Consumer Motivation 1

Research Paper: Consumer Motivation (5-2) By: Jenny McCutcheon MKTG 330 Professor Dr. Snyder July 28, 2007 Summer 2007

Consumer Motivation 2 Research Paper: Consumer Motivation While customers have different motivations for consuming the things they do, all consumers have motivations that guide them to want, and purchase certain goods or services. Some motivations for consumption could include the need for status, social acceptance, security or individuality while other motivations are unconscious and can be utilized by marketers to hook consumers into buying a product they never knew they always wanted. The Viennese psychoanalyst, Ernest Dichter, was a leader in the field of qualitative marketing research in the early to mid 1900’s. Dichter suggested that consumer motives were oftentimes triggered by suppressed unconscious needs (as cited in Ziems, 2004, p. 210). Unfortunately, many of Dichter’s theories that have proven to be effective marketing strategies have been mostly forgotten in modern advertising (as cited in Ziems, 2004, p. 210). Marketing campaigns that have used Dichter’s theories on consumer motives to market products such as cars, furs, cell phones and even paper towels have shown success by increased sales. Ditcher understood that individuals in different age groups or demographics cared about different things, and had varied unconscious motives and needs. In an extensive study completed on the car market in 1939, Dichter discovered that young people in their 20’s want “new beginning’s and liberation” when they purchase a car in order to nurture their need to feel free to escape life, or just get-up-and-go whenever they please (as cited in Ziems, 2004, p. 211). Older people age 35 and up, however are looking for features like “practicality and safety” when purchasing a new car as they have families to care for and feel the