In the very early days when volunteering in schools, I used a fictitious case study about a chocolate manufacturer who had made too many chocolates in the run up to Valentines Day. The students’ task was to generate some ideas of how they could package and sell the overrun of chocolate.
I started by asking the class who they thought the chocolate manufacturers were targeting, “What chocolates do you see when you walk into a news agent around Valentines Day?” They responded that the chocolate offerings were very girly and old-fashioned and seemed to be marketed for older women. Thus began a dialogue about market segmentation.
The student ordinarily the most disruptive member of the class said, “Can I make a chocolate box for the gays?” My eyes lit up. This was a good example of an under-served market.and I explained the value of “the pink pound.” Master Disruptive could not believe that he was not thrown out of class and he seemed chuffed to be commended on his idea. It felt as if praise was a stranger to him.
His team created a chocolate box with a rather cheeky gimmick and slogan to sell the chocolates to “the pink pound” market. Another group chose to market to the single mother market. They pondered, “I would love to give my mother chocolates on Valentines Day becuase I love her.” They produced a “For my mum on Valentines” offering.