Involvement, Values and Attitudes

'A person's perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values and interests' (Solomon). It is the level of personal importance evoked by a stimulus leading to motivation to process information.

When purchasing a product, the consumer will show different behaviours for different products depending on their level of importance. For example, a tube of toothpaste will require little consideration on purchase compared to buying a new car which would involve many risks. A complex decision, such as buying a new car or a holiday, will more than likely require the involvement of more people and more buyer deliberation. This may be due to the need to satisfy certain values such as self-respect, a sense of belonging, security, fun and enjoyment and self-fulfilment as stated by Kahle (1983) as well as suitability for family members and practicalities. Research carried out by Laurent and Kapferer in 1985 states that the consumer's level of involvement is likely to be affected by an involvement profile which contains four main criteria: importance and risk (FTPEPS: finance, time, performance, ego, physical, social); probability of making a bad purchase; pleasure value of product category; sign value of product category (symbolism). They recognised that a consumer will become more involved with a product if it is a risky purchase or its intended use reflects or affects the individual consumer.

Solomon suggests that if marketers are aware of the factors that increase or decrease the attention of the consumer, with regards to their varying level of involvement with products, they can take steps to increase the likelihood that information surrounding the product will get through to the consumer and therefore boost their motivation to process relevant information. Examples of techniques that could be used to allow this to happen include: appealing to the consumers' hedonic needs (using sensory appeals in order to generate higher levels of attention); use novel stimuli, such as cinematography, sudden silences or unexpected movements in commercials to create harsh contrasts; capture attention with the use of prominent stimuli such as loud music and fast action; generate higher interest in commercials with the use of celebrity endorsement; build an ongoing, positive relationship with consumers; and provide interactive possibilities to create loyalty bonds online.

This advert above for the Sony Bravia LCD television is effective in its use of stimuli in order to grab the attention of the consumer, with the bouncy balls flowing through the streets. The use of colour in the balls contrasts with the plain block colours of the buildings and scenery used. The mesmerising music by Jose Gonzalez provides a contrast between the perceived fast movement of the balls and the gentle ryhthm of the music, almost transfixing the viewer to find out the true meaning of the advert and follow the journey of the balls.

This clip from Friends with Joey's new bag is an effective example of high involvement as well as Laurent and Kapferer's four components, in an unusual case as men are generally not perceived to use bags such as the one used in this clip. His decision to purchase the bag, in turn, affects his ego, social impact in the way that people, including his friends, have judged him, and performance in the way that the impression it gave made him unsuccessful in his audition.

Involvement can be seen as the motivation to process information. The attention of the consumer will be sought if it is perceived that there is a relevant linkage between the information and the values and needs of the consumer. A person's level of involvement can range from a complete lack of interest to an obsession. Involvement will be activated by certain stimuli that appear relevant to the consumer and when relevant knowledge has been processed in the memory, the level of motivation created will drive the consumer's buyer behaviour. 'Consumption of a stimulus can be characterised by inertia where decisions are made out of habit because the consumer lacks the motivation to consider alternatives. At the high end of involvement, we can expect to find the passionate intensity reserved for people and objects that carry great meaning for the individual' (Solomon).

Values

'A belief about some desirable end-state that transcends specific situations and guides selection of behaviour' (Solomon).

'An enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence' (Rokeach, 1973).

'If we believe our overall values drive our behaviour, then we should be concentrating on the important, underlying motives that drive consumers to make product or service choices rather than simply product attributes' (Ries and Trout, 1982).

Consumer's consumption activities are influenced by their values, adopted by parents, cultural influences, social influences or from events experienced during a lifetime, in order to attain a value-related goal. With regards to social networking, individuals with a similar belief system tend to overlap to allow them to be exposed to more information that ultimately supports their own beliefs. Value systems are a function of individual, cultural and social influences that vary hugely among each individual. Values that motivate people vary across cultures, although there is usually a set of underlying goals or values that the majority of members within that culture agree are important. It is the influence across society such as the ones mentioned above that determine the way marketers must act in order to grab the consumers' attention and not so much change their value systems but adapt the advertising/marketing of the product or service to the beliefs of the targeted consumer.

A list of values, as devised by Kahle (1983), defines the end-states of values that motivate people in the way that they live their life. It prioritises the main values that drive your lifestyle, for example: self-respect, being well respected, security, sense of belonging and fun and enjoyment. The consumer will make purchase decisions on specific products in order to satisfy and accomplish these beliefs/values.

Attitudes

'A person's consistently favourable or unfavourable evaluations, feelings and tendencies towards an object or idea' (Kotler).

Research has shown that people tend to develop attitudes through life experiences, influences of other people, and through core values of the culture they may belong to. 'People have attitudes regarding politics. religion, clothes, music, food and almost everything else. An attitude describes a person's relatively consistent evaluations, feelings and tendencies towards an object or idea' (Kotler). These attitudes will, in turn, influence the consumer's buying behaviour, putting people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking things and moving towards or away from them. Brand and product images are developed from the attitudes of individuals, creating a particular interest for the marketer in the way that they must research thoroughly into the types of attitudes already formed within their specific product target groups in order to fit the product into the existing attitudes, rather than forcing people to change their ways of thinking and their beliefs or values.

Timeline of events in my life that have made an impact on me

September 2008 – Started University
April 2008 – Went to Kefalonia in Greece to work in a hotel for the summer season
April 2008 – Left The Validium Group
December 2007 – Deaths of Granny and Granddad
July 2007 – Bridesmaid at best friends wedding
July 2007 – Started at The Validium Group
May 2007 – First experience of competing in Eventing
June 2006 – Dad diagnosed with cancer
July 2005 – London bombings
May 2005 – Started working for Bumble Thomas – International Event rider
July 2004 – Left Wycombe High School after A Levels
November 2003 - Passed driving test

July 2003 – First holiday to Kefalonia
September 2001 – New York terrorist attacks
April 2000 – School skiing trip to USA
September 1998 – Started Wycombe High School
July 1998 – Left West Wycombe Primary School
August 1997 – Death of Princess Diana
August 1995 – Caravanning with Granny and Granddad
August 1994 – PGL adventure holiday with best friend
May 1994 – First holiday in Greece
January 1992 – Started horse riding
February 1986 – I was born!!

It is these main events that have stuck in my memory having made such a significant impact on my life and my value systems in everything that i do today. They are the type of events that i can remember vividly, from where i was at the time, the people that surrounded me and even the smells and sounds that were present at the time. The majority of the events appear to new beginnings or endings - some that dramatically changed my life as i once knew it. Some of the events made me realise that you cannot take anything for granted as you never know what you will face around the next corner, they are the events that taught me to grab any opportunity if i have the chance and live life to the full everyday.

Harvard Project Implicit

'Project Implicit is a virtual laboratory for the social and behavioural sciences designed to facilitate the research of implicit social cognition: cognitions, feelings and evaluations that are not necessarily available to conscious awareness, conscious control, conscious intention or self-reflection. Project Implicit comprises a netowrk or laboratories, technicians and research scientists at Harvard University, the University of Washington and the University of Virginia. The project was initially launched as a demonstration website in 1998 at Yale University and began to function fully as a research enterprise following a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health in 2003'.

The test i chose to undertake is one that determines whether you associate males with careers and females with family. The results from my test show that i have a slight association of male with career and female with family compared to female with career and male with family. The results are determined by the speed of your reaction when relating male and female names to the correct location on the screen, as well as relating words linked with career and family to male or female depending on whether male or female is linked with career or family. The information below shows the overall results of the gender-career test for all participants of this particular test.

Gift Giving

Gift giving is about emotionally connecting the giver and the receiver with the use of a tangible (or possibly an intangible) object. Research carried out by psychologists and marketers, among others, have found that giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends (The New York Times).

Gift Giving can be viewed as a ritual involving the selection, presentation, acceptance and interpretation of a gift, which can be accentuated during every holiday or special occasion. It can be interpreted as a symbolic exchange where the giver is motivated by acknowledging the social bonds between people. The situation in which giving gifts take place can be influenced by certain cultures, occasions or ceremonies whether they are personal or on a professional basis (Solomon et al).

The business of buying gifts is seen as the 'ultimate in emotional consumerism', as it is all about an emotional connection between the giver and the recipient. 'Whenever consumer shopping behaviour is driven by emotion, the shopper's goal is to buy a thing to achieve a special feeling, enhance an emotional experience or deepen an emotional reaction.' It is seen to be an action that will strengthen the emotional connection between individuals (Admap article). The giving of gifts allows retailers and marketers to target two individuals at one time, with the constant desire to establish effective relationships and positive experiences. Helpful retailers and clear, concise marketing will guide the giver through the difficulties of the decision making process encouraging them to become a repeat gift giver and also to return to the particular store many times after. 'Gifting is an emotionally charged chance for retailers and manufacturers to connect directly with two target markets at once which gives gifting its opportunity for exponential marketing impact' (Admap).

The Buyer Decision Process

Kotler et al describe the buyer decision process in a 5-stage model: need recognition - the first stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer recognises a problem or need. Information search is the second stage in which the consumer is aroused to search for more information; the consumer may simply have heightened attention or may go into active information search. The third stage of the decision process involves the evaluation of alternatives where the consumer uses information to evaluate alternative brands in the choice set. The fourth stage focuses on the purchase decision in which the consumer actually buys the product, and the fifth and final stage is known as the post-purchase behaviour in which the consumer will take further action after purchase based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This process becomes increasingly heightened during the purchase or a gift creating a certain level of high involvement. Although the gift may not be highly expensive in comparison to a computer or a laptop, there is a risk concerning the desired emotional response or connection created by the gift between the giver and receiver.

Involvement can be defined as 'a person's perceived relevance of the object based on their inherent needs, values and interests' (Solomon).The level on involvement required by the consumer when making a purchase decision can be classed as high or low. Low involvement products, such as day to day, routine cleaning products or household goods, require little thought and time during purchase, they become more of a habitual purchase. Cars, for example, follow a different lead when it comes to a purchase. There are many factors to weigh up before making a final decision. These could include price, performance of the vehicle and family considerations.

Gift giving has a huge impact on marketing in the way that 'there is no longer a single gifting season'. This is an especially important trend for retailers who typically do a very good job serving gift shoppers for those predictable holidays --Christmas, Mother's Day. Valentine's Day and Father's Day are the top ranked gifting holidays -- but they need to develop strategies to make their stores a better destination for gift shopping all 365-days a year' (Unity Marketing). The experience established within the store by the giver influences their choice and ultimate purchase decision of a gift. It they encounter a negative experience, it is likely that they will not return to the shop depending on the severity of the incident that occurred. However, if the experience was of a positive nature the consumer is highly likely to return and also spread their experiences by word of mouth to friends and family who would then be influenced to make a visit. The purchase of a gift is one that involves a great deal of thought, a decision that requires many questions to be answered, for example: what would the recipient like? What occasion is the gift for? What type of relationship do i have with the recipient? The role of the retailer is to create the maximum pleasure out of the visit that will be strong enough to influence the recipient as well as the giver. The smallest finishing touches can be key to creating this level of impact on the consumer with the use of special gift-wrapping services or complementary scented products/decoration as finishing touches to the service.

'Store choice for gifts is controlled by the left brain, but gift selection is right-brain dominated' (Admap).

Heuristics, Memory and Nostalgia - Tricking people out of their buying habits

It is important to understand the key aspects in both the changing and static buying behaviours of the consumer in order to develop effective marketing and advertising campaigns. There is the constant need to promote customer satisfaction during and after a purchase has been made, helping to create a positive image of that brand/product/service etc. In order to do this effectively, it is imperative that the needs and wants of the consumer are addressed at all times, encouraging the consumer to change a want into a need.

Many characteristics and situations (cultural, social, personal and psychological) experienced throughout an individual's life will influence their buying behaviour, for example an older person who has lived through the war, experienced rationing and who was brought up in a completely different society to the youth of today will have their own distinct needs, without having the constant pressure to boost their ego and create a socially acceptable figure of themselves. They are more likely to visit the same shop, purchase the same products and live by the same routine week after week. With this in mind it is clear to understand that each individual has many different requirements which will determine their unique buyer behaviour. Kotler's Black Box Model of Buyer Behaviour looks at a stimulus-response aspect in which the consumer processes certain stimuli, including the four P's and other major forces and events in their environment. The stimuli experienced by the consumer will enter the black box where they will be turned into a set of responses that will be individual to each consumer based on their past experiences/decision making processes and beliefs.

'Heuristics are the mental rules of thumb that lead to a speedy decision' (Solomon et al, 2006), 'making quick decisions when there is a lot of choice' (Williams, 2001). When we see advertisements that present too much information to us at one time, we often take the quickest route to arriving at decisions without considering all of the relevant information. These mental shortcuts which facilitate decision-making are called heuristics. There are four possible heuristics that may be processed by the consumer when making a purchase decision: recognition which focuses mainly on the branding of products, the consumer is more likely to buy the one they know; minimalist, which tends to be aimed at advertising, uses recognition plus one random criteria such as a nice label; take the last uses the last criteria applied to a similar situation (habit); and take the best which assesses the options in order of perceived importance of criteria (branding/USP).

Life's for sharing! (I couldn't resist putting this advert in...I think it is a fantastic example of nostalgia!)

'Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for earlier days when summers were hotter, days were longer, food was tastier and people were friendlier, lends itself to some traditional, long-lasting brands that many consumers remember from childhood' (Wright, 2000).

'Nostalgia has been described as a bitter-sweet emotion, where the past is viewed with both sadness and longing' (Solomon, 2000).

'When a stimulus is capable of recreating a personal event, even after many years, there often follows a bitter-sweet sentiment known as nostalgia' (Dubois, 2000).

Nostalgia has been defined by Solomon et al as a bittersweet emotion when the past is viewed with sadness and longing; many 'classic' products appeal to consumers' memories of their younger days. Advertisers use many references to 'the good old days' in their campaigns, nelping to call up memories of distant youth in the hope that these feelings can be translated into the products they are selling today. Stimuli, such as a song or photograph, can provoke nostalgia in the form of an instantaneous reaction in a person's body language whether it be foot tapping, goosebumps, smiling, getting more animated or speaking louder and faster. It is reactions such as these that the marketer and advertiser aim to recreate for the target audience of a product in order for them generate a sense of relationship and a bond with brand/product and also to get them talking about it too.

The picture collage below demonstrates certain stimuli that provoke a nostalgic reaction from my parents. The images are based on their youth in the 1970's when then where newly married and enjoying life to the full - jet setting to Tunisia and Greece, clubbing in Brimpton Grange (now the Oxford Belfry), boat trips and road trips with family and friends, even memories of the types of clothes they used to wear sparked a reaction of hysterical laughter and uncontrollable chatting!

Memory

'Memory involves a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed. Contemporary approaches to the study of memory employ an information-processing approach. They assume that the mind is in some ways like a computer: data are input, processed and output for later use in revised form' (Solomon, 2006).

'Learning is the acquisition of knowledge and memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge' (Blakemore, 1988).

'Without memory we would be servants of the moment...relying on reflexes...Civilisation itself is the distillation of human memory.'

It is a known fact that the more familiar the consumer is with a product, the more likely they are to recall it in the future. This is one of the basic fundamentals of marketing where the advertiser aims to build awareness of a product. Salience is predominantly used in advertising in order to create certain stimuli that are likely to stand out in contrast to their environment to generate more attention. Examples of this could be the use of distinct, contrasting packaging or unusual forms of advertising (such as the Gorilla advert or the more recent eyebrow advert used to promote Cadbury's Dairy Milk). This, in turn, will increase the likelihood that the product will be recalled by the consumer.

'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier: 'If only there could be an invention', i said impulsively, 'that bottled up a memory, like a scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again'.

Gender Differences in Advertising

This lecture identified the differences in the response to advertising by gender. Charity adverts such as Cancer Research UK and Barnado's children’s charitie were used as examples to discover the variation in emotional responses between males and females and ultimately whether the desired effect would occur, in these cases donation to the charities or to create awareness of the specific illness/subject. On viewing and discussing each advert, it was clear that females are more affected and are likely to become far more emotionally involved with the subject than males. This could be due to the fact that males are highly influenced by humour in adverts rather than pure emotion resulting in a loss of interest in the subject. This discovery may change if a male has been personally affected by a certain issue such as illness within their close circle of family and friends. After watching the charity adverts and focusing on their structure and content, many powerful, almost overwhelming, feelings and emotions that may have previously been experienced subconsciously where brought to the surface, particularly after the Cancer Research UK advert due to my recent personal experiences with this illness. In comparison, the male audience did not experience such high involvement and emotion as they were more likely to be encouraged to channel the TV channel or leave the room completely proving that this type of advertising is virtually ineffective for males.

The gender differences used in advertising to create an effective campaign are also visible in everyday life using the example of how to impress a woman in comparison to how you would impress a man. With males it is it clear and to the point: show up naked and bring food! Whereas for a woman there are many ways, both simple and complex, that a good impression can be made: compliment her, protect her, spend money on her, respect her, love her etc. These key points used in order to develop a good relationship are important to consider when planning a campaign, whether it is for a charity organisation or to promote a new product/service, so that the desired effect is achieved successfully.

Information taken from the Journal of Advertising Research into gender differences in advertising persuasion state that the response by an individual may be due to differences in values and processing style. It is clear that involvement conditions and the order in which messages are given play an essential part in understanding the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Females are believed to be more selfless and show a greater concern for others than males do, reinforcing the statement that females are the ‘primary caregivers’ who ‘tend to foster nurturing’ in comparison to the ‘competitive orientation’ of males (Journal of Advertising Research, 2003). As a result of the varying differences in the approach to buying and communication between males and females, there are many implications for advertisers when developing a specific advertising campaign. Women prefer complex adverts that encourage them to process the information and become highly involved in the product/service, whereas males tend to think in a more comprehensive way and need to be shown the bigger picture as they are less likely to process and solve complex metaphors.

Gender has been used in children’s advertising by the use of stereotyping. It has been noticed that many adverts that involve men and women, the male is typically seen as the more authoritative figure whereas the female tends to be used to display a mother-figure in the form of a teacher, nurse, wife or mother. Soloman et al, 2006 states that children are believed to pick up on the concept of gender identity at an earlier age than was previously thought. Research has shown that children as young as 1 or 2 are able to categorise certain activities as being masculine or feminine, such as driving a truck which signifies masculinity or cooking and cleaning which signifies femininity.

Enterprise Week - Women in Business

Sessions on gaining confidence and credibility - how to boost your inner and outer confidence, give great presentations, think creatively and a talk from local award winning entrepreneur about her business and success –a day full of tips to help you have it all!

Today's event was a fantastic experience, allowing me to gain so much valuable information and effective skills that can be put to practice in many aspects of business and general everyday life. Huge variety of people attended the event, ranging from students of Bucks New Uni to women that are already in the workplace but were interested in the topics being covered by the fantastic range of guest speakers. It was a great situation for networking and discovering what others were getting out of the sessions too.



Penny Sloane and Katie Demain - Impact Management

How to project yourself with confidence and credibility. This workshop examines ways to promote and enhance personal credibility through impression and non verbal communication. This session involved theory and group interaction which was a great way to get us all relaxed and help us get to know each other. A challenging task we were asked to complete involved groups of 8 people, and within our own group we were to sum up each person using one word relating to our first impression of that person. I certainly found it amazing that the way people see me as an individual differs greatly from how I see myself. A video included in the presentation really hit home to us all relating to how quickly someone can make a judgement of you within the first 3-5 seconds. The situation involved was a job interview involving three candidates with a completely different image. On a scale we could see how the impressions made during the initial stages of the interview were in fact the final decision and overall impression of that candidate. Although it only takes between 3 and 5 seconds to make a first impression, it takes at least 12 further exposures to that person to alter the first impression.

Susan Lock - Powering Up Your Presentations

The fear of Public Speaking tops the fear of death! Do you dread introducing yourself at meetings? Do you suffer from dry mouth, sweaty palms, palpitations? Does the dentist’s chair suddenly seem an enticing place to be? If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions then Sue Lock’s taster session on how to present yourself and speak with confidence and conviction will help you...and it certainly did!

Susan Lock is the founder of HR and Training Consultancy, Key Consultants, based in Radnage, Buckinghamshire. She has extensive experience in the delivery of presentation skills and she really has changed my view of performing a presentation, from going through each stage of a presentation addressing the key aspects in order to succeed and maintain the engagement of the audience right from the start. By using certain anecdotes, quotations, questions or humour right at the start, as long as they relate to the topic to be discussed.

“A presentation is like a mini-skirt: it has to be short enough to get the attention, but long enough to cover the essentials."

The right body language is key to performing a successful speech. The following statistics show how important body language can be in the overall impact of a presentation: just 7% relates to the words themselves, 38% is in voice projection and tone and 55% comes from messages portrayed through body language and movement and images that you make whether they may be casual, professional or approachable. When planning a speech, it is important to think about the beginning thoroughly as it is the key to a good or bad speech linking back to first impressions. Have an ABCD structure with Attention - making sure it is achieved straight away, Benefits - what is in it for the audience, Credentials - why should they listen to you as the speaker? Why should they believe you? Direction - where will the presentation topic lead? Announce a question and answer section before closure.

Your visual image is increasingly important in creating a professional first impression. Key elements of the image include relaxation, whether this may be achieved through deep breaths or loosening shoulders; upright, position, thinking about he position of the head; movement - avoid pacing as this can detract too much attention away from the presentation; and gesture making sure you make it relevant to you and the image you intend to portray. Finish the presentation in the position and area where you said positive points as the audience are more likely to adopt a positive image of the performance in comparison to standing in a spot where negatives issues were discussed.

The main body of the presentation is where the main ideas come across. As the brain has a preference for working in three's, have three key ideas to build on. Create stories to allow audience to paint a picture, involving audience interaction and visual imagery and communication through the eyes. This will encourage the highest absorption of information making the speech memorable for all involved. Examples in advertising where the use of 3 key points includes Heinz with the slogan "Beanz Meanz Heinz" and "A Mars a Day Helps you Work, Rest and Play."

Believe it or not, the ending is where most presenters fail. Many tend to rush the end in the view that they are finished although they audience are likely to take home the last images. In the preparation, it is important to decide what you want the audience to remember, using a decisive, confident high note to deliver this successfully.

Amanda Graham - Creative Thinking - Beyond the Brainstorm

Many people think that "being creative", having the ability to come up with new ideas and approaches in business is a gift you either have, or don't have. This is a taster session which will give you visibility of two creative thinking techniques which will hopefully convince you that this can be learned and that you will be able to use straight away to "think differently and better."
This session gave me an insight into various methods of creative thinking techniques including: brainstorming, reverse brainstorming, SCAMPER: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse/Rearrange, and random word processing.

Caroline Kinsey 2008 Bucks Entrepreneur of the Year - Womenomics - The Rise and Rise of the Business Woman

Women are playing a more active role than ever in the economy, workplace and in political life. How are they achieving their success? By embracing their femininity rather than feeling under pressure to adopt male traits. As 2008 Bucks entrepreneur of the Year, Caroline Kinsey shares her views and personal experience of building an award-winning PR agency, Cirkle PR , and her new business: Trojan Training achieved through more right brain thinking, with which women are associated, such as creativity, collaboration, communication, teamwork and democratisation.

PR is: “Getting the right message to the right market in the right media at the right moment..."

"...with ongoing momentum

I found this talk so inspiring, full of so much useful information. I especially found the information on the office culture and working environment fascintating, with the use of imagery including the Red Bus used as a less formal way of defining an employee's level of work within the business. The emphasis on staff well being is fantastic, it shows that the staff are at the centre of the business because at the end of the day, if the staff are happy more work is liekly to be produced and to a much higher standard.

Caroline explained the key points involved in unlocking a successful business, these include:

• Recruitment
• Retention
• Training
• Culture
• Communication
• Feedback
• Reputation
• Finances

A form of training and developing an employees skills has been identified through the use of Insights Colours which is similar to the Myers-Brigg Personality Type Indicator explained below.

"Work on your business, not in your business."

Karen Taylor and Ann Mullard – Improve Your Options Discover Your Natural Skills – a brief interactive session introducing Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

The Myers-Briggs test indicates the differences in people by where they prefer to focus their attention, the way they prefer to take in information, the way they prefer to make decisions and the kind of lifestyle they adopt. It helps to explain why all individuals are interested in different things, why they are good at different kinds of work, why they often find it hard to communicate with each other and how they use these differences constructively.

Enterprise Week

Networking - Get Yourself Connected

This was a talk taken by David McQeen, a professional speaker and also TV presenter in his own shows: "Vocation, Vocation, Vocation" and "It's me you want!". He is a person with bags of enthusiasm and passion for the job he does. He made it so influential and inspiring, combining the talk with humour and facts.

Networking is not selling or smooching, it is a case of building friendships, relationships and referrals without a hidden agenda. It is important throughout life to build a portfolio of contacts in order to build on your reputation by referrals from people saying a good word about you. It is imperative to gain contacts but also keep in touch and make notes against the contacts. Referrals are so important in business and throughout life as very often many business opportunities arise through referrals building a good reputation and increase the value of who you are, rather than through agencies, TV or newspaper.

Speaking in Public

In a social anxiety survey carried out by the New York Times, it was astonishingly discovered that speaking in public topped the ranking of fears - even higher than spiders AND the fear of death!! When required to speak in public, be yourself - don't try to be anyone else as it will not come across as natural to the audience. Make sure you know the type of language you need or want to use in view of the prospective target audience - who do you need to talk to? What do you want to talk about? Concentrate on your style of communication, remember good manners at al times as this will take you very far. Whether you are introvert or extrovert, whatever your style be who you are. Use blogs and social networking sites to communicate with people, what is it that makes you differnt from the rest? What unique qualities do you have that would be attractive to a business?
The World is a Complex Place

The speaker in this event was Tom Vick, Group Business Director of JWT, a leading communications agency in London.

“Anybody who believes that life is going to become simpler in this day and age needs to have their head examined” (Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP Group).

In view of advertising, Tom Vick explains that they “create ideas that people want to spend time with”. Marketing and advertising is now far more complex a process than it ever has been. There is the constant demand for more exposure due to changing technology and consumer priorities such as advertising having less opportunity on TV with the “30 second ad” because of the creation of Sky+ etc. It is fascinating to compare uses of advertising in technology is now to how is was nearly two decades ago. In the 1990’s, there were less TV channels with no Sky or digital TV. Advertising was extremely successful on TV during this time due to the limitations on variety of technology available. People had no other option than to watch the adverts that followed popular soaps during the breaks. Mobile phones were simple and barely mobile due to their size – the majority of people who used a mobile during this time were business people, although they could only phone out, no calls could be made to the phone. No internet was available and the only people who had computers, which were not nearly as advanced as they are today, were secretaries in businesses. This shows that advertising and marketing through media which we now take for granted was completely non-existent only 20 or so years ago. Communication had to be made face to face or through a landline phone, one factor being that there was very limited mobile signal for the mobile phones that were available.

Today times have changed. Technology is buzzing all around us and it will be only the very small minority that do not rely on a mobile phone or laptop in all aspects of their lives. Communication has changed dramatically with most people turning to email or text messaging as acceptable forms of contact. These changes have had a huge impact on the world of advertising by altering the proportions of different media that dominate the most popular or successful forms of communication to consumers. New types of media tend to be shifting towards the use of outdoor advertising such as the digital escalator screens used in the underground as outlined in the event “What Next?”, featuring cross-track projections but no sound. These have proven to be more appealing to the viewer. TV media is getting a lower proportion of the ad spend, with the shift to digital advertising or direct marketing with the use of social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace which can target a specific audience. It is important to remember that no form of advertising has been “killed”; everything has just got more complex. TV is still being used but in a much more targeted way than ever before, “word of mouth” is becoming the new marketing sensation. Advertising is seen as an investment designed to take money and turn it into more money.

Tom Vick explained about a 5-point plan that will help in the building of successful advertising in the future:

1. Forget above and below the line marketing and advertising ever existed;
   Bring back the true definition of advertising;


2. Restructure businesses around brands and communication schemes to focus more on the clients’ objectives;


3. Invest in re-training agency employees as some may only have the knowledge of a small part of advertising and marketing communications, there is the need to understand how a business works;


4. Learn from youth – use younger staff to train older employees as an advantage to the company due to the fact that the younger emerging generation have grown up with the developing technology.

Advertising has become more complex than a decade ago due to the change in lifestyle of consumers, and the constant changing and emerging technological industry. Some agencies failed to “move with the times” and so as a result, did not survive the huge change. It has been proven that advertising has not been a necessity for some businesses that have grown so successfully through mainly “word of mouth”. These companies include eBay, Amazon, and Google. Innocent, the smoothies drink producer also built a very successful enterprise on “word of mouth” advertising. The only way to communicate a message without it being adapted or diluted is by word of mouth. An example of a company that struggled through lack of advertising is Marks and Spencer. It was flourishing business up until a decade ago surviving with no advertising. Consumers’ lifestyles then changed dramatically with a much higher emphasis on style and fashion especially as a higher percentage of women were emerging into the workplace. M&S became unappealing and regular customers began to shop elsewhere, causing a massive decline in profits. The advertising campaign “Your M&S” was developed and helped turn round the image, being more high profile and more personal to the individual customer making the company the success it is today.

Does advertising have any relevance into the success of a product or a brand? It may be insignificant compared to many life events including world wars, natural disasters, poverty etc, but it does create a huge amount of awareness in a particular product or brand. Advertising is a significant global industry giving figures of £1.5 billion making it second in the world behind the USA. Taking the Cadbury’s Gorilla advert: did it have any impact on the overall performance of the business; were dramatic changes in profit visible? This advert was hugely successful in one sense: it got people talking, having the ability to connect with people emotionally working in a similar way to theatre, dance or art forms.

During the current economic climate, no-one can predict what will happen to advertising in the next year, let alone the next decade. The industry has seen a hugely dramatic change in the past 5 years compared to the previous 150 years. The following points show how the advertising industry may change over the next 5 years:

1. We may see the return to full-service advertising, both creative and media in a new format. There may be a decline in the clients’ marketing budget in the very near future but this may expand in order to fight off competition and survive the recession to come out the other side stronger than ever. More sophisticated agency techniques may be offered to clients, and it will be only a matter of time before clients are offered more creative solutions by the agencies;


2. The disciplines of account planning and channel planning will merge;
   
3. We will see an increase in global outsourcing, including less expensive labour costs on the production of advertising. Advertising networks may have contacts internationally to create a 24/7 basis of work so when the company in the UK finishes, another company in a different country will take over;


4. There will be no clear separation between digital agencies and ad agencies as they will all have to do both in order to survive. There are approximately 12,500 agencies in the UK and only the strongest and the fittest will survive. The agencies that get there first and who are seen to be the best will succeed;


5. The emergence of mobile as a marketing channel will develop as it is one of the most dominant screens in the majority of peoples’ lives, especially the younger generation allowing agencies to target audiences more directly and accurately.

As a result of the credit crunch, there is a greater focus on cost, efficiency and investment over the next 5 years, giving online marketing a boost in increasing popularity between clients’ and consumers’.

The expectation of graduates during the changing times is seen to be getting tougher and increasingly more competitive with the key qualities including a passion for the subject, a bright image, a successful ability to argue their case and selling qualities for use when selling ideas to a client. They should be able to examine their likes and dislikes in advertisements critically.

"What Next?"

A panel of 8 top executives from Marketing, Advertising, PR backgrounds chaired by Don Cowley. The invited industry panel members included: Jayne Barr MD of Creative Consulting Ltd, ex Managing partner of TBWA, Leagas Delaney and Grey; Andrew Canter Founder CEO ‘Contentsworx’, the Brand Content Agency; Steve Cox MD Titan Outdoor Group; Rob Laurence TGI Strategic Director; Jamie Matthews MD of Initials Marketing; Ivor Peters MD Primal PR and Allan Rich Chairman of Cello Group, ex Chairman Mediacom.

In view of the current threat of recession in the UK, Allan Rich of Cello Group stated that “well run businesses will survive through the recession”.The advertising/marketing industry is busier now than it ever has been.

The key to success is to show intense enthusiasm for your chosen industry/career choice. The three key elements in creating a successful business include: measurement – whether a TV, outdoor, radio or internet advertisement is working, is it reaching the target audience successfully? Accountability and innovation/enthusiasm – all linking in with the SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based).

“I know that 50% of my advertising works, I’m just not sure which 50%”. (Lord Leverhulme)

“There are a lot of great technicians in advertising; and unfortunately they talk the best game. They know all the rules...but there’s one little rub. They forget that advertising is persuasion, and persuasion is not a science but an art. Advertising is the art of persuasion”. (William Bernbach)

Ikea is an example of an experiential ad campaign where it is seen that there is now a greater move towards integration and more communicators to promote a product or brand.
It has been noticed that recently there has been a greater change in terms of employment connected to gender, race, age, class etc when recruiting a new employee. Rather than taking a stereotypical image of a middle-upper class, white British male graduate from Oxbridge, companies are now being seen to “step outside the box” to change habits and decrease any visible discrimination.



It has been highly recommended that we take the IPA diagonal thinking test which is a recognised test within the industry showing prospective employers whether someone is a diagonal thinker or whether they tend to steer more towards logic or creativeness.
In this industry, everything must start with the consumer/customer in terms of demographics – who the target audience will be in relation to the specific product/brand to be promoted.
In recent years, it has been proven that the “30 second ad” no longer has so much impact on the consumer, although it isn’t “dead”, due to many factors including the constant development and change of new technology, for example Sky+ which now has a feature that allows the viewer to

fast-forward through the adverts between TV programmes, making these particular ads effectively useless as there is a much lower proportion of people actually viewing the ads. Changes such as this have resulted in a need to discover and innovate new alternatives. Examples of these are the digital posters visible in the London Underground which also have a Bluetooth capability allowing companies to connect with the consumers, allowing them to visibly see if the product is reaching out to the target audience by enabling them to measure the specific set objectives. Types of advertising such as this must combine contact and context as well as content which will in turn create a highly powerful message. According to Jamie Matthews, MD of Initials Marketing, in the 1970’s, an advertiser could reach 90% of its target audience with 30, 30 second ads. It now takes approximately 170 ads to hit the same spot – this shows that the marketing/advertising industry now has to work so much harder to reach the same volume. It has been noted that sponsorship advertisements are far more powerful and convey an influential message to the consumer. Content is required in an advert to create awareness of a product encouraging the audience to talk about it. Engagement from the consumer is a vital factor in making an advert successful.

Advertising is now moving heavily towards digital media in terms of gaining the highest volume of consumer awareness, the internet being one of the most influential. Outside the internet, the fastest growing form of media is posters. This change in types of media being used is opening a wide door for new and expanding opportunities.

Green marketing is seen to be attractive to consumers due to the many benefits for the environment and the increase in changing behaviour towards recycling products. An example of this new innovative idea is the Marks and Spencer’s “5p per bag” from which all proceeds are donated to charity, although the main purpose of this is to discourage customers from taking new carrier bags each time they shop and encourage them to recycle. Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical trading can be linked in with this as it addresses the company’s role in society and the community and also the running of the businesses successfully. It can be seen as being parallel to changing consumer attitudes towards environmentalism and sustainability, tracing changing attitudes among companies and businesses as they recognise the nature of their customer. Three key points that can determine the success and CSR of a business include the ethics and opportunities used, being incarnate in the development of the product/brand and the outcome – what people are doing with their products in relation to the advertisements. Building a successful relationship with the client is key to maintaining a successful business partnership and a highly respectable reputation in the industry – it is such a small world within this industry that a good reputation can lead you far but a bad reputation can drag you down. Something a previous boss, the MD and founder of The Validium Group, said to me was “always be nice to the people you meet on the way up as you will most definitely meet them on the way back down.” I gained so much respect for him, as well as the Executive Director of his company as I learned about the highs and lows of the building the business and making it what it is today – one of the leading and most reputable companies in its industry of EAP’s (Employee Assistance Programmes) with a substantial portfolio of very well-known UK clients, and are now also expanding internationally. This has always stuck with me and has made me understand how important it is in business or in anything that you do to build yourself a good reputation in order to succeed.

Putting Theory into Practice - A discussion by a panel of past Bucks New University Graduates currently working in the industry.

This session was an extremely valuable source of information for us as present students, allowing us to see how achieving a successful degree can lead into our chosen career path – in my case this is marketing. Through asking many relevant questions to the panel, I gained a valuable insight into many methods that will guide me and allow me to seek more and more knowledge into the subject which I am so passionate about going into. I am 100% for work experience in the chosen vocation for many reasons, one being the fact that you can literally put theory into practice. From linking back to my personal experiences working in many business environments, all very different, over the past four years I am now able to relate to certain things I may have seen or tasks I may have been asked to carry out. It is a fantastic way to experience whether that specific role or career path is right and satisfies your needs and what you aim to get out of the job. A great emphasis was made by all of the graduates to constantly be reading up on the subjects learnt during lectures, reading other relevant materials including publications such as Marketing Week, Marketing and Campaign, case studies for the industry and also Brand Republic. Making sure that preparation is utmost when gearing up for an interview – researching into companies and recent events in the industry, taking note of any images seen whilst travelling to an interview, explaining how relevant the course is and how the knowledge learned would be applied when working in the industry. Once an interview has been successful and a job has been offered it is so important for graduates to make themselves indispensible to the company, constantly thinking creatively “outside the box”, thinking along the lines of accountability, using celebrity endorsements in ad campaigns, creating maximum profit and awareness on a product/brand with minimum amount of spend, time-management, multi-tasking and deadlines.

Great blog by Graeme Crossley, founder member of Brand Reputation Ltd - a communications agency that builds trust in consumer brands by developing & implementing strategies related to corporate social responsibility & sustainability. Take a look at http://www.brandrep.blogspot.com/ it's well worth a look!

Targeting Gender in Advertising

Today's session focused on how advertisers target males and females to create a successful and memorable advert. Altogether, there were three experiments that involved us viewing a number of different adverts - the first section not relating to any particular gender, the second focusing on males and the third on females. The first experiment contained a variety of adverts which included cars, perfume, money, alcoholic drinks and flavoured. At this point, we did not know how we would be using the examples and probably did not take too much notice of the specific products being shown. On completion we were asked to write down the advert we remembered most clearly - in my case the Cravendale Strawberry Milk advert stuck in my mind. It was interesting to see, when comparing the results with others in the class that not everyone chose the same advert. In some cases a certain advert will be more memorable to males than females due to content, contrasting in the advert, colour, humour and other specific factors. The key factor involved in advertising is that not everyone remembers the same thing. There are many variables used in advertising to create a memorable image including celebrity endorsement such as the perfume adverts featured below. It may be that an advert may not be so successful if the product is not associated with a celebrity. It has been recognised that men prefer advets that contain some type of humour making the advert more memorable generally following a trent of using more pictures than text and darker colours. Women prefer and are more likely to respond to an advert that allows them to answer a question themselves whereas men prefer to jump to an answer.

"The issue is much more fundamental than the usual myopic media one about where the ads appear: It's about recognising women [and men]'s different appraoch" (Financial Times, June 29 2001)

The article taken from the WARC database: Message order effects and gender differences in advertising persuasion is a valuable source of information showing extensive research into the effectiveness of advertising position with relation to primacy and recency when comparing gender differences in behaviour. The study explains that depending on the type of processing involved, females will exhibit more primacy effects than recency effects, whereas males will exhibit more recency effects than primacy effects. A primacy effect can be defined as "a greater persuasion of the initial communication", implying that it is better to be first in line when putting across an argument. A recency effect occurs "when the final communication has the greater consequence on persuasion", or that it is better to be last when putting an argument across. There are many psychological processes and factors influencing primacy and recency effects including: interest or motivation in the subject, overall involvement and attitude strength. It has been recognised that primacy tends to occur when there is a high level of interest in a product encouraging consumers to process the information effectively. Recency effects can be observed if the end product does not promote interest or create any motivational aids allowing the consumers attention to drift away from the advertisement. It is highly likely that when interest and motivation is shown in a subject, the primacy effect will occur due to the central processing of information, whereas if information is processed peripherally, interest and motivation will be low and so as a consequence, the recency effect will be present.