Report on current strategic marketing plan for Sonic Drive Ins Assignment

Report on current strategic marketing plan for Sonic Drive Ins - Assignment Example The company also aims at increasing its revenues and market share as it becomes the preferred destination for fast drive in restaurant. Sonics drive in style of service as well as the unique menu and orders delivered by Carhop makes it highly differentiated and preferred in the quick service restaurant industry. Moreover, the unique signature menu items made when one orders like six inch premium beef hot dogs, foot long quarter pounds Coney’s and chicken sandwiches makes it competitive (SONICÃÆ'‚ ® Drive-In, n.d.). The company also derives its strength from the fresh made onion rings, tater totes and over a million drink choices. The variety of foods and drinks offered gives customers a wide range to choose from. Sonics customers also enjoy the drive-thru services and patio dining at most of their locations. The company’s also brags of continued increase in the financial performance amidst expansion plans adopted in 2013. In 2013, the company noted an increase of 2.3% in sales of system-wide same store, a 60$ basis point improvement in drive-in level margins and a 20% rise in the earning per share on an adjusted basis (SONICÃÆ'‚ ® Drive-In, n.d.). Good financial performance has made the company remain competitive in the industry. Finally, the company boasts of their innovative products, friendly service and their ability to engage with the customers through effective advertising and better media effectiveness which increased sales. Other areas that makes the company competitive is the focus made on healthier options with the introduction of freshly brewed diet green tea and premium chicken sandwich and egg burritos (Panczel, 2010). The company has a marketing function charged with the role of creating awareness of the company’s products. Currently the department runs a â€Å"Two guys† creative campaign geared at reaching the greatest number of customers through advertising. The company has a central

Food, Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Food, Inc - Essay Example coli is the corn that the cows are fed. It is quite cheap and dangerous for health. The content of E. coli in the cow’s guts increases when they feed on the corns. In order to regulate the effect of increased E. coli level, the meat packers often tend to cleanse the meat by treating it with ammonia so that it becomes suitable for human consumption. Food borne illnesses resulting from the consumption of contaminated food are increasingly putting millions of Americans in hospitals every year. The number of Americans that are admitted into hospitals every year is 325,000 approximately and those who die because of the diseases caused by contaminated food consumption every year are about 5000 (The Center for Ecoliteracy 39). The toddler Kevin in Food, Inc. who is only two years old becomes sick because of Escherichia E. coli. Escherichia E. coli is a bacterial group which is found in the intestines of many birds, animals and also humans. Usually, many E. coli benefit us by decompos ing the food that we in-take and facilitate its digestion, though serious infections may be caused by some strains that may in turn, cause bloody diarrhea, cramps in the stomach, failure of kidney and sometimes, it may result into the death of the affected person. People may acquire the bacteria of E.

Judaism Religion and Theology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Judaism Religion and Theology - Essay Example One reason is that the Essenes formed one of the greatest sects during that time of Christ, in which the Jews were divided. Judaism is the way of life, philosophy and religion of the Jewish people. One might be interested in being part of these separatist societies because of the uniqueness of these societies. The Essenes for example had no women and also had no money. These were believed to be the major causes of sin and were therefore forbidden from these societies. They only had palm trees as their companions. This saw many people who were tired of life being driven to these societies to adopt their interesting mannerisms. This paper will discuss â€Å"The Damascus Document† and the â€Å"Rule of the Community† expanding on why someone might have been interested in being a part of these separatist communities. One would therefore be interested in being part of these separatist societies because they were thought to have advantage over the weariness that comes with li fe. â€Å"The land of the Essenes was also very fertile and it attracted people to it†. Another factor that would make one to be interested in being part of these separatist societies, first, according to Josephus and Philo, the members of the sect numbered 4000. Judaism is a religious system whereby everyone is under the rule of God. This was because becoming a member of Essene sect for example was not easy to achieve. Only the male adults were allowed to join the group. The Essenes for example believed in living very simple lives.... There are a number of factors that made their ways of life appealing. First, their days began with prayer and they believed in purification after working in their various occupations. That is why they would assemble for ritual purification at the end of each day. â€Å"Followers had communal meals which were prepared by the priest† (Brownlee, 1982). These meals were served to each member in order of their status in the society but each member would wear special garments for these meals. They would return to work after these meals and later on reassemble for another meal. They often recited prayers together at sunset. Their unique mannerisms and ways of life made them to be different and they were separated from their fellow Jews. One can therefore desire to be like them because of their unique mannerisms (Trans, 1942). These societies overemphasized on ritual purity in the sense that they would purify themselves several times after relieving themselves for example, after worki ng, after being in contact with people who were not members of their societies and before meals. According to the rule of the community, the character of these communities such as that which required one to undergo thorough examination before being allowed to join the sects made them to be desirable and appealing. Such an examination process would last for almost two years before one became a fully fledged member. Their celibacy, community of property and theology were unique and made them to be different. The Jews are considered to be an ethno religious group. The members of these separatist societies such as the Essenes only worked in certain occupations such as crafts and agriculture. They avoided other occupations that were considered as not being pure. These

Leaders In Family Businesses Business Essay

Leaders In Family Businesses Business Essay It is very difficult to identify the comparison between family and non-family business; it lies within the fact that there is not even a single accepted definition of family business to form the basis of research (Westhead and Cowling, 1998). This essay explores in isolation, the skills required in leaders in family and non-family businesses. Then, the skills required in these two categories of leaders are compared and contrasted. Various theories and concepts on family business are used to facilitate the process. Family business is a business in which familys involvement is a must, making the business different from others. Many researchers interpret the involvement of family as ownership management. (Chua et al.,1999) In a family business, managing the profits and losses are not the only thing that matters. Its all about understanding the family tradition, values and beliefs also to do succession planning. It is also important to make sure that there should not be any conflict between family members regarding the ownership and management. Indalecio(2012) said that there are some conflicts which typically happen due to the inability to separate personal and professional lives and also because of interest which varied from one member to other. Family businesses are mostly made up of strong relationship of trust, loyalty and communication and they have a shared vision. In a non family business, they mainly focus on the smooth functioning of the organization to make profits and also to expand the business. They dont need to worry about family values or tradition. As compared to family business employees are much more motivated in non family business. In Family business, they hire promote employees after considering relatives or any other family member which makes the non family employees lose motivation towards the work. This will lead to a limited growth and opportunities for the firm. (Indalecio,2012) Well discuss in detail that how the leaders require different skills to work in these two totally different types of businesses. As we know that Leader play the main role in running the business either it is emotion based or simply profit based. Well discuss about different theories of leadership in family business to differentiate the leadership style from non-family business. LEADERS IN FAMILY BUSINESS Leadership is not magnetic personality that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a persons vision to higher sights, the raising of a persons performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations (Peter F Drucker) The environment in a family business is very different from non family business for leaders and employees in the organization. Heuristic Model, defines leadership as the person, process, position, result where leader is an individual, a centered person who they are. The style adopted by them or sense-making or the way they get things done. They keep into consideration what those in authorities do and where they do it. As a result they achieve the purpose through mobilization like a leader achieve. (Grint,2010) Tagiuri and Davis (1996) stated the existence of shared vision, values and beliefs, as well as a long term orientation with loyalty and trust which is based on relationships as one of the important or strong advantage of family business as compared to a non family business. Which allows a family business to have a unique or clear identity and also a strong sense of success in their mission, they wish to undertake and concentrate on the efforts for what they can do best, which helps them to gain a competitive advantage (Ibrahim Ellis, 1994). Dyer (1986) and Sorensen, (2000) describes five description of the leadership that is exercised in family firms: participative, autocratic, laissez-faire, expert and referent. This author said that the head involves member in decision making and they guide through adapting, also have the capacity to motivate personal regards in others. Which allow these type of firms to achieve the goal expected by both the family and the business at the same time, and that leads to higher level of satisfaction commitment among the non-family employees. (Vallejo, 2009) (Figure 1) [Source: Vallejo, M.C. (2010), Pg. 6] A leader in a family firm should take care of some points which are very important for the success of the organization in a market place: family disputes, favoritism, running business emotionally, and limited growth, also a succession plan. Family disputes takes place mostly due to the varied interest of each family member towards business, their personal egos, and rivalries among them which spill into the business environment. Managing family and the business at same time is very delicate matter and it is also important that if a leader in a family firm wants someone from the family to join the business then he needs to create a company culture based on favoritism. In most of the cases everyone wants to help family but its totally wrong to hire, promote or pay someone just because of familial relationship, rather than hiring someone based on their actual merits and abilities. It is very difficult in a family firm to keep personal professional life in a separate way, and also not an easy task to separate your emotions from your business. Especially, giving a critical feedback or receiving it from someone you love is also a big problem. Mostly in family firms all leadership positions are always occupied by some family members which limits the growth of the company opportunities for non-family employees. Many talented and ambitious employees will lose their motivation and they will move on to another job. There should always be succession plan for family firms otherwise it will lead to failure. (Indalecio, 2012) LEADERS IN NON FAMILY BUSINESS A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. (Ward, 2012) A leader in non-family business requires many types of skill for the better functioning of an organization. When it comes to the leadership quality in a leader for a non-family firm, we consider a leader who is ambitious, creative, self-reliable, inspiring, and innovative, also in addition to commitment determination, opportunity obsession, adaptability, self-motivated. (Timmons and spinelli, 2003) In a non-family business, mostly these are transformational leaders who motivate their followers to achieve a long term objectives rather than selfish short term goal. They have the ability to convince their followers to work hard for the achievement of the goal which leaders have in mind. This helps to motivate the followers that turns out to be self compensatory. (Bass, 1985, 1999) Leaders in a non-family firm dont worry about feuding, nepotism, emotions, values and beliefs of family, succession plans. They dont have a shared vision for the organization; everything is cleared about the goal they want to achieve for the expansion or growth of their organization. They have high growth opportunities for their employees because they never hire, promote, and criticize individuals on the basis of familial relationship. They only concentrate on the profits, motivation of employees, monitoring the performance, to gain competitive advantage for the benefit of the firm or to be successful in the market. (Indalecio, 2012) The Leader should be able to introduce a sense of value, respect, and to express a clear vision for the employees so that they can work accordingly. He should also pay attention to the need of the followers assign them particular projects for their personal growth, also teach followers to find a sensible path to examine a situation and also encourage them to be creative. (Bass, 1985) CONCLUSION In a firm, whether it is a family or non-family firm leaders are require running them. Mainly, for a non-family firm leader it is easy to run the organization as compare to a family firm leader. Because he has no tensions about the family values, beliefs, succession planning, family member interests or any other way to run a business in a manner so that it should survive for their upcoming generations. But for a family firm leader these all points matters a lot for their success in the market. The trust, loyalty, and relationship they make with their customers to gain sustainability. Family affect the business in each aspect if the firm doesnt have a Leader with all the leadership quality require operating a family business. In a family firm, leaders require a skill which helps the business to overcome the threats they get in running a family business. He should define the goal of the organization very clearly make sure that there is no partiality in hiring, promoting the employees, and it should be based on the individuals merits abilities. Outline the responsibilities role of each family member and hold them accountable. There should not be any communication gap and also run the business in a non emotional manner. For the advancement of your business everyone working for the organization should be on the same line either for promotion or criticism, also to have a succession plan for the survival of the business after he is gone. (Indalecio, 2012) There are different theories that explain these differences of skills required for a leader in a family a non-family firm. But the main thing is to understand the way a leader should work to keep the employees motivated and also provide them proper opportunities for their personal growth because a successful business is a mixture of different people with different skills. If a leader will follow these in a firms culture then this in turn will lead the organization to achieve their goal in a given time either it is a family business or a non-family business. Referencing: Bass, B. (1985). Leadership performance beyond expectations. New York: Academic Press. Bass, B. (1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 8, pp. 9-32. Chua, J. H., Chrisman, J. J., and Sharma, P. (1999). Defining the family business by behavior. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23(4), pp. 19-39. Dyer, W.G. (1986). Cultural Change in Family Firms: Anticipating and managing Business and Family Transitions. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Grint, K. (2010). Leadership, a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, London. Indalecio, T. (2012). 5 Common threats to a family business. About.Com : http://familybusiness.about.com/od/managementandoperations/a/commonthreats.htm [Accessed: 18 January 2012] Ibrahim, A. Ellis, W. (1994). Family business management: concepts and practice. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Sorensen, R.L. (2000).The Contribution of Leadership Style and Practices to Family and Business Success. Family Business Review. Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 183-200. Tagiuri, R. and Davis, J.A. (1996). Bivalent attributes of the family firm. Family Business Review, Vol .9, pp. 199-208. Timmons, J. Spinelli, S. (2003). New venture creation: entrepreneurship for the 21st century (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Vallejo Martos, M. (2005). Cuando definir es una necesidad. Una propuesta integradora y operativa del concepto de empresa familiar. Investigaciones Europeas de Direccià ³n y Economà ­a de la Empresa. [The Need to Define: Towards an Integrative and Operational Definition of the Family Firm], 11, pp.151-171. Vallejo, M.C. (2009). Analytical Model of Leadership in Family Firms Under Transformational Theoretical Approach: An exploratory study. Family Business Review. pp. 6. Ward, S. (2012). Leadership. About.com: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/leadership/g/leadership.htm [Accessed: 18 January 2012] Westhead, P., Howorth, C. and Cowling, M. (2002). Ownership and management issues in first generation and multi generation family firms. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 14(3), pp. 247-269.

Negative Effects Experienced By Our Children :: essays research papers

Cause and Effect Negative Effects Experienced By Our Children   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What have I done? What will my children have to endure today because of the mistakes I made yesterday? â€Å"†¦ but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Exodus 34:7 (Complete Jewish Bible)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"And do you, MaLinda, take this man to be your lawful†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I don’t think I love this man, but what do I do? I’m four months pregnant. What would people think of me if I didn’t get married? And all these people-how would they feel-making them come here and then I say no? What do I do?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦To have and to hold, so long as you both shall live?† Sigh-â€Å"I do.† Oh God, I hope I didn’t just make a mistake.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes I wonder how different things would be had I not made that second mistake. The first, well that was having sex outside of marriage. I knew it was wrong, but who knew HOW wrong? I didn’t just affect me-it affected my family, his family and the lives of my two children. Sometimes I think they got hurt the worst. Eight years of marriage. How long did they suffer? How long before I realized what was going on?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My daughter was two years old when I decided that maybe another baby would help. So we had our second child, a boy. It didn’t help. There wasn’t a lot of arguing. There was no communication, just existence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was April 1998 when I received the call. One of my former daycare children had made a complaint. There had been suspicion, but not evidence. They called me in-asked me questions. They asked my children questions. I don’t know if we helped.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was June 1999 when he was found guilty of lewd acts with a minor-2 counts. It’s been 6 years since I’ve removed my children from that house. I still see the negative effects of the mistakes I made. My daughter suffered from emotional stress. For example, for a while we had problems with her seeing imaginary friends. She would watch her two dragons fly around the room or outside of the vehicle. It got to the point where she could even shrink them to fit into her pocket. This way she could take them to class with her. It became even more serious when she tried to get her brother and two cousins involved in playing with her imaginary dragons.

SegmentationTargetMarketpaper

Nordstrom core roof of shoppers, and those which the Nordstrom brand identify strongly with is the high-end luxury shopper. Nordstrom offers a high-quality lineup of designer apparel, shoes, accessories, and cosmetics for the discerning shopper (Explainer. 2013). The second group of shopper Nordstrom caters to is the Nordstrom Rack shopper or those with more modest budgets and spending habits (Explainer. 2013). Regardless of budget, both groups of shoppers desire the high-quality design of Nordstrom product offerings and the perception of that quality that the company creates in its brands Explainer. 013). The average shopper profile is married female, age 25-55. Nordstrom product lines cater to various sub-sets of shoppers. Top Shop and Brass Plum departments appeal to the single female shopper aged between 16-35 while The Rail and Men's departments cater to both single and married males in the age range of 16- 70. Nordstrom Point of View/Narrative and Studio 121 department appeal t o both married and single professional women aged 25-65 where as Savvy and TAB departments cater to the single or married females age 20- 40. Nordstrom designer departments;Individualist, Via C and Collectors, appeal to the high-end luxury shopper ranging in age of 25-65. Numerous other departments make up Nordstrom product offering and appeal to all shopper with its array of products including children's, shoes, cosmetics and home offerings. Cryptographic The Cryptographic make-up of Nordstrom shoppers are as diverse as its products lines. One common core true of all shopper is the desire for quality products and responsive, personalized customer service. Nordstrom shoppers lead active lifestyles; engage in physical and social activities.Nordstrom shoppers are often involved in various civic and social groups, have a wide array of personal and professional interests and family oriented. From the pediatric customer to the geriatric, Nordstrom shoppers have full schedules leaving lit tle time for wasted shopping. A shopping trip to Nordstrom for many is as much a social event as a functional one. Nordstrom recognizes this and has thus put into place its Cafe, a full-service restaurant offering a fine dining experience including alcoholic beverages.The design of the cafe allows shoppers to reconvene with family and friends while providing spite from the task of shopping. Nordstrom clients are fashion forward, discerning and demanding when it comes to quality products thus, the higher than average price point of Nordstrom product offerings is readily accepted. Geographic Nordstrom currently has 225 stores located in the IIS and recently, Canada. (Van Regimens. 2013). Nordstrom began its journey in Seattle, Washington and cornered the market in the western region.Nordstrom has since Opened locations in Minnesota Mall of America, Chicago and most recently, Manhattan in New York, and Canada, gaining more prominence on the East Coast. Strategic placement of Nordstrom stores capitalizes on cities with residents of greater spending power and affluence, maintaining continuity of the brand's identity of high-end luxury and service. Behavioral Characteristics Nordstrom shoppers desire a shopping experience that gives them a sense of importance, status and luxury.Due to their hectic and active lifestyles, the average Nordstrom shopper desires a hassle free quality shopping experience. Quality driven and willing to pay the extra few dollars to feel a sense of esteem and gratification, Nordstrom capitalizes on these behavioral heartsickness by encore raging salespeople to cultivate relationships with their clients thus providing shoppers a sense of trust and loyalty to the brand. Through the provision of personal shoppers, personal stylists and the ability to make an appointment for shopping needs, these behavioral needs are satisfied.The Nordstrom approach is ingenious as it also provides the ability to monitor and track the customers spending habits a nd trends allowing Nordstrom to base its products offerings and service with little margin of error or loss of profits. In addition to being fashion forward, the average Nordstrom shopper is tech savvy. In doing so, Nordstrom has cultivated a strong sense of community among shoppers thus creating a network effect that drives repeat sales (Explainer. 2013). According to Van Regimens (2013), â€Å"Nordstrom objective is to create the finest customer engagement both online and in the traditional store space.

Marketing Strategies for Luxury Brands Essay

New products are continuously launched into the luxury perfume market each year. DKNY’s recent addition to the perfume market is DKNY Pure. As a competitor intending to introduce a similar product into the luxury fashion brand perfume market, consumer behaviour has important implications for the design of a successful marketing strategy. This paper will outline which key factors marketers should attempt to influence in the design of a marketing strategy to introduce a new luxury brand perfume to the market. Through the use of product positioning, identifying buying groups and the target market, extensive advertising and operant conditioning marketers can manipulate the consumer decision-making process together with internal and external influences leading to consumer purchase behaviour. From a marketing perspective luxury fashion brands are defined in by features such as exclusivity, premium prices, excellent quality, distinctiveness, image, status and other aspirational characteristics (Fionda & Moore, 2009). For many consumers the purchase of luxury fashion brand perfume is a high-involvement and emotional decision (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). These purchases involve the use of extended decision-making with an extensive search of internal and external information and a considerable evaluation of alternative products available (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). An extensive advertising campaign should be used the major marketing strategy for the introduction of a new product in the luxury perfume market as it can be used to manipulate and influence consumer behaviour in a number of ways. Influencing the consumer decision-making process In order to influence the consumer decision-making process advertising can be used as external stimuli in order to trigger the first stage of the consumer decision making process; problem or need recognition. Advertising can influence consumer behaviour by affecting the consumer’s desired state or their existing state (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011), prompting the identification of perceived need or desire for a product. Strategic marketing campaigns such as preannouncements (for example through media releases or samples) can be used to influence consumer anticipation, attention and desire or perceived need prior to the launch of a new product such as a luxury perfume (Schatzel & Calantone, 2006). By understanding the motives which direct consumers to purchase products and the needs they are seeking to satisfy marketers can target their advertising more effectively (Kotler et al, 2007). For luxury brand perfume advertising can be used to highlight the emotional need of the consumer focussing on their â€Å"esteem needs† as described by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Kotler et al, 2007; Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). Emotional self-esteem needs can be effectively used in advertising luxury brand perfume to women by including messages and visuals which suggest sophistication, elegance, love and confidence. Feeling and emotion significantly shapes consumer intentions for perfume with consumers visualising, imagining, estimating and assessing the perceived feelings gained from purchasing and using the product (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Perception Marketing efforts should focus on building customers perception of both the brand and the product. Perception is a significant internal factor in a consumers’ purchase decision for luxury brand perfume. The perception process involves processing information from exposure, attention and interpretation with meanings recorded as memory (Kotler et al 2007). Consumer perceptions can be manipulated through product positioning; in this case introducing a new perfume’s under the familiar luxury brand image will position it in the high-end perfume market creating a perception that it is a similar high-end product. Identifying the desired product position allows marketers to design strategies to develop the appropriate product image for that particular target market (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). Perfumes are products that are comprised of both tangible and intangible characteristics designed to satisfy consumers. Perceptions of quality can be influenced by the tangible (intrinsic) characteristics of the product; for perfume this is the bottle and the package. Through the application of beautiful and clever product design and packaging marketers can manipulate consumer perception of the perfume and its image (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Intangible (extrinsic) characteristics such as price, store image or brand image also serve to influence the consumer’s perception of quality (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). Setting higher prices for the perfume consistent with the product position and target market (Fionda & Moore, 2009) and stocking the perfume in high-end department stores are strategies that can be employed to infer quality and influence consumer perceptions of status. Brand image and brand awareness Brand leveraging strategies can be employed to capitalise on the brand equity of a familiar luxury brand by giving the brand name to a new product (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). By introducing a new perfume using an established luxury fashion brand (either as a product or line extension) marketers can increase consumer recognition and acceptance of new products (Wu & Lo, 2009) as well as making the most of the perceived intangible benefits associated with a positive brand image. A consumer’s positive perception of brand image of familiar luxury fashion brands has a significant effect on increasing purchase intentions of the products produced by those brands. The creation and usage of a strong brand image can be used by marketers to reduce uncertainty around product evaluation (or perceived purchase risk) whilst also increasing confidence in product quality (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Consumers view brand as an important part of a product which adds perceived value to the product (Wu & Lo, 2009; Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Launching a perfume under an existing familiar brand with a positive brand image can generate competitive advantage by increasing consumer’s interest and attention and resulting positive evaluation of a product (Fionda & Moore, 2009). Further, consumers are likely to give greater attention to a familiar brand and to engage more effort in processing information about a product with a familiar brand name (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Brand personality & celebrity endorsement Brand personality is a key factor in brand identity and is highly influential in the consumer decision making process as it relates to the desire to satisfy needs of self-esteem and belonging (Rajagopal, 2006). Consumers are motivated to purchase products from brands that reflect their own personality or that portrays personalities to which they aspire (Sirgy, 1982; Guthrie & Kim, 2009; Spry, Pappu & Cornwell, 2011). Celebrity endorsement is considered an effective strategy by marketers as a highly visible means of brand personality creation ((Rajagopal, 2006; Spry, Pappu & Cornwell, 2011). Endorsement by celebrities influences consumer behaviour through attracting increased attention, generating greater brand recall and recognition (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011; Spry, Pappu & Cornwell, 2011). Dean (1999, as cited in Spry, Pappu & Cornwell, 2011) further posits that celebrity endorsement can also influence a consumer’s perceptions of product quality and distinctiveness. The effectiveness of using a celebrity to endorse a product will be enhanced if there is congruence between the celebrity’s image, the product (and brand) personality and the self-concept of the target market (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). Market research should be conducted to determine perceptions of chosen celebrities to ensure they are credible and have attributes that coincide with the target market’s needs and desires (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011; Spry, Pappu & Cornwell, 2011). For the luxury brand perfume market such attributes should be based on attractiveness and image. Learning & operant conditioning Consumers learn about products through the knowledge and experience gained from purchase and consumption (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). By understanding how consumers learn about products marketers can include information to assist and influence the consumer decision-making process. Operant conditioning is highly effective marketing strategy used to influence consumer behaviour particularly in high involvement purchases such as perfume (Peter & Nord, 1982; Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins, 2011). Operant conditioning can shape positive reinforcement for consumer purchase intention (Amor & Guilbert, 2009). By trialling, using tester bottles and sample spray cards the product consumers are able to experience the perfume determine if they like the scent and if it smells good on their skin. Amor & Guilbert (2009) suggest that consumers are more likely to respond to new perfume samples than established ones. Marketers can provide free samples during related purchases to encourage product trial (Amor & Guilbert, 2009) which assists in capturing consumer attention and increasing product familiarity (Sadeghi & Tabrizi, 2011). Placing samples in high-end fashion magazines will also assist with familiarity as well as perception of quality. Using free samples as promotional tools may also assist marketers in developing a positive attitude toward the sampled perfume product as well as toward to the brand (Amor & Guilbert, 2009). External influences A consumer’s purchasing behaviour is also influenced by social factors. By identifying the roles in the buying process marketers can incorporate this information in the product design and advertising message decisions (Kotler et al 2007). For women’s perfume the same person might play several roles in the purchasing decision. The purchaser will often be the initiator of the purchase, the decider who ultimately makes the purchasing decision and the user or wearer of the perfume (Kotler et al). Products such as perfume that are complementary to self-image are occasionally purchased by consumers as gifts for themselves. Marketers can target the fulfilment of self-gifting motivations by interspersing perfumes with other products such as cosmetics so that sales-staff might promote combining purchases (Mick, Demoss & Faber, 1992). Males may also be purchasers of women’s perfume as gifts. Identifying this group in the buying process will enable targeted marketing through the development of gift packs around peak gift periods such as Christmas, and Valentines Day. As shown in the above discussion through the use of extensive advertising campaigns marketers can influence consumer purchase intention through stimulating emotional need or desire for the new perfume product as well as creating attention and awareness. Identifying and establishing the product position and the roles in the buying process will enable marketers to design and direct advertising at the desired target segments. The use of an established luxury brand to launch the product can influence consumer’s perceptions of quality and status of the brand and by association the perfume. Whilst credible celebrities can be used in advertising campaigns to create or support brand personality influencing attention, increasing brand recognition and product recall as well as further addressing consumer’s desire for fulfilment of self-concept needs. Finally operant conditioning through the provision on free samples and testers will be used to shape consumer learning about the new product by positive reinforcement, as well as capturing consumer attention and further increasing brand awareness. By understanding the relevant influences of consumer behaviour to the new product marketers can incorporate this theory in order to manipulate the buying intentions and purchase behaviours of consumers and create a successful marketing campaign.