Reaction Report to Moisander, J and Valtonen, A. Qualitative Marketing Research: A Cultural Approach

Summary

The first chapter focuses on how people use products and services to form some sort of cultural meaning to their life and identity. This is interesting as it shifts focus away from how people respond to marketing incentives. This theme is important as it brings forth a different viewpoint to approaching the consumer by looking at how the user can demonstrate his/her identity better through the use of a particular product.

The main points in this text are to introduce the cultural marketing and consumer research; discuss the consumer, producer and product marketing constructs; and inform why cultural information is needed in order for successful marketing.

Theories and Methodology

Chapter 1 main discussion is concerned with marketing discipline and marketing knowledge and how they are a part of creating a consumer’s reality, which in turn is argued as social culture.

The concept of culture is discussed. Culture is defined as “systems of representation through which people make sense of their everyday life”. The perspective that culture is a integrated system of norms and values is left out of the discussion. Culture is something created, renovated and challenged in the process of social interaction. 

The process of creating this interactive culture is discussed through the consumers, marketers and the products and brands perspective. The marketers 1) shape products according to expectations and 2) create new needs and wants for consumers. The products and brands that marketers use as vessels that reach the consumer are discussed as cultural artifacts that posses meaning. The consumers 1) act as receivers of these artifacts of meaning and 2) producers of even greater meaning to the artifacts. Consumers may modify the product further to represent them even more.

Chapter 1 does not discuss explicitly a certain research method, however does suggest through the presented case studies that marketers should identify groups or so-called tribes and form links or bonds with them through newspapers, books, chat lines, diffusion lists or net forums.

Reaction and Analysis

Moisander and Valtonen provided an intriguing discussion on how essentially value is formed for the consumer. If some artifact represents the consumer in some way, it is of much value to that consumer as it is a part of his/her self identity. To me the reaction I get is that value proposition is being redefined or altered. When it once was that a certain product provided you some value which was applicable on a more general level, now it looks to shifting to more specific value. 

For example a BMW in earlier times and still today can be linked to a consumers values of reliability and luxury, however the changes coming forth may make BMW to reconsider its value proposition to specific different groups: eco-friendly group would value small emissions and perhaps a color symbol on the car, a youth rock group might want a black car with a large guitar on the hood.  It is up to the company to figure out with which groups they wish to make contact and begin the pursuit of attracting that group with its cars that display meaning.

The article taught me a lot. Even though it is apparent that presence of companies in social media has increased and feedback from users is almost like second income to the company, the marketing approach has not been very clear to the consumer. This article sheds light on the different components that make up the process of creating interactive culture. It is generally thought that consumers are the receivers and the producers are the givers. However, consumers are becoming more and more producers themselves.