RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION
Actionable insights to move Curves into nutrition support Goal Curves’ has developed an internal Nutrition Task Force that is charged with extending Curves’ services from fitness support into nutrition support. The Task Force has asked me to deliver actionable research insights on busy moms.
Questions 1. What content will be most helpful to the Curves Nutrition Task Force? 2. What communication method will have the most impact and give the content the most use after the project?
CONTENT
Moms base their self-evaluation on perception not reality Busy moms exist in four self-reported evaluation modes
Close gap between perception and reality Women put a lot of thought into planning dinner for their families, yet rarely have the ability to truthfully evaluate the outcomes of their dinner planning. Curves has a large opportunity to help moms close the gap between their perceptions of their actions and their actual actions.
Chronic justifier
Proud Provider
I set high standards for dinners and incorrectly believe that my actions meet those standards.
I reach most of the dinner planning goals I set and believe I am feeding my family well.
Defeated Worker
Harsh evaluator
I’m overwhelmed by dinner and believe that there’s little use in trying to turn it around.
I dismiss many of my dinner efforts and believe there is always more I should be doing.
Negative perception of actions
Actions aligned with goals
Actions misaligned with goals
Positive perception of actions
Enable moms to use their own judgement Though busy, mom’s have strong opinions about what nutritional behavior is “right” and what behavior is “wrong”. The opportunity doesn’t lie in Curves imposing a scale of right or wrong behaviors, but instead in enabling individual women to more accurately use their own scale.
CONTENT
Understanding each mode allows us to diagnose and respond Example of one self-reported evaluation mode
Harsh evaluator I dismiss many of my dinner efforts and believe there is always more I should be doing.
Moms in each mode have different needs
I have a negative perception of my actions as they map to my dinner planning goals My actual actions are successful in reaching my dinner planning goals
Busy moms are not bound to only one self-evaluation mode, but each mode is characterized by specific behaviors that are accompanied by specific needs. It is therefore critical for Curves to be able to identify the self-evaluation mode a mom at any time.
Harsh evaluators need reward for efforts
√
To identify me, look for these behaviors:
Successful solutions will provide me with:
Remember:
Devaluing dinner time
Rewards for my efforts
I am unaware of the amount
During dinner Alyssa’s children came and went, she explained to us that this was normal, dinner often last several hours because people are getting up to break for reading, work or phone calls.
- moments of celebration and appreciation
dinner planning. I’ve grown
Prioritizing my family over me
√
Sofia served dinner for her family, but because of her baby’s early sleep schedule she told us, she was going to have to let her food get cold tonight, actually she said this was pretty common.
Allowing guilt to push me to do extra work
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-a cknowledgement and validation of modern day tensions - a objective view of my actions - the ability to track and monitor my actions
of work I am putting into
Proud Providers need staying power
accustomed to my overbearing responsibilities that I no longer notice how many I am balancing. Eventually something has to give and I’d prefer it to be me than my family, as I feel guilty that I can’t handle it all.
Sona described preprepared meals as cheating, even after admitting it probably would be as healthy and much easier, she told us it felt like cheating, that she was driven by a deep guilt to cook and prepare a full meal for her family, because she knows how to.
Lacking ability to recognize positive actions
√
Chronic justifiers need honest feedback
Sofia shared her goal of cooking more home cooked meals and adding more variety. Moments later she told us a typical dinner involved her cooking four different meals from each member of the family.
smartaction
Final presentation 10.05.2009
Defeated Workers need momentum
CONTENT
A personalized response to moms differentiates our offering Traditional plans are linear but life isn’t
Life is too unpredictable to plan
Goal
Traditional nutritional support solutions provide a strict plan that the individual must follow. Though our research showed moms were enthusiastic about the idea of a ‘perfect’ plan, we repeatedly saw these plans fall short of moms’ expectations. The plans were too inflexible to match to their unpredictable life, therefore setting women up to fail.
Today
Moms need flexible nutritional plans TRADITIONAL PLANS
LIFE
INFLECTION POINTS: moments of course correction
Busy moms need integrated plans that recognize food is only one aspect of getting dinner on the table. Moms need flexible plans that adjust to their unpredictable life. By recognizing and responding to each of mom’s self-evaluation modes, Curves will be able to provide moms support at each inflection points of their variable life. Attention at each inflection point will give moms the ability to course correct and give Curves the ability to poise moms for success.
COMMUNICATION METHOD
Content driven communication makes insights actionable Real women, real insight, real impact
Full size photos:
Removable boards:
• r einforce empathy for the individual mom
• i ncrease the likelihood the content will live on in a visible way after the final presentation
•g ive the content impact with physical presence •a llow all the content to be viewed at one •e nable multiple entry points and eliminate need for a linear flow