Observations and Interviews

The semester is coming to a closer yet the team has only skimmed the surface on this campaign. Over the Thanksgiving break, the team had to do 10 osbservations, as well as 5 interviews. We also had to prepare the Media Plan, and soon a rough plans book.

For the observations, I went to the JCPenney in Roosevelt Field Mall, on Long Island. It was the dayafter Black Friday, so the mall was pretty packed. I observed 10 women and their shopping habits. Most of them were with children or friends, asking them for advice and browsing. Out of the 10 women, only a few bought the clothes they were looking at, or they just seemed to walk away. One women was in the home good section and she did not look pleased with the selection they had. Another women didn't like the quality when it came to sweaters. It was interesting to watch people and see how they shopped. Most were so busy, they just skimmed at everything. Children were pulling at their heals, the prices were checked, the brands and the quality. The store was cramped and confusing, the signs were small and I only found one directory. I couldn't find departments easily, and the signs didn't help me much. I notice there wasn't a Sephora at this store (it's in the mall and not in JCPenney). After all the observations, it gave me a good insight into what women do when they shop, and the things JCPenney needs to change.

I also did 5 interviews. 3 of them were my cousins, and 2 were my brothers girlfriends. One was a huge Kohl's fan, and expressed her loyalty to them, yet still shopped at JCPenney. Two refused to shop at JCPenney because they didn't have quality clothing, which also did not fit them properly. It was interesting to hear what the women did all day, and what they did like. The ranking of JCPenney was average, so that is something to consider when we look at the campaign.

Overall, this pertains to the class because it is a great way to look at JCPenney customers and actually interact with the women, instead of just reading statistics on an online survey. The class needs to do so much research, and making us do observations and interviews will definately help us in the long run. Over the long break, we really need to analyze this information and figure out definitive answers to our questions. The lesson in this is: research is a long ongoing process. We need to do it. It's a big pain, but the more we have, the better. As for the rest of the time in class, our group put together a Media Plan. As one of the Director's of Media Planning, we will have to look through all four of these and pick a rough media plan for the rough plans book. Over break, Amanda, Tim and I will be able to look at it more throughly and pick the best plan we can pick. Hopefully, our classmates made plans that coincide and can help us when picking media.

In the end, this class was worth it. Even though we have so much work to do, and the class isn't even close to being over in the long term sense, it is something all Advertising tracks should do. It brings you into the team and campaign like atmosphere and forces you to do every little aspect of a campaign. So until  the end, we will keep driving and keep making our plan the best there is.

Bests,
Lisa