Cindy's Blog

Self-image refers to how we see ourselves on a more global level, both internally and externally. Extended self means all the products a person buys and at the same time becomes a part of a person’s self.  In this view, possession is regarded not only as a part of the self, but also as instrumental to the development of the self (Belk, 1988) and to the maintenance of the self-concept (McCracken 1987). There are multiple dimensions of self-image, which are actual self-image, social self-image, ideal self-image, and ideal social self-image.

To extend their own self-image, consumer tend to connect self-image with brand image as symbolically themselves. For example like Chanel, an influential brand in global Fashion industry, they good in involved the integration of different element in their product in order to enhance confidence and help in express the message based on woman’s outfit. Chanel’s product design can help consumer reflect their personality or message like they are daring, creative and perfectionist. Thus, woman also can show out they are able to dress out the different feeling of temperament and characteristics.

The other example brand that applies extended self-concept to attract consumer is Guess. Guess actually provide many different kinds of products such as clothes, sportswear, accessories and so on. Guess made an good plan in affecting consumer behaviour which link their brand with a famous person that people’s ideal self-image they desire to be.  Before I proceed further, please watch the video below.

In the video, we can see that Guess invited one of the famous Korean women music group, Blackpink, as their brand ambassador. This ads video provides a sense of the appearances of the members from Blackpink is stylish. It attracts the consumer to purchase the same clothes they wear in the video. It provides a sense that if the consumer is wearing the exact same clothes as the Blackpink, they will be stylish as Blackpink. So, it is one of the ways to allow the consumer to extend self with having the same image as the ambassadors of the advertisement.

The third brand that applies extended self in their business is Skechers. Many consumers tend to show their personalities with their shoes. Most of the shoes have similar quality but with different designs. This lead the consumer to choose the designed shoes which is able to show the personality that they try to show. For example, if the teenager wears the shoes with the same appearance as the model below, it could help the teenager for enriching their image with energetic as well.

The Adidas customer associated the Adidas brand with words like sports, attitudes and life style. As mentioned, Adidas provide the image of sporty and trendy lead consumer have the desired to build their social self-image by wearing the brand and attractive design.

In the ads, we can see that those model who wearing Adidas product is trendy, modern and cool.

Reference

Persuasionworks.com. (2014). Consumer Psychology – Groups Influence Buying | Persuasionworks.com. [online] Available at: http://www.persuasionworks.com/consumer-psychology/buyer-perceptions-and-self-concept.htm [Accessed 26 May 2019].

Harpic is the first brand of lavatory cleaning products and positioned along its triple benefits which are germfree, freshness and stain removing. Its product range include Harpic Fresh, Harpic Bleach and Harpic Power. To attract consumer, Harpic applied several consumer behaviour concepts to market their brand. There are three concept will be show in this blog which are low involvement, marketing mix and brand positioning.

Low involvement

Harpic is a product that under low involvement product. This is because customer does not seek much overt information for such products. They are usually aware of the benefit offered and about the top brands in the market. We can see that only 2 players Harpic and Domex are major in the market and hence the customer has to make an easy choice.

Buyer would usually go to specific shops such as general stores to buy the product. This is because it is low involvement product and availability of the particular brands is the key, as the buyer can easily switch to competitor brands. However, Harpic’s brand loyalty is relatively low compared to other brands as the competitor brans have been able to eat the market share of Harpic with sales promotional offers.

In this tale, our unexpecting heroine meets the man of any woman’s dream. A handsome fireman has come to check her smoke alarm, but when he asks the ever embarrassing question “can I use your loo,” she’s caught in a panic, frightened that the toilet may have been left in a state less welcoming than what her guest deserves. Fortunately, the heroine has used Power Plus, and its power has saved her from any embarrassment, as her loo is sparkling clean.

Reference

Scribd. (2019). harpic case study analysis | Brand (6.3K views). [online] Available at: https://zh.scribd.com/doc/29859676/harpic-case-study-analysis [Accessed 25 May 2019].

http://www.bestmediaifo.com. (2015). Harpic makes a twin proposition. [online] Available at: https://bestmediainfo.com/2015/05/harpic-makes-a-twin-proposition/ [Accessed 25 May 2019].