A Meal Service Design and Marketing Strategy Based on Cooperation and Persuasion Theories A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in the School of Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning by Zhenhua Yang M.F.A. Hunan University of Technology B.E. University of South China March 2017 Committee Chair: Peter Chamberlain, M.F.A. Committee Member: Gerald Michaud, M.A. Dianne Hardin, M.S., M. Des. Tony Kawanari, M.A., I.D. ABSTRACT This thesis is proposing a new meal service for college students. The service combines the methods of the cooking co-op model and meal kit services. The thesis was developed in two steps: first is theoretical research and the second is service design and marketing planning. Theoretical research includes primary research and secondary research. The primary research of the thesis focuses on students’ meal experience and discovering their needs in meals, preparing for the development of the service design. The secondary research aims at the social psychologist Carl Hovland’s theories of persuasion and communication, discussing three components of persuasion: 1) source, 2) message and 3) audience, and establishing the guidelines for marketing development. The second step is service design and business planning. According to the data collected previously, a CoCook proposal was established. The business plan starts with the creation of personas. Then, a customer journey map was developed to stimulate the purchasing process. Finally, the theory of persuasion, which is discussed in secondary research, was applied on the lead nurturing process. Keywords: cooperation, business planning, marketing strategy, meal kit, social psychology, persuasion i © 2017 ZHENHUA YANG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my loving wife Zhuodan and my always devoted parents, whose unconditional love and support made this journey possible. I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis committee for their continued support and encouragement: Thanks to Professor Gerald Michaud, who kindly supported my research in every step and encouraged me a lot on the thesis development and entrepreneurism thinking. Thanks to Professor Dianne Hardin for introducing me to the methods of marketing development. Without her help, this thesis would not be completed so quickly. Thanks to Professor Peter Chamberlain and Professor Tony Kawanari, whose guidance not only inspired my research but also helped with my life. I would like to thank my dear friends who devoted their time and effort to help me finish the test of the design and give me helpful suggestions. Also, thanks to the participants in my survey and interviews, who have willingly shared their precious time and thoughts. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Cooperation ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Dining Co-op ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2.1 Student Dining Co-op .................................................................................................... 1 1.2.2 Dining Co-op Among Neighborhoods ........................................................................... 2 1.2.3 The social attributes of cooking co-op ........................................................................... 3 1.3 Why College Students? ......................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2: PRIMARY RESEARCH ......................................................................................... 4 2.1 Students’ Meal Experience ................................................................................................... 4 2.1.1 Cost ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1.2 Effort .............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.3 Health ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 The Ability and Motivation in Purchasing, Cooking, and Food Sharing ............................. 6 2.2.1 Purchasing ...................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 Cooking .......................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.3 Food Sharing .................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 3. SECONDARY RESEARCH ................................................................................... 9 3.1 B. J. Fogg Behavior Model ................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Persuasion ........................................................................................................................... 10 3.2.1 Source .......................................................................................................................... 10 3.2.2 Message........................................................................................................................ 11 3.2.3 Audience ...................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 4. DESIGN PROPOSAL ........................................................................................... 14 4.1 Existing Meal Services ....................................................................................................... 14 4.2 Case Study .......................................................................................................................... 15 4.3 Marketing Positioning ......................................................................................................... 17 iv 4.4 Service Design of CoCook.................................................................................................. 19 4.4.1 Service Design Proposal .............................................................................................. 19 4.4.2 Order System ............................................................................................................... 20 4.4.3 The Test of CoCook ..................................................................................................... 20 4.4.4 Findings........................................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER 5. BUSINESS PLAN OF COCOOK ......................................................................... 25 5.1 Quick Profile of the Subjects .............................................................................................. 25 5.1.1 Potential User Interview .............................................................................................. 25 5.1.2 Creating Profiles .......................................................................................................... 26 5.2 Customer Journey Map ....................................................................................................... 28 5.3 Marketing Funnel ................................................................................................................ 30 5.4 Lead Nurturing Plan ............................................................................................................ 31 5.4.1 Awareness .................................................................................................................... 34 5.4.2 Consideration ............................................................................................................... 36 5.4.3 Service.......................................................................................................................... 37 5.4.4 Evaluation .................................................................................................................... 38 5.4.5 Retention ...................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 41 6.1 Summarized Findings and Implications.............................................................................. 41 6.2 Future Works ...................................................................................................................... 41 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 43 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................................