Unit 9 Final Project 1
MT359: Advertising in the 21st Century
January 15, 2013

The product that I have decided to market is 3M Thinsilated hats, gloves and scarves. The reason that I chose the product is evident. I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I have spent the last thirty-nine years braving Chicago winters. These winters are the stuff of legend. Chicago is better known by tourist as “The Windy City”. Chicago earned the nickname of the Windy City because of from the chilly gusts of wind coming off Lake Michigan. All Chicagoans know that early fall and winter mornings can be unbearable without some form of protection from the wind. Keep in mind that large numbers of the population of the city ride public transportation every day. This is common for such a large metropolitan city. The Chicago Transit Authority estimates their daily ridership to be approximately 2,209,000 rides (Transitchicago.com, 2011). This is broken down by the different means of public transportation offered. The averages are as followed. CTA Rail Ridership: 680,000 rides, Bus Ridership: 1,068,000 rides, Metra Ridership: 336,000, PACE Ridership: 125,000, Total daily ridership in Chicago: 2,209,000 (Transitchicago.com, 2011).
This is a lot of riders. All of these riders need to be protected from the elements as they wait on the cold streets for the public transports to arrive. As we all know, it gets pretty cold in Chicago. Between the months of December and February, Chicago has an average low temperature of 21 degrees Fahrenheit. During the same time period, Chicago has an average precipitation of 2.22 inches per day (Weather.com, 2011). As you can tell by the average temperature, this precipitation is usually snow. I will be the first to tell you that when it snows is Chicago we usually get several inches and it stays on the ground for days at a time until you shovel it up. Being outside long enough to shovel snow exposes you to the elements for an even longer period of time. This exposure can create a separate set of problem’s all its own.
Exposure to prolonged cold temperatures can cause frostbite. Frostbite is an injury to the body that is caused by freezing. Frostbite causes a loss of feeling and color in affected areas. It most often affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, or toes. Frostbite can permanently damage the body, and severe cases can lead to amputation. The risk of frostbite is increased in people with reduced blood circulation and among people who are not dressed properly for extremely cold temperatures (CDC.Gov, 2013). For this reason, I have chosen to market a product that all Chicagoans can use. The product is called Thinsulate.
3M Thinsulate Insulation is used in your jackets‚ pants‚ gloves‚ hats and boots to help keep you warm when it’s cold outside. The unique microfibers or fine fibers that make up Thinsulate insulation work by trapping air molecules between you and the outside (3M.com, 2013). The more air a material traps in a given space‚ the better it insulates you from the cold outside air. Because the fibers in Thinsulate insulation are finer than the fibers used in most other synthetic or natural insulation‚ they trap more air in less space‚ which naturally makes Thinsulate insulation a better insulator (3M.com, 2013). So we haven’t repealed the laws of nature with our thin insulation; we’ve simply improved them…to help keep you warm. Some of the benefits of this product are that it is breathable, moisture-resistant, and both machine washable and dry-cleanable. If you are outside in the Chicago elements, you need to have protection that will keep you warm. Thinsulated items will protect you from the elements without being bulky and cumbersome. The material is thin enough that you cannot tell that the product is lined with the material. With this feature, you can wear gloves that are thin enough for you to reach into your pocket without having to remove them from your hands. Any other glove that thin would not protect your hands form the wind. This miracle material will also line the hats and scarves that I will sell. This makes the product extremely important to the community. The consumers need to access their bus passes, train fair, Metra cards, etc., etc., without having to take their gloves off to reach into their pockets while waiting on that public transportation to arrive.
This product will be accessible to all of the consumers in my area. The cost for the Thinsulated products will not be much more than the price point for the non-insulated items. Looking at the demographics of the city, we should be quite successful. The demographics are as followed (US Census Bureau, 2012).
Chicago (city), Illinois People Quick-Facts Chicago Illinois Population, 2011 estimate 2,707,120 12,869,257 Population, 2010 (April 1) estimates base 2,695,598 12,830,632 Population, percent change, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011 0.4% 0.3% Population, 2010 2,695,598 12,830,632 Persons under 5 years, percent, 2010 6.9% 6.5% Persons under 18 years, percent, 2010 23.1% 24.4% Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2010 10.3% 12.5% Female persons, percent, 2010 51.5% 51.0% High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2007-2011 80.2% 86.6% Bachelor's degree or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2007-2011 32.9% 30.7% Veterans, 2007-2011 100,219 770,388 Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16+, 2007-2011 33.7 28.1 Per capita money income in the past 12 months (2011 dollars), 2007-2011 $27,940 $29,376 Median household income, 2007-2011 $47,371 $56,576 Persons below poverty level, percent, 2007-2011 21.4% 13.1% Retail sales, 2007 ($1000) 19,842,717 165,450,520 Retail sales per capita, 2007 $7,059 $12,947 (US Census Bureau, 2012)
Based off of the findings in the census data, I do not feel that this information will impact the sales of my products. The cost of my product is so low that anyone who can afford to by gloves should be able to afford to buy mine. I also see that the average travel time to work is 33.7 minutes. Being exposed to the elements for over thirty minutes without some type of protection for your hands, head and chest would not be wise.
Take me, a native Chicagoan, for example. I feel I fall right into the typical demographic of a resident. I fall into the average in most areas. I earn an average wage; I live in the average priced residency. I have two children, a boy and a girl. I graduated from high school and will soon be a college graduate. I am a typical resident of my neighborhood. Being a typical resident, it also takes me over a half of an hour to get back and forth to work every day. I have to wear some protection while I am braving the elements. I would choose to use insulated products because I feel they would keep me warmer than non-insulated products; especially if they fall into the same price range for the product. This is a product that I can honestly say that I would purchase even if I did not fall into the normal demographic of the neighborhood. The Thinsulated brand is not just available in men’s accessories. It is also available in women’s and children’s items as well. This is why I feel that this product would be successful in this area.
I feel that I have learned a lot from this exercise. I feel comfortable in knowing what it would take to successfully market a new product. I know what type of research needs to be done to make sure that we are hitting the ball on the first swing. You have to know who your target market is. Before this assignment I thought that if you needed to advertise that you would juust make a commercial and that everyone would like it. Now I see that is not the case. You have to market to a specific consumer. Now I have to tools to reach that consumer and make the most effective use of my advertising dollars that I can.

References:

Winter weather: Frostbite. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/staysafe/frostbite.asp
Weather.com. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USIL0225
What is 3m thinsulate insulation?. (2012). Retrieved from http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Thinsulate_Insulation/Homepage/AboutUs/WhatIsThinsulate/
US Census Bureau. (2012, September 18). U.s. census. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html
(2011, April). Retrieved from http://www.transitchicago.com/about/facts.aspx
(2011, April). Retrieved from http://www.transitchicago.com/about/facts.aspx