Consumer Behaviour Report Essay

Submitted By ereeeny1
Words: 1633
Pages: 7

An important aspect of developing effective communication requires an understanding of the receivers response process. Consumers are exposed to numerous and various marketing stimuli and messages which they must break down and decode to understand the message. It is the responsibility of marketers to understand how consumers interpret messages and to implement key models and processes to ensure the message is delivered clearly and interpreted correctly. The key concepts and models used by Dove Chocolate, Mars incorporated and how the print ad appealed to consumers and how effective the marketing efforts were as well as how the ad influences the personal consumer decision process will be discussed. Recommendations of models and concepts the Dove ad could implement will also be discussed and outlined to help achieve effective communication to its consumers.
The nature of communication has been defined as the exchange of ideas, the conjuring of specific thoughts, reactions and responses to information. The communication process is complex and success of communication depends on the nature of the message the consumer is exposed to, the audiences’ interpretation of it and the environment of which the message is received. A basic model of the communication process begins with source encoding, the message its self, the channel and method of communication, receiver/decoding and the consumers response and feedback.
The last step of how consumers respond to exposed stimuli has a number of response hierarchies and models and a thorough understanding of how consumers progress through each stage determines the success or failure of the message. Advertising campaigns that are designed with a thorough understanding of the consumer decision process and information processing stages will effectively target and deliver their message, an understanding of this process and how consumers decode a message and whether or not the message decoding process of the receiver matches the encoding of the sender will determine the effectiveness of the communication effort.
The response process is the most important aspect of developing effective communication and marketers must understand the process consumer’s progress through and how the communication efforts of the marketer may influence consumer behaviour and responses. There are Traditional response hierarchy models consisting of the AIDA model, hierarchy of effects model, innovation adoption model and the information processing model; and Alternative hierarchy response models consisting of the standard of learning, low involvement and dissonance/ attribution models.
The Dove chocolate ad adopted the AIDA response model in hoping to gain consumers attention, interest, desire and action on purchasing the chocolate bar. This is effective as the visual stimulus is of a dark muscular male with a six pack. The ad utilises the effectiveness of a pun, the play on words, “ Six Pack that melts a girl’s heart. Dove chocolate” – is effective as the visual of the man’s torso is linked in and representative of the Dove chocolate bars convenient six chocolate pieces in each pack. The marketers have identified a female target audience as the picture is targeted to draw attention to, and attract females. The association with the male’s six pack and the Dove chocolates six pack attracts the female audience and has adopted a hedonistic approach as each dove chocolate piece is believed to melt in your mouth and be the closest thing to a dark male’s defined torso- a pleasure in every piece. From a semiotic perspective, the sensory imagery that represents the Dove chocolate six pack is the focus, the object of the chocolate bar is not as visible but the intended meaning of sexy and indulgence allures and attracts the female audience. This is an effective approach as female consumers who decode the message by Dove are correctly transforming the senders’ message back into thought. The first thought once being