Tool : Storytelling

Challenge & Selection     The design thinking tool that I selected was Storytelling as felt it to be apt for  approaching my business problem. By using this tool I was able to create a  common ground of understanding and comprehension which inturn helped me  to overcome my problem in an easier way. I am the entrepreneur of a firm  known as BoonTampon which manufactures and sells tampons for women. My  business mainly faced a problem of “Trust” as most women found it to be an  issue to switch from the traditional sanitary pads to the new age tampons.  Tampons saw no acceptance in the society due to which I saw to be a grave  problem in my business as if it were to continue at this note, my business  would never bloom . Consumer trust and satisfaction is the most important  thing that any firm should strive for , and my business needed help exactly  here . Thus , I chose the tool of storytelling in order to gain consumer trust , by  narrating to them the pros of a tampon as against the cons a sanitary pad .          Application    To bring light on the contrast and advantages of a tampon over a sanitary pad I  first narrated the adverse effects of plastic that goes into the making of  sanitary pads . I narrated a story of a girl who used a sanitary napkin for a  prolonged period because of which she suffered from urinary tract diseases  and other fungal infections which became painful and difficult to bear. She also  had to undergo a surgery which was not only expensive but also very painful .  This was one of the instances that I narrated as a part of my narrative. The  second instance that I narrated was how one of the customers who was a  current user of my product , found it more convenient to carry tampons rather  than sanitary napkins during her travel and she also considered it to be more  easily disposable than the latter . Adding on to the story , I also spoke about  how sanitary napkins were more harmful to the environment in terms of  decomposition , and on the other hand the tampons that my firm produced  were biodegradable which , therefore ,  did not affect the environment  adversely. Compiling all of this I made a story which mainly focused on social ,

emotional and health hemisphere of individuals , which was made a  propaganda through a video campaign mainly through social media .    Insight     As a result of my video campaign and through social media , I was able to  arrange for a seminar where I got an opportunity to meet people who  appreciated my product and also people who were eager on gaining more  information about “BoonTampon” . Through this I was able to understand  that my customers liked the product but they had a problem with the  packaging and thus wanted it to be improved . Therefore , I changed the  packaging from a plastic packet to a cardboard box . This inturn increased the  sales of my product and through the tool of storytelling I was able to combat  the problem of ‘building trust’ and also create a greater consumer base for my  product. Therefore , I realised that storytelling as a tool has a broad  hemisphere which helps in convincing a larger group of people in a more  effective and an easier way.        Approach    If in the future I come across any other business issue I would use visualization  as a tool because I believe that if storytelling can be pitched to a large number  of people , visualization could also be approached to a larger consumer base .  Additionally , I would also like to change my approach as I would like to try a  new tool in order to understand and compare the tools already used and then  apply the more effective one in future.

