It is critically important for organisations to understand consumer behaviour and the processes involved in their decision making to be able

to attempt to influence their purchase. A deep understanding of the specific needs that a customer is aiming to meet is key to successful marketing .A basic model of consumer decision making is described in Figure 1 below. Part A suggests five stages consumers go through when purchasing a product of service. Complementing each stage is a corresponding psychological dimension as shown in Part B. By recognising each stage of the process one can apply targeted communications tools to guide the consumer from product awareness to customer loyalty.

Figure 1 : Consumer decision-making model

Each of the five stages is explored below.

Stage 1

Problem recognition is determined as the initial stage when a consumer perceives a need and becomes motivated to solve the problem. An example of problem recognition could be one of the following when referring to Surf excel as a laundry powder: A consumer is out of stock at home of surf excel. A consumer finds current Surf excel he/she is using in unsatisfactory and not meeting their needs A recent marketing campaign by a washing powder company has encouraged consumers not to be happy with their current Detergent.

 Consumer now requires a new type of surf excel that will be suited to their recently purchased front loader. Stage 2

Consumers utilise their buying power and seek further information before deciding on a resolution. The internet makes it easier for consumers than ever before to seek information, ask others about their experiences which they take to the next stage. Examples of consumer information searches include: Internal search- consumer recalls past experiences (good & bad) with particular surf excel. External search- receiving feedback from friends & family, viewing marketing advertisements on tv, newspaper & radio, viewing public sources of information including website reviews (e.g Choice), blogs, magazines and newspapers or taking a personal experience and testing the product (e.g tester sachet attached to a magazine subscription). Stage 3

Purchases option are referred to as the consumers evoked set. The evoked set as a group of brands that comes to mind when a person thinks of a product category because the person has judged those brands to be acceptable. Judgment could result from product research or reflection on personal experiences . Surf Excel product evoked set are giving below:
Total set
Surf excel Wheel Ring Tide Chaka

Awareness

Consideration set

Choice set

Decision

Surf excel Surf excel Wheel Wheel Ring Ring Tide Wheel Surf excel

Figure : Consumer Evoke Set Model

Stage 4

The purchase decision stage as described consumer chooses which brand to buy,.A communication tool in this stage is to create influences on the final decision at the point of purchase. These influences could include in-store promotions, cash back offers, vouchers and highly visible shelf displays . For surf excel product the influences factor is dirt is good or daag theke dharun kisu

Stage 5

The post-purchase evaluation stage has been described as the comparison to the expectations the consumer gives the product after using it. The outcome of the comparison would determine if the consumer is satisfied (has met or exceeded expectations) or dissatisfied (below expectations) with the product purchased An example of the post purchase evaluation is: Surf excel high performance has met or exceeded customer expectations. - performance of the surf excel below customer expectations.

The Communication Process

Communication is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. Communication requires a sender, a message, and a recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender.

The Nature of Communication

Source The sender, or source, of a communication is the person or organization that has information to share with another person or group of people. The source may be an individual (say, a salesperson or hired spokesperson, such as a celebrity, who appears in a companys advertisements) or a non-personal entity (such as the corporation or organization itself).

In this Surf excel ads unilever company tells about the surf excel is a source.

Encoding: The communication process begins when the source selects words, symbols, pictures, and the like, to represent the message that will be delivered to the receiver(s). This process, known as encoding, involves putting thoughts, ideas, or information into a symbolic form. The senders goal is to encode the message in such a way that it will be understood by the receiver. This means using words, signs, or symbols that are familiar to the target audience. Many symbols have universal meaning, such as the familiar circle with a line through it to denote no parking, no smoking, and so forth.

Figure: something is excellent from the stain. In this print ads we represent a circle that is made of stain. This stain can be removed through the surf excel. So something can be excellent throug the stain. Message The encoding process leads to development of a message that contains the information or meaning the source hopes to convey. The message may be verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, or symbolic. Messages must be put into a transmittable form that is appropriate for the channel of communication being used. In advertising, this may range from simply writing some words or copy that will be read as a radio message to producing an expensive television commercial. Surf Excels Message It might sound strange for a leading laundry brand like Surf Excel to say that dirt is good, but healthy activities involving dirt are essential to development. It's how kids learn express their creativity and it bolsters their immune systems. 1 minute stain removal Only one minute is enough for children to get dirty when they get stuck on some thing. In order to ensure that Surf continues to allow children to play freely, we have come up with an innovative Stain Expert formula that goes deep into fabric layers and allows even the toughest stains to be removed in just 1 minute! So mothers can relax as their kids learn by exploring and playing because Surf Excel allows you to get rid of tough stains like ink, shoe polish and ketchup in just 1 minute.

Mothers Satisfaction
Surf Excel has exceeded a lot in its mission of assuring mothers that how much important it is to let your child play, get dirty, experiment and learn. As being a small kid, its an important part of his life, to experience things himself, as if he wont be doing it then hed be missing a lot of confidence and other cognitive skills that other children possess. Many mothers never let their children get out of the houses to play, or ride bicycle or paint thinking that they will get dirty and a more organised activity would be more beneficial, which is not always true.Surf Excel has been successful in assuring mothers that their children should experience outdoor activities and has been successful in conveying them the message Dirt is good or Channel The channel is the method by which the communication travels from the source or sender to the receiver. At the broadest level, channels of communication are of two types, personal and nonpersonal. Personal channels of communication are direct interpersonal (face-to-face) contact with target individuals or groups. Salespeople serve as personal channels of communication when they deliver their sales message to a buyer or potential customer. Social channels of communication such as friends, neighbors, associates, co-workers, or family members are also personal channels. They often represent word-of-mouth communication, a powerful source of information for consumers.

Personal Communication

Non-Personal Communication

Non-personal channels of communication are those that carry a message without interpersonal contact between sender and receiver. Non-personal channels are generally referred to as the mass media or mass communications, since the message is sent to many individuals at one time.

In our Ads we use personal communication, it includes TVC, Billboard, RDC. Some picture of our ads are given below:

MEDIA USED

Right TIME and Right PLACE are the basic principles of launching the product. Hence it

needs to be chosen very carefully and need careful observation of target audience and market. This TVC was broadcasted on all popular and highly viewed channels of Television, specially NTV and Channel i. As it is the most popular channel among women in homes (Target Audience). Mothers being the targeted audience of Surf Excel, it has to keep in mind what channels women mostly watch, and ofcourse those channels were the one with daily soaps. So, that is how they advertised their product

TIMINGS The commercial was advertised during quarter and mid-breaks of most popular serials of specific channels and were mostly showed in the lunch and dinner time, when women were mostly free from their work. As number of target audience watching those specific serials are comparatively high then any other dramas. Hence the media is also carefully selected as to approach a maximum number of target audience.

Receiver/Decoding
The receiver is the person(s) with whom the sender shares thoughts or information. Generally,

receivers are the consumers in the target market or audience who read, hear, and/or see the marketers message and decode it. Decoding is the process of transforming the senders message back into thought. This process is heavily influenced by the receivers frame of reference or field of

experience, which refers to the experiences, perceptions, attitudes, and values he or she brings to the communication situation. Effective communication is more likely when there is some common ground between the two parties. While this notion of common ground between sender and receiver

may sound basic, it often causes great difficulty in the advertising communications process. Marketing and advertising people often have very different fields of experience from the consumers who constitute the mass markets with whom they must communicate.

In our Surf Excel Product the target receiver is the parents who are worried about the cloth stain.

Noise

Throughout the communication process, the message is subject to extraneous factors that can distort or interfere with its reception. This encoding of the message, distortion in a radio or television signal, or distractions at the point of unplanned distortion or interference is known as noise. Errors or problems that occur in the reception are examples of noise. When you are watching your favorite commercial on TV and a problem occurs in the signal transmission, it will obviously interfere with your reception, lessening the impact of the commercial.

Noise may also occur because the fields of experience of the sender and receiver dont overlap. Lack of common ground may result in improper encoding of the messageusing a sign, symbol, or words that are unfamiliar or have different meaning to the receiver. The more common ground there is between the sender and the receiver, the less likely it is this type of noise will occur.

Response/Feedback

The receivers set of reactions after seeing, hearing, or reading the message is known as a response.

Receivers responses can range from non-observable actions such as storing information in television. Marketers are very interested in feedback, that part of the receivers response that is

memory to immediate action such as dialing a toll-free number to order a product advertised on communicated back to the sender. Feedback, which may take a variety of forms, closes the loop in the communications flow and lets the sender monitor how the intended message is being decoded and received.

Identifying the Target Audience

The marketing communication process really begins with identifying the audience that will be the focus of the firms advertising and promotional efforts. The target audience may consist of individuals, groups, niche markets, market segments, or a general public or mass audience.

TARGET MARKET OF SURF EXCEL

Who is the target audience of Surf Excel? Children? NO! MOTHERS!!

Mothers mostly dont let their children play outdoors, or ride bicycle or paint thinking that they will get all messy and rather prefer a more organised activity that would be more beneficial, which is not always true. Surf Excel believes that children just aren't meant to stay clean. And the good thing is that mums who also believe that Dirt is Good no longer have to worry about their little ones getting muddy. Because they always know that with Surf Excel, it'll all come out in the wash Surf Excel has been successful in assuring mothers that their children should experience outdoor activities and has been successful in conveying them the message Dirt is good or Surf Excel has adopted the strategy of market aggregation. It is a product by Unilever. Surf Excel target market includes Middle Class, Upper Middle Class and Upper Classes. Surf Excel target the SOCIAL ECONOMIC CLASS OF A, B+ AND B. Surf Excel has the huge share from major cities.

The Response Process

Perhaps the most important aspect of developing effective communication programs involves understanding the response process the receiver may go through in moving toward a specific behavior (like purchasing a product) and how the promotional efforts of the marketer influence consumer responses. Traditional Response Hierarchy Models A number of models have been developed to depict the stages a consumer may pass through in moving from a state of not being aware of a company, product, or brand to actual purchase behavior.

The hierarchy of effects model is related to the surf Excel ads. it shows the process by which advertising works; it assumes a consumer passes through a series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness of a product or service to actual purchase. A basic premise of this model is that advertising effects occur over a period of time..

Alternative Response Hierarchies

Michael Ray has developed a model of information processing that identifies three alternative orderings of the three stages based on perceived product differentiation and product involvement. These alternative response hierarchies are the standard learning, dissonance/attribution, and lowinvolvement models.

The Low-Involvement Hierarchy: The Low-Involvement Hierarchy is related to the surf excel product. It is the the most intriguing of the three response hierarchies proposed by Ray is the low-involvement hierarchy, in which the receiver is viewed as passing from cognition to behavior to attitude change. Its include
Learn do Feel

process. This hierarchy tends to occur when involvement in the purchase decision is low, there are

This sequence is thought to characterize situations of low consumer involvement in the purchase

minimal differences among brand alternatives, and mass-media (especially broadcast) advertising is important in this case. The FCB Planning Model An interesting approach to analyzing the communication situation comes from the work of Richard Vaughn of the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency. Vaughn and his associates developed an advertising planning model by building on traditional response theories such as the hierarchy of effects model and its variants and research on high and low involvement. They added the dimension of thinking versus feeling processing at each involvement level by bringing in theories regarding brain specialization. The right/left brain theory suggests the left side of the brain is more capable of rational, cognitive thinking, while the right side is more visual and emotional and engages more in the affective (feeling) functions. Their model, which became known as the FCB grid, delineates four primary advertising planning strategiesinformative, affective, habit formation, and satisfactionalong with the most appropriate variant of the alternative response hierarchies.

In the FCB grid model, Surf Excel is related to the Habit formation stage. Because Surf Excel is a household low involvment produc. This model includes .
Do Learn

Feel

Cognitive Processing of Communications

The Cognitive Response Approach

One of the most widely used methods for examining consumers cognitive processing of advertising messages is assessment of their cognitive responses, the thoughts that occur to them while reading, viewing, and/or hearing a communication. These thoughts are generally measured by having consumers write down or verbally report their reactions to a message. The cognitive response approach has been widely used in research by both academicians and advertising practitioners. Its focus has been to determine the types of responses evoked by an advertising message and how these responses relate to attitudes toward the ad, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Surf Excel has always come up with innovative ads and has evoked responses from consumers. The below model depicts the three basic categories of cognitive responses researchers have identifiedproduct/message, source oriented, and ad execution thoughts and how they may relate to attitudes and intentions.

product/message Thought : It directed at the product or services and the claims being made in the communication. Much attention has focused on two particular types of responses, counterarguments and support arguments.

Counterarguments are thoughts the recipient has that are opposed to the position taken in the message. In the ads surf excel claims that any deep stain can be removed through surf excel.

Deep stain
This ads represent the quality of product any deep stain can be removed through surf excel