Related Research
Never consume alone: The power of mere presence
Posted by Corrina Fox on 26 Mar, 2008
Description of contents
1.0 An obsession with individual-based psychology
The basis of much marketing practice lies in the belief that it is influencing the individual. Recent focus on the wisdom of crowds, word-of-mouth, and social networking, recognises that the way people behave is heavily influenced by others. Whether we reject it, or not, others’ behaviour always makes a difference to our own behaviour. In this report, we argue that much of the discussion about being part of the group, especially interest in word-of-mouth, implies that we have to talk to each other to influence each other. In fact, we respond subconsciously to the mere presence of others, even if no conscious communication takes place at all.
Go with the social influence
Posted by Peter Wells on 26 Mar, 2008
In the entertainment world, most executives recognise that success is often a gamble and is not principally driven by plot, sound, style, or even star power. Very often it is social influence that is the key to success, as demonstrated in a series of studies published in the prestigious journal Science. These studies enrolled young people, via the site Bolt.com, and allocated them to one of two experimental conditions.
Talk about the net
Posted by Peter Wells on 26 Mar, 2008
The golden rule for physical retailers - find the best location - does not apply on the internet. Yet a recent study suggests that, while the location of the online store relative to customers does not matter, the location of existing customers relative to potential customers is important. This is because of social contagion — different forms of social interaction, such as word-of-mouth. For example, new customers for Netgrocer did not appear randomly throughout America, but in areas where there were already customers.
New brands, instant loyalty
Posted by Peter Wells on 26 Mar, 2008
Popular wisdom suggests brands grow because over time more people buy a brand (penetration) and those who buy it, buy it more often. This supports the idea that preferences for a new brand develop over time and that there are differences in the strength of commitment to brands, which impacts on the level of repeat purchase. These ideas relate to models of brand strength or commitment and have been challenged, particularly by Professor Ehrenberg and his colleagues.
Do brand loyals really exist ?
Posted by Corrina Fox on 26 Mar, 2008
Brand loyalty is a widely accepted concept and is regularly used as a basis for segmenting customers. But based on their study Justifying Our Ad Budgets, Andrew Ehrenbergs UK research group challenge the existence of brand loyal (near 100% loyal) customers and the validity of segmentation based on loyalty and various forms of switching behaviour. They argue there is no long-term evidence to support the existence of brand loyals. The results of short-term studies supporting brand loyalty can be explained by a model based on all consumers having portfolios of brands.
Growth through WOM
Posted by Corrina Fox on 26 Mar, 2008
The current mania around word-of-mouth reflects its importance in influencing consumer behaviour, however the challenge of quantifying its effects remain. One approach is to derive a word-of-mouth score for a brand and compare it to the brand's growth. This score can be based on asking consumers whether they would recommend their current brand in a particular category, how satisfied they are with it and whether they have made positive or negative comments about it in the past 12 months. When combined, these questions provide a Net Promoter Score (NPS) to compare to brand growth.
Who are the mavens?
Posted by Peter Wells on 26 Mar, 2008
In this era of increasing segmentation, market mavens - consumers who are highly involved in and knowledgeable about the marketplace - are desirable targets. They are desirable because other consumers go to them for information, because they pass on word-of-mouth and, unlike opinion leaders, because they are experts in many different products. What kind of people are they?
We can't help copying
Posted by Corrina Fox on 26 Mar, 2008
One of the most exciting discoveries in neuroscience has been that of mirror neurones. Mirror neurones are scattered throughout the brain and are believed to be the basis of how we learn and consequently the key to the most fundamental aspects of our behaviour including the development of culture. Basically, mirror neurones lead us to mentally rehearse or imitate every action we witness, from a dance step to a yawn.
Who talks to whom
Posted by Peter Wells on 26 Mar, 2008
There is general agreement that word of mouth (WOM) is a powerful process, with the potential to strengthen or damage a brand. But despite the work of people like Malcolm Gladwell, in The Tipping Point, and experimentation with viral marketing, we still have a poor understanding of how it actually works, and its effects at a macro level, particularly in tandem with advertising. Clearly, the phenomenon is dependent, to some degree, on peoples networks. These networks are characterised by strong ties (stable, frequent, intimate) and weak ties (tenuous or random links) and it is suggested that weak ties have a stronger influence than first thought.
Seeking to recommend
Posted by Corrina Fox on 26 Mar, 2008
There is no doubting the influence of word-of-mouth (WOM) on brand choice, but it appears that all WOM is not equal. For example, there are differences in the impact of WOM in different categories. In one recent study, 59% of people had found their dentist by WOM, but only 13% had chosen their current car based on WOM recommendations.
No more averages
Posted by Corrina Fox on 5 Feb, 2008
Until fairly recently, TV, newspapers and radio were aimed at the average audience and advertisers set out to target them through these media. This process was based on two unsustainable illusions: the idea that branding and advertising a product in a certain way could influence someone to buy, and the idea that advertisers pay for advertising. It has become increasingly clear that advertising is only 'effective' when it serves the consumer’s agenda, and that the people paying for advertising are the customers, and they deserve some kind of return.
New teen brand apathy
Posted by Peter Wells on 5 Feb, 2008
Teenagers display some similar behaviours between generations, including being over-emotional, but each generation appears to differ in many ways from earlier ones. There is also a widespread belief that today, more than ever, we are seeing the emergence of a global teenager thanks to the internet. If so, we should be able to understand this global teenager in a small number of cultures and extrapolate key trends to most markets. One attempt to do this, from BBDO, cites six key trends that differentiate the current generation of 13-18 year olds.
How green is our marketing?
Posted by Peter Wells on 5 Feb, 2008
Now that global warming is recognised as a threat to future generations and a short-term threat to economic prosperity, pollution and the environment are back on the political and popular agenda. Many businesses have worked diligently to be proactive on issues such as carbon emissions, recycling and sustainability, but this is still not universal. Some areas of business have had to act, most notably in operations areas where pollution is obvious, but others have not been as motivated, including marketing. However, marketers have a pivotal role because they are the mediators between the forces of production and consumption.
Mass ads you can't avoid
Posted by Corrina Fox on 5 Feb, 2008
The demise of mass advertising has been widely predicted, but its much-hyped replacement strategy, micro marketing, has often failed to cost effectively deliver the results major marketers require. Combined with the rising cost per click for online advertising, even many online brands are spending more of their budgets in offline environments. But the new mass media are not the TV and newspapers of old.
Marketing for everyday life
Posted by Peter Wells on 5 Feb, 2008
It could be said that marketing straddles economics and psychology, providing the utility to economics and the reinforcement to psychology. Perhaps this attempt to be on both sides contributes to marketing’s confusion about itself. While the literature often describes people in terms of their reactions to products, eg, brand loyal, price sensitive, each concept requires the existence of the product in the first place. These concepts do not assist in deciding how best to produce what people want to buy. Goods and services fit into people’s lives in specific ways, so it does not make sense to look at people as prospects outside the context of their lives.
What's black and white and still read?
Posted by Peter Wells on 5 Feb, 2008
There has been much talk about the demise of newspapers. Yet people still read newspapers – Mintel found 34% of people in the UK still use them as the main source of news, compared to 12% who use the net. The problem is that newspapers are too dependent on advertising for their survival, since it provides 80% of total revenues for regional papers and 60% for national papers. What are the options for staying viable?
First, they might tackle internet competitors such as recruitment, property, and other major advertisers. People still like to advertise at least cheaper homes in their local press, they like to touch and drive cars before they buy, and they look for local jobs locally. Second, they could bundle advertising by cooperating with other websites, sharing readership, and offering commissions for all properties, jobs or cars transferred to the paper or vice versa. Third, newspapers could put up their prices. However, more realistic pricing could only be based on meeting the needs of readers more effectively than the internet.
The one-size-fits-all nature of newspapers cannot go on, because that strategy no longer works in any industry. However, segmenting the market more carefully could create very expensive production costs. Yet, how to personalise a newspaper is a new challenge. People cannot anticipate what news they want to read, since it is unknowable, but they do know what kinds of features they like. A personalised newspaper night carry the same news for everyone, but only the features that the reader wants. New digital newspaper presses are already capable of changing the content in each copy.
Advertisers in turn would be able to advertise according to each individual copy, providing the kind of targeting that the internet currently claims. Local papers already have this advantage, and they have lost the least circulation in recent years, because people seem to want to read about their local community. It is likely that the newspaper industry will become more specialised, providing local papers for communities, national papers that are increasingly targeted to the individual, and even special interest magazines, like The Economist, which will focus more on analysis of relevant news. The fact wealthy individuals are claimed to be sniffing around the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and others newspapers, suggests they are not dead yet.
References
Hill, J. (2007) British newspapers and the internet. ADMAP (UK). Feb, 38-40.
Restraint and respect in SMS
Posted by Corrina Fox on 5 Feb, 2008
SMS is the most popular mobile application, with 580 million users sending over 430 billion messages worldwide in 2002. Japan, NZ, Germany and the UK, for example, have cost-effective and interoperable wireless, high penetration of mobile phones, and relatively low cost for SMS messaging. It is no wonder that companies are looking to harness the medium for SMS advertising.
Searching for connections
Posted by Corrina Fox on 5 Feb, 2008
The future is always out of control and today the future of marketing has never seemed further from being in control. From buzz to consumer generated content and co-creation, the power over brands now lies, not with the marketer, but the consumer. But behind all the hype over this shift in power does lie the logic that the customer’s recommendation is the most important influence on choice of a new brand and is the key to loyalty (1).
The problem is that marketers are charged with being responsible for the growth of their brands. Yet, today they have less control over growth than ever before. It is perhaps little wonder that, despite continued economic growth, the tenure of chief marketing officers continues to decline (from 23.6 months in 2004 to 23.2 months in 2006 in the US (2)). Moreover, even the definition of marketing is changing, despite its pervasiveness in western lives.
Who's in control of technology?
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
Socrates told the tale of King Thamus who refused the gift of writing because he feared it would take away his people's memory. An early Luddite perhaps, but he had a point and, in the digital age, technology can also take away as much as it gives. Distraction, by Mark Curtis, looks at the social costs and the social potential of what he calls "distraction technologies" and concludes that we must learn to adapt our behaviour to take control of them and to use them to their best advantage.
RFID: more than a barcode?
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 Dec, 2007
The battle lines over the future of RFID tags appear to have been drawn. On one side, retailers claim convenience and efficiencies from using tags will lead to great acceptance. For example, the tags should be able to track items placed in a shopping basket and the final bill would be waiting at the checkout. Other benefits would include a better understanding of how people use products and more efficient warranty and service systems when the tags are attached to the product.
Hope, fear and the net
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
Predictions for the future of the internet must take into account how new the internet really is - most people have been used it for less than ten years. As we look towards 2020, a Pew Internet survey of technology and social science experts provides a mixture of hope and fear (common reactions to the impact of new technologies). The greatest surprise was the large minority who fear we will eventually create machines that could wrest control from human beings.
You are your clickprint
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 Dec, 2007
Just as people have a particular way of signing their name, a recognisable gait, or typing pattern, they also have a signature way of browsing the web. This could be important because understanding someone’s “clickprints” in, say, a credit card transaction would help to eliminate fraud. One question is how many online sessions need to be analysed to identify people by their clickprints.
Cookies not fully digested
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
Concerns about online privacy are increasing, but this has not prompted any significant campaigns to teach consumers about the different ways they could be identified. Cookies provide a good example of the level of misunderstanding, even among university students, who are internet savvy. These users often believe that cookies collect personally identifiable information, email addresses, and invade privacy.
Our past exposed?
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 Dec, 2007
Consumer generated content, including blogs, MySpace pages, photo collections and other networking sites, is a new form of transparency in society, for those who participate. This is a world were one’s opinions are expressed, friends are made and people are talked about. Clearly, it is an exciting new world, but it brings potentially serious problems for participants, non-participants and society in general.
Why consumers lie
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 Dec, 2007
Everybody lies, and everyone lies more frequently than they think they do. Up to a third of social interactions can involve lying. Even in something as mundane as shopping, we lie about where we bought something, its brand name, and how much we paid for it. The main reasons for this are because people want to protect their public and private selves from threat. Consequently, they lie to people with whom they have a relationship as well as to strangers.
Speaking up, speaking down
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
There has never been a better time, technologically, for letting the world know your opinion. The opportunity offered by the internet, of talking to multiple audiences, is available at all times through various forms of consumer generated media (CGM). One interesting piece of research found that people who post their opinions (posters) differ in their thinking from people who just observe (lurkers). This is because posters are conscious of talking to multiple audiences, and because they desire to be seen in a favourable light by other people.
Marketing to avatars
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 Dec, 2007
Commercial interest in online games and fantasy worlds reflects estimates that over 10 million people are spending US$10-15 per month and 10 hours per week, to be part of these worlds. At present, most marketer interest centres on product placement or some other form of 3-D advertising within the games. The risk with product placement alone is that it becomes like spam unless handled carefully.
Owning our data: round two
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
It can be argued that marketing today is based on three assumptions. One, companies own the information they collect about their customers and prospective customers. Two, the best way to connect buyers and sellers is through publishing information that attracts buyers to the seller. Three, that this information should primarily meet the seller's needs. In the dot-com era it was claimed that the net would change these assumptions.
Are we private enough
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Dec, 2007
While privacy is a major issue for website owners, it is not certain whether privacy has the same importance for users. According to an upcoming book on people’s “taste for privacy”, society currently scores only a four on a continuum from one to ten, where ten is maximum privacy. Young people especially seem unconcerned on social networking sites, perhaps because they are yet to experience the effects of broken privacy.
A GreySpace for grown-ups
Posted by Corrina Fox on 14 Sep, 2007
Social networking found its way into the tech lexicon long before most of us knew what it meant, but it has certainly transformed the way we spend our leisure time. Teenagers are not the only ones spending hours chatting to their “friends”. Now even people who were once considered a bit old for such fripperies are now tied to their laptops, “connecting” with like minds. As revealed by Nielsen/NetRatings, the number of net users over 55 is roughly equal to those aged 18 to 34!
I won’t if you don’t
Posted by Corrina Fox on 22 Aug, 2007
Recycling, turning off the computer overnight, walking to work, giving up flying – there is pressure on each of us to take responsibility for global warming. Whether or not you agree that it is our fault, people are acting as if humans are responsible, especially when they see others are doing the same. A number of reports in the past few months suggest that the message itself has reached a tipping point, even if green behaviour has not quite caught up.
Time for friendship management?
Posted by Corrina Fox on 17 Aug, 2007
One of the early fears about the internet was that it would lead to social isolation and loneliness. Recently, there has been a spate of articles about how people are suffering from “friendship overload” or spending too much time on social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. It appears the fear of isolation was based on old assumptions about how people conduct themselves as “friends”.
Change or be changed!
Posted by Corrina Fox on 6 Aug, 2007
One of the bugbears of marketing is how to get people to change their habits. After all, we don’t even think about most of our habits (coffee before work, wine after work). But sometimes people change their habits when we don’t want them to see the different brand of milk story and other times, they force companies to make an overdue change.
To conform or diverge?
Posted by Corrina Fox on 23 Jul, 2007
It is becoming clearer that we do not make decisions as true individuals; instead we make them while considering others. As Duncan Watts wrote in the New York Times,
“What we often want is not so much to experience the “best” of everything as it is to experience the same things as other people and thereby also experience the benefits of sharing.”
Teens – plus ca change
Posted by Corrina Fox on 16 Jul, 2007
People, especially those who are no longer teens, like to generalise about teenagers. While teens often get a bad rap, most oldies would agree that they are into technology. They are the digital generation, born to text, type, blog, download, message, and – yes – rap. Some recent British research with 18-24 year olds explodes that idea:
On loyalty: what about the others?
Posted by Peter Wells on 2 Jul, 2007
We now recognise the importance of humans being social creatures, for example, we know the mere presence of another person changes the way we respond to messages and other stimuli. Much of this is of course initiated at a subconscious level but social desirability is fundamental to us. Even so, many marketing tactics still focus on the individual, such as loyalty programs. As these programs often fail to deliver the desired results, we may speculate that this lack of social interaction is at least one reason for the continuing need to increase rewards.
Why crowds don’t know much
Posted by Corrina Fox on 25 Jun, 2007
One of the defining features of life today is that everyone has the opportunity, via technology, to make their voice heard. Through wikis, blogs, feedback mechanisms, mobile calls, text messages, messaging, and any other means, we can all sound off. This has led to an almost unquestioning belief that, if everyone thinks so, then it must be true.
Recalling we are not alone
Posted by Peter Wells on 15 Jun, 2007
The fact we are social creatures and that others influence our conscious and unconscious behaviour has had surprisingly little impact on marketing. Mark Earls raised this very issue in his book Herd and many of the reviews agreed with his premise and examples but still struggled with how to use this knowledge.
Throwaway lines
Posted by Corrina Fox on 7 Jun, 2007
Adultery is a favourite topic of many films and TV serials, perhaps because a happy marriage seems too dull for the screen. But adultery as a feature of consumption is a relatively new idea from Jonathan Chapman, a senior lecturer in design at the University of Brighton in the UK.
Creative therapy for greying heads
Posted by Peter Wells on 25 May, 2007
Marketing and its partners form a large industry of mostly younger people. The average age of an advertising executive in 1995 was 31 and judging from UK, US and Australian agencies it is unlikely that this has changed since then. In one way this is not a bad thing, as it probably matches the average age of marketing managers who deal with agency executives. In current academic marketing speak, there is congruence.
Do we ignore the hive?
Posted by Corrina Fox on 18 May, 2007
There are warning signs that we need to rethink the transferring of old media advertising mentalities to the net. The increasing use of more intrusive advertising on websites, such as forcing visitors to view an ad before they can access the functions of the site, are just one example. Consumer created content and brand created entertainment are the current hot ideas and we should thoughtfully consider their pros and cons well beyond the mountains of hype. Honeyshed.com is one of the more advanced brand entertainment concepts.
Partial attention to everything
Posted by Peter Wells on 7 May, 2007
Parents of teenagers are probably viewing the discussion about continuous partial attention (as coined by Linda Stone) with a bemused expression. But it is not restricted to young people, as any manager will know. Attending a meeting, reading notes, checking messages on a mobile phone, sending emails on a Blackberry and listening to the speaker, is the mode of most managers. Their behaviour is no different from that of an 18-year-old on MySpace, MSN, SMS and the telephone, at the same time.
The real challenge is: what does continuous partial attention mean for advertisers and other communicators?