Path 5:  Looking Across the Functional and Emotional Appeal for Buyers

This is a transcript of the conversation that took place.

Mike:  OK, so shall we move on to our last type of noncustomers?  (Everyone nods).  Great!  I believe we thought that these were possibly the least interesting in terms of volume, but nevertheless a large enough type of noncustomer to make them worth looking at.  Would you like to start, David?

David:  I agree that this type of noncustomer is the smallest of the three in number in terms of future sales potential …

Mike:  Yes.

Sally:  You’re probably right – but not by much really …

Barb/Rick:  Agreed.

David:  I think you are right – I’d put it close to 20% of noncustomers, but not more than this.

Sally/Barb:  Yes

David:  I will say that I really enjoyed these visits and listening to these noncustomers, especially those who we know are largely ignorant of what our industry offers – and it’s probably our fault!  Ten of the homes I visited did not have a video game console at all!  About 40% of these homes were retired folks and the rest were families.

They knew what video games were since they usually had one or two of their grandchildren or nephews and nieces who had a console.  As we all agreed before we set out on our Visual Exploration, I asked them to describe the video gaming industry to me.  Their replies were neutral to negative … I would say mostly negative – all about making people isolated, about technology and complexity.  They said that they felt “backward” and “stupid” when seeing a gaming console.  I then asked them to describe a different orientation of the industry that would be more valuable to them and which may even persuade them to buy a console!  The headlines of what I heard was that for them games were about people getting together to socialize and have fun – like ‘Monopoly’ or ‘Risk’.  One person, or maybe two, sitting pressing buttons in front of a screen was not what they thought of as a game. Games should be about people, not technology.  They also thought that games should be simple –– like ‘Monopoly’ or not harder than simple card games otherwise fewer people could play.  This is mostly what I heard.

Barb:  I heard exactly the same things – when they talked about people playing games, they always talked in the plural.  When I asked them how many people, they said 3 or 4, or very occasionally to 6 people.  They also said that the only thing they would recognize when they unpacked a gaming console would be the electricity lead – the rest seemed to be quite intimidating technology.  Quite a few people asked “Do people get trained how to use these?” and “I wouldn’t know where to begin knowing how to connect and use one of these!”.

Sally:  The same themes came through for me – they also found the characters in games hideous and intimidating.  “Why aren’t there nice people playing games?” they asked.  One person suggested that if they put ‘Cluedo’ on a computer, that would be exciting, with some scary music to add to the atmosphere!  “You should only need one or two buttons” was a frequent comment, “not all that technology … and my fingers don’t move that well any more … stiffness and arthritis”.

Rick:  Yes – these folk were not into the technology at all or amazing sound effects – one or two said that they found the music frightening and some said monotonous and “headache-making”.  They said that they enjoyed puzzles and problem solving – like doing the crossword to keep their minds active – but they found the kind of repetitive problem solving they had seen in computer games silly and mindless.  They wanted to have fun with no real effort.  Other than this, I got much the same impressions as you all did.

Mike:  I remember quite distinctly one elderly man of about 80 who said that he would only buy a video game when he was bed-ridden!  Until then, for him playing games was about throwing and catching a base ball with his grandson, or playing 9 holes of golf every week.  Apart from this, those I listened to had a distinctly negative view of our industry – “techno”, “nerdy”, “geeky” were words they used … not flattering at all!  They thought about games as a vehicle for socializing, not the end in itself.  And … agreed …they were easily intimidated by technology.  Anyone have more observations?

Sally:  I mentioned the stiffness and arthritis, but this type of noncustomer, even the older people, were still physically active, but not in an aerobic way – just keeping their joints flexible.

Barb:  One other thing about technology that no-one has mentioned and that is that they still thought the graphics on the latest generation of games was still unpleasant to look at – regardless how much money we are spending to achieve realism, it is still far from real in their eyes.  They even said that if the images on the screen were simpler – more like cartoons – with better contrast rather than half tones -  it would suit their eyes better.

Sally:  Oh, that reminds me … this type of noncustomer is not into big sounds at all!

Rick:  Absolutely agree – I remember a frequent complaint from those who had relatives who were video gamers was that the noise was “terrible” and that it would take over the whole house.

David:  Yeh – I had a couple of those saying the same thing too – also about not being too concerned about how good the graphics were – it was really about the people playing the game and not the game itself.  Oh, before I forget, this one very glamorous lady was going on and on about how ugly technological goods are – even televisions – she called them “hideous, ugly!”.  She wondered why we didn’t get them designed by designers and not “computer types” as she put it.  She said we should make the “game thing and the television one piece of furniture that you wouldn’t even know was in the room”.  I think she has a point!

Mike:  Wow – that’s something I never thought of.  Ok… let’s take a short break and then give ourselves some quiet time to think about how we can create an offering that would appeal to these noncustomers.  Oh … remind me again, Sal … what is your estimation of how big we could grow the market by creating something for this type of non-customer? 

Sally:  I would agree with David when he said that it is not far short of 20%.

Mike:  Thanks, Sal.  Oh, and one other thing … I have decided to hand over all the product development for our existing suite of products to Hamo Redman. I believe that he did an excellent job on the price promotion and discounting strategy last year which really caught the competitors sleeping.  We played tennis last week (he sure likes to win!) and talked for at least 2 hours about all the main competitors and what they might do in the future.  He really knows what they are up to and has a great competitive spirit and I trust him to do a great job there.   I would like us all to think about how much of our investment capital we are going to spend in developing a Blue Ocean and how much on supporting ongoing development of our existing product. 

I really want us to concentrate all our effort on reconstructing the boundaries of this industry – to try and create a Blue Ocean.  Does everyone agree with me giving Hamo the responsibility for our existing product development?

ALL:  Yes!/sure/great!/agreed.