I got an A on my Product Plan for Product Development class! Woop!
Category: School Assignment
Survey for Animal Welfare Organizations
I wasn’t really required to do this for class, but it definitely helped formulate the research behind my project. I gathered names from 501c3 Animal Groups nationwi
de, and sent approximately 350 of them a survey. The names of these groups are publicly available via the IRS’s website. You’d be surprised how many non-profit rescues weren’t aware that their names were publicly available through the IRS (I received quite a few “how did you get our info?!?!”)
These were some of my findings.
Cause Consumerism
I’ve been doing research for Product Development, and on trends for charity donations and consumer buying behavior. Many of us animal lovers directly donate time and money towards the cause, but indirectly, many of us also want to know what companies are doing on their part. If I have a choice between brands when purchasing a product, knowing that profits may go towards an agreeable cause will certainly influence my purchase decision.
Segmentation Presentation
There are different kinds of animal welfare groups: those who receive government funds, those who are independently run, and independently run groups that have government contracts.
According to SPCA, “there are about 13,600 community animal shelters nationwide that are independent; there is no national organization monitoring these shelters.”
There are 3007 counties in the U.S. If every county had a government run animal facility, there could be 16607 possible animal shelters/rescues.
My presentation focused on the segments of people from whom I’d need to market to in order to fund my product.
Product Development – Needs Description
Our first assignment towards a product plan was to present a problem from a needs based approach. The challenge was that there is no mention of an actual product, just that whatever that project would be, this is the need it has to address.
Product Development for the New Digital Age
Fall semester has begun, and I’m looking to once again incorporate cats into a class project.
(obligatory cat picture. That’s my husband’s foot fyi)
Visual Precis Take Two
As I mentioned before, my focus had changed regarding my class project. So here is Visual Precis version two.
Visual Precis
Another assignment for class was to create a visual precis.
Volunteer Demographics
One day in class I wondered if anyone had data about volunteer demographics. Who volunteers in animal rescue?
From my own observations, it seems predominantly female. Besides one male, most of the male volunteers I’ve met are spouses of volunteers, like my own husband.
Raising Digital Pets
Our class went over games as a way to learn and explore. It brought me back to childhood games, namely Petz and Nanopets.Read More »
occupation: cat lady 