Marketing assignment report on: Marketing management on Self image congruence
- 1. Executive summary
This report highlights what is meant by the term “self image congruence” as well as the explanation emphasizing on the fact “why marketers are interested in identifying self image congruence of their target customer”. The report starts with an introduction which talks about the fair relationship between the image of the brand & the brand personality. This will help the customers to link themselves with the self image attached along a given product or a brand.
The next section of the report takes into consideration the importance of self image congruence from marketer’s point of view. Congruence from the marketer’s point of view has been highlighted keeping in mind “Congruence in advertisements & sponsorships”. The last section of the report discusses the self image congruence model or theory with the help of a survey conducted to see the self image congruence between the two brands i.e. Nike & Kicker.
- 2. Introduction
With the saturation of markets, blocking of the advertisements to attract more customers and maturity amongst the consumers along the brands have urged most of the enterprises to go forward the image of the brand as well as build a fair relationship with the same. In order to maintain fair levels of faithfulness with the customers, relationship building along with the brands is quite an important task (Speed & Thompson, 2000). This will help the customers to link themselves with the self image attached along a given product or a brand. These days, it has been seen that the purchase behavior noticed within the customers is relied upon the image of the brand rather than focusing upon the characteristics or the attributes of the same. Therefore, it is quite an important task for the marketers to build customer loyalty & keep it as a primary objective which would help to attain high levels of market share within the competitive environment.
Based upon the various market researches it has been seen that, marketers are concentrating upon the market concepts which would help to increase the understanding between brand & relations with the consumers. The key concept which shall be taken into consideration by the marketers would refer to the congruence between the brand personality as well as the consumers self image regarding a particular brand of product. Congruence self image has been referred to as one of the strategic tools which would help to understand as well as maintain fair relationships between two parties (i.e. consumer & the marketer). The various types of personality attributes attached to the given product will allow the customers to express different conceptions or misconceptions attached to it. The conception or misconception will help to acquire certain values as well as symbolic benefits to the same (Speed & Thompson, 2000).
The self image congruence refers to a mental picture which is being framed in the minds of the customers. Self image congruence would be referred to as an image which is framed in the minds of the customer by either from its own experiences or the judgments made by others. A simple definition of self image congruence can be seen after answering this question “what you think people believe about you”? (Dich, Dipankar & Gabriel, 1990).
The self image congruence mainly consists of three aspects such as:
Þ Self image resulting from how individuals think about themselves
Þ Self image resulting from how others look at you
Þ Self image resulting from how the individuals perceive or persuades others to look at him/her
It shall be taken into considerations that, the three aspects of self image congruence may or may not be accurate. The three aspects might not be true all the time but self image congruence would be referred to as information which would influence the way someone thinks & act upon.
- 3. Body:
Brands refer to a tag line or a symbol or a name attached to a particular product or a given service provided by the organization. Consumer refers to evaluations which would contribute towards the self image of a given product offered by the enterprise. Hence, it has been seen that there are people who are brand conscious & choose amongst the brands within a particular category. It shall be kept in mind by the marketers that, people tend to get inclined toward those products that match along its individual personality (Speed & Thompson, 2000). They prefer to buy those products whose attributes or brand attitude is similar to that of their self image.
For the marketers, the usefulness of the self image congruence will lie upon the fact that how the perception of a given product will improve the perception of the brand. Improvements in the perception of the consumer regarding a particular product offered by a specific brand will help to improve the overall personality of the same (Ross, 1971).
It shall be seen that, the degree of harmony or link between self image &the image of a particular brand of the product which the consumer consumers is known as “Self Image Congruence”. Based upon a given methodology, consumers purchase a particular brand due to the brand image attached to it is known as “Image Congruence Hypothesis”. Based upon the various researchers, it has been seen that the self image of the product will play one of the crucial roles as well as comparing the products which might vary in terms of conspicuousness (Samama, 2003).
3.1 Importance of Self Image Congruence – Marketers point of view:
The importance of self image congruence has been proposed by Grub & Garthwohl 1967. It provides a well structured framework which takes into consideration the attributes of the products along with the meaning of the product. The framework will take into consideration the consumption choices as well as the consumer behavior of an individual which would be directed towards the enhancement of the consumption of the goods with the help of the symbols. It has been seen that, various studies conducted by Hong & Zinkhan 1995 states that self image congruence involves favorable attitudes which would entice the customers to buy a particular product offered by a specific brand. Based upon the studies, a positive relationship has been developed amongst the preferred brand along with the congruence image.
Based upon the discussions above it can be seen that, two types of hypothesis can be framed. The hypothesis is as follows. They are as under:
Þ H1: Congruence in terms of image can be well stated in terms of the perceived gap between the self image regarding a particular product which might affect the preference of the evaluator
Þ H2: Social norm i.e. how the peers evaluate the firm will have a positive impact over the preference within a given organization.
Social influence:Social influence has been referred to as one of the major factors due to which image congruence shall be kept in mind. Social influence refers to the people who are involved in changing the mindset of the people. Social influence refers to the peer group, colleagues, culture, family, etc. Social influence is not referred to be as a personal phenomenon. There are various people who are likely to play an important role within each other’s lives. Human have been referred to as a social animal & his/her decision making is influenced by the people by whim he/she is surrounded by. The people are surrounded by various people such as people within the enterprises, social groups, peer, people belonging to varied culture, individuals and groups, etc. These people will help to influence self image regarding a particular product offered by a specified brand (Jamal & Marri, 2010).
Positive impact of social influence over the decision making of the individuals: The impact of social influence over the decision making of individuals will promote positive as well as accurate images which would help to maintain consistency. People have a habit to ask the people with whom they are surrounded by before buying a particular product or attaining the service offered.
Congruence in sponsorship Importance of Self Image Congruence from the marketers’ point of view can be seen with respect to sponsorship. Congruence between the sponsor as well as the sponsored entity has helped to investigate the numerous authors. It has been seen that, there is a strong link between the sponsor as well as the sponsored entity which leads to congruence amongst the both parties. There is a semantic link which being framed within the same & help to attract more and more number of customers towards it (Onkvisit & Shaw, 1987).
Based upon the study conducted by Fleck 2004, congruence between the sponsor as well as the sponsored entity can be seen with respect to the degree with which a perceived of the two can be seen. According to Speed & Thompson 2000, there are various attitudes based upon which congruence has been defined as an attitude with which the event will be perceived in a well fit manner.
Congruence in advertising
Importance of Self Image Congruence from the marketers’ point of view can be seen with respect to advertising. Based upon the marketer’s point of view, self image congruence can be seen with respect to advertising. Congruence in advertising mainly takes into consideration the following two aspects such as:
Þ Take help from the celebrities as spokespersons: It has been seen that, most of the marketers make use of celebrities while promoting their products. Use of celebrities creates an image in the minds of the customers that, the celebrity himself is using that particular product. By taking help of the celebrities, better recognition of the products of a particular brand is done. While advertising the products, the marketers use congruence as a tool of persuasion which would persuade the people customers to buy a particular product (Graeff, 1996).
Þ Secondly, advertising regarding the products with the help of visual & textual elements. It has been seen that, congruence has been defined based upon two elements such as pertinence & the expected side. Congruence within advertisements would be referred to as a stimulus which will clearly identify the theme of the message of the entire commercial (Speed & Thompson, 2000). It shall be seen that, congruence in advertising will evoke the expected side for a particular product. This will showcase that, whether piece of information falls in a given predetermined scheme decided or not.
3.2 Self image Congruence Model/ Theory
There are various mathematical models or theories which would take into consideration self image congruence. Based upon the study conducted by Graeff 1996, the Euclidean distance models have been used.
The Figure 1 below provides explanation regarding the two main steps which might be used in the calculations which are involved within the self image congruence. With the help of the model of self image congruence, the main difference amongst the self image & brand image can be clearly identified. Self image refers to the actual or situational or an ideal self image whereas on the other hand brand image refers to the image with which the customers associate themselves with the product (Hong & Zinkhan, 1995). Based upon the various congruence theories, brand image is calculated in order to identify the levels of congruence for the self image. Secondly, it shall also be noticed that correlation between the level of congruence as well as the intention to choose a particular brand will provide an evidence for the image influencing the consumers’ intention to choose a particular brand as compared to others. This will mainly take into consideration two aspects i.e. personality associated with the brand & brand attitude attached to it.
Sample Group:
There are two sample groups which have been taken into consideration to carry out the study on self image congruence. The two sample groups which are taken into consideration are firstly, the group of pupils from the ethnic minority & secondly the indigenous English pupils from the secondary school. The number of students from each of the schools was 48 & 61 respectively (Speed & Thompson, 2000).
It was seen that, children under the age group of 10 years were included within the study. The study consists of the following strategic management tools such as grid interviews, questionnaire based study, etc conducted amongst the same age groups.
In order to have a controlled view regarding the actual versus self images of the two brands i.e. Nike & Kicker an additional 25 pupils were seen. This has helped to compare the ideal self image of the two brands in a well defined manner (Benavant, 1995).
Products:
The products which have been talked about within the survey keeping in mind the target audience were the well known brands such as Heineken, Reebok, Puma, Budweiser, Nike & Kickers. The main focus was upon two brands i.e. Nike & Kickers. The main reason for focusing upon Nike & Kickers was sue the following i.e.:
Þ Both the brands are well known brands
Þ Well known brands amongst the teenagers
Þ After interviewing the teenagers it was stated that, both the brands rely heavily upon the advertisements done by the marketers
Þ Personal interviews with the target audience i.e. the teenagers reveal the fact that shoes are the main source of interest for the teenagers
Results:The results showcased that, there was no significant difference amongst the responses provided by the two sample groups’ i.e. pupils from the ethnic minority & secondly the indigenous English pupils from the secondary school.
It states that, pupils tend to buy products from any of the two branded stores i.e. Nike & Kicker. The reason for the same was, both the brands are well known brands, the products offered by the two brands were quite in demand amongst the teenagers, both the brands rely heavily upon the advertisements done by the marketers which has helped to increase the market share amongst the other brands available in the market (Jamal & Marri, 2010).
It was concluded that, self image congruence has played a critical role in this particular survey. Though there was not much of difference amongst the responses provided by the two sample groups but the score attained by the mean difference had a significant role in the same. The difference amongst the scores has helped to provide fair justification as to which of the brands has an increased level of market share & why (Dich, Dipankar & Gabriel, 1990).
- 4. ConclusionHence, it can be concluded that there are various articles as well as research studies on congruence which portrays high levels of relationship between brand personality and image of the products.
On the basis of the managerial perspective, congruence between the brand personality as well as self image of the various brands would help to develop better relationship between the various brands. It has been seen that, the link between the personalities of the brand along with the consumer’s image will provide the marketers to act as a strategic management tool. This strategic management tool will help to improve as well as strengthening the brands mapping. Therefore, it will help to attract high levels of customers towards it (Aaker, 1997). The range of customers who are quite sensitive to the features of the product would use it as a vehicle of conception.
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