Formatting Hypotheses

Most commonly, hypotheses take three formats:

1. a question, "Does temperature affect fermentation?"
2. a conditional statement, "Temperature may affect fermentation."
3. an If, then statement, "If fermentation rate is related to temperature, then increasing the temperature will increase gas production.

The third type is more structured and I'll refer to it as a "formalized" hypothesis. A caution is necessary at this point. Beware! Not all "if-then" statements are hypotheses. For example, "If you warm yeast, then more gas will be produced." This is a simple prediction, not a hypothesis! The problem with this statement is that there is no proposition to test. What is related to what? Is temperature a variable? Is yeast a variable? I s gas production a variable? Research models limit variables to two. The structure of a formalized hypothesis is useful because it makes the student focus on two variables that may be related.

Source: http://www.accessexcellence.org/LC/TL/filson/formathypo.php

4 Pleasure Analysis (Spoon-fed)

Demographic profile
Young career driven mother of one boy. Lives an urban and trendy lifestyle. I've listed the 4 pleasure and group the analysis of purchasing a Spoon-fed based on the following rationalization.

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Physiological
1. Toughness of plastic allows the product to be used for a long time.

2. By not looking like a conventional utensil, she feels proud that she is getting something different for her son.

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Psychological
1. With her child keeping the utensil in his pencil case, she will not need to remind herself or her son to remember to wash the utensil as her son uses the pencil case at home.

2. With an option to customize the utensil, she feels that she has a unique item, aligning with her passion of being an early adopter.

3. Antibacterial properties (cap and plastic material) gives her an ease of mine that her child is eating more hygenically and will not fall sick.

4. Creating more value to a utensil will ensure that the utensil will not paid more attention to and not be misplaced.

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Sociological
1. Following the latest trend, she is send as an early adoptor, being different from other mothers who opt to purchase what is already on the market

2. As a trend setter, she gets to introduce the product with friends to buy for their own children to use, thus feeling a sense of satisfaction of sharing something new

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Ideological
Mothers want to be responsible for the world that her child will live in 50 years later, thus by using Spoon-fed, she (and the child) will feel that they have contributed to preserving the environment by using Spoon-fed which promotes sustainability.

Marketing Colour (DSLR Cameras)

I've always been intrigued by new brands that emerge into the market, especially those that try to compete against a really saturated market. For example, what if there's a new giant fast good chain or a soda brand that is going to compete against Mcdonalds and Coca-cola? How is it possible from a business perspective? One example which caught my attention is the Sony Alpha DSLR.














By entering the market late (and also not being a camera specialist), I found that it was really a bold and courageous effort to compete against the market leaders of Nikon and Canon. I can't think of any other brand than Sony who would have the resources to rock the boat.  

DSLR Camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Timeline
Nikon launched 1999
Canon launched 2000
Sony launched 2006

Personally I am a Canon user (although I'm using an Olympus at the moment), but I am impressed with what Sony has done so far after half a decade and I believe the numbers speak for themselves. What I appreciate most is what they have done with the choice of their colour.












By just referring to the colour positioning, to me it implies that Sony has taken the best features out of Nikon and Canon and created the perfect camera. Beyond the actual functionality of the camera, I reckon that colour plays an enormous role as colour speaks its own language.

Thumbs up for Sony, all the best Kazuo Hirai for his new stewardship.

Ethical Marketing

In our modern society today, again I am about to mention that the landscape for businesses have become so much competitive. People are creating new ways everyday to differentiate their products from the others. Above the functions and benefits of a product, the experiential aspect has only began to emerge since the turn of the new century and we have seen some great examples.

One example of a business that lives and breathes by its ethical marketing principles is TOMS, the American based One for One shoe company. Its ethos is simple; with every pair of shoes purchased, they give a new pair of shoes to a child in need.

Lately I have been struggling to connect the dots as to how ethical marketing could be connected to the consumers by explaining how ethical marketing could involve the consumer to make an impact. My initial thoughts were as blank as to only claiming that my brand is ethical and is friendly to the environment, but how could I go beyond that?

We all know that there are children around the world that are suffer, especially children. In the case of TOMS, by communicating the health benefits that children and adults alike will gain from having the soles of their feet covered by using UNICEF's data—Every year, nearly 10 million children under the age of 5 die from largely preventable causes. This statement in turn goes a long way to imply that users can literally save a life of someone by preventing a deadly infection due to the cause of having nothing to protect their feet.

To summarize, it is important to understand user's values (most importantly the one that touches the heart), then using numbers (through research) would only mean something to them!

You see a gorgeous girl at a party

A lighter view on understanding the world of marketing in layman terms.
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You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and say, “I am very rich. Marry me!”
That’s Direct Marketing.
 
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. One of your friends goes up to her, points at you and says, “He’s very rich. Marry him.”
That’s Advertising.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day you call and say, “Hi, I’m very rich. Marry me.”
That’s Telemarketing.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You get up and straighten your tie; you walk up to her and pour her a drink. You open the door for her; pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, “By the way, I’m very rich. Will you marry me?”
That’s Public Relations.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. She walks up to you and says, “You are very rich.”
That’s Brand Recognition.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, “I’m very rich. Marry me.” She gives you a nice hard slap to the face.
That’s Customer Feedback.

Market Segments

Lecture notes with Prof Myung Kyu Lee

Youth market

usually the entry market (mainly in car markets)
Strategically the most important segment
Especially for building long term customer loyalty
Habit is formed when one is young

Strategy:
Dream building/challenge/participation — Giving incencentive
Experience — Fast culture
Speed — Fast fashion

Silver market

Average age of the world is increasing, life expectancy is longer

TONK (two only no kids)
OPAL (old people with active life)

Designers can approach this through Universal Design (designing for everyone)
i.e. OXO Good Grip (designer made it for his wife who was suffering from arthritis)

Isetan departmental store has a Funeral service departmental for the Silver market

Kids market

World population growth is decreasing rapidly
Parents end up having either 1 or no kid
With 1 kid, they spoil the kid with everything!

Microtrends

Gold Miss market — Financial independent women who pass the marriageable age and choose to be single

Single families is over 4 million
Supermarkets sell items in smaller quantities

Marketing Strategies in Korea (considering the cultural factors)

Gurantee Marketing (tackling Korean's attitude of risk aversion)

DIY, warranty services, participatory strategies, i.e. delivery companies offering tracking services

Opinion Leadership Marketing (tackling Korean's attitude of Collectivism)
> a.k.a Word of Mouth communication or Buzz marketing
> i.e P&G has a 'tremor' group who are a prosumer group that leads the market for their products. Products are often tested on the 'tremor' group before officially rolling out
> Viral Marketing
> "Word-of-Mouse" communication

Kiehl relies solely on word-of-mouth to market their products. Product packaging often lack design, implying that the money saved on advertising and design is channeled to be used on charitable causes.

Social media platform

Blog marketing — Alpha bloggers / Power bloggers

Emotional Culture > Experiential/Emotional Marketing

Meaning of Volvo and it's logo

Having seen a few Volvo's on the street lately, besides knowing that they are the inventors of the seat belt. I have always been curious about the asymmetrical logo and did a search to find out about the meaning and concept behind the logo.

With it's symbolic meaning of the property of iron, it does echo the qualities of being tough. Surely reflecting their image as the safest vehicle.

Production of the Volvo automobile began in 1927 in Sweden. The brand name was based on the Latin verb "volvere" or "roll," to indicate all the transportation-related products made by the company. Chemical Symbol The logotype adopted by the new company was based on the chemical symbol for iron, which is a circle with an arrow pointing diagonally toward the right. This is also the symbol for the planet Mars, the Roman god of war and the male gender.

Symbol of Strength
By adopting the iron symbol, which has long been associated with the iron and steel industry, the car's makers intended to connote the durability, strength and quality of their vehicles.

Typeface
The name "Volvo" on the logo is written in a distinctive font, which the Volvo Owners Club website identifies as Egyptian.

Diagonal Band
Originally, a diagonal band served to clamp the car badge onto the radiator. This band has since become an integral part of the design and is found on the front grille of all Volvo vehicles.

Business Logo
The iron symbol with the company name can be found on Volvo steering wheels and wheel hubs, as well as in all the company's advertising. For many consumers, the Volvo symbol has come to represent a brand known for its exciting, high-quality automobiles.

Caine's Arcade

Caine’s Arcade is a short film about a 9 year old boy’s cardboard arcade, located in his dad’s used auto parts store in East LA.

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This is to me, the most social+emotional video I have seen. The power of social media today goes beyond simply as a tool of communication—It makes dreams come true.

Random Contextual Insight

Lately I noticed a strange pattern spotting several students in school strutting about wearing socks and flip flops. Later on I confirmed with a Korean friend that ladies wear very fashionable footwear (i.e. heels) on the journey to work, and they change into something more (or I would say very comfortable) upon reaching their workplace.

The weird factor is that in other cultures elsewhere, say in Singapore, it's completely the other way round. People (mostly ladies) would be in their comfy sneakers or even slippers on during their way to work and then change into the 'proper' shoes/heels.

The former scenario would prove beneficial to oneself but tarnish the image of the organization that the person is in. Whereas the latter disregards self-identity by not looking good and then 'style-up' to match the environment. So which is worst?

This is a general observation, obviously not applicable to a scenario say for one who works in the Condé Nast building in New York City (she'd be highly image conscious to begin working there in the first place). This whole insight just scratches the surface of social identity these days, there are many interesting examples that reflect this and the one I've just mentioned is one of them.

Fashion Seminar

Fashion is popular style of clothing. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person. It is a style of clothing or a way of behaving that is popular at a popular time. It is ever-changing, fast moving.

Fashion changes, if it does not change it is not fashion
—Ann Hollander (Sex and Suits)

Q & A with Mike Nuttall

IDEO workshop series with Mike Nuttall. Day 3 of 3

Consumer electronics hardware is disappearing.

The business model of Apple = Imagine the revenue ration per designer

Opportunity in automobile designs

1 word to describe good design is Effortless

2 types of patents
1. Utility patents, to protect intrisic detail, highly valuable
2. Design patents, waste of time, only protects against someone making an exact copy

To be successful, designers need to be 'T-shaped', as a product designer, he/she needs to be an expert in product development. Horizontal and vertical planes need to be both paid attention to. You have to speak the language of other stakeholders; other stakeholders usually have a bigger voice than designers.

Keyword to good design is Resolution, to cover all aspects and have a strong rationale behind every detail.

Design Soul

IDEO workshop series with Mike Nuttall. Day 1 of 3

Designing consumer products, the hard stuff are the really simple things.

Art is for yourself, your own goals
Design is for other people, usually for companies

Brand positioning and brand value is centric to design.

A tagline that describes the whole philosophy.

Design soul is beyond a visual language, aiding when shifting to another product arena. That is the soul.

Alessi = Art & Poety
Bang & Olufsen = Simple design with a touch of magic
Swatch = Fashion that ticks
Apple = Think Different
Braun = Less but Better

Appropriate design; there is no absolute answer to solving a design, there is always a multitude of answers to a question.

Strong design ethos to distinguish between a brand and a non-brand. It is important to know what the brand stands for.

Design language. Design thinking. User centered design. Design soul.

Steve Jobs never did focus groups, he never cared for what the consumer wanted, he knew they did not know what they want. You don't want to look like a fool to show the consumer that you don't know what they want. Steve Jobs simply uses what he knows. (Genius Design?)

The essence is stripping thing downs to the essential, have nothing superficial.


Be delightful.

Dieter Rams (pronounced as dee-ter)

Random insights