Motivation, Mood, and Involvement

Consumer Motivation
Motivation is an inner drive that reflects goal-directed arousal. In a consumer behavior context, the results is a desire for a product, service, or experience.
It is the drive to satisfy needs and wants, both physiological and psychological, through the purchase and use of products and services
Five stages of the motivation process:
Latent need
Drive
Want or desire
Goal
Behavior

Behavioral Models of Motivation
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Motivation as a means of satisfying human needs
Five types of needs:

Marketing implications

ILLUSTRATIONS
Campbell Soup – meeting physiological needs

Campbell’s Soup – safety, security
Establish a routine, normalcy in daily life – know what to plan on Tuesdays
Campbell’s Soup:  Love and belonging
Show them you care . . .
 

Campbell’s Soup – esteem or status – feel competent, confident
 

Campbell’s Soup:  Self-actualization
 Take care of yourself!
 

Consumer Motivation and Marketplace Behavior
Influence on consumer decision making
Influence on consumer conflict resolution

Influence on consumption patterns
 

Motivational Conflicts
Are you trying to avoid (negative) or achieve (positive) an outcome?
What would be an outcome for a consumer to avoid?
(too many calories, fat content, high price, unclean clothes)
What is an outcome for a consumer to pursue? (good taste)
 

In Reality, Many Outcomes are in Conflict

Does the Atkins’ diet help with conflict resolution? Does the low carb craze allow consumers to eat more of some products while losing weight??

Do Marketers Create Brand Needs?
Lexus and Rolex
 

Motivational Research
Depth interviews:  complex interview regarding product motivations
Projective techniques -  complete the story, fill in words on cartoon
“People who use Brand X are _______ but people who use Brand Y are ________

Subjectivity versus depth of information
eg Do people eat ice-cream to feel like a child again? helps to reveal deep-seated needs
 

Do Marketers Create Attributes that aren’t needed?

How about post-it notes?
Post-it notes were developed from an adhesive that didn’t stick permanently
Developed to mark Art Fry’s place in his choir hymnal
Was the need created?

Triggering Consumer Motives
Inducing need recognition
Move consumer from actual state to desired state
Triggering motivation through need-benefit segmentation
Understand consumer better and offer him or her goods and services to meet the needs of specific target segments
Triggering subconscious motivation
 

Emotions
Emotions are affective responses that reflect the activation within the consumer of beliefs that are deep-seated and value-laden
Beliefs ? emotions

Many emotions are used in advertising:
Anger, fear, humor, compassion
Can you think of any others?
Limitations in use
 

Emotions (continued)
Experiencing emotions
People purchase products and services to experience certain emotional states or to achieve emotional goals (emotional arousal)
Emotions and consumer satisfaction
Emotions and communication
 

Mood
It is an affective state that is general and pervasive
Moods are much less intense than emotions
Consumers are much less conscious of moods and the effect moods have on marketplace behavior
Consumer moods are induced in three different marketplace settings:
Service encounters
POS stimuli
Communications
 

How can a brand create a mood?
Revlon

How can a store atmosphere create a mood?
Sports store?
Athletic store?
 

Effects of Moods
On consumer recall
Mood at encoding and retrieval
On consumer evaluation
Negative mood ? negative evaluation (and vice versa)
On consumer behavior
Positive mood increases giving, encourages consumers to seek variety and their willingness to try new things
 

Inducing Positive Moods
In service encounters
Transaction mechanics
Service personnel
Physical setting
In marketing communications
Media placement
Message aspects
 

Involvement
It refers to a heightened state of awareness that motivates consumers to seek out, attend to, and think about product information prior to purchase
With high involvement, attention is increased and more importance is attached to the stimulus object. Memory is enhanced.
Highly involved consumers tend to place greater importance on information sources. They are heavy users of newspapers and advertising.
 

Effects of Consumer Involvement

Causes of Consumer Involvement
Personal factors
Product’s image and needs it serves are congruent with a consumer’s self-mage, values and needs ? high involvement
Product factors
The greater the perceived risk the greater consumer involvement
The more alternatives there are to choose from, the greater the involvement
The higher the hedonic value of goods, the greater the involvement
The more socially visible a product is, the greater the involvement