Blog 6

            Although I have had an account with Facebook for many years, I have never thought of it as a means to connect with businesses. Although with the momentum that social media has gained, more and more businesses are looking to connect with customers via Facebook. For this blog post assignment, I did a little searching to find what companies had to offer me on their Facebook pages. Two companies I focused on were The North Face and Bose. Both of which are companies that I have been purchasing from for years and I believe create quality products and customer experiences.

I noticed that each of these companies use their Facebook pages to learn from their customers and to create a higher standard of service. I believe the best ways that companies can create experiences or gain insights through social media is to use it to learn what their customers want and deliver on these wants, try to provide information that their customers might be interested in to deepen their interest in the brand, and to address concerns that they may be having.

            I noticed that when I navigate to The North Face’s Facebook page that it immediately brought up a contest that asked users to “like” the t-shirt design that was their favorite. Whichever t-shirt wins the contest will be available in January exclusively through their Facebook page. I think this is an interesting strategy because in addition to “liking” their favorite t-shirt design, there is also room to comment on each of the designs. This will allow The North Face to understand which designs are most popular and what people’s reactions are to each of the respective designs. The North Face could then use this information to better design their products according to the input they received from their customers. Also, by only distributing the winning t-shirt through Facebook, they give people an incentive to check back on their Facebook page to see which one was the winner or to get the t-shirt. This contest may also allow people who follow The North Face’s Facebook to feel that their input actually was heard and used in a company decision. This may help increase feelings of goodwill towards this company.

The North Face’s Facebook page also helps deepen The North Face experience by posting event information and videos that they think their customers would enjoy. They have posts that range from videos of rock climbers in the Swiss Alps, to posts promoting contests that give away tickets to events like the X games in Aspen. They also demonstrate the personality of the brand to customers by using Facebook to promote their partnership with The National Park Foundation. When customers use Facebook Deals to check in at any national park, The North Face will donate a dollar to The National Park Foundation. These posts seem to deepen the brand’s image as a company that is adventurous, concerned with the well being of the planet, and wants to get its customer base more involved in outdoor activities. This allows for a more meaningful customer experience with the brand.  

              

     Bose’s Facebook page was much different than I had anticipated it. They were very direct in asking for customer insights. On their wall they asked visitors questions like, “When you're considering buying a Bose® product, what influences your decision?” This question gained over 280 responses, which shows how eager visitors were to share their opinions. This is a very direct method of using social media to understand what drives customer-purchasing behavior and what they find important in a product. Bose also had a discussion section on their Facebook page that allows customers to share opinions and get advice from Bose. This helps expand the customer service experience with Bose because people can speak directly with Bose and other users of Bose products. 

     Overall, these two companies showed me that the content and services they provide on their Facebook pages could provide a more positive and meaningful experience for customers. Facebook also allows these companies to connect with their customers on a more personal level. Just as Groundswell mentioned, these companies should also monitor Facebook as well as other social media outlets (blogs etc.) to watch what other people are saying about their brand. Social media is a relatively new concept, and is still being adapted to create the most value for users and businesses alike. This is definitely an area businesses should begin to look into to expand their marketing efforts since social media probably won't be going anywhere soon.  

Blog 5

This week’s blog assignment asked for me gather a couple random worlds from friends and then try and create something mixing the two words I was provided. So I sent a text to my two most random friends hoping to get some interesting words to work with…

First word: BASKETBALL

A spherical object or a type of game. Jerseys. Shooting hoops. Space Jams. Game. Memory of winning $50 to a restaurant for winning the March Madness basketball bracket, Playing for the Rockets in 3^rd grade, Attending Nolan Richardson basketball camp when I was younger. Orange ball used to play a sport. When I think of basketball I also think of where the Texas Longhorns play – the drum. Tall people. The squeak squeak of shoes when players are running around on the court. My grandmother who used to play when she was younger.

Second word: BOMB

War, explosion, terrorist. Fear. Various types of alcoholic shots (Jager etc.) Hiroshima. explosive device. Politics. A black ball with a fuse sticking out of it. When I think of bomb, I think of nuclear bombs and bomb shelters. Something that the roadrunner would trick the coyote into holding in the old cartoons.

Since one of my objects is a game, or a ball used for a game, and my other object is used to destroy things it will be interesting to think up ways to combine these two ideas.

Combinations:

-       - The obvious is a bomb that is disguised as a basketball.

-       - A bomb that explodes to release a shower of basketballs.

-       - Basketball Bomb: something cruel a kid might do to another kid where they throw a Basketball at their face while yelling “basketball bomb!!!”

-       - Basketball Bomb: an alcoholic shot that is orange in color. Ingredients yet to be determined... 

-       - Basketball Bomb: A bomb you have to dribble to detonate.

-       - Bomb Basketball: New line of basketballs that are all black in color with a fuse painted on. Very trendy.

-       - A new game kind of like musical chairs, where you throw around a ball around and hope to not be the one holding it when it goes off. Similar to hot potato.

-       - A basketball player that is also a bomb expert.

-       - Bowling balls that are designed to look like bombs, basketballs, or other objects.

-       - A juggler could juggle bombs and basketballs.

-       - Pumpkins that are carved to look like basketballs and bombs.

-      -  A basketball team whose mascot is a bomb.

Of my ideas, only a few strike me as viable product or service ideas.  I think a basketball team with bombs as a mascot makes sense. I can see a city starting with a B have a sports team called the bombs. Ex: the Baltimore Bombs. I think an all black basketball with a fuse design could be an interesting design. It could be a new take on the traditional orange and black basketball. It could also be a realistic product to create bowling balls with different designs on them (such as a bowling ball that looks like a basketball or a bomb). When I picture both of my words I picture spherical objects, it seems to make sense that they could easily be translated into bowling ball designs. A bomb disguised as a basketball seems like something that would be targeted at kids, so hopefully that is not a product that will be coming out anytime soon!

Blog 4

Many products can provide an experience for the consumer. One good that can evoke a customer experience is coffee. It is a product that appeals to many of the senses. It has a pleasing aroma, taste, and feel. However, the coffee experience goes further than this. When people purchase coffee from a coffee shop, they are getting more than just the coffee. They are also paying for the coffee house experience.

When you enter a coffee shop you are often surrounded by the aroma of fresh ground coffee, ambient lighting, soothing music, and upscale surroundings. Your coffee is made for you not by servers but by “baristas”. Loaded terms such as this add to the sophisticated atmosphere many coffee houses aim to project. I am interested in getting to better understand how coffee houses sell their product/experience to customers.  Is it for the coffee shop environment that we are willing to buy a coffee at over $4 a piece? What emotions and experiences does buying coffee from a nice coffee house evoke? I would like to learn more about how a basic good such as coffee has elevated into a luxury good that evokes a range of emotions.

The customer experience surrounding coffee is interesting because depending on where you purchase your coffee your experience will be different. McDonalds and Starbucks both sell coffee, yet it almost seems they aren’t selling the same product at all. Part of the Starbucks experience is the wide offering of exotic coffees and sophisticated surroundings. It is in this environment that Starbucks creates an experience for the customers.

Many people look to coffee to begin their day. This might help us to understand the importance of a chic, luxurious atmosphere at coffee shops. People can see coffee as part of a morning ritual, and they would like to start their day right at a coffee house that can offer them a quality brew and an environment that is pleasant. Also, when they purchase a coffee from an establishment such as Starbucks, they feel like they are getting a luxury item they can feel good about. It is this customer experience that comes from getting a coffee from a coffee shop I would like to investigate further.

This subject is of interest to me because I am one of those people who is a sucker for nice coffee shops. I would like to gain deeper insights on what drives me to spend my money at places like Starbucks versus a most cost effective business, such as McDonalds. I would also like to further understand what elements lead to my experiences surrounding these coffee shops. What actually is it about Starbucks that draws me in? If I could understand what variables lead to the success of coffee houses, they could be maybe applied to another commodity to allow them to gain the same prestige and success.

If I can gather customer insights to discover what makes a coffee shop experience pleasant, I could use my findings to better meet the needs of my customers. By tapping into customer insights, we can find what the customer really wants. If we can identify which experiences are valuable to the customer, we can find ways to adapt a business plan to meet all the needs of our customers. An article by Associated Content described how important atmosphere is to Starbuck’s success. Coffee houses become a place to socialize, study, and to get a cup of java.

Associated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/126954/the_starbucks_culture.html?cat=31

Blog 2

The concept of creating a persona for product development and marketing purposes is new to me. I had never thought about creating a detailed persona for which to target my products or services. As Kate Canales explained in class, design should be human centered. If you keep your target customer in mind while creating your product, it is more likely to be useful to your customer and tap into their deeper needs. Kate explained how Maybelline was originally not creating products that were catching on with older women who were concerned with aging. This segment thought of Maybelline as a company that was catered to younger women and therefore not suited to meet their needs. I saw how by creating a persona of this older woman they could better understand this group and more capable to create a product that suited their needs. They also used information gathered from this persona to cater their advertising campaign so that it resonated with women in this age group. 

If you can gain deep insights about your customer, you can find how to design your product in a way that meets the obvious and unspoken needs of the customer. By uncovering truths and behaviors of the people you are trying to serve, you can find ways to design your product so that it does the most good for this target market. Now that I have seen the in-class presentation and done a few readings on the subject I can see how this could be a useful tool. As you can imagine, creating personas could be a valuable resource for helping create products that really benefit the final consumer.

There is a process to creating a persona. The stages of persona development include family planning, conception and gestation, birth and maturation, adulthood, and lifetime achievement and retirement. Creating a persona using these steps helps develop a persona in a way that mimics the human life cycle. When you develop a persona you gather information that helps you to draw conclusions and better understand the behaviors of a certain group of people.

If a marketer was to create a persona of a college student, it could help them to develop products and services that would better meet the specific needs of this market. If a marketer were to create a persona of myself, it might read something like this…

Paige Phillips is a senior college student at the University of Texas. She is 21 years old, female, and Caucasian. She is studying business and has a desire to be successful in whatever she does. She enjoys learning and understanding how her world works. Whenever she has a question, she looks it up right away using her iPhone. She is in her final year of college and uncertain of what her future holds. This uncertainty is a cause of concern to her.

Although she wants to be successful and well educated, she also is concerned with having fun and being able to relax. Paige often has difficulty with time management and is often putting things off until the last minute. This has led her to appreciate not being rushed and being able to work at her own pace. She enjoys spending time with others and having a wide variety of experiences. She is willing to try anything once. She is independent and likes to think for herself this enables her to go and do things on her own. She came to the college without knowing anyone else. She easily adapts to her environment and likes to feel in control of her life. Paige is more of a night owl and enjoys late nights, and is not fond of early mornings. She also enjoys having the latest technology and gadgets. She likes attending sporting events and having a team to cheer for. Her favorite games to watch are Texas Longhorn football games. What she enjoys about these games are the energy and sense of community that a common sports team can bring. 

Her lifestyle is somewhat fast paced. She always likes to be doing something and not idling. She is enthusiastic about music and films. Paige also enjoys spending time outside. She likes being outdoors for relaxation and for exercise. For physical fitness, she would rather play golf or tennis than workout in a gym. Like many people her age, she is concerned with appearances and making good impressions. This is her motivation to go shopping and to invest more money in services such as haircuts. She likes to buy products she can feel good about. She likes to feel she has bought something that is well made and that she can get excited about using.

Using this quick description of Paige, marketers could uncover deeper insights about her. They can use the information they gathered about her behavior and lifestyle to develop a product that will suit her needs and others like her. By creating a product with a persona in mind, it can help create innovative products that are human centered. This can lead to a more successful product and an ability to improve design in a way that can better the lives of its consumers. 

Blog 1

I found several things interesting in our class lecture on design philosophy. I thought the idea to design for the other 90% of society was interesting. I feel that often we neglect to think of the rest of society and only create products for a certain category of customers. I thought a good example of a product created for the other 90% was the rolling water tank. This water tank helped to solve a problem that many people were experiencing everyday. Now with this tank water can be more easily transported to and from the home. Designs such as these are improving the quality of life for many people and solving important problems of the other 90%. I also thought the philosophy of designing the system was interesting. Rather than just creating products, it can be beneficial to design new systems and programs to serve the customer. As was discussed in class, cars have been designed and produced for years. Yet, the concept of renting a car for a short term is a new idea that had never been tapped into. This idea has been turned into a program where people can register for the program and conveniently rent cars as they need them. This shows how designing a system can be helpful for the customer.

One thing that I found somewhat misleading was the philosophy to design for simplicity. In lecture, it was said that it is better to have a product do one thing well than many things OK. I believe that a product can be multifunctional and remain beneficial to the customer. There are many examples of such a product, such as the iPhone. Before the innovative iPhone people only thought of cell phones as that – phones. Now however, we see that a phone can successfully include many functions in a way that to the benefit of the customer. However, I do agree that including too many functions in a single product can lead to confusion and deterioration of product quality.

I think the new line of bottled water, H2Orange, is a creative design concept. The bottle is shaped like the famous UT tower and has text in burnt orange. The design of this water bottle is innovative in that it took an ordinary product, the water bottle, and turned it into something that people can get excited about. This product will appeal to students, faculty, alumni, and supporters of the University of Texas – Austin. Another thing I like about this new product is that a portion of the profits goes toward funding scholarships. It is a product that the customer can feel good about buying. The customer can feel they are supporting their school while funding scholarships.

            This water bottle seems to correspond to many of Dieter Rams principals of good design. H2Orange obviously meets the principal that good design is aesthetic. The tower shaped water bottle is attractive and draws the eye. H2Orange also meets Rams principal that good design helps us to understand a product. The design of this water bottle helps the customer realize that the water bottle is affiliated with the University of Texas. The customer then realizes by purchasing this product, they are supporting the university and a scholarship fund. I also feel this water bottle meets Rams principal that good design is innovative. I feel H2Orange is a new and original concept. This is my first time to see a water bottle with such a complicated design. I have also never seen a university create a water bottle resembling their famous landmark. I feel that since this product design is so new that it will draw interest from customers. 

coming soon...