New Media Mania

A unique new online game called FreePlayo has raised welcome publicity in its local market by offering its players the opportunity to trade their points for a children’s charity. As a result and thanks to the generosity of a FreePlayo player the Sanuk Day Care Center in Jomtien, Thailand now has a new colour printer / scanner / copier.

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A marketing communications professional will be better equipped to develop coherent and appropriate messages if s/he possesses a deeper understanding of the extent, type, and level of involvement among his/her target groups. Understanding the involvement of one’s target group naturally flows from the foundation marketing principle of knowing one’s customers and meeting their needs.

This post will briefly define involvement and its types; broadly discuss the implications for high- and low-involvement product categories; identify a means of measuring involvement; and discuss the importance of understanding involvement in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Involvement Defined

Involvement is more than an academic concept. The “mainstream” web-based BusinessDictionary.com, for example, defines the “level of involvement” as the intensity of interest that a buyer shows for a certain product in a particular purchase decision. Involvement has been embraced by marketing practitioners and is increasingly of concern to boards of directors.

Continue reading ‘Terms of Involvement: Know These to Know Your Customer’ »

BusinessDictionary.com defines the “level of involvement” as the intensity of interest that a buyer shows for a certain product in a particular purchase decision. Involvement, as a concept, has been embraced by marketing practitioners and is increasingly of concern to boards of directors.

Cho et al (2005) describes how they have devised a means of testing levels of values-, outcomes-, and impressions-relevant involvement for specific subjects. It seems that these three types of involvement are more inter-related than some scholars may have previously thought.

To simplistically summarize the differences between the three types of involvement:-

1. Values-relevant involvement is related to belief systems. “I want that car because it has a small carbon footprint and it is made in my country.”
2. Outcomes-relevant involvement is related to consequences. “I want that car because it is more economical to run and it supports local jobs and the economy.”
3. Impressions-relevant involvement is related to one’s concern about others’ perceptions. “I want that car because I want my peers to see me as environmentally-conscious and/or as a patriot.”

Continue reading ‘Constructing Messages with Audience Involvement in Mind’ »