Generative Research Examples

My Favorite Things are Few




Man. I know that I have always hated "stuff." But I guess now everyone will know. I had so much difficulty in settling on things that I could not live without. I mean, I just barely have any things. Maybe it's because I could never keep track of my things as a little kid, and this was just my way of not becoming attached to things. I keep my distance from stuff and that says a lot about me as a consumer - I'm a pretty tough nut to crack. Makes me a good marketer or a terrible one.

Sure, there is air, water, shelter...But beyond that, the most important things in the world that make oxygen worth breathing aren't even "things." They are my family, music, and physical activity. By family I mean both the one that I inherited and the extended family that I have chosen in my life. Without them, would I have anyone to work for? Anyone to play for? They are my inspiration everyday. Without inspiration, motivation, something to play the game for - there is nothing.

I wouldn't want to live without music. I mean, I just can't imagine a world without it. Music has been my hobby/pasion/obsession ever since I knew what those things were. If you know what you're doing, there isn't a single thing in life that can't be made better by the right music at the right time. Right now music consists of a bunch of individual things that bring music to me in either convenient or meaningful ways...It's Spotify, my lapper, and my phone. It's living in Austin, live shows, traveling to Chicago, LA, NY, or wherever necessary, to see my music family and my favorite bands. It's (someday) being able to finally pick up the piano or the guitar. Which Will Happen.

Losing a leg would be bad. Losing two legs would I think be unlivable. I just NEED physical activity. Things happen to my body and to my mind if I don't get it. I walk around like a stroke patient. Doesn't matter what it is - sports, running, walking, climbing. It's almost as if my body is continually making poison and exercise is the only way to get it out. I think a lot of people, because they force themselves to exercise for various reasons, forget the simple joy of running around. It's sad, and I've certainly felt that way before. But take that away from someone and I think they quickly realize just how important it is.

As for the stuff stuff that it would suck to live without: A credit card, a mobile, plumbing, my floor fan, Advil, my scooter, a refrigerator. How awful is it that I love my credit card? Very. But how hard would life be without them? Cash is nearly the stupidest, most inconvenient anachronistic concept since we were all trading shells in Africa. I don't know anyone who doesn't scowl and affix their hands on their hips when someone tells them "cash only." I should note that it doesn't matter to me what kind of card it is. It just needs to symbolize that I'm credit worthy, and that you should sell me that cheesesteak poste haste so that I can enjoy it.

Advil is the only branded good that I have on the map. The reason? I used to get migraine headaches when I was younger, and I still suffer from some sinus issues as an adult. My body has actually trained itself (through the magic of psychology) not to respond to other kinds of pain medication.

Ok, so what's the deal with my refrigerator. Again, I have no brand or feature affiliation, here. I just love having a box that holds delicious things. You get to choose what you put inside, and you can replenish it whenever it's empty. It requires no code to open. It makes a wonderful hum. I love forgetting what's in there and then discovering some amazing leftover. Awesome machine.

Booze is an honorable mention. I just can't put a vice so high up on the stuff list. Gotta believe that I could stop drinking if I needed too. Believe.

An Internet Footprint that is Weaksauce

I would guess that 90% of my internet traffic is fewer than 10 websites. This actually might not be that surprising these days, as sophisticated search, social networks and larger domains have meant a return to a mostly walled internet.

The majority of my internet "outings" start with the following five platforms: ESPN (for sports news), Facebook (for social news - if you can all it that) HBOGO (my replacement for cable TV) or my inboxes (Gmail and Outlook). I'm in my email inboxes frequently and on Facebook frequently - these are the portals that I commonly use that lead me to the longer tail of internet destination. I have very little affiliation to any particular news, social, or entertainment sites beyond the ones I have provided. An outing on Facebook might land me anywhere - Deadspin, StereoGum, WSJ, Blackhoard...

Google (Gchat) and Facebook (news feed) are my preferred methods for online communication. I have used Skype with relatives in the past, but Hangouts have begun to replace that, and we have started to use it for work (BeatBox) quite a bit. Hangouts are pretty bad-ass, and the features that allows you to edit documents, share your screen, and chat are commonly useful.

I should note that Dropbox and Spotify are desktop apps that use the internet, but are always running no matter what, and I use them both offline quite a bit.

One thing that I think is interesting, looking at my search history, is the insane number of times per day that I Google something (web, image, news, maps) just to background on something, get directions, a phone number, or settle a bet. I can imagine the world before Google where the loudest or biggest kid in the group was "right" about the number of stars in the Milky Way because nobody had any good way of actually finding out the real answer.

A Typical Day Would Be Atypical

Forthcoming...