“You’ve seen this?” Adriane Carpenter asks you.
You look at a report she has on her desk. “I haven’t,” you say.
“It’s a Pew survey on senior citizens and technology. Listen to this. More than half of adults age 65 or older are online. A third use social media like Facebook and LinkedIn. Seven in ten seniors own a cell phone. That’s up from 57 percent in 2011.”
Adriane is your supervisor at Genie Cellular, a cell-phone service provider, where you’re a marketing intern. “How can I help?” you say. You’re still getting used to Adriane’s style. She doesn’t come right out and tell you what she wants. She starts talking and works toward it.
“Look at this,” she says, turning on a projector, which displays a screen from the website of Great Call, a competing cell-phone provider. “And this,” she says, pulling up another Great Call screen.
“I see,” you say, nodding your head, although you’re not exactly sure what you’re supposed to be seeing.
“These guys are clobbering us. Every market segment except seniors is saturated. And these guys,” she says, her hand waving at the images projected on her wall, “the stuff they’ve got for seniors—the phones, the apps, the plans, even the … even this site—what are we going to have to do to get some of this?” She stops talking, which means it’s time for you to figure out what she’s asking.
“Would you like me to take a look at the site, see what they’re doing?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Adriane says. “Get back to me, then. Okay?”
“Absolutely,” you say.
You go back to the office you share with a couple of other interns and start looking around GreatCall.com. Adriane was right: everything about the site—from the phones to the calling plans to the apps and the site itself—is designed to appeal to the needs and interests of a single population: baby boomers, now in their sixties and seventies. You send Adriane an email letting her know that you will send her a memo about Great Call in a couple of days. She says that would be fine.
Explore GreatCall.com before beginning your assignment.
Your Assignment
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the case background and documents, complete the assignment below. Your instructor will tell you how he or she would like you to submit your work.
1. Write a 1,000-word memo to Adriane Carpenter presenting your findings. What techniques for appealing to the needs and interests of its audience does the Great Call site demonstrate? Discuss the organization and design of the site, its use of graphics, and its writing style.
2. It has been two weeks since you sent Adriane your memo. The memo impressed her. She asks, “Could you pull together an oral presentation to the five members of my management team, walking us through the main points from the memo?” Using a program such as PowerPoint or Prezi, create a set of graphics and prepare a 15-minute presentation about how the Great Call site appeals to the needs and interests of its audience.
Reflecting on Your Work
Once you’ve completed your assignment, write a reflection about your work using the prompt below.