EBSC7310 Knowledge Block 2 Reflection

Coming from a more theoretical marketing background, topics within psychology and consumer behaviour were familiar to me and were actually a great point of interest during my undergraduate degree. With that being said, I was eager to dive back into these topics and get fresh perspectives and insights.

I decided to tackle some of the listed readings prior to the second session of the 'Marketing, Design and Communications' unit. This allowed to be more present within the session itself and grasp more of the discussions taking place. These readings really brought back the importance of semiotics and human analysis for me. Between reading the SCA case study on Charmin and carrying out a self-reflective task on idea creation, I remembered that the most important thing is to take a step back and understand the purpose and audience behind your creation. Giving yourself time to research and carry out semiotic analysis is really what will ensure that your creations speak to an audience and establish the correct associations.

Although the session itself was not directly focused on semiotics, I was able to draw connections between semiotic analysis and our discussions. The difference between push and pull marketing was a new concept for me, but it quickly made sense. As human beings evolved, our needs and desires as consumers changed. This led psychologists to create models to understand consumer behaviour and for us to use these models to attract consumers. It is these pivotal moments in the industry that drove society away from push marketing and more towards a pull marketing approach.

Another aspect of this session I found interesting was the FCB grid activity. I struggled in listing products that fall within the high involvement category, as they felt more farfetched and needed further self persuasion. Through this exercise, I understood that different journeys are involved in the purchase of different goods. This is something that needs to be taken into consideration from a business perspective. If I want to sell a product I need to understand the journey of my consumers and which part of the journey I need to tap into to help them in their decision making process. For instance, my decision to buy a Cadbury chocolate bar is influenced by visual appeals and psychological cues related to hunger. Cadbury, as a company, knows that this is a low involvement product. Therefore, if they achieve that sense of visual appeal, it will not take me long to make a purchasing decision.

Overall, I felt as though the second session of the unit sparked back my interest in consumer behaviour and going forward I want to tap into this knowledge and understanding even more during my creative processes. I want to expand my knowledge on the human brain to take a more psychological approach in the way I produce ideas.

FCB grid activity