NOTES AND ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.

This chapter argues that influencing overt consumer behavior is more critical for marketers than
influencing only affect and cognition. Do you agree? Why or why not?
This question is designed to get students to think carefully about what marketing strategies are designed to
do. Surely, much of marketing is about creating knowledge, meanings, and beliefs about why products,
services, stores, and brands are superior to competitive offerings and influencing consumers feelings and
emotions relative to offerings. However, if consumers do not perform any overt behaviors relative to
marketed offerings, then no sales are made and company objectives for market share, sales and profits are
not obtained. While influencing consumer affect and cognition are important in the marketing process,
ultimately marketing strategies must influence over consumer behavior to be effective.
One way to bring this point home is to ask students to think about the car they like best and would like to
own. They can be asked to think about all of the attributes of the car, why it is the coolest car, what other
people would think about them if they owned one, and how they would feel about themselves if they had
one. Now point out that as long as those thoughts and feelings are only in their minds, there are no
consequences for marketers. Unless they actually do something relative to the car, actually perform some
overt behaviors, nothing happens. For example, if they tell others about the car and why they like it, fill out
a questionnaire about their car preferences and intentions, visit a dealership and test drive one, or actually
buy one, then behaviors are being performed that could have consequences for marketers. What goes on in
the private world of a consumers mind doesnt matter to anyone else unless it influences overt behavior.

2.

Offer one example of each of the seven types of sales promotions listed in the chapter. How many of these
have influenced your consumer behavior? Which ones do you prefer?
Students can be asked to write down an example of each of these prior to class or bring in an old ad
featuring them. A good source for these is Sunday supplements in many newspapers that have many
examples of sales promotions for various products and services. The discussion can proceed by first
identifying examples of each type and deciding which ones the class thinks are most effective. Then,
students can be asked individually which ones they prefer and have used. They can be asked why they used
them and whether the sales promotion led to a brand switch or just gave them a better deal on a brand they
usually purchased anyway. For any new products featured, they can be asked whether the sales promotion
led to trial and whether they would have tried the product without it. Also, they can be asked whether a
product they tried because of a sales promotion led to repeat purchases.

3.

Offer one example of a situation when a sales promotion could affect your purchase probability, purchase
quantity, purchase timing, or purchase location.
This question is designed to get students to think about how sales promotions influence consumer behavior.
Purchase probability could be easily influenced by sampling a product in a grocery store, a price deal at the
point of purchase, or a coupon or rebate offer. Purchase quantity could be influenced by these, but
particularly by bonus packs and price deals or coupons for purchasing larger sizes or quantities. Purchase
timing could be influenced by all of these, but sweepstakes and contests might encourage purchase before
they are over, premiums are usually offered for a limited time, and most coupons are dated. All of these can
influence purchase locations when they are offered by particular stores or other nonstore retail sources.

4.

What factors do you think influence whether consumers respond to a social marketing campaign to donate
blood to the Red Cross?
This discussion can begin by asking whether anyone in the class had donated blood and the reasons why
they did so. Likely, they did so because they felt good about helping others, an organization they belong to
donated to a blood drive, a friend asked them to, a relative needed blood for an operation, or they wanted to
help out during a crisis such as a hurricane or flood. If no one has done so, then the class can be asked why
not. Likely, most will have not done so because they saw no need to donate, they hadnt thought about it or
thought it was an important thing to do, or just didnt want to take the time or effort to go do it. A key issue
is that the payoff to do such things offers little in the way of tangible rewards in most cases. This is a key
problem for many social marketers.

5.

What factors do you think influence whether consumers respond to a social marketing campaign to reduce
drunken driving or other unsafe driving?

Discussion of this question can focus first on the stiffer penalties and fines that result from being caught
driving drunk or impaired and whether this type of punishment is effective. Also, the class can be asked
whether they think groups such as SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) or MADD (Mothers Against
Drunk Driving) have heightened awareness of this problem and have helped reduce it. Do they think
designated driver programs are effective at reducing this problem?
The discussion can also focus on the process by which people who have driven while intoxicated decide not
to do so again. What factors lead to changes in the persons behavior? If they were in an accident, had a
friend hurt or killed by a drunk driver, or were arrested for drunk driving, then the probability of the
behavior should decrease. Also, as society becomes less tolerant of drunken driving, individuals may be
less likely to think that such behavior is acceptable.
6.

List everything you know (cognition), feel (affect), and do (behavior) concerning Crest toothpaste. How
could marketers identify your level of each of these?
Students will likely have some information about this product and users of Crest will know, feel, and do
more relative to it. The key discussion should be on how marketers can get this information. Some
consumers call the company with compliments or complaints about products. However, consumer research
is needed to find out what the majority of the market think and feel. Sales data gives some indication of
behavior but other behaviors may have to be observed or reported on by consumers. The class should be
asked to develop a questionnaire or design a research project to get information about each of these. Since
understanding consumer/product relationships is an important first step for effective marketing strategies,
students should be aware of the need for research on these topics.

7.

In reviewing Exhibit 10.5, which methods do you think are best for measuring the effects of a marketing
strategy?
This exhibit presents a variety of methods for measuring overt consumer behaviors. Students should be
familiar with most of them, including Nielsen data on TV viewing and Starch reports on magazine
readership. Scanner-cable data are discussed in the chapter and students should recognize these as valuable
information for examining a variety of consumer behaviors. Garbology is not discussed in the chapter but
deals with examining consumers garbage to see what products theyve used and how much was wasted.
Discarded packaging is used to infer what products they purchased and used.
An interesting discussion can be developed on the value of hits as a measure of the effectiveness of web
pages. While more hits would seem desirable and gives some information about consumer behavior
relative to products featured, it does not indicate the number or size of actual purchases from the company.
Thus, it could be a misleading measure of the effectiveness of a marketing strategy.

8.

Why is it so difficult to determine the reasons for a strategic failure to influence consumers?
As discussed in the text, there are many reasons why a strategy could fail. The objectives of the strategy
could be set too high; the strategy could be faulty; the strategy could be good but implemented poorly; the
measurement of the strategys effects could be faulty; changes in competitors or consumers during
implementation could ruin an otherwise excellent strategy; some combination of these occurs.

9.

If a consumer behavior influence strategy met its objectives, can the marketer conclude that everything was
done as effectively as possible? Why or why not?
As discussed in the text, even when strategies meet their objectives, there could still be problems in the
process. Objectives could have been set too low; measurement could have overstated the response;
competition could have made a strategic error that helped the company. Also, a better strategy could have
been available but was not used. Thus, the process of developing consumer behavior influence strategies
needs to be frequently evaluated and of course, strategy development and implementation is an ongoing
process.