CAPSTONE!

Blog Post 2 - Deliverables

Project: DAAP Fashion Show + Business of Fashion Program

Hi everyone!

This week, Mackenzie and I completed a finalized rough draft for our project charter and had a quick meeting with our Client - DAAP Fashion professor and coordinators, Laurie Wilson and Zach Hoh. I found it really helpful when drafting out the charter by working backwards from our project deliverables/modules. Although these analyses will be helpful to map out our results and complete our grade, we quickly learned that are many tasks at hand outside these major deliverables that our client will depend on us for. For example, we are helping develop the look, tone and feel of the VIP invite that will need to be sent out in three weeks. Initially, I was a little confused that they wanted two non-design students to help with a creative asset, but this DAAP Fashion Show project is truly an all-hands on deck to keep the machine moving. It is also really exciting to feel like we are actually making an immediate impact!

Now our other project, Business of Fashion Program, is very different in nature. We envisioned this project as creating the (hopefully) solid basis for argument that UC could differentiate themselves enough to develop an awesome Business of Fashion Program. We broke this down Project Scope wise by using the Design Thinking Model: Empathize and Define. The reason I say hopefully, is not because I do not believe in the insights that Mackenzie and I can extract through research, but I have learned that reiteration is your friend in the Design Thinking process. I know I am at fault for being a very linear thinker, so reiteration is a very love-hate relationship. 

Below I listed the specific modules we will deliver. Send me an email if you have similar deliverables and would like to collaborate! chungkn@mail.uc.edu

Thanks!

Katie Chung

DAAP Fashion Show

• Channel Strategy: Focusing on print, TV, radio, and digital media.
• Digital Strategy: Social listening on current platforms, social media calendar, KPI recommendations

Business of Fashion

• Core Competency Analysis: Between DAAP and LCB
• Competitive Matrix: Among fashion retail/merchandising programs in the US
• Customer Market Research: Still developing who we are targeting
• Attribute Value Map
• White Space Adjacency Analysis
• Value Proposition

 

 

#BlogPost1 ASKING QUESTIONS

Finally, I was able to fix the technical issues and post my blog. 

My client is my employer itself, American Modern Insurance group and I work with the Product Development team. I feel lucky to do my Capstone Project to understand the recent trends in their business and execute a Marketing Strategy for them. And also, I got a good head start as my Manager was ready with a project for me. However, there is an important lesson that I've learned in the initial days itself.

During client meetings, it's not only important to listen to their ideas and suggestions but it is very important to ask the right questions. The clients can sometimes seem to forget that you may not know certain terms and abbreviations, which can be easily be confusing to anyone. They might just assume that you might be familiar with it. For example, the company that I'm doing my Capstone experience for is an very well known Insurance company that gives out Specialty Insurance. From my experience and understanding, I knew that they have insurance rates on Recreational Products like Boat, which they sometimes refer as BT and Collector Vehicle as CV. So in some instances, during client meetings, when they mentioned BT, I just assumed that they were talking about Boats. But It just didn't make sense at all. 

It took me a couple of times to realize that this may in fact be something else entirely. After one month, I happened to talk to my manager about it and she corrected me saying that BT , which the clients were referring to was actually Business Transformation, which made total sense.

I was embarrassed at my own folly. Had I raised my questions and doubts before, I wouldn't have wasted this much time and would have been able to move on pretty fast.

 

-Bhavya Mohan

Student, University of Cincinnati

MS MARKETING 

 

During client meetings, it's not only important to listen to their ideas and suggestions but it is very important to ask the right questions. The clients can sometimes seem to forget that you may not know certain terms and abbreviations, which can be easily be confusing to anyone. They might just assume that you might be familiar with it. For example, the company that I'm doing my Capstone experience for is an very well known Insurance company that gives out Specialty Insurance. From my experience and understanding, I knew that they have insurance rates on Recreational Products like Boat, which they sometimes refer as BT and Collector Vehicle as CV. So in some instances, during client meetings, when they mentioned BT, I just assumed that they were talking about Boats. But It just didn't make sense at all. 

It took me a couple of times to realize that this may in fact be something else entirely. After one month, I happened to talk to my manager about it and she corrected me saying that BT , which the clients were referring to was actually Business Transformation, which made total sense.

I was embarrassed at my own folly. Had I raised my questions and doubts before, I wouldn't have wasted this much time and would have been able to move on pretty fast.

 

-Bhavya Mohan

Student, University of Cincinnati

MS MARKETING 

 

Hello Fellow capstone classmates! This is Blog post #2

Hope everyone is surviving the past few weeks with the first initial client- consultant meeting.
I must admit that it has been tough on me and going a little slower than usual; it does require a lot of patience, determination and persistent dedication. The client- consultant feedback is very important in trying to figure out a middle ground between the project’s requirements to complete all modules mentioned in the charter and the client’s requests in order to meet the deadline set and have a well strategic plan to accomplish all the modules included in my explosive growth program. I wasn’t entirely sure if time would be enough to do all the modules and was keeping my fingers crossed that it would go according to the time on my charter and that it feels like my promise to the client, and my word to the client and my word should be good, indeed time is your enemy. There were times were I wish I had a team member working with me, to share my moments of doubts or my insights while attending our weekly staff meeting, it is ironic now since I always prefer working alone and I find myself productive more, I definitely see Dr. Boyd’s point, when he said it’s all about collaboration and team work!
After my first initial meeting I had with the client Professor Hardin and my team of graduate assistants including myself, I’ve learned so much about the potential of the project, in addition to starting to work on landscape assessment which I have learned from scratch while working for Professor Dianne last fall. There were times where I was terrified and think its overwhelming to do the project, however professor Dianne’s enthusiasm, sense of humour in classroom and support outside the classroom keeps me going and pushes me to work harder. Dr. Drew Boyd has his share of keeping me going as well, so every time I feel like quitting, or get frustrated I remember Dr. Boyd’s wise advice to me and the very first day I met my client professor Hardin as her graduate assistant last semester. It’s truly a privilege and a pleasure to be a part of Lindner College of Business future plan of innovation and development; I’m really lucky to be working on a project that involves my favourite professors and my program. I’m eager to learn more in the weeks ahead and I look forward to reading everyone’s post on the blog to see their progress on their project and client meetings.
All the best to all
Sarah.

Blog Post 1 - Laura Ibarra

For the Capstone project I was assigned is to work with Axcess Financial on digital marketing challenges. I was able to schedule my initial meeting fairly quickly and met with the CMO and her supervisor on Friday, January 18. However, since that time I have not received follow up communication regarding my primary contact person, a list of competitors, and their legal team's feedback on the confidentiality agreement I provided from UC which I was hoping for. I followed up with them this past weekend and hope to get some of those initial pieces of information soon so that I can move forward.

Axcess Financial's primary business is subprime lending including Payday Loans, Installment Loans, and Check Cashing. They are currently facing a challenging digital marketing atmosphere. In anticipation of federal legislation, Google and Facebook both implemented rules banning financial institutions who charge more than 36% APR from participating in pay-per-click advertising in 2017. Axcess Financial is now seeking ways to economically acquire new customers (anyone who has not applied for a loan with them in 12 months or more) through digital marketing. Their goal is to acquire as many customers as possible, as cost effectively as possible. Their target-audience is around 40-50 years old, and skews slightly female. I hope to use some Google Analytics and targeted marketing approaches to come up with solutions for them to solve this problem. 

Although this will certainly be a challenge, I feel that it will also be a great opportunity to learn more about digital marketing strategy and execution, so I look forward to the next steps. From both ethics and legal standpoints, I will also have a lot to learn about finance and subprime lending and I hope to take an approach that is not only beneficial for Axcess Financial, but also for the consumers.

Blog Post 1 Amanda Radich

Hello,

I'm really excited about the project I am working on. I am with Dr. Kalmeta and her company, BioRegentech, whose focus is reducing the healing time for chronic wounds. Dr. Kalmeta is very intelligent and has worked as a teaching doctor, developed medical devices, and has improved many of lives, just to name a few. The typical chronic wound healing process involves lifetime of doctors visits where the wound is scraped and vacuumed. This method is time consuming and expensive. BioRegentech's method "regenerates circulation enabling chronic wounds to "enjoy" blood supply, prevents infection, regenerates chronic wound tissue such as necrotic black tissue, and closes advanced wounds that are many inches in diameter without a graft." Their work is revolutionary and could benefit the quality of life for many while changing the medical world.

Over the past two weeks we have looked at developing a strategic expansion plan to spread into South America markets. We delved into the overall intent and opportunities present. BioRegentech has high growth opportunities due to their innovative technologies and market expansion goals. In the next steps I would like to establish budget, competitive threats, and core competencies (in her opinion), and setting up regular meetings/calls. A thoroughly laid out expansion plan can aid in BioRegentech's global expansion efforts with proper positioning, tactics, and ease of market entry. 

I look forward to hearing about everyones projects and progress. Best of luck!

Amanda 

Blog Post 1

Hello everyone!

I hope all of your capstone projects are going well so far! I am working with the YPO group. YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) is a society for young, chief executives to network, enhance their business, and gain experiences. They have over 27,000 members and are in more than 130 countries. They have exclusive membership criteria and over 450 chapters. We will be focusing on the Cincinnati chapter as we proceed with our assignment.

Our project had a somewhat unique approach to the beginning of the semester compared to all of the other groups. We have a larger number of people assigned to this project and our kick off meeting with our company contact was the very first day of class! Our task is to conduct interviews of YPO members in Cincinnati in order to see how YPO can improve their member engagement. With having a larger group, we had to first establish some guidelines of who was going to be our liaison to our contact so that we can stay organized, as well as what each group member’s strengths and weaknesses are. Our contact has provided us with guidelines and goals for the foundations of our project and is excited to see what we come up with. Currently, we are somewhat at a standstill until we receive the list of member contact names in order for us to proceed with the interviews. Our team is excited to begin the interviewing process and know that we are going to get some great content for YPO!

Looking further into the semester, I am excited to see where this project takes us and what we will find. I do not doubt that at the end of this I will have gained all kinds of knowledge on different subjects and aspects. I know our group will do a great job and am interested to see what the future holds. I hope everyone else is off to such a great start!

Blog post 1 - Dewy Project

Hello everyone!

For my capstone project this semester, I will be continuing work from a class I took last semester at DAAP, Design Strategy and Theory. As a brief recap, the project revolved around solving one of the 12 UN goals. My partner and I chose clean water for all, focusing on the idea of not limiting water usage, but changing the behaviors and habits of people to value water as a limiting resource. We developed "The Dewy Project," a possible resource for parents and educators to teach water efficiency for future generations. This project was accepted into the 1819 Innovation Hub Venture Program, a 7 week accelerated start up program. Currently my teammate, from the DAAP school, and I are working on resources from there to continue the project, along with this capstone.

So to continue this project, I am focusing on using the design thinking model (research, understanding, synthesis of research, ideation, prototype, test) along side the big picture model to create my startup. Thus semester, I will be focusing primarily on the first 3 steps, to really gain an understanding of how families use water and what their issues/gains are from their usage. This method creates a need to build empathy and getting into a persons life and see how they live, something surveys or online resources do not provide their entire story. The challenge with this method is control. What I mean by that is being sure not to rush to the end result too quickly. We have an innate behavior of finding the end result, before understanding the entire problem. This is a major issue I will have to work with throughout the project.

By the end of this semester, my goal is to understand what families care about in regards to water usage, do these individuals care about water issues, and how can the Dewy Project make a lasting impression on these families (or do they not care). All of these will be answered through interviewing and observing, using various design data visualization techniques. At the time of this entry, I am continuing to do online research. However, I have also reached out to about 5 families to start, asking for interviews. I have also set up a few interviews with professionals in the field of water and access to water for all.

Working on this project will be a different experience, but can bring in a large amount of learnings from my time at UC. The hope is to create a lasting a viable plan that can continue after these 16 weeks. By next week, my goal is to have several hypothesis available to test, seeing the beginnings of our core principles and mission.

Jason

Blog Post 1

Hi everyone!

This semester for Capstone I am working with Mackenzie Mayernik on two projects with similar stakeholders: the 2019 DAAP Fashion Show and exploring a Business of Fashion area of study for UC. Our clients are Laurie Wilson, who has been in charge of the DAAP Fashion show for many years, Zach Koh, who is the Fashion Design Program Coordinator, and Dianne Hardin herself. Although the projects are in the realms of Tactical Execution/DAAP Fashion Show and Explosive Growth/Business of Fashion, there is so much content and information to be explored that it feels as if we are creating the project from scratch in terms of what we can feasibly accomplish before the end of the semester.

I'm really excited about this project because I consider myself somewhat of a case study for a student who had wanted to go into Fashion Retail. When I came to UC for undergraduate, I knew I wanted my major to be Marketing and then I would explore my options for minors. I looked into our Fashion Design studies minor, but I was not going to be able to complete it with the consistent co-op schedule. This summer I interned at Kohl's and was one of the very few who did not have a true merchandising background in my role. I was committed to learning and proving my worth, but it was a constant struggle! 

If any of you reading this have any interests in the fashion retail world, or have any friends that do, Mackenzie and I would love to talk to them once we get further along in our project!

-Katie Chung

Blog Post 1

Hey everyone!

Hope you guys have a nice start with the new semester, my capstone project is Mercy McAuley high school. Mercy McAuley High School is a new all-girls, college preparatory Catholic High School sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

I will be working with my clients Patricia Pagio (president), and another Patty (Marketing director) for this project. I'm really exciting to help them with their marketing strategy and analysis their current data to help them be able find the marketing standing point for new market, and understand which age of student they should be introduce their school and why people choose or not choose the school.

For the starting point of the project, I went to the high school meet with my client, and I got a really nice tour. It helps me get more ideas about this high school and where I can start help with. By the time I was waiting for their data set, I start draw the high school with AVM (Feature - benefits - value map), this is the big picture strategy I learn in the marketing strategy course, I think it's really helpful to me to understand what's the benefits that I should choose to delivery consumer value. My next step is draw the big picture for the school to understand which direction I should go for helping my client show their value of their school.

The most challenging part of this project could be the school policy, the marketing cannot directly go to competitors, middle school or mail directly to any family. It could be block for me to think more marketing ideas to help with project, but I’m still really confident and positive, I will be have a right marketing strategy to help build a better brand and develop the value to the consumers. 

 

Blog Post 1

Hi everyone!

For my capstone project this semester I have been assigned to a project with the Children’s Meeting House Montessori School. I will be working with my client Susan Maggard who is the Business Operations Manager at the school.

Children’s Meeting House’s mission is to foster the development of the whole child by implementing the philosophy, practices and curriculum of Dr. Maria Montessori. It strives to nurture each child’s lifelong love of learning and honor the diversity of individuals. Being that it Is independently owned, the school is mostly funded by tuition revenue, parent contributions and fundraising efforts.

The project itself will be twofold consisting of research as well as execution of proposed marketing initiatives. Firstly, will be the analysis of the school’s current administration data software, looking into areas where the school could better utilize this service as well as an exploration of alternatives. The goal is to ultimately, at the end of the engagement recommend a solution which could work better than the current system going forward and possibly save the school money which at the moment might be going to waste. The second aspect to the project will be the development of marketing initiatives and new opportunities for fundraising from the idea stage and eventually to execution.

To date, Susan and I were able to have our initial meeting this past week to basically expand on and shed some more light as to what the assignment is all about, as well as set some preliminary expectations. I was also able to go to the school, meet some of the staff and founding members as well as see operations first hand. After this initial meeting, I think I am a little more clear on my role and the project in general. I'm no stranger to fundraising or to working in education, however the Montessori method or approach to education is something that I'm getting more and more familiar with.

For this first post, I must say I am feeling a little more at ease than I was in our first class. Key takeaways from these last weeks have been time management and lots of ambiguity. I’m feeling very confident though and I cannot wait to not only use what knowledge and skills I have but to also learn from this process.

Good luck you guys.