Impact Of Advertisement On Consumer Behavior: A Study Of Bank Of Queensland, Australia, Essay.

Understanding Consumer Behavior and Its Relation to Advertising

Question:

Advertisement Impact on Consumer Behavior: A Case Study of Bank of Queensland.
 

The modern business world is facing a cutthroat competition in every section of its operation. The idea of advertisement has introduced and utilized by the marketers to make the people aware of the products and services he is offering with the aim of obtaining a competitive advantage. Now if the idea of consumer behavior can be discussed it can be discerned that, it is a study of the consumers’ buying behavior. It is a prerequisite of the marketers to know the consumer choices as well as the behavioral pattern. It helps them to modify their products and services according to the market demands. As discussed by Hastings et al. (2013), here, the advertisements play a significant role. By proving information and promotion of the existing offerings of the marketers, they manipulate the choices of the customers.

Advertisements can be identified as the means of communication between the users and the service providers. By this effective communication channel, the marketers influence the consumers to buy their products or services. Therefore, it can be identified that the banking sector can also utilize this strategy of advertisement to influence their target customers to direct their financial endeavors in favor of this sector. Within the short span of this study, the researcher will explore impact of the advertisement on the consumers’ behavioral pattern in the context of the old and prominent bank, “Bank of Queensland” of Australia. Here, the researcher will conduct the study to explore the impact of the advertisement of the customers’ behavioral pattern of the “Bank of Queensland” of Australia.

As opined by Valarmathi and Murugan (2014), advertisement plays a significant role in altering the consumer choice and perception regarding a certain product or service. Analyzing and understanding the pattern of impact of the advertising strategies on the consumer buying behavior can be helpful for the markets to obtain a significant competitive advantage. As opined by Prabakaran (2012), the consumer behavioral patter can significantly altered by the advertising strategies and thus the expected behavioral pattern can also be trained to them. Now, in this global world of business, the banking sector is also facing huge competitive challenges. Therefore, it has become important for them to communicate with the customers with more diligence (Abel & Le Roux, 2016).

Here, the strategies of advertisement can be helpful for them. As opined by Ong and Ong (2015), it is important for the modern banks to remember the global competition and develop a well-structured promotional policy to be accepted by the consumers. Now, the topic of impact of the advertisement on the consumer behavior is not a rare one. There are a number of studies and literatures on this particular topic. Despite this fact, it cannot be ignored that, such studies on the context of banks, especially the “Bank of Queensland” are hard to find out. This lack of available information regarding this particular issue has motivated the researcher to conduct this study. This, study will be helpful in exploring the relation between the advertisement and its effect in altering the behavior of the consumers in the banking sector, especially the “Bank of Queensland”.

Advertising as a Means of Communication Between Service Providers and Users

The research is dedicated to explore the impact of the advertisement strategies on the consumer behavioral patter. The objective of this particular research work can be identified as follows:

• To identify how the strategies of advertisements have influenced the behavioral pattern of the consumers of the “Bank of Queensland” of Australia.
• To use the research outcomes to improve the business of the company

Background of the study:

As opined by Al-Alak (2014), the term “Advertisement” has its origin in the word ‘ad vertere”.  It is a Latin word which means ‘to turn toward’. Hence, it can be identified that the core importance of the strategy of advertisement is to alter the consumer demand and behavior pattern. As discussed by Hastings et al. (2013), advertising and promotional activities affect the consumer behavioral pattern in a number of ways. It is a prerequisite for a company to identify the behavioral pattern of the existing and the potential customers to be valid in the market for a long run. Therefore, it can easily be identified that communicating with the customers in a strategic way will be instrumental in exploring the customer perception, knowledge and the demand pattern.

As stated by Bratu (2013), Advertisement is the excellent way of communicating to the customers. Advertising can be helpful in providing information the consumers about the brand. As discussed by Schudson (2013), the idea of consumer behavior can be designated as the study, which aims to analyze the manners and pattern of choice, use and disposition of the products and services and the related experiences of the organizations, individuals or groups. This buying and using behavior pattern are typically instrumental in determining growth pattern of the business organization.  Therefore, in order to satisfy the needs the companies try to gather data about the customer behavior and to manipulate this behavior pattern, they use the strategy of advertisement. 

As discussed by Lohtia et al. (2013), the impact of advertisement on the customer behavioral pattern is manifold. This impact of advertisement can both be good or bad in terms of the social values. As opined by Saeed et al. (2014), the marketers use the strategy of advertisement with the aim of providing information about the market existence of their product. It makes the consumers learn about the new products and services, which are available to them. Here, the marketers only provide the facts without hoping for sanction or disapproval from the customers. However, by providing such information they increase the knowledge of the customers about brand verity and thus try to influence the selection pattern of the consumers.

As opined by Verma and Singh (2014), advertising has some significant influences on the consumption quantity of the consumers, as well as sales volume of the companies. Advertisements are characteristically able to increase the sales figures and profit margin in the long run if done appropriately. As discussed by Javadi et al. (2014), to obtain this profit growth, attention for the product, association with the consumers, memory of the brand name, the marketers follow the strategy of advertisement. As discussed by Asghar et al. (2015), in this global trend of integrated economy, the advertisement is changing the consumer behavior pattern in a drastic way. Now in the modern world of business the strategy of advertisement is alternating the need and demand of the consumers.

Importance of Advertisement Strategies in the Banking Sector

According to Srikanth et al. (2013), the multinationals are designing their advertisement in such a way that it is helping them to creating a need among the consumers of those products, which are useless for them. As opined by Schudson (2013), the advertisements are being instrumental in aggravating the demonstration effect. The advertisements in the modern business world are encouraging the consumers to fell discontented by their status quo and want more in life. As opined by Lohtia et al. (2013), often it can be discerned that in the advertisement, the marketers present their product in an embellished manner. They assure their product to be the “best”. However, it leads the consumers to a fraud. With the help of such tall claims and false representation, compel the customers buy those product, which will actually not going to satisfy their needs.  In addition to this, the advertisement is actually promoting the idea of materialism and consumerism. As opined by Prabakaran (2012), the advertisements are altering the consuming choice of the consumers as well as the values of the society.

(Source: Javadi et al., 2014)

On the other hand, a number of researchers have identified some positive impacts of the advertisement on the consumer behavioral pattern. As opined by Ong and Ong (2015), the by providing the information regarding the product pattern and the specific offerings the advertisement provides the consumers the democracy of choice. It promotes a wide multiplicity of lifestyle and choices available to the customers and let them choose the option that they find best. It helps the consumer to direct their consuming behavior to a better product. In addition to this, as opined by Javadi et al. (2014), as the advertisement influences people to consume more, it helps the production mechanism and thus leads the country towards an economic advancement.

As opined by Bratu (2013), the advertisements are also being helpful in promoting social benefits. In the context of the socially backward countries, the advertisements, which are made in the western world, promote the culture of free and open society. It helps the societies to dream for the betterment of its fabrics. As opined by Srikanth et al. (2013), as the advertisements has the influence in creating the new behavioral pattern among the customers the advertisements which are intended to promote a good consuming habit, will be instrumental in creating superior buying habits.

When executing the research, the researcher has faced a number of issues that can be identified as gap in this research. It was very difficult for the researcher to consult any theoretical model regarding this topic. In addition to this, the prior research works have not provided much information about the customer behaviour and its co-relation to the advertising strategies. Therefore, the consulted information regarding this topic is remotely relative. These gaps can reduce the integrity and credibility of the research.

The researcher for the successful completion of this research project has developed the following research questions. The answers of these questions will be sought with the help of the collected and analyzed data of the project. The questions are:

• How the advertisements influence the consumer behavior?
• What are the employed strategies of advertisement of the “Bank of Queensland”?
• Do these followed strategies change the behavior of the consumers?
• How these followed strategies of advertisement has influenced the behavioral pattern of the consumers?

Research Objective and Significance

Based on the selected research problem the following hypothesis can be outlined which the proposed project is going to test in the course of this research work.

• H (1): Null Hypothesis: The advertisements do not have any impact on the consumer behavioral pattern.
• H (2): Alternate Hypothesis: the advertisements have its impact on the consumer behavioral pattern.

A research methodology comprises a number of relevant methods. However, to collect the germane data for the exploration of the answers of the research questions, the best-suited method has to be selected. For the successful completion of this research project, the researcher has chosen the quantitative research methodology. As opined by Neuman and Robson (2012), the data collected by the quantitative research methodology are more likely to be generalized. Hence, this decision of conducting quantitative research will be helpful for the researcher to collect a general idea about the impact of advertisement on consumer behavior in the banking sector. As discussed by Pretorius et al. (2016), this particular research method will provide the researcher more specific data than a qualitative research methodology. As opined by Walter and Andersen (2013), this particular research methodology restricts the boundary of the data collection and the knowledge. Therefore, the researcher has decided to conduct a thorough study of the related journals and articles. However, this particular research method will help the researcher to collect data which will be easier to test the set hypothesis of this study.

For the completion of this particular research project, the researcher has to consider two different variables. They are as follows:

• V1 (Independent Variable): Advertisement is an independent variable in this research project. It is influential in the consumer behavioral pattern.
• V2: (Dependent Variable): Consumer behavior is the dependent variable in this project. It is influenced by the advertisements.

Research process consists of a number of systematically outlined steps. As opined by Pretorius et al. (2016), it is a prerequisite for a researcher to chart down the strategic steps pragmatically to avoid the confusion in the research work. This particular research work will also follow such a systematic approach in its progression. With the aim of completing this project, the researcher will initially identify the problem area. Thereafter, in the second stage, the researcher will set the objectives and the research questions those are to be answered by the process of this research. In the third step, the researcher will study the existing literatures and the prior research works on this particular topic of this research.

Next, the researcher will execute the step of data collection. Here, he will collect the valid and reliable data with the help of the survey method and consulting the prior research works and other related articles and online sources. In the fifth step, the researcher will analyze and interpret the data with the help of the flow charts and other tools. Then in the final stage, the researcher will conclude the result or outcome of the research and provide the relevant and factual suggestions for the improvement of the “Bank of Queensland”.

(Source: Pretorius et al., 2016)

The idea of data collection can be identified as one of the major issues in a research projects. The process of data collection comprises both the primary as well as secondary data collection method. Hare for the successful completion of this research project the researcher will collect data both from the primary and secondary sources. As opined by Zink (2012), by opting for both the primary and secondary data, a researcher opens a door for a comprehensive understanding of the selected scenario.

The Impact of Advertisement on Consumer Behavior: Good or Bad?

However, in the process of data collection, the researcher will consult with the websites, books, journals, etc. for collecting the secondary data. In addition to this, the researcher will also conduct a quantitative research method by collecting the data from the primary sources as well as the secondary sources. In the given context, the researcher will conduct an extensive survey for the successful completion of the research objectives. As opined by Volet and Vauras (2013), the survey process will be the best suitable tool, as it is relatively easier to administer and the data collected by this particular method are easier to interpret. For the completion of this survey process, the researcher will also construct a well-structured questionnaire, which will be helpful in collecting the relevant and specific data by eliminating the scopes of collecting irrelevant information (Pfefferbaum et al., 2014).

Here, the researcher will select his/her respondents from the employees, managers, and customers of Bank of Queensland. The researcher will also crosscheck the collected data with the existing literature and the research topic. The researcher will conduct his survey among ten employees, 3 managers and 15 customers of the Bank of Queensland. The researcher will follow the random sampling method for this selection (Zink, 2012). After the completion of this data collection method, the researcher will follow the step of data analysis.

Research outcome is a broad range of knowledge acquired by the researcher at the end of the study. However, the concept of advertisement and its due effect on the consumer behavior is not a not a rare topic to be discussed. A number of prior studies have been done on this particular issue, they are credible enough to be consulted, and most of them have suggested that the advertisements have some significant effects on the consumer behavioral pattern, if utilized properly. Therefore, in the context of this particular research work, it can be expected that the research will establish a strong connection of the consumer behavioral pattern of the “Bank of Queensland” and its employed strategy of advertising. The researcher expects that the research will explore how this strategy of advertisement has changed the behavioral pattern of the consumers of the “Bank of Queensland”.

This, study will be helpful in exploring the relation between the advertisement and its effect in altering the behavior of the consumers in the banking sector, especially the “Bank of Queensland”. The outcome of this study will contribute to the market expansion and alteration of the financial behavior of the people of Australia. In the context of the “Bank of Queensland”, this study will contribute to strengthen the consumer popularity and acceptance of the bank among the people of Australia. The outcome can also be generalized and used to improve the customer communication of other banks.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it can be said that the selected topic is a germane and pragmatic issue to conduct an extensive research. It will be helpful in identifying the factors, which motivates people in advertisements. As banking has a significant influence in the economy of a nation, this research will helpful in improving the customer engagement in this sector. With the help of this research proposal, the researcher will be able to attain the objectives of the research with pragmatic and structured guidelines.

(Source: Neuman & Robson, 2012)

Here, with the help of this GNTT chart, a probable idea of the time for every stages of the research work can be identified. The researcher hopes that the whole process of the research project will be completed within 14 weeks from its start.  

References:

Abel, S., & Le Roux, P. (2016). Assessing Banking Sector Competition in Zimbabwe Using a Panzar-Rosse Approach (No. 599).

Al-Alak, B. A. (2014). Impact of marketing activities on relationship quality in the Malaysian banking sector. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,21(3), 347-356.

Asghar, W., Abbasi, M. N., & Zafarullah, M. (2015). Impact of Advertisement and Sales Promotion on Consumer Cognitive Buying Behavior: A Study of Low Involvement (FMCG) Products. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS), 35(2), 585-598.

Bratu, S. (2013). The Impact of Political Advertising on Individual Vote Choice. Geopolitics, History and International Relations, 5(1), 124.

Hastings, J. S., Hortaçsu, A., & Syverson, C. (2013). Advertising and competition in privatized social security: The case of Mexico. NBER working paper, (w18881).

Javadi, M. H. M., Allameh, S. M., & Poursaaedi, A. (2014). Analyzing the Impact of Brand Equity and Advertisement on Customers’ Loyalty in Isfahan City. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(3), 261-269.

Lohtia, R., Donthu, N., & Guillory, M. D. (2013). The impact of advertising, trustworthiness, and valence on the effectiveness of blogs. International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 5(4), 317-339.