Question: For each of the following products, identify

> You are the owner of two furniture stores: one catering to upper-middle-class consumers and the other to lower-class consumers. How do social class differences influence each store’s: (a) product lines and styles (b) advertising media selection (c) the c

> To what extent is technology an aspect of social class? Does it require its own social group?

> Which status related variable—occupation, education or income—is the most appropriate segmentation base for: (a) family vacations (b) opera subscriptions (c) subscribing to online.wsj.com (d) shopping at Whole Foods supermarkets (e) buying from freshdir

> Why do marketing researchers use objective, rather than subjective, measures of social class?

> Amazon has introduced a new electronic reader that is more expensive than previous models but has many more features. How can the company use the adopter categories in marketing this product?

> What is market segmentation? How is the practice of market segmentation related to the marketing concept?

> What are the implications of the sleeper effect for the selection of spokespersons and the scheduling of advertising messages?

> You are the marketing vice president of a large soft-drink company. Your company’s advertising agency is in the process of negotiating a contract to employ a superstar female singer to promote your product. Discuss the reference group factors that you wo

> List and discuss factors that affect the credibility of formal communications sources of product information. What factors influence the perceived credibility of informal communications sources?

> How can marketers use social networks, brand communities, and weblogs to locate new customers and target them?

> Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four methods of measuring opinion leadership.

> How can companies strategically use buzz agents and viral marketing? Illustrate with examples.

> What is the difference between membership groups and symbolic groups?

> What are reference groups? List and discuss at least four groups that influence your purchases. For each group, indicate whether its major influence is comparative or normative and explain your answers.

> Why is an opinion leader a more credible source of product information than an advertisement for the same product? Are there any circumstances in which information from advertisements is likely to be more influential than word-of-mouth?

> Why has advertising on network TV and in magazines been steadily declining?

> Discuss the role of the social and behavioral sciences in developing the consumer decision-making model.

> List and describe two advantages and two disadvantages of mobile advertising.

> Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the following measurement techniques: Google Analytics, media exposure effects, and Nielsen’s cross-platform measures.

> List and describe four advantages of social media over traditional media.

> Describe Google’s role in advertising online.

> Strategically speaking, why is impression-based targeting better than segment-based targeting?

> A marketer of a new car model launched with commercials during the Super Bowl intends to use attitudinal measures, as well as day-after recall tests, to estimate the commercials’ effectiveness. How should the company do so?

> How is communications feedback related to measurement of persuasion and sales effects?

> Do sexual appeals work better than other appeals? Explain your answer and illustrate with examples.

> Why and how must marketers use fear appeals in advertising cautiously?

> What are the advantages and disadvantages of using humor in advertising?

> How can marketers use technology to improve customer retention and enhance their bonds with customers?

> For what kinds of audiences would you consider using comparative advertising? Why?

> Should marketers use more body copy than artwork in print ads? Explain your answer.

> How can marketers construct and transmit addressable ads?

> Compare broadcasting and narrowcasting and explain why marketers are moving away from using broadcasting into narrowcasting and addressable marketing.

> Discuss the strategic differences between traditional media channels and new media.

> List and discuss the effects of psychological noise on the communications process. What strategies can a marketer use to overcome psychological noise?

> Explain the differences between feedback from interpersonal communications and feedback from impersonal communications. How can the marketer obtain and use each kind of feedback?

> A college student has just purchased a new Apple iPad. What factors might cause the student to experience post-purchase dissonance? How might the student try to overcome it? How can the retailer who sold the iPad help reduce the student’s dissonance? How

> Should the marketer of a popular computer graphics program prefer consumers to make internal or external attributions? Explain your answer.

> The Department of Transportation of a large city is planning an advertising campaign that encourages people to switch from private cars to mass transit. Give examples of how the department can use the following strategies to change commuters’ attitudes:

> Discuss the interrelationships among customer expectations and satisfaction, perceived value, and customer retention. Why is customer retention essential?

> Explain how the product manager of a breakfast cereal might change consumer attitudes toward the company’s brand by: (a) changing beliefs about the brand (b) changing beliefs about competing brands (c) changing the relative evaluation of attributes (d)

> How can the marketer of a “nicotine patch” (a device which assists individuals to quit smoking) use the theory of trying to segment its market? Using this theory, identify two segments that the marketer should target and propose product-positioning appro

> Explain a person’s attitude toward visiting Disney World in terms of the tri-component attitude model.

> Because attitudes are learned predispositions to respond, why don’t marketers and consumer researchers just measure purchase behavior and forget attitudes?

> Explain how situational factors are likely to influence the degree of consistency between attitudes and behavior.

> How can marketers use measures of recognition and recall to study the extent of consumer learning?

> What is the relationship between brand loyalty and brand equity? What roles do both concepts play in the development of marketing strategies?

> Why are both attitudinal and behavioral measures important in measuring brand loyalty?

> Discuss the differences between low- and high-involvement media. How would you apply the knowledge of hemispheric lateralization to the development of TV commercials and print advertisements?

> How does information overload affect the consumer’s ability to comprehend an ad and store it in his or her memory?

> Define the following memory structures: sensory store, short-term store (working memory), and long-term store. Discuss how each of these concepts can be used in the development of an advertising strategy.

> Neutrogena, the cosmetic company, has introduced a new line of shaving products for men. How can the company use stimulus generalization to market these products? Is instrumental conditioning applicable to this marketing situation? If so, how?

> Describe in learning terms the conditions under which family branding is a good policy and those under which it is not.

> How can the principles of (a) classical conditioning theory (b) instrumental conditioning theory be applied to the development of marketing strategies?

> Discuss the roles of extrinsic cues and intrinsic cues in the perceived quality of: (a) wines (b) restaurants (c) cell phones (d) graduate education.

> Why is it more difficult for consumers to evaluate the effective quality of services than the quality of products?

> Why do marketers sometimes reposition their products or services? Illustrate your answers with examples.

> What are the implications of figure-and-ground relationships for print ads and for online ads? How can the figure-and-ground construct help or interfere with the communication of advertising messages?

> How do advertisers use contrast to make sure that their ads are noticed? Would the lack of contrast between the advertisement and the medium in which it appears help or hinder the effectiveness of the ad?

> Does subliminal advertising work? Support your view.

> Describe how technology enhances the exchange between marketers and consumers.

> For each of these products—chocolate bars and cereals—describe how marketers can apply their knowledge of differential threshold to packaging, pricing, and promotional claims during periods of (a) rising ingredient and materials costs and (b) increasin

> Discuss the differences between the absolute threshold and the differential threshold. Which one is more important to marketers? Explain your answer.

> How does sensory adaptation affect advertising effectiveness? How can marketers overcome sensory adaptation?

> A marketer of health foods is attempting to segment a certain market on the basis of self-image. Describe how the marketer can use actual self-image and ideal self-image to do so.

> Is there likely to be a difference in personality traits between individuals who readily purchase foreign-made products and those who prefer American-made products? How can marketers use the consumer ethnocentrism scale to segment consumers?

> Describe the type of promotional message that would be most suitable for each of the following personality market segments and give an example of each: (a) highly dogmatic consumers (b) inner-directed consumers (c) consumers with high optimum stimulati

> Research has found that the target market selected by the maker of a digital camera consists primarily of individuals who are other-directed and also have a high need for cognition. How can the camera’s marketer use this information in promoting its pro

> Describe personality trait theory. Give five examples of how personality traits can be used in consumer research.

> Contrast the major characteristics of the following personality theories: a) Freudian theory b) neo-Freudian theory c) trait theory. In your answer, illustrate how each theory is applied to the understanding of consumer behavior.

> How would you explain the fact that, although no two individuals have identical personalities, personality is sometimes used in consumer research to identify distinct and sizable market segments?

> Define the societal marketing concept and discuss the importance of integrating marketing ethics into the company’s philosophy and operations.

> a. How do researchers identify and “measure” human motives? Give examples. b. Does motivational research differ from quantitative research? Discuss. c. What are the strengths and weaknesses of motivational research?

> What are the features of qualitative research, and what are the techniques used to undertake this type of research?

> For each of the following products, select one level from Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. Describe how you would use the need you selected in promoting the product to a market segment of your choice. The products are: e-readers, expensive shoes, and

> How can marketers use consumers’ failures to achieve goals in developing promotional appeals for specific products and services? Give examples.

> Maslow’s hierarchy of needs begins with the primacy of physiological needs and puts self-actualization at the top of the pyramid. Some academics have claimed that this theory is flawed. Discuss why this might be true.

> Think of a product or service of your choice. Now enumerate ways in which it could be marketed to target consumers as both an approach object and an avoidance object. Cite appropriate examples.

> Consumers have both innate and acquired needs. Give examples of each kind of need and show how the same purchase can serve to fulfill either or both kinds of needs.

> Discuss the statement “marketers don’t create needs; needs pre-exist marketers.” Can marketing efforts change consumers’ needs? Why or why not? Can they arouse consumer needs? If yes, how?

> Mobile service providers segment their customers based on several variables. What are some of these variables? Identify five benefits that mobile users might seek that could be used for targeting this group.

> Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Royal Caribbean International are two companies in the vacation and travel industry. After looking at their websites, describe the kind of consumers that each company is seeking to attract. Also, describe how either company

> How is market segmentation, targeting, and positioning interrelated? Illustrate how these three concepts can be used to develop a marketing strategy for a product of your choice.

> Some marketers consider benefit segmentation as the segmentation approach most consistent with the marketing concept. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why?

> Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using demographics as a basis for segmentation. Can demographics and psychographics be used together to segment markets? Illustrate your answer with a specific example.

> Describe the relationship between behavioral targeting and predictive analytics.

> How might retailers reevaluate the segmentation base of social class during a recession? What kinds of tactics might they use, and how might this help the customer and the retailer?

> Why do marketers have to reposition their brands? Illustrate with examples.

> What is the relationship between benefit segmentation and positioning?

> How is the understanding of consumers’ perceptions of a product’s attributes used to position a brand within that product category?

> Quantitative research methods are often the preferred method of choice for many analyses. Explain why.

> There are a few sampling methods in use. Which of the preferred ones feature a randomized component?

> It is often said that consumers receive “free” content online. Is this the case? Why or why not?

> At a time when many consumers can avoid advertising messages via sophisticated “time shifting” devices, marketers increasingly use product placements (also known ads “branded entertainment”). In your view, is this a wise strategy or not? Explain your a

> A manufacturer of a new product for whitening teeth would like to investigate the effects of package design and label information on consumers’ perceptions of the product and their intentions to buy it. Would you advise the manufacturer to use observatio

> Explain the distinction between primary and secondary data, and note the characteristics of each.

> What is the difference between primary and secondary research? Under what circumstances might the availability of secondary data make primary research unnecessary? What are some major sources of secondary data?

> Apply the five criteria for effective targeting to marketing a product of your choice to college students.

> What are the privacy implications of the increasingly widespread monitoring of online consumers by companies?

> Why is it important to study consumer ethics?

> Is it right to advertise prescription medications directly to consumers? Why or why not?