Boomers.docx

7/25/2019 Boomers.docx

1/14

Catering to Boomers

Tibal Fisher had founded an eponymous, highly successful home-furnishings chain as a young man in his late twenties, catering tothe hearts, minds, and wallets of the generation famous for breakingsocial rules. Having started out supplying these customers with lavalamps and trendy, colorful, inexpensive apartment furniture, Fisherhad always managed to stay one step ahead of them too. They hadcheered the rms ahead-of-the-curve emphasis on ecoproducts andsustainable forestry as they grew older. His gently militantworldview was behind the creation of TFs !ext"tage#sort of a"harper $mage for aging baby boomers.

%$f its a sixties-friendly product, $ll stock it,& Tibal had declaredwhen founding the brand extension, intentionally con'ating thedecade with customers ages. Though many of his customers were abit too young to have come of age during the ()*+s, a folk-rockatmosphere permeated the TFs !ext"tage stores. s they movedtoward the home-furnishings section, rew could hear the yrdsrecorded voices from the sound system in the store, singing %Turn/

Turn/ Turn/&

They found 0rica 1rossman dressed in a gray pantsuit and sitting in

a faux-leather massage recliner, having her calves s2uee3ed andlooking distinctly out of her element as she watched a white-bearded man inspect a sleek black stand-up plug-in power strip. Thestrip was designed so that a user could e4ortlessly click a powercord into it, without the need to bend over and stu4 a plug into ahard-to-reach outlet behind a sofa. The customer was plugging andunplugging a cord to test it out. $t looked as though he had beenplaying with the high-tech wheelie shopping baskets, too. brightred one#denitely not your grandmothers wheelie#stood besidehim.

5atching sight of Tibal and rew, 1rossman turned o4 the massagerand stood up to greet them.

%!ice to see you again, 0rica,& said Tibal, reaching out to shake1rossmans hand. %"orry were late. Thanks for coming.&


2/14

That was when he noticed the brace on the reporters right hand.%5arpal tunnel6&

%7es,& 1rossman said self-consciously. % touch. Too much typing.&

%"orry to hear that,& said Tibal. %8e have some gadgets that mightreally work for you.&

%9ets go over to the caf:,& said rew brightly. %$ts 2uiet, and wehave some things to show you.&

%$ts pretty 2uiet anyway,& said 1rossman. %ut sure, lets see whatyouve got.&

rew looked at the reporter. 8as that a swipe6 $t was true that in

this high-tra;c mall, the store wasnt getting its fair share ofshoppers. Hard to believe that only a few years ago, people like herwere practically fawning over Tibal and gushing about the stores.

TFs !ext"tages were opening in the nations classiest malls, andretail analysts reported the move as both clever andcounterintuitive.


3/14

with a gadget like a big, soft-handled carrot peeler, perfect forsomeone with arthritis. %This is so cool!& the person would say,prompting a =oyful grunt in response from Tibal, also watching frombehind the mirrored glass. rew had to tell the chief to be 2uiet sohe wouldnt be heard.

t the opening of the rst store, in !orth 5arolina, curious customers'ocked in to take a look. $t was going to be all about generatingtra;c, Tibal had predicted. %$f we can get people into the stores, theproducts will sell themselves.&

Tibal had stuck to that line even when the stores were clearly failingto take o4. Finally he had been forced to invest in the overhaul,which involved brightening up the stores with more lights and lots ofmirrors and adding food service. The total tab for the stores and thereimagining was getting close to @A+ million.

A Table for One

Tibal led 1rossman into the caf:, a "tarbucks-style co4eehouse arealled with comfortable chairs and low tables that formed thecenterpiece of the kitchen-furnishings area. %5ommunity is theessence of the reimagining of these stores,& he told the reporter.%8e want the store to be a gathering place. Food and co4ee are

integral to making that happen.& He pointed toward a young womanbehind a small counter lled with pastries, 'anked by a short menuof co4ee drinks and teas. %8ould you like a co4ee6 rew, can youbring me a decaf chai6&

8hile rew was getting the drinks, Tibal showed the reporter acombination breakfast tableBcomputer desk beyond the caf:, in anarea lled with light-oak cabinets, ad=ustable stools, and high-endco4eemakers with big buttons for easy programming. Tibaldemonstrated how a tray holding a computer keyboard with a touch

pad could be pulled out from beneath the table surface. 'at-screen monitor on a swing arm allowed a user to set the monitor tothe right eye level for %sit back& television watching or %sit forward&computer use. %"o you can use the table for dining, for surng theweb, or both/& Tibal said happily.


4/14

%TFs !ext"tage is all about understanding and anticipating theneeds of our customers,& he continued. %nd weve studied thissegment thoroughly. 8e know that because of their stage in life, thedivorce rate, children moved out, what have you, they are on theirown#they often have no one to go out and eat with. ut they dowant to feel connected. nd our society doesnt accommodatethem. >ur society#every restaurant you can think of#hasabsolutely no provision to make people feel comfortable eatingalone. Think about it#if you go into a restaurant alone, you feel souncomfortable that its a miserable experience. They give you alittle table over in the corner, and they treat you like a leper. >r elsethey put you at a counter like a trucker in a truck stop.&

%The table is interesting, and the overall notion of appealing to this

group of consumers sounds good in theory,& said 1rossman, %but$m wondering about your tra;c patterns. 8hat kind of data can youshow regarding shopping patterns for, say, this mall6 o thingsgenerally pick up on "aturdays6&

s he approached them, drinks in hand, rew listened for the datapoints he had written out for Tibal. !o such luck. He sighed. "uchwas the CD persons life. "till, he had to hand it to his boss#Tibalwas nothing if not enthusiastic.

Change of HeartEust then someone tapped rew on the shoulder. $t was an olderman, half of the couple who had passed them earlier. rew thoughtfor a moment the man was going to ask him about a price or wherethe restroom was, but instead he asked what the interview was allabout. Trying to keep his voice down, rew said it was the company50> being interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The man lookedvery impressed.

%"o if you wouldnt mind getting back a little bit,& rew added.

"eeming surprised at this re2uest, the man stepped back. %"orry tobother you. $ll =ust go nd my wife.&


5/14

He found her in the bedroom section, opening a tall walnut armoire.The top rung was attached to a sturdy pull-down handle, making iteasy for her to hang a =acket.

%$ really like this,& she told him. %!ice idea. 8hat were those people

doing over there6&

%Hes the 50> of this store. Hes doing an interview with the WallStreet Journal.&

His wife raised an eyebrow. %>h really6 That corporate guy6& "hesmiled. %8onder who that younger man was. He looks so nervous.&"he turned, pointing to a display bearing several wall and shelfclocks. %id you see this clock6 $ts really easy to ad=ust. nd look atthese/& "he showed him her metal shopping basket, containing ado3en soft-handled kitchen utensils and silicone pot holders.%h, $ dont know. "ince weve been rattling around in this store, $mstarting to feel trapped. >ld. gly. ll these products are for oldpeople. The whole store is for old people. $ts like a senior center.&

"he patted her husbands arm. %8ell, we aregetting up there, youknow.&

%ut $ dont want to be constantly reminded of it,& he said. %$ mean,listen to the music in here. 9ook at the young kids behind thecounters#this song was ?+ years old when they were born/ $ feellike everything is pointing to my age. 9ike that 50> is trying to makemoney o4 of us because were getting older.&

His wife looked at the clocks and then into her husbands eyes. %$see what you mean. >G. 9ets =ust go get some co4ee.&

Bad Vibes


6/14

Tibal Fisher suddenly started s2uirming as though ants werecrawling on him. rew knew what it was#his bosss phone wasvibrating. Tibal was getting a call or a message and was trying tosuppress the urge to look at it.

Clease, 9ord, rew thought, dont let him look at it#not while hesbeing interviewed.

istractedly, Tibal asked if the reporter would excuse him for amoment. He already had the phone in hand by the time he got towhere rew waited. Tibal took his glasses out, attacked the phoneskeyboard with his thumbs, and peered at the screen.

%That cant be right,& Tibal said to himself. %That bad6& He looked atrew. %This isnt good,& he said. %$ve got to get out of here. 5an youget me out of here6&

%$ think you have to nish the interview,& rew said.

%The numbers,& Tibal said. %The reimagining.& The numbers fromthe 5F> must have showed that the rescue attempt was looking likea 'op.

The music was grimly appropriate ob ylan this time, singing,%Ceopled call, say, Ieware doll, youre bound to fallB 7ou thoughtthey were all kiddin you.&

rew understood his bosss impulse to 'ee. He nevertheless toldTibal it was imperative that he nish the interview. Tibal nodded,though he didnt move. His ngers were digging into rews arm.

rew noticed the man he had shooed away earlier, walking out ofthe store, empty-handed, with his wife. He wondered what theywere thinking.

How can Tibal Fisher "tores improve its customer research processand save the brand extension6

Donna J. SturgessJdonna.=.sturgessKgsk.comL is the global headof innovation for the consumer business of 1laxo"mithGline. "he isbased in Cittsburgh.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


7/14

The Tibal Fisher teams customer research e4orts are a classic caseof analysts missing the subconscious associations at work inconsumers minds#something that 1erald Maltman and 9indsayMaltman, the authors of this case study, would describe as deepmetaphors. ecause Tibal Fisher and his top executives overlookedthose deep metaphors, they werent aware of the emotions thatcould be revealed through them. The team looked only atcustomers surface attitudes. "ince those attitudes make up arelatively small part of the total consumer response, the executivesare clueless about the reason for the anemic sales.

$ts critical for companies to understand that every customer relatesto a brand on an emotional level, and those emotions trigger#orblock#purchases. Thats why for a number of years now,

1laxo"mithGline has been intently focused on using emotionalstrategies in branding and marketing. great example is lliJpronounced %ally&L, a product that deals with a highly emotionalissue weight loss.

0very customer relates to a brand on an emotional level. Thoseemotions trigger#or block#purchases.

lli is an over-the-counter medication that blocks the absorption of?NO of the fat in a meal. 5ustomers use it as part of a weight-loss

program that includes a low-fat diet. $n marketing lli, we faced achallenge similar to one that TFs !ext"tage stores face The verythought of buying the product reminds customers that they haveproblems they feel negatively about. $n the case of TFs !ext"tage,the problems are age, isolation, and inrmity. $n the case of lli, theproblems are excessive weight and all its conse2uences. Theresalways a risk that consumers negative feelings and the hurdles ofweight loss will discourage them from starting or staying on a diet."o we took a number of steps to in=ect positive emotions into thewhole process of thinking about and using lli.

First, we chose a product name that sounds like a helpful partner.8e aimed to make the package beautiful and useful#somethingthat wasnt =ust a carton of pills but also a container for diet guidesand recipes. Then theres what we call the "huttle. $t holds three llipills so that customers, when theyre on the go, can take one ateach meal. 8e wanted it to be much more than a pill case 8e


8/14

designed it so that when you hold it, you feel as though youreholding someones hand#a partners hand#because of the way itts in your palm. $n fact, its designed to be a transitional ob=ect,something the dieter can hold on to while letting go of past eatinghabits. The brand connects in your hand.

$n this way, lli speaks to a couple of deep metaphors in consumers.To use terminology that the case authors have employed on manyoccasions, it speaks to transformation, both the physical and theemotional metamorphosis that a customer goes through during theweight loss processP andjourney, in the sense that weight lossinvolves the steps of behavioral change.

$ts unlikely that these metaphors or the emotions that go with themwould have been uncovered in traditional customer researchprocesses such as focus groups and surveys. t 1laxo"mithGline, weuse a wide variety of techni2ues to examine the relevant customeremotions and learn how to invoke them to create the experience wewant the brand to pro=ect. 0ven simple techni2ues such as one-on-one interviews or ethnographic observation that involves going intopeoples homes to study customer behavior can provide valuablelenses through which to survey the emotional landscape.

Traditionally, marketing has been about touting products features

and benets to the rational part of customers minds. Thats stillimportant, but in todays competitive business climate, itsimperative for companies to gain full insight into customers feelingsand translate them into an emotional strategy.

Alex Leeis the president of >Q> $nternational, the !ew 7ork 5ityRbased maker of >Q> 1ood 1rips household products.

This retailer can get its brand extension back on track byremembering a principle that applies to consumers in general and to

baby boomers especially Theyre attracted by brands they associatewith the type of people theyd liketo be#not the type they reallyare. ds by !orth Face and Catagonia feature climbers and surfers,not the city dwellers who wear the companies products whilepushing strollers and walking dogs.


9/14

$ was reminded of this principle a few years ago when >Q>conducted focus groups to nd out how far we could move from ourcore business, kitchen tools, into other products by applying ourdesign philosophy of making things easier to use. 8e askedparticipants to pick photos showing people they perceived to be >Q>users and nonusers. 5onsistently, they picked people who looked t,successful, and interesting as the sort who would use >Q> products,and people who looked conservative, older, and less t as the sortwho wouldnt. 7et the participants, all owners of >Q> products,looked a lot more like the latter than the former.

lthough the needs of users with deteriorating vision or dexterityare very much taken into consideration when we develop newdesigns, we try to o4er products that appeal to ?+- and S+-year-olds.

8e believe that positioning these products as %helping tools& wouldserve only to stigmati3e the brand. Thats why the philosophy of%universal design,& which calls for creating products that arecomfortably usable by the largest possible range of people, is neverexplicitly stated as part of >Q>s marketing position.

$ndeed, labels and words are very important. %TFs !ext"tage&might be a good name for a toddlers training diaper but not for astore targeting the current generation of *+-plus-year-olds who rideHarleys and use iCods.

%TFs !ext"tage& might be a good name for a training diaper but notfor a store targeting boomers.

$ts surprising that Tibal Fishers extensive customer research didntset him right. Cerhaps he so badly wanted to believe in his visionthat he misinterpreted the data. $n any case, he lost touch with whatcustomers were thinking. n executive must be open to signals fromcustomers and the market, and there are many ways to listen forthem.

t >Q>, weve found that user research doesnt need to be rocketscience. 8hats important is that managers be in2uisitive, that theybe avid users of the type of products we sell, and that everyemployee be looking out, constantly, for problems and solutions inboth the companys and competitors products. 8hen >Q>employees attend social gatherings outside the o;ce, they often


10/14

bring up the topic of product pet peeves. 8e have done simplesurveys in the lobby of our building by o4ering free >Q> products inexchange for peoples opinions. $f Crocter 1ambles researcherssaw us doing that, theyd say we were cra3y for interviewingunscreened !ew 7orkers in an unscientic sampling. ut we uncovergreat insights#in fact, we nd that our small samples often echo thevoice of the market.

The most valuable learning happens when we come across latentneeds#problems that users arent able to articulate. For example,when evaluating a concept for a new measuring cup, we noticedthat users were repeatedly bending down to read the measurementson the side, adding or subtracting li2uid, then bending down againto check the measurement. They never identied this as an

inconvenience#they accepted it as a part of the measuring process.The >Q> ngled


11/14

large pharmaceutical company recently did such digging tounderstand how consumers felt about two of its pain relievers#onebased on acetaminophen, the other on ibuprofen. Traditionalresearch had showed that the two analgesics were poorlydi4erentiated#that consumers saw them as interchangeable.ccordingly, strategists were baUed about how to make eachproduct stand out on its own.

$n one-on-one research that probed into the deep metaphors usedby consumers, heavy users of the two medications were asked toselect images that represented their thoughts and feelings aboutthe products.


12/14

Desearch methods of this type, which stem from psychology andcognitive science, have another important function They provideinsights into how to create an emotional bond with consumers thatcant be easily imitated by competitors. "uch a distinction is criticalto businesses in todays marketplace, with product commoditi3ation

=eopardi3ing prots.

"ome businesses can do all this without deeply researchingcustomers feelings. 1enerally, those companies are led byexecutives with an innate talent for sensing how the customer feelsand thinks. Those leaders, in a sense, function as %professionalconsumers,& instinctively channeling customer feelings into thecompanys marketing and branding. ut even a superbly tuned-inmarketer can falter in his ability to read consumers desires and

dislikes. $n the long term, rms need to build an organi3ationalcapability and create a systematic approach to discovering whatsgoing on in customers minds.

Le#is CarboneJlcarboneKexpeng.comL is the founder and chiefexperience o;cer of the


13/14

unconsciously felt that they were being taken care of. Ceople want tomove from not knowing to knowing, from pain to reliefP they want toget on with their lives.

Translating that knowledge into action was challenging, however. 8e

worked with the hospital on the implementation, and eventually thesolution that emerged involved creating movement of various typesin many phases of the patient and family experience. Families nolonger sit in a general waiting room until hell free3es over. $nstead,they travel through the process along with the patient, going fromarea to area, getting a sense of movement. The language of theclinical workers changed, from statements like %$ve got to take youhere now& to %!ow were going to move on to the next thing.& Thesolution even extended to the selection of artwork and the use of

moving water. For years there has been evidence that the presenceof water has a healing e4ect. ut what is it about water6 $ts themovement, the li2uidity. 8ith that knowledge, its easier tounderstand the e4ect of fountains and other design applications ofwater.

$n the case of TFs !ext"tage, the rst step, of course, is for thecompany to gure out why customers dont en=oy the way they feelin the stores. The story provides clues that the stores and productsmake customers feel old#and not many people like being reminded

that theyre aging. fter years of soliciting people for membership atage N+, DC has had to work very hard to overcome the impressionthat getting the friendly DC notice in the mail was a sure sign thatyou were over the hill.

For TFs !ext"tage, implementing knowledge about customerfeelings will involve taking action to remove reminders of aging#noeasy feat for a store that sells gadgets geared to older people. >nething the company could do is eliminate the clocks that are for saleand some of the mirrors that were installed to make the space seem

bigger and airier. Theres nothing like a mirror for reminding us howold we are.

nother thing TFs !ext"tage could do is change or eliminate thecaf: setup. "itting around a room with other older people is areminder of the similarity that links you with them age. companywants customers to leave feeling better about themselves, not


14/14

worse. $ have no doubt that in focus groups and surveys, potentialcustomers told the company the caf: was a great idea#a place toconnect with people like themselves. Carticipants probably saidthings like %$d feel better in the stores if $ knew there were otherpeople in the same situation.& ut thats not the truth. 5ustomersoften are unable to articulate their deepest feelings. Thats whycompanies need to go to the trouble of working with them one-on-one to nd out whats driving them toward#or away from#a brand.

Boomers.docx

Documents

Transcript of Boomers.docx