Response to Ashley Borjeson

Consumer Purchasing Decisions

What are the biggest influences on consumer buying decisions in your opinion?

I definitely agree with Ashley that cultural reasons are the biggest influences to make a purchase. If it the the trendy thing to have right now, like iPhones and other smartphones, chances are you'll really want one too. 

I think another strong influence on purchasing decisions is the consumers current emotion. I know a lot of women that like to go shopping when they're feeling down because buying things makes them happy so they are more likely to buy something if they are sad or in a bad mood in order to cheer themselves up. However I also know a lot of women that like to go shopping when they are in a good mood and go a little over board because they're so happy and have no worries. So basically no matter what kind of mood the target market is in, chances are good that someone will be buying something. I am not either of these kinds of shoppers, I am a poor college student so really my shopping patterns depend on the amount of money I have and what expenses I need to pay. This is another influence on purchasing decisions. 

People often want to buy things buy aren't able to afford them. However, if it is something that they really want but can't afford at the moment, many people will safe up to make the purchase at a later date. So maybe a company isn't making as many sales right now, but maybe once tax returns are received there will be a spike in sales.

What do you think are the strongest influences on consumers to NOT buy something?

Ashley's post can be found here.

Brand Recognition

Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is when the general public or targeted market can easy recognize a brand by something other than the name, such as logos, slogans, and colors. There are so many top brands that people can easily spot just by their logos, even when the name isn't in the logo. There are even games you can play on smartphones that the sole purpose of the game is the name the brand or company of that logo. When the actual logo is the word, typically all the letters are missing except one... but it's still very easy to tell what brand it is. See the image below if you aren't familiar with such games.

People are much more aware of brands and logos and slogans because of how much advertising we are exposed to. Jay Walker-Smith, the president of the marketing firm, Yankelovich, states that the average person in the 1970s would be exposed to about 500 ads per day whereas the average person in 2009 was exposed to about 5,000 ads per day. Imagine how much it must have increased over the last few years... It's no wonder that people play these kinds of smartphone games with ease!

Take a look at the image to the left. Chances are pretty good that you know what company that is, and it's not even it's logo exactly. If for some reason you didn't catch it, it's Google. Each individual "letter" is a logo for their different features. For example, Google Docs and Gmail are the first two "letters." Each logo is also the same color as the letter in Google's logo.



What is you opinion on brand recognition and how many advertisements we are exposed to? Are there other factors that may contribute to brand recognition?


Don't have a smartphone but want to play a logo game? Try Sporcle's corporate logo game, don't worry there's more than one.