Upon reading and thinking and endless brainstorming it is finally comforting to know that I have arrived at a final solution for Costa Vida to gather new customers as well as to improve retention rates on their existing ones. These creative thinking strategies have led me to think in ways I frankly would have never even hinted at, and therefore allowed me to see things I might have otherwise completely missed.
My final solution for Costa Vida is to create and implement a customer rewards program, and expand the marketing budget appropriately if necessary. This rewards program will be targeted mainly to college students, it will also be an incremental rewards system where the more customers eat at Costa Vida the better the rewards they can earn. Another idea I heavily entertained is that of a partnership with organizations in school and also with a delivery company; it is imperative that we reach the full market available in Gainesville and I think that if Costa Vida makes itself available throught the city it will reach more customers and retain them as well.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Awakening the Collaborative Spirit
While some may take this to be one of the most basics forms of idea generation, it is important to notice that it is also one of the most crucial ones. Working together to arrive at new solutions and conclusions is one of the earliest forms of critical thinking seen in humans. Our ability to bring in together different points of view as well as different thought processes and being able to communicate them across to others is invaluable. This is the exact purpose of this strategy, to gather not just one but many minds and interchange ideas and concepts. Through this process there are many brains working towards a solution and not just one.
For the execution of this creative thinking strategy I gathered my roommates during breakfast and they agreed to help me come up with ideas and solutions. I will be using the "Idea Pool" technique which features a center stack of index cards with everyone's ideas mixed in the middle. We then proceeded to brainstorm and every time we seemed to be running out of ideas we grabbed an index card and read our friends' ideas and kept on going. For the sake of this blog and proper documentation I will write some of the ideas that were written in the stack of index cards.
Index Card Ideas:
- Partner up with Social organizations
- Cater school events
- Have people dressed as burritos at the football game (my idea)
- Advertise in local TV and radio
- Go preach in Turlington
Results:
Out of these wacky, but yet innovative ideas, together we came to the conclusion that what might really work here is to really get involved in student life. Whereas it be football games, catering events or even running around campus in a burrito, students are a key demographic in a college town.
For the execution of this creative thinking strategy I gathered my roommates during breakfast and they agreed to help me come up with ideas and solutions. I will be using the "Idea Pool" technique which features a center stack of index cards with everyone's ideas mixed in the middle. We then proceeded to brainstorm and every time we seemed to be running out of ideas we grabbed an index card and read our friends' ideas and kept on going. For the sake of this blog and proper documentation I will write some of the ideas that were written in the stack of index cards.
Index Card Ideas:
- Partner up with Social organizations
- Cater school events
- Have people dressed as burritos at the football game (my idea)
- Advertise in local TV and radio
- Go preach in Turlington
Results:
Out of these wacky, but yet innovative ideas, together we came to the conclusion that what might really work here is to really get involved in student life. Whereas it be football games, catering events or even running around campus in a burrito, students are a key demographic in a college town.
Find What You're Not Looking For
The purpose of this strategy is to condition our creative mind to observe and find ideas and potential in things other might just dismiss as mundane or everyday. This in turn can inadvertently lead to the creation of brand new ideas that can and will flourish with the proper push and nurturing. It is quite easy to get bogged down by a specific task and tunnel vision so that we ignore the rest of the world around us and focus only on what we think matters most. But in reality, everything matters, ideas are everywhere and inspiration is to be had by all.
The tool I will introduce in this part of the blog is the "Imagineering" tool. This tool takes advantage of crazy ideas, one crazier than the last and puts them under a new light. It is essential to focus on the essence of the idea in order to further down the line understand what it is that makes it work and why as a new idea. Lastly, draw comparisons and create ideas of how one might be applied to another.
Subject: Costa Vida's Customer Rewards Program needs ways to gain and retain people
Crazy Ideas:
- Send them free stuff to their homes
- Dress as tacos and serenade them
- Pay them
- Have ninjas throw reward cards around as ninja stars
Analysis and Result:
The first crazy idea, the one about sending people free stuff to their homes is actually quite interesting. The principle behind it is not so much free stuff, as it is the advantage of having something mailed to you rather than you having to go get it, so commodity. Drawing from this principle, if we could make it so that after a certain amount of time in the rewards program customers qualified for a delivery system that will take their orders straight to their home without charging ridiculous fees.
The tool I will introduce in this part of the blog is the "Imagineering" tool. This tool takes advantage of crazy ideas, one crazier than the last and puts them under a new light. It is essential to focus on the essence of the idea in order to further down the line understand what it is that makes it work and why as a new idea. Lastly, draw comparisons and create ideas of how one might be applied to another.
Subject: Costa Vida's Customer Rewards Program needs ways to gain and retain people
Crazy Ideas:
- Send them free stuff to their homes
- Dress as tacos and serenade them
- Pay them
- Have ninjas throw reward cards around as ninja stars
Analysis and Result:
The first crazy idea, the one about sending people free stuff to their homes is actually quite interesting. The principle behind it is not so much free stuff, as it is the advantage of having something mailed to you rather than you having to go get it, so commodity. Drawing from this principle, if we could make it so that after a certain amount of time in the rewards program customers qualified for a delivery system that will take their orders straight to their home without charging ridiculous fees.
Looking in Other Worlds
When one looks into other worlds, one can oftentimes observe things working in an entirely alien environment. Yet we can draw comparisons and analogies as to what can two vastly different worlds have in common, the answer may sometimes be so obvious it surprises us. This creative strategy does exactly that, it allows the user to draw conclusions from observing, comparing and contrasting concepts, objects and ideas from vastly different fields. And from that, creating a meaningful and useful solution to a problem.
A tool that can be used to bring this technique to life is the World of Essences tool, and it consists of basically an issue or a problem an individual or firm may be facing. This problem can be represented by a simple principle such as "sales" or "recruitment". We now look outwards at the aspects of the world around us and focus on the same principle applied to different environments. Once we lock into a certain environment, we draw similarities, differences, analogies, etc.
In the specific case of a customer rewards program at Costa Vida, the main theme and principle will be "retention".
Subject: Retention
Other Worlds:
- Colleges retain students for a number of years
- Businesses often try to retain good employees
- Braces and retainers keep your teeth from moving
Solution:
When businesses seek to retain employees, it is often their strategy to increase pay or better working conditions. They can even go so far as to modify perks and benefits that will entice the employee and drive them to keep working for the same company for a larger period of time. Costa Vida can replicate the same sense of importance towards their customers. They can tailor and tweak their rewards program so that it will appeal to the sort of demographic they are mainly targeting, thus improving customer retention in an important area.
A tool that can be used to bring this technique to life is the World of Essences tool, and it consists of basically an issue or a problem an individual or firm may be facing. This problem can be represented by a simple principle such as "sales" or "recruitment". We now look outwards at the aspects of the world around us and focus on the same principle applied to different environments. Once we lock into a certain environment, we draw similarities, differences, analogies, etc.
In the specific case of a customer rewards program at Costa Vida, the main theme and principle will be "retention".
Subject: Retention
Other Worlds:
- Colleges retain students for a number of years
- Businesses often try to retain good employees
- Braces and retainers keep your teeth from moving
Solution:
When businesses seek to retain employees, it is often their strategy to increase pay or better working conditions. They can even go so far as to modify perks and benefits that will entice the employee and drive them to keep working for the same company for a larger period of time. Costa Vida can replicate the same sense of importance towards their customers. They can tailor and tweak their rewards program so that it will appeal to the sort of demographic they are mainly targeting, thus improving customer retention in an important area.
Looking At The Other Side
One of the purposes of this creative thinking strategy is to get the individual or group to think outside currently set boundaries. It is important to remember that, while boundaries are great for a project structure, they do not necessarily result in the best solution. Thus it is important to at times look outside these boundaries, into places and into ideas that might have been otherwise ignored.
The tool that I will use to illustrate this thinking strategy is the "Reverse Assumption" tool. Through this tool, I will write down basic assumptions about common rewards programs. I will then reverse these assumptions and observe the results; afterwards I will look for ways to fit these results into Costa Vida's reward program plan.
Subject: Customer Rewards Program
Assumptions:
- Customers buy things in order to get points
- The more customers buy, the more they receive
- Customers physically make purchases
- They receive free food in exchange for loyalty
Reversal:
- Customers don't buy things, but refer people instead
- The more people they refer, the better
- Rewards aren't only for physical purchases but also apply for online and delivery orders
- Customers get not only food but can also receive apparel, cash prizes, shirts, etc.
Results:
What this creative strategy has taught me is that there is no one set way of doing things. When you reverse all these assumptions, you may sometimes get silly things but other times a genuinely useful idea, such as the flexibility of a online rewards program
The tool that I will use to illustrate this thinking strategy is the "Reverse Assumption" tool. Through this tool, I will write down basic assumptions about common rewards programs. I will then reverse these assumptions and observe the results; afterwards I will look for ways to fit these results into Costa Vida's reward program plan.
Subject: Customer Rewards Program
Assumptions:
- Customers buy things in order to get points
- The more customers buy, the more they receive
- Customers physically make purchases
- They receive free food in exchange for loyalty
Reversal:
- Customers don't buy things, but refer people instead
- The more people they refer, the better
- Rewards aren't only for physical purchases but also apply for online and delivery orders
- Customers get not only food but can also receive apparel, cash prizes, shirts, etc.
Results:
What this creative strategy has taught me is that there is no one set way of doing things. When you reverse all these assumptions, you may sometimes get silly things but other times a genuinely useful idea, such as the flexibility of a online rewards program
Connecting the Unconnected
This strategy for creative thinking focuses on the fact that some people perform better when the right creative ingredients are present. In this case, there is ultimate freedom in the sense that individuals are required to bring in two completely different things and compare their aspects and characteristics. From this, one is able to pick those that would fit interestingly together and create a brand new idea.
In order to better demonstrate how to seemingly unrelated concepts can come together to create genius, I will use the "5 Senses" tool. Through this tool I will list my problem and all 5 senses; ultimately I will come up with ways in which the senses will play key parts in the realization or solution to my initial problem.
Challenge/Issue: Create a customer rewards system to increase the number of clients.
Sight: Create personalized reward cards, dress people up as burritos and go to campus distributing reward cards and signing people up for the program
Hearing: Propose an Apple Music partnership after the customer reaches a certain number of purchases
Smell: Scratch and smell cards!!
Touch: Every time someone registers for the rewards program they get a hug and a high-five!
Taste: For those in doubt of the quality of the food, they can get free samples before they register in the program.
Results:
As seen from this technique and the above mentioned tool, enhancing a product with even the simplest of ideas can give rise to concepts that further down the line will really increase customer retention as well as increase market share.
In order to better demonstrate how to seemingly unrelated concepts can come together to create genius, I will use the "5 Senses" tool. Through this tool I will list my problem and all 5 senses; ultimately I will come up with ways in which the senses will play key parts in the realization or solution to my initial problem.
Challenge/Issue: Create a customer rewards system to increase the number of clients.
Sight: Create personalized reward cards, dress people up as burritos and go to campus distributing reward cards and signing people up for the program
Hearing: Propose an Apple Music partnership after the customer reaches a certain number of purchases
Smell: Scratch and smell cards!!
Touch: Every time someone registers for the rewards program they get a hug and a high-five!
Taste: For those in doubt of the quality of the food, they can get free samples before they register in the program.
Results:
As seen from this technique and the above mentioned tool, enhancing a product with even the simplest of ideas can give rise to concepts that further down the line will really increase customer retention as well as increase market share.
Making Novel Combinations
The point of this creative thinking strategy is to combine things. These things can be names, ideas, places, tastes, anything. The individual or group then combines these seemingly unrelated concepts and brings them together in order to create a whole new idea that he otherwise could not have achieved. This basically means a collision of two worlds that might have never met and the beautiful formation of a new idea.
In order to fully be able to explain this strategy, I will showcase the Combinatory Matrix as it applies to my current Costa Vida business issue. This matrix is essentially a way to list parameters that are essential to an initial plan. Afterwards, as many variations of the parameters as desired are listed. Lastly, through randomization a certain combination is picked. This tool ultimately demonstrates the essence of the strategy and allows for easy production of ideas.
Challenge: Create a rewards program for customers
Reason of Reward Reward Type of Reward System
1.Continuous Purchases Food Flat earning point system
2.Eating their food fast Offers/Deals Rewards get better as you go
3.Eating Healthy Money Prizes Flat number of purchases
Once the matrix is established, a certain combination is picked and applied. For example, if done by integers, a combination might be 3-1-2 which indicates a reward system where customers can earn free food or eating healthy, all the while the better tasting foods are reserved to loyal customers.
In order to fully be able to explain this strategy, I will showcase the Combinatory Matrix as it applies to my current Costa Vida business issue. This matrix is essentially a way to list parameters that are essential to an initial plan. Afterwards, as many variations of the parameters as desired are listed. Lastly, through randomization a certain combination is picked. This tool ultimately demonstrates the essence of the strategy and allows for easy production of ideas.
Challenge: Create a rewards program for customers
Reason of Reward Reward Type of Reward System
1.Continuous Purchases Food Flat earning point system
2.Eating their food fast Offers/Deals Rewards get better as you go
3.Eating Healthy Money Prizes Flat number of purchases
Once the matrix is established, a certain combination is picked and applied. For example, if done by integers, a combination might be 3-1-2 which indicates a reward system where customers can earn free food or eating healthy, all the while the better tasting foods are reserved to loyal customers.
Thinking Fluently
In this creative strategy. the individual or groups are encouraged to brainstorm, but brainstorm in MASSIVE proportions. This means that there should be a vast number of ideas, no matter how good or how bad how big or how small. Through this, we may of course achieve some sub-par and rather terrible ideas; however there is only need for one perfect one we increase our chances of actually creating it the more we think and the more we come up with.
The tool that I will be using to evaluate this strategy is SCAMPER. Scamper is basically an acronym for a series of processes and questions that one will apply to an already existing idea. Through this questioning and modification process, a whole new idea will be born out of the ashes of the old. The point of this is to manage to bring a concept to fruition by certain modification that might not have been previously thought to work.
SCAMPER: The idea we will start with is that of a simple rewards program, where once a customer eats at a place a certain number of times, they earn a free item from the menu.
Substitution?
Maybe Costa Vida can substitute the reward, from a free item on the menu to a chance to win a trip to Mexico to taste actual Mexican food.
Combination?
What if we combine our products with a third party delivery company. This way we would make up our losses for being located far from campus. If we can manage to partner with a low cost delivery company, we could reach many more costumers we could not before.
Adapt?
Maybe we can adapt our store to fit in a Drive-Thru! We would be having a HUGE advantage over our competition because no one has managed to do that yet. If we independent lines, we would be able to service both in store and Drive-Thru line.
Magnify?
We could magnify our rewards system to make it progressive and dynamic rather than juts static and unchanging. Customers could earn better rewards the more they eat there, thus rewarding and encouraging loyalty.
Modify?
We could modify the rewards system to include catering, thus earning a certain party or organization a lager number of reward points than simply buying individual products.
Put to use?
Maybe we can include sponsors or partners in our rewards system, so that our reward points might count towards other stores.
Eliminate?
The whole point of a reward is technically to give, thus eliminating feels a little counter intuitive.
Rearrange?
You could give out food early and bargain with costumers for assured return and purchase in the future.
Reverse?
Maybe the customers can give us a reward when they purchase a lot of our products very often..or maybe an employee rewards program?
As seen by the SCAMPER technique, there are many ways to modify an original idea in order to create an entire new concept. What we ideally gathered from this tool is that a flexible and incremental rewards system would not only benefit existing customers greatly but also encourage new costumers.
The tool that I will be using to evaluate this strategy is SCAMPER. Scamper is basically an acronym for a series of processes and questions that one will apply to an already existing idea. Through this questioning and modification process, a whole new idea will be born out of the ashes of the old. The point of this is to manage to bring a concept to fruition by certain modification that might not have been previously thought to work.
SCAMPER: The idea we will start with is that of a simple rewards program, where once a customer eats at a place a certain number of times, they earn a free item from the menu.
Substitution?
Maybe Costa Vida can substitute the reward, from a free item on the menu to a chance to win a trip to Mexico to taste actual Mexican food.
Combination?
What if we combine our products with a third party delivery company. This way we would make up our losses for being located far from campus. If we can manage to partner with a low cost delivery company, we could reach many more costumers we could not before.
Adapt?
Maybe we can adapt our store to fit in a Drive-Thru! We would be having a HUGE advantage over our competition because no one has managed to do that yet. If we independent lines, we would be able to service both in store and Drive-Thru line.
Magnify?
We could magnify our rewards system to make it progressive and dynamic rather than juts static and unchanging. Customers could earn better rewards the more they eat there, thus rewarding and encouraging loyalty.
Modify?
We could modify the rewards system to include catering, thus earning a certain party or organization a lager number of reward points than simply buying individual products.
Put to use?
Maybe we can include sponsors or partners in our rewards system, so that our reward points might count towards other stores.
Eliminate?
The whole point of a reward is technically to give, thus eliminating feels a little counter intuitive.
Rearrange?
You could give out food early and bargain with costumers for assured return and purchase in the future.
Reverse?
Maybe the customers can give us a reward when they purchase a lot of our products very often..or maybe an employee rewards program?
As seen by the SCAMPER technique, there are many ways to modify an original idea in order to create an entire new concept. What we ideally gathered from this tool is that a flexible and incremental rewards system would not only benefit existing customers greatly but also encourage new costumers.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Make Your Thoughts Visible
What this creative thinking strategy forces you to do is to bring your thoughts to life through any means of visual interpretation. These could be drawings, sketches, even stick people! Once you begin drawing and coming up with new ideas, you are expanding the borders of your mind and gaining access to ideas and parts of your thoughts you might no have with words. After all, a picture does compare to a thousand words.
For the purpose of this technique I will be using the "Force Field" technique, it consists of identifying a challenge and the factors that are related to that challenge. You then proceed to place them on a scale from best to worst. This will tell you where you are currently standing and what things need to be addressed with certain priority. It may also show where strengths may lie as well as weaknesses and areas of improvement.
Challenge:
Drive more customers to Costa Vida's recent location on Archer Rd.
Key: 0 = Worst Case, 10 = Best Case
Factor 1:
Location
0----------------------------------------------------------------6------------------------------------------------10
Factor 2:
Food/Product
0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------8-------------------------------10
Factor 3:
Popularity
0-------------------3---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10
Factor 4:
Culture
0-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8.5---------------------10
Factor 5:
Competition
0-------------------------3.5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10
Results:
What we can gather from this strategy is that there is an important need to focus on our popularity, how well known we are among our chief demographic. Since we have little to no control over the competition, it is imperative that we focus on expanding our name and reaching as many people as possible.
Knowing How To See
This creative thinking strategy focuses on getting the individual or group thinking in new ways. with new parameters and in entirely new situations. Oftentimes people focus too much on one simple goal and forget to see the bigger picture. This strategy aims to state the same problem in as many ways as possible in order to obtain as many perspectives as possible and ultimately come up with an appropriate solution.
For the implementation of this first critical thinking strategy I will use the "Questions" tool. The whole point of it is to question everything and to ask any and all questions tat may come to mind, no matter how absurd or even child-like. These questions aware then separated into four different color groups: red, green, yellow and blue.
Blue questions serve the purpose of being "hopeful and optimistic", Yellow questions are "neutral and objective", Green questions are "fertile and creative" and Red are "Negative and sometimes unfeasible".
In the context of Costa Vida attempting to attract more costumer to their location:
Blue Questions:
How can we drive more customers to our location?
Is there any new flavor we can experiment with?
Should we offer discounts or offers?
Should we give students a reward?
Yellow Questions:
What is the culture of the company like?
What are our current revenues?
What costs are we incurring?
What is our marketing budget?
Green Questions:
What if we create a rewards program for our customers?
What if we expand on our current marketing budget?
What if we make costumer experience a priority in the store?
What if we dress people a tacos and burritos and have them walking around campus giving out coupons to people?
Red Questions:
Is there anything we are doing wrong?
Are we overspending in our budget?
Is our service to our customers innapropriate?
Results:
After incurring all these questions, I have come to the solution of improving the marketing budget in order to allow for word of the restaurant to get around. What we ultimately want is to expand the budget so that it will allow us to create a rewards program that will attract new customers while also increasing customer retention and loyalty.
For the implementation of this first critical thinking strategy I will use the "Questions" tool. The whole point of it is to question everything and to ask any and all questions tat may come to mind, no matter how absurd or even child-like. These questions aware then separated into four different color groups: red, green, yellow and blue.
Blue questions serve the purpose of being "hopeful and optimistic", Yellow questions are "neutral and objective", Green questions are "fertile and creative" and Red are "Negative and sometimes unfeasible".
In the context of Costa Vida attempting to attract more costumer to their location:
Blue Questions:
How can we drive more customers to our location?
Is there any new flavor we can experiment with?
Should we offer discounts or offers?
Should we give students a reward?
Yellow Questions:
What is the culture of the company like?
What are our current revenues?
What costs are we incurring?
What is our marketing budget?
Green Questions:
What if we create a rewards program for our customers?
What if we expand on our current marketing budget?
What if we make costumer experience a priority in the store?
What if we dress people a tacos and burritos and have them walking around campus giving out coupons to people?
Red Questions:
Is there anything we are doing wrong?
Are we overspending in our budget?
Is our service to our customers innapropriate?
Results:
After incurring all these questions, I have come to the solution of improving the marketing budget in order to allow for word of the restaurant to get around. What we ultimately want is to expand the budget so that it will allow us to create a rewards program that will attract new customers while also increasing customer retention and loyalty.
Business Problem & Environment
There is a new kind of line order Mexican food place in town and it is competing against very well established competition. I am speaking of Costa Vida. Hailing from the West coast, this new line order restaurant aims to serve costumers a new experience of Mexican food that will shadow that of Moe's Southwest Grill and the famed Chipotle Mexican Grill. In order to compete with these giants of Mex food, Costa Vida needs to dramatically increase their market share and get more customers to go through the doors of their current location on Archer Rd.
Given this situation, I will utilize the 9 creative thinking strategies in order to brainstorm and find an appropriate yet innovative solution that will allow Costa Vida to increase the number of customers frequenting their store.
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