1. EXPOSURE, PERCEPTION, AND ATTENTION

2. Exposure Coming into contact with a stimulus
Some factors influencing exposure
Ad placement
Shelf placement of items
Selective exposure: Trying to limit exposure to sources that agree with one’s current beliefs
Consumer attempts to limit exposure to stimuli not of interest—e.g.,
“Do not call” lists
Ad blocking software
Skipping through ads
Zipping: Fast forward through pre-recorded ads
Zapping: Channel surfing during ads

3. Responding to Consumer Ad Avoidance
Control measures
On-line ad click-throughs—must find “X” to close the ad
Disabled fast forwarding feature on DVRs
Short ad must be watched to see content
Variation: “Can skip ad in __ seconds.”
Alternatives
Op-in
Advertising at places of boredom (e.g., on public transportation and airline baggage claim areas)
Choice from among different product types advertised

4. Characteristics of Attention
Limited—cannot give priority to all that is ongoing
Information overload
Selective
Some stimuli are given priority based on
Interest/relevance
Situation
Can be divided
Some potential for multi-tasking
Excessive distractions can cause problems (e.g., cell phones and driving)

5. Focal vs. non-focal Focal Non-focal Stimuli chosen for attention
May involve unconscious (preattentive) processing
May have impact on brand choice and affect

6. Pre-attentive Processing
Processing of massive amounts of environmental information done at the unconscious level
More critical and relevant stimuli will be identified for conscious attention
Danger
Personal relevance--e.g., recognizing one’s name in a conversation by others at a cocktail party and then being able to “go back” and register information coming immediately before

7. Enhancing Attention Personal relevance Pleasantness of stimuli Novelty
Attractive models
Music
Humor (subject to certain caveats)
May get the consumer to focus on the advertisement but not the product
Novelty
Unexpectedness/ surprise
Puzzles
Prominent stimuli (contrast)
Concrete stimuli
Minimum competing stimuli

8. Habituation
Details may be ignored as their presence is experienced more routinely
May need to vary and/or change
Packaging
Advertising

9. Perception
Process of determining qualities of a stimulus based on five senses:
Vision
Hearing
Taste
Smell
Touch

10. Perceiving Through Vision
Size and shape
Lettering
Image location on page
Color
Judgment of stimulus
Mood
Liking

11. Perceiving Through Hearing and Taste
Sounds associated with brands
Difficult to tune out
Taste
Evolutionary preferences
Individual variations
Often driven in large part by smell

12. Perceiving Through Smell
Strong emotional link
High sensory priority (highly diagnostic of danger)
Impact on people
Aroma therapy
Attention
Association
Liking
Trial
Purchasing

13. Sensory Thresholds Absolute thresholds Differential thresholds
“Just noticeable difference” (JND)
“Down-sizing” of products
Subliminal messages
Generally cannot pick up on more than one or two syllables (auditory)
Logos may influence affect

14. The Mythical Theater Experiments
Admitted to be a hoax
These messages are much longer than the 1-2 syllables the brain can pick up
Tachistoscope research: People giggle at “dirty” words exposed for a fraction of a second but not at neutral ones (those exposed to dirty words do not consciously know specifically what they saw)
An advertising executive claimed in 1957 to have “spliced” messages of “EAT POPCORN” or “DRINK COCA COLA” into film footage (24 frames per second in traditional movie films)
A frame with the message inserted every, say, 20th frame
Not consciously notable
Claimed that popcorn sales increased 57% and Coca Cola sales by 18% on days the respective message was used

15. “Priming” and unconscious influence
Who is likely to be happier in life, all other things being equal?
Bernard Allen Daniels
James Obidiah Young
Priming—planting concepts in consumer minds (e.g., brand anagrams containing either luxury or undistinguished car brands)
Visual associations
Credit card logo impact on cash donations to charity
Musical associations

16. Perception of Stimuli
Perceptual organization (making sense of disparate stimuli as a whole)
Figure and ground
Usually cannot see both image possibilities at the same time
Grouping

17. Comprehension Source identification
Determining what is perceived
May involve categorization
Objective comprehension: Is meaning taken away consistent with actual statement?
Subjective comprehension: Additional meaning and inferences
Miscomprehension
Cultural impact: High vs. low context cultures

18. Literal and Non-Literal Interpretations
Figures of speech
Slang
“Get out of here”
“Graveyard shift”
Metaphorical expressions
“In the ball park”
“Eat my words”
Sarcasm
“That’s just great!”
Hyperbole or exaggeration
“I could eat a horse”
“You’re the best mom in the World”
Simplified statements

19. High Context Cultures
Generally, in more homogenous cultures, there are more “unwritten” rules and expectations
In more heterogeneous cultures, expectations are not as readily shared
Interpretation of behavior
Symbolic meaning of items

20. Consumer Inferences From brand names and symbols
Numbers in brand names
From product features and packaging
From price
From retail setting

21. Consumer Social Inferences
The “Carla Game”—telling people that Carla drives a minivan causes people to make likely inferences—certain cues are considered more “diagnostic”
Based on experience and culture
An individual may incorrectly interpret based on his or her own beliefs and preferences
Can involve very complex reasoning based on cues (e.g., “My grandma is an Episcopalian.”)