Keep Sprinting!

Now if you remember, I was trying to come up problems that teens face when they move out of their parent's house after high school. Well we narrowed the problem down to money and budgeting. And to my satisfaction, we finally got to my favorite part of the design sprint, solutions! During design sprints we are put into groups of about five, but a lot of the work is actually done individually until eventually brought to the whole group. I actually like the way it works because it allows you to come up with your own ideas without being influenced right off the bat by your group members. Once we had our own creative solutions in the form of a story board, we then took it to the group and starting the voting process on the one we thought was the best. This was pretty fun because we got to use little colored dots to express which ideas or parts of each story board we liked the most and we eventually narrowed it down to two, and voila! We have our solution. (Which I will reveal in my next blog once we actually create the components of this solution.)

I am really enjoying this creative process so far because that's my favorite thing about marketing, being creative! I have always been a creative soul but I can finally bring that forth in these classes that allow me to do so. 

Rant Time!

So for this blog, I am going to rant a little bit. Hope you don't mind! 

Since when did every app on my phone become completely overrun with advertisements? I can be scrolling through my feed on Facebook or Twitter and there can be anywhere from 5-10 ads promoting things that I never "liked" or "favorited"; it has come completely intrusive. I go on those sites for the social aspect, not to be bombarded with things that I take no interest in. I even know some people who have stopped using a social media forum for the sole reason of too many advertisements. I think that this leads to a slippery slope; where does it end? Surely not with our email.

I have gotten so much spam mail inviting me to check out a site or go sign up for free things and it becomes truly overwhelming. I even still get mail from a store I ordered one item from years and years ago asking me to order more. I think that this problem will get worse over time, driving people away from being on certain social media sites and downloading certain apps. It can also stray people away from giving any of their information out in stores or online to avoid the spam mail. The annoyance that the public is displaying does not look good for marketers. But at least their ads are getting acknowledged, just not in the right way. 

Sprinting? Sounds Exhausting

Whenever someone thinks of sprinting they think of the exhausting task of running as fast as you can. But have you ever heard of a design sprint? Well, it's sort of the same thing, except with your mind. In class we are partaking in a design sprint over a three day period. We are suppose to come up with a product or service that would be helpful to those 18-year-olds who are moving out of mom and dads house for the first time. 

We have only conquered day one thus far and during that day we were only allowed to think of problems or issues these 18-year-olds might face, no solutions! Now I don't know about you, but it was very hard for me to think of a problem and not instantly think of how I can fix it; it definitely gave me a run for my money. These design sprints are very popular for finding a solution to a problem, and it is a very long journey to get from A to B, which I believe is what makes them so effective. 

So far, during this process I can only think of one thing. Wow, it is so hard to try to create something that isn't already out there. There seems to be a product, app, or service for absolutely everything! But as a future marketer, that is something I'll have to adapt to. As I am approaching Day 2 of the design sprint I will keep you updated on what comes next!

Choices, Choices, Choices

I recently read a book for class called The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. It was an interesting read because he talked about how many choices stress us out and leaves us incapable of making decisions. Basically, there are two types of people, satisficers and maximizers. Satisficers choose the option that is "good enough" and don't spend hours making a decision. Maximizers are quite the opposite, they can spend hours, days, years, looking for the perfect item, whether it be a car or more the perfect jacket. Sure, a person can be both a maximizer and a satisficer based on the how vital the decision may be.

Another interesting point Schwartz made was if we are able to opt out of the decision we are making after we have made it. For the maximizers out there, being able to take something back after buying it could open many doors, leading them to be more stressed because there is so many potential options. Sounds silly right? I personally love to buy things knowing that I can take them back if they are not what I expected, but for some it may just be too much. 

When faced with many choices, Schwartz gives a couple solutions to make the process a little easier. A few being, make yourself some rules. If you have rules to follow, you are already cancelling out some of the choices at hand, making your decision easier. Another is to regret less. Maximizers have a tendency to regret decisions after they have made them, even if they are the right ones! It is important that we control that regretful feeling under control. Lastly, speaking of control, we need to learn how to control expectations. In many cases, lowering our expectations can lead to feeling for satisfied after making a decision. Low expectations, low disappointment!

Wedding Bells

With wedding season right around the corner I thought I would bring up a topic we talked about not too long ago in my consumer behavior class. We read this article called Married on a Broomstick and it talked about this huge fad for themed weddings, anywhere from Game of Thrones to Harry Potter. There is an entire population of people who are celebrating their nuptials in attire from their favorite fantasy. 

The average spending on a wedding in the US is around $25,000, you could buy a brand new car with that! But hey, it is a growing market and wedding planners and providers couldn't be more happy about it. Large weddings have never been a big thing until the more recent years. The idea of spending a massive amount of money on 24 hours sounded ridiculous for some but for others, the idea was compelling. As for the people in the article, they wanted to spend those few hours enjoying themselves by incorporating their favorite characters into their special day, thus, creating a new trend. 

This just shows that whether is is a product, service, or event, things are constantly changing and being reinvented and we has consumers have control of that. There may be a small niche for some things but that's the compelling part. Even a small niche can grow into a nationwide fad and benefit both consumers and producers.

Be Sure to Share

Ever since we were toddlers we have been told to share; it is a common ground of sincerity. But as we grow older how much are we actually willing to share, and who exactly are we willing to share with? Enter, the sharing economy. 

I'm sure many of you have heard of organizations such as Airbnd or Zipcar. Well if you haven't they are a major part of the sharing economy. Airbnb allows you to rent out a room or house for a certain amount of time in many different countries (yes, these are actual people's homes). Zipcar allows anyone to rent a car for anywhere from an hour to a day, gas and insurance included!

I think the sharing economy is amazing and convenient for the consumer, but what about the person offering their home or their services? These people have to have a lot of faith in humanity and trust in people, and that is where I think I would fall short. Sure sure, I bet you would get some pleasant people staying in your homes but there's always those few who take advantage of the experience and ruin the good-hearted concept. I'm sure that with the eco-friendly, cost-sparing society we have become that the sharing economy will grow to great lengths to where you can share just about everything with anyone. These organizations just need to be sure to not fall suit to a slippery slope.

One Expensive Industry

Recently in one of my classes we talked about the weight-loss industry and its effects on consumers of that industry and even the suppliers. This industry yielded over $60 billion in 2014 and I believe that number will continue to grow, especially for my generation. 

The weight loss industry is almost effortless for the creators of new fad diets. They basically get a couple people to try it and then it is completely word of mouth from there. I don't know about you guys, but my Facebook feed floods with people constantly posting before and after pictures of their diet journey or pictures of diet products. It becomes inevitable to whether those people will become suppliers and try to sell it to you, or you will merely see their results and have to try it all for yourself. I'm not discouraging any of these people because I even fell suit to trying fad diets myself. But the real questions begs; if these diets claim to work so well, why are there so many? Ah ha! Because they all have a fail system. If you don't keep up with these diets for eternity then you will gain your weight back (not everyone experiences this, but most). That's why these companies make so much money. The consumer does a ridiculously expensive diet challenge for a month or so then they think that they need to keep buying these products to keep the weight off, and most of the time, they do!

The weight-loss industry is sneaky, and in today's society people are becoming more and more health conscious which is making this industry grow substantially. 

A Fun Way to Sell

Ah, one of my favorite things, creative packaging. I cannot tell you how often I am persuaded to buy something because I think the color or texture of the packaging is mesmerizing. And hey, isn't that what the marketing industry is all about? The art of persuasion through creativeness. 

Lately, since taking some new marketing courses I have become more aware of the products I buy and why I buy them. Typically, I am very brand loyal and will buy the products I know and love. But if I'm trying something new I usually base my decisions on what catches my eye.  

I found this really cool article called 25 Creative Packaging Designs That Practically Sell Themselves! This article absolutely blew my mind and I can't tell you how many of these products I would actually buy just because I like the concept of the packaging. I definitely recommend checking all 25 out but if you're a little short on time I will show you some of my favorites.

The Power Behind Ads

I recently stumbled upon an article about 25 ads with a serious message and some of them definitely caught my eye. Some of the ads are a little brutal and seriously honest but I'm gonna share some of my favorites with you that relay an outstanding message.

All of theses ads display a very powerful message in little to no words; this is effective marketing at its finest. More ads like these need be circulated around all forums of media to give our society a wake up call. 

Think, if every beer bottle top had the car on it that you would smash when you opened it, wouldn't it make you think twice about drinking and driving once you've open say 5 or 6? We as marketers have the power to nudge consumers to better themselves and society and these ads have absolutely nudged me.

The Art of a Nudge

As promised, I would talk a little more about nudging!

A while ago we read a book for my class called Nudge by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler. The concept of the book is persuading consumers to make good decisions despite our imperfections.  A nudge could be anywhere from persuading people to take the stairs by making the option more attractive or fun or simply putting carrots at eye level instead of pizza in a cafeteria to persuade a healthier lifestyle.

I'm sure many of you are thinking "Oh my gosh, I've been nudged!". And the truth is, you have. We are nudged by the absolute smallest things all day, every day. Some nudges may be very obvious while other can be such a subtle day-to-day motion. Here is an awesome link to some very creative nudge examples! Hope you all enjoy them as much as I did!