Kirsty Campbell- B00468403

Consumer Behaviour

Discuss how gender, culture, lifestyle and age can be used to

predict and change buying intentions for Kellogg’s
Introduction

This report aims to explain how factors such as Gender, Culture, Lifestyle and Age can be
used to predict and change buying intentions for Kellogg’s.

The study of consumers helps firms and organisations improve their marketing strategies by
understanding issues such as how; The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and
select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers); The psychology of
how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs,
media); The behaviour of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;
How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their
level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and how marketers can adapt
and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach
the consumer.

(Perner, Lars. Consumer Behaviour: The Psychology of Marketing. Available:

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/. Last accessed 21st Nov 2010)

Background of Kellogg’s
It all began on February 19, 1906 and was founded by William Keith Kellogg. Kellogg’s
was one of the first in the food business to print Guideline Daily Amounts on the front of
the packs, showing clearly the percentage of the recommended intake of calories, sugar,
fat, saturates and salt for each portion of product. Today, Kellogg’s is still one of the most
influential and innovative brands in the world, producing more than 40 different cereals
with plants in 19 countries, marketing its products in more than 160 countries and
employing 26,000 people in its worldwide organisation.
(How it all began: Available:
http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/company/history/howitallbegan.aspx. Last accessed 21st Nov
2010)
Age
Children- Age has a potential impact on the consumer buying behaviour. Consumers change
the purchase of goods and services with the passage of time. The basic logic is that people of
the same age go through similar life experiences and therefore share many common symbols
and memories, which in turn may lead to similar consumption patterns.

Kellogg’s target their market in a number of ways. Their coco pop range is aimed at children
and they really know how to encourage children to eat breakfast. They market this product in
a genius way. The packaging is bright yellow which makes it stand out on the shelf. The coco
Monkey on the front appeals to children as the character is smiling and this shows a sense of
fun and amusement at breakfast time.
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Kellogg launched an interactive online campaign aimed at kids for the Coco Pops brand,
trying into TV ads and back of pack promotion. In the TV ad Crafty Croc is seen capturing
brand hero Coco Monkey's gang and a box of Coco Pops while Coco Monkey is away
visiting his grandmother. Kids are requested to help save the gang by sending a message to
Coco using a 'jungle-gram' message service on the cereal packet or by visiting the
cocorescue.co.uk web site. By sending in three back-of-pack tokens, participants receive a
free Coco Monkey fridge magnet. This predicts and changes buying intentions for the
consumer.

(Jardine, Alexandra . (2001). Coco pops adds online activity to involve kids.
Available: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-75481910/coco-pops-
adds-online.html. Last accessed 22nd Nov 2010.)

Teenagers/young adults- Kellogg’s launched a teen-target cereal called Krave which are
grain-based puffs full of hazelnut and chocolate. Teens are hyper connected, spending most
of their day’s online surfing the web and using social networks such as Facebook. The
Kellogg’s marketing team created a page on Facebook to raise awareness for their brand and
they tried to get teenagers involved by taking part in different tasks.

(2010). Kellogg's Krave. Available:

http://digitaltreasuretrove.blogspot.com/2010/04/recruiting-brand-advocates-
part-1.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.

Adults- Kellogg’s aim their cereals such as Special K to the adult market. Special K is a low
fat cereal and is used by women and men trying to lose weight.

Lifestyle
Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying behaviour.
Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in his/her
surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and shapes his
whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world.

9Shah, Asifo. Factors affecting consumer behviour. Available:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Factors-Affecting-Consumer-Behavior&id=4602848.
Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.)

Many people put on weight over time because of their lifestyles. The most efficient way to
manage weight is to make long term healthy lifestyle choices that include healthy eating and
regular exercise. Kellogg’s offer a range of products aimed to health conscious consumers.
Different brands offer low fat cereals but they face tough competition from Kellogg’s

Special K. As it promotes healthy lifestyle particularly to women, people’s buying intentions

may change. Their advertisements feature beautiful women who are in good shape all

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because they eat Special K. It also promotes the Special K diet where you eat 2 bowls and
have a light lunch or dinner. As this is very popular, consumers are changing the way in
which they behave, act etc and are influenced and persuaded to buy the Kellogg’s brand.

Kellogg’s offer snack bars aimed at those with busy lifestyles. They aim at people who are
looking for a quick, nutritious meal in the morning without the hassle of preparation time and
at people who travel frequently who cannot easily predict meal times. Kellogg’s adapts to
consumers lifestyles by providing them with their needs and wants.

Gender
Males and females can differ in traits, attitudes, and activities that can affect consumer
behaviour and predict and change buying intentions. The Kellogg’s brand targets women
more than men. For their low fat cereals such as Special K, it is designed particularly for
women who want a healthy lifestyle and who want to lose weight. Special K uses a slim
woman for their advertisements and this is purposely used to show that women can look like
her. The TV ads are designed to encourage women to see if they can get their WOW Factor
back by taking the Kellogg’s Special K Slimmer Jeans Challenge and by taking on the
Special K diet etc. Marketing the brand like this can predict and change buying intentions. A
woman who eats, for example a cereal that contains alot of fat can be influenced to change
her buying intentions the next time they go to the grocery store by seeing the brand being
marketed through the media and also through word of mouth from friends and family.

One of their cereals is aimed at men; Frosties. The character for Frosties is a tiger. The tiger
is a fierce and feared animal and these traits can be linked with masculinity.

Culture
Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer. That is, culture represents
influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals.

(Perner, Lars. Consumer Behaviour: The Psychology of Marketing. Available:

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/. Last accessed 21st Nov 2010)

Culture can be used in varied ways but in consumer behaviour, it usually means the complex
values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols created by people to shape human
behaviour and the artefacts of that behaviour, transmitted from one generation to the next.

(Antonides, Gerrit and Raaij Van Fred (1998). Consumer Behaviour- A European
perspective. England: Wiley. p38.)

Kellogg’s company’s values shape their culture and guide the way they run their business.
They believe in six values; Accountability; Integrity; Passion; Humility; Simplicity and
Results. These values reflect their commitment to embracing people from all cultures,
backgrounds and experiences.

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Women of Kellogg (WOK) is dedicated to influencing the Kellogg culture to eliminate

barriers and maximise the engagement and value of women within the company. WOK helps
to empower and engage women to fully understand and utilise their unique abilities and
talents, which play a critical role in the success of Kellogg Company.(wevsite)

Kellogg’s introduced cornflakes in India in 1995 but they failed miserably. Indians consume
differently. What people buy in any country is defined my local culture. Indians like hot milk
in their cereal and Kellogg’s cereal is made for cold milk. After revamping their product and
making a cereal suitable for hot milk, the company became profitable. This is because
consumers buying intentions changed.

To conclude, it is obvious that the four characteristics; Gender, Lifestyle, Age and Culture
can predict and change buying intentions of the consumer. Lifestyle can change intentions by
the way people live their lives and from the daily tasks and routines they do each day. People
with a busy lifestyle can pick up a Kellogg’s snack bar if they have no time to sit down for a
proper meal. In relation to gender, men and women are different when it comes to particular
things. Cereals like Coco Pops are aimed at Mothers, while Frosties would be aimed at
men/fathers. Culture is embedded in the company through values, ethics, backgrounds etc. A
consumer who believes in the product can pass on their experiences and morals to someone
else and this would lead to changing that persons buying intention. All these characteristics
play a big part within consumer behaviour.

References
Websites

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(2010). Kellogg's Krave. Available:

http://digitaltreasuretrove.blogspot.com/2010/04/recruiting-brand-advocates-
part-1.html. Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.

(How it all began: Available:

http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/company/history/howitallbegan.aspx. Last accessed 21st Nov
2010)

Jardine, Alexandra . (2001). Coco pops adds online activity to involve kids.
Available: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-75481910/coco-pops-
adds-online.html. Last accessed 22nd Nov 2010.)

(Perner, Lars. Consumer Behaviour: The Psychology of Marketing. Available:

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/. Last accessed 21st Nov 2010)

Shah, Asifo. (xx). Factors affecting consumer behaviour. Available:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Factors-Affecting-Consumer-Behavior&id=4602848.
Last accessed 20th Nov 2010.

Books

Antonides, Gerrit and Raaij Van Fred (1998). Consumer Behaviour- A European
perspective. England: Wiley. p38.

Blackwell, Roger and Engel James (1982). Consumer Behaviour. 4th ed. America:
CBS college publishing. .

Hoyer and Macinnis (1997). Consumer behaviour. USA: Houghton Mifflin

Articles

Conceptualising culture, Groeschl and Doherty (2000)

Market Segmentation by factor analysis, Doyle, (2007)