I’m generally very frugal with my money and I tend to push
my products to the limit. My razors are not exception to the rule. I have been
using the same Gillette Pro-Glide razor for 2 ½ years and I’ve only replaced
the blades once. Prior to disposing this razor, my skin was rather rough and
damaged. Regardless, I am impressed with the durability of the product and Gillette
is in my evoked set so I purchased a new Gillette Fusion Ball kit. I must say
it has a very smooth shave and it looks sleek and cool with the stainless
steel, dark grey and orange. Gillette is a very good example of a product geared
towards masculinity and the male consumer. The companies’ slogan is “The best a
man can get” which summarizes their market perfectly. I notice that many
companies are starting to expand their portfolio to meet the needs of the male
consumer. Even brands that is typically feminine in nature. Companies such as
Dove and Clinique have launched a product lines for men. These product lines
typically have dark grey colours and black shades on their products. It seems
that darker colours are starting to associate with masculinity. I think that
Clinique’s extension to male skincare products is a great example of a gender-bending
product. I think that more gender bending products are becoming practical as
metrosexual consumers are becoming more common in today’s marketplace. The term
metrosexual came about in 1994 and it applies to men who live in an urban, post
industrial and capitalist culture. Since 1994, I think the market segmentation
of this demographic has increased significantly.
I am a huge James Bond fan and the new movie
“Spectre” will be released in theatres soon. I think its fair to say that James
bond has always been associated with class, sophistication, luxury and
adventure. I feel that the topic of Learning and Memory relates to James Bond
as a model in the observational learning process. Through the Bond franchise’
history, they have been many product placements used within the film. Some product
uses define his personality and I feel that the concept brings value to the
product. I also found a video featured by Bloomberg that is posted below
outlining the history of product placements and James bond. There is even a Wikipedia
page outlining every product or service that has been used in every movie. I
think there is a lot to be said about product placement changes in such a long
running medium.
Heineken James Bond Ad
Belvedere Ad features limited edition bottle
The previous move “Sky fall” featured Heineken beer, as a new
placement and I found that interesting. I thought it was funny in a way because
every product is typically upscale and more affluent in pricing. Heineken is
probably the only relatable product that I would willingly purchase. I do not
really have funds for an omega watch, Austin Martin or luxury resort villa.
They are probably a few people within the demographic of Bond fans that can
afford these luxury products but I’m seeing more placements that are geared
towards the general public such as Sony phones and computers, and maybe even Belvedere
vodka for the martini connoisseur.
The James Bond franchise earns a great
amount of money from this but I wonder what I think there is a balance for the
image of James Bond as well as the markers who use this. I think the markers
have benefited a lot from having Bond use their products but I think it’s
important for the creators to still keep the Bond image. Products of a lower
quality can actually diminish his image.
I came across a couple of articles that describe some new
trends in the airline industry. Some of these trends are good and some are bad
for the consumer but generally perception has allowed airlines to maximize
profit and improve passenger experience. New technology advances have paved way for the
concept of interior mood lighting. Airlines are modifying their aircraft to
have mood lighting in the cabin. Mood lighting is an interior lighting system
where calm and neutral lighting is seen throughout the aircraft. Calm blue
lights, purple lights and orange or yellow glows simulate a different time of
day during flight and can streamline the boarding and inflight experience
process.
Iceland Air Hekla Aurora Livery
Mood lighting has been said to relax passengers, reduce jet lag and actually
simulate time changes. I felt this relates to the topic of perception when the stimuli
of colour and vision affect consumer patterns. Iceland air recently reconfigured a flagship
aircraft with this technology and called the aircraft Hekla Aurora. The
aircraft was even painted with a stunning northern lights livery. For Iceland,
this technology was used for a unique purpose for simulating northern lights,
which is commonly seen within the remote northern country. For Iceland air, mood
lighting was a way to incorporate the natural beauty of Iceland and create a
consumer experience based on the visual display. I visited Europe last year and
unfortunately, for me, the aircraft did not have mood lighting and I
experienced jetlag for the first time.
Hekla Aurora Northern Lights Interior
While mood lighting has advantages, they are a downside to
some practises. Airlines are secretly making the standard economy class seat
much smaller than the standard norm in the past. Airlines do this to accommodate
more passengers, increase revenue and decrease operating cost per passenger.
While it benefits airlines, it may not benefit passengers in some cases. An article
I found mentions that a Boeing 777 300 ER which is a commonly used passenger
jet is more commonly configured with 10 abreast seating (3-4-3) as compared to
the original 9 abreast (3-3-3). The seat pitch (distance between seats) is also
being reduced by putting less padding on the seats and making them thinner. I
remember flying to Europe last summer and I actually was on a new American
Airlines Boeing 777 300 ER when I flew back to North America. I was seated in
economy class and the configuration was 10 abreast. I am 6 foot 2 and I did
find it uncomfortable. I don’t think passengers of a smaller stature would be
affected but I’m not a huge fan of this trend. It’s interesting how marketers
are using a few tools with a basic understanding of perception and changing a
whole interior to maximize profit.
I'm a huge fan of personal finance and I believe it relates very much to consumer behaviour. I watch Suze Orman, and Gale Vaz-Oxlade's Till Debt do us Part and Princess. I was browsing online and found lots of articles regarding cash-only-diets including the article I posted below. In a world of credit cards, debit and plastic payments it seems that cash has become a rare tool in consumer transactions today. After reading some information, I decided to try it for myself. Starting today, I will pay for all my expenses only in the form of cash (except rent, cell phone and some other transactions). At the beginning of December, I will see how much money I save as compared to using plastic to cover purchases. Research suggest that cash is a tangible tool and when you see it go, you are more likely to change your spending habits without even knowing. Credit cards and debit cards have a set amount but consumers are less likely to notice and may subliminally spend more than usual without noticing.
Welcome everyone. My name is Johannes
Toivonen and I am a fourth year student studying commerce at Carleton
University in Ottawa. I am majoring in Marketing and I will be documenting a
few of my consumption experience and research that I find interesting. Please
feel free to follow me and post any comments or suggestions. I love hearing
feedback. I hope that I will be able to learn a few things and hopefully you
might find some topics interesting or relatable.
