PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERINGS

Commercial Appeal

Goal To examine functionality of product or service offerings in meeting customer needs. Participants will create a commercial for a product or service that nobody would want.

Time Required Approximately 1 hour

Group Size Subgroups of four or five persons each, with a maximum of thirty participants

Materials

• One index card and a pencil for each participant

• One poster board sheet and several felt-tipped markers for each subgroup

• A box of assorted items (for example, office supplies, clothing, toys, books, pictures, and so forth)

PROCESS

1. Distribute one index card and a pencil to each participant.

2. Ask the participants to think of a product or service that they think nobody would want and to describe it on the card provided. Give the following examples or something similar: “a shampoo that smells like a skunk” or “a vacuum cleaner that sprays out dirt.”

3. Allow several minutes for task completion and then collect the completed cards.

4. Form subgroups of four or five persons each.

5. Shuffle the product index cards and randomly distribute one to each subgroup. Provide one poster board sheet and several felt-tipped markers to each subgroup.

6. Explain that each group is to create a brief television commercial of approximately 1 minute featuring the product or service listed on the assigned card. Indicating the box of assorted items, tell the groups that they can use anything from the box as well as the poster board to enhance the message of the commercial, but that this is an option and not a requirement for the task.

7. Allow approximately 20 minutes for the subgroups to work on the task, giving a 5-minute and then a 1-minute warning before time expires.

8. Ask each subgroup in turn to present its commercial.

9. Facilitate a large group discussion by asking the following questions:

• What characteristics of the product did your group emphasize? Why?

• What about a commercial makes its message believable? Why?

• What role does creativity play in advertising?

• How does this affect how the message is received by the audience?

• How do you determine the needs of your customers?

• Is your company providing products or services that are no longer needed by your customers? If so, what are they?

• Can these products or services be changed so that they meet customer needs? If so, how?

• How might your company better advertise its products and services?