25 Feb 2011

Group Conformity, Opinion Leaders & Peer Pressure

IN THIS ENTRY I PLAN TO USE NO THEORY - STRICTLY EXAMPLES.... There's fun to be had and nothing gets done by simply reading books ;)

1 Shepard, 1,000,000 Sheep - Group Conformity
[Check out http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/conformity.htm for all the theoy based stuff ]
Group conformity - In my own words is "I'm a Chameleon, I Blend in with the crowd" although its generally seen as a negative thing group conformity is a great tool that can be used by us conmen (Marketers) .... Fashion is a PRIME example.


If you look at recent fashion trends - [lets take snoods in football as an example].. It starts off with one guy taking a risk... [Left is Carlos Tevez.. He pretty much started the snood trend that plagued this season]




Then another guy follows suit...
Samir Nasri of Arsenal follows the footsteps of Tevez..






Then suddenly you've got ALL the players wearing the things (including me)

The beauty of Group conformity is that it only has 2 possible ends - Conformity or NON-Conformity
Its instinctual that human conform because of the need to fit in and belong (Its all in good old Maslow's hierarchy of needs)

Esteem needs: Esteem needs include both self-esteem and the esteem of others. Self-esteem is the feeling that one is worthwhile, competent, and independent. The esteem of others involves the feeling that other people respect and appreciate the person. Once the person has satisfied his or her basic needs, concerns about worthiness emerge. The focus becomes not just surviving, but doing well according to meaningful communal standards. [Extract Taken from http://www.enotes.com/nursing-encyclopedia/maslow-s-hierarchy-needs]

If we look at the extract above (sorry, I had to do some theory) people feed off of the esteem of others and this hunger is something that we marketers can use to make lots of money... be it fashion or anything else there is a BIG BIG BIG Bounty on conformity and people are willing to pay through the nose for it! [I smell a business Idea!]

He Said It, So Its Got To Be Important - Opinion Leaders
What is an Opinion Leader?
Individual whose ideas and behavior serve as a model to others. Opinion leaders communicate messages to a primary group, influencing the attitudes and behavior change of their followers. Therefore, in certain marketing instances, it may be advantageous to direct the communications to the opinion leader alone to speed the acceptance of an advertising message. For example, advertisers may direct a dental floss promotion to influential dentists or a fashion campaign to female celebrities. In both instances, the advertiser is using the opinion leader to carry and "trickle down" its message to influence its target group. Because of the important role opinion leaders play in influencing markets, advertisers have traditionally used them to give testimonials.

Check out this interesting article on Opinion Leaders & Gaining Influence via Word of Mouth

To be honest... Opinion leaders as a concept is pretty much self explanatory.
Like Vito Corleone is the boss of the Corleone family in the Godfather ... Each sector has its own "Guru" who's word is the be all and end all.









Normally (and I use the term lightly) these people are "Big in the game" like Simon Cowell and Lord Sugar but every now and again you do get some REALLY weird one... in a workshop some time ago We were told about a 13 year old who became MEGA LARGE in the fashion industry because of her BLOG (Yes, you read correctly a 13 year old girl became a fashion mogul because of her blog)... now cometh the big question... How do we Influence the influencer?

Influencing The Influencer
We influence the influencers the same way Men influence women... WITH GIFTS and lots of Money! Taking the 13 year old girls' blog as an example .... The big companies saw that this little girl was starting to get quite a following so what did those clever little thieves do? They showered her with their latest fashion thingys and tickets to big events .. What effect did this have you ask? Well.... She would talk about their new stuff on her blog and seeing as she had such a big following, regardless of whether she absolutely rubbished their product or gave it the praise given to God on sunday, people like the sheep they are would want to go out and try these latest bits and bobs for themselves.
From a company's point of view its a great piece of promotion - 
They give away 1 freebie in order to sell MILLIONS!


Peer Pressure
My Air Force 2 Experience...

The final segment of this entry is all about peer pressure... I'm not going to dilly-dally with all the theory but here is a site that I've looked at for all those who'd like to know the psychology behind Peer Pressure & Conformity: [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000579/]

I've been a victim of Peer Pressure..but not as drastic as some..
The year was 2004, I was in Year 10 and Nike Air Force 2's (The trainers above) were the in thing (I've talked on fashion a whole lot today haven't I?)... All my friends had them ... Infact the WHOLE SCHOOL HAD 'EM except ME! I was mister old shoes with my Nike Dunks
 ... They look quite nice don't they?
Mine were absolutely battered and I didn't have £65 to throw away on a new pair... Hence the dilemma.
One day after school, me and my friends were in town doing what boys do after school (Lounge around, chase girls etc) when a couple of the guys decided to go into a well known shoe shop...*Minutes Later*.... I've run out the shop with the pair of Air Force 2's!
Long story, short I was pressured to steal the trainers (Luckily I never got caught) in order to conform.. but hey, there's a moral to this story!

Although stealing is VERY VERY BAD! It just goes to show the lengths that people will go to in order to conform... 
The moral of today's blog is... You Can't Put A Price On Happiness BUT You CAN CERTAINLY PUT A PRICE ON CONFORMITY!

Have a good day people!

MR LZF, Signing Out
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