Our eighth meeting was a lot shorter than our other meetings, but I know it won’t stay that way for long! Maybe a few of us were just already really relaxed because we sat in the Ad Team room for two hours watching music videos and comedy videos after our first focus group. The first focus group went really well! There was not a whole lot of discussion between the girls, but now what can prepare us for the next one. It is always interesting to see what people have to say and what influences them. Sounds odd, but I’ve always been interested in what makes people think the way they do and how they came to be who they are today.
Anyways, the first thing we did was discuss our upcoming bowling tournament, of course!
Secondary research was the first team to present. Ryan went over the IBC, independent beauty consultant, meeting that several of us went to the previous night. The meeting was really exciting and informative about Mary Kay as a brand. All of the consultants were so friendly and welcoming. They started their meeting with a little “aerobics” to the Katy Perry song Roar. Unfortunately, Steven asked me not to post the pictures of the guys dancing, but I really wish I could! It was hilarious! After talking about the meeting, they said they were still working on narrowing down the target segment. Ryan said they have around 16 groups right now! The biggest challenge is figuring out what the groups should be and defining them. Women are all different and use makeup in different ways, which makes it almost impossible to group them together.
Primary research, my group, was second to present. We went over several key points that we found out during the focus group. Although many ladies believe that Mary Kay is “your grandmother’s makeup” which makes our job of changing their minds so difficult. There were many other insights that I believe will help us during the creative process when we design advertisements. We also decided that we were not going to host one of our research events, which I know made Megan a little upset. She had worked really hard to come up with something fun and exciting, but I know she will be able to use that enthusiasm and make the spring research event amazing! We also decided that it would be a good idea to interview IBC’s that we knew so that we could get more honest answers and a better understanding of the brand.
The first Ideation team wanted to focus again on nontraditional media, but thought about traditional too. They had four amazing ideas that really wow’ed the group! They also took the time to see what the possible downfalls could be if we decided to use that advertisement. They presented two different ideas for print ads to focus on the product while the nontraditional ads were more for a brand awareness that would give a lot of audience involvement. At this point, I’m not sure what media would be best to represent the products versus the brand.
The second Ideation team also presented both nontraditional and traditional media ideas. They also created an idea that would incorporate a cause-related marketing effort that represents Mary Kay in a good light. They touched on which social media outlets would best suit what purposes and why. They also presented several promotional ideas using social media.
I wish that I would be able to go into more detail about the ideas they are working on because they are truly amazing for such a beginning stage. I really think that all the teams are doing such a good job. I hope it pays off well when it comes time for competition, but that is a long time from now. We still have a whole lot of work to do!
I’m still a little in the dark about what is going to happen next semester since this is my first time on the team. I know that when January comes it is going to be crunch time. Next semester we have to create the book, create the advertisements, work on the presentation, etc. I think next semester is going to be a lot more exciting when we are working on actual creative pieces because research is not the most exciting part to most people. Don’t get me wrong! I do love research and it comes in hugely handy, but to others looking in, it can be very boring.
About Olivia Utley
