Blog #3: Generative Research

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What I cant live without

Family – Growing up, my mom would drive us the 8 hours from Tucson to San Diego as many times as the year would allow to visit the rest of our extended family. Family was always number one. My cousins and I, all very close in age, spent countless holidays and summers together, shaping us into the closest of friends. The unit of four in just my immediate family has also been my foundation and rock for everything in my life and they are of paramount importance to me.

Music – This may seem like it belongs in the “what I care about” category, but music plays a role in my every day life. If I could have music playing all day during every activity I did, I would. I appreciate all genres of music and use it to lift me up and keep me company. I also love to dance, which kind of goes hand in hand.

Freedom – Since this has always been a right of our generation, I think we take it for granted. But wow freedom is such an exceptional thing to possess. You are in control of your own destiny and you have the right to act as you choose and express yourself freely.  There is no doubt that freedom is something I could not live without. 

What I care about

The Beach – I didn’t grow up near a beach. I’ve never lived anywhere that even had a beach. But I have been fortunate to spend enough summers along the California coast to fall in love with the ocean. I’m a Pisces, so a fish at heart. And I grew up as a swimmer, so I think the beach and I were destine for each other.

My Education – As I pursue my masters degree, I am reminded how much my education means to me. To have the opportunity to better myself and study a subject that fascinates me is something that I deeply care about. Higher education is a privilege that I would never want to take for granted.

The Golden Rule – Not everyone has the same definition for this, but the one I use is “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” This was also something that I learned from my parents, both of who live their lives with this constantly in their minds. Since I was lucky enough to be raised by such honorable role models, this is something I have adopted into my life as a rule of thumb in all of my exposure to others, particularly those that test your patience. 

DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

Aggregate news websites – My homepage for all of my browsers, both at home and at work is The Daily Beast. This new site pulls all the top news stories from other sources to create daily “Cheat Sheets.” These list feature about 10 pertinent happenings with a one-paragraph synopsis of the story for the readers to quickly skim for the information. This site is my particular favorite because it is an easy way to stay informed quickly and efficiently.

Local and national broadcast radio – I may be one of the only Millennials to still listen to the radio. The primary reason behind this is that my car stereo is broken so it’s my only choice. But it has become a bit of a habit for me to listen to NPR every morning on my way to school, work, or wherever. Like the aggregate new sites, the program also does a nice job of providing the important news quickly and efficiently but not in too much detail for me to lose interest.

Twitter – I may also be one of the only people that found out who won the presidential election via Twitter. Don’t get me wrong, I was watching the news which was broadcasting the election, but I did officially learn the results via Twitter the app. Twitter again appeals to me for the same reasons: quickness and efficiency. On Twitter – in fewer than 140 characters – you can pick and choose which stories you want to read and which you want to skip, making it easy to personalize your news experience. 

TYPICAL WEEKDAY

The “mornfernoon” – This is part of my day has become so routine that the morning has begun to mesh with the afternoon for an 8-hour block of activity. This section of my day is not as full of consuming the content listed above because most of the time I’m either working or attending class. The very beginning of my day is the most concentrated with news, traffic, weather and the web because I am traveling (and obviously listing to the radio – see my digital ecosystem).

“Me” time – After my block of non-stop work and school, I typically take a couple of hours to relax. I will watch TV, waste time on the Internet, catch up with my email and my To-Do list. This is a content heavy time as I am constantly surfing the web, while simultaneously watching television and sometimes even one other activity gets thrown in there.

“Crunch” time – I start feeling a little guilty and lazy after about a few hours of relaxation time and begin to pick my pace back up. I will get some exercise, cook something for dinner, and do my homework and readings for the week. I will take little breaks for TV, but typically stay on task until it is time to hit the hay. I will usually do some light reading before bed. Sometimes a book, sometimes a fashion magazine and sometimes a newspaper I subscribe to, so this third period of my day is also heavy in accessing information.

Blog #2: Journey Map

Let me first start out by saying this is not the first trip of its kind. My family is well versed in trips like this effervescing from my mind and before we know it, we are out in the wilderness wondering how this all started. I am usually the brunt of that joke. This particular venture got started when my nephew emailed me a list of places he wanted to explore. As I glanced through the list, I narrowed it down to the places I had been curious about as well. There were a few requirements, starting with the fact we had to drive. I’m just not a flyer, or as my kids would say “I don’t believe in planes.”

The goal is always adventure, and of course to escape from what I like to call PCD’s or personal communication devices. Additionally, I had somewhat of a personal goal for this trip. I want to climb all of the highest peaks in every county of California. (If you didn’t catch on already, my uncle is a bit of an outdoorsman.) I have already done about 15 of the peaks, and dragged my kids along with me on many occasions. But for these two in particular, there was a full backpacking trip opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. And since my nephew was interested in the same area, the wheels just started turning.

After the idea was rolling along, I decide to poll the troops. I sent an email to my two nephews, my niece and my son and daughter. I laid out two different options for them based on mileage, day length, major challenges, concerns, and my overall pros and cos. My nephew Mike, the one who emailed me originally, gave a resounding, “Let’s do both!” The rest all sort of leaned one way, so I went with the group vote. That meant the starting point would be June Lake, part of the Inyo National Forest. We would follow part of the Pacific Crest Trail overlapping with the John Muir trail into Yosemite National Park, exiting at Tuolumne Meadows. 

The two peaks that we would climb were Mt. Lyell, which is just over 13,000 feet, the highest peak in Tuolumne County and Parsons Peak, just over 12,000 feet, which is the highest peak in Madera County. The absolute only way to get to either of these peaks was to backpack in, they are both too far from any of the trailheads to make it up and back in a day hike. This had me excited. 

Since this was not my first rodeo, and actually all but one of the participant joining us on the trip was a first-timer, I felt it appropriate to assign “pre-trip” duties. We were looking at about 50 miles of ground to cover, which mapped out looked like about 9 days. I put my son in charge of food, my daughter in charge of my niece (the new-bee) and my two nephews in charge of water sterilization. I was left with maps and gear, as this particular trip would require crampons and ice axes. Despite the early August departure date, we would definitely encounter a large glacier near the top of Mt. Lyell. This added a certain amount of difficulty to the trip, which was great for me, but did give me a little anxiety when thinking about being responsible for my kids, niece and nephews. But as young adults, I knew they were resilient. And I knew they were smarter than me, meaning they would know when to stop. 

Before we knew it, it was the night before the trip. We had started this ritual or I guess I should say, “I started this ritual.” My kids have grown to hate it, but I find absolutely necessary since we always seem to forget something. Everyone going on the trip comes over to the house, unpacks and then repacks their backpacks while we go through a list of what should be in there. And of course some friendly competition goes on about whose pack is the heaviest. Never fails to be my daughter’s. Girls and their “things.” I’m a three pair of socks, two pairs of shorts kind of guy. We parted ways that night and reconvened the next morning for a quick McDonald’s breakfast, our last meal before many days of dried fruit and Cliff Bars, and we were on our way. 

 

After the drive and a night of camping at what must have been the most desolate and depressing campsite I’ve ever seen, the trip officially kicked off with a pretty grueling 2,500 ft. climb. We stopped for a swim, to refill on water and for lunch and continued to our first camping site. After 9 miles we were toast. We woke up the next morning and continued our journey. Our destination today was the base of Mt. Lyell and the big climb was planned for the next day. Our campsite was some prime real estate. Next to a crystal clear lake, tons of flat grassy areas, and a killer view of the climb that faced us the next day. One of my favorite things with a trip like this is the spontaneity of the “lodging” part. Everything else requires so much planning and attention to detail but once you are out there, tucked into the mountains of these national forests, you can call wherever you please home. 

The morning of our Mt. Lyell summit day was an early one. The hike itself was only about 3 miles but we were looking at some serious elevation change and rigorous terrain. And I barely even want to say this out loud, because it still haunts me to this very day, but we didn’t make it. We even tried a second time. But we never reached the summit of Mt. Lyell. I bet we were only about 50 to 100 feet shy. 

We did summit Parsons Peak a few days later and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing, relatively speaking. There never fails to be some mishaps along the journey, and I definitely antagonize at times, but I secretly think everyone has the time of their lives. My nephew told me a few years ago that these trips were the reason he has made some of the best decisions of his life. There is a certain amount of clarity you can find when you are 20 miles from nowhere. The last leg of the hike was such a leisurely, flat trail, my son and I even went barefoot. Before we knew it we stepping onto a paved parking lot, with the car in sight. And after about a 45-minute car ride, we found ourselves 4 slices deep at the local pizza joint and in some sort of euphoric state of food coma bliss.

Blog #1: Empathy Map

Many of the readings from last week discussed how consumer insights can, and frequently do, lead to the ultimate success of a business or product. Theses insights are often not found during a scheduled research study, but uncovered through attention to the detail of the company’s consumer activities. The Insights Into Consumer Insights article by Mohanbir Sawhney shared the example of the Apple iPod. Interestingly enough, the Apple iPod was not the first MP3 player on the marketplace, far from it. But through the consumer insight that people were looking for a small, simple player that could hold a lot of songs, the iPod was born. The article also discussed the “not-yet-obvious” discovery, which is often rooted in an observed anomaly and further points out that, “the obvious is true but the truth is not obvious.” As a student studying marketing, I often evaluate advertising and marketing efforts by placing myself as the persona who the marketer is attempting to reach. Putting myself on the shelf and adopting the characteristics of a person in a different target segment will provide an interesting challenge and fresh perspective.

Gary is a 27 year-old, African American male studying performing arts at Texas State University. A true Austinite at heart, Gary grew up just outside Austin, TX near the small town of Sunset Valley. He is a family orientated, charismatic and enjoys drawing, music, and horror movies. Gary is political but belongs to his own party and doesn’t participate in organized religion. To quote one of his many idols, Bob Marley, “Love is my religion.” Gary is active in the community attending many college campus events and concerts or shows in Austin. He is a social being who thrives in large groups but enjoys smaller, intimate conversation with his closest friends.

The things that really count in Gary’s life are his friends, family and finding his place in the world. His major preoccupations are having a fulfilling life that provides meaning to why he was put here. As an actor and performer, Gary is very in touch with his feelings. He is in control of his emotions but freely expresses them to any interested party. He worries that people don’t understand him. He is very in touch with his own emotions. Gary also worries that people are not seeing enough variety in their lives and wants to encourage them to broaden their horizons. He aspires to be successful by defying the typical definition of success. In school, he has navigated around a variety of topics. He dabbled in philosophy, the social sciences and business, but continued to return to theatre and the arts. With this, he aspires to be able to utilize all that knowledge in a practical and impactful way.

When Gary looks out at the world I think it troubles him. He takes on the world’s problems as his own and attempts to find a way to mend them, whether it’s through is art or music, or even just kind daily acts and emotional generosity. Since Gary is largely committed to his arts, he tends to surround himself with people also dedicated to their craft or interested in similar activities. This often finds him surround by a wide variety of people, some awfully dramatic but all fairly interesting a unique. However, as a good listener and conversationalist and his friendly, outgoing nature, Gary typically gets along with a wide variety of people. He is aware of his surrounding and looks at products, services and marketing with a discerning eye. Since he is a part of the creatively community, he expects a certain amount of finesse and originality in the marketing messages he receives. He is a difficult consumer to reach and impress, but with the right messaging he can become very loyal to particular brands.

Gary is very in touch with his surroundings. He intently listens to any feedback from his friends, bosses, teachers and family. As a sensitive male, he is very susceptible to this advice. He seeks out conversation with people to advance his own education but to also experience the perspective of others. He finds other’s input about his work very valuable and takes extra measures to ensure he receives the opinions of others. After each of his theatrical performances, he was sure to get a detailed count from his friends and family in the audience. He is not scared of what other people may say or think, he is very open and encourages discussions.

Fear of not being understood by people is a concern for Gary. He also feels frustration when others are not willing to be as adventurous as him especially because he wants people to have unforgettable life experiences. He finds frustration in his chosen profession. Despite wanting to pursue acting or singing, he has such a wide variety of interest he often feels frustrated in deciding a future path. This also proves to be an obstacle that he must overcome. In order to be successful and have the impact he aspires to have, Gary must overcome these fears and frustrations of being lost to truly reach his goals.

He hopes to gain love, respect and happiness. Gary feels that those basic needs should come before all else. He is so passionate with everything he does, he wants to have someone by his side to share it with, and be surrounded by people whom he respects and who respect him. He measures this success often. Gary is definitely constantly reflecting on his everyday actions and how his decisions affect his goals. In order to surpass the obstacles that he faces, Gary hopes to narrow his goals down to truly find a fit for him in the world that encompasses his many passions in life. 

The above images show a visual representation of the empathy map layout for Gary.