Sony – the brand name could usher in images of quality and innovation in the mind of a person who has never used any product of the brand. Raymond is the fabric for ‘the complete man’ and Allen Solly is the designer wear for corporate executives who prefer an aura of casualness in their corporate setting. Pepsi could be associated with the ‘fun and frolic moments’ of the younger generation. If one wonders about the logic and reality associated with the various kinds of marketing communication in today’s context, the principles of perception could be used to reason out the development of brand images attempted by marketers.
Principles of perception in simple terms perception is an important psychological process in which you can add meaning to what has been sensed by your sensory organ. This is precisely the reason why two individuals have different kinds of perception about products, brands ideas, places and people. The conditioning aspect is the relevant information which is already stored in the memory of the individual.
You have to keep in mind that the mechanism of perception, adding meaning to whatever has been sensed, is not just restricted to the marketing context alone. Individuals perceive information in a perceptual manner. Perception is not just limited to visual aspects such as seeing the product or the brand in a retail outlet. It could get extended to any of the inputs to sensory organs.
For example, just the audio part without the visual of Titan’s TV commercial (the background music used in the brands commercial) could trigger of visual images of the brand’s commercial in a consumer who has viewed the commercials many times over a period of several years. This act of completion, which takes place in a consumer’s mind, is called ‘completion’ and this is one of the very useful principles of perception.
