Before I went to my first marketing class, I was sure that the four following months would only be about promotion. I was completely sure that marketing was only for creative souls with excellent social skills. It turned out that I was completely wrong because marketing is so much more than that! In this post, I will write about my what I learned about teams, myself, and marketing,  what skills I developed, what I would do differently next time, and what my top takeaways were.

The group assignments were a lot of fun and I can thank my group for that. the group was diverse in terms of culture, interests, ethnicity, and intended options for next year; in other words, we were totally different. First I thought that our differences could perhaps create problems, but it did not create any disagreements at all. Everyone in the group had amazingly creative ideas and they were all very passionate. We all treated each other with respect and that made the assignments easier to work on.

I personally learned how important it is to participate in class as well as outside class. Marketing is a kind of subject where participation is essential both for school and for work. I also learned how important it is to listen to others to get a wider perspective of what is really going on.

I learned a lot about marketing. Marketing is way larger than what I thought when I stepped into the classroom for the first time. It is not only for creative souls and people with socials skills, but for people with all sorts of skills. Marketing is a lot more analytical than I first thought. I truly learned a lot about marketing and I gained so much respect respect for marketers do.

My blogging skills were catastrophic when I started this blog and I feel that I have improved to below average. I have never blogged before, so it has been a fun experience.

Next time, I would spend more time on my group, participate more in class, ask more questions, and even attend office hours (I am arguably the worst office hour attender ever).

My top takeaways are how I can use everything I learned in COMM296 in future studies and in my normal life. From now on, I will constantly think why a product is there, what segments billboards are targeting, and so on.

Cheers,

Andreas

Here it is again, April 1st. I found post on Adfreak that had a gallery of the best pranks this year, but since I only have a limited amount of words, I am only going to write about a few of them.

First up is the brilliant Snickettes by Snickers that are too small to be of any significance, but yet it is something interesting about it.The Slogan “They’re NUTS” is in my opinion a good fit for this product. Would be kind of unnecessary if they wrapped in every single nut, but all in all it is a great prank!

The second one is the glass-bottomed airplane by Virgin. Considering that the luggage is beneath you when you are in an airplane, this would not provide a lot of benefits, but it is definitely a funny thought. I know that airplane producers have made concept models where the airplane is made of a see-through material, but 2013 is a bit early for that.

The third one is the Smart Eco Tree by Samsung. It is just a tree. At least it runs on solar power and creates oxygen. I do not know if Samsung is mocking environmental activists with this ad; however, it is funny.

The next one looks incredible. It is a Stroller from BMW. I love the details on it, especially since it is an M model. I wonder if it has a turbo charged engine and winter tire! I like how they have put the stroller in front of a typical British royal palace. You can see that this model is for rich people only. Prestige product!

It is always a pleasure to read news on April 1st and this year was no exception. We also have this tradition in Europe, so there are always some good stories to read!

Julien Combes’ blog post about David Beckham

I read Julien Combes’ blog post from February 24th about David Beckham. Beckham is truly a unique story among all athletes in the world. The product David Beckham has become known in every corner of the world. His latest transfer to Paris St. Germain (PSG) is just one of the transfers he has been through where he as a marketing tool has been discussed. For this post, I am just going to add on some more reasons for why Beckham is just as much as a marketing tool as an athlete.

The product David Beckham started in the 90s when he broke through as an athlete and married the superstar Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams from Spice Girls. Together they become the definition of a super couple. As Julien mentioned, Beckham signed lucrative sponsor contracts with companies like Adidas, Pepsi, H&M, and several more. He has appeared in many commercials and magazines, such as the Armani ad with Victoria seen on the right hand side.

I remember when I was a kid back in Norway, if Beckham changed his hairstyle then everybody did the same. Here is a summary of his hairstyles through the years. Everybody, both girls and boys, loved Beckham for his looks and/or his athletic skills.

He was a big reason why his hometown, which is London, got the Olympics in 2012, and now he is promoting football, or soccer as it is called in North America, in China.

Julien mentioned that Beckham played for LA Galaxy in the US. Many people stated that he decided to go there to capture a market where he was not as popular as he was in Europe. Of course, Beckham succeeded and became more popular than ever.

The perfect example is the €35 million transfer fee for Beckham’s when he left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2003. Apparently, Real Madrid earned back all the money they spent on the transfer in a year only on jersey sales. From a financial perspective and a marketing perspective, Real Madrid did a very good deal! On top of that he was one of the best players on the planet.

In other words, I totally agree that David Beckham is a marketing tool; however, the transfer to PSG is not the only time he has been used as a marketing tool. In my opinion, He has been a marketing tool since he married Victoria Adams in 1999.

This commercial is for the Norwegian potato chip company KIMs. It’s one of my all-time favourites because I find it extremely funny. The protagonist is putting the chips he just bought in a plastic bag and he makes sure to check the receipt before he takes the bag without looking at it. When he comes home he asks his friend if something has happened in the game he’s watching and he says no. Then he discovers that he had grabbed the wrong bag in the store because it was full of vegetables. The bag belonged to the gay couple that were packing their bag next to the protagonist in the store. After that, he tells his friend that he got the wrong bag. The reaction of his friend as well as the gay couple is priceless! The ad ends by saying without KIMs, there is no satisfaction.

This ad is targeting men between 18-45 years old that loves to watch sport on TV with their friends on the weekend. In Norway, it’s very common to gather to watch English Premier League soccer and/or the Norwegian Tippeligaen soccer on the weekend. Unlike the NHL, normal league games in soccer doesn’t ofter occur in the middle of the week. Norway has a small population, but this ad targets people in urban areas more than rural areas where they don’t have they same access to stores on Sundays (because stores are closed in Norway on Sundays except for a few places). On the other hand, this as doesn’t try to target people with very healthy lifestyles, such as the homosexuals featured in the ad. They have succeeded to create a very silly and false, but funny image of homosexuals and they are the the two that makes this ad different from other ads for similar products I have seen before. This ad is between 5 to 8 years old.

KIMs website, more KIMs ads.

What do Apple, the Wright Brothers, Adolf Hitler, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr have in common? They are all leaders that inspire people to take action, but how? Simon Sinek explains in this TED Talk that they all were experts at appealing to the limbic part of the brain, which is the part that triggers emotion. Sinek explains in the first part of the video that people don’t get inspired by what or how people or businesses do stuff, but why they do it.

For example, Adolf Hitler who is in addition to be one of the most hated leaders of all time is also known to be one of the best speakers who ever lived. He communicated to his people that he wanted to turn the Germany into the most powerful country in the world and the Germans to be the proudest people on the planet after they lost WW1 and faced huge sanctions imposed by Britain, USA, and France through the Versailles treaty. This was the why-part of his plan. The how-part was to build the best infrastructure in the world, to give everyone a job to go to, to expand the land mass of the country, and to carry the swastika. The what-part included actions like “Die Endlösung” or the Final Solution as it’s called in English, which included killing all Jews, as well as going to war against a number of countries on several fronts. The warfare created a huge demand for weapons, ammo, and soldiers and it resulted in a bigger land mass for Germany. The what-part is one of the darkest chapters in history.

Even though Hitler’s plan was as cruel as it can get, he still managed to gather the German people to fight for what he believed in. Hitler communicated his plan from the inside and out according to the chart that Simon Sinek drew on his board. History would not be the same if Hitler communicated his plan from the outside and in.

This is a proof of how effective communication can be by using the right strategy. Companies like Apple has been successful by using this strategy according to the video.

This is a commercial made by the Norwegian potato chip brand KIMs. The reason why I chose this commercial is because it shows true friendship, or does it?

The guy that is dressed up has clearly invited some friends over to show them a performance. His performance totally fails, even though he made a good effort. Still, his friends stay, but it is not because of the show. The potato chips from KIMs is the single reason why they stay. The song that occurs in this commercial, which is called Fire in the Sky by Thunderlords, is actually written just for this ad, but it became so popular that they decided to make a full version of the song.

The Commercial is successful because it focus on that the viewer thinks that the chips make the people stay, even when they have every reason in the world to leave, stop, or criticize the performance. This is the cognitive component of the commercial.

Another reason why it is successful is the fact that the commercial is a funny and somewhat awkward. The hilarious  costume the performer is wearing, the silly fireworks that comes up behind the sofa, and the excellent choice of music really sets the tone (literally). This is the affective component of this silly, but yet cool commercial.

It also contains a behavioural component. This is due the fact that the it communicates that this potato chip will always make you have a good time and it will always make your friends stay no matter how ridiculous or weird the situation is. In the end, it says “Får venner til å bli” which means “makes your friends stay” when it is translated into English.

KIMs has made many funny commercials over the past few years and i will definitely post some more of these commercials over the coming weeks.

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