Word of Mouth

In the past 10 weeks, I have been fortunate enough to be part of a unique learning process: D.Studio.

Design Studio is an upper level elective in Sauder that was created to foster design thinking in a Studio context. The atmosphere of the studio is much more relaxed, accepting and fosters creativity more than any other traditional classrooms. And I have proof!

1. Everyone became a good presenter – Any student, from any option can register for 388. It is not an “elite” class like 486R or New Venture Design where only students with an impressive resume and able to pass two rounds of interviews can attend. Thus, people in the class can be assumed to be representative of the student body. After the first round of presentations, I was surprised to realize that everyone in the room is a good, confident, natural presenter with their own style. No one single person used cue cards. No one read from a paper. Which has never happened in any other class in my experience, even when the professor strongly discourages it. My theory is that only in this class where people feel comfortable with not only their teammates but also the professors that they do not feel pressured to say the perfect line. Even the exchange students for whom English is not their first language feel accepted and valued more than other classes.
2. The creativity in the output – Tomorrow is the final presentations day. I am really excited to see them and I also felt that most people in the class are eager to showcase what they had accomplished. Because we work in the same space, we have caught glimpse of each other’s project. The diversity of media use from interactive websites to hand drawn videos, each team challenged themselves beyond Powerpoints and Prezi. While in other marketing classes where attendance are made mandatory and students dread the ideas of listening to their peers, we find ourselves excited to see each others’ final deliverables.
3. We are friends – the format of the class really allows us to get to know everyone in class. The connections I made in this course helped me a lot in my other projects.

One of the key learnings was the ASK. TRY. DO process.

What seemed like a very intuitive way of problem-solving has proven to be especially useful. I had the good fortune of having had instructors who pushed us to question everything. I had also taken a course on creativity previously and was convinced by the importance of fast prototyping through the marshmallow challenge. However, at the end, I was left with a pool of ideas and tools that hindered my thinking process. Every time I approach a problem, I could only think of how to think and how NOT to think. ASK. TRY. DO streamlined the process for me. The projects I worked on were proof that there was knowledge to be learned at every step.

ASK. Den and I had gotten so much unexpected insights from asking the right questions to the drivers.

TRY. Prototyping with Ben the night before our presentation gave us the much-needed confidence. Once we saw our design in print, our ideas seemed a lot more viable.

Do. Although we did not get a chance to see our project being launched, knowing that Morten will be actualizing part of the plan was very satisfying.

Another key takeaway from this course for me personally was the role of business in terms of sustainability. When our group sat down with each other and talked about what we would like to get out of our project, we all had a curiosity to learn more about sustainability in businesses. None of us had an expertise or a personal passion for the subject at the time. Over the course of the project, we were all very inspired by Morten. I had the chance to speak to multiple businesses’ employees about the issue of being more green in their offices. I realized that many, if not most employees echoed our skepticism towards sustainability.

We have spent the past few decades educating people about sustainability. I think the scientists have convinced people that global climate change is neither a fad nor a scheme. People believe that we should take steps towards a greener planet, but they don’t know how. I believe that the biggest job is still education. The focus should now change from “we must save the planet” to “HOW you can save the planet”. It is not a job left for the scientists or the hippies. It is everyone’s responsibility and every business can make a large impact. That is one of the many things I have learnt from Morten. Also drinking 12 cups of coffee per day can give you great ideas.

In 2005, Daniel H. Pink was writing about the MFA – Master of Fine Arts being the new most desired degree in the corporate world. That scares me.

The thought of artists running businesses scared me not because I think they are imcompetent, but because I am afraid if they read his book, there would be no more jobs left for me with my shy little BCom. I think most would perceieve the fine arts students as more creative, less restricted by rules and more free spirited people. Their lack of structure seem to be what compagnies are now craving for accordig to Pink. But I thnk their contribution to busienss, and maybe their ultimate success is not merely the “creative spark” in them. As someone who grew up around the stage, and who has been involved with numerous forms of performing arts, I realised that the nature of their work is strikingly similar to the new design thinking model that Lockwood, Pink and Martin are all taking about.

Lockwood mentioned The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley in which he states that Business should be of a more collaborative nature,”one in which intuition count heavily, experiementation happens fast, failures along the way are embraced as learning, business strategies are intergrated.” These are all the things that performing arts students have been doing and perfecting since Shakespeare.

Collaboration- Performances require the most trusted collaboration between everyone invloved. The screenwrite must open up to directors who will interpret the script differently, who would then entrust actors to transmit his vision to an audience. The actors are ultimately at the mercy of the lighting crew who wholeheartedly respect the work of the stage manager. Even in a one-person show, collaboration is mandatory.

Intuition – You will have a hard time finding another place that gives more creadit to a “gut feeling”. There are countless examples of plays, paintings, or entire galleries that resides on nothing but the “feeling that it should be the way it is”. The beauty is that more often than not, that is the only argument you will need to get a story from idea to Broadway.

Experimentation and embracing the failures – We all love bloopers. How do you think they are made? The numerous great stories that starts with “Well, it wasn’t in the script but…”

The forward to Lockwood’s book was eye-opening. praised something that I often thought was an awkward experience. He advocates for “Thinking from both sides” of the brain, using both the creative and the logical to approach problem solving. I think my personal way of thinking is very disorganised, spontenous and sometimes just plain unpredictable. But over the years, I have learned to segregate my creative thinking process and my “normal life” thinking process.

I would intentionally sit myself in front of a computer and loging into databases, googling when I need to finish an assignment or do any school related tasks. However, if I have a task that is generally perceived as purely creative, such as set design, costume creation, or studying a script, I pick up a pen and paper and go for long walks outdoors – how typical, I know, but it works.

I do not really know why I have these two very different styles of thinking, and surprisingly they both work great for me. What I do know is that if I try to create a set drawing in front of a computer or try to write an accoutning homeword in a coffeeshop, the result would be catastrophic. My brain seem to have segregated the two seemingly very different tasks and they can never cross.

I also realised that I love cramming for deadlines. I think deadlines are a perfectionist’s best friend. I would not have finished a single project in my entire life if I did not have a deadline to meet. I have an innate need for everything to be not only great, but the best it can be the very first time. Deadlines allow me to make mistakes and be much more productive.

In the end, I am a little skeptical about whether the free-spirited MFAs will actually revolutionize the coporate world. Design thinking that involves both the logical and the creative is a marvelous concept that in my opinion, is much easier said than done.

To make a sale, a company must generate awareness for its product or service, than gain interest and create desire from the consumer. For instance, they have achieved all of the above, their efforts are at a lost if they fail to get the consumer to act on that desire. So the important question:” how to get people to actually buy?”

Many experienced salesperson can give you infinite tips when it comes to one-on-one conversations in a department store or door-to-door. But what about online sale, where the human interaction is absent?

Here is a great website that gives a brutally honest, simple and effective step-by-step layout to make that sale in the online world.

Here’s the 7 things to showcase:

1. Show what other consumers bought –  people tend to trust other fellow shoppers’ decisions.
2. Show reviews – they have an huge influence on the buyer’s decision, again, it’s about trusting each other instead of the selling agent.
3. Show scarcity – increase the value of your product by creating a sense of rush for consumers to make up their mind. i.e. Limited offers.
4. Show pictures and videos – the biggest concern about e-commerce is the uncertainty. A good quality picture can greatly reduce that fear.
5. Show up-sell option – take advantage of the fact that the consumer had already made up his or her mind to purchase, up-selling is easy at this point.
6. Show expertise – people in general has great faith in the words from authority or power figures.
7. Show everything – reduce as much as possible the fear of hidden fees or any tricks that may cause hesitation in the consumer.

Happy Selling!

Advertising’s three objectives:

to INFORM:

“Smoking causes blindness”. There is nothing more convincing than watching yourself putting a burning cigarette into the pupil of an eye. The ad informs the smoker the medical fact and makes sure that he or she fully understood the information!

to PERSUADE:

What makes the Smart car stands out is its size, which also causes many drivers to doubt its capacity and its engine power. This poster convinces consumer in one glance that this little car has everything it takes to be the car of adventure.

to REMIND:

Everyone knows Lipton’s tea. But not everyone necessarily think about drinking tea. By displaying their label in a fresh garden, the company kindly reminds the consumers “On a hot summer afternoon, have a cup of tea for refreshment!”

And

In a digital world, you wrist would still look great with a sophisticated watch!

Push or Pull?

A fundamental questions asked by most marketers when designing a marketing strategy. The best ones are known to have both push and pull. In other words, creating a demand for a certain product or service by advertising directly to end consumers, but at the same time, create some kind of incentive to push the same product at the retail level.

Seth Godin introduces another approach where one would flip from Push to Pull or vice versa depending on the demand from individual consumers. He gives the example of blogger and followers subscribing to their blogs. He explains that when viewers visit the blogs, it s a pull structure where they go and seek the information at the specific URLs, but once they subscribe to their favourite blogger’s RSS, the information is delivered to them on a regular basis, thus becoming a push strategy.

I think this is a most valuable observation. If there were a way for companies to measure the degree of interest in their consumers and alter their strategy accordingly, it would be a lot more cost-effective.

What is a viral video?

here is a quick compilation of the most famous ones

What do these have in common?

Most of them are shoot by amateur video makers, or sometimes just the average mom and dad with the family camera, or teenagers with their iPhone. They are usually not very long. But most importantly, they all show something so uniquely odd or funny or amazing that people want to share it with as many people as they can.

That is what captured marketers’ eyes. Publicity that is not only free, but also more effective than the pay-per-second commercials. Because the key about this method of sharing information is that it circulates between friends and family. it s from trusted sources and usually contain a topic that is universal enough that it has to power to travel around the world and generate the same authentic laughter from a mass audience.

some company had recognized the potential influence of viral videos. For instance, Nike especially published an ad online featuring the soccer star Ronaldinho done purposely to resemble the one of an amateur video.

but it has not caught the attention of viewers nearly as much as some of the dancing baby videos. What makes a video viral instead of being just a web video is still somewhat a mystery.

Environmental issues are important.

Social issues are important.

But for the past few years, non-profits have been faced with the problems of “over sensitizing” people, to a point that they no longer wish to know or hear about what makes them feel uncomfortable.

Various organizations have greatly invested on their marketing department and have come up with much more creative ads that can “compete” with the other for profit ads.

as oppose to their generally more dramatic ads to appeal to people’s sentiments like the following.

I think that it might be a trend now in these organizations to use lighter humour to inspire people to act.

I see it as a new strategy of using a clever concept that gets people to think rather than guilt as call for action.

Chanel.

When you heard the word, you might think of the prestigious brand in cosmetics. One of the classics. Perhaps Coco Chanel herself, revolutionary designer in women clothing and a great contributor in the feminist movement. Or maybe the knock-off double C earrings that could be found on almost every teenage girl’ s ears a few years back.

Whichever your vision is, “cute” is hardly the image you would think of. But it seems like the one that the Brand is displaying in their new ad, as showcased on the blog Brand DNA.

Chanel is indeed a premium brand, using prestige pricing. While the rest of the cosmetic industry is trying to distinguish themselves in terms of quality and “creativity”. Trying to always differentiate themselves with new “technology” that will improve people appearances. They would always introduce the new products at a slightly higher price than their competitions to make-believe the image of a high-demand, more expensive thus better quality. Then, very quickly, within a few weeks, price would drop to its normal level (equal with competitors) to make way for some other “new” product entering the market.

Chanel stands out from that crowd. They do not need to advertise their quality, in fact, doing so may even harm them. a cute little commercial that girls like may just be more effective.

All you need is make people “smile”

In Xue Shang’s blog post on January 27th, 2011, She talked about the price vs. value issue of Lush, an organic company of beauty products. Lush has had very recent, yet rapid expansion and success all over the world. their idea and and products are welcomed in almost every country and every culture. Even though, they are in no way the mainstream of hygiene products, they have still managed to find themselves a niche segment in every market. I agree with Xue Zhang, that they do offer a great value with their products, but I also think that there are other factors that the company has captured.

For instance, not only are their products organic and using fresh ingredients, they are all entirely made by hand, one at a time. This might seem odd, but it falls line in line with the social trend of anti-corporate. Lush has the size and the organization of a big corporation, but because all their products are still made by hand, ( they show consumers just exactly they made every single one of their products on a short video) people do not feel as distance and detached from the makers of the products. People not only expect to pay higher prices for better quality, but the idea that their money goes to a “small” shop with an innovative idea and a great cause (environment) also makes them feel better about spending that extra $3 bucks on shampoo.