Outsweat Project Learnings and Review

The project was really fresh and exciting and provided many opportunities for both creativity and learning through its entirety. One concept that I really believe I understand better as a result of working on this group project is the concept of the “Impact of Design.” More specifically I feel we really tried to apply the idea of Designing to Empower that Jeff taught us about. One of our main considerations throughout the project was that we didn’t want to just go through the motions and create a feasible product that we could pitch, we always wanted to make something that would actually make our customers lives better. I would say that our data directly showed that one issue with our persona is the motiviation to work out, and the desire to be connected with their family and friends. Our application really could have been like those that are already on the market and only enable the user to keep track of their work out, but we took our design a step further by applying connections to friends and the “feed” portion to allow our users to actually keep in touch with each other and be motivated. This allows them to be happier and work out more, both of which actually better a person’s life.

A secondary issue I really got a better grasp on because of the project was the importance of creativity in prototyping. Being creative is really just fun to me, and after creating our own rapid prototypes I really felt like I understood the idea that part of creating a good product is just getting your hands dirty and trying to make something. By playing with the materials provided and trying to solve functional problems I really got an idea of how to turn my creative idea into reality. In order to make the idea in my head come to life I had to change up some aspects on the fly in order to work with what I had, and this allowed the prototype to become an ever-growing and evolving thing. I really learned that being creative and having the idea is only half the battle, because you have to keep that creativity going in order to make the changes that are inevitably going to need to occur in order to turn ideas into physical objects.

One issue that I had with this project was that I feel it is almost broken down too much. If we were to get together and devote everyday out of 2 or 3 weeks to working on it than I believe we could have really gotten everything done in timely fashion. The problem with the current set up was that I would work on this project and then forget about it and concentrate on other school material. When we would come back together as a group to get something done it always felt like we had wasted some time because if we had all just kept on working we could have finished everything we needed as opposed to catching everyone up again on each others separate work, re-reading material we had forgotten, and just generally trying to get back into the flow of group work.

            Overall I would say that emotionally I was often very frustrated with this project. I would say that Professor Walls was extremely supportive and helped out our group a lot, but my group itself was not a good fit for me in retrospect. We didn’t have issues getting a long but everyone else had similar personalities and interests than me, leading to my frustration. I am not  really a very health conscious or active person, but the other members of my group are and so of course without much other consideration we focused on this being the main premise of our topic. While my group did do a very good job of listening to ideas and working together I feel like after awhile of having my ideas rejected or changed I just became frustrated and less involved, essentially just settling for pitching small ideas and doing what I’m told, which is not playing to my strengths. This is a problem with my own attitude that I will continue to work on in the future. I had issues with our persona because honestly none of my friends fit the type of person my group picked, and I had to stretch the idea a little bit to involve my cousin who is active but not nearly as often as our persona. While I am excited with our finished project I just feel that it does not really represent me and this is why I could not really connect with it or be too proud of it.

Twitter: The Groundswell Technology Connecting Groundswell Technologies

 As we have learned in class, companies are always looking for new ways to reach their customers and gain information about them. As the “groundswell” technologies advance, companies must learn to adjust to these new trends and use them to their advantage or they can fall behind their competitors. As the popularity of social media outlets such as Twitter grow, the value of utilizing these mediums increases for companies. Two companies that I believe are doing an excellent job of reaching their customers through Twitter are the restaurant chain Kona Grill, and ESPN.

            I first noticed Kona Grill after a friend of mine “retweeted” a tweet that Kona Grill had posted mentioning him. A retweet on twitter is a way of expanding the reach of a post to more viewers. People usually retweet something when they think it is funny or interesting and they want it to be seen by their friends who may not be “followers” of the tweet’s composer. Upon investigating Kona Grill’s profile page I noticed that almost all of their tweets specifically mentioned and personally thanked twitter users who had just eaten at the restaurant. This was either because these people used four-square, another social media phenomenon, to “check-in” at Kona Grill, or because they decided to become followers of the restaurant when they ate there. The reason that all of this is important is because Kona Grill found a new way to connect to their consumers and not only enhance their dining experience, but also gains information about them. Kona Grill is building customer loyalty and making people feel more of a connection to them by sending out personalized thank you messages to any customer that eats at their restaurants. This is a very cheap and efficient way to make people feel more comfortable with a restaurant, and can lead to customers coming in more often. Also, Kona Grill’s technique allowed them to reach a potential new customer like me because my friend Kevin retweeted their initial thank you. This is kind-of similar to how the groundswell mention the “blogosphere” in that blogs are linked together by fellow bloggers by including links to each other and creating a tie between them. In this case it was tweets linked together, but the same goal is accomplished in that two posts of social media are related an tie together in a way that adds exposure to both members. Kona Grill also can gain insights and information about its customers through twitter because once they “follow” some of their past customers they can see what other restaurants they are visiting when these users “check-in” other places. They can see what other restaurants the customer may be following or followed by, getting a better grasp of their competitors.

            ESPN also does a very good job of utilizing Twitter to reach their customers by utilizing the groundswell. Twitter is growing every day with more and more new members of the general public, national media, and even professional athletes themselves. ESPN’s staff reporters and writers and extremely popular on twitter, with followers usually in the 100,000’s or even millions. Some of the most popular ESPN personalities such as Bill Simmons, Buster Olney, Erin Andrews and Mathew Berry all use twitter to share their opinions as well as distribute breaking sports news. More importantly, they are able to use twitter to post links to their own stories or blogs on ESPN. Buster Olney has a daily blog on ESPN, and every morning when I wake up and check twitter I see that he has posted the link as well as a short description of what is covered in less than 140 characters. So not only do I get to read my favorite writer’s thoughts, but when I want to read his work it is a quick and easy click away. Bill Simmons takes it a step further, and not only posts links to his stories on twitter, but utilizes the groundswell even further by posting links to his podcasts as well. Simmons is one of the most downloaded podcasters on Itunes and has been an early adopter to this new way of reaching his audience. As the chapters stated, podcasts are only popular among 11% of Americans. However, ESPN is definitely on the cutting edge of this new type of social media with shows such as Simmons’ “BS Report,” as well as others such as “Pardon the Interruption,” and Mathew Berry’s podcasts about various fantasy sports. ESPN employees are increasingly becoming more involved in all types of media such as blogs, twitter, podcasts, and “webisodes” in order to reach their fans. Undoubtedly whenever the next big social media outlet surfaces ESPN and their staff will be among the early adopters of the new groundswell technology in order to stay on the cutting edge of connecting with customers.

http://twitter.com/konagrill

http://twitter.com//Buster_ESPN

http://twitter.com/sportsguy33

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/index

As Evil as Wal-Mart is (and they are), They Aren't Out to Get You Personally

Wal-Mart has grown to become so large that it is able to bully around its customers, employees, and even their suppliers. They have virtually no competition, and with all this accumulated knowledge they are virtually able to predict the future to some degree. That being said I do not have a problem with Wal-Mart collecting so much information about their customers and their habits. All companies keep track of their customers’ information and try to amass as much information as Wal-Mart has, the only difference is that Wal-Mart is so huge that it is able to gather data at such a high rate. As was said in the article there are entire companies devoted to finding information about you so that they can sell it and use it for their own profitable gain. It is actually a relief to know that Wal-Mart does not do this. There is definitely a competitive advantage created over other retailers based on this wealth of information. No other company in the world can plan their product needs better than Wal-Mart, which allows for them to spend less money on inventory issues than all other companies. Less money on inventory means more money going to other areas that need it, making the company even stronger. Like the article said they have the ability to know exactly how many employees they need to have in a store at any given time, and even where they should be located in the store. This allows them to manage their expenses to an even greater degree, something that all companies want to do but almost all struggle to achieve.

When it comes to personal information I do not believe that Wal-Mart has to be seen as a threat to individual security. It is true that Wal-Mart probably has way more information that they would ever need about many individuals who probably are not very interesting, but all they are doing with this information is perfecting their business model and preparing for their customers’ needs. Wal-Mart could care less about what Sally Jo in Bastrop, Texas is buying, but they do care about knowing what everyone in Bastrop, Texas is buying. The personal information is important only to place you into a group, but after that Wal-Mart’s information gains it power in volume, and the information they have is so powerful because volume is Wal-Mart’s specialty. Most importantly, at the end of the day a customer can simply protect themselves by not shopping at Wal-Mart. If the only people who are obtaining your information when you shop at Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart then it is very easy to keep Wal-Mart from learning more about you. People still have the power to make choices in life, and if they are so worried about privacy than they should choose not to willingly give Wal-Mart their information.

Wal-Mart is devastating its suppliers even more than they ever have with the collection of all their product information. Wal-Mart for a long time has negotiated favorable deals for themselves with their suppliers. They are able to dictated their terms to the suppliers and these are usually “an offer they can’t refuse.” Wal-Mart is so large and powerful that suppliers have to accept to their conditions because if they want to remain competitive in the market then they need Wal-Mart to carry their product. In the old days local businesses had to pay money for the mob in exchange for protection. This protection was from the mob themselves so it was necessary for these businesses to accept the terms and be happy they were still safe and in business. In the modern day businesses have to accept Wal-Mart’s terms if they want to be able to stay safe and survive in the business world. While the violence may have disappeared, the domination of the powerful party has not, and in our world “Knowledge is Power.” Wal-Mart’s collection of information only threatens to give them even more bargaining leverage against their suppliers. These companies will have to accept worse and worse deals because Wal-Mart will know enough information to predict exactly what they will need. Wal-Mart will come out a winner in every deal that they make, even more so than they already do. If a company wants to be able to make money these days it seems they will have to take a large profit cut in order to do so, which seems to be pretty contradictory.

Blog 3- "The NBA Experience"

If there is one thing that the National Basketball Association knows it is showmanship. At its core an NBA game is essentially just a game with 10 players on the court trying to put the ball in the hoop. However, there is so much more that goes into the NBA experience than just watching a game. The customer experience at an NBA game is all about excitement. Every NBA game is a show, and the association always aims to please. With 41 home games in a season a franchise must attract fans in many ways, mainly by winning, but also by entertaining their fans and enhancing experiences. NBA fans do not go to games just to watch their team because in today’s world they can turn on a TV in any room in their house and accomplish this. Fans go to games because these franchises are not marketing a game, but an experience that they feel is worth paying for.

NBA games are only really exciting in the fourth quarter when anything can happen to affect the outcome. Up until this point it is all about the experience. Music is played constantly, people are dressed up, cheerleaders and dance teams are featured, and food and drinks are served throughout million dollar arenas. I have seen halftime shows grow more and more elaborate, ranging from dunk teams on trampolines in Phoenix to a plate spinning unicyclist in Dallas, the same team that has its own drum line that plays during every game.

More importantly is the feeling of affecting a game with the rest of the crowd. A customer who buys a ticket for the NBA will be entertained throughout the game, but one of the most exciting experiences of being at a game is the feeling of camaraderie with fellow fans. Home court advantage is a noticeable trend for all of the best NBA teams, and can become absolutely crucial in the playoffs. Fans can get so loud during key moments of a game that the other team won’t be able to hear each other. This makes anybody who attends an NBA game feel like they have an effect on how a game will turn out, they become a part of the team just by being in the building.

I have experienced this feeling myself, and this is one of the main reasons that I am so interested in exploring this topic. There really is a special experience that comes with attending an NBA game, there is a certain buzz that is hard to describe, but is definitely felt. This experience has been carefully cultivated by the league and each team in order to make people want to attend their games and have fun so that they will come back and buy tickets again. These teams know what they are doing, and over the years have had to continue to change the formula to keep things fresh and exciting for their fans.

Nothing proves this point more than a look at one of the sport’s staple events, the All-Star Game. This game pits all of the best players from all teams onto two teams split east and west, with starting line-ups actually voted on by fans on www.NBA.com. The game has been turned into an entire weekend that includes a celebrity game, skills challenge, rookie/sophomore game, and most importantly the NBA Dunk Contest. Nothing says flair like the dunk contest, as was showcased just days ago when the Los Angeles Clipper’s own Blake Griffin won the contest by dunking over a car with a full gospel choir singing “I Believe I can Fly.” The entire weekend is all about showmanship to make the fans happy. In a 2005 article written for the USA Today about the NBA All-Star Weekend David DuPree wrote “Players can get away with just about anything imaginable, and as long as they are entertaining they can do no wrong.”

Some people feel that the NBA has gone too far and that the soul of the game is now gone and all that matters now is money and egos. LeBron James is a case example of this, holding a one hour TV special on ESPN just to announce his new team during free agency. While egos may have grown the fans still love their stars and always will. LeBron made many enemies with this event but people still pay hundreds of dollars to watch him play and be excited at the thought that they may leave seeing something special, or at the very least leave entertained.

Who is Aaron Kobren?

Thinking and Feeling:

What really counts?

At the tender age of 21 I have already lived a life full of many experiences that define who I am today. When I was 14 years old I was treated for Hodgkin’s Disease, a cancer of the lymph node system. After six months of treatment, and having to be homeschooled for my first semester of high school, I vowed that I would appreciate all the little things in life and always try to make the best out of every situation for me and those around me. My parents are the most important people in my life, having been with me through so much and always showing me support in everything I do. I value loyalty extremely highly and try to be the best friend that I can to everyone that I meet. I am excited to start my new career and see what direction it takes me in life. As with everything I am going to give it my best effort and try to meet as many people as I can. What really counts in my opinion are the little things in life, and trying to make sure that every day has something I can look back on with a smile with either my family or friends.

Major Preoccupations?

As of right now I am involved in only two classes with the university, but am taking the Becker CPA Exam Review Course online. Studying for the CPA exam will take up a ton of my time this semester, but I still plan on being very active socially as this is my last real chance to spend time with my college friends while were all together. I am still somewhat involved with my fraternity and want to spend time around the younger members and impart some of my wisdom that I like to think I’ve gathered over the years. I am also a member of the University of Texas Silver Spurs, which takes up some of my time through meetings, social gatherings, and philanthropic events.

Worries and Aspirations?

I worry that I am becoming too complacent at times. Sometimes I feel I am wasting too much time during the day and should be getting out and doing more or even studying harder. I worry that I do not get enough physical activity.

I aspire to have a strong career in accounting. I want to be the person that everyone likes and wants on their team, not only for my personality but because of my skills as well. I want to stay in touch with my friends, which is something I have not always been great at in the past.

What do you see?

Environment?

My environment is pretty plain. The only thing I have hanging in my room is a University of Texas flag. I love my bed, which is important to me because sleep is something I do regularly. I see my wardrobe and my hat collection. I and on top of this I see golf clubs, lots of technology such as my computer, tv, ps3, ipad, android phone, and other things.

Friends?

As I said before my friends are extremely important to me. Right now I have my roommates sitting in our living room, my phone out for texting, and facebook and twitter open so that I can read any updates my friends might have. I like to be in contact with my friends all the time, and when we are together I see myself as the type of person who wants to get the party started, or at least make the best out of every night we hang out.

What the market offers?

Basically if it is new and electronic I will look into buying it. I am very up to date with my technology and will pretty much buy anything if it works and makes life easier or better. From my Keurig coffee maker to the ipad, if it’s cool and easy I want it.

What do you Say and Do?

Attitude in Public?

As I stated before I like to meet people and have fun with everything I do. So as long as I’m not tired or sick I think its safe to say that I’m talking to everyone, schmoozing with the crowd, and trying to have a few laughs at all times, even when it might not be appropriate.

Appearance?

I’d say my appearance is important to me, but only because I want to look good, not stand out. I wear clothes that I presume to be nice, usually with a collar. I like to wear boots, tennis shoes, and boat shoes. I don’t really like it when my hair grows long, and I think I have a pretty professional looking hair style. I really like my pair of Maui Jim sunglasses that I feel are the coolest item of apparel that I own.

Behavior towards others?

Like I said before, I’m outgoing and loud. I like to tell jokes and am only serious when I have to be, because while I can be serious when I need to its just more fun not to be. I am usually too quick to avoid confrontation as well. Even if something bothers me, it’s usually something small that I realize doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things so I can let it slide.

What are you pain points?

Fears?

I guess my main fear is of failure. I don’t want to be looked down upon or seen as an unreliable person by anyone. I also am terrified of spiders. Seriously. They are gross. Any product that keeps spiders away I will buy.

Frustrations?

I don’t get frustrated often. Like I said, I like to enjoy the little things that make me happy and let the little things that bother me just slip away.

Obstacles?

I feel like I only have a few obstacles in my way but its nothing I cannot get past easily. Being lazy is one of them but I have already started to change this aspect about myself. I also am short but I think my looks and personality offset this fairly easily.

What do you hope to gain?

Wants/needs?

I want to be able to provide for my family and make them happy. This includes being able to take fun vacations and have cool electronics and toys around the house. I want a nice car and nice clothes. I need to have approval only from my parents and future family, but want it from the community as well.

Measures of success?

Being loved by my family is the most important. I would also like to be involved in the community on various volunteer groups. Getting promotions and getting new job offers will also make me feel like I’ve done a good job.

Obstacles?

The only obstacle in the way of what I want is myself. As long as I remember to keep trying and keep enjoying life than I will get the things I want and need.