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C H A PT E R

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND
TARGET AUDIENCE DECISIONS

Chapter Objectives
• To understand the consumer decision-making process and how it
varies for different types of purchases.
• To understand various internal psychological processes, their
influence on consumer decision making, and implications for
advertising and promotion.
• To understand the similarities and differences of target market and
target audience.
• To understand the various options for making a target audience
decision for marketing communication.

Marketers Seeking
50-Plus Consumers
Nintendo is famous for its video games.
DaimlerChrysler features a wide selection of car
brands. Tabi is known for its classic women’s
clothing. While seemingly unrelated, these brands
have recently shared a similar strategy.
As these established companies expanded
beyond their current customer base, each brand
attempted new marketing communication programs containing a more emotional message aimed
at the 50-plus demographic. The 50-plus crowd not
only is a sizable market, but also is a very lucrative
one; they control 55 percent of all discretionary
spending in Canada due to their relatively high net
worth. And while the brands all looked toward the
fifty-plus market, additional segmentation based on
an understanding of consumer behaviour revealed
subtle differences in their approach.
For Nintendo, the saturated youth market proved
to be a no-growth avenue. With industry sales hitting the billion-dollar level, penetration levelling
off at 30 percent of Canadian homes, and research
indicating that 75 percent of teens perceived lower
interest in gaming, Nintendo looked to new users.
However, convincing 50-plus consumers of the
value of buying a device to play “brain-training”
games like Sudoku on a hand-held device appeared
to be a significant communication challenge because
these consumers use iPods, cell phones, and PDAs.
DaimlerChrysler marketed its new vehicles—
the Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, and Dodge

Charger—to the older crowd as well, but diverged
the communication plans according to different
consumer behaviour considerations. For example,
its Dodge ads conveyed the benefits of value and
distinctive styling, while Chrysler expressed a
luxurious styling. Moreover, despite both brands
targeting the 50-plus market, alternate media
appeared promising as Chrysler consumers leaned
toward talk radio, theatre, and dramas, while
Dodge consumers yearned for classic rock, movies,
and sitcoms.
Tabi took the targeting in its own direction by
breaking the older age demographic into several
different “personality cohorts” reflecting many lifestyles. As this influenced product selection in the
store, Tabi used this approach in its advertising and
other promotional tools. Tabi sought to find new
fashion models, and ran a contest in conjunction
with Canadian Living with the intention of selecting three women who represented Tabi customers.
Sources: Lisa D’Innocenzo, “Boom Goes Your Brand,” Strategy
Magazine, May 2006, p. 33; Michelle Halpern, “Mind Games,”
Marketing Magazine, April 10, 2006; and Sylvain Desofosses,
“Shifting Values,” Marketing, September 11, 2006.

Questions
1. Why do marketers tend to overlook older consumers?
2. Explain some reasons why older consumers are good
markets.

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

The companies described in the opening vignette reveal that the development of effective marketing communication programs begins with understanding why consumers
behave as they do. This understanding helps marketers to know how to encourage new
consumers to buy a product (e.g., Nintendo), what to emphasize in communications to
specific audiences (e.g., DaimlerChrysler), and which types of IMC tools might be used
(e.g., Tabi). These types of communication problems or opportunities, and others, can
be addressed with a thorough understanding of consumer behaviour.
It is beyond the scope of this text to examine consumer behaviour in depth.
However, promotional planners need a basic understanding of consumer decision
making, factors that influence it, and how this knowledge can be used in developing promotional strategies and programs. This chapter addresses these topics and
concludes with a summary of the options a promotional planner has for the initial
decision, the target audience for an ad or promotional campaign.

CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Consumer behaviour can be defined as the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and
disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires. The conceptual model in Figure 3–1 will be used as a framework for analyzing the consumer
decision-making process. We will discuss what occurs at the various stages of this
model and how advertising and promotion can be used to influence decision making.
The five-stage decision process model of Figure 3–1 views the consumer as a problem
solver and information processor who engages in mental processes to evaluate alternative brands and determine the degree to which they might satisfy needs or purchase
motives. This model is a form of cognitive learning. Consumer learning has been
defined as “the process by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption
knowledge and experience they apply to future related behaviour.”1 There are other
perspectives regarding how consumers acquire the knowledge and experience they use
in making purchase decisions. However, this model is the most widely accepted and
managerially useful.

NEED RECOGNITION
Figure 3–1 shows that the first stage in the consumer decision-making process is
need recognition, which occurs when the consumer perceives a need and becomes
motivated to enter a decision-making process to resolve the felt need. Marketers are
required to know the specific needs consumers are attempting to satisfy and how they
translate into purchase criteria. This information allows markets to accurately portray
the need in promotional messages or place messages in an appropriate location.
Need recognition is caused by a difference between the consumer’s ideal state
and actual state. A discrepancy exists between what the consumer wants the

FIGURE

3–1

A basic model of consumer decision making

A. Stages in the Consumer Decision-Making Process
Need
recognition

Information
search

Alternative
evaluation

Purchase
decision

Postpurchase
evaluation

Attitude
formation

Integration

Satisfaction

B. Relevant Internal Psychological Processes
Motivation

Perception

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

situation to be like and what the situation is really like. A goal
exists for the consumer, and this goal may be the attainment of
a more positive situation from a neutral state. Or, the goal could
be a shift from a negative situation, and the consumer wishes to
be at a neutral state.
The causes of need recognition may be very simple or very
complex and may result from changes in the consumer’s current
and/or desired state. These causes may be influenced by both
internal and external factors.

Out of Stock Need recognition occurs when consumers use
their existing supply of a product and must replenish their stock.
The purchase decision is usually simple and routine and is often
resolved by choosing a familiar brand or one to which the consumer feels loyal.
Dissatisfaction Need recognition is created by the consumer’s
dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and/or the product
or service being used. For example, a consumer may think her ski
boots are no longer comfortable or stylish enough. Advertising
may be used to help consumers recognize when they have a need
to make a purchase. The Energizer ad shown in Exhibit 3–1 helps
users realize that some batteries are superior.

Exhibit 3–1 This Energizer ad shows how
its batteries last longer

New Needs/Wants Changes in consumers’ lives often result in new needs and
wants. For example, changes in one’s financial situation, employment status, or
lifestyle may create new needs. As you will see, when you graduate from college
or university and begin your professional career, your new job may necessitate a
change in your wardrobe. (Good-bye blue jeans, hello business suits.)
Not all product purchases are based on needs. Some products or services sought
by consumers are not essential but are nonetheless desired. A want has been defined
as a felt need that is shaped by a person’s knowledge, culture, and personality.2
Many products sold to consumers satisfy their wants rather than their basic needs.
Related Products/Purchases Need recognition can also be stimulated by the
purchase of a product. For example, the purchase of a new camera may lead to
the recognition of a need for accessories, such as additional lenses or a carrying case.
The purchase of a personal computer may prompt the need for software programs
or upgrades.

Marketer-Induced Need Recognition Another source of need recognition is
marketers’ actions that encourage consumers not to be content with their current
state or situation. Ads for personal hygiene products such as mouthwash, deodorant,
and foot sprays may be designed to create insecurities that consumers can resolve
through the use of these products. Marketers change fashions and clothing designs
and create perceptions among consumers that their wardrobes are out of style.
Marketers also take advantage of consumers’ tendency toward novelty-seeking
behaviour, which leads them to try different brands. Consumers often try new
products or brands even when they are basically satisfied with their regular brand.
Marketers encourage brand switching by using advertising and sales promotion techniques that encourage consumers to reconsider their current consumption habits.
The BlackBerry ad in Exhibit 3–2 on page 64 demonstrates the need for communication when out of the office.

New Products Need recognition can also occur when innovative products are
introduced. For example, the Rogers ad shown in Exhibit 3–3 on page 64 introduces
a new camera phone that allows the user to do more than ever before. Marketers’

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

Exhibit 3–2 The importance of communication is
featured in this BlackBerry ad

Exhibit 3–3 Rogers introduces a camera phone

attempts to create need recognition among consumers are not always successful.
Consumers may not see a need for the product the marketer is selling. A main reason why many consumers were initially reluctant to purchase a personal computer
was that they failed to see how it fulfilled their needs. One way PC manufacturers
successfully activated need recognition was by stressing how a computer helps
children improve their academic skills and do better in school.

CONSUMER MOTIVATION
While need recognition is often a basic, simple process, the way a consumer
perceives a purchase situation and becomes motivated to resolve it will influence
the remainder of the decision process. For example, one consumer may perceive the
need to purchase a new watch from a functional perspective and focus on reliable,
low-priced alternatives. Another consumer may see the purchase of a watch as
more of a fashion statement and focus on the design and image of various brands.
To better understand the reasons underlying consumer purchases, marketers devote
considerable attention to examining motives—that is, those factors that compel a
consumer to take a particular action.
One of the most popular approaches to understanding consumer motivations
is based on the classic theory of human motivation popularized many years ago
by psychologist Abraham Maslow.3 His hierarchy of needs theory postulates five
basic levels of human needs, arranged in a hierarchy based on their importance.
As shown in Figure 3–2, the five needs are (1) physiological—the basic level of primary needs for things required to sustain life, such as food, shelter, clothing, and
sex; (2) safety—the need for security and safety from physical harm; (3) social/love
and belonging—the desire to have satisfying relationships with others and feel a
sense of love, affection, belonging, and acceptance; (4) esteem—the need to feel

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

FIGURE

3–2

Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs
Selfactualization
needs
(self-development
and realization)
Esteem needs
(self-esteem,
recognition, status)
Social needs
(sense of belonging, love)
Safety needs
(security, protection)
Physiological needs
(hunger, thirst)

a sense of accomplishment and gain recognition, status, and respect from others;
and (5) self-actualization—the need for self-fulfillment and a desire to realize one’s
own potential.
According to Maslow’s theory, the lower-level physiological
and safety needs must be satisfied before the higher-order needs
become meaningful. Once these basic needs are satisfied, the
individual moves on to attempting to satisfy higher-order needs
such as self-esteem. In reality, it is unlikely that people move
through the needs hierarchy in a stairstep manner. Lower-level
needs are an ongoing source of motivation for consumer purchase behaviour. However, since basic physiological needs are
met in most developed countries, marketers often sell products
that fill basic physiological needs by appealing to consumers’
higher-level needs. For example, in marketing its wipes, Huggies
focuses on the love between parent and child (social needs) in
addition to the gentleness of the product (Exhibit 3–4).
While Maslow’s needs hierarchy has flaws, it offers a framework for marketers to use in determining what needs they want
their products and services to be shown satisfying. Advertising
campaigns can then be designed to show how a brand can fulfill
these needs. Marketers also recognize that different types of consumers have different need levels. For example, a young single
person may be attempting to satisfy social or self-esteem needs
in purchasing a car, while a family with children will focus more
on safety needs. Chrysler used ads like the one in Exhibit 3–5 on Exhibit 3–4 Huggies appeals to needs for
page 66 to communicate that its cars meet the security needs of love and belonging in this ad
consumers with children.

INFORMATION SEARCH
The second stage in the consumer decision-making process is information search.
Once consumers perceive a need that can be satisfied by the purchase of a product,
they begin to search for information needed to make a purchase decision. The initial

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

search effort often consists of an attempt to scan information stored
in memory to recall past experiences and/or knowledge regarding various purchase alternatives.4 This information retrieval is
referred to as internal search. For many routine, repetitive purchases, previously acquired information that is stored in memory
(such as past performance or outcomes from using a brand) is sufficient for comparing alternatives and making a choice.
If the internal search does not yield enough information,
the consumer will seek additional information by engaging in
external search. External sources of information include:
• Personal sources, such as friends, relatives, or co-workers.
• Marketer-controlled (commercial) sources, such as information from advertising, salespeople, or point-of-purchase
displays and the Internet.
• Public sources, including articles in magazines or newspapers and reports on TV.
• Personal experience, such as actually handling, examining,
or testing the product.

Determining how much and which sources of external
information to use involves several factors, including the
importance of the purchase decision, the effort needed to
Exhibit 3–5 Chrysler uses an appeal to
acquire information, the amount of past experience relevant,
security needs
the degree of perceived risk associated with the purchase, and
the time available. For example, the selection of a movie to see on a Friday night
might entail simply talking to a friend or checking the movie guide in the daily
newspaper. A more complex purchase such as a new car might use a number of
information sources—perhaps a review of Road & Track, Motor Trend, or Consumer
Reports; discussion with family members and friends; and test-driving of cars. At
this point in the purchase decision, the information-providing aspects of advertising
are extremely important.
The Internet influences consumers’ external search patterns significantly for many
products. For the travel industry, 60 percent indicated in 2006 that the Internet is
very or extremely important for making travel plans, compared to one-third in 2002.
TNS Canadian Facts research also noted that website satisfaction reached 36 percent,
compared with 27 percent previously. The type of information sought involved significant moves from simple things like researching the weather or the destination to
more complex comparisons of travel costs and accommodations.5

PERCEPTION
Knowledge of how consumers acquire and use information from external sources
is important to marketers in formulating communication strategies. Marketers are
particularly interested in (1) how consumers sense external information, (2) how
they attend to various sources of information, (3) how this information is interpreted
and given meaning, and (4) how the information is retained. These four processes
are all part of perception, the process by which an individual receives, attends
to, interprets, and stores information to create a meaningful picture of the world.6
Perception is an individual process; it depends on internal factors such as a person’s
beliefs, experiences, needs, moods, and expectations. The perceptual process is also
influenced by the characteristics of a stimulus (such as its size, colour, and intensity) and the context in which it is seen or heard. Selectivity occurs throughout the
four stages of the consumer’s perceptual process. Perception may be viewed as a
filtering process in which internal and external factors influence what is received
and how it is processed and interpreted. The sheer number and complexity of the
marketing stimuli a person is exposed to in any given day require that this filtering
occur. Selective perception may occur within all four stages of the perceptual process, as shown in Figure 3–3.

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

FIGURE

3–3

Selective
exposure

The selective perception process
Selective
attention

Selective
comprehension

Selective
retention

Sensation Sensation is the immediate, direct response of the senses (taste, smell,
sight, touch, and hearing) to a stimulus such as an ad, package, brand name, or pointof-purchase display. Perception uses these senses to create a representation of the
stimulus. Marketers recognize that it is important to understand consumers’ physiological reactions to marketing stimuli. For example, the visual elements of an ad or
package design must be designed so that consumers sense their existence. This is one
reason why many TV ads start with a particular sound effect or visual movement.
Marketers sometimes try to increase the level of sensory input so that their
advertising messages will get noticed. For example, marketers of colognes and perfumes often use strong visuals as well as scent strips to appeal to multiple senses
and attract the attention of magazine readers. Some advertisers have even inserted
microcomputer chips into their print ads to play a song or deliver a message.
Selective exposure occurs as consumers choose whether or not to make themselves
available to information. For example, a viewer of a television show may change
channels or leave the room during commercial breaks.

Selecting Information Sensory inputs are important but are only one part of
the perceptual process. Other determinants of whether marketing stimuli will be
attended to and how they will be interpreted include internal psychological factors such as the consumer’s personality, needs,
motives, expectations, and experiences. These
psychological inputs explain why people focus
attention on some things and ignore others.
Two people may perceive the same stimuli in
very different ways because they select and
attend to messages differently. An individual’s
perceptual processes usually focus on elements
of the environment that are relevant to his
or her needs and tune out irrelevant stimuli.
Think about how much more attentive you are
to advertising for personal computers, tires, or
stereos when you are in the market for one of
these products.
Selective attention occurs when the consumer chooses to focus attention on certain
stimuli while excluding others. One study of
selective attention estimates the typical consumer is exposed to nearly 1,500 ads per day yet
perceives only 76 of these messages.7 Other estimates range as high as 3,000 exposures per day.
This means advertisers must make considerable
effort to get their messages noticed. Advertisers
often use the creative aspects of their ads to
gain consumers’ attention. For example, some
advertisers set their ads off from others by
showing their products against a vibrant colour
background (Exhibit 3–6). Marketers also place
ads in certain times or locations so that consum- Exhibit 3–6 Tropicana uses colour to focus attention on
ers will notice them more easily. For example, a orange juice

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

consumer may pay more attention to a commercial that is heard alone at home than
to one heard in the presence of friends, at work, or anywhere distractions may be
present. If advertisers can isolate a particular time when the listener is likely to be
attentive, they will probably earn his or her undivided attention.

Interpreting the Information Once a consumer selects and attends to a stimulus, the perceptual process focuses on organizing, categorizing, and interpreting the
incoming information. This stage of the perceptual process is very individualized
and is influenced by internal psychological factors. The interpretation and meaning
an individual assigns to an incoming stimulus also depend in part on the nature of
the stimulus. For example, many ads are objective, and their message is clear and
straightforward. Other ads are more ambiguous, and their meaning is strongly influenced by the consumer’s individual interpretation.
Even if the consumer does notice the advertiser’s message, there is no guarantee
it will be interpreted in the intended manner. Consumers may engage in selective
comprehension, interpreting information on the basis of their own attitudes, beliefs,
motives, and experiences. They often interpret information in a manner that supports their own position. For example, an ad that disparages a consumer’s favourite
brand may be seen as biased or untruthful, and its claims may not be accepted.
Retaining the Information The final stage of the perceptual process involves

the storage of the information in short-term or long-term memory. Consumers may
make mental notes or focus on some aspect of an advertising message to ensure that
they will not forget, thus permitting easy retrieval during the information search
stage. Selective retention means consumers do not remember all the information
they see, hear, or read even after attending to and comprehending it. Advertisers
attempt to make sure information will be retained in the consumer’s memory so that
it will be available when it is time to make a purchase. Mnemonics such as symbols,
rhymes, associations, and images that assist in the learning and memory process are
helpful. Many advertisers use telephone numbers that spell out the company name
and are easy to remember. Energizer put pictures of its pink bunny on packages to
remind consumers at the point of purchase of its creative advertising.

Subliminal Perception Advertisers know consumers use selective perception
to filter out irrelevant or unwanted advertising messages, so they employ various
creative tactics to get their messages noticed. One controversial tactic advertisers
have been accused of using is appealing to consumers’ subconscious. Subliminal
perception refers to the ability to perceive a stimulus that is below the level of consciousness. Psychologists generally agree it is possible to perceive something without
any knowledge of having seen it. The possibility of using hidden persuaders such as
subliminal audio messages or visual cues to influence consumers might be intriguing
to advertisers but would not be welcomed by consumers. The idea of marketers influencing consumers at a subconscious level has strong ethical implications. The use of
subliminal techniques is not a creative tactic we would recommend to advertisers.

ALTERNATIVE EVALUATION
After acquiring information during the information search stage of the decisionmaking process, the consumer moves to alternative evaluation. In this stage, the
consumer compares the various brands he or she has identified as being capable of
solving the consumption problem and satisfying the needs or motives that initiated
the decision process. The brands identified as purchase options to be considered
during this stage are referred to as the consumer’s evoked set.
The evoked set is generally only a subset of all the brands of which the consumer
is aware. The consumer reduces the number of brands to be reviewed during the
alternative evaluation stage to a manageable level. The exact size of the evoked set
varies from one consumer to another and depends on such factors as the importance

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

of the purchase and the amount of time and energy the consumer wants to spend
comparing alternatives.
The goal of most advertising and promotional strategies is to increase the likelihood that a brand will be included in the consumer’s evoked set and considered
during alternative evaluation. Marketers use advertising to create top-of-mind
awareness among consumers so that their brands are part of the evoked set of their
target audiences. Popular brands with large advertising budgets use reminder advertising to maintain high awareness levels and increase the likelihood they will be
considered by consumers in the market for the product. Marketers of new brands or
those with a low market share need to gain awareness among consumers and break
into their evoked sets.
Once consumers have identified an evoked set and have a list of alternatives, they
must evaluate the various brands. This involves comparing the choice alternatives
on specific criteria important to the consumer. Evaluative criteria are the attributes
of a product that are used to compare different alternatives. Evaluative criteria can
be objective or subjective. For example, in buying an automobile, consumers use
objective attributes such as price, warranty, and fuel economy as well as subjective
attributes such as image or styling.
Many marketers view their products as bundles of attributes, but consumers also
tend to think about products or services in terms of their consequences or bundles
of benefits. J. Paul Peter and Jerry Olson define
consequences as specific events or outcomes
that consumers experience when they purchase
and/or consume a product.8 Functional benefits
are concrete outcomes of product usage that are
tangible and directly related to product performance. The taste of a soft drink or a potato chip,
the acceleration of a car, and the clarity of a fax
transmission are examples of functional consequences. Experiential benefits are related to how
a product makes the consumer feel while consuming the product. These emotions can be feelings
of happiness or joy, for example, as seen by some
car ads illustrating consumers enjoying the drive
in a particular brand. Psychological benefits can
refer to the status a consumer encounters when
associated with a brand.
Marketers should distinguish between product
attributes and benefits because the importance
and meaning consumers assign to an attribute
are usually determined by its consequences for
them. Moreover, advertisers must be sure consumers understand the link between a particular
attribute and a benefit. For example, the Ping ad
in Exhibit 3–7 focuses on the benefit of using the
new Ping golf club. Product attributes and the
benefits consumers think they will experience
from a particular brand are very important, for
they are often the basis on which consumers
form attitudes and decide among various choice Exhibit 3–7 This ad emphasizes the positive benefits of
using a Ping G2 driver
alternatives.

ATTITUDES
Attitudes are one of the most heavily studied concepts in consumer behaviour.
According to Gordon Allport’s classic definition, “attitudes are learned predispositions to respond to an object.”9 More recent perspectives view attitudes as
a summary construct that represents an individual’s overall feelings toward or

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

evaluation of an object.10 Consumers hold attitudes toward a variety of objects that
are important to marketers, including individuals (celebrity endorsers such as Tiger
Woods or Michael Jordan), brands (Cheerios), companies (Microsoft), product categories (beef, pork, tuna), retail stores (The Bay, Sears), or even advertisements (the
Energizer bunny ads).
Attitudes are important to marketers because they theoretically summarize a
consumer’s evaluation of an object (or brand or company) and represent positive or
negative feelings and behavioural tendencies. Marketers’ keen interest in attitudes
is based on the assumption that they are related to consumers’ purchase behaviour.
Considerable evidence supports the basic assumption of a relationship between
attitudes and behaviour.11 The attitude–behaviour link does not always hold; many
other factors can affect behaviour.12 But attitudes are very important to marketers. Advertising and promotion are used to create favourable attitudes toward new
products/services or brands, reinforce existing favourable attitudes, and/or change
negative attitudes.

PURCHASE DECISION

At some point in the buying process, the consumer must stop searching for and
evaluating information about alternative brands in the evoked set and make a purchase decision. As an outcome of the alternative evaluation stage, the consumer may
develop a purchase intention or predisposition to buy a certain brand. Purchase
intentions are generally based on a matching of purchase motives with attributes or
characteristics of brands under consideration. Their formation involves many of the
personal subprocesses discussed in this chapter, including motivation, perception,
and attitude formation.
A purchase decision is not the same as an actual purchase. Once a consumer
chooses which brand to buy, he or she must still implement the decision and make
the actual purchase. Additional decisions may be needed, such as when to buy,
where to buy, and how much money to spend. Often, there is a time delay between
the formation of a purchase intention or decision and the actual purchase, particularly for highly involved and complex purchases such as automobiles, personal
computers, and consumer durables.
For nondurable products, which include many low-involvement items such as
consumer package goods, the time between the decision and the actual purchase
may be short. Before leaving home, the consumer may make a shopping list that
includes specific brand names because the consumer has developed brand loyalty—
a preference for a particular brand that results in its repeated purchase. Marketers
strive to develop and maintain brand loyalty among consumers. They use
reminder advertising to keep their brand names in front of consumers, maintain
prominent shelf positions and displays in stores, and run periodic promotions to
deter consumers from switching brands. Maintaining consumers’ brand loyalty is
not easy. Competitors use many techniques to encourage consumers to try their
brands, among them new product introductions and free samples. Marketers must
continually battle to maintain their loyal consumers while replacing those who
switch brands.
Purchase decisions for nondurable, convenience items sometimes take place
in the store, almost simultaneous with the purchase. Marketers must ensure that
consumers have top-of-mind awareness of their brands so that they are quickly recognized and considered. These types of decisions are influenced at the actual point
of purchase. Packaging, shelf displays, point-of-purchase materials, and promotional tools such as on-package coupons or premium offers can influence decisions
made through constructive processes at the time of purchase.

INTEGRATION PROCESSES
A key part of the purchase decision stage is the way consumers combine information about the characteristics of brands. Integration processes are the way product

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

knowledge, meanings, and beliefs are combined to evaluate two or more alternatives.13 Analysis of the integration process focuses on the different types of decision
rules or strategies consumers use to decide among purchase alternatives.
Consumers often make purchase selections by using formal integration strategies or decision rules that require examination and comparison of alternatives on
specific attributes. This process involves a very deliberate evaluation of the alternatives, attribute by attribute. When consumers apply such formal
decision rules, marketers need to know which attributes are
being considered so as to provide the information the consumers
require.
Sometimes consumers make their purchase decisions using
more simplified decision rules known as heuristics. Peter
and Olson note that heuristics are easy to use and are highly
adaptive to specific environmental situations (such as a retail
store).14 For familiar products that are purchased frequently,
consumers may use price-based heuristics (buy the least expensive brand) or promotion-based heuristics (choose the brand for
which I can get a price reduction through a coupon, rebate, or
special deal).
One type of heuristic is the affect referral decision rule,15 in
which consumers make a selection on the basis of an overall
impression or summary evaluation of the various alternatives
under consideration. This decision rule suggests that consumers have affective impressions of brands stored in memory that
can be accessed at the time of purchase. How many times have
you gone into a store and made purchases based on your overall
impressions of the brands rather than going through detailed
comparisons of the alternatives’ specific attributes?
Marketers selling familiar and popular brands may appeal
to an affect referral rule by stressing overall affective feelings
or impressions about their products. Market leaders, whose
products enjoy strong overall brand images, often use ads that Exhibit 3–8 Market leaders such as
Labatt can appeal to consumer affect
promote the brand as the best overall (Exhibit 3–8).

POSTPURCHASE EVALUATION
The consumer decision process does not end with the purchase. After consumption, the consumer assesses the level of performance of the product or service. The
postpurchase evaluation process is important because the feedback acquired from
actual use of a product will influence the likelihood of future purchases. Positive
performance means the brand is retained in the evoked set and increases the likelihood it will be purchased again. Unfavourable outcomes may lead the consumer to
form negative attitudes toward the brand, lessening the likelihood it will be purchased again or even eliminating it from the consumer’s evoked set.
Consumers engage in a number of activities during the postpurchase evaluation
process. They may seek out reassurance and opinions from others to confirm the
wisdom of their purchase decision, lower their attitudes or opinions of the unchosen alternative, deny or distort any information that does not support the choice
they made, or look for information that does support their choice. An important
source of supportive information is advertising; consumers tend to be more attentive to advertising for the brand they have chosen.16 Thus, it may be important for
companies to advertise to reinforce consumer decisions to purchase their brands.

SATISFACTION
The most significant psychological concept during the postpurchase evaluation
process is satisfaction. A leading expert in satisfaction research has recently defined

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

satisfaction as a judgment that consumers make with respect to the pleasurable
level of consumption-related fulfillment.17 The notion of fulfillment implies that
a consumer’s goal has been achieved (i.e., needs met), and that the fulfillment is
“judged with reference to a standard.” Thus, consumers make a comparison between
the consumption outcome and some other referent.
Consumers can make many comparisons. One is to compare the level of product
performance to the expectations of the product that consumers had prior to purchase. Satisfaction can occur when the consumer’s expectations are either met or
exceeded, whereas dissatisfaction results when performance is below expectations.
Consumers can also compare the product performance to some absolute standard of
quality to perceive satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Another aspect of satisfaction is cognitive dissonance, a feeling of psychological
tension or postpurchase doubt that a consumer experiences after making a difficult
purchase choice. Dissonance is more likely to occur in important decisions where
the consumer must choose among close alternatives (especially if the unchosen
alternative has unique or desirable features that the selected alternative does not
have).
Marketers must recognize the importance of the postpurchase evaluation stage.
Dissatisfied consumers not only are unlikely to repurchase the marketer’s product
but also may spread negative word-of-mouth information that deters others from
purchasing the product or service. The best guarantee of favourable postpurchase
evaluations is to provide consumers with a quality product or service that always
meets their expectations. Marketers must be sure their advertising and other forms
of promotion do not create unreasonable expectations their products cannot meet.
Marketers have come to realize that postpurchase communication is also important. Some companies send follow-up letters and brochures to reassure buyers and
reinforce the wisdom of their decision. Many companies have set up toll-free numbers for consumers to call if they need information or have a question or complaint
regarding a product. Marketers also offer liberalized return and refund policies and
extended warranties and guarantees to ensure customer satisfaction. Some have
used customers’ postpurchase dissatisfaction as an opportunity for gaining new
business.

VARIATIONS IN CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
We have reviewed the consumer decision-making process with respect to individual purchases. However, variations in this process arise depending upon the type
of purchase and whether the individual is making the decision with other people.
We now discuss these two variations in the consumer decision-making process.

TYPES OF DECISION MAKING
The preceding pages describe a general model of consumer decision making. But
consumers do not always engage in all five steps of the purchase decision process
or proceed in the sequence presented. They may minimize or even skip one or
more stages if they have previous experience in purchasing the product or service
or if the decision is of low personal, social, or economic significance. To develop
effective promotional strategies and programs, marketers need some understanding of the problem-solving processes their target consumers use to make purchase
decisions.18
Many of the purchase decisions we make as consumers are based on a habit
known as routine problem solving or routine response behaviour. For many lowpriced, frequently purchased products, the decision process consists of little more

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

than recognizing the need, engaging in a quick internal search, and making the
purchase. The consumer spends little or no effort engaging in external search or
alternative evaluation.
Marketers of products characterized by a routine response purchase process need
to get and/or keep their brands in the consumer’s evoked set and avoid anything
that may result in their removal from consideration. Established brands that have
strong market share position are likely to be in the evoked set of most consumers.
Marketers of these brands want consumers to follow a routine choice process and
continue to purchase their products. This means maintaining high levels of brand
awareness through reminder advertising, periodic promotions, and prominent shelf
positions in retail stores.
Marketers of new brands or those with a low market share face a different challenge. They must find ways to disrupt consumers’ routine choice process and get
them to consider different alternatives. High levels of advertising along with sales
promotion efforts in the form of free samples, special price offers, high-value coupons, and the like may encourage consumers to reconsider their habit or routine
choice.
A more complicated decision-making process may occur when consumers
have limited experience in purchasing a particular product or service and little
or no knowledge of the brands available and/or the criteria to use in making a purchase decision. They may have to learn what attributes or criteria should be used
in making a purchase decision and how the various alternatives perform on these
dimensions. For products or services characterized by limited problem solving
or extended problem solving marketers should make information available that
will help consumers decide. Advertising that provides consumers with detailed
information about a brand and how it can satisfy their purchase motives and goals
is important. Marketers may also want to give consumers information at the point
of purchase, through either displays or brochures. Distribution channels should
have knowledgeable salespeople available to explain the features and benefits of
the company’s product or service and why it is superior to competing products.
The Fidelity Investments ad in Exhibit 3–9 is a good example of how advertising
can appeal to consumers who may be engaging in extended problem solving when
considering retirement investing. Notice how the ad communicates with consumers who know little about how to purchase this product. The ad also makes more
detailed information available by offering a toll-free number and a website.

Exhibit 3–9 This
ad for Fidelity
Investments shows
how marketers can
appeal to consumers
engaging in extended
problem solving

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

GROUP DECISION MAKING

Exhibit 3–10 These
ads are examples of
aspirational reference
groups

Think about the last time you attended a party. As you dressed for the party, you
probably asked yourself (or someone else) what others would be wearing. Your
selection of attire may have been influenced by those likely to be present. This simple example reflects one form of impact that groups may exert on your behaviour.
A group has been defined as “two or more individuals who share a set of norms,
values, or beliefs and have certain implicitly or explicitly defined relationships to
one another such that their behavior is interdependent.”19 Groups are one of the primary factors influencing learning and socialization, and group situations constitute
many of our purchase decisions.
A reference group is “a group whose presumed perspectives or values are being
used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgments, opinions, and actions.”
Consumers use reference groups as a guide to specific behaviours, even when the
groups are not present.20 In the party example, your peers—although not present—provided a standard of dress that you referred to in your clothing selection.
Likewise, your college classmates, family, and co-workers, or even a group to which
you aspire, may serve as referents, and your consumption patterns will typically
conform to the expectations of the groups that are most important to you. Global
Perspective 3–1 highlights the influence of group norms.
Marketers use reference group influences in developing advertisements and promotional strategies. The ads in Exhibits 3–10 and 3–11 are examples of aspirational
reference groups (to which we might like to belong) and disassociative groups (to
which we do not wish to belong), respectively.
In some instances, the group may be involved more directly than just as a referent.
Family members may serve as referents to each other, or they may actually be involved
in the purchase decision process—acting as an individual buying unit. As shown in
Figure 3–4 on page 76, family members may assume a variety of roles in the decisionmaking process.21 As the example indicates, there can be group interaction at every
stage of the consumer decision-making process since various members take on a role.

Exhibit 3–11 This ad represents a
disassociative reference group

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

3–1

Axe Slices through the Deodorant Market
In the highly lucrative and competitive deodorant market, companies are always looking for
the edge that will give them an advantage over
competitors. Unilever may just have found it,
and they call it ethnography. The Europeanbased company hired a U.S.-based research
organization specializing in cultural anthropology to observe young males between the ages
of 18 and 22 and their friends in their everyday environs to learn more about their likes,
dislikes, activities, and decision-making behaviours. The 28 young men—from Los Angeles and
Pittsburgh—were videotaped, and then the tapes
were analyzed to gain insights through the participants’
own descriptions of their activities while being observed in
everyday facets of their lives.
Once the tapes were finished, executives from Unilever,
their advertising and public relations agencies, and their
event specialist agency met to take a “deep dive” into the
young men’s psyches. More specifically, the executives
wanted to understand the participant’s mating life, that
is, what he is about, why he does what he does, what
excites him, and what he fears. Not surprisingly, much of
the young men’s lives focused on sex. Their interest was
not just dating: They preferred to go to parties with other
male friends and “hook up.” Relationships were avoided
whenever possible, as were the words boyfriends and girlfriends. They just wanted to have sex. The anthropologists
even typed the males into groups based upon their characteristics into classifications such as “pimp daddy,” “player,”
“sweetheart,” and “shy guy.”
So what does this have to do with marketing deodorant?
A lot! Based upon these findings the basis for the integrated
marketing campaign theme was developed—“Wear this
deodorant and you’ll pick up chicks!” Simply put, using
AXE products (deodorant, body spray, shower gel, and
more) will help you in your mating attempts. (In Ireland
and Australia, the product is called Lynx, though the same
theme is used.) The television commercials focus on spontaneous sexual encounters and the need to be ready at any
time, while protected (and enhanced) by AXE. The AXE
man is always ready. The commercials have won the Gold
Lion—the top award given at the Cannes Film Festival for
international advertising quality—two of the past four years,
and 10 times overall. The advertising campaign theme is
also maintained through other integrated strategies.
In Colombia, female AXE patrols visit bars and nightclubs, frisking guys and spraying them with body spray.
The “AXE angels” (also female) pass out samples at various
events including the MTV Video Awards. The viral marketing campaign launched a fake website including videos,
fake recordings of phone calls, and pictures. Axe produced

a one-hour TV program, The AXE House

Party: Hundreds of Girls, Rock Stars,
and a Beach House. Invitations to the
party were passed out by street teams,
through public relations activities, and
via an ad campaign that directed consumers to the website for a chance to
win an invitation. The promotion won
a Promotional Marketing Association
Reggie Award for excellence.
Print and online promotions were
also used to promote the seduction
skills used in an online digital fantasy
game called Mojo Master. The game, which cost over a
million dollars to produce, challenges young men armed
with AXE deodorant body spray, shower gel, deodorant
stick, and invisible solid to pick up girls. Each time one of
the products is used it enhances the male’s “mojo,” and
helps him enhance his “attraction meter.” If one is good
enough, he qualifies to use the AXE fragrance. What are
the girls in the game like? “Absolutely stunning,” says the
director of the company that developed the game.
But can ethnography lead to successful product marketing? Consider the following: The AXE House Party
generated attention from MTV, VH-1, Rolling Stone,
and Jimmy Kimmel Live. In the four weeks following
the promotion, brand awareness among 11–24-year-olds
increased 22 percent, and market share jumped from
3 percent to 3.7 percent. In regard to the bottom line,
the campaign’s results are equally impressive: (1) First
launched in 1983, the products are now marketed in
more than 60 countries; (2) the AXE brand is number one
in several European and Latin American markets as well
as in Asia and the United States, where it has been marketed only since 2003; (3) sales are almost seven times
those of the competitive Old Spice brand introduced
at the same time; and (4) sales of the body spray in the
United States in 2004 were over $60 million, making it
the category leader. In this case, ethnography and IMC
seem to have produced a winning combination.
Sources: Ian Herbert, “Spray It, Don’t Say It,” U.S. News & World
Report, May 30, 2005, p. 58; Kris Oser, “AXE’s Latest Sex Ad Is a
Digital Game,” www.Adage.com, May 20, 2005, pp. 1–3; Christine
Bittar, “Bringing Down the House: AXE Shakes Its Groove Thang,”
Brandweek, March 22, 2004, p. R4; Jack Neff, “Analyzing AXE
Man,” Advertising Age, June 21, 2004, pp. 4–5.

Questions:
1. What is your opinion regarding the promotional activities used by Axe?
2. Did the research arrive at a reasonable conclusion
about young men?
75

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

FIGURE

3–4

Roles in the family
decision-making
process

The initiator. The person responsible for initiating the purchase decision process; for example, the
mother who determines she needs a new car.
The information provider. The individual responsible for gathering information to be used in making
the decision; for example, the teenage car buff who knows where to find product information in
specific magazines or collects it from dealers.
The influencer. The person who exerts influence as to what criteria will be used in the selection
process. All members of the family may be involved. The mother may have her criteria, whereas
others may each have their own input.
The decision maker(s). That person(s) who actually makes the decision. In our example, it may be
the mother alone or in combination with another family member.
The purchasing agent. That individual who performs the physical act of making the purchase. In the
case of a car, a husband and wife may decide to choose it together and sign the purchase
agreement.
The consumer. The actual user of the product. In the case of a family car, all family members are
consumers. For a private car, only the mother might be the consumer.

Each role has implications for marketers. First, the advertiser must determine who
is responsible for the various roles in the decision-making process so that messages
can be targeted at that person (or those people). These roles will also dictate media
strategies, since the appropriate magazines, newspapers, or TV or radio stations
must be used. Second, understanding the decision-making process and the use of
information by individual family members is critical to the design of messages and
choice of promotional program elements. In general, to create an effective promotional program, a marketer must have an overall understanding of how the decision
process works and the role that each group member plays.

TARGET AUDIENCE DECISION
We reviewed the consumer decision-making process since marketers need to thoroughly understand the behaviour they are trying to influence through their promotional
plans. Marketers also try to understand consumers as much as possible since an IMC
plan, IMC program (e.g., advertising campaign), or ad is directed to a particular target
audience, which is usually a primary decision made prior to any other communication
decision.
Recall that the information and decisions of a marketing plan are key inputs for all
promotional plan decisions. Futhermore, the direction of the target audience decision is derived from the segmentation and target market decisions of the marketing
plan. In this section, we review the target market process to understand the context
of promotional planning. Next, we summarize approaches for market segmentation
and identify how it is used for target market selection. Finally, we explore how these
marketing decisions provide direction for target audience options.

TARGET MARKET PROCESS
The process of developing and implementing the target market decision is summarized
in Figure 3–5. This model consists of four major components: the organization’s situation analysis, the target market process, the marketing program development (which
includes the promotional mix), and the target market. As the model shows, the marketing process begins with the development of a marketing strategy and analysis in which

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

FIGURE

3–5

Situation
Analysis
Market
analysis

Marketing and promotions process model
Target Market
Process
Segment
the market

Marketing
Program Development
Product
decisions

Select a
target
market

Pricing
decisions

Promotional
decisions
• Direct
marketing

Ultimate
consumer

• Interactive
marketing

• Consumer

• Sales
promotion

Environmental
analysis
Internal
company
analysis

Promotion
to final buyer

• Advertising

Consumer
analysis
Competitive
analysis

Target Market

Determine
the market
positioning
strategy

Channel of
distribution
decisions

• Public
relations

• Businesses
Promotion
to trade
Resellers
Purchase

the company decides the product areas and particular markets where it wants to compete. The company must then coordinate the various elements of the marketing mix into
a cohesive marketing program that will reach the target market effectively. Note that a
firm’s promotion program is directed not only to the final buyer but also to the channel
or “trade” members that distribute its products to the ultimate consumer. These channel members must be convinced there is a demand for the company’s products so they
will carry them and will aggressively merchandise and promote them to consumers.
Promotions play an important role in the marketing program for building and maintaining demand not only among final consumers but among the trade as well.
The target market is the focus of the firm’s marketing effort, and specific sales,
market share, and profitability objectives are set according to where the company
wants to be and what it hopes to accomplish in this market. The method by which
marketers do this (presented in Figure 3–6) is referred to as the target market
process and involves three basic steps: segment the market, select a target market,
and determine the market positioning strategy of one’s product or service. The selection of the target market (or markets) in which the firm will compete is an important
part of its marketing strategy and has direct implications for its advertising and
promotional efforts. Specific communication objectives are derived and the promotional mix strategies are developed to achieve these objectives. Thus, different
objectives may be established, different budgets may be used, and the promotional
mix strategies may vary, depending on the market selected.
As we introduced this section, we used the terms target market and target audience. We concur with a recent perspective that suggests promotional planners
should make a careful distinction between these concepts since an advertising plan
or IMC plan is one part of the overall marketing plan.22 The target market is the

Segment
the market

Select a
target market

Determine the
market positioning
strategy

FIGURE 3–6
The target market
process

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

group of consumers toward which an overall marketing program is directed. The
target audience is a group of consumers toward which the advertising campaign,
for example, is directed. Conceptually, these targets are interdependent but their
distinction allows promotional planners the ability to make more effective communication decisions with enhanced precision.
The difference between target audience and target market can be seen in a recent
campaign for Imodium Quick Dissolve tablets, a diarrhea remedy. The campaign
tried to reach Canadian vacationers to foreign countries who do not want to be
inconvenienced with this unfortunate gastronomic ailment. The secondary target
audience was frequent business travellers who may have overlooked being prepared
for their discomfort and who could not afford to miss important meetings. Combined
together, it appears that Imodium is trying to reach new category users. Imodium
used humour to cleverly point out the need for the product with a message, “Visit
the country, not just its restrooms,” and visuals of various facilities used throughout the world. Naturally, the product has other consumers, and how this product
is positioned in the marketplace versus competing products is relevant, but clearly
Imodium has selected a certain part of the market to speak within this campaign that
is a sub-set of the overall target market.23
Opportunities in the environment often lead to firms developing selective promotional programs beyond their normal target market. For example, tea represents
the fourth most consumed drink after coffee, milk, and tap water. With many types
of tea and different kinds of tea drinkers, tea brands need to approach specific
audiences with their communication efforts. The health benefits perceived with
tea have recently attracted many young Canadian consumers toward specialty teas.
In particular, sales for green, red, and white teas rose substantially in 2006; however, herbal and black tea dropped slightly. Although the main tea consumer is
women over 40, according to Twinings tea, the well-established brand developed
its latest campaign toward newer consumers (i.e., younger) with a strong emphasis
to teach the less experienced more about tea and the various types. Its communication consisted of door-hangers and samples to specific locations and in displays
for select retailers, as seen in the next two examples.

MARKET SEGMENTATION
To identify a target market, the marketer identifies the specific needs of groups of
people (or segments), selects one or more of these segments as a target, and develops
marketing programs directed to each. This approach has found increased applicability in marketing for a number of reasons, including changes in the market (consumers
are becoming much more diverse in their needs, attitudes, and lifestyles); increased
use of segmentation by competitors; and the fact that more managers are trained in
segmentation and realize the advantages associated with this strategy. Perhaps the
best explanation, however, comes back to the basic premise that you must understand as much as possible about consumers to design marketing programs that meet
their needs most effectively. Furthermore, as marketers establish a common ground
with consumers, the more effective they will be in addressing these requirements
in their communications programs and informing and/or persuading potential consumers that the product or service offering will meet their needs.
Marketers competing in nearly all product categories are constantly searching
for ways to segment their markets in an attempt to better satisfy customers’ needs
(Exhibit 3–12). The remainder of this section discusses ways to approach this task
and make the final segmentation decision. As shown in Figure 3–7 on page 80,
several methods are available for segmenting markets. Marketers may use one of
the segmentation variables or a combination of approaches. Consider the market
segmentation strategy that might be employed to market snow skis. The consumer’s
lifestyle—active, fun-loving, enjoys outdoor sports—is certainly important. But so
are other factors, such as age, income, and marital status. Let us review the basis for
segmentation and examine some promotional strategies employed in each.

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

Geographic Segmentation In the geographic
segmentation approach, markets are divided
into different geographic units. These units may
include nations, provinces, states, counties, or
even neighbourhoods. Consumers often have different buying habits depending on where they
reside. To address this, advertisers might use
different IMC tools or advertising messages.

Demographic Segmentation Dividing the
market on the basis of demographic variables
such as gender, age, marital status, household
size, and socioeconomic variables like income,
education, and occupation is called demographic segmentation. For example, the Alberta
Securities Commission targeted young adults
aged 24–35 who had very little knowledge of
investing and had a perceived need for financial
advice as indicated by market research. Print
and radio ads directed interested consumers to
an education link on the Commission’s website.
A second phase of the advertising message featured links on Web portals that also highlighted
a contest.24
While demographics is a common method of segmenting markets, it is important
to recognize that other factors may be the underlying basis for homogeneity and/or
consumer behaviour. The astute marketer will identify additional approaches for
segmenting and will recognize the limitations of demographics.

Exhibit 3–12
McDonald’s offers a
variety of products in
different geographic
markets

Psychographic Segmentation Dividing the market on the basis of lifestyle,
personality, culture, and social class is referred to as psychographic segmentation.
Each of these variables can be the basis for segmentation.
Lifestyle Many consider lifestyle the most effective criterion for segmentation. The
determination of lifestyles is usually based on an analysis of the activities, interests,
and opinions (AIOs) of consumers. These lifestyles are then correlated with the
consumers’ product, brand, and/or media usage. For many products
and/or services, lifestyles may be the best discriminator between use
and nonuse, accounting for differences in food, clothing, and car
selections, among numerous other consumer behaviours.25 Notice
how the ad for MEC in Exhibit 3–13 reflects the life of the target audience member.
Psychographic segmentation has been increasingly accepted with
the advent of the values and lifestyles (VALS) program. Developed
by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), VALS has become a very
popular method for applying lifestyle segmentation. VALS 2 divides
Americans into eight lifestyle segments that exhibit distinctive
attitudes, behaviours, and decision-making patterns.26 SRI believes
that when combined with an estimate of the resources the consumer
can draw on (education, income, health, energy level, self-confidence, and degree of consumerism), the VALS 2 system is an
excellent predictor of consumer behaviours. PRIZM, developed by
Claritas, is another American lifestyle segmentation approach that
has been adapted for the Canadian market through the research
firm Environics. PRIZMce associates the lifestyle questions asked
on the survey with demographic data from the federal government’s Exhibit 3–13 Mountain Equipment
Census. The analysis provides 66 different lifestyle segments and Co-op appeals to the active lifestyle

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

FIGURE 3–7

Examples of market segmentation variables

Main
Dimension

Segmentation
Variables

Typical Breakdowns

Region

West, Central, East

City size

Under 10,000; 10,000–24,999; 25,000–49,999; 50,000–99,999;
100,000–249,999; 250,000–499,999; 500,000–999,999; 1,000,000 or more

Metropolitan area

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA); etc.

Density

Urban; suburban; small town; rural

Gender

Male; female

Age

Under 6 yrs; 6–11 yrs; 12–17 yrs; 18–24 yrs; 25–34yrs; 35–44yrs;
45–54 yrs; 55–64 yrs; 65–74 yrs; 75 yrs plus

Race

Asian; Black; Hispanic; Indian; White/Caucasian; etc.

Life stage

Infant; preschool; child; youth; collegiate; adult; senior

Birth era

Baby boomer (1949–1964); Generation X (1965–1976); baby boomlet/
Generation Y (1977–present)

Household size

1; 2; 3–4; 5 or more

Residence tenure

Own home; rent home

Marital status

Never married; married; separated; divorced; widowed

Income

<$15,000; $15,000–$24,999; $25,000– $34,999; $35,000–$49,999;
$50,000–$74,999; $75,000+

Education

Some high school or less; high school graduate; some college or
university; university/college graduate; etc

Occupation

Managerial and professional specialty; technical, sales, and
administrative support; service; farming, forestry, and fishing; etc.

Lifestlye

Activities, interests, options

Values

Actualizers; fulfilleds; achievers; experiencers; believers; strivers;
makers; strugglers

Personality

Gregarious; compulsive; introverted; aggressive; ambitious; etc.

Culture

Ethnic; social

Social class

Low middle class; upper middle class; etc

In-store

Department; specialty; outlet; convenience; supermarket;
superstore/mass merchandiser; catalogue

Direct

Mail order/catalogue; door-to-door; direct response; Internet

Product feature

Situation specific; general

Needs

Quality; service; price/value; financing; warranty; etc.

Usage rate

Light user; medium user; heavy user

User status

Nonuser; ex-user; prospect; first-time user; regular user

Awareness and intentions

Product knowledge

Unaware; aware; informed; interested; intending to buy; purchaser;
rejection

Behaviour

Involvement

Minimum effort; comparison; special effort

Customer Characteristics
Geographic

Demographic

Socioeconomic
80

Psychographic

Buying situations
Outlet type

Benefits sought
Usage

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

18 social groups based on whether the respondent is a pre-boomer, boomer, or
post-boomer. PRIZMce claims that the segmentation system is useful for communication decisions like target audience profiling and media planning, and many other
marketing strategy decisions for virtually all industries.
Personality Borrowing from psychological theory, we are interested in consumers’
personality traits—the relatively enduring characteristics of one’s personality that
lead people to respond in a reasonably consistent manner. Often, such characteristics like introvert versus extrovert are used to describe a group of consumers more
precisely.
Culture The broadest and most abstract of the external factors that influence consumer behaviour is culture, or the complexity of learned meanings, values, norms,
and customs shared by members of a society. Cultural norms and values offer direction and guidance to members of a society in all aspects of their lives, including
their consumption behaviour.
Marketers must also be aware of changes that may be occurring in a particular
culture since it could be the basis for effective segmentation. Marketing researchers monitor these changes and their impact on the ways companies market their
products and services. IMC Perspective 3–2 on page 82 demonstrates how some
Canadian firms target their communications to specific ethnic cultures.
While marketers recognize that culture exerts a demonstrable influence on consumers, they often find it difficult to respond to cultural differences in different
markets. The subtleties of various cultures are often difficult to understand and
appreciate, but marketers must understand the cultural context in which consumer
purchase decisions are made and adapt their advertising and promotional programs
accordingly.
For example, Bell Mobility rang in the Chinese New Year early in 2004 with
an advertising and promotion campaign directed to Asian customers in Western
Canada, the first of many specific communication efforts to appeal to a large group
of potential customers. To resonate with the people of this culture more significantly, Bell Mobility introduced new creative messages to celebrate the Year of the
Monkey. It also edited existing television ads to include scenes reflecting Asian lifestyles more accurately while also translating ads into Cantonese and Mandarin.27
Within a given culture are generally found smaller groups or segments whose
beliefs, values, norms, and patterns of behaviour set them apart from the larger
cultural mainstream. These subcultures may be based on age, geographic, religious, racial, and/or ethnic differences. A number of subcultures exist within
Canada. These racial/ethnic subcultures are important to marketers because of
their size, growth, purchasing power, and distinct purchasing patterns. Marketers
develop specific marketing programs for various products and services for these
target markets.
Other types of subcultures are also targeted through promotional communication. For example, many major brands including Honda Civic, RadioShack, Adidas
Canada, and Athletes World target those within the hip-hop culture. The firms have
included the hip-hop culture in their television ads and marketing events.28
Social Class Virtually all societies exhibit some form of stratification whereby
individuals can be assigned to a specific social category on the basis of criteria
important to members of that society. Social class refers to relatively homogeneous
divisions in a society into which people sharing similar lifestyles, values, norms,
interests, and behaviours can be grouped. While a number of methods for determining social class exist, class structures in Canada are usually based on occupational
status, educational attainment, and income. For example, sociologists generally
agree there are three broad levels of social classes in North America: the upper
(14 percent), middle (70 percent), and lower (16 percent) classes.29

IMC PERSPECTIVE

3–2

Canada’s Mosaic Population
Approximately 4 million
Canadians are visible minorities in a country with about
31 million citizens. Some
experts believe that significant retail growth will come
from this sizable group of
Canadians, especially considering that immigration
accounted for more than
half of the population growth
between the two most recent
census tabulations of 1996
and 2001. And as all good
marketers know, segmenting the market using this valuable
characteristic can be profitable if brands are looking to
target a more specific audience.
The largest minority group in Canada is Chinese at
1.1 million. Research suggests that Chinese consumers
are interested in luxury brands more than any other ethnic group and use luxury brands as a way of displaying
their economic achievement, seek status through products
significantly more than white Canadians, and purchase
extensively on the Internet. Noting these ideas and the fact
that 70 percent of all Chinese children study a musical
instrument, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) looked
to this segment as a source of attracting new customers
and tailored a communications offering of advertising,
public relations, and promotional incentives in the Chinese
language. After its initial success, the TSO continued with
even more customized communication including Chinese
brochures, designing part of its website in Chinese, advertising in Chinese media, offering a slogan that fits the Chinese
culture more specifically, and even setting up a hot-line in
both Cantonese and Mandarin. The TSO expanded these
ideas to similar communication programs in other languages such as Italian, Russian, and Korean.
And the TSO is not the only firm targeting the Chinese
community. A Rona store in Vancouver experienced similar
success with customized communication to Chinese consumers that increased sales so much that the store received
a hardware retailer of the year award. However, Rona’s
main office had yet to customize its national brand advertising for distinct ethnic markets as it preferred to keep a
consistent message through translation of uniform advertising messages.

Combined with these
examples, market research
firms focus on Chinese
consumers
extensively,
with one firm developing
eight demographic/psychographic profiles ranging
in size of about 12,000
to 93,000. Consumers in
one of the largest groups,
“Ethnic Cruisers-Chinese
Technocrats,” are university
educated; have a household
income of $95,000; work
in management, sales, and service industries; have young
families; and participate in sports, health clubs, social
clubs, and investing.
On the other hand, Wal-Mart recently offered its commercials in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin,
and Southeast Asian languages on various specialty ethnic
channels. The ads show real customers speaking about their
Wal-Mart experiences in their own language. This appears
to go a step beyond Zellers’ effort of dubbing its English ads
into other languages.
While slightly smaller at 900,000, Canadians from India
and other nearby South Asian countries present another
sizable ethnic segment that has its own unique characteristics that marketers attempt to attract. For example, Telus
adapted a television ad that included monkeys by changing
the background music such that the meaning of the message
more closely fit Indian culture and adding a combination of
English and Hindi known as “Hinglish.” In addition, Telus
changed the animal theme in its ad for camera phones for
the Indian market since the national campaign showed
pigs, an unappealing animal in that culture.
Sources: Eve Lazarus, “Building Better Relationships,” Marketing
Magazine, May 19, 2003; Chris Daniels, “Shopping Mosaic,”
Marketing Magazine, May 17, 2004; Loretta Lam, “Music to Ethnic
Ears,” Marketing Magazine, May 19, 2003; Michelle Warren, “Telus,
Fat Free Tailor Indian Ad Effort,” Marketing Magazine, November 17,
2003; Judy Waytiuk, “Discounter Diversity,” Marketing Magazine,
May 19, 2003; Rebecca Harris, “Home Away From Home,”
Marketing Magazine, February 13, 2006.

Question
1. Explain why some of the promotional activities are
effective.

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

Social class is an important concept to marketers, since consumers within each
social stratum often have similar values, lifestyles, and buying behaviour. Thus,
the various social class groups provide a natural basis for market segmentation.
Consumers in the different social classes differ in the degree to which they use
various products and services and in their leisure activities, shopping patterns, and
media habits. Marketers respond to these differences through the positioning of
their products and services, the media strategies they use to reach different social
classes, and the types of advertising appeals they develop.
With smaller Canadian households (2.5 persons) and rising disposable household
income, marketers of premium products find that the middle-class consumers behave
as upper-class consumers for selective purchases. A sizable group of middle-class consumers who cannot afford premium or luxury goods for all their purchases are “trading
up” for items such as clothing, home furnishings, or alcohol.30 As a profile variable for
target audience decisions, social class offers potential for expanding a brands market.

Benefit Segmentation In purchasing products, consumers are generally trying
to satisfy specific needs and/or wants. They are looking for products that provide
specific benefits to satisfy these needs. The grouping of consumers on the basis of
attributes sought in a product is known as benefit segmentation and is widely used.
Consider the purchase of a wristwatch. While you might buy a watch
for particular benefits such as accuracy, water resistance, or stylishness,
others may seek a different set of benefits. Watches are commonly given
as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, and graduation. Certainly some of the
same benefits are considered in the purchase of a gift, but the benefits
the purchaser derives are different from those the user will obtain. Ads
that portray watches as good gifts stress different criteria to consider in
the purchase decision. The next time you see an ad or commercial for a
watch, think about the basic appeal and the benefits it offers.
Another example of benefit segmentation can be seen in the cough
remedy market. Some consumers want a product with fever reliever
(NeoCitran); others prefer one that helps them to sleep (NyQuil). Exhibit 3–14 Buckley’s stresses
Buckley’s offers that their cough mixture “tastes awful … and it works” the benefit of its superior cough
remedy.
(Exhibit 3–14).
Behaviouristic Segmentation Dividing consumers into groups according to their
usage, loyalties, or buying responses to a product is behaviouristic segmentation. For
example, product or brand usage, degree of use (heavy versus light), and/or brand
loyalty are combined with demographic and/or psychographic criteria to develop
profiles of market segments. In the case of usage, the marketer assumes that nonpurchasers of a brand or product who have the same characteristics as purchasers hold
greater potential for adoption than nonusers with different characteristics. A profile
(demographic or psychographic) of the user is developed, which serves as the basis
for promotional strategies designed to attract new users. For example, teenagers share
certain similarities in their consumption behaviours. Those who do not currently
own an iPod are more likely to be potential buyers than people in other age groups.
Another way of viewing behaviouristic segmentation is to examine the specific
situation in which consumers plan to use the product or brand since it directly
affects their perceptions, preferences, and purchasing behaviours.31 Two types of
situations may be relevant: the specific usage situation and the purchase situation.
Usage refers to the circumstance in which the product will be used. For example,
purchases made for private consumption may be thought of differently from those
that will be obvious to the public. Furthermore, purchases made for oneself versus
for others as gifts offer another way to view consumer markets. The purchase situation more directly involves the environment operating at the time of the purchase.
Time constraints, store environments, and other factors guide consumers’ behaviour, which opens the door for inventive ways of segmenting the market.

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

TARGET MARKET SELECTION

As we have seen, a number of alternative segmentation approaches may be used. Each
time a specific segment is identified, additional information is gathered to help the
marketer understand this group. For example, once a specific segment is identified
on the basis of benefits sought, the marketer will examine lifestyle characteristics
and demographics to help characterize this group and to further its understanding
of this market. Behaviouristic segmentation criteria will also be examined. In the
purchase of ski boots, for example, specific benefits may be sought—flexibility or
stiffness—depending on the type of skiing the buyer does. All this information will
be combined to provide a complete profile of the skier.
Promotional planners will refer to the segmentation approach used in the marketing plan. The market segmentation may be based on demographics so the target
market could be men ages 18–24 or women 25–44. And, it may be incumbent upon
the promotional planner to perform additional research to develop a more complete
profile. Alternatively, the market segmentation used in the marketing plan could
employ one variable as a starting point and offer additional variables to further
define the target market as seen in the ski boots example.
The promotional planner must consider whether the target segment is substantial enough to support individualized strategies. More specifically, they consider
whether this group is accessible. Can it be reached with a communications program? For example, you will see in Chapter 10 that in some instances there are no
media that can be used to reach some targeted groups. Or the promotions manager
may identify a number of segments but be unable to develop the required programs
to reach them. For example, the firm may have insufficient funds to develop the
required advertising campaign. The more marketers segment the market, the more
precise is their understanding of it. But the more the market becomes divided, the
fewer consumers are in each segment. Thus, a key decision is: How far should one
go in the segmentation process?
While we have given a couple of promotional implications indicating the degree to
which marketers may segment the market, similar arguments hold true for the other
marketing mix variables. However, another issue arises as to which segmentation
variable is used first and which others are used as additional profile variables. The
answer to this question is the art of marketing; the insight promotional planners see
in the information to understand their target market and target audience options.

TARGET AUDIENCE OPTIONS
We now turn to the Rossiter and Percy (R&P) perspective of identifying and selecting
the target audience for promotional communication.32 R&P state that the primary and
most logical factor for initially defining a target audience is the current behaviour of
consumers. This factor is critical since it is the individual decision of each customer
to purchase a brand that dictates a firm’s total sales. Furthermore, this behaviour is a
manifestation of a consumer’s attitude toward the brand. Thus, in setting the direction for any IMC plan or component of an IMC plan (i.e., advertising), the manager
must have a clear idea of the customer status of the target audience. Essentially, this
decision hinges on a key question. Is the communication directed toward customer
groups or non-customer groups?

Customer Groups A promotional planner has the opportunity to direct
communications to brand loyal customers who regularly buy their firm’s products.
Recent marketing strategies (i.e., relationship marketing discussed in Chapter 1) and
communication strategies regularly focus on a firm’s current customers to ensure
that customers maintain their current purchasing and consumption behaviour. As
we noted in Chapter 1, it is generally very profitable to maintain a stable core of current customers. From a communication standpoint, it suggests that we do not have

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

to advertise as often or we do not have to have as many sales promotions. However,
we still see campaigns directed toward current loyal customers. For example, The
Movie Network ran an eight-week television, radio, and outdoor campaign in early
2004 that was entirely devoted to its current subscribers base.33
To put this idea into another context we highlight the fact that one-third of all
Canadians do not drink beer at all and that 74 percent of all Canadian beer drinkers
claim they are loyal to their favourite beer.34 This raises the question as to whether
beer company ads should target their loyal customers and ensure future purchases
by strengthening the loyalty with relevant messages, or target the remaining customers who claim they are not loyal to a specific beer.
Favourable brand switchers are a second customer group highlighted by R&P.
These customers buy the promotional planner’s brand but also buy other brands
within a given relevant time period for the product category. For some product
categories, consumers habitually purchase from a few favourites or those brands
within their evoked set. These types of purchases may occur for many reasons.
Consumers often face different purchase situations (e.g., own purchase versus gift).
Sometimes certain moods influence brand
choice. Whatever the motivation or external
influencing factor, consumers adjust their
purchases accordingly. While a promotional planner would dearly love to have
all customers be truly loyal, favourable
brand switchers are an important source
of purchases and are loyal to a degree.
For these reasons, marketers would like
to communicate directly with these consumers so that their brand remains in the
evoked set. Alternatively, continued communication may influence stronger loyalty
in the future. Butter is always competing
with margarine for increased loyalty (Exhibit 3–15).
Returning to our beer example, it turns out that Canadian beer drinkers may not be
strongly aligned to one beer, as 30 to 40 percent will switch brands if a promotional
offer coincides with an advertising message.35 In reality, it appears many Canadian beer
drinkers are loyal to their favourite beer to a degree, but they will also include it along
with other brands, thereby categorizing themselves as favourable brand switchers.

Exhibit 3–15 Butter
advertises to avoid
switching to substitute
products

Non-Customer Groups Communication directed
to non-customers is the focus of much advertising
and promotion. R&P identify three key groups: new
category users, other brand switchers, and other
brand loyals. These consumers are more difficult to
attract as they do not currently purchase the promotional planner’s brand.
New category users, as the name implies, are those
customers that are not purchasing within a product
category. For example, after graduating from college or university many young adults begin to enter
numerous categories partly because they have the
income but also because they are at a stage of their
life when new or latent needs emerge. Advertisers
attempt to court this target audience since many
of these consumers are potentially ready to make a
purchase. Later on in life consumers face different
needs and move into a product category, as shown in
Exhibit 3–16. Marketers believe that steady communication may entice these customers to their brand

Exhibit 3–16 Toyota suggests the need for a minivan in
many of its recent prints ads

IMC PERSPECTIVE

3–3

Emerging Consumer Behaviour Trends
According to research by the Boston
Consulting Group, consumers are justifying
select luxuries, such as plasma televisions,
but are looking for bargains on mundane
products. This is the result of a rise of
roughly $9,000 in real family income
over the past ten years, thanks largely to
an increased contribution from women.
Holding the middle ground is an increasingly untenable business strategy, says Cliff
Grevler of the Boston Consulting Group. For
example, in the past five years the premium
beer category has grown 6 percent, while
the discount beer category has increased
its share by 7 percent. Meanwhile, the
middle—held primarily by core Molson and
Labatt brands—has dropped 13 percent. No
wonder Labatt was advertising its flagship brand, Blue,
as “The good stuff, not the okay stuff” in the summer of
2007.
Another trend is that young people are not wearing
watches as much as older people. Investment banker
Piper Jaffray Co. found that the number of teens who do
not wear a watch soared last year, to 59 percent up from
48 percent in 2004. “Teens just aren’t interested in buying
watches anymore,” said Neely Tamminga, a Piper Jaffray
analyst. She says that teens are getting the time from other
gadgets, in particular cell phones. Tamminga goes on to
say that cell phones are more fashionable, but also have
technological advances over watches because they can
do more things, such as change time zones automatically.
Tamminga says that watch makers are caught in a generally

downward cycle. They need to inject some
verve back into the industry. She says that if
teens have an extra $65 they want to spend
it on retro shoes, not a watch.
Another 82 percent of teenagers polled
by Piper Jaffray in the United States and
Canada said they have no plans to buy a
watch over the next six months, up from
76 percent at the same time last year.
The number of teens who said they wore
a watch daily declined to 13 percent last
year, from 18 percent the year before.
Makers of expensive watches, such as
Rolex and Patek Phillippe, are suffering
too, according to the marketing researcher
NPD Group. They found that the number
of people buying watches that sell over
$1,000 declined 2 percent last year—even though they
are still popular with older people, who see the watch as
an accessory.
Sources: “Soft in the Middle,” Canadian Business, July 17, 2006;
Kevin Restivo, “Clock Ticking for Watch Sales,” Financial Post,
May 5, 2006.

Questions
1. With the growth of some luxury products, such as
plasma televisions, do you feel that middle-of-the-road
brands in some product categories are in trouble?
2. Can you think of a marketing strategy to encourage teens
to wear watches?

when the time comes for these consumers to actually purchase. IMC Perspective 3–3
identifies an emerging group of new category users as a target audience for a watch
brand.
Other brand switchers are like the switchers in the customer group in that they purchase a few different brands within a category. However from a promotional planner’s
perspective, they are fundamentally different, as they are not purchasing their brand.
This is a challenging target audience, as the brand needs to break into consumers’
evoked set and within the brands that these consumers are currently purchasing. This
is a formidable task but still the focus of a considerable amount of advertising and
promotion. (Exhibit 3–17 is an ad to attract drinkers of other brands of beer.)

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

For example, Coffee Crisp recently started advertising on
television after a 10-year hiatus. As the brand manager noted,
“Because Coffee Crisp hasn’t been advertised for so many years,
we haven’t brought in a new generation of Coffee Crisp consumers.” Naturally, many young consumers were eating other
brands of chocolate bars, so Coffee Crisp faced the challenge of
appealing to these other brand switchers with a taste alternative.
Research showed that Coffee Crisp “owned” the coffee association in the chocolate bar market, and with a generation of young
coffee drinkers that frequent cafés the brand had a good opportunity to improve sales with its new ads. In fact, the room for
growth is impressive, as the famous bar that was once ranked
number one or two in Canada had fallen to number five with a
lack of advertising for so many years.36
R&P’s final group for target audience selection concerns other
brand loyals. As this implies, these consumers purchase only
one other brand. For example, Porter Airlines attempts to draw
from Air Canada’s customers (Exhibit 3–19). It is difficult to say
how much advertising and promotion expenditures are directed
to these types of consumer across many industries. Logically, it Exhibit 3–17 Grolsch plays on its name to
would be very difficult to break the strongly held behaviour in attract new customers
which these consumers currently engage. Nevertheless, this is
still a potential target to which a firm may wish to deliver some form of advertising
and promotion. The ad in Exhibit 3–18 shows a strong message to encourage nonusers to switch.
87

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Exhibit 3–18 Danone challenges new
users to try its brand of yogurt

Exhibit 3–19 Porter Airlines’ “rules”
campaign sways Air Canada customers

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

IMC PLANNING: TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILE
According to R&P, after prioritizing the target audience in terms of customer groups
other factors like lifestyle or demographics are used to develop a complete target audience profile. A complete profile of the target audience beyond the initial
behavioural variable is necessary for direction of the remaining decisions in the promotional plan. Creative decisions involving the main message to be communicated
require appropriate content so that consumers will attend to and understand the
message. Effective media decisions require the promotional planner to match
the consumer characteristics of the specific media with a complete target audience
profile. Finally, more information about the target audience allows greater precision
when assessing and choosing IMC tools to deliver the message. We now explore the
planning implications of these three ideas.

PROFILE FOR MESSAGES

In later chapters we will identify different aspects of constructing the main message
a promotional planner would want to develop for its advertising or sales promotion or any other IMC tool like the Internet or public relations. For the message to
be completely understood, the content of the message must be consistent with the
background or experiences of the intended audience. For example, if the ad uses
language or references to a lifestyle that is unfamiliar to the target audience, there is
less likelihood of it influencing in the direction intended. Thus, a complete profile
of the target audience will be useful when finalizing the body copy in a print ad or
the scenes in a television commercial.
Many companies target a younger demographic. We may read in the press or in
marketing trade publications that a firm is targeting an 18–24-year-old demographic.
While this may be true, often there is an inherent behavioural variable implied.
Sometimes it is more like a new category user, since young adults start to consume
new categories of products as they mature. Other times, it is more like favourable
brand switchers in an attempt to make these consumers exhibit stronger loyalty.
Thus, a communication message has to resonate with the target audience based on
their current behaviour, whether they buy the brand or not, and another variable like
demographics.
One clever ad by Tide detergent illustrates this point from the other direction.
The ad shows a child sitting in a highchair who has just finished eating a bowl of
spaghetti. The picture clearly shows the child’s face and the child is naturally very
messy. The headline reads, “The day I switched to Tide,” and there is no other text in
the ad. It appears that this message is targeted toward other brand switchers or other
brand loyals who are at a particular stage of the family life cycle. The ad represents
the significant decision they undertook to finally stop consuming a current brand
and move on to a presumably better brand. Had the ad shown an alternative picture,
the additional profile variable would have been considerably different. For instance,
a young woman wearing athletic clothing who observes a stain or that the colours of
her clothing are fading too quickly suggests an active lifestyle. This illustrates that
any marketing segmentation variable can be used to further profile the behavioural
variable.

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

PROFILE FOR MEDIA
Later in this text, we will also identify the different media decisions. For example,
the promotional planner could select television or radio to deliver its message,
or the promotional planner might consider newspapers or magazines or a multitude
of other media. Each medium offers many avenues that also must be considered. For
instance, would the promotional planner place the television commercial on a TSN
sports event during the day, or on a CTV drama in the evening? A detailed profile of
the target audience allows the message to be more precisely delivered in a medium
that has a higher proportion of the target audience.
Some contend that the advent of many different television channels leading to greater
audience fragmentation has led to television being less efficient, since an advertiser is
required to place a commercial on more than one station to reach a larger audience.
In contrast, the detailed target audience profile for media helps a promotional planner
move toward greater effectiveness. With the possibility of offering a more customized
message to different audiences, promotional planners can have one type of commercial oriented toward younger non-customers on one channel and another message to
older current customers on a different channel. Or, with the extensive number of new
television channels in languages other than the two official languages, advertisers
can provide more customized messages on the respective channels. For example, the
OpenRoad brand of car dealerships selling Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Hyundai, and
Audi vehicles has successfully used different combinations of media to effectively
reach the Vancouver resident with a Chinese background.37

PROFILE FOR IMC TOOLS
Similarly, in a later part of the book, we investigate the decisions involved for other
IMC tools like sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and the Internet.
Each of these represents additional avenues for reaching target audiences, and each
represents a tool with a greater opportunity for building the brand. Like media, there
is also the possibility of more closely aligning the use of a tool with a promotional
planner’s target audience, provided sufficient profiling is done.
Western Union created cultural events for Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg
residents with Filipino heritage to encourage usage when sending money to their
previous country. This idea arose after research indicated an interest in entertainment, in particular performers and celebrities from the former country. Ethnically
based media advertising supported this effort to convince these consumers that the
brand was not an overpriced, indifferent global company.38
From another angle, Canadian Tire—historically geared for men—continues to
evolve with a greater emphasis toward women. Altering its product offerings and
store design was just one step, as it offers a substantially different set of communications directed to women with a stylish-home kind of lifestyle. Its television
advertising featured creative messages more fitting for women, placed on specialty
channels. Canadian Tire featured print advertising in stylish publications like Wish,
Style at Home, and Canadian House & Home. Store displays appeared more inspiring and less informational, also to fit with this newfound audience.39

Part 1 Understand Integrated Marketing Communications

SUMMARY
This chapter introduced you to
the field of consumer behaviour
and examined its relevance to
promotional strategy. Consumer
behaviour is best viewed as the
process and activities that people
engage in when searching for,
selecting, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of
products and services to satisfy
their needs and desires.
A five-stage model of the
consumer decision-making
process consists of need recognition, information search,
alternative evaluation, purchase, and postpurchase
evaluation. Internal psychological processes that influence
the consumer decision-making
process include motivation,
perception, attitude formation
and change, and integration
processes. The decision process
model views consumer behaviour primarily from a cognitive
orientation.

This chapter also investigated
how promotional planners make
a target audience decision for any
aspect of an IMC plan. To understand the context of this decision,
the chapter examined the role of
promotion in the overall marketing process, as shown in
Figure 3–5. The process includes
a situation analysis, target market
process, and marketing program
development all directed toward a
prescribed target market.
One of the key aspects pertains to the target marketing
process, which includes segmenting the market, selecting a target
market, and determining the
market positioning strategy, as
this process gives direction to
the target audience decision.
Accordingly, we reviewed how
marketing planners and promotional planners segment the
market, and explained how each
made the target market and target
audience decision, respectively.

Finally, the chapter concluded by identifying a model to
profile a target audience by considering the current purchase
behaviour of the target audience
with respect to the promotional
planner’s brand as the primary
segmentation variable.
Promotional messages can be
directed to current customers,
such as brand-loyal or favourable brand switchers. Alternatively, promotional messages
could be targeted to noncustomers, like new category
users, other brand switchers,
or other brand loyals. Other
variables to more accurately
define the audience in terms of
lifestyle or psychographics
became relevant after this initial
direction became finalized. This
descriptive profile becomes
useful for all facets of the promotional plan (i.e., message,
media, IMC tools).

KEY TERMS
affect referral decision
rule, 71
behaviouristic
segmentation, 83
benefit segmentation, 83
brand loyal customers, 84
brand loyalty, 70
cognitive dissonance, 72
consumer behaviour, 62
culture, 81
demographic
segmentation, 79
evaluative criteria, 69

extended problem
solving, 73
external search, 66
favourable brand
switchers, 85
geographic
segmentation, 79
heuristics, 71
hierarchy of needs, 64
integration processes, 70
internal search, 66
limited problem solving, 73
mnemonics, 68

motives, 64
need recognition, 62
new category users, 85
other brand loyals, 85
other brand switchers, 85
perception, 66
psychographic
segmentation, 79
purchase intention, 70
reference group, 74
routine problem solving, 72
satisfaction, 72
selective attention, 67

selective comprehension, 68
selective exposure, 67
selective perception, 66
selective retention, 68
sensation, 67
situations, 83
social class, 81
subcultures, 81
subliminal perception, 68
target audience, 78
target market, 77
target market process, 77
want, 63

Chapter 3 Consumer Behaviour and Target Audience Decisions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. A number of factors may
lead to need recognition among
consumers. Discuss the various
causes of need recognition, and
give an example of each.
2. Explain how consumers
might engage in each of the processes of selective perception
described in the chapter. Provide
examples.
3. Explain the concept of an
evoked set. Why is this concept
important to marketers? Give
examples of an evoked set, and
how marketers might attempt to
influence consumers to gain consideration.
4. After buying a new car, a
customer receives many pieces of
direct mail such as a driving
magazine or information on

automobile care from the manufacturer. Explain why this is
effective or ineffective communication.

in the text. Provide examples of
companies and/or brands that
employ each in their promotional
communications.

5. In the text it was indicated
that families may influence the
consumer decision-making process. Describe how various family
members may assume the different roles described in Figure 3–4.
Also explain how these roles
might change depending upon
the product under consideration.

8. In what situations is the
target audience and the target market the same? In what
situations is the size of the target
audience larger or smaller than
the target market?

6. Some marketers contend that
demographics is not really a basis
for segmentation but is a descriptor of the segment. Discuss
examples to support both positions.
7. A number of approaches to
segmentation have been cited

9. When defining a target audience for communications, why
is it a good idea to use consumer
behaviour with respect to your
brand as the primary variable
before using other variables such
as demographics or lifestyle?
10. How is it possible for a
brand to communicate to both
customers and non-customers in
an IMC plan?

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