Download Communication Objectives

Chapter Four
The Communication
Process, Meaning
Creation, and the
Fundamentals of
Consumer’s Use of
MarCom Information
Chapter Four Objectives
• Appreciate the elements of the
communication process
• Understand the nature of meaning in
marketing communications using a
perspective known as semiotics
• Describe marketing communicators’
usage of three forms of figurative
language (simile, metaphor, and
allegory)
Chapter Four Objectives
• Discuss two models of consumer
behavior: the consumer processing
model (CPM) and the hedonic,
experimental model (HEM)
• Describe the eight stages of
consumer information processing
• Explain the fundamental features of
the hedonic, experiential model
Elements in the Communication
Process
Elements in the Communication
Process
Source
Is a communicator in some MarCom
capacity – an advertiser, salesperson,
sales promoter – who has thoughts to
share with an individual customer or and
entire target audience
Elements in the Communication
Process
Communication Objective
Creating brand awareness, implanting
positive associations in the consumer’s
memory as a basis for a positive brand
image, and affecting behavior
Elements in the Communication
Process
Message
Is the symbolic expression of what the
communicator intends to accomplish
Elements in the Communication
Process
Message Channel
Is the path through which the message
moves from source to receiver
Elements in the Communication
Process
Receiver
Is the person or group of people with who
the source attempts to share ideas
Elements in the Communication
Process
Communication Outcome
An outcome(s) in response to the message
received from a brand communicator
Elements in the Communication
Process
Feedback
The way the source monitors how
accurately the intended message is
being received and whether it is
accomplishing its intended objective(s)
Elements in the Communication
Process
Noise
Interference and distortion at any stage of
the communication process
Marketing Communications and
Meaning
Semiotics
Is the study of signs and the analysis of
meaning-producing events
The Nature of Signs
Sign
Something physical and perceivable
that signifies something (the
referent) to somebody
(the interpreter) in some context
The Use of Signs and Symbols
in Marketing
Sign
• Derives its meaning from other
items in its context and vice versa
• Polo logo signifies high status,
financial well-being, and even
royalty
The Meaning of Meaning
Meaning
The perceptions (thoughts) and affective
reactions (feelings) to stimuli evoked within
a person when presented with a sign in a
particular context
The Meaning of Meaning
Perceptual Field
The sum total of a person’s experiences
during his or her lifetime
The Meaning of Meaning
• Communication is effective when signs
are common to both the sender’s and the
receiver’s fields of experience
• The larger the overlap in their perceptual
fields, the greater the likelihood that signs
will be decoded by the receiver in the
manner intended by the sender
Meaning Transfer: From Culture to
Object to Consumer
Drawing meaning
from the culturally
constituted world
Meaning Transfer: From Culture to
Object to Consumer
Drawing meaning
from the culturally
constituted world
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Simile
• Uses a comparative terms such as like or as
to join items from different classes of
experience
• e.g., “Jekyll Island, Georgia. Like the tide, it
draws you back again and again.”
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Use of Simile
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Metaphor
• Differs from simile in that the comparative term
is omitted
• Create a picture in consumers’ minds and tap
into meaning shared both by the advertiser and
consumer
• e.g., Wheaties is the “Breakfast of Champions”
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Use of Metaphor
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
The use of metaphor
in advertising
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Allegory
• A form of extended metaphor
• Conveys meaning in a story-underneath-astory, where something other than what is
literally represented is also occurring
• Personification
• Often used in advertising of potentially
offensive products
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Allegory
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
Allegorical personification:
The Pillsbury Dough Boy
The Use of Figurative Language in
Marketing Communications
The Pillsbury
Doughboy
represents
allegorical
personification
Behavior Foundations of
Marketing Communications
• How consumers process and respond to
marketing communications stimuli and
make choices among brands
• Two models of consumer behavior
» CPM and HEM
• Consumer behavior is too complex and
diverse to be explained by two extreme
models
Behavior Foundations of
Marketing Communications
Consumer Processing Model (CPM)
Behavior is seen as rational, highly
cognitive, systematic,and reasoned
Behavior Foundations of
Marketing Communications
Hedonic, Experiential Model (HEM)
Consumer behavior is driven by
emotions in pursuit of “fun, fantasies,
and feelings”
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Consumer Information
Processing: Stage 1
Exposure to information
• Consumers come in contact with the
marketer’s message
• Gaining exposure is a necessary but
insufficient for communication success
• A function of key managerial decisions
regarding the size of the budget and the
choice of media and vehicles
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Selective Attention: Stage 2
Attention
• Focus on and consider a message
to which one has been exposed
• Highly selective
Selective Attention: Stage 2
To attract consumers attention:
•
•
•
•
Appeals to cognitive and hedonic needs
Use of novel stimuli
Use of intense stimuli
Use of motion
Selective Attention: Stage 2
Illustration of
selective attention
Selective Attention: Stage 2
Illustration of
selective attention
Selective Attention: Stage 2
Illustration of
attention getting
advertising
Selective Attention: Stage 2
Plays on
selective attention
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Comprehension: Stage 3
• Understand and create meaning out of stimuli
and symbols
• Interpreting stimuli involves perceptual
encoding
• Peculiar to each individual (idiosyncratic)
• Mood can influence
• Miscomprehension are common
Perceptual Encoding
1. Feature analysis:
Initial stage whereby a
receiver examines the
basic features of a
stimulus
2. Active synthesis:
Beyond examining
physical features, the
context or situation
plays a major role in
what meaning is
acquired
Humorous Illustration of
Active Synthesis
Humorous
illustration of
active synthesis
Selective Perception
Each individual is
likely to perceive
images in different
ways
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Consumer Information
Processing: Stage 4
Agreement with what is comprehended
The matter of whether consumers yield to
- that is, agree with - what they have
comprehended
Agreement: Stage 4
• Comprehension by itself does not
ensure that the message influence
consumers’ behavior
• Agreement depends on
» whether the message is credible
» whether the information appeals to the
consumer
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Retention and Search/Retrieval of
Stored Information
These two information processing stages,
retention and information search and
retrieval, both involve memory factors
related to consumer choice
Elements of Memory
Memory
Memory involves the related issues of what
consumers remember about marketing
stimuli and how they access and retrieve
information when making consumption
choices
Elements of Memory
• Sensory stores(SS):
» Information is rapidly lost unless attention is
allocated to the stimulus
• Short-Term Memory(STM):
» Limited processing capacity
» Not thought or rehearsed information will be lost
in 30 seconds or less
Elements of Memory
• Long-Term Memory (LTM):
» A virtual storehouse of unlimited information
» Information is organized into coherent and
associated cognitive units called schemata,
memory organization packets, or knowledge
structures
» The marketer’s job is to provide positively
valued information that consumers will store in
LTM
A Consumer’s Knowledge
Structure for the Mazda Miata
Little luggage
space
Two-Seater
Small
Convertible
Economical
Sports car
Fun to drive
Nostalgic
Japanese
Well-Made
Mazda
Miata
Affordable
Sexy
British racing
green
Women
Learning and LTM
• Learning represents changes in the
content or organization of information in
consumers’ long-term memories
• Marketing communicators attempt to alter
consumers’ long-term memories,
knowledge structures, by facilitating
learning of information that is compatible
with the marketer’s interest
Retention and Search/Retrieval of
Stored Information
Facilitating
consumer’s
learning
Retention and Search/Retrieval of
Stored Information
Facilitating
consumer’s
learning
Types of Learning
Two types of learning
• Strengthening of linkages among specific
memory concepts
» repeating claims, presenting them in a more
concrete fashion and being creative in conveying
a product’s features
• Establishing entirely new linkages
Types of Learning
Establishing
a new linkage
between a brand and
a desirable feature
Types of Learning
Establishing
a new linkage
between a brand and
a desirable feature
Types of Learning
An effort to establish
new linkages in
consumer’s minds
Search and Retrieval of Information
• Information that is learned and stored in
memory only impacts consumer choice
behavior when it is searched and retrieved
• Retrieval is facilitated when a new
information is linked with another concept
that is well known and easily accessed
Search and Retrieval of Information
• Dual-coding theory - pictures are
represented in memory in verbal as
well as visual form, however, words
are less likely to have a visual
representation
CPM
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Consumer Decision Making: Stage 7
Decision heuristics for decision making
•
•
•
•
Affect referral
Compensatory heuristic
Conjunctive heuristic
Phased strategies
Affect Referral
Recalls attitude, or
affect, toward relevant
alternatives
Selects the alternative
for which the affect is
most positive
Compensatory Heuristic
Evaluates alternatives
in terms of criteria
trade-off
Chooses the
alternative with
criteria that best
compensates for
inferior criteria
The 8 Stages of Consumer
Information Processing
Action: Stage 8
Action on the basis of the decision
• People do not always behave in a manner
consistent with their preferences due to the
presence of events, or situational factors
• Situational factors are especially prevalent in
low-involvement consumer behavior
The HEM perspective
• People often consume products for the fun of
it or in the pursuit of amusement, fantasies,
or sensory simulation
• Products are subjective symbols that
precipitate feelings and promise fun and the
possible realization of fantasies
• The communication of HEM-relevant
products emphasizes nonverbal content or
emotionally provocative words and is
intended to generate images, fantasies, and
positive emotions and feelings
CPM vs. HEM
An advertisement
exemplifying
the CPM approach
CPM vs. HEM
An advertisement
exemplifying
the HEM approach