Marketing

405: Term Project

Communication Strategy and Its Influence on a
Consumers Information Processing
Muhammad Nabil Arif Bin Idris

Intro
GQ Magazine
GQ magazine is a mens magazine that focuses on fashion, mens culture
and style. These topics are featured in multiple articles that include food, travel,
personal grooming and many others. The target market of this magazine is a
sophisticated male aged 25-55. Style is the main focus of this magazine and
with the combination of good writing and strong use of visuals it attracts the
attention of the men that enjoy a style oriented but sophisticated lifestyle.
Chevrolet Advertisement
This ad, which features the 2014 Corvette Stingray, is shown against a
dark background and is highlighted with light from above. This creates a notion
of attention and elegance. The picture is taken in a way that shows the features
and it is as though they are creating a frame around the car, which seems to
exaggerate the car within the picture. The car is shown from behind so as to
show the readers the differences between the old Stingray and the new Stingray.
Fans of the Stingray will realize one of the main differences of the car, which
are the taillights. For those who are just car enthusiasts or just browsing through
will notice a really nice car. The color of the fonts in the ad is only white so that
the readers can maintain their attention to the car. The large text that reads,
Precision Praised is one of the ways the ad is trying to tell the readers that this
car is a vehicle of precision in terms of styling and performance. Chevrolet also
uses a metaphor in their ad that says, Find New Roads, with the word new

being highlighted in orange. A description of the achievements this car has

obtained is also highlighted below in the ad. The logo and name of the company
can be seen on the bottom right of the ad. Even though they are not the focal
point of the ad, they are still placed at a prominent location with fonts large
enough to associate the brand with the car.
Target Market
Demographic Segmentation
The magazine, which this ad is featured, attracts men will all sorts of
different background and lifestyle. This ad is targeted at the readers of GQ
magazine, which targets male aged 25-55. Because the car is a two-door sports
car, it shows that the company is trying to catch the attention of the younger
customers. The fact that Chevrolet has usually targeted people above this age
group shows that Chevrolet is trying to expand its market. This ad could also be
targeting people with income around $75,000 to $100,00+. Since the Corvette
has the stigma of being a mans car, this ad could also be targeting the wifes of
men as a means of changing their perception of the car.
Psychographic Segmentation
Apart from segmenting a target by age group and income, the ad can also
target people that own luxury cars such as BMWs, Porches and Jaguars. These
consumers are used to lifestyles that involve driving luxury cars or they happen
to be car enthusiasts. Through this ad, the company is could be trying to show
consumers that Chevrolet could be one of those luxury cars that people are

looking for, and for the car enthusiast, it could be trying something new. This ad
could also be targeting consumers that want to be different from others. The ad
could be suggesting to consumers that this car will them different and stand out.
Behavioral Segmentation
This ad suggests that it could be targeted at brand loyal consumers. Fans
of the Corvette may be one of the readers of GQ magazine. This ad could also
be targeted at heavy users of sports cars.

Positioning by Attribute
The ad features the tagline, Precision Praised. This suggests that the
company is trying to position this model by emphasizing on the precision in
terms of design and performance. The Corvette used to have a more circular
style and they stuck to the same style for quite some time. But through this ad,
they are highlighting the new style and it shows that they somehow are trying to
position themselves in the eyes of a younger target market.

Information Process
Exposure
The audience obviously has to be kept in mind when designing an ad and
the company chose GQ magazine as a source for the ad because of its ability to

expose the ad to potential customers because there will be no interpretation if

there is no exposure. In this section, we look at these two types of exposure,
which are either intentional exposure or accidental exposure. The typical profile
for GQ magazine readers are males and if they fall in the demographics that we
discussed earlier, then surely enough they might be searching for information or
at least expecting information on cars. Readers of GQ magazine have probably
made the connection between the magazine and lifestyle, which include cars.
This ad does a good job of exposure for a number of reasons. The consumer
could most probably be searching for car ads in the magazine and when they
come across this ad they it might reinforce what they already know about the
car. This could be a way the company is trying to facilitate intentional
exposure. They make sure some type of information is available on their
product. Typically however, consumers are accidently exposed to the
information. Readers of the magazine may discover this ad when browsing the
magazine. The ads minimalist design suggests that the company wants
consumers that accidently come across this ad to focus solely on the car. By
doing this they might prompt the reader to do more information searching
outside of the magazine. This ad could also be viewed as a way to increase
accidental exposure. With the photographical and presentational devices
assuring that the cars details and features are the first thing you see; this is a
very effective first impression for the model, setting the tone for the overall
advertisement.

Attention
After consumers are exposed to the information, they then focus their
attention to the information either through selective attention or involuntary
selection. This ad has the ability to attract the attention of a consumer that is
going through selective attention. The consumer could have certain goals in a
car such as precision, new style and performance. The fact that the car is angled
in a certain way exaggerates the precision in the design, the taillights and
exhaust system. There the consumer will see features that meet his goals. If the
consumer is experiencing high involvement because of a specific need, the large
fonts used are one of the ways the ad is trying to make the consumers aware of
the ad and shift their focus to the car itself, hence this could lead them to realize
that this ad is somehow relevant.
Although it seems as though this ad lacks in prominent stimuli, the way
the ad is made seems to be able to attract attention. The background color of the
ad is black, which suggests that the company is trying to reduce other stimulus
and focus solely on the car. The dark background combined with lighting
emphasizes the selected product and thus attracting and focusing consumers
attention on their ad. The ad also stands out by the use of a dark background
that could also be a way of attracting attention, since most ads have bright
colors. By using a logo, consumers that have knowledge or are fans of the
company might look at the logo and then shift their focus to the car. The size of
the car in the ad has the potential to be noticed.

The description of the car tells consumers that this car has won 20 other
awards will attract the attention of people who are interested in it. The minimal
descriptions and white colored fonts could be a way the marketers are trying to
reduce clutter. The minimal descriptions could also show that the ad is not
trying to overwhelm readers with too much information. The marketers allow
the readers to feel that thats all they need to know about the vehicle.
This ad could also be a means to increase selective attention. Consumers
that have never considered this kind of car may look at the ad and be surprised,
thus having the potential to attract the consumer. They might read the
description and look at the logo and make a connection and further focus on the
details. This ad could also be establishing self-relevance with a consumer. The
color of the car might communicate the psychosocial consequence of looking
cool and the setting of the ad might suggest the ability to attract attention.
Other than that, when looking at the ad the reader might get excited and become
more interested in the ad and this could lead to the reader maintaining their
exposure and focus their attention to the details in the ad.
Comprehension
As consumers are focusing on the ad, they are interpreting the
information to make sense of the ad. This ad somehow stimulates consumers to
produce deeper comprehension. Consumers that are familiar with the company
may look at the ad and see the logo might immediately comprehend
Chevrolet. As they shift their focus towards the car, they might make relevant

association with the car, such as what model it is and the differences in the old
and new model. Because the ad is already familiar to the consumer, it might
lead to a deeper comprehension such as I can drive faster with this car or I
will feel more confident and attractive when I buy this car. This then could
lead to the consumer storing and remembering the ad or the car. As more
connections are being made, consumers will be able to better recall and
recognize the car. The highlighting if the rear end of the vehicle also could
suggest that marketers are making sure that when consumers see the taillights
and exhaust, they will be able to interpret it as a Corvette Stingray, which is a
Chevrolet product.
Alternatively, for those that are less familiar with the company or they
have just come across the ad, they might just try and comprehend what they see
in the ad such as the attributes and making connections between the descriptions
and the car. This ad also helps consumers make inferences on the product.
Precision Praised is inferring that this car was made with precision. 2014
North America Car Of The Year suggests to consumers that this must be very
popular and highly demanded. The company tagline, Find New Roads can be
interpreted as a metaphor and when consumers see this they will start to think of
a new car and new places or markets. From there the might form additional
inferences and this might elicit more favorable affective responses. This ad
could also attract novice consumer, which have little knowledge of the car or

the brand. By providing limited to no technical information, the ad allows

consumers to comprehend what the ad is trying to communicate.
This ad is mostly targeted at consumers with high levels of involvement.
Some of the readers of the magazine could have substantial knowledge of cars.
This ad then encourages the reader to use the knowledge and form deep, selfrelevant meaning about the car. For example, consumers might think it is
realistic to accept that when this image of a nice car with a new design they
automatically relate it to being attractive or cool through a process of
signification relating the Stingray with other top tier sports cars. This clever use
of displaying the attributes of the car ultimately depicts an image of the
powerful, attractive male and therefore anchors these ideas to the Chevrolet
brand. This helps to create the idea that if we as a consumer buy this car we too
will be attractive and powerful, making us want to own it.
Because consumers do not usually have the intention of buying a product during
the comprehension stage, marketers want consumers to at least remember what
they are trying to communicate. In the advertisement, the Stingray is positioned
in a certain angle, which could be viewed from other peoples eyes, such as
when parking at a hotel entrance or waiting at a traffic light. In a readers mind
this could be how people will look at the car when I drive it. With the new
taillights and exhaust pipes power, speed and style, which reinforces the
precision, quality, feel of the car. With all signs combined in this advert we can
suggest that they connote a situation. The picture connotes that a powerful or

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successful man is sat in the car and he uses the car, which exaggerates all of
these aspects about him, again reinforcing the idea that the car enhances you.
This then helps the consumer to be able to remember the brand and all the key
aspects and features related to brand. The environment in which the ad is shown
also helps in comprehension and remembering the ad. By being featured in a
mens lifestyle magazine, readers of the magazine will be able to better
comprehend the meaning or the message of the ad then if the ad was featured in
a magazine that was not targeted at male readers. This ad also might prompt
consumers to make evaluations of the importance, persuasiveness or relevance
of an ad in the form of support arguments.
Yielding/Acceptance
This ad does a good job at letting the consumer accept the information by
allowing the individual to mentally construct product attributes, benefits, uses
or usage situations not presented in the ad. For example, consumers may
combine prior knowledge of cars and combine it with the presented information
in the ad to consider potential product use. This use of self-generated thinking
could lead to the consumer generating relatively strong beliefs about the brand.
The consumers might infer that the car has a new design simply by looking at
the ad (new knowledge) and integrating it with the previous design (old
knowledge). This ad also is encouraging involvement in the reader. The
marketers are most probably trying to get the consumers to relate with their
ideal self. Ideally, they imagine themselves driving or owning the car. This ad

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could also invite readers to think about the positive and negative consequences
of product. For instance, imagining the negative consequences of not buying the
car may cause the reader to think of exclusion or not being attractive.
Retention
This ad has the ability to help consumers remember the ad and move it to
long-term memory. The use of brand name and logo helps consumers with
extended knowledge to make their own association with the brand and car thus
could effectively help in retaining the information better. For consumers with
little knowledge the image of the car might help in remembering that it is
associated with the brand. This new knowledge could encourage more
information search outside of the magazine and thus help with retention. The
salient attributes of the car could also help in retention by encouraging readers
to review the ad again. When the frequency of the customer being exposed to
the ad increases, they will be able to remember the ad better which could lead to
a desired response. The ad has the ability to help consumers categorize latest
information into particular brand or product group and store them accordingly.
The ad also has the potential to capture the attention of consumers who might
come across the ad accidently by employing tools such as giving a greater
contrast between the stimulus( the car) and its surroundings as well as giving
the car a greater prominence in the ad also tend to increase likelihood of
consumers remembering the product.
Consumer Decision Making Process

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Problem Recognition
The consumer decision-making process starts with problem recognition.
Based on the target market, one of the many of the readers of GQ magazine
could have a problem such as they are in need of a new car, or their car is not
performing as well as theyd hope so they might be considering an alternative.
This ad somehow provides an end goal for the reader. For example, the car in
the ad could involve a more abstract end goal such as a desired psychological
consequence. The ad might lead the reader to think that he wants a car that
shows that he has good taste in cars. Other than that, the ad can invite readers to
think of a more abstract and general goal such as choosing this car will help
boost self esteem. This ad could also help consumers during their problem
solving process by providing knowledge. Enough information is given in the ad
to expose consumers to the product and if the consumer wants more
information, they can go search for it.
Search for alternative solutions
In this step of the decision making process, the consumer is most likely to
be looking for alternatives. This ad does a good job of making consumers move
the product to their evoked set and this could lead to the product being in the
consideration set during the problem solving process. The ad does this by
persuading the consumers to have salient beliefs about the products attributes
and benefits. The ad highlights the car design and when consumers notice its
sleek design they might make quality beliefs salient and that could go into their

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evoked set and hopefully into the consideration set. If the consumers have had
previous experience with the brand, then most likely this ad will help inform
consumers that this is a new model from Chevrolet and this could go into the
consumers consideration set if they are looking for sports cars.
This ad also has a high probability of entering a consumers evoked set
because it captures attention. The large fonts used to say Precision Praised
captures attention of readers who accidently come across the ad. If that does not
help, then the picture of the car itself would probably capture attention just
because its features seem to be exaggerated by the use of color and lighting.
Based on the end goals of the consumer, this ad helps activate the choice criteria
of the consumer.
Evaluation of alternatives
In this step of the consumer decision-making process, a consumer is
trying to solve the problem and ultimately satisfying his need. In other words,
the consumer will look for problem-solving benefits from the product. The ad
helps in the evaluation process because of the features of the ad. The new model
Stingray pictured in the ad features new attributes when compared to the old
model. This addition of new attributes influences the perceptions about it. This
might activate emotions such as excitement in the consumer and the consumer
might evaluate that feeling as a benefit. Knowledgeable consumers might
integrate their existing knowledge with their newly acquired one from the ad to
make positive evaluations. This new model could also change consumers

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perception about the brand and causing them to change their evaluation about
Chevrolet and other competing brands. The ad could also be trying to elicit a
certain type of progression of consequences of product use that eventually lead
to desired end benefit such as the car has a large exhausts, leading to fast
acceleration, leading to a feeling of performance, leading to a feeling of power,
which ultimately improves the consumers self-esteem.
Purchase
This ad does a good job of evoking feelings not only directly related to it,
but also additional feelings such as positive and negative. The positioning of the
car, the dark colors and lighting show that the marketers are trying hard to
distinguish the merchandise and this will affect the customers decision. This ad
somehow applies to less abstract end goals such as desired function or
psychological consequences and that could lead to a purchase decision. This ad
could influence purchase decision by reducing the buyers uncertainty about the
distinctive attributes of the brand. Because a buyer takes only these attributes
into consideration when comparing and evaluating brands, the ad gives a
description of the awards of the car. Apart from that, the picture of the car
shows the potential buyer the attributes or features that are dominant in the car.
To purchase a product or a brand, buyers need a certain level of information
about the characteristics and the probable performance of various brands on the
market. This ad helps by not providing too much information with words. This
ad simply allows the consumer to be mentally and emotionally involved with

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the ad. This ad could stimulate excitement when the consumer starts relating the
car to his own experiences. This ad could also let consumers go deeper and
think about social affects and environmental affects. Also, too much
information can overwhelm the consumer causing them to disregard the
information. This ad also helps encourage the purchase intention by acting as a
means of reinforcing the knowledge a consumer has about the product or brand.
For example, if the consumer is familiar with a product category and knows the
characteristics of competing brands, this ad can act as a way to assign positive
attributes to the product or brand. When the consumer looks at the car, they
might see the cool new features and will lean towards this particular brand. For
consumers that know the product category well but not the particular brand, this
ad helps in giving them a sense or a picture of what the Chevrolet brand is like.
The ad might make them think of precision, performance, power and
innovation. This ad can also encourage extensive searching for consumers that
do not know either the product category or the brand. This ad will most likely
intrigue these consumers and once they have form certain kind of criteria or
knowledge of the product and brand, they might go and do more external
searching. This will lead them to expand their knowledge and have more
positive attitudes about the product and could lead to a purchase decision. The
perceived risk about the product is also reduced because the marketers did not
include too much information that could be interpreted wrongly. The only other

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behavior that this ad can encourage is to go to a dealer or search externally for

the information on the car.

Post Purchase Evaluation

The final step in the consumer decision-making process is the post
purchase evaluation. Typically consumers are either satisfied or dissatisfied
with their purchase. Because buying a car is considered a high involvement
purchase, consumers tend to be more involved in the post purchase evaluation.
This ad can also be used as a means to increase the desirability of the purchased
brand. For example, this ad can help reinforce the benefits and attributes of the
car after purchase. A consumer might be contemplating if he had bought the
right car and when he sees the ad, the words or description might be enough to
convince him otherwise. This ad could also help in the consumers desire for
rejected alternatives by just reinforcing the idea that this car is better by just the
picture and the related emotions when the consumer looks at the ad.

Conclusion- Effectiveness of the Advertisement

In my opinion the ad is effective because of its ability to attract readers
focus and allow the readers to make their own interpretation of the product. The
ad also seems to rely on the readers emotional connection with the car or
brand. The ad also seems to cater to desires such as power, performance, and

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high class. The advertisement is aimed at upper mid-income individuals who

have the money to spend on a car, specifically ports cars. It plays to their desire
of exclusivity as well, with the lack of other people in the image. This advert is
effective because of it is cleverly crafted with many tools to create the ideas of
glamour, attractiveness, luxury, the sense of being cool and precision. This ad
also successfully connotes the idea that if we buy this car, the Corvette Stingray,
we will get to feel all the features and attributes that made this car the car of the
year.

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Works Cited

Peter, J. Paul., and Jerry C. Olson. Consumer Behavior & Marketing Strategy.
9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. Print.

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