chapter four

Chapter Four

The Communication Process, Meaning Creation, and the Fundamentals of

Consumer’s Use of MarCom Information

Chapter Four ObjectivesChapter 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 ObjectivesChapter 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 Elements in the Communication ProcessProcess


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


Communication Objective

Creating brand awareness, implanting positive associations in the consumer’s memory as a basis for a positive brand

image, and affecting behavior


Message

Is the symbolic expression of what the communicator intends to accomplish


Message Channel

Is the path through which the message moves from source to receiver


Receiver

Is the person or group of people with who the source attempts to share ideas


Communication Outcome

An outcome(s) in response to the message received from a brand communicator


Feedback

The way the source monitors how accurately the intended message is

being received and whether it is accomplishing its intended objective(s)


Noise

Interference and distortion at any stage of the communication process

Marketing Communications and Marketing Communications and MeaningMeaning

Semiotics

Is the study of signs and the analysis of meaning-producing events

The Nature of SignsThe Nature of Signs

Sign

Something physical and perceivable that signifies something (the

referent) to somebody(the interpreter) in some context

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 Use of Signs and Symbols The Use of Signs and Symbols in Marketingin Marketing

The Meaning of MeaningThe 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


Perceptual Field

The sum total of a person’s experiences

during his or her lifetime


• 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 Meaning Transfer: From Culture to Object to ConsumerObject to Consumer

Drawing meaning

from the culturally

constituted world

The Use of Figurative Language in The Use of Figurative Language in Marketing CommunicationsMarketing 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.”


Use of Simile


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”

http://www.wheaties.com/


Use of Metaphor


The use of metaphor

in advertising


Allegory

• A form of extended metaphor• Conveys meaning in a story-underneath-a-

story, where something other than what is literally represented is also occurring

• Personification• Often used in advertising of potentially

offensive products


Allegory


Allegorical personification: The Pillsbury Dough Boy


The Pillsbury

Doughboy

represents

allegorical

personification

Behavior Foundations of Behavior Foundations of Marketing CommunicationsMarketing 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 ofBehavior Foundations of Marketing Communications Marketing Communications

Consumer Processing Model (CPM)

Behavior is seen as rational, highly

cognitive, systematic,and reasoned

Behavior Foundations of Behavior Foundations of Marketing CommunicationsMarketing Communications

Hedonic, Experiential Model (HEM)

Consumer behavior is driven by

emotions in pursuit of “fun, fantasies,

and feelings”

The 8 Stages of Consumer The 8 Stages of Consumer Information ProcessingInformation Processing

CPMCPMCPMCPM

Consumer Information Consumer Information Processing: Stage 1Processing: 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


CPMCPMCPMCPM

Selective Attention: Stage 2Selective Attention: Stage 2

Attention

• Focus on and consider a message to which one has been exposed

• Highly selective


To attract consumers attention:

• Appeals to cognitive and hedonic needs

• Use of novel stimuli

• Use of intense stimuli

• Use of motion


Illustration of

selective attention


Illustration of

attention getting advertising


Plays on

selective attention


CPMCPMCPMCPM

Comprehension: Stage 3Comprehension: 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 EncodingPerceptual 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 Humorous Illustration of Active SynthesisActive Synthesis

Humorous

illustration of

active synthesis

Selective PerceptionSelective Perception

Each individual is

likely to perceive

images in different

ways


CPMCPMCPMCPM

Consumer Information Consumer Information Processing: Stage 4Processing: Stage 4

Agreement with what is comprehended

The matter of whether consumers yield to

- that is, agree with - what they have

comprehended

Agreement: Stage 4Agreement: 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


CPMCPMCPMCPM

Retention and Search/Retrieval of Retention and Search/Retrieval of Stored InformationStored Information

These two information processing stages,

retention and information search and

retrieval, both involve memory factors

related to consumer choice

Elements of MemoryElements 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


• 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


• 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 A Consumer’s Knowledge Structure for the Mazda MiataStructure for the Mazda Miata

Two-Seater

Convertible

Fun to drive

Japanese

Well-Made Affordable

Small

Sports car

MazdaMiata

Little luggagespace

Economical

Nostalgic

Sexy

British racinggreen Women

Learning and LTMLearning 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 Retention and Search/Retrieval of Stored InformationStored Information

Facilitating

consumer’s

learning

Types of 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 LearningTypes of Learning

Establishing

a new linkage

between a brand and

a desirable feature

Types of LearningTypes of Learning

An effort to establish

new linkages in

consumer’s minds

• 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 InformationSearch 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

Search and Retrieval of InformationSearch and Retrieval of Information

The 8 Stages of ConsumerThe 8 Stages of ConsumerInformation ProcessingInformation Processing

CPMCPMCPMCPM

Consumer Decision Making: Stage 7Consumer Decision Making: Stage 7

Decision heuristics for decision making

• Affect referral

• Compensatory heuristic

• Conjunctive heuristic

• Phased strategies

Affect ReferralAffect Referral

Selects the alternative for which the affect is

most positive

Recalls attitude, or

affect, toward relevant

alternatives

Compensatory HeuristicCompensatory Heuristic

Chooses the alternative with criteria that best compensates for inferior criteria

Evaluates alternatives in terms of criteria

trade-off

Action: Stage 8Action: 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 perspectiveThe 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. HEMCPM vs. HEM

An advertisement

exemplifying

the CPM approach

CPM vs. HEMCPM vs. HEM

An advertisement

exemplifying

the HEM approach

chapter four

Documents

communication processelements

communication processsourceis

communication processmessageis

analysis of meaning

contextthe use of signs

intended message

study of signs

consumerdrawing meaningfrom