Science of Desire

Megan Witkop & Christy Wright

Sirius Radio

• Sirius Satellite Radio called on a small Portland consulting firm to envision a device that would help it catch up with bigger rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings.

• Ziba Design dispatched a team of social scientists, designers, and ethnographers on a road trip to Nashville and Boston.

• Shadowed 45 people, studying how they listen to music, watch TV, and even peruse gossip magazines.

Conclusion

•A portable satellite-radio player that was easy to use and load with music for later playback could be a killer app in the competition against XM.

What is Ethnography?

•A species of anthropologist who can, among other things, identify what's missing in people's lives -- the perfect cell phone, home appliance, or piece of furniture -- and work with designers and engineers to help dream up products and services to fill those needs.

The Beauty of Ethnography

• Provides a richer understanding of consumers than traditional research.

• Creating stars within companies, in retailing, manufacturing, financial services, as well as consulting firms. o Ex: IBM, IDEO, Jump Associations, and Doblin

Group.

3 Ways to Spark Innovation

• Refreshing a product o Revitalize an existing product.

• Cracking markets

• Transforming culture

Refreshing a Product

• Marriot hiring IDEO to rethink the hotel experience for the customer. o Seven consultants covering 12 cities

• Marriot learned that hotels are good at serving large parties instead of the solo traveler.

• Marriot reinvented all the hotels.

• Have any of you stayed at Marriot and noticed any improvement?

Cracking Markets

• General Electric o Executives wanted to get in the plastic-fiber

businesso Found manufacturers to participate in the study

• What GE foundo Customers want to collaborate from the

earliest stages to develop high-performance materials

• Conclusiono GE now shares prototypes with customers

Transforming a Culture

• For corporations that don't market directly to consumers, ethnography has a singular appeal

• Intel is facing competition from their rival Advanced Micro Deviceso Intel needs to branch out beyond its core chipmaking

business

• Intel used ethnography previously o Realized that fishermen could use wireless technology to

transmit the tally of their daily catch directly to the Alaska Fish & Game Dept.

o Studied the elderly to see how Intel could provide medical technology a device to track and help ensure that patients take their

medications

Questions??

Reference

www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-06-04/the-science-of-desire