Transcript Issues in a Changing Marketplace

Motivation
Copywriting for the Electronic Media
(Meeske)
What is Motivation?
• Eg: You may say that you have joined a
gym spending money for fees, shoes,
clothes, etc, to keep in shape. The real
reason however, might be that you
think going to a gym will be help you
meet attractive men or women who
work out there. Both reasons are real:
One is stated, other is subconscious
Consumer Behavior: Elements
• Structure of Motivation
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Ascending order)
• McGuire’s Psychological Motives: Selfexpression, Novelty, Reinforcement, Affiliation,
Modeling, Ego-Defense
• Categories of Appeals: Emotional Appeals,
Rational Appeals, Moral Appeals, Other
Appeals
• Features and Benefits
Structure of Motivation?
• Motive is the reason a person behaves
in a given way. It is an internal force
that stimulates you to behave in a
specific manner.
• Motivation is the justification for the
behavior.
Needs and Wants
• Needs and wants motivate us.
• Needs are the basic forces that motivate us
to do some thing.
• Needs are more basic than wants. Wants are
needs that we learn during our lives.
• For instance, we have a basic need for water
- but some people have learned to want a
bottle of Perrier.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Physiological: Needs for water, food,
and shelter are physiological motives.
This is the most basic level of human
needs. Because physiological needs
are essential to survival, these needs
must be satisfied first.
• Products: Medicines, low-cholesterol
foods, health foods, special drinks
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Safety: Needs pertaining to stability,
physical safety, comfy environment, etc
• Products: Insurance, retirement
investments, smoke detectors,
preventative medicines, automotive
tires
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Social Needs: Motives that illustrate a
desire for friendship, group acceptance,
affiliation, or love
• Products: Clothing, entertainment,
foods, personal grooming, and others
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Esteem: Self-respect, superiority,
prestige, and status. Esteem motives
relate to a person’s desire for
accomplishments and usefulness.
• Products: Cars, furniture, clothing,
hobbies, liquors, and many others
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Self-actualization: The need for selffulfillment, of becoming all that one is
capable of becoming
• Products: Hobbies, sports, education,
gourmet foods, and some vacations.
Maslow felt that few people reached
this level, but advertisers nevertheless
focus on it.
McGuire: Self-expression
• We want to let others know by our
actions including the purchase and
display of products, what we are and who
we are. This brings the notion of selfconcept into play (attitudes you hold
toward yourself). It can be divided into
actual and ideal: who I am now (actual)
and who I would like to be (ideal)
McGuire: Self-expression
• Certain products serve as social symbols,
communicate meaning to one’s self and to
others; enhance our need for self-expression.
Outcome is that we often purchase and use
services, products, and media to maintain a
desired self-concept. Thus, a man might wear
a Ralph Lauren shirt because others may
recognize it as a brand of quality, a factor that
could also reinforce self-image of the wearer.
McGuire: Novelty
• In consumer purchasing, this need
could relate to impulse buying and
brand switching. Eg:, an individual
buying a car might believe the top
consumer choices to be Toyota/ Honda.
However, this person might react to the
need for novelty by purchasing another
brand that’s attracting attention.
McGuire: Reinforcement
• Products designed to be used in public
(cars, clothing, furniture) are often
advertised to emphasize the amount
and nature of reinforcement that will be
received. This relates to the need
individuals have to enhance their selfimage
McGuire: Affiliation
• This need emphasizes the development of
satisfying & helping relations with others.
Focus is on need to share and be
accepted by others.
McGuire: Modeling
• Modeling is the need to base behavior
on that of others. Individuals seek
satisfying relationships with others, and
reflect on the desire to maintain
conformity with reference groups.
Advertisers apply this motive by
depicting celebrities using their brands
McGuire: Ego-defense
• We use defensive behaviors and
attitudes to protect our self-concepts
when our identities are threatened.
Many products are advertised to
provide ego-defense. Consumers who
are hesitant about their purchases of
socially visible products may rely on
well-known brands to avoid possibility
of making a socially incorrect purchase.
Appeals: Emotional
• Used to generate either positive or
negative emotions to generate purchase
• Emotion Arousal: Joy, love, pride
• Emotion Reduction: Shame, guilt, fear
• Eliciting Particular Emotions: Warmth of
credit card paying for romantic getaway
Appeals: Rational
• Performance, economy, quality, safety,
design, price
• Price and Quality appealed together
• Spend less money, more quality
• Spend more money, more quality
Other Appeals
• Humor: To establish product
identification, not for complex sales goal
• Celebrity: Trust in spokespersons
• Five Senses: How do you communicate
smell, touch, taste etc? By descriptive
terms and demonstrations
Features and Benefits
• Remarkable McPherson struts = A
more comfortable ride (Subaru car)
• Active infrared autofocus system =
Gives you pictures that are always in
sharp focus (Olympus AFL camera)
• Comes complete with Hi-Vac =
Vacuums grass into an upright position
(Snapper Lawnmower)
Points to Remember
• Understanding motives and behaviors
enables advertisers to focus on the
forces that lead consumers to make
buying decisions
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that
basic motives must be minimally
satisfied before more advanced
motives can be activated
Points to Remember
• The self-concept is one’s beliefs and
feelings about one’s self
• The self-concept is important to
advertisers because consumers
purchase products to enhance, express,
and maintain their self-concepts
• Consumers seek products whose
primary or secondary benefit is to arouse
emotion
Points to Remember
• Advertisers may seek to arouse, reduce, or
elicit certain emotions
• Rational appeals demonstrate that a product
will deliver the desired results
• Moral appeals aim at the consumer’s sense of
right and wrong
• As a copywriter, you must convert the features
of a product into benefits that will create a
desire in the consumer to purchase