1. Marketing 260 Buyer Behaviour
Perception

2. Write down the first thought that pops into
your head when you see this image …the FIRST THOUGHT
Write down …the FIRST THOUGHT

3. PERCEPTION IS REALITY
How we perceive things is a function of our own personal realities…our history, our culture, our experiences, how we think and feel, our senses or lack thereof.
What we believe to be real is dependent upon our perception of what we know or experience…each person can have a different sense of reality as we are all individuals with a different set of experiences.
Marketing tries to stimulate and awaken perceptions…to change realities, strengthen perceptions, or invoke realities.

4. Perception in Marketing
Dependent upon Human Sensory System
Sensation – “immediate response of our sensory receptors” (ears, eyes, nose, mouth, fingers…”)
Perception – “the process by which sensations are selected, organized and interpreted”. Thus, we are looking at how humans choose which sensations to notice and then add meaning to them.

5. Sensory Systems - Vision
Size
Styling
Brightness
Distinctiveness
Colours

6. Sensory Systems - Smell
Odours and Fragances
Stir emotions or calming
**most primitive part of the brain (limbic system) = ??????????
Cultural significance of smells? (e.g. Gillette)

7. Sensory Systems-Sounds
Music invokes mood
Rock & Roll (anxiety!)
Spas (ocean, water, nature)
Stores, elevators, on hold music, produce aisle

8. Sensory Systems-Touch
Stimulate or Relax moods
Can impact Sales results (e.g. diners touched by waiters…bigger tips)
Adds personalization…can also offend (how, who, when all are important)
Kansei Engineering
“horse and rider as one” (e.g. Mazda and the young)
Textures, sizes heights, lengths, and quality perceptions

9. Sensory Systems-Taste
People form strong preferences for certain tastes
(electronic tongue)
Awful = powerful
Good = pleasing

10. Exposure “degree that people notice stimuli” Sensory Threshold
Why do they observe or ignore
Ignore what is not of interest
Sensory Threshold
Absolute (minimum)
Differential (JND – distinguishing stimuli)
Subliminal
Below threshold of recognition (unconscious)
Theatres and popcorn

11. Attention
Extent processing of activity is devoted to a particular stimulus
Focus, isolation, sensory deprivation
Attention Economy
Selectivity = people attend to only a small portion of stimuli
Adaptation
Degree to notice stimuli over time (e.g. blood and gore/shock value)
INTENSITY< DURATION < EXPOSURE (frequency) <RELEVANCE

12. Interpretation “meanings assigned to stimuli” Schema (set of beliefs)
Priming (properties of stimulus) e.g. pup vs. master snow blower
Content sensitive (your own reality)

13. Organizational Memory = Gestalt Psychology (p. 53)
“a belief that meaning comes from the totality of a set of stimuli, rather than any individual stimulus”
“principal of closure” (incomplete perceived as complete)
“principle of similarity”
“figure-ground principle” (follow the eye (image focus first))

14. Interpretation Biases
Semiotics
Signs, symbols and their roles in meaning
Perceptual Positioning
Function (price) vs. Symbolic (what it says about us through our use of it)
Positioning Strategy
Your marketing Mix approach (price, attributes, product class, occasions, users, quality)

15. THANK YOU!