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designates my notes. / designates important. / designates very important.

Thoughts

Freud is mentioned extensively, but not Bernays. Kinsey is mentioned.

Exceptional Quotes

Specialists generally look for their specialty. They are apt to overlook the real weakness, the true source of trouble, because they look with the eyes of the specialist.

In our present-day, highly industrialized society, symbolism plays a vital role in almost every aspect of life. Most people buy symbols, not products. Consumers generally know little about the actual quality of the product. They buy the image of the product…

Price is a major factor in the “quality image.” To the consumer, a high quality product is a costly product. A fine article is an expensive article. To most consumers, poor quality and low price are synonymous.

In dealing with people as consumers, we find that human beings in general are tradition-directed,” “inner-directed,” and “other- directed.”

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Preface
• 01: Basis for Management Decision
• 02: The Structure of a Marketing Program
• 03: Imagery and Color in Packaging
• 04: Auto Makers’ Problems Can Be Solved
• 05: What is and What is Not Predictable
• 06: Dogs, Buyers and Sellers
• 07: Advertising of the Future
• 08: What Kind of Research?
• 09: The Semantic Differential as a Measuring Instrument
• 10: How Scientific can Marketing Research be?
• 11: Why is Research So Vital in Planning A New Product?
• 12: Evolving A Symbol of Quality
• 13: What is There in A Logo?
• 14: How Important is an Old Symbol?
• 15: Improving the Taste Without Changing the Ingredients
• 16: What’s in A Name?
• 17: How Important is A Trademark?
• 18: Developing A Package with the Aid of Research
• 19: Does the Ad Upgrade the Product?
• 20: Giving Consumers What They Want
• 21: The Image of A Women’s Apparel Store
• 22: Scientific Marketing of Bread and Oil

· Introduction

page 26:

• CHESKIN is a remarkable person. I have never known him to be wrong. One time when I said this to him, he replied that he was usually wrong but his research was right. I think this a good measure of the man—and of the book. He has been able to divorce his own personal likes, biases and personality from the research he does.

• When you work with colors, you work on the subsymbol level. There is a hierarchy of communication. At the top are words—high order symbols. Next there are illustrations and overt symbols such as crowns, crosses, etc. Then there is the sub-symbol world of color. Color is so primitive that color reactions may be closer to physiology than perception. Black and dark blue are perceived as the same color yet because blue is received by the color cones in the retina (and black is received by the rods) we experience a much fuller “perception” of black. This is the area in which Cheskin started.

· Preface

page 41:

• what Packard points out is, that some individuals misuse motivation research, that they could use it for anti-social purposes and that there are some who would, if they could, use motivation research against the interests of the people.

· Chapter 1 - Basis for Management Decision

page 47:

• Often, the rational aspects of a product have no appeal to consumers. The functional or practical character does not always motivate consumers to buy the product. Management must find devices that will appeal to the potential consumers or users of the product. Emotional appeals, not rational ones, have to be used.

page 50:

• The modern executive uses “scientific” methods as a guide in making decisions. Modern, up-to-date management is “scientific management.” Modern, up-to-date executives practice “scientific marketing.” This means that business decisions are made by managers on what is considered to be factual support.

• I should at this point call attention to one kind of decision making practiced in many corporations which is not scientifically sound, yet is not based on the subjective opinion or limited knowledge of the manager or a subordinate. I have in mind the committee method of decision making. Sometimes this is called the democratic method. It is also known as the brain picking method or brain storming method. This often operates on the assumption that a number of uninformed people can arrive at a better decision than one uninformed person.

· Chapter 2 - The Structure of a Marketing Program

page 60:

• Research has shown that people readily accept something new about the old. The old part makes them feel secure and confident; the new aspect is stimulating and interesting.

page 61:

• Specialists generally look for their specialty. They are apt to overlook the real weakness, the true source of trouble, because they look with the eyes of the specialist.

page 62:

• The four walls of a marketing structure:
  • The product
  • The package
  • The advertising
  • The price

page 64:

• The consumer does not judge the product, he judges the package.

page 71:

• In our present-day, highly industrialized society, symbolism plays a vital role in almost every aspect of life. Most people buy symbols, not products. Consumers generally know little about the actual quality of the product. They buy the image of the product…

page 72:

• Price is a major factor in the “quality image.” To the consumer, a high quality product is a costly product. A fine article is an expensive article. To most consumers, poor quality and low price are synonymous.

page 74:

• Product quality is the number one side in a profitable marketing program, the package is the number two side, advertising is the number three side and pricing is number four. Actually, a marketing program depends on all four, equally. Weakness of any one of the four sides will cut sales and diminish profits.

· Chapter 3 - Imagery and Color in Packaging

· Chapter 4 - Auto Makers’ Problems Can Be Solved

page 93:

• studies show that under normal social and economic conditions the public resists change and rejects radical change.

• It is true that people normally want something new about the old. They reject the completely new and original and they are bored by the old and familiar.

· Chapter 5 - What is and What is Not Predictable

page 105:

• In earlier years, consumption was mainly of a biological and material nature; in our present society of abundance, consumption is largely psychological. (Eating hamburger fills a biological need. Steak provides psychological satisfaction.)

page 110:

• Recent studies also reveal that consumers are beginning to resent forced obsolescence. When yearly fashion changes were limited to women’s apparel there was almost universal acceptance. The public did not resist the car design changes every year. Then other hard-goods makers began planned obsolescence. Perhaps this has broken the camel’s back. Now the consumer is in revolt.

• I guess he got this one wrong. Maybe not actually. Most people do dislike planned obsolescence, but there isn’t any/many quality brands out there as an alternative to the cheap stuff that fails in short order.

page 115:

• Their conscious minds rejected advertising, but their unconscious behavior showed that they were influenced by it, subliminally or unconsciously.

page 118:

• The national elections of 1948 were an outstanding example of the unreliability of polling methods. Dr. Gallup, Mr. Roper and other pollsters failed to predict the election results because many just didn’t know or would not say how they would vote.

page 119:

• Controlled research is no substitute for judgment and decision. Judgment enters into the research picture when a decision has to be made on what should or should not be tested. Judgment based on experience has to be used in designing the test for the particular problem. It is again needed in interpreting the research results and in making effective use of the findings.

· Chapter 6 - Dogs, Buyers and Sellers

• If you are going to change your label, make sure to tell the customers it is happening. They might otherwise think the new label is a knock-off.

· Chapter 7 - Advertising of the Future

page 136:

• Most American advertising specialists depend primarily on copy for getting their messages across. Language is their basic means of communication. American commercials consist largely of slogans, rhyming lines or dramatic declarations. The Europeans make appeals to the senses with significant images, stimulating colors, inspiring music, dramatic movement and meaningful symbols.

• The prime objective of the European producers was to entertain, to amuse, to please. The selling is indirect, subtle, unobtrusive, not overbearing as most American commercials are.

• These commercials do not bring out defense mechanisms in the audience. The viewers do not react to them any differently than they do to the main feature in the theatre. Psychologically, the European theatre commercials are akin to the shorts, comedies, cartoons and travelogs used in American theatres.

page 138:

• Every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image. . . . I am astonished to find how many manufacturers, even among the new generation, believe that women can be persuaded by logic and argument to buy one brand in preference to another—even when the two brands are technically identical. . . .

• The manufacturers who dedicate their advertising to building the most favorable image, the most sharply defined personality for their brands are the ones who will get the largest share of these markets at the highest profit—in the long run.” —Speech by David Ogilvy

page 142:

• I don’t think that I am an average consumer. I believe that reliance on my personal judgment is dangerous.

page 145:

• He explained that the name “Velcro” was formed out of the first syllables of velvet and crochet. This explanation provided an association that served as an aid in recalling the brand name.

page 146:

• The Westinghouse sponsored “Desi and Lucy Fiesta” show that was on the television screens October 6, 1958, is an example of the kind of commercials that will dominate the screens in the near future. The commercial message was integrated with the show.

· Chapter 8 - What Kind of Research?

page 162:

• In dealing with people as consumers, we find that human beings in general are tradition-directed,” “inner-directed,” and “other- directed.”

page 172:

• An indirect preference test is conducted in conjunction with the association test. It is indirect because the respondents are not aware that we are interested in their choices. The preference is expressed by the consumer on the basis of self-interest.

• The indirect preference part of the test reveals the percentage of individuals in the consumer sample who actually want the product. The association part of the test discloses the specific reasons for their preference.

• In testing the effectiveness of a package, the respondents are asked to respond to the product, that is, to the contents, not to the package. Consumers are not aware that they are influenced by a package and they do not consider the package important. Unconsciously they transfer the effect of the package to the product in it. Thus, an effective package communicates to the shopper that the product in the package is of high quality, whereas a “poor” package tells the shopper that the product it contains is of poor quality.

• Summing up ad testing first of all, the ad is put through an eye- movement test. If the eye-flow and attention-holding are favorable, the ad is tested in the field by means of an association test and/or a sensation-transference test.

· Chapter 9 - The Semantic Differential as a Measuring Instrument

· Chapter 10 - How Scientific can Marketing Research be?

• Comparison between particle physics (uncertainty) and market research.

page 209:

• Irving J. Lee and Laura L. Lee tell the following in their book, Handling Barriers in Communication (Harper & Brothers, 1958).

• Now, any of you who are fishermen know that minnows are the natural food of the pike, so instead of being put into the same tank where the pike could eat the minnows, they were separated by a glass partition. The pike could see the minnows all right, and he was hungry. He wasn’t fed anything.

• Now, of course, the pike tried to get at the minnows. He kept smacking his nose up against the glass partition. He was hungry, and there was his food, but every time he tried to get at it he smacked his nose and got nothing. He did this hundreds of times before he gave up. But he did give up. He learned something. Even the nervous system of a fish can learn something. And what he learned was, ‘Don’t eat minnows.’ His experience led to a new kind of behavior—a new evaluation, you might say. ‘Don’t eat minnows.’

• Now, at this point, the glass partition was removed.

• The minnows and the pike now swam about freely together, even bumping into each other. What do you suppose the pike’s behavior was now? Do you think he tried to eat the minnows?

• Well, he didn’t. He didn’t touch them. The pike had learned a lesson. He had learned what he had learned! ‘Don’t eat minnows.’ And the pike, surrounded by an abundance of his natural food, died of starvation. He knew what he knew. And he died with that knowledge.”

· Chapter 11 - Why is Research So Vital in Planning A New Product?

· Chapter 12 -Evolving A Symbol of Quality

page 220:

• The most important aspect about everything I have said so far is that the program of developing a new package for Parliament cigarettes was systematic. It was planned, organized and had direction. Definite objectives were outlined for the designer and a specific procedure was set for the research to be conducted.

· Chapter 13 - What is There in A Logo?

• Case study - Nescafe

· Chapter 14 - How Important is an Old Symbol?

• Case study - Uncle Ben’s Rice

· Chapter 15 - Improving the Taste Without Changing the Ingredients

• Case study - Faygo

· Chapter 16 - What’s in A Name?

• Case study - Plentifors

· Chapter 17 - How Important is A Trademark?

• Case study - Pearson’s Candy

· Chapter 18 - Developing A Package with the Aid of Research

• Case study - Coco Wheats

· Chapter 19 - Does the Ad Upgrade the Product?

• Case study - Philip Morris

· Chapter 20 - Giving Consumers What They Want

• Case study - Consoweld Corporation

page 303:

• ALMOST all managers are aware of the value of their employees’ time. Many have developed or purchased devices for saving time and for increasing the efficiency of employees. However, many top executives think it perfectly normal to spend a day around a conference table, in a committee meeting, discussing what housewives will or will not buy.

• The fact that not a single one of them could possibly react to any object as a typical housewife would, does not seem to occur to them. What is more, they spend costly time trying to “guess” the answer to a problem for which they can get the right answer through research, for a few hundred dollars.

· Chapter 21 - The Image of A Women’s Apparel Store

• Case study

· Chapter 22 - Scientific Marketing of Bread and Oil

• Case studies: bread and Standard Oil logo