James Watt College.

School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Activity 2
Over the next few weeks, you are going to first of all consider three major areas of investigation that have been drawn from psychology to help you understand consumer behaviour. They are:

learning perception motivation

Let us begin by looking at how consumers learn.

Learning theory
We referred to associations earlier when looking at the Coke challenge and the idea of associations is integral to an understanding of consumer behaviour. What do we mean by learning though? Here is a good definition for you:

A change in behaviour occurring as a result of past experience.

So, why is this important to advertising and marketing? Let us look at some examples.

Activity 2.1
Imagine some situations where a major manufacturer of a chocolate bar might need to make
sure its consumers, or perhaps potential consumers, need to learn something. Try and jot down some examples. The first one is done for you: Example: When the manufacturer is launching a new flavour of an existing brand.

Comment on Activity 2.1

Gavin Simpson Page 1 James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2
You may have given examples such as renaming the brand, launching a new advertising campaign or perhaps a special sales promotion being introduced. All of these examples will mean that the manufacturer will need to make sure the consumer learns something. So how does it happen? There are two schools of thought in understanding the process of consumer learning the behaviourist and the cognitive. A school of thought simply means that a group of psychologists believe that certain factors are more important than others when looking at how we learn. Cognitive psychologists believe in quite complicated decision-making processes whereas behaviourists believe that it is simply a matter of associations that the consumer experiences. Let us consider some examples of associations in marketing before we consider how this process happens. One of the major associations that happens with the consumer is that when products and services are launched they need to have a name attached to them to make identification easier. This is done through the process of association.

Activity 2.2
Look at the associations in the table below and consider the link
between the product and the name.

Product Soft drink Soup Car repair service Vacuum cleaner

Here is how it happens:

Brand name Pepsi Heinz Kwik Fit Hoover

the first association links a series of letters (which may not be a real word) with the product the second links a family name with a product the third is a phonetic association. This means that the name suggests what the product might do the fourth one is originally also a family name but can you see why it is a special association? Suggest some reasons.

Gavin Simpson

Page 2

James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Comment on Activity 2.2

You may have said that the fourth is a good association because the name of the brand has become the name of the product even when consumers may be buying another brand! For example, a customer might go into a shop to buy a Hoover and come out with a Dyson. The association is so strong that it has become generic which means that it replaces all other brands in the market place. In fact, it is so strong that in our culture it has also become a verb. This strength of association is the ultimate goal of advertising and marketing so that the learning has been extremely effective. Now, try your own associations.

Activity 2.3
Using the method in Activity 2.2, try to get four similar
associations. You do not need to use the same products (music products may be a useful choice). Just use the same methods and complete the table below.

Product

Brand name

Comment on Activity 2.3

Did you find the last one difficult? There are not many examples but when they do exist, they are very effective. You may want to list some examples here from discussions with others. The list is started for you:

Walkman

Now, lets look at how it happens!

Gavin Simpson

Page 3

James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Stimulus-Response approach
These associations can be explained through associations between a stimulus and a response. A stimulus is something that enters the consumers environment. The response is the result of this happening. There are two types of S-R learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning
The classical theory of learning, or conditioning, was developed by, among others, the Russian researcher Ivan Pavlov. Pavlovs famous experiments with dogs demonstrated that automatic responses (reflexes) could be learned. Let us now look at his famous experiment.

Pavlovs dog

Activity 2.4
What you should do now is research the internet and read a short piece on the Pavlov
experiment. You should summarise what Pavlov did here:

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Comment on Activity 2.4 You will have identified the four key factors in the learning process. Here they are: Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response

Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned Response The most important process that happens here is that the dog is now conditioned to the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) and responds with the Conditioned Response (CR). In consumer behaviour it is no different. The manufacturer trains the consumer to respond to a CS that is presented to them. Here are some examples:

CS type Colour Logo Name of brand Shape of pack or product

CS example Red/Black Coke label Nike Logo Slimfast Coke bottle

Can you see how they link the product in the consumers mind through the use of a CS? The CR is then of course the consumer responding by purchasing the product.

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Activity 2.5
Generalisation You should now go back to the text and make a note here about the generalisation process that Pavlov discovered.

Comment on Activity 2.5 What of course Pavlov found was that once the dog was conditioned, it would also respond to a similar stimulus, such as a similar bell. With consumers it is the same. Once the connection has been made, it is easy to move the conditioning to a similar stimulus. Here is an example. Coca Cola The original coke bottle shape with the red/black colouring is a very good example of a CSCR relationship. What did they do when they introduced different flavours? They used generalisation so that consumers would know it was from the Coca Cola stable of brands. List some versions here:

What did they keep the same? List what the similarities are across the versions here:

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

So how do consumers tell them apart? This is the next principle Pavlov discovered. Discrimination You should now go back to the internet and make a note here about the discrimination process Pavlov discovered:

What, of course, Pavlov discovered was that the dog could also be trained to respond differently to different stimuli. Consumers are the same. Let us go back to the Coca Cola example. What is different about the different versions you listed above? Jot your answer here:

The main thing is that the colour for each is different. List them here in the same order you have above:

You have now identified how Coca Cola use the principles of generalisation and discrimination.

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Activity 2.6
You should now apply these principles to another product. You are going to select a major crisp manufacturer and for four versions of their standard range you should identify the methods they have used to generalise and discriminate. List them here: Brand:

Generalisation:

Discrimination:

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Operant conditioning
The other type of conditioning that is used to train consumers is called operant conditioning and was investigated by, among others, BF Skinner in the USA. This was built on work that had already been established by Thorndyke, another American, who investigated animal behaviour as well and discovered that trial and error learning was a major factor in the learning process. He called this his Law of Effect which stated that: Behaviour is shaped by its consequences. Thorndyke considered the idea of reward as being crucial for the repeat of the behaviour.

Reinforcement
The basis of operant conditioning is the concept of reinforcement or reward. If a consumer buys a product and is pleased with the outcome using it, then the product will be highly likely to be used again. This means that the activity has had a positive reinforcement, and the consumer has become conditioned to buy the product next time. The greater the positive reinforcement, the greater the likelihood of repeat purchase. There are two types of reinforcement that can be used with the consumer continuous and partial. Continuous Continuous reinforcement is the most common and means that the reward will always happen. A good example of this type is Tescos Clubcard rewarding customer loyalty. If the consumer makes a purchase they will be rewarded by the use of the Clubcard. Partial Partial reinforcement is not used so often but it can be very effective. With partial reinforcement, the consumer is rewarded now and again. A scratch card is an example of this because the consumer may or may not win a certain prize. They may win nothing!

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Activity 2.7
Can you think of any behaviour that humans do that is NOT rewarded? List them:

Comment on Activity 2.7 You will probably not have written very much! It seems that rewards, either physical or psychological, are crucial for our behaviour. The illustration at the beginning of this section is Skinners famous Skinner Box and you should now use the internet and summarise Skinners famous experiment.

Activity 2.8
List some examples of continuous reinforcements that are used by manufacturers:

Now, list some examples of partial reinforcements that you can remember. You may want to start with the National Lottery:

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009

James Watt College. School of the Creative Industries DR14 35 Music Industry Marketing 2

Review of Activity 2
Case study
This case study will give you the opportunity to pull together all you have learned so far. You should illustrate your answer wherever possible. You are the marketing manager for JWC Ltd and you have decided to launch new JimmiWatt on the market. This is a revolutionary music service which offers a higher fidelity of product than other competitors brands. Suggest the following CS for your product: Colour Shape Slogan Price Logo

You now launch JimmiWatt music download service, music streaming, and home music player onto the market. 1. How would you use the principle of generalisation in your advertising strategy?

2. How would you use the principle of discrimination in your advertising strategy?

3. Finally, suggest a partial reinforcement technique which would strengthen brand loyalty across the product lines:

The key points you have learned are: the conditioned stimulus response relationship types of reinforcement.

You have now finished the first topic! Well done.

Gavin Simpson

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James Watt College 2009