Defining Eyes by MakeupByTiffanyD

As someone who loves makeup but with very little money to spend on it, I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching Makeup Gurus buy and review products from every part of the industry(drugstore, high end…etc.) There are a many aspiring YouTubers out there all competing for the number of viewers and subscribers and if someone has at least 500,000 subscribers, you know that that person has somewhat of an influence over its viewers.

Let’s take MakeupByTiffanyD for example. She started making YouTube videos in 2008 and has gathered 545,540 subscribers as of this moment. Now, makeup companies are always sending these Makeup Gurus free products in hopes that they will provide a good review on their channel, because it is essentially free advertisement.

In MakeupByTiffanyD’s case, Sigma Beauty, an online-based cosmetics company, has taken its marketing to the next level. For the past few years, MakeupByTiffanyD has made it clear on her channel that she works for Sigma Beauty as a makeup artist. Recently, it was announced that Sigma Beauty and MakeupByTiffanyD had released a new limited edition eyeshadow palette called “Defining Eyes.” As touched upon in Vicky Wu’s blog, this is an example of Co-Branding! Sigma is essentially marketing these palettes specifically to MakeupByTiffanyD’s viewers! It knows that it has a reach of over 500,000 people.

Youtube has become such a popular site that it is now another outlet for companies to market their products. Aside from creating their own accounts, they can partner up with other YouTubers to sell their products. SigmaBeauty’s partnership with MakeupByTiffanyD is not the first that we’ve seen, and it’s certainly not the last!

What are your thoughts on the opportunities YouTubers receive?? Fair? Unfair? Leave me a comment!!

Image Source:

http://sigmabeautyaffiliates.blogspot.ca/2012/11/new-product-defining-eyes-by-tiffany-d.html

One Direction’s sophmore album titled Take Me Home

Besides the talent, branding is arguably one of the MOST important aspects of a pop star’s career these days. Take One Direction for example, the first UK boy band to debut at No.1 on the Bilboard Charts.

Aside from their talents which are singing, the boys also have taken part in direct marketing by interacting with their fans on Twitter in order to get them to buy their album. As seen here, one of the members, Zayn Malik, retweets a fan in order to get her to buy their album. This type of marketing is a great asset to artists. It’s free, easy and widely accessible, so why not take advantage of it!

One Direction has been so successful with gaining fans that they are actually opening a holiday pop-up store in New York, as written about on brandchannel’s blog. This is a HUGE deal for the band and for the rest of the music industry. This shows that they have enough of a following in order to open a store solely selling the band’s merchandise and are confident in it being profitable. This store is also opened only during the Christmastime, so they are taking full opportunity of the gift giving season. The store also uses sales promotions as an incentive for people to shop there. Customers have the chance to win special contests and promotions only available exclusively to those who have purchased in-store items.

Now, do I think that the band is exploiting their fame? Heck no! These boys have worked hard to establish their careers as well as their brands, and should take this opportunity be a part of as many ventures as possible. As they always say, fame doesn’t last forever.

Image source:

http://www.themagazine.ca/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2555519-one-direction-take-me-home-617-409.jpeg

The Kardashians have once again expanded their business. This time, they have partnered with Dorothy Perkins, a British retailer for women’s clothing, to design a clothing line which was released earlier this week. Unfortunately, Vancouver does not currently have a Dorothy Perkins store, so I settled with browsing their collection on the Dorothy Perkins website.

As I shop in-store and online these days, I am beginning to notice more and more of a firm’s marketing strategies. The same thing happened when I browsed the Dorothy Perkins website. First of all, the website offers shipping to many parts of the world, which is a strategy employed to expand market presence, since it wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach customers like me who live in Vancouver. Second, as I scrolled down the screen, I noticed the “Get 10% off when you sign up to our newsletter” bar located at the bottom of the page. This is a strategy the firm uses to gain sales, customer loyalty and of course, a way for the firm to track how many people shop online. When looking at a specific article of clothing, the website even provides a size guide, to ensure that people don’t buy the wrong sizes(way to minimize risk Dorothy Perkins!).

After reading this, you would think that I have bought some pieces off this collection, right?

Wrong! One hurdle I still need to cross the actual buying online using a credit card. I browse online and put items in my cart all the time. However, using my credit card online is still not something I am comfortable with(what with all the fraud stories out there), but I hope this technology will improve soon because I WANT THE KARDASHIAN KOLLECTION.

Image from: http://media.dorothyperkins.com/wcsstore/ConsumerDirectStorefrontAssetStore/images/colors/color3/cms/pages/static/static-0000041996/images/UK_kardashian_Lp_wk11.jpg

Christmas is just around the corner, which is super exciting! Why? Because of the presents! With Apple’s promotion of the iPad Mini virtually everywhere, I began my research.

The iPad Mini is basically a miniature version of the iPad(product innovation at its best!). Along with it running faster than the iPad, it is also 7.2mm thinner, and 0.68 lbs lighter. Now, I’m not a technology junkie, so when I read that it did not have retina display, I had to do some research on what that actually meant. I found that it was just a term given by Apple for its high-resolution screen technology. Bloggers online had said that the absence of retina display did not make a big difference, so I decided that it was not a big deal. I also found that a 16GB iPad Mini was priced at $329 in Best Buy, while a 16BG iPad was $499. Now this is quite a big difference, and is definitely a huge factor when asking for a Christmas present.

As far as technology goes, I can safely say that I am not a member of the early adopters category. I fit somewhere in between the early majority and late majority category(I only got an Xbox when it came free during a promotion from Telus last year). After the research I have done on the iPad Mini, I have concluded that it will not be on my wishlist for Christmas. I’m not an Apple Addict, so not having the iPad Mini isn’t a deal breaker. I’ll simply wait a few more months(or years) until a more innovative product is introduced. Until then, my search for a Christmas present continues!

Image from: http://i.thestar.com/images/bb/8a/d4fa0e2e4b0cafa666f06754bf86.jpg