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Marketing
A consumer goes through a process before he or she makes a purchase.The decision-making process has five distinctive steps According toSolomon, (2014), “need recognition, information search, evaluation,purchase and finally post purchase behavior “(p.34). The ad byPepsi Company exploits the need stage of the decision-making process.The ad creates an imbalance within the consumer as an externalstimulus it creates recognition of the need for a Pepsi within thepotential consumer. The advert displays Cindy Crawford alighting froma Porsche car. The background seems like a lowly populated area, andthe model-actor is not likely to visit the area. There are twoobservers who watch her then, she walks towards a vending machinewhich is not visible at first. The two observers who are young areinterested and seem to be looking at Cindy Crawford. This scenecreates an association between the potential consumer or the watcherof the ad and the observers as they are both observing the model. Oneof the observers then comments on how the new Pepsi can look. Thepotential consumer is then reminded that he does not have a Pepsi athand and needs to get one. The other observer joins the conversationsand makes a positive remark about the new Pepsi can. The potentialconsumer who is watching the ad recognizes a need in him or her to goto the store and get the new Pepsi can.
Conclusion
Strategic companies that create a competitive advantage over theircompetitors make use of the decision-making process they do this byexploiting the need recognition stage of the process. From the caseof the Pepsi advert, the paper concludes that for any Company orbusiness to succeed it is required to study the consumerdecision-making process and make use of the data.
Reference
Solomon, M. R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, andbeing. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: prentice Hall.
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