Some commercials have the power to grasp our attention and keep hold of it. One specific campaign that has this power over me is the Propel Fitness Water campaign. Bottled water is a strange phenomenon in that it has to be one of the hardest products to market since it is very difficult to differentiate your product from your competitors’. Propel has done a great job at differentiating themselves through creating a total experience for its customers. Propel is not just bottled water; it is the “fitness water.”
I’m sure you can easily remember at least one of the most recent Propel commercials. The most memorable commercial I have seen from Propel features a woman power-walking through the streets of a high profile town. Everybody is staring at her including many different celebrities. The paparazzi even begins photographing her instead of John Stamos, the actor. Music is playing in the background that makes you want to get up and get moving. A voiceover comes in saying “Fit has a feeling, and a water… Propel Fitness Water.” Then the women is snapped back to reality and she is shown walking through the nice quiet little neighborhood with a big smile on her face. To me, it is obvious that this commercial conveys the SEM of Feel. This is a commercial intended to make you feel good about yourself. The message it is sending is drinking Propel Fitness Water can put you into great shape.
Another memorable commercial is one in which a giant robot is racing through the streets of New York City or some other large city. As the giant runs, you can hear statements and people yelling about the stresses of everyday life. The music is very appropriate as the lyrics sing about being “Under Pressure.” The giant robot is letting go of some of his stress as he runs and eventually he sheds all of the “stress” and a human man is revealed. Then the voiceover comes on and states the same logo as before, “Fit has a feeling and a water… Propel Fitness Water.” I think this is such a great example of the SEM relate. I think most everyone can relate to a commercial that addresses the everyday stresses of life. Propel is trying to portray the message that exercising can help eliminate some of this stress and that Propel Fitness Water is the way to help you get fit. This is a good example of the Relate SEM also because many people have the desire for self-improvement which this commercial is promoting. Drinking Propel can help you achieve your fitness goals.
These commercials are also a great example of the SEM Act. The best example of this SEM is a commercial that shows a woman riding her bike through the city streets. As she rides, the street begins to split and starts going uphill very quickly. She continues to ride as she dodges cars and exploding pot holes. She reaches the top of the hill as the song in the backgrounds sings “I am extraordinary,” and then the drops from the hill onto the ground where she is suddenly back in the gym on her stationary bike. Once again, the motto is stated by a voiceover: “Fit has a feeling and a water… Propel Fitness Water.” This commercial makes me want to get up and exercise. It is very motivating because it shows what a woman can do if she has goals to achieve. Again, Propel Fitness Water seems to be the way to achieve any fitness goals a customer may have.
Propel does a great job differentiating itself from other bottled waters through these commercials. One area I think they need to improve on though is relaying more of the Sense SEM to the customers. I don’t think the commercials really explain what it is like to drink the fitness water. I know what customers can do after drinking the water, but I would like to be able to get a feeling of what the fitness water tastes like through their advertising. This would be a great differentiator for them especially against other sports drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade.
This has definitely been the hardest assignment for me so far in this class. I spent a couple of days paying close attention to commercials and trying to think of a good example of a customer experience that had at least 3 of the 5 SEMS from the article “A Framework for Managing Customer Experiences.” Finally, it hit me like a ton of bricks that Propel would be a great example. Although, it was still hard for me to analyze the commercials and figure out which separate SEMs would be applying to each commercials. I really don’t think I had any biases toward this company. I never even drink Propel Fitness Water. Although, I do find the commercials appealing because two of them were very empowering for women. It just showed that women can be athletic like men and achieve their fitness goals too. I guess maybe that is a little bias that I bring to this analysis of Propel Fitness Water. Just make sure to remember… “Fit has a feeling… and a water.”
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Choices, Choices, Choices
Society today is overwhelmed with the unlimited amount of choices we have to make on a day-to-day basis. As a marketer, we are solely concerned with giving the customers what they want. This includes anticipating their wants and needs so we can satisfy them even before they know what their wants and needs are. As a result, many products and services have too many different choices and this can lead to confusion for the consumer as they try to decide on the product that fits their needs best. In the Pod cast by Barry Schwartz titled The Paradox of Choice, he discusses this overwhelming choice phenomenon, and gives his opinions on why this is actually hurting rather than helping the consumer.
First of all, Barry discusses the dogma that the world believes in that has led to this overwhelming amount of choices. In this belief, if we want to maximize welfare for the world, we need to maximize choice, which leads to more freedom for individuals. On the surface this sounds like a great idea! However, with further examination, it is easy to see why this much choice can actually become debilitating for the customer. Barry makes three points as to why having too many choices is a bad idea. First, these overwhelming amount of choices lead to paralysis rather than liberation for the consumer. I agree fully with this statement because I have experienced this many times first hand. For example, I’m sure you all have stood in the grocery store aisle for 15 or more minutes trying to decide on something as simple as which cereal to buy. Often times, you might get frustrated and decide that you might not need any cereal after all!
The second point Barry makes is that with all the choices consumers have now, they will be much less satisfied with their choice than if they were fewer options. If in fact, we are not 110% satisfied with our choice, it is very easy to think about the other choices and consider the opportunity costs associated with each choice. I find myself having this problem fairly regularly. A simple but common example of this problem would be having a hard time deciding what to order at a restaurant with too many menu items. I always order one thing, and then wish I had ordered the other option I had in mind. This principle applies to small purchases like this but can also apply to large purchase decision when it is more important to make the right decision.
The third point he makes is very similar to the second point but it actually something as marketers we are very familiar with: cognitive dissonance. With all these choices, Barry stresses the fact that consumer’s expectations have risen greatly. We now expect to buy something and it be the perfect product for us. Even if we pick a great product, we will always be unsatisfied with it because we bought the product with such high expectations. In this case, if what we choose is not perfect, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Consumers can no longer blame the industry for not producing the best products because there are so many choices, that we should’ve been able to pick the perfect one.
Barry Schwartz’s points have a large impact on marketing positions. Now, it is our job to not only provide choices for our customers, but to also make sure we are not overwhelming our customers with too much choice. He has made a very important customer insight that should be taken into account very seriously. I would say this will become a major concern for companies as they look into how many choices they should be providing to their customers. Companies do need to make sure they are offering the right mix of products as to not overwhelm customers but to also make sure all of their needs are met. I think this is going to really affect the marketing world as we need to figure out what exactly our customers want without scaring them with all of our options.
First of all, Barry discusses the dogma that the world believes in that has led to this overwhelming amount of choices. In this belief, if we want to maximize welfare for the world, we need to maximize choice, which leads to more freedom for individuals. On the surface this sounds like a great idea! However, with further examination, it is easy to see why this much choice can actually become debilitating for the customer. Barry makes three points as to why having too many choices is a bad idea. First, these overwhelming amount of choices lead to paralysis rather than liberation for the consumer. I agree fully with this statement because I have experienced this many times first hand. For example, I’m sure you all have stood in the grocery store aisle for 15 or more minutes trying to decide on something as simple as which cereal to buy. Often times, you might get frustrated and decide that you might not need any cereal after all!
The second point Barry makes is that with all the choices consumers have now, they will be much less satisfied with their choice than if they were fewer options. If in fact, we are not 110% satisfied with our choice, it is very easy to think about the other choices and consider the opportunity costs associated with each choice. I find myself having this problem fairly regularly. A simple but common example of this problem would be having a hard time deciding what to order at a restaurant with too many menu items. I always order one thing, and then wish I had ordered the other option I had in mind. This principle applies to small purchases like this but can also apply to large purchase decision when it is more important to make the right decision.
The third point he makes is very similar to the second point but it actually something as marketers we are very familiar with: cognitive dissonance. With all these choices, Barry stresses the fact that consumer’s expectations have risen greatly. We now expect to buy something and it be the perfect product for us. Even if we pick a great product, we will always be unsatisfied with it because we bought the product with such high expectations. In this case, if what we choose is not perfect, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Consumers can no longer blame the industry for not producing the best products because there are so many choices, that we should’ve been able to pick the perfect one.
Barry Schwartz’s points have a large impact on marketing positions. Now, it is our job to not only provide choices for our customers, but to also make sure we are not overwhelming our customers with too much choice. He has made a very important customer insight that should be taken into account very seriously. I would say this will become a major concern for companies as they look into how many choices they should be providing to their customers. Companies do need to make sure they are offering the right mix of products as to not overwhelm customers but to also make sure all of their needs are met. I think this is going to really affect the marketing world as we need to figure out what exactly our customers want without scaring them with all of our options.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Customer Satisfaction: Amazon and Yellow Freight System
Amazon and Yellow Freight System are two completely different companies in two completely separate industries. Amazon is a web-based company that sells a large variety of items at great prices with fast delivery. On the other hand, Yellow Freight System is a transportation company that prides itself on giving the customer exactly what it wants. Many people would say these two companies have nothing in common. My opinion would be much different by saying these two companies have found the secret to success: customer satisfaction. They have used customer insights to find out exactly what customers want and then have done everything in their power to give it to them.
Both of these successful and innovative companies have realized the importance of learning what the customers want and how they feel at any given time about their company. For Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, he fully relies on quantitative data to make decisions rather than any opinion or judgment calls. His philosophy is to use data to help make the best decisions; companies should “do the math and figure out the right answer.” (Vogelstein) Very similar to Bezos’ philosophy is that of Bill Zollars’, the CEO of Yellow Freight System, in which the company has a new focus on its customers. In order to find out what the customers are thinking, Yellow surveys 600 customers a month. Yellow is so focused on becoming the best service for its customers that it “strives to be as fastidious about service as Nordstrom, Starbucks, and FedEx.” (Salter) They want to take customer service to a higher level than any other freight transportation company has before.
Advanced technology is the main reason both of these companies have been able to succeed. Technology for both Amazon and Yellow Freight has led to greater efficiencies in operations that give them great competitive advantage over other companies in their industries. Yellow has equipped each employee with a wireless mobile data terminal that allows them to be much more efficient and speedy in their everyday tasks. Amazon, on the other hand, has used technology to create completely computerized warehouse systems that have the capability to also send information directly to employees about what item to get off the shelf and in what order to obtain efficiency. Both companies also stated in each article that technology has allowed their employees to make decisions themselves rather than waiting for an answer from supervisors which can be time consuming. Amazon even has an award called the “Just Do It” that encourages employees to do something without their boss’s permission to enable independent thinking.
By comparing these two companies, I have found that they both have been successful in using customer insights to transform their companies from average into highly technological companies concerned mainly with providing the greatest amount of customer satisfaction. In my opinion, companies will no longer be able to survive without a full emphasis on discovering and providing customers with their wants and needs. If your company does not do their research to discover these important customer insights, they will not survive because another company will come along and give the customer everything they need and providing them with a great customer experience. After all, customer experience is what brings customers back. Think about it, when is the last time you recommended a restaurant to a friend where you had a bad service experience? What about a restaurant where you had a wonderful experience? Overall, I think companies are starting to understand the importance of customer satisfaction exactly like Amazon and Yellow Freight System did.
Sources:
Salter, Chuck. "Fresh Start 2002: On the Road Again." Fast Company Jan. 2002. 9
Sept. 2007.
Vogelstein, Fred. "Mighty Amazon." Fortune 26 May 2003. 9 Sept. 2007
Both of these successful and innovative companies have realized the importance of learning what the customers want and how they feel at any given time about their company. For Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, he fully relies on quantitative data to make decisions rather than any opinion or judgment calls. His philosophy is to use data to help make the best decisions; companies should “do the math and figure out the right answer.” (Vogelstein) Very similar to Bezos’ philosophy is that of Bill Zollars’, the CEO of Yellow Freight System, in which the company has a new focus on its customers. In order to find out what the customers are thinking, Yellow surveys 600 customers a month. Yellow is so focused on becoming the best service for its customers that it “strives to be as fastidious about service as Nordstrom, Starbucks, and FedEx.” (Salter) They want to take customer service to a higher level than any other freight transportation company has before.
Advanced technology is the main reason both of these companies have been able to succeed. Technology for both Amazon and Yellow Freight has led to greater efficiencies in operations that give them great competitive advantage over other companies in their industries. Yellow has equipped each employee with a wireless mobile data terminal that allows them to be much more efficient and speedy in their everyday tasks. Amazon, on the other hand, has used technology to create completely computerized warehouse systems that have the capability to also send information directly to employees about what item to get off the shelf and in what order to obtain efficiency. Both companies also stated in each article that technology has allowed their employees to make decisions themselves rather than waiting for an answer from supervisors which can be time consuming. Amazon even has an award called the “Just Do It” that encourages employees to do something without their boss’s permission to enable independent thinking.
By comparing these two companies, I have found that they both have been successful in using customer insights to transform their companies from average into highly technological companies concerned mainly with providing the greatest amount of customer satisfaction. In my opinion, companies will no longer be able to survive without a full emphasis on discovering and providing customers with their wants and needs. If your company does not do their research to discover these important customer insights, they will not survive because another company will come along and give the customer everything they need and providing them with a great customer experience. After all, customer experience is what brings customers back. Think about it, when is the last time you recommended a restaurant to a friend where you had a bad service experience? What about a restaurant where you had a wonderful experience? Overall, I think companies are starting to understand the importance of customer satisfaction exactly like Amazon and Yellow Freight System did.
Sources:
Salter, Chuck. "Fresh Start 2002: On the Road Again." Fast Company Jan. 2002. 9
Sept. 2007
Vogelstein, Fred. "Mighty Amazon." Fortune 26 May 2003. 9 Sept. 2007
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