This is a basic outline for my paper. I haven’t done all my research yet, so some of the bullet points seem a little empty and the paper looks like it will be really short, but I think once I’ve gotten all my information, everything will fill out a lot more. Also, the formatting is really weird because I typed it all out in Word first, and then everything moved around once I copy and pasted it into here...
Nike Swim VS. Speedo
A. Introduction
1. Background info on why I chose this topic, personal experiences, why it’s interesting to me, etc.
B. History
1. Speedo company history – how it got started & how it got so successful
2. Other swim apparel companies – TYR & Adidas
3. Nike company history in general, then more specifically its history in the competitive swimwear market – how & why the company started this branch
C. Why Nike
1. Why Nike in particular is a threat to Speedo as opposed to the other brands
2. Nike gets big name swimmers to sponsor, as opposed to TYR & Adidas (with the exception of Ian Thorpe)
3. Nike’s company history of good marketing – “just do it”, inspirational commercials, etc.
D. Swimming Community Opinion
1. Speedo sponsored athletes & teams: Kirsty Coventry, Ian Crocker, Eddie Reese/Kris Kubik, Jill Sterkel, Tanica Jamison
2. Why are so many teams switching from Speedo to Nike: ask Kim, ratio of Speedo sponsored DI top 25 college teams vs. Nike sponsored teams
3. Nike athletes: Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol
4. Nike VS. Speedo: believe in product or just like the brand? Do users of both brands believe in the suits they wear?
5. How Speedo athletes are treated VS. Nike athletes: getting paid on time, getting suits when ordered, do the reps for each brand know what they’re doing
6. Currently unsponsored athletes: Elizabeth Wycliffe, Elizabeth Tinnon, Craig Chapman all training for Olympics but are not sponsored by either company. If they could chose who to sponsor them, who would they choose and why?
E. Strengths and Weaknesses
1. Speedo strengths: market domination, brand recognition, established company, great product
2. Speedo weaknesses: established dominance but might not know how to maintain it, favor certain athletes, apparel needs work, improve brand image
3. Nike strengths: great marketing history, dominant brand in other markets, great apparel, experienced in creating an exciting company image
4. Nike weaknesses: less experience with competitive swimwear, is the research & technology there?
F. Conclusion
1. If Speedo doesn’t change, they will lose substantial market share – are they aware of the challenge of Nike and are they doing anything about it?
2. Possibility of Nike buying out Speedo like they did with Converse, Hurley, etc.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
A Psychic Journey
Dr. Rapaille is a market researcher who first got his start studying psychology in Europe and working with autistic kids. When he worked with them, he tried to figure out what they were trying to say to him without actually using words, which lead to his trying to decode their behavior. Rapaille came to the conclusion, that if he could decode people’s behavior, he could determine their reasons for the buying the products they buy. Just asking people isn’t good enough because he doesn’t believe what they say. He wants to know why people do what they do.
According to Rapaille, consumers are driven by unconscious needs and impulses; they themselves do not know the reasons for buying what they do, and many times their justifications for buying a product do not make sense considering the product’s actual use. An example he gave was people in Manhattan driving a Hummer to go buy groceries. A Hummer is more of an off-roading type of vehicle which is hardly the type of vehicle needed in a city like Manhattan, much less to go grocery shopping.
In order to discover these unconscious needs, or as Rapaille puts it, the “reptilian hot buttons” that compel consumers to action, Rapaille conducts a series of focus groups. For the luxury sector, the focus group began with Rapaille asking people how they felt about luxury and what associations came to mind. This is the easiest part of the exercise, and the part that seems to be the most normal. After this segment, the focus group gets a break. When they get back, the focus is on their emotions. This time Rapaille asks the group to pretend that he is a five year old child from another planet and asks the members of the focus group to tell him a story. By the time the focus group leaves for their second break, the members are very confused, which Rapaille likes. When the group comes back for the third session, all their chairs are gone. Rapaille has everyone lay down on the floor while he turns off the lights and tells everyone to relax. He wants them to go back to the state of mind they are in when they first wake up in the morning because he believes this is the time people remember things from long ago, and this is the key to unlocking the “code”. This is the code he can read and understand why consumers like certain products and not others. Using this code, he told car companies to make SUVs bigger with tinted windows because SUVs portrayed dominance in the code.
Rapaille considers his focus groups to be a “psychic journey” where he takes participants through three stages and tries to get to their psychic core. This kind of research, to me, is very unusual, but I think that’s why I like it. In this field of market research, you have to do something different in order to stand out, in order to obtain information that hasn’t already been found. I’m also a firm believer that psychology and business go hand in hand, not only in just marketing but in other areas as well, such as management. Understanding how people behave is fundamental in understanding how to work with them, manage them and figure out what they want. I think Rapaille is 100% correct in saying people do not know why they want or like the things they do – and it is up to market researchers to figure that out (as far as retailing goes). I think any industry that is looking to upgrade or renovate a product would really benefit from this kind of research. The product already exists, which is a good start, but people are always looking for bigger and better. What better way to do that than by trying to go into their minds and figuring out their “code”? As strange as Rapaille may be, I think there must be some method to his madness.
According to Rapaille, consumers are driven by unconscious needs and impulses; they themselves do not know the reasons for buying what they do, and many times their justifications for buying a product do not make sense considering the product’s actual use. An example he gave was people in Manhattan driving a Hummer to go buy groceries. A Hummer is more of an off-roading type of vehicle which is hardly the type of vehicle needed in a city like Manhattan, much less to go grocery shopping.
In order to discover these unconscious needs, or as Rapaille puts it, the “reptilian hot buttons” that compel consumers to action, Rapaille conducts a series of focus groups. For the luxury sector, the focus group began with Rapaille asking people how they felt about luxury and what associations came to mind. This is the easiest part of the exercise, and the part that seems to be the most normal. After this segment, the focus group gets a break. When they get back, the focus is on their emotions. This time Rapaille asks the group to pretend that he is a five year old child from another planet and asks the members of the focus group to tell him a story. By the time the focus group leaves for their second break, the members are very confused, which Rapaille likes. When the group comes back for the third session, all their chairs are gone. Rapaille has everyone lay down on the floor while he turns off the lights and tells everyone to relax. He wants them to go back to the state of mind they are in when they first wake up in the morning because he believes this is the time people remember things from long ago, and this is the key to unlocking the “code”. This is the code he can read and understand why consumers like certain products and not others. Using this code, he told car companies to make SUVs bigger with tinted windows because SUVs portrayed dominance in the code.
Rapaille considers his focus groups to be a “psychic journey” where he takes participants through three stages and tries to get to their psychic core. This kind of research, to me, is very unusual, but I think that’s why I like it. In this field of market research, you have to do something different in order to stand out, in order to obtain information that hasn’t already been found. I’m also a firm believer that psychology and business go hand in hand, not only in just marketing but in other areas as well, such as management. Understanding how people behave is fundamental in understanding how to work with them, manage them and figure out what they want. I think Rapaille is 100% correct in saying people do not know why they want or like the things they do – and it is up to market researchers to figure that out (as far as retailing goes). I think any industry that is looking to upgrade or renovate a product would really benefit from this kind of research. The product already exists, which is a good start, but people are always looking for bigger and better. What better way to do that than by trying to go into their minds and figuring out their “code”? As strange as Rapaille may be, I think there must be some method to his madness.
Monday, November 5, 2007
TedTalks: Michael Shermer
I really enjoyed this episode (is that what they’re called?) of TedTalks. Michael Shermer is absolutely hilarious. I thought it was very interesting about what he said about all the various myths and how he proved very logically how each one wasn’t true.
One of my favorite parts was when he played the clip of the Led Zeppelin song forward, then played it backwards to hear for the subliminal satanic message. The great part was that you couldn’t really hear much when it was played backwards, until he put the “lyrics” up on the screen to read and follow along as the song went on. Once the words were put up, it seemed obvious that the song backwards was a legit song with demonic lyrics. I also liked the faces on the moon as well as the animal shapes he showed. Each of these examples shows how humans think and react to certain images.
Shermer said that people tend to look for faces, which is why we see the image of a happy face on the moon or a person on a sandwich. It’s true that we tend to look for familiarity, and I think our brains automatically try to categorize an image and break it down into something familiar because familiarity is comforting. Somehow the moon seems like a more perceptible object when there is a human face hidden on its surface than if no image was there at all. That’s also why the cloud game is so much fun: just about everyone has looked up at the clouds and looked for an animal or face or building of some sort in them. It’s just natural for us to seek out familiar images.
As far as the “lyrics” go, once we are able to read what the backwards words are saying, the gibberish suddenly becomes clear. Our minds seek out the words, imagine how they would sound, and then project them into meaningful words once the song is played again. If, however, you were to listen to the song again, but don’t read the lyrics, you’ll go back to not being able to discern a single word – at least that’s how it was for me.
I think this relates to consumer insights in a similar way to one of the articles we had to read for class. The article talked about how consumers oftentimes did not know why they liked what they did and couldn’t define it at all. With no reference point, they were at a loss. I think this is similar to the lyrics. Without the reference of the backwards lyrics being posted, there is no way I would’ve been able to tell what the song was saying backwards. Likewise, when asked an open ended question with no options or references to choose from, consumers have a hard time pinpointing why they like a certain product.
Some of the images, such as the one of the Virgin Mary on the side of a building, drew huge crowds, and the image wasn’t even real. From a marketing aspect, this seems like it was a great marketing campaign without meaning to be. People will believe what they want to believe, and some things just sell themselves because of that. If companies can figure out what makes people do these sorts of things – believe in objects and images that are not real – the marketing capabilities are endless. Consumers wouldn’t even know they are being advertised or marketed to. It would almost be a flawless marketing tool.
One of my favorite parts was when he played the clip of the Led Zeppelin song forward, then played it backwards to hear for the subliminal satanic message. The great part was that you couldn’t really hear much when it was played backwards, until he put the “lyrics” up on the screen to read and follow along as the song went on. Once the words were put up, it seemed obvious that the song backwards was a legit song with demonic lyrics. I also liked the faces on the moon as well as the animal shapes he showed. Each of these examples shows how humans think and react to certain images.
Shermer said that people tend to look for faces, which is why we see the image of a happy face on the moon or a person on a sandwich. It’s true that we tend to look for familiarity, and I think our brains automatically try to categorize an image and break it down into something familiar because familiarity is comforting. Somehow the moon seems like a more perceptible object when there is a human face hidden on its surface than if no image was there at all. That’s also why the cloud game is so much fun: just about everyone has looked up at the clouds and looked for an animal or face or building of some sort in them. It’s just natural for us to seek out familiar images.
As far as the “lyrics” go, once we are able to read what the backwards words are saying, the gibberish suddenly becomes clear. Our minds seek out the words, imagine how they would sound, and then project them into meaningful words once the song is played again. If, however, you were to listen to the song again, but don’t read the lyrics, you’ll go back to not being able to discern a single word – at least that’s how it was for me.
I think this relates to consumer insights in a similar way to one of the articles we had to read for class. The article talked about how consumers oftentimes did not know why they liked what they did and couldn’t define it at all. With no reference point, they were at a loss. I think this is similar to the lyrics. Without the reference of the backwards lyrics being posted, there is no way I would’ve been able to tell what the song was saying backwards. Likewise, when asked an open ended question with no options or references to choose from, consumers have a hard time pinpointing why they like a certain product.
Some of the images, such as the one of the Virgin Mary on the side of a building, drew huge crowds, and the image wasn’t even real. From a marketing aspect, this seems like it was a great marketing campaign without meaning to be. People will believe what they want to believe, and some things just sell themselves because of that. If companies can figure out what makes people do these sorts of things – believe in objects and images that are not real – the marketing capabilities are endless. Consumers wouldn’t even know they are being advertised or marketed to. It would almost be a flawless marketing tool.
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