CareWatch – Feel SAFE.

Introduction

This assignment describes an advertisement presenting a product called CareWatch. The advertisement is described and analyzed with relations to relevant theories.

Target Audience

The product is targeted to both genders in almost all kind of ages. However, some people will be too young for using the product.

Brand position statement

“To people who want to feel safe and keep track of their vital parameters, using the user-friendly CareWatch with its unique abilities is the perfect solution.”

Description of the video

The advertisement should be available via the following link:

• CareWatch video advertisement

The advertisement starts by presenting a picture of the product, CareWatch. Here the logo is available and the slogan is presented as well; Feel SAFE.

In the advertisement, you see two people sitting together in a classroom. The younger person is looking at his computer and is impressed because he has just read about a new fancy product. Therefore, he read the article loud for the other person, an elderly man.

While the young guy is reading about the new product, suddenly the elderly man gets a heart attack. When the heart attack occurs the elderly guy falls down from his chair without the young guy noticing it. When the young guy is finished with reading about the product, he finds out that the elderly guy has got a heart attack and then the clip ends. Afterwards, a new clip is presented with the face of the elderly guy. He says that he is dead at the moment and he probably wouldn’t have died if he had the CareWatch.

The advertisement ends by presenting another picture of the product where the price is stated and it says that the product is recommended by experts.

Thoughts behind the video

We chose to make a video like this as it shows a typical reason for buying the CareWatch. Additionally, the watch is primarily useful for elderly people as they are representing the main target group and it was why an elderly person is used as an actor. The advertisement ends with a call to action, so people actually are also going to buy the product when they have seen the advertisement.

The length of the video is 1:06 minutes as we would try to make it as short as possible. The reason for this is that it is preferable according to an article available on thenextweb.com[1]. In relation to this article, our advertisement fit to the category called ‘Tutorials/Explainers (45-90 sec)’ and here is exactly what we focused on: “45-90 seconds is long enough to make your crowd be interested in what your product does and get a sense of feeling how it works. don’t try to show all the features, just highlight the cool ones and make it look simple.”

Aristotle’s theories

The advertisement is mostly related to pathos. The reason for this is that pathos is about suffering or experience. It is a communication technique that shows feeling of sympathy or sorrow that affects emotions or feelings. Pathos can be expressed with words, pictures, or sensory details.

In our advertisement we show the customer how necessary it is to feel safe in any time and situation. It is also important that they can get information about their health status, for example heartbeat. However, that’s not all the benefits you can keep track of. You can also monitor your diabetes and blood pressure and be reminded when something is wrong. The products show when your levels are too high or too low and give a sign when something is not well. Therefore, we apply on the customer attitude, mainly for old persons, because they have more time to react with this watch and they can use the emergency function.

Social judgment

The advertisement is made by using the Social Judgement Theory[2]. In this theory, the essential part is to understand the person’s attitude toward a particular subject. In this case, the people are the customers and by getting an understanding of them, it is easier to know what to highlight when trying to marketing and get their attention.

We haven’t made the analysis of a big group of customers, but instead we have predicted what we think they will react most on. Therefore, we have chosen to focus on fear as it probably will make a lot of people thinking about buying the product. Therefore, the theory is a useful tool to get knowledge about what there is the best way to get the customers attention and what to avoid.

If you know have easy it is to persuade a person, you have a better basis for what there will be the best way to convince the customers to buy the product instead of just spending money on other things. So the knowledge of the audience is the key part to focus on when using this theory and this understanding should be obtained through the use of a questionnaire.

Social influence

Social influence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general[3].

Three areas of social influence are conformity, compliance and obedience. Conformity is changing how you behave to be more like others. Compliance is where a person does something that they are asked to do by another. Obedience is different from compliance as it is obeying an order from someone that you accept as an authority figure. In compliance, you have some choice. In obedience, you believe that you do not have a choice.

Our strategy is mostly focused on the obedience strategy, because the old person accepts an authority figure. CareWatch is linked with hospitals, pharmacies and insurance companies. It should be possible to buy the product at your doctor because he or she can help by showing how to use the product, which also is the case for the hospitals and pharmacies. The most elderly people have trust in their doctors and pharmacist, so when they recommend it, the people feel more that the product is necessary and will buy it.

Moreover, famous old people, who are respected and liked by the common people, will also be used. The celebrities will appear with the product, which hopefully will attract more customers, because the famous people are a symbol of product quality.

[1] http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/02/optimal-length-video-marketing-content-short-possible/

[2] http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_judgment.htm

[3] http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_influence.htm

Why crowdfunding is the next big funding method

Introduction

This assignment presents reasons for why it is preferable to use crowdfunding. Furthermore, there are listed three real-world examples of US based companies who have had success by the use of crowdfunding. The assignment ends with a conclusion, where the most important parts are summed up.

Why crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a great method to fund a business, primarily used in the early phase of the development. Typically, crowdfunding is useful when you have an idea about a product and want to make it real, but need money before it can be realized. In cases like this, crowdfunding provides the opportunity for present the idea and show a prototype to a very big group of people. If they like the idea, they will probably invest in the company.

There are a lot of reasons why crowdfunding is a preferred way to fund a business, but due to limitations of this assignment, only selected main reasons will be presented below.

First of all, crowdfunding provides the opportunity to receive a large amount of money without giving away part of the company. When talking about funding, the traditional perception is that you have to give away ownership of the company, but that is often not the case for crowdfunding. Typically, the communities who reach the money are satisfied, if they after a product launch can get the product for free or with a discount. The Guardian has an explanation for why people are willing to donate money[1]:

“When people fund anything anywhere in the world, they do so for one of four reasons: passion, participation, perks and profit. Funders are either passionate about the idea, team or project. They want to participate in its success; or they want to get something in return, such as a perk or even a profit.“

Secondly, by making use of crowdfunding you prevent risk. The reason for this is that you are raising money that you don’t have to pay back if the project is going to fail. This is a very big difference compared to, for example, a loan from the bank, where you have to pay the money back even if the project is going to behave well or not.

Thirdly, this way of raising money is also a way to show proof of concept. The upcoming product is going to be validated in the early stage and you are therefore sure that there are big interests for the product. This is a big advantage, as you then probably know that a lot of people will like the product after the producing or development of the final version. If a lot of people are interested in donating money, you then have a confirmation of a potential customer group. That said, it makes it probably also more challenging to raise money as you then have to convince maybe a lot of million people instead of just a group of investors. On the other side, if many people are not showing interest in the product, there is then probably not a market for the product. Therefore, by making use of crowdfunding, you in an early phase have the opportunity for establish a relationship with customers for the future.

Lastly, the engagements from the users are a great opportunity to establish a dialog with them. In this way, you can get a lot of feedback to your ideas about the product and the potential customers can be a part of the development process by offering new ideas. Thereby, it is a way to innovate the product by the involvement of users and this can in the end be very valuable.

Real-world examples

Pebble

Pebble is a product smartwatch and was funded by crowdfunding[2]. It was funded through Kickstarter in 2012 and the campaign raised $10,266,845 by funding from 68,929 people[3]. At that time, it was the most funded product ever. The product was released to the market in 2013 and provides a lot of different features and design opportunities for the user. Best Buy begun sells the product in July 2013 and the product was sold out five days later.

The product has been a great success until now, but now it is interesting to see whether they can continue the successful story, as “the big players” as Apple now are producing smart watches as well.

Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift is another successful product, which as well was funded in 2012 by Kickstarter[4][5]. 9522 people donated money and they rose in total $2,437,429. The produces a virtual reality head-mounted display and it can be used to increase the pleasure of playing video games as it makes the experience more real.

The really reason why it has been a success story, is that Facebook acquired the company in July 2014 for $2,001,985,000.[6]

Jibo

The last product presented in this assignment, is going to be a personal robot called Jibo[7]. The product raised $2,287,609 on IndiGoGo and the amounts were donated by 5550 people[8]. It is the most funded technology product ever on IndiGoGo and almost 5000 products are already pre-ordered.

It is still yet too early to call the product for a real success, but it seems that it will go on to be a big success. The campaign was launched in July 2014 and the product is expected to be available for the public in the summer 2016.

Conclusion

In a short overall conclusion, it can be stated that crowdfunding can be a great way to fund a startup company. In relation to an action plan, there are a lot of guides to how to get success with your next startup and it will be too much to list all the guidelines in this conclusion. However, The Entrepreneur and Forbes provide some good advice and these can be read by following the reference notes[9][10].

Another evidence for why crowdfunding is worth considering for your next startup is that Berkeley University has made an executive program about crowdfunding[11].

It can therefore be concluded that crowdfunding can be a useful way to fund a startup, but whether it is the best funding method is a big discussion as every method have the pro and cons and it depends on the situation of the particular startup.

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/apr/10/crowdfunding-businesses-social-projects

[2] https://getpebble.com/

[3] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

[4] http://www.oculus.com/

[5] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game

[6] http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/21/facebooks-acquisition-of-oculus-closes-now-official/

[7] https://www.myjibo.com/

[8] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jibo-world-s-first-family-robot-4-800-pre-sold

[9] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234707

[10] http://www.forbes.com/sites/amadoudiallo/2014/01/24/crowdfunding-secrets-7-tips-for-kickstarter-success/

[11] http://crowdfunding.berkeley.edu/

Skyter

To those in search of a fun, cool and exciting life, Skyter brand provides the perfect combination of transportation and amusement using brand new technology that breaks limitations and ensures users a safe and exciting form of transportation.

Skyter is a brand selling alternative transportation devices. Namely, the most popular product in the brand’s portfolio is the Jet Board. The Jet Board looks like a combination of a surfboard and a skateboard. However, where skateboards have wheels, the Jet Board floats, and where the surf board can only be used in water, the Jet Board can be used on land as well. The board is able to float one meter above the ground, using ventilators to generate strong flows of air that lift the board into the air. To maximize safety for the user, the Jet Board features a leaning bar and pressure sensitive fans on the bottom make sure that every side of the board is evenly balanced. Maximum speed is 30 kilometers per hour. The unique floating feature enables users to ride the board anywhere, and it is also what makes Skyter very different from any other amusement/transportation brand.

The logo emphasizes the idea of flying – as easy as standing on a cloud – and the colors represent the element of fun and amusement the brand is supposed to give users when they purchase a Jet Board. The letters forming the word “Skyter” are slightly rough, which is supposed to symbolize the action element of the products sold by the brand. Furthermore, the name “Skyter” is a fusion of the words “sky” and “skater”, which points to what the brand makes: skateboards that are used above ground. In other words, it hints the floating feature.

Of course you can enjoy like exisiting boards, but these functions enable you to use Skyter as a tool of transportation. Our target audience is mainly young people. Our brands category is amusement.

The logo emphasizes the idea of flying which seeks to awaken customers’ imagination and tempt them to buy the product. Also, this lets them imagine an enjoyable life.

Our target audience is mainly young and adventurous people who look for alternative solutions and are willing to spend money.

The brand is different from other transportation and entertainment devices, allowing the users to get around fast and in a convenient, easy and fun way. Also, unlike normal skateboards, the fact that it is floating and pressure regulated on the sides makes it much safer to ride the Jet Board with minimum risks.

By choosing Skyter, users are provided with high-safety casual transportation that easily takes them around traffic jams the way a skateboard or a scooter might. Skyter’ technology is brand new and has never been seen before, which enables skaters  to get around even faster than before.

They can enjoy more in their life and if they combine with other transportation, they are able to go to your destination faster by avoiding traffic jam.

Our product appeals to young people, who are still not too worried about all the risks the world　has,　and　who　are interested in making every day an adventure.

Therefore,　naturally,　this is the segment whose attention we’re trying to catch. Because it is a brand offering products no one else has ever sold before, competition is limited, but the safety priority is there to maximize market penetration so that if competition should show up, Skyter would still be among the more popular brands to consider. In other words, it is a plan for customer retention before it is needed, so that when/if competition enters the market, we have made sure that we’re hard to compete with.

Skyter is an experiential brand, because customers expand their knowledge of our brand by experiencing what it is like, and whether they like it or not will depend on how they feel when they try the products in its portfolio. We will promote this by using TV commercials and YouTube, by cooperating with some sports brands: Nike, Adidas and so on. Also, we can demonstrate it and let potential customers try it in amusement parks to show them how Skyter works better than existing skateboards.

OhBoy

Ediable tape OhBoyThe creation of a brand is the subject of this this marketing project. Therefore we are proud to present OhBoy, a fresh and innovative startup that will change your lunch break forever. OhBoy is an edible strap the can be wrapped around your burrito, taco or sandwich to make sure every ingredient stays in place. That means no more waste and a way much better lunch experience.

By Jonathan, Victor & Liang

OhBoy is organic, functional, innovative and above all incredibly tasty.  So far we have created 3 flavors. The first one is completely tasteless. But for those customers who are a little more adventurous we also have OhBoy Hot and Spicy and OhBoy Green. In the future, of course, we would like to expand our selection of flavors.

We are convinced that our project will take the food world by storm because there’s nothing like it.

Our target as a company is to provide a convenient, healthy and innovative way of eating, while growing effectively and efficiently together with our customer base. 

Our logo employs a clear reference to San Francisco, a modern and vibrant city much like our product and target audience. We believe OhBoy will be appealing to a large group of people, especially teens and young adults. They will embrace the taste of change immediately. Afterward, we want to focus on the working class, as they will benefit from our product the most during hasty lunch breaks. 

We aim for a business to business sales plan which will bring immediate brand recognition with it. Several food chains such as Subway and Chipotle have already shown great interest in our product. Once our product has been successfully implemented in those businesses, we will start selling it directly to the customers via supermarkets such as Safeway and Walgreen’s opening up an entire new market. During the entire process we will use the four P’s (product, place, price and promotion) as our guideline; while also applying Ansoffs Matrix and SWOT^_ to determine our future marketing strategies.

Our current marketing strategy, however, is to invite people to try OhBoy, see what they like about our product and what they would like to improve. We also invite them to share their experiences with OhBoy on the social media in order to gain brand recognition. At the same time we are working intensively with Subway and Chipotle to see if and how soon OhBoy can be introduced to their customers. 

To protect our brand and product from being copied we will register for patents in Europe, USA and other potential markets. To be able to adapt our product to other countries with cultural barriers and language barriers we would engage in a joint venture with another company that is dominant in the food industry in a specific country, by then we can earn trust from the costumers. 

Because we are a new brand launching a new product earning people’s trust is absolutely vital. Therefore, it is important to make them aware of our CSR (Corporate social responsibility) For instance our headquarter in San Francisco runs on 100% green energy and everything that goes out of our fabrics is recyclable and environmentally-friendly. On top of that we also donate to the food banks across the nation. We are also cooperating with The International Health Corporation to help the world to be a better place. By buying our product you are helping to feed America. 

CareWatch – The product you can’t live without!

Introduction

This assignment is presenting a product called CareWatch, which is a special watch that can help you feel safer in your daily life. Below is stated how the logo looks like, who the target group is, how the product is different from others and how the product would be marketed towards potential customers.

Brand position statement

“To people who want to feel safe and keep track of their vital parameters, by using the user-friendly CareWatch with unique abilities.“ 

Logo

The logo is chosen since it is presenting a heart, which symbolizes that the product is relevant for people who want to take care of their health. The colors red and blue are chosen as they show that the watch is relevant for both genders.

The red color symbolizes that the product is dealing with warm and positive feelings where the focus is on physical needs and the willing to survive^[1]. The color blue is symbolizing that the product can work as a helper or a kind of rescuer and supporting strong trusting relationship^[2].

Description of the brand

1)    Who is the target for brand use?

The product is targeted to both genders in almost all kind of ages; some people will be too young for using the product.

When that is said, the product is most relevant for elderly people as they most often deal with challenges regarding their health. The disease analysis and functions can help you keep track of diabetes and remind you when you have to take a dose, or if you want to track your blood pressure or heartbeat. However, the product can also be relevant for younger healthy people, who just want to feel safe and track the status of their bodies.

2)    Why should the brand be considered (i.e., to what category does the brand belong and what goal does it allow the target to achieve)?

People should consider using the CareWatch brand, because they can be conscious of their healthy. The product has an emergency function, so you never have to worry about whether something bad can happen.

Furthermore, it seems that the popularity of tracking your body status is rising in relation to an article from the New York Times^[3]. The article is more than 1½ year old, but the popularity of tracking bodily functions is probably still at least as popular as when the article was written.

Likewise, when looking at the picture below which is data based on a statistic from diabetes.org^[4] then it is showed that the evolution of diabetes will continue increasing in the future. The CareWatch is not only useful for people with diabetes, but the picture is still presenting a potential need for a lot of people in the future.

3)    Why should the brand be chosen over other alternatives in the competitive set?

The CareWatch is a unique product and you cannot find a product which can do the same for you. CareWatch is related to your doctor and other relevant people, for example your family, and they can therefore watch your data and health situation.

For the future, there might be competitors as for example the Apple Watch, but if that is going to happen, there will still be a lot of benefits in choosing the CareWatch. We have more information about the market and the customers, as we were first movers with this kind of product.

Moreover, the price of the product is also good because the product is going to be supported by either your insurance company or the state of your country, because they will like to pay a part of the price. The insurance company or state can save money, if you are using the product.

4)    How will choosing the brand help the target number accomplish their goal(s)?

The product is more than a watch. It is a combination of a traditional watch, a health tracker and the opportunity for emergency functions. The product is therefore satisfying a unique combination of common goals in a very easy way.

Type of brand

The brand is a functional one because it is satisfying a need and the quality and price are good. According to the book, a functional brand is:

“Functional brands connect with consumers by helping them achieve basic goals related to physical needs, such as the need for food, shelter, health or safety.”^[5]

The last two important words, health and safety, are exactly what the product is about and it is therefore a functional brand. The brand is meant to be a thing you cannot live without, as anyone want to feel safe and relaxed in their daily life.

Marketing strategy

The marketing will primarily be targeted elderly people, as this age group will likely represent the largest percentage of product sales. Because of this, we will make advertisements in media which are used by this group of people, for example, TV-programs, radio channels and newspapers.

Moreover, we will also use famous old people who are respected and liked by the common people. The celebrities will appear with the product, which hopefully will attract more customers, because the famous people are a symbol of product quality.

The product should also be linked with hospitals, pharmacies and insurance companies. It should be possible to buy the product at your doctor because he or she can help by showing how to use the product, which also is the case for the hospitals and pharmacies.

Lastly, it should also be possible to buy the product in electronic-markets and online through a web shop. The reason for this choice is that it probably will be more comfortable for younger people to buy the product in this way.

[1] – http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-red.html

[2] – http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-blue.html

[3] – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/health/electronic-health-tracking-increasingly-common-researchers-say.html

[4] – http://professional.diabetes.org/SlideLibrary/slide-sets/management-of-hyperglycemia-in-type-2/slide_8.aspx

[5] – Calder, T., Kellogg on Marketing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010, 2^nd edition, page 121.