Well, this course is FUN! Before I was enrolled in this course, I was mainly doing mathematical and economical analysis in most of my other courses. I thought that this was something that I’m interested in because theories and calculations are more concrete and black-and-white. Everything could be explained and quantified in numbers.

However, after I have finished this marketing course, my way of thinking has changed. In the real world, there are many things that could not be done in any standard procedure. In many times, you have to judge and find the best solution with regards to the situation. During these 3 months, I have learnt different business marketing and strategic strategies. In addition, I have had a glimpse of how the business world looks like from the experience sharing by our professors. It is very interesting to learn new things in this course.

Moreover, this course has provided me a chance for me to work with people with different backgrounds. During group meetings, we have exchanged a lot of useful advices and opinions in a very fun and engaging atmosphere. I have also learnt to present my own ideas in a more logical and professional manner to minimize confusion. Our group has a common value, which is “Work hard, play hard”. In addition to learning in class and having group meetings, we also have dinners together and share our personal experience to each other. It would definitely be an amazing and valuable opportunity to chat with other people about the culture in China, Hong Kong and Canada. It would also be useful and easier for us to blend into different cultures if we have a chance to work in these places in the future.

In all, this course is just fun. Much of the course materials build from the foundation of human behaviours, which every one of us feel that these things are closely related to our real life.

live young

This commercial is very creative. In the video, there are a few adults and an old lady who saw the reflection of their younger self in the mirror on a street. They feel funny to watch their “mini-me” in the mirror, and then start dancing on the street. At the end of the commercial, there’s a message “Drink pure and natural, live young” and a bottle of Evian’s water near it, which links the idea of “live young” to the natural taste of Evian’s water.

Evian has put the faces of people with different races and ages in front of the camera; according to the liking principle, a larger group of audiences would find themselves attached to the product and the entire commercial. Aside from it, Evian intends to bring the message to the consumers that no matter who you are, you will live young after drinking our water. Basically, they target their product to people from all age groups, which makes logical sense because everyone drinks water, whether or not the water comes naturally. The entire commercial is hilarious and funny, which could help capture the audience’s attention more successfully. They also add an exciting background music into it, which stimulates the happiness feelings of their audiences. Some researches found that people with good mood would buy more stuff, which also explains why most retail companies often play exciting music inside their stores.

To me, I perceive the tastes and prices of their water are similar compared with all other brands. Yet, I would choose the water made by this brand because I like this company because of their creativity. In fact, I think that in the real world many products actually have similar values; yet, some products outperform the others because these companies are creative in marketing their products and communicating with their customers.

Recently, my friend told me that she was asked by her friend to invest in a Yoga business in Vancouver. She was interested in it but there were many reasons that keep her away from doing this business. Here I will talk about some ideas that we have come up.

The business is a no-go for her because the cost exceeds the benefit. The cost includes $8000 in taking over the business which I have no idea about whether this cost would include the purchase of existing assets or liabilities of the company, $1400 of monthly rent that can be regarded as an operation cost. Although the cost of investment is affordable, there exists a risk that this business is not performing well with their finance and creates a loss for you every month. This business is not a well-established business that already had plenty of customers. Moreover, my friend may go back to HK and wouldn’t be free to manage this business but to leave it to her only partner; thus, there exists a chance that her partner would make up the financial statement to her and “eat” her money. Most importantly, my friend does not know anything about yoga nor doing a business. If the Yoga class that they provided does not go well, there would exist a certain difficulty for them to diagnosis the problems.

Doing a business could be very interesting if you are fine to put your money and most of your time into it. There isn’t any working holiday for you in doing your own business because you want to spend your time in maximizing the value of this business, which also determines how much money you will get from this business. You will soon develop an obligation from this business that you are committed to. This is the fun part that I perceive of doing a business.