Incentives of a healthier lifestyle.

I try to change the topic on this blog each week to keep things interesting. So we’re going from streaming music to healthy lifestyle incentives this time round. I’ve been thinking about the various incentives that could change someones behaviour to choose a healthier meal over a unbalanced meal.

(Arno, A. & Thomas, S. 2016) Suggests that the nudge theory introduced by Thaler and Sunstein can be used to influence a consumer’s decision to purchase an item by offering them a choice that can entice the consumer to a healthier lifestyle. For example in the supermarkets in Bangor, Morrisons and ASDA both place their vegetable/fruit isle near the front door of their establishment so that the this is the first isle that the consumer goes through.

Image: ASDA Supermarket

Another example of using the nudge theory to encourage consumers to eat healthier foods could be in a buffet scenario. Offering the salad options before the chips could make consumers fill their plates before they get to the unhealthy section of the buffet.

New years resolutions also can be an incentive for people to change their behaviour and lifestyle. According to The Telegraph, January is the most popular time for newcomers to sign up to the gym. 30% of these newcomers stop attending the gym by February. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) This change in lifestyle also affects the way people purchase their foods during the January period. Healthier choices are likely to be made in January whereas Easter invites consumers to purchase more  unhealthy snacks.

The reason many people drop out of their gym contracts is because they fail to change their current habits and result in returning to their routine of eating unbalanced meals and exercising less.

Image:Gym equipment

(Wood, W., Tam, L. & Witt, M.G. 2005.) suggests that habits can be changed by disrupting them.  As an example, if a student were to watch TV every day at their home and then move to a student accommodation where they had to pay for a new TV license, the student may choose to no longer watch TV.

In the case of the gym membership, some accommodations in Bangor come with membership to the gym included and are placed close to a gym. According to the nudge theory this may influence more people to use the gym as the choice is available to them and they are already paying for the service.

Joe Okay of Smart Vendee

References

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1538419/So-how-long-before-you-give-up-the-gym.html

Wood, W., Tam, L. & Witt, M.G. 2005. Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal of personality and social psychology. 88 (6). pp. 920.

Arno, A. & Thomas, S. 2016. The efficacy of nudge theory strategies in influencing adult dietary behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC public health. 16 (1). pp. 2

Feature Image

https://images.agoramedia.com/everydayhealth/gcms/cs-copd-habits-help-you-breathe-better-04-1440×810. jpg

Does streaming make the music industry more profitable?

Until recently most albums released by a record label would be shipped via physical format and digital format. In recent times record labels are dropping support for the physical format and moving onto digital only formats by supporting a variety of streaming services. For example Tidal, Spotify, Soundcloud, iTunes & Apple Music are all streaming services.

The positive about streaming music is that the consumer doesn’t have to pay for it. The money is raised through advertisements or premium subscriptions. So if a user wanted to listen to an album without purchasing it, they could do that through an app such as Spotify and have advertisements in between songs. Alternatively they could pay for a premium subscription and listen to as many songs they like without advertisements. Both of these methods earn the musician a small amount of money per listen of their song.

Image: https://static.highsnobiety.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/13120557/apple-music-vs-tidal-vs-spotify-feature.jpg

Before streaming the only way to listen to the songs you enjoy was to purchase the album. This may be an expensive purchase if you only enjoy 2 or 3 songs on a 16-track album. So if the product is free are consumers more likely to use it/purchase it? Yes. According to (Li, S., Sun, Y. & Wang, Y. 2007) consumers are more likely to purchase a product if there is a promotion such as “buy one get one free”. In supermarkets this promotion is used to give customers an additional value to their purchase. It’s unlikely for a consumer to turn down the free item.

Can this consumer behavior be applied to streaming? Absolutely. Because consumers are able to listen to their music for free and legally. Before streaming there was more piracy in the music industry. Albums were put online in their entirety to be downloaded and shared which harmed the musician’s album sales.

Streaming also slightly solves the “free rider problem” as people are less likely to search for pirated albums as they can stream it for free with the many streaming services available. Before one consumer could purchase the album, upload it and have many consumers benefit from their upload for free. (Kim, O. & Walker, M. 1984) suggests that consumers are more likely to use the free rider option if it is made available to them. For example if you live next to a concert you may choose to just enjoy the concert from your home rather than pay for tickets and attend it.

Image: (Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAZOlBLXcAAQwBi.jpg

So essentially more people are using streaming that ever before and albums are being pirated less which means that relevant artists are able to sell more units. Drake’s latest project “More Life” is a great example of this. Every song on the project made its way onto the billboard hot 100 charts making Drake have a total of 154 billboard hits, higher than any other rapper and solo artist. Giving him in a strong lead in front of label founder, Lil Wayne with his total of 135 billboard hits.  (http://www.billboard.com/)

Joe Okay of Smart Vendee

References

Li, S., Sun, Y. & Wang, Y. 2007. 50% off or buy one get one free? Frame preference as a function of consumable nature in dairy products. The Journal of social psychology. 147 (4). pp. 415

Kim, O. & Walker, M. 1984. The free rider problem: Experimental evidence. Public Choice. 43 (1). pp. 3

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7736706/drake-breaks-hot-100-records-most-hits-solo-artists-more-life-songs

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Does gaming help maintain friendships?

The timeline of a friendship varies from person to person. Some people we meet throughout school or university may only feature as friends during these periods as you are assorted with them because you both share the same year of birth and choice of region to study. As you get to know them you find a group that you share a handful of common interests which bring you closer together.

From my own personal experience I began my education in the city of Bristol in England. When I reached the age of 13 I moved to a town called Harlech in Gwynedd. This resulted in leaving behind a lot of the friends I had made during the early years of my life. Some of the friends I had made were too important for me to not try to find a way to keep in contact with them. Social media was on the rise at the time and so I had joined Facebook in 2008 to keep in contact with them. This method of communication was limited as although I was able to learn about how their lives were going their was a lack of interaction and not enough content for us to discuss on a regular basis.

Image: https://www.elblogdelseo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Ornament-6.jpg

(Dyson, R.G. 2004.) Suggests that maintaining friendships requires a proximity to the person and that friendships end when “people move”.  I agree with this theory, in my case I wasn’t seeing my friends anymore so I had less interaction with them. I also had to make new friends in my new region.

After not speaking to my friends from Bristol for 3 years. I eventually began speaking to one friend from Bristol again through the form of Skype and pc gaming. We found a common interest in a game called Minecraft which was a fairly new indie game in 2011. This game was great for maintaining a friendship because of how vast the minecraft worlds are. This interest allowed for my other friends from Bristol to join us. To further maintain this friendship beyond gaming, I created a YouTube channel to provide a platform in which we were able to create content from the games we were playing.

Essentially gaming gave us a reason to speak with each other on a daily basis as we could interact within the game and still share stories about our lives outside of the game as we used to do via social media.  (Kowert, R., Domahidi, E. & Quandt, T. 2014) Also argues that gaming can be used to maintain existing friendships and that offline contacts can become online contacts as well.

Image: (Destiny 2, Bungie) http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yoNuS4R2Ewji2apPBE8Dzk-1200-80.jpg

(Trepte, S., Reinecke, L. & Juechems, K. 2012.) suggests that the progression and leveling systems in video games is what makes us spend more time in them. However being involved in social activities such as clans and supporting the clan by earning xp also makes players more involved in the game. This article supports the theory that friendships can be maintained through gaming and also provides evidence that businesses can benefit from this culture as it expands their player base and retains their consumers.

To conclude, gaming has allowed me to maintain contact with friends I no longer see in person and changes the way we purchase our games. We collectively decide which games to move onto which gives us variety and new experiences. As consumers of these products we seek multiplayer support that allows for us to experience the game as a group.

Joe Okay of Smart Vendee

References

Dyson, R.G. 2004. Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick. European Journal of Operational Research. 152 (3). pp. 279

Kowert, R., Domahidi, E. & Quandt, T. 2014. The relationship between online video game involvement and gaming-related friendships among emotionally sensitive individuals. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 17 (7). pp. 450.

Trepte, S., Reinecke, L. & Juechems, K. 2012. The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human Behavior. 28 (3). pp. 834.