MKT201 - Week 3

Perception (Ch. 2)

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 Chapter Overview
1. Introduction
– Sensation & Perception & Perceptual Process
2. Sensory Systems
– Vision, Smell, Hearing, Touch, Taste
3. Perceptual Process
• Exposure – Sensory Thresholds, Weber’s Law, Subliminal
Perception
• Attention – Perceptual Selection, Schema-based Perception,
Stimulus Organization
• Interpretation - Semiotics

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 Sensation and Perception
• Sensation:
– The immediate response of our sensory receptors (eyes,
ears, nose, mouth, fingers) to basic stimuli such as light,
color, sound, odors, and textures
• Perception:
– The process by which sensations are selected, organized,
and interpreted
• The Study of Perception:
– Focuses on what we add to raw sensations to give them
meaning

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 Figure 2-1:
An Overview of the Perceptual Process

Consumer’s act/behaviour is influenced by his/her

perception about the situation.
3 stages of the process of perception:
(1) Exposure + (2) Attention + (3) Interpretation
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Sensory Systems

Vision • Visual Elements in Advertising,

Store Design and Packaging.
(red – arousing, blue - relaxing)
Smell • Odors Can Stir Emotions or Create
Feelings Such as Happiness/ Hunger.
(pheromone, cologne, fragranced clothes)

Sound • Research Has Analyzed Effects of :

Background Music & Speaking Rates
(relax or stimulate consumers)

Touch • Shown to Be a Factor in Sales

Interactions. (cultural concern)
•Product Texture

Taste • Ethnicity Affects Taste Preferences.

(flavor, hot & spicy, …)

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 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 begin the perceptual
process.
• Hedonic Consumption:
– The multisensory, fantasy, and emotional aspects
of consumers’ interactions with products
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Advertisements Appeal to Our Sensory Systems

• This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the contribution

made by all of our senses to the evaluation of a driving
experience. 7
 Sensory Systems - Vision
• Marketers rely heavily on visual
elements in advertising, store design,
and packaging.
• Meanings are communicated on the
visual channel through a product’s
color, size, and styling.
• Colors may influence our emotions
more directly.
– Arousal and stimulated appetite (e.g. red)
– Relaxation (e.g. blue)
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 This ad targets which senses?

• This Finnish ad
emphasizes the
sensual reasons to
visit the city of
Helsinki.

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 Sensory Perceptions - Vision
• Some reactions to color come from
learned associations.
– (e.g. Black is associated with mourning in the
United States, whereas white is associated with
mourning in Japan.)
• Some reactions to color are due to
biological and cultural differences.
– (e.g. Women tend to be drawn to brighter tones and
are more sensitive to subtle/fine shadings and
patterns)

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Perceptions of Color

This ad campaign by
the San Francisco
Ballet uses color
perceptions to get urban
sophisticates to add
classical dance to their
packed entertainment
itineraries.

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 Sensory Perceptions - Vision
• Color plays a dominant role in Web page
design.
• Saturated colors (green, yellow, orange, and
cyan) are considered the best to capture
attention.
– Don’t overdo it. Extensive use of saturated colors can
overwhelm people and cause visual fatigue.
• Trade Dress:
– Colors that are strongly associated with a corporation, for
which the company may have exclusive rights for their use.
• (e.g. Kodak’s use of yellow, black, and red)

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 Perceptions of Color
• As this Dutch
detergent ad
demonstrates
(Flowery orange
fades without Dreft),
vivid colors are often
an attractive product
feature.

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 Discussion
What do you think about the visual
elements (color, size, styling, etc.) of
the following logos:

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 Discussion Question
• First Heinz gave us
“Blastin’ Green” ketchup
in a squeeze bottle. Now
they have introduced
“Funky Purple” ketchup.
• What sensory perception
is Heinz trying to appeal
to? Do you think this
product will be
successful? Why or why
not?

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 Sensory Perceptions - Smell
• Odors can stir emotions or create a calming
feeling.
• Some responses to scents result from early
associations that call up good or bad
feelings.
• Marketers are finding ways to use smell:
– Scented clothes
– Scented stores
– Scented cars and planes
– Scented household products
– Scented advertisements
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Smell in Advertising
• This ad pokes fun at
the proliferation of
scented ads. Ah, the
scent of sweat.

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 Sensory Perceptions - Sound
• Advertising jingles create brand awareness.
• Background music creates desired moods.
• Sound affects people’s feelings and
behaviors.
• Muzak uses a system it calls “stimulus
progression” to increase the normally slower
tempo of workers during midmorning and
midafternoon time slots.
• Sound engineering:
– Top-end automakers are using focus groups of consumers
to help designers choose appropriate sounds to elicit the
proper response.
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Stimulus Progression

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 Sensory Perceptions - Touch
• Relatively little research has been done on
the effects of tactile stimulation on the
consumer, but common observation tells
us that this sensory channel is important.
• People associate textures of fabrics and
other surfaces with product quality.
• Perceived richness or quality of the
material in clothing is linked to its “feel,”
whether rough or smooth.
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This Caress Ad Uses
Tactile Stimulation
as a Selling Point

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 Applications of Touch Perceptions
• Kansai engineering:
A philosophy that
translates customers’
feelings into design
elements.
• Mazda Miata designers
discovered that making
the stick shift (shown on
the right) exactly 9.5 cm
long conveys the
optimal feeling of
sportiness and control.

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 Tactile Quality Associations
Tactile Oppositions in Fabrics

Perception Male Female

High class Wool Silk Fine

Low class Denim Cotton

Heavy Light Coarse

Table 2.1 23
 Sensory Perceptions - Taste

• Taste receptors contribute to our

experience of many products.
• Specialized companies called “flavor
houses” are constantly developing new
concoctions to please the changing
palates of consumers.
• Changes in culture also determine the
tastes we find desirable.

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 Exposure
• Exposure:
– Occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of
someone’s sensory receptors
• Consumers concentrate on some
stimuli, are unaware of others, and
even go out of their way to ignore some
messages.

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 Sensory Thresholds
• Psychophysics:
– The science that focuses on how the physical environment
is integrated into our personal subjective world.

• Absolute Threshold:
– The minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected
on a given sensory channel. (billboard size – ? big enough)

• Differential Threshold:
– The ability of a sensory system to detect changes or
differences between two stimuli. The minimum difference
that can be detected between two stimuli is known as the
j.n.d. (just noticeable difference).

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 Weber’s Law
• The amount of change that is necessary to be
noticed is systematically related to the intensity of
the original stimulus
• The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a
change must be for it to be noticed.
• Mathematically:
i
K
I
– K = A constant (varies across senses)
– Δi = The minimal change in the intensity required to produce j.n.d.
– I = the intensity of the stimulus where the change occurs

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 Subliminal Perception
• Subliminal perception:
– Occurs when the stimulus is below the level of the
consumer’s awareness.
• Subliminal techniques:
– Embeds: Tiny figures that are inserted into
magazine: advertising by using high-speed
photography or airbrushing.

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 Subliminal Perception
(usu. sexual nature) Subliminal Perception
Embeds Occurs When The Stimulus Is
Tiny Figures in Print
Below The Level Of The
Advertising
Consumer’s Awareness.
(self-help tapes - stop smoking, lose weight, … )

Auditory Messages
Messages on Sound Subliminal Techniques
Recordings

Low-Level Auditory
Stimulation
Threshold Messaging
(barely listened – e.g. I won’t steal, … )
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 Subliminal Messages in Ads
• Critics of subliminal
persuasion often focus
on ambiguous shapes
in drinks that
supposedly spell out
words like S E X as
evidence for the use of
this technique. This
Pepsi ad, while hardly
subliminal, gently
borrows this message
format.

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 Subliminal Perception

• Does subliminal perception work?

– There is little evidence that subliminal stimuli can
bring about desired behavioral changes.
– poleshift.org
http://www.poleshift.org/sublim/pov/Direction_of_Gaze.html

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 Attention
• Attention:
– The extent to which processing activity is devoted
to a particular stimulus.
• Attention economy:
– The Internet has transformed the focus of
marketers from attracting dollars to attracting
eyeballs.
• Perceptual selection:
– People attend to only a small portion of the stimuli
to which they are exposed.

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 Attention and Advertising

• Nike tries to cut through the clutter by spotlighting

maimed athletes instead of handsome models.
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 Perceptual Selection
Perceptual Selection Means that People Pay Attention to Only
a Small Portion of Stimuli to Which They Are Exposed.

How do Consumers Choose What to Pay Attention To?

(a) Personal Selection Factors
Experience
Result of Acquiring Information Over Time
Perceptual Filters
Past Experiences Influences What We Decide to Process

Perceptual Perceptual
Adaptation
Vigilance Defense

(related things) (don’t want to see) (don’t pay attention)

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How do Consumers Choose What to Pay Attention To?

(b) Stimulus Selection Factors

Create Contrast so That Stimuli is
More Likely to Be Noticed.
Size Remember Weber’s Law.

Color
e.g. front page,
Position right-hand side

Novelty
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 Personal Selection Factors
• Experience:
– The result of acquiring and processing stimulation over
time
• Perceptual vigilance:
– Consumers are aware of stimuli that relate to their current
needs
• Perceptual defense:
– People see what they want to see - and don’t see what they
don’t want to see
• Adaptation:
– The degree to which consumers continue to notice a
stimulus over time
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 Factors that Lead to Adaptation
• Intensity: Less-intense stimuli habituate because they have
less sensory impact.
• Duration: Stimuli that require relatively lengthy exposure in
order to be processed tend to habituate because they require a
long attention span.
• Discrimination: Simple stimuli tend to habituate because
they do not require attention to detail.
• Exposure: Frequently encountered stimuli tend to habituate
as the rate of exposure increases.
• Relevance: Stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant will
habituate because they fail to attract attention.

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 Stimulus Selection Factors
• Size:
– The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the competition
helps to determine if it will command attention.
• Color:
– Color is a powerful way to draw attention to a product.
• Position:
– Stimuli that are present in places we’re more likely to look
stand a better chance of being noticed.
• Novelty:
– Stimuli that appear in unexpected ways or places tend to
grab our attention.

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Discussion Question
• What technique does
this Australian ad rely
on to get your
attention?
• Does the technique
enhance or detract
from the
advertisement of the
actual product?

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 Interpretation
• Interpretation:
– The meaning that we assign sensory stimuli.
• Schema:
– Set of beliefs to which the stimulus is assigned.
• Priming:
– Process by which certain properties of a stimulus
typically will evoke a schema, which leads
consumers to evaluate the stimulus in terms of
other stimulus they have encountered and believe
to be similar.

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 Schema-Based Perception

• Advertisers know that consumers will often relate

an ad to preexisting schema in order to make sense
of it. 41
The Priming Process

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 Stimulus Organization
• A stimulus will be interpreted based on
its assumed relationship with other
events, sensations, or images.

• Closure Principle:
• Principle of Similarity:
• Figure-ground Principle:

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 Stimulus Organization
The Gestalt Perspective (Summarized as “The Whole is
Greater Than the Sum of It’s Parts”) Provides Several
Principles Relating to the Way Stimuli Are Organized:

1. Closure Principle 2. Principle of Similarity

People Tend to Perceive Consumers Tend to Group
an Incomplete Picture as Objects That Share Similar
Whole Physical
Characteristics

3. Figure-Ground Principle
One Part of the Stimulus Will
Dominate (the Figure) While
Other Parts Recede Into
the Background
(the Ground)

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 Gestalt Principle

• This Swedish ad relies upon gestalt perceptual

principles to insure that the perceiver organizes a
lot of separate images into a familiar image. 45
 Principle of Closure

• This Land Rover ad illustrates the use of the principle of

closure, in which people participate in the ad by
mentally filling in the gaps in the sentence. 46
 Use of the Principle of Similarity

Green Giant:
http://www.greengiant.com/

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 Figure-ground Principle

• This billboard for Wrangler jeans makes creative use of

the figure-ground principle.
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 Semiotics: The Symbols Around Us
• Semiotics: Field of study that examines the
correspondence between signs and symbols
and their role in the assignment of meaning.
• A message has 3 components:
– 1) Object: the product that focuses the message
– 2) Sign: the sensory imagery that represents the
intended meanings of the object
– 3) Interpretant: the meaning derived

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 Interpretation
• The Eye of the Beholder
(viewer): Interpretational Biases

– Consumers tend to project their own

desires or assumptions (or biases) onto
products and advertisements.
• E.g. Benetton – a black man and a white
man hand-cuffed together (racial
tolerance VS racism)

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Semiotic Components

Figure 2.2 51
 Semiotics (cont.)
• Signs are related to objects in one of
three ways:
– 1) Icon: a sign that resembles the product in some
way
– 2) Index: a sign that is connected to some object
because they share some property
– 3) Symbol: a sign that is related to a product
through conventional or agreed-upon associations
• Hyperreality: The becoming real of what is
initially simulation or “hype”
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Office Space and “The Red Stapler”

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 Perceptual Positioning
• Positioning Strategy
– A fundamental part of a company’s marketing
efforts as it uses elements of the marketing mix to
influence the consumer’s interpretation of its
meaning.
– Many dimensions can establish a brand’s position
in the marketplace:
• Lifestyle • Competitors
• Price Leadership • Occasions
• Attributes • Users
• Product Class • Quality
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 Perceptual Map
• Figure 2.3: HMV
Perceptual Map

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