Consumer Behavior Assignment

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR GROUP ASSIGNMENT
I. Research description

In such a competitive market of today, it is crucial and highly required for companies to develop
excellent marketing strategies to become market leaders. One of the most effective marketing
strategy to bring the products closer and more approachable towards customers is celebrity
endorsement, as this will help generate positive attitudes and feelings of customers and create the
connection between the customers and the product, or more general, the brand. Hence, choosing
appropriate and suitable ways of celebrities’ endorsement to promote the products has been the top
concerned issue for most marketers. And, it its undeniable that the impact of this marketing strategy
is massive, as it really does affect the buying decisions of consumers.
Speaking particularly in the smartphone industry, as the world is getting more and more modernized
and fashion, trend-concerned, the demand of using a smartphone with advanced technology
integration and eye-catching design has been rocketing for the last ten years. Phone brands started to
grow massively, consumers nowadays are offered with a wide variety of brand names. Besides longlasting market giants Apple Iphone, Samsung, or Nokia, the appearance of new brands with new
features and price ranges like OPPO more or less catches the attention of the customers. Knowing its
place in the market, OPPO has been intensifying its marketing strategies, which mostly emphasized
by celebrities endorsement. The brand use Son Tung MTP, who is one of the most famous stars in
Vietnam, as the representative, and this so far has put on a ‘fever’ towards youth generation.
Son Tung MTP is becoming one of the top celebrities and widely known by youngsters in Vietnam,
therefore, any product that use Son Tung as a representative, or let him use the product in a movie, in
an event, in a show or use his image in an advertisement will absolutely gain advantages from his
fame. He appears in advertisements, music shows, with the image of holding and using OPPO, which
successfully created super-hot trend towards youngsters who admire him or even anyone who is not
his fan, but would like to try the product if they see so many people also using it.
However, the question here is that: How can OPPO approach customers via endorsing Son Tung? Or
in short, is customer behavior affected by Son Tung in the advertisements or not? To answer this
question, as well as to get better understanding about OPPO marketing strategy, which has helped the
brand to dominate the market in such a short period of time, we decide to conduct a research on this
problem: The influence of using Son Tung in the advertisement on OPPO consumption.

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR GROUP ASSIGNMENT
II. Literature review

Today, using celebrity to advertise for a product is becoming more and more popular since the results
it brings about are usually effective on huge amount of consumers. Celebrity appeal may lead to
success in mass marketing, increase brand reputation, brand loyalty, gain market share, attract
customers etc…
Studying more about the impacts of celebrity appeal will help us understand the way it works and
how to improve the results of using celebrity to advertise products. For example, we need to use
young, trending celebrities to advertise and talk about clothes for youngsters, not an old or retired
singer because it does not match the product’s characteristics.
The purpose of this research is to find out the answer for the questions: Will customers purchase
more OPPO smart phones or is it just a temporary trend, people are interested in the phone, know
about the phone but do not have intention to purchase.
III.
1.
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Research Methodology
Research Objectives:
Understand clearly the consumer behavior concepts and theories applied in this phenomenon.
Analyze and clarify the effects of using Son Tung MTP to advertise OPPO smart phones on
customer behavior.

2. Research questions:
 Which are the consumer behavior concepts and theories applied in Son Tung’s endorsement for

OPPO phone?
 How are customers affected on making buying decision after watching him using OPPO in the

advertisements together with his songs “Chac ai do se ve” and “Am tham ben em”?
3. Research Scope:
Location: Room 212, Business school, National Economics University
Time: April 6th, 2015
Subjects: EBBA students Class 5A, who are OPPO target customers.
Sample size: 20 random students
4. Research Process: Our research process includes 7 steps:
- Step 1: Setting research objectives and questions: understanding the effects of using Son Tung
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MTP to advertise OPPO smartphones on customer behavior.
Step 2: Collecting and analyzing secondary data
Step 3: Setting research questionnaires
Step 4: Collecting and analyzing primary data.
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5.

Step 5: Testing hypothesis which are 12 concepts of consumer behavior.
Step 6: Giving recommendation for further marketing activities.
Step 7: Preparing a report on the findings
Research Data collection methods:

a. Primary data:

- The primary data collection method is in-depth interview with questionnaire.
- Number of questions: 6 questions.
- Types of questions: Yes/No questions => interviewees can answer quickly, precisely and may
provide further information.
- Length of questions: simple and short => make interviewees more comfortable to answer as they do
not have to think much
Research Questionnaire
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Do you know Son Tung MTP’s song “Chac ai do se ve” or “Am tham ben em”?
When you hear those songs, what phone brand do you think of?
Do you think Son Tung MTP is the most suitable representative for OPPO?
Does Son Tung MTP attract your attention toward commercial?
Are you a fan of Son Tung MTP?
Next time purchase a phone, will you buy OPPO?

b. Secondary data: 10 concepts of Consumer Behavior and further research findings via the Internet
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Three-hit Theory
Celebrity appeal
Murray’s types of needs
Perception process
Threshold (Absolute Threshold and differential threshold)
Market Segmentation
Selective attention
Halo effect
Brand positioning
Classical conditioning

IV. Analysis and discussion the consumer behavior concepts applied in the commercial
a) Three-hit theory: Repetition the product image
- Raise the awareness of customers about the product: For the first time watching commercial,

customers are curious about the new product that Son Tung MTP use coming out and they want
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to see more about the OPPO phone.
Show customers relevance of the product: Watching Son Tung using OPPO give customers
perception of the product as it is modern, trending, up-to-date, and dynamite because it matches
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with characteristic Son Tung. Son Tung created credibility to audience, make them feel OPPO is
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relevant to the youngster.
Show the benefits of the product: After certain times repeat the commercial, customers will pay

attention to the product’s benefits in the commercial: The functions, designs of the phone.
b) Celebrity appeal
Son Tung MTP has recently joined entertainment industry as a single, but he quickly became very
famous and popular among youngster and even adult. Most of youngster, teenager admire him. He is
among the top celebrities for now, therefore, his image is very high value, can attract many
customers. His fame makes audience believe and interest in the product he uses or advertises.
Also his fan support him very much, so his fan tend to purchase OPPO mostly. The product’s
characteristics usually matches with the celebrity’s, so audience will define OPPO as modern, young,
fashionable, or fan will use the phone just to match with their idol, they tend to believe what he
promotes.
The question 4 in the interview has checked for the attractiveness of Son Tung, and the result is very
positive: Most of customers agree that he is attractive

c) Murray’s types of needs

After watching the advertisement, if the audience decide to purchase a new OPPO is a fan of Son
Tung, we call this type of need is secondary need. This type of need come from psychological, it is
desires and wants after the primary has been satisfied. In this case, the audience need a phone to text
and call or surf internet, they can buy a Nokia or some cheap smart phone of Samsung (primary
need), but they want to identify their status as a fan of Son Tung, so they choose OPPO (secondary
need).
For people who are not a fan of Son Tung, they may also choose OPPO for a trial, because they care
about the new functions or the design of the phone, so they want to try it. This is also secondary need
since they want a new phone to try it.
d) Perception process

Audience receive the information from the advertisement by 3 stages:
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Selection: The audience pay attention to the advertisement because they see Son Tung MTP and
hear the song “Chac ai do se ve”, favorite song for fan of Son Tung. They think that Son Tung
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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR GROUP ASSIGNMENT
will be representative for brand that suitable for him only, so audience will continue watching.
(Passed absolute threshold, if not, audience will switch to other channels because Vietnamese
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people do not usually watch commercials on TV)
Organization: After paying attention, audience will begin to see the details in the advertisement
like how Son Tung looks like when he use the phone, does the phone look suitable for a person
like him, what is its design, is there any new functions. Then customers will think about how they
looks like when they use it, will they be so fabulous like Son Tung, does it match with clothes,
accessories… Audience then will compare OPPO with their current phone or other famous brand

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to see the differences, is this better or worst…
At this stage, it passes the differential threshold to give audience the traits of OPPO
Interpretation: At this stage, audience will jump to conclusion whether this phone is worth to
purchase or not. They will judge if OPPO is better than a brand phone they choose, then the most
attractive functions, design…
After the perception process, audience may give their opinion for the next time purchase, and the
responds are mostly yes when we asked question 6:

65% customers tend to purchase OPPO for next time if they buy a new smart phone.
e) Threshold (Absolute threshold and differential threshold)

- Absolute threshold: The minimum level that the viewer can notice something that is worth to
continue watching. The producer/marketer has taken this in mind to make sure the viewer will notice
the OPPO. By having Son Tung at the start of advertisement, audience who admire or like Son Tung
will continue watching.
So that, Son Tung at first is to catch the attention of the audience, after the audience want to watch
the advertisement, the producer will change the focus of audience to the OPPO phone.
- Differential threshold: This is to measure the smallest difference between same existing

advertisements of other phone. The difference here is when Son Tung begins to draw OPPO to take
pictures, the producer want to emphasize how Son Tung looks like when he use it, how cool,
fashionable, different from others when he takes pictures with the twisted 360 camera.
In the music video ‘Chac ai do se ve’, OPPO has appeared 4 times (total of 18 seconds) not
mentioning the time that OPPO appear indirectly. After passing the differential threshold, audience
will shape the phone inside their mind and decide whether it is suitable for them.
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f)

Market segmentation

The advertisement aims at a specific audience group, divided by age (focus on teenagers, youngster),
by their interest (focus on audience who admire Son Tung MTP). We can see OPPO advertisement
on TV, internet, cinema… where there are many young people.
The target customers here are students who are studying in secondary, high schools and universities.
Also they may target to the parents of those students because the ones who pay for the purchase may

not the students, but the parents because usually, students do not have enough money to purchase.
g) Selective attention

Selective attention is the process that audience focus on particular object in the advertisement for a
certain period of time. Audience cannot pay attention to all the details they see, so selective attention
helps them to eliminate unimportant details, focus on what really matters to them.
The viewers would only notice the most attractive things of the video: Son Tung is handsome, cool
and fashionable and also the twisted 360 camera, the shining design, the beautiful pictures.
This is even more true when apply to Son Tung’s fan who would support him and see only perfect
images of Son Tung.
The viewers (especially fan of Son Tung) may only pay attention to Son Tung and ignoring the
comparison between OPPO and other phones, since they identify themselves as a fan of Son Tung, so
they will use it to support him. This is because the producer/marketer have bypassed the selective
attention by only delivering its message ( Handsome Son Tung with fashionable OPPO) in the
absence of competing stimuli (no bad image of Son Tung, no iPhone, Samsung, Sony or any other
phone brands in the music video)
h) Halo effect

The Halo effect is defined a kind of cognitive bias, in which our overall impression have impact on
how we feel and think about a person, or a thing. "The halo effect operates when we draw a general
impression of an individual on the basis of a single characteristic such as intelligence, sociability, or
appearance" (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). For instance, if you have the good intention
towards a person, the overall evaluation of his or her personal characteristics could be positively
influenced.

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There are companies taking advantage of this fascinating theory into business; nonetheless, the most

prevalent implementation is probably endorsement. That is, a celebrity is invited to endorse a
product, his or her communal influence would produce dramatic results.
In the incident of Son Tung, who is also a Vietnamese well-known singer, he is also the secret
weapon behind the phenomenal accomplishment of OPPO. We acknowledge him with his talents,
appearance, fashion tastes, and more importantly, his popularity among the youth. Never have any
Vietnamese young singers, by any means, constituted such broad influences throughout the country
like this guy; hence, people undoubtedly easily trust and purchase products thanks to the power of
the Halo effect.
During the year, Son Tung bombarded the public with music videos, social media, TV advertisings,
printed ads and billboards attaching to the phone, the latest NEO 7 to be exact. Very effectively, too.
OPPO NEO 7 was so dominant that almost nobody knew which brand offering products with similar
features at such reasonable prices was at the second place. The Halo effect in this case benefits
customers in terms of making quicker buying decisions, as well as helps boosting sales of the entire
OPPO lines.
Our survey’s result for question 3 show that most of people (90%) agree Son Tung MTP is the most
suitable representative for OPPO smart phone.
i)

Brand positioning

The concept of brand positioning refers to target customers’ reasons to buy the brand product in
preference to others. It is ensured that all the brand activities have a prevalent purposes, follow the
same direction, deliver completely the brand’s merits; and it focuses on all points of contact with the
customer. Also, brand positioning is considered as an activity of creating the shape, traits of brand
that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the customer’s mind.
In this case, Son Tung represents for an energetic, reckless, confident and trendy generation that is
consistent with the brand’s target customers: the dynamite, modern, fashion-forwards youngsters.
Son Tung so far has done an excellent job in endorsing for the brand. “As a new entrant in a mature
and small, but affluent market, quickly building brand equity would be essential for successful
expansion. So we sought a partner that could provide a comprehensive understanding of and access

to local consumers across multiple platforms,” said Sean Deng, managing director of OPPO.
Undoubtedly, the popularity of Son Tung – a young famous music celebrity, increases brand
positioning among the youth. His name and appearance reminds us of something that are young,
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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR GROUP ASSIGNMENT
affluent, artistic and fashionable, which matches to the brand image that OPPO attempts to construct.
By means, OPPO has successfully positioned itself in the customer’s mind as “The Art of
Technology”
j)

Classical conditioning

In general, classical conditioning is a ‘reflexive or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus
acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.’ (Learningtheories.com). Basically, a stimulus is responded to in a set way, then the second stimulus begins to
cause the same response after being paired with the first one.
To make it clearer, we can take a look at the typical Pavlov’s dog experiment:

In advertising, classical conditioning is used to make the consumers/viewers feel and react positively
to a product or viewpoint. If customers react positively to a stimulus, advertisers will pair it with
their product/opinion with the aim to make customers, consequently, react in a similar, positive way
to it. Celebrity endorsement and background music are among the classical conditioning methods
that are used the most commonly in marketing strategy, as they will create an unconditioned stimulus
which then leads to the positive conditioned response of the viewers since they helps heighten the
value of the product offered.
For example, in Son Tung MTP’s music video “Am tham ben em”, we can clearly see the pairing of
these stimuli:
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Repeat
for
certain
times

Stimuli A: Son Tung MTP image: This plays as the unconditioned stimulus number 1. As Son Tung is
an extremely famous singer towards Vietnamese people (especially youngsters), he has a huge
number of fans. With his fame and popularity, Son Tung’s appearance can create viewers’
excitement, interest, curiosity, and admire.
Stimuli B: Background music – his well-known song “Am tham ben em”: This is unconditioned
stimulus number 2. It is safe to say that as long as it is Son Tung’s song, it is a well-known song. As
Son Tung has a very strong and firm stand in Vietnamese music industry, all of his songs always
remained in top 5 Vietnamese Billboard. ‘Am tham ben em’ is his latest song which has an earcatching melody, easy to remember and trendy, attractive music video with great storyline. This can
help generate a positive feeling among the audience, as they are likely to like or remember the song.
Stimuli C: OPPO Phone image – neutral stimulus
This is where the marketers cleverly put the image of the product into the MV naturally. In the music
video, the cellphone (which is OPPO phone) is the main contacting way of the 2 main characters. It
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appears various times during the storyline, playing as the witness to the love story of the couple. We
can see that both Son Tung and his girlfriend in the MV use OPPO Phone, one black and one white,
with very nice and elegant design. However, the OPPO phone’s image itself may not give the
viewers the feeling of curiosity or interest.

Stimulus A + B + C: Combining these 3 stimulus, after a certain time of repetition, whenever see Son

Tung MTP or hear the music “Am tham ben em”, customers will immediately think of OPPO phone.
After the survey, 95% of people answer that they think of OPPO smartphone when they hear 2 of
those songs, very positive result for the classical conditioning.
V. Conclusion and Recommendations

OPPO has been very successful in gaining strong brand image. Son Tung is not the only celebrity
endorsed to promote their products. Other Vietnamese celebs also appeared a lot in OPPO
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commercials such as Toc Tien, Chi Pu, Noo Phuoc Thinh, etc... Besides the positive side which
brings OPPO attention and strong brand positioning towards the youth, it also has some drawbacks:
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First of all using too many celebrities as the representatives can make consumers confused, as
each of the celebs has different lifestyle and style, so consumers cannot make up their mind if
OPPO suit their style. For example, Toc Tien is identified as sexy, very hot and beautiful, Noo

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Phuoc Thinh is sophisticated…
Secondly celebrities are famous people, and hence they do have scandals and antifans. If OPPO
just focuses on the short-term benefits and ignore the risks that a large number of consumers will
stop buying or lose interest in OPPO phone if scandals occur, they are facing a real challenge.
Son Tung has so many fans, but also he has many anti-fan too, so some people may like Toc
Tien, but they hate Son Tung, they may not buy OPPO because they do not want to be identified

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as a fan of Son Tung.
OPPO needs to focus more on the quality and the functions of the phone instead of relying too
much on Son Tung’s reputation. His fan may support for him, but if the phone cannot satisfy their
desires, they may switch to other brands that offer the same price but higher quality. Price is also
a little bit high for the target customers of OPPO, so they should change to a more reasonable
price.

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