Personas

Last weeks groups exercise was to conduct interviews and collect date which we would then turn into personas, a profile of a person who represents a segment in the market. The product we were to investigate was 'smash' a healthy alternative to mashed potato that is made by adding boiling water.

First our group agreed on the best types of people to target; busy mothers, students, campers and the elderly. We then decided on questions which would best suit the groups yet keep them abstract enough to obtain as much information as possible.


When interviewing busy mothers our questions were:

1. How long does it take for you to prepare dinner for your family?
2. What nutrients are important for you to give your children?
3. What do your children enjoy eating?
4. Would you consider giving your children 'smash'?

When interviewing students:

1. Do you usually buy for convenience or for health values?
2. how much do you spend on your weekly shop/
3. Does price come under consideration?
4. How regularly do you shop?
5. How long do your spend on average making your dinner?
6. Do you cook for yourself or others?
7. Would you ever buy 'smash'?

Campers:

1. What types of food do you take camping with you?
2. What cooking utensils do you take with you?
3. Do you often boil water?
4. Do you consider the price of the food you take with you?
5. Would you buy 'smash'? 

Elderly:

1. How do you buy your food?
2. How regularly do you shop?
3. Do you buy fresh food or long life products such as tins etc?
4. What types of food do you mostly buy?
5. Do you cook for yourself or for others?
6. What is your favourite meal?
7. Would you buy 'smash'?

The responses we got were varied but predictable our camper, a young man in his 20's said he had the facilities to make 'smash', boiled water often but wouldn't use 'smash' as it is too "messy". Next we interviewed an elderly woman in her 60's who said she mostly bought fresh food, prepared everything from scratch but turned her nose up at the thought of using 'smash' over fresh potato.

Students and busy mothers were very similar in that they would not buy 'smash' because they disliked the taste from when they were younger. The mother in her 30's also would not use 'smash' but used other instant mashed potato.

In the afternoon we were to create three personas from the data we collected. We created mind maps and used words to describe the groups and put them on the wall. The we developed our personas giving them names and personalities next to their cartoon pictures.

Pillow Talk

WELLLLLL want one of these...

New year, new start.

After a much needed break I came back to Uni souped up and ready to go, the course has changed a bit  and we are now able to choose our own modules. I've chosen Advertising and branding in the hope that after having done absolutely NOTHING to do with Advertising and Branding at school, this will help me for later on in life.

We got thrown in straight away with workshops on Marketing strategies. We were given  made up clents as practice in the morning ours was the DJCAD's Cantina, we listed the overall  pros and cons and transferred them onto a perception map (one of the tools we learned in the lecture the day before) and presented our pitch.

The second exercise was very similar but this time for a REAL client, a University graduate named Joanna Montgomery and her company "Little Riot". We were asked to create a marketing strategy for her product "Pillow Talk", something which certainly pushed my buttons but wasn't necessarily everyones cup of coffee. Our group came up with the idea for Jo to collaborate with hospitals to benefit lone children unable to spend the night with a parent, we suggested that hospitals could provide the product via a rental system in which the child would feel more comfortable and the parents would have peace of mind. The profit recieved through this service could then be used to improve facilities within the hospitals and give "Little Riot" a good reputation and this was our group pitch.

Overall my first experience of Marketing and Branding was very insightful and I'm already challenging some of the ways in which companys try to entice me into buying their product, I also understand that its not all about the product but the way other people percieve the product and other products around it and how in turn pushing advertising in a particular area rather than lots of different areas can recieve maximum impact and increase sales.