drhlee

[drhlee]

Whiter is also a Korean thing

It was interesting to learn from the HBS article, “Fair & Lovely vs. Dark is Beautiful,” that skin fairness was viewed as aspirational in India and that cosmetic companies like Unilever were more than willing to use this belief in advertising to increase sales. In fact, according to their ads, the fairness of one’s skin was associated with improved marriage prospects, job opportunities, and decreased depression, among others. It is a good thing the ASCI, a self-regulatory body for advertising standards, set guidelines to prohibit ads that promote these kinds of ideas, and the Consumer Protection Act can be used to bring forth legal action in India, although I question the effectiveness of such measures to sway public opinion.

Many South Koreans have similar views on having fair skin, as darker skin was once associated with lower-class citizens who did outdoor labor. Although this notion has changed somewhat over the years, having white skin is considered the “standard of beauty,” and thus, skin-whitening cosmetic products are still as popular as ever. Skin bleaching using chemical peels, laser therapy, or injection of products like glutathione, which impedes the pigmentation process, are some of the most commonly performed procedures in cosmetic dermatology clinics. The South Korean media industry also reinforces the idea that whiter is more desirable. Many K-pop stars are prohibited from tanning, and darker-skinned members of the group have been teased on air. And although I have never seen direct aspirational advertisements like the ones described in the HBS case, I wouldn’t be surprised if I did.

[drhlee]

“New-to-the-world” products represent substantial improvements over the ones that are currently available. Thus, it is often difficult to benchmark their potential for success and challenging to predict consumer acceptance. Assumptions and predictions used for forecasting often underestimate customer adoption and product diffusion.

The article entitled “four products: predicting diffusion (2008)” describes four products that, at the time, were “new-to-the-world.” They included sliced peanut butter, a collapsible bicycle wheel, wooden jigsaw puzzles, and Polytrack (synthetic sand for horse race tracks).

Food engineers created a slice of peanut butter that could be wrapped in plastic, stored, and removed cleanly to prepare the sandwich. Although it did address the pain points of spreading peanut butter (i.e., the breaking of bread and the sticky mess), people generally don't associate peanut butter with semi-solid slices of cheese. They probably wouldn't find this new form appetizing or safe for their kids to eat either. One would think that market research would have steered these food engineers away from this idea.

The collapsible bicycle wheel seems like it would benefit bike owners who lack storage space or live in small apartments. But would these people pay a hefty premium for the carbon fiber wheel? Moreover, since the frame of the bike takes up the most space, a collapsing wheel would not be that useful or perceived to be safe, for that matter.   

Wooden jigsaw puzzles sold at a high price seem like decent novelty items for gifts. They last forever and look decorative. But how many people enjoy puzzles or would pay a premium for it? Only market research can tell.

The last on the list, Polytrack, actually sounds like a winner. Here is an item that can endure weather conditions, reduce the impact on horses’ legs, and increase the number of days that races can be run. The only problem with the adoption and diffusion of this product is the conservative nature of the horse racing business. Still, after a few race tracks start adopting it and touting Polytrack’s benefits, it’s only a matter of time before all tracks are on board.

This case reminded me of a “game-changing” technology we tried to adopt at our hospital several years ago, IBM Watson for Oncology. It promised to be the ultimate clinician’s assistant by using AI to “read” the most up-to-date medical journals to make cancer diagnosis faster with better accuracy and with safer treatment recommendations. In the end, however, its abilities never surpassed the level of a first-year resident, and the tool was cumbersome requiring manual input of much of the patient's data. Thus, cancer specialists didn’t find it useful other than for research purposes. A few years later, due to poor adoption, IBM scrapped the project. Maybe, now in the age of AI, it could make a comeback.

[drhlee]

North Dakota Wine is Okay

The authors of the article entitled "Fine as North Dakota wine: Sensory expectations and the intake of companion foods" make a bold claim that taste expectations may have an impact on the expectations of companion foods, and this relationship may have an indirect effect on obesity, using wine and fine dining as an example. Favorable taste expectations, such as the perceived quality of the wine, may lead to positive expectations of the perceived quality of companion food, leading to more eating and drinking. Alcohol intake leads to disinhibition and increased intake and enjoyment of the overall experience, which can further increase food intake.

However, I had quite a few concerns about the conclusions drawn from study 2 because of how underpowered it was, with only an n=24 for the “California” wine and n=15 for the “North Dakota” wine. This is amplified by the group's diversity, in which there was a large disparity in age, seating arrangement, and gender. There was no information on the individuals’ regular dietary habits, obesity, dietary restrictions, etc. Moreover, the total amount consumed was found to be statistically insignificant. In fact, there was a trend for a greater intake of “North Dakota” wine. There was also only a 50 g difference between the groups, with a standard deviation of almost 90 g. The authors continued to try to parcel out information by further dividing the groups into being alone or in a group, sex, time at the table, and an ill-defined variable, “similarity,” claiming that there were no associations found. More information, such as the average age of the tables, gender composition of the tables, etc., could have given more insight into the findings. It would have been a more compelling article if it had been backed by more robust data.

[drhlee]

A thought on market research and medicine

Market research can provide valuable insight into the wants and needs of the customer if done correctly and help a company make sound strategic decisions toward profitability. Reading the “Market Research” article gave me a better understanding of the methods and potential pitfalls when performing these tests. One concept that struck me was when designing questionnaires, it is important to select questions that the responders know the answer to and aren’t embarrassed to give that answer. This is a problem often encountered in the field of medicine, where patients withhold information due to the fear of being stigmatized. This behavior can lead to serious consequences in the care of a patient. Often, a certain amount of rapport between physicians and patients needs to be established in order to for the patients to divulge sensitive information about themselves. Similarly, in marketing, incorrect data gathered from surveys can lead to poor strategic decisions for a firm. In contrast, there may be little to no opportunity in market research to build a trusting relationship with the interviewee to obtain information on embarrassing topics.

[drhlee]

Corona v. Heineken

Corona's marketing strategy focuses on promoting a laid-back beach lifestyle using slogans such as "Find Your Beach." Corona wants to take you away from your stressful work environment and place you on a relaxing beach on an island in Mexico. These are the images I get when I think of Corona, and it’s hard to imagine another beer owning this space or Corona in a different setting. Its name is literally tied to the sun.

Heineken, on the other hand, feels like it belongs in the city being served at an old oakwood pub. Its name exudes a northern European feel. And it’s green. Heineken has made this color synonymous with its beer. But other than that, its message has not been consistent for me, which could be described as social, sophisticated, or humorous.

The premium price for Heineken seems to be justified by its marketing and the fact that it’s coming all the way over from the old country where they know their beer. Corona charges a premium price like Heineken, but I feel like there is a disconnect between the price and the isolated beach image it portrays. I would expect to pay less for a beer coming from this type of environment at the supermarket and would only pay the premium if I was actually on the beach.

Corona has been successful for the most part in maintaining its image, but they have had to deal with some difficult situations and rumors about its product, such as workers urinating in vats of beer, high calories per bottle, the anti-yuppie sentiment, and now the association with the coronavirus. It was surprising (and not surprising at the same time) to learn that the urine rumor was started by a Heineken distributor in the US. Honestly, it would be easy to associate this rumor with Corona since its bottles are clear. Heineken would be somewhat protected from this immediate visualization of urine in its bottles, given that they are green.

In the end, both Coronal and Heineken are beers, but one you drink with lime under the sun, and the other is green.