Marketing Bites May 2022

Every month I compile?recent?insights in marketing. In the following you find my discoveries from?May 2022.

They may help you in crafting more effective marketing strategies. I hope you find them as interesting and useful as I do.

Who prefers access based consumption solutions

The global sharing economy is expected to grow from $14 billion in 2014 to $335 billion by 2025. Preference for access-based consumption plays a significant role in this new trend.

In the light of this, researchers now investigated how global/local identity influences consumer desire for access based consumption. In a series of five studies they show that globals (people with a salient global identity who favor globalization, view the world as a global village, and identify with people around the world) have a greater preference for access-based consumption than locals (people with a salient local identity who favor local traditions, have strong interests in local events, and identify with local communities).

The researchers also find that this is driven by the fact that globals have a greater desire for openness which motivates them to seek out more diversified experiences, ideas, and values. Access-based consumption enables people to obtain more of such experiences.

This implies that brands who offer access-based consumption solutions should specifically target consumers with a global identity.

Nie et al. (2022): How Does Global–Local Identity Affect Consumer Preference for Access-Based Consumption? Investigating the Mediating Role of Consumption Openness, Journal of Marketing Research.

How to address social norms in marketing

Social norms shape consumer behavior. However, it is not clear under what circumstances social norms are more versus less effective in doing so. As such, a group of researchers conducted an extensive investigation of 30 years of research to fill this void.

From this they derived a set of five dedicated communication strategies that brands across industries can use in order to effectively address social norms in marketing.

First of all, communication should feature descriptive rather than injunctive forms of social norms (i.e., describe what [most] people actually do rather than what they should do).

Secondly, communication should avoid specifying explicit sanctions and rewards associated with social norms. Instead, it should either highlight benefits to others or consumer freedom (e.g., a communication with a postscript?“The choice is yours”).

Thirdly, communication should highlight a specific organization when communicating about social norms. Referring to a specific?firm, governmental body, or nongovernmental organization has been found to make messages about social norms more influential.

Fourthly, communication should cite people who are close to target consumers. As such, marketers should target nano-influencers, with their smaller, more engaged audiences.

Fifthly, communication should acknowledge the monetary costs associated with the targeted behaviors. Although monetary costs are a?financial barrier, they seem to also increase the desirability of the behavior, so social norms can be particularly effective for promoting costly behaviors like donations or buying (more expensive) organic food.

Melnyk et al. (2022): The Influence of Social Norms on Consumer Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Journal of Marketing.

How to create an engaging brand atmosphere

Atmospheres are experiences of place involving transformations of consumers’?behaviors and emotions. When marketers get atmospheres right,?firms benefit from enhanced customer experiences, loyalty, and place attachment. Following this, researchers investigated how firms can create engaging atmospheres. They derived a four-stage process.

The first phase is preparation. It refers to consumer-led activities prior to events in which symbolic resources and behavioral expectations are created to enable atmospheres. Typically this involves gatherings in which consumers create objects such as flags or banners. Thereby, experienced consumers teach newer consumers how to contribute to atmospheres.

The second phase is activation. It involves the creation of social atmospheres among smaller groups prior to a main event. Think of soccer games, for example, where fans typically meet several hours prior to games in hotels, bars and pubs close to stadiums, before they jointly walk to the game. When entering the stadium, objects such as statues of legendary players or monumental entry gates typically stimulate memories and emotions.

The third phase is the atmospheric climax. It marks the culmination of collective live events when lively social atmospheres are shared among large groups. It typically follows from triggering focus, entrainment, and collective effervescence to unite crowds. Think for example the playing of the anthem of a soccer club prior to a game.

The last phase is atmospheric recovery. It involves use of physical and digital merchandise to recall experiences and store emotional energy in ways that inspire future experiences.

From this follow some valuable implications for creating memorable brand experiences.

Tim et al. (2022): The Roar of the Crowd: How Interaction Ritual Chains Create Social Atmospheres, Journal of Marketing.

How fake news advertising affects consumers

Fake news advertising mimics the format of its surrounding news content in both digital and print media, promotional segments aired on news programs without disclosure to the public, and advertisement sites posing as legitimate news channels are all examples of?firms using fake news stories to deceive consumers into buying their products.

In the light of this, a group of researchers investigated the impact of fake news advertising on consumer behavior. Therefore, they analyzed 10 advertisers operating fake news sites.

Results show that the absence of fake news ads results in a drop in users arriving not only through fake news ad referrals but also through direct visits.

Even though these results imply that fake news ads are highly effective, I would not recommend brands to make use of them. From my point of view, the implication of this research is, that brands can increase their persuasiveness by creating more high quality, journalistic content that is informative and provides actual value to consumers.

Rao (2022): Deceptive Claims Using Fake News Advertising: The Impact on Consumers, Journal of Marketing Research.