970s more than 60% said they would accept a lower
standard of living to conserve energy.
 End 1990s numbers have dropped drastically.
 People may wish to be environmentally conscious, but the truth is
they're moving in the opposite direction.
4. Traditional values
 85% indicate they have "somewhat old-fashioned tastes”
 But an increasing number support the legalization of marijuana,
believe couples should live together before marrying, etc.
 pendulum is swinging toward "satisfying one's self,”
 people will "embrace traditional values only as long as they don't
interfere with convenience, practicality, or individualism."
5. lack of discretionary time
 With less time to comparison shop, consumers are limiting choices
to stores they know carry the correct sizes and colours and have
adequate stocks of sale items .
 Emphasis on Time-saving products e.g. pre-cooked foods, prepared foods drive through pizzas
6. Dual-income families are becoming single-income families:
 has created opportunities for telecommuting, part-time work and
home-operated businesses.
 also an increased demand for home-improvement centres
 With one income, families shop more in discount stores.
7. Nostalgia
 For many, our high-tech, materialistic world is too stressful.
 Consumers seek connections with past when things were simpler
 Companies can connect with consumers by helping them
remember and re-live the past.
8. Increased focus on quality of life
 More causal work environment, relaxed dress code
 home entertainment
 travel industry
 spirituality
9. Mass Customization
 mass customization is about choice; about giving consumers a
unique end product when, where and how they want it.
 mass-market goods and services individualized to satisfy a
very specific customer need, at an affordable price.
 Based on the consumers desire
for "custom-made", or
personalized products but at mass production prices
 More product variety: Since 1985 number of car models
gone from 140 to 260; soft drinks from 20 to 90. Today., U.S. market
offers 3,000 brands of beer, 50 brands of bottled water, 340 kinds of
cereals, 70 styles of Levi's jeans.
10. Technohome
 integration of technology into appliances
Internet Lifestyle
experience includes a home
with new levels of comfort,
convenience, and security to
consumers through Internetenabled devices and services
for communication,
entertainment, family
management, home control,
and personal commerce.
What has been the impact on trends with the events of
September 11th 2001?
Some Ideas from the Consumers Research Institute
 Economic Slowdown
 Workplace Changes
 Carpe Diem
 A Paralyzing Fear
 Preserving Memories and Stories
 What Money Can’t Buy
 Nesting, Bunkering, Cocooning
 Entertainment Industry
 A Renewed Patriotism
 US Consumers Still Spending
 Our Hierarchy of Needs
 Holidays