Perception

Perception is the process in which individuals choose, arrange and interprets stimuli creating an model or image that is easy for them to understand using all 5 senses
(Solomon, Russell-Bennet & Previte, 2019). A persons perception can be influenced by their values, attitudes and preferences. When it comes to marketing a brand, marketers must be able to understand how to engage their target audience and manipulate them into creating a certain perception of their brand of specific products.

Perceptual selection is a concept which helps describe why customers are more drawn to certain stimuli and how marketers can use these tools to influence customers perception.
(Solomon, Russell-Bennet & Previte, 2019)

Size: Advertisement can come in many forms, including; Banners, pop-up ads, Email advertising, search engine ads, TV advertisement, etc.(online); newspaper ads, word-of-mouth, Sponsorship’s, etc. (offline). Ads need to be noticeable for the consumers to first of all pay attention. In the case of TV advertisement marketers often make the product they’re selling large and the price or message they’re sending also large with information such as terms and conditions much smaller as it wont have as positive of an impact on the consumer. This is particularly the case in Subway commercials as shown below.

Colour: Colour can play a big role in gaining the attention of the customer, people often notice things that stand out or are different, and that is exactly the case in marketing, it is important when designing an effective advertisement to use a unique stimuli. As displayed in the image above it is evident subway make their ads very colourful, showcasing their range of salads and meats. with all the colour going on it can become overwhelming for the consumer however, so advertises have incorporated very little information using repetition of the price. They also use a white background to create the colour contrast when displaying their logo so attention is maintained on the centre of the screen making it easier for the customer to remember.

Position: The positioning of information the marketer is trying to convey can also be very important. Research using eye tracking detectors suggest consumers firstly look at the very centre of an image, slowly navigate down the page and to the right. In the subway ad above they focus the important information, being the price and product in the centre.

Novelty: is another way of attracting attention by introducing a unique stimuli which is often unusual or original. In a TV commercial released by Subway in 2018, they used McDonalds Mascots Ronald McDonald in an attempt to steal poach customers. “we could all use a break from a burger” was used in the commercial. By showing iconic Mcdonalds character betraying his own brand and choosing subway, it suggests to them it may be time for a change.

Although the ad wasn’t hugely successful due to Mcdonalds loyal customer base, it did spark attention from consumers and McDonalds who replied to their unsportsman like campaign, which may have resulted in new customers for the company.

References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meWzu85BMBY (Subway ad. ft Ronald Mcdonald)

Solomon, M., Russell-Bennet, R., & Previte, J. (2019). Consumer behaviour (4th ed.).