Over this course I have grown a great appreciation for what goes into the marketing process for companies large and small. I found it fascinating in during class discussion and from the textbook readings how much marketing varies around the world. First hand accounts from classmates and the instructor made this part of the course much more interesting.

The group assignment was one of the more helpful and well run group assignments I have been part of in my 4.5 years at university. It was a cool to take a look at some of Canada’s most successful companies and see what they are doing to an ever-changing marketplace. The video was a fun, creative way to round the whole assignment off. The group I worked with was great, with everyone taking responsibility for their sections and having everything done by our preset deadlines. All round, it was great group to work with.

I feel like I have a new out look when looking at a new product launch, new commercial, or wandering why a company is so successful or not. Although we have only learnt the most basic concepts of marketing, I feel we have set a solid foundation in which we can continue to grow our marketing knowledge in the year to come.

While scouring the Internet for an interesting blog to comment about I, came across a particular blog post that caught my eye. The blog of interest is posted at briansolis.com, called The Ultimate Moment of Truth and The Art of Digital Engagement.

This article shed light on how drastically social media and the Internet has affected customers decision making process and the choice of there ultimate purchase.  Two terms that I learnt from this article are Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) and Ultimate Moment of Truth(UMOT). The ZMOT refers to the moment where the Internet affects our decision to buy a product, while UMOT is the “moment people convert an experience into discoverable content in any one of the many social media platform”.

Now days the first step in the purchase of a major product or service, requires googling reviews and comments of the product, before even doing any real research. At this point the customer is heavily influence by what other customers and peers have experience about the product, and hence encounter the ZMOT. Its not surprising that the ZMOT is brought on by previous customers UMOT, where they had and good or bad experience with the product or service and had to post it to a social media center where it will eventually influenc a potential customer in the future.

For these reasons companies now days need to make sure customers can easily share their product experiences on social media platforms, in order to develop their brand. The fact of the matter is, content will be shared, like and commented on continuously and your product with develop brand image weather its in line with the planned image or not. If companies fail to keep track of how their products and brands are being depicted online will result in an experience gap, and result in a loss of profit.

McDonalds is one of the best companies in the world at continually marketing itself, using various promotions, deals, and coupons to repeatedly attract customers to its restaurants. One of the most well know of all McDonalds promotions is its infamous Monopoly, where the customer collects stickers to win various prizes ranging from a free hash brown to $100,000 cash. It’s important to note that these stickers are generally only available on the more expensive menu items. This promotion draws customers in by providing a ¼ chance of “winning”. It’s almost as if McDonalds is using peoples inner gabling addictions to push their products. If a person was to get 1 of 2 required stickers for the $100,000 prize with in the first week of the promotion, it would be likely that the customer would start to live the movie, Supper Size Me.

Another particularly effective promotion is their coupon books that they distribute to households through out the year, usually around April and September. These coupon books are valid for a month and have a whopping $53 in savings! Although, I highly caution someone taking full advantage of these savings due to health concerns. Although the coupons provide outstanding deals McDonalds is still making a profit on these sales, and lures customers into purchasing additional complementary products. The discounts from the coupons are very effective at drawing customers to the restaurant. When you stroll into the campus at 2 am, ravaged from a night of fist pumping at Venue the 2 Can Dine for $9.99 coupon starts to look like a dream come true.

These are just a couple very effective promotional campaigns that demonstrate McDonalds ability to keep them selves in the back of their customers mind.