Forbes Magazine put together a tribute to the legendary Steve Jobs by having celebrities and prominent CEO’s share thoguths about the technology tycoon:

Innovative. Passionate. Visionary. I have never met Steve Jobs, nor have I seen an interview of him, or even heard him speak prior to his passing; yet somehow, if you asked me to describe him in three words, these would be the ones that came to my mind.  Most of us know almost nothing about him personally, but each of us has most likely owned an Apple product at one point in time. Strange, isn’t it, how a person we hardly knew, shapes the workings of our daily lives in one way or another. Think of how many people you know who would dare to not have their shiny black iPhone in their pocket, or who would humour the idea of tackling the daily commute to school without an iPod plugged in. Steve Jobs plucked products that were non-existent and unheard of, ten years ago, out of thin air and made them necessary means through which we all function. Since the release of the first iPod at the turn of the century, it seems that Steve Jobs and the Apple Corporation have led a cavalcade of technological innovations, and we’re all cheering them on unquestionably. As Steve Jobs once said, “Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, usually do.”

Thank you, Mr.Jobs

After we discussed the values of market research in class, I was curious to see how companies could use these strategies in the real world. I stumbled upon Bokardo: the blog of Joshua Porter, a self-procliamed specialist in interface design, and social interaction. His blog has been running for around six years and I came across his post on why Apple doesn’t do market research. Now when I see that arguably one of the most influential companies in the world doesn’t conduct any form of market research, it makes me question its relevance. To quote Steve Jobs directly from the blog post he once said,

                   “We figure out what we [Apple] want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.”

Apple has the philosophy of focusing on innovation first and letting the business follow. This leads me to believe that market research doesn’t have to be a common thread amongst all organizations in every industry: it is very much dependant on the niche of the company. Perhaps it can be useful in a recession, or when testing a product prototype: either way Market research has its place in certain industries, and is irrelevant in others.

When browsing through my peers blogs, I came across an interesting post titled Holt Renfrew’s Vancouver success – reaching out to a larger demographic authored by Cole Routtenberg. I was intrigued by the title; since the last time I checked Holt Renfrew and “large demographic” were not synonymous. Turns out, Holt Renfrew is attempting to lose its exclusive atmosphere and expanding its target demographic to include customers ages 18 to 34. The company has built its reputation as being one of Canada’s premier destinations for high end fashion, comparable to world-renowned fashion destination such as Barney’s in New York, or Selfridge’s in London. It isn’t an easy mould to break.

Yet somehow the luxury retailer is coming off of its most profitable year to date, attracting somewhere between 10 to 15 times more business from 18-34 year olds than before it implemented its cheaper, more affordable clothing line. Apparently the strategy is working: Holt renfrew has managed to uphold its image as a reputable high-end fashion retailer; all the while enticing an entirely new demographic, and succeeding at it.

I think I need to pay a visit to 737 Dunsmuir Street to see this for myself.

Link to Cole’s blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/cleonoff/

Link to article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/todays-paper/Holt+Renfrew+mantra+sizes+ages/5392457/story.html