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A classroom and research blog about marketing in general and consumer behavior in particular for the MBA Buyer Behavior (MGT 580) class.
Friday, April 30, 2004
From Chuan-kai Wan
There is a practical experience from my friend who used to be the top salesman to sell the materials for learning English published by Sesames Street in Taiwan
My friend told me the way that they sell the materials. First, they would have an advertisement in the newspaper at large margin to attract the consumer’s vision easily and make them pay attention on it. It successfully employs the sensory stimuli of sight. In the content of the advertisement, they mention that people can get free sample of part of the materials when they fill in the basic personal information and send it to the company. By using this tactic, marketers not only take advantage of this by offering free samples to get consumers to engage in a behavior and feel good about doing it but also can get the potential customer data.
After collecting the data, they allocate the customer’s data by geography. Salesmen pick the area that he/she wants to run the door-to-door marketing.
It’s very common that the rejection rate of door-to-door marketing is very high. But it doesn’t happen to them because the advertisement says “Our employees will send the free sample to your place and explain how to use the material to you.” By doing this way, customers have the awareness that salesmen would come with free sample. When the salesmen come into the house, they start to market the whole package of the materials. I think it is kind of a “foot-in-door techniques.
Many salesmen like to pick the customers where they live in the high-class zone because they think people living there have extra money to buy the materials for their children. However, my friend chose his potential customers in opposite way---he did the door-to-door marketing in the middle or lower class area.
Many people will feel that it’s more easily to sell the materials in the high-class area than in the middle or lower-class area. The reason why he chose the lower or middle-class area and still can make more sales is that the parents in those areas don’t want their children to stay in the same social class or have the same life as they do. They are willing to invest more money on their children to help them move upward in the society. On the contrary, parents in high-class area with higher education have their own way to educate their children. It’s very hard to persuade the parents to buy the materials. Especially, they have more resources and excesses for their children to learn English.
After listening to his true experience, I feel that if you want to do your business successful, it is imperative to understand the psychological side of consumer behavior.
There is a practical experience from my friend who used to be the top salesman to sell the materials for learning English published by Sesames Street in Taiwan
My friend told me the way that they sell the materials. First, they would have an advertisement in the newspaper at large margin to attract the consumer’s vision easily and make them pay attention on it. It successfully employs the sensory stimuli of sight. In the content of the advertisement, they mention that people can get free sample of part of the materials when they fill in the basic personal information and send it to the company. By using this tactic, marketers not only take advantage of this by offering free samples to get consumers to engage in a behavior and feel good about doing it but also can get the potential customer data.
After collecting the data, they allocate the customer’s data by geography. Salesmen pick the area that he/she wants to run the door-to-door marketing.
It’s very common that the rejection rate of door-to-door marketing is very high. But it doesn’t happen to them because the advertisement says “Our employees will send the free sample to your place and explain how to use the material to you.” By doing this way, customers have the awareness that salesmen would come with free sample. When the salesmen come into the house, they start to market the whole package of the materials. I think it is kind of a “foot-in-door techniques.
Many salesmen like to pick the customers where they live in the high-class zone because they think people living there have extra money to buy the materials for their children. However, my friend chose his potential customers in opposite way---he did the door-to-door marketing in the middle or lower class area.
Many people will feel that it’s more easily to sell the materials in the high-class area than in the middle or lower-class area. The reason why he chose the lower or middle-class area and still can make more sales is that the parents in those areas don’t want their children to stay in the same social class or have the same life as they do. They are willing to invest more money on their children to help them move upward in the society. On the contrary, parents in high-class area with higher education have their own way to educate their children. It’s very hard to persuade the parents to buy the materials. Especially, they have more resources and excesses for their children to learn English.
After listening to his true experience, I feel that if you want to do your business successful, it is imperative to understand the psychological side of consumer behavior.
Iris sent in this post.
It is no breaking news that the people in United States are increasing in weight. It has sparked lawsuits and much finger- pointing towards companies such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, whose main products are fatty and/or sugar-ridden.
In looking at the consumer behavior side of this topic, I found some interesting articles that discuss who is to blame.
The following articles are general background and different points of view on who to blame for this:
(1) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/755196/posts
(2) http://www.westernfrontonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/06/3df114eac2da1
(3) http://www.stress-free-weight-loss.com/Obesity-in-America.htm
Although I have seen commercials promoting low-carb food selections and healthier eating at places like Wendy’s and McDonald’s, all of these portray adults. Perhaps there is a way to have advertising that encourages the kids to eat healthier too. There just has to be a clever marketer to make the idea catchy. Although it would take a lot of time to instill such a campaign, (because the norm in America is fast food), you’ve got to start somewhere. This short article suggests something along those lines…
This article has an interesting quote from an advertiser who has the following to say:
“But when advertisers like Paul Kurnit are putting together an advertising campaign, do they care whether the product is healthy or not?
‘I care that the product has a positive role in a child's life,’ said Kurnit. ‘It is not my fundamental responsibility to be sure that that product in and of itself fulfills a complete diet.’
When asked if he played a role in making less healthy products appealing to children, thereby increasing their desire for those products, Kurnit responded, ‘I've played a role in making all kinds of products appealing to kids and the issue of less healthy is a judgment call that you can make.’
But advertisers know where asparagus and soda pop line up.
‘You are absolutely correct that I am not going to get the same return on investment for a client in advertising asparagus and spinach to a kid as advertising some of the so-called less healthy products to kids,’ said Kurnit. ‘Guilty as charged.’”
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Living/obesity_031208-3.html
Although some of us are reading what Paul Kurnit said and are thinking, “He gives all of us marketers and advertisers a bad rep” or “I would never put together or be part of such unethical marketing tactics,” I am sure that at one point in time Mr. Kurnit may have had those same thoughts as well. It is easy to sit in class and say that we will never do such promotions and campaigns, but the real test will come when we are faced with such ethical choices in the real world of marketing and advertising. Not to sound touchy-feely and say we should all hold hands and sing “We are the World” before C.B. class, but money and returns on investments can sway one’s decisions, as displayed in Mr. Kurnit’s case.
It is no breaking news that the people in United States are increasing in weight. It has sparked lawsuits and much finger- pointing towards companies such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, whose main products are fatty and/or sugar-ridden.
In looking at the consumer behavior side of this topic, I found some interesting articles that discuss who is to blame.
The following articles are general background and different points of view on who to blame for this:
(1) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/755196/posts
(2) http://www.westernfrontonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/06/3df114eac2da1
(3) http://www.stress-free-weight-loss.com/Obesity-in-America.htm
Although I have seen commercials promoting low-carb food selections and healthier eating at places like Wendy’s and McDonald’s, all of these portray adults. Perhaps there is a way to have advertising that encourages the kids to eat healthier too. There just has to be a clever marketer to make the idea catchy. Although it would take a lot of time to instill such a campaign, (because the norm in America is fast food), you’ve got to start somewhere. This short article suggests something along those lines…
This article has an interesting quote from an advertiser who has the following to say:
“But when advertisers like Paul Kurnit are putting together an advertising campaign, do they care whether the product is healthy or not?
‘I care that the product has a positive role in a child's life,’ said Kurnit. ‘It is not my fundamental responsibility to be sure that that product in and of itself fulfills a complete diet.’
When asked if he played a role in making less healthy products appealing to children, thereby increasing their desire for those products, Kurnit responded, ‘I've played a role in making all kinds of products appealing to kids and the issue of less healthy is a judgment call that you can make.’
But advertisers know where asparagus and soda pop line up.
‘You are absolutely correct that I am not going to get the same return on investment for a client in advertising asparagus and spinach to a kid as advertising some of the so-called less healthy products to kids,’ said Kurnit. ‘Guilty as charged.’”
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Living/obesity_031208-3.html
Although some of us are reading what Paul Kurnit said and are thinking, “He gives all of us marketers and advertisers a bad rep” or “I would never put together or be part of such unethical marketing tactics,” I am sure that at one point in time Mr. Kurnit may have had those same thoughts as well. It is easy to sit in class and say that we will never do such promotions and campaigns, but the real test will come when we are faced with such ethical choices in the real world of marketing and advertising. Not to sound touchy-feely and say we should all hold hands and sing “We are the World” before C.B. class, but money and returns on investments can sway one’s decisions, as displayed in Mr. Kurnit’s case.
Our New Coke case discussion came back to me in an interesting way. ELMAR is a marketing academic listserv used on a worldwide basis. A researcher in Australia posted the following request on ELMAR.
"I believe I recently saw a posting about a paper/article/study in
which a taste-test of Coke vs. Pepsi was conducted, but the
labels on the drinks tasted were reversed.
I do not think it was in a TOCs, and in any case, a search of
the literature using the EBSCO database has not come up with
any leads.
If you these cues trigger a lead, please let me know. I am
interested in the paper because it gave me an idea for looking
at country-of-origin effects.
Any leads would be welcome. Thanks,
Stephen"
I believe this is the article he is looking for, although I have not yet heard back from him.
"I believe I recently saw a posting about a paper/article/study in
which a taste-test of Coke vs. Pepsi was conducted, but the
labels on the drinks tasted were reversed.
I do not think it was in a TOCs, and in any case, a search of
the literature using the EBSCO database has not come up with
any leads.
If you these cues trigger a lead, please let me know. I am
interested in the paper because it gave me an idea for looking
at country-of-origin effects.
Any leads would be welcome. Thanks,
Stephen"
I believe this is the article he is looking for, although I have not yet heard back from him.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Another interesting story about marketing, this time from Bill Surrock. Non-profit marketing is frequently done by paid professionals who take a cut of the proceeds as their fee. He notes that "Along the lines of the discussion we had in class, here is a case where the telemarketers keep 85% of the donation for their fee. I remeber donating to the DAV and called back (thanks to caller ID) and found out that the telemarketing organization was keeping 90% of the donation for their fee. I cancelled that donation and refuse to give to telemarketers now." Now the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on a case (Ryan v. Telemarketing Associates) that directly addresses this issue. You can read more about this case on a website called Freedom Forum (which I am not familiar with and can't vouch for in general, but does seem to have a good article on the case), or you can read the Supreme Court opinion. Note: the case was retitled Madigan v. Telemarketing Associates since Lisa Madigan had succeeded Mr. Ryan as Illinois' Attorney General.
Jay Cummings sent me an interesting article on the the evolution of the so-called Digital Divide. From the McKee, Wallwork, Henderson advertising firm right here in Albuquerque, the article explores the challenges of marketing to young adults (acutally an age subculture) who have grown up in a multi-media environment. If you prefer, you can also print and read it as a PDF file.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Today I am here at BloggerCON 2, being held in Pound Hall on Harvard University campus. The opening session is a get-acquainted, overview of today's program covering such issues as educational blogs, political blogs media blogs and various other blogs. BloggerCon is also being livecast on IRC (irc.freenode.net/bloggercon20/). The first session that I am attending is What is Journalism" examining whether bloggers (at least some bloggers) are journalists in the more traditional sense of the word. Very intersting crowd so far, Dave Winer (of Linux fame), Dan Gilmour of the San Jose Mercury News, Chris Lydon from NPR and Jeff Jarvis from BuzzMachine are all BloggerCON returnees. Blogs in Business will be one of the sessions that is most germane to our class and I will be reporting from that session later. On that same subject, I have Meghan Stier from IMG publications sitting next to me in the first session. She is running a fashion blog for The Daily, called Megastyles.com (I'll try and put the links in later). Prof. Jay Rosen of NYU is the first speaker (Pressthink) and I will be posting updates as we go. Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine) made the interesting comment that blogging is essentially a relationship-oriented medium. Basically, it allows writers to find their audience and interact with it. From the perspective of our class, that has clear implications for marketing in general and consumer behavior in particular. Is this another way to build or maintain our relationships with our customers?
Using the Mac requires a little different technique than using my PC. In order to put in links, I have to paste them in directly, as
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Sasha's recent post surprisingly did not open up much debate within our small blog community, but it did make me recall a column by Ellen Goodman that I saw recently in the Albuquerque Journal . A similar view was also expressed in a story that appeared in today's Lobo by writer Gala Venis. Whether or not you agree with either of these viewpoints (or Sasha's), it does present some interesting arguments about the way marketing and society might affect self-image and societal ideals of beauty. Any thoughts?
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Still (!) grading papers, but I wanted to post the latest brief from the file sharing wars. There are some good links here to the Times of London and other foreign newspapers.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Sasha's post ought to stir up some discussion on the tricky issue of marketing using sex (and sexual) appeals. I hope he doesn't mind if I edited his post a bit (I am not changing one iota of content, but I did make the links a bit easier to use). While we are talking about Victoria's Secret, here is an interesting take on their Bob Dylan ads from Slate.
Hopefully, I will get the chance to add more to this later, but since I am holed up grading papers right now, I only have time for some quick items. First, today is an anniversary day for one of my least favorite (I think there may be some agreement on this) forms of marketing. So happy spamiversary everyone. Also, news from the online music sharing world. It seems that recording industry sales have rebounded somewhat. More (hopefully) later.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
A couple of interesting things from the news. First, which stores inspire the greatest degree of consumer confidence? This study comes up with some interesting results. Second, a commentary from ZDNet Australia on how to how not to win new customers for your online business. Finally, a quick story that relates to what we have discussed about reference group marketing and marketing counter to trends.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
I am repeating a posting from the MarketingCBblog, which I hope you won't mind since it is informative. First, a quick bit about Alabama's latest official state symbol. Although unusual in the U.S., you may have seen any number of products from other countries that recieve "official" status. In Great Britain, for example, Royal Warrants are issued to select providers of goods and services to the Royal Family including such familiar brands as Baccardi (for vermouth) Coca-Cola and Coors.
Also, a bit off topic but still important, ASM is offering a number of scholarships for undergraduate and fellowships for graduate students. The deadline is April 30, and you can find the information here. On another ASM topic, Philip Regier, candidate for Dean of ASM will be holding an open forum for students from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. in the SUB, Fiesta A and B.
Also, a bit off topic but still important, ASM is offering a number of scholarships for undergraduate and fellowships for graduate students. The deadline is April 30, and you can find the information here. On another ASM topic, Philip Regier, candidate for Dean of ASM will be holding an open forum for students from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. in the SUB, Fiesta A and B.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Hopefully all of you survived the test, and since you are probably not wanting to think much about marketing tonight I will keep it brief. We have talked about the concept that politicians are basically selling themselves and their ideas to consumers (voters). Political commercials tend to apply many of the things we have learned about in class. For example, in a political ad, you want to highlight the attributes that your candidate is strong on and avoid the weaker attributes. You also want to highlight the areas where your opponent is weak or possibly try to decrease the percieved importance of an attribute where your candidate is weak. However, as with any type of advertising, we sometimes wonder about the veracity and accuracy of campaign ads. Interestingly, MSNBC is running a "reality check" on campaign advertising with John Kerry being the subject this week and George Bush up next week.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Thanks for the nice post Whitney. On a somewhat different topic, I just have a quick post today, although I may have more later. In one of the more interesting celebrity endorsement deals, rock icon Bob Dylan is doing a commercial with Victoria's Secret. Fortunately, Bob is not doing any of the modeling. You can see the commercial, entitled "Angels" at the company website here.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Just a quick note relating to the test. I was finally able to get back in the office today (twin issues) and make sure all of the powerpoints were posted. Also, if you are interested, you can look at the review sheet for my MGT 480 class which covers roughly the same materials (they don't get to do the cases, the exercises or the audit) in terms of the lectures. However, they seem to be having problems with the ASM server, so I will try and post the link a little later.
Friday, April 02, 2004
Just a quick correction. I mistakenly attributed a cite in yesterday's post to Glenn Reynolds. It was his blog, but he has been letting the brilliant Larry Lessig of Stanford and Eldred v. Ashcroft fame sit in as a guest blogger. Larry has three well-written and informative books dealing with the Internet and intellectual property, all of which I would highly recommend (except Free Culture and only because I have ordered it from Amazon, but haven't read it yet. The safe bet is that it is very, very good). Larry had another great post today on the Canadian court decision that Jay posted about on Wednesday. As a side bar, after having the courage to take on the Eldred case, Larry now is blaming himself for the eventual (negative) decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. I read the briefs (I actually almost went to the oral arguments) and I think the problem was with the justices and not with the advocate. However, that is only an opinion.
For those of you who are interested in yesterday's reference group discussion, I wanted to provide some additional information. For a fairly in depth look from an academic perspective, this article has a lengthy section on the development of reference group theory. The SyKronix site has a good overview, and is a good general resource for any marketing classes that you might have.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Nice post, Jay. I will admit to being somewhat fascinated with online music distribution but I think it makes a great consumer behavior topic. Glenn Reynolds, a blogger and U. of Tennessee Law professor had a very interesting blog on this issue. He also includes a link to the results of an academic study that finds online file sharing has no net effect on music purchasing. If reliable (my first quick read is that the piece seems very sound, but that is only based on a very preliminary look and is only an opinion, in any event), this gives us some interesting insights regarding consumer behavior and file sharing vs. purchasing.
