Blog 3: Popular Culture and Consumer Behavior

Hi everybody! Thanks for coming back. Today we are going to talk about how popular culture can influence a customers behavior. Recently in class we were talking how opinion leaders or well known people can influence the general public. Opinion leaders can be actors or actresses, politicians, athletes, community leaders and many more. At times, friends and classmates can be considered opinion leaders.

One of the main ways for opinion leaders to influence peoples buying habits is through the use of social media. In today's culture, it is not uncommon to see professional athlete or actors on different social media sites and some of them use their status to get the names of new brands out to the general public. Most of the time they are talking about how they love a certain brand and sometimes they are even getting paid to do it. A lot of companies will sponsor or endorse a public figure just so that their companies name is tied to that specific person. This doesn't mean that these people don't love the product they are using. The goal behind this is that the person's followers on sites like Twitter and Instagram will go and purchase the product.

Steve Weatherford, Punter for the New York Giants, is an athlete that promotes products on his Instagram page. He has close to 90,000 followers on his page and is known to many people as being one of the most fit players in the NFL. A lot of fitness companies hope that he can bring new customers to their company because his following and his image. Recently, Steve posted a picture on Instagram about a company called Formula Four Water; the caption on his picture reads "Time to rehydrate.... With @formulafourwater#FormulaFour #Oxygen #Recovery." This picture still has a great effect for Formula Four even though it only has 1,242 likes because it's safe to say that thousands saw the picture.

Some companies also use students to promote their brand throughout their campus. Knockaround Sunglasses and Pura Vida Bracelets are two examples of companies that have programs like this. Becoming a "Campus Rep" for these companies is a little bit different compared to that athletes become representatives of companies. Most of the time, you will have to fill out an application for this position. If selected you are then expected to promote that company through social media. 

Knockaround Sunglasses has college students fill out an application every August. If accepted they will receive free glasses and coupons to hand out to students at their school and they are also given the ability to hold Knockaround events on their campus. They will also send their reps free apparel, accessories and Limited Edition Sunglasses for them to keep.

Last year, I became a rep for Pura Vida Bracelets. To get this position, I had to send them my information and then they decided if they wanted to welcome me to the team. If accepted you are given your own personal rep code, a couple of cards with your rep code on it so that you can hand them out to people, a few bracelets, and some stickers. The code that you are given is usually the first letter of your first name and your full last name followed by the number 10 so for me it is CWILLIAMSON10. This code then allows people to get 10% off of their purchases and in return you get commission for each purchase that is made with your code. This gives the reps a reason to be more vocal orotund campus and through social media. Many Pura Vida reps will even go and make an account that is only for Pura Vida.

Knockaround Sunglasses does not only rely on college students to spread the word about their brand. They have a section on their website that shows a lot of celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Selena Gomez wearing their glasses.

I hope you all enjoyed my latest post and will think about how people are influencing your purchases.

See you soon!

Chris

References:

"Campus Representatives." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 

"Celebrity." Knockaround.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 

Grant, McKenna. "20 Campus Rep Programs That Are Available RIGHT NOW." USA TODAY College. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. 

"Join 3,950 Pura Vida Reps Across the World!" Pura Vida Bracelets. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. 

Knockaround Title. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 

"Opinion-Leader in Marketing: Definition, Lesson & Quiz." Education Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. 

Pua Vida Logo. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 

Pura Vida Rep Code, Joyce Hall. Personal photograph by author. 2014. 

Snoop Dogg Wearing Knockaround Sunglasses. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. 

Weatherford, Steven. Formula Four Water and Steve Weatherford. Digital image. Instagram. N.p., Jan. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.