Chapter 3

From Exposure to Comprehension

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 Learning Objectives
1. Discuss why marketers are concerned about
consumers’ exposure to marketing stimuli and what
tactics they use to enhance exposure
2. Explain the characteristics of attention and how
marketers can try to attract and sustain consumers’
attention with products and marketing messages
3. Describe the major senses that are part of perception
and outline why marketers are concerned about
consumers’ sensory perceptions
4. Discuss the process of comprehension, and outline how
marketing-mix elements can affect consumer inferences
about products and brands
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 Exposure

Consumer comes into physical contact with a

stimulus
Marketing stimuli: Information about
offerings communicated by the marketer or by
nonmarketing sources
Factors of influence
– Position of an ad within a medium
– Product distribution
– Shelf placement

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 Selective Exposure
Zipping: Fast-forwarding through
commercials on a program recorded earlier
Zapping: Switching channels during
commercial breaks
Cord-cutting - Choosing streaming services
over cable television

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 Attention

Amount of mental activity a consumer

devotes to a stimulus
Enables consumer to learn efficiently from
their exposure to marketing stimuli
Limited, selective, and divisible
Defines customer segments
Weakened by habituation
Under what conditions do you give full attention
to advertising and marketing communication?

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 Focal and Nonfocal Attention
Focal attention - Consumers focus on a
stimulus
Nonfocal attention - Consumers are
simultaneously exposed to other stimuli
Preattentive processing: Non-conscious
processing of stimuli
– Leads to liking a brand name

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 Characteristics of Stimulus That Attract Consumer
Attention

Personal relevance

• Appealing to one’s needs, values, emotions, or goals

Pleasantness

• Using attractive models, music, and humor

What are some other ways to make ads more

pleasant to consumers?

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 Characteristics of Stimulus That Attract Consumer
Attention (continued)

Element of surprise
• Using novelty, unexpectedness, and puzzles

Easy to process
• Prominence and concreteness of stimuli
• Limited number of competing stimuli
• Contrast with competing stimuli

What are ways to enhance suspense or surprise in

advertising or marketing communications?
Is surprise a good thing in marketing
communications? Why/not?
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 Perception

Determining the properties of stimuli using

vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch
Factors in visual perception
– Size and shape
– Lettering
– Image location on package
– Color
– Appearance of being new or worn

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 Perception (continued 1)

Elements in sound perception

– Sonic identity - Use of specific sounds to
identify a brand
– Sound symbolism - Inference of product
attributes and evaluations
• Using information obtained from hearing a
brand’s sounds, syllables, and words

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 Perception (continued 2)

Taste
– Varying perceptions of food
– Different cultural backgrounds influence taste
preference
– In-store marketing tactic of tasting or sampling
of food
Smell
– Effect on physiological responses, liking,
product trial, and buying

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 Perception (continued 3)

Touch
– Liking of some products because of their feel
– Perceived ownership of the item increases
– Consumer reaction to touch differs across
cultures

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 Consumers’ Stimuli Perception

Absolute thresholds

• Minimal level of stimulus intensity needed to detect stimulus

Differential thresholds (just noticeable difference)

• Intensity difference needed between two stimuli before they are

perceived to be different
• Weber’s law: Stronger the initial stimulus, greater the additional
intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different

Subliminal perception

• Activation of sensory receptors by stimuli presented below the

perceptual threshold

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 Perceptual Organization

Process by which stimuli are organized into

meaningful units
Figure and ground: People interpret stimuli
in the context of a background
Closure: Individuals’ need to organize
perceptions so that they form a meaningful
whole

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 Perceptual Organization (continued)

Grouping: Tendency to group stimuli to form

a unified picture or impression
Preference for the whole: Perceiving more
value in a whole than in combined parts that
make a whole
– Even if the parts have the same objective
value as the whole

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 Knowledge to Understand: Comprehension

Extracting higher-order meaning from what

individuals have perceived in context of what
is already known
Source identification: Determining what
perceived stimulus actually is and what
category it belongs to

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 Knowledge to Understand: Comprehension
(continued 1)

Objective comprehension

• Extent to which the consumer accurately

understands the message the sender intends
to communicate
Subjective comprehension

• What the consumer understands from the

message, regardless of whether it is accurate

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 Knowledge to Understand: Comprehension
(continued 2)

Miscomprehension - Consumers inaccurately

interpret the meaning in a message
Effect of MAO (motivation, ability, and
opportunity)
– Lack of comprehension may arise due to:
• Low motivation
• Limited opportunity or time to process the
message
• Complexity of the message

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 Knowledge to Understand: Comprehension
(continued 3)

Effects of cultures
– Differences in low-context cultures and high-
context cultures
– Message sender's social class, values, and
age play a key role in message interpretation
– Language differences

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 Marketing Implications to Improve
Comprehension
Keeping the message simple
Repeating the message
Presenting information in different forms
Designing a message consistent with
consumer's prior knowledge

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 Consumer Inference

Brand names and symbols

- Create subjective comprehension and
inferences
Product features and packaging
− Product attributes
− Country of origin
− Package design

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 Consumer Inference (continued)

Price
– Culture can influence perceptions of price
and quality
Message wording
Retail atmospherics, display, and distribution

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