Role of culture is prominent in American
Role of culture is prominent in American Advertisement as this is the technique to motivate customers
Introduction
Business owners can implement different marketing strategies in order to attract more range of customer; one of these strategies is cultural marketing. Knowing about competitions, email blasts, advertisement etc these few important marketing strategies. The posts of marketing managers is very important for a firm because now there is a trend of spending more on advertisement as it increases revenue eventually. Consumers are the ones who are rustication for all economic activity. The Maslow’s hierarchy Model is also discussed in the paper which explained the different factors influencing the purchasing decisions of customer. Customer behavior is also affected by various factors like age, culture, personalities etc; the case study of Dell provides an example that how much business owners are efficient in bringing in focus to marketing strategies to impact upon consumer behavior. McDonalds is an example of such firm which has strong “cultural” marketing strategies to impact consumer buying by, it sells Halal food in Muslim world whereas it followed Diwali in India and Christmas in America. This is how consumer brand; loyalties can be increased. Business owners must also work not only on attracting customers but also taking their loyalties for longer periods of time. Without consistent marketing strategy no consumer can feel compelled to buy a thing.
Thesis statement; Role of culture is prominent in American Advertisement as this is the technique to motivate customers.
Explanation
Consumer psychology is a very important concept in marketing now days, this is about how beliefs and feeling influence the people/s buying and purchasing decisions. There is a process behind selecting a service, product or anything. According to professionals there are things like motivation, decision making processes and social persuasion which are there.
The businesses now days need to look to their consumer’s psychology. This can be done after deciding the target consumer. The target audience can be selected on behalf of age, gender or ethnicity. The consumer physiologist does research in order to know about their preferences. The surveys are conducted in order to know the past consumption behavior of consumers. This can be concluded from a survey that women of 40-50 years having 50000 dollars pay like to buy this very kind of product etc, (Kraemer, & Dedrick 2).
There are sometimes emotional, cognitive or behavioral responses of consumers which are noticed in consumer psychology. The consumer psychologies try to predict the response of customers regarding some particular product’s advertisement. The advertisement was started in 1929 on radio whereas it started on television on 1941. The division of consumer psychology was made in 1960 and since then it is affecting many of the advertisement. The business owners must study consumer behavior and psychology before launching an ad because it can add to business performance, public policy and decision making. There are consumers psychologists present in advertisement agencies now days; they make sure that attitudes of consumers are trapped regarding a brand, (Shavitt, & Lee, & Johson, 7).
Consumption is the final usage of a product; the consumption is end of all economic activities rendered by a firm. According to Adam Smith consumption is the only purpose of all economic activities. There are two reasons that consumers are important in the sovereignty of consumption. These tow reasons are:
· Consumers are justification of all economic activity.
· Consumer keeps the economy going.
But it can be said that there are challenges present for consumer sovereignty. These challenges are overcome by working on marketing strategies so that no economic activity can stop. The economy makes the customers happy when they buy things and economy does not make people happy when it uses it as community or workers.
Consumer’s behaviors are not similar; these are changing due to different factors. There are marketing strategies adopted in order to attract customers. The consumer behavior must be understood in order to understand the marketing strategy. Firms adopt various marketing strategies to attract customers. There are motivations of customers; something’s inspire them due to which they change their mind or preferences. Cultural factors are one of the important determinants of consumer behavior. Thus a brand is not successful unless and until it understands the culture of a consumer. For example if laptops are coming only with English language then it is hard to use, but there are keyboards and other software’s which help to launch various languages on laptops. The cultural factors can impact upon sales of the firm, lack of integration between cultural factors and marketing strategy may lead nowhere. For example in US it is fine if people are invited home but it is not fine in Japan if working place people are invited home. The way business culture varies in countries similarly consumer culture varies too.
This is something very unusual McDonalds provide an example that how it fits to each and every culture and how it impacts upon consumer mood. This is evident that McDonalds follow festivals like Diwali in India and festivals like Christmas in US. Moreover the Muslim countries are offered halal foods. This is how cultural implementations are there while talking about consumer behavior. Marketing strategies surely impact that how consumer’s behavior can be attracted. Moreover cultural trends are prominent on sales because this is about a trend what people use in a particular culture. Now things like Galaxy and IPod is more or less like a global culture, young children also want to own a laptop no matter they do not use it for professional or educational purposes. This is how cultural impact trends, (Peter, & Olson, 4).
Cultural Advertisements are really required to influence consumer psychology
The advertisements are used now days in order to add profits to business. The cultural advertisements age there in order to attract more customers. Culture is in fact a lens through which people see the advertisement. Culture is thus a crucial factor in consumer psychology. There are shared elements of communication, evaluation, believe get which are to be followed in advertisement to influence people. The advertisement can be there for across national, across ethnicities etc. the cultural distinctions are there for consumer motivation and persuasiveness ability of advertisement. There are many advertisements which depict cultural events like Christmas, Ramadan, Diwali etc in order to make sure that consumers are feeling associated with the product. Emotions play a great role in memorization. If some ad appeals to emotions of people then it is for sure a one which will be memorized. If there is a persuasive advertisement going on the brain will respond to it. The exclusive texts in the advertisement are not viewed as attractive but picturized messages are more memorable. There are few commercials which are more memorable and engage consumers more than the other commercial’s this is because of the level of emotional attachment and involvement. There are EEG, Alfa waves, Beta waves and theta waves of brains which are involved in the commercial. The branding moments must study consumer psychology before moving in to advertisement campaign. Consumer neuroscience explains the brand loyally. If the emotional attachment is there with brand the consumers will place some reward for the brands. Brand loyalty is like a reward system in the human brain. The positive and negative outcomes of brand are stored in the brain and consumer react accordingly, (Veltkamp, & Custers, & Aarts, 1).
The consumer psychologists in advertisement agency controls the motivational factors, the celebrities, slogans or commercials can act as motivation to buy some product. Sometimes this motivation occurs outside the conscious awareness. The motivation is usually higher when people are deprived, thus the motivation varies with the level of deprivation. The prime products which are related to deprivation have more motivation to buy. There are some conditioned stimuli as well which control motivation of those things when deprivation is extremely unpredictable. The conditioned stimuli control the motivation besides conscious awareness. The thirst is a deprivation and the ad of Cocoa Cola would directly appeal the motivational level of consumer if he is thirsty, though drinking water can save the third of person but making an ad of Coke satisfying thirst of consumer can lead to increased motivation to buy Coke.
The motivation can be added there by claiming achievement in the advertisement his satisfied the motivation explained by Maslow’s self actualization. This decreases the avoidance tendency; when some product is advertised as self actualization need then people do not reject it at first place. There are expectant value models of motivation which are also there. In this model the motivation is more if expectations and desires of consumers are provided in shape of a product. The five motivational dimensions discussed by psychologists in consumer decision making are functional motives, social motives, situational motives, aesthetic motives and lilt the curiosity motives. The brands must know about motivational techniques and consumer psychology before moving to target market for advertisement, (Raij, & Wandwossen, 18).
The Opposing Views
The opposing views are also present that it’s not culture which is there as determinant of marketing success but it personal traits and self concepts. The personal factors also impact upon the consumer behavior. Age and gender do matter. For example a brand may affect a person of 25 years of age more than a person of 60 years. The purchasing power also influences upon the consumer behavior and thus marketing strategies are made according to the trend of consumer behavior. All nation and all regions do not have rich people.
There is income diversity present, brands must know that where they are applying marketing strategies, if they are making product for rural area then they must specific it. the personal living is affected by rural/urban living and such things which has nothing to do with culture influence but income and living style. There are some people who associate self concept with the idea of purchasing. Many people buy APPLE products because these are innovative and these products worth money sending. Psychological factors are also there such as perception towards a brand. The marketing message is no doubt developed in light of these factors which impact upon consumer behavior. There are sometimes situational reasons to buy a products, moods, logics and needs, lifestyle, motivations etc. While talking about factors influencing consumer behavior and eventually marketing strategy it is good to discuss Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need.
Maslow explains that consumers want to satisfy their basic needs at grass root level. These needs are food, water, and sleep. Then there are safety needs, social needs, self esteem needs and self actualization needs. In 2008 the demand for all automobile vehicles lowered overall but demand of Hyundai vehicles did not drop because Hyundai understood that “people needs safety”. Worry free payment procedures are quite a marketing strategy used to apply to attract customer for buying a product, (Rust, 4).
Critical Analysis
This is clear from literature review that consumer behavior is not similar all across the world. it differs because of culture. a good marketing strategy is the one which impacts upon customer’s mind. Cultural marketing strategy is most memorable for customers. There are differences presenting consumer awareness of technology and there are differences present in income leading to lack of homogeneity in consumer behavior. the culture may have some particular income group or some particular wearing norm. This practice makes its essential that all businesses no matter Dell, HP, Star Bucks, McDonalds, must know about the importance of national boundaries and cultures in marketing to influence customer psychology. Moreover retaining practices of each and every country are different. Retailing of one country may have different challenges as compare to retailing of the other country. But no doubt since 20th century the similarities are increasing in consumer behavior all across the world. There are many companies which are successfully working internationally without a very minor variation in products. Instead of learning about culture and making use of it to enhance profitability the firms are lacking in cultural awareness and declining productivity.
Coca Cola ads which having moving trucks in it and Merry Christmas written on it is culturally influenced. This ad encourages buying the product and there are no risks present in perceiving it. There are various ads which are culturally influenced in America, these are either influenced from culture or they impact upon culture. This ad of Coca Cola represents a great bond with American civilization and religious occasion i.e. Christmas. Coca Cola has provided trucks which have Santa Clause image on them, Coca Cola behaved as if it is a present or gift from God and everyone must enjoy it on Christmas. This is the way it increased motivation of people to buy it; it is a call for brand loyalty. It has asked for brand loyalty and people will resound back to it when they celebrate Christmas. It is like this brand is celebrating happiness of people when they are celebrating their happiness. This brand has tried to indulge in lifestyle of people. Community feeling is enriched in this ad and this is how fits the community. There are various creative projects of Coca Cola which shows great collaboration with cultural events, the family values of America are always highlighted in Coca Cola ads. Moreover people will accept it more easily after this advertisement. They will consider it as an important part of their Christmas shopping.
The Merry Christmas messages are given by McDonalds ads as well in which fries are shaped as lights, it encourages buying the product and there are no risks present in perceiving it. McDonald’s slogans are always famous. There are various slogans of famous such as its finger licking good, and I am loving it. But now, McDonalds has presented an ad on print media in which fried chips are in shape of spread lighting which is usually seen of Christmas days. Moreover there is a textual message present on the ad i.e. Merry Christmas. Usually the research shows that there is lack of attractiveness in ad if there is textual message even in commercial, people like to view pictures only. But because this is an ad of print media thus it was inevitable. This is again a persuasive appeal of advertisement to add McDonalds in daily routine of consumer in Christmas days. The shape of fried ships does resemble a Christmas tree as well. It is like McDonalds is showing happiness on cultural event of America. Moreover it is celebrating happiness and decorating its franchises as per requirement of the event. McDonald’s does not only appeal consumer psychology in USA but it adopts such procedures in India as well and celebrates the event of Diwali with all Indians. A message of happiness spreading is present in this add.
The ads of bicycles are environmental friendly. This is the reason lot of people are buying bicycles instead of bikes in order to secure the consumption of petrol as well as to reduce CO2 emission. This is not all; this ad is about providing substitute of bike. The wilderness lands are shown in background to depict the passion of Americans to preserve national environment. This ad is also satisfying the self actualization needs. Americans want to be known as environment friendly people. The sportsmen spirit, advertise nature of an American and their technical abilities are all depicted in this ad. Hyundai is one of the famous companies of bikes and cycles, it also produces car and other automobiles. But it wants to gain people’s attention that it’s all products are not so dangerous for preservation of natural environment and wilderness lands. The America culture is ethical. The ethical concerns of Americans are well portrayed in this ad, (Siham 8).
Conclusion
Advertisement no doubt is a very useful thing in American culture. It makes companies to expect some customers of particular taste. Advertisement impacts upon values as well, it shapes relations and behaviors. A sustained and ethical advertisement can add much more in cultural values, a brand can easily earn loyalty of people by forcing on their desires, income, requirements, self actualization, motivations etc. the appeal of persuasion must be there in advertisement. There are sometimes 1000 of commercial messages each day but each message does not influence upon persons because it is not close to emotions. Only emotional messages are memorized and liked by brain. Thus advertisers, business organizations and all other entities must learn about consumer psychology and their motivation. A firm which is rebellion to consumer psychology cannot make a place and will end up in losses with no demand at all. All developed organizing like KFC; McDonald’s follows consumer psychology and value the cultural considerations. For example in China the KFC has changed its menu as per Chinese consumer’s culture whereas McDonalds has discriminated halal food for Muslim countries. Valuing culture is like giving worth to consumer psychology.
References
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Peter, Jack. & Olson, Jim. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy: By J. Paul Peter, Jerry C. Olson. 7th Edition. Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series. (2004).
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http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=9488
Rust, Ronald. How does Marketing Strategy Change in a Service-based World? Implications and Directions for Research. (2004). 1-18.
http://www18.georgetown.edu/data/people/dvt/publication-17470.pdf
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http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/66/04/17/PDF/CR_2011-11_E3.pdf
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http://business.illinois.edu/shavitt/Handbook%20Chapter%20page%20proofs.pdf
Veltkamp, Marjin. & Custers, Ruud. & Aarts, Henk. Motivating consumer behavior by subliminal conditioning in the absence of basic needs: Striking even while the iron is cold. 20-22. 2011.
http://www.indiana.edu/~abcwest/pmwiki/CAFE/Motivating%20consumer%20behavior%20by%20subliminal%20conditioning%20in%20the%20absence
