Branding

This is a blog that documents Jessica's learnings on branding, both in and out of the classroom.

[jessicalearns-blog]

Our story is one of calling, courage, and collaboration. We choose to use our gifts and talents to see broken lives renewed, the oppressed set free and people educated on the power of their buying choices.

Purpose Boutique

Purpose Boutique is a retail clothing store that focuses not only on style, but also loving, serving, and giving generously to those in need. Similar to Better World Books, in which “social and environmental responsibility are the core of [its] business - in [its] DNA,” Purpose Boutique also has a social mission central to its business model.

Purpose Boutique comes to mind when I think about leadership branding. One of my friends from college decided to join Purpose as a co-founder and COO of the organization. She believed in the mission and vision of Purpose, and it was aligned with her personal and professional goals. In both her personal life and career, she has found a way to brand her leadership as one with purpose to empower disadvantaged people through holistic support and by providing them with dignified work. In the long-run, this could be a point-of-difference that she could use to establish her business career and leadership brand. Empowering people who have been disadvantaged or exploited around the world is an incredible, noble mission, not only for Purpose Boutique, but also for an individual career.

As with all companies that place social or environmental missions at the heart of their brand, the key to success is socially conscious consumers. Thus, these companies (e.g. Toms, Ethos Waters, etc.) are “voting with their dollars” for a better world, in some shape or form. A point of weakness in this is a reliance on a trend in consumer preferences and spending habits toward socially conscious purchasing. However, with a close watch on consumer insights, these companies can stay on top of changing industry dynamics.

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Three critical elements for Intel’s successful ingredient branding

Intel has succeeded in creating one of the most successful brands in the world for an incredibly technical component that end users cannot even see. Based on the “Inside Intel Inside” case, I have pulled out three critical elements that I believe account for the success of this ingredient branding campaign.

1. The ingredient brand must offer a significant benefit or performance attribute. When the campaign began, Intel was the leading microprocessor company, delivering a performance-based product. The company offered leading technology and reliable chips, with a 70% share of the overall desktop microprocessor market in the 1970s. However, end customers were not aware of this performance benefit. The first campaign of the graffiti red X illuminated the difference between the 286 and 386 chip, which was the first microprocessor that could operate on multiple operating systems, including DOS, Unix, and Windows. The 386 was simply a much better product, and the ingredient brand needed to shed light on the differences of an Intel chip. “Intel Inside” can attribute its success to the significant benefit that the chip was able to provide to computers.

2. The ingredient must be viewed as an essential feature of the product in which it is embedded. Because of the campaign, the microprocessor became viewed as a very important component of the PC. All of Intel’s advertising was designed to explain why having “Intel Inside” was important. For example, the Pentium processor was introduced in 1994 under the “Intel Inside” umbrella, and it was marketed through 20-second ads that showed the many different kinds of activities that one could do with a computer. These ads showed end users the power of the microprocessor chip inside of their PCs. Thus, consumers began to value the Intel microprocessor for its reliability and leading technology.

3. Both the ingredient brand and product brand must benefit. At first, Intel’s ad agencies proposed “Intel. The Computer Inside.” However, this would incite a reaction among Intel’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners. Therefore, to enlist the support of OEMs in the campaign, a co-op advertising program was designed such that OEMs could accrue co-op advertising dollars on the basis of their purchases of Intel chips. The co-op dollars could be used to pay for up to half the cost of any advertisement produced by OEMs, as long as they put Intel’s logo in their ads and on their computers. Motivated by the advertising dollars, Intel was able to create a mutually beneficial agreement for the ingredient chip and PC product. Thus, Intel’s brand (despite it being the ingredient inside) became well-known across the majority of OEM PC’s.

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Burberry to Unify Brands Under One Label in Bid to Boost Appeal

Burberry will phase out the Prorsum, London and Brit labels by the end of 2016, chief executive officer Christopher Bailey told reporters Tuesday.

Bravo implemented a number of changes - some that exacerbated and some that mitigated Burberry’s risk profile in the unpredictable world of fashion.

One change that Bravo made, which I believe exacerbates Burberry’s risk profile, is the expansion of the brand portfolio into Burberry Prorsum and Burberry Brit. While the Brit and London sub-brands allowed Burberry to attract consumers in the lifestyle category, a la Ralph Lauren, and the Prorsum sub-brand was used to attract high-end customers, a la Gucci, the multiple diffusion lines are confusing, potentially overlapping, and set forth a vague vision of what each sub-brand actually meant to customers. 

A positive change Bravo made that mitigates Burberry’s risk profile is the restraint of the use of the check. While the check is a ostensibly iconic “Burberry” pattern, the behavior of the high-end customer is evolving. Therefore, minimizing the use of the check enables Burberry’s design team to respond flexibly to the changes in behavior of the luxury clientele. 

In the Burberry case, Christopher Bailey, the creative director, very smartly quipped: “Our biggest design challenge is to create a consistent brand image... unless we have a strong vision and speak with a consistent voice, we run the risk of losing our brand credibility.” It is this clear vision of a consistent brand image that Burberry continues to pursue today. Given the confusion around the diffusion lines and the evolution of high-end shopping, it is not surprising Burberry announced at the end of last year that the company would be consolidating all the brands into one label: Burberry. By the end of 2016, we will no longer see Burberry Brit, Burberry London, and Burberry Prorsum - it’ll all just be Burberry.

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Brand Stories: The Evolution of the Starbucks Brand

A look at the history of the Starbucks brand, with various logos and brand redesigns examined.

The brand manifold considers multiple dimensions - (1) multiple constituencies and, (2) meanings that evolve over time.

Based on the brand manifold concept presented presented in the article, “Viewing Brands in Multiple Dimensions,” Starbucks considered both their past brand meanings as well as future brand meanings. Starbucks wanted a “new logo and visual identity system to say as much about its future as it did about its past.”

In 2008, Starbucks made changes to their logo that did not take into account the meaning of their brand as embodied by their customers and the public. “They inexplicably attempted to reimagine the original 1971 logo, possibly to appeal to the new hipster movement. The rebrand attempt failed with both designers and the public at large. The green logo, cups, and branding had become so familiar to the public that attempting a large, significant change like this was doomed from the start.” In comparing the hipster coffee movement (i.e. single origin, pour-over, artisanal coffee beans, indigenous flavors) and Starbucks coffee (i.e. overroasting their mass-market beans), the disconnect in perception, both internally and externally, can explain the failed 2008 logo from the past.

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Vietnam's Bikini Airline Proves Unsurprisingly Profitable | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

VietJet is a private airline in Vietnam that uses bikini-clad flight attendants on some of its flights, as entertainment for the passengers.

VietJet is known for its young and attractive flight attendants who wear bikinis on inaugural flights to beach destinations. This bikini airline is also helping to create Vietnam’s first woman billionaire in the VietJet Aviation CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. In a Bloomberg article, Thao purports that the bikinis are “empowering images in Vietnam’s conservative culture.” In response to one of the first bikini shows, one Vietjet official said to the Daily Mail, “We came up with the idea of getting a number of girls in bikinis to dance and make passengers happy to improve our customer service.” However, to me, female employees performing a binkini show on an airline is conveying an identity of cheap, shallow, and unprincipled; it is not conveying any indication of better customer service. What kind of brand promise is Vietjet making when their employees dance in bikinis in front of their customers? 

The Vietjet girls’ bikini show is a striking juxtaposition to the “Singapore Girl,” which is the brand image and visual trademark of Singapore Airlines (SIA) and represents the cutting-edge quality of its service. Unlike the scantily-clad flight attendants on Vietjet, the Singapore Girl is “outfitted in a distinctive uniform, a Malay sarong kebaya specially designed by Parisian couturier Pierre Balmain.” Based on this refined, elegant image as well as their rigorous four-month training program, the women project “beauty, grace, charm, good taste, and an air of intrigue, all of which was meant to convey a sense of style and sophistication.” SIA has been able to turn a profit while other airlines have not because of their differentiated strategy to pursue customer-centric innovations and values. In particular, SIA has focused on customer needs through exceptional in-flight service and winning the loyalty of passengers in the highly profitable premium class segment. In economy as well, SIA offers fabulous service and competitive prices, which results in repeat customers and enables SIA to attain better margins. Lastly, SIA’s aircraft replacement strategy enabled them to maintain a young, modern fleet, thereby offering not only shiny new planes on the outside and great service on the inside. 

SIA has built its reputation for exceptional quality service through the image of the sophisticated, graceful Singapore Girl. In contrast, Vietjet is certainly building itself a brand as a bikini airline. I am curious to see how they will manage their brand and the associations that consumers make with bikini shows.

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 ”If McDonald’s Advertised like Apple” is an intriguing clip that alters the environmental cues around McDonald’s advertising with the upscaled, transcendent media events hosted by Apple. If you don’t get the irony, check out examples, see this, this, or this, along with many more clips on the Apple website.

As purported in Brian Wansink, Collin R. Payne, and Jill North’s article “Fine as North Dakota wine: Sensory expectations and the intake of companion foods,” environmental cues and social facilitation can influence expectations and therefore influence consumption. The authors write, “Cues of quality can take many forms, including price, labels, appearance, or names. Furthermore, it might be that even unrelated atmospheric cues - such as ambience, lighting, and sounds - can create expectations and generate an intake bias.” While this article focuses on wine and the intake of companion foods, this same concept of the environment influencing consumption could be applied to other industries. 

Retail: Abercrombie & Fitch, an American retailer for young consumers, designs it stores with darker lighting, loud music, and a strong ambient scent of their perfume/cologne to create a “classic, cool” environment. This environment thereby affects people's purchasing habits, their experience within the store, as well as their propensity to return to the store.

Healthcare: Because hospitals are now ranked based on patient satisfaction in HCAHPS surveys, it has become important for hospitals to cater to patients needs/desires. Thus, better perceived care might involve creating an environment conducive to rest and healing. However, this lends itself to controversy when the demand for a hospital correlates more to its hospitality services and luxury amenities than to the absolute quality of healthcare services and treatments. 

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1490 points and 689 comments so far on reddit

Reddit is one the largest online social networks with 542 million monthly visitors (234 million unique users), ranking 14th most visited web-site in US. Thus, it could make for an interest site of exploration for consumer culture theorists conducting netnographic research. While I am not trained in the methodology of netnography, a quick comb of the reddit thread reveals not-so-surprising results on consumer perceptions:

“Yeah my brother and I begged our parents to buy these and then we didn't want to eat them because they were gross... Dad wouldn't buy us peanut butter until we ate the f...ing things since we just HAD to have them... I think we fed them to the dog.”

“To be fair, if the peanut butter had been GOOD, I'm sure they would have been happy and wanted more.”

“A company like this is always going to cheap out on the ingredients. There is a good chance it was less than half real peanut butter and the jelly contained no jelly at all.”

“Odds are it is peanut butter flavored jello or lard.”

“I remember having those as a kid.. They weren't really that great. The texture was weird.”

Five Factors of Innovation Diffusion: Sliced Peanut Butter

Relative advantage: convenient vs. taste

Compatibility: food-grade wax, unknown ingredients

Complexity: not complex to understand, given similarly processed products available

Trialability: possible to purchase and taste-test

Observability: among kids at school, through advertising

[amklearns]

Corona - La Cerveza Mas Fina

Plastered across every distinctive Corona glass bottle is the tagline: la cerveza mas fina. Without knowing a lick of español, one can likely hazard an accurate guess at what Corona is looking to convey. And, in case the message wasn’t clear enough, Corona states on the bottle that the beer is made in Mexico. Indeed, Corona strongly associates itself with its Mexican identity, and this branding is carried through its marketing and advertising. Under the advertising theme of “Fun, Sun, Beach” Corona consistently portrayed itself as the beer associated with relaxing on a beach - likely in Mexico. Furthermore, Corona used its ties to its country of origin to direct its marketing and sales strategies, as it initially focused on regions that bordered Mexico or had a significant population of Hispanics. By strongly associating itself with Mexico, Corona is able to leverage themes tied to the country: fun, unpretentious, approachable, and elements of both relaxation and fiesta. Unlike other beer brands that look to edgy campaigns that may be borderline risqué or alienating to certain demographics (e.g. Bud Light’s #upforwhatever campaign), Corona maintains a consistent, simple to understand, and safe brand.

Heineken, on the other hand, is more difficult to understand. As fellow classmate Naina mentions in her blog post, it’s somewhat difficult to conjure up a readily recognizable Heineken ad campaign. Rather than associating its brand with the Netherlands or a particular lifestyle, Heineken instead focuses on product quality, emphasizing that it’s a great beer. Yet despite changing ad agencies and marketing executives, Heineken has been unable to clearly distinguish its brand and has maintained a position squarely in the middle of the “bell curve of consumer communication” - in short, its messaging has been forgettable. 

It would be interesting to see Heineken take a page out of Corona’s playbook and more strongly identify itself with its country of origin. The Netherlands has a relatively strong brand association, ranging from the lively Amsterdam nightlife to serene Dutch windmills. Also important is that Dutch products are largely seen as high quality and artisanal - attributes that work in Heineken’s favor, especially given the trend toward craft beers. While “de beste bier” may not be as catchy as “la cerveza mas fina,” it sure sounds more memorable than “just being the best is enough.”

[jessicalearns-blog]

Indeed, “just being the best is enough” is actually not enough to be memorable... @amklearns offers an interesting suggestion as to how Heineken can embrace its country of origin to develop a brand identity.

[jessicalearns-blog]

Their differences may seem academic -- until the impact of each intertwined element of a successful sales drive lifts the bottom line

"An advertising campaign focuses on the creative positioning and media through which a product or service is sold... By contrast, marketing presents the overall picture for how the company will promote, distribute, and price its products or services. One of the ways that promotion will take place is through an advertising campaign.”

Therein lies one major vulnerability that Heineken faces as the company defends its spot as No. 1 imported beer brand in the United States. For several decades, Heineken did not have any marketing function to present the overall picture for promoting, distributing, and pricing a Heineken beer. Heineken’s advertising had focused on product quality. Under this strategy, Heineken’s product positioning is non-memorable, at the middle of the bell curve, as per the bell curve of consumer communication presented by @professorgosline during class yesterday. She recommended that is better to be at the tails - remembered as epic, or even remembered as bad, but that it is pointless to spend $10M+ on media advertising and not be remembered. 

Compared to Heineken’s advertising, Modelo’s guiding messages were “Fun, Sun, Beach,” “Vacation in a Bottle,” and “Change your Lattitude,” all of which cohesively take a stance. Either this type of beer could be for me or it is not be for me. As @meerakrishna‘s husband said - he would only drink a corona “when I’m eating Mexican food or on a beach.” Based on this very rudimentary, qualitative market research, Corona’s communication tactics seem to be on the tail ends of the consumer communication curve. Furthermore, Corona had been open to consumer co-creation of the brand, i.e. putting a lime in the  bottle neck of a Corona while drinking it. These aspects of Corona’s brand seems to have been a strength in how it rose to the No. 2 imported beer in the US.

With Heineken’s new campaign of “Heineken Nights,” the company is moving in a direction that could integrate consumer co-creation of the brand. By videotaping consumers and generating consumer-based media, Heineken could transform their brand image through greater consumer ownership. This campaign, among other similar tactics, has the potential to drive a new brand image for Heineken so that the company can defend its market share in the US.

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“Talk on #nationbranding by @GuidovGarderen of @Interbrand_Afr = students at @MITSloan w/rapt attention. Thank you!”

Upon reading the Black and Decker Power Tools case, I was reminded of a guest lecture by @GuidovGarderen during one of my Spring semester H1 courses. I had the opportunity to learn about nation branding in emerging economies (Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago), and Guido was describing how the strategy behind brand architecture can maximize a brand and build up brand equity. The point of brand architecture is to create order for externally-facing stakeholders and allow the customer to more easily navigate what products/services you offer. 

The four models/examples he described are as follows: (1) Monolithic - from the outside, perceived as just one; (2) Endorsed - Mac3 by Gillette, (3) Ingredient - Intel inside; (4) Free-standing - P&G

In the case, Joe Galli from Black and Decker has three different options on how to increase market share of the Professional-Tradesmen segment. One would keep the Professional-Tradesmen under the B&D Professional brand, and focus on profitability instead of market share. A second option would be to create a sub-brand or endorsed brand, such as “Piranha by Black & Decker.” A third option is to drop the B&D name.

The primary question is how Galli can build up the individual brand of the Professional-Tradesmen segment while supporting and enhancing the aggregate B&D brand. Given that the B&D brand has strong consumer/household product recognition among individual tradesmen, the brand equity of B&D is weak in that segment. Therefore, to be free of these negative associations, Galli should consider dropping the B&D name from the Professional-Tradesmen segment to a brand name with higher “purchase interest.”

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While in Cuba, I had the distinct misfortune (though perhaps a fortunate opportunity) of visiting urgent care. Prior to visiting Cuba, I had heard of Cuba’s world-class healthcare system. For more info on that, read this Huffington Post article.

MY OWN PATIENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE CUBAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

My patient journey begins upon waking up at 5 am in the morning, unable to feel my lip and a heavy eyelid. Concerned, I looked in the mirror to self-examine only to find an ogre staring right back at me. An allergic reaction had taken over my right eye-lid and lower right lip. After trying my own hotel remedies (cold towel compress and anti-itch cortisone wipe), I could see that the swelling was not going down. Around 5:30, I woke up my husband (@amklearns), who fortunately was also on the Cuba study tour with me, and we went to the lobby to inquire about health services. We were informed that the hotel doctor does not come in until 9 am, and that we could visit the hospital about 15 minutes away via taxi. So, 10 minute slater, a bright blue old American car arrived to take me to urgent care (see image above).

We pulled up to the hospital, and our taxi driver helped us show us to urgent care. I approached a sleeping front desk attendant, pointed to my eye and lip, and showed her my passport. After waiting in an empty waiting room for about 10 minutes, I was then called by a white-haired, friendly-looking doctor. Fortunately, I have some conversational Spanish skills, so I was able to tell the doctor about my demographics, my ailments, the condition of my face, what foods I had eaten, etc. After the consult, he prescribed an injection of hydrocortisone and cortisone. I went back to the waiting room for only a couple minutes until a nurse called me up so that I could get my injection administered. She explained what would happen and took out the requisite aseptic equipment and drug solution. She cuffed my arm with a rubberband, cleaned up my arm with an alcohol swab, found a vein, and inserted a needle with syringe. While the solution was going into my veins, I closed my eyes and wondered whether the needle was actually sterile... too late for that (see image above). I went back in the waiting room for another few minutes until I was instructed to the finance window where I would pay my bill. Nervously waiting to hear how many CUCs this visit would cost, I was pleasantly surprised to see a bill of 45 CUCs, or the equivalent of $45 USD. This amount is probably equivalent to the coinsurance/copay for the same services provided in the United States! I was in and out of urgent care in an hour.

Within a few hours, my lip went back to a normal size, and by the end of the day, my eye was also back to normal. Now that the trip is over, and I’m healthy and back in the US, I can happily share this exciting patient journey through the Cuban healthcare system. I even kept my healthcare bill as a unique souvenir!

[jessicalearns-blog]

Andrew (@amklearns) and I prepared a proposal to make the lionfish a gourmet meal option for tourists in Trinidad and Tobago. After preparing our proposal for the class, Andrew and I had a number of conversations about the lionfish while on the study tour in T&T.

At an informal lime with a panel of business men and women in Trinidad, Andrew and I had the opportunity to meet with the executive sous chef at the Hyatt Trinidad, pictured above. In our conversation, we discussed some of the opportunities and obstacles of our class proposal - employing behavioral science nudges to protect the environment from the invasive lionfish. The insights that we received from him on the perceptions of the fish and the preparation techniques were incredibly helpful as we think about the feasibility of developing a market for lionfish.

During another panel, we had the opportunity to speak with the Nirad Tewarie (CEO,American Chamber of T&T) and Brian Frontin (CEO,Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants, andTourism Association), who were both receptive to the idea of using behavioral science to nudge tourists to consume lionfish while visiting Trinidad and Tobago.

Lastly, we also had the pleasure of speaking with a marine biologist, who is extremely educated on the topic of marine sustainability and reef preservation, and he has written a number of reports on the status of lionfish in Trinidad and Tobago. He helped dispel many of the myths and incorrect information that is floating on the web, and he described the locals perceptions of lionfish and those barriers to consumption.

Overall, the study tour facilitated many incredible conservations on the impact of the lionfish on local fisheries and the environment. We are excited to see how T&T responds to the threat of the lionfish and works toward population management as the species proliferates.

[jessicalearns-blog]

“At Norman’s Cay, an island-themed restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, an owner, Ryan Chadwick, hooks customers with a dramatic lure: The place specializes in lionfish, an invasive demon of the sea that is notorious for chowing its way through the Caribbean. Mr. Chadwick encountered lionfish in the Bahamas and got an idea”. - Seafood Restaurants Cast a Wider Net for Sustainable Fish, NYT, Dec. 22, 2015

NORMAN’S CAY RESTAURANT

Norman’s Cay, a restaurant located in lower east side Manhattan, serves Jamaican and Asian inspired Caribbean cuisine. What is unique about this restaurant is its positive ecological impact on the Caribbean. This restaurant is among the first to serve lionfish for public consumption, making their menu and the meals that they serve a positive contribution to the Caribbean marine ecosystem.

Ryan Chadwick, the owner of Norman’s Cay, lived in the Bahamas many years ago, and upon a recent visit, he learned about lionfish and how it is reeking havoc on marine biodiversity and the coral reefs. With no known predators, the lionfish is like a vacuum, eating up almost anything. The quantity of fish and wildlife as well as the diversity was no longer the same, so Ryan got a new idea - why not eat the lionfish to control the population. As a restauranteur, Ryan wanted to ship the fish to the restaurant, serve it, make people aware of it, and, of course provide delicious food. The restaurant makes lionfish in all sorts of ways in a myriad of dishes, including tacos, ceviche, and grilled whole fish. Through Norman’s Cay, Ryan is generating awareness of the issue, and serving fish that is really quite delicious, too. When I’m back in NYC, I would love to eat at Norman’s Cay to do my part in controlling the invasive lionfish species!

Overall, restaurants are becoming more sophisticated and thoughtful in their selection of ingredients. A recent New York Times article expounds how restaurants are now serving a wide variety of fish in new and creative ways. These fishmongers and chefs are focused not only on selling and cooking sustainable fish, but even going a step further in choosing to sell and prepare fish species that are invasive and threatening. For example, Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Company in Brooklyn, doesn’t serve cod, but instead offers lionfish, wild blue catfish, and almaco jack. Instead of proclaiming the environmental impact of invasive species, these restauranteurs are tangibly helping to change consumer behavior. These chefs are nudging their customers and patrons to start eating these invasive critters, simply because they are delicious!

Happy eating!

[jessicalearns-blog]

Behavioral Policy Design

As this course seeks to apply behavioral insights to two countries, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba, it’s important to understand the behavioral and cultural norms of each country prior to our actual visit to the Caribbean. Behavior science cannot be applied without understanding the sociological and psychological factors that explain decision-making within the context of a society.

On Monday evening, my class had the opportunity to hear from the former ambassador in Trinidad & Tobago and learn first-hand about the history and demographics of the islands, as well as policies that were implemented in T&T. As a former Spanish colony (1498-1797) and as a British colony (1797-1962), Trinidad and Tobago has a mixed history and mixed demographics. Trinidadians are largely of African and Indian descent. Today, Trinidad & Tobago is the wealthiest country in the western hemisphere, after the United States and Canada. In terms of civil society, Trinidad and Tobago promotes culture and the arts (e.g. calypso, Carnival), has rotary clubs, educational reforms, and a sensationalist “British-like” press. Simply understanding some of these characteristics of Trinidad’s society is very helpful in designing policies with a behavioral science lens.

EXAMPLE OF HIV / AIDS

HIV/AIDS has been an issue in the Caribbean. Trinidad & Tobago addressed HIV/AIDS by encouraging the use of condoms through music and art. Through sponsorship from their two Miss Universe’s and their Olympic cricket star, Trinidad & Tobago was able to use citizen’s respect for fame. In this way, Trinidad & Tobago was able to encourage people to voluntarily use condoms in order to protect against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Compared to Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba’s government utilized mandatory testing of HIV/AIDS and for anyone testing positive, they were quarantined and locked up.

Given how differently these policies were designed and implemented, I believe our conversations with policy makers in each country will certainly be informed by the differing societal norms and government structures.

[jessicalearns-blog]

Without knowing what the red dots in the above figure indicate, you might think an epidemic or outbreak is spreading throughout the Caribbean. You might be postulating that it’s some dormant form of the Zika virus that is now exhibiting itself in people visiting the Caribbean. Well, while it is no human epidemic, it is another type of invasion that is spreading rapidly without control, and it has shown to have an immensely negative impact on marine fisheries and the coral reef ecosystem.

These red dots indicate the population growth of the invasive lionfish species. The lionfish is very beautiful, but also very dangerous to the balance of the marine environment as they prey on crustaceans and smaller fish. This may sound like the circle of life and a natural food chain that we learned about in high school biology. However, originally from the South Pacific oceans, the lionfish is an unnaturally human-introduced species. They have no natural predators in the warm waters of the Caribbean. They are highly resistant to disease. They can reproduce very rapidly and very easily. They are voracious feeders that prey on almost all marine creatures, including those that are commercial important. Unless the lionfish are kept in check, the species will out-breed, out-eat, and out-live all other fish species and destroy the natural coral reef ecosystem. This has both negative economic and environmental implications as the lionfish population population growth comes at the detriment of commercial fishing and coral reef and marine tourism.

Seeing that this is a behavioral science class, I’m starting to think about ways in which consumer decision-making and behavior can be nudged to act in a way that will reduce the lionfish population. Some ideas for population management through human intervention is through lionfish hunting competitions, grocery store promotions, invasive species dinners, and conservation dive tourism.

A similar invasive fish species situation is that of the Asian carp, which was introduced into the Great Lakes. Now, Chicago chefs are cooking up new ways to make this invasive fish into a delicacy.  Fisheries biologists are also thinking about rebranding the Asian carp into “Kentucky Tuna” to appeal to a broader market. I’m thinking that perhaps similar tactics could be used on the lionfish!

[jessicalearns-blog]

Cancun vs. Varadero

In yesterday’s class, Guido van Garderen presented an introduction to nation branding. We learned about brand - a promise made a kept. Based on our discussions of Cuba and our cognitive mapping of the country, we expect that Cuba’s inferred promise is one of a glimpse into the past, like a historic time capsule. We also reviewed Cuba’s campaign to deliver on an authentic Cuban experience (Cuba autentíca). We postulated on what will happen to the Cuban nation brand once American tourists and American companies enter the country. Will there be a McDonaldization? Will the massive influx of American tourists result in a Cuban Cancun?

Then, right after  class, I was having a conversation with one of my Canadian friends from back home in California. He has been living in California for the past 15 years. I exclaimed that I was really excited about my study tour to Cuba because I really wanted to see the classic cars, the magnificent colonial mansions, and what is left of the beautiful architecture of Cuba in its glory days of the 1950s. As a Canadian, he has visited Cuba before, specifically, Varadero, and he told me it was going to be like Cancun - over-developed with tons of resorts lining white-sand beaches packed with European and Canadian tourists. Yikes! This is not the Cuba I was expecting. From a snapshot on Google maps, it seems both are geographically similar as long skinny peninsulas, and from a satellite view, both seem to be quite developed with resorts. Perhaps there is some truth to what my Canadian friend was saying... Will Cuba be able to deliver on the promise of an “authentic Cuba”?

Because Americans have not been legally allowed to travel to Cuba due to the US embargo, Americans, like myself, have a lot of question marks and uncertainty when it comes to our impression of Cuba. Movies like Havana Nights portrays a romanticized version of Cuba. Not many friends in my circle have made the trip to Cuba. Also, Cuba is more than just its resort peninsula; just like Mexico is wayyyyy more than the resorts of Cancun (see this blog post by my husband, Andrew). Therefore, I am eager to get the real picture of “authentic Cuba.”

Because I’m not quite sure what to expect, and no amount of online web search will suffice, I’m looking forward to making my own impressions through our study tour visit to Havana.

[jessicalearns-blog]

Loss Aversion in T&T

On Tuesday in class, we discussed loss aversion - a cognitive bias where the pain of losing is greater than the reward of winning. 

One way to think about loss aversion is as it relates to T&T’s economy. T&T’s oil and gas export industry contributes to ~40% of GDP and 80% of exports. Given that T&T is the dominant oil and natural gas producer in the Caribbean, T&T prides itself in being the “real Caribbean,” unlike the other Caribbean countries that rely on the tourism industry. Is it that, possibly, the people of T&T have an unconscious bias of loss aversion to switch from oil and gas to other potential revenue streams for their economy? 

Furthermore, T&T’s environment has a significant pollution problem. Part of this could be T&T’s “time preference,” such that the people in T&T do not tend to think inter-generationally or plan for environmental preservation. Therefore, what are ways in which T&T can start thinking about caring about sustainability when their money is made from the exploitation of oil and natural gas? This could be something to explore with the Ministry of Tourism and other government agencies that my group will visit while in T&T.

Ultimately, the question to consider is how do we fight against loss aversion? This is where framing can come into play. When people make particular decisions or take actions that do not seem rationally beneficial, how can we reframe the issues or the situation to encourage better choices that lead to improved economic, political, and cultural paths of a country?

In a laboratory, an experiment is one way to determine relationships of dependent and independent variables. I’m beginning to dissect how decision-making and experimental design can test how different variables can positively influence behavior.