(markting) CAPSTONE EXERCISE (appears in text at end of chapter) This exercise i
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(markting)
CAPSTONE EXERCISE (appears in text at end of chapter)
This exercise is designed to help students understand the difference between wants and needs.
One aspect of marketing is the art of making people want something that they may not need. Of course, as a socially responsible marketer, we are not advocating that you mislead people with your promotions or advertising.
The key is to understand what people want versus what they need. Your personal wants and needs change depending on your economic position, age, gender, and where you live.
1. Write one sentence describing a need, and write one sentence describing a want.
This is designed to get the student thinking about their individual, self-conceptions of the difference between needs and wants. This is also an opportunity for the students to understand that in many cases the purpose of marketing is to get people to “want” something that they don’t really “need.”
2. Make a list of 10 items you want and 10 items you need.
This also challenges students to think about the differences between needs and wants. This might be a moment in which you could introduce or review Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization—and have them put their needs and wants into these categories.
3. Compare your list with the list of someone of the opposite gender. Can you explain
the differences?
This is an introduction into the idea of segmentation. How do needs and wants differ from segment to segment?
4. Ask someone who is at least 10 years older or younger than you to make the same list, and then compare the two lists. What are the differences? What are the reasons for these differences? Given a scenario in which you had more or less money, would your list change?
This would be a good homework assignment, and is also a way to segment by age. What differences does the class find? Discuss during the following class meeting.
5. Think about what would be on your list if you lived in another country. What if you
Lived in the African Republic of the Sudan versus living in France in Europe?
This is an opportunity to review Maslow’s theory. How do needs and wants differ depending on the discretionary income an individual or group of people?
6. The key to this exercise is to try to understand why some of the things you think you
Need can really be considered things you want. Why are things that are really wants on your needs list?
Answers will vary. As times change, do items and ideas move from wants to needs? Do we need computers and cell phones? Do we need electricity? Do we need a car? Do we rationalize our wants into needs?
Explanation / Answer
Needs are the basic necessities which are required for human survival whereas wants are the requirements which go beyond the basic needs. These could comprise of items/things/services which encompass luxury.
1. I need a house to live.
I want a house which has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms with superior interiors, located in an upscale neighborhood.
2.
8 .Expensive gym memberships
9. First/Business class air tickets.
Each person's needs and wants could vary depending upon their relative positions in the Maslow's hierarchy. For someone who has achieved the first 3 stages of needs, i.e physiological, safety and belonging, they may look at satisfying other needs while someone who doesn't have even these basic needs may look at fulfilling the basic needs first.
Classification of the needs and wants into different categories of Maslow's hierarchy is shown below:
3. Needs and Wants list of a male.
While comparing the needs-wants list of a male and a female, we can observe that the list of needs remains almost similar for both. However, there are variations in the lists of wants of a male and a female. We can observe that, a female's wants comprise of several materialistic things such as fancy shoes, high street brand apparels etc whereas these are missing in the list of wants of the male. In the list of wants of male, we can see that the emphasis is more towards electronic gadgets, cars, sports etc.
From this we can understand that, the wants differ between the genders. However, the basic needs remain similar for both the genders.
4. List of wants and needs for a person who is in their 30s.
When this list of a person who is in their 30's is compared to the previous list of a person in their mid 20's , we can see that the focus here is more towards needs and wants of the family and children. A person who is in their 30's will have their needs and wants changed to fit in the requirements of their families as well. Also, the focus may be towards having a satisfying future for the children and also for self.
Money can affect the needs and wants of a person. An increase or decrease in money can shift the items in the needs/wants list. A person who is in possession of lesser amounts of money will not have any luxury goods in their wants list also. Many of the items in the needs list such as a phone, may become a want depending upon the financial conditions.
Whereas, in case of an increase in money, the present wants may become the needs and the person will form a new list of wants as per the new financial condition of the family. Items such as First Class air travel may become a need and the want could be travel by a private jet.
Needs Wants 1. A basic car or public transport 1.Luxury cars like BMW, Mercedes 2. Food to eat for survival. 2. Gourmet food to eat 3. Clothes to cover my body and protect my body from weather conditions. 3. Clothes from high street fashion brands. 4. Education to help me lead my life. 4. Education from Ivy league schools 5. Walking Shoes 5. Pumps, ballerinas, stilettos 6. Cellphone 6. IPhone 7. Basic recreation 7. Expensive vacations in exotic locales 8. Exercise8 .Expensive gym memberships
9. Economy air tickets9. First/Business class air tickets.
10. Stay in a decent hotel/motel. 10. Stay in upscale luxury resorts.Related Questions
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