Last Blog Post

What topic did I learn from during this semester? There have been many, but one that comes to mind is the importance of prototyping. Our discussion on building prototypes was insightful, and informative. It wasn’t until I started to build our group’s prototype that I fully understood its importance. Originally, our group decided on making one product. The product was to be a patio table accessory that allows you to have a heater instead of an umbrella. We evolved this into a table accessory that allows you to switch between a heater and an umbrella with ease, to make the patio table more useful during cold and hot seasons. When I searched online for images to model our prototype after, I discovered pictures of heater poles in the center of patio tables, and of course umbrellas as well. Even though I never found a table center that was designed to incorporate both an umbrella and a heater, I still felt that we needed to upgrade our idea to make it more unique. This is when we came up with the full blown Backyard Collective idea. I moved forward with the prototype, figuring it would help illustrate a sample of our product line. While I didn’t have the time or resources I wanted, I still developed a simple prototype that I learned a lot from. I had to think about the mechanics of designing a product that would fit under most patio tables. Basically, through building the prototype, I realized that we needed something narrow that could fit underneath the legs of whatever patio table customers might already have. Building the prototype also showed me that we would need to account for the extra weight of the heater pole versus the umbrella. With the design sketches, done after building the prototype, I addressed this functionality with special grooves for extra support around the heater pole. Through this process, I better understood how prototyping helps people think about what customers really want and need.

The image collage was a great topic as well. Running through this in class, with the personal image collage assignment got me thinking about the benefits of an image collage. While designing my own, I spent a lot of time thinking about what images mattered to me, and how they conveyed my feelings. Explaining it to my group also added another dimension to the collage as I figured out how best to put my thoughts into words and use the images to demonstrate this. I wasn’t the only one who thought the image collage was a good idea. Thew rest of our group agreed it was a good way to gain insights about the person putting together the collage. We used an image collage concept in our gathering insights phase. We asked for our subjects to submit pictures of their ideal backyard. A full blown image collage would have been more beneficial, but due to time constraints, we felt that a collection of images would suffice. The concept was the same, with our subjects submitting images and interpreting their thoughts and feelings about the images in relation to their ideal vision of a backyard. This helped us understand what we needed to do to help them improve the backayard.

This project was challenging, but I think we did a good job. It was difficult at first to get moving on the backyard, since none of us had our own backyard, and only one of us knew very many empty nesters. It was difficult to get past the planning stage of our gathering insights process. We couldn’t find enough people to take our survey among empty nesters we knew. But once we though about taking the surveys online and posting them on empty nester online communities, we got a good amount of results. With results to work from, our group did a good job moving forward and brainstorming ideas. It was a collaborative effort throughout the way, with everyone bouncing ideas off of each other. Professor Walls helped us out along the way, with his class brainstorming session and the idea about some sort of service to offer for the backyard as opposed to a product. We took his idea and adjusted it a bit to better suit the needs of our target group. We had fun putting the powerpoint together, and I think the presentation turned out very well. The group felt involved with the final product, even though Joaquin could not make the presentation. It was a positive experience, and I think we all learned about the importance of using customer insights when designing and marketing products or services.

Blog Post 9

What else do I see that makes me think companies and brands either know what they are doing in regards to customer insights and experiences or not? Well, I will try to tie this into my paper about the music business. I found a great article on FastCompany.com called “10 Musicians Who Rock the Web.” The article talks about a group of innovative artists changing the traditional business model for the music industry, utilizing the web to reach their audience. This article will play a key role in my paper, but for now, I would like to use it to answer the topic.

Bear with me as I try to explain this.

In the context of the music industry, you are dealing with artists. Artists essentially are “brands.” They work to increase their recognition among fans and music listeners and make money off of them. This money in turn is distributed to the “companies” whose jobs are to build their “brands,” or artists. In the context of this article, with the help of the companies around the, or in some cases, entirely on their own, artists are building their “brand” with new technology and ideas. It finally seems that people in the industry are using customer insights to create customer experiences. Everyone wins!

50 Cent is a great example. 50 saw the success of MySpace, Facebook, and other similar websites. He understood the idea of social networking, and the power it created for marketing a product and getting people involved. While some bands are content with just a MySpace profile, 50 took the idea to a whole new level. He created a new website, called Thisis50.com. The site is setup similar to MySpace, only the community is strictly for 50 Cent fans. Users create an account, and then they can get involved in the online community. You can create a profile, talk on forums, get free music from 50, submit your own music and get 50 Cents approval, and more. So you have a guy who saw a need for his fans to become more involved with his music, and created a new way for them to interact. This is a great way for superstar artists to build their fan base loyalty, and market products to them.

I don’t want to spend too much time on Radiohead, because it seems the topic has been way over analyzed. But if you aren’t familiar, Radiohead, considered by many the most reputable act currently producing music, chose to release their newest album in a creative way. They realized that music sales were down, many people chose to illegally download their favorite artists’ albums for free, and the physical product was losing to the digital world. So Radiohead offered a new mechanic to push their product. Fans could download In Rainbows online for however much money they wanted to pay, including free. While the band chose not to release actual numbers, their tour, media attention, and hype reached gargantuan levels. And they became the talk of the online communities about whether they had found a new business model. Basically, all they did was listen to what customers wanted. I was happy to pay $5 online for my download, because that is how much I thought it was worth. I also purchased a $50 concert ticket, and a $200 festival ticket to see them again later on. I recently bought the album on vinyl for $18.

David Byrne, of one of my favorite bands, The Talking Heads, and Brian Eno, the legendary producer and Byrne’s often times creative partner, have teamed up for several innovations in the music business. In 2006, they re-released one of their albums during its 25th anniversary. In addition to the physical release, they created a website devoted to a remix community. You could take the building blocks of the album and actually make your own remixes. Then you could post your remix on the website and other users could listen to it. Here you see to artists finding a way to create a new customer experience for their fans. What an innovation! For a fan, this means you can become the artist yourself, and find ways to creatively arrange your favorite musician’s original work. Do music fans really need this level of interactivity with their music? Maybe. Byrne/Eno also released an album exclusively online this year, recognizing that the customers use the internet as their primary record store now. Even wilder is that Brian Eno saw the success of the iPhone and its application store, and got a piece of that pie by creating his own application, which iPhone users can download. The application is a musical instrument that allows people to take Eno’s visions and make their own music. Creative genius or what?

I think it is safe to say that these artists, as well as many others, recognize that the music business landscape has forever changed. Consumers are looking for more than just a song. Anyone can grab a song online for free. But if artists truly want to get our money, they have to find new ways to interact with us.

Blog Post 8

Sorry this took so long, but here is my outline for the final paper. Enjoy.

I. Introduction
A. While the music industry has a history of failing to recognize customer insights, the time is right for a change – a new business model focused around the consumer.

II. What Customers Really Want
A. Convenience
1. Easy to find new music
2. Easy to transfer and listen to music
3. Easy to explore music beyond listening to it
B. Relationships
1. Least amount of middle men between costumer and artists
2. Feeling of closeness to artist
3. Music as a culture

III. The Old Model
A. Revenue
1. Album sales – primary source
2. Radio play – getting the word out
3. Merchandise – branding the band
B. Marketing Strategies
1. Television – Ed Sullivan and on
2. Movies – Hard Day’s Night, Shaft, etc
3. Fan clubs – mailings, memberships
4. Music stores – displays, specials, cover art
C. Decline and extinction
1. Album sales – steady shrinking
2. Album concept – falling out
3. Record Giants – going in and out of business, suits versus people

IV. Key Failures
A. Keeping up with technology
1. Cassettes, CDs, mp3s – slow adaptation
2. Online music services – iTunes, problems with adapting
3. DRM – restrictive measures on purchased material
B. Napster
1. Customers want new outlet – companies fail to recognize
2. Ignoring new demand – pushing out new opportunity
3. Criminalizing the customer base – lawsuits, effects on consumers
C. Public Relations
1. Monopolies – Clear Channel
2. Formula for music - deemed commercially successful
3. Payola – corruptive business practices

V. The New Model
A. iTunes
1. Pricing - $0.99 for every song
2. Recommendations – connecting users to new music
3. Ease of use – anyone can install, anyone can use
B. MySpace, Facebook, etc
1. DIY marketing – what makes MySpace successful
2. New measures – selling music on social networking sites
3. Social networking – implications for marketers
C. Touring
1. Sponsored tours – Rock Band, MTVU, etc
2. Revenue – the new source
3. Festivals and showcases – central place for discovering music
D. Creative marketing
1. Album release promotions –limited editions, in-store performances
2. Grassroots – flyering, postering, listening stations, etc
3. Radiohead effect – offering music alternatively, costs, revenue
4. Websites – news, games, interactivity
E. Television, Movies, Gaming
1. Licensing – using in other media and entertainment
2. Garden State effect – Grey’s Anatomy, OC, embracing the culture
3. Cameos – artists featured in acting roles
F. Diversifying your business
1. Artists branching out – establishing music as a brand, 50 Cent
2. Clothing, products – more outlets for creativity

VI. Combating piracy
A. Why RIAA failed
B. Can’t stop piracy
C. Must use new models to establish new value

VII. Conclusion
A. The business is slowly taking new measures to make the customer’s needs a priority, and one can expect to see a lot more creative ideas to make money in the music business. The result is a more profitable industry and a better product for consumers.

Post 8...

I have been slammed this start of the week, so I will have to miss this blog for the due date of this morning, but I will post my full entry tomorrow for feedback. Thanks for bearing with me!

Blog Post 7

Today I am going to rant about something related to customer insights. Or rather something related to the lack of customer insights. What is one of the most annoying things that marketers do to get your attention? I am sure you can think of many, but the first thing that came to my mind was mailing out circulars to people. You know what I am talking about. You go to check your mailbox. A couple of bills, maybe a note from Mom or Dad, and three circulars! One from Best Buy, one from Mr. Gatti’s, and one from a collection of stores. And as we approach the holiday season, you can only expect circulars such as these to come more frequently. Why? Don’t they know that they are basically saying, “Here, take this, and please throw it out for me.” Because that is exactly what I do.

So why do companies send these out? Well usually they are filled with so-called deals, great savings, and new product information. Best Buy’s circular often promotes the best deal on a television, the hottest new DVD, and an assortment of other things they want you to buy for Christmas. I used to work for a record label, and I saw first hand how companies will pay lots of money just to have their latest CD prominently featured in such circulars. How many CDs sell as a result? No one could tell you. It is true that any exposure is good exposure, but don’t you think that the cost outweighs the benefit?

Most circulars are year round. I can’t tell you how often I get a Steinmart or Old Navy one in the mail. I have never shopped at Steinmart, and couldn’t tell you where one is around Austin. The last time I shopped at Old Navy had to be Junior year of high school. So why me? I think the truth is many of these circulars are sent out based on a randomly selected address database. It is easy for companies to get their slimy hands on addresses and names. A simple computer program can slap John Doe’s name on a circular, with his address below, and have their advertisements out in a matter of a couple days. As a result, you get some of the least personalized advertising ever. Worse, once you have it, you must do something with it. Billboards, commercials, in store promotions – these are all things that can be ignored. But circulars become your problem when you receive on in the mailbox. And with the new green trends, you have to guess that this has an effect on the environment.

I haven’t read a circular since last holiday season when visiting my family in Houston. Holiday season may be the only appropriate time for such marketing techniques, since many people are looking or deals on things they can buy for a large and diverse group of family and friends. But even then, I still only am interested in a very limited amount of circulars I actually receive. So what needs to change? The easy answer is stop. But this will never happen, because as long as one company is doing it, every other one will feel the need to in order to stay competitive (see political campaigns: robo-calls). It is common knowledge people hate to receive this stuff. But it happens regardless.

A better solution may be to customize such circulars. Why should Steinmart spend money on advertising to me? They shouldn’t. In this age of information, when companies have huge databases of purchases based on credit card transactions, don’t we all have individual buyers’ profiles? So use it! Why not create a variety of circulars based on different interests. Let’s say Best Buy looks at my transaction history and sees that I purchase a lot of music. They also notice a video game here and there, with some television accessories. So they could group me in a category that shares similar purchases, and send me a circular that focuses on my customer needs and interests. If I see the cover of a Best Buy ad that shows the latest version of Rock Band on the cover, I may glance through it. But if you send that same ad to a childless middle aged couple, they would probably throw it away. Change the image to a big screen TV, with all sorts of bells and whistles, and maybe you hold their interest.

Wal-mart is a prime example of a company who could use a more personalized circular. No other company has as much information about their customers as Wal-mart. And because they offer such a diverse range of products, why not cater to customer interests in the circular. On the cover page, envision a headline, “John’s Personal Wish List – Catered to Your Needs.” That might strike a consumers interest more than “Check out ALL of our great deals!”

Obviously the more types of circulars you print, the more expensive it becomes. So companies would need to find a balance between offering a diverse grouping of similar interests among customers and keeping cost efficient. But I think that if some money is spent gaining insights about customers, a personalized form of circulars may have greater effects on purchasing.

Blog Post 6

Everyone has an opinion. This is the beauty of blogging. For those of you reading this blog, you are trusting that my opinion has some value. At times, I would agree with you, but since you are here, I will talk to you today about something other than my opinion. Instead, let’s look at the opinion of other bloggers, just like me. Well not really just like me, because these bloggers are sponsored, making money, “experts,” etc. But just for pretend…

In order to better understand my topic for my future paper (one dealing with the music industry and marketing to consumers in such), I will use the opinions of other blogs to gain some perspective. The first blog is known as the Digital Music Weblog. This blog actually no longer is active, but the archives are available and great sources of information. After browsing around for a bit, I picked up on a few things. One post discusses the mistakes of labels past. A specific example comes in Paris Hilton. Her record company (Warner) made a huge mistake in promoting Paris Hilton’s record. The label was banking on the celebrity’s name to sell records, and the nightmare that ensued ended up hurting business far more then helping. The celebrity (I would never say artist in talking about Paris) only pushed 13,000 copies of her album over counters. A pathetic attempt at best, this shows the disconnect between labels and fans. Who really wanted to hear if Paris could sing? Not I. And thus, I didn’t buy. Conclusion – don’t waste money on cheap Hollywood celebrity tricks. Wait, did I just say cheap?

Quite the opposite. In fact, because Warner felt so strongly about Paris’ ability to sell records, they gave her very little in terms of restrictions as an agent of Warner. The expense of promoting her record included the label paying for the transportation of her entourage, totaling over $300,000 for a hotel bill. Hmmm, when an artist makes about 9.8 cents per song sold, how does one break even on a deal like this? Can you think of a better place $300,000 might have been spent for Warner? How about investing in marketing real music to consumers; music that people actually want to buy. This is the opinion of one such blog article found on the Digital Music Weblog.

Future of Music is another blog giving opinions on the Music industry. In this blog, the most recent article discusses the past, present, and future of the music industry. Some interesting insights include the cycles of the business, the artists themselves, Elvis, the Beatles, etc, etc, etc. One of the more interesting paragraphs I found was about the new business model. Or rather, the new artist model. They discuss how the music business historically has never given power to the artist. 95% of all artists were never fairly compensated for their work. That is scary, considering consumers direct connection is with the artist, not the labels. Luckily, according to this blog, this is changing. The new business model puts power in hand of the artist. Whereas merchandise was the sure way to make money for artists without help of a label, nowadays the artist sits at the center of possibility in controlling their career. Creative and business control has strengthened the relationship of the artist to the consumer. As we begin to better understand this relationship, we move towards a more efficient marketing plan.

There are far too many music blogs out there to list. The truth is, everyone has an opinion about it, but no one knows who is right. Using blogs as another tool to gain customer insights for the music industry bodes well, as you can never have enough perspectives. I look forward to learning more through others’ eyes.

Blog Post 5

If the world worked exactly how I wanted…

Well, not that I can expect for it ever to. But if it did, how would I connect with my friends? What feelings and thoughts would I want? How might the perfect world look when hanging out with friends? The image collage pictured here shows the answer to these questions. The phrases, word associations, images, and symbols all have some sort of deeper meaning to me, which show how my perfect time with friends would be.

To start, instead of using a poster board for the collage, I took two vinyl records and their inserts to make the backdrop. The two records come from Paul McCartney’s Wings group. I chose this particular group to be featured because of the nature of the group. The core trio, Paul-Denny-Linda, were a group of friends who loved working together and sharing creative output. The collaborative nature of the group represents to me the collaborative connections I desire with my friends. I enjoy sharing and learning from other people. This desire for collaboration is exemplified by the picture of Jack White helping a child to sing. Here, you see two people working together and enjoying themselves.

The cover of one of the albums features the band gazing out of a window into outer space, looking back at the Earth. I like this because it reminds me of how I like for my friends to be analytical, contemplative, and interested in things of beauty, nature, mystery, and more. I like interacting with people to just think about things from a new perspective, just like the band seems to be doing. Another album cover shows the band in London. Connecting with friends is about doing new things together. I personally have never been to London, so traveling there is a new idea to me.

I find many connections with friends through music. Music is featured in many aspects of my collage. Besides the albums themselves, you see a band playing, the word “Music,” “Find Groove,” and “Dance Fever.” All of these represent how music brings me together and closer to my friends.

There is nothing like having a good time with your closest friends. My collage features groups of people enjoying themselves and each other, the words “Celebrates” and “Have Fun Out There.” I have an appetite along with my friends for experiencing the world. In a perfect world, I could “indulge” in fun, new things, music, art, people, places, and much more with my friends whenever I wanted to. “Adventure” is something I look forward to experiencing together with friends. And there is nothing like a group of “joke folks” to cheer you up. Notice the Patron, or the Jack and Coke? I won’t lie, I love having a couple of drinks and catching up with old buddies.
When I am on a beach, I feel relaxed and at peace. The picture on the beach symbolizes the relaxed feeling I desire when connecting with friends. I want to be comfortable and in a perfect world, I would always feel relaxed when spending time with friends. The man sitting at a sound board in the collage seems relaxed, and around a sound board, feels free to create whatever he wants. This is how I want to feel when connecting with friends. We have the world in front of us, and can make what we want of it.

Most importantly, connecting with friends is about being there for each other. We have a since of “purpose,” we are “humbly welcome” to each other, and have a sense of “purpose” for all that we do. The big eyeball represents how we keep an eye out for each other, and can count on that. “Quality time” is the best time. In a perfect world, “time” would not be an issue. We could make things out of nothing, such as the record player made of empty Red Bull cans. And we spend our lives connecting dots with each other, from point A to point B, represented by the dot connector puzzle in the collage. The lyrics shown from one of the Wings album inserts signifies the deeper meaning of our connections. And just like in the television show, I want to feel like my group of friends is its own “entourage.” We stick together, through thick and thin.

These are the feelings, thoughts, and expectations I have from spending time with my friends.

Blog 4

Music is a big part of my life. I listen to music daily. I book bands through school organizations. In the past I interned with both an LA record company and a local concert promoter. Music is something I hold dear to my heart, and I also am very intrigued by the business side of music.

Ever since Napster, the state of the music industry continues to experience turmoil. No one seems to have a sure answer on where the new business model lies. I have heard several different perspectives regarding this. Record labels have one idea. Concert promoters have another. Merchandisers think one way. Artists try to make their own way. Lawyers argue about the meaning.

The past eight years in music was marked by plummeting CD sales, major labels and businesses going out of business, and artists struggling to find their place with the consumer. The interesting thing about all of this lies in the customer themselves. Business – in all the suits and glory – lost and blamed the consumer. In any other business, would this fly? Isn’t the customer always right? I would say the answer is no to the former, and yes to the latter. So if this is true, what went wrong? And more importantly, what can the music business do to fix it? This is where I begin to tie in customer insights.

Every week I read about a new service offered relating to music. Sometimes the new service involves an iTunes competitor. I see articles about digi-pack albums that come with not only songs, but a PDF booklet, bonus tracks, and behind the scenes videos. When I turn on the TV, I hear indie artists in commercials and sitcoms that catch my attention in new ways. One article last week discussed Google’s new iPhone competitor and its partnership with Amazon music. That is just another hip new way of bringing music directly to the customer. The music industry is clearly looking for new ways to make money. The key for them is to find something of value to music listeners, such as myself. The problem lies in the underlying fact that many people no longer place monetary value on the music itself. Illegal downloading changed the value of music. Why pay for something when downloading it free is so easy?
Especially when so many people are doing it.

So considering these issues, I would like to know what customer insights are out there that could help to market new music to fans. The following are some point to consider:

• What used to work?
• What marketing techniques have been tried that failed?
• What do the businesses know about their customers?
• What catches people’s eye for new music?
• How can marketers ensure a steady stream of income from music consumers?
• What hasn’t been tried?

There are many more questions I hope to answer through my research and case study. In addition to finding customer insights, I am curious about what sort of customer experience companies set as their goal. Or do music companies even market customer experiences? Certainly some bands release creative artwork, or even some gimmicks with their albums. But is this truly a customer experience? What content are customers missing? Why are they missing it? Would a better defined customer experience help grow the value of music in consumers eyes? Or is this a lost cause?

I can’t imagine a world without music. There is no doubt the art will survive, but true uncertainty lies in where the business will be over the next 25 years. Change is necessary, and I think that the only way to salvage the wreckage of the industry from the past few years is to look to the customers. By gaining insights as to who they are, you will be able to successfully market yourself to them.

Blog 3

From curiosity, to interest, to enjoyment, to satisfaction, and finally loyalty, marketers want customers to cycle through the process of choosing their products. The question is how does a brand separate itself form all the rest, or how do you make your product be the one that catches eyes? As discussed in A Framework for Managing Customer Experiences, this is simple  create a customer experience.

Many companies attempt to do just that. Some are successful, others are not. These successes and failures are all part of the game. As I think about what company I feel does a good job of creating customer experience, I run through all of the obvious brands. Apple, Starbuck’s, Axe for the men, Victoria Secret for the women. All of these make great case studies for business schools. A more personal brand for me would be Levi’s. Levi’s jeans, as I mentioned in a previous post, hooked me in through a series of sponsored events. The company annually rents out a building and parking lot in downtown Austin for the SXSW festival to host a five day party. The space features several live concerts, art displays, drinks and refreshments, lounge areas, and giveaways.

What makes a customer experience successful depends on how well the company appeals to SEMs, or strategic experiential models. The campaign of sponsoring parties and events across the country such as the SXSW event I am familiar with, appeals to several SEMs. Such parties have the elements of feel, act, and relate.

Feel is incorporated through the layout of the parties. Keep in mind, that when you first walk in, you are in a room that is full of jeans and other Levi’s products, all of which are for sale. So there is no secret that the company wants you to buy their product. But as you move through the building, you come to several lounge areas, complete with couches, computers, and tables. For those of you who aren’t familiar with SXSW, it is an action packed week with nearly no spare time. You are constantly running to and from events, getting little sleep, and certainly exhausted. Can you imagine the sheer joy when walking into a room full of comfy couches? That is exactly what Levi’s is going for, the feeling of relaxation and lounging. If the party makes you feel relaxed, shouldn’t the jeans?

Lvei’s also incorporates SEM act by putting Levi’s jeans on all of the performers and event hosts. What better way to convince concert goers to buy a brand of jeans when Lou Reed is on stage performing in a pair of Levi’s? I have to be honest when I see the party hosts running around in Levi’s and notice all of the attention they are getting, I think to myself, maybe I should get a pair of those too…

Finally, with relate, Levi’s makes you feel at home at their event. They acknowledge and represent the subculture of music fans, hipsters, audiophiles, rockers, hip-hoppers, or whatever group may be featured that day at the event. You can identify with the urban art displays featuring old vinyl records or ghetto blasters, or there many photographs and posters of famous bands. There is a culture among us, and Levi’s wants to be a part of it. They tell us that by wearing their jeans, we can all be a part of it together.

Obviously, since I have stated that I support and buy Levi’s jeans because of the way they targeted me with customer experience, I feel they are successful. But what segment are they targeting here? Well, it comes down to the music crowd. Not just any music crowd, because surely 80% of the world who has access to music enjoys it to varying degrees. But this targeted subculuture incorporates those who actively seek out new music and make music a part of their lifestyle. By lifestyle, I mean attending concerts regularly, following music news, sharing music with friends, and purchasing music affiliated items. The need here that they are trying to address is the need for comfort and style. Levi’s jeans are stylishly displayed at these events. And they are associated with the subculture of their target audience. So they successfully meet this need.

Blog Post 2

Barry Schwartz has some interesting things to say about the world we live in. While I can’t say that I agree with all of them, I can say that he intrigues me. Let us look at how Barry’s ideas relate to customer decision making. How can we use his ideas to better understand our customers, from a marketing view?

Everything on this Earth experiences some sort of evolution as time goes by, this goes with the territory of survival of the fittest. Certain heuristics are ingrained in human nature, or as Barry says “in our water supply” that we accept this as fact. I am not talking in the sense of a religious, “origin of life” argument on evolution, so don’t get too offended. But, like Barry says, humans believe that more is better, in the case of freedom, thus also in the case of choices. What Barry argues is that in fact, more is not better. He says that more choices lead to paralysis, escalating expectations and disappointment, depression due to self-loathing, and more. If this is true, then marketers need to consider his argument in order to better understand the customer and their decision process.

What has gone wrong in the new age of choices? Too much is too much. Marketing has evolved to fit the customers needs. As companies begin to look to customers individually, they take note of the many differences among people. In order to differentiate their brand, they try to suit as many of these needs as possible and give you a new choice. A choice catered to you. While this may sound good, marketers must realize the implications of this new technique. If you try and offer a choice for each person in America, you are talking about 300 million different styles of jeans you expect to compete with. Just 300 pairs of jeans frightens me enough. Can you imagine 300 million?

This brings us to Barry’s criticism of choice. How does a customer go to a mall and chose from 30 different stores, all of which offer different brands of jeans, then chose which style of jeans in addition to their choice on store? Paralysis might kick in, where they simply can’t make up their mind and just go home. Or maybe they just settle for a pair, and upon hating their choice, blame themselves for not considering other options. Maybe they had an idea of what they wanted, but can’t find the perfect pair. Can you imagine not being able to find one pair of jeans you like out of three hundred? In each scenario, the customer goes home unhappy, ultimately because they had too much responsibility in making a choice among hundreds. And if the customer is unhappy, the marketer is unhappy.

Barry throws around lines such as “Everything was better when everything was worse,” and “Low expectations are the secret to happiness.” While I don’t think this is 100% correct, it does have some implications for marketers. As opposed to giving customers unlimited amounts of choices, realize that people just want a good pair of jeans. We make enough choices in our own lives, so the last thing we want to do is spend as much time choosing a pair of jeans as choosing a college to go to. Marketers need to focus more on differentiating your brand through the relationships you have with customers, not by overwhelming them with options. Decision making is a difficult part of everyone’s life, and shopping should not be another frustrating part of the equation that is daily living.

Once marketers understand that they have gone too far in trying to enhance the customer decision making process, then they can focus on truly improving their relationships with the customers themselves.

Talking 'Bout My Generation

Generation Y. Millennium Generation. MySpace Generation. Echo Boomers.

Despite the comic cheesiness of these titles given to us by those who feel the need to categorize everything, it is accurate to acknowledge a new group of people this day and age  a group of people who interact with each other and the world around them in many ways different from those of the past.

The article Generation Y by Ellen Neuborn defines this “Generation Y” as those born during 1979-1994. Ellen attributes several characteristics to this group. She mentions the racial diversity, a common single parent nurturing pattern, working mothers, and technologically savvy of this new age of human beings. It is certainly true that all of these are notable differences between Gen-Y and Gen-X and the baby boomers. Furthermore, Ellen goes on to describe what these new characteristics mean to marketers. This is where it gets interesting.

Ellen says that old marketing techniques no longer work, and companies are being forced to find new ways to break into the fragmented Gen-Y that has developed as a result of the internet. I agree that companies must continually find new ways to attract my attention in order to stand out among the mass of products and brands. I constantly overlook magazine ads, website banners, and TV commercials directed at me because I don’t find them unique in any way. Ellen is right on track when she says that companies need to get to know their customers before they can reach out to them. I found it interesting to read about Levi’s movement to become relevant again. Personally, I only buy Levi’s. How did they win me over? Simple. Every year at SXSW, Levi’s teams up with Fader Magazine and rents out a warehouse in downtown Austin to host a week long party. They bring in all sorts of music performers, and have trendy art galleries and give off quite a hip vibe. This sole marketing event was enough to convince me that Levi’s is the brand that understands what I want.

Business Week released a podcast about the “MySpace Generation.” Again we have old people trying to put my generation in a box that they can explain and understand. I agree that social networking sites like MySpace are playing a huge role in shaping our generation. We do spend a lot of time on website such as MySpace. And since this webcast, Facebook, an even more powerful tool, has taken marketing to a whole new level. With Facebook, a company like REI can send advertisements to specifically targeted groups, such as people who list camping in their interests. That way instead of just assuming that the right people get the message, they are 100% positive it goes direct to the right customer.

I think it is important for my generation and marketers to realize that this new form of highly specialized target marketing is beneficial to both of us. I don’t have to waste my time looking at celebrity magazine ads, and People doesn’t have to waste time and money putting them on my computer screen. The reason? My Facebook profile doesn’t list any interests remotely related to celebrity gossip, so their ads aren’t programmed to come to me.

That being said, marketers need to understand that we are fully aware of their desire to latch onto us and suck up all of our disposable income. If they want to understand us better, know that we are naturally cynics. If your marketing techniques don’t seem authentic, or they come off as the marketers trying to hard, then I will move on to the next thing. And thus, I give you my list of things marketers should know about me. Consider yourself lucky, snooping marketers:

1. I am a cynic. You need to give me a reason to trust you.

2. I am busy, and thus time is a precious commodity.

3. I am only loyal if you continue to impress me.

4. I change my ideas and opinions as I learn, but I always stick to my principles.

5. I don’t have a lot of money.

6. I believe in strong ethics.

7. I like to be seen as an individual.

8. I have a need for constant improvement.

9. I care about my friends. Win them over, and you have better chances with me.

10. I can always offer you my word of mouth, if I have reason to.