Perception is the way in which we use the stimuli available to us in order to interpret our surroundings and the world we live in. This is one of the most valuable tools for marketers to use because consumers need to be able to view our products in a positive way or failure will ensue.

This focuses largely on the physical aspects of the particular product and the way it is shown in advertising campaigns. For example, McDonald’s spend up to 30 minutes or more if necessary, on creating each burger for their ads. This is due to the importance that they place on ensuring an attractive and desirable item is what consumers view at all times.

While the physical stimuli is one of the most crucial factors in maintaining an a good customer base, the use of campaigns that focus on social issues can be extremely effective for ensuring repeat customers.

One of Canadian Club’s most effective campaigns was called “Damn right your dad drank it”. This started in 2008 and was due to a decline in sales of whiskey for almost 16 years prior. It focused on targeting their drinks towards young men in their 20s and 30s and was all about making cocktails manly again. The purpose of the ad was to make whiskey popular again and prove to young men that it’s been a popular drink for decades. The series of posters included vintage images of young men from the 1970s and 1980s to emphasise that the type of people who drink whiskey in the past were trendy in their music tastes, sports, clothes and more and that is the same for the modern day as well.

The perception of Canadian Club has changed greatly over the past few decades but has managed to stay at the front of the pack for the whiskey business. This is only due to successful marketing campaigns that have been able to change the way in which consumers perceive this drink and reinvigorate it’s position in targeting younger people.

Motivation is an ever relevant topic in marketing terms due to it’s importance in determining the needs and wants of target consumers. This involves two main aspects: the drive of consumers and their wants. A drive is an arousal of an individual based on discrepancies between their present state and their ideal state. For example, someone who owns a Honda may may strive to one day own a Mercedes, their drive is their will to work hard to achieve this particular goal. A want is just a need which has transformed due to various personal factors.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a concept in which an individual is viewed as having basic needs and increasing levels, all the way up to self-actualisation needs. The five levels from lowest to highest include physiological, safety, belonging, ego and self-actualisation/fulfilment. While this model has it’s flaws and shortcomings, it is a helpful tool for marketers who want a basis for appealing to certain aspects of their desired target market.

Canadian Club has managed to utilise this pyramid in a way where their ads target the belongingness and esteem needs of their customers. Traditionally alcoholic beverages have been consumed to fulfil the basic needs for drinks. In past decades, beer has been the market leader for this industry and individuals would drink beer largely due to unfulfilled needs in terms of belonging or because it has become a low-involvement purchase that everyone tends to steer towards, especially in the Australian market.

Through their advertising campaign “over beer?” Canadian Club have challenged the need for a drink that people supposedly only drink due to the societal pressures of such a large cohort who live in a land of “beer worship”. These ads appeal to the esteem needs of the consumer, while portraying them as trend-setters going against the flow of the beer culture and belonging in that group.

This brand has also used techniques such as novel stimuli in order to increase the involvement in purchasing alcoholic beverages such as the one shown above. Alcohol is usually viewed as a low-involvement product and using rhetorical questions that challenge the way that consumers think allows us to be more aware of the variety of options available to us in an increasingly saturated market.

Personality is a multi-dimensional concept in which an individual’s characteristics are shown through the way in which they interact with the environment surrounding them. An individual’s self is reflected in the way that they present themselves and by the way that they interact with others around them.

The concept of uncertainty orientation is one in which individuals are naturally drawn to either wanting to resolve uncertain situations or to only be in situations where certainty is guaranteed. Those with a high level of certainty orientation are only comfortable in situations where they have full certainty of the situation they are engulfed in or at least a great deal of assurance that nothing unexpected will occur. on the other hand, those who identify as being uncertainty oriented are only satisfied if they can resolve all the unknown aspects of their surroundings. They may resolve to remember everyone’s names in a social setting or to ask questions that others would be content with not knowing the answers to. These people have an extremely inquisitive nature and I’m sure you know of someone in your life with these qualities.

My brand Canadian Club is very relevant to discuss in this topic as their advertisements tackle the well known “Beer-drinking culture” that is very present in today’s society, especially in Australia. They make a drink that is comprised of whiskey mixed with ginger beer and pursue a larger share in the alcohol market.

Canadian Club successfully use the concept of uncertainty orientation in their marketing. They provide a likeable personality of their typical consumer, who is young, vibrant and is able to challenge the status quo, and is willing to try a new drink that has perceived benefits as a result. These ads target those who have a naturally curious mind by providing a “refreshing” alternative in the way of drinks.

While prompting those who are naturally inquisitive, this drink is also able to challenge people who might be more reserved and who have a habit of only staying in situations of utmost certainty. This allows a wider range of individuals who can change up their usual habits and delve into something that is new and uncertain, but will have a rewarding conclusion.

Canadian Club is extremely involved in using various techniques such as prompting the inquisitiveness of people with specific personalities and they do this with increasing success, particularly in the Australian market.

Observational learning is a method often favoured by marketers in which an individual is able to observe the actions of others and copy these based on the positive reinforcements the others receive. For example, if a teenager sees a friend receiving compliments based on an expensive jacket that they’re wearing, this person will be much more inclined to purchase a item of clothing similar to the one they can see.

While this process can be quite deliberate, it usually contains low-involvement thinking and can often be subconscious. As the name implies, it is a learning process based on the observation of what others around are doing.

Canadian Club have been using this process of learning through their advertisements for several years. Below, is one of their most recent ads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b12nfOuKUo

As you can see, this ad shows the preconceived notions of beer and why people drink it “Because my (Dad, friend, etc) drinks it. The strong underlying tones of following peers and adapting to their tastes is a strong theme. The introduction of the fresh and tasty Canadian Club is a welcome presence for those who want to go their own way. After the initial first drink was poured, others in the pub were able to move to this new drink, seeing the positive outcome that the drink has brought.

Observational learning can be adopted as a successful marketing technique when used in the correct context, as seen in the instance of Canadian Club, offering a fresh alternative to beer.

The IKEA effect:

The IKEA effect is an unique phenomenon in which an individual feels a genuine amount of appreciation and accomplishment from something they have contributed to. This term was coined by the popular Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, which has gained a great deal of popularity over the past few decades due to its unique “flat-pack” sets that consumers can purchase at low costs. Below contains a YouTube clip detailing how this works in practice and why.

The IKEA effect shows how individuals can gain enormous amounts of appreciation for something that they have contributed to, rather than from something that has been freely gifted to them. In the same way, a person who works hard for several months to save up enough money to purchase a car, will be able to appreciate it a greater deal more than another who may have been gifted the same car from their parents. The positive effects of creating something that yourself and others can enjoy, allows an individual to feel a sense of competency and a relationship between their hard work and the end result, whatever that might be.

This fascinating phenomenon could be used in a wide range of practical applications. The increasing D.I.Y. culture, especially in young Australian households can be utilised in order to create cheaper products without the costs of labour included.

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Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton