A Definitive Consumer Experience

In our last class, we discussed several ways of creating a consumer experience, and we looked at various techniques utilized by marketers to gauge consumer value and thereby ensure impactful consumer experiences. I found the discussion on Bernd Schmitt to be particularly interesting in that it divided the consumer experience into five categories – SENSE, FEEL, THINK, ACT, and RELATE. Some of these dimensions are clearly understood, while others are more obscure and difficult to measure. In any case, it’s useful to have a model such as this within which we can define consumer experience, and I am actually inclined to read more of Schmitt’s writings in “Experiential Marketing” to more clearly grasp these proposed concepts.

One meaningful consumer experience I can recall is both purchasing my Sony Playstation 3 as well as owning it for the past three years. It initially seemed like a frivolous gift to myself, seeing as it was primarily for entertainment purposes and that it was funded by my paycheck from a summer job that was supposed to “help pay for school.” I actually don’t play a lot of videogames, but I was very intrigued by the Blu-Ray format, and I mainly bought the PS3 to upgrade my home entertainment system. However, this new technology became useful to everyone in my household (my mom, my dad, and brother) and it soon came to define how we viewed photo slide shows from vacations and how we played music for parties and get-togethers. USB systems, speakers, and computers can be hooked up to the PS3, and virtually any media is compatible with the Sony platform. Over the years, it gradually became my family’s go-to entertainment device. I’ve brought it to UT with me for the last year or so, and it serves the same purpose among all my friends here and in my new apartment. The experience of buying and owning the PS3 has made me feel very in control of my media, and for someone like me, that is truly something of value. I am a textbook media-junkie, and I consume DVDs, new albums, blogs, entertainment publications, documentaries, TV shows, comedy specials, animated shorts, etc. You name it; I watch/listen to/read it. My PS3 allows me to take pride in all these things and organize them the way I want to, and it plays and stores everything. It is connected online to the Playstation Network and it is consistently being made better through system updates. It has more than paid for itself since I purchased it.

With regards to Schmitt’s five dimensions, I feel like my consumer experience with my Playstation 3 applies to a few of them. For example, the SENSE aspect deals with strong visual and auditory appeals, and the PS3 certainly delivers on this with its HD support, its sleek display, and it’s modern user interface. Sony’s marketing of this product also relies heavily on strong visual representations of the processing power and graphics capabilities of this technology, which is essentially a very fast computer. These also play into Schmitt’s THINK dimension, which refers to intellectual stimulation as a source of consumer satisfaction. The PS3 is certainly not all flash, and being associated with a company like Sony certainly doesn’t hurt its reputation among the geek crowd. I fall under this category to an extent, and my decision to buy the PS3 was definitely motivated in part by the fact that it just seems technologically superior to competitors like the Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and other Blu-Ray players, which are still inferior today. Also, for my purposes (entertainment > gaming), I really couldn’t go wrong with the PS3. Finally, it’s important to consider the FEEL dimension, and the fact that my PS3 became a fixture in my home around which my family gathered for years. Picture slide shows, movie nights, and small family events were all facilitated by the PS3, and even my mom, who is technologically challenged, to say the least, was getting in on the action and learning how to use the system so she could get the most out of it. I believe that if the experience is there, consumers will take the right steps to achieve it. Marketers just have to create and communicate that experience.

The Persona Life Cycle

To accurately create a persona of me or someone like me, a marketer would be required to research the lifestyle, goals, and priorities of a college student about to graduate. My value systems, beliefs, and decision-making processes are unique at this point in my life, and each phase of the “persona process” - which “metaphorically [maps] the life stages of human reproduction and development” – would have to reflect my economical spending habits, my focus on education, and my tendency to engage in intellectual development, among other traits.

The persona vignettes provide very concisely conveyed aspects of subjects’ personalities. For example, my persona vignette would consist of statements like “I like to take long study breaks to relieve stress” and “I like to have fun and enjoy college but at the same time I need to keep my eye on the money.” I am representative of many conflicting goals and different sources of pleasure and pain. College students like me, especially students attending UT, would have many overlapping persona components and would express similar values, likes, and dislikes. Marketers who could accurately glean this information and isolate it as part of a unique persona would wield immeasurable power as far as marketing goods and services to people like me. I would see the purpose in whatever was being marketed to me, and it would seem like an obvious improvement in my life that should have already existed. This goes back to our discussion in class, which culminated in the end goal of creating and engineering intuitive yet innovative entities to introduce into a specifically fine-tuned market.

In the persona family planning, conception and gestation stages, a persona like mine would be designated as a college student existing in an academic environment (or at least near one) with a focus on higher education, earning a degree, and being competitive in the job market. The conception and gestation period would also involve gathering data about my study habits, my class schedule, priorities that either correlate or conflict with school, and my overall sense of purpose, self-efficacy, and utility given my current environment. Significant details gleaned at this stage would be my high level of stress, my constantly busy schedule, my need for relaxation, and my burning desire to succeed in all aspects of my college life, both academic and extra-curricular. A college student persona will inevitably be very dynamic and possible cluttered, seeing as how so many aspects of life are valued at this time.

After the persona birth and maturation, it enters adulthood and becomes a living, breathing model that marketers can use in almost any environment because it is strong enough to adapt and account for several variances in different markets. The fully formed college student persona would largely depend on geographic location, choice of school, living situation, and commutes to campus, family life, and many other things, so it would take a long time to mature and be ready to apply to the marketplace. My persona, for example, would display a longing to go home and a sense of displacement when I’m away at college. It would also be characterized by the need for a job as well as the need to fill my life with many things to keep busy since I’m less productive when I have less on my plate. This persona would either retire or experience a natural death as college students’ personalities and values change throughout future generations. Right now, though, the details I’ve described should be characteristic of the majority of students at state universities around the U.S. 

College students comprise a significant percentage of many markets, and we are a powerful demographic force. Marketers would do well to carefully map out our personas because it will serve them well in the long run. I know that, personally, I am a unique combination of several standard personality types, and that I cannot be summed up by a rudimentary persona model. I’m sure this is true of many persona models, but I can relate specifically to this process because of my age and current life situation. I think there are fascinating details to be learned about people my age going though any higher education program because we represent great levels of intelligence and creativity. We truly are the future, and hopefully marketers will be dynamic enough to capture our needs and wants.

The Development of Design Philosophy

Based on our class discussion, I can tell that there is no established mold for the development and progression of design philosophy. It is essentially a living, breathing organism fueled by evolving marketing philosophies and consumer demand. The idea of progressing from problem seeking to problem solving to eventual implementation remains intact, though, and this has always been applied regardless of the many approaches to design throughout the 20^th century. I found the history of industrial design fascinating, and I wish we had more time to elaborate on the philosophies of minds like Raymond Loewy, Henry Dreyfuss, and Charles and Ray Eames.

The philosophy I found most intriguing was that of Dieter Rams, which can essentially be summarized as “Good design is as little design as possible.” I love the idea of simplicity, both in design and function, and I feel like consumers will always react positively to this kind of mentality and embrace any technology or product associated with it. Apple’s adherence to this philosophy is interesting as well, because the design of the iPod essentially reinvigorated the company and saved Steve Jobs’ career. The side-by-side comparison of the image of Rams’ radio (designed decades before Jobs’ creation) and the iPod was astounding, because it reinforces the idea that simplicity in design is invaluable and timeless. Anytime the future is depicted in films like Minority Report, science-fiction novels, and really any kind of media, simple design is always prominent, and the absence of instruction manuals and design clutter is always considered very progressive. The iPod is certainly representative of this kind of design. I got mine (a 30GB video iPod) when I was 16, and I never looked at any kind of “How to” guide or even the supplemental marketing pamphlet that came in the tiny box containing the device. I simply took it out, pushed the one button, charged it, and I was ready to go. I never looked back. I also own an iPhone 3G and I feel the same way about that device. I thought the design of the calculator app was interesting because basing it on Rams’ calculator from the 70s makes it seem so dynamic and innovative when it’s really a classic, simple design. I like simple, and I believe people around the world do as well.

While I fully support product/service innovations and welcome any developments in design that make life easier for consumers, I do believe that the existence of so many philosophies and the success of some design breakthroughs may yield many unnecessary tweaks and developments to existing products and services that may not necessarily be monumental or helpful. The umbrella that is engineered to withstand the force of winds and rain and the multi-functional running shoes that adapt to any surface were brilliant examples of design innovation presented in class. However, we also looked at designs that were simply stylistic and not representative of industry progression. For example, the aerodynamic design of a plane being applied to a pencil sharpener deceptively conveys technological advancement and ease in use, but this might have actually been a step backward in innovation in favor of commercial success. There is, after all, a business motive behind every design philosophy and product/service implementation, and the ongoing “Business Success OR Social Benefit” debate we discussed in class is not likely to disappear anytime soon. This is why people who are forward thinking will always have an industry advantage. They are not bound by thinking they have to simply keep up with the competition, but rather, they understand the bigger goal of their work, which is to make people’s lives better. 

Considering the big picture as opposed to simply looking at the project or design at hand will always yield the best results. Don Draper, the central character on Mad Men, exemplifies this idea and it is the reason he is so successful in the world of 1960s advertising. Marketing and product design are important to his job as well, and I actually kept thinking about this show as we traced the history of design philosophy in class. It’s actually my favorite show on TV, and I feel like one could do an interesting analysis of how much the stories told on the show overlap with marketing strategies, technological change, and consumer behavior in general. Interestingly enough, many behavioral trends common in the 1960s are still the norm today, which is why I think basic design principles – like simplicity - will always hold true.

Here Goes Nothing

Hello. I am new to this whole blogging thing, and I'm not quite sure if I have enough opinions or funny insights to keep one going, but we'll see how it goes. I think I say things that I think are pretty funny or insightful, but who knows how those things will translate on the Internet? I love to write, though, so I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to do that on this blog. Hopefully this experiment will lead to some interesting conversations and some cool experiences!