Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I really enjoyed reading this article.  I was surprised by the idea that a woman would prefer to break the egg herself to fill the domestic role of a traditional housewife than to use a product with powdered egg already included, although both taste the same.  I think it's harder to deduce what the consumer's reasoning is for that type of product than the author said.  I could say now that the woman feels that the product is more wholesome if an actual egg is used versus the egg powder.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I thought this article did a good job at representing the different types of market segmentation.  I was not familiar with the different types of psychographic segments and was a little confused at how the marketing firms initially decide how they are going to break up the segments.  Though, later in the article, the author makes a great chart that explains how the opportunity cost of a purchase breaks each segment apart.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Because I recently took the Myers Briggs type indicator, I am interested in learning about the different segments that it breaks people into.  I would ask the author if they thought it could be a viable method for use in advertising to learn what type the consumer is that is buying the product.  I would also ask the author if they had a preference towards a certain method of segmentation over another.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I somewhat disagreed with some of the deductions made about consumers.  An example is in the first question.  I really liked how the author stressed the importance of advertising to a new segment versus advertising to the typical purchaser of the product.  An example of this was given about Miller Lite advertising to their consumer base but not increasing any sales versus advertising to health conscience consumers that did increase sales.