Assignment 2: 4 Pleasure Analysis

Thursday, 31 January 2008

Assignment 2: 4 Pleasure Analysis

Product my partner and I picked in class: A pair of black heels

Description of the product:

The product is a pair of sleek, elegant and classy black heels. However, combined with the unique and funky strap, the overall look of the heels spells an image of professional sophistication with a touch of naughtiness.

A Summary of the Reverse Marketing Analysis done in class

The target user will be an young female in her late twenties to early thirties. She is climbing her way up the corporate ladder, and being a competitive go-getter, she has no qualms about using unethical means to get to the top. She works hard and plays hard, and she spends her monthly earnings without second doubts. She does not have any savings, but as a conscientious person, she doesn’t overspend. As she is a very attractive female, she always believes that she will eventually settle down with a wealthy and older man. Right now, she is just having fun and trying her best to score at her workplace.

The sleek and elegant black heels, combined with the kinky and fashionable strap, shows that she is able to assert her creative individuality without going over the top. Hence, my guess is that she works in the creative industry as an advertising executive.

She is apathetic about politics as she cares only about her work and having fun. On weekends, she spends time working out and on her beauty regimen.

Target User Profile

Imaginary subject: Rebecca is a 29 year-old advertising senior executive working at Saatchi and Saatchi. She is a single, materialistic, and an extremely competitive Singaporean. She loves challenges and hates to lose. She works late everyday, and she even meets clients on weekends. She has few close friends, due to her competitive nature, but she has a lot of suitors. She dates many guys, and she only accepts dates at exclusive and up-market restaurants and clubs. The men she is attracted to are usually wealthy, successful and generous. She does not believe in love, but rather, she believes in the power of money. This could be due to her childhood and history.

Her parents are poor, and her father is a compulsive gambler who haven been working since she was young. Her mum works as a coffee shop assistant to bring up Rebecca’s sister and her. Hence, since young, she has leaded a very tough and thrifty life. That is also why she fears poverty and is constantly striving to earn more money.

She graduated from NUS’s business school when she was 23, and since her graduation, this is her 4^th job. As she is ambitious and talented, she has no qualms about switching jobs when a better opportunity comes along.

She drives a BMW 3series because she is unable to afford the 5series at this moment, but she still wants to portray an image of success and affluence. Image and status is everything to her. She shops at designer boutique and buys only designer clothing and accessories that will enhance her status.

Every night after working late, she will dine and wine with dates or like-minded friends at fancy restaurants. However, she does not stay out too late. Upon reaching home, she will take a long bath to relax herself, and subsequently, she will check her emails. If she is still not too sleepy, she will continue working on her advertising projects.

She has long wavy black hair. She doesn’t dye it as she wants to look professional. At work, she ties up her hair to convey an image of professionalism, but after work, she puts it down and lets her wild side out.

On weekends, other than working, she goes for her weekly gym and spa sessions to rejuvenate herself for the next week. She is a member of a few exclusive gyms and spas located at downtown orchard road. Her close friends are very similar, all ambitious and materialistic. And she often meets them during weekends to shop, go to the gym, or go to the spa. She also tries to have dinner with her family once a week. Deep down, she is proud of her accomplishments and her current status in society, given that she comes from such a humble background.

Four-pleasure Analysis of Rebecca

Socio-pleasure:

Rebecca revels in her glamorous lifestyle. She loves the prestige she gets from her high-paying job. Being that high up the corporate leader, she derives pleasure from knowing that she is successful and that others know it too. (Need)
As she job enables her to socialize with the wealthy directors and well-to-do businessmen, she takes pride in having many connections in the elite world of rich people. (Appreciation)
Though she is an independent and successful woman, she never forgets her roots and she enjoys the company of her family members as she can truly be herself in front of them. Therefore, she makes it a point of visiting them at least once a week. (Need)

Psycho-pleasure:

Rebecca’s job requires that she comes up with creative ideas all the time. Her clients often have demanding requirements, and it is her job to come up with ideas to meet these requirements. Though it is tough, she actually loves it each time she overcome these challenges. (Need)
As a highly sought after executive in one of the most prestigious advertising firm, she earns a lot of money. Therefore, she is very proud of her achievements. (Appreciation)
Her high position in her company puts her in the position to lead. She has a group of junior executives under her and the fact that she has more authority than most in her company gives her a powerful feeling. Her huge salary every month added on to her feeling of power as she is able to afford a lot with it. “Money is power”. (Need)
Her attractiveness and popularity with the opposite sex is also something she takes pride in because she enjoys being the center of attention. (Appreciation)
When she is feeling blue or stressed out, sometimes she would spoil herself with her favorite food. She loves ice-cream, cakes and chocolates. And again, she goes for the upscale brands. She feels that a tub of strawberry cheesecake ice-cream and a slice of rich, warm, chocolate cake will drive all your troubles away. (Appreciation)

Ideo-pleasure:

As Rebecca hates to lose in anything, she believes that competition fuels one’s drive to work harder and since improves one’s performance. She has always welcomes challenges, and has never failed to overcome any. (Need)
Due to her humble background, and the fact that her family couldn’t afford much when she was young, she goes only for the best stuff now. Knowing the power and importance of money, and having experience how painful it is to not have much money, she is very materialistic now. She seeks material comfort. (Need)
She buys only designers stuff due to her need to be perceived by others as a woman of sophisticated and expensive taste. That is also why she loves to dress in black, black spells sophistication and elegance. (Need)
Through her hard work, she has come a long way. That’s why she strongly believes in the adage “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” (Appreciation)
She works hard and plays hard as she believes that it is important to maintain a balance in life. (Need)

Physio-pleasure:

She loves taking long jasmine-scented baths as she loves the smell of jasmine leaves. She finds the smell of jasmine leaves very comforting. This could be because her mother used to wear jasmine-scented powder. The long baths also loosen her muscles and find relax them. (Appreciation)
She goes for Pilates, yoga, and gym training sessions on a regular basis. It is very important for her to maintain her lean figure as she has to constantly meet clients and looking good in the eyes of others is extremely important to her. (Need)
After a hard week of work and play, she usually feels worn out by the end of the week. Her spa and massaging trips helps to reinvigorate her. She always feels restored and ready to take on the world after these trips. (Need)
When she is stressed out, she likes to have a couple of glasses of wine to calm her nerves. Also, when she has just completed a project, she will reward herself by drinking expensive wine in larger quantity. (Appreciation)

Physio	Socio	Psycho	Ideo
Staying in shape	Glamorous lifestyle	Sense of accomplishment	Competitive streak
Rejuvenation	Social prestige	Overcoming challenges	Materialism
Physical and mental relaxation	Good relationship with her family	Feeling of power	Expensive and sophisticated taste
Intoxication	Networking with wealthy businessmen	Comfort food	“Never give up” attitude
		Center of attention	A balanced lifestyle

Product Benefits Specification

Criteria to meet Need pleasures:

Phone should be designed by a luxury brand
Phone should cost more than the average phone that the typical users buy
Phone’s appearance should balance sophistication with fashion
Phone should be black, looks sleek and elegant
Phone should also have a large enough memory to store the contact details of her clients and her meeting scedules

Criteria to meet Appreciation pleasures:

Phone should look alluring enough to attract attention
Phone should look impressive enough so that she can proudly use it during her meeting with clients
Phone should have features that would facilitate her interactions and building of relationships with important social/business acquaintance and friends

Recommended Phones:

1) Prada Phone

Image Source: http://meanderin.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/lg_prada1.jpg

The KE850 Prada Phone by LG will be most suitable for her. It is a designer 3G cell phone and it costs around 700-800 Singapore dollars. The ultra-thin profile of just 12 mm gives the phone a sleek and elegant look. The black exterior and touch-screen interface speaks of sophistication too. Appearance wise, it is perfect for impressing her clients and attracting attention in a subtle way.

Image Source: design.aim.com/.../2007/03/prada_phone.jpg

Features wise, the external memory slot will allow her to store as much information as she need to by simply getting a memory card that has great storage place. In addition, the extra-wide touch screen interface that covers much of the phone's surface will enable her to make quality 3G phone calls with her clients or friends.