Chapter 5 Attention and Comprehension

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING STRATEGY

by

J. Paul Peter & Jerry C. Olson

Fifth Edition

Irwin McGrawhill Companies

Copyright 1999 

United States

The Power of Packaging

The American supermarket is one of the most visually dense, information-filled environments to be found any where. Supermarkets have as many as 30,000 products on the shelves, each containing many items of information. There are very few salespeople in a supermarket; most selling is done through packaging. Packages are an indispensable part of modern life omni-present, yet invisible, deplored (as pollutants) and ignored (as peripheral to the products). Because of packaging and the sheer number of products, supermarkets contain much more information than anyone can possibly attend to and comprehend during a shopping trip. No wonder many people seem to enter a trance like state as they quickly move through a supermarket, not noticing much of the information that surrounds them. The paradox of packaging is that very visual complexity that threatens to overwhelm consumers is precisely the reason package design is so crucial.

The acknowledged pioneer in studying consumers reactions to packaging was Louis Cheskin, who began studying packaging in the 1930s. In a key experiment, Cheskin put an identical product into two different packages, one with circles and the other with triangles. He did not ask consumers which package they preferred, but rather which product they liked best. Eighty percent preferred the product in the circle package because they said it was of higher quality. Cheskin didn’t believe the results at first, but after running experiments with over 1,000 people he accepted that most consumers transferred the meaning they got from the circle package to their judgment of the product inside the package. Essentially Cheskin concluded that people indeed judge a book by its cover. The look of package certainly has a huge impact on consumers perception of how well the beer or cola refreshes, a soap cleans, and a cracker tastes.

In the supermarket arena, packages serve several functions. First, packages are designed for shelf impact they must attract consumers attention Getting consumers attention is critical, because if that doesn’t happen, nothing else will draw them to a product.

Once a package gains a measure of attention, it must communicate the desired set of meanings to the consumer. According to Stan Gross, a marketing consultant to many companies, the most common failure of packages is that they fail to communicate the right things to consumers. At the simplest level, the package should quickly be recognized as a certain type of product, but other types of meaning are important, too. The marketer may want consumers to comprehend or understand certain product attributes and functional consequences of using the product. For instance, in the late 1960s, Mueller’s subtly changed how their macaronin package framed the pasta through the clear plastic “window”. The new package surrounded the window with white, rather than black as on the old package, thus accentuating its “engines.” Sales rose 8 percent after the packaging change.

Many packages are designed to communicate even more abstract, symbolic meanings associated with consumers deepest needs and values. Consider the label on a can or bottle of V-8 vegetable juice, for instance. The label must clearly state the ingredients, and for decades the label showed the particular vegetables tomato, celery, carrots, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach from which the juice is made. Tomatoes dominate the image, because they are the largest proportion in the juice. Over the years, the horizontal placement of these eight vegetables is used rather than a drawing. The vegetables are beautiful and picture perfect as you might expect, but color is the key to their effectiveness. Rather than use a four color process to print the labels, V-8 uses a more expensive, five color process that depicts the vegetables with a more vivid and purer hue. The illustration, therefore, is somehow more “compelling.” It communicates at some deep level, that the product contains very high quality materials and is especially healthy, energizing and refreshing. The use of color on the V-8 package communicates deep meanings that “speak” directly to consumer basic needs.

Sources: Thomas Hine, “What You Don’t Know About What You Buy,”The philadelphia inquirer Magazine, April 2. 1995,pp.17-24; Thomas Hine, The Total Package (Boston Little, Brown, 1995).

This example illustrate the importance to marketers of understanding consumers exposure to marketing informations as well as their attention to and comprehension of that information. The example also illustrates the subtle ‘effects of consumers’ exposure and attention to and comprehension of packaging information. The wheel of Consumer Analysis provides an overall perspective for understanding exposure, attention and comprehension. Consumers everyday environment contains a great deal of information, large parts of which  are created through marketing strategies. For example, marketers modify consumers environments by creating advertisements and placing them on TV. For the advertisements to be effective, consumers must come in contact with them. Exposure often occurs through consumers own behaviors they turn on the TV and switch to a favorite show. Once exposed, consumers must attend to and comprehend the advertisements (affective responses and cognitive interpretations).

Exhibit 5.1

Consumers’ Cognitive Processes Involved in Interpretation

Exposure to environmental information
Interpretation Processes	Cognitive processes
Attention Comprehension	Memory
Knowledge, meanings and beliefs	Knowledge, meanings and beliefs
Integration processes
Attitudes and intentions Decision making
Behavior

In this chapter, we continue our examination of the affect and cognition portion of the Wheel of Consumer Analysis. We will consider the interpretation process, a key cognitive process in our general model of consumers cognition shown in Exhibition 5.1 First we examine how consumers become exposed to marketing information. Then we discuss attention processes by which consumers select certain information in the environment to be interpreted. Finally, we examine the comprehension process by which consumers construct meanings to represent this information, organize them into knowledge structures and store them in memory. We emphasize the reciprocal interactions between attention and comprehension and the knowledge, meanings, and beliefs in memory. Throughout the chapter, we discuss the implications of these interpretation processes for developing marketing strategy.

Although we discuss attention and comprehension separately, the boundary between the two processes is not very distinct. Rather, attention shades off into comprehension. As interrelated processes of interpretation, attention and comprehension serve the same basic function of the cognitive system to construct personal, subjective interpretations or meanings that make sense of the environment and one’s own behaviors. This knowledge can then be used in subsequent interpretation and integration processes to guide consumers behaviors and help them get along in their environments.

Before beginning our analysis, we briefly review four important aspects of the cognitive system that influence how consumers interpret information.

·         Interpretation involves interactions between knowledge in memory and information from the environment. The incoming environmental information activates relevant knowledge in memory, which could be either schema or script knowledge structures.

·         The activated knowledge influences how consumers attend to information and comprehend its meaning.

·         Because their cognitive system have a limited capacity, consumers can consciously attend to and comprehend only small amounts of information at a time.

·         Much attention and comprehension processing occurs quickly and automatically with little or no conscious awareness. For instance, simple interpretations such as recognizing a familiar product occur automatically and virtually instantly upon exposure, without any conscious awareness of comprehension. Automatic processing has the obvious advantage of keeping our limited cognitive capacity free for unfamiliar interpretation tasks that do require conscious thought.

Exposure to Information

Although not a part of cognition in a strict sense, exposure to information is critically important for consumers interpretation process. Consumers are exposed to information in the environment, including marketing strategies, primarily through their own behaviors. We can distinguish between two types of exposure to marketing information: purposive or intentional exposure and random or accidental exposure.

Consumers are exposed to some marketing information because of their own intentional, goal directed search behavior. Consumers search for relevant marketing information to help solve a purchasing problem. Before buying a camera, for instance, a consumer might read product evaluations of 35mm cameras in Consumers Reports or photography magazines. Another consumer might ask a friend or a salesperson for advice about which brand of earphones to buy for her Walkman radio.

Most investigations of consumer search behavior have found that levels of intentional exposure to marketing information are rather low. Often, consumers visit only one or two retail stores and consult very few salespersons and external sources of information. This limited search may be surprising until you realize that most consumers already have substantial product related knowledge, meanings and beliefs stored in their memories. If they feel confident in their existing knowledge, or if they feel little involvement with decision (low self relevance), consumers have little motivation to engage in extensive search for information.

Marketing information is everywhere in the consumer oriented environments of most industrialized countries. In the United States for instance advertisements for products and services are found in magazines and newspapers on radio an d TV and bus placards and bus stop shelters and they are increasing. Between 1967 and 1982 the total number of ads doubled; and by 1997 that number was expected to double again. Billboards and signs promoting products, services and retail stores are found along most highways. Stores contain a great deal of marketing information, including signs, point of purchase displays, and advertisements in addition to information on packages. Consumers also receive product information from friends and relatives, from salespersons and occasionally even from strangers.

Typically consumers are not exposed to these types of marketing information through intentional search behavior. Instead, most exposures are random or semi-random events that occur as consumers move through their environments and “accidentally” come into contact with marketing information. For instance, browsing (“just looking”) in stores is a common source of accidental exposure to marketing information. Consumers may discover new products, sales promotion, or new retail outlets when browsing. Some retailers design their store environments to encourage browsing and maximize the amount of time consumers spend in the store, which increases the likelihood they will be exposed to products and make a purchase.

Consumers are seldom intentionally seeking information about products or services when they watch television, yet they are accidentally exposed to many commercials during an evening of TV viewing at home. Highlight 5.1 describes other ways consumers may be exposed to TV ads outside the home. Because consumers probably don’t feel very involved with most of the products promoted in these ads, their attention and comprehension processes are probably not extensive. Even so, increased levels of accidental exposure can have a powerful effect on behaviors. For example, during the Persian Gulf War in early 1991 viewership of CNN skyrocketed to almost twice previous levels (exposure was up as much as 20 times in some time periods). Advertisers on CNN such as 800 Flowers, a New York based company that delivers flowers anywhere in the United States, and Sterling/Range Rover received large increases in accidental exposure to their ads, which also increased their business. For example, 800 Flowers’s business on Valentine’s Day is ussually triple a normal day; but in 1991 orders increased 9 or 10 times. In fact, the company couldn’t handle all the calls received.

Selective Exposure to Information

As the amount of marketing in the environment increases, consumers become more adept at avoiding exposure (some consumers intentionally avoid reading product test reports or talking with salespeople). Or consumers do not maintain accidental exposure to marketing information (some people automatically throw away most junk mail unopened). Such behaviors result in selective exposure to marketing information. Consider the problem marketers are having with consumers exposure to TV commercials. In one simply study, college students observed family members watching TV. Only 47% viewers watched all or almost all of the ads that appeared on ABC, NBC and CBS and about 10 percent left the room.

Current technology enables consumers to control what ads they see on TV more easily than ever before. Thanks to remote controls for TV sets, viewers can turn off the sound or “dial hop” from one station to another during a commercial break. Consumers who have video cassette recorders can fast forward past commercials on taped programs. In advertising circles, these practices are known as zapping and zipping, respectively. In homes with remote controls, the zapping (tune out) factor has been estimated about 10% for the average commercial. Some 20 % of homes contain heavy zappers, who switch channels at the rate of one zap every two minutes. As remote controls have become even more popular, the situation has become even worse. Advertisers who pay media rates based on a full audience (currently $100,000 to $300,000 or more for 30 seconds of prime time on a major network), are worried they are not getting their money’s worth. One of their strategies to combat zapping is to develop commercials that are so interesting and exciting that they won’t be zapped.

Highlight 5.1

“Strange” Exposures to Television Advertising

The basic TV rating service by A.C. Nielsen measures couch potatoes people sitting on their couches watching TV at home. Over the years, Nielsen has improved the way it measures exposure to television programs and advertisements. This includes the use of people meters into which each viewer purchase a personal code to show which people in a family are exposed. But in the United States television is everywhere  in bars, airports, mails, hospitals, college dorms and fraternity sorority houses, even in cars. How many people watch Tv in these environments where they may be exposed to ads?

In 1993, the big three networks commissioned Nielsen to conduct a study to answer this question. The study used a dairy method in which viewers were asked to remember what programs they viewed and where. Based on this research, Nielsen estimated that 28 million or so people were exposed to up to 25 percent of their TV Viewing out of the home. These out of home exposures to television ads were not being counted in the regular TV ratings procedure.

Many though the study was a ploy by the networks to increase viewer numbers and earn more money from advertisers. Although people with this opinion dismissed the findings as “nothing new,” the findings were interesting. Nearly two thirds of out home TV viewing occurred in college and in the workplace. Also, this research showed that certain types of programming had significantly greater viewership than had been measured by the traditional in home method. For instance, including out of home viewership than had been measured by the traditional in home method. For instance, including out of home viewers showed that 3percent more men (aged 13 to 49) watched “NBC Nightly News,” and weekend viewing of network sports programming was 14 percent higher. Late night network viewing by adult women was 14 % higher. Late night network viewing by adult women was 8 percent higher, with “Late Night with David Letterman “receiving a 27 percent increase.

Of course, the Nielsen research did not measure whether people paid attention to the TV programs or the advertising. The same problem occurs with Nielsen’s in home measures. We might expect that people pay less attention to TV programs (and the accompanying ads) in the out of home environment than they do at home.

Source: Cyndee Miller, :Networks Rally around study that shows strong out of home ratings, “Marketing News, April 26, 1993, pp.1,6.

  

Marketing Implication

Because of the crucial importance of exposure, marketers should develop specific strategies to enhance the probability that consumers will be exposed to their information and products. There are three ways to do this: facilitate intentional exposure, maximize accidental exposure, and maintain exposure.

In cases where consumers exposure to marketing information is the result of intentional search, marketers should facilitate intentional exposure by making appropriate marketing information available when and where the consumers want it. For instance, to increase sales, International Business Machines Corporation trains its retail salespeople to answer consumers technical questions on the spot so that they don’t have to wait while the salesperson looks up the answer. Consumers search for information should be made as easy as possible. This requires that marketers anticipate consumers needs for information and device strategies to meet them. Some lumber companies cater to the novice do it yourself market by providing instructional brochures and in store seminars on various building techniques such as how to build a masonry wall or install a storm door.

Obviously, marketers should try to place their information in environmental settings that maximize accidental exposure to the appropriate target groups of consumers. Certain types of retail outlets such as convenience stores, ice cream shops and fast food restaurants should be placed in locations where accidental exposure is high. High traffic locations such as malls, busy intersections and downtown locations are prime spots. Consider the Au Bon Pain Cafes, a growing chain selling gourmet sandwiches, freshly squeezed orange juice, and fresh baked French Bread, muffins, and croissants. Using a saturation distribution strategy, Au Bon Pain has packed 16 stores into downtown Boston; some stores are less than 100 yards apart. In fact, five outlets are inside Feline Department Store. Besides being highly convenient for regular customers, the saturation strategy maximize the chances of accidental exposure. The thousands of busy commuters leaving Boston’s South Station can hardly avoid walking by an Au Bon Pain Café. Consumer awareness levels in Boston are high, although the company has never advertised.”It’s like having an outdoor billboard in every block; the stores themselves are a substitute for ads.”

When it comes to gaining consumer exposure to its new products, few companies can surpass Disney. Consider a movie like Toy Story. Disney exposed consumers (kids and adults) to information about Toy Story through the Disney channel, in Disney retail stores, in the Disney catalog, the Disney web site and through powerful cross promotions with partners such as Burger King. With all these resources, Disney has computed that it can create 425 million potential exposures to any new project over a three month period, and that figure does not include paid advertising or free publicity in the news media.

Most media strategies are intended to maximize accidental exposure to a firms advertisements. Media planners must carefully select a mix of media (magazines, billboards, radio and TV programming) that maximize the chance the target segment will be exposed to the company’s ads. Solving this very complex problem is crucial to the success of the company’s communication strategy because the ads. Solving this very complex problem is crucial to the success of the company’s communication strategy because the ads cannot have any impact if no one sees them. Be siding inserting ads in the traditional media, companies attempt to increase accidental exposure by placing ads inside taxicabs. In sports stadiums and on boats buses and blimps. Another marketing strategy involves placing several four color ads (for noncompeting products) on grocery store shopping cards. In 1990, these rolling billboards were in some 13,000 supermarkets. A big advantage of shopping cart ads is the much lower cost compared to the price of TV ads $0.5 per 1,000 exposes compared to about $10 to $20 per 1,000 exposures for network television. Advocates also claim this “reminder advertising” reaches consumers at the critical point when they make a purchase choice (an estimated 65 to 80 percent of brand buying decisions occur in the supermarket).

A long standing strategy to increase accidental exposure to a brand is to get it into the movies, but many companies are trying to place their brands in TV shows even greater exposure. Sometimes actors mention brand names on TV. Typically, these exposures are not paid for; they are just part of the new realism in television. For instance, on the Show “Seinfeld”, Jerry’s kitchen cabinets have boxes of cereal in plain view. It is illegal for marketers to pay to place a product on TV unless the payment is disclosed, but it is OK to provide products free to be used as props. For instance, many TV shows clearly show the makes and models of automobiles. Marketers may hire a company that specializes in placing products in movies and on TV in the hope of exposing their brands to millions of viewers.

A company’s distribution strategy plays the key role in creating accidental exposure to products. Distribution is to products such as beer, cigarettes, chewing gum and potato chips what location is to fast food restaurants it’s nearly everything. Obviously if the product is not on the grocery store shelves, at the checkout counter, or in the vending machine, the consumer cannot be exposed at the point of purchase and sales will suffer.

Maximum exposure at the retail level is not desirable for all products, through. For instance, Burberry all weather coats (with the distinctive plaid lining) or Bang & Olafson stereo systems (made in Denmark) are sold only in a few exclusive, high quality stores. Exposure is controlled by using a highly selective distribution strategy. In sum, one of the most important functions of a company’s distribution strategy is to create the appropriate level of exposure to the product.

Other marketing strategies are intended to maintain exposure once it has begun. Television advertisements, for instance, must generate enough attention and interest so that the consumer will maintain exposure for 30 seconds rather than zap the ad,turn to a magazine, or leave the room to go to the kitchen for a snack. One tactic is to use distinctive sounds in TV commercials. For example, ads in the “Minds over Money” campaign for Shearson Lehman Brothers incorporated a buzzing, droning background sound that gradually grew louder every second, supposedly to represent the sound of a thought. Apparently the device did help maintain exposure to the ad because consumer awareness of the company increased by 50 percent over a three year period. As another example, IKEA, the Swedish furniture retailer, encourages browsing by providing iots of real life furniture settings in its huge stores. IKEA also provides baby sitting, restaurants and snack bars t5hat serve Swedish specialties at low prices. A key goal is to maximize the amount of time consumers spend in the store, which maintains their exposure to the products and increases the likelihood they will make a purchase.

Attention Processes

Once consumers are exposed to marketing information, whether accidentally or through their own intentional behaviors, the interpretation processes of attention and comprehension begin. In this section, we discuss attention, levels of attention, and factors affecting attention and we describe several marketing strategies that can influence consumers attention.

What does it mean for a consumer to attend to a marketing stimulus such a newspaper ad, a display in a store, or clerk’s sales pitch? First, attention implies selectivity. Attending to certain information involves selecting it from a large set of information and ignoring other information. Consider the cognitive processes of shoppers in a crowded, noisy department store. They must selectively attend to conversations with salespersons, attend to certain products and brands, read labels and signs and so on. At the same time, they must ignore other stimuli in the environment. Selective attention is highly influenced by the goals that are activated in a situation.

Attention also connotes awareness and consciousness. To attend to a stimulus ussually means being conscious of it. Attention also suggests intensity and arousal. Consumers must be somewhat alert and aroused to consciously attend to something, and their level of alertness influences how intensively they process the information. If you have ever tried to study when you were very tired, you know about the importance of arousal. If your level of arousal is very low, you might drift off sleep while trying to read a text chapter (not this one, we hope!). When arousal is low, attention and comprehension suffer.

Exhibit 5.2

Levels of Attention

Preconscious attention	Focal attention
1.      Uses activated knowledge from long-term memory      2.      No conscious awareness      3.      Automatic process      4.      Uses little or no cognitive capacity       5.      More likely for familiar, frequently encountered concepts, with well learned memory representations       6.      More likely for concepts of low to moderate importance or involvement	1.      Uses activated knowledge from long term memory     2.      Conscious awareness     3.      Controlled process     4.      Uses some cognitive capacity     5.      More likely for novel, unusual, infrequently encountered concepts, with well learned memory representations     6.      More likely for concepts of high importance or involvement

 

Variations in Attention

Attention processes vary along a continuum from a highly automatic, unconscious level called preciousness attention to a controlled, conscious level called focal attention. As a consumers interpretation processes shift from precociousness attention toward focal attention, greater cognitive capacity is needed and the consumer gradually becomes more conscious of selecting and paying attention to a stimulus. At a focal level, attention is largely controlled by the consumer, who decides which stimuli to attend to and comprehend based on what goals are activated. As attention processes reach focal levels, comprehension begins to involve sense making processes for constructing meaning. Exhibit 5.2 summarizes these differences in levels of attention.

As an example of these levels of attention, consider the shopping cart ads described earlier. How well do they work? ACTMEDIA, a dominant company in the industry, claims cart ads increased sales of advertised brands by an average of 8 percent. But other research found rather low levels of attention to these ads. For instance, one study interviewed shoppers in stores with the cart ads. Only about 60 percent of these shoppers were aware of ever having seen any cart ads. Apparently the other 40 percent of shoppers did not attend to the ads beyond a precociousness level, even though they were exposed to the ads (they had the opportunity to see them). In addition, only 18 percent of the interviewed shoppers were aware of seeming any ads on that particular shopping occasion. Presumably these consumers processed the ads at relatively low level of focal attention that produced some memory that an ad had been seen but not enough to make the consumers aware of the brand. Only 7 percent of the interviewed shoppers could name any brands advertised on their carts. Only these few consumers processed the ads at a sufficiently high level of focal attention to comprehend the brand names of the advertised brands and create a strong memory for them. In Sum, these results question the effectiveness of shopping cart ads. In the crowded information environment of the supermarket, most consumers do not pay much attention to ads, even those on their grocery carts.

Most researches assume that consumers cognitive system respond to all stimuli that receive some level of attention, whether preconscious or focal. The affective system also responds to attended stimuli. Affective responses can range from simple evaluations (good/bad) to strong feelings (disgust) to emotions (joy or anger). As interpretation process move toward focal levels of attention, affective responses usually become more intense, and consumers become more conscious of their affective states.

Factors Influencing Attention

Many factors can influence consumer attention to marketing information. In this section we discuss three particularly important influences consumers general affective state, consumers involvement with the information and the prominence of the information in the environment. We also discuss how marketers can try to influence consumers attention to marketing information by influencing their involvement and by making the information more prominent.

Affective States

Consumers affective arousal can influence their attention processes. As discussed earlier, low arousal reduces the amount and intensity of attention. In contrast, a state of high affective arousal is thought to narrow consumers focus of attention and make attention more selective. Some affective states that are responses to specific stimuli or situations are considered part of involvement. These are discussed in the next section. Other affective states like moods are diffuse and general and are not related to any particular stimulus. These affective states can also influence attention. For instance, consumers who are in a bad (or good) mood are more likely to notice negative (or positive) aspects of their environment. Another example concerns whether consumers general affective responses to happy and sad TV programs influence their cognitive reactions to the TV commercials shown on those programs.

Involvement

The level of involvement felt by a consumer is determined by the means end chain activated from memory, related affective responses and arousal level. Involvement is a motivational states that guides the selection of stimuli for local attention and comprehension. For instance, consumers who experience high involvement because of an intense need (Joe desperately needs a new pair of shoes for a wedding in two days) tend to focus their attention on marketing stimuli that are relevant to their needs.

A consumers involvement is determined by a combination of situational and intrinsic self relevance. Thus people who find photography to be intrinsically self-relevant are more likely to notice and attend to ads for photo products. Or the involvement generated by actively considering the purchase of a new refrigerator influences consumers to notice and attend to ads and sales announcements for refrigerators. On occasion, marketing strategies (contests, sales, price deals) can create a temporary state of involvement that influences consumers attention to stimuli in that situation.

Sometimes, marketers can take advantage of situational sources of self relevance. For instance, a magazine called Rx Being Well, distributed to some 150,000 physicians offices, bases its marketing startegy on the situational self relevance of being in a doctor office. The magazine is promoted  to advertisers of health care products as an ideal medium to “reach consumers when they are most receptive. People in waiting rooms aren’t just waiting. They are thinking about their health. You ‘ll be reaching consumers right  before they go to drugstores or supermarkets with pharmacies where they’ll see remember and buy your product.

Environmental Prominence

The stimuli associated with marketing strategies can also influence consumers attention. However, not every marketing stimulus is equally likely to activate relevant knowledge structures, receive attention and be comprehended. In general, the most prominent marketing stimuli are most likely to attract attention; hence, marketers usually try to make their stimuli prominent features in the environment. For instance, some wine companies have created bright blue bottles, or unusually colorful labels, to attract consumers attention in the store. To capture consumers attention, some radio and TV commercials are slightly louder than the surrounding program material, and the smells of baking products are exhausted from bakeries onto sidewalks or into malls. Highlight 5.2 describes how large balloons can influence attention and generate increased sales.

Highlight 5.2

Big Balloons Attract Both Attention and Controversy

Businesses love them but town politicians are out to get those giant balloons shaped like goofy blue elephants, menacing King Kongs, and huge purple dinosaurs that fly from rooftops and parking areas to lure customers to stores, malls and auto dealers. Balloons are proven attention getter that can also drive sales. A Chrysler Plymouth dealer in Minnesota claims that flying a clown  Godzilla balloon over his dealership is a sure fire bboost to sales. Whenever the operator of a General Nutrition store in Texas filled a 30 foot parrot balloon, sales increase from to 10 to 15 percent.

But hundreds of communities have banned the over size balloons, calling them eyesores. One enterprising balloon business gets around the legal issue by renting balloons for the weekend, installing a balloon on Friday afternoon and removing it early Monday morning. By the time town officials notice the balloon, it is gone.

Balloons face other problems, including vandals (arrow have been known to do in more than one balloon and thieves. When a $3,000 inflated jack o lantern balloon was stolen from the roof of the Nightmare Factory, a haunted house amusement in Austin, Texas, the owner estimated that the loss of the balloon cost him at least 2,000 customers. “It really underscored to me how important that pumpkin was in helping people find our place. “Eventually, the balloon was recovered and is back in place attracting the attention of potential customers.

Sources: Rodney Ho, “Retailers Love Big Balloons, but others try to pop them,”The Wall Street Journal, October 7, 1997, pp.B1,B2. Reprinted by permission of the Wall Street Journal, copyright 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Marketing Implications

Marketers have developed many strategies to gain (or maintain) consumers attention to their marketing information. Basically these strategies involve increasing consumers involvement with the marketing information and or making the marketing information more prominent in the environment. Influencing involvement requires attention to intrinsic and situational self relevance.

Intrinsic Self Relevance

In the short run, marketers have little ability to control consumers intrinsic self-relevance for a product. Therefore, the usual strategy is to understand consumers existing intrinsic self relevance (the relationship between a product and the consumers self-concept). First, marketers should identify, through research or guessing, the product consequences and values consumers consider most self-relevant. Then marketers should design strategies that will activate those meanings and link them to the product. The involvement thus produced should motivate consumers to attend to this information and interpret it more fully.

For instance, marketers of antiperspirants often emphasize qualities such as “stops odor” and “stops wetness” rational and fairly tangible functional consequences of using the product. The marketers of Sure deodorant, however, identified two more self-relevant and emotionally motivating consequences of using their products social confidence and avoiding embarassment. They communicated these psychosocial consequences in an ad campaign, “Raise your hand if you’re sure,”that showed coat-less consumers in social situations raising their arms and not being embarrased by damp spots on their clothing. In a similar example, the marketers of vaseline Intensive Care lotion identified a consequence that represented the key meaning of many consumers’ intrinsic self-relevance with the hand lotion product category. While Touch of Sweden discussed their brand’s grease less formula. Vaseline marketers promoted skin restoration. They communicated the implied psychosocial consequence of “looking younger” in ads showing dried-up leaves before and after being rejuvenated with Intensive Care lotion.

Situational Self Relevance

All marketing strategies involve creating or modifying aspects of consumers environments. Some of these environmental stimuli may act as situational sources of self relevance (a temporary association between a product and important self-relevant consequences). Situational self relevance generates higher levels of involvement and motivation to attend to marketing information. Consider consumers who receive a brochure in the mail describing a $ 1 million sweep takes contest sponsored by a magazine publisher. This marketing information might generate feelings of excitement and perceptions of interest and personal relevance with the details of the contest. The resulting involvement could motivate consumers to maintain exposure and focus their attention on the marketing offer for magazine subscriptions that accompany the sweep takes announcement.

Factors Affecting Environmental Prominence

Marketers attemp to influence the prominence of their marketing information by designing bright, colorful,or unusual packages; by developing novel advertising executions; or by setting unique prices (having a sale on small items, all priced at 88 cents). Because they must attract the attention of consumers hurrying by the newsstand, magazine covers often feature photos known to have high attention value pictures of celebrities, babies, or dogs, or pictures using that old standby, sex (attractive, seductively clothed models).

Vivid pictorial images can attract consumers attention and help focus it on the product. Nike, for instance, places powerful graphic portrayals of athletes (wearing Nike clothes and shoes, of course) on large billboards. Window displays in retail stores attract the attention (and subsequent interest) of consumers who happen to pass by. Tiffany’s the famous New York jeweler, once used a window display showing construction of a giant doll, four times larger than the figures who were working on it. The doll had nothing to do with jewelry; it was intended to attract the attention of shoppers during the Christmas season. Many stores use creative lighting to emphasize selected merchandise and thus attract and focus consumers attention on their products. Mirrors are used in clothing shops and hair salons to focus consumers attention on their appearance.

Novel or unusual stimuli that don’t fit with the consumers expectations may be “selected” for additional attention (and comprehension processing to figure out what they are). For instance, a British ad agency created a dramatic stimulus to attract attention to the staying qualities of an adhesive called Alliterate. The product was used to attach a car to a billboard along a major road into London. The caption read, “It also sticks handles to teapots.

 

Even a novel placement of a print ad on a page can influence consumers attention. For instance, Sisley, a manufacturer and retailer of trendy clothing owned by Benetton, has run its print ads in an upside-down position on the back pages of magazines like Elle and Outdoors. Other marketers have experimented with ads placed sideways, in the center of a page surrounded by edit rial content, or spanning the top half of two adjacent pages.

Marketers must be careful in using novel and unusual stimuli over long periods, though because over time the prominence due to novelty wears off and fails to attract extra attention. For instance, placing a black-white ad in a magazine where all other ads are in color capture will capture consumers attention only as long as few other black and white ads are present.

The strategy of trying to capture consumer attention by making stimuli more prominent sometimes backfires. When many marketers are trying very hard to gain attention, consumers may tune most of the stimuli out, giving little thought to any of them. Consider the “miracle mile strips” of fast food restaurants, gas stations and discount stores each with a large sign that line highways in many American cities. Individually, each sign is large, bright, colorful, and vivid. Together the signs are cluttered and none is particularly prominent in the environment. Consumers find it easy to ignore individual signs and their attention (and comprehension) levels are likely to be low. Unfortunately the typical marketing strategy is to make even larger and more garish signs in the hope of becoming a slightly more prominent stimulus in the environment. The clutter gets worse, consumers attention decreases further and communities become outraged and pass ordinances limiting signs.

Clutter is also relevant for print and television advertising (too many commercials during program breaks). To cut the ad clutter found in most magazines, Whittle Communications limits the number of ads that can be put it to its magazines. While has developed more than 40 magazines targeted at rather narrow audiences, including GO (Girls Only) for girls ages 11 to 14 and in view for college age women. In fact, some of the magazines have only one advertiser, thus maximizing possibilities of exposure and attention to that company’s marketing messages.

Comprehension

Comprehension refers to the interpretation processes by which consumers understand or make sense of their own behaviors and relevant aspects of their environment. In this section we discuss the comprehension process, variations in comprehension, and the factors that influence comprehension. We conclude by discussing implications for developing marketing strategy.

During comprehension, consumers construct meanings and form knowledge structures that represent relevant concepts, objects, behaviors and events. When consumers attention is focused on specific environmental stimuli, relevant knowledge structures  (schema s and scripts) may be activated from long-term memory. This knowledge provides a framework that guides and directs comprehension processing. Thus the environmental stimuli are interpreted in terms of one’s “old” knowledge that is activated from memory. Through cognitive learning processes (accretion or tuning, sometimes restructuring) these newly constructed meanings are incorporated into existing knowledge structures in memory. Then in future occasions, these modified knowledge structures might be activated to influence the interpretation of new information and the comprehension process continues.

Variations in Comprehension

As shown in Exhibit 5.3 consumers comprehension processes can vary in four important ways: (1) comprehension may be automatic or controlled, (2) it may produce more concrete or abstract meanings, (3) it may produce few or many meanings and (4) it may create weaker or stronger memories.

Automatic Processing

Like attention, simple comprehension processes tend to be automatic. For instance, most consumers around the world who see a can of Coca-Cola or a McDonald's restaurant immediately comprehend “Coke”or McDonald’s”. We can think of the direct recognition of familiar products as a simple comprehension process in that exposure to a familiar object automatically activities its relevant meanings from memory perhaps its name and other associated knowledge. Thus the person, “recognizes”the object.

In contrast comprehending less familiar stimuli usually requires more conscious thought and control. Because consumers do not have well developed knowledge structures for unfamiliar objects and events, they may have to consciously construct the meanings of such information (or else intentionally ignore it). Exposure to completely unfamiliar stimuli is likely to activate knowledge structures that are only partially relevant at best. In such cases, comprehension is likely to be highly conscious and controlled and require substantial cognitive capacity. Interpretations may be difficult and uncertain.

Level

The specific meanings that consumers construct to represent products and other marketing information in their environment depend on the level comprehension that occurs during interpretations. Comprehension can vary along a continuum from “shallow”to”deep. Shallow comprehension produces meanings at a concrete, tangible level. For example, a consumer could interpret a product in terms of its concrete product attributes (These running shoes are black, size 10 and made of leather and nylon).

In contrast, deep comprehension produces more abstract meanings that represent less tangible, more subjective and more symbolic concepts. For instance, deep comprehension of product information might create meanings about the functional consequences of product use (“I can run faster in these shoes”) or the psychosocial and value consequences (“I feel confident when I wear these shoes”). From means end perspective, deeper comprehension processes generate product related meanings that are self-relevant, whereas shallow comprehension processes tend to produce meanings about concrete product attitudes.

Exhibit 5.3

Variations in Comprehension

Automatic Processing
Highly automatic; little conscious awareness	More controlled; high levels of awareness
Level
Shallow; focus on concrete tangible meanings	Deep; focus on more abstract meanings
Elaboration
Less elaborate; fewer meanings	More elaborate; more meanings
Memorability
Lower recall; weaker memory	Greater recall; stronger memory

 

Elaboration

Comprehension processes also vary in their extensiveness or elaboration. The degree of elaboration during comprehension determines the amount of knowledge or the number of meanings produced as well as the complexity of the interconnections between those meanings. Less elaborate (simpler) comprehension produces relatively few meanings and requires little cognitive effort, conscious control and cognitive capacity. More elaborate comprehension requires greater cognitive capacity, effort and control of the thought processes. More elaborate comprehension produces a greater number of meanings that tend to be organized as more complex knowledge structures (sachems or scripts).

Memorability

Both the level and elaboration of comprehension processes influence consumers ability to remember the meanings created during comprehension. Deeper comprehension processes create more abstract, more self relevant meanings that tend to be remembered better (higher levels of recall and recognition) than the more concrete meanings created by shallow comprehension processes. More elaborate comprehension processes create greater numbers of meanings that tend to be interconnected in knowledge structures. Memory is enhanced because the activation of one meaning can spread to other connected meanings and bring them to conscious awareness. In sum, marketing strategies that stimulate consumers to engage in deeper, more elaborate comprehension processes tend to produce meanings and knowledge that consumers remember better.

Inferences During Comprehension

When consumers engage in deep, elaborate comprehension processes they create inferences. Inferences are knowledge or beliefs that are not based on explicit information in the environment. That is, inferences are interpretations that always go beyond the information given. For instance, some consumers might infer that a product is of good quality because it is advertised heavily on TV. Highlight 5.3 concerns consumers inferences about the Good Housekeeping seal.

Inferences play a large role in the construction of means end chains. By making inferences during comprehension, consumers can link meanings about the physical attributes of a product with more abstract meanings about its functional consequences and perhaps the psychosocial and value consequences of product use.

Inferences are heavily influenced by consumers existing knowledge in memory. If activated during comprehension, relevant knowledge provides a basis for forming inferences. For instance, consumers who believe that more expensive brands of chocolate are higher in quality than cheaper brands are likely to infer that Godiva chocolates are high quality when they learn that chocolates cost more than $20 per pound. As another example, incomplete or missing product information sometimes prompts consumers to form inferences to “fill in the blanks” based on their schemes of knowledge acquired from past experience. For instance, consumers who are highly knowledgeable about clothing styles may be able to infer the country of origin and even the designer of a coat or dress merely by noticing a few details.

Highlight 5.3

Inferences about the Good Housekeeping seal

The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval has been around for more than 88 years. In 1997, the company updated the seal for the first time in 35 years. Some say the new seal is “more contemporary, more energetic, more bold or radical,”whereas others call it”….a mistake the type doesn’t fit into the oval.”Just what does the seal mean to consumers and does anyone care?

The Good Housekeeping seal is more than a stamp of approval for products it is a legal warranty. Good Housekeeping magazine promises to provide a replacement of refund if any product bearing the seal is found to be defective within two years of purchase. With the new seal design, Good Housekeeping extended the warranty period from one year to two. The magazine delivers on this promise several hundred times a year.

To use the seal, a company must firs: buy at least one page of black and white advertising in Good Housekeeping at a cost in 1997 of $132,355. Advertisers can use the Good Housekeeping seal in their ads and on their packages, free of charge, for a 12 month period. But, first the product must meet the standards of the Good Housekeeping Institute, a product testing lab founded in 1990 by Good Housekeeping magazine. With departments specializing in engineering, chemistry, food, food appliances, nutrition, beauty products, home care products and textiles the institute can evaluate almost any product. The institute is not a rubber stamp; it is quite careful in evaluating potential products and sometimes denies products for approval. (You can take a virtual tour of the Institute and see what types of product information it provides to consumers at http://homearts.com/gh/toc/osinstit.htm)

Is it advantageous to have the Good Housekeeping seal on your product? Well, probably. First, most American consumers have been exposed to the seal, either through ads or on packages. Good Housekeeping cites research showing that 92 percent of American women are familiar with the seal and almost all of them have positive feelings about it. As one of the product testing organizations, the seal has a rarefied status in consumer culture, having graced thousands of product packages since its inception in 1909. However, cultural changes in the American market may work against the seal, because woman dominated households that mainly shop in supermarkets are on the decline and people in general are relying less on brand name products.

What is your opinion of the new Good Housekeeping seal? If consumers notice the seal, what inferences do you think they will form? Does the Good Housekeeping seal add value to a product?

Source: Anonymous, “Marketing: In Which We Bash a Baby Seal,”Fortune, September 8, 1997, pp.36-37; the Good Housekeeping Web site at http://www.goodhousekeeping.com.

Consumers often use tangible, concrete product attributes as cues in making inferences about more abstract attributes, consequences and values. In highly familiar situations, these inferences may be made automatically without much conscious awareness. For instance, some consumers draw inferences about the cleaning power of a powdered laundry detergent from its color: Blue and white granules seem to connote cleanliness. Or consumers could base inferences about product quality from physical characteristics of the package: The color, shape, and material of cologne bottles are important cues to quality inferences. As another example, Hershey sells a premium priced candy bar. Golden Almond, wrapped in gold foil, a packaging cue that implies quality to many consumers.

Marketers sometimes try to stimulate consumers to form inferences during comprehension. For example, Kellog’s once used an advertising strategy for All Bran with the headline, at last, some news about cancer you can live with. “The ads repeated the National Cancer Institute’s recommendation for increasing levels of fiber in the diet and then stated “no cereal has more fiber” than All Bran. Apparently Kellogs hoped consumers would make the inference that the product attribute of high fiber leads to the desirable consequence of reduced risk of cancer. Most consumers probably then formed additional inferences that reduced risk of cancer helps to achieve the universal values of long life, health and happiness. For most consumers, such self relevant consequences probably elicit favorable affective responses.

Factors Influencing Comprehension

Many factors affect the depth and elaboration of comprehension that occurs when consumers interpret marketing information. In this section, we examine three important influences consumers existing knowledge in memory, their involvement at the time of exposure and various aspects of the environment during exposure.

Knowledge in Memory

Consumers ability to comprehend marketing information is largely determined by their existing knowledge in memory. The particular knowledge, meanings and beliefs that are activated in a given comprehension situation determine the level of comprehension that will occur and the comprehended meanings that are produced.

Marketing researchers often discuss consumers knowledge in terms of expertise or familiarity. Expert consumers are quite familiar with a product category, product forms, and specific brands. They tend to posses substantial amounts of declarative and procedural knowledge organized in sachems and scripts. When parts of this knowledge are activated, these expert consumers are able to comprehend marketing information at relatively deep, elaborate levels.

In contrast, novice consumers have little prior experience or familiarity with the product or brand. They tend to have poorly organized knowledge structures containing relatively few, typically shallow meanings and beliefs. When parts of these knowledge structures are activated during exposure to marketing information, novices are able to comprehend the information only at shallow and none elaborate levels that procedure relatively few concrete meanings. Novices find it difficult, if not impossible to comprehend at a deep elaborate level. To do so they would have to increase their knowledge to approach the level of an expert. Highlight 5.4 describes the difficulties many consumers have in comprehending the instruction manuals that accompany many products.

Marketers need to understand the existing knowledge structures of their target audience in order to develop effective marketing strategies that consumers can comprehend. For instance, the S.C. Johnson Company, manufacturer of Raid and other bug killers, knows that most consumers have limited technical knowledge about how insecticides work. Instead of technical information, “the customer wants to see action. The company’s formulation for Raid bug spray allows consumers to immediately comprehend that the product works effectively. It attracts cockroaches central nervous systems and drives them into a frenzy out onto the kitchen floor, where they race around in circles before they die.

Involvement

Consumers involvement at the time of exposure has a major influence on their motivation to comprehend marketing information. Consumers with high intrinsic self relevance for certain products associate those products with personally relevant consequences and values that are central to their self concept. The involvement experienced when such self relevant knowledge structures are activated motivates these consumers to process the information in a more conscious, intensive, and controlled manner. For instance, consumers who feel highly involved tend to form deeper, more abstract meanings for the marketing information, creating more elaborate knowledge structures. In contrast, consumers who experience low levels of involvement when exposed to marketing information tend to find the information uninteresting and irrelevant. Because of their low motivation to interpret the information, their attention probably will be low and they are likely to produce few meanings (low elaboration) at a relatively shallow, concrete level. Their comprehension processes might produce onjly a simple identification response (this is a pair of socks).

Exposure Environment

Various aspects of the exposure situation or environment can affect consumers opportunity to comprehend marketing information. These include factors such as time pressure, consumers affective states (a good or bad mood), and distractions (noisy, pushing crowds). For intance, consumers who are in a hurry and under a lot of time pressure don’t have much opportunity to process marketing information even though they may be motivated to do so (high involvement). In this situational environment, they are likely to engage in relatively shallow and nonelaborate comprehension.

Marketers can consider these environmental factors when designing their marketing strategies. Some retailers for instance, have created a relaxed. Slow paced environment that encourages people to slow down and throughly comprehend the information marketers make available. For instance, Ralph Lauren Polo store in carpets and warm lighting fixtures that seems to stimulate an elegant English manor house. In addition this environment helps create the desired images for the casually elegant clothing Lauren designs and sells.

Marketing Implications

To develop effective marketing strategies, marketers need to understand consumers comprehension processes in order to design marketing information that will be interpreted appropriately. This requires a consideration of the characteristics of the target consumers and the environment in which consumers are exposed to the information.

Knowledge and Involvement

To encourage appropriate comprehension processing, marketers should design their messages to fit consumers ability and motivation to comprehend (their knowledge structures and involvement). For instance, marketers of high involvement products such as luxury cars ussually want consumers to form self-relevant meanings about their products. Many of the U.S. print ads for Saab, BMW, or Mercedez Benz: contain a great deal of information deserbing technical attributes and functional aspects of the cars. To comprehend this information at a deep elaborate level, consumers must have fairly sophisticated knowledge about automobiles and sufficient involvement to motivate extensive comprehension processes.

For other types of products, however, marketers may not want consumers to engage in extensive comprehension processes. Sometimes marketers are interested in creating only simple, nonelaborate meanings about their products. For example, simple products  (cologne or beer) are promoted largely through image advertising which is not meant to be comprehended deeply or elaborately. Consider the typical advertisement for cigarettes or soft drinks. Often these ads contain virtually no written information beyond a brief slogan such as “Come to Marlboro country“ or “Coke is it.”Most consumers probably comprehend such information in a non elaborate way that produces an overall image and perhaps a general affective reaction, but not detailed means end chains. Other ads, such as billboards, are reminders that are mainly intended to activate the brand name and keep it a high level of “top of mind” awareness. In such cases, comprehension might be limited to simple brand recognition.

Remembering

Memory and consumers ability to recall meanings are important to marketers because consumers often to do not make purchase decisions at the time of exposure, attention and comprehension. Marketers usually want consumers to remember certain key meanings associated with their marketing strategies. Marketers usually want consumers to remember certain key meanings associated with their marketing strategies. Marketers hope consumers will remember the brand names and main attributes and benefits (main copy points) conveyed in their ads. Retailers want consumers to remember their names and locations, the types merchandise they carry and dates of a big sale. Despite the millions spent each year on advertising and other marketing strategies, much marketing information is not remembered well. For instance, few advertising slogans are accurately recalled from memory. And, even though some people can remember a slogan, many of them cannot associate it with the right brand name. For instance, 60 percent of consumers recognized the slogan “Never Let Them See You Sweat,”but only 4 percent correctly associated it with Dry Idea deodorant. Although 32 percent recognized “Cars That Make Sense, “only 4 percent associated it with Hyundai.”America’s Business Address” was recognized by 17 percent, but only 3 percent knew it was the slogan for Hilton hotels. Slogans have to be very heavily advertised to be remembered a high scorer was General Electrics “We Bring Good Things to Life.”

Miscomprehension of Marketing Information

Research shows that a substantial amount of marketing (and other) information is miscomprehended in that consumers form inaccurate, confused or inappropriate interpretations. In fact, most (perhaps all) marketing information is probably miscomprehended by at least some consumers. The type of miscomprehension can vary from confusion over similar brand names (see Highlight 5.5 ) to misinterpretating a product claim by forming an inaccurate means end chain. It has been estimated that people may miscomprehend an average of 20 to 25 percent of the many different types of information they encounter, including ads, news reports and so on.

Although unethical marketers may intentionally create deceptive or misleading information that is miscomprehended by consumers, most professional marketers work hard to create marketing information that is understood correctly. For those who do not, the Federal Trade Commission has a program to identify and remove deceptive marketing information and force a company to correct the false beliefs it creates. For instance, in 1991, the Food and Drug Administration demanded that P&G stop using “fresh” on the labels of Citrus Hill orange juice, a processed food.

Exposure Environment

Many aspects of the environment in which exposure to marketing information occurs can influence consumers comprehension processes. For instance, the type of store can affect how consumers comprehend the products and brands sold there. Thus, for some customers, a brand of jeans purchased in a “high image” store like Saks or Bloomingdale’s may have more positive meanings than the same brand bought at Sears or Kmart. Store characteristics such as size, exterior design, or interior decorations can activate networks of meanings that influence consumers comprehension of the meanings of products and brands displayed there.

Another aspect of the exposure environment concerns the actual content and format of the marketing information. Some information may be confusing, unclear and hard to comprehend. For instance, the huge amounts of nutritional information on food products labels and in advertising claims can be difficult for many consumers to comprehend in a meaningful way.

Highlight 5.5

Intentionally Confusing Brand Names

Marketers guard their brand names jealously. Establishing a brand name in consumers minds (making it familiar and meaningful) usually requires a large financial investment. When another manufacturer uses the same brand name or a similar one, companies believe their hard work and creative marketing strategies are being stolen. Lawsuits often result.

For example, Adolph Coors Co,, a beer manufacturer in Golden, Colorado, filed a trade mark infringement suit against Robert Corr, owner of a small Chicago company, Corr’s Natural Beverages, that manufacturers an eight flavor line of “natural sodas”.

The two companies reached an out of court settlement in which Corr’s Natural Beverages agreed to change the name of its product from Corr’s to Robert Corr. Corr, who claimed to be happy with the agreement, said, “It is probably better for us not be associated in consumers minds with a beer company.”

When brand names, package design and other elements of the marketing mix become very similar to competing brands, ethical issues are raised, along with economic and competitve issues. Do you think Robert Corr was behaving unethically in designing his line of soft drinks as he did?

Source: Scott Home, “Of Corr’s There’s a Happy Ending, “Advertising Age, June 11, 1984, p.12.

 “The Power of Packaging”

The opening vigenette described some important consideration in package design for supermarket products. The three processes within the broader interpretation process exposure, attention and comprehension are all relevant to understanding the effects of package design on consumers. Product packages must have the potential for exposure to consumers. That is grocery products must gain a presence (shelf space) in the supermarket. Then, the package design must “catch” consumers attention as they pass by the shelf atea. Finally, the package design must communicate appropriate information about the product, including how it is relevant to consumers needs and goals.

Moreover, the package design must work with different types of consumers who may have different types of consumers who may have different motivations as they move through the store. Some consumers may be seeking a particular product, so the package should be easily recognizeable to them. For consumers who have no intention of looking for a particular product, the package must be “eye catching” That is the package should capture their attention and encourage focal attention along with further processing of the information on the package.

Packages contain a variety of product information, which consumers who attend to the package may comprehend at various levels. At a shallow level, consumers may have a simple recognition response “What is it?” At a somewhat deeper level, consumers might comprehend certain information about product attributes and associated functional consequences. At an even deeper level of comprehension, some packages may stimulate comprehension processing invoving product inferences about psychosocial consequences and basic needs and values the product might satisfy.

By understanding consumers interpretation processes exposure, attention and comprehension marketers can design more effective packages that may be interpreted appropriately by consumers and may influence them to buy.

Summary

In this chapter we discussed the behavioral process of exposure, by which consumers come into contact with marketing information. We also discussed the interrelated cognitive processes of attention, by which consumers select some of this marketing information for further processing and comprehension, by which consumers interpret the meaning of this information.

Exposure to marketing information can occur by accident or as a result of an intentional search for information. Once exposure has occurred, the interpretation processes of attention and comprehension begin. For unfamiliar marketing information, these processes are likely to require some conscious thought. However, as consumers become more experienced in interpreting marketing stimuli, attention and comprehension processes require less cognitive capacity and conscious control and become more automatic. Attention varies from preconscious, automatic levels to focal levels where the comprehension begins. Comprehension varies in the depth of meanings produced (from concrete product attributes to abstract consequences and values) and in elaboration (few or many interrelated meanings). Both factors influence the memorability of the meanings created.

Attention and comprehension are strongly influenced by two internal factors the knowledge structures activated in the exposure situation and the level of consumers involvement. These respective factors influence consumers ability and motivation to interpret the information.

In sum, designing and implementing successful marketing strategies whether price, product, promotion or distribution strategies require that marketers consider three issues associated with these three processes:

1.      How can I maximize and or maintain exposure of the target segment of consumers to my marketing information?

2.      How can I capture and maintain the attention of the target consumers?

3.      How can I influence the target consumers to comprehend my marketing information at the appropriate level of depth and elaboration?

Key Terms and Concepts

Accidental exposure 95                      focal attention 100

Attention 99                                        inferences 108

Comprehension 106                            intentional exposure 95

Elaboration 107                                   level of comprehension 106

Expertise 110                                      precocious attention 100

Exposure 95                                        selective exposure 96

Review and Discussion Questions

1.      Describe the differences between accidental and intentional exposure to marketing information. Identify a product for which each type of exposure is most common and discuss implications for developing effective marketing strategies.

2.      Give an example of automatic attention and contrast it with an example of controlled attention. What implications does this distinction have for marketing strategy?

3.      Media Dynamics has estimated that “the average adult in the U.S. (in 1993) was exposed to nearly 250 advertisements per day,
n   not including myriad other messages on signs and billboards. (others have proposed far higher estimates of over 1,000 ads per day.) This exposure is important, but not as important as the number of choices that consumers have to make in a day. Products and brands that can help simplify the decision process should be viewed favorably. Discuss how the interpretation processes of exposure, attention and comprehension can influence consumers purchase decisions.

4. Discuss the different types of knowledge and meanings that “shallow and deep” comprehension processes create. Can you relate these differences to different segments of consumers for the same product?

5. Review the differences in the knowledge and meanings that are produced by more and less elaborate comprehension processes. When should marketing activities encourage and discourage elaboration of knowledge and meaning?

6. Highlight 5.3 describes the Good Housekeeping seal, Visit the company Web site (http://www.goodhousekeeping.com) and read more about the seal and the Good Housekeeping Institute that does product testing. Consider two market segments: (1) young married women in their twenties and early thirties with young children; and (2) older married women in their forties and early fifties, with teenage children. Do you think these consumers will attend to the seal in product advertisements? What level of attention do you think is likely? What types of comprehension do you think consumers would have of the seal? Do you think the seal enhances the value of a product for these two types of consumers?

7. List some factors that could affect the inferences formed during comprehension of ads for packaged foods and for medical services. Give examples of marketing strategies you’d recommend to influence the inferences that consumers form.

8. Consider an example of a marketing strategy (such as Highlight 5.4) that you think might result in some consumer miscomprehension. Describe why this miscomprehension occurs. Discuss the ethical issues involved What could marketers (or public policymakers) do to reduce the chances of miscomprehension?

9. Discuss how interpretation processes (attention and comprehension) affect consumers ability to recall marketing information. Illustrate your points with marketing examples.

10. Identify a recent brand extension and discuss how exposure, attention and comprehension processes and can influence the effectiveness of that brand extension.

Marketing Strategy in Action

Products in the Movies

It was one of the most important scenes in the movie Flipper and it was perfect. The actor said his lines without mistake, the lighting was just right, and the trained dolphin performed on cue. Unfortunately, the label on the crunched up soda can sitting on the dock said “Coke”. Just after shooting this scene, the producers of Flipper signed a joint marketing deal with Pizza Hut, then owned by PepsiCo, so they had the high tech editing room digitally change the can label to the familiar red, white and blue of Pepsi. Products and movies have indeed become very closely connected, as more companies seek to have their brands “placed” (shown or possibly featured) in movies and on TV shows.

MGM, a major movie studio, likes product placement so much that it actively seeks brands to slip into its films. Thus Pierce Brosnan, who plays James Bond in GoldenEye, used IBM computers, drank Perrier, and Wore Omega watches … when he wasn’t driving his BMW. Producers and directors like using real brands because it adds realism to the films. A generic brand can distract the audience. (Can you imagine having the hero chug a soft drink labeled “Cola”?) Also, an actual brand can help establish the social class or subculture of the character who uses it (Why didn’t James Bond drive a Toyota Camry?). Moreover, long standing brands such as Ivory soap or Hershey chocolate can help establish a time period and lend an air of authenticity to a film. Finally showcasing actual brands in films can help the bottom line, too, because companies pay a fee for many (but not all) product placements.

Some companies such as PepsiCo and Nike have their own internal staff to manage product placements. These people guide the product placement process and maintain close relationships with the entertainment industry. Most firms, however, hire consultants to handle their product placements. Keppler Entertainment, for instance, has placed Kitchen Aid portable appliances (food processors, stand mixers, and blenders) in a number of popular TV shows, including ‘Mad about you,”Ellen, “Melrose Place,”The Nanny,”and Party of Five,”as well as several movies.

By the mid 1990s, more than 20 agencies specialized in product placement. One such company, The Catalyst Group, placed Hawaiian Tropic sun tan lotion in the movie Dumd and Dumber (starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels). The last five minutes of the film showed the Hawaiian Tropic girls and the company tour bus (see the Hawaiian Tropic girls and the company tour bus its products and promotions). Perhaps the best placement of Hawaiian Tropic is on “Bay Watch,”where it is a natural fit. Ron Rice, owner of Hawaiian Tropic is a big fan of product placement, with over 100 placements in 1994, Rice claims,”Product placement is the best kind of advertising there is. If you buy a TV or newspaper ad, it comes and goes.”But his tanning lotion is shown on “Bay Watch”nearly every weak. It doesn’t hurt that past episodes of “Bay Watch” are among the most watched TV shows in the world.

What does placing a product in a movie or on a TV show do? It probably depends on the products role in the production. For instance, the product could be a background prop in the show. In that case, Jim Bibblings, manager of market communications at Kitchen Aid, probably has it right:”Product placement probably doesn’t sell any product. It just puts the product in front of the consumer, so when they go to the store, they recognize it.”Maybe so for relatively expensive appliances like Kitchen-Aid.

In other cases, however, the product plays a more prominent role in the show, perhaps even a key role. When this happens, sales can take off. When Pierce Brosnan drove the BMW Z3 sports car in the James Bond movie, Golden Eye, sales of the sporty little roadster increased. But increased sales are not guaranteed for products with prominent placements in films. Do you think big sales increases occurred for Dodge Ram pickup trucks (a red model was driven by the tornado chasing stars in Twister) or Apple notebook computers (used by Tom Cruise in Mission:Impossible)?

Sometimes the popular TV show, “Seinfeld,”focuses an entire show around a product. They have done shows centered on TV Guide, Snapple, Mars Bars, Junior Mint, and Hennegan’s Scoth. In such venues, exposure and attention are high, and products can take on very special meaning as the characters in the TV show use a product and make comments about it. Some viewers be3come so involved with a movie or TV show, that they want to own the same products their favorite stars use. For instance, so many people called “Mad About You” to inquire about where to buy the same bed shown in the couples bedroom that the show gave the store name over its telephone hot line, (You can explore more about the “Mad About You” show by visiting the show’s Web site, accessed through the Columbia TriStar Web site.)

According to Al Bender, marketing director at Spading Sports, “In placement, what you’re looking for is billboards..where your name is big. Also, there is the implied endorsement (since a star is using the product).”So, like every type of marketing communication, the name of the game in product placement is exposure, attention and comprehension.

Discussion Questions

1.      Imagine that you are a marketing manager for Levi’s jeans. What types of product placements would you want to secure for your brand? What if your product was Cannon dale bicycles? What about Motorola cell phones? Discuss issues of exposure, attention and comprehension in product placements for these types of products.

2.      Through Columbia TriStar’s Web site, http://spe.sony.com/tv/shows/index.html, you can access the Web sites of “Mad About You,” “Seinfield.”and others. You can take a virtual tour through Jerry Seinfelds apartment, or see what’s new on many other popular shows such as “The Nanny” or “The Ricki Lake Show.” Explore two of these shows, their story lines, and the actors who play in them. What types of product placement opportunities are in these two shows? If you could specify how the placement was handled, what would you try to do? Discuss how attention and comprehension processes might differ between the two shows you picked.

3.      Watch a TV show carefully and list all the name brand products you see in the show (not counting the ads). Describe what was shown of the brand products and the circumstance of its placement in the show was it background prop or a featured prop? Then discuss the likely levels of consumer attention and comprehension to the brand. Do you think people noticed the brand? Why or why not? What types of meanings do you think these placements had on viewers? Justify your answer.

4.      Select on example of a good product placement in a movie (Or make one up) and discuss what other strategic actions a company might undertake to support and leverage that placement. For example, you might use an example like the BMW Z3 that was featured as James Bond’s car in Golden Eye or, perhaps, you could portray a movie character as fond of Jiffy peanut butter. What suggestions would you make to take advantage of these placements, including other promotional tie ins, advertising, special promotions and pricing strategies?

Source: David Leonhardt, Peter Borrows, and Bill Vlasic, “Cue the Soda can: Hollywood and Mad Ave Are in a Cross Marketing Frenzy,”Business Week, June 24, 1996,pp. 64, 66; Kelly Shermach, “Casting Call Goes Out: Products Needed to Play Major Roles in Movies, TV Shows,”Marketing News, July 31, 1995, pp. 1,11-12; and the Columbia TriStar Web site: http:///www.spe.sony.com/tv/shows/index.html.