Cognitive Dissonance

What is it &
why does it matter?

1. Advertisings role in marketing process; legal ethical and social

aspects of advertising; process of communication-Wilbur
Schramms model, two step flow of communication.
2. Theory of cognitive dissonance and clues for advertising
strategist: simulation of primary and selective demandobjective setting and market positioning; Dagmar approach
determination of target audience.
3. Building of advertising programme- message, headlines, copy,
logo, illustration, appeal, layout; campaign planning; media
planning; budgeting; evaluation- rationale of testing opinion and
aptitude test, recognition, recall, experimental designs.
4. Advertising organization- selection, compensation and appraisal
of an agency; electronic media buying; advertising campaignadvertising v/s consumer behavior; sales promotion- role of
creative strategies; advertising- retail, national, cooperative,
political, international, public; service advertising.

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance: Did I make the right

purchase? Should I have bought this?

Minimize dissonance by:

Offering mechanisms for making complaints

(Customer Service, 800 hotlines, e-mail, etc.)
Being responsive to problems and questions
Advertising (remind consumer why choice made sense)
Minimizing the potential for product misuse (good product
instructions)

Clues -Cognitive
Dissonance
Individuals seek consistency among
cognitions (i.e. beliefs and opinions).
Inconsistency between attitudes or
behaviours results in dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance was first
investigated by Leon Festinger in
1957 from observation of a cult.

Clues- Cognitive
Dissonance

If someone is called upon to learn

something which contradicts what they
already think they know particularly if
they are committed to that prior
knowledge they are likely to resist the
new learning

Cognitive Dissonance

If learning something has been difficult,

uncomfortable, or even humiliating
enough, people are less likely to concede
that the content of what has been learned
is useless, pointless or valueless.

Selective and primary demand are two different approaches to presenting

advertising messages. Selective demand is when companies deliver

messages that point out how their brand is the best match for the
needs of the target market. Primary demand is advertising intended to drive
interest to the general product category.
Selective Demand Basics
Selective demand essentially means the advertiser is trying to persuade the target
audience to select its brand over alternatives. It does this by using brand
messages that distinguish the company's products or services from others based on
unique benefits or features. Typically, you can identify selective demand advertising
by looking at the content of the message. If it is centered on a specific brand and
its benefits, selective demand is the objective.
Creating Demand
Companies use a variety of strategies to depict selective demand. Some use
benefit positioning, where they showcase the specific benefits of their product that
are unique in the market. Others use competitive positioning where they state
how their products are better or distinct from those offered by competitors. Another
positioning alternative is user positioning. This is where the brand focuses on
matching its benefits to the needs of a particular type of user.

Primary Demand Basics

Primary demand is when an advertising message's objective is to drive
interest in a product category or type of product as opposed to focusing
on a specific brand. When primary demand advertising is presented, the
message generally discusses the benefits of using the general product
without focusing on the particular benefits offered by one brand's product
against a competitor's.
Primary Demand Motivations
Primary demand typically occurs less often that selective demand
advertising. This is because companies typically pay for advertising to sell
their own brands. Primary demand usually occurs in a few specific
situations. One is when a new or innovative product is first introduced to
the market. Rather than focusing a message on brand differentiation, the
advertiser focuses on informing the market about what the new product
does. Another common scenario that leads to primary demand is when
associations made up of industry members collaborate to generate
interest for the product category. This is often done when industries are
struggling, such as the Drink milk, steel, eat eggs" campaigns.

Advertising Objectives
Informative
advertising

Persuasive
advertising

Reminder
advertising

Reinforcement
advertising

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education,

Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
18-9

Advertising Objectives and Market Positioning

Clear and specific aim of an advertising or commercial, such as to compare,
to gain attention, to inform, to persuade, or to remind.
Your advertising objective is what you want people to do when they see your ads. For
example, if you want to build an audience to like your Page. When you choose an
advertising objective, we'll help you create ads to meet that specific objective. You can
track how your ads are working to meet your advertising objective in ads manager.
The objectives you can choose from are:
Clicks to Website: Get people to visit your website.
Website Conversions: Promote specific conversions for your website. You'll
need a conversion pixel for your website before you can create this ad.
Page Post Engagement: Promote your Page posts.
Page Likes: Get Page likes to grow your audience and build your brand.
App Installs: Get people to install your mobile or desktop app.
App Engagement: Get people to use your desktop app.
Offer Claims: Create offers for people to redeem in your store.
Event Responses: Increase attendance at your event.

Positioning means to form in the mind of another or others a concept about

your product or service by comparing it to something already familiar to the
customer and to make it "real" to the customer how your product/service can be
useful, beneficial, worthwhile, etc., to him or her.

Positioning is done with words (ad copy) and/or images

(positioning pictures) in order to create a rapid communication of
your product or service. One wants to make a lasting impression!
In order to rapidly communicate and to make a favorable, effective
sales pitch for your product or service to a majority of potential
buyers, it is vital to ensure proper positioning as you compose
your ads. Otherwise your ad might end up with the rest of the
advertisements one sees on a daily basis in the mental trash
can! Proper positioning increases your chances of making sales
by forming in your visitors' minds a favorable impression of your
product or service, or how your product or service could be used
by your potential customers in their lives.
By using clever and creative positioning, you can more quickly
advance each potential customer along the line to the point of
sale.

Target Market Analysis

The best start for any positioning analysis is gaining a thorough knowledge of a product
or service's target market. This is the group of people or businesses that will best
benefit from the use of the product or service. With a good idea of the wants, needs and
interests of a product or service's target market, a good marketing team can help
develop a positioning statement to help reach as much of the target market as possible.
Positioning in Advertisements
Advertisements are usually the first places businesses position themselves. A cosmetics
marketing department, for example, must determine who they are targeting and what
consumer need is being met. If the intended target is African American teenagers, what
type of need should the cosmetics fill? If the cosmetics line is trying to help teenage girls
overcome acne issues, the person in the ad might be one of a younger African American
physician who teaches girls how to battle acne with the use of these cosmetics. To note
the importance of positioning, this same type of advertisement might not work if the
intended audience of the cosmetics line was older Caucasian women trying to look
younger.
Positioning through Price
It should be noted that there is a large amount of research on the psychology of pricing
in marketing. Simply put, the price of an item tells the buyer more about the item than
most realize. Many associate a higher price with higher quality and the opposite with a
lower price. Additionally, if a product is positioned as a good alternative to high-priced
brands, the marketing department must price it in the middle of the market to avoid a
comparison to the cheapest end of the spectrum.

Thank you for listening

Cognitive
Dissonance

What is it &
why does it matter?