Kenna? Who's that?

Prior to reading this case, I had never heard of Kenna. I’m not sure if that is because I’m not a music junkie or because I only listen to certain types of music or something else. Therefore it was interesting to get through the read to gain an understanding of both sides of the pendulum. As I got through the reading, I found myself on the Top 40 side of Kenna’s dilemma. I would not give his music love because he isn’t popular and because he doesn’t get publicity from any channels that I trust. I mean that the social influencers out there that would usually push music that I may listen to, aren’t doing so with Kenna. I’m not opposed to new bands, soloists, or styles of music, but after some reflection, I have found that I’m most likely going to be turned on to such things because of social influencers such as friends, family, blogs, and websites.

My question throughout the reading was “why do I behave this way?” I hoped that in understanding why I behaved this way, I would gain a better understanding of the consumer. The end of the article explains that consumer behavior is much like expert behavior in that we arrive at the same end outcome. However experts combine different elements of scaling attributes, while regular consumers are unable to do this.

So what major lessons can be taken away from the article? I think the major takeaway is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. I mean that you can’t take your first test sample consumer report and decide to scratch a product or service simply because the test sample wasn’t positive. The article discussed many instances where product testing proved to be a sorry indicator of product success. The Pepsi/Coke example and the Aeron chair example were just a few that showed that sometimes tests can go awry. This lesson is shown in many other instances as well. An example I can give of an initial bias is with the Kenna music. When I entered class this past Wednesday and heard a song of Kenna’s, I was a little annoyed. I wasn’t sure what kind of music it was and I didn’t like it. However, after listening to it in my own environment, I found myself enjoying the song. This is because I normally didn’t enjoy music in class. It wasn’t the right place for me to be listening to music. However if I hear a song of Kenna’s in my car, I’m sure I would continue listening instead of just tuning it out. This covers my initial lesson and flows through into my second major lesson the article teaches.

The author of the article makes a small but major conclusion. There is more to a product than just the quality of the product. The packaging becomes the product. In the article, many different products were cited on how they grew or declined in sales solely based on their packaging and their perceived quality in the subconscious human mind. Since I was introduced to Kenna in a setting that I was where I normally wouldn’t hear good music, I was turned off. No offense to Mr. Walls, but I didn’t think that I would be listening to the same array of music as my Professor. Therefore, my subconscious alerted me that this song “packaging” wasn’t where I liked it and it tarnished Kenna or the brand. If I had discovered Kenna on my own, I would have felt a deeper connection to the musician as I usually do with such artists that I find through my own channels.

Therefore, I find it very important when considering the consumer that we look to these two major lessons from the chapter from Blink. Because we as consumers don’t always know what we want and will therefore be turned off by new, innovative, or just plain weird products, it is important to consider other factors besides consumer test markets before deciding to progress or scratch through a product release. I also think that when considering a product, we should not look at pure quality of the product, but also the brand and packaging associated with the product. When purchasing grooming or hygiene products I find myself continuously buying products that are dark blue or black in package color because I associate this with “man” products. I never buy products that are pink or purple in packaging because I don’t think I share the same characteristics as the users of this product would. Therefore it is important to consider more than just the “taste” of your product. We must consider the environment, packaging, branding, and subconscious consumer mind that sifts through these factors when coming to a purchasing decision.