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RUNNING HEAD: Consulting Group Activity Two


Danielle Perri, Emily Day, Brooke Stallings

November 11, 2015

Consulting Group Activity Two

MRCH 3200: Consumer Studies in Merchandising

College of Human Health and Performance

Department of Interior Design and Merchandising

East Carolina University


Consulting Group Activity One: OverviewThis consulting group is a series of activities that will exercise your critical thinking skills. To this end, you will be asked to apply or identify key terminology and concepts that we have discussed in this course. Don’t forget to follow APA formatting and include a cover page. Part One. You are collaborating with a marketing firm to create an ad campaign for Yellow Dog Bakery, a bakery with a coffee bar located in Raleigh, NC. As a consumer behavior-consulting group you have been asked to conduct market research about different myths and values used in advertising for coffee shops, baked goods, and bakeries. One of your tasks is to collect a sample of coffee and/or bakery advertisements, at least 5, that appeal to consumers’ values and/or myths. Each ad must appeal to a different value or myth. The marketing firm wants you to provide the following information:

1. Provide an image of each ad. If it’s a video provide a screen capture.

This ad displays the value of self-concept and symbolism. If you drink coffee from Starbucks, you will then be your best. Starbucks is a name that is widely recognized and often thought to sell the best coffee.


A motivational value is used in this advertisement. Attitude is another element added to this. Using the line “Make today better” may cause a consumer to think more positively leading them to make a purchase.

Emotional branding is used in this advertisement by creating an emotional connection. After tragic destruction of the bakery, this fundraiser is going to a good cause, but also promoting the store and other chefs. This may also cause a consumer to think of this specific bakery at other times.


In this advertisement, the value of affiliation is represented. McDonalds is a globally recognized franchise; it is known for being cheap but favored by many. A consumer is also likely to be persuaded when they see $1 in large print.

A sense of accomplishment and humility are both values portrayed in this advertisement. The Coffee Beanery draws consumers in with its devotion and dedication to their quality coffee.

3. At the end of the ads, explain which ad is the least and most effective, explain why 5-6 sentences.

The Coffee Beanery ad seems to be the most effective ad because it appeals to the values of many consumers. Two of the main values used to market this coffee shop include accomplishment and humility. The Coffee Beanery values the accomplishment of creating quality products, but in a humble manner. Family is another value that many can relate to, making one gain an emotional attachment to the establishment. The least effective ad seems to be the ad for bakery, Panera Bread. It does not fully represent the values of motivation and positivity it could. This particular ad is too vague and does not do much to appeal to consumers.

4. Go online and check out Yellow Dog: https://www.facebook.com/yellowdogbread?v=wall Consulting Suggestions

1. Keeping in mind Yellow Dog and the brief research you did, suggest value(s) and/or myth(s), that are the most appropriate for this bakery and coffee bar.Some values that seem most appropriate for Yellow Dog include happiness and loyalty. This new to the world bakery is undoubtedly devoted to their customers. A true sense of dedication to the satisfaction of customers and their service is something this bakery and coffee bar highly


values. It’s friendly atmosphere, and high quality breads keep both consumers coming. Yellow Dog more motivated to maintain the happiness and loyalty of incoming buyers.

2. Last, the marketing firm wants to you create a sketch of what this ad may look like. Part Two. As a consumer behavior-consulting group you have just been hired to consult for Whole Foods. Most recently, they have come under fire for some green scandals. A brief has been complied, watch the provide videos and review the provided articles. Make sure to provide notes for each video and article. Whole Food Brief:· Whole Foods Scandal: http://www.infowars.com/whole-foods-caught-in-false-advertising-scandal/· Whole Food Op-ed: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-maclean/surviving-whole-foods_b_3895583.html· Whole Foods Asparagus Water: http://www.whas11.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/05/whole-foods-asparagus-water-mistake/31177545/· Whole Foods Comedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwJ0Vj3cxyQ Whole Foods wants you to provide the following information:

1. Whole Food Brief Notes:

Whole Foods Scandal Notes: In the video reporters addressed shoppers as well as employees of Whole Foods to see about their knowledge of GMOs as well as if they think Whole Foods has it in their products. This is such a big scandal do to the advertisements of how there is no artificial ingredients in there food, basically stating that it is 100% free of these ingredients. The facts have proven that this is wrong and that Whole Foods has now had to address this on their website. Whole Foods has also been funding Tom Vilsack who is a leader in GMO production. GMOs have been tested on rats which have later received tumors.

Whole Food Op-ed Notes: In this video a comedian expressed her off and on relationship with Whole Foods. She also compared it to Vegas and how you go, happy and leave broke along with other outcomes that leave you otherwise unhappy. She stated that other than the expensive food that she also had a bad experience with an employee. The employee then asked where is the whole wheat bread was they laugh and tells her where she can find her poison. Other than this, in the beauty aisle there is a machine that can basically calculate how beautiful a person is (in her opinion) based on things like the


amount of facial hair, pore size, etc. These are things that could make any customer have a bad experience/ relationship with a store.

Whole Foods Asparagus Water Notes: This short article talks about the ‘ridiculous’ product called asparagus water which was priced at $6. This water was placed on the shelves of Whole Foods in California, but a spokesperson said it was a mistake for them to be on the shelves. The spokeswoman states that the vegetables were only supposed to be an essence within the water. Other than this big mistake the article also states that Whole Foods has recently been accused of overpricing their already pricey foods.

Whole Foods Comedy Notes: This video was similar to the article about the Asparagus Water, it talks about how ridiculous it is too have this product alone. Also, how the water is free and the asparagus in the Whole Food stores cost less. It also talked about how Whole Foods over prices the products for the NY customers. The comedian states that Whole Foods should send out a real apology where he made a joking commercial where it talks about how everything is overly priced just because they market using special words (good, organic, etc.)

2. Whole Foods wants you to use these videos and articles to identify points that might negatively affect consumers’ perceptions of Whole Foods. Present at least 5 key points. Present your points in a bulleted list with explanation (2-3 sentences per bullet).

● Over pricing customers: All customers want to feel as if they are receiving a deal or getting their monies worth, but instead some are cheated. This reduces the amount of trust a consumer might have in a store and their policies.

● GMO labelling: Whole Foods prides itself in being a 100% organic food producer to their customers but had to admit that they have GMO chemicals in their products. Lying to consumers is not the proper way to make sales nor will it help that many consumers who try to shop there solely for the purpose that they do not have GMOs are deceived. This states to me that Whole Foods does not care about the lifestyle choices or health of their customers.

● Beauty Aisle: The machine that shows flaws on customers is not a good way to establish self-esteem in the customer. I feel I understand that you are trying to get them to buy more products to help them with this problem but customers will leave the store feeling bad about themselves, in association with the store’s image.

● Asparagus Water: This product was sold by mistake which shows how reckless and lack of attention that Whole Foods has towards their products/stores. Along with it being a mistake it was also overpriced, when someone could have just as easily made it themselves for less. This is a sign of reckless behavior by a company, why not double check the product before it hits shelves as well as pricing compared to other products in the store.

● Customer Service: When hiring employees to work at an establishment that already over prices products, there should be more consideration about the experience that is provided.


If an employee is rude to a customer even if trying to be funny you can ruin the person’s experience along with their perspective on the stores morals.

3. Whole Foods feels like consumers may mistake future marketing efforts and Whole Food branded products as part of Green Marketing or Green Washing. In a paragraph, 6-8 sentences, explain why consumers may feel this way?

Many customers may feel that Whole Foods is a company that is Green Marketing or Green Washing their products due to the fact that in many advertisements they have mentioned that they are 100% organic. Whole Foods is known for providing what customers believe is trustworthy products due to labelling that suggests that there are no artificial ingredients in their products. In advertisements they have been able to cover up the fact that there are GMOs in their products due to the fresh market appearance. Whole Foods is labelled as a health food store, but one with something to hide - with recent controversy and criticism it is hard to trust that a store is purely 100% anything anymore. Whole Foods has lost trust in some of their customers because even if now there are more labels, who is to say that everything is labelled correctly. With labelling and the way that they present themselves to the public through ad experiences it is easy to trick customers into believing that what you see is what you get. (This has not been true with Whole Foods because what you see is what you get along with unlabeled GMOs) Consulting Suggestions

1. Next, Whole Foods wants you to assess how this will impact their triple bottom line from the stakeholder and consumer perspective, see page 147-148.

Financial Bottom Lineo In order to provide profits back to stakeholders after the scandal, Whole Foods

would need to reassess their marketing plan to attract consumers that will be forgiving of their past mistakes and willing to give them a second chance. If they converted to a sustainable business model they could potentially profit financially and recover their losses from the scandals.

Social Bottom Lineo Since Whole Foods lost a lot of their customer’s confidence in their company,

returning benefits to the community where they operate would be essential. As mentioned above, by reassessing their marketing plan would not only benefit their financial bottom line, it would benefit them in the community also. Personally, I love Whole Foods because of the atmosphere and they do give off a sense of giving back to their community, even if they really aren’t.

Environmental Bottom Lineo Once Whole Foods admitted to having GMO’s in their products, most of the

environmentally conscious consumers stopped shopping there. It would be very


beneficial to attract those consumers back to their stores by having ads specifically targeted for those people.

2. What steps should Whole Foods take to ensure that consumers don’t associate their store

and branded products with Green Marketing or Green Washing? Present your suggestions in a bulleted list, 3 bullets, with explanation (3-4 sentences for each bullet).

● Pricing: Since pricing has a huge effect on green marketing, it would be best for Whole Foods to stay away from overcharging consumers. The consumers will feel better buying environmentally friendly products, just at a little bit lower price.

● GMO labelling: To avoid consumers association to Whole Foods with green washing, they would need to first make sure that they aren’t using GMOs in any of their products, and if they are, just be truthful about it. To ensure that they aren’t greenwashing, it is better to be truthful to the consumers, rather than lie about it.

● Product labelling: Sometimes stores can be over indulgent in their product labels, to avoid this I think minimal labelling on products would be best for Whole Foods so people don’t associate them with an overindulgence in green marketing. Everything is advertised as 100% organic or no added preservatives, to avoid green washing, keep the labelling to a minimum, but be truthful and straight to the point.

Part Three.Your choice! There is so much to cover in this class and so little time. As a group select one of the following case studies and answer the questions provided in the text. Chapter One: p. 33Chapter Two: p.72Chapter Five: p. 202Chapter Six: p. 242 1. Chapter Selection: Chapter One p.33 2. Case Study Question Responses:

1. I split my time between traditional television (cable) and streaming video (Netflix) by watching traditional television when I am eating a meal because I do not like to eat in silence, when I am laying in bed at night right before I go to sleep I’ll watch whatever is on television to wrap up my day, and if I want to watch the news in the morning. I watch streaming video or Netflix when I want to watch a specific show or movie because I cannot just watch what I want to watch on traditional television or cable. I rarely watch


television for the sake of the show but rather for background noise or something to keep my attention for a short amount of time. I rarely watch Netflix because I do not directly have it on my TV and my computer speakers/sound do not work for some odd reason, even though my computer is perfectly fine. I am however lazy about plugging in an HDMI from my laptop to my TV to watch Netflix. So the only time I ever watch Netflix is through my iPhone which is very rare.

2. Consumers might use heuristics when choosing television shows to watch on Netflix because they may recognize a favorite show they like on Netflix and automatically click on the show to watch it because they enjoy it. A lot of times when consumers like or prefer certain shows on traditional television they get really excited when that show is playing on cable. Or if that particular show is not on the channel or network the consumer may even watch other shows until their favorite show plays because they enjoy it that much. The same concept applies to their favorite show pops up on Netflix when they first open the application, they automatically click on the show without even thinking about it. It’s almost like the consumer feels like they won the lottery because it just so happens that their favorite show is on traditional television when they turn the TV on or their favorite show is the first item to pop up when they open the Netflix application.

Next, create a Pinterest page to capture what you learned, and to promote the product/company reviewed in the case study. Don’t forget to attach your Pinterest Page. If you have selected Chapter Five or Six, choose one of the products or companies related to the case study topic.

Netflix Pinterest page:

https://www.pinterest.com/daniellecperri/netflix/

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