I still can remember those feelings of nervousness and being scared by the two words from Elaine, “group project,” during the first week of class!

I was put into the same group with Michelle, Anita, Steve and Gianluca. Because I didn’t know any of them before, the project gave me an opportunity to make more friends. As a group, we chose to research and analyze Target Corporation because of how the company is widely recognized by the consumers in North America.

As the project divided into three separate parts, this allowed my group to be more focused and stayed on track, as well as lighten up the workload. With the video assignment in part three, it differentiated this course from the other courses. It was the new learning experience for my group. We could be more creative and play around with our ideas. I like how the video assignment allowed my group to be graded fairly based on our work and the effort we put in, not how well we speak in front of the class.

I feel the project is one of the best things in the course. It was the first time that I didn’t have to finish a textbook and sit for a midterm/final.The project also allowed me to integrate what I learned in class and the real world situation. Because of it, I got to deeply look into the business strategies, and learned how a big company like Target is competing in the real world.

Lastly, Thank you Elaine for being so inspiring and showing me that we can be successful and be kind to others at the same time. I always admire you as you are successful and still work for NGOs. (:

Over-the-top Safety Videos From Air New Zealand And Virgin America

Having a mindset about a boring safety video on a plane? Well, Air New Zealand and Virgin America have brought their new safety videos to the whole new level!

This blog post is in response to Jenny Peng’s blog post on November 26, 2013.

Jenny was talking about how interesting the new safety video from Air New Zealand is and, and how it is made to promote New Zealand and emphasize the service by the airline to attract travelers and fans of the movie, The Hobbit.

After watching the safety video from Air New Zealand, I must say that the video is definitely amazing and well created. This video from Air New Zealand also reminded me of another safety video from Virgin America, which widely shared on social media.

Brands like Air New Zealand and the Virgin Group have used their opportunities to promote themselves.  Characters from the Hobbits were used by Air New Zealand as the movie filmed in New Zealand, while the Virgin group used pop music to promote its airline.

With these impressive videos, Air New Zealand and Virgin America chose to differentiate themselves from the their competitor due to intense competition. By receiving 11 million and 7 million views respectively, the videos have undoubtedly made a huge impact on the two airlines and the industry.

Besides, these videos are also appealing and recognized by consumers, which can be seen as reminders to consumers that they exist in the market. This strategy of marketing from both airlines also prove that promotions and deals are not the only way to attract consumers.

In my opinion, Air New Zealand and Virgin America have already shown the public that they are a step ahead of their competitors! And What’s your opinion?

Link to Jenny Peng’s blog: Jenny Peng

 L’Oréal Paris Heads Underground in NYC with Intelligent Vending Machine

This is a blog post in response to an external blog, BrandChannel, on October 31, 2013.

L’Oréal has recently found its new partner, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), as it strived to offer travelers and people in New York City the whole new shopping experience by launching vending machines in a New York City subway station.

As a marketing student, I am impressed by how this business strategy benefits both L’Oréal and MTA. As mentioned in BrandChannel’s blog, the vending machines take over abandoned newsstand which allows MTA to gain from renting out the space, while L’Oréal took this opportunity to reach and expand its consumer base.

The consumers in L’Oréal’s target market, middle-class female, are known to be time-poor consumers. Besides, New York City is also known as one of the most busiest cities. By placing the vending machines in a subway station, L’Oréal will be able to reach and capture all of its potential and regular consumers.

What makes this business strategy more interesting is the innovation of the machines as they act as “research and development (R&D).” They have a function to measure the level of engagement from the customers who pass by and interact with the customers. The machines can also capture the customers’ information which may be used by the company to improve its products and keep up with demand.

Moreover, these vending machines help the company to shorten up the distribution channel, as the products reach consumers faster. They also can hold up to 700 items which can be considered as a mini-storage. Lastly, the machines also lower the cost for the company, as it is cheaper to launch machines, which can interact with customers as well as human, at multiple locations than setting up stores.

Link to BrandChannel’s blog: L’Oréal Paris and the launch of vending machines in NYC

Lenovo’s New Product Engineer: Ashton Kutcher.
Chinese Computer Maker Lenovo Hires Ashton Kutcher to Help Design Tablets.

Lenovo Group Ltd., a Chinese personal computer producer, has hired Ashton Kutcher, who stars on the television show “Two and a Half Men” and movie “Jobs” which he was portrayed as Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs, to help design its new product, Yoga tablets. The device will come in a longer battery life with better specifications,  as the company seeks to gain attention from Apple’s customers. The company hopes the endorsement deal with Mr.Kutcher will provide a smooth launch for its Yoga tablets in the US.

With this marketing strategy, I feel that Lenovo decided to play safe by collaborating with Mr.Kutcher to enter the US market, since it’s difficult for a foreign brand like Lenovo to capture the market share in the US, where Apple’s headquarter is located. It is undeniable that Apple has a larger and a stronger consumer base. By cooperating with Mr.Kutcher, Lenovo will be able to promote Yoga tablets to consumers who have aspire to become like Ashton Kutcher. The company will be able to take an advantage of Mr.Kutcher’s positive reputation and popularity (15 million followers on Twitter account). Collaborating with Mr.Kutcher also increases the value of Yoga tablets as it becomes more exclusive. With this marketing strategy, Lenovo will be able to capture consumers who like exclusive products, high technology innovation and have aspiration.

Ironically, Mr.Kutcher was portrayed as Steve Jobs, who was behind Apple’s success, in Jobs. In reality, Mr.Kutcher is in fact a tablets designer for a PC developer, Lenovo. Lenovo’s marketing strategy can also be seen as a way to deteriorate the image of Apple in order to market itself.

Looking from both perspective, either way benefits Lenovo. This marketing strategy is undoubtedly clever.

Links to articles:
Lenovo’s New Product Engineer: Ashton Kutcher
Chinese Computer Maker Lenovo Hires Ashton Kutcher to Help Design Tablets

Tim Hortons To Offer New Dark Roast Coffee Blend In Two Test Markets

Tim Hortons, the largest quick service restaurant chain in Canada, plans to test its new product for the first time in 49 years as it faces intense competition from its main competitors like McDonald’s. The new product, dark roast coffee, will be sold at Ohio and Ontario starting November 4.

This is a new strategy that Tim Hortons chooses to recover its market share as the market share has fell to 77%, while McDonald’s has increased to 11%. This is a significant loss as the Coffee Association of Canada found that 65% of Canadians drink coffee on a daily basis. Decreasing in the percentage of market share also means the decreasing in the potential revenue and profit for Tim Hortons.

I believe that the purpose of testing this new product in two test markets is to see the responsiveness of consumers in Canada and The United States, as well as North America as a whole. Tim Hortons’ strategy to promote its new product and increase its sales is clever because the company will benefit from the reduction in risk, cost and uncertainty. The strategy will also increase the company’s decision quality, as the company may use data and responsiveness from consumer to make its future decisions.

In continuation, another significant advantage of this marketing strategy by Tim Hortons is that it shortens consumer’s decision process due to lower cost (time to search for more information) and risk of making a wrong decision. The strategy also reduces post-purchase dissonance, such as disappointment from consumers, which plays a crucial role on consumers’ perceptions about the company and the products.

Link to article:  Tim Hortons To Offer New Dark Roast Coffee Blend In Two Test Markets

Warehouse Tour Turns Up Sorry Tale of Pigeon Droppings, Grime and Insect InfestationsRecently, a media has discovered a warehouse where government-purchased rice were stocked. The warehouse was dirty, and when looking closer to rice sacks, signs of life were noticed. Bugs and critters ran to and fro in ever-shifting tunnels within the rice mountain. Pigeons coo from high up in the wooden ceiling, interspersed with the occasional splatter of fresh droppings on the rice sacks.

Why is there a large volume of government-purchased rice stocked in the warehouse? The answer is due to bad economic tactic imposed by the government, leading by Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s prime minister. The government believed that by buying the rice from farmers 50% above the market price will give farmers incentives to boost their productions. Instead, the high pledging price has given Vietnam and other competitors a clear step up to become the world’s leading rice exporters.

The stock of rice in the warehouse causes the consumers to question about the hygiene and quality of Thai rice. From the ethical point of view, the government shouldn’t export this volume of rice for its own benefits. With this low and unacceptable quality of rice, the government should stop promoting Thailand as the world’s best rice producer when it could not maintain the quality of rice. It would give consumers faulty image and information. This will not only hurt consumers around the world, but the country itself as well, since the image as the producer of the world’s best rice, an image built up over many decades, will be damaged.

Link to article: Warehouse tour turns up sorry tale of pigeon droppings, grime and insect infestations

Victoria’s Secret Indian Costume Makes Feathers Fly. 

In response to Rick Rusch’s blog post on November 13, 2012, I am totally agree with Rick and personally think that Victoria’s Secret’s marketing strategy is extremely clever and is hard for other companies to copy.

Victoria’s Secret is very famous for its lingeries, perfumes as well as its annual fashion show. Victoria’s Secret models, also known as VS Angels, are famous and attractive. The company uses these angels to represent the company and the brand image.

Each year Victoria’s Secret spends so  much money on its annual fashion show, packaging, new paper advertisement and TV fashion shows. What I like about its strategy is that the company advertises itself through its annual fashion show and TV fashion show where it receives the highest rating since 2002 with 11.5 million viewers who mostly are women. The show is essentially an hour-long commercial and serves as the cornerstone of an efficient marketing machine. People can watch the company’s commercial without feeling bored.

The company is differentiating itself by selling lingeries with the concept of fantasy, which is the company’s point of difference, which allows the company to has an advantage over its competitors. Victoria’s Secret’s lingeries are more stand out than normal lingeries.

I personally think that Victoria’s Secret strategy is very interesting and realistic. The company becomes so successful as it allocates a huge amount of budget on its marketing which clearly helps the company to become more well known, more profitable and is one of the most successful clothing company in the world.

Source:
http://blog.thought-tech.com/2012/11/13/victorias-secret-indian-costume-makes-feathers-fly/

South Korean Companies Branded by “Gangnam Style”

 In response to Connie Hsu’s blog, I am agree with her. It is undeniable that these days, South Korean entertainments are very powerful and can influence people as well as the country’s economy. South Korean celebrities and shows become very popular and brands in South Korea normally pay them to become their presenters and brand image, with hope that these famous celebrities will be able to their popularity to increase companies’ sales.

It is well known that the government are currently supporting entertainment industry as the industry’s successfulness will enhance the country’s tourism industry, which will benefit both government and the entertainments. Moreover, these famous South Korean celebrities are so popular and successful until they can influence their fans and other people. They are slowly becoming the face of South Korea and the country’s reputation is depending on them.

I am also agree with Connie that the successfulness of South Korea entertainment acts is an opportunity  for South Korean companies to expand locally by expanding their product lines as well as geographically expanding themselves to other countries because the image of South Korea at this stage will definitely attract more consumers and investors from overseas.

South Korean’s entertainments are currently growing very fast and the government has made a right choice by supporting them as this will not only give benefit to the companies, but to the country as a whole as well.

Connie Hsu’s blog post:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/conniehsu/2012/10/08/gangnam-style-branding-south-korea/

Original sources:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/asian-pacific-business/what-gangnam-style-is-doing-to-brand-south-korea/article4596798/

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStmJDdrlYbvlYYYUcWMr4_WDyV7eZk8ctiuX5S4lFFXKi7o1To

Casino in Downtown Toronto?

In response to Luna Tsoi’s blog, I am totally agree with her that the government should reconsider about building casino in downtown Toronto. It is true that casino will attract more tourists in to the city as well as increase the spending of the people in the city. Moreover, having casino in the city will also create more job positions which will eventually lower unemployment rate.

However, in the long term, casino does not put the city in a good position at all, especially having it in downtown. Casino actually increases crime rate and reduce the safety of the city. When operating it in downtown, this means casino is being put in the heart of town where it is easier for anyone, especially the locals, to access to it.

I am agree with Luna that there are many other alternatives, such as new amusement parks, new tourist spots and etc., that the government could use to attract tourists and enhance its tourism industry. Casino is definitely not the best choice for the government as its negative effects could cause the city to be worsen, unlike other alternatives that definitely will bring more beneficials to the society.

Luna Tsoi’s blog post:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/lunatsoi/2012/10/17/casino-in-downtown-toronto/

Original source:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1270290—3-billion-casino-plan-unveiled-for-downtown-toronto
http://nocasinotoronto.com/

McDonald’s to open vegetarian restaurant in India

The article talks about McDonald plan to open 2 new outlets that will fully offer vegetarian meals to cater Indians. McDonald is currently having 271 locations in India but none of them are fully offering vegetarian meals. This year, the chain decided to open 2 brand new branches that will serve nothing but salad and vegetarian products to cater local Indians who mostly are identified to be vegetarians. McDonald is trying to create a point of different to differentiate itself from other normal fast foods that are operating in India as well as trying to expand its market share in India so that it does not lose its customers to competitors like local restaurants and food stalls who serve vegetarian for the locals. By differentiating itself from other fast food and expanding its market, these strategies will allow McDonald to become more profitable.

It is definitely a good strategy for McDonald to serve vegetarian in India as this will have a huge impact on McDonald and attract more customers, which will eventually increase the market share of McDonald. McDonald will become more profitable from this strategy.

Article:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/09/04/mcdonalds-india-vegetarian.html