Solved by verified expert:Hi, Helper!The first document is to be analyzed and written with this reading. Later, some questions and formats of writing will require in this second document. Also, I have the digital version of the textbook( Business Essentials 11th Edition by Ronald J. Ebert) which covered some of the case studies that you might use if you want to because the E-textbook( Business Essentials 11th Edition by Ronald J. Ebert) document memory is a little bit large, I can send it to you by email if you want that . If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
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NA0433
Average is Beautiful:
An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
Heidi M.J. Bertels, CUNY College of Staten Island
Michael S. Lehman, Lehigh University
Nickolay Lamm, a freelance designer working in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)1,
was sitting in his home office on July 1, 2013. During the first six months of the year,
he had been busy creating several visual representations of data that went viral. His
ability to make content go viral was critical, since his clients wanted to see content on
their websites that would drive traffic to them and improve their SEO rankings.
Just yesterday morning, Nickolay contacted a few online media connections he had
made over the past six months regarding a new creation about which he was very
excited. In this project, he made a visual representation of what Barbie® would look
like if based on body measurements for an average, 19-year-old American woman
utilizing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The new
content was available only on a particular client’s website with the goal to increase
traffic and linkages to that website, thereby increasing its search rankings. This project
was personal to Nickolay as, during high school, he had struggled with his own body
image issues.
Nickolay quickly opened his email to see which of his online media contacts had
picked up his latest images. Nina Bahadur, a journalist for the Huffington Post, had
already posted an article online, which included images of the 3D photoshopped model
Nickolay had made2. He also had several requests in his inbox from other online
journalists asking for permission to share the story and images. Over the next few days,
the interest not only continued, but accelerated, as more than 120 new messages about
the “average is beautiful” images flooded his inbox. His previous projects had
generated online interest, but the buzz around this one was 10 times greater than
average.
A few days after the Huffington Post article first went online, Nickolay did a
double take when he received an email with the subject line: “Where can I buy your
doll?” This email did not come from a journalist, but from a mother. Over the next
few weeks, Nickolay came to realize that more than a quarter of the messages he was
receiving were from parents asking where they could purchase an actual doll that was
based on average body proportions. This was a very different response from what he
had experienced in the past – no one had ever asked about purchasing a physical
product based on his visual representations.
—————————-Copyright © 2017 by the Case Research Journal and by Heidi M.J. Bertels and Michael S. Lehman. The authors
wish to thank Nickolay Lamm for his openness to sharing information. The authors are thankful for the
valuable comments and suggestions received from John Lawrence, Pauline Assenza, John Ogilvie, Gina Vega,
and the anonymous CRJ reviewers. This case study was prepared as the basis for classroom discussion rather
than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a situation. An earlier version of the case was
presented at the 2016 Eastern Academy of Management Meeting in New Haven, CT.
Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
1
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
He wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointed at the prospect of having to tell the
parent that this doll was not for sale… or to feel excited because there seemed to be
some market demand for his “average is beautiful” concept. Nickolay paused and asked
himself an important question: “Is this the entrepreneurial opportunity for which I’ve
been waiting?”
EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
From the time he was age 14, Nickolay had dreamed of starting his own business.
Young Nickolay wanted to control his own destiny, and felt there was no need to work
for someone else. His mother, an artist and graphic designer who had moved the family
from Russia to the United States during Nickolay’s childhood, encouraged him to
pursue his entrepreneurial interests.
Nickolay’s first venture involved selling Russian glass figurines, which he thought
were “cool” items that potential customers might want to purchase. And in high
school, after reading about wholesale business models, Nickolay created an online
business as an eBay reseller, offering a mix of products – faucets, shower parts, and car
kits. He experienced his first big entrepreneurial “failure” with the eBay venture when
a shipment of products arrived broken, and his lack of insurance cost him upwards of
$10,000 in sales.
Despite this foray into the world of entrepreneurship, Nickolay never felt as if he
had found his niche. His interests were more aligned with product and graphic design,
as well as internet marketing. In order to further develop this skill set, he enrolled at
the University of Pittsburgh, where in 2012, he earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Like most recent graduates, he then sought employment, ultimately securing a job at a
company that helped individual inventors patent their inventions and identify potential
industry partners.
AN UEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS
It was January 7, 2013 when Nickolay returned to his job after the New Year’s holiday.
He had mixed feelings about earning his living from a “traditional” job. Nickolay’s
natural tendency was to question the way business was being conducted, identify gaps
in the company’s strategy, and offer solutions he could develop and implement.
However, this level of “forward thinking” was not in his job description. And then,
just a few hours into the first workday of the year, the news, perhaps a blessing in
disguise, came: Nickolay was being laid off.
Once the initial shock of hearing that he was without a job wore off, he realized
that he was actually happy about the decision that had been made for him. With
mundane work-related responsibilities, a fixed salary, and little opportunity for
advancement, Nickolay had frequently felt that this job, and perhaps life as an
employee, was not a good fit. But like many recent college graduates, he did not have
the luxury of a healthy savings account. In order to pay his bills, he needed to generate
income rather quickly. Nickolay considered two different approaches. “Should I start
sending out my resume, applying for other entry-level marketing jobs? Or, despite the
risks, could this be the perfect opportunity to go out on my own… and launch the
entrepreneurial career I have always imagined?”
After weighing the pros and cons and also gathering feedback and perspective from
family and friends, Nickolay chose the entrepreneurial route, eager to leverage a skill
set that he had developed while in college. Through multiple internships, independent
2
Case Research Journal Volume 37 Issue 1 Winter 2017
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
consulting and even the “regular” job he just departed, Nickolay had become quite
adept at Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Through his work on SEO, he focused
on boosting the ranking and frequency of appearance of his clients’ websites in the
results returned by an online search, ultimately increasing user traffic to the site.
Nickolay considered the different strategies available to boost search rankings and
decided to concentrate on hyperlink building. He recognized that of the complex
algorithms used to generate rankings, the link-related factors remained very important.
He planned to leverage the fact that the more widespread a hyperlink to his client’s
website, through placement on other websites (such as national online media channels)
and on social media, the greater the chance that his client’s website would rise to the
top of an online search.
A NEW PATH FOR 2013: SPECULATIVE ILLUSTRATION
While Nickolay’s first ventures centered on Russian figurines, faucets, and shower
parts, his emerging passion, and focus of his new business, was in creating new and
interesting visual content. His head was filled with ideas for “cool” material which he
thought had the potential to go viral. He knew that if he could provide online
journalists links to these visual representations of data, there was a good chance they
would publish stories about them, and through that process, hyperlinks to Nickolay’s
clients’ websites. Furthermore, by having links to his client’s website all over the web,
there was a greater chance of an uptick in visitor traffic, which also would support the
rise in their search rankings. Nickolay’s ideas for creating new data-based visual content
or “speculative illustrations,” combined with his knowledge of SEO, growing track
record in effectively using Google analytics, and design talent in using Adobe Illustrator
and Photoshop, gave him the foundation for his new entrepreneurial venture.
Nickolay started by identifying data he thought the market would find interesting
and envisioning how to represent it in a compelling manner. He then found and paid
subcontractors across the country to execute on his vision. For example, in March
2013, two months after he was laid off and a few months before Prince William and
Kate Middleton welcomed their first child into the world, he developed images on what
the royal baby would look like at age 25 (Figure 1). He began by consulting with a
graduate student from MIT who studied genetics. He then worked with freelance
Photoshop artists he identified through websites like Elance (now Upwork) to visualize
the student’s hypotheses about the royal baby’s future looks. This speculative
illustration was published by several online media, including the Huffington Post,
Business Insider, Marie Claire, Independent, and the Telegraph.
FIGURE 1: Image from “What Will the Royal Baby Look Like at Age 25?”3
Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
3
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
Because he knew how to effectively manage SEO, as well as virtual teams of
subcontractors, he was able to monetize his true passion: “Creating things people have
never seen before… bringing new visual representations into the world.” Over the next
few months, Nickolay was able to support himself financially through his
entrepreneurial approach. He secured new clients, and his existing clients retained him
for additional support in helping to drive traffic to their websites via a steady flow of
artwork that went viral.
Table 1 provides examples of the original visual content Nickolay created over the
next few months, as well as the dozens of media placements secured, while working as
a freelancer.
TABLE 1: Nickolay Lamm’s 2013 (February – June)
Visual Content & Media Placements4
2013
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
4
Original Visual Content
How to Make the iWatch
Something You Want to
Buy?
What Will the Royal Baby
Look Like at 25?
Selection of Media Placements
Forbes, Huffington Post, BGR, ZDNet,
International Business Times, Computer World,
LATimes
HuffingtonPost, Business Insider, Mail Online,
MSN, Mirror, OK! Magazine, Marie Claire,
Independent, the Telegraph, Evening Standard,
MSN NZ
How to Make Google Glass Business Insider, BGR
Look Normal
Barbie, Bratz, And Disney
Huffington Post, Huffington Post UK,
Princess Dolls Without
BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Cosmopolitan, Mail
Makeup
Online, Today, International Business Times
Sea Level Rise in Real Life
Business Insider, Mashable, Huffington Post,
Daily Mail, Yahoo!, MSN, Gawker, io9,
Boston.com, Washington Post
What If the Budget iPhone ZDNet, Business Insider, Computer World, PC
Came in Translucent
Advisor, App Advice, LA Times
Plastic?
New York City On
Mashable, Space.com, Business Insider,
Different Planets
Huffington Post, Wired, Daily Mail, Curbed, io9,
Gizmodo
How Much Would It Cost
Business Insider, The Daily Ticker, Huffington
to Be Great Gatsby?
Post, Mail Online, Mashable, BuzzFeed,
HuffPost Live, The Daily Ticker
What Would Barbie Look
Huffington Post, …love Maegan, Yahoo!, Daily
Like If She Was a Real
Mail, Business Insider, The List
Woman?
What We May Look Like in Forbes, Huffington Post, Huffington Post UK,
100,000 Years?
Mashable, Discovery News, Daily Mail, Business
Insider, BuzzFeed, ABC News, Good Morning
America, Fox News, MSN, Weather Channel,
Mashable, USA Today
Case Research Journal Volume 37 Issue 1 Winter 2017
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
Nickolay felt strongly about the power of the Internet: “I don’t think you have to
be a famous person to have your voice be heard in the world. You can create cool
things and with the power of the internet, you have a megaphone on you.” Nickolay
essentially turned a hobby, creating “cool” and unique visual content that he cared
about, into a dream job. And in the process, his rolodex of national media contacts
grew.
SPECULATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS AROUND BODY IMAGE
During the first half of 2013, Nickolay followed Facebook, Twitter, and the Huffington
Post on topics such as feminism, the environment, technology, and body image. These
were topics that naturally interested him. As he developed increasing awareness of what
went viral in those areas, he started to conceptualize and create speculative illustrations
in those spaces. He felt especially drawn to the topic of body image, and a series of his
visual representations started to focus on this area. For example, his portfolio included
visual posts of what Barbie®, Bratz®, and Disney Princess® dolls would look like
without makeup (Figure 2). As happened with much of his prior work, the media was
quick to pick up this interesting content, which was available only on the website of
one of his clients.
FIGURE 2: Image from
“Barbie, Bratz, and Disney Princess Dolls without Makeup” 5
While exploring the topic of body image, Nickolay had noticed that there was a
great deal of discussion about how the body of Mattel®’s Barbie differed from that of
a “typical woman”:
In 1998, Barbie underwent a makeover where her figure was given more
realistic proportions and her makeup was made less profound. Mattel
indicated that these changes were implemented because girls in Barbie’s
target market, ages 3 to 11, wanted Barbie to be more reflective of
themselves, not because of complaints that Barbie presented a harmful
and distorted image of women6.
A research study had shown that girls who were “exposed to Barbie
reported lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape
than girls in other exposure conditions,” noting that this effect
disappeared in older girls.7
A 2011 blog post by Galia Slayen published in the Huffington Post
explained that Barbie would have a Body Mass Index, or BMI, of 16.24,
below the threshold for anorexia, and that she would likely have to walk
on all fours due to her proportions.8
Average is Beautiful: An Opportunity Worth Pursuing?
5
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
Despite discussion in the market about these studies, Barbie continued as the
world’s most popular doll among girls of all ages, with 13.5 million “likes” on Facebook
and two Barbie’s being sold every second somewhere in the world.9
MOCKING IT UP
Nickolay was aware of all the controversy surrounding Barbie, but did not understand
why Mattel never released a fashion doll with realistic proportions. And, while
shopping for a doll for his niece, he was surprised that despite all of the criticism, no
other brands seemed to carry a realistically proportioned fashion doll. Excited about
the concept and knowing that one of his clients would fund the creation of such a
prototype, because of its potential for hyperlink building, he set off to generate a visual
prototype of a realistically proportioned doll.
Armed with the average measurements of a 19-year-old American woman from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and his own growing network
of freelancers, Nickolay created an “analytical mock-up” of what a fashion doll would
look like if she had the proportions of an average woman. Utilizing the data represented
in the “analytical mock-up,” he then had a “physical mock-up” created through the use
of a 3D printer. The 3D model then was Photoshopped to add in other features, such
as the face and clothing.
Late in June of 2013, Nickolay posted his speculative illustrations of “What would
Barbie look like as an average woman” on his client’s website (Figure 3). On June 30,
2013, he emailed a link to a few journalists with whom he had connections from prior
posts, hoping that some might spread the news. By doing that, they would increase the
number of links to his client’s website and consequentially, the website’s search
ranking.
FIGURE 3: Images from
“What would Barbie look like as an average woman” 10
6
Case Research Journal Volume 37 Issue 1 Winter 2017
This document is authorized for use only by chengwei tian in ADMN400 Fall2018 taught by PAUL HARVEY, University of New Hampshire from Aug 2018 to Feb 2019.
For the exclusive use of c. tian, 2018.
THE ONLINE RESPONSE
On July 1, 2013, Nina Bahadur from the Huffington Post published an article11 on
Nickolay’s new images. Over the next few days, he was kept busy responding to
requests from many media outlets, including CNN, Good Morning America, and
Cosmopolitan, asking for high resolution images of his “average is beautiful” doll.
There were also multiple requests for written, phone, and TV interviews. The buzz
continued as his images were published and shared by BBC Radio, Business Insider,
BuzzFeed, The Daily Beast, Glamour, Examiner, LA Times, MSN, Smithsonian,
Today and televised on local television stations.
His campaign had been successful. As the content went viral, hyperlinks to his
client’s website were all over the internet, and the search ranking of his customer’s
website went up… and up and up…
After the hustle and bustle had quieted down, Nickolay reflected on the atypical
response he had received on his post from parents across the country. He had inquiries
from dozens of parents looking to actually buy an “average is beautiful” doll. In addition
to these emails sent directly to him, there were requests posted on some of the websites
that had published images of his “average is beautiful” visual representations. Some of
the comments included “I would love to buy a normal-looking doll for my kids” and
“this would be a great doll if it actually were to be produced.” Could the emails he had
received directly from parents, as well as the comments on these sites, be indicative of
a broader demand for an actual physical product? He knew that manufacturing a doll
would take more capital than he had available, but his gut told him it would be
worthwhile to investigate the potential opportunity.
THE DOLL, TOY, AND GAME MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
During this time, notable changes were taking place in the doll, toy, and game market
(NAICS code 33993). Competition increased for more traditional toys as the portfolio
of electronic consumer products and video games increased and demand for toys w …
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