All posts by Jaewoo Joo

Jaewoo teaches and writes about design thinking and behavioral economics for customer experience, new product development, and new product adoption. He is an associate professor of marketing and participating professor of experience design at Kookmin University.
*Event

In the age of customer experience, marketing needs to be persistent and participatory

Leave a comment

I was invited by Contents Marketing Summit 2022 to help two professionals share their insights about marketing trends and activities in the age of customer experience. The two professionals are Hyewon Oh, Director of Brand Communication at HE Division, LG Electronics and Ginny Lee, Head of Sports Marketing and Key City Brand Activation at Adidas. They both have 20+ year work experience in the marketing field.

Customer eXperience (CX) matters significantly in Korea because product-based differentiation is challenging more than ever and people strive to experience something new. The invited two professionals introduced several interesting projects and provided participants with fresh insights.

First, LG Electronics is now running a pop-up store called “Geumseong (Goldstar) Recreational Room.” People could play video games with the high-end OLED TVs, having gaming experience. It is also collaborating with world-class artists such as Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor at the Freeze Art Fair in London and LA, Saatchi Gallery, and Venice Biennale at the same time. While introducing these activities, Director Oh highlighted that only persistent activities work out.

Second, Adidas Korea is running various activities to directly participating in numerous customers, from city tours with Son Heung-min to CSR running events all over the city. Marketer Oh emphasized that in order to engage customers, activities should be designed to give chances for customers to participate in special experience.

They both concluded that commercial impact of marketing activities in the CX era is difficult to be measured in a short run. CX marketers need to be persistent and participatory.

Publications

How should we customize design thinking training program for engineers?  

Leave a comment

Bertao, R. A., Jung, C. H., and Joo, J. (2022). Identifying inconveniences in daily life: a problem finding prompt to foster non-designers’ engagement in design thinking training. In Gabriela Goldschmidt and Ezri Tarazi (Ed.), 13th Design Thinking Research Symposium, Expanding the Frontiers of Design: A Blessing or a Curse? (pp. 354-368). Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa: Israel.

Abstract

In general, companies use training programs to implement design thinking’s creative problem-solving approach and encourage employees to adopt it. However, non-designers face individual barriers when joining such initiatives and experience challenges related to the implementation of regular practices in organizations. This paper conducts a case study of a design thinking training program developed by LG Corporation and explores a particular perspective applied in the initial phases of the design thinking methodology—namely, problem finding via empathetic observation. The initiative focused on helping non-designers develop the skills to identify customer inconveniences that may require design thinking’s problem-solving attitude. The program blueprint encompassed a preceding activity designed to increase awareness of design thinking methodology via immersion in customer issues and utilized innovative strategies to promote participant engagement in training.

Keywords

design thinking, training, boot camp, problem finding, LG Corporation.

Publications

Could AI be a creative collaborator?

Leave a comment

Bertao, R. A., & Joo, J. (2021). Artificial intelligence in UX/UI design: a survey on current adoption and [future] practices. In J. Cruickshank, L., Galabo, R., Perez, D., Gisclard, B., Bofylatos, S., Mortati, M., Valentine, L. and Hwang (Ed.), 14th International Conference of the European Academy of Design, Safe Harbours for Design Research (pp. 404–413). Blucher Design Proceedings.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has been disseminated across various industries, and algorithm-based activities are becoming common in design disciplines. Despite high expectations of collaborating with intelligent systems, whether designers are actually interested in working with algorithms has been little discussed. This paper summarises ongoing research findings that have probed the use of AI features in design practices. A survey of Brazilian UX/UI professionals was conducted to map their AI-supported activities and explore their perspectives on interacting with AI systems and future adoption scenarios. The findings indicate a low usage rate of AI tools in the Brazilian UX/UI industry and a limited operational perspective regarding the role, application, and impact of intelligent technologies on design. Surveyed UX/UI designers are more prone to adopt AI as a virtual assistant to facilitate practice and increase process efficiency rather than as a creative collaborator.

Keywords

UX/UI design; artificial intelligence (AI); adoption; design tool

Publications

What makes us search?

Leave a comment

Yoon, Y., Deng, R., & Joo, J. (2022). The Effect of Marketing Activities on Web Search Volume: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Film Industry Data. Applied Sciences, 12, 2143.

Abstract

Prior research on consumers’ web searches primarily examined the effect of web searches on product sales or the characteristics of the web searchers. Differing from prior research, we investigate the effect of marketing activities on web search volume. We selected 314 movies released in China whose box office revenues were greater than RMB 10,000. Then, we collected data points on web search volume and marketing activities from the Baidu, Sina Weibo, and Douban platforms from the 3 weeks prior to the release of each movie. Marketing activity data points were derived from three sources: news media, social network marketing, and film stars. Our data analysis of 6594 observations revealed two major findings. First, news media, social network marketing, and the effect of film stars increased the web search volumes of the films. In particular, social network marketing had the strongest impact on the web search volume. Second, the previous‐day web search volume increased the present‐day web search volume without marketing activities, suggesting a spillover effect. We discuss the academic contributions and managerial implications of our findings in the context of online marketing and new product launches.

Keywords

web search behavior; film industry; news media; social network; star; new product

Publications

How could we encourage young people to meet psychiatrists?

1 Comment

Piao, S., & Joo, J. (2022). A behavioral strategy to nudge young adults to adopt in-person counseling: Gamification. Behavioral Sciences, 12(2), 40.

Abstract

Mental illness has always been an important issue for young adults. Moreover, initiatives resulting from the outbreak of COVID‐19 have had an even greater impact on the mental health of young adults. This study sought to examine the effect of gamification on whether young adults adopt in‐person counseling. One hundred twenty young adults (42 males and 78 females) with an average age of 29 years participated in our experiment. In the experiment, a 2 (Gamification: no vs. yes) × 2 (Vividness: low vs. high) between‐subjects design was employed. In the “yes” gamification condition, participants decided whether or not to read introductory material about in‐person counseling, and also whether or not to adopt in‐person counseling in the future. The results of the study show that: (1) gamification increased adoption, (2) participants’ perception of subjective usability of in‐person counseling mediated the effect of gamification to adoption, and (3) vividness of presentation moderated subjective usability. Our study demonstrated that gamification nudges young adults to adopt in‐person counseling while subjective usability mediates the relationship, and vividness moderates the relationship between gamification and subjective usability. Our findings provide counselors fresh insights into motivating people to access counseling services.

Keywords

gamification; adoption; usability; vividness; counseling; nudge

*Event

What do we need in the Post-Covid Era?

1 Comment

Professor Steve Blank gave a speech on the topic of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Dong-A Business Forum 2021. I was invited to moderate his speech in December, 2021.

Steve is a serial startup founder and entrepreneur educator. He founded 8 startups in 1980s and then developed the concept of Customer Development. In 2011, Steve designed a class of Lean LaunchPad by combining his Customer Development with Agile Engineering and Business Model Canvas. His Customer Development is known to inspire Eric Ries and the basis of Lean Startup. His curriculum has been adopted by multiple universities and NSF Innovation Corps, in particular, the departments of defense and diplomacy. Steve is currently working as a researcher and teacher at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Coumbia University.

In our conversation, he mentioned that “Don’t just come up with a business plan in your head.” Instead “go to the field, meet customers in person, and verify hypothesis quickly.” This is a so-called Lean Startup. He advised large corporations in Korea to “separate the teams who implement existing business models and the teams who are free to experiment with innovation.”

While he stressed Voice Of Customers (VOC), he highlighted pivot particularly in the post-COVID era. “If you meet a piece of information which tells you that the concept is wrong, you need to revise your business model quickly. In the 20th century, doing so was impossible. However, doing so saves money and time now. It prevents you from going to the wrong direction.”

He claimed that pivot is more than a methodology. “A culture where everyone including executives can openly communicate about what went wrong with the initial plan. No business plan can survive if it is reprimanded for pointing out something is wrong. So I think pivot is a cultural issue not a methodological one.”

Publications

Will designers adopt artificial intelligence (AI) for their professional tasks?

Leave a comment

Bertao, R. A., & Joo, J. (2021). “Hey Alexa, Would You Create a Color Palette?” UX/UI Designers’ Perspectives on Using Natural Language to Interact with Future Intelligent Design Assistants. Journal of The Korea Convergence Society, 12(11), 1–14.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been inserted into people’s lives through Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVA), like Alexa. Moreover, intelligent systems have expanded to design studios. This research delves into designers’ perspectives on developing AI-based practices and examines the challenges of adopting future intelligent design assistants. We surveyed UX/UI professionals in Brazil to understand how they use IVAs and AI design tools. We also explored a scenario featuring the use of Alexa Sensei, a hypothetical voice-controlled AI-based design assistant mixing Alexa and Adobe Sensei characteristics. The findings indicate respondents have had limited opportunities to work with AI, but they expect intelligent systems to improve the efficiency of the design process. Further, majority of the respondents predicted that they would be able to collaborate creatively with AI design systems. Although designers anticipated challenges in natural language interaction, those who already adopted IVAs were less resistant to the idea of working with Alexa Sensei as an AI design assistant.

Keywords

Artificial intelligence adoption, Artificial intelligence-based design, Intelligent Virtual assistant, Voice interaction, UX/UI design

Publications

People feel confident in wine selection when they know the founder

1 Comment

Choi, B., & Joo, J. (2021). Authentic Information on the Back Label of Wine Bottle. Asia Marketing Journal, 23(3), 13–26.

Abstract

This paper investigates whether including authentic information on the back labels of wine bottles enhances consumers’ confidence and purchase intentions about wine; it also assesses the moderating role of involvement and knowledge about wine. We conducted two experimental studies. Study 1 generated three findings. First, when the back label had authentic information, subjects showed higher confidence levels. Second, this effect was hold for subjects with low levels of involvement. Finally, we did not observe this effect for subjects with high levels of involvement. Study 2 extended study 1’s findings and identified the moderated mediation effect of confidence. The findings highlight the important impact on wine choice of authentic information. However, the findings also suggest that authentic information may not be sufficient to attract people with high levels of involvement and knowledge. This study’s findings provide wine producers with practical marketing insights.

Keywords

Authenticity; Confidence; Involvement; Knowledge; Wine

Publications

Why do reusable cups turn into unnecessary waste?

Leave a comment

Jung, B., & Joo, J. (2021). Blind Obedience to Environmental Friendliness: The Goal Will Set Us Free. Sustainability, 13(21), 12322.

Abstract

In the past, researchers focusing on environmentally friendly consumption have devoted attention to the intention–action gap, suggesting that consumers have positive attitudes toward an environmentally friendly product even though they are not willing to buy it. In the present study, we borrow insights from the behavioral decision making literature on preference reversal to introduce an opposite phenomenon—that is, consumers buying an environmentally friendly product even though they do not evaluate it highly. We further rely on the research on goals to hypothesize that choice–evaluation discrepancies disappear when consumers pursue an environmentally friendly goal. A two (Mode: Choice vs. Evaluation) by three (Goal: Control vs. Quality vs. Environmentally friendly) between-subjects experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Our findings obtained from 165 undergraduate students in Korea showed that, first, 76% of the participants chose an environmentally friendly cosmetic product whereas only 49% of the participants ranked it higher than a competing product, and, second, when participants read the sentence “You are now buying one of the two compact foundations in order to minimize the waste of buying new foundations,” the discrepancy disappeared (64% vs. 55%). Our experimental findings advance academic discussions of green consumption and the choice–evaluation discrepancy and have practical implications for eco-friendly marketing.

Keywords

behavioral decision making; environmentally friendly; choice–evaluation discrepancy; intention–action gap; preference reversal; goal

Publications

Do people write longer reviews when their experience is worse than what they read than when better?

Leave a comment

Park, Young Joon, Jaewoo Joo, Charin Polpanumas, and Yeujun Yoon (2021), “‘Worse than what I read ?’ The external effect of review ratings on the online review generation process: An empirical analysis of multiple product categories using Amazon.com review data,” Sustainability, 13(19), 10912.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the online consumer review generation process by analyzing 37.12 million online reviews across nineteen product categories obtained from Amazon.com. This study revealed that the discrepancy between ratings by others and consumers’ post-purchasing evaluations significantly influenced both the valence and quantity of the reviews that consumers generated. Specifically, a negative discrepancy (‘worse than what I read’) significantly accelerates consumers to write negative reviews (19/19 categories supported), while a positive discrepancy (‘better than what I read’) accelerates consumers to write positive reviews (16/19 categories supported). This implies that others’ ratings play an important role in influencing the review generation process by consumers. More interestingly, we found that this discrepancy significantly influences consumers’ neutral review generation, which is known to amplify the effect of positive or negative reviews by affecting consumers’ search behavior or the credibility of the information. However, this effect is asymmetric. While negative discrepancies lead consumers to write more neutral reviews, positive discrepancies help reduce neutral review generation. Furthermore, our findings provide important implications for marketers who tend to generate fake reviews or selectively generate reviews favorable to their products to increase sales. Doing so may backfire on firms because negative discrepancies can accelerate the generation of objective or negative reviews.

Keywords

electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM); review rating; online review; external effect; review generation process; fake review