A behavioral-economic analysis of the essential value of brands

Recently, Hursh and Silberberg (2008) have advanced a behavior-economic approach to measure the value of reinforcers, in which demand elasticity is measured relative to the point at which price is zero, a technique that allows for comparisons across reinforcers that show different consumption patterns or across different dosages or magnitudes of the same reinforcer. The authors have proposed an exponential model in which the elasticity coefficient measures the essential value of reinforcers. The application of the exponential model in various experiments has shown that it provided a good fit to the data and supplied different theoretically consistent results. Considering that this previous research has either been experimentally based or has involved nonhuman participants, the present work examined the application of the model to the analysis of changes in consumption of brands with changes in prices, employing data from actual consumers buying brands of food products in grocery shopping, differing in the level of informational (i.e., socially mediated) and utilitarian (i.e., product mediated) reinforcement they offered. Purchase information concerning two products was obtained from a consumer panel, which included data related to purchases of more than 1600 consumers during 52 weeks. The model, calculated for different brands, fitted the data only moderately, but its parameters showed good reliability across stores. The essential value of brands showed significant increases with increases in brand informational reinforcement. The results indicate the reliability of the measure of essential value as its application is extended from the closed setting of the laboratory to the open settings of the marketplace and to symbolic secondary reinforcers.     

Brands and Inhibition: A Go/No-Go Task Reveals the Power of Brand Influence

Whether selecting a candy in a shop or picking a digital camera online, there are usually many options from which consumers may choose. With such abundance, consumers must use a variety of cognitive, emotional, and heuristic means to filter out and inhibit some of their responses. Here we use brand logos within a Go/No-Go task to probe inhibitory control during the presentation of familiar and unfamiliar logos. The results showed no differences in response times or in commission errors (CE) between familiar and unfamiliar logos. However, participants demonstrated a generally more cautious attitude of responding to the familiar brands: they were significantly slower and less accurate at responding to these brands in the Go trials. These findings suggest that inhibitory control can be exercised quite effectively for familiar brands, but that when such inhibition fails, the potent appetitive nature of brands is revealed.     

INCORPORATING TASTING INTO A CONJOINT ANALYSIS OF TASTE,HEALTH CLAIM,PRICE AND BRAND FOR PURCHASING STRAWBERRY YOGURT1

The objective of this research was to examine some considerations arising from incorporating tasting into a conjoint analysis procedure studying the effects of taste, brand, price and health claim on the buying intent for strawberry yogurt. Specifically, the considerations were: (1) whether people could remember the sensory qualities of the products tasted well enough to re-identify them in a follow-up test, and (2) whether their memory of their liking for the products was stable. Two hundred people who purchased and ate strawberry yogurt participated in a three-part test session. Part 1) They tasted and rated their liking for three yogurt samples and either did or did not take notes on the sensory attributes of the yogurts. Part 2) They rated 27 mock yogurt labels representing 3 brands x 3 taste qualities x 3 prices x 3 health claims on a buying intent scale. Part 3) They rated their liking of the three yogurt samples either from memory or by retasting and they attempted to re-identify the three yogurt samples. Taking notes improved the proportion of completely correct re-identifications (75% vs 50%). Liking reratings from memory were as stable as liking reratings by retasting. Taste and health claim had the largest influence on buying intent; brand had little influence on buying intent.     

Rule-governed versus contingency-governed behavior in a self-control task: effects of changes in contingencies

Rule-governed behavior is typically acquired faster than contingency-governed behavior but is less sensitive than contingency-governed behavior to unverbalized contingency changes. The present study investigated these relationships in a computer task frequently used to study human self-control. Instructions for one group of participants contained a hint about how to maximize long-term reinforcement; the other group performed the task without the hint. Participants given the hint came closer to maximizing reinforcement in the long term, but their behavior was less sensitive to an unsignaled contingency change than that of those not given the hint. The study shows that, like other complex behaviors, self-control may be contingency-governed or rule-governed.     

LIKING FOR ICE CREAM MEASURED WITH THREE PROCEDURES: SIDE-BY-SIDE, AFTER CONSUMPTION AND SINGLE SAMPLES

The purpose of this study was to compare how similar results are achieved by three different procedures of measuring liking for ice cream. Subjects (N=56) assessed their liking for three brands of vanilla ice cream on a 9-point scale in seven sessions within three weeks. The examined procedures were (1) tasting and rating all three brands simultaneously side-by-side within the same session, (2) rating each brand in separate sessions after ad libitum consumption and (3) tasting (without consumption) and rating each brand in separate sessions. The liking scores for brands differed significantly but the differences were small because all samples were well-liked. In all procedures, the ratings of liking differed clearly between those who ranked the brand first and those who ranked it second or third, even if there was a considerable number of tied first places. Correlations among the three different measurements of liking were relatively low for all brands of ice cream (r = 0.16 – 0.37). The most preferred brand for most respondents changed from one procedure to another. The perceived characteristics were close to ideal in all brands, and all three procedures gave similar mean results. The distance of mouthfeel, creaminess, sweetness, and vanilla aroma from ideal differed between those who liked the brand best and those who rated it second or third. These differences were larger in side-by-side and after consumption conditions compared to single sample presentation.     

USE OF THE DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION TO PREDICT THE NUMBER OF CONSUMERS WHO DISCRIMINATE

Three brands of chocolate milk were evaluated for liking, sweetness, creaminess and natural flavor by 48 consumers, using 100mm line scale. The mean sweetness score for one brand was significantly different to the other two and all other attributes were similar. Discriminant analysis on scores from the line scales showed that 63.8% of the evaluations of the least sweet brand (Brand A) were classified by the discriminant function as belonging to the least sweet brand. 19.1% of the scores for Brand B and 17.0% for Brand C were classified as identifying Brand A. A simple count of the number of consumers ranking each brand as least sweet showed that 63.8% chose Brand A, 19.1% Brand B and 17.0% Brand C. This suggests that the discriminant function provides a measure of the proportion of assessors who can tell the difference or, a measure of the degree of confusion between samples.     

Risk knowledge,product knowledge,and brand benefits for purchase intentions: Experiences with air purifiers against city smog in China

The present study is based on the theoretical framework of protective action decision model. This study aims to explain the relationship among the risk knowledge, product knowledge, risk perception, and brand benefits and the consumers’ purchase intentions of a specific air purifier compared with alternative brands. The research context is city smog. Results show that consumers’ risk knowledge and product knowledge significantly affect their purchase of an air purifier brand as well as play a considerable role in predicting their risk perception and in foreseeing their purchase intentions under the influence of the manufacturer's advertising strategies. Furthermore, consumers’ risk perception is a critical psychological factor that has a significantly positive influence on brand's experiential benefits, instead of functional and symbolic benefits. In particular, when comparing with brand's functional and symbolic benefits, the brand's experiential benefits is more attractive to consumers and has a stronger effect on consumers’ air purifier purchase intentions in the context of city smog.     

The model of the reward choice basing on the theory of reinforcement learning

We developed the model of alimentary instrumental conditioned bar-pressing reflex for cats making a choice between either immediate small reinforcement ("impulsive behavior") or delayed more valuable reinforcement ("self-control behavior"). Our model is based on the reinforcement learning theory. We emulated dopamine contribution by discount coefficient of this theory (a subjective decrease in the value of a delayed reinforcement). The results of computer simulation showed that "cats" with large discount coefficient demonstrated "self-control behavior"; small discount coefficient was associated with "impulsive behavior". This data are in agreement with the experimental data indicating that the impulsive behavior is due to a decreased amount of dopamine in striatum.     

Does Taste Matter? How Anticipation of Cola Brands Influences Gustatory Processing in the Brain

Brands surround us everywhere in daily life. Here we investigate the influences of brand cues on gustatory processing of the same beverage. Participants were led to believe that the brand that announced the administration of a Cola mixture provided correct information about the drink to come. We found stronger fMRI signal in right mOFC during weak compared to strong brand cues in a contrast of parametric modulation with subjective liking. When directly comparing the two strong brands cues, more activation in the right amygdala was found for Coca Cola cues compared with Pepsi Cola cues. During the taste phase the same beverage elicited stronger activation in left ventral striatum when it was previously announced by a strong compared with a weak brand. This effect was stronger in participants who drink Cola infrequently and might therefore point to a stronger reliance on brand cues in less experienced consumers. The present results reveal strong effects of brand labels on neural responses signalling reward.     

Would a medium-nicotine,low-tar cigarette be less hazardous to health?

Smoking behaviour and exposure to carbon monoxide, nicotine, and tar were studied in 19 middle-tar smokers. All smoked their own brands for three weeks and then switched to either a conventional low-nicotine, low-tar brand (control) or a medium-nicotine, low-tar cigarette for a further three weeks, the order then being reversed. The medium-nicotine, low-tar brand also had a low delivery of carbon monoxide. With the medium-nicotine, low-tar cigarette mouth-level delivery and intake of nicotine was similar to that with the smokers'' usual brands, and significantly greater than with the control low-tar cigarette. Intake of carbon monoxide from the medium-nicotine, low-tar cigarette was significantly less than with either own or control brands. With both low-tar brands mouth-level exposure to tar was reduced relative to smokers'' usual cigarettes. There was no evidence, however, that the reduction in tar exposure was greater with the medium-nicotine brand than with the control low-tar cigarette. Both low tar brands were "''oversmoked" relative to subjects'' usual middle-tar cigarettes. The medium-nicotine, low-tar cigarette was marginally more acceptable than the control brand, and the particular design used in the study resulted in a lower intake of carbon monoxide. In terms of reducing mouth-level exposure to tar, however, the medium-nicotine, low-tar cigarette had no advantage over the control low-tar product. In part this was because of the ratio of tar to nicotine delivery obtained by human smokers was not the same as that obtained by smoking machine.     

Discount cosmetic surgery: industry trends and strategies for success

Discount cosmetic surgery is a topic of interest to plastic surgeons. To understand this trend and its effects on plastic surgeons, it is necessary to review the economics of cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery's practice environment, and the broader business principles of service industries.Recent work looked at the economics of the plastic surgery market. This analysis demonstrated that increased local density of plastic surgeons was associated with lower adjusted fees for cosmetic procedures. A survey of plastic surgeons about their practice environment revealed that 93 percent categorized the majority of their patients as very or moderately price-sensitive. Fully 98 percent described their business climate as very or moderately competitive and most plastic surgeons thought they lost a sizable number of cosmetic patients within the last year for reasons of price.A standard industry analysis, when applied to cosmetic surgery, reveals the following: an increased number of surgeons leads to lower fees (reducing their bargaining power as suppliers), patients are price-sensitive (increasing their bargaining power as buyers), and there are few barriers to entry among providers (allowing potential new entrants into the market). Such a situation is conducive to discounting taking hold-and even becoming the industry norm.In this environment, business strategy dictates there are three protocols for success: discounting, differentiation, and focus. Discounting joins the trend toward cutting fees. Success comes from increasing volume and efficiency and thus preserving profits. Differentiation creates an industrywide perception of uniqueness; this requires broadly positioning plastic surgeons as holders of a distinct brand identity separate from other "cosmetic surgeons." The final strategy is to focus on a particular buyer group to develop a market niche, such as establishing a "Park Avenue" practice catering to patients who demand a prestigious surgeon, although this is likely a small segment of the overall patient population. Plastic surgeons that buck the trend toward discount cosmetic surgery must take concrete and potentially costly steps to implement a plausible strategy for distinguishing their practices within the crowded cosmetic surgery market.     

Retail price and point of sale display of tobacco in the UK: a descriptive study of small retailers

Background

Since the implementation of the 2002 Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act, point-of-sale (PoS) tobacco displays are one of few remaining means of communication between the tobacco industry and customers in the UK. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of tobacco displays in a UK city, and particularly to assess the tobacco prices and promotional offers, types and pack sizes on display.

Methods

Digital pictures of PoS displays were taken in 117 small retail shops in Nottingham in mid 2010. Data were analysed using Windows Photo Gallery software and SPSS version 16.

Results

Just over half (52%) of cigarette packs on display were packs of 20, and 43% packs of 10. Cigarette prices differed substantially between brands, ranging from £4.19 to £6.85 for 20-packs, and from £2.12 to £3.59 for 10-packs. Forty four percent of cigarette packs and 40% of RYO (Roll-Your-Own) tobacco pouches, almost exclusively lower priced brands, were displayed with a pricemark, implying a promotional price offer. Eighty percent of 20-pack cigarette brand or brand variants on sale were priced below the EU-defined Most Popular Price Category (MPPC) for the UK in 2010; 45% were priced below the Weighted Average Price (WAP), which replaced the MPPC in 2011.

Conclusion

PoS displays communicate value by displaying a high proportion of lower cost brands, and smaller and hence lower-cost packs, and by displaying price discounts on packs. The MPPC substantially overestimated the prices at which most 20-cigarette packs were available. Removal of PoS displays will prevent this means of price marketing but our study also suggests that minimum pricing of 20-pack cigarettes, prohibition of sale of cigarettes in packs less than 20, and plain packaging to prevent pricemarking are necessary if price is to be used effectively as a tobacco control measure.     

Brand Discrimination: An Implicit Measure of the Strength of Mental Brand Representations

While mental associations between a brand and its marketing elements are an important part of brand equity, previous research has yet to provide a sound methodology to measure the strength of these links. The following studies present the development and validation of an implicit measure to assess the strength of mental representations of brand elements in the mind of the consumer. The measure described in this paper, which we call the Brand Discrimination task, requires participants to identify whether images of brand elements (e.g. color, logo, packaging) belong to a target brand or not. Signal detection theory (SDT) is used to calculate a Brand Discrimination index which gives a measure of overall recognition accuracy for a brand’s elements in the context of its competitors. A series of five studies shows that the Brand Discrimination task can discriminate between strong and weak brands, increases when mental representations of brands are experimentally strengthened, is relatively stable across time, and can predict brand choice, independently and while controlling for other explicit and implicit brand evaluation measures. Together, these studies provide unique evidence for the importance of mental brand representations in marketing and consumer behavior, along with a research methodology to measure this important consumer-based brand attribute.     

Optimal foraging on perilous prey: risk of bill damage reduces optimal prey size in oystercatchers

Intake rate maximization alone is not always sufficient in explainingprey size selection in predators. For example, bivalve-feedingoystercatchers regularly select smaller prey than expected ifthey aimed to maximize their intake rate. It has been proposedthat to these birds large prey are "risky," in the sense thatbirds may damage their bills when feeding on large bivalves.Large bivalves yield more energy, but according to this hypothesisthis is achieved at the expense of energy yield in the longterm when (1) the risk of bill damage increases with prey sizeand (2) foraging with a damaged bill is less effective. In accordancewith this hypothesis, we show that captive oystercatchers feedingon large cockles experienced a high probability of bill tipdamage, while bill damage was absent when cockles were small.Moreover, among free-living oystercatchers the prevalence ofbill damage was correlated with mean cockle size near the capturesite, and the data on captive birds fit in this pattern. Foodintake of captive oystercatchers feeding exclusively on cockleswas reduced by 23% after bill damage, and free-living birdswith damaged bills had 14 g lower mass. Because lower body masswas associated with higher mortality probability, these resultsindicate long-term costs associated with feeding on large cockles.We conclude that the risk of bill damage can potentially explainwhy oystercatchers avoid large bivalves and that oystercatchersmay maximize long-term intake rate by selecting prey sizes thatare "suboptimal" from a short-term rate-maximizing point ofview.     

Modification of instinctive herding dog behavior using reinforcement and punishment

Abstract

“Instinctive” behavior may be modified using operant techniques. We report here on a field study of training herding dogs in which reinforcers and punishers were used by owners, who were themselves being trained to control their dogs. Access to sheep was assumed to be a primary reinforcer for herding dogs. While blocking their access was aversive to them. Over several months, the number of blocking and access actions by the human were scored during the training of seven naïve herding dogs. We found that rates of punishment by blocking the dog's access to sheep or by stopping the dog occurred at higher levels than positive reinforcement from access or verbal praise. While positive reinforcement can be used exclusively for the training of certain behaviors, it is suggested that in the context of instinctive motor patterns, negative reinforcement and punishment may be desirable and necessary additions to positive reinforcement techniques.     

Demographic and contraceptive patterns among women in Northern Mindanao, the Philippines

Desired family size and contraceptive behavior of 986 ever-married women aged 15-54 from Northern Mindanao, the Philippines, are described. Using the Dow and Werner typology of demographic and contraceptive patterns, it was found that a majority of the women were traditional in their demographic attitude and contraceptive behavior. A substantial proportion of the women desired medium to large families. In consistency in attitude and behavior was also manifested by women who desired small families but have never used efficient family planning methods. Sociodemographic characteristics of these women are described. A majority of the women who have never used efficient contraception also never practiced family planning. Rhythm was the primary method of birth control among demographic innovators and traditionals who have ever used inefficient methods; the pill was popular among contraceptive innovators and moderns. A considerable proportion of the demographic innovators and the traditionals were not currently using any family planning method; a lesser proportion of contraceptive innovators and moderns were also not using birth control methods. Relevance of the findings to family planning programs is pointed out. Recommendations are given. Motivation for a small family is a prerequisite for a successful family planning program. Without motivation, what family planning programs do is reduce the number of unwanted births. Family planning programs should reach out to those who are sufficiently motivated to have small families but have never used efficient family planning methods. A major finding of this research is that a majority of the women who never used efficient contraception also never used inefficient or traditional methods. Efforts should be made to change this. Additionally, efforts should be made to bring those modern and contraceptive innovators who had stopped using any family planning method to practice contraception again.     

Cigarette advertising and onset of smoking in children: questionnaire survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate uptake of smoking in a cohort of 11 to 12 year olds related to awareness of advertised cigarette brands named. DESIGN: Self completed questionnaires administered to whole classes of schoolchildren in June 1993 and June 1994. SETTING: Primary, middle, and secondary schools in the north and south of England. SUBJECTS: 1450 pupils aged 11 and 12 years at the time of the first survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Onset of smoking and brands smoked by the second survey related to cigarette brands named in the first one. Less advertised brands were used as the base for calculating odds ratios. RESULTS: Girls who named the most advertised brands-namely, Benson and Hedges alone (odds ratio = 2.50, 95% confidence interval = 1.18 to 5.30) or Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut (2.15, 1.04 to 4.42) in the first survey were at greatest risk of taking up smoking by the second one. The difference was similar but not significant for boys. Boys and girls who named the least advertised brands in the first survey were at no greater risk of taking up smoking by the second survey than those who named no brands (boys odds ratio = 0.49 (0.24 to 1.01); girls 0.79 (0.38 to 1.62)). New smokers were more likely to smoke any available brand (29.5%) or a less advertised brand such as Embassy (24.6%) than the most advertised ones, Benson and Hedges (19.7%) and Silk Cut (14.8%). Established smokers were more selective, only 15% smoking any available brand and 38.3% smoking Benson and Hedges. CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette advertising appears to increase children''s awareness of smoking at a generic level and encourages them to take up the behaviour, beginning with any cigarettes which are available and affordable.     

Momentary and global maximizing

Four adult females responded at a computer console, on three constant probability concurrent variable-interval reinforcement schedules. The subjects were instructed to try to obtain as many reinforcers as possible, but were not given any instructions on how to accomplish this task. Three of the four subjects typically allocated responses to the schedule offering the higher reinforcement probability. These results show that some subjects trying to maximize overall reinforcement may respond in accordance with a momentary maximizing strategy.     

Microbial flora of in-use, display eye shadow testers and bacterial challenges of unused eye shadows.

We surveyed 15 different brands of eye shadow on display for customer use in different retail stores for microbial contamination. This was the first reported microbial surveillance of in-use eye shadow display testers in retail establishments. Cultures were obtained at each retail store. Sterile dacron swabs were rolled and rubbed over the entire used surface of each shadow, and each inoculum was streaked onto the surfaces of blood agar plates. Of the 1,345 individual samples obtained, 67% were contaminated with one or more species of microorganisms representing the genera Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Corynebacterium, Acinetobacter, Bacillus, and Moraxella. We also purchased two different brands of water-miscible eye shadows in replicate unit containers. Each brand was challenged separately with a few hundred to several thousand colony-forming units of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Both brands permitted growth of P. aeruginosa but not growth of S. aureus. A. calcoaceticus was inhibited after inoculation into one brand. With the other brand, the inoculum of Acinetobacter multiplied in one of the two different lots tested. This experimental challenge procedure can serve as a useful model system for studying the behavior of microbes in eye shadows and similar matrices.