Andrew Kwan

So, this is it: the last blog for Comm 296 that I will ever have to do. Although I loathe writing blogs, I can actually see why we were forced to write them. Blogging is a good way for someone to express their opinions on specific topics, and other people can join in their discussion. Its also a good way to get your name out there in cyberspace and who knows, maybe you’ll begin to have a loyal following and eventually get famous for blogging. Not too bad eh, getting famous for saying whats on your mind? By blogging for 296, I also had a chance to explore other people’s blogs as well as external blogs. Viewing other people’s blogs opened my eyes to many things I have never encountered and definitely sparked my interest on some topics. It is also a good way of discovering new products, trends, views, and many other interesting facts. I can see how blogging can be a very useful tool for marketers because they will be able to view all of the aforementioned qualities from around the world very easily through the internet. Comm 296 did a very smart thing by getting us to write our own as well as explore other people’s blogs. This will create good habits for us which will be very useful to us in our future.

PEACE!

As I was searching through my fellow classmates’ blogs today I came across one interesting post on Julia Chiu’s Blog. In this blog she had stumbled upon an ad put out by the Breast Cancer Foundation of Singapore, and it had a woman’s bare chest painted over with an image of another woman with messy hair. The ad read “Are you obsessed with the right things?” and Julia commented how the main point of this ad was to tell people to be less worried about their appearance and more on their health. She also mentioned how effective the ad was in grabbing the attention of the viewer as ads like these aren’t something we see everyday. I would have to agree with everything that Julia pointed out. I found this ad to be extremely effective and it had a clear message that could be understood by everyone. I feel that in recent times, people have become more obsessed about the way they look while pushing their physical health and well-being aside. Pop culture is a big influence in everyone’s lives whether we like it or not, and its those “perfect” figures in pop culture that fuel the obsession over looks. People think that to be popular or liked they must look like what pop culture deems as perfect, and some even take drastic measures such as plastic surgery or rapid weight loss, to achieve this status. People should be less focused on their outer appearances and start taking care of themselves so that they will be healthy and beautiful in their own way.

During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, The Hudson’s Bay Company launched their apparel line and one of the most popular products within the line were the Red Mittens. They were the “hot items” and sold out so fast that the Bay could barely keep up with demand. As soon as the new shipments hit the stores, they were gone within hours. Even Oprah caught the Red Mitten craze! Once the Games ended, the demand was still there but due to some policies, The Bay could not produce their Olympic gear any longer.
Original Gloves:

Solution: Capture the demand by producing the exact same gloves with a different design.

These gloves have been on the market for quite a few months now but I have not seen people wear the “new” gloves nearly as much as the original ones. This may be due to the fact that there may not be any demand for the product. For legal reasons, they had to change the design. I personally do not like the new design and many of my friends agree. Also, now that the Games have been over for almost a year now, the product’s appeal to the consumer may have diminished as the Mittens are no longer the “hot item.” In short, there just isn’t a craze for the Red Mittens as there was during the Olympics. Did the Bay make a smart move by re-releasing the gloves, or was it an unnecessary cost?

Any thoughts out there?

I know I’m a couple of days late in writing this but I’ve just been really busy lately. So this past Thursday November 11 was Remembrance Day, and the one thing I love about that day is the abundance of war movies and shows on TV. My all time favorites are Saving Private Ryan, the Band of Brothers miniseries as well as The Pacific miniseries. I know that we are supposed to be sombre and respectful, but I cant resist some good war movies. Its my way of being appreciative of the veterans by understanding their experiences, both emotional and physical. Thats what I love about the aforementioned programs, they’re remarkably accurate and  have brilliant battle scenes yet they don’t ignore the mental toll the wars have on soldiers. The beauty of these films is that they will allow a whole new generation of children understand what the veterans went through. These films are timeless to me and they will help me to never forget the sacrifices that Canadians made to keep this a free country.

As I was looking through a couple of my friends’ blogs, I happened to stumble upon Josh Kramer’s blog post about a Guinness Beer commercial. The commercial is quite raunchy and leaves little to the imagination of the viewer. But the goal of the commercial is to capture the audience’s attention and make them want to go out to buy Guinness Beer. When you first watch the commercial, you may think that it is outrageous and shouldn’t even exist. But ask yourself, what is the purpose of the commercial and who is the target market? Well, as stated before the goal is obviously to get their target market to buy more beer. Who is their target market you ask? I think its safe to say that the target market of Guinness is men. The easiest way to get a man’s attention is humor and sex. This commercial achieves both. It incorporates sex into an advertisement that will make you want to get off your couch and into the closest pub to have a pint of Guinness. I’m pretty sure this commercial did just exactly that.

Well boys and girls, tomorrow is Halloween, the day that kids, teens and businesses look forward to all year. It’s the one day of the year (for most) where we can dress up in ridiculous outfits or scary costumes and have way too much candy. It is also a good reason, for the older kids, to go out and party. But what is the real purpose of Halloween? From what I know Halloween is supposed to mark the Festival of the Dead and it started hundreds of years ago. As time passed, it seems like we all forgot the real meaning of Halloween and now it has become a major cash cow for businesses. It’s like Christmas in October for retailers! Candy companies, Costume makers, and pumpkin farmers are the big 3 that benefit the most from this  international “holiday.” According to a US study, Americans spent just over $5 Billion in 2005 for Halloween, and I’m almost certain that number has risen since then. In my opinion, just like Valentines Day, Halloween was a meaningless day to most that was turned into a big deal by businesses to get our money. I’m not trying too seem like a Debbie Downer or anything, I enjoy dressing up, going trick-or-treating and partying my butt off, but doesn’t it all seem a bit much? Has Halloween become a little excessive, especially in the amounts of money people spend for one night? Its only October and I can hear those Jingle Bells already…oh wait, its the cash registers Cha-Chinging.

Tonight is the night! UFC 121: Lesnar vs Velasquez. With the Heavyweight title on the line, this is one fight you don’t want to miss. For those of you who are not UFC fans or have not come into contact with the massive amount of marketing, this is touted to be the biggest Heavyweight match-up in the history of the UFC.  It is not just the main event that is getting all of the attention, the many other fights on the card are all highly anticipated fights.

The UFC has done a great job marketing this fight. They have utilized many different communication channels to get the message to the public. There have been many radio, television and newspaper advertisements promoting this fight for at least a month. It was kinda hard not to know about this fight. Also, the fact that the major sports networks such as TSN and Sportsnet, have been heavily promoting this event by analyzing and anticipating what could happen. Another aspect of marketing that the UFC used to generate hype for this Pay-Per View event was the fact that they had weekly “insider” specials for a month prior to tonight. In these specials, they showcased the two main event fighters training hard and trash talking one another leading up to the big fight. The goal of the marketing to was to gain a mass amount of hype, and it seems they have achieved their goal. I’m not gonna  lie, IM SO PUMPED FOR THIS FIGHT!

So, time for a new phone eh? What are you going to choose, an iPhone, a Blackberry or an android phone? In todays world there only seems to be two logical choices: Blackberry or iPhone, but which one should you choose? The website Buzz Canuck breaks down the Blackberry vs iPhone debate by comparing the Blackberry Torch and the iPhone 4. Here is my breakdown of the two phones.

Case for an iPhone

• Trendy and fashionable for the “techy” type
• Touch screen and new “retina-display” technology
• Millions of apps ranging from a flashlight to deciding which cheese goes with a certain wine
• Great wi-fi and internet
• FaceTime video calling
• iPod and a phone in one
• Apple product (brand loyalty)

Case for a Blackberry

• Fashionable and trendy for business people
• Ability to wipe all data off of the phone if it gets lost
• Emails go straight to the phone; easy to access
• Excellent calendar and scheduling apps
• Blackberry Messenger
• Many apps as well, just not as many and as fun as an iPhone

From the business side of things, the Blackberry is a more appealing option because you can store all of your businesses data on the phone and if it is lost, there is the ability to wipe all memory just by going to your service provider. For the tech savvy, the iPhone is the way to go. Simply put, there is just way more your can do: more games, more apps, more fun.

What would you choose?

Recently I stumbled upon an ad on TV for a new product called “The Shake Weight.” The Shake Weight is essentially a dumb bell but the what sets it apart from anything else is the fact that the two ends “shake” in a back and forth motion. I guess you could say it is similar to how a jack hammer works. According to the advertisement, the Shake Weight is supposed to produce 300% better results than traditional weights in only 6 minutes per day. The back and forth action is supposed to work your biceps, triceps, chest and shoulders all at the same time. There are also two different weights, 2.5 lbs and 5 lbs, for women and men respectively.

When I first saw the ad and the product, I thought it was ridiculous. The product is simply a dumb bell that moves, how much of a difference can it make? Also, the commercial or infomercial was so cheesy it made me laugh. I really did not have any interest with the product other than the fact that I found it hilarious and I had to show my friends. I definitely would not buy the product. But after taking some thought, I guess I can’t judge the product without using it first. After all, there were testimonials in the commercial that had big, burly men who were amazed at what the Shake Weight could do. But from a marketing point of view, the purpose of a commercial is to get the consumer’s attention and to get them to buy the product. Although there are two different commercials for their two consumer groups, men and women I don’t think the commercial achieved its goal. To me it was just a big joke.

What’s your opinion about the product? Would you buy this?

Here is the commercial for the Shake Weight for Men:

Here is the commercial for women:

“500 Million Friends” is the tagline of one of the most anticipated movies coming out within the next month or so called “The Social Network.” This movie has created a lot of buzz in Hollywood because it is based on the story of the creation of Facebook, a social networking site that most of us are very familiar with. Unless you live in some remote corner of the world, or lack internet, chances are you’ve heard of Facebook. “The Social Network” has a huge target audience as there are currently over 250 million Facebook users world wide. In terms of the amount of marketing put towards this movie, they didn’t have to do much at all. First of all, the movie is starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, who both have quite a broad fan base as Eisenberg has starred in a few successful movies and Timberlake is a worldwide superstar. They alone would draw big crowds to see the movie. Secondly, the movie is about something that within a few years has come to define our generation. It has become a major part of most our lives and we can easily connect to the topic, so people will be curious to see how something so influential was created. These two factors is all the movie needs to become successful. Also, this movie has received very good reviews from the critics and that will also influence more people to go see this movie.

Here is the trailer.