michellele-mit

[michellele-mit]

Sloan has been a transformative experience. It has made a better business leader and person. My time at Sloan taught me to question conventional thinking and be more open to change. Because of Sloan I am less afraid to speak up and have an opinion. As I reflect and think about what kind of leader I want to be throughout my career, I’ve realized that I want to be an inspirational and compassionate leader. I hope to be considered an individual who perseveres and doesn’t take no for an answer. I want to be consulted for creative thinking and help solve difficult problems in unique ways. I also hope to be considered a mentor developing the next generation of business leaders.  

I am an extremely committed individual, yet I don’t like to leave anyone behind. I value relationship building above many other qualities and strengths I try to develop. I seek to build trust and have close relationships with family, friends, peers and coworkers. Consequently, one of my biggest weaknesses is the fact that I hate conflict. I talk out every issue to ensure I can negotiate a happy median. And at times, I give up my position for the contentment of the group. I like to make sure everyone’s thoughts and opinions are incorporated or considered seriously. In becoming a stronger leader throughout my career, I hope to become a bit more comfortable with conflict as I think it can inspire and push ideas to the next level.  

I hope my ideas of how I want to establish myself as a business leader throughout my careers is something I actively think about over the years. My life and career will take me on many adventures and I hope, above all else, that I will be happy and love what I do each day.

[michellele-mit]

Coca Cola has had some pretty incredible marketing campaigns over the years that have really resonated with its customers. Most recently, their #shareacoke campaign has even resulted in an increase in sales during a time when revenues were weakening. Coke started printing the words “Share a Coke with…” and includes the names of random people. The idea was that you would buy more bottles for yourself, friends and family, if you can buy a personalized bottle at the store. Yet, the campaign lives on from its original launch in 2014. This summer, the campaign has transformed to switchout names with song lyrics with the new “Share a Coke and a Song” campaign. A quick twitter search reveals a Selena Gomez post with the introduction of the new campaign. Starting in mid-April, more than 70 genre-spanning lyics will be features on Coke bottles. Lyrics were specifically selected that capture a moment and reflect on Coke’s brand values of optimism, refreshment and inclusion. I wonder how busting out with “It’s getting hot here” during a quick Coke break will resonate the way Coke hope it will.

[michellele-mit]

Rose Marie Bravo brought Burberry back in 2003. She took bold moves to revive and transform the brand from a tired outerwear manufacturer into a luxury lifestyle brand. She wanted the brand to be aspirational, stylish, and innovative. She worked to position Burberry’s brand to represent accessible luxury. And she succeeded.

Through her targeted approach of reining in licensees and distributors, repositioning the brand, updating the product line, expanding the brand portfolio thoughtfully, and launching a modern, new ad campaign, Burberry became the turnaround success story of the 2000s. But I wonder how prepared is the Burberry brand for the new consumer of 2016; a consumer who is not interested to flaunt designer labels, values quality over being too showy, prefers individuality to dressing like the masses. Bravo was correct in being concern over the fate of future prospects of Burberry. Burberry is an iconic brand, but it has much to more to prove in 2016.

While Burberry’s brand is the foundation that can make or break the company, it is also facing external forces that make it a challenging industry for any luxury designer. Asia and the US markets are weak and the margins on their products trail far behind competitors like Hermes, LVMH and Kering. In the last year, Burberry has undergone its next brand transformation by simplifying its offerings and closing the Prorsum, London and Brit labels. With one single Burberry label, they will be able to better control the brand experience and brand perception of quality and sophistication. Now the next question remains, can Burberry succeed in an age when more and more consumers look to the digital experience for their luxury purchases?

[michellele-mit]

What makes Soul Cycle addicts pay significantly more for a cycling class over another similar exercise class? What leads curious exercise addicts to try a new class and pay more than $34 for a class, when they can probably get it for a fraction of the cost at another studio? Soul Cycle has built their success around their brand equity. Soul Cycle leads consumers to think of dance party on a bike, yummy scented candles, mood lighting, extremely attractive instructors yelling at you to peddle harder, and the tabloid photos of famous actresses trying out Soul Cycle classes. When we map customer equity against company equity, you may argue that Soul Cycle has achieved high value of customer equity with high value of company equity relative to other exercise classes. However, in recent years, I believe the company may be suffering from rapid expansion as Soul Cycles studios have been popping up all over large US cities. As the brand starts to begin to be considered too mass market by Soul Cycle addicts, consumers start to question why they are paying so much for an hour long cycling class. The cult-like following is no longer cult-like without the brand equity. Just a few weeks ago, the cofounders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie rise have resigned from their positions of Chief Creative Officers. In the midst of their upcoming plans to go public and their big vision for expanding their studio count and creating at-home cycling workouts, Soul Cycle is risking the brand equity they’ve worked so hard to build over the last few years. Soul Cycle built a brand on being “exclusive”, but I worry that too much expansion will dilute the exclusivity that made the brand famous. Perhaps that IPO isn’t such a good idea?

[michellele-mit]

Both of my parent’s were born in Chile and immigrated to the US about 30 years ago. Over the years, my dad became very passionate about wine and often preferred to purchase wines from his native country. I grew up with my parents sipping Casillero del Diablo during dinner and I remember Don Melchor being poured during big celebrations. On many occasions, when we dined out, my dad proudly explained to restaurant waiters that he came from Chile and he would only be ordering a Chilean wine that night.

For many years, Chile and wine went hand in hand for me. When I started learning more about the New World vs Old World wine wars, I started to understand why my dad always bought Chilean wines – he was proud of native country and how they’ve placed themselves on the “Old World” dominated map when it came to fine wine. Doesn’t it seem silly that a consumer would purchase a wine solely based on what country it came from? I have to admit, I’m one of those consumers. Many of my wine decisions come down to 3 factors – type of grape, pretty labeling, and price. I’m not a loyal wine consumer. I love to experiment and try new brands.

As we learned in our Industrial Economics class last semester, wine is considered to be a credence good where consumers can never actually determine its true value. Generally, I take the price of a bottle of wine to be a signal of quality. In fact, most people can’t tell the difference between different priced bottles in blind taste tests. So what’s my recommendation to Concha y Toro – produce quality wine, charge a higher price and skew to the high end of the market. Brand perception is everything in the wine industry. Exploiting the prestige of its high-end wine to expand into the basic segment will only hurt their overall reputation and lower their quality perception. Besides, I want my Dad to keep proudly stating that he comes from Chile and Chile makes the world’s best wines – Love you dad!

[michellele-mit]

How did Uber achieve product diffusion when I was such a skeptic?

Ideally, I love to think of myself as an early adopter or at least part of the early majority. As a grad student at MIT, I’m constantly bombarded with information on the latest device or algorithm that will solve any problem. However, I fear that I was late to the game when it came to Uber. I reluctantly admit – I was a bit of skeptic at first. For some reason, I couldn’t get over the fact that I was getting into the car of a stranger. I thought it was expensive and I didn’t want to give my credit card to another app. Besides, taxis seemed to be everywhere. You had to be pretty lazy to feel like you couldn’t just wave down a cab. I had every excuse under the sun to not try Uber. Fast forward to today – Uber is probably the most used app on my phone. In fact, I try not to add up the Uber charges on my bank statement because of how often I do decide to use the service. I’ve added up my Uber charges before and it’s quite frightening to see the reality of how much I’m spending. Why was I such a skeptic at first when Uber turned out to be one of the most useful technologies in my life today?

So what led to Uber’s mass product diffusion? Why did people get over the initial skepticism around getting into a stranger’s car? Why are taxi drivers and companies around the world up in arms about this service? As I think about Rogers’ Five Factors, I wonder if the reason Uber was able to succeed was because they got these product differences right.

Relative Advantage – The technology around being able to pay directly through the app with a credit card, avoiding the awkward tip exchange, tracking how far away the uber is from picking you up are all big advantages over a taxi.

Compatibility – I think that compatibility became more apparent as I began to use the app. At first, there were several times where I pulled out my wallet out of habit to pay the driver. It was also very annoying when my uber tried to pick me up 2 blocks away because of a navigation glitch. I think that overtime Uber trained me to consume its service. Today, I would find it difficult to take a regular taxi again given the benefits I see with Uber.

Complexity – Uber seems very intuitive in its user experience. I’ve always felt comfortable using the product and its ease of use was definitely an enabler as I became a loyal customer.

Trialability – I think I originally downloaded Uber when a friend shared a $25 coupon with me for new users. It was definitely hard to turn down a free ride initially.

Observability – As all my friends were using Uber, I found myself feeling better about climbing into a stranger’s car when I had a second person with me. After several rides, I realized that I started to feel relatively safe riding an Uber. Ultimately, it was the many rides that I took with my friends that ultimately convinced me to download the app and start to use it.

[michellele-mit]

Corona asking us to “Find Your Beach”

In 1997, I was 10 years old. I vividly remember trips to Mexico with my family, long days making sand castles in the sand, endless guacamole and chips, and a Corona in my dad’s hand. Even from a young age, I associated Corona with a vacation on the beach. Today, almost 20 years later, I still feel that same association. Corona and a lime will always remind me of a vacation on the beach, even if we are weathering negative degrees during a Boston storm. As I googled Corona and Heineken’s biggest 2016 commercials, I wondered whether both brands had stayed true to their marketing messaging from 20 years ago (makes me feel old to think that 1997 was that long ago!). 

Check out Corona’s latest commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA5PNs8curU

Blue summer skies, beers on a roof deck, young people on the beach with a Corona in hand, a simple message to close - Find Your Beach. I still get the message and association that Corona’s worked towards building all these years.

However, I’m a bit more confused with Heineken’s spot. Check out Heineken’s latest commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Yg6Zibsv0

Heineken’s brand isn’t as clear. I understand that Heineken is trying to promote responsible drinking. Will the responsible drinker have a better chance of landing the girl? It’s seems interesting that Heineken would promote responsible drinking, a message that directly goes against increasing the consumption of their product. 

The ruling - I’d rather be on a beach drinking a Corona and Lime than at a club trying to find my hero. But that’s just me...

Cheers!

[michellele-mit]

Black & Decker - how can we get the tradesmen on board?

Black and Decker dominated the US power tools business in the consumer and professional-industrial segments, however, was only able to achieve 9% market share in the relatively new professional-tradesman segment. If B&D was one of the most powerful brands in the world and their quality was practically unbeatable, then how could they be losing so much in the fast growing professional-tradesman segment?

These professional-tradesmen were individuals making a living with these power tools. Think of the electricians, plumbers, carpenters, framers, roofers, and remodelers working in residential construction. While they made up the smallest of three segments in 1990 with 28% market share, they were the fastest growing at 9%. B&D couldn’t afford to ignore this segment and had to come up with a game plan to tackle the more successful players, such as Makita.

The challenge that B&D faced with the professional tradesmen segment was that B&D’s strength as a consumer brand resonated poorly with tradesmen. The most telling quote from a tradesman explains, “Black & Decker makes a good popcorn popper, and my wife loves her Dustbuster, but I’m out here trying to make a living…” Additionally, B&D lower price point to Milwaukee and Makita may have also reflected a lower quality to buyers. While tradesmen spent over average of $1,000 per year on their tools, they were willing to make a bigger investment on a “better” tool on their tool belt. Finally, we learned that color matters when it comes to the tool you have on the construction site. Tradesman will boast their teal or red tools to their friends on the construction site as a status symbol.

As B&D works towards building their professional tradesman, it will be important that they don’t alienate their core segment in industrials and consumer. B&D’s best bet will be to drop the B&D name from the professional-tradesmen segment and release a DeWalt brand with the bold “Industrial Yellow” color. By releasing a separate brand, they will be able to distinguish themselves as a “serious” player for tradesmen. Through the DeWalt brand, they can leverage their existing reputation in stationary woodworking equipment and push a new marketing launch through their existing relationships with retailers. In launching DeWalt, it will be important that no tradesman miss the “Industrial Yellow” power tools at their preferred retailers with powerful and bold displays highlighting quality, durability, and practicality. Marketing language and promotional packaging will be key to best position the new launch of the DeWalt power tools line.