culture in marketing - New Year of Asia

Culture is one of the elements that can influences human behaviour. It defined by Solomon (2015) is the accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms and traditions. It is a society's personality, which shares people identities as individuals, as well as reflect the society and country's history.

Many markets understand if they want to a huge impact of their products/ services or forecasting consumption, they have to understand and analysis the culture from each country.

Based on costumers are more likely to want products which related with their culture’s at any given time. Otherwise, culture is so powerful which is sometimes difficult to grasp the importance of culture so it has a powerful effectives to the consumer’s behaviour with their concept and life. 

For example, Chinese New Year is one of the biggest Asia festival which has a huge impacts around the world at the same time. People love to buy many red ornament for decoration and people will have reunion dinner together as well. It feels like the Christmas that all shops and residents in western must put some stuff for decoration or give the gifts to others.

Different role/culture at different countries. For example, Chinese use red pocket to give the lucky money to children, but people are using green pocket in Brunei. 

Most marketers utilize the role to do the promotion to attract customers into the products. All Chinese understand that one of the Chinese New Year role is stay with family at the new year day, since long time a ago, people are busy with their works or studies outside, that always disregard their families. Based on this reason, there are some Chinese new year advertising which related with this role:

Otherwise, different countries in Asia have different date of their New Year or different methodologies of celebration. Thailand New Year on April, which called Songkran, there are some events on the main cities on that day, marketer utilize the festival to create different events and activities to effect people and attract local and international customers into it.

Plastic Surgery - My self

2014 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report  and one of Mail Online article show that there are more 15 million people have cosmetic procedures which included surgical and minimally-invasive procedures from 13-55+ since 2011.

What is the reason or motivation to make those people to take a risk to under the knife? There are many reasons about why people want to take plastic surgery. For example, wants to look good, smoking and hot. The research points out plastic surgery clients mostly focus on improve their breast and face. However, all reasons can conclude to one motivation: be more BEAUTIFUL.  

People who have plastic surgery, they either want to be look younger for professional, some personal reasons or follow up the beauty trend. It sounds like what Karen points out “everyone wants to compete against one another.” Otherwise, many people like to compare with others whoever they are such as I usually compare the dress up with my friends when we hang out together. 

Two of the most popular surgical procedures in Asia are nose and eyes surgeries as it makes the face look more ‘Western’ and charming. Many Asian think that their faces ratio is not pretty enough and near gold ratio like Westerner, so they emulate Westerners to make their face be prefect.  Otherwise, the trend of Asian beauty and social are advocating and changing the definition of beauty such as “Thin is beautiful” and “White skin is prefect”.

Based on those reasons, different kinds of beauty companies and marketers to enhance or use this concept cause everyone think they need their beauty products or need  plastic surgery. For instance, Botulinum toxin type A and Hyaluronic acid are  two of the popular minimally-invasive surgery around the world that to eliminate wrinkles or avoid wrinkles. Marketers put all good effective label into products to attract consumers.   

(Retrieved :https://www.linkedin.com/topic/botulinum-toxin )

(Retrieved : http://www.kttraining.co.uk/blog/tag/botox/page/2/)

Over 45K+ people to have Botox and 36K+ use Hyaluron acid every year since 2011 in UK. 

(Retrieved : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2271134/15million-people-plastic-surgery-world-just-year--SOUTH-KOREA-leading-way.html )

The motivation of BEAUTIFUL is contenting with 5 types of "SELF" which influence human behavior and utilized in promotion and advertisement by marketer. 

1. Self-concept (summarizes the beliefs from internal and external and how he/she evaluates the self on these qualities of attributes, emotions, beliefs and personal value from past to future sieves) 

2. Self-esteem (reflects personal overall evaluation and worth by themselves, it encompasses personal beliefs and emotions) 

Section 1 & 2 are interacting. Both are created from self-knowledge, self-esteem, and social self, which from oneself that how they think about themselves. For example, I think I am eyes is pretty but my pore (face) is not perfect cause me want to have surgery to fix the problem.

3. Real and ideal selves (actual self and self-imagine) 

4. Multiple selves (interacting between various social roles and oneself)

5. Looking- Glass self (the reflects from others such as family and friends)

Section 5 is proposed by Charles Horton Cooley. Though human interaction to obtain the reflections, it emphasis my own view reflects that how others view me. Looking-glass self is creating and developing thought human contention while creating self-concept.  

Those 5 types are effecting people to changing or improving themselves like personality and ego from self and others. Marketers 

In my opinion, one of the human behave because everybody appreciates his/her own beauty, so there is not any reason to stop people to become the person that they want to be. However, i recommend two of my favorite song to everyone when they think they are not prefect. 

      - << Meghan Trainor -  All About That Bass >>        << Colbie Caillat - Try  >>

References:

References:


BATES, C. (2013, January 31). Why do so many people want cosmetic procedures?. Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2271134/15million-people-plastic-surgery-world-just-year--SOUTH-KOREA-leading-way.html

Mintel. (2014). 2014 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report. Retrieved from http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2014-statistics/plastic-surgery-statsitics-full-report.pdf


Walsh, F. (2013, April 24). Why do so many people want cosmetic procedures?.BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22277890

Consumer Motivation and Decision making: An experiential view

People affected by motivation which can influence human to act something for a ​particular ​purpose such as make decision when they are shopping. HKTDC Food Expo be an example to explain more about the consumer motivation, involvement and consumer decision making.

HKTDC Food Expo is one of the biggest impressive Trade Show in HK. There are more than two hundred food companies come from around the world to sell and display their own products such as snacks, beverages and soya sauce to buyers and spoiling public visitors with mouth-watering delicacies. Those exhibitors are going to foods samples to let public to have an experience with their products.

Solomon (2014)points out others three types of motivations on  decision making:
( iPhone and android smart phone will be the examples to explain it)

1. Cognitive :self-regulations and self-actualization (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs)  that about deliberate, rational and sequential. Most people are wondering to buy high quality products with low price, so they like to compare all aspects such as  prices,tastes and experiences to help to make a decision. In the food expo, there are many foods stalls to provide free or cheaper sample to visitors to get an experiences with their products. It creates experiences of small, vision and taste to public.

2. Habitual is about personal behavioral, unconscious and automatic. The way or the thing that you used to it. For example, my friends and i went to Food Expo look for some new products. All of us used to ask "how is it?" when we try something new to get some comments, which create the base concept with the products. All those comments will stay in our hand , lead us to make a decision next time.

3. Affective is including emotional and instantaneous that  how people feel about it or how people make a decision from emotional or instantaneous. In fact, people are willing to try new foods or beverages in Food Expo because there are some people who show what they feel with the product on their face. Therefore, poeple can feel it by theirselves with self-sensory (slight/ small and taste) as well.

 

On the other hand, affiliation, power and uniqueness are the classifying consumer which cause decision making. For personal, my motivation is the thing is necessary, useful, powerful which can help me to solve the problem such as i buy a new smart phone for contact and play. Moreover, i wondering the phone is unique or special.

Purchase decisions are the concepts that to make human decides to buy something they needs or wants.


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Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky (1985), "Measuring the involvement Construct on Marketing," Journal of Consumer Research 12:341-352.

Solomon, Michael R (2015) "Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being "