Our Final for Module 2
This is our final project for Module 2 in my Strategic Communications class. I feel a little detached from this project as I seemed to be ostracized from the beginning. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried to help or be a part of it, no one would let me. So, I worked to do my part and there isn't much I can do beyond that. Enjoy!
Also, the questions I had to answer for the module...
Who are your stakeholders in this situation?
Our primary stakeholder here is the Army. They will ultimately decide if SGT STAR moves forward or gets tossed into the bucket. Potential recruits are also stakeholders in this situation because they are the ones who are interacting with him, and based on their experience will make or break the investment.
Secondary stakeholders include other branches of the service, government entities, and taxpayers. This avitar-like creation could be expanded to other sites within the government if it is seen as an effective investment. Next IT would also become a stakeholder because they want to make sure that not the Army is happy, but that other branches see it as a value to investigate and possibly invest in.
What are the challenges about marketing a new technology?
The challenge of marketing a new technology is just that, it's new. It's untried and unproven. Fred Brown said so himself. He said, "I'm scared of what I don't know. I'm scared of what could happen. Technology changes so fast. It's hard to keep up. We must keep building value for someone."
Innovation is a continuous process and companies must find the best way to give the biggest ROI's. Brown says that often he works under a "fire ready" mentality. Sometimes they put it out there before they know if it's 100%, but it's OK to be wrong.
With SGT STAR, it must not only be purchased and implemented, but used across a huge expanse. He is no where to be found in television ads, used sparingly in social media, and isn't everywhere on the Web site, especially the recruiter section. While there is a way to save a "chat" session, there is no place to leave contact information so a real recruiter can contact the potential recruit.
On YouTube there a a couple of videos showcasing SGT STAR, but there is also a record of abuse with people asking irrelevant questions. There is no record of people speaking about how it has helped them. Somehow, there needs to be a positive rapport built, and that would take place through the communications plan.
View the clips of Fred Brown’s leadership perspective and discuss the likely impact on the campaign strategy.
As mentioned above a few times, Brown states that AI can augment the human experience, adding value to the corporate relationship with customers. When creating the avitar, he did it with advocating for the customer in mind, helping people do what they want to do. He said that the strategy is to use technology in how we think about a customer and how we can build implementations on how we can save the customer money with big ROI's.
I believe those are good things, but I also worry about his "fire ready" stance. This could possibly affect the campaign strategy negatively because it is not 100% full proof. It's OK to be wrong, but how wrong? When is it more OK than not? Perfection is not expected to begin with, but the customer is spending a lot of money and it should be pretty close to it.
