Me, Myself and I

For my last post I figured I cold tell you guys a little bit about me and my extended self.

I am from a small town in Montana that is a big farming community. (you know one of those where everyone knows everyone) It was a great place to grow up and really made me appreciate growing up in a small town.

I am related a good portion of the town and have a great family. I like to spend a lot of time with my family and spend a lot of time outdoors, especially camping.

I also have a dog who is my favorite his name is Bruski and I do not know what I would do without him. I spend a lot of time with him at the dog parks!! I attempt to keep up with him.. he is almost 2 and I have never seen a dog that has as much energy as him I swear he can't sit down for more than two seconds.

Anyways, besides my awesome dog... I like to camp and am an athletic person. I am a big consumer of shoes.. some might call me an addict but I think I just have a lovely collection :). 

I can say that my consumption has changed greatly from high school to college. Balancing the budget is not as fun when you are in school. I will graduate this May (yay). I can't wait to have more time to do things and I enjoy and not be overwhelmed by school (and have some $$). That's about all :) 

Nike

Today I look down at the clothes I am wearing and notice that not only am I wearing a Nike sweatshirt and shoes BUT, they match perfectly. They are both my favorite colors and match my personality exactly both being bright pink and dark gray/black.

 Nike does a very good job of giving their consumer almost unlimited options of colors and styles. They differentiate their brand and create long-term loyalty.

They allow for self expression while showing customers they are the brand they should love and that you can't live without your Nike's. I have also heard from a few people that just wearing Nike and their clothing makes them feel like they are being healthier or more "fit" because of the personality and traits the brand portrays. This is amazing to me that a just a single brand can have such an effect on a person by just putting it on and wearing it.

Attached is the website for Nike which shows just how diversified they are.

I guess you could say that I am a proud supporter of NIKE... not only do I love the style but, I can also afford it (for the most part).

More, More, More...

As consumers today we all want more right?? I mean the bigger the better when it comes to about anything. Super-size your meals, buy in bulk, buy 4 get 1 free... the possibilities are endless.

Marketers are capitalizing on the idea that bigger is better. If you are going to get more how could it not be? Take for example AT&T's commercials where they talk with the little kids. Even little kids think bigger is better. Also, attached is an article by Josh Lowensohn talking about Apple products and how consumers need more and more... Consumers want what we don't have.

I think everyone can say that they have fallen into the stoop that bigger is better! I know I have.. just the other day I had the choice of buying a pack of chips that was just the size I needed... then after looking around there was a "VALUE" size bag and I just couldn't help but be drawn into the bigger bag. I didn't even think to look at the price, it was just a great opportunity. (not) Take example these pictures of food being advertised and how the older advertisement has smaller products in the picture where as the new one is zoomed in and showing as much of the food as possible in a small space. Big pop, a lot of fries, and a big delicious piece of pizza. Who wouldn't be salivating over that??

Oh the Irony..

A person's social identity and groups is amazing sometimes. I have watched people change from one social to group to the complete opposite in short matter of time. One girl went from being the popular sporty girl to environmentally sound and went on a mission to Africa to help children. It was a great change for her but, it is amazing how one person can change so quick just based on the people around them. It is also known that people are more likely to favor other people from their "group".  Or how silly people can act in groups....

It seems groups can have a positive or negative effect on society and the people in them. The social power a group can hold over the people in it is amazing. From peers trying to make you drink or smoke when you don't want to (negative):

Or friends motivating each other to work out(positive):

In a way I would almost consider spouses reference groups also because it has been shown that each spouse will pick up the others habits as time goes on from being around them so much. You tend to eat what the other person likes and also do what they want. I can say for myself I don't eat as healthy as I used to when I was single. But, don't get me wrong that is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. Attached below is a link that is a little dry but, I think it contains a lot of helpful information: Social Power

Advertising Where??

It is weird to think different cultures in different countries are not seeing the same ads that I am. But, then again I am not anything like a lot of people from other countries so, I guess it only makes sense right? One big one that comes to my mind is cars in different countries. But, there are many more for example below is McDonald's commercials for Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia.

In this video not only to they advertise different food but, they also advertise to different age groups and with different meanings. In Japan they focus on children and their favorite toys to entice them to want McDonald's where is Malaysia they have a family focus and show much different types of food than they do in the other two.

IKEA has some great example of how they advertise for different countries:
1. Sweden

2. Norway

3. Italy "You can get more"

4. Turkey "Need Space"

5. Glasgow "Glasgow's Gone Soft"

6. Portugal "Live your Home"

These are all way different from showing their products to not even having their products in their advertisement such as Italy where they only show boxes in the shape of things around the house. It is amazing to me how much an ad can be changed just to make it acceptable for a different culture or country showing their own consumer constellations or what is socially acceptable based on social values. The one that really made me laugh was the Glasgow has gone soft advertisement showing people it is okay to shop at IKEA and be more feminine.  (IKEA)

Pavlovian Theory

First off a little something about Pavlovian theory, or classical conditioning, which is when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. To make this a little more understandable it is when a behavior is strengthened or weakened depending on a certain consequence that could be a positive or negative outcome. Here is a short video of Pinky and the Brain where classical conditioning comes into play...

here we see they match a good behavior, dancing, with a positive outcome, getting to eat a piece of cheese.

If you know anything about Pavlov's studies than you already know he did an experiment with dogs placing meat powder in their mouths after ringing a bell. Eventually he had the dogs salivating when they heard the ring of the bell whether or not they even got the meat powder because of the classical conditioning. They put the good outcome of getting the meat powder by salivating when they heard the bell ring.

Here is the demonstration of how it worked.

Enough with the serious stuff here is funny comic that shows classical conditioning... this poor fella got in trouble and couldn't even help it.

Advertising in the movies...

Advertisers have always had the great idea of putting their products into movies with famous celebrities to get people to  buy them. I know that as I watch movies or shows I wonder how much they paid to get their product in the movie. A recent example of this is the Transformers movies, GM won the bid by offering $3M to land their vehicles in the movie. In the movie Bumblebee upgrades into the brand new 2009 model for their Camaro, they take a whole scene in the movie just to tell consumers how great this car is!

If you remember the movie at all it did not end there... they used vehicles through out the whole movie to portray how great GM even. Do you remember the Cop car that Bumblebee has to go head to head against? Well this was a well thought out plan, of course they were not going to use another GM car to look like the "weak link" or the bad guy. This is  why they used a Ford Mustang, one of GM's biggest competitors for their Camaro. This movie probably brought in a great amount of sales and I do not think people even realized what they were doing with the movie. It is amazing the way advertising can find other ways than posters and commercials to get into the heads of consumers and try to convince them their product is the best one out there and that they need to own one!! Here are some more pictures of big advertising bits in movies(from old to new):

Beerstitutes...

Apparently there are more people than I thought who liked to consume a good beer every now and then... It is amazing to see how consumption changes by each state!

Top 5 state per capita as follows (2012):
1. North Dakota (45.8 gallons per capita)
2. New Hampshire (43.9 gallons)
3. Montana (43.9 gallons - oh, so proud)
4. South Dakota (38.9 gallons)
5. Wisconsin (36.2 gallons)

It is said that 99 million American regularly drink beer. I mean I knew it was pretty popular but, not THIS popular. It almost seems as though it is one behavior of consumers that reaches most all Americans. Fox News article stated, "U.S. brewing and beer importing business put more than 2 million Americans to work". This is also something that hit consumers all over the world. There are not many products that can hit consumers like a beer.


This is one product that marketers can have GREAT influences with when it comes to their marketing strategy. Take Bud Light for example, ask just about anyone and I'm sure they can tell you at least one Bud Light commercial that they can remember. So Cheers!!

You Have a Great Personality

Brand personality is a way for marketers to associate a product with set of humans.
Even I can say there are certain brands that appeal to me based on their personalities. Let's think about cigarette brands for a minute, when you think Marlboro what comes to mind? Most
people would say manly or "masculine" while Virginia Slims were created to meet the needs of a woman's personality or "feminine".

Another brand that comes to mind that is very gender specific in its' personality is Old Spice. It also is supposed to be masculine, think of the new commercials and how the Mom's sing about how, "Old spice made a man of my son". They are very good at creating a personality that appeals to men but, women want their "men" to have it.
The personality of a brand will essentially:
     ~Build a long-term brand equity
     ~Differentiate the brand making it more unique
     ~Can create a powerful relationship to bring in loyal customers

They got me good..

At times it not hard to persuade me, other times it can be extremely difficult. So today I want to ask the question, "What REALLY persuades me??" Is it marketers bringing to light all of things that appeal to me or are they putting it in my mind that the products should appeal to me? I imagine one side could be very much like this card trick...

The dealer moved cards based on what the person says, persuading them they are making the decisions, when in all actuality he is the one that knows where the card is the whole time.  It is just like me, I can think I know all the products I want and need, but really it is up to advertising to show me what I want and persuade me into buying something new (even if I do not need it at all).

It amazes me how I can buy something and then later look back at it and wonder, Why in the WORLD did I buy that??, it sure wasn't because I needed it and then I think, oh yeah! it was on sale.... or I saw that on a commercial and it looked like a great idea! A perfect example of persuasion was the other day when I went to the store to my dog some dental treats, when I was looking at all the different brands and kinds I did not know which one to buy, I read the small print and the nutrition facts on the back, but, in the end I ended up buying the only one I had seen an advertisement for. Even though it was more money than many of the competitors. It is amazing how something so small can have such a hindrance on what I might buy or consume.

Nudge You

Nudges are everywhere and they affect everyone. Barack Obama has recruited a “Nudge Unit” to run experiments on potential nudges. One example was they sent letters out to people who decided not to pay their vehicle taxes. At first they sent just a plain letter saying, “pay your taxes or lose your car” which this alone almost doubled the number of people paying their taxes. But, in a rewrite they actually added a picture of the car each person would lose which tripled the amount of people who paid their vehicle taxes. 

I thought this was a perfect example we can all relate to. It especially shows how nudges can help to influence people to make better and healthier decisions without them actively knowing. I mean hay, if this will keep a doughnut from going straight to my butt... sign me up!!

Below I'm adding a funny video from a Monty Python movie... it gave me a good laugh and I hope it will you too... so "wink, wink... nudge, nudge"!! 

Okay now for serious, I found this pretty cool sight about nudges and how they hope to help people in their everyday lives to make better decisions for not only themselves but, the society as a whole. From being a healthier person to even getting people to recycle. There is great site called INudgeYou which goes into a great detail of how nudges work in society today. Here is the like to take a look around at the sight and what they are doing... INudgeYou 

Now... go be nudged!! 

Super Bowl Madness

The Super Bowl is about here and we all know what that means... football... Just kidding!! What it really means is awesome commercials right? The commercials give businesses an opportunity to hit the largest television audience of the year! 

Marianne Bickle's #1 rule when it comes to marketing is "if a commercial does not entice the consumer to purchase the product, it is not successful." This is especially evident when it comes to the time and money that is put into a a memorable Super Bowl commercial. According to the Associate Press, the average cost of a Super Bowl ad is $3.5 million. If this is a waste it would be a big slap in the face to a company because they wasted a large amount of their budget on this commercial. 

Just like these commercials they need to be successful and hit the target market. These ads were successful in drawing in consumers by being funny. But, while they joke in their commercials they also need to communicate to their consumers trust, loyalty and commitment to them. 

A good question to ask is, "Why don't consumers watch commercials throughout the rest of the year??" Is it because they are advertised as such a big deal? Because they don't feel they are worthy of their time? It is an interesting question to ask yourself when, like me you are very excited for these certain commercials. Many people see these as more important and that the commercials they hold during the Super Bowl air in a more "special" time. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2012/02/06/the-power-of-super-bowl-advertising/