A Capital Greening – Market Research on the Green Movement

For my senior Marketing Research class at Georgetown University, my wonderful team and I chose to do a video ethnography on the Green Movement for the Natural Marketing Institute.  Armed with Laura Sortwell’s (www.laurasortwell.com, tweet @LauraSortwell) creative genius, knowledge of video editing, love of all things technology, desire to talk to everyone – ever, and incredible energy, Frank Martinez’s badass camera skills, Margaux Harrold’s practicality and organization, and my love of writing, inquiry, and connecting with people, we set off to interview mainly non-Georgetown respondents to find out their thoughts on the Green Movement.

We started out in early November, lugging black suitcases of rented camera equipment to an office in McPherson Square.  Little did we know that those suitcases would become permanent fixtures in our hands and we would become pros at setting up a camera, tripod, and lapel mic in under five minutes.

In the course of approximately three weeks, we completed 21 interviews with people from all over DC.  We investigated many different consumer attitudes towards the Green Movement, the highlights of which are in “A Capital Greening.” These consumers were separated into pre-defined groups by NMI:

LOHAS Segments, Source: http://www.nmisolutions.com/lohasd_segment.html

LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability)

This segment is our “brand lover.”  LOHAS consumers are more environmentally-concerned than any other segment, and demonstrate the strongest loyalty to companies that are environmentally-friendly.

Naturalites
This segment is concerned with the environmental more than average people, but not as much as the LOHAS segment.

Drifters
This segment tends to be concerned with trends, and their commitment is more superficial than LOHAS and Naturalities.

Conventionals
This segment is more practical than the others and tends to base behaviors on the long-term payoff.

Unconcerneds
This segment is not concerned with being environmentally-friendly or sustainable.

Though they are different, we found similarities among consumers in each of the segments and movement amongst the various segments. Some of our most interesting insights include respondents’ overarching belief that government involvement is needed for the movement to have a true impact and their cost-conscious consumer behaviors, regardless of their segment.  Indeed, in the end, we felt a bit limited by the predefined segments, and noted significant commonalities amongst segments.

We recognize the limitations this project has due to the nature of our sampling process and the time and cost restriction.  Our respondents were well-educated, almost exclusively at least at the college level.  They were also fairly well-off for the most part, and several knew each other or associated with each other prior to meeting us.

Still, we learned a great deal from this project.  We all spent many hours in Editing Room 7 at Gelardin, and were able to become well-acquainted with Final Cut Pro, Garage Band, Motion, Photoshop and iDVD, under Laura’s careful guidance.  We wrote scripts, searched for audio tracks, took extra footage, and talked to a lot of people.

I can wholeheartedly say that we have gained an immense amount of valuable experience from this entire process, and and am grateful for the opportunity to do such a unique project.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the film!

Marina (The Writer)

Made by: Margaux Harrold, Marina Lvova, Frank Martinez, Laura Sortwell

We started out in early November, lugging black suitcases of rented camera equipment to an office in McPherson Square.  Little did we know that those suitcases would become permanent fixtures in our hands and we would become pros at setting up a camera, tripod, and lapel mic in under five minutes.

In the course of approximately three weeks, we completed 21 interviews with people from all over DC.  We investigated many different consumer attitudes towards the Green Movement, the highlights of which are in “A Capital Greening.”  Some of our most interesting insights include the need for government involvement for the movement to have a true impact and how cost-conscious respondents from every segment proved to be.  Indeed, in the end, we felt a bit limited by the predefined segments, and noted significant commonalities amongst segments.

We also recognize the limitations this project has due to the nature of our sampling process and the time and cost restriction.  Our respondents were well-educated, almost exclusively at least at the college level.  They were also fairly well-off for the most part, and several knew each other or associated with each other prior to meeting us.

Still, we learned a great deal from this project.  We all spent many hours in Editing Room 7 at Gelardin, and were able to become well-acquainted with Final Cut Pro, Garage Band, Motion, Photoshop and iDVD, under Laura’s careful guidance.  We wrote scripts, searched for audio tracks, took extra footage, and talked to a lot of people.

We can wholeheartedly say that we have gained an immense amount of valuable experience from this entire process, and we thank you for the opportunity to do such a unique project.

Professor Bamossy, we hope you enjoy the film.  Have a wonderful holiday.

Kind Regards,

It’s This One Thing…

Yes that is an Amerie lyric in the title.  She was my pick for our Famous Alumni board in the Alumni Square RHO at Georgetown, since it’s not as common to have entertainers come out of Georgetown. A couple of weeks ago, she came out with her fourth studio album, In Love & War, and now, all of a sudden, her name is coming up on my Twitter feed. It’s exciting to see her active again!. Here’s a video for “Heard Em All”:

The song’s pretty catchy, and the video is definitely hot. But I’m kind of more excited about the old school feel on “Why R U”:

 

But anyway. Let’s talk about another Hoya entertainer. She just graduated, and is a friend of mine, having been on Groove Theory for a couple of years. Jacqui Rice, also known by her stage name, Qui. Not only is she gorgeous and a great singer and dancer, she is seriously the sweetest girl ever. Check her out in her video for “Rev It Up,” which came out last year:

Who are your favorite Georgetown alums? What are they up to these days?

We Like Things That Are Fun

I stumbled upon this website a couple of weeks ago called The Fun Theory.  It’s a pretty simple concept: to get people to change their behaviors, you have to give them an incentive – in this case, make it fun!  The projects range from bottom-less trashcans that give a Mary Poppins bag-like illusion of your trash falling forever to turning recycling bins into an arcade to get more people to recycle glass.

My favorite is this one, the Piano Staircase.  Have a look:

Sure this works in Europe, but do you think fun would overcome American laziness?  I vote we try this here!  On that note, you can submit your ideas and potentially have them come to life!  In fact, there’s a competition going on now until Dec. 1st to submit the best idea you can think of. The top one right now is a visual design that appears on the mirror when you wash your hands, supposedly leading to more handwashing and proper (i.e. 30 seconds!) handwashing.  Georgetown could sure use those to break the Swine curse outbreaks.

From a marketing standpoint, it sounds like a great idea. We all need a little more fun in our lives, and ultimately we’ll change our behaviors if it makes us feel good.  So, what else can this be applied to? How about binge drinking on college campuses?  (Ever since Ad Majorem (the Georgetown ad team that goes to the NSAC competition in NYC every May) and our campaign to stop binge drinking, I keep thinking about ways it could actually be successful.) What about eating healthier?

What do you think? Is making something fun enough to change behavior? Would something else work better?

VALS Survey – Who Am I?

So I just took the VALS survey, which lets marketers know psychological motivators of their consumers.  Here are my results! My primary result is an ACHIEVER, and my secondary is an INNOVATOR.

***

Achievers

Motivated by the desire for achievement, Achievers have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and family. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around family, their place of worship, and work. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. They value consensus, predictability, and stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery.

With many wants and needs, Achievers are active in the consumer marketplace. Image is important to Achievers; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate success to their peers. Because of their busy lives, they are often interested in a variety of time-saving devices.

Innovators

Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteem. Because they have such abundant resources, they exhibit all three primary motivations in varying degrees. They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new ideas and technologies. Innovators are very active consumers, and their purchases reflect cultivated tastes for upscale, niche products and services.

Image is important to Innovators, not as evidence of status or power but as an expression of their taste, independence, and personality. Innovators are among the established and emerging leaders in business and government, yet they continue to seek challenges. Their lives are characterized by variety. Their possessions and recreation reflect a cultivated taste for the finer things in life.

***

Sounds nice, but how important is this? How accurate? For example, I don’t really consider myself politically conservative, but I am into stability.  I wouldn’t exactly say image is important to me, but let’s be honest… I go to Georgetown, I flaunt my New York upbringing any chance I’m given, and I love Nike Dunks.

So, what are your results? How accurate is this? Most importantly, how honest can you be with yourself when taking a survey like this?

Pride and Prejudice

I just spent Friday night in, watching Pride and Prejudice and eating Nutella and Pita Chips (my favorite guilty pleasure).  It took me back to sophomore year of high school, when we were assigned the Austen classic to read.  I vaguely remember disliking all the characters for being so ridiculous.  But then again, it was Victorian England.  The stubbornness, the unnecessary drama, the sidestepping, the delicate games of courtship… It all seems so silly to us now, despite the fact that we still see it all the time.  The only thing that’s changed is that people were more eloquent then.

This actually got me thinking about prejudice today.  I’m taking a course on the U.S. in the 1960′s, and of course, we’ve spent a lot of time on the Black Freedom Movement.  It’s definitely interesting to realize how close we still are to the events that were set in motion over half a century ago.  No one can say that prejudice has been erased from this country, just as no one can argue that pride has disappeared from relationships.

I was struck – truly struck – by some of the Malcolm X speeches we read, in which he comments on the fact that American blacks were not given rights to vote or be true citizens of the U.S., even though immigrants that had come to this country only a few years ago.  This definitely hit home, and I got to thinking about a conversation I’d had with a friend five years ago on a bus in Spain.  “If we could do it,” I’d said, referring to my immigration from Russia, “if we could come from nothing, why can’t they?”  I was so naive.

Wildchild Nation/L.U.A.M.

There’s something important to know about me.  I am completely obssessed with several dancers whom I have never met.  These are people that are not quite mainstream famous (yet), like basically all of Culture Shock, DC, but whom I “know” and can recognize by name, face, and dance style from a group.

You could say this started with one incredible dancer and choreographer, Luam Keflezgy.  She’s based out of New York, and teaches at Broadway Dance Center.  The first time I saw her, I was waiting for my Beginner hip-hop class to start, and her class was just finishing up and I was like, “Wow, who is this lady? She is SICK!”  Since then, I’ve been an avid fan via all internet channels (and I keep trying to take her class but it’s full HOURS in advance!).  Check out her work on Vimeo.  She’s great.

So what’s the point of that? This is: as part of my researching her and everything about her a couple of years ago, I found out that she has a clothing line with Wildchild Nation, an urban chic designer. Her line is L.U.A.M., Love Understands All Music, and it is SO HOT.  Every time I see new stuff I cry over the $69 hoodies and wait for the day when I will be baller enough to afford them.

So today, imagine my ECSTASY when I walk into Commander Salamander on M St. in Georgetown and see Wildchild Nation/L.U.A.M. hanging on the racks! It was incredible!  I prayed for a sale, but alas, all I got was a mere 3 minutes in a Wildchild Nation t-shirt in the fitting room:

Rockin the So Fresh Tee

I like to promote when props are due, and I think Luam has one of the flyest lines in streetwear today.  I love the funky colors, the metallic “hip hop is not on the radio” designs, the bold statements… It’s everything I want to be when I dance.  And I am very happy that Wildchild Nation is making it out there – first with Beat Ya Feet Kings on ABDC, now at Commander Salamander! All I have to say is – hooray!  (And… can I get a sale please?)

Things I (Insert L-word Here)

When I was a kid, one of my favorite bedtime stories was Deniskini Rasskazi, Russian for “Denis’s Stories” (Buy it here, Russian speakers!), a father’s collection of his son’s… adventures.  Two stories in particular brought a smile to my face, though now I see the irony/humor in their differences:  “Things I Love” and “Thinks Mikey Love” (Mikey is Denis’s best friend, and is what we might call now the “sidekick”).  Mikey loves pretty trivial things.  And his grandma, though she’s at the bottom of the list, somewhere below salami and eclairs.  Denis is more of a dreamer.  He loves ideas, ideals, thoughts, people.  (Not eclairs.)

I recently decided that I’m gonna stop using “love” for everything – food, music, movies, people, words, looks, clothes, anything.  (Except Nutella, from which I have recently separated, but not without great heartbreak.  I will love Nutella forever.)  I’m not sure what brought this thought on.  Ok fine, I lie. I know exactly what brought it one.

You know when you are just harmlessly searching for something in Gmail and all of a sudden some *random* Gchat coversation pops up and you read it and go.. “Whoa.”?  That’s kind of what happened.  In this conversation, I think I said “love uuuu” 3 or 4 times, and it irked me because of what happened after it.  (Won’t get into details.  But let’s just say maybe my “love uuuu” wasn’t a gross exaggeration.)

I realized… how am I supposed to know what (or harder yet, who) I love when I throw the word around carelessly?  As a society, we’re so quick to say “I LOVE that movie!” or “I LOVE this meal!” when really, we’re just being lazy and uncreative in our word choice.  Already, since making that decision, and signing it in blood Tweeting it, I’ve caught myself almost throwing out the L-word several times, and actually saying it once.  Oops.  Old habits die hard.

Anyway.  I find it pretty amusing that typically, men (well, maybe all of us) are criticized for not wanting to say “I love you,” when maybe the problem is that we’re just saying it too much in the first place.  I mean, how much does it mean to hear him say “I love you,” when you just said “I love this pen” or “I love this music video”?

On the flipside, maybe we don’t say it enough when we mean it.  My family never really said “I love you” to each other.  Like, ever.  Maybe that’s a Russian thing, but now that conditioning is there, and even though I love them more than anything, I never say it to them.  I guess my point is… I’m learning to use LOVE carefully.

Say it too much when you mean it, and not at all when you don’t.

I should be studying

But I’m not.

So I’ve wanted to start blogging (again?) for quite some time – pretty much ever since I’ve abandoned Xanga. (I went to a predominantly Asian High School. Sue me.  Maybe you’ve heard of it: Stuyvesant High School.. Home of the Math Team.)

It’s three years and about 4 Moleskin journals later, so I’d say I’m ready to go public.

Let’s talk about the tagline. “Ramblings of a future marketer.”  Ambitious, isn’t it? I’m hoping I stay true to that (especially the latter part – I know I can handle “ramblings.” Doing it now.), but right now all I can think of is the measly one hour I have left to study for a History quiz.  What happens in one hour, you ask? DANCE TIME!  Groove Theory: Georgetown’s first and only hip-hop team.  We are kind of awesome.  Here’s some entertainment/showcasing:

Groove Theory at Prelude EC, New York City, April 2009

Will have to update more later, but I have to say, I’m pretty excited to once again have a voice.