Advert targeting Gen X

M&S TV Ad 2012 - Summer To Remember TV Ad - Marks & Spencer

When looking for the prefect add to talk about, I found this advert that plays on all the senses and other stimuli. This is perfect for the target, i found statistics on youtube of the advert. With location information.

Also other details in the statistics how traffic was made. (looked into detail later) the advert has gary barlow singing in the advert and then the viewer sees him at the end. He is within Take that the band that is loved by mostly women of Gen x.  So the traffic of this age group may have come from the take that website as shown below.

Analysis

Scene 1 -The entrance to the advert the viewers are given music (The beetles - here comes the sun) that instantly triggers emotions and feelings of nostalgia of the time when the beetles where very popular and the effect it had on the music industry at the time.

Scene 2 - of a girl/female walking though a wood, CU of the grass, this provokes the feeling of touch on the skin, being natural. For the target audience this reminds them of when they were younger.

Scene 3 - this is of a farther figure and two children cutting the lawn together, having fun.

Scene 4 - Three children on a adventure, this provokes excitement.

Scene - boat scene - she touches the water with her fingers..

Scene - picnic - all the food laid out on the table provokes a the sense of British heritage with the British flags and bunting all around the classic TV, this links to the queens jubilee that is coming up during summer.TV campaigns like this defines what people do for events like this.

Scene - sports like the tenis and egg spoon race builds excitement. Also the advert has a part when the men looses to a women and he laughs it off touching on feminism equal understanding.. but good sportsmanship. This tennis scene represents teamwork with the ballboy/girls working together.

Scene - the sense of taste is also is aroused when a lady bites into a strawberry.

Scene - in the dark around a camp fire, its a feel good factor, letting all the worries going away. enjoy some food and peoples company. people tend to think of camp fires when they think of get aways for the family.

'on your marks for a summer to remember.'
This develops the need to make this one a good summer to remember. as the advert has plenty of ideas to make it different, customers may think they need to go to M&S to get products.  Adding the  'only at your M&S' makes the customer think that summer is defined by M&S. 

Customer behavior (Gen X)

How does Gen X behave when buying products.

Black box model. is simple model that covers some of the areas of the buying process in a broad way.

Howard Sheth model. This model takes the black box model and expands how every stage of the purchase process the consumer saves information for the next time they buy a product or service.

Engel Kollat Blackwell Model (EKB)  following the same principles the EKB model shows the flow of information that is attended when buying a product or service.  

Kotler model -

Defining - values and groups

Individualistic: Generation X came of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates and a faltering economy. Women were joining the workforce in large numbers, spawning an age of “latch-key” children. As a result, Generation X is independent, resourceful and self-sufficient. In the workplace, Generation X values freedom and responsibility. Many in this generation display a casual disdain for authority and structured work hours. They dislike being micro-managed and embrace a hands-off management philosophy.

Technologically Adept: The Generation X mentality reflects a shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. The first generation to grow up with computers, technology is woven into their lives. As law firms and corporate legal departments integrate new technological tools, Generation X has learned and adapted. This generation is comfortable using PDAs, cellphones, e-mail, laptops, Blackberrys and other technology employed in the legal workplace.

Flexible: Many Gen Xers lived through tough economic times in the 1980s and saw theirworkaholic parents lose hard-earned positions. Thus, Generation X is less committed to one employer and more willing to change jobs to get ahead than previous generations. They adapt well to change and are tolerant of alternative lifestyles. Generation X is ambitious and eager to learn new skills but want to accomplish things on their own terms.

Value Work/Life Balance: Unlike previous generations, members of Generation X work to live rather than live to work. They appreciate fun in the workplace and espouse a work hard/play hard mentality. Generation X managers often incorporate humor and games into work activities.

Groups

A group is two or more individuals who share a set of norms, have role relationships,and experience interdependent behaviors.

groups influence the socialisation process--i.e., they influence what we learn and how we behave

Why people like being in groups. As animals humans are social keeping together for a number of reasons;
-Support from others, this maybe in decision making. whats the best option to go for. (modern day, people like reading reviews on youtube and they can comment.. )
- Fear of neglect, not being bale to fit in and what it would entail of not being in the group. (loneliness maybe)
- importance of the membership, have a keen interest in a area of social pleasure.  

Where do values come from? 

(Source: Intergenerational value system Engel 1986in Evans etal, 2009)

How they effect buying process.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

Research methods

Research methods

Secondary research

·         This would be the first stage to analysis the market in any research process. Resources like reports and journals are the most effective for this type of study because they go into good qualitative and qualitative data. When available the use of websites like nastonal statistics have large data on the subject areas. Other resources like TGI are good for large amounts of information, with analysis of primary research the link between habits can be established.


      Criticism - Secondary

•        The research may have been done for other resoans so the research may not be full relvent.
•        We did not carry out the reseach so we dont know, where, how and when it was done, maybe the time of year effects results for a perticular product.
•       Can be costly (but more likly to be cheaper then carrying out outselfs)

 Primary research    This field research can use a wide used a number of techniques such as Questionnaires, focus groups, observation.. and more depending on the type of study.

Questionnaire/survays can be in depth for finding out general information on habits. a good example if how would a customer buy a product for. Finding out information on more in detail habits and why makes this research methods not so suitable for the type of study for a questionnaire.

After carrying out a Questionnaire, Focus groups can take those results further in a more in-depth personal level. With Focus group, the question or task is given then its up to the group to decide on the results this makes it more of group dission so more results are given. This helps to build up a better idea to marketers what goes through customers/consumers minds when buying or using the products or services. (relation) relating this to Generation marketing, marketers will want to know what a brand means to their target audience (maybe gen x) what where the values still in this generations minds, does this still influence this mind set because past events. Generation marketing is interesting because its the way each generation reaches to values and symbols in life.

Observation, This experimental kind of research really need planning, because events can effect results. For example if i wanted to know about if Gen x would go on a cruise Holiday next summer, they may say no because of the recent events within this industry. An example of use of observation would be analysing how much passing trade could be in a area, to see if a cafe would be a viable start up.

Criticism - Primary

•  May be easy to Obscurer statistics, the wording may be in current so interpretation from the subjects may be wrong.
• Within the fouse group one or two people may dominate the group to give just their opinion.
• Mis-interpretation of the data and numbers. Giving false conclusions.

Platforms

What platforms does Genaration x use? 
On my other post (here) I found table that decriebed the genarartion and some of the platforms they use. i wanted to take this further then just in the work place and see if this generation is really takieng us new emeerging comms like the internert. Can I (as a marketer) find ways of research this genration directley fromt them. 


My first reaction to this was, time to check facebook. (have a quick brake) but that was the first step how many people are on facebook and is there any information ont he ages in facebook.

 

 These pies are the brake down of Globle users. the information i am looking for is age.
[35-44] (14.9%) + (8.0%)/2  [45-54]   = 18.9%  
This still a big posentage for a genaration that wasnt brought up with this technolodgy.

some statisics on facebook that shows its a usable platform for research.

• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
• Average user spends an average 15 hours and 33 minutes on Facebook per month
• Average user visits the site 40 times per month
• Average user spends an 23 minutes (23:20 to be precise) on each visit
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared each day   (This will inclide polls)
• Facebook generates a staggering 770 billion page views per month.

 As being a student i have seen facebok being a central hub for people filling out survays. or shareing polls inside facebook to get acquire information.

 Social media has blown up recently with new and intresting fectures that build on basic technoldgy. But as i was researching in a new platform called Google plus, that has had some press recently becuase it is trying compete to facebook and twitter on diffrent levels. Google has one of the most used email survices gmail that many of the Gen x will use (no data found) for business or personal. but this service can link to 'Google Plus' 

When scrolling down looking at all the +1's i  could give all these brands i came across i live confrance. this was people all over the world professionals in their own industry an exmaple a director for a magazine in new york a Comms excitive in californa for a internet start up all asking questions in the lastest Sony production of The Pirates! movie (link) anyone could watch and get involved by adding comments. This got my thinking from a research stand point, what if i could utilise this feacture to have a fouce gorup online without the hassel of location time travel issues.. even be specfiic with the age and type of people wanted int he group. just make sure they have a microphone and computer at a time of day and they can all interact, and if any other people of the age range wanted to state their opion they could add comments.

 

 

 

 

Define “Generation Marketing”

From page 4 of Solomon defining Consumer behavior it builds on looking at the bigger picture. Marketers will define a consumer into categorize like age, gender, income ,Occupation (social classing) and much more.

Defined - 'Demographics' - characteristics of a population, this could be area.
Defined - 'Psychographics' - which refers to a persons aspects of lifestyle and personality.

These are important factors to marketers because this data defines how a product will enter a market. I will be covering these psychographics influences to the genration in a later post. (values and groups) and then applying these influences and developed values with an example of advertising that appeals to Gen X.

When reading Page 90 of Soloman textbook on motivation at first i didn't understand the link, but as Soloman explains marketers will 'build products or services that will provide the desired benefits and permit the consumer to reduce this tension' This psychological perspective of a motivation that develops a need. Can be given to a generation like gen x, this is because of the past and current events they have to handle and deal with everyday. This could be from being witnesses to London and 9/11 terrorist attacks to food scares or babies food having glass fragments within. They become more sensitive to outside threats so they build securities.

Now onto a little side note that still aplies. Gen X was the real first Generation to be influenced by brands and products because it mass communication that was taking place at the time. Particular popular products shown on the 'Timeline' in a later post like the walkman, microwaves ovens, pc and macintoshes. Really started to take the main stage with this genration, people wanted to have the latest craze. These brands that  where introduced like sony are stil strong and still hold particular values this generation.  My own example would be with my parents, they will only by Sony Tv's because they still hold the same ideology that they did back when they first bought their own music hardware of the time. 

WARC articles

Title:Don't You (Forget About Me) - Marketing to Generation

lets theorize

While reading the one and only Soloman, I came across the 'Role Theory' the example used in the book is that people play roles in what every part they are playing in life. Soloman explains that 'each consumer has lines, props and costumes behavior' so that got me thinking what were the role played by people in this time, where the stereotypes of the time real? while researchin through the world wide web I a report that covered the different lifestyles of Gen X.

• Southern Starters (2,146,900) – office professionals at the start of their career, many in London and South East of England, moderate credit and store card usage. Use Sainsbury’s and upper end clothing chains.

Expanded:-  Within London, the population is always bombard by advertising from a range of different brands so the use of word of mouth from co-workers close friends and family are the still the most effect.

• Older Suburbs (3,100,300) – oldest of the Generation X group, living more out of town – many outside London.  High mortgage and loans – although relatively low disposable income.

Expanded:-  This older part of the generation is less susceptible to brands and adverting. This may be because of the low disposable income because paying for debts. 

•  Detached Aspirers (3,153,300) – better off young middle aged families, living in London and South East of England. Enjoy golf, most likely of this group to have grocery online shopping.

Expanded:- online shopping is interesting here, because its a emerging market. This is the perfect example why shopping online is needed because of their busy life styles, they have children to cater for and both parents have full time jobs.

• Online Families (694,300) – younger families living in town centres, many close to best performing state schools, use internet for family pursuits.  Keen on self-improvement, education. 

Ref: http://www.lloydjames.com/_img/pics/pdf_1316702235.pdf