Life has been likened to many things: a box of chocolates, a wheel, the gum stuck underneath your shoe. Comm 299 has also been compared to many things: guano, church sermons, the manuals that nobody ever reads nowadays. Fact is, not everyone will get the same out of the course. Material that’s often deemed “common sense” is usually glossed over, taken for granted. not me however, for me the comm 299 was a freight train that hit home.
For some, opportunities come knocking. For most of us however they are worked for, made by our own hands. You want something? You have to work for it. The success stories that were shared in class had one thing in common: they were not just due to sheer luck. Hard work, effort and a little bit of elbow grease are still recognized in this day and age and we shouldn’t discount the valu a through job search can yield. It DOES pay to do your research, especially if this spells the difference between being short-listed and getting the job.
Sure I learned how to write a bang-on cover letter and resume that was a billion times better than the scrappy one I had coming into Sauder. Sure I learned valuable interview skills (e.g. how not to appear like a socially awkward penguin). Sure I learned the importance of networking and how reaching out to employers can sometimes make all the difference. But if there’s one lesson I took away from the 13-or-so odd hours in COMM 299 it’s this: seize the day. Make the most out of what Sauder has to offer, nay, make the most of what the day brings. If anything, a sense of urgency was awakened in me — there was no room for complacency. If I wanted to go far, I had to pick myself up and walk.
Because fact is, we are surrounded by a vast number of opportunities that can potentially change our lives — we just have to know where to look.
Influence (n/v):the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.
- “Jess”/Kuya Jess (brother Jess in Filipino) aka. Jesus – I may not be the most religious person around but I still believe that a higher entity exists (and yes atheists, I actually believe in God). Before He figured a prominent place in my life I was a very wayward child with a lot of inner turmoil, unable to reconcile the dissonance between me and the outside world. Thankfully some sense was slapped into me and because of that, I’ve earned an even greater appreciation for the bountiful blessings that surround me (parents included, but they get a separate dot on the list).
- My parents – the token answer for sure, but not without reason! Their undying love and support have carried me throughout my living years and they have always emphasized the value of a good education and how it prepares you for what life unexpectedly shoves your way. Honesty and trust were values that were often extolled in my household – we were always taught never to lie our way through life because of the repercussions it can bring. My parents have had a large influence on my work ethic as well because both of them are self-made businesspeople who have had their share of woes but always bounce back. Lastly, from them I gained two very important life lessons. One: there’s no use crying over spilled milk. Two: failure is a normal part of life, it’s what you do with it that makes all the difference.
- Advertisers – They exercise a lot of influence over my purchasing decisions and have guided me to buy nearly everything from beaver hats to body lotion. Damn you advertisers and your witty ads.
Remember the “Too Asian” article from Macleans? Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the article’s video cousin:
This video (and many of its kind) are an interesting study into how fast information spreads on the internet. 10, nay, 20 years ago our predecessors probably did not expect the Internet to become such a powerful entity. Alice Wang’s blog post delves into more detail on how one college girl’s life was turned upside down within a WEEK after the unfortunate rant was posted. It got me thinking about how the Internet facilitates communication in such a way that it actually accelerates the entire process from start to finish – and this video is no exception.
In the context of the communication process, Alexandra Wallace is the source. She carefully chose her words of seething hate (or just randomly threw everything together) and decided that posting a video on YouTube would be the best way of getting the message out: that Asians are highly irresponsible and have no “American manners” (in her mind anyway). With her chosen message in hand, she encodes it within her 2-minute spiel/rant by talking about how some Asian students would talk unceasingly on their mobile phones while in the library and how their entire clan shows up during the weekends at their dorms to do all sorts of menial tasks (her thought, not mine). She pulls the video from her account after receiving many scathing comments, but alas, her target audience (the general population, Asians especially) has already taken the time to decode her message and perhaps have it lost in translation as well. The “hordes of Asians” Alex Wallace claims to be annoyed by fire back and post numerous response videos. Soon, the poor college girl gets negative feedback in the form of internet trolls and on a more serious note, death threats. Finally, everything comes full circle when Alex apologizes to the entire Asian community – but not without causing herself undue embarrassment which could have been avoided by communicating her message in a more receptive way.
All in the span of less than a week.
Marketing Lesson#419: Goading the internet is a foolish exercise that should not be attempted. Ever. If you’re up to it, prepare for the worst – and hope for the best.
I know some of us here are huge fans of M&Ms. Some of us also happen to be Angry Birds addicts. M&Ms are round. Those lovable birds (and pigs) are round as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: Angry Birds M&Ms.
Okay, granted my Photoshop job wasn’t the sharpest (It came to me last night in the midst of Stats homework, so you can imagine what kind of craziness my mind was filled with), don’t you think it’s a stroke of genius? Imagine it now, Rovio can partner up with Mars Inc., M&Ms’ parent company and extend the Angry Birds brand to food! First we have Angry Birds plush toys, then came the tag-team with the animated feature Rio. Is there a limit to what or where our loveable feathered friends will go? The company’s long term goals include building up the Angry Birds brand and I think a partnership with such an influential confectionery company will only bring good things to the once struggling Rovio. If the partnership again takes off, this may lend itself to other food-related ventures such as Angry Birds breakfast cereal, and as crude as it sounds, Angry Birds bucket meals at KFC (oh the irony)!
There can be a whole marketing campaign surrounding these lovable birds! I see it now: There can be instructions posted on the internet or distributed virally (e.g. YouTube, “street teams”, flyers) on how to build your own DIY catapualt to launch the M&Ms/breakfast cereal onto user-made “levels” with green M&Ms substituting for the pigs and graham crackers for wood planks etc. etc. – kind of like playing with your food (but infinitely better).
The games development company has in fact set itself some lofty goals: in an interview with tech magazine Wired, Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka (who’s business card reads “Mighty Eagle”) outlines the company’s plans for these angry avian friends of ours: “What we’re doing is we’re building out the Angry Birds world…Pac-Man is only one game. Mario is a better benchmark.” Mars Inc. + Rovio = WIN.
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Stay tuned for more Angry Birds/M&M mash-ups in future posts! I fully intend to make a whole set of them so check out the blog often~
Oh Charlie Sheen, you never fail to amuse us with your crazy antics. Dating numerous strippers, beating up your girlfriends, going on cable TV to denounce your boss. You, who has the “DNA of Adonis” and “the blood of a tiger”, is currently jobless. Your string of marital problems is troubling, but does Hollywood care? I don’t think so. Sure no network in their right mind would hire Mr.Adonis but you can’t deny the firestorm of publicity Charlie Sheen’s weirdo interviews have generated – as well as the piggy-backers trying to ride on the coattails of Mr. Sheen’s infamy.
In their defense, the following people aren’t opportunistic vultures waiting to eat up the remains of Sheen’s career…or maybe they are. Nonetheless, this story (like many others) stresses the importance of maintaining a personal brand. Negative publicity can hurt your reputation – or in Sheen’s case, diversify your career options. Sadly, just like when Michael Jackson’s popularity skyrocketed after his untimely demise, we can expect Charlie Sheen to become even more famous post-Two and a Half Men. After all, who needs a crummy long-running show when you’ve been “blessed with a new brain” and have “magic…and poetry at [your] fingertips”?
- Winnipeg, MB native Jarrett Moffatt dreamed up the site Live The Sheen Dream in his room one boring winter afternoon. To date, it has had nearly 396,000 Likes on Facebook and 15,000 retweets on Twitter. Even the man himself has described Moffatt’s “social media experiment” as “epic.”
- From the publication house that brought you the Sarah Palin series of comics comes The Infamous Charlie Sheen. Bluewater Productions will be releasing the Sheen-centric comic book during the Summer months.
Notice the stripper pattern on his suit? Very dapper.
- One company not so happy with Sheen’s antics however (and no, it’s not WB) is Xango LLC., purveyors of XANGO™ Juice, which, according to the company website: “harnesses the nutritional attributes of the whole mangosteen fruit through a proprietary formula”. Now that must be why Sheen has so much vim and vigor these days, since he has been seen waving a machette around, a bottle of XJ in hand. The company’s quick to distance itself from Charlie Sheen though, confiding to gossip website TMZ’s sources that they are “very nervous” to be associated with him. Come on Xango, Charlie’s waiting for his sponsorship deal – don’t disappoint!
(This is a continuation of my current stream of Apple-related posts. Don’t blame me, blame the Church of Steve.)
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As if I can’t talk enough about Apple. The folks at 1 Infinite Loop have done it again with the release of the optimized iPad 2, the original iPad’s faster and lighter cousin. It is interesting to note that the pricing has remained the same as the original iPad’s: $499 for an entry-level 16GB model, $599 for a 32GB model and $699 for a brand new 64GB one.
The white iPad 2 and Apple's new Smart Covers.
Now pricing shouldn’t even be an issue for Apple. But nonetheless it makes you wonder why they didn’t change the price at all for a product that is supposed to be equipped with new bells and whistles only a fanboy could dream of. All things considered, the iPad 2 isn’t a marked improvement from its predecessor – much like when Apple released the iPhone 3GS boasting everything the iPhone 3 has…with improved speed. Incremental tinkering like the kind done with the iPad 2 would make it hard to justify say, even a $50 increase in price in the eyes of your average joe and most people who can’t see the between the two.
The new iPad 2...with FaceTime! Now you can talk with your significant other who's a bajillion miles away from home, or just to catch up with an old friend.
One could argue that the company had to keep prices at an even level rather than raising them given the fact that there wasn’t much done in the innovation department (aside from the cameras everyone’s been dying to have on their iPads). But one thing’s for sure: lowering the price isn’t an option. Price is one of the few ways Apple has maintained its allure as a high-quality brand and to lower the price of a new product that hasn’t quite entered its growth phase would probably do more harm than good (harm in the sense that the product’s prestigious image might be cheapened in the eyes of Apple’s core consumers). In maintaining the old price point however Apple has communicated another message: “This is the new iPad. For the same price as the old one you can get all the excellent features it had…and more! Now isn’t that a great value?”. This is a characteristic move by a company who makes it a point to communicate the product’s value every chance they get.
Now excuse me while I ogle at the new iPad.
(I’ve been away from the blog for quite some time now! That’s what 3 midterms on the same week + Assignment Mountain does to you. Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming.)
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At the rate Apple is releasing products, I might never buy another iPhone/iPod/iPad/iThing.
I’ve owned at some point in time an iPod Mini (when I was a wee tyke), an old 1G iPod Shuffle that was handed down to me, an 3G iPod Touch which I got for Christmas two years ago (only to be rendered obsolete by the 4G version) and as of today I am the proud owner of a hand-me-down: my dad’s ancient (if you consider 2008 old) 2nd-gen iPhone. There was always a point in time when I regretted my buying decisions and I vowed never to buy an Apple product (obviously I broke that vow so now I’m not too keen on keeping promises I can’t keep). Buyers’ remorse always hits, but quickly dissipates as the next model makes the rounds on the internet (rumors), TV (like those snazzy Apple ads) and in-store ads (don’t you just love those store displays?).
Yes, I actually owned one of these.
There must be a reason why droves of Macheads still go to the Church of Steve (Jobs) and hang on to his every word – why, when the iPhone 4 came out, they were quick to line up even though the iPhone 3G was released just a few months ago. The residents of 1 Infinite Loop know what makes people tick. The desire to be on the forefront of things is often a driver for many “early adopters” but at what price? Do we the consumer constantly have to pick up the tab? Certainly consistently rolling out new models is done at the risk of annoying the few who buy the product in its dying phase (the “laggards” and even the “late majority” are guilty here), but does Apple really care?
Probably not. It’s up to the consumer to decide on the right time to buy items with a relatively high turnover, monitoring rumors and keeping abreast with all the news coming out. We can’t really blame Apple for coming out with something new every 6 months, as that is the nature of innovation – to always be one step ahead, constantly improving oneself in order to maintain that advantage. This is the business strategy they’ve chosen – us Macheads just have to live with it. Or buy a Vaio.
(Fellow blogger Ruth’s Bieber-themed post inspired me to write about the boy wonder, so for all you Beliebers out there hold on to your pants. Seriously.)
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Justin Bieber must think he’s the luckiest kid alive right now. The 16 year-old Stratford, ON native has catapulted himself to international stardom by flexing his vocal chops on YouTube all while capturing the hearts of millions of squealing girls all over the world. The teen idol has lent his name to a whole range of items, from a look-alike Ken version of himself to nail polish to even headphones.
Those who may have seen his television ads with Proactiv however would be aware that the company has added Bieber to their growing roster of celebrity endorsers who include singer Mandy Moore, actress Jenna Fischer (aka. Pam from The Office) and rapper/mogul Sean Combs. Here’s the commercial anyway for those who haven’t seen it (or just want an excuse to ogle him):
Guthy-Renker, the company behind Proactiv, reportedly shelled out nearly $3 million over the next two years for the teen idol to become one of their many spokespersons. The same article in the link mentions how the company is hoping to leverage much of Bieber’s popularity with the teen girl market in order to boost sales.
Sure, Justin’s tween fans may not have the purchasing power to buy Proactiv themselves, but their parents probably do – and this is exactly what the company wants, to have legions of mothers buy the product online where the company makes nearly 60% of its sales. They realize that anything Justin Bieber touches turns into gold (figuratively of course) and that there is a legitimate opportunity in marketing directly to teens when before their celebrity endorsers largely catered to a more mature crowd. Any success with the teen crowd will translate into free word-of-mouth marketing wherein teens will extol the virtues of Proactiv and urge their BFFs to try it out, making their BFFs’ parents consider purchasing the product.
See guys, it’s a never-ending cycle.
Parents, take heed: do not underestimate Tween Power.
I am a self-confessed geek. I love playing video games and so do my two late 20-something brothers. From the Super Nintendo we graduated onto the Gameboy when even my technology-challenged dad would enjoy playing Tetris for hours on end. Eventually me and my siblings were gifted the Playstation (which saw better days) as well as its successor the PS2. With a couple of exceptions, we’ve sold our souls had a long history with Nintendo. My family is not alone however in our adoration for the video game industry giant: in 2009 Nintendo saw sales figures that were well into the billions of dollars worldwide. 15 billion in fact
Nintendo has maintained its leading position in the highly-competitive video game industry due in large part to its keen understanding of the audience. Nintendo pretty much has a product for every marketing segments it caters to – for every large slice of video game pie Nintendo knows exactly what goes with it. The company has learned over the years that selling video games to the usual target markets (children and the youth in general) just won’t cut it anymore – it wasn’t enough to segment the market based on demographic criteria, consumer lifestyles had to be taken into consideration as well. Capitalizing on the fitness renaissance of recent years, Nintendo released the Wii in 2006 hoping that they would be able to tap into a growing number of health-conscious individuals as well as so-called “casual gamers” who often feel left out by the industry’s usual offerings.
The console’s flagship game, Wii Sports was applauded by Nintendo’s intended target market and the numbers don’t lie: to date, the company has sold over 75 million copies of the game worldwide. Its more fitness-oriented cousin on the other hand, Wii Fit, has been received well by fitness enthusiasts and couch potatoes alike. The lesson: it pays to go beyond the horizon.
I guess they must be doing something right. As for me? I’ll be playing Super Mario Bros. On my pink NDS.
Crowd-sourcing is nothing new. As a prelude to this Sunday’s Superbowl, PepsiCo launched a contest during September of last year asking people to make a 30-second commercial showing their love for Dortios and Pepsi Max. Avid snack munchers naturally responded and they have created some ingenious ads that rival even the infamous Snickers commercial featuring Betty White. Here’s my favourite one (for Doritos):
High-profile companies like Amazon and PepsiCo are increasingly turning to us, the consumer for marketing advice! Crowd-sourcing is a highly interactive means of directly involving consumers with the brand. It often creates added value for the consumers as they are in a sense more invested in the product because well, they helped shape it! Before, companies never would have dreamed up of this because there was so little emphasis on the consumer – despite the adage “the customer is always right”. But now they aren’t content until we turn into their product slaves repeat customers (and hopefully eventual advocates of the brand). I think part of the reason why crowd-sourcing has the attention of major brands is that it is one way of generating additional value to the consumer without necessarily altering the existing product.
It doesn’t come without its own pitfalls however: imagine having to screen thousands upon thousands of entries from people! The company has to screen entries thoroughly just to make sure nothing that certain consumer groups consider “offensive” make it past their filter. Any negative publicity can spread like wildfire through word of mouth and if not capped/controlled, the company can face serious damage to their brand. There is some control with crowd-sourcing as there are screening mechanisms in place, but at the same time they can’t control exactly what you and I submit. Tricky!
Crowd-sourcing is not the marketing world’s panacea for all its problems. With anything these days, it comes with pros/cons that should be weighed against each other. PepsiCo however has used crowd-sourcing to their advantage with great results: the ad above could very well be the next great Superbowl commercial!
