Emma Rice

Daniel Ford
James Wreden
Derek Dela Cruz

Ampliteam Human Marketing Research

Our Product:

Our product is a XLR cable with a built in pre-amp and limited EQ functionality.

Empathy :

Understanding problems through human needs is fundamental to what we do, we start with the
users and what they care about and need.

Needs and insights are only things that you can find by talking to and observing people.

● What do people care about?

○ People care about things that apply to them. They want to purchase products, and
continue to purchase products that they have easy access to. People care about
price more than quality most of the time, meaning they want products that are
cheap and accessible to them. They also care about products that cater to their
needs to solve big problems or issues they face.
● What is important to them?
○ It is important that the product is reasonably priced and can help make mundane
tasks in their lives easier. Most everyone is all about finding the easiest possible
route with the mindset, work smarter not harder. This is something to keep in
mind while making our product that it helps people and answers a problem or
makes life easier in some way for them. People also find saving time important.
● What do they need?
 ○ People need access to products and they need to know that they are reliable.
Purchasing a product is a big step and having a product that is cheap, reliable, and
something that would help them save time and money is important. People need
something that makes their life easier.

Concepts:

Brainstorming

Who do we want to market the product to? Can we meet all the needs of the clients?

Who is the most reliable market? Will all ages and genders have access?

● Possible Clients
○ Music students
○ Amature musicians
○ Music teachers
○ Producers in the music industry
○ Musical theater companies
○ Professional bands or music groups
○ Audio engineers

We believe that marketing our product to amauture musicians would be the smartest move. This
is a large client base that has a wide variety of genders and age, but there is a common interest
and need for this product. By focusing on this client base we can find unique and specific ways
to advertise our product and make sure that it appeals to the clients. As supporters and
participants of the arts, we all can attest to the needs that these clients have and what kind of
problems they want to solve to make their lives better. This is also a broader term, meaning that
with the exclusion of professional musicians our product would apply to most of the people on
our brainstorming list.

Researching
Empathy​ is the foundation of a human-centered design process (to better understand the clients
needs that could be solved by your product/service)
 ● To empathize, you:
■ Observe​. View users (possible clients) and their behavior in the context of
their lives.
■ Engage​. Interact with and ​interview​ users through both scheduled and
short casual encounters.
■ Immerse​. Experience what your user experiences.

Following these guidelines, we worked to empahize and learn more about amature musicians.
We wanted to see what they did with music and what their values, passions, and motivations are.
Would or product apply to them? Here is what we found:

● Amature musicians are not paid for most of their work

○ This is something that they do recreationally and for fun
● They play music or rehearse until they can get something right
○ They are not all about perfection
○ Professional musicians play until they can get something right every time
● What is th​e difference between a professional and amature musician?
○ Ultimately, there is only one thing that defines a professional musician: He or she
makes a self-sustaining amount of income from music
● Strong community and resources online
● “One who loves, and one who does out of love”
● They are active participants in musical culture, who are often willing to throw down
tremendous, sometimes ​senseless​ amounts of money, just to engage
○ They could be in a recreational band, club, or apart of a following of a famous
musician
○ Active to make music for fun and because they love it
● They appreciate the fine art of professional music
● One of the biggest supporting classes of the music industry
● Aspiring professionals sometimes
○ Therapeutic for other people
● Observe
○ These clients are happy when they hear or make music
 ○ Love being apart of a supportive but also competitive community
○ Music is an escape from their everyday lives
○ Could be aspiring to continue music professionally or full time
○ We can also get a strong sense of what the world of amature musicians is like
from researching online
● Engage
○ We plan on meeting with amature musicians during our project
○ We will talk to them about their motivations, passions, and what problems they
want us to possibly solve
○ This will give us a wide range of clients and allow us to better empathize with
these people and their needs
● Immerse
○ All of us have seen first hand how students in music programs interact or behave
in class
○ They are usually excited and passionate about making music
○ The atmosphere is overall very creative

Detective Research Virtual Poster

Padlet Link: ​https://padlet.com/emrice1/fi3rzb9fivs4xgqq

● What did you find that people have in common?

○ I found that the amature musician community has a common spirit. They want to
support and appreciate music in any way that they can. They appreciate the
professional musicians work, and have an unexplainable drive that keeps them
tied to music and creativity.
● What did you find that was different?
○ I found that while they have similar spirit, there are different levels of dedication
and goals among amature musicians. Some aspire to become professional
musicians, while others simply make music to tap into their creative side for
recreational purposes.
 ● What was surprising?
■ It was surprising to see that music industry revenue was declining for so
long. Only in the past few years has the amount of money been increasing,
and, thanks to fashion trends, so have vinyl sales. It was shocking to see
how sales had dropped so consistently, but also reassuring to see that now
is a promising time for our product to be introduced.

Problems to Solve

● Audio clarity
● Accessibility to instruments and other music equipment
● Soundproof rooms
● Progression/feedback software
● Audio consistency
● Filters

Our Problem To Solve:

The problem we’re trying to solve is that live audio during performances is often unbalanced,
and we would like to create a solution for that.