• Human needs – Consumer Needs – are the basis of all modern marketing.

• A marketing orientation focuses on the needs of the buyer.• Charles Revson (Revlon cosmetics)

– Started by manufacturing nail polish, but he defined nail polish as a fashion accessory and not merely a nail covering.

– Revson would introduce new nail colors every fall and spring, through heavy and effective advertising, would persuade women that buying the new colors would satisfy their needs to appear fashinable and attractive.

– Separate cosmetic lines targeting different consumer segments.– Kingfisher – King of good times– SBI – banker of every Indian.

Motivation as a Psychological Force

• Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action.

• This driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfulfilled need.

• Motivation is a state of need-induced tension that “drives” the individual to engage in behavior that he or she believes will satisfy the need and thus reduce the tension.

• Needs– Innate needs: Physiological (i.e. Biogenic);

• Food, water, air, clothing, shelter and sex.• They are needed to sustain the biological life.

Hence are considered to be the primary needs or motives.

– Acquired needs: that we learn in response to our culture or environment.

• Self esteem, prestige, affection, Power and learning.

• Generally these are psychological, hence are also considered to be secondary needs or motives.

Goals

• Goals are the sought after results of motivated behavior.

• Generic goals: the general classes or categories of goals that consumers see as a means to fulfill their need. Example: Getting an MBBS Degree.

• Product specific Goals: Getting an MBBS degree from AIIMS.

• Individuals set goals on the basis of their personal values, and they select means (behaviors) that they believe will help them achieve their desired goals.

• The selection of Goals– An individual’s personal characteristics and own

perception of self also influences the specific goals selected.

– A research on personal goal orientation distinguished two types of people:• A person with promotional focus are interested in their growth

and development, have more hopes and aspirations and favor the presence of positive outcomes.

• Persons with a prevention focus are interested in safety and security, are more concerned with duties and obligations, and favor the absence of negative outcomes.

• One study found that, in favoring consumption- related goals, consumers with a prevention focus favored the status quo and inaction over action.

• Another study distinguished between two types of goals:– IDEALS: Hopes, wishes and aspirations.– OUGHTS: Duties, obligations and responsibilities.

• The study showed that people concerned with ideals relied more on feelings and affects in evaluating advertisements while people more concerned with oughts relied more heavily on the substantive and factual contents of ads.

• In yet another study, some consumers were led to believe that they obtained a discount in the purchase price of a PC because of their good negotiating skills and were encouraged to feel proud, while others were led to believe that they received the discount because the computer was on sale and were not encouraged to feel proud. In addition, the goals that the consumers were encouraged to believe they had obtained were stated as either gains (i.e. promotion goals) or the avoidance of losses (i.e. prevention goals). The study showed that people who felt proud of their negotiating skills and also believed that they avoided losses were less likely to repurchase the product than the persons who felt proud and also believed that they had achieved gains. For the people who did not feel proud, the type of goals they believed they had accomplished had no impact on intentions to purchase the product.

Interdependence of needs and goals

• Needs and goals are interdependent• Neither exists without the other.• However people are often not as aware of their

needs as they are of their goals.• Social needs• Power needs• Recognition needs• People are generally less aware about

psychologiacl nee than physiological needs.

Positive and Negative Motivation

• Positive drives : Needs, wants or desires.• Negative drives: fears and Aversions.• A positive goal is one towards which behavior

is directed and it is referred to as an approach object.

• A negative goal is one from which behavior is directed away and it is referred to as an avoidance object.

Rational Versus Emotional Motives

• Rational Motives– Size, weight, Kilometer per liter, Price

• Emotional Motives– Pride, fear, affection or status

The Dynamics of Motivation

• As individuals attain their goals, they develop new ones. If they do not attain their goals, they continue to strive for old goals or they develop substitute goals.

• Some of the reasons why need driven human activity never ceases includes the following:– Many needs are never fully satisfied– As needs become satisfied, new and higher order needs

emerge that cause tension and induce activity.– People who achieve their goals set new and higher goals

for themselves.(success and failure influence the goals)

• Substitute goals:– When an individual cannot attain a specific goal or

type of goal that he or she anticipates will satisfy certain needs, behavior may be directed to a substitute goal.

– Although the substitute goal may be as satisfactory as the primary goal, it may be sufficient to dispel uncomfortable tension.

– Continued deprivation of a primary goal may result in the substitute goal assuming primary goal status.

• Frustration:– Failure to achieve a goal often results in feelings of

frustration.

• Defense Mechanisms:– People sometimes adopt to protect their egos from feelings

of failure when they do not attain their goals. – Aggression– Rationalization– Regression– Withdrawal– Projection– Day dreaming– Identification– Repression.

Arousal of Motives

• Physiological arousal• Emotional arousal• Cognitive arousal• Environmental arousal

• Philosophies concerned with the arousal of human motives:– The behaviorist school– The cognitive school

Types and systems of need

• In 1938, the psychologist Henery Murray prepared a detailed list of 28 psychogenic needs.

• Dr. Abraham Maslow

An evaluation of the need hierarchy and marketing applications

• According to Maslow, Higher order needs become the driving force behind human behavior as lower level needs are satisfied. The theory says, in effect, that dissatisfaction, not satisfaction, motivates behavior.

A trio of needs

• Need for power• Affiliation• Achievement

The measurement of motives

• Motives are hypothetical constructs – that is, they cannot be seen nor touched, handled, smelled, or otherwise tangibly observed. Hence no single measurement method.

Motivational Research

• Qualitative research techniques used in motivational research– Metaphor analysis– Story telling– Word association and sentence completion– Thematic appreciation test– Drawing pictures and photo sorts

Ethics and consumer motivation

• “Creating needs”• Awaken Latent Nedds

• “It has been 2 years since he gave up smoking, drinking and junk food. He now devotes the same enthusiasm to working out that he used to bring to partying.”

• To understand motivation is to understand why consumers do what they do.

• “Why ask why?”

• Theories of motivation for wearing clothes:– Modesty theory (Biblical theory)– Immodesty theory– Protection theory– Adornment theory

• Motivational Conflicts:– Approach - Approach Conflict– Approach - Avoidance Conflict– Avoidance – Avoidance Conflict