Last week, I went to the state fair in Raleigh for the fall break. In high school, I went to the state fair every year; however, I have not been to the fair since I started college. Since 2008, the fair has changed so much. They had new rides and also new food. This year, Krispy Kreme burger was introduced to the fair. Although I was not brave enough to try the burger, some of my friends tried the burger. I was really surprised that they finished the burger. During my visit to the fair, I began to think why many Americans are not conscious about their health.
According to AP, “Despite years of public service campaigns — and lectures from Mom — Americans still aren't eating even close to enough fruits and vegetables, according to a recent study.” This is becoming problematic, since America is ranked number one in the most obesity countries in the world (www.nationmaster.com) with 30.6% whereas South Korea has 3.2%. In these days, most people do not know how much they are supposed to eat per day. Only 12% people said they eat the suggested five or more servings of vegetables and fruits which are the federal recommended minimum servings per day.
Dr. George Blackburn, associate director of Harvard Medical School s nutrition division, insisted that it is urgent to raise the awareness of the importance of eating healthy. Then he said, "People over report, even though it's a pathetic number. We would be ecstatic if they (ate) what they say they did," he said. "It's amazing how many people go day in and day out with zero." According to the survey above, 3 percent even said they do not eat fruits or vegetables at all.
So, instead of having Krispy Kreme burgers, fried candy bars, and more unhealthy food, what would it take Americans to eat healthier?
I am a hugely loyal Apple brand consumer. I got the iPod Nano about a week after it came out, the iPhone 3G the day it came out, and now am a proud owner of the new iPhone 4S. Granted I don't have a Mac or an iPad, I still concede that all of Apple's products are technologically and aesthetically superior to all of its rivals (yes, even to the beloved Wake Forest edition ThinkPad). That being said, my buying journey for the iPhone 4S had some similarities and differences from the models we studied in class (traditional and McKinsey's). Let's explore my experience further.
The traditional consumer decision-making process begins with problem recognition. In my experience, I completely skipped this initial stage. Because I was following blogs and announcements about the release of the newest generation iPhone since mid summer this year like it was my job, I knew that the iPhone was going to be released on October 14th – I also knew that you would be able to preorder it on October 7th. And so at 12:01 am on October 6th, I preordered the brand new iPhone 4S for $199 plus some tax, and thus commenced the anticipation until pick-up day on October 14th began. So looking back at my purchase, I never really experienced a moment when I ‘realized’ that I had a problem which needed to be addressed or a ‘trigger’ that made me want the phone. I already had a phone (a functioning blackberry as a replacement for my dead iPhone 3G), I simply just decided that I wanted the newest and best technology out there – which the iPhone offered.
The next step in the traditional model is familiarity, which is similar to the first step in McKinsey’s consumer decision making journey, initial consideration. In this phase the consumer uses the knowledge they already have of brands or available word of mouth type info from friends and family members to narrow down the options for their consumer decision. I was persuaded mostly from my friend to consider the iPhone 4S as a realistic choice for a new phone. He was also an Apple junkie, and he hyped up all of the new features of the iPhone that really sealed the deal for me (such as Siri, the new voice-recognition technology that allows you to verbally tell the iPhone commands). Another variable working here was my longstanding familiarity with Apple. As I said before, I’ve had a number of Apple products in the past that I have been very content with, therefore my loyalty with the brand was extremely high.
Next in the models are the information search/active evaluation stages, where the consumer goes out to search for information on the product category to help them with their decision. I didn’t really search for information on products outside of the iPhone, but I did definitely put in due research on the new iPhone 4S. I looked into blogs about the new features of the phone, read up on critics’ analyses of the phone, and also searched YouTube for videos about the phone. The YouTube video really won me over; it showed several characters using the new Siri technology to set reminders for plans, verbally text friends, and basically just act as a personal assistant. After seeing that video, there was really never any looking into any other alternatives (I skipped that traditional stage); I had made up my mind that the iPhone 4S was for me.
So I bought the iPhone. Like I mentioned earlier, I preordered the phone in the first minute of October 7th online. That was pretty much my moment of purchase/product choice experience. More important is the outcome/post-purchase experience. When I finally went to the store to pick up my new phone, I was giddy with joy. I took the phone home with a smile on my face and immediately began playing with all of its new features. I was also immediately loyal to the new phone and Apple once again – I swore to the phone’s functionality of the voice recognition technology to all of my friends (although it didn’t always work), and I even convinced a couple of my friends that they needed the phone, so they too ended up buying one. The point is, I had now become a walking advocate for both the phone and Apple in general.
So, as you can see my experience buying the new iPhone was very similar to both the traditional and McKinsey versions of the consumer decision making process, with the only difference really being my skipping of the problem recognition stage and also not really considering any other brands except for Apple’s iPhone. But what I found most intriguing in my experience as a consumer insight was the overwhelming power that friends can have on your purchase decision. My Apple-junkie friend singlehandedly sold me to the idea that the iPhone was the only real competitor in the new phone market. It wasn’t the expert opinions, the blogs, or the professional critic reviews, but rather the information and steadfast confidence in Apple from a trusted friend that sold me. In turn, when I got the iPhone, my converted confidence and trust in Apple as a brand helped to persuade two of my friends to buy the phone as well. One can only assume, given the trend at hand, that those two friends will convince their friends, who’ll convince their friends, who’ll convince their friends, and so on and so forth into the foreseeable future – that is, of course, until Apple comes out with a newer, even better iPhone.
-Patrick Szawara
Is baseball still America's pastime? I ask this question rather rhetorically because I believe the answer is a resounding no. The World Series has had steady declines in ratings every year since 1995. In 1995, the Series received a Nielsen rating of 19.5, which meant that there were nearly 29 million viewers. In 2010, the World Series tied its record low from 2008 with a Nielsen rating of 8.4, which equates to 13.6 million viewers. Compare that to the most recent Super Bowl which was viewed by 111 million people, and it becomes quite obvious that football has far surpassed baseball as America’s pastime. Now we must seek to find out insights on why the popularity of baseball has decreased.
Major League Baseball has done a very poor job of embracing and incorporating technology into the game. For example, the NFL has established a replay system to either confirm or deny calls on the field. It would be very easy for the MLB to establish a replay system into their own sport for bang-bang plays at the plate, but instead they leave it up to the umpires. A replay system could also be perfect for calling balls and strikes, but once again that is left up to the umpires, which leads to errors and inconsistency throughout the sport.
Another aspect of technology that MLB has ignored is social media. MLB falls significantly behind when it comes to Twitter and Facebook. The MLB has slightly over 1.5 million Twitter followers, while the NBA has over 3 million, and the NFL has 2.4 million. Currently on 277 of 750 MLB players have Twitter accounts. That may sound like a lot, but the NBA has 396 players with Twitter account and they only have 450 players. Twitter allows fans a chance to interact with their favorite players and feel a more personal connection to the game. In addition, players can also remind fans of game times, which would make them more likely to watch or even attend the event.
Another problem facing the World Series specifically is the starting times. It starts too late for the youth demographic to be able to watch. As I’m typing this it’s 11:00 p.m. on a Thursday night and it’s only the 7th inning. Most kids in high school or younger are asleep. How can the MLB expect to grow in the future, if the future is asleep during its showcase? Sure, the NBA Finals start at 9, but they are played in the summer when kids have a more lenient bed time.
The problem with baseball is not that it’s too slow or takes too long. The average NFL game takes over 3 hours to play and includes just over 11 minutes of actual football being played. Baseball's problem is just that it is marketed to consumers in an incorrect fashion. The MLB must embrace technology, social media, and be cognizant of younger viewers. A New York Times article discussed how parents are spending more time with their children than generations past. Baseball can utilize that insight to drive stadium attendance and increase their overall brand. Baseball stadiums can be great experiences for families. It can be a great experience for those who enjoy the game and the strategy, and those who just want to be outdoors in the summer. The MLB just isn’t marketing their brand in that fashion. By rejuvenating a tradition of fathers and sons playing ball together, the MLB could grow its brand and help establish sustained success moving forward. It currently isn’t America’s pastime, but it still has the potential to move back to the top if the MLB can act on key insights.
Currently, YouTube gets about 3 billion views each day. Also, about 8 years’ worth of content are uploaded each day. With such astounding numbers, it is not hard to see why so many companies have tried to capitalize YouTube in some way. While companies have their individual profiles set up on YouTube in order to market their newest products and give their customers the latest news, they are not the reason YouTube has become so popular.
Viewers come to YouTube to find funny videos, blogs, and other similar entertainment. These videos are posted by the average Joes, not any big time corporation. Popularity of these average Joes’s videos have skyrocketed them into being celebrities themselves. While they may not be of equal level to movie stars, the most popular YouTube celebrities have places in the hearts of their fans. Those who saw these trends on YouTube immediately tried to capitalize on it. Of course with over 4 million subscribers, who would not try to take advantage of that.
For example, The Ellen Degeneres Show now has a segment where they invite YouTube celebrities to the show. This has most definitely increased not only the fame of the celebrity, but also view counts for the show. Especially since a large demographic of YouTube are young, the show’s use of YouTube celebrities will help them attract these viewers. An example of this would be where the show invited to girls from Britain after a video of them doing a cover of a Nikki Manj song went viral.
While companies from outside YouTube have been reaping the fame of these celebrities by sponsoring them and doing interviews with them, the celebrities themselves have also started to capitalize on their fame. Since most of the popular profiles on YouTube have a fan base of millions, they have started to sell products with the YouTube celebrities’ own ‘brand’. These products range from simple t-shirts to toys and dolls. Many popular YouTube Channels are using this as another way to fund themselves.
While selling shirts and toys are nothing compared to what companies have done, in the past few years, YouTube celebrities have started to be even more creative. After recognizing the fact that fans want to meet the YouTube celebrities, some of these idols have started to host concerts just for that reason. Rather than do a simple meet and greet, Wong Fu Productions, a YouTube celebrity among many Asian Americans, had the idea of hosting a concert where many popular celebrities on YouTube will perform whatever they are talented in for their fans. These range anywhere from singing to comedy. The popularity of this particular concert (called ISA—International Secret Agent) was so great that it became an annual event. They were even able to get real celebrities like The Far East Movement and B.O.B to perform on stage.
With the popularity of YouTube ever increasing, the top dogs on that website have truly created a whole different new industry for the entertainment business.
I’m just going to come right out and say it—I am a crazy cat woman.
It’s taken me a while to accept this truth, but denial wasn’t getting me anywhere.
So that being said, my most important purchase this year was in January when I went to the Forsyth County Humane Society and bought two kittens. This made me think about the buyer behavior process, and how my experience doesn’t quite match up with either the traditional or McKinsey’s consumer decision journey.
The journeys start off the same—first there is a touch point that makes the consumer (me) realize that they need something (kittens, of course). My touch point occurred while I was abroad, and I realized how much I missed my pets. Both buyer behavior models say that the first step involves considering an initial set of brands, which is then followed by more research of those brands that makes the consumer adjust their consideration set accordingly. As a side note, it is generally a rule of thumb that the more important a purchase decision, the more effort or time the buyer will put into the process. For example, one would spend more time deciding what car to buy as opposed to what breakfast cereal (or I would hope). Considering those facts, this is the part where things get tricky.
I didn’t have a consideration set and I didn’t do any research. I used to volunteer at the Forsyth Animal Shelter, so I immediately knew I would get my pets there. I didn’t even make a decision during that step; I just knew that’s how it would be. Prior to going to the shelter to pick out my kittens, I didn’t do any research. You can’t exactly compare online reviews of kittens. So there was no time spent in that part of the process either. So here I am, about to make the most important purchase I have ever made, and I haven’t spent any time deciding what to buy. Obviously that doesn’t quite match up with the whole more importance means more time idea.
The traditional model suggests that a consumer goes into the point of purchase knowing what product they are going to buy. Obviously that doesn’t apply in this situation. I saw my kittens, played with them, and knew they were the ones I wanted. The decision had been made in mere minute. I think I spent more time picking out a pair of jeans online then I did choosing Coco and Dolce. What’s even stranger is that you can normally return a purchased item if you’re not happy with it, but you can’t exactly return a kitten. This meant that my decision was binding, and would affect my life for the next 15 or so years. Wouldn’t that mean that I would spend more time in the decision making process?
How can such an important purchase go against all of the proven rules of buyer behavior? My first thought was that maybe the importance of the purchase is more closely related to the cost of the item. Buying a car is important, but it’s also very expensive. Buying kittens is also very important, but surprisingly inexpensive (the going rate for kittens these days is pretty low). But that doesn’t seem right to me—if a purchase is important wouldn’t the buyer spend more time deciding, no matter the cost?
That’s when I realized what was different in my experience that isn’t accounted for in the models—emotions. My entire decision was based on emotions. I wanted a pet for emotional reasons and I picked them out for emotional reasons, not just because of their age or color or size. So there it is, my big revelation. When emotions are the number one deciding factor in a purchase, all of the rules tend to go out the window. The point of purchase becomes the most important and influential step of the process. Maybe this is just wrong, or maybe it has been discovered already, but I believe that this is a key consumer insight that should be used for marketing. Obviously cats have personalities and most products don't, but if the emotional factor can be so strong that it influences the entire decision, there must be some way to increase the emotion at the point of purchase.
I feel like time and time again we are taught that when it comes to sales, customer service is key. Employees are taught to abide by "service with a smile" and have it drilled into their minds that "the customer is always right". Now let's be honest, we all know that the customer is not always right. If we accept this as correct, then how valuable is customer service, really? If customer service is based on being fake and accepting lies as truth, then is there merit to it?...
YES.
I find that customer service is affecting my purchases and brand loyalties more and more on a daily basis. Last week an order that I had placed from Walmart.com. was delivered. I was glad because it came so quickly, and I was very impressed. But when I opened the box I found that the order was only half-complete (even though it was reported as having been delivered in-whole). I was not overly pleased anymore. All the credibility they had gained with fast shipping they instantly lost with the incomplete order. So I sent an e-mail to their customer service account, and instantly received an automated response which did not at all address my issue. But in the automated response they gave a phone number. By this point, I must say I was a little peeved. I didn't want to have to waste my time trying to resolve their errors, after waiting on hold for about 15 minutes, I did not have high hopes for how the phone conversation was going to go. But much to my surprise, as soon as the representative picked up the phone and listened to my explanation about the issue, she began apologizing repeatedly for my inconvenience. Without questioning my claim or accusing me of being incorrect she simply stated that she would immediately file that the missing portion be sent. She again apologized and wished me well. I hung up the phone and thought 'wow, that was incredible, I wasn't even questioned...'
But then I got to wondering, what about the less honest individuals? What about the people who might choose to say their orders were incomplete, when in fact they were quite complete? Well, the fact is, if they were to give a customer a hard time who was in fact correct, they risk permanently losing that customer's loyalty. In a recent study of cell phone users, 49% said that they leave a provider based on a poor customer service experience (Tsai). The same could be expected for stores. Why would I ever continue buying from Walmart if I can get the same products at the same price from Amazon, or Target? Truth is, I wouldn't. Maybe in a world where brands lose the ability to compete on price or differentiation, customer service is the competitive advantage that keeps a company at the top.
To increase awareness and make people more committed to great issues, organizations (whether for-profit or non-profit) can use several approaches.
Among them, emotion is a strong appeal; it establishes an immediate link to the cause and encourages people to express love and empathy. It primarily relies on striking images, as images -as opposed to words- have this immediate power of reaching conscience and heart without being analyzed by a rational mental process. For instance, a lot of people were moved by the images of the Haitian earthquake; this resulted in spontaneous gifts and campaigns for donation to support the country's recovery. Based on this same idea, organizations call for action using striking images; in its recent campaign which calls to donate for its program in Haiti, the American Red Cross uses images of the terrible situation for people over there and shows volunteers talking about the pressing and moving consequences of the disaster.
This type of communication approach is especially efficient for pressing needs where the message is to take a simple and well-defined action; donate, boycott, vote, etc. But emotion generally fails to engage people in taking and perpetuating a mass of relatively small actions toward a great, but far to reach issue.
For instance, most people would say they are concerned with environmental protection or that they are against modern slavery, and they would probably be moved by strong images related to these issues. But, if they want to take action in their daily life -instead of only boycotting or donating- it would be uneasy (and boring) to evaluate which habits of theirs have implications on these issues and to which extend, because these issues are very complex and rather abstract.
In addition, the fact that they are abstract and far to reach may simply deter some people to take action because they are not provided with a comprehensive and easy-to-grasp scope of the issue. Thus, claims and calls from the supporters of a cause may seem groundless or exaggerated.
At that point, numbers may have a key role to play, at least in Western countries. In effect, we seem to be obsessed with figures when it comes to assess and describe things with credibility. The first part of this blog postshows the difference between West and East concerning numbers and I think it reveals how frequently we use numbers and how they are critical to us to get the feeling to rationally comprehend a situation.
Figures seem to have this magic persuasion power because they seem unbiased, they refer to reason and pure sciences, in other word, they simply demonstrate and are incontestable (the idea that the experimental protocols used in different research to get these numbers are always unbiased is contestable though). That's why the use of statistics is so tremendous in today's world, in virtually every single imaginable field; from voting intention for the next election to the rating of the latest album of your favorite artist on a music review website. Even emotions are quantified through psychology measurement instruments, neurology studies or marketing surveys!
Therefore, quantifying far to reach issues and actions to be taken can be a solution to increase awareness and engage people because it would allow them to properly assess the issue and the means to address it. To do so, some organizations have developed funny self-assessment quiz that point out a set of critical habits and measure their implications on a great cause.
For instance, the website SlaveryFootprint.org calculates how many modern slaves are involved in providing the product you consume and where they are located on the planet.
Another example is MyFootPrint.orgthat calculates the amount of giga hectars necessary for supporting your carbon footprint; through your food footprint, your housing footprint, and your good and services footprint. The quiz results consist of the number of planets that would be necessary if everybody consumed like me; my personal result is 5,46 planets! Though the results may be disputed, this quiz at least sheds light on the main factors for environmental issues and gives an idea of the extend to which it affects your footprint (in effect, the amount of giga hectars is constantly updated after each answer to the quiz). In addition, information is provided on demand throughout the quiz. The website also analyzes your results, compared to your country's average, shows which biomes it affects and in which proportions, and finally, gives advice on how to reduce your footprint.
Alicia Lafage
Exchange Student at WFU Business School
