Charities

There are thousands of charities that operate around the world, all of which rely on public donations to help them to survive. But how do people choose which charity they will donate to and how much they will give? Also do they give to various charities or a specific one? 

Having looked at the TGI data from 2007 it showed that the most common charity for people to donate to was a form of cancer research charity. This may be from personal experience as it was females who gave more money. Around 35% of women of all ages gave to this charity. Having looked at the age brackets in the data it shows that females over the age of 65 gave more to the cancer charity (approx 41.2%) (TGI, 2007).

The Charity Industry.

Since the recession became a real issue in the UK, things have really become hard for everyone, especially when it comes to making ends meet. The charity industry has also suffered incredibly. A Mintel report from 2010 shows that the number of operating charities within the UK fell by 18,347 between 2009 and 2010. (Mintel, 2010). 

This fact has also been reflected in a quote that was given by Sir Steven Bubb head of the ACEVO foundation - 'We face significant cuts in public spending. Rising costs, rising VAT, loss of gift aid relief’ (Sky News 2011). The factors outlined in this statement are key issues that are facing the charity market today. 

What about large companies making links with charity organisations? Is to promote the charity? Or for the companies own gain. 

A WARC case study from 2004 shows that 50% of companies only support a charity to help persuade the charities supporter database list to use the sponsoring company (WARC, 2004). However the Mintel report states that two thirds of adults have a positive perception of brands that support charities (Mintel, 2010). The discrepancy between the facts can be argued that the Mintel report is more up to date as it was carried out in 2010. This theory was one that was not represented on TGI. 

Donation Methods

There are many different ways in which people can donate to their chosen charity. Having looked at the TGI data from 2007 it shows that the most popular that people donate is by donating cash or cheque by all the age groups included in the survey. 

(Source, TGI 2007)

However, if it was a friend or family member doing a charity event that motivated people to give donations according to the TGI data. This correlated with the data collected through the adult focus group. Having looked at this factor in more detail it shows that people in the age range of 35-44 were the most motivated this way (1234 out of 4532 people), this is something that has not changed over the years as people trust their friends or family members to ensure that money will reach the needy (TGI, 2007).

However the Mnitel report has opposing information that says that people are now donating old gifts and closed as opposed to money. (Mintel, 2010). This could be due the recession and people have a lower GDI and are possibly clearing things from their houses. This is a good way for the market to grow as the charities do not pay out for their stock which they are able to sell on.

Do Adverts Work?

TV Adverts are quite popular for charities, especially the larger ones, but are these adverts really that effective? We ran two focus groups, one with students aged between 18-21 and one with adults over 30 in full time education. The general feedback when this question was asked was that people are not affected by the images they see on TV, this lead onto the next question where we established that both groups were interested to see where their money went and what it was going to do.

One fact that was apposing in both groups was that the students preferred more local charities whereas the adults preferred larger charities as they believed these to be more trustful. 

After looking at the data available on the TGI website, it was apparent that when this survey was conducted women were more charitable. Having looked at all of the different questions used in the 2007 survey it is apparent that men contribute to charity in a small way (TGI, 2007).  This can be confirmed by the transcript of our focus groups where males did not answer as often as their female counterparts. The reason that males may not contribute as heavily as females is due to the fact that they may not be as taken by the charities marketing strategies, therefore charities could alter their schemes to attract male donations.  

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs can be used to analyse people opinions to charities:

· Self Actualisation – Giving a person less fortunate a helping hand.

· Ego Need – Having done a good deed a person can feel happier inside knowing they helped make a difference

· Social Needs – People can be felt to belong to a group if they join a charity organisation e.g. adopting a panda where they get regular feedback on the progress being made.

· Safety – For a charity such as WWF the person can feel safe knowing they have helped change the world for the better.

· Physiological – Simple life needs such as food, water & sleep.

The model moves starts at the higher level needs with Self Actualisation and goes down to the lower level needs with Physiological needs. (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010) 

Many people will fit into at least one of these categories when it comes to donating to charity. For example people may donate to charity or join a charity group for a sense of belonging to the group and have a mutual value. A person who grew up or visited a third world country could make a donation to a charity supporting third world countries due to their memories and sights of what they saw.

Reference List:

·  Mintel, Charitable giving UK, [Online], Mintel, available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=538933/brochure/id=538933, [Accessed 14^th February 2011]

·   Sky News, Funding cuts ‘threatens charities’, [Online], Ursula Errington, Available at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Government-Funding-Cuts-Threaten-Survival-Of-Charities/Article/201101215895344?f=rss, [Accessed 15^th February 2011] 

·  Solomon, M R, Bamossy, G, Askegaard, S, Hogg, M, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4^th ed, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD

·  TGI, 2007, Financial services > charities, [Online], TGI, Available at: https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx, [Accessed 10^th February 2011]

·   WARC, 2004, Working with charities is good business, [Online], Andrew Nebel, Available at: http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=bdcf8ae8-f65b-419b-ae5e-93de18585d60&q=working+with+charities, [Accessed 12^th February 2011]

Social Class

Does social class still exist in todays society? Do people still feel segregated by it? This topic is closely linked with culture, there is a posting for culture further down in the blog. 


Sociologists define social class as the grouping of people by occupations. Doctors and lawyers and university teachers are given more status than unskilled labourers. The different positions represent different levels of power, influence and money. In days gone by your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a job, and it would also affect the people who you could socialise with and marry. (projectbritain.com)


Solomon actually links social class with income quite clearly in the text book, giving the topic a chapter. The two have been linked by the following:

• 'Social class appears to be a better predictor of purchases that have symbolic aspects, but low to moderate prices (cosmetics/ alcohol)'
• 'Income is a better predictor of major expenditures that do not have status or symbolic aspects (major appliances)'
• 'Social class and income data together are better predictors of purchases of expensive, symbolic products (cars, homes, luxury goods)'

(Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010, P467)


Brassington & Pettit describe social class as 'a form of stratification that attempts to structure and divide society' (Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, P86).


At the turn of the century there were three main types of social class, High class, middle class and low class. However today there are 7 different classes,  to try and distinguish between the different classes would be difficult as they are closely interlinked. 


Different cultures would have different ways of determining social class, for example Indian's use a caste system which is even more complex than the british way! (There is much more about different cultures in the previous posting entitled 'culture'


Social class can be determined by ones hobbies, those who play golf are thought of as a higher class, it can be awarded by ones job, the higher the position in work can help a person move up the ranks in the social class spectrum. 


What about those who win money? What class do they fit into? Should they move up the ranks just because they have money? Personally up to a certain extent yes, if they can afford a higher style of life then so be it, however, I feel that these people may have not worked hard for the lifestyle as others and should still remain as down to earth as possible, I understand that this may not always have been the case but I feel that people should not change their friends just because they have more money than their peers. 


There is a scene in Friends where Monica buys extra lottery tickets secretly and gets found out, after finding them Rachel threatens that if these tickets win the group will leave Chandler & Monica, to which Monica replies 'I'll buy new friends'! This video clip can be seen on by clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyKcfraV1c&feature=related
The clip shows how Monica would be willing to leave her friends behind if she won the lottery. 


However, people try and change their social class without doing any of these by simply lying about their work and hobbies, this is known as social mobility and they attempt to change their class for their own personal gain. 


Self respect would have an impact on how a person sees themselves against others. 


Marrying between classes can cause a culture shock in certain cases, as if a woman from a higher class marries a man from a lower class she automatically moves down the scale. For example if a top city solicitor was to marry a dustbin man the lifestyle that she would be accustomed to.Yes this is unfair and not very modern but this also stems back to the days of the first and second world war where the men were known to be the breadwinner. Unfortunately full equality still hasn't quite reached some parts of the world.

The 'Chav' class has come around over the last few years, where kids try to act like they are much older but don't realise what idiots they look like. The group of people who fall into the category often text 'lyk dis' and walk 'lyk dey got a banana stuck up somewhere painful!' (if they aren't wearing their trousers as low as their ankles. For everyone else this is a really annoying group of people as they are often attributed with causing problems in their local areas. 


It can be accepted that the chav group can be classed as a culture rather than a group. However the difference is small between them and social classes can be assumed to divide cultures. 


I did the Great British Class Survey and got the following result:

You scored 96/100 for economic capital

Your financial resources are higher than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

You scored 100/100 for social capital

Your social network is wider than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

You scored 70/100 for cultural capital

Your range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.

Your 'coat-of-arms'

We’ve used your results to create a fun, personalised 'coat-of-arms

Reference list:
Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, Essentials of marketing, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD


Project Britain, 2010, Social class in england, [Online], Mandy burrow, Available at: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/class.htm, Accessed 28th April 2011


Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.

Culture

It is important to understand different cultural backgrounds before marketing a product in a foreign country, as if it is not understood correctly, offence could easily be made and the product not being successful.

Solomon has described culture as 'the values, ethics, rituals, and traditions, material objects, services produced or valued by members of society' (Solomon M, Bamossy G, Askegaard S & Hogg M, 2010)

Culture is very important in different religions and can stem from anything, for example some families only eat dinner together at the dinner table, this could be a part of their culture and they in turn value that family time spent together. 

But why is culture so important to marketers? Countries such as India for example, still have a very traditional culture even though the country is extremely multi cultural. It is for this fact that marketers need to ensure that their products are not specifically aimed at one target religion. The advert would have to be open and depending on where it would be aired in the regions regional language. 

From personal experience I know that even mobile phone companies have embraced this by where the SIM cards are sold. Recently a member of family bought a SIM in the region of Gujarat (towards the North west of India), when ringing the number and getting through to the voice mail service the welcome message was recorded in Gujarati, Gujarat's regional language. This is very different to other countries where one language is spoken.  This is due to the fact that India has many different languages. 

From a marketing perspective it would be impossible to create adverts for each and every language that people speak in India, especially with the country being to vast with a population of around 1.2 billion (BBC, 2011), it is for this reason that a company who wish to sell a product in a country such as India should base their adverts specifically in one language that can be understood by the majority of the population, namely Hindi. An example of a UK based company using the culture of both UK and India is Tilda Rice. Their advert which shows how the rice that was enjoyed by people in India decades ago is still being enjoyed today. The video which can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrgknNk7UNM. 

Personally I am very keen on learning about new cultures and travelling to different countries to experience this first hand. The culture that moved me the most was when I visited Thailand some years, whilst there we went on a boat trip where we stopped off at a floating man made island that was made from mainly wood, as a home for the local people there. Seeing the way these people lived and experiencing their own unique culture was something very different. When I know think of them, I wonder how difficult it would be to market a product to them as some of the people on the island have not received any form of basic schooling. That island may no longer be there after the 2006 tsunami...

HSBC bank claim that no company should under estimate the power of local culture. In my opinion the adverts aired by the bank, which always show Chinese culture, have show me things I would probably never have known, even if I were to visit the country first hand. 

Examples of HSBC adverts showing culture:

• Sky Lanterns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WdUsxjoznA
• Washing Machines: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=LnKhlymHcu0&feature=related
• New York: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=IlLi08p3Bpg&feature=related
• Germany & France: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=5OaqFJT4mQ&feature=related

The above adverts which were shown around the world show how different culture can mean very opposite things than they are meant to. 

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/crosscultural-marketing.html

The above link shows 10 marketing blunders, which now people would read about and have a giggle at. However if the campaigns had been given the green light, I think the public's reaction would have been slightly different than the companies anticipated. 

Another company that uses culture in the different countries in which they operate in is Coca-Cola, for example in India they used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeC_XTBSiQ for Diwali, which worked very well as it showed the culture of Diwali with the lights and the sadness of the man who thought he would not be able to spend Diwali with his family, a time which is very family orientated. 

  

Marketers need to ensure that they understand the culture fully, as they cannot get a full picture over night. The best way round this is by outsourcing work to companies in that are already established within the country in question. This would help eliminate errors from occurring; this could also aid a company with a damaged image to wipe out the negativity caused by a previous campaign.

Although numbers of women in employment are lower than males, there is still a considerable amount of women working in the UK today. The graph below shows both genders in employment in 2008. According to Hofstede, the levels of masculinity in the UK is at around 72, so it seems that males are still mainly in control compared to females (Hofstede 2009)

(Source ONS, 2008)

The graph above shows that the 'breadwinner' culture is on the decline as high levels of women are now in work. This is having an effect of the family culture as females are not as home as much to look after their children (if any), therefore causing children to entertain themselves, thus causing children to 'grow up quicker'. For a more detailed discussion on this topic see the posting in this blog on 'groups'. 

The increase of working women over the years could be linked with the increase in sales of connivance food. A Mintel report shows 'ready to cook' foods have increased by over 30% between 2005 and 2009 (Mintel 2009). Products in this range are generally products that can be put in the oven and not much effort is required.

To conclude this posting, to marketing a product in a foreign country is something that can prove very costly and potentially damaging to the company in question.  If the wrong steps are taken the product could potentially fail, even if the product is successful in the companies’ home country. 

Reference List:

BBC News, 2011, India country profile, [Online], BBC, Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1154019.stm, [Accessed 5th April 2011]

Greet Hofstede, 2009, United Kingdom, [Online] Hofstede, Available at: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_united_kingdom.shtml [Accessed 6th April 2011]

Mintel, 2010, Chilled and frozen ready meals, [Online], Mintel, Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480766/displaytables/id=480766, [Accessed 3rd April 2011]

Office of National Statistics, 2008, Working lives, [Online], Office of National Statistics, Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1654 [Accessed 6th April 2011]

Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.

Marketing to Children

Why do people market to children? What do they expect their end result will be? To sell more goods? To gain market share?

Marketing to children is something which can be extremely costly, as the majority of marketing campaigns aimed at children are promoting toys, it is these toys that push the price of the end product up significantly.

Why is this you may ask. Well the answer is extremely simple, every character needs a licence. It is the cost of making an ordinary product an 'official licenced product'. This also in turn protects the manufacturer, as it would be difficult for the base company to give the rights of the product to any other company.

For example, Disney is a company have a product, such as 'Playhouse Disney', they take this base that has built to a manufacturer such as 'Fisher - Price' to manufacture different products under the umbrella. The company's both sign a contract. This is then pretty much a licenced product and Disney could not go to another firm to have the products made unless a breech of contract occurred.

Firstly, what's the difference  between marketing to children and marketing to adults? Marketers need to be clever in the way that they are selling the product to children. They cannot simple use the main rules of marketing to adults as there are currently are separate set of rules about marketing to children.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) say that adverts are not meant to harm or distress children in anyway (ASA, 2009). The company also states that ads should not directly ask children to pester their parents to make the purchase, it should only be used to inform the relevant audience of the product, features, availability and price. A good advert for marketing to children is the advert for

Dr Daniel Acuff, author of the book 'Kidnapped', a book written about how markets are stealing the mind of children's speaks about his own personal experience and how he has noticed his theory developing in real life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZslgHPs9am4 This video gives a good reasons about the negative aspects of marketing to children and shows that children do enjoy the traditional games such as crafts and doing things other than playing video games.

He also goes on to speak about how children are at great danger of not knowing when a game is a game and when reality starts, this is because children are left to play video games hours on end, with catastrophic impacts.

In February this year a boy of 16 from America is await sentencing after killing his mother for taking his play station away. After that didn't kill her the youth took her body and cremated her. (Yahoo News, 2011) This is not the first case of violent crimes against parents or Innocent members of the public for this type of punishment.

There are many issues with marketing to children... In many countries governments have banned marketing to children for many reasons. 


It is not only marketing to children that is causing a problem. As children are watching more and more television than ever before, they are picking up on these adverts and then causing havoc in stores by crying, screaming or shouting when parents refuse to buy this product that they have seen. This is more commonly known as pester power, where children will pester a parent for a new toy until they give in and make the purchase. Children these days have many different tricks up their sleeves! They know exactly how to get what they want and how far to push... Children make fake promises, something which has not changed over the years, this is where children want a new toy really really badly, but their parents say no, so they say 'if you buy it for me, I will do the washing for a week or mow the lawn, however these promises never get filled! 


Another big problem that children have to suffer with is playground bullying. Children want to fit in where ever they go... Its natural... However when everyone has a certain brand of trainers or the 'cool kid' has a new toy or iPod they become the trend setter, which everyone follows, However there is always one child who cannot be in this group, this can cause them to feel like a social outcast, thus lowering self esteem. As Solomon says 'Recent research by one of the major UK teaching unions, has found that children who cannot afford to buy the latest brands and fashions face bullying and ridicule by their peers. as well as isolation and exclusions.' The quote also says how teachers have found that marketing campaigns on children have had a significant influence over the past few years.  (Solomon M, Bamossy G, Askegaard S & Hogg M, 2010).


Mintel states that men find it more difficult to say no to their kids more than women and that it is harder to say 'no' to children aged between 15-18 (Mintel, 2010).


Mintel also states that less children are participating in some sort of physical activity in their spare time as the figure has dropped by 6% between the years of 2006 to 2010 whereas, children are enjoying their time on the computer more (increase of 2% over the same period). (Mintel, 2010)


The same Mintel report shows that since 2008 the rate of children saving their pocket money has significantly increased by 21% between 2004 and 2010 (Mintel, 2010). This means that they are spending less money on sweets and magazines than before. This could be for many reasons, one being that in 2008 the credit crunch came around and parents were forced to give children less pocket money, this theory could be accepted as Mintel found that in 2008 children saving their money jumped up by around 22% from the previous year (Mintel, 2010).


Solomon states that children are now the decision makers in many aspect of daily life. For example when a mother is doing the weekly shop they often ask the children which breakfast cereal they want or which sweets to buy. This is giving the children a responsibility, which in turn is making them grow older quicker. (Solomon et al, 2010).


To conclude this posting, I feel that although the government are being strict on marketing to children, marketers are still going to be clever and find ways to entice children into buying products that are up for sale. 


Reference List:
Mintel, 2010, Toy retailing UK, [Online], Mintel, Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480969, [Accessed 20th March 2011]
Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.
Yahoo News, 2011, Boy kills mother over playstation, [Online], Jeffery Van Camp, Available at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110216/tc_digitaltrends/boykillsmotheroverpla ystation_1[Accessed 18th March 2011]

Groups - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

What is a group? Dictionary.com gives this definition: 'any collection or assemblage of persons or things'


All person belongs to some sort of group, be it a social group to a charity organisation. This topic is also closely related with values and self esteem. 


A 'group' can only be created with two or more individuals who; share a set of norms, have role relationships and/or experience interdependent behaviors, for example people who go to the pub with the same group of people at a set time on a regular basis. This is also an information group to belong, being in a social group like this can boost ones self esteem, as Solomon explains humans need to be respected by others in order to respect themselves, this is outline in 'Maslow's Hierarchy of needs' Every person fits into this hierarchy it starts off with the lower levels of needs such as water and sleep and goes up to the self fulfillment stage where doing something for others or for your self can lead to self fulfillment. 


This interdependent behavior is very common in schools, as children settle into their own groups of friends and mix outside of school as-well. However, this can cause gang behavior outside of school hours, which can cause anti social behavior issues. Even though anti social behavior can be caused by people of all ages, elder people have a negative perception of gangs of youths and so called 'hoodies'. Although there are no official statistics to prove this, many people are petrified of the 'yob culture.'


Today in the UK there are many different types of dissociative groups that many people would stay away from, yet people are pulled into these groups through peer pressure. These sets of people cause problems through binge drinking, drugs, violence and other criminal activities. In the High Wycombe area the highest crime from the list above is anti social behavior, followed closely by 'other crimes', which include shop lifting, drugs offenses and criminal damage. (Police.com, 2010)


There are many different reasons that people join groups, for example an aspirational group is one that people want to join as the group does good within the community or has a high status in different areas, for example in business or in a social aspect.  Above, I have covered the negative aspects of group and gang culture. Below, I will look at the positive side of groups and motivation groups from weight loss groups such as weight watchers to charity groups who work to help other people less fortunate. 


There are many charity organizations large and small in the country who do good things. From the focus groups which we carried out last month for another piece of coursework, it was found that people preferred to give to charity organizations which affected them personally, rather than being persuaded by a TV advert. This was a group of people who wanted to help others, but at the same time wanted to know what their money was going towards, prior to donating. 


People can communication to groups in many ways, from fact to face, to over the internet. This is something which many companies are using to communicate with their publics. When joining a commerce website the customer is asked a series of questions such as, age, gender, area of residence etc... this is then used by the company to group their customers and can then group them further by the previous purchases. For example a DVD rental company can email a group of people who often rent comedies or horror films when a new release is available. This is direct mail where it can be sent to only the people they know are interested in the products. This can be done on a personal level to engage the consumer at a deeper level. 


To round this posting off, it is noticeable a person may copy a group of others if in an enclosed space such as a lift or car after a few minutes in order not to stand out. This is simply to fit in and not to look different from the others in the vicinity. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge6wmDfsHXA


The video above explains the video perfectly as people join in just to fit in. This is what groups are about. People fitting in...


Reference List:
Police, 2010, 'crime rates in High Wycombe', [Online] Available at www.police.uk,  [Accessed 22nd Feb 2011]
Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD 

Values - What do they mean to us?

What are values? Is it linked in the way a person acts? Do they change as life goes on? Where do we get them from?


There are a lot of questions there and in this posting I will be giving answers to each of them as this subject is, one that is very, complicated and contains many different factors. 


Dictionary.com describes values customs. This is true as they are both interlinked. Our customs and values are closely related as they are both taught by parents when we are growing up. For example; not leaving the dinner table until everyone is finished, and respected elders and other peoples opinions. 


Every single human being has their own value system that is unique to them. This is one of the many things that makes each person different. Just because each person has different values does not mean that they are not a good person, its simply they way they prioritise the things they feel are important in their lives. In today's diverse world, people prioritise things differently, from their health to their family.


Values can be affected by various different aspects of everyday life. This can also be linked to the posting on self concept, where an attitude towards a person can affect their self esteem. 


In my life there have been many things that affected my values, although some have not affected me personally, they had made me think about certain things in life. For example when the Tsunami hit, in 2006, I felt some sadness as people had lost everything. This then led me to lead less of a materialistic life and made me open my eyes and be thankful for what I actually had in life. This disaster was somewhat personal for me as I had visited Thailand some years earlier and had seen the conditions that these people had to live in. 


Another example of how my value system changed is one that is very personal, when two members of my family died in the same week. This then led me to think about living each to the fullest, as nobody knows what is around the corner. 


Therefore, I feel that it is acceptable for values to change as life goes on. As a child our values come from our parents and up-bringing. However, as we get older and surroundings and friends change we pick up different beliefs that we may not have thought about or deemed important before. 


Having taken a VALS test it shows that I am an experiencer and a maker, the two most opposite sections in the results table. As an experiencer it shows that I am experiencing new things in life and learning new things whilst being a maker and having a hands on approach to the way I live my life. Strangely, this is somewhat true!


Having looked at Kahle's list of values from 1983, I would choose the following factors, that I feel affect my life from the list:

1. Self Respect, If you can't respect yourself - nobody else will
2. Being Respected - Being respected will lead back to the Self Concept posting as being respected helps build a persons self esteem
3. Warm relationships with others - If a person is able to have a friendship or more with another person it can give a sense of belonging and/or a sense of happiness. This is something that can be related back to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.  

The next section is the laddering technique, also know as the 'means-end chain model', which is all about asking one question - why? As a child I got told off for asking why too much, but now I have a good response if it were to happen again! 


Laddering is a projective technique where people end up with a terminal value which is a persons preferred goal in life, this could be anything from world peace to family security. Laddering is something that helps marketers to identify the links between functional product attributes and desired end states. 


An example of laddering is below:

The above example is one that represents someone who does not want to drink due to the after affects. 


Solomon describes laddering as ' Consumers are helped to climb up the 'ladder' of abstraction that connects functional product attributes with desired end-states.' (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010, p204), having interpreted this I understand it can only work if the information of the products is available for the consumer to make their own mind up.


MECCAS - Means end conceptualization of the components of Advertising Strategy.  This is where researchers can find information used to develop an advertising strategy, by identifying elements such as:

• Message Elements - This is where specific features are represented
• Consumer Benefit - What good will using this product do?
• Leverage Point - How will the message trigger terminal values by linking it to the specific features?
• Driving Force - What is the end value that the advert will focus upon?

 (Solomon et al, 2010, p206)

A good advert that describes difference cultural values are those produced by HSBC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLPEwvVvN0&feature=related
The above advert shows the different meanings between the


Reference List:


Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD
Dictionary.com

Nostalgia

Don't you just love that trip down memory lane once in a while?

Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days. (Dictionary.com)

To this day I still check whats on the channels i used to watch as a kid just to see if there is anything on that would take me back my childhood... Sadly the channels are filled with boring new shows that make no sense... Such as Ben10. What happened to all the old classics???

Above is my nostaliga board that shows my childhood happiness... This was slowly taken away as  I grew older, to a point where Christmas just felt like another day...

I remember when I was younger and ill I always used to ask my mum for Calpol (not the orange one - I didn't like that) I still sometimes wonder if that stuff would cure me today. Therefore my nostalgia of being ill was looking forward to my next dose of calpol.

Solomon describes Nostalgia as  'a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing' (P264, Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010) This is a very good statement as it says that people are able to look back on their life and reflect on a certain period with a positive or negative thought depending on the event.

The Hovis bread advert is a perfect example of how nnostalgia can be used in advertising. The advert shows how the boy runs through the town with his bread and see's his life before him... From watching the soilders marching off to war to being in the middle of an inner city riot. The advert ends by saying 'As good today's as its always been' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADrsqat4j1M)

The nostalgia behind the advert is showing that the boy has gone to get the bread and took the scenic route through history.

The coca-cola Christmas advert brings back a lot of memories for a lot of people as it is represented with the start of Christmas. For many people this advert helps them get into the Christmas spirit, therefore they will be able to make the link to their childhood where they were excited by Christmas.

Having Read a WARC case study on Revels it was found that the initial advert in 1999 was scrapped as did not have the required emotions to trigger nostalgia.  The report says that at first people were commenting on the flavours that they really didn't like, but after venting this hatred they were just as keen to point out the flavours that they liked. (Warc,2001). This lead to a change of flavours taking out the coconut, peanut  and the galaxy counter sweet. This means that each bag could contain up to four flavours and luck will choose which revel you will eat! As the WARC report says its like playing eeny, meeny, miny, mo!  (http://www.revels.co.uk/home/default.aspx)

'Targeting memory is something that is very important for marketers today. If the marketing comity are able to targeting the memory, by appealing to one of the five senses, they maybe be able to trigger a nostalgic reaction thus, enticing the prospective customer into purchasing the product. They best way for marketers to succeed in this is by doing face to face tests. As the public are able to feel the product and can think about if they have felt anything like that before.'


There are many types of learning that are used, which are very complex. The different types are cognitive, observational and behavioral; below I will explain each of the three;

• Cognitive Learning Theory: This theory looks at people as problem solvers, who use all information possible in order to be the best that they can. This means that what we think we know may not actually be what we think it could be. 
• Observational Learning: This is where people conduct themselves by thinking about what they have seen. For example people who watch a film may act like a character if they really feel affected by this person. Below is a table of components of observational learning. 

(P250/251, Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2010)

Reference List:

Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD

WARC, 2001, Revels, eating revels is a risky business [Online] Warc, Available at:

http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=c8874131-c414-4066-aeb4-e4989970a420&q=revels  [Accessed 14th January 2010]