Social Media

As the Groundswell Chapters state, “Social networking sites and virtual worlds are by definition about the facilitation of relationships with technologies.” Which is exactly how companies can use Facebook to build a greater consumer experience. However, not all companies should be on Facebook. Many times companies will jump on the bandwagon to try to enter every space their consumers are located, but this can lead to many problems. For example, start-ups generally do not have enough brand awareness to begin weaving a community with such a small consumer base. Another misconception about social media that adds onto the list of failed attempts is the fact that many people assume social media is free. This is not true. When a company has the equity to invest in entering into social media with the proper personnel constantly updating the content, then perhaps the company should proceed in investing in the medium.

As can be seen on Burger King’s Facebook page, it is a great example of how to use social media to really engage with consumers. In terms of campaign support, the Burger King Sacrifice was a hit, where users had to de-friend ten friends to get a free whopper. Not only does Burger King know how to integrate their online content with their campaigns, they have setup their Facebook page very well. When I see their wall, it looks like it was designed to restrict users from freely posting on their wall like they can on their friends. This may seem a bit restrictive, but it will help Burger King control any negative comments by “hiding” them. What I mean by hiding is that users have to click the tab to view comments in order to see what users and writing about Burger King. Another thing that Burger King does well is updating the content frequently. Restricting the wall almost forces BK to update their content constantly otherwise their wall would be empty. Also if you look at the tabs at the top of the page, the content was separated well. Companies should use those tabs to organize their content and engage consumers. If you look at BK’s they have videos for entertainment and polls to really allow the users to interact with one another. Another interesting aspect with Facebook is the ability to aggregate consumer insights by collecting data from users’ profiles. Facebook analytics allows marketers to better target their ads. By tracking what advertisements users “like,” marketers can send more relevant ads to that user. For example say I like an ad for AMC Theaters, the next time I login there maybe ads for upcoming movies or other theaters. Also when a user likes something, it appears on their feed so that all their friends will be exposed to the advertisement.

Overall, to evaluate the benefits of social media, one should consider the questions posed in the Groundswell chapters.

Does it enable people to connect with each other in new ways? When looking at a company’s page, they should ideally add content to engage users into a “community” to discuss the content. Is it effortless to sign up for? Facebook is very simple to use and should not pose any problems for users.
Does it shift power from institutions to people? In general Facebook does give power to the users to connect and form their own community of friends without getting in the way of their progress. In terms of a company’s page, if it is poorly monitored then consumers can overpower the company like mentioned in class with Cooks Source. Some pages are heavily monitored to protect the company, but it should never be to the point where they take the freedom of speech away from users.
Does the community generate enough content to sustain itself? Yes, because it is fairly easy for users to upload pictures onto a company’s page (they usually do not restrict photo uploads) and it is easy to comment on walls. The features of Facebook were meant to be self-explanatory and simple, like the thumbs up feature means you like something. This ease allows users to create their own content.
Is it an open platform that invites partnerships? According to the article, “Open platforms like Facebook, which opened up its interfaces to application developers in 2007, get continual new functionality without so much work on the part of the founders.”

Broom + Lamp = ?

First word: BROOM
The first thing I think of when I hear the word broom is its purpose, a cleaning device. Culturally for Chinese New Year you are suppose to use your broom to sweep out bad luck from your dwelling. Some of the random thoughts that come to my mind are old ladies chasing pigeons with their broomsticks or a super mom using a broomstick to do all sorts of things besides cleaning such as reaching things from far away and poking this and that from a distance. For example, the mom would use her broomstick to tip the carton of milk into her child’s bowl of cereal and then catch a child’s falling books with the broom and shove it back into their backpack. I can also see old tenants using the end of a broomstick to poke at their ceiling to hush up their loud neighbors. Lastly, since it is so close to Halloween I think of witches using them for transportation. Some random words that just come to mind are Swiffer (the newer modified version of a broom), dusters, bristles, and a long stick.

Second word: LAMP
With the word lamp, I think of Ikea because I am sitting next to my Ikea lamp, and it’s on right now. My next thought is what powers the lamp, a light bulb! More specifically my lamp has a compact fluorescent bulb inside which seems to be the newest and most popular type of bulb to get because of its eco-friendliness. At night I always have my lights on because I am legally blind and it serves as my visual aid through the dark. It’s my beacon of light or like a light house that saves me from crashing into things. I also think about how Thomas Edison was proud of readjusting everyone’s biological clocks by one hour. Thanks to him i've become nocturnal and get no sleep at all. This leads me to my last thoughts which are I need to go to bed earlier, so I can stop wasting so much electricity and that all lamps need to be wireless to clear the clutter and become more aesthetically pleasing.

Fusing the two
1. A broom with a lamp attached at the bristle area
2. A lamp with a broom engraved in it
3. A broom with a lamp attached on the top
4. A broom with bristles that can light up
5. A lamp covered with bristles
6. A broom designed to hold a bulb at the end
7. A broom where the stick can light up
8. A broom made from old recycled lamps
9. A broom with a lamp shade/stand that covers the bristles
10. A lamp with broom bristles as a type of handle to hang the item from a ceiling

Viable products
1. A broom with a lamp attached at the bristle area- so that light will be shown towards the end of the broom used for sweeping. This would help users sweeping in hard to reach areas that might be to dark to see whether you have swept all the dirt from that area.
2. A lamp, such as one with a bulb that is surrounded by walls, with broom images engraved in the walls- perhaps the consumer can schedule when the light should turn on automatically to signal it is time to clean the house. When the light turns on, an image of a broom will shine on the consumer’s wall as a signal to start cleaning.
4. A broom with bristles that can light up- it can allow you to better see what is on the floor so that you sweep up everything (same concept as 1)
6. A broom designed to hold a bulb at the end- with the fluorescent bulbs they have a spiral shape, so with the broom’s end it can be shaped in a way to fit the top of the bulb onto the end of the broom; that way consumers can use the broom to help screw in bulbs into light fixtures that are too high to reach
9. A broom with a lamp shade/stand that covers the bristles- this can either make the product more ascetically appealing to leave the broom out on the kitchen floor which would make it easily accessible

I Scream Cry For Ice Cream

For my paper, I would like to explore ice cream in general (no specific brand). First off, who doesn’t like ice cream? I’m lactose intolerant but that doesn’t stop me from devouring a pint of Blue Bell Birthday Cake. To be totally honest though, it was because of this music video (which I am hesitant to link to and is by no means what I normally look up on Youtube or listen to… so don’t judge me!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaSmikcBod0) that the phenomenon of ice cream jumped out at me. What I wonder is has the entertainment industry created ice cream as a comfort food or have people naturally gravitated to this dessert by themselves? Is this an international norm? The general question in this case is WHY do people eat ice cream? However, my interests lean more towards whether ice cream is a comfort food or not (I have not decided which route to go). The implications of discovering the connections of customer insights with their experiences is valuable in terms of how to better promote this product. Perhaps there are better forms of packaging to serve this market. Also, if I can discover whether there is a correlation between consumption and emotional state, then perhaps I can discover whether to credit or discredit the entertainment industry for this. The value of that conclusion could possibly have greater implications for integrated brand promotions. Personally, I think it would just be interesting to determine different experiences people go through when eating ice cream.

To begin, I started thinking of why I even eat ice cream. Maybe emotions have nothing to do with consumption? For me, I usually have cravings for this dessert after being exposed to a Blue Bell ad or passing through the frozen section of the grocery store. One would think that living in Texas where the temperature goes into the triple digits increases my ice cream consumption to every second of the day. However, at least fore me, I actually do not think weather has any affect on when I eat it or not. I recall one winter I went to the store just to buy ice cream and the clerk questioned whether it was too cold to eat something like that. Thus, perhaps there are more reputable factors to contribute to why we eat ice cream. Also, it would be quiet a leap to assume that if this ice cream binge eating phenomenon really existed it would apply to everyone. This is why I am tempted to just focus on figuring out if there is a specific persona that is more drawn towards this product where the correlation between emotional state and eating consumption is the strongest.

However, I still cannot rid myself of the feeling that perhaps the whole ice cream is a comfort food has been fabricated by the entertainment industry and consumers just play along with the idea. Perhaps conformity to what was falsified as a norm is what is driving this phenomenon, how ironic would that be? This is why I am stuck on whether to write about ice cream consumption in general or go with my greater interests. If I did look at consumption in general, I would consider the marketing mix with product, price, place, and promotions. Do these factors affect ice cream consumption? Is this type of dessert so popular because of the abundance of flavors offered? Could it be because this market is so saturated that pricing allows all consumers with ranging incomes to purchase it? Maybe consumption is so high because of the abundance of locations that serve ice cream? Just look around you. There are specialized shops such as Marble Slabs to grocery stores with everything from gelato to private-label products, ice cream is everywhere and is quite easily accessible. The same is true even in the 1900s. Looking at the history of ice cream, in 1920, Harry Burt sold his ice cream bars from white trucks with bells. This product was so popular that it was being sold on a truck. What other products have such dominance on consumer shopping lists and is sold in fleets of trucks? It doesn’t even stop there. Ice cream goes even further back towards the 4th century B.C. There have been references from when the Roman emperor Nero commanded ice to be brought down from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings. What was Nero doing with ice cream? Was he eating it while he was witnessing the destruction of Rome? Was he eating it as a snack in his theaters?

Here is a report from Mintel that contains data that explain relevant market trends and delves a bit into the purchasing behavior of consumers. For example, it shows that in the U.S. ice cream spending is continuing to decrease since 2007. Also, supermarket sales of ice cream dropped in 2008, but there was a huge jump in purchases made at drug stores. http://academic.mintel.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=393447/display/id=460950#hit1

Customer Experiences

To begin to describe my ultimate consumer experience, it would be helpful to reflect on what I have read and learned in class. From Schmitt’s article, “A Framework for Managing Customer Experiences,” he describes the five basic senses (sense, feel, think, act, and relate) that experiential marketing should appeal to. Wall’s in class lecture sums up these five senses in a way that makes more sense from a first glance. He describes those senses with relations to sensory, emotional, intellectual, behavioral, and relational elements. The author also goes on to mention ExPros which are experience providers that are implementation components at the disposal of the marketer for creating a sense, feel, think, act, or relate campaign. That means people, logos, advertising, etc. all add to this experience.

My best consumer experience is not related to one shopping experience but to everyone I have when I am at IKEA. If I really think about, why do I even need furniture? I have never stayed in one apartment for more than a year. As a nomad, furniture would actually cause me a great inconvenience every time I move. Not to mention it takes 40 minutes to even get there. However when I do arrive, I am always excited when I see the huge IKEA flags flowing through the air like I am their selected royalty but not really because almost everyone on I-35 suddenly starts to exit towards 1 IKEA Way. The congestion in the IKEA parking lot is not like at Wal-Mart where I waste all my time looking for the closest parking space and give up in frustration. At the IKEA lot, I am happy to just be there and to get a spot even though it is the farthest from the store.

When I shop at IKEA, I feel like I am in a giant maze. However, the placement of various designed rooms provides a sense of random coziness in the middle of cluttered furniture and people. It is also a nice aid for decoration tips at home. As I feel like I am nearing the end, it turns out I have been walking in circles. I swear the signs that claim you are approaching the check-out lie so that consumers end up lingering longer and purchasing more. Yet I have to admit sometimes I do not tell my friends when I find the exit because I want to wander around a bit longer, oops. When I do manage to get to the check-out area, I pass the children’s section. Even the kids are happy to be at IKEA. Heck if they can run around the store and have fun than taking another round through the store wouldn’t hurt. Watching those kids made me realize that IKEA was like a playground for adults. With a more mature sense of enjoyment, adults begin to derive a satisfaction when purchasing products to improve their home whether for purposes just as simple as utility or to impress guests with their designing skills they secretly stole from IKEA.

To further break down this experience I consistently have with IKEA, I will use the categories described by Walls and Schmidt.

Sensory- The greatest sensory experience that I think is most worthy of noting is the restaurant at the end of the store. It is a clever location to stick a restaurant because it stops consumers from immediately leaving the store by attracting them with the aromas of their cooking.

Emotional- With IKEA’s limited commercials in the U.S., I feel they actually cheapen the brand for me. The “twice a year sale” shows me that for price, their products lack in quality. The Spike Jonze lamp commercial shown in class seems to portray furniture is just furniture. There is no emotional attachment. You just keep moving on to better furniture which is exactly what I feel I will do in the future but only with products that I really want to last for a long time like a leather coach. However, assuming I would abandon IKEA would be underestimating the power of consumer experiences. I am loyal to the brand and would still do a majority of my shopping there.

Intellectual- In my opinion, the designed rooms were not meant to be emulated but to spark innovation and ideas as to how I can mesh different products together to create a room that I like with the right nudge from the IKEA designers.

Behavioral- IKEA is progressively pushing their economical friendliness into their product designs. It was the first store that I know of to publicize a solar powered lamp. I think that many of their consumers would really enjoy these green products. IKEA places an emphasis on these products in their catalogue which finally allow consumers who have been riding the “going green wave” to so to speak “walk the talk,” by slowly converting their house into more energy efficient units.

Relational- When I look at the products IKEA sells, I usually think, “man when I finally settle down somewhere I want my apartment to have all these cool things.” I want to be perceived as stylish in a modern sense and be able to hang my kitchen knives on walls with magnets and have weird funky chairs everywhere.

ExPros- The website is an important ExPro because it allows me to create a shopping list. They do not ship items online which might be because they are trying to stay consistent with their cheap prices and the fact that this forces consumers to go to the store where the biggest customer experience lies. Another ExPro are the people who work there. To not overwhelm customers with all the clutter of products, they have store assistants there to search for items that customers are looking for. The staff is always friendly, and they always go out of their way to help you. When I went there, one of the employees was literally sweating from running around trying to find an item for me.

Overall going back to what we learned in class, I have to say that focusing on creating customer experiences can turn what seems trivial like shopping for kitchen utensils into something that can make a consumer loyal to a brand. These experiences can help differentiate a brand in a congested market which I believe IKEA has done very well.

Personas

Throughout the week there have been lectures and readings dealing with how to form a persona for a segmented target market. Karen, from P&G, and the readings on persona lifecycles both describe the steps taken to develop these insights by understanding the traditional factors of segmentation (behaviors, characteristics, and motivations) of a particular group. 

If a marketer would need to create a persona of me the first step would be to find fundamental data such as my demographics. Then after interviewing and observing me, data on psychographics, attitudes, behaviors, etc. should all be recorded to get a basic understanding of who I am. During class we did a project with photo collages and photo journals. Some of the key flaws with these research types are interviewer bias and interviewees portraying an ideal image of themselves instead of who they really are. Thus, I would recommend that the marketer interview the people in my life to avoid those types of errors. With the collected information, marketers can begin to develop insights that would cater to my brand. 

To begin exploring what would make up my persona, here is some information about myself that would be useful. 

Family

I was raised by my brother, Alexander, which is why I fault him for my manliness. His interests became mine and sadly I began to realize I was turning into an Alexandra. My parents were never home and did not support me financially. Thus when I turned sixteen, I began to work legally. As for my sister, she was never home because she was always doing gymnastics. As you can see from my family history, one may have concern for the emotional development of the children. Despite this oddly functioning family, after college, we have all learned to appreciate one another and we are now a very close knit family.

Student

I am a college student that supports herself through college. Since I am paying for my education, I value it and want to get the most out of UT. I would even like to go to gradate school after working for a few years.

Buying behavior

I am obsessed with technology. My purchases tend to gravitate towards products that make my life easier because my schedule is filled with school and work. Also since I support myself, I feel the products I buy should be worth the money I earned. I always read reviews for almost everything I purchase because quite frankly I use the internet way too much, so why not? Also, everything I purchase must have some sort of justifiable utility that will appease the cognitive dissonance of blowing all my paycheck on something. This also shows that I make few purchases, but they are usually expensive items.

Leisure

Looking back at Freshman year, I think I have beaten myself dry with the “typical college life,” which in UT terms means partying all weekend. I like to say I have gotten over that time in my life and no longer find the "typical college life" as hyped up as it seems. Thus, for my leisure time I like to spend it at home hanging out with my friends or eating out with them. I try to steer away from downtown because I do not need that drama in my life anymore, and if you think about it how fun is it really dealing with a hangover everyday?

Design Philosophy Applied to Marketing Practices

     As described in the 10,000 page IDEO HCD Toolkit (IHT), the designer should get to know the consumer because after all they are who you are selling to. I have never thought of including the target market in the designing process, but it makes sense when it comes to testing proposed alternatives. I think the method explained in IHT is definitely interesting, and I looked forward to applying it into our project.
  
     Now to be totally honest despite the various classes I have taken in marketing and advertising, I never really thought of the design aspect of products. The professor would mention how products should be designed to cater to their target market, but as a class we never went much further than just discussing why Tropicana’s redesign was such an epic fail. If only everyone drank orange juice out of fancy glasses.

     Thus out of marketing’s 4Ps, I dismissed the product as trivial and not worth my time. However after the class lecture with Jeff Mulhausen, I have to reconsider. I know my thinking was too narrow, perhaps as an advertiser the only interest I had was for how the logo looked and what the label portrayed. After Mulhausen explained the various styles of famous designers, it became apparent how crucial the product look/feel really is. For example, Dieter Ram believed in the concept of keeping things simple which is still a successful philosophy today. Apple is a great example of a company that has profited enormously from sticking true to this philosophy. It is interesting how these past designers have been preaching their styles which were viewed as futuristic in the past but currently they are appropriate and quite frankly sell very well today (they were even pushing for eco-friendly products back then).

     Mulhausen also mentioned something that was a bit strange to me. According to him,

“Business Success = Social Benefit.”

The idea of corporate social responsibility has been around forever. Currently, it is all society ever hears about from one company to the next. As a marketer, I can see why companies would commit to such responsibilities to gain brownie points with consumers. However, I am skeptical whether this prediction will come true. I believe that corporate social responsibility is important, but not important enough to the point where it will determine the success or failure of a business.


     Despite everyone suddenly deciding to ride the charity wave, I do not think that the skpetics’ arguments should be ignored. Minette E. Drumwright states that there can be power struggles/ethical implications between partnerships of large corporations and non-profits. For example, if a percent of profits will be given to the non-profit, companies can limit the discretion of their sales to limit the amount of their donations. If you take Milton Friedman’s answer to what a business’ real purpose is, to earn the most profit for its stakeholders, the idea that a business’ success relying on how much it benefits society would be questionable. Will stakeholders support social causes if it affects their return on investments? Nevertheless, I see that Mulhausen has a point. Corporate social responsibility is an important issue today. Consumers are actively responding to products that serve a greater benefit to society as a whole (ex. breast cancer pins, TOMS Shoes, etc.) I just wonder if everyone starts to do it, will companies lose their sense of sincerity among consumers?

Design Philosophy in Action:
      Another innovative product, aside from those mentioned in class, is the Starbucks insulated cup. With its double insulated walls, cold drinks do not leave behind water marks. Also with the extra insulation, drinks stay colder for longer which means you have more time to drink your beverage before the ice melts and waters it down. This was also a creative way for Starbucks to try to entice consumers to be eco-friendly by purchasing this reusable cup and getting discounts each time they did reuse it. The design was so simple! Henry Dreyfuss states, “If people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient, or just happier, the designer has succeeded.” That is exactly what Starbucks did. Good for them.

Hello

Hello