Month: May 2011

I’ve recently heard about the “couple underwear,” which has been popular for years in my country, Korea. I’m not sure if people from other countries are into this “couple-look” idea, and they might find the idea a bit cheesy or ‘gay’ (no offence). A lot of young Korean couples, however, like to share something in common with their lovers, especially fashion like t-shirts, watches, rings, and now even underwear.

In fact, I couldn’t really follow the idea when told the couple underwear. I was like “What the hack is the couple underwear?” and “Who would really like to buy those?”

For those like me, here is an example. (similar pattern with similar colour)

Here are some reasons or assumptions that I think why it’s been successful.  

1. I personally go shopping for underwear, maybe once in a year. In addition, I don’t really put much value on underwear like its design or brand, but as long as it’s comfy, I’m just fine with it. If you were like me, you would be glad to receive a gift like underwear because it saves your time for shopping and it’s somehow unique and special gift from someone. And it’s not really a big deal like a LV or Gucci bag. It costs around $50 to $150 (as a gift, I think the price is reasonable).

2. It’s like a little “secret” between a couple, I think. By “secrete,” I mean a couple likes to share something, which other people don’t know about. People wouldn’t know what kinds of underwear other people wear (it’d be weird if they knew…)

 
In addition to the previous blog, I’d like to talk about the STP process of Beats by Dr.Dre.

Segmentation

Genre can vary from person to person, but basically everyone likes music no matter whether they are male, female, old or young. To someone, however, sound quality can be a big deal more than anything to feel music. Thus, they’re willing to spend their time and money to find better equipment. Beats by Dr.Dre saw the business opportunity from this group of people and segmented them from other.

Targeting

As you can tell from its product designs, Beats by Dr.Dre has targeted from teenagers to maybe mid-thirties. In addition, if you ever used any of Beats by Dr.Dre’s products, you would know its products are very focused on the deep bass sound. That is, the company’s been targeted hiphop or club music lovers

Positioning

Just like many companies, Beats by Dr.Dre also collaborated with celebrities as their marketing strategy and launched artist series headphones. The key celebrities in partnership with Beats are P. Diddy, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and even with the NBA player, Lebron James! Product’ names are diddybeats (P. Diddy), heartbeats (Lady Gaga), powerbeats (Lebron James), and justbeats (Justin Bieber). Since each product of artist series has its own distinctive features from others, Beats by Dr.Dre could capture a range of customers. For example, diddybeats is particularly designed for those who want extremely clear sound with deep bass.

Not only collaborated with the celebrities, but also the company collaborated with HP. Furthermore, Beats recently announced to work with the motor company, Chrysler.

As you can see the picture of Beats’ timeline above, Beats has expanded its market quite fast. However, I found this rapid expasion a bit risky because it doesn’t seem that the company’s had enough time to position well in its market. There are still a lot of people who havn’t even heard of Beats by Dr.Dre. For them, HP with Beats’ sound system wouldn’t be really an attractive option to choose over other brands. Therefore, I feel that Beats might need to slow down a little bit and to monitor its market patiently.

I still remember that I carried Sony walkman all the time, back in the day in elementary school, and played the same cassette tape over and over again until the tape became no longer usable. Few years later, in high school, I bought Sony CDplayer and was amused by clear sound. Now with my iPod and Beats by Dr.Dre headphone, better than ever before!

To those who might not know the company, Beats by Dr.Dre, I’d like to briefly introduce the company. Beats by Dr.Dre was founded in 2006 by a hiphop artist, Dr.Dre, and American music producer, Jimmy Lovine. Its products are all about sound QUALITY and fashion as well. The prices are quite a bit expensive compared to other companies. However, if you love music and fashion, I’m sure that you want to try any of its products because its sound quality is amazingly awesome!

Here is a video clip from youtube.com, and I want you to take a look

Did you find people in the video kept talking about QUALITY and QUALITY? Applying the concept of Maslow’s hierarchy needs, I believe most people are satisfied with the first three fundamental needs – physiological, safety, and love & belonging – so they would want to improve the quality of their lives in many ways.

For those people, especially music lovers, the company developed high-end headphone.

Here is what Dr.Dre said.

“People aren’t hearing all the music. Artists and producers work hard in the studio perfecting their sound. But people can’t really hear it with normal headphones. Most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, the dynamics. Bottom line, the music doesn’t move you. With Beats, people are going to hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do.”

In value-based marketing era, Dr.Dre correctly understood what customers wanted and needed, and he satisfied them with unprecedented products. That’s why I think Beats by Dr.Dre has been so successful in its industry.

A Starbucks is on every corner!
At the intersection of Robson and Thurlow, there are two Starbucks across from each other.

Here is the picture from Google map

The interesting thing (at least to me) about these two starbucks is that although both are located in the same intersection, it seems that one is targeting fairly different segment from another in terms of marketing.  

First of all, as you might know, one has a patio, but the other doesn’t.

The one on the left side

(I guess people from Red Robin would come down here and enjoy coffee while they’re waiting)

Another on the right side

From this point, I’ll just call the store with a patio as starbucks A, and the other without patio as Starbucks B, for the convinient reason.

In addtion to the patio, I’d like to point out a couple more different strategies between Starbucks A and B.

1. Table arrangement

At starbucks A, tables are mostly round-shaped and randomly distributed, so people could sit around and talk. On the other hand, tables at Starbuck B are square and nicely arranged,  so people could use their laptop and study more comfortably.

2. Power Outlets

Actually, I am now at Starbucks B, so let me count how many outlets are around me… I found 6 power sockets and I’m pretty sure there’d be more. What about Starbucks A? Well, considering its limited space, I believe there’d be less.

Since I couldn’t find any coffee shops within a block from these two Starbucks coffee shops, it seems that they are dominating cetain part of the downtown area. And I believe this kind of success wouldn’t be seen easily downtown. I’m wondering how much further starbucks could expand their market.