Creative. Simple. Interactive. Future Changing.

Seeing how this small app came out of nowhere and topped the app markets, shows how social media and the onslaught of interactive applications are changing the way people are interacting with one another. Draw Something is the first mobile “game” that leverages online social play that keeps young adults addicted through their creative expression. This is not about how successful this game is or the amount of times it has been downloaded, but the potential impact the genre has to change how future mobile apps are developed, as well as how artists can use a mobile platform for art with simply their finger (there are many professional high detailed sketches in the game). Also, from an advertising perspective, marketers can model the operating platform of Draw Something so that advertisements can have another element of interaction and appeal. Samuel Chian wrote in his blog that that “The app became popular because the market needed an app where people could play against each other in a fast, easy and convenient way” – this is the fast trend of technology in the mobile space. People nowadays use their smartphone the most during idle downtime (i.e. waiting for a bus, meeting, etc), therefore apps that are easy to use, simple, and convenient deliver the strongest impact to the impatient folks of today’s society.

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When you go shopping for consumer goods, there are always one or two items in a store that catch your eye because they “stand-out” and are unique from the rest. This creates an psychological “need” in your mind to stand out buy a product that is different from the rest. Behold the power of co-branded.

Just after reading Rose Koo’s blog on The Future of Advertising: Co-Branding!, she points out how many brands are from the same company, therefore they are not intentionally “battling each other out” like mac vs pc or pepsi vs coke. Also, she mentions that Co-branding is about integrating two brands to promote one another, which is absolutely true and beneficial to companies since the advertisements are attracting a larger audience base.

I found it very interesting to reflect and think back to all those times that I ended buying products that were apart of the same commercial even if there was one in particular that wasn’t really beneficial to me. The power of co-branding turns either a wanted product into a MUST HAVE or an unwanted to a need, primary because we are influenced by that one (or second) brand has to offer.

Here are some Co-Branding advertisements:

In the first commercial, the movie Avatar went off to win multiple academy awards and became the number one grossing movie surpassing the Titanic. In addition to that success, the LG eXpo phone became the first projector phone to sell out within a day or its release. Now why is that?  The consumers who loved Avatar felt that they could get the same experience through the LG smartphone’s 3D mobile projector, so that they could watch anything, anywhere on a  much larger screen than the average 4 by 3 inch mobile LED surface.

As for this commercial, the name Marvel and Capcom are unparalleled and unmatched brand names for comic and video game enthusiasts. What happens when the two decide to launch a fighting game together? The unit sales for the game surpassed any previous fighting game since 1970. I believe this is ground breaking, especially since Street Fighter 2 (also made by Capcom) dominated the charts for many years. For me, this marketing move was probably the smartest move since the incorporation of the two companies.

Personally I am for the use of co-branding, especially in technology. I think that in today’s society, it is a given fact many people love products that work hand in hand with each other, and if it is two brands that are respectable and valued, the “want” is much greater. I believe that companies who use this strategy enjoy a potentially larger revenue since it substantially influences the buying behavior of the consumer.

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I would like to address two things: RIM’s new and horrible marketing strategy and the company’s lost sales in 2011/12

Way back in December of 2011, co-CEO Jim Balsillie stated of the company’s marketing efforts didn’t “achieved the desired results” as he put it during RIM’s Q4 earnings call, and promised big things to come on the marketing front come 2012. Their  2012″big thing” was The Bold Team marketing campaign. It seemed that they wanted move from a concentrated strategy, targeting business professionals to a more differentiated, multi-segment strategy – children and youths – by the use of cartoon characters. Despite their vast re-positioning efforts for the general public, I feel that RIM got it completely wrong. They are risking their brand image on a corporate level since professionals will NOTrely on a product that caters to children; it is like McDonalds trying to sell a Happy Meal to adults. I would rather use an iPhone or Android device if this is the case. Aside from the criticism, I understand their response to a bad 3 years is to broaden their segments, however, I feel that they underestimated their segment attractiveness:  I believe that their product, with the new implementation, will only be responsive and possibly profitable towards teens. For the rest segments, they will lose money and consumers because this cartoon image will not be identifiable and substantial to industry workers.

Adding to the subject, oil field services company Halliburton plans to stop issuing BlackBerry smartphones to employees and switch over to Apple’s iPhones, marking another major setback for RIM. This will be an additional lost of 4,500 BlackBerry devices on top of the thousands from Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital and Standard Chartered from last year. The company is slowly being beat out from competitors like Apple and Google, and by expanding their target segments, they devalue their value proposition which was to serve business professionals with a secure mobile device. Also I feel that without adding a consumer friendly GUI to the BlackBerry, they will not gain the slightest competitive advantage and might possibly even lose their market share.

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The fact that the name “Google” is now a verb tells us that the company’s brand image is unmatched to any other firm out there in the technology industry. With Google’s reputation, does this mean that the new Google+ can start a heated competition with the social-networking supremacy of Facebook , a site with more than 800 million members? To be honest, I think that Google can and will pose a challenge to Facebook. So far, their advantage is that they have one of the biggest consumer databases of primary information, collected from millions of people daily (they even have Facebook’s information indexed). On top of that, their core value proposition since the beginning is to sort and deliver information the way people like it.

According to the Montreal Gazette, just last week the company did some tweaking to its personalized search engine by introducing something called Search plus Your World:

The idea is simple and elegant. Google now pulls information from users’ accounts, giving users the ability to toggle between search results that are much more personal and searching the Web as Google has always done. The company has the ability to make Google+ the underlying social platform within its many applications (Android, Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Google Maps, Google News, YouTube, etc.). From a marketing stand-point, by integrating all of their services, Google is doing an impeccable job of extending their idea of consumer value and satisfaction into an all-in-one personal package, making it easier for people of all ages to use the web today.

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Hello! My name is Alexander Nguyen and I am a 19 year old student at the Sauder School of Business, interested in pursuing a marketing and computer science degree to one day start-up my own technology company. I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta but moved and traveled a lot throughout grade school due to my father’s engineering work; I can say that I have visited many beautiful places around the globe.

Aside from the reason that Comm 296 is a mandatory course, I have a strong passion for good marketing and I look up to companies who display excellent marketing strategies, therefore I am hoping to learn a lot more and improve my skills in this field . As a consumer and student, I can say that I see forms of marketing everyday and everywhere I go; examples are I bought my iPhone because of Apple’s branding and my appeal for their quality customer service in-stores, I came to UBC because they showed me that they are the most beautiful campus in Canada during my college registration, and I buy Monster headphones because they market themselves as “the” fashion statement (they are ridiculously over priced), etc.

My favourite ad of all time would have to be the Old Spice Commercial that hit millions of view on Youtube. Keep in mind, I saw the ad long before it was popular and was already laughing hysterically at it. Ads like those really stick in your head and now all I buy is Old Spice.

Something that is personal about me is that I have been playing violin since I was 3 1/2 years old and I was suppose to go to the Juilliard School of Performance Arts in New York but at last minuet I changed my career choice to business and technology, which is something i do NOT regret.

– Alexander

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There are many things that I have found out about myself throughout this year’s Comm299 course, from my personality to what I truly desire in life. While listening to Phillipe’s lectures everywhere, I realized that with my personality, I could achieve so much more if I didn’t procrastinate and if I had spent more time searching for potential connections that would benefit me in the future (This is something that have to change), whereas only focusing on the present. I also learned that I may not be a person who is cut for business. In saying that, I may act like a person who has business “qualities/traits”; however, the more and more I listen to Phillipe and his talks about doing what “you” love, I found out that the business path may not be the best thing for me. Although I love many aspects of business and would love to hold a high position for Google, Apple or any Tech-Company, I do not think that becoming a “businessman” is my vocation (as Sunny mention in tutorial). This is the biggest challenge for me now: to decide what I what to pursue, either stay in business or to become a dance choreographer. I guess this is something that will find the answer to in the future.

– Alexander

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Every since I entered the dance scene, Shaun Evaristo has always been my biggest influence as a mentor and a friend. He has taught me everything I know since I was 13 years old. The amazing feats he accomplished as a dancer and choreographer, has driven me to accomplish what he did if not better. There were many things that I learned back in 2003 through YG’s currently main choreographer; from dancing with confidence to learning that it isn’t something that should be “moved” but rather felt and expressed. Also, Shaun made me realize that in order to get somewhere further in the industry, an individual needs their own style to represent who they are in through music. This is something that I have been search for for a long time; to take all the things I have learned and apply to me own natural movement in order to create what is so called my own “style”.

–  Alexander

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2010 Vancouver Olympics case 3 RECAP – there were many sides taken in Bell’s sponsorship investment for the Winter Games during this past February. Some recommended that Bell should not have wasted their money since TELUS made a higher profit in the aftermath, and some said that Bell hit the “jackpot”.

I personally believed because of the Winter Game, Bell has gone on a “gaining streak”. Recently on September 10, 2010, the millions of viewers who watched the Vancouver Olympics on their TV sets, online and on cell phones helped trigger the blockbuster $1.3 billion purchase of the CTV television network for a second time in 10 years by the telecom giant. It was said that “The penny dropped at the Olympics” – CTV, TSN, and RDS were the sport channels that broadcast the Games, generating huge revenues and also audiences for the companies’ various communications services.

Bell was very strategic in acquiring their new investment,  since  telecom, media and technology are sectors that have been expanding because of today’s advanced wireless networks and video services on the Internet. Also, CTV is one of the largest media corporation in Canada; they operate 27 stations across the country and 30 specialty channels including various sports networks. As a bottom line, this was an acquisition that will allow Bell to move further at a rapid pace.

*200 Words*

– Alexander

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“Sharing is Caring”

I strongly believe this world needs more social entrepreneurs; people who recognize social problems and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change. There are too many ethical issues that need to be addressed and not enough social enterprises to help out, however, the ones who do have a huge impact for the needy in today’s society.

Me to We:

A company founded  by two very respected brothers, Marc and Craig Kielburger, who also started the famous Canadian charity Free the Children back in 1995. Me to We is a for profit organization that sells socially conscious and environmentally friendly clothes, books and music – as well as life-changing experiences. They also provide inspiring speakers, leadership training and transformative travel experiences.

– Me to We Style Ecological Clothing Designs –

Me to We measures the “bottom line”, not by dollars earned, but by the number of lives they change and the positive social and environmental impact they make. They are a prime example of a social venture; half of Me to We’s profits they make are reinvested into the company to keep it active and the other half are donated to their charitable partner, Free The Children – with that they can further help out developing countries.

*199 Words*

– Alexander

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Kevin O’Leary – A ruthless man who hungers for big deals and loves to take control, yet he made all his money helping children learn how to read.

Like a typically entrepreneur story, Kevin started in his basement with zero cash and within a matter of years, his basement company called SoftKey became a billion-dollar consolidator in the educational software market, buying out all of its competitors. He is a prime example of a true entrepreneur in that he became a billionaire over a span of LESS than 10 years! Afterwards he founded O’Leary Funds, a mutual fund company, which made hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. The amount of time he made that much money would take an average worker about two lifetimes to earn, if not longer. Kevin had a big idea, stating that his mission was for SoftKey to become “the Campbell’s Soup of software” – a very RISKY but innovative idea since computers were only starting to become popular in the 90’s; the market for software learning programs and computers alone were very small, however they were expanding at a rapid pace. Being an entrepreneur, O”Leary exploited the market and produced a qualitative product thus making him a extremely rich man.

*200 words*

-Alexander

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