Chapter 3
From Exposure to Comprehension
Learning Objectives
Discuss why marketers are concerned about
consumers’ exposure to marketing stimuli & what
tactics they use to enhance exposure.
Explain the characteristics of attention & how
marketers can try to attract & sustain consumers’
attention to products & marketing messages.
Describe the major senses that are part of perception
and outline why marketers are concerned about
consumers’ sensory perceptions.
Discuss the process of comprehension, and outline
how marketing-mix elements can affect consumer
inferences about products & brands.
Exposure, Attention, & Perception
Exposure-1
“…reflects the process by which the consumer comes
into contact with a stimulus.”
Exposure-2
Marketing stimuli
Factors influencing exposure
– Position of an ad
– Product distribution
– Shelf placement
Selective exposure
– Zipping
– Zapping
Measuring exposure
Attention
“…the process by which we devote mental activity to a
stimulus…necessary for information to be
processed…activate our senses.”
Characteristics of Attention
Selective
Capable of being divided
Limited
Under what conditions do you give
full attention to advertising &
marketing communication?
Focal & Nonfocal Attention
Preattentive processing
Hemispheric lateralization
Preattentive processing, brand name
liking, & choice
Hemispheric Lateralization
Hemispheric Lateralization
Left hemisphere
Processing units that can
be combined, e.g.,
 Counting
 Processing
unfamiliar words
 Forming sentences
Right hemisphere
 Processing
music
 Grasping
visual/spatial
information
 Forming
inferences
 Drawing
conclusions
Are you right brained or left brained?
Enhancing Consumer Attention via
Marketing Stimului
Personally relevant
Pleasant
Surprising
Easy to process
Pleasant Marketing Stimuli
Attractive models
Music
Humor
What are some other ways to make ads
More pleasant to consumers?
Surprising
Novelty
Unexpectedness
Puzzles
What are ways to enhance
suspense or surprise in
advertising or marketing
communications?
Is surprise a good thing in
marketing communications?
Why/not?
Easy to Process
Stimuli
– Prominent
– Concrete
– Contrasting
Limit amount of competing information
KISS (Keep it simple…)
Concreteness & Abstractness
Concrete words
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Apple
Bowl
Cat
Cottage
Diamond
Engine
Flower
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Garden
Hammer
Infant
Lemon
Meadow
Mountain
Ocean
• Abstract words
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Aptitude
Betrayal
Chance
Criterion
Democracy
Essence
Fantasy
Glory
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Hatred
Ignorance
Loyalty
Mercy
Necessity
Obedience
Attention
Defines customer segments
Habituation
Perception
“…occurs when stimuli are registered by one of our five
senses: vision, hearing taste, smell, & touch
Perceiving Through Vision
Size & shape
Lettering
Color
Color dimensions
Color & physiological
responses/moods
Color & liking
Perceiving Through Hearing
Sonic identity
Sound symbolism
Perceiving Through Taste
Varying perceptions of what “tastes good”
Culture backgrounds
In-store marketing
In-Store Marketing Tactics
Perceiving through Smell
Smell & physiological response/moods
Product trial
Liking
Buying
Perceiving through Touch
Haptic means touch
Touch & physiological responses/ moods
Liking
Consumers Stimuli Perception
Absolute thresholds
Differential thresholds
– Just noticeable
– Weber’s Law
Subliminal perception & consumer
behavior
How Consumers
Perceive Marketing Stimuli
Perceptual organization
Figure & ground
Closure
Grouping
Bias for the whole
This Clorox ad attracts
consumers’ attention
because of its
unexpectedness. One does
not expect to see a shirt
pouring bleach on itself.
© 2008 The Clorox Company. Reprinted with permission. Photo: Giblin +
James
This Wishbone Bountiful
ad is easy for consumers
to process. It
demonstrates the
vegetables loaded into the
salad dressing visually
(concretely) and with little
competing information.
WISH-BONE and BOUNTIFULS are trademarks of Unilever. Used
with permission.
Questions?