Design Management Blog

Design in Events Management Project, 2012

Project brief: develop a unique event design pitch in response to a live brief, which serves its purpose and is financially beneficial.

Despite entering an airline industry with large obstacles to ovecome, Ryanair succeeded in accomplishing its main objective, which is to firmly establish itself as the leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline. Through continuous improvements and expanded offerings it has thus become the largest no-frills airline in Europe. As argued by Aaker (2010) “Ryanair is a brand with strong exceptional personality with a single message - Ryanair means the cheapest fares”. It is worth mentioning the infamous Ryanairʼ CEO Michael OʼLeary, he is a brand himself and his aggressive approach has transformed the “worst” airline to one of the strongest brands. Ryanairsʼ appearance was a huge threat to the airline industry, as before it was mainly dominated by full-cost airlines. Ryanair trasformed the entire airline industry by concurrently answering consumer demands of “cheap and quick flights” and maintaining profits by reducing costs. Ryanair made travel an “easy commodity”, available to anyone. However, the strict cost focus can also be seen is a weakness of Ryanairʼs strategic аpproаch because it leads to “deceptive” offerings and poor customer service. 

Low-cost airline industry at a glance

The concept of low cost carriers firslty appeared in 1949 with an emergence of Southwest Airlines in the US. In regards to the European market, the appearance of low cost airlines happened only in 1990 when the deregulation of the European airline market came into affect, meaning that governmentаl imposed entry and price restrictions for companies were diminished. Before that, The European no-frills аirlines industry hаs been on the rise since when, mаinly shaped by several large companies, including Ryanair. Major low-cost airlines are mainly inspired by the business model of Southwest Airlines, mentioned before, which is completely different from traditional airlines - low cost airlines simply offer the minimum standards of service for the short distance flights from point A to B. Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, stated that flight is “just that the physical process of getting from point A to point B shouldn’t be pleasant, nor enriching. It should be quick, efficient, affordable, and safe.” He also argued that the main target audience for low-cost airlines are the cheap travellers, whose main priority are low fares, therefore they provide only the necessary services for that particular target. Airlines in this industry are particularly price sensitive, as there is no brand loyalty in this segment, therefore the brand switching is one of the major features of this industry.

Competitors Analysis

Although traditional full service carriers are involved in the competition, companies that function in the low-cost sector and have analogous business model to Ryanair pose tremendous threat to the company in the short-haul market. On a European competitive landscape, main rivals of Ryanair include EasyJet, WizzAir, AirBerlin, Norwegian Airlines and AerLingus. Efficient aircraft utilisation and rapid turnaround times are critical components of any low-cost airlines business model. However, there are some differences to the Ryanair business model, for example easyJet, contrary to Ryanair, commonly flies to the large city airports, such as London Gatwick or Geneva GVA. It also strives to win over business passengers through providing appropriate service for additional prices. In regards to AirBerlin, it aims to fill the gap between full-service and low-cost airlines therefore it endeavours to become a hybrid type of carrier. The airline's attention concentrates on maintaing good services at lower costs, contrary to Ryanair, whose main attention is one the physical elements of the flight, with no emotional benefits.

Challenges and Opportunities

Ryanair business model is increasingly driven by extras in a form of ancillary services that enable them to continue to advertise cheap flights and yet still charge passengers a larger price via their website. Such deceptive advertising practices and moving costs to the consumers may deter some customers from using Ryаnаir and make them switch to other brands in the future. Despite the fact that Ryanair prides themselves on being an “engine to drive down costs”, in fact they are deceiving their consumers and charge almost the same amount as some traditional airlines. It can become a great challenge for Ryanair in the future, as competitors may use its reputation gap in their own advantage. Currently, Ryanair is benefiting from the recession and a global instability  Ryanair stated that "this recession has encouraged passengers to become much more price sensitive which is why they are switching to Ryanair's low fares and unbeatable customer service over all other competitors". However, their competitors are also benefiting from recession, therefore with their unempathetic approach towards their consumers can lead to loosing their customer base. 

Strategic Design Management Group Project, 2013

Blue Ocean Strategy Proposition: Body & Mind Post-Natal Gym Centre

The area of customer experiences as an emerging area of competitive advantage is now clearly documented (Johnston & Kong, 2011; Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004).

A creative approach to branding enables companies to create meaningful experiences for their customers. The greater focus given to experiential design is driven by the proven importance of connecting emotionally with customers. Moreover, Pine & Gilmore (1998) argued the application of experiential design not only enables companies to differentiate themselves from competitors, but to build personal and intuitive relationships between customers and brands.

Retailers аround the globe have embraced the concept of customer experience management, with many incorporating the notion into their mission statements. Despite the recognition by companies, there is still a lack of academic sources on the topic of retail experience. Huge amount of practitioner-oriented articles that exists still lacks to provide theoretical aspects of antecedents and consequences of customer experiences. One of the main reasons for that is that marketing and retailing literature historically has not considered experiences as being a separate construct.

Customer experience originates from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, a company or a part of its organisation, which provoke a reaction. This experience is strictly personal and implies the customers’ involvement at different levels (rational, emotional, sensorial, physical and spiritual). It was also defined as an internal and subjective response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with the company.

According to Pine & Gilmore, in a new experience economy, customers are no longer treated as clients, customers became a guests and the interaction is viewed as symbolic rather than as an economic transaction. In terms of companies, they now are staging the experience, satisfy psychological needs or may also fulfill some profound emotional psychological needs a consumer might have, help a consumer in making a statement or showing off their personality.

Competing in today’s global market is becoming increasingly difficult, and mostly consumers perceive products and services as homogeneous. Directing a store’s retail design towards the creation of memorable customer experiences by appealing to customers’ senses, emotions and values may therefore seem a valuable approach for differentiating oneself from competitors. Underhill (1999) stated that a physical retail environment can have as much effect upon the consumer’s perception as the quality of the product(s) itself, design has gained in status in the area of retail management. Companies have to get an insight on the current trends on the market, not only in terms of what appeals functionally, but also emotionally. This can be done by observing the actual shopping behaviour of their consumers and base their branding strategy for the retail store on those insights. Customers do not just simply come to purchase the product, they also bring expectations, personal preferences and (good or bad) past experiences with products and services with themselves.

As consumers are looking for more personalised shopping now, the concept of engаging customers with memorable, three dimensional sensory experience emerged and creativity became an important vаlue-differentiating element.

The role of designers in shaping consumer perceptions of sustainable food packaging through the supply chain and to the final user.

The main aim of this research was to analyse and discuss the role of design as a solution to salient current issues throughout all stages of the supply chain and as a potential key facilitator of change towards a more sustainable food packaging industry and consequently – towards a more sustainable final user.

Both the industry and the consumer are confused about sustainability and designers’ creative thinking can produce a solution to that. What do the findings suggest? The results of both qualitative and quantitative research showed that a majority of respondents agree on the supposition that the sustainable development can be achieved only by concurrently addressing all design, production and consumption patterns. Despite great improvements towards sustainable packaging are taking place in the UK, unsustainable consumption patterns are offsetting the measures taken by sustainability-oriented companies. However, the survey results showed that industry specialists themselves are not environmentally conscious consumers of packaging. The united supply chain approach is required in order to proliferate consumers’ perception of sustainably packaged foods. Consumers need to be more enlightened regarding the accountable use and disposal of the package. Therefore, the development of sustainable food packaging market demands both innovative propositions by the designers and producers and acceptance by the consumer. Design experts are able to promote sustainable consumption through the supply chain and to the final user by unleashing new cutting-edge ways of thinking.

Design is playing a great role in facilitating the change towards a more sustainable food packaging industry by changing mindsets of both the industry and the consumer. Both habits of not valuing materials by producers and a ‘throw-away mentality’ of consumers can be reversed by using design as a tool and should be approached by taking small steps, one step at a time. This process of educating them will take a long time, but eventually we will come to the point where most of the food is packaged sustainably at the point of sale, and sustainable aspects of packaging will become one of fundamental requirements. It is clear that the industry is ahead in terms of understanding the importance of sustainable packaging, but there still remains a challenge to adopt those principles in reality. Main reason for that is that the concept of sustainability remains abstract and theoretical, but also there is a small demand for those products. In regards to the final user - consumers’ attitude towards sustainable product differs from their buying behaviour patterns. This research outlined several possible solutions of how to educate both industry and the consumer of importance of being sustainable and change their behaviour.

In the course of history designers became major contributors to both unsustainable consumption trends and development of materialistic lifestyles in the world of product abundance. For the benefit for future generations, they should educate and guide both the industry and the consumer through the journey towards the sustainable future.

Are designers in position to facilitate a change towards a more sustainable food packaging market? My dissertation aimed to illustrate the role of design experts through the supply chain to the final user as well as describe tools and techniques that can be used to promote sustainable packaging consumption. In order to truly understand the role and the potential of design experts and assure the validity of research results, I used methodological triangulation, in other words, used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data gathered from these sources enabled the me to analyse the role of design professionals at each stage of the packaging supply chain. Design expertise enables organisations not only create “aesthetically pleasing” products, but strengthen their competitive edge by aligning both business and creative strategies and finding new innovative solutions to keep up with the sustainability trends.

Given the challenging financial situation Versace currently finds themselves in, how can they improve their competitive position in the luxury consumer goods segment?

According to “Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study, 11th Edition” (2012) “the luxury goods industry is now targeting 3 major customer segments - absolute, aspirational and accessible.” Versace prides themselves on being an elite brand marketed to a privileged group, particularly high income consumers who do not worry themselves with the financiаl frugаlity of their purchases. It was also the first non-hospitality brad to strategically implement a brand extension into the luxury accommodation sector - opening The Palazzo Versace, located on Australia's Gold Coast.

Versace is a well-established premium fashion brand, however, currently, due to the financial difficulties it is adopting a new strategy of diversifying their product line in order to reach a wider, less affluent target audience and some of their fashion lines are becoming more accessible to the public. Although launching brand extensions has proven to be a potentially successful and profitable growth strategy in the luxury sector, the brand extension should be consistent with the core brand, otherwise the connection and the appeal might become diluted.

This can be seen in Versace’s recent effort to associate themselves with mass market company H&M in 2011. It may have generated a large media buzz, but at the same time it has lead them to slightly discouraging and losing their core target audience of more wealthier customers, who desire exclusive products, backed up by brands’ heritаge and trаdition. In 2011, after 2 years of losses and restructuring its wholesale and retail divisions, Versace returned to profit, however, as in 2013, a family-owned company is considering a possible sаle of stake or an IPO to fund the future business growth and expansion in the US and Asia. This happened primarily due to the power struggle, aggravated by disputes over cost cuts, that has occurred between key people of the organisation, which have led to poor marketing decisions, and consequently the diminishing business to consumers (B2C) relationships between the brand and its clientele across the globe. Currently, the luxury-goods sector currently is experiencing a wave of brand consolidations especially due to recent acquisitions of Bulgary & 17% of Hermes by the industry’s largest player LVMH and it is worth mentioning that the main goal of Versace despite arising challenges is to remain a family-owned business.

Project brief: identify a social dilemma that requires a change of direction for the better, develop your knowledge on the issue via prototyping in the three areas of technology prostheses. In response to the issue researched and prototyped, develop a technology that will act as a redirecting force against the current situation. 

Introduction

As compared to other European countries, the Russian packaging industry is still in the early stage of development. Worldwide strategies used to improve unsustainable packaging are an important aspect of wider efforts to address unsustainable production and consumption, however Russian packaging industry is unwilling to develop any sustainable initiatives. Sustainable consumption was never an objective in Russian policy as there is lack of sustainable awareness in Russian society. This design project aims to propose a technological solution to the problem of unsustainable packaging consumption and positivle change littering behaviour in Russia which will raise awareness in the “unsustainable” Russian society. The role of designer in this project is to educate both industry and consumers and act as a facilitator of change towards a more sustainable future. By encouraging consumers to be more sustainable, this technology will also have an effect on Russian manufacturers, as they will realise the importance of producing more sustainable packaging and initiate more pro-active corporate social responsibility strategies.

Keywords: sustainable behaviour, littering behaviour, packaging waste, sustainable packaging, trim-tab designing, persuasive technology, game change, Russia, design for the future, design as a facilitator of change

Phase 1: Identification of the Social Dilemma

1. Subject: Unsustainable Packaging Consumption and Littering Behaviour in Russia

Datamonitor: Respondents in Germany, Brazil and Russia are least concerned about sustainable packaging. This doesn’t mean that they are not ecologically minded, but instead medias’ interests of sustainable packaging and packaging end of life is currently low, therefore consumers are less aware of this particular issue.

Euromonitor: Strengthening ecological trends in packaging in Russia. Recycling and the environmental impact of packaging are receiving unprecedented attention in Russia from packaging manufacturers, environmental organisations and consumers. Packaging manufacturers, in efforts to attract consumer attention, tend to implement new technologies in packaging production, the main element of which is minimising harmful effects for the environment

Main issues within the subject identified: bad littering behaviour, lack of awareness of sustainable practices and lack of existing recycling facilities and public waste containers, lack of sustainable enforcement.

2. Location - Moscow, Russia

Moscow is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Ninety per cent of the air in Moscow is polluted by cars. Other major issue Moscow faces include waste management – the Russian capital produces 22 million tons of solid waste per year. In regards to garbage, Moscow produces 5.5 million tons every year. Four million of that amount - 81 percent - is buried in spoil disposals outside the city.This lead to Moscow Region to close half of its landfills as they are overfilled with garbage. Lack of recycling facilities can create enormous problems in the future. In 2010, several ecologists warned that the garbage catastrophe in Moscow can occur and giant landfills can reach their ceiling by the beginning of 2013. 

3. Direct & Indirect Participants

Thesis: The role of designers in shaping consumer perceptions of sustainable food packaging through the supply chain and to the final user

Questions:

1. How does design management contribute to changing consumers buying patterns and make them more sustainable?

2. Does design management promote sustainable consumption?

3. How can design be used to address the problem of overconsumption?

4. Illustrate and give examples of where you influenced a client to adopt a sustainable approach to their packaging?

5. Give examples of your favourite food sustainable packaging at the moment?

6. Describe the current sustainable practices in your organisation? Is sustainability one of the foremost considerations?

7. What are current sustainable trends in the food packaging market?

8. What are future sustainable packaging trends? How do you assess the role of designers in shaping the future of food packaging market?

Camden Promotion Poster, 2012

by Katerina Y.