Article Summary

Article summary

The article speaks about ways in which markets are able to understand their consumers. One of these ways is to identify their main values and value system. The article goes on to say that it in reflecting key values of society in advertisement and product offerings that company can gain value through brand awareness and also from the consumer in the form of loyalty. Thus key part marketing is establishing and reflecting the value systems consumers associate themselves with, which in turn will lead to successful sales and brand loyalty. The main reason for this as stated by the article is that a person’s values are thought to influence attitudes which in turn impact our behaviour and the products and brands we buy and associate ourselves with.

The article then goes on to identify what is most important to consumers. It states that it is not the product itself or its features but rather the values that the product incorporates which the consumer values. “As Clark and Fujimoto (1990) indicate, what they are buying are values, feelings, and end benefits, not technologies or product attribute”. Therefore research should thus focus on values, on what they mean, how they are imbedded in products and how consumers link their values to behaviour.

Additionally the article goes on to explain how organisations can incorporate this value to product type marketing strategy. The process stems from identifying our intermediate attitudes and wants but also focusing on core values and how they impact product use. The organisation should start by sampling a group of respondents from its target market. A list of values is then shown to each respondent who is to pick 5 values which they value most above all. A list of products in also given to the respondents who are then asked how their chosen 5 values are linked with any of the products in the list and explain how this product facilitates or enables these values. This method essentially enables marketers to...