Certain companies may employ marketing considered as unethical as a part of their strategy. Let’s look at the American Apparel’s ‘Hurricane Sandy Sale’. The campaign is in line with other run previously by the AA.
What for some clients may seem unethical, certainly promotes the image of the company as alternative and rebel, and thus differentiates it from its competitors. What for some is aggressive or tasteless, for the other customers may be desirable.
AA’s CEO, Dov Charney, stated that the event was misunderstood and the reactions were exaggerated by a group of bloggers. The campaign has generated sales.
It’s difficult to determine the long-term impact of this particular ad on the company. Nevertheless, I would not classify the AA’s ad as unethical, but designed to create debate and thus generate interest in the brand.
Looking from the other perspective, it’s interesting that the company that on one hand builds on values like domestic production (as opposed to the rivals’ abuse of child labor) or fair wages for its employees recurs to the behaviors that are designed to attract attention (often negative) at any price.
Last 10 weeks in d.studio have been a very intense time, full of new experiences and challenges. Along the semester I came across a number of resources that helped me understand the concept of design thinking. I reflected on the reasons why people are innovative and what conditions lead to disruptive innovations. These two videos were a good starting point for me:
Carl Rogers defined the following conditions for creativity:
– being open to experience, not judging or categorizing at the beginning
– having an internal focus of evaluation (step back, avoid final answers)
– being able to toy with elements and concepts.
d.studio tools
I agree with these principles and in d.studio, working on the project with Climate Smart we were applying them to our process.
Apart from these generic guidelines, my group used a series of techniques from the design toolkit. Some of them were very useful to define our goals and direction we wanted to follow. This was the case of Business Model Canvas, Brainstorming, EyePhone and team SWOT. Other techniques were helpful during the process, to overcome difficulties we’ve encounter; this is especially the case of assumption-dumption, improvs and prototyping. Prototyping was probably the single technique that has had the biggest impact on our project: not only it made us ask more about the reasons and possible pathways to our goal, but also allowed us to spot issues or mistakes in our assumptions. A prototyping-improv performed by our group in class took 10 minutes to design, 5 minutes to play twice (with group feedback in between). We presented the online-learning experience that the course we were designing should deliver to the customers. The feedback from our colleagues in d.studio was very precise, probably because the improv was so visual and involving. This make me realize how many times prototyping can be done with little o no means.
Survey planning and individual interviews that were designed to help us understand the market were more complicated. Nevertheless, we came across various problems. First step was running the survey on-line, which proved to be unsuccessful because the respondents were not representative of the market. Second run of surveys and interviews was much improved, distributed in person. The results were very different from the online research. This experience was valuable to me as I understood the role of careful planning in surveying or interviewing. It’s a challenge to write questions that won’t affect respondents’ answers. Unless carefully planned, the research and data analysis can be a waste of time. However, our process of running a survey, redesigning it and re-running it was a perfect example of ASK-TRY-DO process with the goal of continuous improvement. This involves continuously generating, evaluating and sorting the ideas.
Personal growth
The time I spent on the Climate Smart project within the d.studio was filled with meetings and interactions with Climate Smart team, teammates, students and other stakeholders, as for example university administration and teaching representatives. As I was responsible for external communication, I needed to learn how to do it more professionally and efficiently. Together with my teammates we reflected on the importance of asking right questions. We designed the meeting outlines of the meeting with Brian Bemmels in collaboration with Elizabeth. Client engagement was further assured by meeting with the Climate Smart team and discussing our ideas on different Climate Smart training prototypes.
Inspirations
Another inspiring idea came to me while reading the ‘In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change’ by Brian Boyer, Justin W. Cook and Marco Steinberg. This publication describes how design thinking in can be used also in Public Sector to boost innovation by changing the environment where it is to be generated. I was later on capable of joining the conference by Brian Boyer, ‘Re-Design for social innovation’, which he delivered in the UBC Robson Square centre. I found this topic very interesting as in the past I worked for an NGO that was funded by the European Union and some of the concepts and ideas could be applied in that sector. Furthermore, I believe that countries need design thinking just as much as the companies, so that can meet their goals and better respond to the changing environment.
Criticism vs. critique
The discussion about constructive critique and how the criticism can be transformed into a critique by asking the right questions were very helpful to me. They help in improving overall communication with colleagues. Instead of defending an idea , one should rather ask how to improve, why is it a bad idea, ask for feedback and know how to accept it.
Challenges
The project was many times challenging. Firstly, using tools like improvs, business model canvas, business brief or prototyping for a first time in business context provides a unique learning opportunity but it also requires a considerable amount of time and effort to produce desired effects.
Providing feedback within the group, responding to others suggestions, communicating effectively and keeping momentum throughout the semester were also some of the challenges I had to face.
Conclusion
In conclusion, d.studio was an enriching experience which helped me to make a first step into the world of business design. I learnt how to analyze a business from a different angle (business canvas), look for patterns and explore their potential; I’ve improved my communication and feedback skills and design processes based on ASK-TRY-DO methodology. Finally, I’ve expanded my professional network to the companies that I’ve worked for, professors and my colleagues. This is very likely to have a significant impact on my future career.
