...ENTRE 555 | Clocky October 5, 2015 Jeffrey Roh 1. What are the key marketing challenges facing Gauri Nanda? How would you prioritize them? The key marketing challenges facing Gauri Nanda involved three separate and distinct factors: a) The first involved the disparity in the exposure that her product received and the availability of the product itself. From a logistical perspective, the challenge for her was how to continue to generate buzz and interest in the product prior to the actual ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell the product. b) The second factor involved whether or not to segment the market into the need market (those who need the product in order to address their sleeping disorder) versus the fun market (those who want the product for fun or pleasure). Each would have its own set of advantages and disadvantages. c) Finally, third factor had to do with the potential danger of Clocky becoming a fad. 2. Nanda has several options for positioning Clocky. How would you segment the potential market for Clocky and which target segment should Nanda focus? Outline the value proposition appropriate for each target market segment. Based on her own data,the largest segment of her target market were those in the two groups in the 26-45 year range. Nanda also realized that there was a correlation between age and % gifting. Personally, I would focus on the segment of this cohort that represented the sweet spot age range between 26-45 year olds who were...
Words: 737 - Pages: 3
...Clocky Case Case facts / situational context * Nanda, a young and innovative M.I.T. graduate student is the founder of Clocky. * Clocky is an innovative alarm clock designed for people who have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning. Clocky could jump off and roll around the room, forcing people to get out of bed to turn off the alarm. * Why has Nanda introduced the Clocky? It is a new solution to ‘just’ snoozing. * The Clocky has already got overwhelming attention on diverse media. * It is a hype while it still in prototype fase this is not a great timing for Nanda, because she wanted to wait for another year to have the capacity to debut Clocky properly on the market. The case problem * Nanda faces many challenges as she is working towards the debut of Clocky. The main issue is how to position the Clocky on the market, while the Clocky already has so much media attention but still over a year away from production. She faces a number of difficult decisions conforming the 4 P’s. Marketing mix * Product: manufacture it at home or overseas? * Place: which distribution channels and which retail stores? * Promotion: how to direct the media attention? * Price: for what price to sell the Clocky? Competitions Two main competitors working on a wakeup-related product * “SleepSmart” = high price ($200-300) and high innovative/quality (device wakes up owners in the lightest stage of their sleep cycle). * Puzzle Alarm Clock = low...
Words: 333 - Pages: 2
...Rochester Hills, Michigan The business proposition: Part iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) and part Kate Spade, Nanda Home creates cute, clever products that are intended, in the words of its founder, to "humanize technology." The company already has one hit: Consumers have snapped up more than 9,000 units of a $50 plastic alarm clock. Set the alarm for 6 a.m. When the time comes, the clock wheels itself off your bedside table and rolls around the room, emitting R2D2-like squeaks. Dubbed Clocky, the little robot is manufactured in China and sold online and in design boutiques. The company also has a line of handbags designed to accommodate laptops. The founder: Gauri Nanda designed Clocky as a graduate student in MIT's Media Lab. The daughter of entrepreneurs--her parents recently sold their small weekly newspaper in Detroit--she aspired to become a designer at a large technology company. "I was opposed to the idea of starting a company," says Nanda. "I saw the hours my parents worked." After presenting Clocky to her class in the fall of 2004, she threw it in the back of her closet. She'd almost forgotten about it until the next spring, when several tech bloggers stumbled upon a photo of her invention online. Suddenly, Nanda was getting contacted by reporters and TV producers. Good Morning America called. She scrambled to fix the buggy prototype in time for its debut on network TV. Nanda, now 27, left MIT with a master's degree that fall and began considering her options. Licensing...
Words: 978 - Pages: 4
...Case facts / situational context * Nanda, a young and innovative M.I.T. graduate student is the founder of Clocky. * Clocky is an innovative alarm clock designed for people who have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning. Clocky could jump off and roll around the room, forcing people to get out of bed to turn off the alarm. * Why has Nanda introduced the Clocky? It is a new solution to ‘just’ snoozing. * The Clocky has already got overwhelming attention on diverse media. * It is a hype while it still in prototype fase this is not a great timing for Nanda, because she wanted to wait for another year to have the capacity to debut Clocky properly on the market. The case problem * Nanda faces many challenges as she is working towards the debut of Clocky. The main issue is how to position the Clocky on the market, while the Clocky already has so much media attention but still over a year away from production. She faces a number of difficult decisions conforming the 4 P’s. Marketing mix * Product: manufacture it at home or overseas? * Place: which distribution channels and which retail stores? * Promotion: how to direct the media attention? * Price: for what price to sell the Clocky? Competitions Two main competitors working on a wakeup-related product * “SleepSmart” = high price ($200-300) and high innovative/quality (device wakes up owners in the lightest stage of their sleep cycle). * Puzzle Alarm Clock = low price...
Words: 1780 - Pages: 8
...1. Introduction: In 2006 Nanda Home created the hugely popular “Clocky”, a fun and cute alarm clock that wakes up its customers by rolling around the room and requiring the customer to chase it. Over four years later, sales and profit margins have begun to shrink as Clocky’s product cycle nears its end, and Nanda Home is faced with the difficulties of replicating success. Nanda Home’s key issues revolve around how to market and brand a succeeding product to Clocky. 2. Executive Summary: This paper has identified a number of ways to resolve Nanda Home’s issues. In particular, the following points have been proposed: - Focus on product line extensions as opposed to new categories. Create a megabrand. Hire a sales and marketing team to assist Nanda in operating the business. Seek new distribution channels and utilize online marketing tools to expand the brand’s revenues. Look into collaborations. The key impediment to achieving these goals will be in the execution of the ideas. The core solution to overcoming this issue will be ensuring that Nanda has a successful team behind her to help her reaching her goals. 3. Situation Analysis, Evaluation of Options and Recommendation(s) A) THE MARKET SITUATION Customer Nanda Home has taken a product decision to target the alarm clock sector by introducing Clocky. Therefore, its customers will be alarm clock buyers. There are two types of alarm clock buyers: “Need” based buyers require alarm clocks since waking...
Words: 3297 - Pages: 14
...What are the key marketing challenges facing Guari Nanda? How would you prioritize them in terms of which are most crucial to effectively bringing her new product to the market? (Answers listed in order or priority) Product positioning Nanda already has media/consumer interest, which should help her find interested partners for bringing the product to market, but she needs to first decide how to position her product in the market. Is Clocky a “Fun” product or a “Need” product? If Clocky is positioned as a fun/cute product, she needs to be careful to avoid turning the product into a fad or having price points so high they could alienate potential customers. If she positions Clocky as a Need product, she may raise consumer expectations, and would have to shift some of her limited resources to making sure Clocky was able to consistently deliver on its promise as a more effective alarm clock. By first deciding how to position the product in the market, Nanda can then decide on the most appropriate way to distribute, manufacture and market Clocky. It is also important to note that targeting either of the Fun or Need segment would not preclude her from selling to the other segment as well. Distribution: Choosing a distribution partner was important for Nanda because it would determine how the product would be delivered to the market and could have the greatest effect on relieving her financial pressure. A mid- to large-size distributor (such as Target or Wal-Mart) could help...
Words: 1011 - Pages: 5
...Akhil Jaura Professor Ambar Machfoedy June 25th 2014 Intro to Marketing Individual Case Study: Clocky Recommend a market positioning strategy for Clocky. Support/Justify your recommendations Creating an effective market position strategy requires a three-pronged method: segmentation, targeting and positioning. It is imperative to break down the market into the potential consumers of the product. In the case study we saw that Nanda created a questionnaire to glean more information from customers. This questionnaire along with reactions to the product when viewed on Good Morning America showed widely divergent reactions that Clocky engendered. Thus Nanda was able to split her consumers into two market segments: the need market and the fun market. The approach to marketing Clocky in these two markets would have to be different, as one included people ranging from lazy to narcoleptic, and the other a group of people that would simply enjoy a new, effective product that helped them get an early start to their day. Initially, one would believe that the fun market would be seemingly easier to market to, as Clocky could be shown as the cool new gadget in the market that everyone should have. This may have been the segment I would have based my market positioning strategy on had it not been so easy for Clocky to turn into a fad item. Because these people did not need Clocky they could easily get over the initial craze, or switch to other cheap copies once the product was...
Words: 2249 - Pages: 9
...Clocky – The Runaway Alarm Clock | Case Analysis Group 3 | | Problem Statement Even though Clocky was the center of the media hype, Gauri Nanda is faced with many pressing challenges and issues for its commercial debut in the marketplace: Analysis: 1. Industry Analysis The US alarm clock market in 2005 was quite fragmented with a significant number of players in the regular alarm clock as well as the niche alarm clocks segment. The Americans spent over $7 billion on clocks and watches. On an overall basis, the consumer spending on clocks, lamps and furnishing as a category showed a increasing growth trend. The imported watches segment was also growing at a CAGR of 4% since 2002. The alarm clock industry can be further analysed using the Porter’s model and generic strategies as shown below. Figure 1: Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Economies of Scale: In order to analyze the Economies of Scale in manufacturing of Clocky Alarm clock, we have divided the manufacturing unit of Clocky alarm into different segments. The major manufacturing units comprises of 1. Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Unit: The Integrated circuit industry shows a high economy of scale. Since this is one of the most important and costlier part in the alarm clock, the decision in finding out the overall economy of scale is highly influence by this manufacturing unit. 2. Outer plastic body manufacturing Unit: The plastic molding and manufacturing industry also shows significant economy...
Words: 5068 - Pages: 21
...case study on our Clocky product. They explored a number of different ‘positioning’ issues surrounding the product. They asked questions like, “Is Clocky for the need market or the fun market?”Since its publication, MBA professors around the country have been teaching the case. Gauri has given talks at Columbia, New York University, and Harvard among other schools to lend her perspective on the entrepreneurial experience. This morning, we received a message from professor Michael Norton at Harvard Business School. He’ll be teaching students about companies who understand some fundamental aspect of human nature, and then students will be asked to apply those principles to other companies and industries. In the case of Clocky, the fundamental aspect is that people have different selves, a want self and a should self; at night the should self sets the alarm for 6am, in the morning the want self turns it off; Clocky fixes the problem.If you’d like more information, or want to order the case study, you can check Harvard Business Publishing. Side note – Professor Ofek and Gauri are working on the follow-up to the original Clocky case. More on that in the next couple of months. | blog The Harvard Business School Case Study on ClockyIn 2006, Gauri worked with Marketing Professor Elie Ofek on a Harvard Business School case study on our Clocky product. They explored a number of different ‘positioning’ issues surrounding the product. They asked questions like, “Is Clocky for the need market...
Words: 443 - Pages: 2
...Clocky: The Runaway Alarm Clock Stephen Power 12252506 MSc Marketing Full-Time Dr. Andrew Keating Consumer Marketing MKT40680 Background In the autumn of 2004, an MIT Graduate Student named Gauri Nanda came up with an idea for an innovative alarm clock as part of an electronics project. Less than one year on, she was appearing on Good Morning America and the Today Show showcasing her innovation, which she had named Clocky. The factor that set Clocky apart from your everyday alarm clock was that, in addition to making a traditional alarm sound in the morning, it would roll itself off your nightstand and move around your bedroom at random. This would give the heaviest of sleeper cause to get out of bed, find Clocky and turn it off. However, Clocky was, according to Nanda, at least a year away from mass production when he (Clocky is masculine) was garnering all the media attention. This media attention coupled with the stage of development of Clocky has posed Nanda with a number of dilemma’s and challenges. This piece will provide solutions for Nanda’s challenges. Introduction In this piece, you will see each challenge facing Nanda broken up and dealt with on an individual basis. Firstly, Nanda faces a difficult dilemma in deciding what company should manufacture the product. This decision requires a balancing act between risk and cost. The second challenge facing Nanda is distribution and partnerships. What company should Nanda partner with to sell the product...
Words: 2443 - Pages: 10
...the future, she visions Clocky as brand that will support her future business and not to be just a short term profit. Which leads to the fad label problem where Nanda fears that Clocky's "look" ( which was intended to show Clocky as a warm and friendly in the eyes of the consumer ) will support the image of Clocky in being just another strange product that will fad after a while. Our recommendation for Clocky's marketing launch plan are these key components : Product: Nanda visions her product as a solid platform for her future innovations, in other words she wants Clocky to be a strong solid brand in the market ; she cited how iRobot used the success of its first innovation " Roomba " , that successfully avoid the fade label problem , to manage the rest of its innovative products . Moreover we found characteristics that are in favor of Nanda's product such as efficiency ( to turn off the alarm you have to get out of bed and catch it ) its technologically advanced ( the technology used to create Clocky allows it to maneuver freely in the room and not get stuck by any obstacles ) also its warm and friendly appearance ( it can be viewed as a pet just like the case of iRobot's Roomba ) However , due to some bad reviews, which are indicated in the case , we recommend that Nanda change the " eccentric and funny looking " design of Clocky so that it appeals for a wider range of consumers; Retail Channels & Distribution : Nanda's goal is to make Clocky available to consumers as...
Words: 1322 - Pages: 6
...“GOOD MORNING PILLOW” Alarm clock was invented to wake up the person at a specific time but sometimes it is not that effective. The problem here is not in the alarm clock it’s in the person. People usually set their alarm clocks according to time they need to wake up but instead of getting up on bed they just ignore the irritating sounds of the alarm clock because of tiredness or they just only want to get more sleep. So that there is a lot of innovation of alarm clock today on how people can quickly go out to their beds one of best example is the Clocky Alarm Clock, this clock works like a normal alarm clock until you press snooze. As soon as you snooze it rolls itself off the table and hides someplace in your room. Once it finds a good hiding spot and stops moving the alarm goes off again until you get out of bed to find it and to shut it off. We, the group of researchers also have an idea also about this matter this is what we call Good morning pillow. Good morning pillow works like a normal alarm clock but instead of irritating sounds that will welcome your morning, it’s a light that will flash in your face, and this light will help to stimulate you to start a new and a happy morning. And since some people wants to hear music in the morning we also provide a mp3 player in this...
Words: 255 - Pages: 2
...2012-2013 PAWNSHOPS AND BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS 193 PAWNSHOPS, BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS, AND SELF-REGULATION SUSAN PAYNE CARTER* AND PAIGE MARTA SKIBA** I. Introduction Pawnbroking is the oldest source of credit.1 There is growing public interest in day-to-day pawnbroking operations, as evidenced by the popularity of reality shows such as “Pawn Stars” and “Hardcore Pawn.”2 Television viewers’ curiosity about an old credit institution may be due to the fact that 7% of all U.S. households have used pawn credit.3 Although pawnshops predate biblical times, researchers know surprisingly little about this ancient form of banking and its customers.4 We fill this gap by documenting detailed information on pawnshop loan repayment and default, and by discussing how pawnshop borrowers’ behavior is consistent with various behavioral economics phenomena. Pawnshop loans are small, short-term, collateralized loans typically used by low-income consumers. The borrower leaves a possession, or “pledge,” as collateral in exchange for a loan, typically of $75–$100.5 Interest rates vary by state and range from 2 Assistant Professor, Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis, United States Military Academy. susan.carter@usma.edu. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, or the Department of Defense. ** Associate Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University...
Words: 8983 - Pages: 36
...2012-2013 PAWNSHOPS AND BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS 193 PAWNSHOPS, BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS, AND SELF-REGULATION SUSAN PAYNE CARTER* AND PAIGE MARTA SKIBA** I. Introduction Pawnbroking is the oldest source of credit.1 There is growing public interest in day-to-day pawnbroking operations, as evidenced by the popularity of reality shows such as “Pawn Stars” and “Hardcore Pawn.”2 Television viewers’ curiosity about an old credit institution may be due to the fact that 7% of all U.S. households have used pawn credit.3 Although pawnshops predate biblical times, researchers know surprisingly little about this ancient form of banking and its customers.4 We fill this gap by documenting detailed information on pawnshop loan repayment and default, and by discussing how pawnshop borrowers’ behavior is consistent with various behavioral economics phenomena. Pawnshop loans are small, short-term, collateralized loans typically used by low-income consumers. The borrower leaves a possession, or “pledge,” as collateral in exchange for a loan, typically of $75–$100.5 Interest rates vary by state and range from 2 Assistant Professor, Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis, United States Military Academy. susan.carter@usma.edu. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, or the Department of Defense. ** Associate Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University...
Words: 8983 - Pages: 36
...Electronic Devices Can Be an Educational Curse or Blessing I thought I had seen everything after watching middle school kids text-messaging during the funeral of one of my high school students. Then, our school had its first play in three years. Throughout the audience, parents' faces were aglow as they text-messaged throughout their children's performances. Mostly, I was a bear about electronic devices in class. Even during the worst of our school's gang-related violence, my students kept their cell phones out of sight and usually out of mind. Periodically, though, we would be working and I would see several students start to sneak a peak at their phones. Then we would hear shouting in classrooms and the halls and there would be a stampede of students, including mine, to a fight. I also saw the same thing in the gym. I would be playing ball with my students during my planning period and, all of a sudden, students from across the school and adults from the neighborhood would rush towards a brawl. Had our school been able to prevent abuses of the new technology, I believe, another of my former students would be alive today. On the other hand, when students needed to take a call during class, they knew I would not question their word. If a student asked to step outside to answer their phone, my response was "of course." If a kid made simple eye contact and pointed to a phone, I would just nod, and the student would handle business and then return to work. One year, I had such...
Words: 9266 - Pages: 38
