Focus groups

As part of a Uni project I had to carry out research in the form of focus groups. They consisted of two group interviews: one with over 35’s, and the other with under 21’s. Both groups will be even in regards to gender split. To ensure for wider and more accurate results, secondary research will also be considered. Mintel, a website offering respectable consumer, media and market research, offers a much wider range of research, but not necessarily as accurate. Comparisons of both researches were made at the end. Below are detailed the research aims:

1. Identify who would be most likely to donate to CRU target market

2. Identify the most popular donation method

3. Identify what makes our target market donate.

Brassington’s Essentials of Marketing (EOM) describes focus group as an investigation into ‘…underlying attitudes and behaviors relevant to the market’ – and this very apparent in our own research, with discovering major differences in in gender and age, with suitable research into the consumer’s behaviors as well as the marketplace it self. Brasington describes the method as qualitative research, meaning although the results can be in-depth with honest answers (due to the small amount of participants and the open questions - encouraging conversation) they are unable to provide a full analysis of the entire market - so qualitative rather than quantitative.

‘…Group interviews are used to produce qualitative data that are not capable of generalization to the wider population…’ (Essentials Of Marketing, Pg.156)

Say, for instance, the construction of a quantitative research method was carried out, like a questionnaire filled out by several hundred people – this type of research would show wider results, but maybe not necessarily as honest results. So the focus groups encouraged open conversation leading people to open up more and give honest and in-depth answers, unlike questionnaire or surveys, but unfortunately do limit the amount of data that can be collected.

So I learnt from the focus groups we were able to find out more about the market, find out underlying values which effect purchases!

Tweens

‘…is an American neologism and marketing term for preteen. A blend of between and teen "tween" in this context is generally considered to cover the age range from eight to twelve years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preadolescence)

Tweens are the perfect group to market towards. They hold a great influence over how family finance is spent – whether its holidays, food, clothes and/or luxuries. Marketers refer to a technique called PESTER POWER.

Web definition of PESTER POWER: Refers to children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy.

Also, creating this relationship with kids/teens at an early age means they are more likely to continue to purchase into the brand. For example: McDonalds offering free toys with happy meals, this will build a relationship with the consumer and hopefully mean they will continue to eat there even when they have grown up enough for a LARGE BIG MAC MEAL!!

Social Class

‘All societies can be roughly divided into haves and have-nots. While social equality is widely held value throughout Europe, the fact remains that some people seem to be more equal than others’ (Solomon 2006)

"Social class is a division of society made up of persons possessing certain common social characteristics which are taken to qualify them for intimate, equal status relations with one another, and which restrict their interaction with members of other social classes"

Centuries ago social class was a lot more important. People were restricted in who they could mix with, it was considered inappropriate to marry out of your own social class. Nowadays such restrictions do not exist, and there is currently many more classes than before. Please relate to the diagrams. . .

In Britain we have a classing system which ranks from A - E, it goes a little something like this:

A - is the upper middle class, the elite within society - highest managerial positions, CEOs, or professionals

B - is the middle class, which is a large majority of the population - intermediate managerial, administrative or professional

C1 - is the lower middle class - supervisory or clerical and junior managerial

C2 - is the skilled working class - Blue Collars

D - is the working class - semi and unskilled manual workers, factory workers

E - is the lower class - casual or lowest grade workers and pensioners - non contributors

Below I have listed some relations we make between the two main classes.

Lower . . .

Ford Escort

Burberry

Bingo

Beans on Toast

Primark

Council flats

Spain Holidays

Higher . . . .

Mercades Benz

Diamond Rings

Mansions

Champagne

Waitrose

Maldives

Ascott

Louis Vuitton

Sushi

Marketers must understand class, as just like groups, values, perception, gender etc class will also highly influence consumer’s purchases. And each class will have different way to appeal to them most!

Generational Marketing

Generational Marketing mean to target a specific demographic, trying to appeal to all is too diverse and you wouldn’t expect good results. For example, you wouldn’t try and sell a pushchair, or a mountain bike to an OAP. Check out the adverts below….

This first one is obviously aimed at an older, middle/higher class audience… staring Joanna Lumley a long established British actress – a celebrity the older generations can relate to!

Now by viewing the advert below you can see the massive contrast between advertising to different generation. This advert is obviously aimed towards children – mostly boys. With a great use of colours, music, effects and enthusiast over voice!!

These are four popular generational categories that most marketers tend to focus on.

They include:

• Millenials or Generation 2001ers, born after 1980
• Baby Busters or Generation Xers born between 1965 and 1980
• Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964
• Mature Citizens born between 1909 and 1945

By viewing the groups above we can relate back to previous blogs, these different generations will differ in values and perceptions – which will in turn will make them differ in which products they choose to buy, or which brands they trust the most!

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First impressions

Your perception on someone will be highly influenced on the first impressions they give off.... so better make it count!!!

• Takes three seconds for someone to evalute you – to make a first impression
• This will be based on your appearance, body language and your mannerisms.
• …also clothes, shoes haircut

Perception Experiment

BACK TO PERCEPTION. . . . .

For this section we will see the effectiveness of perception, and the reputation it can give to a brand. I will now be testing successful brand Smirn off vodka, investigating the influence of perception in comparison to a Sainsbury’s own. I am hoping I will be able to prove that consumers are massively influenced by advertising, and purchase a product because of its brand, not necessarily because of its quality. I want to prove that marketing can create a positive brand perception, which consumers want to buy into.

My Experiment

Please view table below in relation to individuals tested:

Male Female

Under 21 5 5
Over 30 5 5

Step 1

I will start by showing 20 individuals two different bottles of vodka:

1st bottle – Sainsbury’s basics Vodka – £7.48 – 37.5%
2nd bottle – Smirnoff’s Vodka 1ltr - £15.00 - 37.5%


I will then ask each person which vodka they would prefer – they will write there answer, with their name, on the provided sheet.

Step 2

The next stage will involve testing the vodkas. I will pore 10ml of vodka in two separate glasses, label glass 1 and Glass2, obviously making sure measures are exact throughout. I will not let anyone see which vodka is in each glass, and ask all 20 to test both. I will then once again ask them to write down which drink they preferred.

On the outset all 20 people agreed that in comparison to Sainsbury’s own, they would all prefer Smirnoff’s. To question whether this decision was based on taste I blind-fold tested each of them. So with two separate glasses filled with two separate vodkas we began. The results disagreed with their first answers, showing 13 out of 20 preferences towards Sainsbury’s own.

Check out the advert below, showing how perception can trick you . . . . .

Enterprise Week

During enterprise we I took part in the enterprise challenge, this consisted of three stages –

Stage 1 – sell as many doughnuts as possible.
Stage 2 – create your own product and sell it.
Stage 3 – hold your own event.

When competing in stage 1 our competitors were all selling Tesco’s own doughnuts – very cheap and lots of them! We, on the other hand, contacted a private baker and brought some ‘luxurious’ doughnuts – much bigger in size with a variety of icings and toppings. Even with competitors plotted directly opposite us we still managed to make a larger profit by instead of selling 5 rubbish doughnuts for £1, we were selling our amazing one for £1 each.

Out of all teams participating we came second – and were through to the second round.

During the second stage we were selling boxes of Christmas chocolates– made from a selection of sweets brought at the local cash n’ carry. The chocolates were then packaged and a bow was attached. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in getting into the final round – we ended up paying a lot more for the packaging which increased our profit margin alot! Also, the location was a bit poor, there didn't seem to be alot of people in Wycombe - less contact, less chance of profit!

Perception in the Marketplace

Solomon described the world we live in as ‘overflowing with sensations’. It is from these sensations that forms our perception of the world. Our interpretation of different stimuli controls our opinions and views – they change the way we see the world. Marketers are now purposely appealing to these senses to change consumer’s perceptions, and opinions of their particular brand and product.

Marketers now largely contribute to many stimuli in our world today. They are creating all types of advertising, which are specifically design to appeal to our five senses. This may take the form of a colorful billboard, sound of a radio advert or the fragrance of a clothing store.


The stimuli are everywhere, Assael (1981) tells us we are ‘…exposed to 300-600 advertisements in a normal day’. Solomon describes this as an ‘bombardment’, which leads the human brain unable to process all, and looses the consumers attention – this is the same reason you may find your self sometimes ‘switching off’ and your attention shift. Soloman tells us ‘only a very small number of the stimuli in our environment are ever noticed. Of these, an even smaller number are attended to.’ This means marketers now need to further appeal to senses, in hope for grabbing consumer's attention

One example of sensor advertising, would be Car manufacture Lexus with their strap line, ‘The loudest sound your hear inside the Lexus is yourself thinking’ It is appealing to your sound sense, interacting with the consumer as he/she stands in silence to test how quiet a Lexus engine really is.

Also Netherland’s cleaning product Dreft is another good example. Their adverts appeal to senses via brightly coloured posters relating to the nation’s patriotic colour – ‘so the ad simultaneously underlines the colour-protecting qualities of the product and, though the national colour code, refers to the strength of the Dutch Nation’ (Solomon’s Consumer Behavior) So by using certain colours dreft successfully managed to relate the quality of their product to the country their consumers live in. This is evidence of marketers using specific colours to appeal to specific groups, proving we all have different perceptions and opinions.

Gender

Well i think it is safe to say us guys pretty much nothing like you girls.

There are massive differences between both sexes and marketers need to adopt to these when advertising. Check out the perfume/aftershave adverts below. Can you see the difference? the women's is all pink and red, very sexy, heart, love, passion, fairy tale dress. And then the mens is dark and tough, hood-up, hard man, fist shaped bottle ffs!

You can see the marketers approach is completely different.

The practical implications are clear: women have better memory for detailed information than do men, while men tend to have better spatial ability and the ability to build systems. For marketers who want to appeal to women as effectively as possible, this means that they need to get product design, packaging, pricing, branding, messaging and more in sync with how the female subconscious mind receives and processes information, and directs behavior – greatly increasing the chances of marketplace success.
Pairing science-based market research innovation with conventional methods enables Nielsen and NeuroFocus to better understand the elements of successful consumer engagement – providing a powerful tool for generating greater returns on the great investment it takes to launch and sell new products.

(http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/the-science-of-marketing-and-gender/)

Learning and Memory

Learning

“Every time an advertisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer learn something …. and remember what he learned “ (Britt 1955)

There are two types of conditioning learning – classical and operant.

A well known example of classical learning is that of Pavlov and his dogs. By giving his dog food each time he rang a bell he made the dogs accaosite food with the bell. This type of learning can be seen in many different situations. We all relate materilists things to types of people. For example i relate burberry to a chav, BMW to a wealthy man, People Carrier - mum and family.

Repetition!

Operant learning consists of a reward and punishment system, much like your bedtime when you was a little kid. You can see similar systems everywhere, Nandos for example provide loyality cards…. Eat there 10 times and you get a whole chicken free!! Same thing at many supermarkets… nectar points!

Memory plays a huge part in all learning, if companies can leave consumers with a good memory of their experience, the likely hood is that they will be back! If you learn that the experince wasn’t nice and you store that information to make sure you don’t make the same mistake again. Same with customer service, you impresson and perception on that brand could be ruined by an unpleasant staff member.

YOU WANT TO CREATE BRAND LOYALTY!

Memory.

“learning is the acquisition of knowledge & memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge” (Blakemore, 1988)

Memory consists of taking in information and storing it for when its needed last. There are three main types of memory:

Sensory Memory

This memory system involves taking information from our main senses – and can only last a few seconds. An example would be the smell of a BBQ, or look of a certain person. Whether the individual acts on these senses determines whether the information is then stored as Short- term memory.

Short-term memory

Just like sensory memory, this type also is limited to how much, and how long it can store information. This system consists of ‘chunking’ small bits of information together for easier storing. For example, when learning mobile numbers we chunk out different sections for easier learning.

Long-term Memory

This consists of information being stored over a large period of time. This happens when the individual thinks deeply into the stimuli information pick up by our senses. It often helps if the new information can relate to that of already stored in our long term-memory.

Marketing towards Memory.

Marketers try to make sure their adverts are stored as long term memory by creating catchy slogans and jingles so we repeat them over and over in our heads.

Also, marketers use a technique named post-experience advertising. Meaning they distort the consumers view on their product or brand by advertising to them after they have experience it. As the consumer has already taken in information about the brand (because they have already brought and experienced it) the post experience advertising is more easily stored as long term memory and the consumer is more likely to trust and purchase into the brand.

Nostalgia

When a stimulus is capable of recreating a personal event, even after many years, there often follows a bitter-sweet sentiment known as nostalgia” (Dubois, 2000)

Marketers can use imagery, music, smells etc to relate their advertisement, their brand, to a fond memory. Especially effective with older men, possible mid life crisis victims…..

‘BACK IN THE DAY!!!’

Values

‘…a value can be defined as a belief about some desirable end state that’s transcends specific situation and guides selection of behavior.’ (Solomon 2006)

Everyone has values, and most share a set of terminal values – the ones that are most important. Our values drive our behavior and hold a high influence on our consumer decisions. Kahle's List of Values’s can determine your spending habits based on your most important values. Didn’t work for me, but I had trouble trying to work out what was most important to me . . . others in the lecture were impressed tho! See below. . . . .

Kahle's List of Values (1983)

1. Self Respect

2. Excitement

3. Being Well Respected

4. Self-fulfilment

5. Sense of accomplishment

6. Warm relationship with others

7. Security

8. Fun & enjoyment

9. Sense of belonging

Often, consumers values will match to the brands they choose, and therefore for it is the brands responsibility to hold up its standards. When Kerry Katona was found sniffing coke she lost her contract with Iceland Foods – mums (Iceland’s main customers) would not condone drug use, against their values.

Each country will have different values to another. Marketers must acculturate - meaning they must understand the values, to understand the consumers and the market of the particular country.

So a successful advert here in England, could be not only unsuccessful, but offensive in another. YOU MUST KNOW YOUR MARKET!

The laddering technique questions each decision to investigate the values behind it. Please relate to the example below :

Eric likes light beers - ask why?

Does not want to get drunk - ask why?

Will be able to have more interesting conversations - why is this important?

Will be able to be more sociable - why is this important to achieve?

Wants to get better friendships - i.e. a terminal value for Eric!

Look at the image below to get an idea of some other major values which exist...

Groups

• · They consist of 2 or more (normally alot more) who share the same norms.
• · Groups tend to have role relationships

Why do groups exist?

• · The importance of self-image - don’t want to be seen alone.
• · Sense of security and support
• · Reassurance of their own worth

'. . .we all belong to groups, try to please others and pick up cues about how to behave by observing the actions of those around us. In fact, our desire to 'fit in' or to identify with desirable individuals or groups is the primary motivation for many of our purchases and activities. ' (Solomon 2006)

People act different in groups are will buy lots of things to keep up with group crazes and trends. All it can take is one person to influence an entire social group. Celebrity endorsement is a perfect example of this . . . . .

Preferences are shaped by our group memberships, by our desire to please or be accepted by others, even by the actions of famous people whom we’ve never met.’ (Solomon 2006)

Group behaviour plays an important role when marketing a brand, if you know the market you know what they like, what they would like to look like, what clothes they would like, what food, what music, what tv shows, movies, celebrities, also know what they don't like! . . . with all this information you have a group identity and you are able to market specifically to them.

Dove, for example, deliberately avoided using ‘perfect’ looking women across the entire campaign. This advert wouldn’t appeal to young girls, not even early 20’s. They knew most mums are not interested in looking like Jordan, they don't want shiny posters and night club tv ads. . . they want comfy looking underwear on a 'normal' looking women with a nice clean white poster. . . i think.

But not all group interest is favorable for brands, Burberry once an expensive high-class brand, is now been dragged down by the cliché Burberry wearing Chav. ‘…with UK sales falling, Burberry cannot afford to become a laughing stock in their own backyard’

Read here for the fall article on the issue .. . . . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4381140.stm

Football hooliganism is a prime example, people acting completely completely different in a group. You would hope all these guys dont act like that all the time. . . Right ?