Needing the unnecessary by james b. twitchell

Wants become needs Needing the Unecessary In the present times there are many wants that have become necessities of life. Our duty is to teach our youth what things matter and what carry no value in life. This paper also contains the factors which make it difficult to measure brand equity of a brand like Coca Cola. Moreover how can price elasticity determine a brands competitors is also explained. A brief reason for the necessity of the credibility of a source in case of an advertisement is also given

1. According to the writer of this article, luxuries are unnecessary products that we consume in our everyday life, and have come to believe that they are our needs. These products are of high meaning to us but have almost zero utility. I absolutely agree with the writer since things, the possession of which, was highly cherished previously are now taken for granted. The middle class community is now not striving to give their family a better living and their children a good education, but they are now working themselves out in order to get the luxuries that they yet do not have. We have converted our wants into needs. We need to ask ourselves if this is what the generation of tomorrow requires and should we start giving more importance to directing the youth towards morals rather than teaching them how to acquire luxuries.

2. Brand Equity is ” An intangible value-added aspect of a particular good that is otherwise not considered unique”. It is attained by companies through an aggressive marketing campaign. Measuring brand equity is not at all simple. The logo of Coca Cola for instance is recognized worldwide but we cannot say that it enjoys strong brand equity just because people know bout it. Moreover a partial measure of brand equity is brand loyalty. However all consumers who always buy Coca Cola cannot be called loyals but they can also be categorized as habitual, who do not seek variety in their tastes. Another measure of brand equity is brand image. Due to the existence of rival products the image of Coca Cola is often mixed up. Sometimes the image created by the advertisements appeals to the mind of the consumer but loyalty or habit of another brand stops purchase. Or maybe the consumer has a different taste preference. Hence an authentic measurement of brand equity has not yet been developed.
3. Price elasticity of demand refers to the way prices change in relationship to the demand, or the way demand changes in relationship to pricing. Generally it is believed that relation to a reduction in the price of a product its demand increases. I think price elasticity can be used to identify a brand’s competitors. Say for example that your product is not too high or not too low priced (mediocre). You lose an amount of sales to competitors you would like to identify. Maybe if you increased your product price to an extent(for a certain period of time) that demand for it lowers , you could now study the consumers and identify which other brands the consumers shift to, thus identifying your competitors.
4. Source credibility definitely has its effect on consumers. Credibility refers to a person’s perception to the truth of a piece of information. In advertisements, marketing communication occurs between two or more parties to increase sales. If the sender is perceived by the receiver to be an authentic informer, the content of the advertisement will also be considered true and vise versa. Many studies have been made to prove this point.
References
Borrington & Stimpson. Business Studies(Third Edition).