Blog # 5

First word: (ROCK)
Write out a few lines of your thoughts about this word. Just brainstorm here – a mind dump. You can write down any thoughts that come into your head as you think about the word, maybe synonyms, uses of the object, memories or whatever comes to mind.
I think my friend came up with the best word for an inanimate object/thing. I can't think of anything else that is inanimate like a rock. It just sits there and does nothing unless something acts upon it (force) to make it move. Some synonyms could be stone or things similar to it: bricks, baseballs (solid hard), pebbles, asteroids, comets, volcanoes. Some of the uses for a rock include anything that involves excerting force on it like throwing it to break a window or to hit something or also catching (playing a strange game of catch with rock). Some memories that come to mind when I think of a rock include being hit with a rock by a kid when I was little. I also remember silly things from my childhood like breaking a window with a rock. Basically negative associations come to mind when I think of a rock.

Second word: (WOOD)
This word that my friend came up with has a lot uses and almost limitless thoughts and ideas popped into to my head. With many uses being my first idea, they can include changing the make up of wood to create something useful like chairs, paper, pencils, bats, houses, floors, cups, walls, roofs, weapons, desks, counters, and so on (just a big list of things that are made out of wood). Some synonyms or close objects that resemble wood include, bark, tree and twigs. Based on the list above, obviously some uses include changing the wood to products for use-pencil to write with, chairs to sit on, desk to lay things on, bats to hit baseballs, houses to live in, floors to walk on, and so on. Some memories that come to mind when I think about wood are school related wood materials (pencils, papers and desks mostly).
Some ideas that come two mind when combining the two include:
One way would be to use the wood (bat) to exert force on the rock (or baseball....?)
Another would be to literally combine the two together like creating a circle with rocks with sticks in the middle...(whatever that is)
You can build a fort with the both rock and wood.
Similarly a house (shelter) can be built with both (rock floor and wood surroundings)
A mallet could be created with both
Flames by creating friction with wood and rock (flint)
A hammer (similiarly to a mallet)
Old-fashioned barbecue pit
Old-fashioned cart or car (round rocks as wheels and wood on top)
Another would be to have the wood in some shape making it a target for rock throwing.
Another is to shape or cut the rock into triangle form and placing a long rectangular piece of wood over it...as if to balance it (seesaw?)

As you can probably see, I feel it is difficult (maybe because I'm not used to it) to be creative with only a rock and wood as inanimate objects. But I can see how taking advantage and using each of the objects make up and uses can create possible products (as I also illustrated above from the possible outcomes from combining the two). As far as alterating the original ideas, I think suggested new uses for the products would make more sense (at least to me). For the pit, perhaps it can be used as a storage place of some kind or stone well (feel that this was already original in the first place but could've possibly evolved from a pit). Similarly a fort could've evolved to a simple shelter, or vice-versa. The use in the latter is for refuge while in the former is for protection. And finally the wood to exert force on the rock...could've possibly given rise to the birth of baseball (I can picture some cavemen playing around in that form)

Blog # 4

BLOG #4

　

As I was thinking about the topic for the paper, I realized I had no problem coming up with any ideas,in fact I came up with too many so I feel that my idea for the topic may perhaps be a bit ambigous since I wanted to focus on the overall element or key that seperates successful products from others (I expect to get some feedback that might narrow my topic). In other words, the answer to why they're successful and maybe how we might be able to come across these customer insights.

The way I plan to go about this is (and I'm open to any recommendations) by looking at few successful products or services and going into detail each of their stories-how marketers and researchers approached the target market, delivered the product, etc.

I feel I would be able to write a lot with this approach also because there are so many rich stories and examples out there of marketers stumbling into customer insights that (as mentioned in class) were obvious after their discovery but not so much in the beginning. I plan to use resources and concepts from other classes (marketing 460 information analysis and Brand Management) also to help me with the process.

I find this broad topic of mine interesting because I feel that I would be able to get a good picture of how to get to the root and heart of how successful products meet the needs of consumers (customer insights). Not just feature-wise but even emotionally-wise, as we have learned so far from class, consumers (or rather people) are very emotional and they can identify with a brand or product and be loyal (as how I experienced and mentioned in my last post about how I grew loyal to jiffy lube after experiencing great customer service). The way I see it, brands came out of a customer insight in itself. Customers a lot of times don't have time or expertise to decide among all the products and brands (problem), so they choose products or brands they trust among the many as a way to decide easier and save time (brands =solution?)

The connection of the successful products to customer insights is, in a sense the bridge? By going into detail and seeing how exactly marketers approached the customer problems, I can basically learn part of the process and requirements for getting to those customer insights (what it takes). As already mentioned it can be as simple as satisfying a single need under certain contextes but it can more complex as going beyond needs and satisfying values: attributes > benefits > values. I am interested in seeing an example of each.

One article I would like to use as example (can be reached at http://www.mail-archive.com/medianews@twiar.org/msg04090.html) is the same one that I mentioned in an earlier post. It all started when the phone company Vodafone at first had no luck selling their smartphones to the older market due to the phone being too complicated with fancy software and applications. But after focusing on and listening to their customers, they've learned that they just wanted a simple device that can work. Hence the "Vodafone Simply" was born ,



a simple phone that was tailored for older people (Pringle, p.1). Quantitative data was gathered through a survey conducted to understand the older people (to gain the insight).