Blog 6: A Friendly Focus Group

In the account planning research reading on blackboard, Alice Kendrick thoroughly summarizes the basics of research from when to gather research to how. While in chapter four, Steel discusses methods of research combined with creativity that he has used and have inspired successful campaigns

            Steel states the aim of the best advertising research is to embrace consumers. In my perspective embracing the consumer means understanding the essence of who they are as people. The best kind of research should not look at the consumer as a buyer first, but instead as person, a friend.   

A couple of years ago my friend was invited to be part of focus group for a fast food chain. The group was directed to go to small hotel conference room in Irving. When she got there, the first thing she was asked to do, to her surprise, was just talk about some of special events in her life. At the moment, we were about to graduate high school and prom was just around the corner, so she mainly talked about those subjects to the moderator. After all the members of the group finished describing the special events going on in their lives, the moderator asked them what types of food they associated with those events in their lives. According to Vero this question lead to a long discussion ranging from complex Italian recipes to fast food.  When the subject of fast food was touched by a member of the focus group, the moderator entered the discussion. He began asking them questions about the particular food chain and group members talked about some of their likes and dislikes. Some of them even began proposing ideas they thought would help the chain. Vero mentioned that after her focus group was over, she no longer thought of other the members of focus group as strangers, but instead more as friends. This particular moderator proved Steel’s perspective that the best research understands the consumer. And by understanding the consumer the moderator received the most honest answers obtained leading to successful research.

Blog 5: Apple's Past

In chapter three, Jon Steel discusses the factors that influence research that isn’t useful for advertising. He concludes the chapter by stating that although research is important, it is not always necessary or the answer to a company’s problem. OWL Purdue in the “Basic Research” reading simply summarizes the types of research that can be conducted and key points on how to properly research.

            Under the section “Pop” Research, Steel briefly describes the way that marketers spend more time and money chasing after trends or people that they do not necessarily understand or necessarily even exist. I believe this was the case for Apple in 1996. Although this particular market failure is not well known, it is important to understand why it failed. In 1996, Apple entered the videogame console market with the release of the Apple Bandai Pippin. The console was meant to function as a network computer and a CD-based gaming console. The crippling factor in this situation is the fact that Apple/Bandai did not understand their target consume base, like Steel mentioned. Although they researched the product and assumed they could have the upper hand in a saturated market by advertising the console as a network computer, Apple did not take into account a major consumer factor. The Internet was not widely used yet and therefore the population was illiterate to such feature in the Pippin. Hence neither Bandai nor Apple understood that marketing the Pippin as computer/videogame console would not appeal to the American population. Another important factor that made the Pippin a failure was its price tag. Bandai/Apple released the Pippin with an astonishing starting price of $599. During this time period, marketing a product with this price tag to the American population would be difficult and as proved with the Pippin, the product would most likely fail. Apple and Bandai made the mistake of not balancing innovation and marketing. Although they spent money creating a product to chase consumers they thought they understood, they did not take the proper time or money to actually understand their consumer. Although Apple created a product ahead of its time, they did not understand the consumer of the time.

 

Source:

 

Bandai Pippin Museum & Archive." Bandai Pippin Museum & Archive. Pearl City Networks, n.d.Web. 21 Sept. 2012.

 

 

 

Blog 3: The Summer Pitch

Bruce provides descriptions of different types of marketing communications or “MarCom,” in chapter four. He then introduces the audience to Howard Gossage, the “Master of the Matrix.” Steel, in chapter two, discusses the history of account planning and his experience entering the field.

In Truth, Lies & Advertising, Steel mentions the role of the account planner in a pitch. He mentions that the way a planner presents a compelling argument and storyline about his or her agency’s efficiency in planning could substantially increase the likelihood of a particular agency winning the pitch.

             This summer I learned the importance of a compelling argument and storyline in winning a pitch. I was given the opportunity to develop an advertising campaign for a small furniture store in Duncanville. At first I was reluctant, I had only taken one course for advertising last spring and felt that perhaps I was not prepared enough to handle such a feat. In the beginning my client and I did not communicate well. She did not understand the importance of giving me a budget. I explained to her that what was “cheap” or “expensive” to her, might not be to me and I needed her opinion so I could create work that she liked. After showing her different prices for website domains, paper, postage, etc. we came to an agreement and she finally gave me a budget. Although her and her husband had received other advertising offers, she decided to choose mine and trust I would develop the best campaign I could. In the end I designed for her two print ads and a website. She decided to trust me because I demonstrated to her that I was willing to work with her to come up with the best strategy for her business, where as the other “agencies” had just given her a proposal without her input or suggestions. By showing her a compelling argument through discussion with her about the budget and through my actions, like being flexible with her suggestions, she decided to pick me to create her campaign. I won that pitch, now as I prepare for this semester I will apply what I learned from Steel and my experience over the summer with hopes of winning. 

www.a1antiquefurnsales.com

 

 

 

  

 

 

Blog 2: Moms & Babies

Bruce discusses the current events taking place in the world of advertising, in chapter two. He especially explains how media fragmentation has impacted marketing communications.  In chapter 3, he defines the “media evolution” and the manner in which consumers are now targeted.

In chapter 2, Bruce explains the four guidelines to creating iconic communication: respect the past, keep it simple, make it meaningful, and make it easy. I believe using these guidelines can allow not only the creatives, but the media and account planners, to develop efficient strategy in order to create successful advertisements. A great example of these guidelines executed effectively is the Procter & Gamble “Thank You, Mom” campaign. The primary target of most of the P&G items are mothers. They are usually the ones in the stores shopping for laundry detergent, paper towels, cosmetics, shampoos, etc. By focusing the whole campaign on motherhood, they did not add complexity to who they were targeting and therefore kept it simple and easy for everyone to connect to the advertisement in one way or another. After all, everybody can relate to concept of motherhood. The ad successfully captures the attention of the audience through emotional appeal. Another guideline they utilized is “respect the past”. Approximately in 2010, P&G released their famous “Every Little Miracle” campaign through the Pampers brand.  The campaign was centered on babies’ differences, ending with no matter the differences they are all little miracles. The “Every Little Miracle” campaign and the “Thank You, Mom” campaign share video concept similarities, showing that the Pampers campaign was taken into consideration when looking for inspiration for the P&G advertisements. The spot also provokes the audience to feel appreciation for their mothers, whether close or far away, dead or alive, therefore making it meaningful to the target audience By creating the campaign with some inspiration of their previous campaign, the Wieden + Kennedy, Portland agency did a great job in respecting an old campaign, taking elements from it, and transforming those elements into a great campaign that touched the audience.. This agency proved that successfully implementing the four guidelines could lead to great campaign.