Social and Personal Influences
Table of Contents
Question 1 Fear campaigns and their impact on consumer behavior 3
Conclusion 5
Question 2 Impact of Personal Influence on Consumer Buyer Behaviour 6
References 10
Question 1 Fear campaigns and their impact on consumer behavior
Introduction
Fear-based marketing works due to the underlying fear in consumers. They feel that if they didn’t buy the product, they are actually missing out on something from their lives (Nabi and Myrick, 2019). Fear-based marketing makes people think that if they act as per the deadline, they will lose the offers.
Main Body
The advertisement selected as the basis of this assignment is that of L’Oreal.
Figure 1: Fear-based tagline of L’Oreal
(Source: L’Oreal Paris USA, 2019)
The tagline of L’Oreal is ‘Because you are worth it.’ This is a type of fear-based advertising because it aims at the insecurities of the target customers and makes them feel that they need to purchase the products in order to look good. Fear-based marketing actually works as the consumers are made to feel that they are genuinely missing out on something (Finley and Esposito, 2019). This is a major impact on the behavior of the consumer as they tend to feel anxious and make decisions in a rush so as not to miss out on the products (Kaftandjiev and Shustova, 2018).
Brands also tend to use other tactics such as expiration dates for making the consumer response in a certain way (Munthree, 2019). The selected brand uses models with clear skin and high-end beauty to market their products. Consumers get mesmerized by the same and feel the need to have the same beauty. They also start feeling that if they are not beautiful, then there is no chance that they could achieve something in their lives. All of these thoughts make them think that the products of L’Oreal are the only way for them to succeed in life, and they should buy them as soon as possible.
This is how L’Oreal aims to bring major changes in potential consumers and turn them into their frequent and regular buyers. In addition to this, it has been found that the more fear is spread, the higher are the chances of the consumers giving into it. The selected organization has not restricted its marketing to a single-channel rather has an active presence on traditional as well as a digital medium.
The major aim of the advertisements of L’Oreal is portraying a stunning model with their product and persuading the buyer with fear in order to make sales. The model says that the secret of her shining strong hair or glowing skin is the product range from L’Oreal and if the audience (i.e., the person who is watching the advertisement and is engaging with it). This ignites a thought in the minds of the consumers and attracts them to the products portrayed.
It happens a lot of times that even when the consumer doesn’t make a buying decision at the moment if the advertisement is watched repeatedly or the product is catching the glance frequently, it is likely to impact the purchasing decision of the consumer (Neumann, 2020). In the future, if the consumer ever encounters the problem of aging signs or hair damage, etc. a thought will immediately go through their mind regarding L’Oreal and that if they didn’t use their product range, their problem wouldn’t be solved.
The message delivered by the fear-based marketing is not that of do or die, rather it is of ‘not’ missing out on the incredible experience which is being delivered by using the particular product or service (Terblanche-Smit, van Huyssteen, and du Preez, 2016). The fear-based ad campaign is carefully articulated in order to convey to the consumer regarding what is going to happen if they didn’t use the specified product.
From the viewpoint of customers, it has been found that fear-based marketing gives a sense of exclusivity to the users of the product (Hodkinson, 2019). For example, the customers feel that as now they are using limited edition shampoo of L’Oreal, the care provided to their hair is exclusive, special, and better as compared to the generic products which are available in the market. However, this could be just termed as a marketing move for sales and profit generation and nothing else.
Recommendations
By analyzing the contents of the main body, the following recommendations are given to the selected organization so as to improve their current strategy:
Using the loss of aversion for creating a subtle fear: this means that the marketing campaign should not go too far in creating fear. For example, showing ‘loss of hair’ is acceptable, but displaying ‘getting bald’ could be termed as going too far.
Writing fear inflicting taglines: they could be termed as a gold mine in the marketing industry. This is so because people always like to know where they are going wrong and how they could improve. For instance, in reference to the selected organization, ‘what to do for excessive hair fall’ would perform better as compared to ‘improving the quality of the hair,’ etc.
Conclusion
From the present content, it could be concluded that fear-based marketing actually impacts the behavior of the individual, as it influences their perception about self and the subsequent buying decision. The recommendations given to L’Oreal for improving the marketing campaign are using the loss of aversion for creating a subtle fear and Writing fear inflicting taglines, etc.
Question 2 Impact of Personal Influence on Consumer Buyer Behaviour
Introduction
The personal influence could be defined as the power of an entity to influence the buying decisions of the consumers. This could be either external or internal, depending upon the marketing campaign designed (Ajitha and Sivakumar, 2017). This can contribute to the buying decisions as the messages or experiences shared by the channels of personal influence can lead to adoption or making a switch from a particular product or even a brand (Shao, Grace, and Ross, 2019)
Body of the report
The advertisement was selected for supporting the discussion of this report of Johnson & Johnson. The analysis of Johnson’s baby products and marketing would be considered for the same.
Figure 2: Advertisement of Johnson’s Baby depicting their Mission
(Source: Johnson’s Baby, 2020)
The campaigns of Johnson’s baby are centered on motherhood and adequate care for the babies. They aim to deliver the message that the correct way of taking care of a child is by using the products of the selected product line, as they are made with care and love. This aim is being practiced too heavily that care and love are being seen as the ingredients of Johnson’s baby products in the global market.
The factor behind this kind of marketing is that the most common and important elements of motherhood are love and care. By touching these points and conveying that the products are an essential part of good motherhood, the selected organization has been able to generate a lot of sales and profit worldwide.
In the selected advertisement too, Johnson’s baby is trying to convey that its ingredients are gentleness with a carefully chosen picture of a mother-child duo. It has also been identified that the advertisements always show young and middle-age mothers with newborn babies, which clearly conveys that the selected company is trying to focus on the above-mentioned age group and is using them as a prototype.
The process of selecting a personal influence and creating a campaign around it is also a matter of ethical standards and moral obligations (Wang and Chou, 2020). Any entity is not a liability to choose an influence that is demeaning to some other entity and is only focused on the point of view. Even though it is unethical, it has been seen flourishing in a pretty common way in the marketing environment (Jain, 2019). This is so because certain skin color, behavior, height, emotion, etc. have been fostered as ‘correct and right’ in the mind of the audience, and they feel a need to adhere to the same.
In reference to the current context, most of the advertisements of Johnson’s baby UK display white women with her white child, which is shallow and unacceptable from the perspective of colored women. From the viewpoint of white women, that is engaging and attractive as they believe that all the white women should take care of their babies by using the products of Johnson’s baby.
The personal influence could also be terms in of the gender identities (Juaneda-Ayensa, Mosquera, and Sierra Murillo, 2016). This means that some brands only target females for their products, whereas others target males. There has been a time when a brand has tried to capture both of the gender identities with the motive of expanding their customer base (Shin, et al., 2018). This move was recently practiced by Johnson’s baby. They released an advertisement where a father was bathing the child using Johnson’s baby products. This move helped the brand to shift its focus from just the females and form more of a neutral consumer base.
Figure 3: Father with a baby using Johnson’s baby products in the ad campaign
(Source: ETBrandEquity, 2018)
Lastly, the element of personal influence could also be a lifestyle. This means that products are targeted to the customers who belong to a particular segment of lifestyle trends. Lifestyle is an extensive category and further includes elements such as family income, the generic mentality of the consumer, existing choices in the market, and their response on the same, etc. (Buerke, et al., 2017). The selected entity tends to market its product line to the parents of the middle class who like to treat their baby with care and love.
All of these factors highly impact the buying behavior of the consumer as if they are touched by even a single variable; there are chances of sales generation (Joshi, and Rahman, 2019). It is tough not to buy a product when there are emotions and feelings attached to it, and Johnson’s baby knows how to do that.
Recommendation
By analyzing the contents of the report, the following recommendation could be given to the selected organization for improving their campaign:
Incorporating all the differences: it has been highlighted that Johnson’s baby uses white parents in their campaign and overlooks the interests of colored parents or those who come from a different background. By incorporating the interests of different identities, the selected organization can generate more sales as they will be able to appeal to all the parents out there and not white.
Conclusion
From the present report, it can be concluded that personal influence marketing directly impacts the consumer buyer decision by adding an element of sentiment or feelings. It has been recommended that Johnson’s baby should incorporate all the differences in its marketing strategy so as to appeal to a larger audience and curb the gaps existing in the society.
References
Ajitha, S. and Sivakumar, V.J., 2017. Understanding the effect of personal and social value on attitude and usage behavior of luxury cosmetic brands. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, pp.103-113.
Buerke, A., Straatmann, T., Lin-Hi, N. and Müller, K., 2017. Consumer awareness and sustainability-focused value orientation as motivating factors of responsible consumer behavior. Review of Managerial Science, 11(4), pp.959-991.
ETBrandEquity, 2018. Johnson’s Baby is targeting millennial parents with its ‘Choose Gentle’ ad campaign. [Online] Accessed through <https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/johnsons-baby-is-targeting-millennial-parents-with-its-choose-gentle-ad-campaign/65931267> [Accessed on 11th November, 2020]
Finley, L. and Esposito, L., 2019. Campaign of fear and consumption: problematizing gender-based marketing of weapons. Contemporary Justice Review, 22(2), pp.157-170.
Hodkinson, C., 2019. ‘Fear of Missing Out’(FOMO) marketing appeals: A conceptual model. Journal of Marketing Communications, 25(1), pp.65-88.
Jain, S., 2019. Factors affecting sustainable luxury purchase behavior: A conceptual framework. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 31(2), pp.130-146.
Johnson’s Baby, 2020. Our Mission. [Online] Accessed through <https://www.johnsonsbaby.co.uk/> [Accessed on 11th November, 2020]
Joshi, Y. and Rahman, Z., 2019. Consumers’ sustainable purchase behaviour: modeling the impact of psychological factors. Ecological economics, 159, pp.235-243.
Juaneda-Ayensa, E., Mosquera, A. and Sierra Murillo, Y., 2016. Omnichannel customer behavior: key drivers of technology acceptance and use and their effects on purchase intention. Frontiers in psychology, 7, p.1117.
Kaftandjiev, C. and Shustova, E., 2018. Fear appeals in marketing communications of banks and insurance companies in the continuum of dramatic-tragic situations: The Semiotic Perspective. International Review, (1-2), pp.83-110.
L’Oreal Paris USA, 2019. L’Oréal Paris Partners With Vogue To Introduce The 2019 Hair Color of the Year. [Online] Accessed through <https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Floreal-paris-partners-with-vogue-to-introduce-the-2019-hair-color-of-the-year-300789001.html&psig=AOvVaw3A1ChxHz19CCpl48kiQMhH&ust=1604984078221000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCMiHl-LV9OwCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ> [Accessed on 11th November, 2020]
Munthree, S., 2019. Love+ Fear: Mastering the Primal Motives of Buyers. Archway Publishing.
Nabi, R.L. and Myrick, J.G., 2019. Uplifting fear appeals: Considering the role of hope in fear-based persuasive messages. Health communication, 34(4), pp.463-474.
Neumann, D., 2020. Fear of Missing Out: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Relevance to Marketing (Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University).
Shao, W., Grace, D. and Ross, M., 2019. Consumer motivation and luxury consumption: Testing moderating effects. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 46, pp.33-44.
Shin, Y.H., Im, J., Jung, S.E. and Severt, K., 2018. The theory of planned behavior and the norm activation model approach to consumer behavior regarding organic menus. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 69, pp.21-29.
Terblanche-Smit, M., van Huyssteen, L. and du Preez, R., 2016. Advertising Execution Styles Matter-A Fear-Based Experiment on Attitude, Susceptibility, Efficacy and Behaviour. In Looking Forward, Looking Back: Drawing on the Past to Shape the Future of Marketing (pp. 116-126). Springer, Cham.
Wang, E.S.T. and Chou, C.F., 2020. Norms, consumer social responsibility and fair trade product purchase intention. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.