My thoughts

What I got out of Blogging

For me it means a lot to look at everyday events that change my consumer behavior. I never really thought about things like how celebrities affect me or that I could care about fashion and how it affected consumers. I thought it was cool to use what I learned in class to determine what it was that I thought was cool and why I thought that.

I used the blogs as a personal reflection on many cultures and how they affect my decisions to buy.
I thought about what I have bought and what I says about myself just like how the cultures I described said things about themselves.

I found out that we consume because it is fun and we are not only describing ourselves but showing who we want to be.

With these blogs we have the freedom to post about what we like and what we think about things we see in our culture.

Overall I had a lot of fun this semester and never knew that there could be so much to learn about peoples irrational reasons to buy things.

Commercials and Behaviors

The Commercial Party 

I am a huge football fan and it consumes my life every season. I usually only watch my team the Steelers during the season. As we get closer to the holidays and we think about good gift ideas it is safe to say that anything with a Steelers logo is a safe bet for my family and friends.


I own a hat and hoodie, jersey and shirt, lunch box, beer glasses and a mug along with the most important memorabilia which is my terrible towel. NFL has such a large influence on consumers in the USA. The merchandise sales alone are astonishing.

But for me with all the merchandise they sell it is only the beginning of the NFL influence on consumers. The SuperBowl is the holly grail of advertisement as we can tell by the multi millions spent on one spot. Here is a few of the best

The Superbowl is great because it give companies the opportunity to use everything they know about consumers to show off their brands. These commercials are funny, they inspire and in a few cases they play to consumers lifestyles and values.

The important thing to consider about the SuperBowl is that you don't have to be a football fan to enjoy it.

Competition is good old fashioned fun

Big Brands with Big Statements 

I am still young and haven't had too many experiences with brands to be so loyal to a brand that I wont consider the competition. I love the fact that brands compete for me even if at times they become cut throat...

This has to be one of the most competitive markets in the united states or at-least as far as my redneck friends are concerned. Is it worth trashing the other brands to make yours stand out.

Or is it better to make your competitors friends...

When it comes to well established brands like coke or pepsi, the preference of the consumer allows for a highly competitive atmosphere.

As a consumer I always like to try new things at-least once, but only if they make an effort to compete with the big names.

How do we Anchor

Deciding on the pice due to anchoring

This theme was mentioned in both "Paradox of Choice" and "Predictably Irrational"
For me this affects my behavior when it goes along with convenience, time and other factors.
When we think of anchoring is it trying to nudge us to make a correct buying decision

Or is it a trick that tries to get us to pay a better looking price by presenting a unreasonable with it

There was so much hype about the ipad being $999 before the price was set that the price of $499 seems like a steal even though it was an imaginary price that anchored the starting price.

How do we as the consumers know it is a good deal, especially when their is no competition. And even when their is competition what brands do we put into the same category to compare prices.

This is why I think that anchoring is only a useful tool if we us it with other purchasing decisions.

Fashion Superbowl

What is there to hate about Victoria Secret Fashion Show?

well there is the fact that fashion models seem to have such a large influence on mainstream young girls. Then there is young girls that believe they should aim to look like these models so they can have as much fun as they do.

You watch the backstage at the show and tend to love love their lives. This show is the Superbowl of Fashion and especially when you think about the commercial aspect of it. The question is can we take this event lightly and just have fun with it like the Superbowl or do we have to find meaning about how consumers have to behave.

Lets keep in mind that this is true

And to fight the urge to want to be like our role-models lets listen to the truth

And those that model that are realistic

Be Happy with yourself and don't let the media change that view. Because they are trying to sell to you not be your friend.

Pressure Buy

Why we buy

Black Friday is here and I can't help but think about how crazy it is. Enjoy

From watching this it seems that people shop on this day because they find pleasure and arousal form the experience. The people seem crazy but they are feeding off each others excitement and are stimulated by it. But what if the pressure of getting a great deal or a limited item turns into a negative experience than this happens.

If we try to rationalize black friday from a consumers standpoint then we have to look at everyones shopping orientation. Many people who do shop on black fridays attitude towards shopping is based on success. Those who shop on this day are on a mission and measure their pleasure by the success. GREAT DEALS =










BAD DEALS = you get the point


Every shopper has that common interest on Black Friday that is the "thrill of the hunt"

Why Why POP

Concerts and Point of Purchase stimuli

I have never really been susceptible to flash advertisement and cool displays. I can't say that I have bought many iconic clothing items or anything with logos on it. I basically wear plain shirts and jeans and that it. I am a bargain shopper when I shop for cloths.

There is a series of times when this is not true though. Concerts. 




I am a victim to Point of Purchase when I am in a concert. When I am enjoying the music and being with good friends then money is not an issue. I will buy a 12 dollar beer or 35 dollar shirt of my favorite band out of impulse. I can not afford this being a college student

I think that POP is the experience of buying 
we don't rationalize it we just buy in the moment.

When Bold is to far

Glamorizing Terrorism
(this is my post about a physical article)
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/07/16/2312871/tsarnaev-rolling-stone/

I had received a free subscription to Rolling Stones magazine for attending a music festival. I had read a few of the magazines this year and had enjoyed them for the most part.

Rolling stones the band has been around forever and has built a party reputation by being true rock stars. The magazine has embodied this reputation since its existence.
 

Rolling Stones magazine has positioned its product in the bold market position where every issue aims to make a statement with its magazine covers and articles. For the most part though the magazine covers have had other rockstars on the covers.

I have had no problem with the position they have taken in the market but over the summer their was one issue that made me question their values and wither they took their image too far.


This issue to me was crossing the boundary of bold and into the territory of offensive. If the cover has been historically been reserved for rock star status than in one issue Rolling Stones destroyed that image.
Dzhokar Tsarnaev is not a rock star and never deserves the publicity of a cover that some argue treats him like he is a martyr. 
This issue alone shakes the core values that Rolling Stones has built itself on and begs to ask the question can one source destroy a brand. 

I do not intend to influence but for me the use of this source has destroyed the brand forever. 

Style

The meaning behind Fashion

As said on page 561 of the Solomon text:
 
"Fashion is context-dependent. Different consumers interpret the same style differently."

For me the new movie "Catching Fire" describes this best

Overview

This second installment of the Hunger Games is set up with the symbol of the Mocking Jay represents revolution the the outer rim districts while in the capital it represents innovative fashion that many can model themselves after.

In this clip you will see the main character Katniss Everdeen's wedding dress transform into a Mocking Jay dress. This transformation leaves a lot of room for interpretation among the audiences.

This video shows Katniss making a statement with her wardrobe. The capital is the reference group that copies this wardrobe and makes it a style. The Mocking Jay is now in Fashion as Solomon describes but the interpretation of that fashion is different among the capital and the outer rim districts.

The point of Fashion making a statement is that:

 You can dress how you want and your own style represents who you are to a degree.
But if you want to make a statement with how you dress than there has to be a following the recognizes your style and then it will be in Fashion.

Cowboy with a Martini

If a car is built to go fast and it is marketed to go fast along with the fact that it is priced so absurdly high because it is meant to go fast, DO YOU HAVE TO DRIVE FAST?

Here is a little something to listen to while you drudge through this blog...

This past weekend I visited my friend Steven in Spokane. He drives a Audi S4 (the "S" stands for supercharged) This car resembles what I mean by fast, 333hp fast.

My friend Steven always offers to drive (not that I have a choice). Sometimes I find it funny that he listens to gangster rap and always drives over the speed limit (won't specify how much over). Then I realize that if I owned that car that I would probably do the exact same thing because I would buy that car so I could go fast. Until that day happens for me I will continue to drive relatively slow and listen to country music in my Ford explorer. This is my experience with this car and will always think of driving it FAST (thats the semiotics that I have developed).

This is not always the case as I also discovered this past weekend.
On our way to spokane we drove a 2006 Honda Accord and on many occasions passed this 30-40 year old guy that was going at or under the speed limit driving this.  :)

My thoughts exactly. This guy was still young and owned a Shelby Cobra GT 500 "THIS CAR GOES FAST." yet this guy was content traveling maybe a couple hundred miles just going the speed limit. Either this person was completely unaware of the fact that this car's attribute revolved around going fast or his "self-image congruence" with this car only had to do with price. He was just showing off the fact that he had money if this were the case. 

I guess what I am trying to get at from this post is that Function and Marketable Aspects of a product may not always influence the purchasers behavior. Sometimes we don't buy because it performs, is high quality or responsible. Sometimes we just buy because it looks cool and it will make others jealous which is insane. 

 

Pay it Forward

Pay it Forward -- WHILE CONSUMING

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa

One of the perks of working at a coffee shop is that I get to closely observe consumers behavior everyday. The other day this couple came in and after purchasing their coffee, they offered to buy the girls coffee behind them. This happen all the time at a coffee shop, but in this instance the girl had no clue who this couple was. This simple act of random kindness started a chain reaction where people kept buying the drinks of those behind them, which probably last for 30 minutes or so. Who could know the motives of the couple but the fact that others joined in was amazing.

Why do we buy?

“Every man dies, not every man really lives.” William Wallace

This act made me think of why people come in and spend five dollars on a coffee drink when they could make something similar for a fraction of the cost. I would like to think that customers come into City Brew because we care about them and try to provide them with a service they can't find at home. The truth is that people in their busy lives are unconsciously searching for single moments that will open their eyes to life.

Besides the couple at the coffee shop the others most likely did not think when they walked in that they would be buying a strangers drink but yet they did it anyway. This could be considered irrational consumer behavior because they will probably never see that person again and get return on their investment. This simply means that not every purchase uses prospect theory and that not all irrational purchase decisions are habitual. Money is not always an issue when you are paying for the experience and that is why people go to a coffee shop. Sometimes it just feels good to do the right thing, even if we need to be nudged to do so.

Consuming: A Celebration of Ourselves

"People often buy products not for what they do but for what they mean." - pg. 16 of Solomon text

One of the hardest thing to do as a consumer is explain what type of consumer we are, or even explain why we buy a certain product. Consumers do know that there is a reason for buying certain products over others, even if they can't pin down that reason. Seldom is their only one choice for a certain product, but many choices that essentially accomplish the same end result.

Consumers love choices because it allows them to separate themselves from other consumers. There is a million reasons a person would pick one product over the other initially. Many of these decision are made using reason and can be explained and others are harder to explain. I liked the textbooks explanation of a persons relationship with a product based on self-concept attachment which is the establishment of a user's identity through the product.

Myself as a consumer will associate a product with a person I know or an event in my past. If I have a deep connection with that person or event then I have already established a relationship with that product.


I loved this hat because It brought back good memories and therefore Adidas represented part of my past and part of me.

Brands Relationship with a Person
Certain brands target certain people from the function of the product and the types of communities they are used in. I took a look at SmartWool company because I believe they did an amazing job of developing the relationship they already had with their customer base and getting new customers without a well known logo. Watch this video to get an idea of what it means to wear SmartWool.

http://vimeo.com/41393072