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One of the main factors that influences consumer behaviour are social factors.  Families, in particular, are big consumers.  According to this article, women in households are still the primary decision makers for making purchases.  Although this hasn’t changed from the past, the way they are marketed to has.  Reggie Bradford states that of the 65% of adults who use social networking sites, 69% are female.  This means that marketers need to find a way to effectively reach these women.  Bradford gives examples of the Johnson’s Baby page on Facebook as well as Tide’s page.  Both of these have contests that get mothers involved with the brand.  I think this is very good marketing because it isn’t advertising that is obnoxious or in your face but rather allows people to access the brand at their own will.  I think the same for “in-game” advertising.  For example, Dial has a game on their Facebook page and the more people play, the more Dial donates to charity.  I think this is very effective advertising because it allows people to see the brand in a positive light while having fun playing a game.

Although traditional advertising is still widely used and important, advertising through social media is becoming more relevant in today’s society.  A quote that I found very interesting from this article is the last line that states that marketers shouldn’t “think about marketing to the head-of-household — instead, focus on the conversation with the head-of-household by creatively leveraging the social web.”

For me, this phrase sums up a main thing I have learned in class so far; it is so important not to just reach consumers with your brand, but to create value for them and it’s interesting to see that many companies are actively trying to do this.

Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, many companies and industries have had to respond by changing their marketing strategies. In times of economic uncertainty, it is important that companies really focus on what is going to create value for customers. According to this article, both Airbus and Boeing have done market research to identify the wants of airplane passengers and found that due to the need of replacing “aging and inefficient” planes, there will be a demand for new passenger aircrafts. Both companies have segmented “urban middle-class people” to be a group that they have an opportunity to reach. According to the picture below, there is an increasing demand for air travel.

With this increase in demand, airlines are looking to decrease maintenance and fuel costs which can be accomplished with the new planes Airbus is making. Airbus has done a good job of researching the market and identifying what not only airplane passengers needs are, but how this will affect the wants of airline companies that they market their planes to.

This article talks about how Chinese Gymnasts may be participating in ambush marketing at the Asian Games. The gymnasts repeatedly made hand gestures to mimic the logo of their sponsor Li Ning.

Ambush marketing is a serious issue because many companies pay big money for sponsorship rights at sporting events. It raises a question of ethics if other companies find ways to avoid paying for sponsorship rights at the event, however still have their product be in the limelight.

The Olympic Council of Asia has now begun an investigation to decide if what the gymnasts are doing is ambush marketing.

Market research looks at the past and present in order to help make future decisions. Check out this Market Research Report for Green Consumers in Europe. The report looks into European consumers and their focus on being environmentally friendly in order to determine how they should be developing future products.

Look at this article for more about market research and why it’s important.

This video talks about how MIT’s Sloan School of Business, Ely Dahan would improve market research.

This article talks about how consumer spending has increased; however unemployment rates still remain high. This is due to consumer behaviour. The behaviour of consumers is affected by their culture as well as social and personal factors. Since it is approaching Christmas time, it makes sense that spending has increased. Consumers aren’t as concerned with their income because they are motivated by other factors.

Check out this article to see what James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management forecasts for household debt and growth of the economy in the US.

http://www.freethechildren.com/aboutus/history.php

Craig Kielburger encompasses exactly what a social entrepreneur is. In 1995, when Craig was 12 years old, he recognized that child labour was a global issue when he read the story of Iqbal Masih in the newspaper. He used entrepreneurial principles to make a social change. His social mission is to free children from poverty and exploitation. In order to help achieve his social mission, Craig and a few other people started a social enterprise “Me to We.” Half of Me to We’s profits go to Free the Children.

Social enterprises are so important because they have many societal and economic impacts. In the past year Me to We has donated more than $1 million to Free the Children, planted 80 000 trees to help the environment, and has impacted 550 000 young people by their message, books and leadership programs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69D5N720101014

This article talks about how Google shares have increased by 9 percent.  Investors were originally worried that Google had been spending money “recklessly” on things like Android mobile software and renewable energy projects.  They didn’t know what the returns would be however Google’s revenue significantly increased.

Investors had the right to be concerned because the returns were uncertain; however since Google took a risk, it resulted in higher returns. In the past, Google has primarily relied on online advertising to generate revenue.  Check out this article article from 2008. It shows how Google was losing stock value and talks about how Google needs to find a new way to generate revenue.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Blockbuster+files+bankruptcy/3567327/story.html?id=3567327

Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy this week although as of now they are keeping all 3 000 stores open in the United States.  Stores in Canada were not included in this however if the company is struggling in the United States it seems likely that it will soon be in trouble here too.

This surprised me because to me Blockbuster has such huge brand recognition and has been around for so long that I could never picture it in the state it is in now. Blockbuster is finding it hard to compete in the industry because of all of the substitutes available.  I’m not sure that Blockbuster will be able to reverse the damage that has been done because the industry of renting movies from a store is becoming obsolete.  I think that if Blockbuster is to continue they need a drastic change to their strategy, perhaps joining up with a company similar to Netflix that isn’t as well known and by adding their name to it, maybe both companies could benefit.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2010/09/23/blockbuster-bankrupt-netflix-more-popular-than-ever/

http://www.financialpost.com/news/business-insider/Apple+iPad+invading+business+world/3609347/story.html

Tests have been performed on Apple’s iPad device that have been showing that it could not only be a valuable tool for consumers but for businesses as well.  They are saying that the fact that it is “easily programmable” could really change the way some business sectors do business.  For example, restaurants can use the “Tablewait” application to organize seating plans and allow people to check in.

I think this is very significant for Apple because generally Microsoft programs dominant the business world and if they could get into the business market it could be very profitable for them.  Up until now, I think Microsoft has done a better job of positioning their brand to attract businesses to use their software, but it seems like the iPad could be a more efficient device than desktop computers or laptops because of its mobility.  If Apple continues to expand their software to provide useful applications for businesses I think it could be very beneficial to them.

http://www.findmeapropertyindubai.com/properties_ipad.asp

http://www.digitalqatar.net/tag/ipad/