Brand and Consumer Behaviour Concept Focus.

VIVO, THE BRAND LOGO IS IN SKY-BLUE.

Vivo is a Chinese leading global smartphone technology company founded in the year 2009 by Morgan Moore and headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong, China (Vivo 2019). Vivo had generally entered the market by manufacturing high specifications and low-priced smartphones. The company’s phones are popular among the younger generation in smaller cities due to features such as professional-grade audio, extraordinary appearance, and fast and smooth user experience. Vivo brand mission is to make consumers’ lives extraordinary through introducing innovative technology and being a trendsetter (Vivo 2019).


As more and more smartphone companies are exploring the idea of a full screen phone, we are seeing a wide range of creative solutions to the idea. Vivo has managed to involve customers in the innovation adoption process, with the announcement of a revolutionary dual-screen design that provides a truly multifaceted smartphone experience which is known as NEX Dual Display Edition (Vivo 2019). With an advanced triple camera setup and in-display fingerprint scanning technologies, NEX Dual Display Edition embodies breakthrough innovation in both design and performance, elevating the mobile experience to a new level.

This involve the dynamically continuous innovation withmodification or significant upgrade to its existing flagship series, NEX but does not alter established behaviour. Research showed that the average consumer changes their phone every one and a half years. Vivo is launching this new line to cater to the increasingly tech-savvy crowd that are constantly looking for new products that excite them. Vivo develop innovative technology to solve user pain points and distinguish themselves from other brands (Lee 2012).

Vivo introduces Futuristic Dual Display Smartphone for "NEX-Level" Multifaceted Experience

Vivo is very proactive when it comes to advertising and promoting its brand. Brand personification is used to provide a form of anthropomorphism which refers to attributing human characteristic to something that is not human. It provides an emotional identity for a brand, which produces sentiments and feelings towards it among consumers (Chu, Lee & Kim 2019). As one of the world’s largest sporting events, the FIFA World Cup has tremendous influence and worldwide coverage.

Vivo, one of the brands in the smartphone industry as the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 sponsorship is a great accomplishment (Vivo 2019). Football is a sport full of passion and wonder, creating happiness for the millions of football fans across the globe. The spirit of football is about rigorous and constant progress. As a global sponsor of the World Cup, Vivo hopes to strongly associate itself with the football spirit and show consumers all over the world Vivo’s creative, joyful, and international brand image.

In the meantime, Vivo will bring its personalized, energetic and youthful spirit into the World Cup and the sport of football.


Likewise, Vivo aware of possible stereotypes, because these images reflect people’s expectations and influence how stimuli are subsequently perceived. Physical appearance is one of the triggers of stereotyping that people tend to attribute the qualities they associate with certain types of people.

For this reason, the selection of athletic such as NBA superstar Stephen Curry as models for celebrity endorsements are likely to be more persuasive and have a more positive influence on consumer attitudes and behaviour (Angela 2017). Vivo chose Mr. Curry to upgrade its image in China and to go more premium with an international touch (Vivo 2019).


Vivo’s partnership with Mr. Curry also includes a special edition phone with a blue and yellow body, his team colours (Angela 2017). Through this product, Vivo aim to attract modern consumers that are open-minded, creative, independent, and professional as their goal is to be a trendsetter and an influencer among youth culture. They are keen to present their passion and break social norms.


AGE COHORTS, TYPE OF GENERATIONAL SEGMENTATION.

Age cohorts consists of people of similar ages who have similar experiences such as Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z, often used by marketers to communicate and appeal to specific target audiences (Schewe & Meredith 2004).

Within the age segment of the population that was born between 1946 and 1964, Baby Boomers is retaining the most spending power among all generations for the foreseeable future (Schewe & Meredith 2004). When making purchase decision, they focus on brand loyalty and authenticity, prefer one to one interactions in seeking for helpful information and tend to be quality-of-life orientation. 

BABY BOOMERS’s EXAMPLE:

When Venza first came out in 2011, Toyota tried to market the vehicle to both younger and older audiences by using the tagline “Keep on rolling” in the ad (Porter 2011). The commercial features an adult child commenting on her parents’ inactivity on social media while her parents are out engaging in the activities they love (in this case, mountain biking with friends). The ad speaks to the aspirations of older consumers by showing that they can continue pursuing their interests and engaging in active living at a senior community. In the ad, Baby Boomers aren’t portrayed as old, stagnant or technologically inept. It’s the adult child who is portrayed as living in somewhat of a distorted reality and lost in the world of social media (Porter 2011).

Generation Y, the Millennials are defined as individuals born between 1980 and 1996, are attracted to higher levels of stimulation and are bored easily. As a consumer, they want faster product turnover, personally relevant promotions and interactive marketing platforms (Harshleen 2017). Millennials is one of the segments among the age cohorts that are confident, enjoy travelling, proficient in technology and actively participate in social networks online, at the same time very attached to their peer groups. 

MILLENNIALS’s EXAMPLE:

As an example, Uber has done a great job marketing to Millennials through the use of ‘sharing economy’. Millennials are certainly not shy about sharing positive product experiences especially when there is an incentive involved (Harshleen 2017). Uber executives sought to incentivize users to promote Uber to their peers in exchange for free rides. This was a genius move on Uber’s part. When marketing to Millennials, user reviews play an important role in affecting their purchase behaviour. Uber provides a great way to market to this generation indirectly by making sure the online reviews and customer experiences are up to par. User-generated content is highly perceived by Millennials as this generation decides where to eat based on Instagram pictures, chooses hair stylists from Facebook and has their groceries delivered to their door based on a recommendation from a friend. 

Marketer should aware that Millennials focus on innovation, desire for convenience and uniqueness, by encompassing both of these trends into its services and marketing strategy (Schewe & Meredith 2004). Uber that makes it incredibly easy to find a ride and pay for it using its smartphone app has offer something that speaks to Millennials.

References

Alexis Abramson, P 2019, ‘Baby Boomers and Technology, – expert advice for seniors, baby boomers, caregivers, 50+ market’, Dr. Alexis Abramson, viewed 23 May 2019,<https://www.alexisabramson.com/baby-boomers-and-technology/&gt;.

Angela, D 2017, ‘Why Stephen Curry Is Plugging a Chinese Smartphone‘, Adage.com, viewed 23 May 2019, <https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/stephen-curry-endorsing-a-chinese-smartphone-brand/308596&gt;.

Chu, K, Lee, D & Kim, J 2019, ‘The effect of verbal brand personification on consumer evaluation in advertising: Internal and external personification’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 99, no. 4, pp. 472-480.

Harshleen, K. S 2017, ‘Consumer Buying Behavior of Cars’, International Journal of  Engineering Research‘, vol 6, no. 6, pp. 67-69.

Lee, B 2012, ‘The determinant of consumer adoption of product innovation: a multi-component measure and its antecedents’, Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 295-307.

Porter, D 2011, ‘Baby Boomers, a 2013 Toyota Venza, and a Glamping Road Trip | The Roaming Boomers’, Theroamingboomers.com, viewed 23 May 2019, <https://www.theroamingboomers.com/baby-boomers-travel-2013-toyota-venza-glamping-road-trip/&gt;.

Schewe, C & Meredith, G 2004, ‘Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts: determining motivations by age’, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 51-63.

Vivo 2019, Vivo Malaysia, viewed 23 May 2019, <https://www.vivo.com/my/aboutVivo/culture&gt;.

Membership cancellation

Couple of years ago me and my friend wanted to be a part of a gym, so we went to the J*** gym to see what is required to open up a membership and check out the places. The sales manager approached and keep persuading two of us signed a one year membership to enjoy the incremental discounts. But me and my friend had decided to open up a one months contract as both of us wanted to have a trial experiences before becoming a long-term member. As said so, the sales manager mentioned that we only have to pay RM180 which RM100 are deposits and RM80 are considered as the fees. Also, the deposits are refundable according to the 30 days cancellation policy which means that we can get back the deposits if we would like to cancel our memberships within 30 days. Both of us had agreed to the contract policy and started our gym experiences straight after tomorrow the memberships were signed. During the days in the J*** gym, we found out that the couches are not experienced enough and responsible as we thought they were. I was aware of the 30 days cancellation policy and in order to avoid additional charges past the 30 days, I went ahead and requested for full deposit refund after the two weeks of gym experiences. I spoken to the staff that we would like to cancel our memberships by explaining the problems mentioned above. At first, the staff just asked us to fill up a membership cancellation forms and told us that the deposits will be returned within two weeks once the requests are approved. Everything was just so smooth and we thought there would not be any problems.

By then when it comes to the 4th week nearly 5th, we received nothing even a call and there were no responses at all when we called to the gym centre. We went to the J*** gym again to check out what was going on and the staff told us that we will only get back the deposits within 9 weeks of duration due to their company operations policy. I truly upset when I heard about this. Seriously… it takes 9 weeks for my cancellation to go into effect?? Its okay, never mind, as long as we could claim back what we are owned that is good enough. So we have been patiently waiting for another duration to pass and yet, totally no replies until the J*** gym centre officially closed. This is the worst customer services I have ever had. 🙂