blog 6 - Reflections on Insights and Prototype Project FALL 2009 <3

One concept I learned this year in our customer insights class was the idea of “holistic living” and marketing in a way that covers every aspect of the five senses. Many times in marketing, I catch myself focusing on the product or service itself and how to market the item, I forget that the way it looks, smells, sounds, feels, etc. all play a major part in the attractiveness of the product. I never knew what holistic meant until stepping into Professor Wall’s course. The idea of creating a full experience for the consumer got me excited to learn more. One of the articles we read in class was an experiment on whether the design and look of the packaging caused people to think what they were buying was better quality. Consumers are more likely to think that the coffee tastes better when it’s in a fancier cup and packaging. In our project where holistic living played an essential role there was the idea of understanding our target market, what their bathroom looks like, and what they want/need out of life. Understanding our consumers in every spectrum really helped me to understand what kind of experience they were looking for in the bathroom. We created an amazing toilet seat with many accommodations for the elderly aged couple, but the entire idea isn’t going to sell quite as well, if it was not presented with the idea of how an elderly aged couple’s bathroom looks and smells like and how the product fits into that room. The concept of “holistic” living was enlightening for me to the point where I would share the idea with my non-marketing friends outside of class. I also think this concept will be tremendously useful when I enter the real world after graduation.
A concept or skill I thought was very applicable was the qualitative researches we learned about in class and applied in our image/picture collages. Since we had already done an individual assignment creating our own image/picture collages, it was easier to instruct our interviewees on how to do create one. After we got back our results, we sat down as a group and analyzed the photos and what we felt they meant through underlying meanings or even direct thoughts they were having when they took the sink and shower pictures. We got an idea on the type of people they were just by the decorations on their wallpaper, or the way they organized their things. There were so many things we could draw from just looking at a couple of pictures they took. I enjoyed applying our class concept to our project, because it helped a lot and it made me feel like a real marketing researcher. Being able to do these various hands-on activities with research made me more confident in my learning process and I also learned through the mistakes I made all throughout the project.
Like any project, the beginning was not rushed since we hadn’t started yet, and all other groups were starting on the same page as us also. We got together as a group and worked productively, yet we also conversed and took our time during our meetings. My emotions during this time were eagerness and confidence. I was excited to start our creative thinking process and felt confident that we could do it. As the semester progressed, we continued to work at pace, yet leisurely. During this time, we created a more comfortable and solid working relationship. We even met together on a Thursday night one week without realizing we didn’t have anything to do, so we sat in the atrium hanging out and watching Youtube videos together. I enjoyed their company and we had a great time laughing and joking around. I enjoyed meeting with our team because I enjoyed the lively team environment. Overall, although the personalities in our team were very different, especially coming from different backgrounds, we got along very well. Our different perspectives contributed to a diverse group dynamic, which helped bring in unique ideas for our prototype. We were not subject to group think, since there was no majority group that agreed on the same thing. Near the last week before our presentation, like every team, our discussions became more heated as each of us became more pressured with the time constraints. We pushed through the final couple of days meeting together for long periods of time discussing our prototype and preparing our Powerpoint slides. During this time, I was more worried and stressed out. I was afraid that we weren’t going to be as good as other teams and thinking whether our prototype was even innovative enough. Until we started practicing our presentation and going over the specs of the prototype, did it actually hit me that we did have great accommodations for elderly people. I think I was so focused on the details that I didn’t take a step back and look at the prototype as a whole, especially as a whole experience. Once I started to see how the entire holistic feeling linked in with the toilet seat prototype, I started to enjoy it for what it was. Overall, I feel like having a team contributed a lot to my learning because it not only teaches me how to work with different personalities, but the different perspectives increased creativity, which contributed to creating a great product. It also increased enjoyment because I’m a fairly extroverted person in which I receive my enjoyment by connecting and working with people. If I had to do everything by myself, it wouldn’t be as enjoyable. Fostering that team morale and encouragement is what helps us get excited about our product and the class material.

Google Zeitgeist – I searched Victoria’s Secret on their website search and it showed a line graph of the visitor traffic per month. The data suggested that more people get onto the website during the Christmas seasons because there was a peak in traffic during that time and it slowly and gradually tapered off as the months went past ending with October/November as the slowest traffic, then it peaks up again during December. I also looked up lingerie searches for the Zeitgeist and it reported a high search for lingerie especially during January/February. The interesting thing I found was that the online search for lingerie was much higher in Utah and considerably lower in New York. My assumption before this was that more people in New York would be into shopping and living a liberal lifestyle, therefore they would look up products online, especially provocative lingerie. One factor not accounted for is the in-store traffic. They could be people that prefer to go in and see them rather than shop online for it. The recession also had a negative impact in our nation, especially in New York, and people may not think it is necessary to invest in more lingerie than what they already had.

Google blog search – I typed in Victoria’s Secret and the brilliant thing about this is that through the “related searches” they found Victoria’s Secret personal blog. I never knew they had a blog, Twitter, and Facebook until today. It also brought up blogs where Victoria’s Secret was mentioned. The first few were blog posts regarding the most recent news Victoria’s Secret put out about finding a model for their runway show this December 2009. This is a great tool that I had never known about. Companies can use these tools to help track the postings from (dis)satisfied customers and provide feedback to help alleviate the problem.

I find that blogs have one of the most effective abilities to create experiences. Twitter is a social media tool to quickly promote an event or get a quick update out there for followers, where as blogs can engage customers through postings, videos, and pictures. It specifically works so well for Victoria’s Secret partly because this company’s advertising strategy is through using visual aids like beautiful women, sexy lingerie, and bright colors. The flexibility in adding all these visual aids create a holistic and engaging experience for the consumer. Blogs can also gain insight from people through asking their followers about their questions and asking for feedback to know what they want and how the company can create this experience or product. On the Victoria’s Secret blog page, they have a section up top that asks you what you hope for. You’re allowed to type in about 50 characters of what you hope for and they post it on their page. It’s brilliant because what they did was include a mini-twitter on their blog, bringing the two social media sites together to create a better experience as well as gain insights. As long as companies are involved with sites such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter actively communicating with their consumers, they are capable of creating a wide range of experiences for their consumers. Companies just need to know when to use each site to fully maximize on each one. Twitter gives brief updates, but if consumers want more detail they can go to the blog to read detail information regarding the Twitter update. If they want to reach college students then they need to create a Facebook group. By connecting these three sites and using it to benefit and backup one another, companies can create holistic experiences on the web for consumers.

What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits - BLOG 4

I do believe Walmart has been able to utilize their data to create a highly competitive advantage for their company and for their customers. Two ways they have done this is by having an efficient supply chain and doing in-depth marketing research with their technology. They have been able to utilize the knowledge about their customers to create a better shopping experience. Their supply chain is one of the strongest in the market. They’ve created impressive turnaround times, allowing their customers to get their products on time. Less waiting makes a happy customer. The quick turnaround times also ensure customers that the item won’t be out of stock. Available products also make a happy customer. It also helps to retain customers. If it’s out of stock, the customer will just look for it in a competing store like Target. The more often this happens, the more customers will slowly start switching over to a competing store, assuming Walmart never has what they want. Contrary to this, Walmart has done a great job in keeping items available in store or sent to the closest location at a very fast rate. Finally, if they can continue to be efficient in supply chain then they’ll have fewer inventories, which saves money for the company. If they utilize that strategy then they won’t be forced to increase prices in order to earn a profit. Ultimately, this keeps their customers happy by keeping prices low.
On the Walmart privacy issue, I do trust them with my information because until now they have not invaded my privacy. Maybe I’m just a very trusting person, but if the public found out that Walmart was using our information for other purposes, there would be a huge lawsuit against them and they would lose a significant amount of money. I’m sure the reason why they keep their information so secure is to steer away from that. In the article, they clearly state that the information they receive is used to figure out what items are being bought. They are less concerned in making the connection between item and consumer. What is more important is the connection between certain items being bought simultaneously and how they can price each item to increase profit, yet keep the overall amount low. Since Walmart’s focus is not on the customer but rather the things they are buying then they have no reason to utilize my personal information for anything else. Unless my information can be accessed by strangers, then will I be more nervous. As for now, I trust that their security measures are strong enough to keep my information away from uncertified people. If the security starts becoming unsafe or not up-to-date, then I’ll definitely be more worried.
In regards to the question about supplier’s business relationship with Walmart, I believe they are increasing profitability for their manufacturers. If the technology being used is strictly to increase efficiency and allow better communication between suppliers and Walmart, then I believe the suppliers are profiting from this efficient supply chain. If it becomes an issue where they are forcing their suppliers to do more than they can handle then it would become a negative impact for the suppliers. Also, if the situation was not about supply chain efficiency but rather about the prices of products suppliers are selling, then suppliers would be in a difficult position. Unable to deny the requests of one of the largest players in the market, suppliers would have to comply or lose more money by losing Walmart as an ally. The article says that with the new technology they’ve built, they have been able to increase efficiency and ultimately increase turnaround time. This should benefit the manufacturers, not hurt them.

Blog 3 - Dean Kamen & Coca-Cola introduces the FREESTYLE FOUNTAIN

The definition for an innovative product has to be creative, but I believe something that is creative is not always innovative. The Freestyle Fountain is the first – an innovative product capturing creativity in design and function. Why do I believe this? Because first, it just looks appealing. It’s contemporary, sleek, and modern. The white swirls that go around each fountain capture the Coca-cola feeling. The functions are many. Have you ever noticed the difference in taste between opening your own can of coke versus getting it at a fountain drink? The carbonation and flavor is much stronger in a personal can. This new machine mixes the drink ingredients in cartridges inside the machine as a consumer presses on a drink he/she wants. The taste is fresher. It also has a wireless device that detects the drink bought, time it was bought, location, etc. This information is sent directly to headquarters! The researchers at Coca-cola can figure out exactly how much of what drink is consumed in what segment of the market. They can also figure out the popularity of each drink. This helps marketing and sales strategize for maximum profit. It’s INGENIOUS. In the article, “The New, Faster Face of Innovation” they said “experiments will become far more pervasive and persuasive as information technology improves and testing grows faster and cheaper.” The keyword here is PERSUASIVE. The accuracy of quantitative marketing is catching so much detail that you cannot deny the statistics. Companies can use these numbers to persuade the public to believe what they want them to believe. Also, now that data can be collected quickly, the article said that something collected at the beginning of the day could be a full-blown experiment by the end of the day. With new experiments constantly running at a much faster and cheaper rate, I believe innovative products and services will spring up faster than ever before. Another great function with the Freestyle Fountain is that you can choose up to 120 flavors of everything including teas, juices, water, etc. LASTLY, because the machine creates the drinks through the inside cartridges, it could potentially bring clean water to impoverished areas without having to send millions of liquid bottles worldwide. I personally love this product because it takes marketing research to a whole new level, while having future capabilities of helping impoverished nations with clean water. Dean’s innovation is unselfish. He always has the less fortunate in mind. For someone who goes to church regularly and strongly believe in helping others, I very much support this product. If in the future this machine can be sent to hundreds of poor nations, we could save tons of money and effort from digging wells for clean water. They can just plug in their Freestyle Fountain, and clean water is CREATED!

Blog 2 - Predictably Irrational Response

The primary lesson learned from chapter 9 in the book Predictably Irrational is that expectations alter a person’s feelings about the situation from what they would have thought if they never had the expectations. This psychological behavior that affects a person’s willingness to do one thing over another suggests huge insights into design and the way a product is marketed. In the article, one of the examples was that when people drank out of a nicer cup of coffee it tasted better. On the other hand, if the coffee was served in a Styrofoam cup it didn’t taste as good. The implication here is that if companies were to apply this lesson in their companies they would have to figure out what packaging draws people towards their product. Another suggestion to increase sales for a company that sells a generic product like Hill Country or HEB branded laundry detergent should spend more money designing the package to where it looks like it would be good quality detergent. The change in the outer appearance changes people’s perception about the product. Looks DO matter. At least, when it comes to Marketing and Advertising! As Professor Walls constantly remind us, it’s about giving the consumers a holistic experience. If you want to attract customers then it’s not just about how great the taste is, but the presentation of the product is equally important. Another valuable question Marketers can ask themselves is, if expectations affect the way you view a situation, then what can the company do to understand consumer’s expectations? Is there a consistent pattern of behavior in the population? Although everyone has different expectations for different products, but is there a general consistency in behavior that Marketers could target?

Ariely’s main example in this book is the beer test between a regular beer and the MIT brew (which has a hint of balsamic vinegar). When he told people beforehand that it had vinegar in it, most people stuck with the regular beer. When he didn’t say anything and told them to just try it, most people chose the MIT brew. Even when he told them afterwards that there was vinegar, people still reacted the same way they did when they didn’t know what was in the drink, because they already tried it before they could EXPECT what was in it. An example I recall, not from my own experience but from a story I’ve heard, is the story of a death sentenced prisoner who was getting blood drawn. The officer said that if the blood coming from this tube keeps going for a couple of hours, then he’ll only have two hours to live afterwards. What the prisoner didn’t know was that the blood coming out of his body, but from a pig. When the prisoner saw that ‘his blood’ kept coming out, he immediately thought he was going to die. So he passed away two hours afterwards. He expected something that wasn’t actually true. Another example I thought of was, what if people were told to taste Pepsi inside of a Coca-cola can? Would their expectations of the brand trick them into thinking that the drink inside is actually coke. They might find the taste a little different, but blame it on their own over-thinking or they didn’t sleep well last night and isn’t clearly there that day, or maybe they just ate and thought the food from before is changing the taste of the coke right now. These are all examples of people’s perceptions and how it affects the way something tastes or the situation. An example that came from my past experience is when I ate frog meat in Asia. They told me it was frog meat after I had eaten it, and although I was still disgusted, the meat actually tasted a lot like chicken. If they had told me, “hey, try some of this meat. It’s frog.” I would probably either not eat it, or force a piece in my mouth and then spit it out, not even giving the flavor of the meat a chance. This example is similar from the Ariely example: Does it matter whether you give them the information before or after the test? It is just information, and anything factual stays the same, BUT it does matter because if you tell someone beforehand, they already have the EXPECTATION of something tasting good/bad so the mental formulations tricks their taste buds into thinking that the flavors really are good or really are bad.

What Is My Persona?

1. I identify myself as an Asian American, living in a trilingual family composed of Mandarin, English, and Spanish. However, my father is not Hispanic. In his early 20’s, he started his own business in Santiago, Chile and the company has continued to grow since then. Many of my relatives live there and I have visited the city multiple times.

2. I enjoy working out at the gym and do it 4-5 times a week. I wouldn’t consider myself very athletic because I don’t participate in sports, but I would consider myself a health-conscious person always striving to improve body, health, and mind. Some products I would be interested in would be track shorts, health drinks, and innovative workout routines.

3. I enjoy exploring the city and am always looking for new coffee shops or restaurants to surprise my taste buds. I am especially curious to try foods or drinks from different cultures.

4. I have a small group of close friends, but I enjoy having a large variety of acquaintances. These friendships are not limited to similar majors or beliefs, but I enjoy meeting all types of people especially those that are completely different from me. I enjoy comparing cultural differences with people from other countries and understanding why each person acts the way they do.

5. I’ve always grown up with a strong curiosity for anything that I have not encountered before. I’m constantly catching myself getting hooked onto a new personal project. For example, I have a friend who built her own bike. She inspired me to build and personalize my own bike and use it as transportation rather than drive. She also reuses jars as cups for her home. It’s about how you can take one item and use it again in a new and completely efficient way. It’s thinking outside of the box, getting creative. This idea is an expanding necessity in companies today. In the article, “Get Creative”, they emphasize the importance of creativity and innovation. Companies are laying off employees as they hire more people in the design staff. Innovative consumer-centric products that continue to show the consumers that they do need a certain product before they even know they need it, is what increases profit and growth.

6. I grew up in an expanding suburb outside of Houston, Sugar Land Texas. I went to elementary, middle school, and high school with pretty much the same people. I’ve known most of my closest friends for over 7 years.

7. I didn’t become Christian until my junior year of high school. Most people would characterize that as a born-again Christian. Ever since then, I’ve devoted my life to following God and spending most of my weekends in church. I’ve grown from just a member in church to a leading a college ministry with four other college students and a college Pastor.

8. I have a strong motivation to improve my life and the lives of those around me. I’m always striving to improve my own health, education, and future career. When I join an organization, I start as a member but end as a leader. In the end, my ultimate goal is to earn enough money to support myself, my family, and make a difference in other people’s lives with the money I earn with a strong emphasis in supporting missions and ending poverty around the globe. In Jeff Mulhausen’s presentation he said a couple things that really impacted me such as, “business success is equivalent to social benefit.” He also said, “If we can create something that not only drives profit, but can also help a particular group of people, then that is success.” Lastly, “how can we use our capabilities to improve people’s lives?” These quotes are very inspiring and centered on my personal beliefs.

9. I am a HUGE movie fan. I have seen 80% of the movies in the Red Box. My first choice is always Romantic Comedy, although I do enjoy the other genres as well. Most of the movies I watch are your typical box office hits with famous actors. I rarely watch independent films or documentaries, but I’m not against watching them.

10. I love the holidays – Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. I enjoy creating mini themed presents for my friends during the holidays to show my appreciation. As a marketing major, I am aware that many of these holidays are strongly advertised and marketed to attract the consumer, yet ironically I am still strongly attracted to little holiday gadgets. The marketing strategies work! For example, last Valentine’s Day I filled Valentine’s mugs with pink and red M&M’s and wrote each person a personalized note.

The start of the end of a 5 year memorable experience...

customer insights...testing post.....it works... awesome.



University of Texas Austin