Author Archives: TerriJ

The Joneses

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In the movie The Joneses, the way the family of four lived their lives would absolutely be classified as personal selling in my opinion. Kate, Steve, Jenn, and Mick are more than just a “family”, they represent the perfect sales pitch. They pitched you products in a much more subtle way than the average salesperson who usually hounds you down to tell you about their latest product. They have perfected the art of being salespeople who market their products by simply enticing you with their perfect lives. From their fancy cars, charming personalities, good looks, modern furniture, and newest technology, everything they own and do is a marketing pitch to entice their neighbors (the consumers) to want (and buy) the products they have. 

There are many similarities between the sales tactics The Joneses used and the ones some of my favorite brands utilize. The Joneses represented what is essentially an influencer marketing style. They influenced their consumers (the neighbors) by simply living their lives to demonstrate the products. They invited their neighbors into their homes to show off the way they lived and the things they owned, hosted parties, and cultivated an image of a fun fulfilled life. The family used their lifestyle as their marketing tool. Which is something you can see many brands use today with social media influencers. Brands commonly partner with influencers to use the influencer’s lifestyle to influence their followers into purchasing products. Many influencers make videos detailing “top favorite products of the month” or “amazon must-haves.” Vloggers, people who record their lives, also post links to the products they use so their followers can easily find and buy them. 

I would not consider the marketing in the movie to be ethical. The Joneses’ entire marketing strategy was selling their picture-perfect lifestyle as a family, but everything about the family was a lie, including the fact that they were a family. They were selling their lifestyle, influencing their neighbors to want a perfect life just like they had, but that lifestyle never existed, which means it was all misleading. 

Before finding out their secret, I would probably feel happy to have such a nice friend who is introducing to me all kinds of new things and a tad bit self-conscious comparing their lifestyle to my own. After finding out their secrets, I would feel betrayed and foolish. Foolish for being easily manipulated and influenced by people who only viewed me as a consumer. 

Product Concepts – Marker Parker

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To be completely transparent, the pitches in Season 14, Episode 5 of Shark Tank did not wow me. However, the one that stood out to me the most from a marketing perspective was the Marker Parker pitch. As someone with a lot of experience babysitting young kids, I know how easily things like marker caps can go missing. So having a base to keep the marker caps all in one place would be very useful. Not only would it make cleanup easier for kids, but it would also be financially beneficial to parents who would spend less money on replacing dried-out markers.  

During the episode of Shark Tank, Amy Leinbach and her daughter Marlo pitched their product, the Marker Parker, to the sharks as “the perfect spot to park your markers.” The Marker Parker is a holder for markers that retails for $15 (and costs $2.71 to make). The way the product works is by you pushing the markers into the Marker Parker base (cap side down), which grips the marker caps tightly. Once the markers are secured into the base, when kids are ready to use them during playtime, only the drawing part of the marker is removed (leaving the caps safely secured in the base). Amy Leinbach described the Marker Parker as ergonomic, with a squishy texture that makes it easy for kids to grip and a playful design that encourages kids to use the base to put away their markers. The current design works for broad-tip markers but Amy has tweaked the design to also make the Marker Parker suitable for fine-tip markers as well. 

What gap does this product fill? Anyone who is around kids often enough knows that marker caps can go missing in the blink of an eye. The Marker Parker fills a need in the market for something to help children and their parents keep their markers and marker caps together in an easily transportable system. 

What process does this product make easier? The Marker Parker makes it easy to not lose marker caps because the caps remain in the holder the entire time, and only the drawing part gets removed. This means cleaning up and putting away markers after playtime gets simpler and overall less stressful trying to find scattered marker caps. 

Why should consumers not only want this product but feel that they NEED it? Consumers, especially parents or those who work/deal with younger kids should want this product because it makes cleaning up markers a breeze. No more looking under crevices trying to see if the cap rolled under there. No more having to shell out money for new markers due to the markers drying up when losing caps. The Marker Parker is a practical product, that is beneficial to both children and adults. 

This product could best appeal to consumers, specifically kids, by offering the Marker Parker in different colors and fun patterns for the base combined with brightly colored packaging. This way kids would be more excited to get the product if it came in their favorite color. Also, offering different shape configurations for the base, such as a heart or star-shaped configuration. And while I don’t think a $15 price point is outrageous, I think lowering the price would make the product more appealing. Especially when parents can buy a new pack of markers for as low as $3.

Consumer Decision Making – Italian For Dinner

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I’ve just moved to Salt Lake City. Which is exciting but also nerve-racking because I, nor anyone I know, have ever lived here before. To me, one of the most challenging parts of being in a new location is figuring out which restaurants are actually good. Because being hungry, craving a specific type of food, and attempting to figure out which google suggestion to go with is always more stressful than it needs to be. It’s also worse when you have no personal contacts to reach out to for recommendations. Because while there are online reviews, trusting strangers online is always a gamble.

So after spending the day unpacking my things and arranging my apartment, I’m now absolutely famished and craving Italian. If I were back in NYC, I would know exactly where to go to get my fill of delicious carbs. But here in Salt Lake City, everything is still unknown. So finding the perfect Italian restaurant to satisfy my pasta craving will take some research. Here is how my consumer decision-making process went –

(Need Recognition) – I was hungry and craving Italian food. I specifically wanted pasta and lots of it. I also wanted a restaurant that offered take-out, as I still didn’t know anyone in Salt Lake City to invite out to dinner and didn’t want to dine out alone. I didn’t mind if the restaurant didn’t have a delivery option, as I have a car. And as a foodie, I’m always willing to spend extra money on potentially delicious food, so I was willing to spend up to 100 dollars on my dinner.

(Information Search) – After figuring out that I wanted Italian takeout for dinner, I turned to google. The first thing I googled was “best Italian restaurant in salt lake city”. Instantly google pulled up a list of suggestions, along with a google map so I could see where the restaurants were located, and different articles related to restaurant suggestions in Salt Lake City. I primarily scrolled through Google maps suggestions because I liked that it showed me where the restaurants were located + provided customer ratings and written reviews. As I searched google reviews, I only paid attention to restaurants that had 4.4+ ratings and over 500 reviews. While searching, I also realized I wanted a restaurant that offered online ordering, that way I didn’t have to go through the hassle of calling the restaurant to place my order. I then changed my google search to “best Italian restaurant in salt lake city order online” to make my search easier. I scrolled through the restaurants, checked out their online menus, and narrowed my search down to restaurants that fit all my wants.

(Evaluation of Alternatives) The first restaurant I found that fit all my needs was Per Noi Trattoria, which had a large and decently priced menu. But they only had a 4.4 rating with 742 reviews, so I decided to click on another restaurant, Tuccis Cucina Italiana, which had a 4.4 rating and 1.2k reviews. Tuccis Cucina Italiana also had a large menu selection with the
bonus of being more affordable than Per No Trattoria. The final restaurant that matched my criteria was Olive Garden Italian Restaurant. With a 4.4 star rating and 2.7k reviews on google, it was the best-rated restaurant that matched my criteria. With an extensive menu and reasonable prices, it was very tempting to order from them.

Ultimately I did not pick Olive Garden. As I realized I wanted a more “authentic” Italian meal. I chose Per Noi Trattoria, as I felt they were more authentic, had a great selection of items on their menu, and reasonable prices. The uploaded food pictures by customers also helped convince me to pick the restaurant, as all the food in the photos looked delicious.

What did you realize about the consumer decision-making process?
I realized how many things influenced my choices (from customer reviews to something as simple as the design of a website). I also realized how adding one additional variable can result in completely different suggestions. For example, the best Italian restaurant in SLC and the best Italian restaurant in SLC that offers takeout were not the same in my google search results.

How might your preferences compare to other consumers? Because the consumer decision-making process differs from person to person, my preferences can be completely different from others and result in dissimilar results. For example, another consumer might be content with having to call in to place their order. Or, someone might want a restaurant that offers delivery. Other consumers might want not care for takeout or delivery because they are planning to dine in. And another customer who wants to dine in might want a casual restaurant that doesn’t require reservations. Also preferences can differ by the price of the restaurants, whether it’s affordable, somewhere in the middle, or expensive.

Ethics – Chipotle

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   Chipotle

   To quote someone who said it best, “Chipotle is my life.” While that is a hyperbole, Chipotle has been my favorite fast-food restaurant for years. When I think of Chipotle, I think of delicious, high-quality, affordable fast food. In regards to ethics and sustainable business practices, you can say Chipotle has been ahead of the “trend”. The company’s previous slogan for many years was “food with integrity”. That slogan represented the company’s strategy for how it sourced and prepared its foods. At the time of the slogan (2001), the company prepared all its food on-site. They sourced their ingredients from suppliers who used human practices. This meant they worked with many smaller-sized local farms and with farmers who humanely raised their animals (no hormones, antibiotics) 

   Fast forward to over 29 years since the opening of the first Chipotle restaurant (1993), the company is still passionate and selective about the quality of ingredients they use. While the company has shifted away from its previous “food with integrity” tagline, they have kept the essence of the message with its new tagline “be real.” With over 3,000 restaurants nationwide, Chipotle’s be real is a slogan that celebrates and highlights the company’s commitment to using real ingredients. According to Chipotle, its restaurants only use 53 ingredients in their foods. They do not use ingredients with added hormones, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. 

   Their commitment to fresh ingredients isn’t solely just about the taste of their food, the company is also committed to sustainability. Brian Niccol, the company’s chairman, and CEO stated “I, along with the rest of the organization, strongly believe that how we grow our food is how we grow our future.” Chipotle to be transparent about its sustainability and impact releases sustainability reports which can be accessed on its website. Some highlights of their 2020 sustainability report include

  • investing 5 million to young farmers over the next 5 years 
  • purchasing 31 million pounds of local produce (which is an investment of 23.3 million dollars which supports local food systems)
  • offering employees a debt-free degree program 
  • donated 455,000 meals
  • donated over 5 million dollars to local community organizations 
  • achieved a 51% landfill diversion rate
  •  Turned 11,840 cubic yards of waste into energy
  • Launched Real Foodprint, providing information to our consumers about how our supply practices can help influence various sustainability measures

What recommendations do you have for how to create a more ethical, socially responsible, and/or sustainable business? What practices do you recommend the organization pursue?

My recommendation for Chipotle to create a more sustainable business is to invest more in young farmers and smaller farms. Also, possibly creating programs that encourage and teach people how to farm. As chipotle continues to grow and open new restaurants, so will the demand for their food. That means if the company only relies on its current suppliers, there’s a great risk that its food supply will not meet the demand of its future customers. Which can put the company in an ethical dilemma, because they then might have to break away from their ethical code and start using suppliers who do not meet their standards. Investing in future farmers and smaller farmers ensures a future generation of farmers/farms producing quality ingredients that meet chipotle standards, ensuring that the company can keep up with future consumer demand.