Two-Way Streets

Simple answers

For five years before business school, I was a management consultant.  And every time someone asked me what I did for a living, I would take a deep breath before answering.  That is because "I am a management consultant" and "Deloitte" mean absolutely nothing to an average person.  Upon receiving the inevitable blank look, I would supplement my initial response with "I help companies solve problems" and then tell stories about past projects, at which point my listener began to regret giving me the blank look.

That was then, this is now:

I met recently with Grace, a librarian I befriended during a trip to Nigeria last summer.  Grace was visiting San Francisco to make professional contacts at UCSF. 

"Where are you going to be this summer?" she asked me.

"I'll be working at Duracell in Connecticut," I told her.

"Ah...Connecticut," she nodded.

"Do they sell Duracell batteries in Nigeria?"

"Yes!  Good batteries, but very expensive."

"Oh, really?" I wondered silently about the size of the price difference.

"What will you be doing at Duracell?"

"Marketing."

"Oh, good," she said approvingly.

That was it!  No more blank looks, no more long-winded explanations.  I will miss being a consultant (goodbye airline miles and hotel points, goodbye extravagant team dinners), but I like where I'm heading.

Checking out Tokyo

Beach vacations are not my thing.  I never know what to do with myself at the beach--one can only spend so many minutes applying sun screen, swimming, and collecting shells.  When on beach vacations, I inevitably end up spending hours digging gigantic holes with my bare hands, unintentionally creating hazardous conditions for little kids. 

In my free time, I like to check out cities and their inhabitants.  The bigger the city, the better.  Of the biggest ones, Marcus and I have been to Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Lagos.  And last week for spring break, we visited Tokyo.

As usual, Marcus and I had different things we each wanted to do.  I wanted to explore residential neighborhoods, to experience the everyday lives of the people.  Marcus wanted to go to museums and see Mount Fuji.  Fortunately, we had a whole week, so we explored neighborhoods and visited museums (Mount Fuji mostly hid behind the clouds).

Tokyo was as foreign to me as I had hoped.  The thing that surprised me the most in Tokyo was the lack of street names.  I kid you not, most streets don't have names!  A Tokyo address tells you the block number and the neighborhood it's in.  Once you locate the block, you then have to walk around the block and hope for the best, because the building numbers are not necessarily sequential.

Another thing that surprised me was the price of exotic fruits.  Check this out:

While strolling in a high-end grocery store, I found these two mangoes, selling for approximately US$200 each!  I assume people buy them as gifts rather than as a way to satisfy the five-daily-servings-of-fruits-and-vegetables dietary requirement.

There were too many interesting discoveries to be told in words.  Check out my pictures* instead.  Arigato gozaimasu!

*If you have a Facebook account, don't click on the link.  Look for the album in my profile.

The power of feelings

Are you in a good mood?  If not, stop reading now, and return when you're in a better mood.

My favorite class this semester is Consumer Behavior.  One of the most interesting things I have learned in that class is how feelings can influence consumer perception, memory, evaluation, motivation, and choices.

In a field experiment, a survey taker approached shoppers in a mall and asked the shoppers to evaluate their own TVs and cars.  The manipulation was that prior to the survey some of the shoppers had been given a free gift by another individual (the survey taker's secret associate) in the mall.  Presumably the shoppers who received a free gift were in a better mood than those who did not receive a gift. 

The experiment result showed that on average the shoppers who had received a free gift rated their TVs and cars higher than the shoppers who did not receive a gift.  Generalizing this conclusion:  People who are in a good mood tend to evaluate things more positively.  (Now you know why I asked whether you were in a good mood at the beginning of this post!)   

Here is an example of an ad that puts you in a good mood before introducing the brand:

Using humor in commercials not only makes them more memorable, but also allows the brand to be evaluated more positively by viewers.  Are advertisers manipulating our feelings?  You bet!  But it's all a fair game.  Think of how many times you attended a talk in which the speaker began with a funny story.  We all do it.

A self-proclaimed commodity!

In our Marketing class last semester, Professor Rashi Glazer would fine us $5 each time we let the word "commodity" slip when speaking in class.  This was his way of teaching us that nothing is a commodity, not even apples or ice.  Since that class, every time I hear the word "commodity," my nose wrinkles reflexively.

Imagine my reaction this weekend when I came across this box of crackers while shopping in Oakland's International Boulevard:

   

Alas, it was probably just another example of lost in translation.      

Branding myself

Last Friday I attended a personal branding workshop conducted by William Arruda, a co-author of Career Distinction:  Stand Out By Building Your Brand.  It was a really fun event filled with exercises to help us go through the three steps of personal branding:  (1) Extract, (2) Express, and (3) Exude.

My favorite exercise was the first one we did.  William instructed us to think of our five-year goal and write it as a news headline.  It did not take long for me to come up with mine:  BRAND MANAGER INTRODUCES PRODUCTS THAT REVOLUTIONIZE EVERYDAY LIVING.  I have no idea what would revolutionize everyday living, but it doesn't hurt to think big.

For our second exercise, we scanned through a long list of values and picked out the ones that resonated with each of us.  Some of the values that stood out for me were adventure, courage, creativity, and fun.  (Maybe I should become a circus performer!)

After completing similar exercises for our attributes and skills, we answered questions in the projective exercises.  My favorite question was If you were a breakfast cereal, which type would you be, and why?  I answered, I would be Lucky Charms, because they have pieces with different shapes and colors, and the marbits (marshmallow pieces) are always changing. 

Finding our unique promise of value was harder than it first seemed.  When the workshop ended three hours later, we realized we had completed only the initial steps of personal branding.  Whether branding a product or a person, it's an ongoing (and fun!) process.

Whose bunny is it?

Yesterday I had lunch with three of my classmates--Santiago, Sergio, and Thomas.  Santiago and Sergio are from Spain; Thomas is from Germany.  We started chatting about Duracell batteries.

"That's the one with the bunny." Sergio said.

"No, Energizer is the one with the bunny." I corrected him.  "It's called the Energizer bunny!"

"No, I'm pretty sure Duracell is the one with the bunny." Santiago joined in.

"Are you sure?" Thomas asked me.

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"I am sure Duracell has the bunny."

"Yeah."

"It's pink."

"The Energizer bunny is pink!"

It went on like this.  Three of them against one of me.  After a while, we agreed to disagree and continued eating our cheeseburgers and fries.

After lunch, I decided to get to the bottom of this bunny mystery.  Look what I found:

 

We were all correct!  The Duracell bunny lives in Europe, while the Energizer bunny lives in North America.  For the complete story, visit this Wikipedia page.

Too often, brands introduce ideas that are not ownable.  For example, there was a Super Bowl ad involving dancing lizards and a drink product.  Most people remembered the dancing lizards, but they did not remember the product name.

It's good that all four of us remembered which brand(s) the bunny belonged to.

Is Wal-Mart a good or bad company?

Ask any young, left-leaning, college-educated person, and he'll probably tell you Wal-Mart is a bad company.  "I don't shop at Wal-Mart because they treat their employees badly," he'd say, "and all the mom-and-pop stores are going out of business because of them." 

Millions of people do shop at Wal-Mart, for convenience and low prices. 

How bad can a company be?  My friend Luke began a blog recently, and one of his first posts What Good Is A Company? looks at the issue from an opposite angle.  My husband Marcus, who is always oh-so-patient when I drag him to grocery stores to accompany me as I prepare for upcoming marketing interviews by taking pictures like these...

...wrote a Marketing Case Study recently on his blog.  The post generated passionate comments from his readers relating to the aforementioned question.

Back to Wal-Mart.  Besides offering products at low prices, does it do any good?

Yes, it does.  Take the example of Clorox's recent launch of Green Works natural cleaners.  Because of Wal-Mart's support of sustainability, the giant retailer did not hesitate to begin carrying the new line of green products.  Not surprisingly, greenwashing charges against the bleach company populated the blogosphere.  What the accusers did not acknowledge, was that millions of Wal-Mart shoppers now have the option of buying natural cleaners from a familiar brand at competitive prices.  What would've been a more effective way to make green products mainstream?

Take a look at this Package Modeling software Wal-Mart created for its suppliers.  Did you click on the link?  Really, take a look first!  Wal-Mart is using its power over suppliers to dictate increasingly eco-friendly practices.  Whether the motive is profit-driven or not, we benefit.  No other non-government entity has more influence over company practices, and Wal-Mart is doing good in the process.

Segmenting the pyramid

This past weekend, three classmates and I traveled to Houston to compete in the Rice University Marketing Case Competition.  The Marketing Club of Rice University was a wonderful host to our team, as well as to the teams of MIT, Kellogg, University of Chicago, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, and Yale.

The highlights of the weekend included a barbecue feast and meeting students from the other business school programs.  As a Northwestern alum, I quickly bonded with the Kellogg and U of C folks.  Overall the atmosphere was friendly despite the competitive nature of the event.

Friday at 2pm we received the case, Marketing the "$100 PC."  In many ways the case material was not unfamiliar because One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has been in the news regularly.  Our team immediately began to analyze the case.

We examined the situation, competitive landscape, customers, etc.  Unlike the cases we were used to, this one had a strong social aspect.  The strategy objective could not simply be maximizing market share.  Instead we had to think more broadly, in terms of how to bridge the poverty and education gaps in the developing countries.

By noon the next day, we had refined our strategy recommendation and had prepared a 15-page presentation to be delivered in the afternoon.  Our recommendation had three parts:

• Target the "middle of the bottom" of the pyramid where the laptops would provide the most benefit to the children
• Differentiate by creating a unique brand ("ConnectEd") and partnering with educational software companies
• Communicate benefits to governments by establishing strategic relationships with world organizations

We also recommended a phased approach--OLPC should distribute laptops to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries first.  When the cost of laptops falls due to the learning curve, then OLPC should begin distributing to the other developing countries.

The judges liked our strategy recommendation and presentation, and our team won third place.  It was a great experience, and I look forward to keeping in touch with my new friends from the other schools! 

Beep-beep, MediaCart is coming through!

Have you seen these things?  No, they're not showing "Everybody Loves Raymond" on the shopping cart (I wish!).  This is MediaCart, coming to grocery stores near you.

What's in it for the advertisers?  Let's say you sell cookies.  The MediaCart will display your ad to the shoppers who are strolling, say, in the cookie aisle, or maybe by the milk section.  You can also display your ads based on the shopper's purchase history, given the shopper has scanned in her frequent shopper card.  How cool is that?  Not to mention you'll get to see what kind of effect your ad has.

What's in it for the retailers?  Each MediaCart has a scanner, so shoppers can ring themselves up as they pick products off the shelves.  Imagine the money saved by cutting down the size of the cashier staff.  Oh, and you get some of the ad revenue, too.  Supposedly, you'll win shopper loyalty and increased sales.  (I'm doubtful about the increased sales claim.  Shoppers have limited grocery budgets.  Impulse buys from well placed ads might have a positive effect on total spend, but only temporarily.)

What's in it for MediaCart?  The rest of the ad revenue.  Ch-ching!  (By the way, Microsoft owns MediaCart.)

What's in it for shoppers?  You can keep a running total of what you're buying.  You can type up your shopping list at home and then access it on the MediaCart.  You get to find out what cookies are on sale.  You can locate products in the store with the help of the MediaCart.  And, no more long waits at the cashier.

Sounds like a good idea to me! 

My only critique is the MediaCart website.  A more convincing case could be made by adding a page describing benefits to shoppers.  Advertisers and retailers should be dubious of any scheme that does not have clear benefits to consumers.  The MediaCart has concrete benefits to shoppers.  Why not highlight them?

Politics and marketing

As news on the primaries dominate airtime, I can't help but reminisce about the election weekend I spent in Columbus, Ohio three years ago.

I was there with my husband to "get out the votes" for Kerry.  We wanted to make a difference by doing more than just casting our own votes in New York City.

We showed up at the campaign office, ready to do anything.  We spent the entire weekend going door-to-door, in leafy well-to-do neighborhoods as well as depressed government housing complexes.  "Hi there!  We just want to remind you to go vote on Tuesday!"  Since we only knocked on the doors of registered Democrats, most people were friendly and welcoming.

As I watch the news these days, I imagine how much fun it would be to manage a political campaign.  From positioning to winning votes, it's all marketing.