Project Reflection

Throughout the semester, my team members and I worked on design-thinking project for Target. This is my first marketing project I've been assigned in college and it's definitely been a learning experience. 


Creating a Persona
Before this course, I didn’t have the slightest idea of what a persona was. I learned that this is a marketing strategy used to gain consumer insight and take a step in their shoes. We produced a fictitious character to represent a consumer of Target’s demographic and developed a few ways to increase their shopping at the store. The persona we created is first-generation American named Natasha Rajan. She’s a pre-med college Senior at UT that struggles between following her parent’s expectations and forging a new path for herself. Boom. That’s a persona right? Wrong! There are many more emotions, interests, and intimate details that go into creating a persona. We created a mock Twitter, Instagram, and blog to get a better feel and understanding of the character we created. I was initially surprised at how in-depth the professor was asking us to be when describing our persona, but I learned that it is necessary in order to form a deeper connection with them. The more detail and imagery you can associate with your persona, the more authentic this person seems. By the end of the project, we knew everything there was to know about Natasha: where she shops, what she wears, what she thinks, how she was raised, what her everyday life was like. She wasn’t just a character we came up with – she was real. Especially after talking to other people that are similar to Natasha, it really helped make her come to life and empathize with her.

Generative Research
Another skill I’ve mastered throughout this semester is doing generative research to obtain an in-depth understanding of the consumer. The combination of concentric circles, digital ecosystem, and typical weekday timeline gives us the ability to potentially discover any vulnerabilities or key insights. Doing a simple interview or survey with the consumer isn’t enough to tap into all the important areas of their life. Asking them to prioritize stores and items that are most important to them really illustrate their loyalties and show significance. At first, the topics may seem irrelevant to the big picture, but it’s important to know about all aspects of their life and see how you can tie it into the research objective. When doing generative research on our participants, I was able to get to know them better and see which portions of the life connect to our persona’s. It was cool to see how similar Natasha’s life was to some of our participants. Although we made some generalizations about the persona, a lot of it was proven through the subjects we found.



I think all aspects of this project were valuable and contributed to my learning experience. I gained a lot of experience with developing a persona, finding key insights and concerns, and tying it all together with a prototype as the solution. As I mentioned earlier, this was my first semester-long project in McCombs. This course has taught me the importance of knowing your market, identifying a problem, and coming up with a creative and useful solution to help your consumer. The project was a direct application of what companies do everyday.  



Working on this project was definitely an eye-opening experience. The instructions were very vague, which gave a lot of room to either fail or succeed. We’re all students that take 3-4 other classes and I think sometimes the workload and amount of time given to complete the phase was unreasonable. As for my team members, I was extremely lucky and ended up with a group of intelligent individuals. Honestly, I’ve learned so much from them (and other classmates) than I have in my entire college career. I’m not a very creative person, but their flow of ideas inspired me to think big. I’ve definitely gained a lot more creative confidence from working on this project and it’s been an influential part of my academic career.

Creativity

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” 

-Edward de Bono

Creativity is bringing a new idea or concept to life. It involves building upon an existing idea, and creating new value for it. I once heard an analogy that compared creativity to a drop in the water. Once an idea is formed, it’s a ripple that goes on and on. It continues to grow, expand, and is limitless. The power of creativity is an extremely important and practical aspect in today’s world; personally, it’s something I wish I were better at.

Individual Creativity

Any time an assignment calls for creativity, I hide under a rock. It’s always been hard for me to think of new ideas on the spot and it takes me a while to brainstorm. Although I have difficulties being creative in school work, creativity within dance comes much easier to me. I’ve been dancing for 6 years so far and it’s definitely been a growing process. I fell in love with dance because it’s a creative outlet where I can express myself emotionally, physically, and artistically. The first choreography I did was pretty elementary and probably made no sense. There isn’t a guidebook that tells you how to make a dance - I had no idea where and how to start. I was looking at other videos and dancers for inspiration, but still, nothing came to me. It took a few weeks of connecting to the music and being alone before I began choreographing. Anytime I tried choreographing at the studio, I felt pressured because people were watching me. Being alone with my thoughts is where I find creativity. As embarrassing as this is, here’s a video of one of my first pieces from high school (don’t laugh!).

Throughout my years of dance, I’ve learned that creativity comes from personal experience. You pull ideas from things that you’ve come across and combine them to make a new concept. It’s definitely a form of expression and there is no wrong or right when it comes to creativity. I believe that everyone’s interpretation of creativity is special and you shouldn’t second guess yourself. (I wish I had this advice back in high school.) I’ve learned that having confidence in yourself and your idea is the first step in being creative. When you come up with an idea, go forward with all your passion, and it’s sure to be a success. (Here’s a recent video of me dancing to redeem myself.)

Organizational Creativity

This past summer, I had an internship with a tech startup company here in Austin. There are only 6 employers at the company, and 3 other interns. It was my first time working with a small startup, so I didn’t know what to expect. They asked us for suggestions on their new website and I was shocked when they actually implemented my idea. I really liked how they treated the interns just as equal as the employees. They encouraged us to speak our minds and were supportive of all our ideas. Instead of having traditional chairs in the conference room, everyone sits on bouncy, exercise balls. They painted the walls with dry erase paint and anytime sometime has a suggestion, it gets written on the wall. It was inspiring to see a fun and relaxed environment in the office and I think it drove creativity in the company. We were all comfortable and the stress of work was eliminated with the laxed atmosphere.

I think any group or individual is capable of being creative. When it comes down to it, there are no boundaries in creativity. Like i mentioned earlier, creativity comes with personal experience. The more a person goes through, the more ideas they have. Within a group, the diversity of the members’ backgrounds and personalities creates an advantage with innovation. They are able to build upon each other’s experiences to create a fresh, new way of looking at things.

Business Model Analysis Report

Threadless is a t-shirt company whose business model has caught my attention recently. I first heard of them from my high school friend that’s a frequent customer. He always sports funny or clever t-shirts that I hadn’t really seen anyone else wear. Me being a crazy cat lady, I was impressed by the amount of kitty shirts I saw on Threadless’ website. Keep in mind that being a cat lady isn’t easy because not all retail stores share the same love of cats as you do! I was interested in picking this company for my report because I really admire their business model (which I will describe later in this blog). Threadless has a fresh and innovate way of doing business and I haven’t heard of any other clothing companies that could compare to them. They are a one of a kind company and I’m (actually) excited to learn and analyze their business model.

Threadless is an online-based retail store that concentrates on putting the community first. You can find men and women t-shirts and various accessories (phone cases, backpacks, wall art, and home items) on their website.

How It Works: Graphic designers submit their artwork to Threadless under certain guidelines. After the community votes on their favorite designs, the winning artwork gets printed and sold exclusively on the website. The creator also receives $2,000, a $200 gift card to the website, and an invitation to a forum where they can receive critiques and suggestions on future designs. There are about six to ten winning designs that get printed and sold every week. Threadless only produces a certain amount of shirts and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. In 2011, the company’s annual revenue reached above $30 million and continues to grow every year.

Because Threadless uses a crowd sourcing method of operation, they attract many different kinds of customers; one of which being graphic designers. Threadless receives anywhere from 100-200 different t-shirt designs every day. This means that there are thousands of designers and artists visiting the retail store’s website per week. The designers are a vital part to their business model because without them, the t-shirts would have no artwork. Threadless gives artists the amazing opportunity to gain publicity and earn money while they’re at it. It’s also pretty neat to know that thousands of people voted on your design and are wearing it on their shirt.

A big portion of Threadless’ consumers consists of those that are actively involved in the community (AKA die-hard Threadless geeks). These are the people that are constantly commenting on the website’s blog and always voting on designs. They shop on Threadless because they know no one else will be wearing what they have. This customer segment relishes on the fact that Threadless is exclusively online and not available in stores. Because the community votes on the designs being printed, they gain a sense of ownership in the company. Threadless always asks the community via blog before they take action on anything. For instance, a big corporation approached Threadless and asked to have some of their shirts sold in stores. Before making a decision, the company went straight to the community and asked for their thoughts.

The last customer segment of Threadless includes the young, urban individual that simply enjoys the t-shirts. These customers don’t particularly spend much time commenting and voting on the website, they just visit Threadless to make their purchase. The styles of the shirts include witty, weird, and sometimes cute designs that the urban consumer likes wearing. These are basic shoppers that don’t find a great amount of value in Threadless, compared to the other segments.

I really respect Threadless’ ability to involve the community and make it an essential part of their business model. Instead of paying attention to what other retail stores are selling and doing, they focus on giving the people exactly what they want. What better way to ensure customer satisfaction? The word-of-mouth throughout their community is so strong that Threadless never has to spend money on advertising.

Sources:

http://www.threadless.com/

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2011/04/07/how-threadless-nailed-the-crowdsource-model/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ernan-roman/relationship-marketing-in_b_829370.html

http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Publications/MarketingNews/2011/4_30_11/Inspiration.pdf

Generative Research

What I Can't Live Without

• Family
• Friends
• Dance
• Internet
• Cell Phone

What I Care About

• My Cat :)
• Food
• Music
• Photos
• Clothes
• My Car 

Digital Ecosystem

• I rely heavily on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for my social media needs. I'm constantly on either or all of these platforms to stay connected to friends and family. I mostly use Facebook on my laptop and Instagram and Twitter on my cell phone. I especially use these apps when I'm bored or want to kill time!
• I also visit YouTube frequently to watch music or dance videos. I could watch videos on YouTube for hours on end. In particular, I like to watch dance videos from my favorite choreographers like Kyle Hanagami, Ian Eastwood, Dea Sevilla, Keoni Madrid, or Mariel Martin. Their videos inspire me to keep learning and growing as a dancer. 

Journey Map

A journey map is a blueprint of someone’s thought process throughout a particular experience. For this blog I chose to highlight my friend Brandon, a 21-year-old student from Round Rock, TX. His dad is a math professor at a university in California and his mom owns a local business. With intelligent and driven parents like his, Brandon has always been motivated to succeed in life.

High School

Brandon first began applying to colleges his junior year of high school. He was involved in an accounting team where he competed against other local high schools. The coach of the team first sparked Brandon’s interest in the subject because he was so bright and motivational. Brandon’s coach also helped him get an internship with the IRS, where he gained hands-on experience with accounting and finance. He thought it was really interesting to see the behind the scenes stories of people getting into trouble. Brandon also realized that he excelled in his chemistry, physics, and calculus courses throughout high school. With that being said, he flip-flopped between choosing either business or engineering as his major when applying to colleges. (Business was his first pick and engineering was his second.) The fluctuating economy was another aspect that influenced his decision. In 2009, America’s economy was unstable and Brandon knew he had to pick a field with a good job security. He wanted to attend college to gain a set of skills that would be useful in life. Brandon believed that graduating with either a business or engineering degree would land him a high paying job.

Once Brandon received his acceptance letter from The McCombs School of Business his senior year, he left behind his idea of becoming an engineer. He thought getting accepted into McCombs was too good for him to pass up. From then on, Brandon’s mindset was focused in business. He was very confident in his decision because of the skills and experience he acquired in high school.

Freshman Year

Most freshmen don’t take courses related to their major in the first year of college. Although Brandon wasn’t sure which major to chose exactly, he was still confident in staying with the business school.

Sophomore Year

During his third and fourth semester at UT, Brandon took the two accounting foundation classes. His knowledge from being on the accounting team in high school really helped him to excel in these two courses. He also took the introduction to finance course, which he didn’t like so much. Because of this, Brandon decided that he would apply to The Masters in Professional Accounting (MPA) program at UT. He was pretty confident when applying to the program since he did so well in the courses.

Junior Year

Brandon was accepted to the MPA program. He began taking more intense accounting courses during these two semesters and surprisingly enjoyed it. He landed an internship for a small business where he helped them reconstruct their accounting department.

Now

Currently, Brandon is still happy with his decision in choosing accounting. He feels like he is learning a lot in the upper-division accounting courses he’s taking. Although it can get frustrating, Brandon likes that it’s a challenge for him to tackle. He says that it’s rewarding to finally finish an assignment or problem. He’s glad that he chose a major that isn’t too easy and he would get bored in. The other students in the MPA program also push and motivate Brandon because they’re so smart. He had to adjust his expectations because his colleagues in the MPA courses are all competing to be the best. Next semester, Brandon is looking forward to his internship at PwC, one of the “big four” accounting firms. He’s eager to expand his knowledge and experiences in accounting while continuing his education at UT.

Creating this journey map for Brandon helped me realize that it’s important to understand the steps someone goes through to get where they are now. In marketing, recognizing what the consumer goes through can help you make their experience more enjoyable. Knowing what influenced a consumer to do what they did can help marketers manipulate certain aspects of the journey to their liking. It tells them what to enhance or weaken, depending on what the goal is.

Empathy Map

For my first blog, I decided to use my friend Erin to create a persona. I met him through mutual dance friends a few years back and he’s become one of my closest friends.  

1. What Does Erin Think & Feel?

Erin was born in Sydney, Australia in 1987.  He lived there for the first three years of his life before he moved to Katy, Texas. Erin, his parents, brother, and sister have been happily living in the suburbs of Houston since then. He came out to his friends and family in high school, but has known his sexually since childhood.

Currently, Erin works as a Visual Merchandising Manager at Urban Outfitters.  He has been working forty-hour weeks at this retail store for almost two years now. As a Visual Manager, Erin ensures that the store as a whole is visually up to par with the company’s standards. He overlooks the individual departments within the store, making sure that products are correctly placed to support the business. Erin has an aesthetic eye, making his job a walk in the park. Once Erin punches out of work, he trades his manager pants for dancing ones. He heads straight to the dance studio where he runs a children’s hip-hop team and performs with the senior one. He dedicates just as much time to dancing at the studio as his job at Urban Outfitters.

One of the toughest things about the arts is making it unique without it straying too far from the norm. Erin is constantly struggling to stay inspired for fresh and new ideas, both in the retail and dance world. As a choreographer, he’s always fighting to make his dances stand out from the rest. You want your routine to be creative, entertaining, and memorable. Erin’s aspiration is to do what he loves while supporting himself. Although he loves his job in visuals at Urban Outfitters, his dream is to move to Los Angeles to dance professionally.

2. What Does Erin See?

At work, fashionable clothes and many different types of people surround Erin. His co-workers range from age 20-35 and they encounter diverse customers everyday. The hip-hop team he runs at the dance studio include children from ages 7-13 and the senior dance team consists of people in their 20s and 30s. As an extrovert, Erin loves the fact that he is constantly surrounded by people. His mom and dad are from the Philippines, so his life at home is heavily influenced by that culture.

Erin spends the two days he’s not at Urban Outfitters at the studio with his dance team. Because Erin’s life consists of nothing but work and dance, his closest friends come from these two circles. The dancers at the studio have grown to be his second family and he looks forward to seeing them everyday. If Erin has free time, he spends it hanging out with his dance friends or boss from work.

3. What Does Erin Say and Do?

Erin’s infectious and quirky attitude definitely brightens the room when he walks in. He possesses the incredible ability of turning any bad situation into a positive one. (It’s guaranteed that Erin can turn your frown upside down!) You can count on him to give you an honest opinion because he always stays true to himself and what he believes. Even though he keeps it real, Erin knows his boundaries and stays respectful while doing it. Because Erin works at a retail store, he is quite trendy and fashionable. Urban Outfitters requires him to dress up at work, which carries into his everyday life. A typical outfit from him would be Doc Martin’s, colored shorts, a dinosaur button-down, and a bowtie to top it off. His loud choices in clothing certainly depict his quirky personality. He recently bleached the top three inches of his hair blonde, making him stand out even more in a crowd.

                                                           4. What Does Erin Hear?

                     Erin’s boss at Urban Outfitters would say that he creates a fun work environment for everyone there. He may not show much initiative or leadership skills, but he works efficiently with what he has. If I had to choose three words to describe Erin, it would be energetic, outgoing, and bold. He dances to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t care what people think of him. You can tell Erin whatever you want, but he’s not easily influenced by what others have to say to him.

              

5. What are Erin’s Pain Points?

As an artist, Erin’s greatest fear is rejection. He would love to move to L.A. to pursue his dream as a professional dancer, but his fear of failure and rejection is stopping him. As daring and confident as he is, he’s also very practical. Erin knows that not many people can successfully make it in the dance industry and sustain a living from it. As a visual designer, he’s also scared that his work won’t be received well by others. Erin has to make sure that his ideas aren’t too outlandish, or else the audience might not understand it.

Because Erin’s personality is so crazy and loud, he gets frustrated when people don’t take both sides of his life seriously. His love of dance and design are equally important and people often underestimate his dedication to both. It’s discouraging when people don’t take you seriously on a subject you’re really passionate about.

6. What Does Erin Hope to Gain?

Erin doesn’t define success as the amount of money you make, but when you can wake up everyday and look forward to what you’re about to do. He loves his job at Urban Outfitters, but would love to take it to the next level and work on projects at a larger scale. Before Erin dies, he wants to make his mark on the world. His goal is to touch other peoples’ lives, make a difference, and leave a memorable impression on others. He wants people to realize that with everything he does, he puts his all into it. Erin is a hard-worker, but it sometimes gets overlooked because of his bubbly personality.

Conclusion

Through this activity, I was able to dive in to his concerns, behavior, environment, goals, and fears. Although Erin and I share a love for dance, I’ve discovered that our lives differ in many ways. While I’m still in school trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, Erin already has goals and dreams that he wants to accomplish. As a marketer, it’s important to develop a connection and understand your target audience. In order to successfully serve them, you need to recognize their culture and what they think and feel. The power of empathy allows you to walk in their shoes and discover their wants and needs. The persona I’ve created for Erin helped me realize that the struggle for acceptance is something everyone can relate to. Even if you are the most confident person in the room, the feeling of rejection can still hurt.