The Power Of Now

Since the application process to to the first day of my MBA program at Notre Dame, the typical questions have been the same, "what do you want to do?, "what are your plans for the future?" "What are you doing after graduation?" In interview preparation we practice the answers to common questions, such as "where do you plan to be in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years." When someone has a new boyfriend or girlfriend, it is likely that someone will ask, "Is he the one?" It seems that as a culture, we (Americans) have an obsession on the future.

Eckart Tolle wrote one of the most successful books of our time, "The Power of Now." This book speaks to the ability to separate ourselves from our forward and past thinking and focus on the present moment to achieve true happiness. Per the Power of Now official website, "If we are able to be fully present and take each step in the Now; if we are able to feel the reality of such things as the inner-body, surrender, forgiveness, and the Unmanifested, we will be opening ourselves to the transforming experience of The Power of Now."

Upon realizing the "future fixation" it is extremely hard to begin to shift one's time paradigm. As an example, my Dad had read the book, shared his learnings and suggested with all read the book. After a few of us read the book, we would catch ourselves in conversation at dinner, talking about the next time we'd be together at dinner. In other words, we were enjoying the moment we were sharing together, we were focused on what was coming next.

Next, Next, Next is what Americans focus on. A friend had purchased a car, and shared with me what car he was going to buy next. My sister accepted a job, with the hopes and dreams to land the next job. I believe the future orientation concept is one of the reasons why job turnover is so high and prevalent in our society. I believe the average CEO is in office for less than 2 years, with the Chief Marketing Officer not in office much longer.

For marketers it is important to note that product evolution, brand evolution and relevance is a must. With a vital quality of branding being consistency, this is often a challenge for companies and becomes the Achilles heel of many organizations. This concept also gives way to the "good, better, best" three tiered approach to the market.

On the consumer side, it is vital to understand our tendency as a culture to focus on the future. Such tools as "The Power of Now," allow us to take a step back and focus on the present. Doing so can be a freeing experience, as an individual does not have the weight of the future on his or her shoulders every day.

Spell Check

In re-reading and printing my blog in preparation for my final exam in Culture, Consumption and Marketing, I noticed all of the spelling errors in my blog. I'm embarrassed to say that I am a terrible speller and without Spell Check would not be where I am today. I apologize to my readers for my poor spelling. I guess I always knew that I was not good at spelling, but I never knew I was this bad.

It seems that without a squiggly underline in red underneath a word, I do not know that it is spelled wrong. In other words, not only I have lost my ability to proof read for spelling, but I've also lost my ability to spell. In all fairness I was never good at spelling, which is apparently genetic as my sisters and parents are not good spellers either.

If for whatever reason Microsoft Word cannot figure out what I am trying to say, I type the word I'm attempting to spell into Google. I not only spell typical, everyday words wrong, but I a also misspell company names. A friend told me yesterday, that I should add company names that I use often to my Spell Check. I guess I was always afraid of adding words to a dictionary in case I spelled them wrong.

It is interesting to note that I rely solely on technology for this basic skill I use everyday. From a marketing perspective, it is important to understand that a feature in technology can be so powerful that it can allow its users to forget how to do a basic, seemingly menial task. Not sure if this is specific to millennials or if this crosses generational boundaries. However, I grew up with Spell Check and typically do all of my writing on a computer.

From a consumer perspective, why isn't Spell Check everywhere? I often have wondered why blogspot.com doesn't automatically spell check using a little red squiggly line. For me and possibly other consumers, it is sort of a wake up call to see what other elements of technology I rely solely upon, and have therefore, lost an everyday skill. Some may argue that we have lost the ability to communicate; however, I like to think, I have just lost my ability to spell.

Price Quote: 1 Child, Year 1- $10,158

At the Baby Cost Calculator website, you can calculate how much your baby's first year with cost you. I chose the default responses and will supposedly spend $10,158 on my first child. The quote included the basic items. For example, a stroller was included, the jogging stroller, the "Snap On" stroller frame, and the double stroller was not included in the estimate.

With the birth of a child as one of the most life changing events in a persons life, parents take great pride in their children. Parents, especially new parents, have a tendency to equate quality with price tags and believe their children should have "only the best."



Gregory Karp recently wrote an article on the topic of baby spending and says,"The things that people are led to believe they need, when they really don't, just amazes me. There's a little gadget for everything. About 90 percent of that stuff you don't need."

To the left is a picture of Nicole Richie with the Orbit Travel System. "Travel System" is a fancy way of saying a $900 stroller. After researching reviews etc, I see that it is marketed as a car seat, stroller, and toddler seat, and therefore, is considered a deal by some. However, I would argue the Orbit Travel System is more of a status symbol than a combo car seat and stroller.

One of my friends had her first baby last year, and is pregnant again with baby number 2. In preparation for her first baby, she did a baby registry. Although it was the first baby registry I'd seen, baby registries are common and are available at countless retailers, including Pottery Barn Kids, Target, Babies R Us, and even Amazon.com. Hundreds and hundreds of products are available including Diaper Genie's, bottle warmers, etc. With a blog posting saying 176 items is "not too many."

My observations sum up to the business of babies, or the enormous market created around baby products. For marketers, this is some sort of dream. Consumer spending more money on products to not only provide for the child, but give them the very best on the market.

For consumers, it is important to do one's best to made decisions as rational as possible for a new, nervous parent. There are many consumer guides out there to help with such purchase decisions. I would recommend, however, that it is important to separate a consumer guide from an advertiser's recommendation. In other words, I believe that the best consumer guides are not sponsored or affiliated in any way by corporations doing their best to sell more products.

Talk to Animated Chuck

Today for the first time since I can remember I saw a commerical for Charles Schwab. Surprisingly the commerical made a lasting impression on me. Not only was the message powerful, but the medium used in the commerical was not typical of the average commercial.

Since 2005 Charles Schwab has used animation in commericals. Although I vaguely remember discussing this campaign a few years back, the campaign stood out to me as impactful and new after 4 years of using animation in their commercials.

Ben Stuart the VP of Brand Strategy and Advertising believes the cartoons force us to focus on what we're hearing. Seth Stevenson comments saying, "I think he's right. Somehow, washing out the real-world details present in a live actor's face, and in an actual background set, lets us move past what we're seeing and shifts our attention onto the dialogue."

My experience was very similar to Stevenson. I was first caught by the medium used, and then hooked to the message. The current messages in the animated campaign are messages of "starting over" and "moving on," following the financial crisis in the US. In a bizarre way, they had a somber yet hopeful message for those who have lost their retirement savings and net worth.

For marketers it is important to note that medium matters. New technologies have given way to new mediums available for advertising. Animation, for example, has allowed Charles Schwab to break through the clutter of commericials, as well as clutter in the financial services industry. In addition to the choice of medium, this campaign shows fellow marketers how important content is to the campaign. The campaign caught the attention of the consumer through the animation, but were able to keep their attention through the message. In order for a company to maximize the potential of the campaign the foundation or key messaging must be top notch. The medium has the potential to be "icing on the cake" or disastrous thanks to the messaging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTsg9-JOogI

Anti-Valentine's Day

In a basic Google search 1,900,000 links come up for searching "Anti-Valentine's Day." In one of the articles written regarding the anti-holiday is quoted as saying, "One of the several online anti-Valentine's Day groups, with over 1,900 members, even has an 'official anti-Valentine's Day poem'. The anthem starts with, "Hearts and roses and kisses galore...What the hell is all that s**t for? People get mushy and start acting queer. It is definitely the most annoying day of the year". The group makes repeated suggestions to replace 'Valentine' with vodka."

It has come to my attention over the past few years that there is a strong anti-valentine's day movement. This week the student body at Notre Dame received an invitation to Legends, the on-campus bar for a Singles Valentine's Day event, which is in effect an Anti-Valentine's Day celebration. There are websites dedicated to the "How to" of throwing an Anti Valentine's Day party.

This phoneme is interesting as Valentine's Day is the traditional day where lovers give each other tokens of their love. However, consumers have taken the traditional meaning and adapted it to their lifestyles. With Valentine's Day comes the celebration of love, and for those without a significant other, it has become a day to either celebrate one's single hood (Anti Valentine's Day) or celebrate friendships.

As we've learned that "marketers can never only do one thing," it is important to note that there is the potential for the anti version of a product, concept etc. The anti version can be a case of more marketing, as in the case of Valentine's Day. However, for the brand of Valentine's Day it is important to understand how consumers are transforming the holiday. Such role reversal is vital to the long term success of the brand. Companies and holidays alike must evolve to be relevant to the changing needs of consumers to stay alive.

Job Search 2009- LinkedIn

Similar to most MBA students graduating in May, I am currently looking for a job. As I network, interview, meet with companies, talk to recruiters, and share stories with my classmates I have noticed how important websites, specifically LinkedIn have become to the job search.

On LinkedIn users post their resumes, connect with long lost co-workers, join Alumni Networks and look for job opportunities. A user can not only see their "friends" otherwise known as "connections," but they also have the ability to see the friends of their friends.

Let's say for example that I am interested in a particular company, General Mills, for example. At the top of the user interface users have the ability to search for people, jobs, networks, etc. I can also enter in company names to discover who on LinkedIn works for General Mills. The search results are ranked according to my connections and groups. In other words, if there is a Notre Dame Alum, who works for General Mills, he or she will come up first.

Through the group opportunities, one can join a group of an association, university, interest group, etc. Once in the group, a member can post messages to all of the members which then sends an email to each member with the particular message. Messages for recent grads looking for opportunities are prevalent, along with messages of older grads looking to relocate from let's say Chicago to San Francisco.

LinkedIn has become a means of networking, and therefore, has become vital to the thousands of graduates, as well as those professionals who are out of a job. It is vital that markerts understand such systems of networking as LinkedIn. The relevant advertising opportunities are deemed as hot ad space for some websites.

Featured on LinkedIn there are ads for theladders.com, a website featuring job opportunities for above 100K per year. Following a recommendation coupled with hundreds of ad impressions seen on LinkedIn, I along with some classmates joined theladders.com in search of our post-graduation job.

In addition to ad space there are ramifications for corporations as well. Human Resource departments currently use LinkedIn as sort of a background check for candidates; however, I would also suggest that opportunities available within a certain company be "announced" to the friends of those employees of the corporation. A sort of LinkedIn referral system has the potential to provide corporations with strong candidates, without the fees and unqualified applications associated with a posting on such a website as monster.com.

Better get back to LinkedIn!

Straight Hair vs. Curly Hair

A few weeks ago, I decided to straighten my hair before going out to one of our classic MBA social events deemed Thank Goodness Its Thursday, commonly refereed to TGIT. I have naturally curly hair and wear my hair curly about 99.9% of the time. Typically I straighten my hair once or twice per year following a hair cut, or for a special event. For some reason, on a random T.G.I.T. my best friend straightened my hair.

The reaction to my hair straightened is comical. Often my friends, mostly guys, don't recognize me. Following the shock there are a series of questions, from why I don't straighten my hair daily, to will I always have straight hair from now on? In talking about culture and beauty in reading the book, "The Culture Code," I've been thinking about the code for American beauty and straight vs. curly hair.

I've often been told that curly hair is "unprofessional" and that straight hair is more acceptable in a business setting. Due to the "unprofessional" look, it has been suggested that I straighten my hair, or pull it back to resemble straight hair. In or out of the business world, I know countless women with curly hair, who straighten their hair every day or ever other day and claim they straighten it "because its frizzy."

My experience with straight vs. curly hair seems to be a common one. As quoted on jezebel.com the topic of curly made pretty was discussed as follows, "On Oprah's "Great American Haircut" special, curly-haired women were made "better" by being given straight hair. "In case after case, beautiful waves, curls and kinks were beaten into submission with blow dryers, flatirons and extensions. In one of the most curious cases, a beautiful woman — who was wearing a gorgeous and undoubtedly hard-won afro — was given stick-straight extensions," write Breyer and Heber. They continue: "Oprah, you are well loved the world over, due in no small part to your uplifting gospel of self-acceptance. Yet, in the eyes of curlies, these makeovers send an unmistakable - and most disheartening - message that one's natural hair isn't acceptable."

With the word transformation, as a factor in the perception of American beauty, this concept is not surprising. American women look to transform themselves using certain beauty products, services, etc.

As a marketing manager, the line is fine regarding beauty perceptions. On one hand American women respect natural beauty (whether that means curly or straight hair), as seen in the response to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. On the other hand, women are looking for their own transformation and expect to see airbrushed, anorexic looking models. Obviously the marketing plan and surrounding decisions depend on the product/service at hand, but it is important to understand the current dichotomy in the marketplace. In understanding, I'd recommend a hybrid of the strategy of the two, pulling transformational elements into a natural campaign, or vice versa. Obviously, easier said than done.

http://jezebel.com/380583/dear-oprah-mariah--leona-dont-forget-that-curly-hair-is-beautiful-too

http://www.naturallycurly.com/about-us

Martin's and American Express

For the first time, since I can remember watching the Super Bowl I saw local ads in place of National Super Bowl commercials. Martin's Grocery Store, which was founded in 1947 and owns 20 grocery store locations around South Bend, IN, was one of the local adds featured in this year's Super Bowl.

Martin's is considered by students to be on the higher end of the value chain, with Wal*Mart and Target being the places students go for their grocery store for cheaper, or less expensive items. With that being said, Martin's is the closest grocery store to the Notre Dame campus, so the convenience points go to Martins.

The biggest complaint that I have heard from students about Martins is not only the price, but also their unwillingness to accept American Express cards. I truly believe that Martin's is loosing out on a portion of the large student demographic in and around South Bend due to this decision.

Per Martins Supermarkets website, "Martin’s has continued to offer its customers added conveniences such as full-service Floral Shoppes and specialty departments, including Side Door Deli Cafés, which offer a full variety of hot and cold ready-to-eat menu items. Customers can even pick up their favorite Starbucks® beverage at over half of the Martin’s stores." I would argue that they would make more money, but accepting American Express cards, than they do from putting Starbucks® in their locations, which have Starbucks across the street.

Based on some quick google research, the AMEX fees for retailers are 2.5%, with the average fees for Visa and Mastercard at about 2%. My preliminary and basic research tells me that the veto vote on Martins, for students, particularly graduate student, looses Martin's more than .5%.

It is also commonly known that American Express holders spend more than the average credit card customer. So why turn away customer who are willing to spend more than average?

I don't know the financial or Martin's, or their profit margins, which are typically around 2% in grocery store chains; however, I do know that companies must be consistent all across the board of their value message. If customers are charged higher prices, given a premier "to go" section based off quality food quickly, they expect to pay for their food the way they would like to pay, whether that be cash, credit, or check.

The takeaway for a marketing manager is consistency among all touch points of a brand. From packaging, pricing, staff etc. I vote Martin's takes AMEX!

Super Mom

During a retreat a few weeks ago, we had a couple speak to our group of MBA students regarding the balance of relationships, faith and children. The "couple balance presentation" was followed by a key note presentation from a former executive and entrepreneur, who gave us his "Top 25 Pearls of Wisdom" that he wishes he would have known at the start of his career. Following the second and final presentation I asked the speaker how he was able to balance his family and professional career. He responded saying the that concept of balance meant compromising either one or more aspects of life. Over the past few weeks I have been thinking long and hard about the concept of balance and am hypothesizing that this may be a gender difference in American society.

The concept of balance for a Mom who is working full-time, taking care of the kids and managing the house and family is a constant struggle. At times the expectation seems to be that of "Supermom." While balance for men seems to be the ability to provide for the family, and make it to children's sporting events.

There are "Super Mom" workout programs, articles about "Super Moms" who raise children and run marathons, programs to help "Super Moms" manage stress, along with paraphernalia, and even a "Super Mom" action figure. Clearly the concept of "Super Mom" is prevalent in our society, and seen as a standard to many.

Today's generation wants it all, we want the best for ourselves and our families and we want instant gratification for all that we do. This mentality does not differ from men and women, in my opinion. As a women in business school, I think about the future and how I will be able to manage my career, my family and hopefully, children one day.

Some of my role model's in business are "Super Moms," owning their own businesses, raising four children, serving their community, being active on boards, etc. I admire such women and hope to be able to "balance" as well as they do someday. Many people are able to come to family arrangement with either the mom or day staying home, or a parent working part-time. With that then I struggle with the concept of "balance" as short changing one or numerous aspects of life.

As a marketer its is vital to understand this tension and understand what parents, mom's in particular are doing these days. As discussed in class, whole industries have been designed around this cultural phenom. The concept of making dinner has turned into meal assembly, ingredients, seen as mere steps in a process of serving dinner.

When discussing this topic with a mentor I was told, "you can have everything, just not at one time." As a society, I think we'd be happier looking at a more holistic view of career, family, balance, children, and not trying to do everything and be everything to everyone.

Sexting?

Over 75 Billion text messages are sent in the US per month as of November of 2008, per CellSigns.com statistics. Per the site the number of text messages have increased 37% every six months since 2003! The number of text messages sent or received by the average person, now out numbers the number of phone calls a person makes, or receives.

Personally, I first consistently used text messages during my study abroad trip to Madrid, Spain in 2002. Today as an MBA student in the States, text messages are a vital way of communication for me, personally, for my friends, family and colleagues. During a recent class trip to China, it was extremely hard to make plans and communicate without the use of text messaging or cell phones.

With a limit of 160 spaces, its truly impressive how much one can communicate in a text message. As mocked in the above comic, the language of texting, is truly its own language. By abbreviating, neglecting spaces, punctuation and full words, whole conversations can happen with just a few words.

Just the other week in conversation, I learned of the term, "Sexting." Combining sex and texting, or "sexting" was even featured on ABC news as "A Dangerous Teen Trend." In the spirit of "sexting," is it not uncommon for millennials to get to know each other, and plan dates through text messaging, rather than phone calls. For me personally, the over usage of text message in a dating scenario can be a deal breaker. However, I am on the older age bracket of the millennials.

The applications for texting and business are endless. From marketing to employee communication texting is and will continue to be an interface for companies to and from employees and customers to and from "their" brands/companies. Per the New Learning Playbook website, Ernest and Young is capturing on text messages and using it as communication device between upper management and new hires. There are advertising and promotions agencies with texting as their business model. For the exchange of free text messages, consumers can now agree to received advertised text messages for certain products/service they are interested in.

With text message charges driving cell phone company profits, and customers texting more than talking, it seems that "prosumers" (producers and consumers) have and will continue to evolve how we communicate through technology.

http://www.cellsigns.com/industry.shtml

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/520195.html

The 80's Are Back!

Over the weekend, I went to the University Park Mall just miles from Notre Dame for an outfit to wear to the upcoming MBA 80's party. I did not expect that nearly every women's clothing store was chalk full of clothes from the 80's. I purchased an 80's type plastic beaded necklace from Claire's with a "Gem and the Hologram's" type star, featured black, pink, orange, purple and red on sale for $3.50. From Old Navy, I purchased a pink and navy horizontal stripped top with a boat neck line for a pricey $4.98. To complete the look, I hit up Forever 21. Not only did they have stirrup pants, which I bought, they even had items for sale for $19.80.

The point is not that I'm looking for clearance items for an upcoming costume party, but that 80's fashion is back in full force. Since 2006 is has been reported that 80's fashion is back in fashion with models and celebrities sporting legging on covers of magazines and just simply wearing them around Hollywood.

It has taken 3 years to go from the Cover of Teen Vogue, to most women's, teens, girls, store in South Bend, IN but the trend of clothes of the 80's is back. From scrunchies, to hot pink jeans, to t-shirts featuring boom boxes, to "mix tape" inspired wallets the trend is full force. There are now groups of social networking sites, such as Facebook, dedicated to the style of the 80's, first started around leggings.

I myself purchased my first pair of leggings, this century, last year. Often when I wear them, I get asked by my guy friends, if they are pants, or tights, with a friend even calling them "Pants Things." Although more inspired for a costume party than for everyday wear, I have to admit I have been a consumer, therefore supporter, of the trend.

It it always interesting to see fashion from 20 or 30 years ago, come back in full force. In the 90's it was the 60 and 70's and now approaching 2010, its the 80's. I guess its true that what some find in their mothers closets, come back into fashion and that like I was taught in 7th grade history class is true, "History repeats itself."

From a marketing perspective, its important to note that nostalgia sells. As showcased in the book the Culture Code, PT Cruisers connected on a nostalgic level with consumers. The same was the case with the design of the relaunched VW "bug" and the round lights of the Jeep Wrangler.

The nostalgic bug catches those who remember what is was to own a '69 "bug," but the greater opportunities often lie with the younger generations. The large market is for the tweens now shopping for clothes that were first trendy before they were born, when mixed tapes were the way to get more than one artist on a cassette player, way before ipods, or even burned CD's.

What do Obama and Lululemon have in common?

When I was debating what topic to choose for my blog, I first started with Mr. President Barack Obama. Just yesterday he was sworn in as the US President with an unprecedented 2 million people watching in person with millions more watching on TV. Last night on TV on an entertainment show a commentator was discussing how DC used to be the ugly version of Hollywood, and now it is Hollywood.

However, as I figured everyone would be writing on Obama I thought I'd switch it up and do my journal on Lululemon, one of my favorite retail experiences. When I went to the lululemon website and there was a cartoon of Obama in a yoga outfit, I had to go back to Obama the pop culture icon. Obama in a yoga outfit, really?

Watching Beyonce, Hannah Montana, John Legend, Aretha Franklin and hearing about Oprah over the past few days of inauguration, has truly shown me the star power of Obama. There is in fact a sense of Obama as a movie star. To me, Obama has turned Washington DC from a stuffy white mans metropolis to the diverse, forward thinking, capital of our country.

Whether the government will continue to run fragmented or foreign policy will change, I don't know. All I know is that I respect the new way of thinking, leading, and connecting with the citizens of our country and that Obama will bring change to this country.

So what's the "so what" of all this? For business? For politics? I guess the message is connecting to your customers. I went to the lululemon website today, because it has connected to me in a retail environment. I voted for Obama, although traditionally Republican, because he has connected with me through a message of hope and change. The message of connection must span more than a speech, a store, a website, a campaign, an article of clothing, it must be woven through all aspects of a brand.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/18/obama.cool/

http://www.lululemon.com/

DeBeers Right Hand Diamond- My Favorite Thing

Quotes from DeBeers Advertisements- 2006

"Your Left Hand Thinks Twice.Your Right Hand Doesn't Believe In Second Thoughts.Your Left Hand Follows The Instructions. Your Right Hand Follows Your Intuition. Your Left Hand Stays Within The Lines. Your Right Hand Knows When Lines Are Meant To Be Crossed. Women Of The World, Raise Your Right Hand."

In 2001 De Beers launched the "Right Hand Campaign" capitalizing on the philosophy that a women's left hand is for the sacramental wedding ring, and the right hand is for a more self indulgent piece of jewelry. With the declining percentage of the American population married, therefore falling wedding/engagement ring sales, and the increase in divorce rates, and less diamond gift purchased as relationships were no longer lasting decades, De Beers saw an opportunity.

The campaign was centered around the concept that a women needed a diamond on her right hand for her, with or without a special man in her life. The campaign was seemed to connect with a women's independence and sense of accomplishment.

Not coincidentially, the ring I wear on my right hand is my favorite thing. I guess the campaign worked, or at least it resonates with me. When doing the exercise for class on what "Our Favorite Thing" is, I chose my buckle ring. With diamonds around the shape of a buckle it is classy without being too much, it is noticeable in a unique way and looks nothing like an engagement ring. It may be interesting to note that the ring is not a De Beers ring, however with a "lions share" of the category, it may be a De Beers diamond.

The ring given to me by my parents represents the love in my family, hard work, and Independence. Independence from a man, independence from a particular job, and in a way frees me from the "shoulds" in life. I have been thinking about this since our in class exercise, and believe I have laddered my way to "Freedom," as strange as that may sound that a ring represents freedom.

So what does my experience mean to the market including corporations, as well as customers? To me it demonstrates the evolution of the consumer of the modern women. No longer are women waiting to get diamonds as presents, and waiting to by a house until until marriage. She is working hard and spending her money on making an independent life for herself. Not to say that she doesn't get married, have a family and make a life with others, its just that the sense of waiting is not in the picture.

To marketing managers the opportunity is there to continue to capitalize on this sentiment. De Beers is a great example of a company that understood the modern, independent women and connected with her on a meaningful level.