S3 - Lifestyle, Values, Personality, Attitude, Consumer profile

Question 1

What is self-concept?

Answer 1

Beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes (how they would describe who they are).

Question 2

What is the difference about real self and ideal self?

Answer 2

Real self: how they actually define their self-concept (different things that currently define them)

Ideal self: how one ideally wants to see themselves

Question 3

What are two important constructs related to self-concept? How do you define them? What impacts can they have?

Answer 3

Self-esteem
- Extent to which someone has a positive/negative attitude toward their real self
- Influence consumer behaviour (someone who just got rejected is more likely to buy a luxurious product to gain back self esteem)

Self-consciousness
- The degree to which one cares about how others view one’s self
- Influence consumer behaviour: social influence has a stronger impact on self-conscious people

Question 4

How are consumption and the self related?

Answer 4

Brands and products allow consumers to express their self-concept.

Consumers have more favorable attitudes toward and higher preference for brands that are congruent with their real self.

Consumers tend to pursue products and brands that would help them reach their ideal self.

Ex.: environmentalist = patagonia, guru = quebec/hec, lush = ethical, nike = athletic)

Question 5

What is important for brands to do considering that consumers prefer brands/products with who they can identify with? And for ideal self?

Answer 5

1. Understand how consumers in a given target segment defines their self-concept (attributes involved).
2. Identify the attributes that are common in the majority of consumers’ self concept (ex. outdoorsy and adventurous) in the target segment.
3. Associate their brands with these attributes (outdoorsy and adventurous) so that consumers in this segment perceives the brand to be congruent with their real self

OR

4. Try to understand the ideal self of a target segment and convince consumers that using their brand will help them reach their ideal self.

Question 6

What is symbolic completion and compensatory consumption?

Answer 6

Both associated with the concept that products and brands shape the self: “You are what you consume”.

Symbolic self-completion:
- complete identity by acquiring/displaying symbols that one associate with one particular role

Compensatory consumption
- compensating by something one is lacking

Examples:
- Adolescent smoking cigarettes and acting macho
- Men in mid-life crisis purchasing sports car
- Consumers who feel like having low social power purchasing luxury products

Question 7

Can external objects be considered a part of a person?

Answer 7

Yes, consumers can treat products or brands as their extended self.

Examples:
- gift you received from your parents/favorite toy childhood = young self extended to object
- attachment to cars

Question 8

What are some examples of personality traits that can influence consumption decisions?

Answer 8

Openness: appreciation of new ideas

Conscientiousness: tendency to be careful, well- organized

Extraversion: be sociable/talkative

Agreeableness: go along with others

Neuroticism: frequently experience intense emotions

Materialism: accord importance to object

Cognition: effortful cognitive activities

Uniqueness: differentness

Question 9

What marketing activities can contribute to shaping brand personality?

Answer 9

1. Associations with individuals
2. Anthropomorphism
   - the use of human-like characters to represent the brand with distinct personalities (ex. M&M)

Question 10

What is a lifestyle?

Answer 10

Patterns of consumption reflecting a person’s choice of how they spend time and money

It includes
- Interests (family, home, community, fashion, food)
- Activities (work, hobbies, social event, sports)
- Opinions (social issues, politics, themselves)

Question 10

What are values and how do they influence consumer behaviour?

Answer 10

Lasting beliefs on what is good vs bad.

Consumers are more likely to prefer brands that share their values, especially if it corresponds to theirs. !Be careful to appear sincere!

Ex.: Family, health, freedom, etc.

Question 11

What is attitude?

Answer 11

A lasting general evaluation of concepts (ex.: people, brands, product categories, social issues)

Question 12

What are the functions of attitude? Describe them.

Answer 12

1. Utilitarian Function
   - Allow people to attain rewards and avoid punishments. Satisfy personal needs and desires.
2. Knowledge Function
   - Allow people to understand and make sense of their environment, thus help them organize and structure their lives.
3. Value-Expressive Function
   - Allow people to communicate who they are and assert their identity.
4. Ego-Defensive Function
   - Allow people to protect their self-esteem by helping them justify their behaviour that may otherwise be unacceptable.

Question 13

What are the three components of attitude? Why are their useful for companies?

Answer 13

1. Affect
   - The way one feels about the concept.
2. Behaviour
   - Intentions one has toward the concept.
3. Cognition
   - What one thinks/knows about the concept.

They are useful to companies because it helps them evaluate which component they need to improve since they’re all important. Consistency across components&raquo_space;