Assignment 29: Venture Concept No. 2

1. Opportunity

• To explain the need I'm fulfilling with my product, I'll first show a few memes made by people who are likely in my target market:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• You get the idea. Most people do their makeup in their bathroom or at their desk. The lighting in these situations can be very poor, so one only knows whether they've done a bad job blending their makeup once they step out into natural sunlight. There is a need for a way to simulate natural sunlight indoors. 
• My potential customers include makeup enthusiasts and makeup artists. Anyone who is truly dedicated to applying their makeup flawlessly is in need of consistent, favorable lighting for makeup application. Makeup artists also have this need, as they are always working in different spaces and, as a consequence, inconsistent lighting to meet client needs. Although they don't have the need themselves, I believe that I have a promising market in hotel and Airbnb owners. Services are entirely based on intangible benefits, but consumers still judge the quality of services based on the tangibles. For example, a hotel guest will judge the quality of their stay based on the comfort of the beds, the taste of the room service food, etc.  The solution I'm offering would be another tangible they could provide to their guests to increase overall ratings.
• The forces in the environment creating this opportunity are the popularization of beauty culture, beauty YouTubers, and beauty retailers. Makeup is shifting from a way to cover up skin imperfections to a way to express oneself and hone one's artistic skill. 
• There is no real point to defining my customers geographically or demographically because different people from all over the world can benefit from a solution to this problem. 
• Customers that I've spoken to satisfy the need by either going outside to check their makeup or doing their makeup in front of a window, even if that isn't the most ideal place for a mirror. They aren't married to this solution at all because it is an inconvenience to them.
• Every makeup user I've talked to has said that this is a need they'd like a solution to, so I'd say the opportunity is big. 
• I can't predict how long the window of opportunity will be open, nor can I predict whether my solution to the need will still be viable in 10 years due to rapidly improving technology. All I know is that there is a need, it has existed as long as makeup has, and I think I can provide a solution.

2. Innovation

• The Glow and Behold Mirror is a smart mirror equipped with light bulbs that are capable of imitating the look of natural lighting. I realize that nothing can look like natural light but natural light, which is why we aim to simulate the look so makeup lovers can apply their makeup in similar lighting without walking outside and hating how their makeup looks. The goal here isn't to bring the sun inside, it's to create the ideal lighting for makeup application indoors. 
• My idea is to have these bulbs inlaid into the mirror. The mirror would then be powered by voice recognition, giving the user the option to activate preset lighting settings or adjust the lighting's color, saturation, brightness, etc. to their liking.
• Some customers I talked to prefer a big bathroom mirror to hang permanently, and some prefer a portable mirror they can take on-the-go. These are the two different models of the mirror that customers can choose from. One is a large hanging mirror and the other is a small portable mirror. The large mirror is the one I'd market to hotel and Airbnb owners.
• I'd like to minimize the cost of the mirror to maybe $40 for the portable one and $80 for the hanging one. The star of the show here is the light bulbs, but light bulbs need to be replaced. I'd sell replacement light bulbs for a higher markup than the mirror at maybe $10-15 per replacement.

3. Venture concept

• My innovation addresses the opportunity identified because it eliminates the uncertainty of whether one's makeup will look right when they step outside. The need to have consistent makeup every time under different indoor lighting is solved by my concept.
• Customers will switch to this product because makeup users want good lighting for doing their makeup. Hotel and Airbnb owners will buy the product because, as I said, they want to provide the best tangible experience possible for their guests. Further down the line, I think makeup stores like Sephora and Ulta will buy my product because it will make it easier for their employees to color match customers' foundation and perform other makeup artistry services. It might be hard to get customers to understand the concept initially, but once we push through the initial phase of pioneering institutional advertising, customers should readily understand what this product can do for them.
• The competitors are existing vanity mirrors that claim to provide bright or high-power lighting. I now know that bright light doesn't necessarily mean good light, which is where their vulnerability lies. Their strength lies in the fact that most people think of Hollywood dressing room vanity mirrors as the standard for high-quality makeup lighting. My task is to break this image and position my mirror as the new standard for makeup lighting.
• Packaging is very important to my consumer because the beauty industry is very much about aesthetics. My mirror and its packaging need to be aesthetically pleasing or the customer will not buy.
• Customers of the beauty industry have shown that they are willing to pay a higher price for quality goods. I just need to make sure I'm making the highest quality product and the customer will pay for what it's worth.
• After my Beautycon launch, I will first distribute my mirrors to beauty influencers on Instagram, who will share the mirror with their followings and get my name out there. I'll then open up my online store to any buyer. I'll then start marketing toward hotel and Aribnb owners once enough of my mirrors are in the hands of regular customers to show that this product is in high demand. Finally, I'll make a move for stores like Ulta and Sephora to carry my product in-store, and maybe even use the product to provide makeup services. The endgame is to get my product stocked in major beauty stores.
• Customer support will be important since it is a tech product, so there will definitely be some technical difficulties involved with installation and remote control use. I'll hire people who are friendly, knowledgable, and patient with customers who may not be so tech-savvy.
• The customer experience is all that really matters in the end. I want people to have fun playing with the lighting settings, taking selfies in their new mirror, and honing their artistic skills without having to worry about poor lighting. My brand is all about making it easier for the consumer to explore their creativity.
• I don't plan on having a brick-and-mortar business location ever. However, I do predict that my brand's placement in Sephora, Ulta, Riley Rose, etc. will be integral to my longterm success.
• For just one product, this is a pretty big undertaking as a business. I'm thinking I'll start with around 20 employees. Their roles will include:
• Engineers
• Manufacturer of the product
• Customer service reps
• Brand ambassadors
• Marketing coordinators

4. Unfair advantage: As I explained in my last post, I think my venture's unfair advantage lies in my ability to communicate through a variety of media. As a journalism major, I've developed skills in writing copy, graphic design, illustration, photography, videography, and more. This unique combination of proficiencies allows me to effectively market my product to an aesthetics-heavy industry.
5. What's next for the venture? The next step for the venture is definitely to get in touch with engineers who can bring my vision to life. The success of this mirror is all in its functionality, so I need the best people on my side to make sure my product is designed and executed with care. The obvious next step is to find those people and get the ball rolling.
6. What's next for me? I hadn't considered it until I started thinking of an answer to this question, but I wouldn't be mad if this venture ended in me launching my own makeup line 10 years from now. Hopefully, in five years the Glow and Behold mirror will be a staple of makeup enthusiasts everywhere and I will be a respected name in the beauty industry. Many people in the industry start by selling beauty tools or cheap beauty products to get their name out there and expand into more luxurious products once they've established their brand. This sort of side-door approach is very common, so I could see myself using this first venture as a way to assert myself in the beauty scene before releasing my own makeup products.

Summary of feedback: The comments I received on my first venture concept only offered up praise for my business idea, so there wasn't much to be changed there. One commenter affirmed that influencer marketing is the way to go, which made me feel encouraged. The people I talked to in my What's Next? assignment offered many different ways to expand my venture, and I thought of them all carefully. From voice recognition to smart filters built into the mirror, my interviewees offered many different innovations I could explore with my concept. Although I seriously considered adding a few to this iteration of my venture concept, I only ended up adding one.

What I changed: The one that I added was voice recognition. I realized how silly it was to think that users would use a remote control when voice commands are the industry standard right now. If someone can just tell their tech to do something instead of pushing a button, why in the world would they buy a device with a remote control? Because of this addition, I upped the prices of my products. I'm not afraid to do this since my market segment isn't opposed to paying more for high quality or luxury products. 

I really considered adding the ability to make the mirror into a fingerprint-resistant touch screen that allows you to receive and respond to text message notifications while doing your makeup and "try on" different hairstyles and makeup colors. I thought these were two of the best ideas I received from the "What's Next" assignment, but I just don't think they're right for this iteration of my product. I don't want to bog the product down with too many features and end up confusing the consumer. The primary reason for making this product is to simulate the look of natural light, and I want that to remain my primary focus. Maybe these other features will end up in future expansions of the product, but for now, I want to stick to simple, user-friendly features.