ACE Assessment Centre: Group Activity & Feedback

Our group exercise went really well! We were briefed by Ogilvy to create a solution to attract already-existing and new customers to the Galleria in Hatfield. 

We had forty minutes in total where we spent five minutes re-reading the brief and brainstorming our own ideas while we spent twenty-five minutes discussing our ideas with the group. Ten minutes were spent explaining our idea to the members at Ogilvy.

Seetal used her phone as a stopwatch so that we didn't go over the time provided.

In our group we came up with the idea of creating a Galleria app to solve this problem.

After searching on the app store we realised that an app for the Galleria doesn't already exist however the Galleria does already have a website but it isn't very informative. Therefore we came up with ideas for content and we discussed adding events which will be able to attract customers. 

Mel came up with the idea of a sporting event as there are a lot of sportswear outlets in the Galleria e.g. Nike to promote these stores and perhaps have an offer taking place at this event. She added that participants may want to eat after the event and therefore go to the restaurants at the Galleria. I built on her idea by adding that we could create a mini marathon in the children's play area to mimic the adults event which would attract families to the event.

Leonardo added that we could also include having an event that is based on the restaurant side of the Galleria. He suggested a World's food day where an offer can take place at the restaurants as each restaurant is a different nationality. 

For example:

• Prezzo/Bella Italia/Pizza Express - Italian restaurants
• Chiquitos - Mexican restaurant
• Frankie & Bennies - Italian/American Diner/restaurant
• Nandos - Portuguese 
• The Real China - Chinese 
• McDonalds/Burger King - American Fast Food

Anja/Ben added to this by mentioning the fact that using geolocation could be an option to notify customers of different events/offers when your in the area or are going past the Galleria.

Seetal/Tamya suggested adding an interactive map in the app to direct new customers through the Galleria as other members mentioned in the group that the Galleria can be difficult to navigate through if you haven't been there before. We also mentioned that the parking costs/times could be added in this part of the app.

Tamya/Anja also discussed a points reward system where you would receive points for shopping at the Galleria as an incentive to shop there again which could unlock new offers or prizes e.g. money off. Anja also mentioned the fact that McDonalds offer promotional burgers at a specific time of the year and therefore the app could include and notify you of new promotional products at all shops at the Galleria. Mel also mentioned having a way of storing receipts on the app however implementing this would be difficult without some way of paying through the app, having the receipt e-mailed to the user (which not all stores support) or enabling camera functionality so that the user can photograph their receipt and storing it on the app. 

To advertised this app, we decided to go for a digital approach. We discussed digital posters which could be displayed on the digital screens at the Galleria and promoted on social media. We collectively agreed that we are living in a digital age and that print advertising wouldn't be received as well as digital advertising would. As the app would be costly to create, spending money on advertising that wouldn't be as effective as digital advertising we believed wasn't in the Galleria's best interest.

For the design of the app, Kim drew the layout for the app having a menu that you can access by swiping across which filters your results. We decided to split specific offers/information into categories. I explained that we could have sections for students/adults, families, children etc. and this preference can be set when you first enter the app. Therefore I drew this landing page for users with the Galleria's logo and buttons for each preference that would be saved by the app so that the next time you load the app you wouldn't have the landing page (you would be taken straight to your offers). Leonardo mentioned having a news banner which would add a community element to the app. We decided to choose the colours purple and white for our app as these are the Galleria's branding colours and mentioned perhaps including the star which is the Galleria's symbol used in their logo.

We mentioned that users don't have to sign into the app to use the offers available on the app however if they decided to become a member, this would allow them to access the point reward system that free users wouldn't have access to (as this is tied to an account).

We then finalised the details for our app and discussed these ideas to Ogilvy in the ten minutes provided. Seetal explained our concept, Tamya explained the content, Kim and I explained the design, Ben explained the reward system/geolocation, Mel explained the sporting event and Leonardo explained the World's food event.

Overall, I think we worked well as a team and took a photo outside of the box with the stadium in the background.

Outside the Box 

This was the feedback that I received from taking part in the group exercise.

I don't specifically remember anyone talking over me during the group exercise and therefore perhaps didn't notice. The only example of this that I can think of was when asking about how we were going to design the app and the topic began talking about something unrelated to the question however I did bring this topic back to the app and Kim showed us a drawing of a sketch of what the app could look like. 

However I do agree with the positive comments as made I made an effort to try and include the quieter members of the group into our group discussion. Whenever I would share an idea to the group, I would ask if everyone agreed with my idea which would give the opportunity for anyone who disagreed to speak up without the pressure of having to raise this themselves as this can be intimidating.

My feedback from the Group Exercise

At the end of the assessment centre day, I completed the post-event survey where I wrote my feedback about the day.