A Study of the Impact of Values and Lifestyles (VALS) on Brand Loyalty with Special Reference to English Newspapers

PRESENTED BY :AAYUSH (09PG) AYUSH (09PG) JATIN (09PG379) NISHANT (09PG) RAKSHIT (09PG) SHUBHANWITA (09PG)

INTRODUCTION
Indian Newspaper Industry is witnessing high growth, despite the rise of the Internet and of telecommunications as viable sources of information. Earlier all the newspapers thought that the opportunity for them was within their own geographical area. But, in coming years publishers will be spending over Rs.1000 crore to invade into others territories. Unless the publishers recognize the preferences of readers, it would be unlikely that they would succeed in winning the hearts of the customers. This research makes an attempt to recognize the preferences and segment the readers of the English newspapers based on their psychographic profiles by using VALS. VALS is a way of viewing people on the basis of their attitudes, needs, wants, beliefs and demographics. This research also analyzes the influence of psychographic factors on brand loyalty based on Brand loyalty scale and suggests the psychographic segments to be targeted by the brands to sustain in the competitive Market environment. Different types of market dominance strategies for various market positions are also explored.

VALS
VALS is a way of viewing people on the basis of their attitudes, needs, wants, beliefs and demographics. The VALS program was created by the SRI International in 1978 in an attempt to understand peoples personality through their behaviors amid the changing values and lifestyles in 1970s. The system identifies current and future opportunities by segmenting the consumer marketplace on the basis of the personality traits that drive consumer behavior. VALS applies in all phases of the marketing process, from new-product development and entry-stage targeting to communications strategy and advertising.

 VALS reflects a real world pattern that explain the relationship between personality traits and consumer behavior.

VALS Segment
Factor 1: Innovators consisted of four items reflecting how this lifestyle group enjoying the finer things receptive to new products and technology and they are frequent readers of wide publication. Factor 2: Strivers contained four items describing people of this group as trendy, fashionable and fun loving. They favor stylish products. As they are motivated, they concern very much about the opinion and approval of others. Factor 3: Achievers contained three items characterizing themselves as change-leaders and people with high self-esteem. Factor 4: Experiencers consisted of three items reflecting how this life-style group liked excitement, thrill, new things and challenges. Factor 5: Survivors comprised three items classifying people in this group as those who are limited and with less resources and living narrowly focused lives. Their primary concern was safety.

Factor 6: Believers consisted of three items depicting people in this group as conservative and conventional. Their education, income are modest but sufficient to meet their needs. Factor 7: Thinkers consisted only one item classifying people in this group as those who are interested in art, culture and history. Factor 8: Makers consisted of two items classifying the people in this group as those who are interested in making the things in their own way.

IDENTIFYING MARKET SEGMENTS AND TARGETS

Companies cannot connect with all customers in large, broad, or diverse markets. But they can divide such markets into group of consumers or segments with distinct needs and wants. A company therefore needs to identify which market segments it can serve effectively . This decision requires a keen understanding of consumer behavior and careful strategy thinking. To develop the best marketing plans, managers need to understand what makes each segment unique and different.

 To compete more effectively, many companies are now embracing target marketing. Instead of scattering their marketing efforts, they are focusing on those consumers they have the greatest chance of satisfying.

EFFECTIVE TARGET MARKETING REQUIRES :

MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET TARGETING

MARKET POSITIONING

LEVELS OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

1- MASS MARKETING In this seller engages in the mass production, mass distribution, mass promotion of one product for all buyers. For example : coke 6.5 ounce bottle

2- SEGMENT MARKETING A market segment consists of a group of customers who share similar set of needs and wants. The company can offer better design, price, disclose, and deliver the product or service. For example Santro.

3- NICHE MARKETING A niche is more narrowly defined customer group seeking a distinctive mix of benefits. It usually identifies niches by dividing segments into sub segments. For example Ezee detergent.

4- LOCAL MARKETING Target marketing is leading to marketing programs tailored to the needs and wants of local customer groups in trading areas and neighborhoods. For example Spiderman movie.

5- INDIVIDUAL MARKETING The ultimate level of segmentation leads of segments of one, customized marketing, or one to one marketing. Today customers are taking more individual initiative in determining what and how to buy. For example Asian paints.

BASES FOR SEGMENTING CONSUMER MARKETS

GEOGRAPHICAL SEGMENTATION It calls for division of the market into different geographical units such as nations, states , countries , regions , cities , neighborhoods . DEMOGRAPHICS SEGMENTATION - In this we divide the market into groups on the basis of variables such as age, family size , family life cycle, gender, income , occupation , religion, education, race , generation, nationality and social class.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGEMENTATION- It is the science of using psychology and demographics to better understand consumers. In this buyers are divided into different groups on the basis of psychological/ personality traits lifestyles or values. BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION - In this marketers divide buyers into groups on the basis of their knowledge of , attitude toward , use of, or response to a product.

CLASSMATES JAAGO RE !!!!

The Times Of India

The largest newspaper in the country with a readership of about 13.3 million. Founded on Nov 3, 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce during the British rule. Was renamed The Times of India in 1861. Owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Rated amongst the worlds six best newspapers.

 Undisputed leader in major cities with Mumbai leading with 15.7 lakhs readers with second being Mumbai mirror with 7.71 lakhs. DNA with 6.22 lakhs. 29.19 lakhs readers in Delhi followed by Hindustan Times with 28.18 lakh readers. Around 10 Lakhs readers in Kolkata. Second to The Telegraph with a staggering 73 lakhs. 5.86 lakhs readers in Bangalore. Second being Deccan Chronicle.

Customer Profile
SEGMENTS
Strivers Innovators Experiencers Achievers Thinkers

% of readers in the segments 45

30 15 5 5

 Strivers are trendy and fun loving who favour stylish products. TOI has a strong youth image and pioneer in making Page 3 culture. Highly popular among people in the age group of 2039 years. In Bangalore, 54% readers of TOI are between the 20-29 yrs age group. 52% percent readers in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata

Other Supplements
City Specific supplements (Bangalore Times) Times Wellness (Saturdays) Education Times (Mondays) Times Ascent (Wednesdays) Times Life (Sundays) Rogue (Saturdays) ZIG WHEELS

THE TIMES OF INDIA

For truth telling, freedom and independence, justice humaneness and contributing to social good

 Started in September 20,1878 as weekly and became daily in April 1,1889. Owned by Kasturi and sons. Printed in 13 centers connected with high speed data lines for news transmission. First to introduce color printing and owns fleet of aircraft for circulations First to use fax for page transmission, use computer aided photo composing and to go online. Currently has a circulation of 1.453 millions copy with a combined readership of 4.06 millions Ranked 9th in National ranking and 3rd in English ranking

Daily Supplements
Monday -- Metro Plus, Business Review, Education Plus Tuesday -- Metro Plus, Young World, Book Review Wednesday -- Metro Plus, Job Opportunity Thursday -- Metro Plus, Nxg Friday -- Friday Feature, Cinema Plus Saturday -- Metro Plus Weekend, Property Plus Sunday -- Downtown, Retail Plus, Classified Open Page, Literary Review(First Sunday).

Cntd.
Business Line- Business Daily(largest business newspaper in India: Agencyfaqs) Sportstar- Weekly Sports Magazine Frontline- Fortnightly Magazine.

Readers Segmentation
SURVIVORS 15%

Sales

ACHIVERS 20%

INNOVATORS 40%

STRIVERS 35%

 Innovators are the major part of The Hindu customers followed by Strivers . Strivers are the segment to be targeted. Image is important to Innovators. They will read different categories of publications. It is evident that most of the customers prefer the Hindu because of its image.
Strivers hold the second major part of the Hindu customers, followed by Achievers and Survivors in that order. The Hindu follows the Market Challenger Strategy .

The November 06, 2008 front page of The New Indian Express

Type - Daily news paper

Owner - Express Publications (Madurai) Limited Founded - 1934 in Chennai, by V. Naidu, named as Indian Express ,renamed in 1999 . Circulation 2,89,989 copies (source : ABC JANUARY JULY 2008)

Website Expressbuzz.com

Editions
The New Indian Express is now published from all major cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, including Chennai (Madras), Coimbatore, Hyderabad,Thiruvananthapuram Bangalore, Kochi .In total, it publishes from 22 centers in the south. It is also published from Bhubaneswar in Orissa .

Format and Circulation

The NIE achieves its biggest penetration in the state of Kerala. In terms of the area it circulates in, the New Indian Express covers approximately 24 per cent of the total national population. At present, The New Indian Express is the Only National Daily which publishes news of far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands on everyday basis.

The Supplements
Appear on a weekly or fortnightly basis, include pullouts on career and education besides one on lifestyle called Indulge. Also a special supplement for Saturday edition by name Zeitgeist is being published after its re launch in 2008. The Sunday supplement is Sunday express .

Magazines
The New Indian Express Group of Companies also publishes Dinamani in Tamil and Kannada Prabha in Kannada and these magazines: Cinema Express (Tamil), Malayalam Vaarika (Malayalam) and Tamilan Express (Tamil).

The segmentation of TNIE readers

Believers are motivated by ideals. Traditional and conservative people with concrete belief in : family,religion,community. Moral codes deeply rooted. Organized in large part around home, community, social and religious organizations to which they belong .

Income level - Belong to Middle class . Education level - Modest level of education but not highly educated . Loyalty Strongly loyal customers, because of them TNIE has highest amount 60% of loyal customer among three newspapers.

Value of TNIE to Readers

TNIE provide news in a very conservative and traditional way, which is successful to appeal conventional psychology and basic value of believers - This is the basic market strategy by TNIE .

STRATEGIES TO BE FOLLOWED

MARKET LEADER
The market leader is dominant in its industry. It has substantial market share and often-extensive distribution arrangements with retailers. It typically is the industry leader in developing innovative new business models and new products. Market leaders have to defend their Market share by retaining the existing customers. Market leader should have strong customer base of Thinkers and Believers. The Times of India is the pioneer in creating the page 3 culture by targeting the strivers. Innovators are holding second major customer base of this newspaper. It can start to target the Innovators as they extend their support and preference to other category of publications. But they dont have significant presence of Believers and thinkers. From the findings it is found that Times of India is relatively having less loyal customer base compared to other two newspapers .As a Market leader, they have to target Believers and Thinkers to increase the loyalty base, which will make the brand travel towards cult status.

MARKET CHALLENGER
A market challenger is a firm in a strong, but not dominant position that is following an aggressive strategy of trying to gain market share. It typically targets the industry leader, but it could also target smaller, more vulnerable competitors.

The Hindu has been steadily growing to the current circulation of over 900,000 copies and a readership of over 3 million. Strivers hold the second major part of The Hindu readers. The Hindu may start to target these segments.

MARKET FOLLOWER
A market follower is a firm in a strong, but not dominant position that is content to stay at that position. The rationale is that by developing strategies that are parallel to those of the market leader, they will gain much of the market from the leader while being exposed to very little risk. Market followers may follow two options

1. Strengthen the loyalty of existing customer base by delivering the core benefits to their segments. They should strengthen the segment of Thinkers and Believers as they are insulate to competitors promotions. 2. Expanding the customer base by targeting the Brand Switchers. They may target the Experiencers, strivers and strugglers who are brand switchers to expand the Market share. Experiencers are impulsive and rebellious. They are variety seekers

 The New Indian express is having exclusive VALS segments such as Believers, Makers, Achievers .The other two newspapers do not have significant presence in these segments. So the New Indian express may utilize and tap the potential among these segments. market challenger is a firm competing aggressively in order to extend market share. A market follower is a firm not competing aggressively; that is aiming to maintain market share. Some companies seek to avoid too direct competition. They can do this by developing a market niche; that is, the firm makes a product that serves a special segment of the market as a whole.

STRATEGIES FOR NEW ENTRANT

Experiencers are the vulnerable segment for New entrant in the Newspaper Market. They can be targeted to boost initial sales . Survivors can also be targeted for initial launch, if the Newspaper goes for low-price and consumer promotion tools.

All the Newspaper brands should concentrate on developing their image and evolving in to changing needs of the customers. They should address the needs of Thinkers and Believers to strengthen their loyalty base.
General Newspapers may utilize the Innovators willingness to read all categories of publications. Innovators may extend their loyalty to other category of their favorite publication like Business Newspaper, women magazine and Sports magazine etc.

QUERIES ???