The Pepsi Challenge...or...design without context

When I was a kid, I really liked pop—soda, fizzy, whatever you want to call it—namely Coke. Later, I adapted my taste to new developments in pop… new Coke didn’t work for me, but other new flavors, like Cherry Coke, hit the spot. As I grew older, I strived to moderate my high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) intake with diet versions.

Let’s talk a little about advertising, design, and figuring out what people like…

Consider two cases, relating to design context, as well as my aforementioned love for soda or—er— Pop.

1. In his book, Blink:The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell discusses how “New Coke” held up to Pepsi with “The Pepsi Challenge.” The Pepsi challenge actually failed miserably for both New Coke and Pepsi. The single biggest reason: context. It failed to consider that a “sip test” (one single sip of each product) might not be accurate for anyone who would buy pop. Would they normally buy a whole can on lunch break? Would they buy a case, and take it home for the kids? Who would be drinking it, and how much would they drink? Question: How complex and complicated can it be, to find out what a customer really thinks?
2. Steven Heller (a designer, art director and author of many books, whom I deeply respect) presents the challenge of design, in discussing a fuller design context: building a car is the analogy. Internal and external environmental factors, as well as the actual target audience must be validated. The user interacts with the gauges and controls of the car, our own height and body size/movement are involved, and things like the tires of the car and the signage on the highway come into play. The experience is determined by all of these systemic variables. Question: What other potential products and services (these are variables) effect your present client’s products or services?

This “system,” with all these variables, is quite complex. And the success of the system is often time based, with results often occurring over time and needs changing over time. Success can also depend on what’s going on, in and around the neighborhood cultural block, or all the way out to the international scene. Oh, and how is success actually measured???

WOW. Ok. Slow down... 

No need to take on the world, it could get a little overwhelming...But there are so many variables involved when establishing design context. It's an on-going process, this discussion of process and context! I generally engage in the client-designer relationship as a way to engage my curiosity, my sense of adventure, and my ultimate desire to “design value” for the products and services of customers and their audiences. I ask myself: What’s going to create the most value for the client over time, and what might affect the audiences in (hopefully) positive, productive, useful ways?

How can you design greater value for your clients? I’ll have some suggestions centered around this and the gathering of valuable information next time… I have vowed to keep my posts shorter, and as useful as possible.

:)

m