PerceptionCh. 2

Session 3-4

Overview of the Perceptual Process Sensation:

The immediate response of our sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic stimuli such as light, color, sound, odors, taste and textures

Exposure: Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of

someone’s sensory receptors Attention:

The extent to which we (our brains) devote processing activity to a particular stimulus

Interpretation: The meaning that we assign to sensory stimuli

Perception: The process by which sensations are selected,

organized, and interpreted

Overview of the Perceptual Process

Sensory Systems External stimuli, or sensory

inputs, can be received on a number of different channels

Inputs picked up by our five senses are the raw data that triggers the perceptual process

Sensory branding Paying extra attention to the impact

& inter-play of various sensations on our product experiences

Sensory signature (Read: Brand Sense by Martin Lindstrom)

Car Ad Trying to Appeal to All Senses

Vision Stimulated through:

design, size, shape, colors (visual elements)

of packaging, product design, advertising, store design (visual channels)

Examples: Coca-Cola bottles have a

unique contoured shape Banks use ‘blue’ as it

depicts ‘corporate culture’ globally

3M Post-it Notes have a registered canary yellow color

Shape of Hershey’s Kisses

Examples: Hardee’s Thickburgers have

their appeal in size & juiciness

Olper’s milk used ‘red’ to differentiate its packaging

Tall thin glasses look more voluminous than short broad ones

Size of plate also determines how much we eat

Older people see colors as more dull (with yellow tinge)

Warmer & darker colors incite activity & excitement and cool colors bring relaxation

Meat needs to be brown enough

Smell Hearing It’s a chemical sense

so forms strong bonds Examples:

Starbucks & the aroma of freshly brewed coffee

Dunkin Donuts & the smell of freshly baked doughnuts

New car smell (spray) Scratch & sniff ads for

perfumes Smell of food cooked in

ghee (portrayed in ads) People spend more

time in nice-smelling stores

Examples Sound affects moods;

fast music energizes, slow music relaxes (concept used in stores & restaurants)

Spoken words/speech has unique meanings & effects (brand names)

Sound effects used in advertising (jingles, signature tunes)

May signify product attributes/quality ‘Sizzle’ of a steak Crunch of cornflakes

Taste Touch It’s a chemical sense

so may affect on a deeper level

Examples Taste houses create &

test flavors everyday (Murree Brewery)

Taste sampling of food & drink items try to create customer pull

Cigarette ads stress on ‘taste’ of smoke

Backfired in New Coke’s case

Examples: Contoured Coca-Cola bottle

identifiable in the dark Perfume bottles are always

glass (have tactile appeal) Value of cloth/material

associated with how they ‘feel’

People prefer touching products before buying (unpopularity of online buying)

Ads for men’s shaving razors (smooth skin gets love)

Important Concepts in ‘Exposure’ Marketers (at the basic level) try to

increase the likelihood of exposure of their brand

Factors that may influence exposure include: Position / placement of communication

within media / contact points Product distribution & shelf placement

Exposure is selective Zipping zapping on electronic media, pop-

up blockers on internet

Measures of exposure include People-meters (TV) - viewership Traffic counters (outdoor) - OTS

Important Concepts in ‘Exposure’ Absolute Threshold:

The minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a given sensory channel Important in selecting font /

image size, background music levels, intensity of fragrance in stores, etc.

Also important when you ‘don’t’ want people to notice something

Important Concepts in ‘Exposure’ Differential Threshold:

The ability of a sensory system to detect changes / differences between two stimuli

The minimum difference that can be detected between two stimuli = j.n.d. (just noticeable difference) Important in reference pricing, change

in product sizes, change in serving size, amount of discounts

Weber’s Law: The amount of change that is

necessary to be noticed is directly related to the intensity of the original stimulus

Important Concepts in ‘Attention’ Attention is selective

We attend to only a small portion of the stimuli to which we are exposed (perceptual selection)

We select based on Personal selection factors (relevance,

experiences, habituation) Stimulus selection factors (size,

color, position, novelty of idea, etc.)

Attention can be divided (multi-tasking) Need for repetition / reinforcement

Attention is limited Unfamiliarity reduces division of

attention to many stimuli Standardized store design (Gourmet)

Important Concepts in ‘Interpretation’ Two people can be exposed to

the same stimulus, attend to it but interpret it in very different ways depending on the schema (set of beliefs to which we assign the stimulus) evoked by the stimulus We use different criteria to evaluate

the product, message or package Warm tetra-packaged milk in US

holds a different meaning than in Pakistan

Food cooked in Ghee may hold different meanings for people

Concept of ‘family restaurant’ doesn’t appeal to youth

Djuice ads Sooper ‘disco’ ad – what schema

does it evoke?

Important Concepts in ‘Interpretation’ Marketers also use

‘symbolism’ to give desired meaning to products & create product image