Motivation

To understand motivation we must look at the relationship between needs, drives and goals. The basic process involves needs (deprivations) that set drives in motion (deprivations with direction) to accomplish goals (anything that alleviates a need and reduces a drive). Motives can be grouped into five categories, as proposed by Maslow.

1. Physiological: the fundamentals of survival e.g. hunger or thirst.

2. Safety: protection from the unpredictable happening in life, e.g. accidents, ill health.

3. Belongingness and love: striving to be accepted by those to whom we feel close and to be an important person to them.

4. Esteem and status: striving to achieve a high standing relative to other people; a desire for prestige and a good reputation.

5. Self-actualization: the desire for self-fulfillment in achieving what one is capable of for one's own sake, i.e. actualized in what one potentially is.

It is important to understand the motives that drive consumers because it is these that determine choice criteria. In Western markets, the first four stages of Maslow's hierarchy have largely been satisfied. Consequently, many brands now emphasize the need for self-actualization in their advertising (see Exhibit 3.4).

Exhibit 3.4 This Rover advertisement plays on the importance of self-image and the possession of status symbols

Beliefs and attitudes

A thought that a person holds about something is known as a 'belief. In a marketing context, it is a thought about a product or service on one or more choice criteria. Marketing people are very interested in consumer beliefs because these are related to attitudes. In particular, misconceptions about products can be harmful to brand sales. Duracell batteries were believed by consumers to last three times as long as Ever Ready batteries, but in continuous use they lasted over six times as long. This prompted Duracell to launch an advertising campaign to correct this misconception.

An 'attitude' is an overall favourable or unfavour­able evaluation of a product or service. The consequence of a set of beliefs may be a positive or negative attitude towards the product or service.

Personality

Just from our everyday dealings with people we can tell that they differ enormously in their personalities. Personality is the sum of the inner psychological characteristics of individuals, which lead to consistent responses to their environment. A person may tend to be warm / cold, dominant / subservient, introvert / extrovert, sociable / a loner, adaptable / inflexible, competitive / co-operative, and so on. If we find from marketing research that our product is being purchased by people with certain personality profiles, then our advertising could show people of the same type using the product.

This concept-personality - is also relevant to brands. 'Brand personality' is the characterization of brands as perceived by consumers. Brands may be characterized as 'for young people' (Tommy Hilfiger), 'for winners' (Nike), or 'self-important' (L'Oreal). This is a dimension over and above the physical (e.g. colour) or functional (e.g. taste) attributes of a brand. By creating a brand personality a marketer may generate appeal to people who value that characterization. Research by Ackoff and Emsott into the brand person­alities of beers showed that most consumers preferred the brand of beer that matched their own personality.