Family Values
Personal Values
Societal Values
6 May 2011
Social Class - PictoBlog
My Penultimate Blog entry... :( Its been fun!
...I've only got one more left to do... I'm gonna miss this
Social Class
The Clichéd Ideology
When we hear the words Social and Class together our subconscious already has predetermined ideas of what kind of people fit into the the 3 Main Social Class Stereotypes: Rich, Middle & Poor
Below are my personal stereotypes, see if you agree.
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| Cliché Upper Class Woman Sport 28ct Gold Ring with MASSIVE DIAMOND |
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| The "Standard" Upper Class Car.. Worth about £60,000 |
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| The SUPER Upper Class |
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| Upper Class OAP's Rule!!! |
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| Upper Class Holiday? |
...I've only got one more left to do... I'm gonna miss this
22 Apr 2011
Culture - An Insight
Hello peoples!! The year's almost done and you know what that means dontcha? NO MORE BLOGS. (Woohoo) But before I bid thee adieu I have 3 final postings to put up, the first is all about culture and how it affects the world of Marketing
What is Culture??
The patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/culture)Different Colours & Different Cultures
One thing a Marketer MUST know is that different colours mean different things in different cultures.
An example of this is the colour PURPLE
In the western world Purple is a symbol of Royalty but in Thailand, Purple symbolises DEATH & MOURNING
So here's a MAUVE warning to all those looking to earn their corn out in thailand... NO PURPLE or as the French do...OFF WIZ ZE HEAD!
For more information on different colours & their meanings check out http://webdesign.about.com/od/color/a/bl_colorculture.htm
Modern Day Western Culture & Where The Money's At (Sean's Perspective)
Over the last Decade or so the western world has embraced a totally new way of living, thinking and doing things and this is all down to the boom in a very dear friend of ours called Technology.
Technology has slashed its way into western culture and the way its going, Technology won't be leaving us alone any time soon.
UK Culture is starting to rely very heavily on new advances in technology and its either you keep up or get kicked out. Just the other day my 72 year old neighbour was talking to me about how he couldn't use his iPod and how back in his day all they had was wind up radios and 4 channels on telly and none of this "HD gizmo stuff".
Now, I bet you're asking yourself what this has to do with culture. 1 Word. Transition.
Western Culture used to be about more about being social, loving thy neighbour, doing the 9 to 5 and there used to be a lot more of a feel for the great outdoors but now-a-days its all about the Media and keeping up to date with the latest whatchamacallits.
So... what does this mean for us Marketers & Advertisers? Well, simply put it means we have to know what to market and how to market it to a country that's facing a culture transition.
The way I see it the future of marketing lies heavily in investing in Technology (that bad word again) the latest generation has become heavily dependent on Hand held gismos and social networking and us marketers have got to find a way to make money from it... because where's there's young impressionable minds there's normally ££££ to back it up!
Thanks for Reading
Other Readings
25 Feb 2011
Those Annoyin' Little Buggers - Pester Power
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| "Today's kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids are vocal about what they want their parents to buy" |
Those annoying buggers!
- Have you even gone shopping with your kids (or in my case younger brothers) and had them nag at you to buy them sweets or chocolate or a new game?
Well... You know who to blame.. Yeah that's right... We marketers are at it again and we're never gonna stop *evil laugh*
What used to happen in the pre-historic times of marketing (and by that I mean approx. 20 years ago) was that us Marketers would only target the adults... BUT NOW!!!! We can do whatever we like... We now make adverts that target kids knowing full well that they have no money and thats where Pester power comes in!!
The mathematical equation for what goes on is pretty simple
Advert for Kids + Parents Money = Big Sales
The beauty of pester power is that if parents don't succumb to the demands of their spoilt brat kids then there'll be public displays which are embarrasing in the view of others and as we all know from my last entry The need to belong entails the esteem of others and if people are seeing public displays of ill discipline from your kids then their perception of you goes DOWN!
Quotes On Pester Power
"Kids represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future"
"Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade, increasing from a mere $100 million in 1990 to more than $2 billion in 2000.
Parents today are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. As well, guilt can play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spent with their kids"
"Almost 30% of parents also said they buy the toothpaste their kids choose and 44% will buy a brand of spread, such as peanut butter, their children select"
Einsteinz Toy Box MD Steve Quinlan says "pester power is as much about the environment children are brought up in, as the kind of advertising to which they are exposed"
"The wisdom is that if you are going to launch a kids’ product, you market it to kids, you don’t market it to Mum,” Sauerman says
The Grand Finale
The Big Question
Is "PESTER POWER" being overused and abused by marketers??
Sean's Big Answer
No! Pester Power is just like any other tool used by Marketers.. If a ban was imposed on the targeting of children in adverts then a ban should also be imposed on data capture or telemarketing.
The whole point of marketing is to make the public aware of the products and services of a company and if you prevent kids from being aware of what products and services then you might as well send them back to the stone age!
Mr. LZF has left the building again!
--- Another blog on Pester Power [http://netasbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2010/05/chilrens-power-pester-power.html] ---
--- Research Sites
"Kids are increasingly buying for themselves. To cover all the bases, advertisers must work to build purchasing habits as well as brand awareness"
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...
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| 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.
[taken from http://www.answers.com/topic/opinion-leader]
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!
[For more on Influencing the Influencer check out http://www.google.com/doubleclick/pdfs/DoubleClick-12-2006-Influencing-the-Influencers.pdf]
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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