Summary: Trunki is a popular children's ride-on suitcase-its brightly colored, rounded surfaces appeal to toddlers and parents alike. But when its designer appeared on a British TV show featuring the product, its towing strap broke, sending Trunki into another round of modification. This program explains how a product became a worldwide success through following three important principles of good...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: When Samsung realized older customers were ignoring many of the features on their cell phones, they commissioned inclusive design specialists to find out why. Observing that older adults in focus groups were looking to the box for instructions, the specialists came up with an innovative, book-style package for the phones that doubled as a how-to guide. In this program viewers learn how...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: By working closely with potential customers as well as suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors, designers can optimize the products they create while keeping tooling and assembly costs down. In this program designers from Britain's Kinneir Dufort employ market research and model-making technology to redesign a peak flow meter, used by people with asthma to measure lung function. To keep up...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Decades ago, Volvo's famous safety features were the least appealing part of their cars, at least from an aesthetic standpoint. Now designers work with engineers from the beginning of the development process to make sure that Volvo remains competitive on all fronts. In this program Volvo representatives address the issue of combining safety features with good design while maintaining brand...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Shopping, once simply a basic task, now vies with television as America's most popular leisure activity. How are retailers cashing in on all that discretionary spending? From the Turkish bazaar to the Mall of America, this program reveals the strategies being used to ensure that wallets and purses remain open for business. Retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, shopping center architect Eric...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: An ideal discussion-launcher for sociology courses, this program examines cultural and psychological aspects of what is now an archetypal suburban experience: shopping at the mall. Visiting "cathedrals of consumerism" throughout North America-from the Southdale, Minnesota, progenitor of the enclosed retail mall to the absurdly spectacular Grand Canal Shoppes and Desert Passage in Las Vegas-the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beginning with a concise history of the media, this program explores the effects of TV and other information and entertainment sources on personal attitudes and actions as well as on public opinion. The impact of how appearance, language, and behavior are portrayed is considered. Tips on becoming a more critical viewer are included.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1900
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Summary: Marketing specialists can no longer rely on traditional media, such as television and print ads, to generate mass appeal. And sometimes they don't need to. This program explores marketing case studies in which consumers-often those in the 18-to-25 age group-have boosted product sales through word-of-mouth, amateur videos, fan clubs, and other informal and unpaid means. Featuring commentary from...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Ads targeting girls between the ages of 8 and 12 employ an increasing level of sexuality. Are advertisers responding to neo-feminist notions of "girl power" or are they leading girls toward harmful self-images? This program examines the trend by following a group of tween girls through their daily lives, recording their perceptions of fashion, celebrities, boys, and themselves. Interviews with...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program places consumers under a microscope to quantify the psychological spectrum of buying, from everyday habits that typically steer Americans through their supermarkets and malls to a clinical disorder in which the high of making a purchase becomes the goal of shopping. James Twitchell, author of ADCULT USA; psychologist David Lewis, author of The Soul of the New Consumer; Brian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In a consumer culture, the pressure to buy can be as subtle as it is relentless. This program introduces the craft of advertising, explaining the difference between needs and wants while analyzing the power of celebrity endorsements, the psychological advantage of product placement, and other aspects of the business of steering wallets to cash registers.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1900
View online at AVOD
Summary: Our economy rests on the bedrock of consumption: people use things that others have made. This program looks at the many social and psychological factors involved in the effort to sell things that people can be induced to buy without necessarily needing them. It covers fashion-a complex industry that reaches beyond the need for clothing to reflect the psychological needs of consumers; explains...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: With its "bargains by the bagful" philosophy, Ames successfully targeted a huge and lucrative demographic market called The Belongers. In this program filmed at the apex of Ames' success, NewsHour correspondent Paul Solman discusses the Ames phenomenon with CEO Joe Ettore, Executive Vice President Rolando de Aguiar, and others. This snapshot of Ames at its peak offers a useful point of entry...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Bottled water is designed in such a way that the sound of the liquid sloshing in the container makes the water seem pure and fresh. A computer's start-up tone, the snap of a cosmetics case, the sound of the buttons, when pushed, on household appliancesall have been engineered by sound designers. This program examines the use of sound design in product development, and reveals how designers,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite the success of Harry Potter, there's nothing magic about marketing to kids-corporations have it down to a science. This program explores the high-stakes world of child-driven market research, in which vast resources are dedicated to gauging the desires and buying power of young customers. Depicting a wide range of research strategies-including home visits and "brainstorming sessions"...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Moving from foundations to specific methods, this program examines the complex background work that must take place before a product or service can be positioned in the market. Surveys and analysis performed for the computer game company Electronic Arts provide an illuminating case study in field, quantitative, and qualitative research and how these overlap with explanatory, descriptive, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: A business model based on door-to-door selling made sense in the 1950s, but today's young adults love to shop-which means tough times for Avon. This case study examines forces that have seriously reduced the company's market share and the aggressive steps it has taken to boost its customer base and rebuild its image. Identifying pivotal socioeconomic factors among women under age 35-including a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Billionaires are popping up all over India, but 300 million of its people still live on less than a dollar a day. This CNBC Original program examines the astonishing new power of the Indian economy as well as its growing pains. Reporting on a wide range of business and economics topics, the program presents interviews with key players in India’s rise—including Ravi Kant, managing director of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the power of professional pollsters to influence public opinion. Public opinion pollsters and market researchers serve virtually every facet of American culture. Nearly everyone-from the makers of cake mix to television executives and candidates for public office-seeks to become the intimate of our private opinions for the purposes of their own strategies. In the hands of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Who needs that product, anyway? This program provides the inside scoop on how to gather consumer data. Sources of secondary information from the government-including the Statistical Abstract of the United States and materials obtained through FOIA requests-and from syndicates such as ACNielsen are considered. Methods of gathering primary information, such as focus groups, one-on-one interviews,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the bland stuff. In this TEDTalk, marketing visionary Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. Says Forbes.com: "[Godin] is a demigod on the Web, a best-selling author, highly sought-after lecturer, successful entrepreneur,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Heinz has sold baked beans since the late 1880s, and even though the recipe has remained basically the same, the company still sells 10 times as many beans as its nearest rival. Has nobody come up with a better product in 120 years, or is something else going on? Is branding so powerful that it can actually affect our taste buds? This program goes on the trail of international food and beverage...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Animal health insurance, gourmet pet foods, designer dog clothing, chic critter birthday parties and "bark mitzvahs"-all are part of the burgeoning luxury pet industry. This program illustrates trends among American and European consumers that signify dramatic increases in pet-related spending. To track the new phenomenon, the film visits the quickly expanding Pets at Home superstore chain,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: High tech is big money-as Facebook, Apple, and other digital superbrands have demonstrated so well. What factors enable technology companies to rule today's global economy? Is it all about marketing, or are other forces at work when the latest smart phone stirs consumers into a frenzy? This program goes inside the technology industry for answers. Viewers will learn about Sony's Blu-ray...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011