Henckell is my favorite cafe in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. It is a local place with great coffee and sandwich. I feel cozy inside. It has only four small tables.
There is a tip jar next to the credit card machine on the counter table. Interestingly, it has a smiley face, two arms, and two legs. One day out of curiosity, I kept watching how many guests tipped in this human-looking tip jar. Afterwards, I also asked a server whether guests liked it. Surprisingly, I noticed that a few guests hesitated putting coins into this jar for an unknown reason. The server even told me that not few guests complained about the tip jar because its mouth is too small to insert coins.
When human flavor is added to an object, people like the object. It is supported by academic studies about anthropomorphism. For instance, when a car is anthropomorphized and its characteristics are congruent with the proposed human schema, people evaluate it positively (Aggarwal and McGill 2007). When a garbage bin is anthropomorphized (e.g., “feed me”), people follow the message and show prosocial behaviors (Ahn, Kim, Aggarwal 2013). When an innovative, uncertain product is anthropomorphized (e.g., “this little guy”), people tend to adopt this product (Jiang, Hoegg, and Dahl 2011).
However, anthropomorphism might backfire if the usefulness of the product is sacrificed. When I come back to this cafe, I want to draw a different character with a bigger mouth and see what happens.
People are often reluctant to comply with social causes because doing so may involve personal sacrifices of time, money, and effort for benefits that are shared by other members of society. In an effort to increase compliance, government agencies and public institutions sometimes employ financial tools to promote social causes. However, employing financial tools to induce prosocial behavior is expensive and often ineffective. We propose that anthropomorphizing a social cause is a practical and inexpensive tool for increasing compliance with it. Across three prosocial contexts, we found that individuals exposed to a message from an anthropomorphized social cause, compared with individuals exposed to a message relating to a nonanthropomorphized social cause, were more willing to comply with the message. This effect was mediated by feelings of anticipatory guilt experienced when they considered the likely consequences of not complying with the cause. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
In this study, we adopted a food-waste composting campaign. A total of 104 undergraduates (54% female and 46% male; mean age = 19.8 years) participated in return for course credit. Participants in the anthropomorphism condition were exposed to a campaign poster showing a garbage bin with humanlike features of eyes, a nose, and a mouth alongside the caption, “Please feed me food waste only!” Participants in the nonanthropomorphism condition were shown a campaign poster in which the garbage bin lacked humanlike features and was accompanied by the caption, “Please put food waste in only!”. Participants completed a measure of expected compliance with the campaign (α = .89) using response scales from 1 (very unlikely) to 9 (very likely). In addition, we employed a 4-item measure of anticipatory guilt adapted from Cotte, Coulter, and Moore (2005). The four items assessed the degree of guilt, shame, responsibility, and accountability, respectively, that participants would feel if they did not comply with the campaign and were administered with 9-point scales (α = .89).
As expected, we found increased compliance in the anthropomorphism condition (M = 6.99, SD = 1.62) compared with the nonanthropomorphism condition (M = 6.24, SD = 1.80), β = 0.22, SE = 0.34, p < .05. Moreover, anticipatory guilt was higher in the anthropomorphism condition (M = 5.16, SD = 1.39) compared with the nonanthropomorphism condition (M = 4.49, SD = 1.64), β = 0.22, SE = 0.30, p < .05, which in turn resulted in an increased level of compliance, β = 0.45, SE = 0.10, p < .001. When we controlled for anticipatory guilt, the direct effect of anthropomorphism on compliance was no longer significant, β = 0.12, SE = 0.32, p = .17, Sobel z = 2.04, p < .05, which suggests that anticipatory guilt mediated the effect of anthropomorphism on compliance.
About 36 million people live in Tokyo and its neighboring cities. Most restaurants well known to foreigners are heavily crowded. Therefore, when I dine out in Tokyo, I have to wait for a table for a decent amount of time. The fact that many local people are waiting for their tables relieves my concern that I might have chosen a wrong restaurant. Although crowdedness plays a role as social proof when I “choose” a restaurant, I think I may enjoy dish more if I have a breathing room or enough empty space inside when I “experience” a restaurant.
My thought was supported when I had a lunch at a restaurant run by D&Department in Tokyo. D&Department project is a store-style activist proposed by Nagaoka Kenmei, a Japanese designer, in 2000, with a theme of a “long-life design.” It introduces design products for our daily lives such as eating, drinking, publishing and traveling. It aims to spread all over the country the products excavated in local regions. Therefore, the design products introduced by D&Department are the durable items that should be used for a long time and regional items that each specific region of Japan uniquely identifies. Therefore, serving local, authentic dish at a restaurant made sense to me.
Going beyond design items and local dish, this restaurant provided sufficient empty space to each guest, which was rare in Tokyo. This restaurant limited the number of guests entering the space. Therefore, people focused on their own dish inside while a huge crowd of people waited for their tables outside. This space was quiet and well organized and guests were not visually distracted.
Do we like crowdedness or emptiness at restaurants? Marketing scientists have studied this issue. Some argue that crowdedness plays a role as a social proof while others argue that emptiness signals social class. We may like crowdedness when buying mass products or visiting casual restaurants, whereas we pursue emptiness when searching for luxury goods or dining out at Michelin starred restaurants.
This article is about social space and material objects for sale within that space. We draw primarily on Goffman’s (1971) concepts of use space and possession territories to predict that as the social density of a given space increases, inferences of the subjective social class and income of people in that space fall. Eight studies confirm that this is indeed the case, with the result holding even for stick figures, thus controlling for typical visual indicators of social class such as clothing or jewelry. Furthermore, these social class inferences mediate a relationship between social density and product valuation, with individuals assessing both higher prices and a greater willingness to pay for products presented in less crowded contexts. This effect of inferred class on product valuation is explained by status-motivated individuals’ desire to associate with higher-status people. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to reveal the link between social density, status inferences, and object valuations. As such, it makes a novel contribution to what has come to be known in sociology as the topological turn: a renewed focus on social space.
Most bar owners promote their places by placing a sign board outside or updating their menus on social network services such as facebook or instagram. Interestingly however, some bar owners “hide” their doors. I had a chance to visit the bar called Nightjar in London. Surprisingly, it has a super tiny metal sign on a wood door. Therefore, I passed over its entrance door several times and spent many minutes until I decided to knock on it just in case. When the hidden door opened, as expected, this bar was fully packed with drinkers.
I had a similar experience when I first visited the bar called Charles H Bar at the Four Seasons Seoul, Korea. Although this hotel is easy to find, it took me long time again to find the entrance door of the bar. Since this bar has literally no sign outside, I could not help but ask someone to guide me to the entrance door. Again, when the hidden door opened, this bar was crowded.
Why did Nightjar and Charles H Bar decide to hide their entrance doors? At first glance, hiding doors fails to attract by-passers and thus fails to increase traffic, which is important for most spaces. However, this spaces may have different objectives. For instance, they want to make their spaces exclusive only for those who were invited previously. Although there is no research about space exclusivity, there are some studies about the effect of exclusivity promotion or AREP (Advertised as Retailer Exclusive Products). Contrary to managerial expectations, their findings suggest that AREP exclusivity promotions are ineffective at influencing consumers.
Many large retailers offer “advertised as retailer exclusive products” or AREPs. Retailers work with manufacturers to produce these unique, retailer exclusive versions of otherwise common products. While not all retailer exclusive products are advertised as “exclusive,” AREPs are advertised and labeled as retailer exclusives. The retailer exclusive product attributes are often “trivial,” but still may add customer value and discourage price comparison shopping. Here, two experiments assess AREPs effects on consumers. Contrary to managerial expectations, the findings suggest that AREP exclusivity promotions are ineffective at influencing consumers, but that the choice of exclusive, seemingly “trivial” attribute can sometimes be a significant negative influence on consumers. Further, the authors suggest contexts that may encourage specific responses to retailer exclusive product promotions and trivial attributes.
Valentines’ day is one of the most “commercially successful” holidays in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. According to Wikipedia, this holiday was first introduced in Japan in 1936 when a company ran an advertisement aimed at foreigners.
Later in 1953, it began promoting the giving of heart-shaped chocolates; other Japanese confectionery companies followed suit thereafter. In 1958, the Isetan department store ran a “Valentine sale”. Further campaigns during the 1960s popularized the custom. The custom that only women give chocolates to men may have originated from the translation error of a chocolate-company executive during the initial campaigns. In particular, office ladies give chocolate to their co-workers. Unlike western countries, gifts such as greeting cards, candies, flowers, or dinner dates are uncommon, and most of the activity about the gifts is about giving the right amount of chocolate to each person. Japanese chocolate companies make half their annual sales during this time of the year.
Nowadays, many students around me complain expensive, poor-quality chocolates. However, some want to take this opportunity to express their feelings to others and make their own chocolates. Certainly, very few succeed in creating “the only” chocolate for their friends, colleagues, or significant others.
Recently, I met a clever solution at a Japanese department store: a do-it-yourself kit for chocolate. This is probably the best solution for those who do not want to waste money on buying ready-made chocolates but want to voluntarily invest an adequate amount of effort to create only one.
We used a combination of qualitative research and CET to understand why consumers participate in creative activities and the conditions under which they enjoy these experiences… Respondents consistently noted a motivation for personal accomplishment, which was achieved by satisfying the needs of both autonomy and competence… Importantly, this study also provides insight into the influence of external constraints (e.g., target outcomes, instructions) on consumers’ creative experiences. Indeed, the pros and cons of these creative products (e.g., kits, models, patterns, recipes) highlight the tension between consumers’ desire for instructional guidance and their need for individualism. Hobbyists value the feeling of competence that creative products provide, and they create their own strategies to overcome the constraints that such products impose on both the creative process and the outcome. (Dahl and Moreau 2007, pg. 367)
Who knows? We may see a lot of chocolate-only chefs in the near future who do not follow given instructions but use their own ingredients to develop new chocolates!
From cooking kits to home improvement shows, consumers are increasingly seeking out products that are designed to help them be creative. In this research, the authors examine why consumers participate in creative activities and under what conditions these experiences are the most enjoyable. A qualitative study explores the diverse motivations for undertaking creative tasks and identifies the role of constraints in such endeavors. Then, the authors conduct two experimental studies to understand the importance of constraints (e.g., instructional guidance, target outcomes) in facilitating a balance between perceived competence and autonomy for consumers involved in a creative task. When consumers engage in creative activities with a sense of both autonomy and competence, they enjoy the experience more. The authors discuss implications for managers and provide opportunities for further research.
Yido is a widely-known premium pottery brands in Korea. It was found by Yi, Yoonshin, a ceramic artist. She successfully established herself in the business world not only because her work reinterprets traditional Korean ceramics in refined contemporary design but also because she paid attention to the two marketing lessons.
First, she listens to market. Recently, Yido launches a new collection called Cera/Mano. Differently from other collections which has four pieces of bowls for a family of four, this newly launched collection consists in only one piece designed for single family buyers.
Creative entrepreneurial ventures are characterized by uniquely personal branded offerings with enormous potential for profit, combined with huge market and execution risk. What differentiate creative entrepreneurial ventures from that of technology ventures are their dependency on a few individuals’ intangible breakthrough ideas. The absence of process control and metrics for evaluating cost, risk and required time commitment makes Return On Investment (ROI) impossible to assess.
Consequently, private investments are virtually unattainable. The subsequent extreme financial pressure combined with ineffective processes leads to destructive behaviors. Traditionally, three independent and mutually supportive approaches exist to mitigate risk and increase profit in creative ventures. These are: (1) Education: Providing market and executions knowledge and experiences through schooling, internships and apprenticeships, (2) Funding: Government and/or trade association backed with coaching and financing, and (3) Collaboration: Pooling of resources and creative talent to leverage individual talents and mitigating risk.
We propose using Design Research, Design Thinking and technology venture insights to develop methods and tools for sustainably running creative entrepreneurial ventures. First, we will identify best practices, by qualitative research within the creative fields of design, music, game, movie and art in the cultural settings of Los Angeles, Copenhagen and Seoul. Secondly, we identify knowledge transfer opportunities and conduct brainstorming sessions to synthesize new methods and tools. The outcome will be a creative portfolio management matrix, outlining how to best take ideas from concept to commercialization as a function of market and execution risk for the examined creative disciplines.
First name (or given name) is the name that identifies a specific person. It differentiates a person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan, with whom that person shares a common last name (or family name). While last name is normally inherited, first name is “free to choose” and thus can be unique.
In some countries, however, only a few options seem to be highly popular. Many of my friends who were born and live in US, UK, or Canada have common first names. In English-based countries, Coke’s massively-distributed-but-highly-customized “first name” marketing campaign will work: each bottle of coke has its own first name label such as John, Sarah, Emma, and Alex. However, popular first names seem to be avoided in other countries. Most of my Korean friends have their own unique first names. In this country, Coke marketers may find it difficult to find popular first names and launch a marketing campaign using them.
Then, why do some people pick up popular first names and others avoid them?
Probably, I am one of few marketing people in the world who buy and use a 3D printer. I paid about $1000 and bought a printer called Rappy 32 from Stellamove two months ago and have been printing miniature buildings, animals, and mobile phone cases for fun. I want to share what I have learned about 3D printers with designers and marketers, in particular, those who are interested in but have never used them.
First of all, playing with a 3D printer woke up my “creator instinct.” Previously, I was a consumer; I simply purchased and used the products someone else created for anonymous people. After having a countless consumption experiences in my life, I came to unconsciously calculate the cost and benefit of a specific purchase behavior or habitually compared between one option and another. However, when I printed something using the 3D printer, I had a fairly different type of experience; I chose what to create and then waited until it was done. While waiting, my mental calculator did not turn on but I was overwhelmed by (some kinds of) mother-specific emotions such as wish, excitement, warm caring, and disappointment. In my opinion, printing something using 3D printers is easier and more entertaining than other professional creating tasks such as drawing and cook because it simply requires me to plan what to print at first and then fully takes care of the remaining procedures.
Second, playing with a 3D printer taught me that saying is one thing, doing is another. Many people talked about 3D printers without having any hands-on experience. Some are excited about the bright future they unfold; they can decorate cakes or replace the knobs and hooks printed at home. Others are concerned about the gloomy future 3D printers bring; someone else will print out and carry weapons or generate fake coins. However, my experience taught me that the future is not around the corner regardless of whether it is bright or dark. There are literally hundreds of issues that need to be addressed for a 3D-printer to work properly. I myself often dissatisfied with the print quality. I might have developed my taste of finishing too high (e.g., iPhones or Lego bricks).
Skinny means very thin or unusuallyslender. Although it is a highly popular word, marketers avoid it but label their “sassier” products differently because the word, skinny, reinforces the stereotypes of women and body images. Interestingly, some items go for skinnier whereas others do not.
This is not the case for the beverage items. Pepsi introduced a skinny can in 2011 at New York’s Fashion Week. According to the Diet Pepsi ‘skinny’ can stirs up big controversy, Jill Beraud, chief marketing officer for PepsiCo said in a statement, “Our slim, attractive new can is the perfect complement to today’s most stylish looks, and we’re excited to throw its coming-out party during the biggest celebration of innovative design in the world.” Unfortunately, it was blamed for offensiveness immediately. Within a few months, Pepsi launches new fatter skinny cans in aftermath of controversy. It fattened up its diet skinny can “with a redesign that aims, perhaps, to distance itself from a controversy that bubbled up earlier this year.”
I ordered a fried rice after having BBQ at a local restaurant in Korea. Interestingly, She first shaped the fried rice like an apple and then placed a small fried cake on top to make it look like the Apple logo. (What if I am a fan of MicroSoft? :)) Strong brands such as Harley-Davidson and Nike seem to induce people to express their brand loyalty aggressively (e.g., tattoo). Soft brands such as Apple, however, seem to nudge their fans to express their brand loyalty more creatively or softly.
There is an OOH (Out-Of-Home) advertising at one subway in Toronto. Benylin is a medicine available at the Shoppers Drug mart. Advertisers intentionally drew its figure outside the frame to communicate that the pill is strong. Although this is less shocking than VolksWagen in the ski resort or AIA in Bangkok, going outside the frame will successfully attract attention by passersby.
Skinny means 
