Aggressive Marketing and Consumption Culture - Term Paper Example

AGGRESSIVE MARKETING AND CONSUMPTION CULTURE Introduction Marketing and product knowledge in the market cannot be separated from each other. Effective marketing creates effective knowledge and develops a pattern of consumption of a given product. Saren (2007) found out that aggressive marketing creates a generation of consumers and in that way developing a habit for what some people consume. This in turn makes their whole personality, creating the coming to prove the aspect of ‘We are what we consume ‘as observed by, McKeage, and Najjar (1992). This case therefore seeks to evaluate through analysis in which critical marketing ideas would improve education in marketing and general practice and in the end link the outcome to the idea of people being what they consume. The case will therefore integrate the findings of a primary research based on a combination of the same theme areas and create an analysis in the literature. Literature Review Improvement of any marketing idea is based on the subject getting the knowledge, transforming the theoretical perspectives and putting it into practice (Mort, 1997, p. 20). Marketing knowledge is wide and a basic idea to the business world. Improvement of this knowledge is based on the idea of improving the knowledge of the components of marketing. It therefore means that the improvement of the knowledge and practice can only be done if there is a collection of all components, paradigms and strategies that will create a positive impression on the recipient of the knowledge for improvement. The most important target however is the consumer (Penington, 2000, p. 321). The creation of the ideas belying real production and satisfaction of the consumer is the ultimate goal of marketing. The end consumer behaviour will determine the success of the knowledge created or the failure of the same. According to Caterral, Maclaran and Stevens (1999), the improvement can be done by a focus on the marketing paradigms which start with ways of attracting a customer to creation of the culture of consumption in the customer. This issue is supported by Christine (2013) who highlighted five critical areas of focus to improve marketing knowledge. The areas are; relationship marketing, network, diversity, evangelism and culture creation. The latter is always the expected and intended outcome. Critical marketing ideas can be obtained through relationship marketing (Akehurst & Alexander, 2013, p. 76). In this knowledge, there is a high emphasis on the satisfaction and retention of the customer. This method is devoid of the sales methods that focus on transactions (Bingham, Gomes, & Knowles, 2005, p. 39). This type of marketing bases its recognition on the long term customer value and the communication is extended beyond just the intrusive sector to a long term loyalty creation. This marketing idea is very dynamic and therefore adapts directly to the changes in the market whenever it is necessary to do so. This idea can improve the marketing education as it is continuous and dynamic as well as adapting to the current issues involving technological changes such as phone use and internet. It also has no limit to the geographical segmentation since the use of technology makes it applicable to any part of the world (Brennan, Canning, & McDowell, 2010, p. 135). The second as explained by Capon and Hulbert (2007) is the network marketing. This method can improve marketing education in a widespectrum networking and getting to the very core of customer needs. Also called multi-level marketing, the method asserts that all the salespeople should be compensated , not only for the amount of sales generated by them but also for the other salespeople that they recruit into a maerketing system (Alvarez & Barney, 2007, p. 12). A refferal system, the marketing education is made by creation of a networked pyramid-like expansion of both goods sold and other people that sell the goods. The network spreads to a very high level (Elliot, 1997, p. 291). This is preffered over sales since winning the buyer means getting the product bought. When more people are relaced in the sales system and more goods are sold, there is a high sense of the goods being part of the people especially when loyalty is created with the company. The third way, the diversity marketing is a clear indicator of the statement ‘we are what we consume’ (Caterall, MacLaran, & Stevens, 1999, p. 350). Cultures have been created by a long term of consumption of certain products. The aggressive marketing seeks to serve the people on their cultural obsession and equally serve a different culture with its obsession. This procedure brings up the understanding that marketing is based on a communication mix effective for each cultural setting that is active in the market of operation (Capon & Hulbert, 2007, p. 121). When there is understanding of the tastes, values, beliefs and lifestyle preferences, the practice will have created a marketing education that is improvedand goes in line with the learning theories and practices at the market place. Evangelism marketing creates a sufficient way to improve the strategic marketing of any good (Doole & Lowe, 2008, p. 129). Companies find customers that so loyal that these customers try too convince others to be part of the goods of the companies. It is some form of addiction to the goods in supply. This one creates effective marketing practice. According to Dholakia (2012), marketing dynamics start from the classroom with the experience of the outside environment. Once the environment is experienced, then evangelism of the good environment starts and that is how effective marketing practices come to pass (Armstrong & Taylor, 2000, p. 70). The importance of all the above practices is to crate a culture that becomes part of the goods being sold. That is where the culture of the consumer comes in. as elaborated by Burton (2000), the cultural consumer theory, the consumption patterns are created from a social and cultural point of view. With this, there is a close connection between a consumer and a company product. This practice is levelled towards making sure that consumers become part of the products, consume it continously and then, because of this, the consumer behavior, health and hence the statement, we are what we consume (Dhilakia, 2012). Methodology The use of interview as a method of data collection is based on several advantages that it carries. The situation and data collection method in this case tally to an extent that the information received was first hand and practical (Tillman, 2006, p. 104). It has several advantages which are necessary to the cause for which it was chosen. First, the method was able to help obtain information that includes personal feelings, opinions and general perceptions about the subject. Interviewee 3 was able to express his disappointment at the size of his body based on the hamburgers that he is addicted to (refer to appendix). It was also easy to prove since the expression could be unified with the body structure that he had. Another reason why interviewing was the best method, was that ambiguous cases in the interview are able to be rectified all either parties (Trigg, 2001, p. 107). The rectification of these ambiguities is also seen in the interview where the interviewer seeks clarification and it is made clearly. Based on prior knowledge with the correspondent, there was a direct connection because some of the interviewees were classmates at the campus. Interviewing as a method to be used in this case was necessitated by the fact that the seeker of information was within close proximity both to the Tesco stores and the correspondents. So it was possible for detailed questions to be asked, some of which would touch on the personality of the subject (Shankar, 2009, p. 89). This was done with wit so that the correct information is obtained without hurting the feelings of the interviewee (check interviewee 3 in the appendix). The sample questions as per the subject are fully captured in the appendix. Findings There is a direct relationship between the findings that were realised in the interviews and the literature review as expressed by the information found. From the theme as obtained from the two questions, the idea was to try and evaluate how aggressive marketing would lead to customers developing a culture for consumption of a certain product. This consumption is realised through marketing education, initiation of activities related to consumption of the product and then the actual activities of consuming the products (Baruch, 2003, p. 89). From the first interview, there are a lot of critical marketing ideas that pass through to create a culture of consumption and subsequent determination of the kind of life a person lives, either as a student or just a consumer. The consumer in the first interview (see appendix: interview 1), the advertisement by Tesco Company has highly influenced the continuous purchase of the products. The methods used by the company to tap the market in this interviewer are categorical of the paradigms used in the literature above. It was found out that this consumer could increase his consumption, not because he wanted to but because he wants to keep in touch with the emerging trends of the fashions and company products. An idea as suggested by Berger and Heath (2007) is clear in the second answer; there is provision for knowledge of segmentation bases and in particular geographical segmentation which is highly influenced by the company ability to carry out price differentiation. The promotion by the company has also highly created and magnified by the evangelism strategy as it was always in the media at the prime times. Doole and Lowe (2008) expressed this as evangelism where the company comes up with good news for the consumers, initiating a situation of loyalty and in the end making sure that the consumers look like what they are consuming completely. It can also be concluded that the knowledge of the customer is highly influenced him being a marketing student. This created the knowledge which became the practice to be done by him. Therefore, from all the correspondents to the interview, it can be concluded that attraction and ability to create a culture in what you consume takes a long time (Newholm & Hopkinson, 2009, p. 450). Moreover, in the work cited by Barker and Angelopulo (2006) the end outcome is the consumers becoming what they consume. In the second interview, the correspondent had a different approach as far his personal setting is concerned. Being an old consumer from the neighbourhood, the interviewer had knowledge the interviewee’s love for Tesco. His love for the company dates back to the days he was young and the promotion was only an additional inducement to the love. From the literature, there is the issue of diversity marketing as expressed by Caterall, MacLaran, and Stevens, 1999). This is not a person who can change to any other company product given the loyalty that he holds for the company. The consumer agrees to the fact that his consumption is based on the fact that he is not a loyal member because of the advertising, an issue observed by Berthon, Pitt, McCarthy, and Kates (2007). This is based on other factors that the company offers such as the customer loyalty card. (Check appendix: interviewee 2). The customer satisfaction is also increased by the fact that the company is obeying the government rules of sensitizing the public on the value of quality food and he actually attributes his health status to the company policies. This creation of culture as indicated by Burton (2000) diversifies the attraction methods and creates a long term partner in the name of customer for the company. In fact, looking at the networking as expressed by Capon and Hulbert (2007), this customer tries to naturally create a network with the interviewer which comes out naturally. Networking is a method that customers get to attract other customers to the company (Nige & Piercy, 2002, p. 359). What we are finding here therefore is that the increased knowledge creates a very cohesive and continuous knowledge that is translated to the practices of the consumers. The marketing education was created. It became part of the consumers in a large way, theoretically by getting the knowledge and practically by consuming the products. If we go by the opinion of Brethauer (2002) this amounts to another indication of a long procedure of attraction and retention. The habit is formed and then becomes part of the person hence making the person in totality. A reference to the third interviewee indicates findings related to a very expansive relationship existing between the procedures of getting to the customers and their way of behaviour. The question on the reasons for the loyalty of these three customers to the company attracts similar answers. In the third case the interviewee gives his reasons for being a member of the company and therefore a consumer of the company products as related to the advertisements carried out. How he developed the culture of consuming the Tesco hamburgers is a matter of concern since it came slowly and naturally (check appendix: interviewee 3). It took a long time but now it is part of the life he is living. In fact, by saying that he is addicted to the hamburgers, he is clarifying the fact that he is what he is consuming. According the proponents of the strategy and theory of culture creation, there is no better way to explain practically this issue of addiction than creation of culture as noted by O'Reilly (2006). It started by seeing and liking, then becomes an action done through buying. After liking it, there is love developed for this product and then becomes a food that is consumed continually. Dhilakia, (2012) contends with the fact that creation of a culture of consumption is a creative way that the company would do to attract and retain a customer. The hamburgers are part of this consumer because loving the test and developing it into a strong passion. In support of this finding, Christine (2013) observed that when a customer creates an attachment to a company product, he tends to have a cultural attachment to it. If still young, he is likely to bring up his family later on in the same love for the product. If the product will have any side effects as noted by Stephen and Toubia (2010), then it might affect the whole generation. If positive, then the whole generation will have a positive life and health. Conclusions Kastanakis and Balabanis (2012) indicated that marketing is the key to any group that can be regarded as a consumption society. The way a company markets its products is key to the development of the company within the society that consumes its products. Marketing knowledge takes different forms and parameters of understanding (Wilkie & Moore, 1999, p. 191). This paper sought to prove or disapprove the idea that marketing leads consumers to a certain product, making these consumers part of the products. With inclusion of three correspondents at primary level and an integration of the literature review on the findings, it was found that marketing creates a culture of consumption in a group of people. The people become part of the product and when the product determines their future lifestyle, they are said to be made by the product (Bocock, 2000, p. 33). The case has been done through an arrangement in which the aims and objectives of the case were elaborated in the introduction. This was followed by a literature review that elicited a description of methods and strategies in which critical marketing can create and improve marketing education in the people who consume the given product. In the methodology, there was justification of the interview method as a method of data collection in which it was found to be the most effective method because it directly involved the correspondent (Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012, p. 1402). A few issues were verified in the findings section. One of them was that aggressive advertisement can create a culture in a people and make the people become part of the product (Corrigan, 1998, p. 44). Moreover, there are also conservative customers who do not need promotion to remain and be part of a company product. Therefore, the final agreement is that aggressive advertisement can lead people to a product, make them be part of the product and then make them the product since they consume it more often. References Akehurst, G., & Alexander, N. (2013). The Internationalisation of Retailing. London: Routledge. Alvarez, S., & Barney, J. B. (2007). Discovery and Creation: Alternative Theories of Entrepreneurial Action. Discovery and Creation, 3(6), 123-147. Armstrong, H., & Taylor, J. (2000). Regional Economics and Policy. London: Blackwell. Barker, R., & Angelopulo, G. (2006). Integrated Organisational Communication. Cyprus: Juta and Company Ltd. Barton, D. (2000). Critical Marketing Theory, The Blueprint? European Journal of Marketing, 5(6), 722-743. Baruch, L. (2003). Corporate Earnings: Facts and Fiction. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(2), 27-50. Berger, J., & Heath, C. (2007). Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signaling and Product Domains. Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 34(2), 121-134. Berthon, P., Pitt, L., McCarthy, I., & Kates, S. (2007). When customers get clever: Managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers. Business Horizons, 50(1), 39-47. Bingham, F., Gomes, R., & Knowles, P. (2005). Businesss Marketing. Boston: McGraw. Birkner, C. (2013, 2 20). 5 'Must Haves' for B-to-B Demand Generation. 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Entrepreneurship Marketing: Principles and Practice of SME Marketing. London: Taylor & Francis. O'Reilly, D. (2006). Commentary; Branding Ideology. MArketing Theory, 6(2), 263-271. Penington, R. (2000). Brands as the Language of consumer Culture. Global Competitiveness, 8(1), 318-330. Piercy, N. (2010). Evolution of strategic sales organizations in business-to-business marketing. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 25(5), 349-359. Richins, M. L., McKeage, K. K., & Najjar, D. (1992). An Exploration of Materialism and Consumption-Related Affect. Advances in Consumer Research, 19, 229-236. Saren, M. (2007). Critical Marketing: Defining the Field. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Shankar. (2009). Identity Consumption and Narratives of Socialization. Marketing Theory, 9(1), 75-94. Sharma, A., Gopalkrishnan, R. I., & mehropa, A. (2010). Sustainability and business-to-business marketing: A framework and implications. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(2), 330-341. Stephen, A., & Toubia, O. (2010). Deriving value from social commerce networks. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(2), 215-228. Tillman, R. (2006). Conspicuous Consuption. Journal of Economic Issues, 40(1), 97-113. Trigg, A. B. (2001). Veblen Bourdieu, Conspicuous Consumption. Journal of Economic Issues, 35(1), 99-115. Wilkie, W., & Moore, E. (1999). Marketing's Contribution to Society. Journal of marketing, 63(4), 198-219. Appendices Primary Research-Interview Based on the concepts expressed in the theme, there are two methods that will be used to collect information in the market. The first will include an interview of three consumers. The first is a student at my campus who is also a close friend and consumer of Tesco company clothes, the jeans ware. The second is an old consumer who lives in the neighbourhood and has been seen over the years shopping from Tesco Company only. The third is a consumer that was met along the way from shopping at Tesco company and there was no prior knowledge of whether she was a long time consumer or not. The second part of research involves unobtrusive observation especially during the interview to see the relationship between consumption and behaviour of the interviewees. This will allow for naturalness in the observations which will highly influence the findings of the study. The primary research is based on an effort to ascertain two issues; Ways in which ‘critical marketing’ ideas can improve the marketing education, theory and practice. Consumers are what they consume. The characters in this interview will be named interviewee 1-interviewee 3. The previews and conclusions to the interview have been omitted so that key issues can be highlighted as addressed by the interviewees. Interview 1: Marketing Student at the Campus Interviewer: You are a consumer of Tesco Inc. and the company launched very aggressive advertising on the Jeanswear line of clothes. How has that affected your consumption? Interviewee 1: The advertisement has made me look at ways of restocking my wardrobe and I have been visiting different stores to get the latest fashion. Interviewer: Does visiting the different shops create a difference in what you consume? Interviewee 1: Tesco has a collection of stores and the market is purely geographically segmented. The company offers price discrimination in some places and as a student, am able to get to the store with the best price for me. Interviewer: I understand you are a marketing student, how has the vigorous advertisements shaped your consumption patterns of the Jeanswear? Interviewee 1: Well, as usual the adverts look attractive to market the product. But it makes me get to the stores for window shopping and if I have a few pounds, I end up doing impulse buying. That gratifies me all the same because am a fan of the attire. Interviewer: Have the adverts affected your understanding of the marketing knowledge in terms of the principles you are taught and the theories? Interviewee 1: Definitely. By walking to the different stores I have been able to understand market segmentation bases, the value of advertisement and its effects. In fact, it has shaped what I consume and that makes the personality that I carry around every day and the way people look at me. Interview 2: Old Consumer in the Neighbourhood Interviewer: You have been consuming Tesco products since i knew you. Does that have to do with their aggressive advertising methods? Interviewee 2: Yes and No. Yes, because I always get to know any upcoming launches of products and I try to look at their viability as compared to the goods I currently consume. No, because I always visit the stores and am able to get the first-hand knowledge of the goods that are in store. Interviewer: And what has made you stick with Tesco all your life? Interviewee 2: Tesco has what we call a ‘loyalty card’ that loyal consumers are allowed to own and then there are several benefits that are associated with that. I am also allowed to change from product to product as long as I remain with the company. With the changing trends in consumption, I am happy to remain with Tesco. Interviewer: What changes in consumption are you talking about? Interviewee 2: There has been a rampant and aggressive campaign through such large stalls to sensitize the consumers to change from consuming junk to quality foods. I heeded to that and now I feel healthier than before. Interviewer: So, can you approve the fact that you are what you consume? Interviewee 2: I am a living proof of that statement. I am diabetic and I also have other old age complications. However, I am still strong because of the sensitization programme at the company. Interview 3: A Strange Consumer Interviewer: You must be a passionate shopper at Tesco stores. Is that related to any of their continuous aggressive advertisements? Interviewee 3: Sure. I don’t visit the stores most often but the advertisements get me the knowledge of what is there and when visiting these, are aware of what I came to buy. Interviewer: Are you a consumer of a particular product of the company? Interviewee 3: Tesco hamburgers have been my best and are actually addicted to it. I consume as much as possible and always do buy that when around any of the stores. Interviewer: Has the ideas expressed in the advertisement of hamburgers influenced your knowledge of the product? Interviewee 3: That is always the issue but as I said, I am addicted to the hamburger. The advertisement has always been accompanied by health elated advices which shapes my knowledge of the contents but it may not be easy to change to a new product. Interviewer: How have the adverts and the products shaped the person that you are and what you would like to be? Interviewee 3: I am gigantic as you can see. It may not be because I am healthy but because of the burgers that I take. I have been changing and getting bigger as I continue taking them and this has created the health issue that I am now trying to solve. In future, I would like to take necessary cautions as the adverts warn of the health issues and try to take healthier foods. Read More