Getting creative...

1. DESK
Everyone uses desks, either at home, at school, on their offices or even when they go to a restaurant.  Desks are very useful for placing things on top of it, for reading and also for writing. Many desks usually have one or more drawers or compartments, so that people can store things on it. But, many other desks are just single desks used for any function you’d like. Desks often come in many shapes, sizes and colors. The most typical desks are the ones that are made from wood and that are in a shape of a square or a rectangle. But desks are used in any contexts, for example we hear of the word desk in the following situations- an information desk at an airport, a reception desk in a wedding or other event, the front desk at a hotel, etc.

2. MIRROR
A mirror is an object with at least one reflective surface. Mirrors are commonly used for admiring one’s self, for decoration, and even for scientific purposes- for telescopes, lasers or even cameras. I personally think that mirrors are essential for girls and women- I mean who doesn’t have a mirror on her bathroom? You must have at least one for when you are dressing up, you need to take a look at yourself before going out. Also on the other hand, mirrors are great for decorating houses; it makes them look cleaner, bigger (with more space) and they are associated with a more modern style. Now there are even cell phones that have a mirror application!

IDEAS FOR COMBINATION: DESK & MIRROR
-    A desk with mirror on it’s surface (on top of it)
-    A mirrored desk
-    A mirror in the form of a desk
-    A mirror with a desk
-    A desk with drawers and the drawers are the only ones that have mirrors
-    A desk with a stored mirror (you can press it so that it comes up or down)
-    A reception desk decorated with pieces of mirror on its surface
-    A desk framed with mirror
-    A thick-squared mirror (sort of a table cloth) that you can place on top of a desk
-    A mirror on top of a desk

I think the idea of a desk with a stored mirror may be a viable and yet a creative product. This product may actually be useful for people, because for example, let’s say you’re on your room and you’re sitting there doing homework on your desk. You have papers on top of the desk and your phone is also placed there…the phone rings and your friend reminds you it’s almost time for her to pick you up…you need to rush and start getting ready, but also you need to write your last final thoughts on your homework...What do you do? Many would’ve written up whatever first comes to their mind and then leave everything there and then move to their dressing table. But what if you had the option to do both at the same time? You could just push a button in your desk, and a mirror would go up. As well, in the drawers of your desk you could store your make-up, blush, all of your eye shadows, and other cosmetics. So this way, you won’t have to move to another desk and you could finish up whatever you were doing in the same desk. Also, you could have the choice to click in the button for light to come up.

My topic: selling to the bottom of the pyramid

I’ve always found it of great interest when professors and business leaders talk about seeking a potential marketing opportunity in the bottom at the pyramid – within the world’s poorest. Mainly what I find most interesting about this topic is:  How can companies actually profit from this market, when this market it’s made up of people with low purchasing power and who doesn’t buy many products as well? I think for companies/brands the key relies in deeply understanding their needs, behaviors, preoccupations and their environment so that they can successfully develop products and services that result of great use for them.

It is obvious that products created for rich people are not suitable for the poor. You can’t sell them let’s say an Ipod or a TV because they have to satisfy first their most basic needs- health, shelter, food, water, etc. Also for example, packaging must be approached very differently within this market- poor people don’t have enough money to invest in inventory (everyone knows that products sold in packages are cheaper, but not them). So taking all of this into consideration, marketers and companies must really dig in for important insights to be able to understand this particular segment of the population.

I live in Mexico and for me, it’s no surprise to witness this huge gap between the rich and the poor- in Mexico there are about 53 million people who live in poverty conditions and they represent about 51% of the population in total. That’s a big number. But also we must recognize that this same gap is present in 8 developing countries around the world: China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa and Thailand. For marketers this is a potentially huge and interesting market- there’s an estimated of 4 billion poor people, constituting two-thirds of the world’s population. However marketers must also keep in mind that the ways they reach this market and their particular needs, interests, etc. will not be any similar as for the upper and middle classes- as I just mentioned before. Effective strategies for reaching these people will require remarkably different approaches.

Another question that I find quite interesting related to this topic is: How do huge multinational companies suddenly change their strategies and start focusing on selling to a whole new and different target? Within the last few years, companies like Nestle and Unilever have been developing products for the BOP market, and they’ve been quite successful about it. Even though it’s a challenge for them – particularly in balancing their initiatives in a cost-efficient way- they have also allowed some social-economic development to happen. By establishing themselves in developing countries they’ve enhanced new micro entrepreneurs by offering them new sources of work opportunities.

One article that is helpful and interesting for my topic is called, Portioning to make products affordable for the BOP, and it talks about how this market has particular differences mainly in their shopping habits. Below it’s the website where the article can be found. Another interesting article talks about how Nestlé Venezuela successfully managed to position it’s products among the low-middle class people, and it explains all the challenges it faced as well as the strategies Nestlé followed.

Articles:
http://designchile.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/portioning-to-make-products-affordable-for-the-bop/
http://www.globalens.com/casedetail.aspx?cid=1429090