What Do You Do: A Thread About Jobs

[Yantelope]

@Diedan, Yeah, marketing is key. It's why people drink coke even thought they like the taste of Pepsi better. It's why beer is popular. It's the #1 thing that car designers think of before safety.

 

In regards to marketing I present this:

 

[diedan]

I know, I know. I was just trying to distract the target away from my job. I'm totes down with marketing and the goings-on of advertising. I think at this point in our access to information, one can only blame the oneself for being duped into purchasing things that one doesn't want. We have way too much access to peer reviews, etc., to be easily manipulated by a fancy logo.

 

(Although, when I saw the new Pepsi logo, I literally stopped mid-step and stared at it for a good minute or so. That thing is goddamn gorgeous.)

[MagicMagicPony]

you guys call it greed but I call it job security

[diedan]

I call it greed simply because I want. more. money. I'm really a bad person to be having this conversation with seeing as I'm in middle to upper management and more often than not can understand why the "higher ups" do what they do. I'm kind of one of them.

[slithy toves]

we're all lawyers, retail, graphic designers...or rapists, apparently.

i would like to dispute that, but my previous job in retail and my law degree are preventing me from doing so. at least i'm not a lawyer, retail worker or rapist anymore...?

[Yantelope]

ITT: Diedan confesses he is "the man" trying to keep us down.

[diedan]

ITT: Diedan confesses he is "the man" trying to keep us down.

Psssh...trying? I'd say succeeding.

 

I'm really, really nice to my employees, though!

[Yantelope]

Psssh...trying? I'd say succeeding.

 

Haha! Awesome. I totally agree about marketing though. People who don't make informed decisions do it willfully. I know people mostly buy cameras and electronics just because of how pretty they are. I met so many people like that.

[brida]

pffft marketing does not make beer popular. people liked to drink way before marketing even existed. and if someone is clearly able to identify, on their own (and not some random taste test or whatever), that they like pepsi better than coke then the marketing has failed. not to mention that coke has a higher penetration rate and part of their distribution strategy is to be more ubiquitous than any other brand--'desire at arm's length' is the motto. i would also say that planned obsolescence is the thing that car companies think of first.

[diedan]

@Yantelope: Exactly. Now if you excuse me, I have to go look at some data so you lowly peons can eat some goddamn new and improved cereal.

[Yantelope]

They've done studies about "the Pepsi Challenge" and blind taste testing. They've discovered that when you ask people which soda they prefer they think using the part of the brain associated with identity and not taste. Your brand preference isn't necessarily based on the product itself but more on the brand you identify with. Marketing can actually affect which soft drink you believe you enjoy more.

[Yantelope]

Cereal. Is it still true that the colorful cardboard box costs more than the cereal inside? I know that's true of soda cans.

[diedan]

No idea. I really just look at taste tests and people's reactions to the food. I don't really actually deal with the marketing side directly if at all. Or sales/production info.

[brida]

They've done studies about "the Pepsi Challenge" and blind taste testing. They've discovered that when you ask people which soda they prefer they think using the part of the brain associated with identity and not taste. Your brand preference isn't necessarily based on the product itself but more on the brand you identify with. Marketing can actually affect which soft drink you believe you enjoy more.

I specifically cited taste tests for a reason--there, the person clearly does not realize on their own what they actually like and so I think it would be clear to say that the marketing has succeeded. read what i wrote again!

[Showmeyomoves!]

Cereal. Is it still true that the colorful cardboard box costs more than the cereal inside?

 

*idea*

 

Cereal boxes... made from cereal!

[brida]

Cereal. Is it still true that the colorful cardboard box costs more than the cereal inside? I know that's true of soda cans.

i don't actually know if it costs more but i will say that the cardboard box is more important because cereal is a low-involvement purchase and so the marketing strategies are peripheral (based on p much nothing and absolutely about trigger features--the 99 cents, the pretty box/girl/etc) than argumentative (this is reserved for high involvement purchases usually). also marketers know that because it's so low involvement kids can rope their parents into buying a box so they'll appeal to them more w/ cartoon characters and such

 

/the more you know

 

also you're talking to someone who is studying marketing.

[diedan]

also you're talking to someone who is studying marketing.

This is why I dropped out of the conversation. I work with sensory science, not marketing. Everything I know is hearsay or bickering between departments.

 

Good luck Yantelope. I'm bailing!

[brida]

Cereal. Is it still true that the colorful cardboard box costs more than the cereal inside?

 

*idea*

 

Cereal boxes... made from cereal!

could probs work wonders for a place that prides itself in its natural-type products.

[Yantelope]

As far as taste testing I was more referring to blind taste testing where the person says "I like product A better" and then they say "Surprise! It's Pepsi!" It's the same lines of people not being able to distinguish between store brands and name brands in many products when tested blindly but they will still purchase name brands at a higher cost anyway.

 

I'm not studying marketing so I'm not going to win any argument here I just don't think we're really disagreeing.

[brida]

We're not disagreeing. I was just extrapolating on some of the things you said. I'm just saying, if they have been tricked into it and (and the fact that it takes a taste test to prove it), then the marketing is successful. if they can straight up tell you they like pepsi better than coke but they drink coke anyway despite having the ability and means to get pepsi, then the marketing would have failed because they'd disbelieve it had there been succesful marketing, they must be drinking coke because it's better in their minds would be the line of thought.

 

does that make sense? it's what i was trying to say earlier.

[Yantelope]

Okay yeah, I see what you're saying and I agree. All I was saying is that if you took Pepsi and put it in a coke bottle a lot of people would say "Wow, this is great coke!".

[diedan]

What's really fascinating is that I've done blind taste tests with a current product and a test product and at the end we ask a preference question. Afterwards, you reveal that the test product is brand x but changed and ask how likely you would be to purchase it. There's always a percentage of people who straight up preferred the test product in the taste test but then say they "probably" or "definitely wouldn't buy" the test product simply because their beloved product was changed.

 

People like consistency and have strong emotional ties to brands (depending on the product). Alienation analysis is incredible. It's the whole "New Coke" debacle, etc.

[Yantelope]

Yeah, I was gonna bring up New Coke. Surely Coca-Cola taste tested it before they rolled it out right?

[diedan]

Yeah, I was gonna bring up New Coke. Surely Coca-Cola taste tested it before they rolled it out right?

Yes, extensively. I don't know the whole history of the thing, but from what I know, I'm pretty sure they underestimated consumers' brand loyalty and the emotional rejection they'd feel if their favorite product was changed. Anyone can feel free to correct me, though.

[Battra92]

They've done studies about "the Pepsi Challenge" and blind taste testing. They've discovered that when you ask people which soda they prefer they think using the part of the brain associated with identity and not taste. Your brand preference isn't necessarily based on the product itself but more on the brand you identify with. Marketing can actually affect which soft drink you believe you enjoy more.

 

I remember in business school we studied the Pepsi Challenge and Coke's various marketing tests afterwards.

 

In blind taste tests people preferred Pepsi (No brainer as it's sweeter) and

In side by side markets they bought Pepsi more.

 

Coke's answer was New Coke and we all know how that went ... So, the next thing was the huge media campaigns of the 90s. It took until later on when they realized the key to success in the softdrink market was to:

1) Get in the most markets (restaurants, amusement parks, stadiums etc.)

2) Have the most sales as they discovered that most people buy whatever is on sale.