Product
Image
For marketing
purposes it is very important to bear in mind the consumer's perception
of a product. An engineer or a physician consider a car to be a lump
of steel and plastic. However, for consumers, a car is a lot more
than a lump of metal as we consider a car to be either modern or classic,
young or old, friendly, sporty or family size.
In the
mind of the consumer a product besides
the characteristics and physical attributes that we have given it
we also give it psychological and sociological attributes. This way
we think about a product being masculine or feminine, young, old,
sociable, friendly, etc.
Therefore,
we assign personalities to products.
What is perhaps nothing but a piece of metal, plastic or a chemical
product we give human personality features. For example, consumers
might consider a certain type of beer young, socialbe and friendly.
One of
the most important functions of publicity is to build the brand's
personality. Advertising has a fundamental role in maintaining and
improving a product's personality. The sale of many products depends
on the personality that the consumer asigns it. For visible products,
products that we show the rest of society like clothes, cars, etc.
image and personality are extremely important.
For example,
many adverts don't point out any technical advantages about the product
but a certain life style. The following examples come from the magazine
Anuncios.com. The following example doesn't say anything about the
characteristics of the denim clothes that are trying to be sold, the
advert concentrates on the type of people which the product is targeting
and the personality of the product.
Agency:
210
Advertiser: Sáez Merino
A classic
example of product personality is portrayed in the Beetle Car. The
beetle is a lot more than just a lump of steel. It has a friendly
personality and the image of being a young, dynamic and alternative
product.
---
---
Equally,
Coca Cola is a lot more than just water with sugar, in the consumer's
mind. Coca cola has the image of being the authentic Cola.
The following
example shows how water can be a lot more than just water. The luxury
brand Perrier created an image of water drunk by upper class people.
Tobacco,
in the minds of the consumers, is a lot more than just a few leaves
with nicotine. Camel has substantially increased thier sales by creating
a friendly, young and fun personality to represent their brand. Warning,
smoking is very dangerous and can harm your health.
Visa is
the official sponsor of the Argentinian national football team. This
allows the company to improve its image and be identified with a specific
market.
