E-Concept Development Semester Project Synopsis

TEAM 3 e-Concept Development Semester One 1 June 2011

E-concept Development Synopsis

by Sondra Lynell Duckert

Forum TandlĂŚge- & Implantatcenter

TEAM_3_Semester_1_ Synopsis, Sondra L. Duckert , 1 June 2011

Synopsis E-Concept Development

Introduction We were presented with the opportunity to work with three clients who were looking for new concepts in digital communication, e-solutions or some form of digital advertising. The assignments were designed to offer our clients innovated ideas, using skills we obtained via workshop modules and present something exciting that they would want to take back to their stakeholders for further review. The purpose therefore of this synopsis is to provide a brief insight into some of the obstacles, successes and outcomes, faced in each project.

Summary of Projects Project one: 'En Varm Seng' (A Warm Bed) Theme: Digital Communication A non-profit organization that helps both homeless nationals and non-nationals in Denmark. April Chris, the spokesperson and founder of 'En Varm Seng' in conjunction with the Danish Internet Awards (DIA-Future)1 gave us the opportunity to develop a concept, involving a mobile solution, that would help the organization raise donations, volunteers and monetary contributions for the repatriation of non-nationals.

The Process Our client goal as we stated in our report was, 'En Varm Seng' is in need of a smartphone application that will help them to increase donations by 20% within a year'.

Challenges: Defining the client goal, problem area/formulation and target group.

Discovery: We discovered that our client goal was not as S.M.A.R.T. as it could have been as we only discussed two elements for the smartphone, an application or a compelling video.

• Our goal was to create a smartphone application. However in reality, DIA-Future instructions was for a mobile solution. Therefore, thoughts behind creating a solution based on the client goal were narrowed to what's happening now with mobile technology. For some reason(s) we could not creatively get pass our own conventional way of thinking, even with the use of idea generating exercises like brainstorming. We thought that we were on the right track in defining what 'En Varm Seng' wanted in a smartphone app.

• Our problem formulation was also a bit off the mark because we focused on monetary donations. We realized afterwards that it would be difficult to get someone to use an application just for donating if there are no incentives for doing so. Thus, our main problem formulation went unanswered in our analysis conclusion, as we did not have any support or reason from our research on why anyone should or would want to use our app. We believed in the concept of the application but not in the solution. Indeed, a solution that would have worked is one of fund-raising, as was briefly mentioned in our SWOT analysis, however we failed to see how this would increase monetary donations using a smartphone app.

• The selection of our target group posed a problem as we used DIA's target group age recommendation but failed to extrapolate from there. We segmented and defined our group as 'green people' using the RISC/Minerva model based on only two characteristics; gender and the ability to donate. Indeed, we should have conducted a proper survey analysis to identify the correct target group for our solution.

Outcome: Our reports both had some high and low points. Within the analysis report we able to show that we could use the strategic analysis models properly, however, our budget breakdown was placed in the analysis and should have been part of the solution report. There were also issues in the solution report that needed improvement, such as our concept description, personas, user scenarios, promotional platform and budget breakdown.

1DIA-Future,

http://www.diafuture.dk

2

TEAM_3_Semester_1_ Synopsis, Sondra L. Duckert , 1 June 2011

As for our presentation for April Chris it went well, however, our digital communication solution did not meet all of her needs, as our concept and design were not innovative or resulted in any real 'ah ha' moments.

Nevertheless, she gave us great marks (3.5-4/ 5) as well as kind words for effort and inspiration.

Accompany literature: For usability and design layout, Steve Krug's 'Rocket Science Made Easy' and Jakob Nielsen's Introduction to usability and our guest lecturer Anja Thrane, offered a number of recommendations for improving the ease of use during the design phase. They all showed how making the connection between the way we design websites and the reality of how users actually navigate them is key to improving a design interface for quality. We are now aware of what we should include when making our own usability-testing page as we implemented during the design mock-up phase of our smartphone application.

Reflections Lessons learned: The lessons taken from the first project was to be more involved in organizational planning, to be more assertive in group discussions and to actively push for more time with creative and idea generating exercises. Group relationships could have been strengthen with the use of team building exercises and known competencies and learning goals spelt out beforehand.

Project two: Forum TandlĂŚge- & Implantatcenter ('Forum Tand') Theme: Marketing Forum Tand is a well-established dental clinic that has serviced both general and dental implant patients since 2006. Co-owner, Peter Gade stated that they currently service approximately 2000 patients/year but believe that they have the capacity to treat more patients.

The Process The client goal as we stated in our report was, 'To be informed about the possibilities and relevance of using new media, regarding dental implants, that can increase their ROI by 200% in one year.'

Challenges: survey, target group, market planning, social media Discovery: The way we view new media as multimedia designers was not true for Peter Gade or his patients. Therefore, we did not offer him anything relevant within our solution that he could use to increase the number of dental implant patients in one year. • Continuing with the e-concept module of development of analysis and insight we began by defining our client's goal (CG) using the S.M.A.R.T. model, and so believe it to be a pretty good goal. The CG is also one of the four areas that were important to us in gauging if our analysis was successful enough to create a solution from. Other areas include the introduction, problem formulation (PF) and conclusion. Our thought was to try to connect each of these sections with a common message by which we could further use our solution in providing for our client what he seeks: information on new media in attracting new dental implant patients. These four sections together unfortunately gave no clue in how we were going to create a solution. Our survey had too few participants to gather information regarding our target group. • We felt that our PF presented us with the right questions but our conclusion provided no answers on how to move forward. In the end we suggested several solutions that could work but all were just the same run of the mill solutions for marketing new/social media: search engine optimization (SEO), Letterbox connected to Facebook, testimonial videos, bus posters (inside).

Outcome: The presentation of our solution was not much different than many of the other presenting groups, as SEO (google) and social media was the main topics of discussion. Forum tand representative did not think that they could use our solution, however, she felt that maybe one of her other clients could. We received a score of 4/5, which was quite generous considering that there wasn't anything she could use.

Reflections Lessons learned from this project was that firstly, I gathered a lot of information about seniors realizing that they think 'younger' than we gave them credit for. Secondly, that it's important to attract as many qualified participants as possible to conduct a proper survey.

3

TEAM_3_Semester_1_ Synopsis, Sondra L. Duckert , 1 June 2011

Project three: 'Moodagent' 'MoodagentTM' is a music application developed for both smartphones and desktop computers created by SyntoneticTM, a music discovery company based here in Copenhagen. They provide intelligent applications for auto music play-listing in over 200 countries and to more than five million users.

The Process The client goal as we stated in our report was, 'To create a united/coherent MoodagentTM user experience across all platforms Challenges: cloud computing, synchronization, added features, target group, personas Discovery: Our added features did not address our solution for creating a user experience across all platforms. The chosen target group was based on smartphone users2 and not music lovers. Segmentation should have been for a global audience and not just for Scandinavia 3.

• This project is one where I had the least involvement in as I was on holiday returning in the middle of the solution phase. The sections that I was assigned to were the target group segmentation, persona, user scenario and final editing of the report.

• The target group segmentation was not defined properly. We had not yet conducted a survey to draw a

target group from until late in the project. I therefore referenced analytical data from a research website, Neilsen 4, regarding smartphone users to gain an ideal of who we might attract to use the application.

Thinking that smartphone users download a lot of apps and if they happen to be music lovers this would give us more insight. However I found no such connection between smartphone users, the number of apps downloaded and music lovers. Our survey results was inconclusive as the number of participants was insufficient to draw a true target group from.

• Creating personas continues to be a challenge for me, as I seem to create a mixture of both the persona and user scenario into one story. I will continue to work on this for future user centered designs.

Outcome: The clients were not totally impressed with our solution. We added some great features that would entice the users to spend more time on the app. but we presented them as cross platform solutions.

They also had some technical questions regarding how streaming music from online music sites would work with their MoodagentTM considering that there are a few licensing issues we did not research before hand. They seem to be more interested in our moodflipper mascot feature than the concept of synchronization or cloud computing. We received a score of 3/5 for our effort.

Reflections Not being able to participate in the creative analysis from the start of this project reflected in my ability to fully grasp our analysis and solution. Furthermore, it also affected my ability to give constructed feedback to my group members.

Accompany Literature: The ideas and principles referenced in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, fits well in how Syntonetic Moodagent agent, as well as the other clients, can start a WOM (word of mouth) epidemic using the principle of the law of a few: connectors, mavens and salesmen. This method takes time and a little bit of luck.

Literature and its relationship to course work The accompanied literature that relates to the issues faced in all three projects in my opinion would be 'The Wisdom of Crowds'. As this is an international class where diverse individuals are more likely to come up with better creative and intelligent ideas as a group. However, not always true, according to the author, in situations where good friends are working together. One thing that caught my attention in The Wisdom of Crowds, was chapter six. This is my take on what I got out of that chapter, among other things is, 'A huge part in collectively getting people to solve a problem is that they first have to agree to cooperate'.

2 3 4

Mobile trends, http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/2011/04/mobile-and-smartphone-users.html RISC/Minerva lifestyle model http://www.berg-marketing.dk/livsstils_segm.htm Nielsen wire, http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/with-smartphone-adoption-on-the-rise-opportunity-for-marketers-is-calling/

4