Blog #10 - Group Project Reflection

Working on this Insight/Experience Audit and Prototype group project has allowed me to better understand how to gain and evaluate insights of a market segment. Before I did this project, I had never used photo journals or focus groups as methods of gaining insights. I had only done one-on-one interviews or surveys in the past to obtain and analyze general quantitative data. I had also never focused on researching how the market segment feels and behaves in one location in past projects and research papers. My group compiled the results from the photo journals into a table to find consistencies and outliers in our market segment, 14-15 year-old girls. We only gave the girls a small amount of guidance for the photo journal so this method gave the girls a chance to interpret our questions in their own way. We divided up the responses we received by question asked (favorite item, least used item, most used item, take out item, wishful item) to make it easier for us to analyze the data. This project gave me the experience of actually going through the process of comparing the answers each of our respondents in our market segment gave us. We also checked to see if their responses were consistent with the predictions we had made earlier in the project. Half of the girls took a picture of their TV as their favorite item. This was not surprising to us because we predicted that would probably happen. Surprisingly, all but two of the girls who participated said that their fireplace was their least used item in the family room. We did not expect that response. The most used item that the participants took a photo of matched our predictions of something that gives them comfort and relaxation. The majority of them chose to photograph something that you could sit on. We were able to find a trend in the take out item category even though most of their responses were very different from one another. Most of the items photographed as take out items were either very old, belonged to someone else, or do not belong in the family room. The focus group allowed us to observe the girls in a different environment where they were able to brainstorm ideas and bounce ideas off of one another. We were able to discover that these girls enjoy electronics, would like less parental control and more freedom, and they like to talk a lot.

As a result of working on this Insight/Experience Audit and Prototype group project, I have gained a better understanding of how to create a prototype that addresses the needs of our chosen market segment. In past group projects, I never had the opportunity to actually contribute to developing a product or service that meets several needs of a market segment. This experience was very beneficial for me personally. As a business student, every research paper and project are so structured that they limit my creativity. I like the fact that this group project challenged me to tap into my creative side. In order for us to fine tune our prototype, Blabber, for our market segment, we tried to make benefits of Blabber that were relevant to the insights we gained from our gaining insights and evaluating insights phases of the project. I learned how to make these important connections. For example, we found that 14-15 year-old girls like to have a sense of belonging to a group. Thus, we created the group chat feature on Blabber in order to allow our market segment to share their thoughts with all of their friends at once.

After hearing the instructions at the beginning of the semester, I was very intrigued by the uniqueness of the Insight/Experience Audit and Prototype group project. I was curious to see who I would be matched up with for my semester-long project. I met my teammates and everyone was very friendly. My teammates were great. The diversity of my group contributed to my learning and my enjoyment of the course material. I love working with people who are different than me, and my team consisted of several different cultures. Everyone in my group had a unique personality and background. This benefited my group because we all were able to contribute our different perspectives and ideas to our project. The professor gave my group a great set of guidelines to go by that had the right amount of structure. We knew what we were doing but still had enough flexibility to be creative. Also, the professor was open to answering any questions that we had along the way, and this helped clarify what we were trying to understand. This project was not only beneficial for me to grow as a future marketer but it also was a whole lot of fun. By far, this project was one of the most interesting ones I have ever had the opportunity to be a part of.