Post 6: My Thoughts on Creativity

Ray Bradbury, arguably one of the most imaginative and creative novelists of the 20^th century, once said of creativity, “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” I heard this quote and was troubled because I am a thinker. I analyze every situation to the point of exhaustion and look at things from multiple angles trying to figure them out. In Bradbury’s point of view, I shouldn’t be trying to do this, but must simply do it, which is overwhelming when I think about it. Am I not creative?

Luckily for me, another excellently imaginative and creative writer, Dr. Seuss, contradicts Bradbury by saying, “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if you only try!” Naturally, reading the authors’ inconsistent definitions of creativity made me start to think. There isn’t one specific definition of creativity; every person has a unique idea of what the word means. Maybe that’s the point; even the definition of the word is free and inventive.

My personal definition of creativity is to develop something different, something that’s never been done before. This can be a physical object, a service, a solution to a problem, or simply an idea. Creativity doesn’t require artistic ability, but in my opinion does require you to use your personal experiences as starting points and ideating from there to build something great. It does require thinking; however, not self-conscious thinking like Bradbury says because many times we have to step outside our comfort zones.

I had one experience with creativity last weekend, when I planned a brunch for 200 people at my sorority house.  I was essentially the event planner for the event; I ordered tables, chairs, and flowers, planned the menu, coordinated delivery times, sent invitations to parents, and collected RSVP’s.  All of these decisions required some thinking, but the area that required the most creativity was discovering a way to fit all the tables as well as 200 chairs in our mid-sized dining room comfortably. I had to create several maps of potential table options and make sure each fit in with our measurements, but eventually I figured it out and the event was a success. This is an example of how creating simple solutions to problems can exhibit creativity.

However, we can also be creative, and probably more creative, in groups and teams. One time I worked on a team where we had to develop a new name for a line of cakes and cookies. We had an ideation session in an open space that allowed room for movement and helped keep ideas flowing. At first, our ideas were awful; no one would ever want to buy the desserts with the names we were giving them. However, all our session required was one mediocre idea during brainstorming. After one of us found this, we collaborated and built off of each others’ ideas to create a name that not only was catchy and attractive, but would also ideally sell products and help us to develop a brand.

Sometimes, though, working in teams can limit creativity; good ideation and thought processes depend on creating a comfortable environment and good team dynamic. One time I worked in a team where one member would personally insult my ideas and turn down my suggestions in a rude way. After the first few times, I stopped contributing ideas, as did some other members, and our project and grade suffered as a result. This was a hard lesson to learn, but it is useful to understand the most helpful kinds of team dynamics.

Finally, we entire organizations can be creative. I experienced this when working at Frito Lay last summer.  This company is constantly relying on developing new innovation that sells, which requires a collaborative culture that encourages new ideas. In order for such a large company to grow in such a competitive market, the company constantly has to be searching for new ideas. They do this by encouraging discussion between people of all levels in the company and the contribution of hundreds of ideas before narrowing down and testing the good ones.

After considering these experiences, I definitely think it is possible to be creative by myself. I actually enjoy being creative in a problem-solving sense. However, I think I specifically am more capable of being creative in a group. I strongly believe there is something to be said for taking one person’s idea and using the entire group’s suggestions to form something great. Therefore, during all innovation and ideation sessions I think an entire team of different types of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and opinions should participate. In addition, there are different types of problems each individual is better at solving as well as different types of details each is better at analyzing; when you place these people together in teams the real opportunity arises.

Creativity is something that can’t be defined exactly, but neither can its process. There are so many different meanings of the word, so many different ways to be creative, and so many outcomes of the creative process, but at the end of the day creativity in general drives greatness and helps society progress.

Blog 5: Visualizing Insights--Fragrances

One of the issues in fragrance markets today is that mass merchandising, supermarket, and drug store sales are declining, while people are buying high-end retail products at department stores and specialty retailers. Mintel published a report in September 2013 that summarizes some of the ways we can correct this problem, and I have represented the problem and some potential solutions in the chart above.  First, I represented the problem stated above by using perfume bottles to represent respective sales for each market. In the mass-merchandising category, I incorporated a perfume bottle tipping over and becoming smaller to represent loss of sales in these markets. On the other side, I have represented the growth in high-end retailer sales from 2010-2013 by the growing perfume bottles. There are many possible solutions to this problem, but I’ve listed three potential categories in my data representation; creative retailing, expanded product benefits, and more convenient shopping. In each of these categories, I have included some potential solutions listed in the report as well as the consumer group they are most likely to influence.

The first category is creative retailing; mass-retailers are commonly at a disadvantage compared to specialty stores because they do not have sales representatives assisting consumers with their decisions and also do not offer product testing. Therefore, they need to be creative with their retail strategies. For women specifically, these merchandisers could consider subscription boxes; data revealed that 63% of women with less than $75,000 annual income would be interested in these, and 56% of women with more than $75,000 annual income would be interested, more than half of women respondents in each category.  To target men, who appreciate the convenience of mass-merchandisers and are therefore a great target, these stores could use technology to help bring creativity to retail. 52% (over half) of men ages 18-34 would be interested in mobile apps to help them choose a fragrance. This is fitting because men are probably looking to get in and out of stores as quickly as possible without the delay of speaking with a salesperson. Finally, stores should offer travel-sized options for less-affluent consumers who may not be able to afford full-size items but still want to purchase nice fragrances.

The next category of solutions is expanded product benefits. These solutions benefit all consumers. The first is that old people especially would like to purchase fragrances with added health benefits like the ability to remove headaches or colds or the ability to product a warming or cooling sensation. This would clearly require significant research and development capital; however, it could be beneficial for the market. In addition, 58% of people want fragrances they can use at night; this makes sense because many people see fragrances as products for special-occasions such as a date or a night out; mass merchandisers could respond with a category of nighttime fragrances catering to this need. Finally, 66% of consumers would be interested in fragrances they could spray on clothes instead of skin. This is a beneficial insight for drug stores and large retailers because they already probably carry laundry detergents and similar products and could possibly combine the two into one product for low cost.

Finally, the third category of solutions is to make shopping more convenient. For everyone shopping at mass-merchandisers, presenting by category or theme could be more strategic than presenting by brand. This is because specialty retailers have salespeople to help with customers’ needs in-store when they are looking for a particular category, so a reorganizing strategy could be a competitive response to that. In addition, there is a wide misconception that people like to receive fragrances as gifts; however, only 37% enjoy these gifts. In turn, 41% of women like to “treat themselves” with fragrance, so stores could place fragrances in convenient locations where they could be positioned as impulse buys.

The data above is an overall summary of these categories of solutions. If retailers are able to use the insights generated in this report to successfully implement new strategies, they could have a real winner on their hands. Consumers would enjoy shopping for fragrances more and sales have the potential to increase greatly.

Source: Mintel Issues in the Market, Fragrances, September 2013

Blog Post 4: Business Model Analysis Report, Mondelēz International

I have always been interested in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. A consumer packaged good is one that is “consumed every day by the average consumer…that needs to be replaced frequently” (Investopedia).  Part of my interest stems from the fascinating concept that consumers must make purchase decisions for things like food, beverages, clothing, and household products frequently, and there are very low switching costs for these types of products, yet companies still manage to capture brand loyalty and lead consumers to repeatedly buy their products despite thousands of offerings. CPG companies, therefore, are highly competitive and have to constantly be innovative in their business models and groundbreaking in their marketing endeavors if they want to stay on top.

In addition, CPG is an intriguing industry because these products directly impact people’s lives in a meaningful way. Whether it’s the fruit snacks and juice boxes that the team mom gives her five-year-old son and his friends after they’ve just won their first soccer game or the disposable air freshener that makes grandma’s house smell so distinct, these offerings aren’t just products; they’re memories that form an intricate lifestyle. I love learning about how companies can hear stories like these directly from their sources, get to know their consumers better through this communication, and use this knowledge to help them form a loyal bond with a seemingly ordinary product.  

My interest in this industry is part of the reason why I have accepted a full time offer at PepsiCo-Frito Lay for after graduation. I was a Marketing Analyst Intern at Frito Lay for summer 2013, and I am really looking forward to going back, so I thought about doing our business model analysis report on Frito Lay or PepsiCo. However, I had the chance to learn a lot about Frito Lay last summer and will have the opportunity to learn even more next year, so I started thinking of companies to research that would be more of a challenge and help me to grow in my knowledge of CPG.

For my business model analysis report, therefore, I’d like to research Mondelēz International. I came to this decision after thinking about Frito Lay’s major competitors and remembering how during my summer there, shareholder Nelson Peltz advocated that PepsiCo purchase Mondelēz and spin off its beverage business and focus on snacks. By researching this company, I would get to learn more about one of Frito Lay’s major competitors and its brands, which could be helpful for my career in the future.

Mondelēz International is one of the world’s largest snack companies. In October 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. spun off its grocery business, Kraft Foods Group Inc., and became Mondelēz. One of its company goals is to create “delicious moments of joy in everything [they] do,” which is consistent with my earlier discussion of creating memories for consumers. It is a global company with nine billion-dollar brands: Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka Chocolate, Jacob’s Coffee, LU, Nabisco, Oreo, Tang, and Trident Gum. Its full list of brands is pictured below (Mondelez International Fact Sheet):

Mondelēz is a global company, but the geographic area providing the largest percentage of its sales is Europe (39%--see below). It competes in the beverage, cheese and grocery, biscuits, chocolate, and gum and candy categories, although the largest percent of sales is captured by its biscuits category (Mondelēz International Fact Sheet). This, in itself, is an incredible feat because to compete in multiple categories requires significant knowledge of several markets, reaching out to many different consumer segments, and detailed strategies for how marketing and innovation efforts for each of these brands will come together and benefit the company as a whole. Major competitors in snacking include other global CPG food companies like Nestle, Frito-Lay, and Unilever. As I stated before, competition in the snacks business is very touch because consumers have very low switching costs and sometimes like to try new things.

Because of this, Mondelēz has to be very energetic in fighting to capture loyalty and drive growth. Its business cycle (pictured below) begins with focusing on building its power brands—these are the brands that consumers already love. From there, its goals are to expand gross margins, leverage overheads, and reinvest in growth (Mondelēz International Fact Sheet). Although it sounds like finance, marketing plays a huge role in this cycle because the growth that is being driven is the result of creating and growing more brands by driving loyalty that doesn’t cannibalize Mondelēz’ other product sales.

Mondelēz is an interesting company because it has so many different types of brands. From Ritz to Philadelphia to Stride, this company has tasty products across the food and beverage spectrum, and because its brands vary so much, so do its targeted consumer segments.

The first customer segment I’d like to focus on for this report is one that I can identify with: college students. Mondelēz has brands like Oreo and Chips Ahoy! that are potentially valued dorm room snacks for when people are hanging out with their friends or studying in their room. In addition, Oreo has a strong social media presence (it gained a lot of publicity last year with its super bowl tweet (Watercutter)). Its social media seems to be catered towards young people, and it would be interesting to explore the connection between Mondelēz’ brands and college students across the country.

The next customer segment I’d like to analyze for my report is mothers of young children. Mondelēz makes many products like Cheese Nips and Sour Patch that kids love to eat. From my experience, mothers are usually the purchasers of items like these and also the gatekeeper between the child and the snack. I’d be interested to see mothers’ thoughts about the products and to learn more about their opinions on the snacks they are feeding their kids, as well as if Mondelēz is creating value for mothers by creating snacks (some healthy, some not) that their kids enjoy.

The third customer segment I’d like to learn about for my report is the kids themselves. Mondelēz provides tasty snacks that kids can connect with and enjoy. For example, Mondelēz ran a “Sour, Sweet, Gone” television ad campaign that gave their Sour Patch Kids brand a youthful and fun personality. Kids can identify with the brand message even if they don’t realize it and give value in a snack that kids enjoy.

Finally, I’d like to analyze a different type of consumer; baby boomers. Mondelēz has brands like Triscuit and Wheat Thins that create value for these people by providing healthy yet tasty alternatives to other snacks. These crackers can keep baby boomers going throughout their days.

However, these are not the only consumer segments that Mondelēz provides value to. Its dozens of brands are all unique and serve different purposes, and it would be interesting to explore this further. I am looking forward to performing more of this research and gaining a greater knowledge of Mondelēz and CPG as a whole.

Works Cited

"Fact Sheet." Mondelez International Company Website. Mondelez International, n.d. Web. 8 Oct 2013.

Investopedia. "Definition of Consumer-Packaged Goods." Consumer Packaged Goods. 2013.

Watercutter, Angela. "How Oreo Won the Super Bowl with a Timely Blackout Ad on Twitter." Underwire. (2013): n. page. Print.