Con­sumer Cul­ture and Psy­cho­logy

Course content

Consumers increasingly expect to be addressed and met on their own terms. This can only be achieved if businesses can handle complex insights into culturally diverse subgroups of consumers across the global marketplace. The identity formation and, thereby, value formation of modern consumers are becoming increasingly complex due to their belonging not only to various local, national, and global, but also to virtual communities accessible via contemporary digital media technologies. This implies that the key challenge in developing a successful marketing and communication strategy is to identify an appropriate target segment internationally and to obtain a systematic understanding of the complex mechanisms of consumer psychology behind their preferences and consumption behaviors.

The course uses materials gathered from an industry-academic research project investigating personal values on "beauty" and beauty-related consumption.

Using "personal beauty" as a common theme, the course will cover theoretical concepts such as cultures, identities and the self, personal values and beliefs, attitudes and emotions, self-congruity and brand resonance, and segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP).

The course will also touch upon critical SDG issues related to "personal beauty," i.e., ethics of beauty, diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing in globalized contemporary society.

The course will integrate hands-on exercises addressing the formulation of theory-based hypotheses, the design of an empirical study, the analysis of data, and the interpretation of empirical results.