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CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING, AND UNDERSTANDING

One form of learning ...

Learning--what is it?

–

Operant conditioning

– –

Classical conditioning Brand loyalty

Perception – Characteristics of the senses – – – Accuracy Ability to detect change Attention

Most useful for vicarious learning!

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 1

CLASSICAL AND INSTRUMENTAL (OPERANT) CONDITIONING

  Consumers (often unconsciously) link objects to past experience Consequences of behavior tend to influence subsequent behavior MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 2

Another Typology

High Involvement Learning Low Involvement

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 3

Classical Conditioning

    Pavlov’s dogs Objects (stimuli) associated with a response may bring about the response Credit card studies Stimuli and responses MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 4

Classical Conditioning

US ----> UR ( Unconditioned stimulus) (Unconditioned response) US + CS (Conditioned stimulus) -----> UR CS E.g.: ------> CR ( CS CR)

alone

is now (Conditioned response) able to bring SUGAR -------> insulin release SUGAR + Cola Taste -------> Cola taste -------> insulin release insulin release

NOTE: UR and CR represent the same behavior, but

causes

differ

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 5

Consumer Examples

 

Advertising

affect : pairing product with images of desired

Product:

Evoke image of object associated with positive affect (e.g., Mustang; Coke Bottle) MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 6

Making Classical Conditioning Work

   Appropriate symbols (for the population in question) to elicit emotion NOTE: Test stimuli for desired effect!

Repetition

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 7

INSTRUMENTAL (OPERANT) CONDITIONING

REINFORCEMENT LIKELIHOOD OF BEHAVIOR BEHAVIOR NOT the same thing !

{

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT PUNISHMENT LIKELIHOOD OF BEHAVIOR

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 8

Reinforcement: An Example

You eat a cake (behavior) ----> good taste (reward) ----> more likely to eat cake on another occasion MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 9

Negative Reinforcement (not the same as punishment!)

Aversive stimulus exists Behavior ----> termination of aversive stimulus ----> repetition of behavior during aversive stimulus MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 10

Negative Reinforcement: An Example

Headache (aversive stimulus) Aspirin (behavior) ---> Headache cessation ----> Likely to consume aspirin during future headaches MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 11

PUNISHMENT

Behavior ----> Negative consequences -----> Behavior less likely to be repeated

when punishment is

anticipated (mostly) MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 12

Punishment: Examples

     Parking meters Gas taxes Restocking fees Fees for non-ATM banking transactions Over-base rate utility charges MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 13

More Punishment Examples

  Voidance of warranty if product is serviced by competitor Social ostracism for failure to wear deodorant MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 14

Reinforcement Effectiveness

   Temporal proximity--conditioning is more effective if consequences immediately follow behavior (delayed reinforcement is much less effective)

Recognition of relationship between behavior and consequences

Schedules of reinforcement--variable ratio is most effective MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 15

Strength of Learning

  Importance Involvement – Product – Message—e.g.,   AFLAC Insurance Energizer Bunny  Mood – Mixed research results    More elaboration and associations during positive mood if the association is pleasurable Happy people may seek to avoid thinking to avoid spoiling the good mood Individuals will tend to be more critical of claims under bad mood MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 16

Extinction

 Behavior which is not reinforced tends to become extinct gradually MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 17

Schedules of Reinforcement



Fixed interval



Fixed ratio

 Variable ratio <------ Most resistant 

Variable interval

to extinction MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 18

Shaping

Behavior approximating desired kind level ------> Reward e.g., buying new product on sale Increased requirements, when met -------> Reward e.g., magnitude of sale gradually decreased MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 19

Shaping: Possible Examples

    Introduction of fruit flavored soft drinks in Indonesia prior to Coca Cola New products given premium shelf space in the beginning Premium given with purchase of new product In-store demonstrations of new products Note that marketers’ power tends to be limited MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 20

Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning In Practice

   Marketers typically do not have the power to significantly reward or punish people greatly-- typically have little power to directly influence people’s experience Note that many rewards and punishments are significantly delayed Better able to influence vicarious learning MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 21

Brand Loyalty vs. Habit

  Habit: consumer picks product without much thought; may be due to convenience Loyalty: consumer actively seeks out product MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 22

Loyalty...

  Multibrand loyalty How strong?

...or lack of it.

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 23

Stimulus Generalization

   “Rub off” effect A slightly different stimulus may not be discriminated Both discrimination and generalization are evolutionarily adaptive – – Categorizing of like objects (e.g., lions, alphabet letters) Distinction between dangerous and safe entities MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 24

Developing Brand Loyalty: Tricks and Traps

    Product quality ---> satisfaction

Sales promotions Stealing loyal consumers

away from others--is it worth it?

Price

– – value exclusiveness MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 25

Memory

 Level of conscious intent – Explicit memory  Deliberate attempt to retrieve information – Implicit memory  Information automatically recalled – E.g., associations – E.g., routine information (social security and phone numbers, web site addresses)  Associative Network of Knowledge – Pieces of experience and information (nodes) are tired together – “Activating” one node will tend to activate others which in turn will activate still more nodes  E.g., – Thinking of marketing class may activate name of a soft drink always consumed by the instructor – The soft drink may have more “competing” links and may not activate the professor MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 26

 

Memory

Short term (compare to RAM ---> volatile) – mnemonic devices (e.g., 1-800-FLOWERS) Long term (compare to hard disk ---> longer in duration but imperfect--”I remember it well…”)

STM REHEARSAL LTM DECAY

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 27

Turning STM into LTM

   “Rehearsal””—repetition of information – By consumer (e.g., phone number) – By advertisement Elaborative activities—thinking of the object to strengthen its association with other nodes and maintenance Extinction from long term memory – E.g., old phone numbers; how to use an old computer program; loss language skills MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 28

Scripts: The Way to Do Things

  Procedure for doing various things learned over time E.g., restaurant script: – – – – – – – – make reservation travel to restaurant await seating order drinks study menu order have dessert and/or coffee pay check and leave tip MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 29

Implications of Scripts

    Check car odometer If more than 3,000 miles, – – go to Joe’s garage

or

look in yellow pages for garages Ask mechanic for oil change When asked which brand of oil – – select Pennzoil

or

think about which brand to use If you were Joe or Pennzoil, which script would you prefer?

MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 30

Positioning and Repositioning

 Working with existing perceptions  Research to identify perception and associations of products—Perceptual Maps  Repositioning – Very difficult—may be more cost effective to develop a new brand MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 31

Brand Equity and Leverage

 Consumer associations with product are valuable  Brand leverage (brand extensions, brand “family,” “umbrella” branding) – – – Use of appropriate associations May involve brand style rather than product similarity Concept testing is important MKTG 371

LEARNING, MEMORY, AND POSITIONING Lars Perner, Instructor 32