What is Perception?

What is Perception?

Brassington’s Essentials of Marketing defines perception as:

‘Perception represents the way in which individuals analyse, interpret and make sense of incoming information, and is affected by personality, experience and mood’

Everyday thousands of sensations appeal to us via sight, smell, sound, touch and taste – these are known as stimuli. These sensations could be the sound of a fire engine or the smell of a barbeque. It’s from our interpretations of these stimuli that determines our perception. So perception is our view or opinion of that particular person, smell, colour, event, place, sound, brand, group, product etc

So by appealing to people's senses marketers can create a good perception of their company/brand. We can see this technique in its simplest form by looking at the poster advert below. Lynx have used a quite obviously stunning body to advertise their new shower products - the poster has been perfectly targeted towards young men, appealing to SIGHT... the WASH ME is also inviting you to TOUCH.

By relating to the advert below you can see how some marketers change the image of their models to create a better perception about them as a brand. If consumers consider the model beautiful we can expect them to relate this perception to the brand she is representing.

The link below is an article discussing Marks & Spencers adverts, and their succes due to appealing to consumers senses. This is proof that the technique works!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5884340/Adverts-work-best-when-appealing-to-all-senses.html

Below is a table showing how people we perceive us . . .