BOC: Beautiful Stranger TV

“Beautifulstranger.tv is a style hub featuring the most fabulous looks from the street (and occasionally backstage at fashion shows). The compelling content, which is raw, edgy and fun, totally unscripted and completely authentic, drives the consumer to shop the looks right off the backs of the best dressed.” (http://www.beautifulstranger.tv/about)

The idea behind beautiful stranger is one that many fashionistas like myself would call “ingenious.” In many fashion magazines, a reader can find pictures of different women and girls around the world with incredible style. Beautiful Stranger took that idea and brought it forward.

The women who operate the style hub find style in the most fashionable cities. They boldly stop strangers to find out everything about their outfits: what they’re wearing, loving, listening to on their iPods, how they're going green, where they eat, shop, hang out and purchase their items. Each “Beautiful Stranger” has five minutes to explain what she can't live without and why, plus what pieces she's pulled together to create her fabulous and unique style.

The website, beautifulstranger.tv, features photos and video footage of the women that are stopped. On each photo’s individual page, links are available for the viewer to purchase the style captured. The videos involve a series of questions to different people in the fashion industry that include the same criteria as listed above. The videos are fun to watch because these fashion experts mention ALL great places to shop from Bottega Veneta to Target.

The idea was created and brought forth by Editor and Executive Producer, Abby Wallach. She has worked in the business for over twenty-five years and has worked for some of the most profound companies in the industry including Women’s Wear Daily, and Glamour and W magazines.

EOC: Big

Big is a film about a 13-year-old boy who takes on a 30-year-old man’s body (Tom Hanks) for some period of time. In the film, he becomes a toy tester for a company called MacMillan toys. He becomes very popular within his company as his boss’s favorite employees. His coworkers, however, find it difficult to like him because of his quick promotion in the company. These employees do not realize or understand that he is really a 13-year-old boy.

At the toy company, toys and toy ideas are tested on children as well as adults. Several research methods are demonstrated in the film. The most obvious being focus groups. The focus group consists of many children who get to play with toys and express their ideas and opinions about them. Tom Hanks’ character becomes the most valued opinion because he still thinks like a kid. Much product research is also conducted, as well as longitudinal research. This takes ideas from children and the company’s employees and builds them, eventually creating a toy to go into production. The company uses demographic selection and other good research techniques but the information they supplied was used in the wrong ways. They had lots of great statistics that were ineffective for designing childrens' toys. Brainstorming is another effective research method used in the film. By simply sampling prototype toys in a conference room, bigger and better ideas are put into work.

The gist of the film encourages adults not to lose touch with their child-like qualities. See, by becoming working adults, many of the employees get so into their jobs and earning money that they lose sight of what their job actually is. At the toy company, many employees focus on research results and studies and surveys of what people want – they forget that a toy is just supposed to be fun to play with. The focus group is the best research method for a toy company, in my opinion.

BOC: Week 2 Survey & Results

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/humannature00/FinalArticles/TheSenseofScentA.html

This survey has to do with scent and sexual attraction. The survey was created by four female college students that were inspired after a conversation about everything being scented, from lotions they use to feminine hygiene products. This project attempted to explore the role that scent, and specifically artificial scent, plays in college-age interpersonal relationships. It has been hypothesized that scent plays a crucial role in sexual attraction between individuals. A survey and practical experiment were conducted in an attempt to prove that not only is scent important in college-a

ged persons interactions, but that showered and artificial scents in comparison to n

atural odors is the most desired.

Surveys were conducted first and given to 50 students on the college campus. All surveyed students were kept between the ages of 18 and 22. Then a series of tests were given to these same 50 students. Tests included being asked to smell different scents and guess what they are and being asked to smell scents are reveal emotions they feel from the scent. Then poles were taken around campus of how often women shower vs. men. Over 50% of each showers daily but 15% of men shower twice daily vs. .4% of women. 62.5% of women on campus rated scent as moderately important against 42.3% of men. However, 15.4% of men rated scent as very important where as only 12.5% of women did the same. Over 65% of both men and women say that scent plays a factor in whether they will become romantic with someone.

Finally, 5 perfumes for men to smell and 5 colognes for women to smell were tested on the students to see which reminded them of a past relationship. The perfumes chosen were Happy, Journey, Kenzo, Sunflowers and CK1. The colognes chosen were Chrome, A&F, A&F Woods, Hugo Boss and CK1. CK

1 was chosen by women and Happy and Journey in a tie were chosen by men.

I thought this was a very interesting survey because I also find it strange how large of a role scent plays in our everyday lives. The study needs much more work done to be accurate: a larger number of students, more tests and a fewer number of variables. I do think that the concept, however, is incredibly note-worthy and would look into it more.

BOC: Online Quiz

1. What is a Booty Pop? What is its significance?

A booty pop is a pair of shorts that are padded in the rear to make a woman’s buttocks appear larger. Apparently, they are used by celebrities and every day women in order to make clothing look better. Songs like “Bootylicious,” “Donk,” and “Baby Got Back” have all encouraged women to feel that they need to have a larger behind.[1]

2. Who spends more money online, men or women?

Apparently, men spend more money online than women, especially during holiday season. This is supposedly because men have less drive to go out and shop than women do. Women are much more likely to enjoy the activity of shopping and going to malls, where as, men do not enjoy shopping or trying things on. For men it is more convenient to order things and have them delivered right to their door.[2]

3. Who spends more time online, men or women?

On the contrary to the previous question, women spend more time online than men. Women spend more time on social networks and online publications than men do. [3] This is most likely because women enjoy things like Facebook and Twitter more – posting pictures, updating their status, snooping and lurking on others’ pages. Also like to shop online simply to preview what they will purchase in the store. Women enjoy the activity of shopping and enjoy going to malls with friends and even solo. For women, shopping is a therapeutic activity.[4]

4. What advantage do marketers have for women shopping online than men?

Advantages that marketers have for women shopping online than men include knowing how women use the internet, women being emotional shoppers and women being easier to rope in through advertising.[1] When marketing to women, marketers must know how to tap in to female emotions – doing so will make your marketing successful. Reaching men through marketing is much less understood than doing so for women.

[1] http://www.bootypop.com/

[2] http://www.opentechsupport.net/forum/general-news/30799-men-spend-more-than-woman-online.html

[3] http://www.zmags.com/blog/women-spend-45-more-time-reading-online-publications-men

[4] http://www.itlist.com/research-says-women-spend-more-time-online-then-men/

[5] http://marketingtowomenonline.typepad.com/blog/2006/02/male_vs_female_.html

EOC: What I'm Expecting

From Principles of Marketing Research I expect to gain knowledge and skills to conduct beneficial market research. I also expect to learn about different types of marketing research and different ways to conduct it, as well as, how to analyze results to benefit a company. I also expect to learn how to present marketing research results to a company and/or client. I should complete this course with the following abilities:

1. Gather, record, and analyze data related to the marketing of goods and services.

2. Relate the development of market research techniques to a historical context.

3. Compare and contrast market research options and apply them to a planned campaign.

In this class, I expect to maintain a blog and twitter account every day. I will show up to class every Wednesday night ON TIME, not a minute later. Having had Mr. Pinto several times in the past, I know that this is a lot of work but will work hard to keep up with the course and all of its assignments.

From this 10-week course I expect to gain factual knowledge that will help further my career in both fashion and fitness. I would like to learn how to conduct and analyze proper research in order to gain clientele and increase sales/activity. I would also like to learn how to put all of this knowledge into my career. I strongly feel that the knowledge and skills I gain from this class can help me to further my career, as well as become a greater asset to my employer.