IMAGE

Self Image

Self Image

A self concept study was conducted for a cosmetics company with a view to creating a marketing mix for a new perfume based on matching brand images with self images.

The cosmetics company has recently taken over another company and among other products, has acquired a perfume. This is to be relaunched on the basis of their self concept study findings.

Respondents were shown three “Advertisements” for perfume. The advertised “Brands” were given three different themes. One used a prestigious sophisticated theme (the possible brand name here was “La Vogue”); the second a sensual, slightly naughty theme (“Vamp”); the third a romantic theme (“Romano”). Each “Advertisement” included appropriate narrative, picture sequence, and models. The results are shown in the tables that follow.

Respondents were asked to position their reactions on each of the scales. In Table A we see how respondents perceived each of the three “Brands”. There was, of course, no difference between the perfumes in a chemical sense - the three advertisements were merely three different ways of promoting the same product.

1.luxurious

L

VR

plain

2.lustful

V

L

R

innocent

3.classical

LR

V

fashionable

4. sophisticated

L

R

V

unsophisticated

5. unadventurous

L

VR

adventurous

6. discriminating

L

R

V

undiscriminating

7. shy

LR

V

unreserved

8. prestigious

L

R

V

not prestigious

9. sensitive

R

L

V

insensitive

10. inhibited

L

R

V

uninhibited

11. romantic

R

L

V

unromantic

12. sexy

V

R

L

unsexy

Table A: Brand Images

1.luxurious

X

plain

2.lustful

X

innocent

3.classical

X

fashionable

4. sophisticated

X

unsophisticated

5. unadventurous

X

adventurous

6. discriminating

X

undiscriminating

7. shy

X

unreserved

8. prestigious

X

not prestigious

9. sensitive

X

insensitive

10. inhibited

X

uninhibited

11. romantic

X

unromantic

12. sexy

X

unsexy

Table B: Self - Images

1.luxurious

X

plain

2.lustful

X

innocent

3.classical

X

fashionable

4. sophisticated

X

unsophisticated

5. unadventurous

X

adventurous

6. discriminating

X

undiscriminating

7. shy

X

unreserved

8. prestigious

X

not prestigious

9. sensitive

X

insensitive

10. inhibited

X

uninhibited

11. romantic

X

unromantic

12. sexy

X

unsexy

Table C: Self - Ideal -Images

Bar chart of Brands

Demography of the Data

Socio Economic

Age

18 - 25

26 -35

36 - 49

50+

A

14

8

8

5

B

22

11

7

3

C1

21

10

9

2

C2

19

8

5

-

D

9

2

-

-

E

7

1

-

-

Totals

92

40

29

10

Bar Chart

From above chart we observed that most of the people participated in the study are from socio economic class B and C1. Highest no. of respondents is from age group 18-25 and Socio economic class B and C1.

Distance score for each "Brand"

 

 

Brand

Self

Self Ideal

 

 

V

L

R

 

 

luxurious

1

4

1

4

5

4

lustful

2

1

5

7

3

7

classical

3

6

2

2

4

2

sophisticated

4

6

1

4

5

4

unadventurous

5

6

2

6

3

6

discriminating

6

7

2

4

6

3

shy

7

6

2

2

3

2

prestigious

8

9

1

5

6

3

sensitive

9

6

4

2

2

1

inhibited

10

7

2

3

3

5

romantic

11

6

3

1

3

1

sexy

12

1

6

5

4

3

Using the distance score formula:

Dbrand Vs Self/Self-Ideal Image=vd2

Vamp Versus Self Ideal Image (V vs SI)

=  (4-4)2+(1-7) 2+(6-2) 2+(6-4) 2 +(6-6) 2+(7-3) 2+(6-2) 2 +(6-3) 2+ (6-1) 2+ (7-5) 2 + (6-1)2 + (1-3)2= 151= 12.3

Vamp Versus Self Image (V vs S)

=  (4-5)2+(1-3) 2+(6-4) 2+(6-5) 2 +(6-3) 2+(7-6) 2+(6-3) 2 +(6-6) 2+ (6-2) 2+ (7-3) 2 + (6-3)2 + (1-4)2= 79 = 8.9

La Vogue Versus Self Ideal Image (L vs SI)

= v74 = 8.602325

La Vogue Versus Self Image (L vs S)

= v92 = 9.591663

Romano Versus Self Ideal Image (R vs SI)

= v14 = 3.741657

Romano Versus Self Image (R vs S)

= v42 = 6.480741

The distance score of Romano Versus Self Ideal Image (R vs SI) is lowest i.e. 3.741657 which represents the greatest degree of matching of brand and self images.

Discussion

A self-concept study was conducted for a cosmetics company with a view to creating a marketing mix for a new perfume based on matching brand images with self-images. The cosmetics company had recently taken over another company and, among other products, had acquired a perfume. This was to be relaunched on the basis of their self-concept study findings.

Respondents were shown three 'advertisements' for perfume. The advertised 'brands' were given three different themes. One used a prestigious, sophisticated theme (the possible brand name here was ...