Vipiz Is Fast, Vopoz Is Slow: Phonetic Symbolism Is the Way to Go!

We examine the effect of phonological awareness (ability to identify sounds in words) on children's product evaluations, following exposure to a phonetically manipulated brand name (e.g., Vipiz/Vopoz). We demonstrate that priming children to undertake soundbased processing of marketing stimuli will enhance phonetic symbolism effects for those with low phonological awareness

Concert attendee behaviour: the influence of motivations, fan identification and product involvement

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)The ability to draw consumers to live music performances is vital to the success of both distinct musical acts, and the perpetuation of the music industry as a whole. Analysis of popular music concert attendees, however, is sparse. Therefore, this project investigates the behaviour of concert attendees by considering consumers’ motivations for attendance, level of fan identification and involvement in popular music concerts. The investigation comprises three studies which examine the influence of these consumer behaviour variables on popular music concert attendee behaviour, measured by: the average number of popular music concerts a consumer will attend per year, the number of concerts a consumer will attend for a particular artist, the amount consumers are willing to pay for popular music concert tickets and the distance consumers were willing to travel to popular music concerts. With limited attention given to popular music concerts in the marketing literature, a netnographic analysis was employed in Study 1 and focus groups conducted in Study 2, in order to gain a deeper understanding of fan behaviour in a popular music context. These studies explore how popular music fans differ in relation to their attachment to popular music artists, their level of involvement with popular music performances and the internal drivers for their behaviour. The findings reveal nine motivations that drive popular music concert attendance including hero worship, aesthetics, nostalgia, social interaction, uninhibited behaviour, physical attractiveness, escape, status enhancement and physical skills. The results also indicate that fan identification and product involvement are likely to be important determinants of concert attendee behaviour. Utilising findings from Study 1 and Study 2, and in combination with the literature, hypotheses were developed and a conceptual model proposed in order to test the influence of fan identification, product involvement and motivations for attendance on popular music concert attendee behaviour (i.e. number of popular music concerts per year, number of concerts for a specific artist, amount willing to pay and willingness to travel) in Study 3. Data were collected from a randomised sample of Australian consumers who had attended a popular music concert within the last six months prior to data collection (n=502). Measures were developed (where appropriate), and refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and their psychometric properties assessed. Hypotheses were tested using covariance based structural equation modelling in AMOS and other multivariate statistical tests in SPSS. Major findings relating to the four aspects of concert attendee behaviour, tested in the structural model, reveal that: 1) The number of popular music concerts consumers attend on average, per year depends ultimately on an individual’s level of interest in popular music concerts (product involvement); 2) The number of concerts an individual will attend for any given artist will directly depend on their level of attachment to that artist, that is, fan identification (fans with higher levels of attachment will go to see the same artist more), and motivations for attendance, specifically physical attractiveness; 3) The amount consumers are willing to pay for popular music concerts will primarily depend on an individual’s motivation for attending a specific popular music concert; specifically individuals motivated by aesthetics and physical skill will pay more for concerts; and 4) A consumer’s willingness to travel to popular music concerts will be related to their level of attachment to an artist (fan identification) and, more importantly, motivations for attendance. Individuals motivated by aesthetics, hero worship and uninhibited behaviour will travel further to concerts. This project provides a model for the prediction and explanation of concert attendee behaviour in a popular music context. Contrary to existing studies on popular music in marketing, this research offers a quantitative perspective on fan identification and demonstrates the application of the product involvement scale for a hedonic service. Development of a scale for measuring motivations for popular music concert attendance – the Concert Attendee Motivation Scale (CAMS) also provides academics with a valid and reliable construct for measuring motivations for popular music concert attendance. Traditionally popular music marketers have had to rely solely on the promotion of a specific artist and the music genre in order to attract consumers to live music performances. Findings from this research suggest that communication of popular music concerts utilising fan identification, product involvement and motivations will influence concert attendee behaviour. In order to remain relevant and meaningful to existing and new markets, marketers should consider consumer behaviour variables such motivations, fan identification and product involvement in all aspects of marketing, including the design of product offerings, communication campaigns, merchandising and branding (including sponsorship)

Revisiting the automaticity of phonetic symbolism effects

This research extends our understanding of the automaticity of phonetic symbolism judgments for adults and children. Replicating Study 2 from Yorkston and Menon (2004), we demonstrate that phonetic-based inferences are automatic and relatively effortless for adults, but not for children. Phonetic symbolism effects have a developmental grounding, with initial phonetic-based judgments not present in younger children (6 to 9. years). Older children (10 to 13. years), however, demonstrate phonetic-based effects only when cognitive constraints are not imposed