The measurement of a product's objective and subjective characteristics, the determination of its image attributes and the segmentation of the consumer population in terms of their product-related expectancies are three central steps for the development of a marketing strategy for a new product. The elaboration of product profile and marketing objectives, the actual product development and the eventual improvements and repositioning of the product during its active life all require that decisions be made that are coherent with the product's real characteristics, its image and its clientele. One's product can rarely be the best in every respect, and it is even less likely to be perceived as being so, or to succeed equally well among all segments of the given market population.
In the present circumstances and pressure of the environment, it is evident that today's farmers have a new system of values. The aim of this study was to identify and understand the changing attitudes and behaviours of farmers toward seeds and genetic research, since the reform of the CAP. It was to provide the tools to answer the following question: what strategy should the seed channel adopt in order to enhance the image of certified seeds and genetic research?
As international trade grows and consumer are faced with an increasing proliferation of foreign brands in their domestic markets, they increasingly use country of origin cues as an aid in evaluating products. At the same time, producers needing to establish unique positions in highly competitive markets, and government needing to protect domestic producers from imports, make increasing use of a variety of product origin cues in advertising, packaging, labelling, and branding. In spite of growing interest in the effects of the made-in concept on buyer behaviour, little is known about the correlates of product images and about the effects of such images on behaviour. This study proposes a model of the country of origin effects. The model was tested using LISREL, a second generation analytical procedure, on data drawn from a large-scale cross-national study of made-in images. The model suggests that buyer behaviour is affected by consumer evaluations about various foreign products, that product evaluations are dependent on consumer beliefs about these products' quality, and that these beliefs are strongly affected by consumer familiarity with products from a given country, and by beliefs about the country itself and its people. Strategic implications arising from the model, which was validated in eight separate tests, are discussed.
The laddering technique is specifically designed to understand the way in which product images are constructed. The technique involves establishing the link between product attributes, their consequences for the consumer and the personal values attached to those consequences. Understanding such linkages aids the development of actionable advertising strategy. The process is best suited to segment specific attitudes and values, giving an understanding of consumer orientations within a particular market cell. It is especially of use when applied to infrequently purchased goods and services where imagery is often complex and the product itself has more intrinsic worth. Each approach to the consumer takes a concrete product attribute as a starting point, but the path from attribute to consequence to end value is strewn with more abstract and indirect product benefits. During the period of May 1986 to May 1987 a series of 75 depth interviews with drivers of cars in the four major segments of the UK car market were carried out for a major car manufacturer. The objectives of this research programme were threefold: a) to test the usefulness of the laddering technique; b) to establish attribute, consequence, value linkages in order to aid image management and develop strategy; c) to examine differences between the segments at the emotional as well as rational level. The technique proved to be extremely valuable, providing an understanding of product imagery which is constructed by the consumer and not the analyst and which can be presented in a structured form. This paper refers to the theoretical background to laddering, but primarily concentrates on the operation of the technique and its practical value in the development and management of product imagery.
Our experiments have led to the formulation of a "structure chart", which effects an innovatory integration of qualitative and quantitative research, producing a harmonic yet distinctive interpretation of . "realistic" data (functional and cognito-perceptive aspects) relating to the product, and "symbolic" data or those relating more strictly to the "image" of the product, delineating its position in both current and potential terms. The inherent power of the structure chart establishes a link of exceptional clarity between the "reality" and the "image" of a product, allowing simultaneous "reading" of the images of a number of competing products without involving the risk of flattening out the figures.
The paper describes a qualitative research project on sugar which was carried out in Italy in 1982. In the years immediately prior to the survey overall sugar sales in Italy had begun to decline slightly while the product had been acquiring negative implications. The goals of the survey were the following: a) a determination of the real factors giving rise to attitudes of suspicion and even fear of sugar; b) the identification of the "reasons-why" that would prove effective in reversing the negative image that sugar had acquired. The research was conducted using various methods: a) traditional clinical interviews b) specialised interviews c) psychodrama groups d) interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. The data obtained included a broad range of materials useful to the Association of Sugar Producers in building up a communicational campaign. The results of this campaign were then evaluated in a further research effort that was carried out in two separate phases.