C HAPTER

2
Perception

Chapter Objectives
When you finish reading this chapter you will:

1 Understand the difference between sensation and
perception.
2 Understand that perception is a three-stage process
that translates raw stimuli into meaning.
3 Understand that marketers can appeal to each of the
sensory systems in a variety of ways.
4 Understand how the concept of a sensory threshold
is important for marketing communication.
5 Understand that subliminal advertising is a
controversial—but largely ineffective—way to
persuade consumers.
6 Understand that a variety of factors can influence
what stimuli consumers will pay attention to.
7 Understand that we interpret the stimuli to which we
do pay attention according to learned patterns and
expectations.

Introduction
Whether it’s the taste of President’s Choice Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies, the sight of
a Tom Ford perfume ad, or the sound of the music group Maroon 5, we live in a world
overflowing with sensations. Wherever we turn, we are bombarded by a symphony of
colours, sounds, and odours. Some of the “notes” in this symphony, such as the loud bark-
ing of a dog, the shades of the evening sky, or the heady smell of a rose bush, occur natu-
rally. Others come from people: The person sitting next to you in class might sport tinted
blond hair, bright pink pants, and a vanilla-chocolate scent.
Marketers certainly contribute to this commotion. Consumers are never far from adver-
tisements, product packages, radio and TV commercials, or billboards that clamour for
their attention. Each of us copes with this bombardment by paying attention to some stim-
uli and tuning out others. And the messages to which we do choose to pay attention often
wind up differing from what the sponsors intended, as we each put our “spin” on things by
taking away meanings consistent with our own unique experiences, biases, and desires.
This chapter focuses on the process of perception, in which sensations are absorbed by the
consumer and used to interpret the surrounding world.
Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory receptors (those in our eyes, ears, CO 1
nose, mouth, and skin) to such basic stimuli as light, colour, and sound. Perception is the
process by which these sensations are selected, organized, and interpreted. The study of
perception focuses on what we add to or take away from these raw sensations as we choose
which to notice and then go about assigning meaning to them.
Most marketers would agree that, oftentimes, perception can be more influential than
sensation in determining consumer preferences. Coke and Pepsi, for example, are almost
identical in chemical composition, and blind taste tests consistently show that most con-
sumers don’t have the sensory ability to tell the difference between a cold glass of Coke
34 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

and a cold glass of Pepsi.1 Below a certain temperature, all we can detect is the cold,
the sugar, and the sensation of the bubbles on our tongues. Thus, based on sensation
alone, it is difficult to distinguish the two brands of cola. Anecdotally, however, most
of us have a very strong preference for one brand of cola over the other. This is where
perception comes into play.
One “neuromarketing” study,2 using brain-scanning (fMRI) technology, found
that when no brand name was presented prior to tasting cola beverages (i.e., consum-
ers relied only on sensation), the reward centres of the brain lit up and Coke and Pepsi
were equally preferred. But, when explicitly told the brand name before drinking,
more consumers preferred Coca-Cola, and an entirely different part of the brain lit
up—the medial prefrontal cortex. This is the area of the brain responsible for thinking
and judging. Culturally learned meanings about the brand influenced consumers’ ulti-
mate perceptions of Coca-Cola.
Thus, based on sensation alone, consumers might equally prefer Pepsi and Coke.
However, our ultimate preferences are also shaped by our perceptions—how we orga-
nize, interpret, and form associations about the brand.

CO 2 Sensory Systems
Like computers, people undergo stages of information processing in which stimuli are
input and stored. Unlike computers, however, consumers do not passively process
whatever information happens to be present. Only a very small number of the stimuli
in our environment are ever noticed. Of these, an even smaller number are attended to,
and even these might not be processed objectively. The meaning of the stimulus is
interpreted by the individual, who is influenced by his or her unique biases, needs,
and experiences. As shown in Figure 2–1, three stages—exposure, attention, and inter-
pretation—make up the process of perception. Before considering each of these stages,
let’s step back and consider the sensory systems that provide sensations to us in the
first place.
External stimuli, or sensory inputs, can be received on a number of channels. We
may see a billboard, hear a jingle, feel the softness of a cashmere sweater, taste a new
flavour of ice cream, or smell a leather jacket. The inputs picked up by our five senses
constitute the raw data that generate many types of responses. For example, sensory
data emanating from the external environment (hearing a song on iTunes) can gener-
ate internal sensory experiences when the song triggers a young man’s memory of his
first dance and brings to mind the smell of his date’s perfume or the feel of her hair on
his cheek.

FIGURE 2–1

An Overview of the Perceptual Process

SENSORY SENSORY
STIMULI RECEPTORS
• Sights Eyes

• Sounds Ears

• Smells Nose Exposure Attention Interpretation

• Tastes Mouth

• Textures Skin
Expectations
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 35

Sensory Marketing: Harnessing

Perception for a Competitive
Advantage
Guests at Omni Hotels are in for a host of luxurious experiences. When they visit the
hotel chain’s website to reserve a room, they will hear the sound of soft chimes play-
ing. On entering the lobby they’ll be hit with the scent of lemongrass and green tea and
view elaborate floral displays. In their rooms they will find eucalyptus bath salts and
Sensation Bars—mini-bars stocked with items such as mojito-flavoured jelly beans
and miniature Zen gardens. In a joint promotion with Starbucks, guests find small,
scented stickers on the front pages of their free copies of USA Today—a blackberry
aroma suggests they start their day at the hotel with a cup of Starbucks coffee “paired
with a fresh muffin.”3
Welcome to the new era of sensory marketing, in which companies pay extra
attention to the impact of sensation on our product experiences. From hotels to
carmakers to brewers, companies recognize that our senses help us decide which
products appeal to us—and which ones stand out from a host of similar offerings in
the marketplace. In one example of this, the Boeing 787: Dreamliner caters to a
multi-sensory experience by giving customers a more spacious experience, using
more natural lighting, ensuring a smoother ride, maintaining optimum cabin
humidity and pressure, and reducing noise by 60 percent. The results are such that
the Dreamliner has been known to counteract the experience of jet lag! In this section
we’ll take a closer look at how some smart marketers use our sensory systems to
create a competitive advantage.

Sight CO 3

Sure, Apple’s products usually work pretty well—but that’s not why many people buy
them. Sleek styling and simple, compact features telegraph an aura of modernity,
sophistication, and just plain “cool.” Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in
advertising, store design, and packaging. They communicate meanings on the visual
channel through a product’s colour, size, and styling.

This ad for a luxury car emphasizes the

contribution made by all of our senses to
the evaluation of a driving experience. In
addition to the five channels of sight, sound,
touch, smell, and taste, the ad mentions the
“sixth sense” of intuition in its treatment of
the “power of perception.”
© 1993 by Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA,
Inc., used by permission. © Harry Vamos
36 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

Method used visually pleasing aesthetic

product innovations to shake up the stale
household cleaners market.
© Method Products

H ow P e r c e ptio n C an B e “Co lour ed ”

Colours influence our emotions directly. Evidence suggests that some colours
(particularly red) create feelings of arousal and stimulate appetite, and others (such
as blue) are more relaxing. Products presented against a backdrop of blue in
advertisements are better liked than those shown with a red background, and cross-
cultural research indicates a consistent preference for blue as consumers’ favourite
colour whether they live in Canada or Hong Kong.4 People who complete tasks
when the words or images are displayed on red backgrounds perform better when
they have to remember details, but when blue backgrounds are used they excel at
tasks that require an imaginative response. Olympic athletes who wear red uniforms
are more likely to defeat competitors in blue uniforms, and men rate women who
wear red as more attractive than those who wear blue. In one study, interior
designers created bars decorated primarily in red, yellow, or blue and invited
people to choose one to hang out in. More people chose the yellow and red rooms,
and these guests were more social and active—and ate more. But partygoers in the
blue room stayed longer.5
Colours are rich in symbolic value and cultural meanings. For example, red repre-
sents good luck to the Chinese and is often the main colour in their celebrations. Such
powerful cultural meanings make colour a central aspect of many marketing strategies.
Some reactions to colour come from learned associations—in Western countries black
is the colour of mourning, while in some Eastern countries, notably Japan, white plays
this role. In addition, the colour black is associated with power and may even have an
impact on people who wear it. Teams in the National Hockey League who wear black
uniforms are among the most aggressive; they consistently rank near the top of the
league in penalties during the season.6
We know that perceptions of a colour depend on both its physical wavelength
and how the mind responds to that stimulus. Yellow, which is in the middle of
wavelengths detectable by the human eye, is the brightest colour and attracts
attention. The Yellow Pages were made yellow to heighten the attention level of
bored telephone operators.7 Further, some reactions to colour are due to biological
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 37

Renova first differentiated itself from com-

petitors by introducing black-coloured toilet
paper that conveyed an air of sophistication
and exclusivity. Now the company has added
multiple colours to its offerings.
Courtesy of Renova SA

differences. Women tend to be drawn to brighter tones and are more sensitive to
subtle shadings and patterns, because they see colour better than men do; men are
16 times more likely to be colour-blind than women. Age also influences our
response to colour. As we get older our eyes mature and our vision takes on a yellow
cast. Colours look duller to older people, so they prefer white and other bright tones.
This helps to explain why mature consumers are much more likely to choose a
white car; Lexus, which sells heavily in this market, makes 60 percent of its vehicles
in white.
The choice of colour is frequently a key issue in package design. These choices
used to be made casually. Today, however, colour is a serious business, and many
companies realize that their colour choices can exert a big influence on consumers’
assumptions about what is inside the package. When introducing a white cheese as a
“sister product” to an existing blue Castello cheese, a Danish company launched it in
a red package under the name of Castello Bianco. The red package was chosen to pro-
vide maximum visibility on store shelves. Although taste tests were very positive,
sales were disappointing. A subsequent analysis of consumer interpretations showed
that the red packaging and the name gave consumers the wrong impression about the
product type and its degree of sweetness. Danish consumers had trouble associating
the colour red with white cheese. Also, the name Bianco connoted a sweetness that
was incompatible with the actual taste of the product. It was relaunched in a white
package and given the name White Castello. Almost immediately sales more than dou-
bled.8 Table 2-1 lists other colour associations, along with how marketers use them.
Some colour combinations come to be associated so strongly with a corporation
that they become known as the company’s trade dress, and the company may even be
granted exclusive use of these colours. Think of Tiffany and Co. and a distinct shade of
blue comes to mind, one that is trademarked by the company. As a rule, however,
trade-dress protection is granted only when consumers might be confused about what
they are buying because of similar colouration of a competitor’s packages.9 Cadbury
Canada overhauled its packaging, adding its signature purple colour and logo to all its
brands. Survey results showed that while consumers know Crème Eggs and Caramilk
bars as Cadbury brands, people did not associate Crispy Crunch, Crunchie, and Mr. Big
with Cadbury. Therefore, rebranding was necessary to associate all brands through the
signature purple colour.10
38 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

TABLE 2–1

Marketing Applications of Colours

Colour Associations Marketing Applications

Yellow Optimistic and youthful Used to grab window shoppers’ attention

Red Energy Often seen in clearance sales
Blue Trust and security Banks
Green Wealth/Serenity Used to create relaxation in stores
Orange Aggressive Call to action: subscribe, buy or sell
Black Powerful and sleek Luxury products
Purple Soothing Beauty or anti-aging products

Source: Adapted from Leo Widrich, “Why Is Facebook Blue? The Science Behind Colors in Marketing,” buffersocial (April 25, 2013), https://blog.
bufferapp.com/the-science-of-colors-in-marketing-why-is-facebook-blue, accessed February 23, 2015.

H ow Y o ur Ey es Mak e Yo u E at Mo r e
Our eyes play tricks on us, and these perceptions can have caloric consequences.11
When pouring or eating foods from larger boxes, the size of the box implicitly suggests
that it’s appropriate or “acceptable” to eat more—and we do! One study gave a number
of moviegoers free medium-size or large-size popcorn buckets and revealed that those
eating out of the large-size buckets ate 45 percent more popcorn.12 Even when 14-day-
old popcorn was used, people still ate 32 percent more from the large-size buckets
even though they said they hated the popcorn.13 The same thing happens at parties.
MBA students at a Super Bowl party were offered Chex Mix either from huge gallon-
size bowls or from twice as many half-gallon bowls. Those dishing from the gallon-
bowls ate 53 percent more.14
These visual illusions also influence how much we pour and drink. Take drinking
glasses, for example. When we pour into a glass, we tend to focus on the height of the
liquid we are pouring and not the width.15 If we are given two glasses that both hold
24 ounces, for instance, we will tend to pour over 30 percent more into the shorter,
wider glass than the taller glass, because we focus on the height and don’t account for
the width. Even the pros get tricked by this illusion. When 48 bartenders were asked to
pour a “shot” of alcohol into either a wide tumbler or a tall highball glass, they poured
27 percent more gin, whisky, and vodka in the wide glasses than in the tall ones.16

While 100-calorie snack packs have been

very popular among consumers, packages
that allow for smaller serving sizes can
sometimes, ironically, encourage consumers
to eat more.
AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 39

Visual cues in packaging can also impact consumption in other ways. Take the
trend of using smaller snack packs and 100-calorie serving sizes in the marketplace.
Although intuition tells consumers that smaller packages should help them to eat less,17
when multiple small packages are available consumers often eat much more of the prod-
uct.18 In fact, it is those consumers who are most concerned with dieting and their
appearance who eat the most snack foods when they are presented in small packages.
Researchers find that this is because these consumers assume the small packages will do
the job of controlling their food intake for them, so they give up their own control of
watching what they eat and often end up eating more than one package!19
Our eyes continue to trick us even when it comes to variety. When we see an
assortment of foods, for example at Thanksgiving dinner or an all-you-can-eat buffet,
this abundance suggests it’s appropriate to eat more. College students who are given
bowls of M&Ms that have ten colours of M&Ms will eat 26 percent more than those
given the same-size bowls with seven colours—even though all M&Ms taste the same.
Also, students given six different flavours of jellybeans took and ate 85 percent more
when they were mixed up than when they were neatly organized by flavour.20
The bottom line: When it comes to how much we eat and drink, our eyes often
have more to say than our stomachs.21

Smell
We’ve all heard of the “Axe Effect,” since we’ve been bombarded with commercials
showing women chasing men who use Unilever’s personal-care brand. Can it possibly
be for real? A British researcher reported that women rated men who used Lynx
deodorant (Axe’s British counterpart) as more attractive than men who used a “pla-
cebo” deodorant with no fragrance. Before you run out to the store, guys, keep in mind
that the women didn’t actually meet the men face to face; they watched 15-second
videos of the men describing themselves. The men in the videos were instructed not to
bathe for 48 hours, and those who used the unfragranced deodorant to hide their
“scent” rated themselves lower in self-confidence than did the Lynx users. A Unilever
consumer scientist explains, “Deodorant is supposed to make you feel good about
yourself and give you confidence in the mating game, which is what Axe says.”
Important note: The Axe Effect worked only for women who watched the videos
with no sound—those who actually heard the men talk didn’t show a preference,
which supports the idea that self-confidence is translated into body language, which
in turn is translated into attractiveness. As one of the researchers joked, “One way you
could look at it is that the Axe Effect works as long as you’re very quiet.”22
Odours can stir emotions or create a calming feeling. They can evoke memories or
relieve stress. Some of our responses to scents result from early associations that call
up good or bad feelings, which explains why businesses are exploring connections
between smell, memory, and mood. It has been suggested that ambient scent can influ-
ence not only moods, but consumer cognitions as well.23 Researchers have found that
pleasant scents can increase recall of brand names,24 particularly when the scent is
combined with a visual image.25
We process fragrance cues in the limbic system, the most primitive part of the
brain and the place where we experience immediate emotions. One study even found
that the scent of fresh cinnamon buns induced sexual arousal in a sample of male stu-
dents!26 In another study, women sniffed T-shirts that men had worn for two days and
reported which ones they preferred. The women were most attracted to the odour of
men who are genetically similar to themselves, though not too similar. The researchers
claimed the findings were evidence that we are “wired” to select compatible mates,
but not those so similar as to cause inbreeding problems.27
Researchers have found that the sense of smell can also lead to different behav-
ioural reactions to stimuli. One study found that consumers who viewed ads for either
flowers or chocolate and who also were exposed to congruent (i.e., flowery or choco-
latey, respectively) odours spent more time processing the product information and
40 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

The “Got Milk?” campaign harnessed the

power of smell by releasing the scent of
chocolate chip cookies at bus shelters.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

were more likely to try different alternatives within the relevant product category.28
Other researchers have discovered that “clean” scents such as citrus-scented Windex
can lead people to engage in morally “virtuous” acts such as reciprocating a favour or
being willing to volunteer for a worthy cause.29
As scientists continue to discover the powerful effects of smell on behaviour, mar-
keters are coming up with ingenious ways to exploit these connections. Ad companies
spend about $80 million per year on scent marketing; the Scent Marketing Institute
estimates that number will reach more than $500 million by 2016.30 Marketers have
leveraged the potential power of smell by using such strategies as microencapsulating
scents in direct mail communications31 and introducing scratch-and-sniff advertise-
ments in newspapers.32 Playing with scents can be a tricky business, however. For
example, the “Got Milk?” campaign got creative by releasing the scent of chocolate
chip cookies in tandem with its ads on bus shelters. However, the marketers were
forced to pull the scents in response to complaints by various social-interest groups:
groups trying to ban all public scents, anti-obesity organizations, diabetes organiza-
tions, and advocates for the homeless who argued that the smell would leave these
people hungry and unable to purchase food.33 There is also evidence that certain
smells may be more effective when targeted toward one of the sexes. A vanilla smell
diffused into a women’s clothing store and a spicy, honey smell diffused into a men’s
clothing store almost doubled sales. When the scents were reversed, sales fell to levels
below what they were when no scent was infused.34

Hearing
Sounds can impact consumer behaviour in a variety of ways. Consumers buy millions of
dollars’ worth of sound recordings every year, advertising jingles maintain brand aware-
ness, and stores and restaurants often play particular types of background music to cre-
ate desired moods.35 In one example of using sound, BMW has begun to use an “audio
watermark” at the end of its TV and radio ads around the world. The company wants to
establish what the brand sounds like “so all of its messages end with a melody . . . under-
scored by two distinctive bass tones that form the sound logo’s melodic and rhythmic
basis.” BMW claims this sound signature represents “sheer driving pleasure.”36
Music and other sounds affect people’s feelings and behaviours. Some marketers
who come up with brand names pay attention to sound symbolism, the process by
which the way a word sounds influences our assumptions about what it describes and
its attributes, such as size.37 For example, consumers are more likely to recognize
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 41

The advertisement reads: “To applaud the

22 athletes of Team EDF for their perfor-
mance in 2010, close and reopen these two
pages several times very quickly.” This print
ad does a creative job of using sound to
connect with consumers.
Courtesy of Havas Worldwide Paris

brand names that begin with a hard consonant, like a K (Kellogg’s) or P (Pepsi).38 By
decomposing brand names into individual sounds called phonemes, one study showed Consumers
in Focus
how even these cues affect consumer evaluations and convey unique meanings about
inherent properties of the product. For instance, consumers infer that brands contain-
ing the vowel sound of short [i] weigh less than brands containing the vowel sound of
Consumers respond positively to leisure activi-
[a].39 Other research shows that brand names with repetition in their phonetic struc-
ties that allow for a full sensory experience. In
ture (think clothing brand “Bebe” and “Jelly Belly” candies) produce positive affect
some specially equipped movie theatres, view-
when spoken aloud, leading to increased preference for the brand.40 ers of films like Pirates of the Caribbean and
Marvel Superheroes: 4D won’t just watch the
action, they will feel the actors’ movements in
Touch
their seats. Their chairs will pitch forward,
Common observation tells us that tactile stimulation is an important sensory channel. backward, and side to side, and they will expe-
Moods are relaxed or stimulated on the basis of sensations of the skin, whether from a rience freefall when a character leaps off a
luxurious massage or from the bite of a winter wind. Touch has even been shown to be cliff.
a factor in sales interactions. In one study, diners who were touched by servers gave
bigger tips, and food demonstrators in a supermarket who lightly touched customers
had better luck getting shoppers to try a new snack product and to redeem coupons
for the brand.41 On the other hand, an accidental touch from a stranger (especially a
male) leads to more negative evaluations of products a shopper encounters in a
store.42 Another study found that participants who simply touched an item (an inex-
pensive coffee mug) for 30 seconds or less created a greater level of attachment to the
product that boosted what they were willing to pay for it.43 This was proposed to be
caused by an endowment effect. Endowment usually occurs when consumers ascribe
more value to something simply because they own it. Simply touching and engaging
with the product also increases endowment effects. Indeed, the power of touch even
translates to online shopping, where touchscreens create a stronger feeling of psycho-
logical ownership compared to products consumers explore using a touchpad or a
mouse.44
Haptic (touch) senses appear to moderate the relationship between product experi-
ence and judgment confidence, confirming the common-sense notion that we’re more
sure about what we perceive when we can touch it. (Of course, this is a major problem
for those who sell products online.)45 These researchers found that individuals who
scored high on a “Need for Touch” (NFT) scale were especially influenced by this
42 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

The classic contoured Coca-Cola bottle

attests to the power of touch. The bottle was
originally designed so that people could
identify it by touch alone.
© Rufus Stone/Alamy

dimension. Those with a high need for touch responded positively to such statements
as the following:
• When walking through stores, I can’t help touching all kinds of products.
• Touching products can be fun.
• I feel more comfortable purchasing a product after physically examining it.46
One study found that product judgments by individuals who do not normally pos-
sess a compulsion to touch products (low autotelics) are influenced by the “feel” of a
package, while those who do have a compulsion to touch items (high autotelics) do
not rely on this cue to infer a product’s quality. Subjects were each given a glass of
water in a flimsy cup that also holds a straw. Half of the subjects were told to hold the
cup and drink from the straw, while the other half were told to leave the cup on the
desk and drink from the straw. Participants who had been identified as high autotelics
rated the water the same, regardless of whether or not they touched the cup. However,
low autotelics rated the water as worse if they had the opportunity to touch the cup
while drinking from it.47 How can we explain this finding? Presumably, those who
like to touch have learned over time that “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The Japanese take this idea of touch a step further when they practise what they
call Kansei engineering, a philosophy that translates customers’ feelings into design
elements. In one application of this practice, the designers of the Mazda Miata focused
on young drivers who saw the car as an extension of their bodies, a sensation they call
the “horse and rider as one.” After extensive research, the company discovered that
making the stick shift exactly 9.5 centimetres long conveys the optimal feeling of
sportiness and control.48

Taste
Jones Soda: Marketing & Consumer Our taste receptors obviously contribute to our experience of many products, and
Behavior people form strong preferences for certain flavours.
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 43

As I See It
Life is experienced serially, and wines). This is called a primacy effect in terms of consumers’ per-
consumers often make choices ceptions and subsequent choices. However, consumers tend to pre-
Courtesy of Antonia Mantonakis, BSc, MA, PhD

between options—wines, cars, fer the last option when sampling longer sequence lengths (e.g.,
houses—that they consider one when sampling four or five wines). This reflects a recency effect in
at a time in sequence. When a terms of consumer perceptions and choices.
consumer is sampling food at But the results of this study are more complex. We also
Costco, sampling wine at a win- looked at whether the preference pattern for early and late items
ery, or simply picking a favou- occurs for consumers of all levels of expertise. Would we find this
rite contestant to vote for on a pattern of results if the consumers were experts? We expected
reality television show, does the that people who were more knowledgeable about the choice
order in which the consumer options would try harder than less sophisticated judges to dis-
Dr. Antonia Mantonakis tastes, smells, or hears the criminate between them. Because of this, the more “expert”
Brock University options influence which one is judges would show the strongest bias for options late in the
selected as the favourite? sequence, even without knowing how many options would be
We tried to answer this question in a recent study.1 One group sampled.2 The results confirmed that the more “expert” judges
of participants sampled two wines and then chose their favourite. were more biased to choose the last option.
Another group sampled three wines before choosing a favourite, Whether you’re a winemaker hoping to discover which position
another sampled four, and another sampled five. In fact, unknown in a tasting sequence gives your product the greatest advantage, or
to the participants, all the wine samples were the same wine from a realtor deciding how to present homes in a strategically planned
the same bottle (no participants picked up on this). This ensured order, it is a good idea to showcase what you want to sell first. The
that any differences in preference could be attributed to the wines’ first option sampled automatically becomes the favourite. However,
positions in the sequence and not to some other factor, such as the as more options are sampled, the likelihood increases that a later
taste of the wine. The results revealed that when a consumer sam- option will “beat” the first, and this is especially the case for knowl-
ples a sequence of options, the first option has an advantage, espe- edgeable consumers. As a result, it’s best to showcase what you
cially for short sequence lengths (e.g., when sampling two or three want to sell last if there are many options to choose from.

1 Antonia Mantonakis, Pauline Rodero, Isabelle Lesschaeve, and Reid Hastie, “Order in Choice: Effects of Serial Position on Preferences,” Psychological Science 20(11)
(2009): 1309–1312.
2Antonia Mantonakis, Matthew Philp, Isabelle Lesschaeve, and Reid Hastie, “Consumer Evaluation and Decision Process When Engaging in a Sequential Sampling Scenario,”
Academy of Wine Business Research International Conference (2011, June), Bordeaux, France.

Specialized companies called “flavour houses” keep busy trying to develop new
tastes to please the changing palates of consumers. And scientists are right behind
them, developing new devices to test these flavours. Alpha MOS sells a sophisticated

Welch’s gets creative by incorporating

the actual taste of the product into this
advertisement.
Courtesy of Welch Foods, Inc.
44 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

electronic tongue for tasting, and is working on what the company’s executives call
an electronic mouth, complete with artificial saliva, to chew food and dissect its
flavour. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use the tongue to test the quality of corn syrups, while
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Roche use the device to develop medicines that
don’t taste bitter.49
Changes in our culture also determine the tastes we find desirable. For example,
consumers’ greater appreciation of different ethnic dishes has contributed to
increased desires for spicy foods, so the quest for the ultimate pepper sauce is a hot
taste trend. The “heat” of peppers is measured in units called Scovilles. In 1912,
Wilbur Scoville asked a five-person panel to see how much sugar water it would take
to eliminate the hotness of a pepper. How’s this for a hot tip: It takes 7497 litres of
sweetened water to neutralize a teaspoon of Da’ Bomb, which claims to be the hottest
sauce ever made.50
Marketers have also discovered various ways to influence consumers’ perceptions
of the taste of the product itself. For example, a subtle cue such as the colour of a prod-
uct (e.g., a darker versus more natural colour of orange juice) can influence percep-
tions of the actual taste of the product, even when the true taste of the product is
exactly the same!51 Other work finds that advertisements that refer to more than one of
the senses (“Stimulate Your Senses”) lead to more positive taste perceptions than
advertisements simply referring to taste alone (“Long Lasting Flavour”).52

Exposure
Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes within the range of the individual’s sensory
receptors, so that he or she has the potential to notice it. We are capable of noticing
stimuli that we are exposed to for even a very short time—if we choose to do so. Before
we consider what people may choose not to perceive, let’s consider what they are
capable of perceiving.

When marketers need to decrease the size of

a product, they often test to ensure that the
changes are not perceptible by the average
consumer (i.e., they ensure that the changes
are below the JND).
Smneedham/Getty Images
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 45

Sensory Thresholds CO 4
If you have ever blown a dog whistle and watched pets respond to a sound you cannot
hear, you know that there are some stimuli people simply are not capable of perceiv-
ing. And, of course, some people are better able to pick up sensory information than
others. The science that focuses on how the physical environment is integrated into
our personal, subjective world is known as psychophysics.
When we define the lowest intensity of a stimulus that can be registered on a sen-
sory channel, we speak of a threshold for that receptor. The absolute threshold refers
to the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a sensory channel. The
sound emitted by a dog whistle is too high to be detected by human ears, so this stimu-
lus is beyond our auditory absolute threshold. The absolute threshold is an important
consideration in designing marketing stimuli. A billboard might have the most enter-
taining copy ever written, but this genius is wasted if the print is too small for passing
motorists to see from the highway.
The differential threshold refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect
changes in a stimulus or differences between two stimuli. The minimum change in a
stimulus that can be detected is also known as the JND (just noticeable difference).
The issue of when and if a change will be noticed by consumers is relevant to
many marketing situations. Sometimes a marketer may want to ensure that a change is
noticed, such as when merchandise is offered at a discount. In other situations, the
fact that a change has been made is downplayed, as in the case of price increases or
when a product’s size is decreased.
A consumer’s ability to detect a difference between two stimuli is relative. A
whispered conversation that might be unintelligible on a noisy street can suddenly
become public and embarrassing knowledge in a quiet library. It is the relative dif-
ference between the decibel level of the conversation and its surroundings, rather
than the loudness of the conversation itself, that determines whether the stimulus
will register.
In the nineteenth century a psychophysicist named Ernst Weber found that the
amount of change necessary to be noticed is systematically related to the original
intensity of the stimulus. The stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the change must
be for it to be noticed. This relationship is known as Weber’s law and is expressed in
the following equation:

Consider how Weber’s law works with respect to a product that has had its price
decreased for a special sale. A rule of thumb used by some retailers is that a markdown
should be at least 20 percent to make an impact on shoppers. If so, a pair of socks that
retails for $10 should be put on sale for $8 (a $2 discount). However, a sports coat sell-
ing for $100 would not benefit from a mere $2 discount; it would have to be marked
down to $80 to achieve the same impact.
The main point of Weber’s law is that it is the ratios, not the absolute differ-
ences, that are important in describing the least perceptible differences in sensory
 46 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals
Marketing
Insight
Some companies try to camouflage price
increases by shrinking the size of packages
instead of charging more. Sometimes market-
ers use code words to announce a change: They
may label the smaller packages as “greener”
because there is less plastic or cardboard in
a smaller box, more “portable” when they
squeeze products into little carry bags, or
“healthier” because smaller amounts translate
into fewer calories.
For example, Kraft brought out “Fresh
Stacks” packages for its Nabisco Premium
saltines and Honey Maid graham crackers.
Each holds about 15 percent fewer crackers
than the standard boxes for the same price.
But Kraft notes that, since the new packages
include more sleeves of crackers, they are
more portable—and adds that as an added
benefit the smaller boxes supply crackers that
will be more fresh when you get around to eat-
ing them. In another example, companies
such as Lays often decrease the number of
potato chips in a bag to increase profits.56
A packaging expert noted that typically,
when a country comes out of a recession, com-
panies respond with a new, “jumbo” size that
is even more expensive per gram. Then the pro-
cess begins again. “It’s a continuous cycle,
where at some point the smallest package
offered becomes so small that perhaps they’re
phased out and replaced by the medium-size
package, which has been shrunk down.”57
discrimination. The differential threshold varies not only with consumers’ sensitiv-
ity and type of stimuli, but also with the absolute intensity of the stimuli being com-
pared. The use of Weber’s law in selling goods is important. Manufacturers and
brand managers endeavour to determine the relevant just noticeable difference for
their products for two reasons: first, so that reductions in product size, increases in
product price, or changes in packaging are not readily discernible to the public; and
second, so that product improvements are perceived by the public. Unfortunately,
most of the time companies are looking to give you less, below your JND. The pack-
age on the store shelf may register the same to your brain, but the amount inside the
package has gone down. This is how companies tend to pass on their rising costs to
customers. Not only are cereal boxes slimmed down, but consumers are dealt more
air in their chip bag, fewer sheets of paper towel on the roll, thinner garbage bags,
and even smaller squares of toilet paper.53 Even Coca-Cola has reduced the size of its
355-millilitre can by 7 percent to 330 millilitres in the Hong Kong market to save on
the cost of aluminum.54
Weber’s law, ironically, is a challenge to green marketers who try to reduce the
sizes of packages when they produce concentrated (and more Earth-friendly) versions
of their products. Makers of laundry detergent brands have to convince their custom-
ers to pay the same price for about half the detergent. Also, because of pressure from
powerful retailers such as Walmart that want to fit more bottles on their shelves, the
size of detergent bottles is shrinking significantly. Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and
Henkel all maintain that their new, concentrated versions will allow people to wash
the same number of loads with half the detergent. One perceptual trick they’re using to
try to convince consumers of this is the redesign of the bottle cap: Both P&G and
Church & Dwight use a cap with a broader base and shorter sides to persuade consum-
ers that they need a smaller amount.55
Subliminal Perception CO 5
The topic of subliminal perception, the perception of stimuli below the level of con-
sumer consciousness, has captivated the public for more than 50 years, despite the
fact that there is virtually no proof that it has any effect on consumer behaviour.
In fact, most examples of subliminal perception that have been “discovered” are not
subliminal at all; they are quite visible. Remember, if you can see it or hear it, it is not
subliminal, because the stimulus is above the level needed for conscious awareness!
Nonetheless, the continuing controversy about subliminal persuasion has been impor-
tant in shaping the public’s beliefs about advertising and the ability of marketers to
manipulate consumers against their will.
The public’s fear of unconscious manipulation began with a widely popularized
experiment that was performed in a New Jersey drive-in movie theatre in September
1957. During a showing of the movie Picnic, a firm called the Subliminal Projection
Company inserted messages that said “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Eat Popcorn” for 1/3000
second every five seconds. This rate was too fast for viewers to be aware that they had
seen the images. Supposedly, sales of popcorn increased by almost 20 percent and
consumption of Coke by almost 60 percent. These claims created an uproar as journal-
ists and social critics expressed fears that social scientists would team up with adver-
tisers to invade privacy and control consumers against their will. As one magazine put
it at the time, consumers’ minds had been “broken and entered.”58 This experiment
was never replicated, and the executive responsible for the test later admitted that he
had made up the results.59
Subliminal messages can supposedly be sent on both visual and aural channels.
Embeds are tiny figures that are inserted into magazine advertising by using high-
speed photography or airbrushing.
In addition to these subliminal visual messages, many consumers and marketers
seem to be fascinated by the possible effects of messages hidden on sound recordings.
An attempt to capitalize on subliminal auditory perception techniques is found in the
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 47

This beer ad pokes fun at the myth of

subliminal advertising.
© 2005. Molson USA, LLC

market for self-help cassettes. These tapes, which typically feature the sound of waves
crashing or some other natural setting, supposedly contain subliminal messages to help
the listener stop smoking, lose weight, gain confidence, and so on. However, there is
little evidence that any subliminal stimuli transmitted on the auditory channel can bring
about desired changes in behaviour.60 In a major study conducted to obtain a definitive
answer on the effect of subliminal persuasion, groups of people were recruited to a
double-blind weight-loss experiment involving tapes with subaudible messages. One
group had real weight-loss messages in their tapes, while the other just listened to the
ocean. After many weeks of listening to the tapes, there were no differences in weight
loss between the two groups.61 Consumers
Clearly, there are better ways to get our attention. Let’s see how.
in Focus
Are you a “media snacker”? A recent study found
that consumers in their twenties switch media
Attention CO 6 venues about 27 times per nonworking hour—
the equivalent of more than 13 times during a
As you sit in a lecture, you might find your mind wandering. One minute you are con-
standard half-hour TV show. As a Unilever mar-
centrating on the instructor’s words, and the next you catch yourself daydreaming
keting executive put it, “If you have consumers
about the upcoming weekend. Suddenly, you tune back in as you hear your name
who are snacking on short amounts of time with
being spoken. Fortunately, it’s a false alarm—the professor has called on another stu-
different types of media channels, we have to
dent who has the same first name. But she’s got your attention now! think about how to communicate in short,
Attention refers to the extent to which the brain’s processing activity is devoted ‘snack-like’ bits of messaging.”62 That means
to a particular stimulus. As you know from sitting through both interesting and “less the fight for your attention—or what some mar-
interesting” lectures, this allocation can vary depending on the characteristics of keters refer to as an “eyeball economy”—gets
both the stimulus (the lecture itself) and the recipient (you with your mental state at tougher every day.
the time).
48 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

Although we live in an information society, it’s possible to have too much of a

good thing. Consumers are often in a state of sensory overload; that is, they are exposed
to far more information than they are able or willing to process. In our society, much
of this bombardment comes from commercial sources, and the competition for our
attention is increasing steadily. The average adult is exposed to about 3500 pieces of
advertising information every single day—up from about 560 a day 30 years ago. Many
younger people in particular have developed the ability to multitask, or process infor-
mation from more than one medium at a time as they attend to their smartphones, TV,
instant messages, and so on.63 One study observed 400 people for a day and found that
96 percent of them were multitasking about a third of the time they were using media.64
Marketing researchers are struggling to understand this new condition, trying to figure
out how to reach people doing many things at once.

One potential response to anti-smoking ads

such as this might be perceptual defence on
the part of smokers. This happens when
people block out the marketing message if it
is threatening in some way.
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2013 Tips From Former Smokers campaign.

RECORD YOUR
VOICE FOR LOVED
ONES WHILE
YOU STILL CAN.
Terrie, Age 52
North Carolina

Smoking causes immediate damage to your body.

For Terrie, it gave her throat cancer. You can quit.
For free help, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
www.cdc.gov/tips

#CDCTips
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 49

As we’ll also see in later chapters, marketers are constantly searching for ways
to break through the clutter and grab people’s attention. For example, marketers are
coming up with innovative ways to get consumers’ attention in ways that go viral
(i.e., the marketing message gets passed along from consumer to consumer). In one
example, the video “First Kiss,” which showed pairs of strangers kissing for the first
time, had 95 million views on YouTube. The quirky and unexpected nature of the
video led to its going “viral.” However, the brand behind the video, Wren, later came
under fire when it came to light that the video featured actors rather than just every-
day people.65
Marketers are also using techniques such as guerrilla marketing to get noticed.
This involves using communications that are unexpected and unconventional in ways
that target consumers in unexpected places.
However, the brain’s capacity to process information is limited, and consumers
are able to pay attention only to certain stimuli. The process of perceptual selectivity
means that people attend to only a small portion of the stimuli to which they are
exposed. Consumers practise a form of psychological economy, picking and choosing
among stimuli to avoid being overwhelmed. How do they choose? Both personal and
stimulus factors help.

Personal Selection Factors

Experience, which is the result of acquiring stimulation, is one factor that determines
how much exposure to a particular stimulus a person accepts. Perceptual filters based
on consumers’ past experiences influence what they decide to process.
Perceptual vigilance is a factor in selective exposure. Consumers are more likely
to be aware of stimuli that relate to their current needs. These needs may be conscious
or unconscious. A consumer who rarely notices car ads will become very much aware
of them when he or she is in the market for a new car. A bus shelter ad for a fast-food
restaurant that would otherwise go unnoticed becomes relevant when one waits to
catch the bus close to dinner time.
The flip side of perceptual vigilance is perceptual defence. This means that
people see what they want to see—and don’t see what they don’t want to see. If a
stimulus is threatening to us in some way, we may not process it or we may distort
its meaning so that it is more acceptable. For example, a heavy smoker may block

Converse uses elements such as novelty and

size to grab the consumer’s attention.
Wolfram Steinberg/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
50 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

Calgary Zoo’s “There’s No Substitute” cam-

paign took advantage of both novelty, by
using humorous and unexpected imagery, THERE’S NO SUBSTITUTE
and size by putting ads on large billboards. FOR THE ZOO.
Courtesy of the Calgary Zoo

out images of cancer-scarred lungs because these vivid reminders hit a bit too close
to home.
Another factor affecting exposure is adaptation—that is, the degree to which con-
sumers continue to notice a stimulus over time. The process of adaptation occurs
when consumers no longer pay attention to a stimulus because it is so familiar. Almost
like drug addiction, a consumer can become “habituated” and require increasingly
stronger “doses” of a stimulus for it to continue to be noticed. For example, a con-
sumer en route to work might read a billboard message when it is first installed, but
after a few days it becomes part of the passing scenery.
Generally, several factors can lead to adaptation:
• Intensity: Consumers become habituated to less-intense stimuli (soft sounds or
dim colours) because such stimuli have less of a sensory impact.
• Duration: Stimuli that require relatively lengthy exposure to be processed tend to
be habituated to because they require a long attention span.
• Discrimination: Simple stimuli tend to be habituated to because they do not
require attention to detail.
• Exposure: People tend to habituate to frequently encountered stimuli as the rate of
exposure increases.
• Relevance: People tend to habituate to stimuli that are irrelevant or unimportant
because they fail to attract attention.

Stimulus Selection Factors

In addition to the receiver’s “mindset,” characteristics of the stimulus itself play an
important role in determining what gets noticed and what gets ignored.66 These fac-
tors need to be understood by marketers who can apply them to their messages and
packages to boost their chances of cutting through the clutter and commanding
attention.
In general, stimuli that differ from others around them are more likely to be
noticed (remember Weber’s law). This contrast can be created in several ways:
• Size: The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the competition helps to deter-
mine whether it will command attention. Readership of a magazine ad increases
in proportion to the size of the ad.
• Colour: As we’ve seen, colour is a powerful way to draw attention to a product
or to give it a distinct identity. For example, Black & Decker has a line of tools
called DeWalt targeting the residential construction industry. The line is
coloured yellow and black, instead of grey, which makes them stand out against
other “dull” tools.67
• Position: Not surprisingly, stimuli that are in places where we’re more likely to
look stand a better chance of being noticed. That’s why the competition among
suppliers to have their products displayed at eye level in stores is so heated. In
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 51

magazines, ads that are placed toward the front of the issue, preferably on the
right-hand side, also win out in the race to get readers’ attention.68
Position is also key in online advertising. Sophisticated eye-tracking studies
clearly show that most search engine users view only a very limited number of
search results. When the typical shopper looks at a search page, her eye travels
across the top of the search result, returns to the left of the screen, and then travels
down to the last item shown on the screen without scrolling. Search engine
marketers call this space on the screen where we are virtually guaranteed to view
listings the golden triangle.
• Novelty: Communications that use novel stimuli or appear in unexpected places
tend to grab our attention. These locations include the backs of shopping carts,
public washrooms, and even on other consumers themselves. An example of
novelty attracting consumers’ attention is Naked Grape wine produced by Vincor.
Point-of-sale and advertising taglines say “It takes confidence to go unoaked.”
Sales have soared for this wine.69

Interpretation CO 7

Interpretation refers to the meanings that people assign to sensory stimuli. Just as
people differ in terms of the stimuli they perceive, the eventual assignment of mean-
ings to these stimuli varies as well. Two people can see or hear the same event, but
their interpretations of it can be like night and day depending on what they had
expected the stimulus to be.
In one study, three-to-five-year-old kids who ate McDonald’s french fries served in
a McDonald’s bag overwhelmingly thought they tasted better than those who ate the
same fries out of a plain white bag. Even carrots tasted better when they came out of a
McDonald’s bag—more than half the kids preferred them to the same carrots served in
a plain package!70
In another example of how our expectations can impact our evaluations, one
study altered beer drinkers’ taste preferences simply by telling them different informa-
tion about a specific brew’s ingredients. The researcher offered bar patrons free beer if
they would participate in a taste test. Participants tasted two beers each, one a regular
draft of Budweiser or Samuel Adams and the other the same beer with a few drops of
balsamic vinegar added. Although most beer aficionados would guess that vinegar
makes the drink taste bad, 60 percent of the respondents who did not know which
beer contained the vinegar actually preferred the doctored version to the regular one!
But when tasters knew in advance which beer had vinegar in it before they took a
swig, only one-third preferred that version.71
Consumers assign meaning to stimuli based on the schema, or set of beliefs, to
which the stimulus is assigned. A schema provides a cognitive framework that
helps organize and interpret information that surrounds a particular stimulus, such
as a brand for example. A brand name can communicate expectations about product
attributes and can colour consumers’ perceptions of product performance by acti-
vating a relevant schema. For example, when the consumer hears the brand name
“Nike,” various concepts and associations may come to mind such as “athletic,”
“trendy,” and “empowering.” Identifying and evoking the correct schema is crucial
to many marketing decisions, because this determines what criteria will be used to
evaluate the product, package, or message. Nike has worked hard to distance itself
from a negative schema by separating itself from concepts such as “sweatshop
labour” (see, e.g., http://nikeinc.com), something for which it received negative
media attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In another example, Extra-
Strength Maalox Whip Antacid flopped even though a spray can is a pretty effective
way to deliver the product. But to consumers, aerosol whips mean dessert toppings,
 52 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals
Consumers
in Focus
One factor that can influence consumers’ over-
all perceptions in the context of eating is the
degree to which they focus on multiple sensory
inputs as they select and eat their food. Recent
research finds that when consumers vividly
engage in multisensory imagery (i.e., focusing
on multiple sensations such as the taste,
smell, and feel of food), not only do they select
smaller portion sizes, but they also anticipate
and report that they experience more enjoy-
ment. This has interesting implications because
encouraging a broader range of sensory enjoy-
ment can not only lead consumers to eat less
(which has important ramifications for con-
sumer health) and to interpret the experience
as being more enjoyable (which has ramifica-
tions for consumer well-being), but it also
leads to an increased willingness to pay more
for their selected options.74
The principle of closure is at play in the
World Wildlife Fund logo.
© WWF
not medication.72 In this case, the schema for aerosol containers could not accom-
modate such incongruent information. On the other hand, when menu items in a
college cafeteria were given descriptive labels (e.g., “Traditional Cajun Red Beans
with Rice” versus “Red Beans with Rice,” and “Satin Chocolate Pudding” versus
“Chocolate Pudding”) so that diners had more information about each option and
were able to better categorize them, sales increased by more than 25 percent. 73
Thus, the effective positioning of products can often create more positive associa-
tions for consumers.
Stimulus Organization
People do not perceive a single stimulus in isolation; they tend to view it in terms
of relationships with other events, sensations, or images. When Nabisco intro-
duced a version of Teddy Grahams (a children’s product) for adults, restrained
packaging colours were used to reinforce the idea that the new product was for
grownups, but sales were disappointing. The box was then changed to a bright yel-
low to convey the idea that this was a fun snack, and buyers’ more positive asso-
ciation between a bright primary colour and taste led adults to start buying the
cookies.75
Our brains tend to relate incoming sensations to others already in memory on
the basis of some fundamental organizational principles. These principles derive
from work in Gestalt psychology, a school of thought maintaining that people derive
meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli rather than from any individual stimulus.
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 53

FIGURE 2–2

Principles of Stimulus Organization Derived from Gestalt Psychology

PRINCIPLE OF CLOSURE PRINCIPLE OF SIMILARITY PRINCIPLE OF FIGURE-GROUND

The German word gestalt means, roughly, “whole,” “pattern,” or “configuration,” a

perspective best summarized by the saying “The whole is greater than the sum of its
parts.” A piecemeal perspective that analyzes each component of the stimulus
separately will be unable to capture the total effect. The importance of a gestalt is
underscored when consumers’ interpretations of stimuli are affected by aesthetic,
symbolic, or sensory qualities. The gestalt perspective provides several principles
relating to the way stimuli are organized. Three of these principles, or perceptual
tendencies, are illustrated in Figure 2–2.
The gestalt principle of closure implies that consumers tend to perceive an
incomplete picture as complete. That is, we tend to fill in the blanks on the basis of
our prior experience. This principle explains why most of us have no trouble filling
in the blanks in an incomplete message or reading a neon sign even if one or two of
its letters are burned out. The principle of closure is also at work when we hear

This logo for the Pittsburgh Zoo is a clever

application of the figure–ground principle.
Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
54 S E C T I O N I I Consumers as Individuals

only part of a jingle or theme. Using the principle of closure in marketing strategies
encourages audience participation, which increases the chance that people will
attend to the message. Research shows that, if marketers want to encourage brand
recall, they should omit an element of the advertisement that is directly linked to
the brand itself.76
The principle of similarity tells us that consumers tend to group together objects
that share similar physical characteristics; that is, they group like items into sets to
form an integrated whole. Green Giant relied on this principle when the company
redesigned the packaging for its line of frozen vegetables. It created a “sea-of-green”
look to unify all of its different offerings.
Another important gestalt concept is the figure–ground principle, in which one
part of a stimulus will dominate (the figure) while other parts recede into the back-
ground. This concept is easy to understand if one thinks of a photograph with a
clear and sharply focused object (the figure) in the centre. The figure is dominant,
and the eye goes straight to it. The parts of the configuration that will be perceived
as figure or ground can vary, depending on the individual consumer as well as other
factors. Similarly, in marketing messages that use the figure–ground principle, a
stimulus can be made the focal point of the message or merely the context that sur-
rounds the focus.

Perceptual Positioning
As we’ve seen, a product stimulus is often interpreted in light of what we already
know about a product category and the characteristics of existing brands. Percep-
tions of a brand comprise both its functional attributes (its features, price, etc.) and
its symbolic attributes (its image and what we think it says about us when we use
it). We’ll look more closely at issues such as brand image in later chapters, but for
now it’s important to keep in mind that our evaluation of a product is typically the
result of what it means rather than what it does. This meaning, as perceived by
consumers, constitutes the product’s market position—and it may have more to do
with our expectations of product performance as communicated by its colour,
packaging, or styling than with the product itself. How does a marketer determine

Subaru opts for a unique position strategy

aimed at dog lovers.
Image courtesy of Subaru of America. Photographer
Shawn Michienzi, © 2011. Photography by Shawn
Michienzi.
 C H A P T E R 2 Perception 55

where a product actually stands in the minds of consumers? One technique is to

ask them what attributes are important to them and how they feel competitors rate
on these attributes.
A positioning strategy—or the way the marketer wants the brand to be viewed in
the eyes of the consumer—is a fundamental part of a company’s marketing efforts as it
uses elements of the marketing mix (product design, price, distribution, and marketing
communications) to influence the consumer’s interpretation of the brand’s meaning.
Indeed, brands go to great lengths to position themselves as distinct from competitors
on attributes consumers care about. For example, although most automobile compa-
nies tend to position themselves on attributes such as speed, styling, or safety, Subaru
took a unique approach with its “Dog Tested” campaign, targeted at dog owners. The
campaign featured amusing spots of dogs driving around in a Subaru in ways that
surely appealed to dog lovers.
One issue for marketers is how to reposition their brand in a way that updates the
brand’s image for an evolving market. In one example of this, when Estée Lauder
started to be seen as an “older” brand, it hired Kendall Jenner as the face of the brand.
Not only does she give the brand a younger feel, but she also brings with her a large
following of social media fans.

Po s i tionin g D im e n s io n s
There are many dimensions that can be used to establish a brand’s position in the
marketplace.77 These include the following:
• Price leadership: Lancôme cosmetics are sold in upscale beauty shops for a higher
price, while L’Oréal (which owns Lancôme, by the way) products are available for
much lower prices in lower-end stores.
• Attributes: Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker upper.”
• Product class: The Porsche Boxter is a sporty convertible.
• Occasions: Kit Kat is positioned as a snack to have when it is time to “Have a Break.”
• Users: Wiser’s positions its Canadian whisky as a drink for men.
• Design: Apple products like the iPad and iPhone are renowned for their inno-
vative design.

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Chapter Summary

Perception is a three-stage process that translates raw
stimuli into meaning.
• Perception is the process by which physical sensations
such as sights, sounds, and smells are selected, orga-
nized, and interpreted. The eventual interpretation of a
stimulus allows it to be assigned meaning.
Products and commercial messages often appeal to our
senses, but many of them will not succeed.
• Marketing stimuli have important sensory qualities. We
rely on colours, odours, sounds, tastes, and the “feel” of
products when evaluating them. Not all sensations make
their way successfully through the perceptual process,