lecture 9: categorization Flashcards
What is an attitude
Liking or dislikinhg of something
We can express iur attitude using scales: 1-9 scale. 9= like a lot. 1= dislike
We can have attitudes towards brands → we can dislike and like brands
We can have attitudes towards people → like and dislike people
Attitude is important
From a marketing point of view, if consumers like a brand more , there are more likely to buy from the brand and less likely to buy competing brands
Important for people because if a brand is endorsed by a celebrity, people will buy from the brand if they like that celebrity
Marketers try to know what are the best ways to improve attitudes towards brands or attitudes towards celebrities → to answer this, we have to understand the different types of information that influence attitudes
Two types of information that influences attitudes
category information
attribute information
category information
Could be the product category that the brand belongs to. Ex: the iphone, can be catgeorized as a cell phone, can also be a smartphone (category of smartphone has certain association like high tech, complex)–> every category has associations and the associations can be transferred to the brand so can think of the iphone being high tech and complex. Iphone can also be categorized as a fashion accessory (associations like stylish and expensive) → can be transferred
Brands can be put into dif categories in the mind
Each category has associations which can then be transferred to the brand
The country of origin of the brand → if you look at the back of your iphone, shows its designed by apple in california. California has associations like its fun, creative which can be transferred to the iphone
Attribute information
Price of the product
Price of the brand
Features → like the brand name
Can be other features brands have
Attitudes towards people
Can be influenced
Category info and attribute info
Ex; we want to understand how people formulate an attitude towards lebrin james, lebron james would have category information like the race he belongs (black) and his profession (basketball player and bball players have associations)
Social categories like race
He also has attribute information like playing record, charity work, 2 finals, MVP→ info specific to him
Summary of categorization
Categories can influence attitude/ choice via:
Associations
Competition
Memory
Categories can bias interpretation of attributes
Confirmation bias → happens during categorization
How categories influence attitudes through association
Talked about this for country origin → california has associations which can be transferred to the iphone
Ex ad campaign for fosters, shows its an australian beer. Australia has certain attributes to it lke outdoor, bih, bold→ hope that those country associations get transferred to foster
Can think of associations in terms of product catgeoryes
Ex: prunes are a product category. Prunes used to have bad associations like being a laxative which was a bad for prune growers bc people didnt want to buy them. The name prunes is slowly being changed to dried plums and dried plums doesnt have bad associations so will have more positive attitudes even though its the same thing
Ex: category of cooking oil and the brand is called rape seed oil → negatibe asscatons, get transferred to this prdocy. Was rebranded to canola oil
Hybrid categories
Category associations being leveraged
Two categories coming together
Fruits coming together to create new ideas of fruits → double the positive associations as it takes the positive associations from both categories so fruit will be highly attractive to consumers
Hybrid categories in marketing refer to the concept where two distinct product categories or ideas come together to create a new offering, often leveraging the positive associations from both original categories
Brand letter associations
X and z have futuristic or high text associations so pharma products will use x or z
Associations with packaging
Ex: wine market→ shift to plastic bottles but plastic is associated with cheap . eben if its the same wine, we will see its cheap bc of the plastic
Ca also leverage packaging in a positive way→ for beer, stellar uses a wine glass as a wine glass is associated with sophistication, want to be seen as sophisticated
Reduce competition
In the 1990s, chrysler created a new category of cars called the minivan→ any sub category is gonna have low competition bc fewer other brands have had the time to launch brands on this category
Managers should create new categories and sub categories so lower competition
Ex: smart car launched by mercedes, created a new category of micro cars \
Reposition in a different category
Reduces competition, increase sales
Some catheories are crowded so for example gatorade can reposition itself as a health drink
Red bull is positioned as an energy drink but could preposition itself as a mixer drink
Memory
Influencing attitudes
Happens bc category sometimes have prototypical brands
Prototypical brands: brands that come to mind first for most consumers
These brands have an advantage bc if consumers think of the brand when they tbhink of a category, then they will consider the brand for purchase (they will give that brand a shot), gives the brand a leg upnin terms of consideration. Second advantage is if consumers can think of a brand quickly, they have a positive feeling of familiarity, a sense of comfort which invrceases the consumers attitude towards the brand
Categories can bias interpretation of attribute information → confirmation bias
Categories can lead to confirmation bias
Ex: hyundai , they are rated highly when it comes to objective quality through consumer reports (hyundai is high qualityO, however when consumers are surveyed like in a mall about the quality of hyundai, they say that the quality is medium → gap between the objective quality of hyundai and consumers perception of quality
Why does this happen? Due to confirmation bias that comes from country of origin. Perhaps korean brands aren’t the highest of quality, they have a prior expectation that hyundai wont be of the highest quality and this biases their judgment of hyundai
This is an issue faced by any new brands and faced by products that come from brazil, india as prior expectations might be low and through confirmation bias can influence their subsequent judgments
Associations cna change over time→ if people buy it and see for themselves, could change, having more positive reports , then the country origin associations will change
