Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Because I keep forgetting to mention it in other posts:
Fire trucks here are yellow. Yellow! I thought that was funny. I will try to get a picture.
Friday, August 8, 2008
A lesson in focus groups:
Okay, let me start off with a disclaimer: I have heard stories of people in the ad industry losing their jobs for talking about client/campaign info on their personal blogs that only their friends and family read. Seriously. Granted, the only cases I've heard of have been related to major clients in major markets, but still, it's not worth the risk to divulge too much information. With that said, all I will say about the focus groups last night is that we were trying to find out more about people's feelings regarding the health care and medical industry.
Now for the good stuff. Here are the reasons I loved the focus group so much, and why I drew the porn analogy (I will allow you to figure out any parallels for yourself in order to keep this post PG):
one) The voyeuristic aspect. It sounds sick, but it is really fun. Here you are, sitting behind a one-way mirror, watching everything these people do and hearing everything they say, and they will never have any clue who you are. Not only that, but you're holding a packet that contains their names, where they live, how much money they make, how old they are, how many kids they have, what they do for a living, etc, etc. It's a rather perverse feeling of power, but that does't make it any less cool.
two) The sociological synthesizing. Before the groups would come in, I would study their demographic info and try to guess who was who. Then, following Brad's lead, I started to notice patterns about people: the people who sit in the back left are kind of the trouble makers, the people who take the everything pizza are self-centered, etc. It was so much fun.
three) The crap you never expect to hear come out of people's mouths. It is a writer's goldmine, because it is the kind of stuff you would never think to make up. Here is an inside tip: if a writer overhears you say something particularly insane, inane, or otherwise off the wall, odds are they are going to write it down in hopes of being able to whip it out and take credit for it in the future. An example: during discussion, one woman said, "Well, that just opens up bottled worms..."
Part of the study includes reading people statements and asking for their reactions to those statements. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Statement: There is nothing more important than saving the life of a child.
Man: Mmm...whatever.
Statement: Because Hawaii's population is growing at a faster rate than ever before, we need [these health care and medical services] now more than ever.
Woman: All that tells me is that more women need to be on birth control. And men, too, I guess.
Yes, that happened. Those people do exist. And, interestingly enough, they seem to have the most money. Draw your own conclusions.
Now, to address the rich points. One of the painful communications courses I took to fulfill my degree requirements dealt with what my professor referred to as "rich points." Without all of the PC-ness, that basically translates to this: whenever you come across something in a culture or another person that would never even occur to you as being a perspective/point of view, that is a rich point.
Example: There is only one place on the island that sells corn dogs, and they're not even called corn dogs, they're "hot dogs on a stick." Coming from a land of deep fried, battered foods and things on sticks, it would never occur to me that a mall would be known statewide for having a corn dog stand. That is a rich point.
Other rich points I gathered from last night's focus group:
-- People here have no understanding of specialty hospitals. It is a completely foreign concept. When the subject of children's hospitals, cancer hospitals, heart hospitals, women's hospitals, etc. would come up, people were totally confused. And since you're not there to educate them, there was no expaining it; they just spun thier wheels and fed off each other's misinformation.
"So if a man goes into a women's hospital, they won't treat him? Don't they have to? Like if it's an emergency?"
"Why would you go to a hospital if you don't live there? Like if you got sick on vacation or something?"
"Can't you just use all of the same equiptment on kids you do on grown ups? I mean maybe you need a couple of different things, but it's all the same stuff. It shouldn't make a difference."
It was baffling. Because they lack specialty hospitals here, people just expect to be able to take their entire family to the same hospital no matter what their medical needs are. It does not even occur to them that, hey, if you turn out to have some abnormal cancer/disease/trauma, you might need to go to a special place for that, and that place probably isn't right down the street.
-- It is not at all uncommon for multiple generations to live under one roof here. One man lived with his parents, his wife, his two daughters, and his grandma. Another lived with his wife, his daughter and her husband and kids, and his other daughter. I asked Brad, my CD, about this, and he said it's not uncommon at all, in fact, it's pretty much the norm for people who were born on the island. They would think it would be weird for family members to live apart.
-- This one didn't come from the focus group, but it's something an AE brought to my attention: we're on an island. It's always been an island. And there's only so much room for dead bodies....
Last thing, because I have to go clean the breakroom for a client walk-through:
Jason the Plumber. He was in the focus group last night, and he is now my write-in choice for Election Day. If he ran the country, the world would be a better place.
Gotta run.
k
Now for the good stuff. Here are the reasons I loved the focus group so much, and why I drew the porn analogy (I will allow you to figure out any parallels for yourself in order to keep this post PG):
one) The voyeuristic aspect. It sounds sick, but it is really fun. Here you are, sitting behind a one-way mirror, watching everything these people do and hearing everything they say, and they will never have any clue who you are. Not only that, but you're holding a packet that contains their names, where they live, how much money they make, how old they are, how many kids they have, what they do for a living, etc, etc. It's a rather perverse feeling of power, but that does't make it any less cool.
two) The sociological synthesizing. Before the groups would come in, I would study their demographic info and try to guess who was who. Then, following Brad's lead, I started to notice patterns about people: the people who sit in the back left are kind of the trouble makers, the people who take the everything pizza are self-centered, etc. It was so much fun.
three) The crap you never expect to hear come out of people's mouths. It is a writer's goldmine, because it is the kind of stuff you would never think to make up. Here is an inside tip: if a writer overhears you say something particularly insane, inane, or otherwise off the wall, odds are they are going to write it down in hopes of being able to whip it out and take credit for it in the future. An example: during discussion, one woman said, "Well, that just opens up bottled worms..."
Part of the study includes reading people statements and asking for their reactions to those statements. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Statement: There is nothing more important than saving the life of a child.
Man: Mmm...whatever.
Statement: Because Hawaii's population is growing at a faster rate than ever before, we need [these health care and medical services] now more than ever.
Woman: All that tells me is that more women need to be on birth control. And men, too, I guess.
Yes, that happened. Those people do exist. And, interestingly enough, they seem to have the most money. Draw your own conclusions.
Now, to address the rich points. One of the painful communications courses I took to fulfill my degree requirements dealt with what my professor referred to as "rich points." Without all of the PC-ness, that basically translates to this: whenever you come across something in a culture or another person that would never even occur to you as being a perspective/point of view, that is a rich point.
Example: There is only one place on the island that sells corn dogs, and they're not even called corn dogs, they're "hot dogs on a stick." Coming from a land of deep fried, battered foods and things on sticks, it would never occur to me that a mall would be known statewide for having a corn dog stand. That is a rich point.
Other rich points I gathered from last night's focus group:
-- People here have no understanding of specialty hospitals. It is a completely foreign concept. When the subject of children's hospitals, cancer hospitals, heart hospitals, women's hospitals, etc. would come up, people were totally confused. And since you're not there to educate them, there was no expaining it; they just spun thier wheels and fed off each other's misinformation.
"So if a man goes into a women's hospital, they won't treat him? Don't they have to? Like if it's an emergency?"
"Why would you go to a hospital if you don't live there? Like if you got sick on vacation or something?"
"Can't you just use all of the same equiptment on kids you do on grown ups? I mean maybe you need a couple of different things, but it's all the same stuff. It shouldn't make a difference."
It was baffling. Because they lack specialty hospitals here, people just expect to be able to take their entire family to the same hospital no matter what their medical needs are. It does not even occur to them that, hey, if you turn out to have some abnormal cancer/disease/trauma, you might need to go to a special place for that, and that place probably isn't right down the street.
-- It is not at all uncommon for multiple generations to live under one roof here. One man lived with his parents, his wife, his two daughters, and his grandma. Another lived with his wife, his daughter and her husband and kids, and his other daughter. I asked Brad, my CD, about this, and he said it's not uncommon at all, in fact, it's pretty much the norm for people who were born on the island. They would think it would be weird for family members to live apart.
-- This one didn't come from the focus group, but it's something an AE brought to my attention: we're on an island. It's always been an island. And there's only so much room for dead bodies....
Last thing, because I have to go clean the breakroom for a client walk-through:
Jason the Plumber. He was in the focus group last night, and he is now my write-in choice for Election Day. If he ran the country, the world would be a better place.
Gotta run.
k
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Porn for writers, rich points, and Jason the Plumber '08
That slow afternoon was totally worth it. The focus groups this evening were priceless. I would have gone even if it wasn't part of my job. In fact, I even thought of quitting my job and trying to get hired as a focus group analyst; except I realized I really just want to watch, not analyze, so maybe I will see if the research company will let me hang around behind the one-way mirror during my free time.
Alas, I am too tired to go into details tonight, but I already wrote this nice little intro and teaser of a title, so ponder that until I get some rest and come back for more, k?
k
Alas, I am too tired to go into details tonight, but I already wrote this nice little intro and teaser of a title, so ponder that until I get some rest and come back for more, k?
k
Slow work day.
Hello all.
It is a very slow day at work. I don't really have anything to do until this focus group observation at 4:45. And then that lasts til 9:15--blah. But there's free dinner and apparently an abundance of M&Ms. So that's good...
I don't have much interesting news...I saw a dog running around on my way to work. It was a poodle, mostly white, but its ears and tail were dyed bright green. I tried to get it to come over to me so I could look at its tags but it was being very aloof. So I left it alone. People here are surprisingly lax with their dogs, but even more surprising is that most all of the dogs are well behaved anyway. Fergie and Eevee will need to get on board with that when I bring them down here. Or else I will dye their ears and tails bright green....
k
It is a very slow day at work. I don't really have anything to do until this focus group observation at 4:45. And then that lasts til 9:15--blah. But there's free dinner and apparently an abundance of M&Ms. So that's good...
I don't have much interesting news...I saw a dog running around on my way to work. It was a poodle, mostly white, but its ears and tail were dyed bright green. I tried to get it to come over to me so I could look at its tags but it was being very aloof. So I left it alone. People here are surprisingly lax with their dogs, but even more surprising is that most all of the dogs are well behaved anyway. Fergie and Eevee will need to get on board with that when I bring them down here. Or else I will dye their ears and tails bright green....
k
Saturday, August 2, 2008
So Lina doesn't upgrade to a ninja punch:
I am making a special effort to update my blog tonight, even though I am kind of tired from having to go into work today.
It's okay though, because it was actually pretty fun and we had an AMAAAAAZING two-hour lunch. We went to this Japanese place, Shokudo. Everything was insane-delicious, but this pretty much sums it up: Honey toast = heaven. Here is a picture of it in all its devistatingly-mouth-watering-melt-in-your-mouth-oh-my-God-
I-could-eat-this-for-the-rest-of-my-life-goodness:
I had intentionally reminded everyone at the table to remind me to take a picture of my food so I could post it on my blog, but naturally I got over-eager and distracted once it arrived, and had already started to deflower it when Robbie reminded me. So it was originally prettier. But you can still tell how GIGANTIC it is by comparing it to Brad in the background. It is essentially toasted Japanese bread with ice cream, butter, cinnamon, and honey. Somebody kill me while I'm happy.
I had other food to talk about, but nothing that can follow that act, so y'all will just have to let that soak in and wait for the rest on another day.
Besides honey toast and the lack of daylight savings time, I discovered another reason I was destined to come here: constrictive billboard laws. YES!!! For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to here me rant about daylight savings time and/or billboards, I have a passionate agenda against both. If I had to choose, I would have to say I have billboards more. So, I was elated to hear you can't even so much as have vending machines face the street.
And, yes, I am in advertising.
Sorry for the short post, but I am really wanting to go chill in front of a movie. BTW, watched Waitress last night--very cute and quirky, worth the rental.
Love to all.
k
It's okay though, because it was actually pretty fun and we had an AMAAAAAZING two-hour lunch. We went to this Japanese place, Shokudo. Everything was insane-delicious, but this pretty much sums it up: Honey toast = heaven. Here is a picture of it in all its devistatingly-mouth-watering-melt-in-your-mouth-oh-my-God-
I-could-eat-this-for-the-rest-of-my-life-goodness:
I had intentionally reminded everyone at the table to remind me to take a picture of my food so I could post it on my blog, but naturally I got over-eager and distracted once it arrived, and had already started to deflower it when Robbie reminded me. So it was originally prettier. But you can still tell how GIGANTIC it is by comparing it to Brad in the background. It is essentially toasted Japanese bread with ice cream, butter, cinnamon, and honey. Somebody kill me while I'm happy.
I had other food to talk about, but nothing that can follow that act, so y'all will just have to let that soak in and wait for the rest on another day.
Besides honey toast and the lack of daylight savings time, I discovered another reason I was destined to come here: constrictive billboard laws. YES!!! For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to here me rant about daylight savings time and/or billboards, I have a passionate agenda against both. If I had to choose, I would have to say I have billboards more. So, I was elated to hear you can't even so much as have vending machines face the street.
And, yes, I am in advertising.
Sorry for the short post, but I am really wanting to go chill in front of a movie. BTW, watched Waitress last night--very cute and quirky, worth the rental.
Love to all.
k
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