Introduction This exercise is done to find out the effect of perception in buying intension of consumer.

The study was conducted with a brother of mine who has recently taken SLC examination and came Kathmandu to study bridge course to pursue higher education in a reputed college. The study is conducted through single blind procedure. The interviewee did not know what the test is all about whereas the interviewer knew it. Expectation of student with bridge course providing institution First of all, the interviewee was asked about what he is looking for in a bridge course provider. He denoted various attributes abruptly. The attributes were jotted down. Then he was asked to rank from high important to least important attribute. The following are the attributes and their rankings about what he has to say: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Able to enlist high number of students in reputed colleges like St. Xaviers, Prasadi Academy, etc. Scholarship provider Less tuition fee Reputed brand name Experienced quality teachers Attractive building and facilities Library and other adequate study materials Group discount

Reaction to the advertisement The interviewee was then shown an advertisement of one of the top institutes, Alfa Beta, which provides bridge course (See ad in appendix). The advertisement was in first page of Kantipur Daily, biggest selling newspaper in the country. He was asked to interpret the advertisement. The following is what he has to say: Alfa Beta seems to be very attractive brand name. But the advertisement is not so attractive. Nothing seems catchy to my eyes. But it has scholarship. It has many branches, so it must be big. According to this ad, It has taught many students and thousands have made their entry in reputed colleges. It means it is very popular. Teachers must have been experienced. It has big advertisement in this newspaper means that it must be expensive but price is not given here. How is its building? Does it have all the facilities? I guess it is in big building because teaching thousands of students need a big building. I probably will ask friends to visit it. If they agree, and if we get some group discount, we will join there.

Basic attributes perceived by the interviewee Among the above mentioned attributes, he could easily perceive the following attributes. 1. Able to enlist high number of students in reputed colleges like St. Xaviers and reputed colleges. 2. Scholarship provider 3. Reputed brand name 4. Experienced quality teachers But he had negative perception about the cost. The attractiveness of building and facilities are just guessed and there is no clear indication about library and other study materials. The group discount could have been used. Also, the attractiveness of advertisement is complained. Despite of above mentioned defects, as a whole the advertisement delivers most of the attributes that the interviewee expects. As a result his perception about the Alfa Beta institute is positive and he wants to give a try.

Marketing implication and recommendation Perception is a function of sensation. In print ad like this, it is always the eyesight that should be focused. The advertisement related to teenagers like in this case SLC students, should be attractive and flashy enough so that it creates selective attention. The contrast in the advertisement should be able to make noticeable difference. In this case, the advertisement is not so noticeable to create attraction. The animation of building or picture of college students photos could have been added at the background in a creative way without overshadowing the figure mentioned in the advertisement to create an attraction. The perception of the advertisement focused to SLC students is affected by their collected past information about the bridge course institutions as it affects their expectations and also by their current motives. The advertisement is able to match in many grounds with what they expect like scholarship but still some expectations like library and study materials availability could have been addressed. The current need of group discount is what the interviewee seems to be searching. If some marketers could include this in their ad, the likely chances are that the selective attention to the ad can be created to such customers who want to enroll in groups. Though the customer is ready to visit the institute, the marketer at Alfa Beta should be able to match with his current motive of getting group discount and scholarship in order to attract him and his friends. Otherwise the company may lose this type of customer segment.

Consumer imagery toward Alfa Beta institute and marketing implication The bridge course business is of more service type. In service business it is very difficult to position because of intangibles included, difficulty to judge quality and service is based upon interaction so it may vary from person to person. Here Alfa Beta has positioned itself in terms of perceived benefits of scholarship and success stories of past students. It has also identified the target market and segmented them with distinct product categories to each segment. But the positioning is so general that competitors can also use that. The basis of differentiating with competitors is lacking. Therefore, creation of distinct brand image is not supported by the advertisement. The company should first draw a perceptual map about where it stands in terms of competitors and find its unique value proposition and based on it modify its advertisement to make its positioning distinct from its competitors. The perceived price of the bridge course service offered by Alfa Beta is high because of the advertisement placed on first page of national daily and its success stories shown that dignifies its glory in quality. In this type of service business, the customers can take reference price as that of similar institution. They will compare the perceived value of reference institution and compare price. They may also compare prices paid by their friends in enrolling the same institution. So, Alfa Beta should be very conscious about pricing based on value as well as competitive pricing. It should also make same pricing for same category of students. If they discriminate on giving discount/scholarship without any concrete basis, then students will compare prices and feel dissatisfied. The company can make feel of transaction utility by increasing expected price through making advertisement more glamorous but pricing in reality can be lower. The acquisition utility can also be increased by delivering above expectation. The perceived quality of Alfa Beta is high because of extrinsic cues provided by front page advertisement itself in reputed daily newspaper and ad contents that magnifies its past glory. The brand name also is perceived as something standard that increases level of perceived quality. But maintaining quality while delivering service is very difficult because of service by nature is variable, perishable and consumed while producing. So, Alfa Beta should live up to the expectation. Because it is a seasonal business, the staff at the reception during peak season may not respond with patience and calmness. So, company has to focus on training staffs. It should be equally aware while hiring part time staffs because it may degrade actual quality far lower than perceived quality. As a result customers may feel that their sacrifice is more than benefits and perceived value of the service deteriorates. The perceived risk about Alfa Beta is being lowered by given advertisement. It successfully creates brand image on which customers can rely upon. The ad at front page, glorifying success stories, saying about large number of branches, symbolizing as it is registered in ECAN (ECAN is a authority to recognize educational institutes and consultancies in Nepal). But more could have been done. The company could have placed its reputed business complex building at Baneshwor as background photo (it creates store image since many students perceive big building as big place to study), could have assured that those studied at this institution will be guaranteed some type of return if they could not get results, say itself as the best or largest bridge course provider in Nepal (as it is a reality that it can boast upon), etc. If given recommendations could have been added, Alfa Beta can play well upon consumer imagery and get maximum results of its marketing efforts.