CHAPTER 2

Perception
 OBJECTIVES
 Objective 1  Why is perception a three-stage process that translates raw stimuli
meaning?

 Objective 2  Why is the design of a product today a key driver of its success or
failure?

 Objective 3  why is the product and commercial messages often appeal to our
senses, but we wont be influenced by most of them?

 Objective 4  Why is subliminal advertising a controversial, but largely ineffective,

way to talk to consumers?

 Objective 5  Why do we interpret the stimuli to which we do pay attention

according to learned patterns and expectations?

 Objective 6  Why does the field of semiotics help us to understand how marketers
use symbols to create meaning?
OBJECTIVE 1: WHY IS PERCEPTION A THREE-STAGE
PROCESS THAT TRANSLATES RAW STIMULI
MEANING?

 Sensory Systems
 Sensation refers to the immediate response of our
sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to
basic stimuli such as light, sound, odor, and texture.
 Perception  is the process by which people select,
organize, and interpret these sensations.
 The study of perception focuses on what we add to these
raw sensations in order to give them meaning.
 Each individual interprets the meaning of a stimuli to be
consistent with his or her own unique biases, needs, and
experiences.
OBJECTIVE 1: WHY IS PERCEPTION A THREE-STAGE
PROCESS THAT TRANSLATES RAW STIMULI MEANING?

 We receive external stimuli  see a billboard, hear a jingle, feel

the softness of cashmere, taste a new flavor ice cream, or smell a
leather jacket.

 Ex: Ambulance sound, listen to a song.

 The unique sensory quality of a product helps it to stand out from

the competition, especially if the brand creates a unique
association with sensation.

 Hedonic consumption  multisensory, fantasy, and emotional

aspects of consumers interactions with products.

 Ex: Harley Davidson, BMW

OBJECTIVE 1: WHY IS PERCEPTION A THREE-STAGE
PROCESS THAT TRANSLATES RAW STIMULI MEANING?
OBJECTIVE 2: WHY IS THE DESIGN OF A PRODUCT
TODAY A KEY DRIVER OF ITS SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

 Hedonic Consumption and the Design Economy

 As manufacturing costs go down and the amount of stuff that

people accumulate goes up  consumers increasingly want to
buy things that will give them hedonic value in addition to simply
doing what they are designed to do.

 Quality is yesterday’s news. Today we focus on the emotional

impact of the product.

 Sensory Marketing: harnessing Perception for Competitive

Advantage
 Sensory marketing  when companies pay extra attention to the
impact of sensations on their product experiences.
OBJECTIVE 2: WHY IS THE DESIGN OF A PRODUCT
TODAY A KEY DRIVER OF ITS SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

 Vision
 Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in advertising, store design, and packaging.

 They communicate meanings on the visual channel through a product color, size, and
styling.

 Ex: Men rate women who wear red as more attractive than those who wear blue.
Another ex; the color of your chosen car.

 Dollars and scents

 We’ve all heard of the Axe Effect.

 Odors stir emotions or create a calming feeling.

 They invoke memories or relieve stress.
OBJECTIVE 2: WHY IS THE DESIGN OF A PRODUCT
TODAY A KEY DRIVER OF ITS SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

 Sound
 Many aspects of sound affect people’s feeling and behaviors.
 Stores and restaurants often play certain kinds of music to create a certain mood.
 Even airlines companies are looking for stimuli to help them board planes more
efficiently.

 Touch
 The potential power of touch create a greater level of attachment of the product.
The touch can increase sales interactions.
 Sensations that reach the skin, whether from a luxurious massage or the bite of a
winter wind, stimulate or relax you.
 When walking through a stores, I can’t help touching all kind of products.
Touching products can be fun. I feel more comfortable purchasing a product after
physically examining it.
 Kinsei Engineering  a Japanese Philosophy that translates customers feelings
into design elements.
 Ex: Car Seating
OBJECTIVE 2: WHY IS THE DESIGN OF A PRODUCT
TODAY A KEY DRIVER OF ITS SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

 Taste
 Our taste receptors contribute to our experience of many
products.
 Ex: Toothpaste, Wine.

 Exposure
 Exposure occurs when a stimuli comes within the range of
someone sensory receptors.
 Ex: Cadillacs ads for cars that can go from 0 to 60 miles an
hour in less than 5 seconds rather than describing the whole
ad in 30 sec.
 Before we consider what else people may choose not to
perceive, let’s consider what they are capable of perceiving.
OBJECTIVE 3: WHY IS THE PRODUCT AND COMMERCIAL
MESSAGES OFTEN APPEAL TO OUR SENSES, BUT WE
WONT BE INFLUENCED BY MOST OF THEM?

 Sensory Thresholds
 Sensory thresholds refer to the minimum amount of stimulation that is
required for a sensory system to detect a particular stimulus. In other words,
it is the point at which a person can perceive a stimulus, whether it be in
terms of sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. Sensory thresholds vary among
individuals, and they can be influenced by factors such as age, health, and
individual sensitivity.

 The Absolute Threshold

 Refers to the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a given
sensory channel.
 Ex: the sound a dog whistle emits is too high for human ears to detect. The
absolute threshold for hearing is the quietest sound that a person can hear.
 It should be considered in designing marketing stimuli.
 Ex: a highway billboard might have the most entertaining copy ever written,
but this genius is wasted if the print is too small for passing motorists to see
it.
OBJECTIVE 3: WHY IS THE PRODUCT AND COMMERCIAL
MESSAGES OFTEN APPEAL TO OUR SENSES, BUT WE WONT
BE INFLUENCED BY MOST OF THEM?

 The Differential Threshold

 Refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect changes
or differences between two stimuli. Ex: discount on
merchandises.
 The minimum difference we can detect between two
stimuli is the j.n.d. (just noticeable difference)
 Perceptual Threshold pose a challenge to brands that need
to update their images without sacrificing the brand image
they’ve worked years to cultivate.
 The trick is to make product, logo, trademark, package
different enough so that people will notice the change, yet
not so different that consumers will think its no longer the
same product.
OBJECTIVE 3: WHY IS THE PRODUCT AND COMMERCIAL
MESSAGES OFTEN APPEAL TO OUR SENSES, BUT WE WONT
BE INFLUENCED BY MOST OF THEM?
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Subliminal Perception
 Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of consumer’s
awareness.
 If you can see it or hear it, it’s not subliminal; the stimulus is
above the level of conscious awareness.
 Subliminal Techniques
 Marketers send subliminal messages on both visual and aural
channels.
 Embeds  are tiny figures they insert into magazine
advertising via high speed photography.
 These hidden figures, usually of a sexual nature exert
strong influence on innocent readers.
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Does subliminal perception work?

 Discouraging factors:
 There are a wide differences in threshold levels. In order for a message to
avoid conscious detection by consumers who have low thresholds, It would
have to be so weak that it would not reach those who have high thresholds.

 Advertisers lack control over consumers distance and position from a

screen. In a movie theater, only a small portion of the audience would be
exactly in the right seats to be exposed to a subliminal message.

 The viewer must pay absolute attention to the stimulus. People who watch a
TV program or a movie shift their attention periodically, and they might not
even notice when the stimulus appears.

 Even if the advertiser induces the desired effect, it works only at very
general level. Fro ex; a message might increase a person’s thirst, but not
necessarily for a specific drink, because the stimulus affects a basic drive.
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Clearly, there are better ways to get our attention.

 Attention  refers to the extent to which processing
activity is devoted to a particular stimulus. Ex: class lecture.
 Consumers are in a state of sensory overload  where they
are exposed to far more information than they can process.
 The average adult is exposed to 3500 pieces of advertising
information every single day.
 Getting the attention of young people in particular is a
challenge.
 80% of teens today emerge in multitasking, where they
process information from more than one medium at a time
as they attend to their cell phones, TVs, Instant messages,
and so on.
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Personal Selection Factors

 Experience  which is the result of acquiring and processing stimulation over
time, is one factor that determines how much exposure to a particular stimulus a
person accepts.

 Perceptual filters  based on our past experiences influence what we decide to

process.

 Perceptual vigilance  consumers are more likely to be aware of stimuli that

relate to their current needs. Ex: newspaper ad for a fast food.

 Perceptual defense  this means that people see what they want to see and
don’t see what they don’t want to see. Ex: heavy smoker.

 Adaptation  the degree to which consumers continue to notice a stimulus

over time. When consumers no longer pay attention to a stimulus because it is so
familiar. Ex: billboards message.
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Several factors can lead to adaptation:

 Intensity  less intense, less sensory impact.

 Duration  stimuli that require relatively lengthy exposure

in order to be processed.

 Discrimination  stimuli that do not require attention to

detail.

 Exposure  high rate of exposure

 Relevance  stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant

because they fail to attract attention.
OBJECTIVE 4: WHY IS SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING A
CONTROVERSIAL, BUT LARGELY INEFFECTIVE, WAY TO
TALK TO CONSUMERS?

 Stimulus Selection Factors

 Size  the size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the
competition helps to determine if it will command attention. Ex;
readership of a magazine ad increases in proportion to the size of
the ad.

 Color  is a powerful way to draw attention to a product or to

give it a distinct identity.

 Position  we stand a better chance of noticing stimuli that are

in places we’re more likely to look.

 Novelty  stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend

to grab our attention. Ex: ads putted in places for attention.
OBJECTIVE 5  WHY DO WE INTERPRET THE STIMULI TO
WHICH WE DO PAY ATTENTION ACCORDING TO LEARNED
PATTERNS AND EXPECTATIONS?

 Interpretation  refers to the meaning we assign to

sensory stimuli.
 Two people can see or hear the same event, but their
interpretation of it can be as different as night and day,
depending on what they had expected the stimulus to be.
 The meaning we assign to a stimulus depends on the
schema, or set of beliefs to which we assign it.
 In a process we call priming  certain properties of a
stimuli evoke a schema. This in turn leads us to compare
the stimulus to other similar ones we encountered in the
past.
OBJECTIVE 5  WHY DO WE INTERPRET THE STIMULI
TO WHICH WE DO PAY ATTENTION ACCORDING TO
LEARNED PATTERNS AND EXPECTATIONS?

 Stimulus Organization
 Our brains tend to relate incoming sensations to others already
in memory, based on some fundamental organizational
principles. These principles derive from Gestalt Psychology.

 Gestalt, German word, means whole, pattern, configuration,

and we summarize this term as “ the whole is greater than the
sum of its part”.

 Principles of Gestalt perspectives:

 The closure principle  states that people tend to perceive an
incomplete picture as complete. Ex: we tend to fill in the blanks
based on our prior experience.
OBJECTIVE 5  WHY DO WE INTERPRET THE STIMULI TO
WHICH WE DO PAY ATTENTION ACCORDING TO LEARNED
PATTERNS AND EXPECTATIONS?

 The principle of similarity  tells us that consumers tend to

group
together objects that share
similar physical
characteristics. Ex: Packaging
 The figure-ground principle
 states that one part of a
The stimulus will dominate
other parts
Ex: Advertisements often use this principle to emphasize a
product or message. The product being advertised is the
"figure," while the background or context is the "ground,"
helping to draw attention to the main focus.
OBJECTIVE 6  WHY DOES THE FIELD OF SEMIOTICS HELP US
TO UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS USE SYMBOLS TO CREATE
MEANING?

 Semiotics: The Symbols Around Us

 Semiotics  the field of study that studies the correspondence
between signs and symbols and their roles in how we assign
meanings.

 Semiotics is a key link to consumer behavior because consumers

use products to express their social identities.

 Advertising serves as a kind of culture consumption dictionary;

its entries are products, and their definitions are cultural
meanings

 From a semiotic perspective, every marketing message has three

basic components: object, sign, and interpretant.
OBJECTIVE 6  WHY DOES THE FIELD OF SEMIOTICS HELP US
TO UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS USE SYMBOLS TO CREATE
MEANING?

 The object  is the product that is the focus of the message. Ex; Marlboro
cigarettes
 The sign  is the sensory image that represents the intended meanings of the
object. Ex; The Marlboro cow-boy.
 The interpretant  the meaning we derive from the sign. Ex; rugged,
individualistic, American.
OBJECTIVE 6  WHY DOES THE FIELD OF SEMIOTICS HELP US
TO UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS USE SYMBOLS TO CREATE
MEANING?

 Sign relate to object in one of three ways:

 Icon  is a sign that resembles the product in some way. Ex:
The Ford Mustang has a galloping horse in the hood.
 Index  is a sign that connects to a product because they share
some property. Ex: the pine tree on some Procter & Gamble
cleaner product convey the share property of fresh scent.
 Symbol  is a sign that relate to a product by either
conventional or agreed-on associations. Ex; the sign of falcon on
army special forces.
 A lot of time and money go into creating brand names and logos
that clearly communicate a product image. Ex: the Nissan Xterra
combines the word terrain with the letter X which many young
people associate with extreme sports, to give the brand name a
cutting edge, off-road feel.
OBJECTIVE 6  WHY DOES THE FIELD OF SEMIOTICS HELP US
TO UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS USE SYMBOLS TO CREATE
MEANING?

 Hyperreality
 Refers to the process of making real what is initially simulation or
“hype”.
 Reverse product placement is a great example of hyperreality  in these
case fictional products that appear in shows become popular in the real
word. Ex: e-commerce site lastexittonowhere.com sells t-shirts with logo
work of fictions.

 Perceptual positioning
 Perceptual map  a way to paint a picture of where consumers locate
products or brands in their minds.

 Positioning strategy  component of a company’s marketing efforts as it

uses elements of the marketing mix to influence consumers interpretation
of its meaning in the marketplace relative to its competitors.
OBJECTIVE 6  WHY DOES THE FIELD OF SEMIOTICS HELP US
TO UNDERSTAND HOW MARKETERS USE SYMBOLS TO CREATE
MEANING?

 Marketers can use many dimensions to carve out a brand

position in the marketplace. These include the following;
 Lifestyle
 Price leadership
 Attributes
 Product class
 Competitors
 Occasions
 Users
 Quality