Chapter 6

Personality and Lifestyles

6-1

Personality

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Personality refers to a person’s unique psychological makeup and how it consistently influences the way a person responds to his or her environment.

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Most now agree that both personality and situational factors play a role in determining people’s behavior.

Personality is usually involved, along with:

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A person’s choices of leisure activities, political outlook, aesthetic tastes, and

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Other individual factors to segment customers in terms of Lifestyles.

6-2

Consumer Behavior on the Couch: Freudian Theory

Id

Oriented Towards Immediate Gratification

Ego

Referee in the Fight Between Temptation and Virtue

6-3 Superego

Person’s Conscience

Motivational Research

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Applying Freudian ideas led to a perspective known as Motivational Research , which has a heavy emphasis on unconscious motives.

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A basic assumption is that socially unacceptable needs are channeled into acceptable outlets.

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This form of research relies on Depth Interviews , which uses relatively few consumers but probes deeply into each person’s purchase motivations.

Motivational Research has been attacked for two reasons:

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Some feel it does not work,

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Some feel that it works too well.

6-4

Neo-Freudian Theories

Karen Horney 6-5 Described People as: Moving Toward Others (Compliant), Away From Others (Detached), or Against Others (Aggressive).

Alfred Adler Proposed That Many Actions Are Motivated by People’s Desire to Overcome Feelings of Inferiority Relative to Others.

Harry Stack Sullivan Carl Jung Focused on How Personality Evolves to Reduce Anxiety in Social Relationships.

Analytical Psychology - Believed That People are Shaped by the Cumulative Experiences of Past Generations which create

Archetypes.

Trait Theory

One Approach to Personality is to Focus on the Quantitative Measurement of Traits , or Identifiable Characteristics that Define a Person Such As:

Extroversion

6-6

Innovativeness Materialism Self-Consciousness Need for Cognition

Problems With Trait Theory in Consumer Research

6-7

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Many of the scales are not sufficiently valid.

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Researchers make changes in the research instrument.

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Personality tests are often developed only for specific populations.

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Many trait scales are intended to only measure gross tendencies.

Tests may not be administered under the best conditions.

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Many of the scales are not well planned or thought out.

Brand Personality

Brand Equity Extent That a Consumer Holds Strong, Favorable, and Unique Associations about a Brand in Memory.

6-8 Brand Personality Assigning Personality Qualities to Inanimate Products That Makes the Product Stand Out From the Competition. Animism Inanimate Objects are Given Qualities That Make Them Somehow Alive.

Level 1: Object is Believed to Possessed by the Soul of a Being.

i.e. Spokesperson in Advertising Level 2: Objects are Anthropormphized - Given Human Characteristics.

i.e. Charlie the Tuna

6-9

Lifestyle: Who We Are, What We Do

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Lifestyle refers to a pattern of consumption reflecting a person’s choices of how he or she spends time and money.

It represents how a person allocates income:

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To different products and services, and

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To specific alternatives within these categories. A Lifestyle Marketing Perspective recognizes that people sort themselves into groups on the basis of:

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Things they like to do,

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How they like to spend their leisure time, and

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How they choose to spend their disposable income.

Lifestyles

6-10

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Lifestyles as Group Identities

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Lifestyles are statements about who one is in society and who one is not.

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Each person adds their own individuality to a chosen lifestyle.

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Products Are the Building Blocks of Lifestyles

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Consumers often choose products, services, and activities over others because they are associated with a certain lifestyle.

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Lifestyle Marketing Strategies focus on product usage in desirable social settings.

Linking Products to Lifestyles

People, Products, and Settings are Combined to Express a Certain Consumption Style.

6-11

Person

Lifestyle

Product Setting

Linking Products to Lifestyles

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Lifestyle Marketing Perspective

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Marketers must look at Patterns of Behavior to understand consumers.

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Marketers must identify the set of products and services that seems to be linked in consumers’ minds to a specific lifestyle.

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Product Complementarity related to each other.

occurs when the symbolic meanings of different products are

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These sets of products, called Consumption Constellations , are used by consumers to define, communicate, and perform social roles. i.e. The “Yuppie” was defined by a Rolex watch, BMW cars and Gucci briefcases.

6-12

Conducting A Psychographic Analysis

Forms of a Psychographic Study: Lifestyle Profile Product-Specific Profile Study That Uses Personality Traits as Descriptors General Lifestyle Segmentation Product-Specific Segmentation 6-13 Definition of Psychographics: Involves the “.. use of psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors... to determine how the market is segmented by the propensity of groups within the market - and their reasons - to make a particular decision about a product, person, ideology, or otherwise hold an attitude or use a medium.

AIOs and Psychographics

A ctivities I nterests O pinions 6-14 Demographics - Describes Who Buys Psychographic Profiles - Tells Why Consumers Buy 20/80 Rule

Uses of Psychographic Segmentation

Market Social and Political Issues Define the Target Market 6-15 Develop Overall Strategy Communicate Product Attributes Create a New View of the Market Position the Product

VALS 2

Principle Oriented Fulfilleds Actualizers Status Oriented Achievers

Abundant Resources

Action Oriented Experiencers 6-16 Believers Strivers Makers

Minimal Resources

Strugglers

Global Marketing and Culture

Taste and Stylistic Preferences Cultural Sensitivities Areas Affected by Nationality Advertising 6-17 Modesty

Major Consumer Trends

Environmentalism and Green Marketing A Return to Value Time Poverty Disillusionment of Working Women Decreased Emphasis on Nutrition and Exercise 6-18

Major Consumer Trends

“Cocooning” Nonconsumption Individualism and Mass Customization A Laid-Back Lifestyle Life in the Fast Lane 6-19