CAPSTONE!

Learning is Everywhere!

This week opened my eyes to three key learnings:

1. Learning is everywhere
   This past weekend, I went to in Branston Kentucky (Lake Cumberland), to relax and “vacation”.  I took schoolwork with me, but anticipated work focused on planning, organizing, summarizing, etc.  The waiter who served us at dinner on Saturday evening walked to our table and had a handlebar mustache and slight beard.  What is that luck?  I asked my partner “Do you think I can interview him?”  “Ask if he’s willing to talk to you, the worst that can happen is he says no”.  I debated this question through much of dinner, and as we were finishing, I asked.  The look of pride on his face as he said “I would be happy to talk to you.  When do you have time?”  As we exchanged contacts details, and made plans, he told me a bit about his facial care, including “I’ve been asked to be photographed for a few calendars.”  “John” was wonderful.  Open, confident, brimming with pride as he educated me about everything remotely related to his handlebar mustache.
   I left for a weekend, focused on relaxing and getting some “seat work” done, only to finish the weekend with one of the most insightful interviews I’ve had.
   
   
2. Any product can be sexualized
   Generally, I consider myself to be rather savvy and “aware”.  I know I was raised in a sheltered way, but through work, travel, and personal choice, I have learned there is much in the world different from me.  Because of this I try to stay aware… Political Movements, Cultural Trends, how others live, what else is “out there”.  However, this past week I landed in a world where beards go beyond pride and masculinity and into sex-appeal, sexuality, and blatant sex.  While working through the competitive audit, I found a brand (at TJ Maxx) called “Beards and Beavers”.  At first I thought it a bit crude, perhaps there was slang I was not aware of, then I saw one of the variants “Cherry Popper”.
   This was shocking.  I know this overt branding does not appeal to all men, nor do all men think of their facial hair in this way, but… well… all I can say is “Wow”.

From a learning perspective, I need to remember that different people have different preferences.  While I am exploring this market for one reason, users have a different objective, and different things appeal.  I must remember that all markets have a wide variety of users.

Thank you, universe, for teaching me a few lessons kindly.

Last Two Weeks

This week promises to be quite a marathon. There are a lot of small parts that need to be woven together by the end of the week. And, I look forward to gaining greater peace of mind as I get closer and closer to the finished deliverables. Despite the work that is done so far, I still feel a gap between what I envision the potential for the deliverable where it stands today. The only thing standing between the two is time and focus, aided by good nights of sleep and bottomless cups of coffee.

I have been grateful throughout this process that I have felt understanding of the consumer to be more accessible after conducting each in-depth interview myself. While the interviews and their analysis were incredibly time consuming, I have found this allowed me to see patterns more quickly and understand the consumer more fully than if I was working in a group setting. (This is not to say that I do not appreciate team work.)

Additionally, these self-induced hours of interviews and subsequent transcription and analysis processes have inspired newfound interest in interview technologies. For example, some technology can record, analyze, transcribe, and extract emotion from interviews, delivering an annotated transcript from which one can then build meaningful insights. While I truly believe nothing can fully replace the power of one-on-one conversation, there is so much efficiency and added capabilities that certain technologies can introduce to a project. Perhaps this project has inspired a new hobby…

Another aspect of this project that has stood out to me this week has been the sometimes tense personal learning experiences the project introduces. I am easily my own worst critic which is an aspect of my personality that can be both an asset as well as detrimental depending on how it is managed. As I move forward this week I am reciting the Nike slogan, “just do it”, to remind myself that done is better than perfect! And, I look forward to continuing to pull together pieces of my project to a product which my client can take and turn into action. Cheers to the last two weeks!

More Data.More Analysis

The theme for this week was mostly data and analysis. After the meeting with our Data Analysis professor and his review, he suggested that we add some more data from the middle ranges of properties which we had missed out on and then perform our analysis again.So, it was again time for adding more data to our set and performing analysis.After testing the data rigorously with almost 35 tests, we have something that looks good.So, now again we have to get it reviewed by the professor.So, if all goes well with this review then looks like we are very close to final result.

Also, on the survey side we completed the responses and moved on to the analysis of the results.So, from there too we have some useful insights coming in which looks good.Hopefully, everything will fall in place and we will deliver something of value to our client.The coming week looks crucial and we aim to finalize everything and get set on the report and presentation part.

Big Small Town

“Cincinnati is one big small town.” I have heard multiple people express this to me this week as I have been exploring (among other things) the way information travels in the Cincinnati area. Lucky for me, the city is full of special events, from festivals to small gatherings. And, I am grateful to be able to be on-site and conducting research locally, which allows me to gleam better understandings and deeper insights than what I would find online or over the phone.

This month is dedicated, in part, to building a thorough understanding of target consumers, their needs, desires, current awareness and perceptions, communication channels, and more. This week I have been event hopping and leveraging current connections to the community to build an understanding of awareness, complimentary services, venues, competition, etc., in the area. Lucky for me, this weekend was a large convention designed specifically for one of my client’s targets, and I was able to speak directly with vendors to build further understanding of the competitive landscape, how competitors position and promote themselves, and how people in the area gather and share information about their special events.

I also stopped by a community event at which a band which my client has identified as a main competitor was performing. Observing the competitor first hand allowed me to better understand what they offer, how it differs from what my client delivers, and reflect on the potential competitive advantage a deeper understanding of its audience can bring my client. I am excited to be starting to see the web of how the venues, events, and other sources of information work together. This week I look further to continuing to conduct in depth interviews with individuals and couples in the area to reach a thorough understanding of the target which can be aligned down the road with my client’s deliverables.

Project getting in shape-Things moving ahead

Well, now looks like a lot of initial ambiguity has disappeared and we are moving fast on the things that are to be done. Last week we had a Skype call with our client, where we updated him with our approach so far and things we are planning to do in the future.It boosted our confidence as his feedback was positive and he also gave us some inputs on our work so far. 

So, this week will be very crucial as the analysis part will begin for us. Also to make things more well rounded for our project, we added a questionnaire for capturing buyer's decision making criteria and also evaluated a host of social media tools out there in the market, to suggest them the ones that are best suited for their needs.This will complement our multiple regression model which we are developing, to provide a them a holistic view for decision making. 

 

Fieldwork!

We're making progress learning from stakeholders outside the Braxton organization.  I made good contacts with Cincy Brew Bus and Craft Connection (the 2 leading brewery tour operators in the area), as well as Night Shift Limousine, which also considers brewery tours a key component of their business.  I scheduled a meeting for Natalie and I to meet & interview the owner of Cincy Brew Bus tomorrow, which we're excited about!

We have a meeting with Braxton on Tuesday at the taproom.  Unfortunately, it is only our 2nd meeting with them, so we need to be pointed about what our needs are and how we will use what we ask for to deliver value to Braxton, as well as the fact that it will be very difficult to deliver for them without more engagement than we've had so far.  

I also visited Braxton Labs, their experimental brewery that just opened about 2 weeks ago in the back of the Party Source in Newport, KY.  I was able to chat with 3 of the customers about the local brewery scene in general, and the Braxton/Graeter's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip collaboration.  They were excited to see the expansion, and very receptive to the "Labs" concept of testing new styles and recipes.  The location in the Party Source was an advantage as well, with the variety/experimental concept a natural complement to the unrivaled variety offered by Party Source.  Abundant parking was noted as an advantage compared to several other local breweries.  

As far as Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip beer was concerned, 2 of the 3 people said they had been excited about it then let down that it "didn't live up to the hype".  The 3rd person, who was not from the area, hadn't heard of it.  

So, I'm excited for the week ahead, the insights it will bring, and driving alignment.

Get Up on Your Feet!

Perhaps the most entertaining part of this past week for me was finally being able to see my client perform live! Being on-site always provides unexpected insights – in this case a poster listing peer band names, observations about how the crowd engages, how management of the venue functions, on-site advertising, and more. It was a valuable opportunity to see my client “doing their thing”, something that I was happy to see validated much of what my client and I have discussed regarding hopes for change.

By the end of the band’s first set, a crowd that started rather stagnant was almost fully up on their feet. Not only was this fun to see, but it is also a good representation of how my upcoming weeks will be as I look forward to building more primary insights by stopping by other bands’ performances, talking to different types of potential clientele, and more. I enjoy this type of work, aiming to best understand why individuals make certain choices, how they do so, and how a company can strategically craft its marketing mix, messaging, and touchpoints to align as needed.

The last two weeks I have put excel spreadsheets hard at work to help manage the intricacies of the timeline of this project. Due to the nature of the condensed work, I am working with a plan which navigates a reality where the availability of resources, permissions, and people are a driving factor for when I complete certain tasks. Overall, I anticipate spending a lot of time “getting up on my feet”. And, I am excited to continue to narrow direction to build usable tools for my client.

Busting the Budget

Last week, Team Behr submitted our survey that will provide the data to back up the secondary research and qualitative interviews we've done throughout the semester. This was a big milestone for us and an important step toward completing the project, and we were happy that our contact Lisa complimented our hard work and dedication in designing it.

Then, the next day, we got another dose of variability.

Lisa contacted us and said the company we had planned to have run the survey would not be charging $4.95 per response, as estimated. Instead, they were quoting an amount that worked out to $140 per response! (Apparently the targeted responses we are seeking could not be accomplished with a simple screening question, as estimated; the survey company would have to do some additional legwork to find people in the target.)

Behr has been fairly free with gift cards to reward our interview subjects, but a five-figure payout for 300 survey responses was a little more than they had expected. Luckily, they were able to pivot quickly. By the time we had responded saying we would investigate other possibilities for collecting survey responses, they were working industry connections with the same goal in mind. The new plan is to survey subscribers to an industry magazine. This won't give quite the random sample that was initially discussed, but it's an efficient (and hopefully inexpensive) way to find our target.

But that brings us to a new round of ambiguity. With the delay in implementing the survey, will we receive the data in time to analyze it, implement it into our report, and make the presentation in the next three weeks? Time will tell, but time is getting shorter day by day.

All Talk

This week, Team Behr went searching for more insights. We interviewed paint store employees, homeowners who have hired painters, and the editor of a painting trade magazine, trying to discover if the people connected to professional painters could tell us anything about our target and whether anything distinguishes them from the rest of the pro segment.

One thing I've noticed about this project is how it has forced me to step outside my comfort zone when it comes to asking people for information. Walking into a paint store and explaining that you're a student who is working on a project and can you ask some questions about professional painters? That is definitely outside my comfort zone!

We also presented another draft of our survey to our contact, Lisa, who met with her colleagues and made final suggestions. Based on the questions they asked to add, it seems the team at Behr wants to know more about: a) why people become painters in the first place, and b) their use of digital tools to run their businesses. This is a more specific focus than we've previously discussed, and we know it's partly because of some research Behr recently obtained. We'll ask Lisa more questions at our next check-in to see what she's thinking.

 

Two meetings with Drew this week have helped us clarify the questions we're asking and given us a way forward. A recommendation for Behr is on its way! Now we just need to see if the survey we've designed confirms the hypotheses we've developed based on our interviews. 

 

Four weeks until the presentation date - time really does fly.

 

 

Almost there!

As we prepare for the second PR meeting with Drew, we also started preparing our phase 2 report and recommendations. We came up with several promotional messages and sales strategies. We used all the influence strategies to come up with a solid promotional base. It was surprising to see how the application of influence strategies made a significant difference in the ads. Apart from that, we have completed our second research that was specifically targeted to the Tide Pod users only.

We are now working on redesigning the website. The website will also have most of the influence strategies. We look forward to meeting with Drew. Just like the first day of the capstone class, I am equally excited and nervous for the upcoming tasks.