Innovation - RF ID & Art

Article link is at
http://www.innovapedia.org/home/innova-tech/rfid-and-sensors-illustrate-arts-impact-on-people/

The article discusses a type of Innovation; our topic last night. As we do our interviews and try and find the "meaning" in our value propositions, this article speaks of the technology to get that information.

I think today's technology is incredible. The amount of data we can collect, store and organize to help us make decisions is certainly a Game-Changer. We're sure to see Radical Innovation in our future as these Innovations and Technologies advance.

Customer Satisfaction is Old News

To read that customer satisfaction is old news may seem incorrect. While satisfaction is still important, foward-thinking companies are working with customers early on to create advocates for their brands and not just simply hoping to satisfy a broad customer base.

This article in Harvard Business Review goes along well with what we discussed last week. When companies are looking at customer satisfaction data they are looking in the past. One of the things I hear over and over at work is "we did it this way on the last project and it worked fine". If everyone worked off of past data there would be no progress and customers would never be excited rather merely satisfied. Companies that are cutting-edge recognize this and are in tune with what the present and future needs of customers are or will be.

We use Apple as an example quite a bit, but they are a great example of a company that has created advocates of their brand. My friends who have Mac computers really do speak out about how loyal they are and why their computer is the best. I, on the other hand, am just satisfied with my PC. Yeah I like it, but only because it does a job I expect it to do.

Is anybody an advocate of a brand as opposed to just being satisfied? Or do you have any additional thoughts on the topic?

Conducting Market Research

Hey guys!

For this week's topic of discussion, we have been focusing on market research and approaches of conducting it. Our team found a helpful website and article, that in addition to all of our readings and class lectures, may have some additional valuable information.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217388

We would like to open up this forum with questions about strategy, since we haven't really discussed it as a class. What are your plans for conducting your research? Based on the "experience" your team has chosen to focus on, who is your target audience and how do you plan to approach collecting your data? Hopefully this weeks blog can help us to connect as a class and share our insights and plans, as well as touch on what we have been discussing in lectures over the last few class meetings.

We look forward to your posts!

Best,

Team C

Pop Culture Marketing Skin Care

Hi, colleagues. I found the following article which I think is a great example of how a 100 year-old company (Nivea) links up with a pop culture icon (Rihanna) to help people connect to the product – body cream. Rihanna is Nivea’s global brand ambassador and her role is to connect people to Nivea by focusing on skin and effective skin care. Nivea hopes that consumers will positively associate the product with Rihanna’s youth and urban chic. The ad reaches out on an emotional level to promote Nivea’s attributes. Plus, it illustrates one example of how companies are using social media to connect with customers on a deeper level and influence buying patterns.

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/05/16/Nivea-100-Rihanna.aspx

What is Good Wine?

Hi All,

Re-posting the article that was up earlier this week for discussion. I can't remember what witty and intelligent ;) introduction I wrote, but the article should bring up a lot of thoughts/questions about how price can be part of marketing meaning and experience.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/should-we-buy-expensive-wine/

Please re-post your comments if you can.

Thanks!