Blog 5: Social Media - "I need to blog about this new product!"

Recently, I have started running a lot more to get in better shape for Texas 4000, which is the bike ride I’m doing from Austin to Alaska to raise money for cancer research and awareness about cancer prevention. Running won’t necessarily help me be a better biker, but I’ll definitely stay more fit and ready to take on whatever comes my way. So, because I’m running so much, I decided that it’s a good idea to invest in some high-quality running shoes. I’ve been a fan of Asics for a while now because I think they are pretty comfortable and help me spring forward. I remember doing some research on running shoes a few years ago, which is when I first got introduced to the world of Asics.

So, for this blog post, I decided to research running shoes, and in particular – Asics. First, I looked at the zeitgeist, Google press – Insights for Search website. I could filter the search to 1) web, image, product, or news search, 2) worldwide, or by country, 3) year, and 4) category. It was great that I could see the top 10 searches, and the regional interest of the search. Asics was in 4 of the top 10 searches, followed by a close second from Nike, holding 3 of the top 10 searches. The regional interest would show marketing researchers where the popularity of a particular product is and where to focus their products. When I searched for Asics running shoes, I was able to find the kind of Asics shoe that is “the best” - Asics gel. From there, I was able to click on Asics gel to find out more information available on the web about this shoe. Consumer Reports rated Asics gel the top performing shoe in August, “for excellence in cushioning and fit and rated "Very Good" for stability.”

That was a pretty good website, but for social media and gaining more customer insight, I think the Google blogs tool was better because marketers can really understand what customers like and complain about. What is really great about the Google blogs website is that I can search blogs related to the product I’m interested in based on when the blog post was published! However, I realized that I must be cautious about where I’m reading the entries. For example, I’m probably not going to get complete honest truth about Asics shoes on an Asics website -> http://bestasicsrunningshoes.blogspot.com/. I did find an amazing sneaker group in which members can post information for their fellow members about great deals on shoes or which kinds of running shoes are good for what -> http://sneaker-groups.com/showthread.php?t=43244.



I did have a little trouble finding citizens’s blog posts about Asics gel; however, what I thought was useful was the comments left under blog entries. For example, http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/2009/10/22/highsnobiety-x-asics-gel-lyte-iii-preview/ talks about this new Asics Gel Lyte shoe. It gives an overview of it and picture. Although many people might not blog about this new shoe, many people could easily leave comments about it.

After reading a few blogs talking about Asics, it seems like many people have great things to say about their gel and cumulus kind of shoe. Someone wrote on in reply to a blog post about running shoes, “I came in this thread to say Asics, and I see there's a general consensus! I am partial to Asics Gel styles. “ I know I’m still happy with my purchase!

Facebook is also a great way for companies to connect with people online. Fan pages can be created. However, the danger of this is if not many people decide to become a fan of the particular product or company. It looks as if the company/product is not popular. Fortunately, Asics has more than 43,000 fans on facebook.

I think the best way for a company to use user-generated content would be to use a few different way of connecting to the customers. I definitely think they should connect over facebook and companies should most definitely blog about their own products. Even thought customers should be wary, having positive content out there about one’s products definitely creates a positive mindset about the company. Spreading themselves too thin, however, would weaken their control over what customers are saying, not that you can really control much of what people say these days. I thought it was so interesting what Karen said about Verizon in the last class. She had complained about her phone on facebook, and later got a message from Verizon apologizing and offering help! That’s what I call good use of social media!

Blog 4: So...what doesN'T Walmart know about customers' habits??

I think Walmart has indeed been successful at converting into an experience that serves as a competitive advantage for them...for now. As we all know, Walmart is an incredibly successful business, which obviously hurts any of its other competitors. Who doesn’t want the lowest priced product? (Answer: those who know and truly care about what kind of conditions/pay workers in foreign countries get for making products for Walmart. These sweatshop conditions are ridiculous – but that’s for a different discussion). As the article, “What Walmart Knows About Customers’ Habits” states, Walmart has access to tons of personal information about its customers, such as driver’s license number, social security number, court record, credit worthiness, and even their mortgage amounts. Walmart can – if it so wishes to do so – understands hundreds of different types of customers in various geographic areas. It knows where it will do well, and that’s how it figures out where to build its next Walmart store. I mean – how many other competitors were able to do what Walmart did for its customers when Hurricane Frances made its way to Florida? Walmart was able to prepare and stock up products for its customers ahead of time. Based on data they collected from stores when Hurricane Charley struck, Walmart could predict what products were needed when future natural disasters would strike.

That all being said, I don’t know how much longer people will go without either knowing or caring that Walmart basically holds their customers’ lives in their hands. Privacy is a HUGE issue, and I think the reason so many shoppers continue to shop at Walmart is either because they 1) don’t realize what kind of information Walmart is storing about their customers, or 2) don’t particularly care that Walmart has all this information because they trust Walmart. Customers don’t seems to really mind whether Walmart has a competitive advantage over other stores because most people inherently want what’s immediately best for them, which are cheaper products.

Right now, I don’t believe that Walmart having all this information is particularly dangerous, so I wouldn’t say I’m either comfortable or uncomfortable with Walmart having much personally identifiable data. The moment that Walmart messes with people’s lives because of the data they carry – I’d rethink my stance on this issue. Walmart is doing what most businesses in their position would do – figure out what’s in the customer’s shopping cart and cater to it in the most profitable way FOR THEM. However, I’m a big humanitarian, and I don’t necessarily agree or like that Walmart almost monopolizes the business. It’s dangerous when suppliers really don’t have a say in “negotiation”. What the article says about Walmart operating on “supply and COMMAND” rather than “supply and DEMAND” worries me a bit.

In this Customer Insight’s class, we’ve learned about the value of catering to individual needs and bettering the lives of people with products. We’ve also learned about the importance of traditional marketing research. Walmart doesn’t seem to truly VALUE its customers. I read an interesting blogpost at http://www.erinword.com/2007/03/which-wal-mart-demographic-are-you.html. I'm not sure I'd like to be categorized as a Walmart shopper! I think Walmart should use their technology to build brand loyalty. I believe in business for bettering the world and those who live in it. It seems like although Walmart is offering LOW prices, it is also hurting many employees who are underpaid and other competitors more than it should. I think Walmart does use its technology effectively for its purpose of gaining profit. It is interesting to me that Walmart uses its technology to figure out how to couple products together so that on average a customer saves 10-20 percent on their shopping basket – it seems they are catering to the low income family. However, I would like to see how Walmart directly helps these low income families in the US or abroad. I would like to see Walmart use their technology to VALUE their customer’s lives and those to whom these customers relate to. Part of valuing their customers would be to NOT withhold so much information and publicly release this.



However, I do like Walmart’s website. I like that they have a section called, “What are people talking about – now?” Walmart understands that people want what’s IN – but not necessarily best for them.

I actually used to love making Walmart trips. All I could think of is how cheap everything was-or so I thought. Only later did I realize how much importance the quality of a product carries. Walmart has most likely used its technology to see the kind of customers that were switching over to buying clothes at Target, because Target held better quality clothing. Walmart probably saw the difference in the products in entire shopping carts, which is why I have recently heard that Walmart has upped the quality of clothing.

As you can see, there are certain ways that I like the way Walmart uses its technology, however, I personally don’t like it using its technology to monopolize its industry or controlling suppliers.

Blog 3: Fire of Creativy and Innovation

Never before have I owned a laptop, until about 2 weeks ago on my birthday. I have always had a desktop, which is great and easy to use at home. Before college, I didn’t think I really ever needed a laptop, but over the past few years, I’ve realized how many times I have checked out a laptop from the PCL, business school, or FAC – and what a hassle that has been! So the laptops at the PCL and business school are ridiculously heavy and usually give me back and shoulder aches. Then I had to deal with making sure that I return them on time, so that I don’t incur a late fee. Then there were always those times when I really wanted a laptop for convenience sake, but they were all checked out!















I am fascinated by my new HP Mini Notebook. This laptop is ridiculously light, and I still haven’t gotten over the fact that this is one of the best gifts my friends have given me. I can even carry it in my purse! Whoever thought of making a laptop this small and light was a genius. Yes, the I Phones and Blackberrys I’m sure are great, but I need to type a LOT on my computer. I would find it extremely difficult to send emails, etc on an I Phone.

Sometimes customers don’t know what they want. There are underlying factors that we don’t take into consideration when deciding what’s important. It may be a matter of prioritizing. I didn’t realize how much easier this mini laptop made my life. No more backaches, no more late fees, no more heavy bags, no more waiting in line every few days to check out a laptop – it’s fantastic! I thank the innovators who took my needs into consideration!

But it’s not just the mini that I think is creative and innovative – it’s the concept of a laptop. Innovators had to find out what customers needed. In a society that craved rapid access to information for many people, the laptop was genius. A desktop was great, but it was stationary. People needed something that they could take with them from place to place to find information. Why? Because we are not stationary beings!

I think that the laptop was extremely creative, in that it took the concept of a monitor, computer, mouse, keyboard and put it all compactly together. Simply amazing! We’ve seen how our society does appreciate having things compact and easy to carry around. We are constantly seeking ways to make our lives easier. The laptop did this for us. Also, since it runs on an electrically charged battery, the power cord is not always necessary.

Innovators sought out how to improve our lives by having information even more accessible to us, no matter where we are. This is creativity.

I thought it was interesting that the article, “The New, Faster Face of Innovation”, stated that innovative companies will move away from traditional research. I would argue more closely with what we learned in class that both traditional research and non-traditional research will need to go hand-in-hand in order to be successful. Although I do agree with the article that it is important that companies to compare 50 real-world experiments than rely on the opinions of a few consulting gurus. Perhaps in order to improve our computers, we will need to rely on innovative research techniques…

I think it’s great that we’re moving faster in order to meet customer’s needs, but it also worries me that our society wants everything now. We are losing our virtues of patience, slowing down and appreciating what we have, and having meaningful conversations that don’t just talk about “what would make me happy.” However we are also learning about perseverance through experimentation. Like Greg Linden in the article stated, “"In each failed test, you learn something that helps you find something that will work.” This is how innovative products are created successfully –I believe. This would seem like a contradictory statement to how much I think the laptop was so creative. I very much like having a laptop – it’s just that I don’t want our society to keep looking to seek out what we could have, instead of appreciating the now of what is around us.

I think a genius idea from Amazon was suggesting products that customers might want. Not only might this make the customer happy by appealing to their desires, but it may also increase the revenue and trust from Amazon, the book provider. If the customer feels that Amazon is trying to meet their needs, it is more likely that the customer will return to Amazon for its book orders.

The last thing I just wanted to talk about was the hippo water roller. AMAZING! I couldn’t leave my post without mentioning the genius of this. It is such a simple concept, but so beneficial to many in world who do not have access to sanitary water. Sometimes the most innovative and creative concepts are the simplest ones. Taking the concept of a barrel and turning it on its side, while making a handle to pull it was an incredible idea that changed the lives of many. The costs were even subsidized by the government. As someone who has observed the difficulties of life in Africa firsthand, and seen how obtaining water can be hard in India, I am so thrilled that there are innovators that have taken the time to solve issues like these!

Hippo Water Roller -> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3755450853057279704&ei=pxvWSp2pNoSwrAOB3riVCg&q=hippo+water+roller&hl=en#

















Ahh…the joys of creativity never seem to die!

Blog 2: Expectations of Experiences

I believe the primary lesson that Dan Ariely wanted to teach us in Predictably Irrational was that expectations prior to an experience truly does affect how we perceive that experience to be. He, along with other colleagues, conducted some beer studies to prove this, and this was the main example that Ariely provided in his explanation. (Although I’m not sure if I quite agree with all of it. I will discuss this shortly). Their results showed that people who knew that vinegar was added to the beer before they tasted the two beers found the beer distasteful in comparison to those who did not know anything about the difference in the two beers or those who found out after tasting the beers that vinegar was added to the generally preferred beers. It actually surprised me that this was the result. I would’ve thought that those who found out about the vinegar being added to the beer after tasting them both would have changed their perceptions about what they thought of the beer. The reason is that, in my experience, people often change their minds about how an experience was to them once they’ve discussed it with someone else or a negative association is correlated to the experience, (such as vinegar).

I really enjoyed this article because immediately ideas came flooding to mind about how marketers could use this information to gain valuable insights. I was specifically thinking about my organization, Nourish International, which I’m a part of. I will get to how I plan on using this information in a little while. Conducting more blind tests, or tests in which the brand is identified, in different situations would truly help marketers find out what’s important for their customers. From Ariely’s studies, we can see that expectations prior to experiences are SUPER important for customers. Therefore, it is important for marketers to create a positive mindset about an experience or product prior to the customer testing it out. Ariely’s coffee shop experiment really highlighted this. It was interesting that how the odd condiments displayed changed how people enjoyed the coffee consumed, even though the customers did not even use the condiments. We now know that it is not only the product that is important to sell, but the presentation of how we are going to sell the product or create an experience. A significant amount of time should be invested to find out how to create experiences with the products that will be enjoyable for the consumers, even if it isn’t the experience that we are necessarily selling.












An example that I would like to write about relates to Nourish International-Austin Chapter, a fairly new student organization at UT. We conduct “Hunger Lunches” on campus, in which we sell food to raise money to work on sustainable international development projects. We have had our fair share of successful and unsuccessful Hunger Lunches. But what we’ve learned is that HOW we display the food affects whether the students would even want to give cash to taste the food. Nikki’s pizza in Dobie is quite popular, and A LOT of students buy pizza from there. We thought selling this pizza would be successful, since it’s popular. However, it was the most unsuccessful Hunger Lunch that we’ve had. Why? In hindsight, we saw that students passing by saw the pizza boxes sitting in the open. We didn’t have pizza box warmers, so obviously the pizza was going to go cold pretty fast. It was a sort of gloomy day, and it didn’t seem that people wanted to stay outside for too long. Even us members didn’t have much enthusiasm about selling the pizza! However, when we sold no-brand quesadillas – we had great success! We made the quesadillas outside, which immediately brought attention to our table and it was a VERY successful Hunger Lunch. People passing by saw the smiles of the servers, the fresh, hot quesadillas, and decided it might be worth investing in. However, in all honestly – the pizza was much better tasting than the quesadillas were.
I can use what I’ve learned in this chapter to figure out how to make our Hunger Lunches more successful. We should create expectations for students that our food will be amazing. Our display must be enticing. This creation in their minds about how GREAT the food will be will make them like the food more. That way, it will be much more likely that those students will return during our next Hunger Lunch. However, if we don’t give them great expectations prior to them tasting the food, they might not like the food as much, resulting in a lost potential valuable returning customer!

However, I do think knowledge before experience does in fact influence neural activity in a greater way than knowledge just after the experience. Why? Because we have already had the experience and determined how we felt about it. Once that’s set, it’s created a mindset about how we believed the experience to be. However, many people’s notions are shifted upon 1) hearing how other people have perceived the experience to be for them, and/or 2) being imparted knowledge that would have previously affected the way we would have thought our experience to be based on what we felt about that particular knowledge prior to the experience.

I don’t think it’s just the expectations that change our sensory perception. What changes how we feel about a certain experience could be attributed to how we think we are supposed to fit the social norm. We think we are “supposed” to like what other people think are like and not like what other people don’t like or is not considered good.


I remember when Napoleon Dynamite came out. I feel that if any individual watched this movie by themselves and had to give a review of it, most people would give poor reviews. I know I would have thought it was a pretty terrible movie! I heard a lot about the movie before I watched it, and it was so hyped up in the market. It was supposed to be dumb, but hilarious. I watched it with people who had already seen it and loved it. They laughed throughout the movie – and I laughed. But in retrospect, I don’t think I would’ve liked it if my expectations of it being funny weren’t so high. Then I thought of a Hindi movie I watched on the day it came out. I really didn’t think it was that great. But for the next few days, everyone kept telling me how the movie was so well-made and how great it was. My perceptions about how much I did not like the movie changed…for some reason, I started to think that I did like it!

This was a great article, which I believe will truly help us understand how to not only improve the value of products/experiences in people’s lives, but will also help us understand how to help customers gain a more lasting happier experience with a product.

Blog 1: Cracking the Coconut

I see a world full of color. I don’t particularly like the crazy fast paced life, like and unlike many others. I wish there would be a movement of “let’s slow down, long enough to actually notice other people.” Perhaps by doing this, we would be able to in fact improve the lives of “the other 90%,” as Jeff Mulhausen spoke about in class. (Side note: That was one great talk. It really provided some insights to us students about how we can make a difference if we open our eyes to the problems and not just try to reach for the money…) As was talked about in the “Persona Lifecycle” article, understanding the user is extremely important into developing helpful personas and truly addressing the issues. So let me provide some deeper insights into someone like me that could be valuable for marketers:

1.) Because of traveling to many countries, including England, Mozambique, Argentina, and Guatemala, I have become a more culturally understanding person. There are many others, like me, who are interested in what other cultures can teach us, which broadens our horizons. We might even be mentally transformed by what we see and learn. Not only do I enjoy spending time in these countries, but I also like bringing home various souvenirs. Traveling so much is not an option for many. However, some brilliant minds have brought the experiences to the customer. I think a great example of this is The Rainforest Café, where the customer can experience being in a “rainforest” while enjoying their dinner.

2.) I am a people person. People persons enjoy meeting people and understanding the world from different perspectives. However, I would rather have fewer deeper intimate relationships than many superficial ones. (I think this would be a preference for most people). I think in this day, the word friendship has lost some of its deeper value. I mean, people don’t really have “1,346 friends” like Facebook says. Creating an experience or product that brings more value to relationships would work well for people like me. For example, Argentina really markets their “Día de los Amigos” or “Friendship Day”. I studied abroad in Argentina for 3 months, and I remember that many stores were selling products specifically for Día de los Amigos. These products helped reinforce the special bonds in friendship.



3.) I am a health nut, and I love my smoothies. Sometimes getting all the nutrients essential for a healthy diet is hard for a college student. I am constantly trying to find the most effective/efficient way to get my daily nutrients in “on-the-go” drinks. Lately, I’ve been using “Amazing Grass” in juices, but I’m still looking for something tastier than wheatgrass!

4.) Tae Kwon Do made me a pretty perseverant/disciplined individual. Gyms can draw people like me in, especially when they show their dedication to making me, their customer, satisfied with their facilities and trainers.



5.) I have a heart for those in need. I am part of Nourish International – Austin Chapter, in which we raise money through on-campus ventures to work on an international development project, which we implement in the summers. By being a part of this organization, I have become more aware of global issues, and I am always looking for ways to get involved in projects locally or globally. There are probably non-profits who are looking for people like this. However, since there are SO many organizations that do “good work”, it’s important for them to market themselves and create an appeal that will show why people should help them out.

6.) Finding out new information brings me joy. The world just has so much information, and it’s a rare day when we don’t find out something new. However, while some college students dread studying for their classes, I actually have enjoyed many (but not all) of mine. Although I do like life to run at a slower pace, I love having quick access to information when I need it or want to find out something. (The IPod touch is a great invention for people like me…although I don’t have one yet!)

7.) Music sings to me 24/7, whether it’s in my head, while I’m playing guitar, piano, or sax. It can lift my spirits when I’m having a not-so-good day. Life has just been a bit sweeter with my IPod. It’s helped me when I just need to finish running another mile, or when I’d like to listen to soothing music before bed. Having this gadget so handy really makes me smile.



8.) Because my handwriting is messy and I write so many notes in my classes, it’s often been a challenge to go back and study my notes. In a few of my Spanish classes last year, I’d record the professor and go back and try to listen to the lecture again. But this method took too long. (It’s hard for me to catch everything in my Spanish classes, especially because it’s not my native language). I recently heard about this SmartPen. You can press record on your notebook and write down key notes from the lecture while the professor is talking. Then, when you want to go back and review what the professor was talking about, you just click on the word with your pen, and you can hear the context of those key words you wrote! This would most definitely be helpful for someone like me.

9.) I hold sleep dear to my heart, and having a comfortable bed just makes my day 10X better. I can tell that marketers have really tried to address the comforts needs of people like me from the wide variety of mattresses available, such as the Tempur-Pedic Matresses.

10.) I am an independent young woman. I don’t like to depend on anyone, except God, because I think it will make me a not self-sufficient person. However, I’ve realized that there are just certain things that will take me entirely too long to do, even with a manual, such as assembling wooden furniture. IKEA has done a great job of catering to people, like me, who want easy-to-assemble products.

Phew! Actually thinking about what’s important to me and valuable to marketers actually used a lot of brain power, but it certainly helped me learn more about myself.

New blog site!

I haven't actually blogged since Argentina, so I'm excited about this!