"If we talk to men, we have to keep it simple"

Hello and welcome to the last blog!

Last lesson we learned, that men and women are different. Well…we already knew that, but now we know how different we REALLY are and how different we behave. Men and women are different in their communication styles, in their behaviour and in they have different values. 

As an introduction we will first define the term “gender”. Generally it means either you are male or female. Furthermore, the WHO says about it: “Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women.”

Our first activity in class was an “ad-recall”. Ruth presented 11 different print ads and after that we had to write down all the products we remembered. This little experiment showed that women are more likely to remember the first ad in a commercial break (primacy), whereas men especially remembered the last ad (recency). Then, we took a closer look on the different products and their ads. The adverts for men were very simple. They didn’t tell a story, but just present and describe the product. Also the slogans are simple, in block capitals and they repeat things (for men, for men, FOR MEN) so that everybody can understand it is FOR MEN.

The ads, which contained female products, were bright and colourful. They contained lots of details and presented various information about the product or the brand. Furthermore, they told little stories and did not only present one product but similar ones (such as shampoo and conditioner). As an example have a look on the two ads below. The “male ad” is very simple, doesn’t have a lot of bright colours (just blue, silver, white); it also shows how to use the product^^ The “female ad” is more complex. It tells the story of this busy woman, who has a lot of appointments; it just provides indirect information about the product. 

After that Ruth showed us a picture of a room. Again, we had to remember as much items from the picture as possible. The boys remembered 13 things, whereas the girls remembered 18 things. Moreover, the girls described more details; the boys listed items such as “a chair, a table, a carpet, windows…” and the girls added “a symmetrical room, stripy furniture, flowers on the carpet, a leather chair…”. To summarise this, the male brain is more likely to remember the big picture; the female brain also remembers small details such as patterns, colours or shapes.

This has shown how different the male and female brains are. Men are left-brain thinking. This means they think logically, systematically, practically; they focus on numbers and are good in map-reading. Women are right-brain thinking. They are creative, emotional, thoughtful and holistic; the focus is on communication. I took a test to see if I have a more female or male brain. The result was that I have a more female brain, but there were also some male oriented patterns.

For example, in the part “Spot the difference” I scored 71 %, which is an indicator for a female-thinking brain. Also the systemising score was very low; just 4 out of 20…again more female. But strangely enough my hands indicate that I am more left-brain oriented. For example, when I fold my hands the right thumb is on top. The test said about this: “This suggests the left half of your brain is dominant. Many studies have tried to establish whether there is a relationship between handedness and brain dominance. Some scientists believe that if you are left brain dominant, you would be more verbal and analytical.” Here you can try the test! More about the female and the male brain can be found here!

Of course we also had a group activity in this lesson! The task in our group was to compare two print ads for Gillette and analyse the difference in approach between the sexes. Afterwards, we had to present our results in a short Power Point presentation. We analysed two ads from Gillette. Our results for the male ad were the following:

Dark blue

Simple, shows the product

Straight to the point ~ limited text

No story behind the images

Celeb no.1 sportsmen used to appeal to men

Avoid bright colour- keeping it simple and sophisticated

The slogan reflects the celebs endorsement, which could encourage men to buy

As we analysed the ad for women we described it as:

Foreground image, focuses your attention to the woman

The logo is in contrast to the background

More complex images – scenery background

The product is only a small picture which makes the text stand out.

Model looks appealing, clean shaven, tanned, slim and confidant

Bright various colour scheme (main colours on product reflected in advert)

More complex slogan than men's advert.

The image brings the slogan to life and represents what the product is and does.

No celebrities, as the advert makes enough of a statement about product for itself.

All these differences between men and women have an important impact on the design and creation of advertisements and commercials. It is important to bear in mind that men and women communicate differently. Therefore, Schiebe & Condry examined gender differences in advertisements. They found out that in adverts for women other aspects and values where presented. Female adverts stressed out beauty and youth, whereas male adverts focussed on ambition and physical strength. Men also look for humour in ads, which is again different to the humour of women. In an article on WARC I found this quote: “Men are especially likely to look for humour in advertising, and their preferred style of humour can be rather different from women's (1, 2). Broadly, it is cruder, more outward-looking and more likely to be aggressive in character”. Here you can read this article, which takes a closer look on the behaviour of male customers.  

In these two German Commercial for a beer you can see how different men and women behave. It is also an example for the “crude, aggressive” male humour;-)

If you are interested in the topic, you can read here more about gender differences. There are also lots of articles on WARC ;-)

So, this is the end of my blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed working on this. :-) Thanks to Ruth and the rest of the class; this was a very interesting and also funny module which provided a lot of new information and experiences!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes from Germany,

Rebecca

You are what you consume!

Two weeks break, but now we’re back!

Last session we talked about personality. What is personality? What affects personality? What is my personality? Can a product or a brand have a personality? But one after the other…Let’s start with defining the term “personality”.

In “Essentials of organizational behavior” (2008) Robbins & Judge describe personality as “…the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. It is most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits.” In an online dictionary you can find various definitions, such as:

“The quality of being a person; existence as a self-conscious human being; personal identity”

“The pattern of feelings, thoughts, and activities that distinguishes one person from another”

And finally the swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung defines:

"Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of existence, coupled with the greatest possible freedom of self-determination." (from dictionary.com).

What all these definitions have in common, is that they describe personality as unique for each person. But if personality is so unique…can you influence it? And if yes, what influences it? In class we defined four major aspects that have an impact on personality: Nature, nurture, peers and birth order. 

Nature refers to our genes, whereas nurture refers to the way we are brought up. There have been endless discussions about what has a stronger influence on personality. A common method to study the impact of nurture and nature is to study identical twins, who were brought up in different families. Some of these twins have a similar personality, which underlines the importance of nature (e.g. genes). More about twin studies can be read here. 

Have you ever heard the sentence “She is so responsible; it is because she is the oldest” or “He is absolutely spoilt! Typically only child!” ? This is could be a sign that also birth order has an impact on your personality. Birth order categorizes people in first born, last born, middle children, only children and twins. Each of these have some special characteristics. I am a “Mysterious Middle Child” and that means I am “able to keep secrets, not spoiled, take risks, are realistic, get along well with others, read people well”. But also “Hates confrontation, stubborn, cynical, suspicious, and rebellious” (sounds a lot like me^^). Here you can read more about the different types and birth order.

Another topic we talked about in class was personality tests. If personality is so unique, is it possible to measure it or to categorise personalities? Well, not in an exact manner, but generally it is possible to measure personalities. One of the most used personality tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It consists of various different questions that ask how a person react or behave in special situations. There are four different dimensions:

Extraversion/Introversion (E/I): Where do you prefer to focus your attention? How are you energised?

Sensing/Intuition (S/N): What kind of information do you prefer to pay attention to? How do you acquire information?

Thinking/Feeling (T/F): How do you prefer to make decisions?

Judging/Perceiving (J/P): Which lifestyle do you prefer?

This results in 16 different personality types, such as INTJ, ESTJ or ISFP. According to the MBTI I am an INFJ (Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judging). This type is described as followed:

“INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs.”

According to Ruth, my Simpsons-Character is Lisa Simpson. Not my favourite character, but still okay…I would have been really worried, if my result has been ISTP (Sideshow Bob!!!);-)

Another Personality Test is the Big-5-Test. The five dimensions are 

Openness: One’s range of interests and fascination with novelty

Extroversion: One’s comfort level with relationships

Agreeableness: An individual’s propensity to defer to others

Conscientiousness: A measure of reliability

Neuroticism: A person’s ability to withstand stress

[source: Robbins & Judge: Essentials in organizational behaviour, 2008]

Here you can see my personality according to the Big-5-Test I took on Facebook. My most distinctive trait is Conscientiousness (88%). On Facebook it is  described as: 

“You seem to describe yourself as someone who is a perfectionist. From your responses it appears that you prefer to plan everything to the last detail, which has consequently led to you being very successful and extremely reliable. From your responses it appears that more than most you enjoy seeing your long-term plans come to fruition.”

There are a lot of serious personality tests, but some others are just for fun and not very reliable. In class we tried the “Draw-a-pig!”-Test. Below you can see my pig (I love it…^^) and here you can try the test!

But if human beings have a personality, is it possible to create brands or products with a personality? A lot of firms try to give their brand or product a special image, because:

“Personality is the concept to give life to a brand, to manage ‘identity and image’, to create likeability”.  

In the picture left you can see different types of brand personality. They place this image in their commercials and advertisements, the name or even through the design of the shops. In an article, which Ruth gave to us, the relationship between a person and a brand is compared to a relationship between two people. It underlines the importance that not only the customer is important in that relationship but there are “active partners at each end”. To put it in other words, the brand has also a picture of you in its mind; it’s important to bear in mind what a brand thinks about its customers. A danger, which can occur, is for instance that the brand appears snobbish to some, if it puts too much effort in its exclusiveness or expensiveness. Although the article was quite interesting to read, it seemed also odd to think of a brand as a good friend…or would you compare the relationship to your iPod to the relationship with your mother?;-)

In a group activity we should describe the personality of a chosen brand. We should show pictures, which describe this brand and its personality. In our group we chose the brand Chanel. We described it as an expensive, high-class and elegant brand, but also as female. We thought of Chanel as a rich, classical woman, who lives in a stylish Penthouse in London. It is normal to her to buy expensive cars, jewelry and to go to expensive clubs/lounges. If you want to read more about brand personality, you can read this (as I think very interesting) article.

After that we talked about self-concept. One definition is: "the idea or mental image one has of oneself and one's strengths, weaknesses, status, etc.; self-image." So, this means that the self-concept is a picture you have about yourself. Anyway, it is important to bear in mind that self-concept does not necessary reflect reality. But how do we develop a picture of our self? On theory is the “looking-glass self” by Charles Horton Cooley. It says that we perceive our self through the eyes of people around us, e.g. family, friends, colleagues and so on. It depends on which perspective we choose; for example can your mother and your friend have a different picture of you in their mind.

A very important aspect in the theory of self-concept is the “ideal self”. This refers to a person or a personality we wish to be (“I want to be the coolest guy in school!”). Therefore many marketers try to convince people to buy their products, because it brings them closer to their desired ideal self. As an example watch this adidascommercial:   

It seems to say “Buy adidas, and you will be able to play with the best players!” Furthermore, the slogan “Impossible is nothing” conveys that also the ideal self can be reached. Through the title “Jose +10” the little boy becomes an active part of the team, and it shows that you don’t have to be a famous football player to be in a team with Beckham, Ballack or Zidane (Gosh, if it would be that easy…^^).

Here is another example, how products can help to improve your image: 

Well, also a long blog as an end…I hope you enjoyed reading this philosophical blog and I wish you nice weekJ

Best wishes from Bucks

Rebecca/Lisa/INFJ

Let's practice!

Hi again! 

Last session we put the learned theories about perception into practice! We had to prepare some small experiments, such as a blind-taste test. The aim was to see how our senses perceive things and if there are differences between people. One group for example tested our perception of chocolate. They had three different plates with chocolate of three different brands. Our task was it then to say, which chocolate tastes best and which is the most expensive. The result was that most people preferred chocolate Nr. 2 and it was the most expensive. So, in this case we can conclude that that expensive tastes better.

Another experiment was the all-time battle of Coca-Cola & Pepsi. We got three cups of cola, and surprisingly most identified the cup with Coca-Cola. Well, I think it’s surprising, because in my opinion there is no big difference between these two; another proof for the fact, that we perceive things differently ;-).

As a sideline we learned, how important the accurate execution of the experiment is. You have to consider that the experiment is just affecting the sense/senses you want to test. One group for example tested our blind-taste of biscuits, but they had to break up the cookies, because the brand name is standing on the cookies, and that would probably have an influence on our perception, although we do not recognize it.

Anyway, Sabine and I thought we would like to create another experiment, because we just had experiments related to tasting. Therefore we designed an experiment and asked our friends for help. We gave them two different songs to hear, each was related to a specific TV-commercial for a either a woman’s or a man’s perfume. The task was now, to describe, how they perceive the music or if they think it’s more male or female. They also had to guess for which product this spot is. In the following I will describe the result we get for our “female commercial”. You can read about the other half of our experiment in Sabine’s blog.

We chose the spot for the perfume “Parisienne by Yves-Saint Laurent”. If you like, you can have a look at the spot:  

In our experiment it was crucial that the test persons just heard the music, and do not get to see the commercials. Therefore we called them on Skype and then played the video. So, they were able to hear the music, but they could not see the spot.

We asked eight people; six men and two women.  All test persons are 20-25 years old. Anyway, all said that this music must definitely be related to a male product. Five said that it is probably a commercial for a car; one person said, it seemed to be a spot for gents’ shoes and another one said it is a spot for menswear or sportswear. Our test persons described the music as fast, energetic, male, strong, dynamic and active. The majority said that they imagine a man driving a car through a rough landscape; or a man driving through a city and women are gazing after him. The car was either described as a sporty drop-top or an off-road vehicle. Other imaginations were men doing sports like hiking, or a good looking man walking through the city. We then revealed that both commercials are for perfumes, and we asked which commercial is for which gender. Again, the majority related the spot for “Parisienne” to a man’s fragrance. They were really surprised when they got to know that this music appears in a commercial for a women’s fragrance. Nonetheless, most liked the spot, especially our male testees^^

However, that’s it about our experiment. Thanks to the volunteers who helped us with our experiment, your perception is absolutely unique ;-)

Hope to see you again, and best wishes from Bucks,

Rebecca

What should I buy...?

This week’s lesson was about the buying decision process, the perceived risk model, Gestalt psychology and again about perception.

We started with a group activity. The task was to draw a word picture of a typical Over 50 year old. Almost all groups drew a man. Our group used words like “glasses”, “grandchildren” or “The Beatles”.  These words came to our mind, because we thought about people we know; how they behave, what they like or what they do.

The first theory we talked about was Kotler’s Buyer Decision Process.  This process is divided into five steps:

1.      Need recognition (I am hungry, I want to eat a chocolate bar)

2.      Information search (Which chocolate bars are there? How much do they cost? Are there any specialties?)

3.      Evaluation of alternatives (Shall I buy Snickers or Mars or Wispa or…? Which is the best/cheapest?)

4.       Purchase Decision (I will buy Wispa!)

5.      Post-purchase Behaviour (Good one, I will buy it again! / Bad one, Snickers would have been better…)

This model applies to purchase decisions for products which are expensive (a car or a house), new technologies or a new purchase for the buyer or for gifts. Otherwise you will skip step 2 & 3.  More about the buyer decision process can you read on this page.

The Buyer Behaviour is highly influenced by ones attitude towards risk. This perceived risk can be definied as: A functional or psychosocial risk a consumer feels he/she is taking when purchasing a product. Perception of risk is subjective and varies from person to person. Laurent & Kapferer (1985) defined six different kind of risks:

-          Financial (Can I afford the purchase)

-          Time (How long does it take to buy this product? How much effort is needed?)

-          Performance (Is it working?)

-          Ego (Makes the item me cool? Is it building self-esteem?)

-          Physical (Can the product hurt me?)

-          Social (What do my friends think about my purchase?)

In the following activity we should discuss the different risks for a 21-year old and a 46-year old, when they buy 1. a car, 2. a mobile phone or 3. underwear for their partner.  Buying a car for a 21-year old for example has a high financial and social risk, because he normally doesn’t have a lot of money and it’s important to him, what his friends think about it. But the financial and social risk for a 46-year old is just medium. Probably he has more money and it is less important what his friends think about the car, because it is more important to him that the car is safe and has enough space for children. This shows that people have a different attitude towards risk, depending on their expectations and wishes.

The second step in the perception process is attention. To grab the attention of the customers and potential buyers is an important aspect, when we talk about the design of advertisement. For example can you use pretty & famous people presenting your product, huge posters, repetition or contrasts. 

We then talked about the perceptual set. This can be defined as a predisposition to perceive something in relation to prior perceptual experiences. In other words, the perceptual set is an internal rule book for everyone that helps us to interpret things we perceive. 

Another point we discussed in class was Gestalt psychology. One of the founders, Max Wertheimer, said about this theory: “There are wholes, the behaviour of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.”  It is based on the four following rules:

1.      Figure & Ground (The main object is in the foreground, the background does not get closer attention)

2.      Grouping (We group items together which have similar characteristics)

3.      Closure (We see incomplete pictures, e.g. the mind fills the gaps in an incomplete picture)

4.      Stimulus Ambiguity (We see a form or an item, but need the context to interpret it)

In the following video you can see some pictures as examples for Gestalt psychology:

Here you can find out more about Gestalt psychology, its founders and the Gestalt laws. 

The last thing we talked about was perceptual maps. A perceptual maps shows two dimensions (for example high/low price and High/low quality) and you can see where on this map your product is and also the perception of other products in a particular market. These maps show how the consumers see a brand regarding its quality or other dimensions. Moreover, it can help a seller to develop a marketing strategy.

Anyway, that’s it for today. I hope you learned something and I hope you will also read the next posts;-)

Best wishes from Bucks

Rebecca 

It's all about perception...

Hello and welcome back!

Another week is gone and we learned more about the big mystery named buyer. The last lesson was about perception. We defined perception as a "sort of assumption" and "something you believe to be true". In an on-line dictionary I found following definition: Psychology. a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present. To put it in other words: Perception is our personal impression and interpretation of the world that surrounds us. But it is not only how we see things, but also how we react to these. The perception process is divided into three steps: Sensation, Attention & Interpretation.

But why are we talking about perception? Perception is one of the psychological characteristics that are influencing the buyer and his/her behavior. We compared the buyer with a black box, because it is complicated and difficult to understand. This black box is influenced by different stimuli (or inputs), like price, product, perception, culture, age, lifestyle and many more. The buyer/black box is transferring these into an output, e.g. he buys a product or not, or he decides to buy it maybe later.

A second model is the buyer-behaviour model by Howard Sheth. It looks very confusing, but basically it is just an extension of the black-box-model and it includes more details.

We experience our world through our various senses, e.g. seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting. But how we experience and react to things is very different. Let's try an example; what do you see on the following picture? 

At the first glance some see a young girl, others see an old woman. And there are lots of others examples. Here can you try other examples.

So, one thing is that perception is unique to every person. Another aspect is that we never receive all the information we get. There are sounds, which the human ear simply cannot hear. But there are also so many different things in our environment and we cannot pay attention to everything. As an example, try this one;-) 

Perception is a very important factor for the design of advertisements, products or packages. It is vital to get the attention of the customer, for example with bright colors or simple black/white commercials. But also the name or the music (for example in a TV commercial) is important. In the lesson we had the task to sell colors. We got a sheet with different colors and a mash up, which represented our target group (In our group we had the "middle-class families, with teenagers). The task now was to think of attractive names for the colors and a special brandname. Our group had a color called "provence" (lilac). It was referring to the French countryside, because there grows a lot of lavender, which has the same color. We had to imagine, what our customers might like, and what kind of colours they want. So, now we know that there is a difference between "yellow" and "Egyptian sun", but also that names or colors have a different impact on different people. 

Anyway, that's it about perception for today. If you want to get more information about perception, try this page. 

I hope you found it interesting and enjoyed reading this. Your feedback is always welcome! 

Best Wishes from Bucks,

Rebecca

The first time...

Hi everybody!

Wow...this is a bit exciting, I'm blogging for the first time. So...how to start...
Well, first let's define what this blog is all about (as far as I know it yet^^)
It should deal with customers, with businesses and, of course, with theories. However, I hope it will be work as well as fun;-) This blog shall be a possibility for me to present the information I got during the lectures and to search for other information like articles, videos, photos or tables.
This blog will content information about what I learned and also some information about me:-)
Anyway, I hope you will enjoy reading it and you're welcome to give me some feedback!

Best wishes from Bucks,
Rebecca

PS: English is not my first language, so please ignore my spelling or grammatical errors, thanks for that:-)