Chicken Noodle Soup--What the Doctor Ordered?

Yesterday, as I found myself confined to my bed for the 3rd day in a row due to a bad virus, the last thing on my mind was my Consumer Behavior class.  In between frequent naps and watching old episodes of Breaking Bad, I received a text from my mom with that age-old advice "Eat some chicken noodle soup".  It made me think for a second--why chicken noodle soup?  Why not Tylenol?  Just to clarify, my mother is an infectious disease doctor, so her advice was not due to a lack of medical knowledge.  As a doctor, it would be more likely for her to suggest an antibiotic or a cold medicine, but as a mother, chicken soup is the obvious answer.  Obviously she was never taught in medical school that chicken noodle soup is the cure, but for some reason she recommended it anyway, just like most mothers do.  Does she really think chicken noodle soup is going to get rid of my fever?  Doubtful.  So then why would she suggest it?

It got me thinking (but not for long, I did sleep for over half the day) how and why have we created this culture which believes that chicken noodle soup is the best cure?  This lead me to do some online research (mainly because I ran out of TV shows to watch) and I found that while chicken noodle soup does have some cold-healing qualities, it is no more healing than a glass of vitamin-C filled orange juice.  In fact, most of the healthy aspects come from the vegetables in the soup, but nobody ever says to eat a big bowl of vegetables if you're sick!  So again, I ask...why soup?  For that matter, why chicken noodle? Why not beef and rice?

Since this wonder food doesn't actually hold incredible healing powers, this left one other answer--soup is easy to digest when you're sick, and chicken noodle in particular has a great comforting quality that you just don't get from a bowl of noodles and a side of chicken.  OK, that's great and all, but this is where the big questions lies.  Why is it that people still consume chicken noodle soup when they're healthy??  Maybe this is just my personal opinion, but I would assume that if a product goes hand in hand with sickness, that consumers would be reminded of being sick when consuming the product on a regular basis.  Aka, goodbye chicken noodle soup sales.  In the mind of the consumers, how can chicken noodle soup be great when you're sick and when you're not sick? For example, I only drink ginger ale when I'm sick.  I once tried to drink it when I was healthy, and I couldn't stand the taste because I've always associated those flavors with being sick.  I will never buy ginger ale when I'm healthy--I just can't get past that association in my mind.

Associating a product with a feeling or emotion is extremely powerful, and can change how consumers act.  Have you ever heard a song on the radio and it reminded you of a very specific time or event?  If it was the song playing during your first dance on your wedding day, you're going to buy the CD.  However, if it was playing in the background when your first boyfriend/girlfriend dumped you, chances are you're going to hate that song forever, no matter how much you liked it beforehand, because it wil always remind you of those horrible feelings.  I, as a marketing major, would think that because I always associate chicken noodle soup with being sick, that it would bring back those icky feelings whenever I ate it.  However, this phenomenon doesn't seem to exist in the chicken noodle soup world.  I can't be the only one who finds this fascinating....right? Right.

The only deduction I can reach, besides the very scientific and knowledgeable conclusion that chicken noodle soup is magic and doesn't succumb to the rules, is that chicken noodle soup was marketed very carefully.  While I couldn't trace the canned food back to its first ever ads, I don't think that the soup was first marketed as a cure for sickness.  That is the key.  If chicken noodle soup was invented and marketed solely as a medicine of sorts, then nobody would be eating it on a regular basis.  Instead, it was created to be a healthy, comfort food that reminds us of childhood and family.  Now what's the one thing we all want when we're sick?  To be comforted by our moms.  It's true, even if you won't admit it.  The smell, taste, and feeling that chicken noodle soup creates gives us that artificial comfort that we can't always get as adults.  Campbell's and Progresso, if you're reading this (yes, if you're reading the blog for my Consumer Behavior class....just go with it), I'd like to personally thank you for selling this wonder food, which will trick my mind into believing I'm not sick anymore right now, and next week will just be a great delicious dinner.

I love chicken noodle soup when I'm sick, and I love it when I'm not sick.  But maybe that's just me. Then again, maybe not.
*Since I can't seem to get an actual poll to work, comment with your answer to this question:
When do you eat chicken noodle soup?
a. only when I'm sick
b. only when I'm NOT sick
C. anytime, sick or not!

--Raquel Scharyj

Amazon: saving me money to spend on other things- at Amazon…

Let me start off by saying I am a complete die-hard Amazon fan! Every time that we near the start of classes and I receive all my e-mails from professors about which books we’ll be using for the semester my first task is to write down the isbn numbers and start a price compare. And every single time, without exception, Amazon offers me the cheapest prices. I save literally hundreds of dollars every semester on books. If that wasn’t enough, Amazon gifted me a one-year free Prime membership, upgrading me to 2-day shipping on Prime products for no additional cost. Through their cheap prices, fast deliveries, and user rating system, Amazon gained my brand loyalty. I no longer even look at Ebay or Half.com when I purchase books- I just compare Wake bookstore to Amazon. 

After my amazing book-buying experience with Amazon, I decided to expand my amazon use to beyond book purchasing. I started gift e-shopping for friends. The convenience of being able to purchase anything I want without leaving campus is just incredible. But lately I have been overwhelmed with Amazon- because with each purchase I make, they are able to better analyze my consumption patterns- they know how much I am willing to spend, what types of products I enjoy buying, how frequently I will purchase. Amazon now knows me better than I know myself- they know how to sell me products I will want before I know these products exist. 

I am a coffee addict. (That might be an understatement). I purchase campus grounds an average of once a day, and additionally go to a cafe off campus almost every weekend. I did the math and realized that I was spending about $35-$40/ week on coffee beverages, and I decided that was much too much. My solution? I had to buy my own latte machine. I went to Walmart and saw a latte machine I thought I would like for about $120…But this seemed awfully expensive to me seeing as I would have to buy all the ingredients necessary to make the drinks. So I decided to go onto Amazon to check what they had to offer. I looked through 5-10 different machines and found one that had a higher customer satisfaction than the one I was considering at Walmart, and get this: the price was only $45 (including shipping!). So of course I bought the $45 combination cappuccino/latte maker without much hesitation. And that is when the downfall began…Because when I thought a mug would suffice for steaming my milk, little did I know, I needed a metal steam pot. So I bought the best one at such a discount for about $20 after shipping. And then, I thought I would be able to estimate the ideal temperature- but they actually e-mailed me informing me of the best thermometers for steaming milk- so I bought one for $10. And then after searching for chai extracts, I now receive the e-mails notifying me of sales and favorite products. I have accumulated so many coffee/tea accessories: and it’s true, Amazon has allowed me to buy more stuff  and save a ton of money. But when I take a second to reflect I realize that all I wanted was the latte machine. That was all. And now my room is practically a fully functional Starbucks. By tracking my searches, purchases, and spending patterns, Amazon has been able to understand what I want to purchase better than I myself can identify what I want to purchase, and they do so in such a subtle way- which allows me to save money with every purchase, and ultimately spend more and more at Amazon. From the perspective of a marketer- incredible and amazing; from the perspective of a consumer- I better proceed with caution!

Rachel Goldberg

Faced with the clutter

My laptop crashed. 
During the past few days, I have spent several long hours looking for a new one on the Internet. Given the average price of a laptop, I read a lot of documentation and advice from specialized websites about what kind of laptop would suit me best and what technical features I should pay attention to. This reinforced that I have absolutely no interest in computers. This also reminded me of  one of my first few marketing classes: “Usually, the more expensive and long-life the range of product, the more a customer seeks information about it before finally buying the product”. And indeed, that's what happened with my purchase.

But before I started my research, the very first thing I did, almost automatically, was to briefly look for peers recommendations on laptops. 

90% of customers trust peers recommendations.

And only after that I really started to read up for objective technical information (for hours).

To be honest, my intended unbiased research was a failure. Exhausted from taking in all that information and facing a clutter of computer brands, I ended up feeling like I couldn’t make up my mind. This eventually led me to dramatically change my decision-making strategy; I came back to peers recommendations! And, indeed, I bought the brand most of my peers recommended: Apple. 

Thinking about it, Apple was not the most recommended brand by specialist websites considering my needs and the money I had planned to spend on this purchase. I wasn’t quite sure Macs offered the best cost effectiveness and this brand had never seemed to appeal to me more than its competitors. A computer mechanic and a computer engineer had even told me that the components used were the same in Macs and other computers. Still, I bought this brand rather than another one! As a matter of fact, my screening process amongst the numerous different brands –which is the real issue for firms- eventually resulted from my peers recommendations. Even though I knew there would probably be the perfect laptop for me out there -and at a fair price- I was just simply not able to see it stand out clearly in the clutter! As a result, it seems to me that firms now cut through the Internet clutter thanks to peers’ recommendations as much as their brand awareness.

I can’t help thinking that most of these people who had posted comments on the Internet were quite similar to me. They hadn’t bought many more laptops than I had myself and therefore couldn’t really compare them. Above all, their experience with the product was subject to random issues and subjective, biased judgment. But, when hesitating between several brands, I would still trust the majority – my peers- who had an experience similar to the one I will probably have instead of experts, who seem more distant. In a way, I just conformed to my peers’ idea of the best brand, though I initially tried to find my best laptop.  

During the 1950s, most consumers would buy just the same product as their neighbors to conform to others. Since then, lifestyle patterns have changed, and consumers appear to rather reject conformity and seek customized products. Indeed - especially thanks to the abundance of products easily available on the Internet- we like to think that the products we choose on our own among a vast array of possibilities result from the analysis of our specific needs and the finding of the suitable product. But, after this purchase, I would question what I previously thought (at least concerning certain kinds of products); we probably tend to rely on our peers’ opinion more than on our rationalized comparison. 

Alicia Lafage

A Disappointing Lesson

This summer my aunt and my cousins, a 9-year-old boy and 6 year-old girl, came to visit my family for two weeks and I got a glimpse into the world of children’s toys. One day Owen, my 9-year-old cousin, saw a commercial for Air Hogs remote control cars while he was watching cartoons. The commercial showed the cars flying through the air, flipping over, and racing each other. He thought the toy was awesome and he absolutely had to have it. Luckily, the commercial said it was available at Target, a short drive from our house. Owen decided to buy the $40 toy with money he had saved from allowance and birthday presents. We made a trip to Target where he headed straight to the Air Hogs section to buy the remote control car, still talking about how great the toy was on the commercial.

The problems started as soon as we got the toy car home. The car took almost 10 hours to fully charge and it was difficult to maneuver since it was not very responsive to the controller. A few minutes after starting to play with the finally charged car, Owen accidently drove the toy straight into the pool. Although it was rescued immediately, the water damage had already been done and the toy stopped working about five minutes later. Owen decided to call the customer service number on the back of the package for guidance and the operator suggested leaving the toy in the sun on a towel for two days, and if it still wasn’t working to exchange it at Target. The call was on speakerphone and we were surprised the operator acted like he was speaking to an adult instead of a third grader. Two days later the toy still wasn’t working and we went back to Target where it was exchanged without a problem.

It turned out the replacement car was worse than the first and had trouble holding a charge. The second car would run for a few minutes before sputtering to a stop, which was not nearly long enough to even try to do any of the tricks shown in the exciting commercial. After switching the batteries countless times and trying to charge it for almost a week, it was back to Target with the poor quality toy and a disappointed Owen. The toy was returned and Owen decided to pick out a new toy with the money from the return. He chose a remote control helicopter and he told me he picked it because his friend owned the same one and Owen had seen working well in real life, not just on a commercial.

The Air Hogs experience seemed to teach Owen that what you see in commercials isn’t always what you get, and it helped me see how easily children are influenced by commercials. I think commercials that show children’s toys being operated by professionals and are possibly computer enhanced is a recipe for disappointment for children. This dissatisfaction could affect the likelihood that a child will want to purchase a similar product from the company in the future. I think this experience highlights the importance of truth in advertising, since no matter how engaging your commercials are a bad product likely won’t be successful for long. Owen told everyone in my family and the neighborhood that the Air Hogs remote control car was terrible, especially considering how expensive it was. I think that this negative word of mouth about the product might be even more influential to parents and children than a flashy commercial on Nickelodeon. I wonder why children’s toy companies like Air Hog don’t place more emphasis on making the actual product experience at least almost as good as the commercial.

The Air Hogs commercial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwR1-ASKCy8

Claire Dunn

BEM Marketing major, Sociology minor

Don't Forget the Birthday

As September is coming to an end, I am beginning to adjust to fall classes and my lack of free time.  School is beginning to consume many hours of my day, and it is making it very difficult to manage my time wisely.  As a senior, every night seems to be a constant battle between watching sports or schoolwork.  And to be honest, sports tend to win some of the time (okay, most).  But as the first month of school has flown by, one date has seemed to slip my mind in all the chaos: my girlfriend’s birthday. 

A girlfriend’s birthday is something that you must remember very early on in the relationship or else it will be a short one.  To defend myself, I have always known that her birthday is September 24^th, but I have mastered the art of delaying the purchase of her present(s).  You could say that my procrastination is partly a guy waiting until the last minute, but I would also argue that I have no idea what to purchase my girlfriend!

If you were to ask a girl about gifts, they would always tell you, “I just want to hang out with you. I don’t need any gifts or anything special.”  But deep down, a girl always wants to feel special.  The big concern for me is that they never tell you what they want! It is always a tricky answer. For example, when asking a girl what she would like, she might say, “Oh, just get me something that you think I might like.”  Girls are extremely complicated, and I thank God for the other women out there to help purchasing a birthday gift.  

This past weekend, I finally decided to get off my butt and do some research for the perfect birthday gift.  When I looked at the task ahead, the only presents that came to mind were chocolate, roses, and the dreaded date to a “chick flick”. After thinking over in my head if my girlfriend gave any clues to something she might want, I remembered a conversation we had a while back.  While she did not give any specifics, I remember her saying, “I just purchased some cheap earrings from Target because I only have one pair.” 

This was my chance.  My girlfriend deserves to have a nice pair of earrings, and I think I have an idea of what kind she wears.  This was my chance to surprise her AND show her that I listen.  I listen intently!

Call me crazy, but I first decided that my mom and my girlfriend’s best friend would be my assets in purchasing this gift.  After talking to them for the past three weeks, I finally decided upon earrings.  However, the only jewelry store I have really heard of was Jared’s and I could not buy a 1000 carat, diamond studded hoop earring coated with onyx (YET).

After ruling Jared and some guy named David Yurman out of the question, I then decided to go to Macy’s and walk around the jewelry section until an item stood out to me.  After walking around the jewelry store for an hour like a chicken with its head cut off, I finally decided to round up enough “guts” to ask the jewelry department manager for some help.  After telling her that her birthday was in September, she led me to the sapphire section of earrings and helped me determine exactly what she wants.  She asked me questions that I had never thought about.  In-ear or hanging, small or large, gold or silver. I was beginning to panic from overload!  After calming myself down, I began to picture my girlfriend in my head and what specific kind of earrings she normally wears. 

After much concentration and help, I finally narrowed my search to three different in-ear earrings that were silver with sapphire gems and diamonds. All three were priced reasonably, and I finally decided on the earrings that I felt in my heart were best.  Although I thought my mom and her best friend would be my best assets, I realized that the lady in the jewelry section was my greatest of all.  Thank you, Susie.

After spending way too long in a store, I then drove home, turned the TV to ESPN, and began to doze off.  I was very satisfied with my purchase, and I cannot wait to see the smile on her face when she opens it.  Hopefully in the midst of all the celebrations I’ll remember why September 24^th is really important….. #14 Arkansas vs. #3 Alabama at 3:30 PM on CBS.  Go Tide!

http://www.singleguyadvisor.com/birthday-gift-girlfriend.html

For guys who also need help on this matter........




-Austin Stadler

The Psychology behind the Crazy Coupon Queens

            From high school until the summer before my junior year, I have spent my summers working at Harris Teeter.  In my time, I came across an interesting assortment of customers – the hostile customer that curses at you for requesting an ID, the price-haggler that argues with you over the price of an item, and the shoplifter who tries to steal HBC items from the store.  I have come to acquire a keen eye and can easily identify these types of people just as they walk into the store.  These types of customers only make up about 5% of the people with whom I interacted.  Of course, 95% of customers were pleasant and entertaining, which is why I enjoyed my job and continued working there. 

Joining the 5% of my not-so-favorite customers are the crazy coupon queens.  I hate to make a generalization that the only coupon users are women, but 9 times out of 10, that is the case.  I am not talking about the soccer mom who brings a few coupons with her on a shopping trip.  I am talking about the coupon queens who bring binders of coupons with them – a collection from newspapers, websites, mail promotions, and bulk coupons bought through Amazon and eBay.  For these women, couponing is not just about saving money – it is a strategic game.  You can tell immediately who these women are just as they walk into the door – just a simple nod to the cashier next to you communicates your acknowledgement of a coupon queen pacing around in the store.

            My point in singling out these coupon queens isn’t that couponing is bad – you can save a ton of money.  I am a couponer myself, picking out a few from the Sunday paper and using them when an item is on sale, doubling the savings.  My point is that coupon queens are grouped into the most extreme, almost psychotic group of grocery store shoppers.  These coupon queens can spend in excess of one or two hours in the store, pacing up and down the aisles, going through their encyclopedia of coupons and clearing the shelves.  They have studied the sales and know exactly what coupons to pair with what items to get the maximum savings.   As they approach the checkout line with their carts full of groceries, the cashiers glance to their left and right, hoping someone will step up and check out the stereotypical coupon queen.  I always enjoyed the challenge and would tend to always step up and welcome the coupon queen to my line, just as I would any other customer.  However, a typical transaction could take on the order of 20, maybe even 30 minutes.  Of course, these coupon queens are price sensitive, neurotically checking their discounts on the screen and questioning the accuracy of their bill.  Harris Teeter has a strict coupon policy limiting transactions to 20 per VIC card per day.  Customers also can’t use more than 2 coupons for similar items in a single transaction.  Coupon queens know ways around this, and separate their groceries into 2, 3, maybe even 4 or 5 orders, using different VIC cards that they have acquired.  You can imagine how frustrating it can be dealing with these customers.  When the store is packed at 5pm “rush hour” and you are tied up with a coupon queen, 20 minutes is a bit too much time to spare. 

I always tend to ask the coupon queens how much time they spending couponing a week – 10 hours was not out of the question.  This always intrigued me.  Couldn’t that time be spent working and earning income?  That brings me back to my point that extreme couponing isn’t just about saving money – it’s all about the game.  If it were just about saving money, the opportunity cost of spending 10 hours working a job would greatly outweigh time spent couponing.  Of course, coupon queens can easily reduce a $200 bill down to $20 with the proper planning and execution.  Perhaps coupon queens should be strategy professors – though seemingly psychotic, they are smart, know how to work the system, and can find ways around the system if an issue arises.  I am almost envious of them, as some have spent months, even years perfecting there coupon skills.  I’ve even been able to take some hints from them, but I just can’t, and won’t put myself on their level.  So, coupon queens, keep enjoying what you’re doing, but please stay out of my checkout line. - Tom Looney 

           

Missoni (Misery) at Target

I have been waiting for Missoni to come to Target all summer, however I did not realize so many other people were waiting for September 13^th like I was. For those of you who don’t know Missoni is a high end fashion designer from Italy who agreed to design a line for Target that included: clothes, luggage, accessories, throws, pillows, kitchen ware and more.

When I got to Target this afternoon, September 14^th, there was barely anything left. There were a couple different shirt, 3 plates, 1 cup, and a couple journals. I was in complete shock! I asked one of the Target employees when they expected to get in another shipment and she just shrugged and said “not sure”. If I did not need anything else from Target I would have left right then. How could this woman who is restocking products not know when a shipment is coming in?

Understanding that the Target I went to was a smaller Target, near Wake Forest campus, I checked online when I got home. The first link that came up was to eBay . . . confused, I was too. As I continued reading down the page I realized how many people had been awaiting the release of this line. Apparently within three hours of Missoni items becoming available online, at 6am, Target.com went down. The site was still down in some place at 5pm, needless to say this outraged customers who were trying to log on.

Not only am I completely surprised that Target did not plan for this and that their website could not handle the traffic, I am also shocked that all the items are now on eBay, for much higher prices. Because the online and brick and mortar stores are all selling out or completely sold out people will be turning to eBay and paying higher prices, but not everyone. By not planning for the amount of interest from customers Target lost millions of dollars in sales. Target way underestimated the impact of their own large marketing efforts and the power of the Missoni brand name.

I also looked into the pop up store that Missoni/Target opened last week for Fashion’s Night out. The store sold out of everything in one night. This should have been an indicator to Target that this new line was hot and in high demand. However when the line was available in stores and online a week later Target was unprepared.

Reading through articles and the comments people have posted below articles and on blogs, it is clear that Target now has to work on their customer relations. People are infuriated that staff could not answer their question, that Target.com crashed and that Target was clearly unprepared. I am interested to see where Target goes from here. If they do not somehow rectify this situation it is a very likely possibility that they will lose customers and not get as nearly as much interest the next time they feature a high fashion designer.

Lisa Prentis major: BEM/Marketing