It’s very important for marketers to know how consumers decide what product to choose so that they can advertise their product to meet the needs of their target audience. Involved in a consumers decision making process are a series of risks as to whether they’ll pick he right product for them, what category a brand wants their product to be apart of (referring to the three buckets of consumer decision making) and knowing the decision rules and what attributes to that.
Through the Blog I will reference this advertisement (above) for ‘Converse’ featuring Cole Sprouse.
Constructive processing is a term used to explain how consumers will take use the brainpower to make decisions on what to buy if the decision requires a thought out rational plan, otherwise we are likely to use emotion and unconscious choices about what we prefer (Solomon, M 2018). This can be explained through the three buckets of consumer decision making.
For Converse the purchase of sneakers can overlap into different buckets as every consumer is individual and how they advertise their brand. Usually I believe buying shoes would be a rational, deliberate purchase one makes. However a person can have an emotional attachment to materials and be inclined when they enter a shoe store to see the converse symbol and immediately decide to buy that sneaker, putting the product in the Affective bucket for that consumer. The video above shows this in the voices heard explaining what type of converse sneaker they have based on attributes like colour and style (high or low top). Even the line in the video that appears “forever Chuck. For every you.” this is trying to appeal to as many people as possible as saying this sneaker is the designed for you personally, to suit you.
Perceived Risk is another decision making concept which is the evaluation of uncertainty about a product or brand. In this video the perceived risk is handled by the marketers by adding a well known celebrity Cole Sprouse showing that these are his everyday sneakers and his preferred shoe so it should be yours too, right??
In relation to these concepts and reflecting on when I bought my ‘Chucks’ the decision for me fits in the cognitive bucket and was rational as I weighed up the price of the Converses being $100 compared to vans that were $120. Also within the rational decision I tried on the sneakers to make sure they fit me and were comfortable. As for perceived risk I know many friends that own converses and that social element of knowing they were ‘cool and stylish’ shoes right now did influence my choice as in perceived risk I don’t want to be discouraged by my shoe choice in a social environment. Personally however the fact that Cole Sprouse endorses these didn’t affect my decision or make it an emotional choice for me.
A funny photo that kind of relates to the pressure researchers can put consumers under in their decision making process 😛
Converse 