Stuff About Heuristics

Yesterday when I was on my way to the grocery store to buy jell-o for my ritual game-day blue and yellow jello-o-shots I realized that I drove all the way across town to go to Town & Country to get it when I could've just driven a few blocks and got the jell-o at Walmart. It had just occurred to me that I had done so because I always buy jell-o at T&C. Even though Walmart has the same brand of jell-o for approximately the same price I never think to go there.

Looking into it a little further I realized that there are a lot of places that I heuristically shop for certain products.  For instance I always buy my Top Ramen and veggies at T&C,  and my shampoo and shower gel at Walmart. It even goes so far as to decide where I get certain brands of beer. If I am buying Cold Smoke I will get that at Albertson's, Budweiser at Walmart, or Shock Top at T&C.

Though these preferences may have started out because of pricing or selection that is no longer why I do it. I have trained myself to go to a certain place for a certain product regardless of pricing. One reason I think I am drawn to a certain place is because when I think about what I need I visualize the product on the shelf and which grocery store it is in. This is a good example of why shops want to get people in their early 20's to start shopping at their stores early on. Once people start shopping somewhere for a certain item they usually look there first from then on.

Stuff About College Football

 

With the biggest football rivalry in Montana just passed, I find it suiting that I talk about my favorite subject in college... College Football!! Weather you are a Bobcat fan or a Grizzly fan (god may have mercy on you, and if he doesn’t, tough luck) we all participate in a subculture. What make a subculture exist are a shared belief system and a number of acceptable traits and actions. For the Bobcats these beliefs are that Bobcats are good and all other teams in our conference are bad, with University of Montana and Eastern Washington topping that list. Some traits that identify this subculture are items such as bumper stickers, jerseys and other Montana State memorabilia. These are used to show pride and identify with others within your subculture.

There are also rituals that people perform or in which they participate in order to be part of this subculture. One ritual that is widely acceptable is the pregame tailgate scene. Many of the fans get together before the game starts, either in the designated tailgate area, or at houses in order to prepare for the game ahead. These gatherings usually consist of drinking and eating. Another ritual that is widely adopted is wearing of team colors and sometimes arriving at the game in costume. Some people wear customized t-shirts that have logos or smear phrases directed at the other team. For the Cat/Griz rivalry a few popular ones are “FTG” or, new this year, “Eat S**t Grizzlies, No Means No” which plays off a stereotype of the Griz players due to recent criminal acts.

Stuff About Product Placement

Product placement has been around for decades,
but it has come a long way since the first paid placement of a candy in the iconic film E.T. In recent years product placement has gotten to an almost shameful point. It used to be a rule of thumb that if the consumer notices the product placement then it was a failed attempt but recently marketers don't seem to mind if it is blatantly obvious. This clip was taken of an episode of White Collar shows just how obvious they make it, and this isn't even the worst. In some cases the producers try so hard to work it into a scene that it stops the plot dead. Entire scenes are created just to show the new ford focus and sometimes there are little side conversations or scripted observations to illuminate the features of the Ford Focus.
The question that comes to mind is how does this effect the consumer's perception of the product that is being plugged? Do poorly or blatantly placed products negatively effect the viewer's schema associated with these brands? Another thing to take into consideration is the consumer's trust. In the absence of product placement there are two worlds, entertainment/fiction and advertisement/information. Without product placement these two worlds are neatly separated from one another, but when the line is blurred and there is information mixed in with the fiction the consumer may decide to trust the information less. The producers of the show are also risking loss of trust by the viewers. People usually don't respond well to advertisements having a role in the plot and once a show becomes known for doing this regularly they could lose viewers. If that happens then ford will no longer have any desire to advertise with them and it will all be for nothing.

Stuff About April

The film Pieces of April was fairly interesting, especially in such close proximity to Thanksgiving. I think we can all associate with the pressures of preparing the perfect meal for a number of people, even if only through observation. The film does an excellent job of outlining the intense pressure of preparing for a Thanksgiving that adheres to all the traditional guidelines shaped by both society and our own personal family histories.

Thanksgiving has become a holiday based on tradition and small differentiations, like cranberry sauce made from scratch instead of out of the can, stuffing made at home instead of store bought, or making the special family jell-o.  Contrary to the film, in my family Thanksgiving is a collective effort. We all have a number of dishes that we specialize in making and once the family gathers under one roof the whole meal comes together.

I found it interesting how the film depicted consumer behavior through the products needed for thanksgiving; once again the cranberry sauce and the stuffing, but also the “self cleaning convection oven” that makes a hero’s appearance in the movie. It just comes to show that the products used in the holiday have just as much to do with the it as the people.

Stuff About Music

Recently I was thinking about brand loyalty and how that applies to the music that we listen to. Technically bands are brands of music and we have loyalty to them. This is for a number of reasons: we like the product that they distribute, we want to associate with others that consume the same brand of music, or we relate to the product personally. There are plenty of reasons why we would be loyal to certain brands of music but also lots of reasons that those relations can cease to exist or be disconnected. For example, my music preferences have changed quite dramatically in the last few years. I find that my iPod, due to the fact that I haven’t really spent any time updating it recently, is full of music that I no longer relate to.

Some of it has to do with where I was during that time of my life and some of it has to do with where the brand has moved in the last few years that makes me not relate to it anymore. I think that music can be very similar to fads in the way that it can be interesting and attractive at one point in time but quickly move in the other direction. Dave Mathews Band, for example, was one of my favorite bands in high school. Now I usually change the radio station if most DMB songs come on. This could be because I over-used this certain product and I am now sick of it or because it reminds me of that time of my life and the long-gone high school girlfriend that I associate that band with and whom I would rather forget. In essence, most brand breakups happen due to the change in either the brand or the consumer.