Cracking Consumer Choice
I chanced upon this marketing insight, perhaps in last week’s newspaper, and thought it would be good to share it with the hapless visitors to my blog. Some of the brains at Wharton have researched and proven this hypothesis that ‘exposure to environmental cues can prime the consumer’s memory to favor certain products’. It seems when NASA landed the Pathfinder spacecraft on Mars in July 1997, the sales of Mars bars shot up. Apparently, consumers, barraged by news of our little red neighborly planet, somehow felt more inclined to nibble on a chocolate bar of the same name.
What does this tell me about consumer choice? Around Valentine’s Day, thanks to the profusion of red hearts festooning every conceivable, advertise’able’ space (including toilet seats, yes, I have seen that!), I am probably going to drink a lot of Roohafza (ugghh..that will be the day). Marketers may find that Tide (the detergent) vanishes off the shelves quickly in coastal towns than inland. (Tide. Oceans. Coastal cities. Got it?) Come August 08, a telecom operator may rake in the moolah by including a talk plan called Olympic. You know, with all that buzz in Beijing, people just might be in the mood those days for marathon phone conversations!
Since I read about this theory, I have racked my brains trying to analyze my own consumer behavior. Why do I buy what I buy? Here are a few conclusions.
#)As I drive out to work every morning, I jolt all my bones and sprain all my joints over a road viciously riddled with potholes. Perhaps, that’s the reason I prefer Polo when I’ve got to pop in something to stem the cussing. (Can’t you see the connection? Polo.. ‘the mint with a hole’!)
#)I have been partaking substantially from the never-ending fount of K soaps on evening television. That explains it - my compulsive albeit calorie-cutting insistence on a cereal breakfast. (In case you didn’t get it, it’s a Kellogs fixation.)
#)Did I choose Moserbaer CDs to burn my music on because of the mosquitoes that have arrived with summer? They bring their own humming brand of music, by the way.
I am sure there are plenty more such consumerist cross-links I haven’t yet figured out.
Oh my God, suddenly, everything in my life has a reason!
What does this tell me about consumer choice? Around Valentine’s Day, thanks to the profusion of red hearts festooning every conceivable, advertise’able’ space (including toilet seats, yes, I have seen that!), I am probably going to drink a lot of Roohafza (ugghh..that will be the day). Marketers may find that Tide (the detergent) vanishes off the shelves quickly in coastal towns than inland. (Tide. Oceans. Coastal cities. Got it?) Come August 08, a telecom operator may rake in the moolah by including a talk plan called Olympic. You know, with all that buzz in Beijing, people just might be in the mood those days for marathon phone conversations!
Since I read about this theory, I have racked my brains trying to analyze my own consumer behavior. Why do I buy what I buy? Here are a few conclusions.
#)As I drive out to work every morning, I jolt all my bones and sprain all my joints over a road viciously riddled with potholes. Perhaps, that’s the reason I prefer Polo when I’ve got to pop in something to stem the cussing. (Can’t you see the connection? Polo.. ‘the mint with a hole’!)
#)I have been partaking substantially from the never-ending fount of K soaps on evening television. That explains it - my compulsive albeit calorie-cutting insistence on a cereal breakfast. (In case you didn’t get it, it’s a Kellogs fixation.)
#)Did I choose Moserbaer CDs to burn my music on because of the mosquitoes that have arrived with summer? They bring their own humming brand of music, by the way.
I am sure there are plenty more such consumerist cross-links I haven’t yet figured out.
Oh my God, suddenly, everything in my life has a reason!
Comments
-sauron (antimediocrity.blogspot)