Paper Topic

Eat Right!

How many servings of vegetables do people eat on average per day? How many servings of vegetables do people think they should be eating per day? I suspect for most Americans, the first number is lower than the second. Under that assumption, why don’t we eat enough vegetables? Is there a way to address this issue? These are the questions I want to discuss in my paper for
Customer Insights. I want to understand the behavior of individual eaters as well as those who make food-choice decisions for others (parents, schools, etc.)

Why is this topic interesting to me?

First, I am passionate about my own health and wellness; I am always trying to work on being healthier, both through my diet and my overall daily routine (sleep, exercise, etc.). I know I have my own shortcomings with my diet, most notably in the area of consuming vegetables. I know intuitively that they are good for me, but the point was driven home in a moving way when I watched a TEDx talk given by Dr. Terry Wahls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING!

Second, I am greatly concerned about the health of my fellow Americans. Obesity has reached levels such at it is considered an epidemic, a term usually reserved for things like bird flu, polio and the black plague. Many Americans subscribe to a very unhealthy diet, high in calories but low in nutritional value. While it would be nice if they could all start buying and preparing more vegetables, I don’t think it is that easy. I am interested in starting a business that helps people more easily consume nutritious vegetables.

What is the connection to the gathering and identification of customer insights and/or the design of valuable customer experiences?

Right now, my idea is to manufacture and sell a fruit and vegetable-based frozen smoothie that would be (eventually) available in groceries all across America (my plan is to try to start with Whole Foods and Central Market). At this point, I have a defined problem (lack of vegetables in American diets) and a potential solution (frozen smoothie). I still need to do more work to understand who my target customer segment is for this product. This process will involve understanding the personas of a various segments to see if there is a potential market for my product, and if so, how to position and market the product. I want to gather and identify customer insights such that I compare those insights against my own intuition. A key part of this process will be separating my own idea (and biases) for the product and the marketing approach. My research may persuade me that a different type of product is needed altogether.

With the assumption that my smoothie is a viable idea, I still need to work on understanding customers in order to create a valuable experience for my future customer. This involves a number of different issues including:

-How big is the smoothie? 8oz? 10oz? 12oz?
-How do we package it? Single serving or multi-pack
-How does the customer want it pitched? Health food? Tasty meal replacement?

I look forward to working with Professor Walls to put together that has an adequate level of focus and direction. Without actually doing field research, I may have to limit the paper to an overall discussion of how and why individuals consume vegetables as opposed to diving into the potential market for a fruit and vegetable-based smoothie.

Study I am going to use:

“State-Specific Trends in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adults – United States, 2000-2009.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, September 10, 2010 / 59(35); 1125-1130. United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Article I found directly related to my topic:

Severson, Kim. “Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders French Fries.” The New York Times. 25 September 2010.

Excerpts:

“Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day, it
concluded.” (Chris W: I would assert that even those eating vegetables three or more times a day probably aren’t eating “enough” vegetables. However, my paper will be focused more on the 75% of the country who are way behind on vegetable consumption.)

“It is disappointing,” said Dr. Jennifer Foltz, a pediatrician who helped compile the report. She, like other public health officials dedicated to improving the American diet, concedes that perhaps simply telling people to eat more vegetables isn’t working.

“There is nothing you can say that will get people to eat more veggies,” said Harry Balzer, the chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a market research company.

The nation has long had a complicated relationship with vegetables. People know that vegetables can improve health. But they’re a lot of work. In refrigerators all over the country, produce often dies a slow, limp death because life becomes too busy.

“Before we want health, we want taste, we want convenience and we want low cost,” Mr. Balzer said. Melissa MacBride, a busy Manhattan resident who works for a pharmaceuticals company, would eat more vegetables if they weren’t, in her words, “a pain.”

“An apple you can just grab,” she said. “But what am I going to do, put a piece of kale in my purse?"

“We have to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” Dr. Foltz said.

Social Media

SOCIAL MEDIA

Introduction

Social media offers companies unprecedented access to the minds of potential customers. Tracking purchasing information at your store gives you data but lacks a certain depth to the information and is much more statistical in nature. Conversely, conducting surveys and test studies provides great information but is not scalable. With access to social media, companies can get interesting insights on a huge market that includes existing and potential
customers.

It may seem obvious but it merits mention that people use social media in a variety of different
ways, and provide different levels of information to companies. One end of the spectrum is my grandma. She has an iPad and is on Facebook and also uses Pandora online radio. She uses Facebook primarily to look at pictures of grandchildren. Conversely, I use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pandora, and LinkedIn. I am on these social media websites everyday using it for a variety of different uses. There are a number of other different “types”; each provide a different
level of insights to companies culling the data.

For this blog, I will examine the information that we could elicit from Melanie, the persona for my
group’s Nordstrom project. To briefly summarize, Melanie is a thirty-one year woman, married with a young son. She works full-time as a VP at an advertising firm in Austin, Texas.

What are her “tools” and what social media applications does she use?

Melanie has a work computer, an iPhone, and a Macbook she shares with her husband (for use at
home). Melanie uses Gmail for personal e-mail and subscribes to Groupon and Living Social.
She is also a regular user of Facebook and Pandora online radio. She uses Pandora at work on regular basis (on her work computer), but only checks her Gmail and Facebook periodically during the work day (normally on her iPhone). She spends more time online, either on Facebook or just surfing the web, at night and on the weekends. However, her son keeps her from being the type of person to sit on the computer for an extended period of time

What kind of info would you try to elicit?

Gmail – Nordstrom can work with Google to get ad banners on Melanie’s computer for web searches and e-mails that contain shopping related terms. This is more of an advertising outlet though as compared to a social media tool on which Nordstrom can gather information. However, Nordstrom can send her e-mails that become customized with input from Melanie.

Pandora – It would be interesting to see what demographic information could be pulled from Pandora users, either directly from Pandora or from surveying current Nordstrom customers (to see if they use and Pandora, and if so, what they listen to). It may be difficult to zero in on “stations” Pandora should advertise on, but advanced technology may provide insights on
what stations Melanie and other potential customers tend to listen to.

Facebook – To the extent this is possible, Nordstrom would benefit by being able to gain information on what brands (and what other retailers) Melanie is exploring on Facebook (either by posting something, “liking” someone else’s post, or clicking on a Facebook advertisement). Combining that knowledge with general information on Melanie that could be obtained from Facebook (female, mother, lives in Austin) could provide significant value to Nordstrom. A secondary benefit of obtaining information on Melanie’s Facebook usage is finding out other non-shopping information on Melanie. Learning what else interests her (restaurants, news outlets she accesses from Facebook such as HuffingtonPost and New York Times, etc.) can help us build out her persona.

How would you get at that information in a way that would be most accurate and telling?

This is the most difficult part of any information gathering effort, regardless of the tactic. Information that is not relevant or actionable is closer to data and could quickly become just an exercise in burning through cash. Also, if the information is misunderstood, it has the potential to steer a company like Nordstrom in the wrong direction with respect to its marketing strategy.
Social media is still a very new frontier for companies trying to extract information regarding current and potential customers. One of the most important ways Nordstrom can obtain useful information regarding potential customers is to have staff whose responsibility is to execute Nordrsom’s marketing strategy in all social media outlets (including Pinterest and Twitter) so that you build institutional knowledge within the organization on how to navigate this medium. The use of cookies and coupon codes can be used to track how individuals reach Nordstrom’s website. While the company should do its best to obtain info in a cost-effective manner, senior management should realize that trial-and-error is somewhat inevitable and should push its marketing employees to be sure to learn from each action, whether or not it succeeds in driving
sales.

Persona

Amanda is a forty year old white woman. She lives in an upper-middle class
neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. She is married with three kids, ages seven, five and four. She and her husband both work full-time; she is an OB/GYN doctor who works in an office with three other doctors. Her family’s household income is in the $300,000-$400,000 range.

Amanda takes pride in her appearance and is always well put together, even at work. She follows fashion trends, getting ideas for potential purchases from trends she sees at the tennis club or at a friend’s dinner party. She receives messages about fashion from a small amount of television she watches as well as advertisements in the magazines she reads. She enjoys reading People while waiting for a flight like many other women, but also subscribes to The New Yorker.

She is technologically savvy, but does not have the time or desire to blog. She has started hearing about Pinterest but wonders what she would really use if for and even she even has the time for it. She has an iPad and enjoys using it tremendously. In terms of online shopping, she buys certain things online, mainly books. She still prefers to go a local retailer and be able to try garments on rather than deal with buying something on-line and having to deal with sending it back if it isn’t right.

Amanda does not shop on a regular basis. Between her job and her family, spare time is hard to find and while she does enjoy shopping, she would prefer to spend the time working out or just spending time with her friends or family. When she does find the time to shop, Amanda is not scared off by high prices. She is a value shopper, preferring to own a few very nice pieces rather than a closet full of outfits purveyed at Forever 21. Excellent customer service is a way to win Amanda’s business. Sending her coupons in the morning newspaper is not. She generally shops alone, enjoying the time she has to herself.

In general, she worries mostly about her children, wanting them to have the chance to get an education and have a career as satisfying as the one she now enjoys. She and her husband are prudent savers but also feel good about rewarding themselves and have a comfortable (and often stylish) way of life. Amanda has a high level of self-confidence as a result of her own successes and while she attributes her material desires mainly to following what she thinks is attractive, she does still feel the need to fit in with her peer group of wealthy middle-aged mothers.