Angel Hou's blog

On adfreak, the new Kotex “get your creative juice flowing” ads really caught my attention. I stopped thinking “huh? how is Kotex linked to creativity?” I was really surprised to see that the new campaign was to get girls and women to create their own designs on a pad! and the winner would be able to collaborate with designer Patricia Field to create a new design on the pad. Although this is a really unique approach to re vamping the product I can’t help but think its unnecessary. The main purpose of pads is not how nice it actually is but rather how well it is designed for protection. For me, the “design” of it won’t really change my purchasing decision

ubykotex.com

However, Kotex has also taken this creativity “ban the bland design challenge” and incorporated with their packaging as well. The box and the package itself is black with bold colored designs and also the sleek packaging. The actual pad and tampon packaging is also differentiated from other brands with its small size and bright bold colorful designs. Rebecca Cullers who posted the article on adfreak, it makes girls less embarrassed if they accidentally dropped it or if someone sees because of the different packaging. Its really different from the norm so people won’t associate it with pads.

For me I think the packaging has a greater impact during my purchasing decision rather than the actual creative design of the pads itself, but I think it is a great initiative and allows for girls to go on the website and be involved and more informed.

In class we discussed the issue of ethics and how ethics is a really “grey” area. It depends on people’s views and whether or not the company as well as the consumers believe that there was an intention to harm. Looking through my classmates blogs I came across Wansum Li’s blog about the Nike fifa world cup ads, which we also talked about in class.

http://forum.xcitefun.net/write-the-future-nike-world-cup-ad-t48897.html

Whether or not it is ethical or not depends greatly on the individual interpreting it, and in this case I agree with Wansum that Nike’s Campaign was not entirely unethical. Although Adidas was the official sponser and Nike was not, does that mean Nike was not allowed to associate the World Cup in their ads?  Yes Nike intervened Adidas and decided to start this campaign without being an official sponsor and as a result received more attention, but the content of the ads in my opinion was completely ethical.

All the sports stars: Kobe, Rooney, Rinaldo endorse Nike products and have association to Nike, so Nike shouldn’t be faulted for using these huge stars to launch the ads to gain more attention.

Secondly, Nike’s campaign was based on its own platform and slogan: write the future. It is original and they are able to really capture the idea behind FIFA.

Although I believe that Nike shouldn’t have necessarily went forward with such a huge campaign for the World Cup since it wasn’t the official sponser, they were able to use their own resources such as: viral videos, unique advertisements, catchy slogan and sports stars to reach out to consumers and increase profit.

I’ve never really thought in depth about all the product placement there is in movies, music videos and tv shows until now. I’ve always noticed celebrities endorsing products and also using them for various shows but it didn’t occur to me that this was one way of promoting the products and that company’s actually spend lots of money just so there products can be exposed.

Recently, 2 music videos have caught my attention on product placement:

1) Dr Dre featuring Eminem: I need a Doctor

Products:

Dr Dre’s own Beats sound system, his runners, gatorade bottle that he drinks out of

In addition to tangible products that we see in the music video, Dr Dre. also makes subtle references to previous albums, his life through flashbacks and also Eminem’s previous albums as well.

For this video, I thought the product placement worked decently with the whole concept of the video: the concept was  short music film depicting a storyline so the product placements weren’t right up in your face and they actually related to what the video was showing.

2nd music video: Britney spears

This video however is definitely not as subtle than the first one. In fact the product placements are really in your face. First there is a shot of britney holding her own perfume, , and then we see a close up of the make up forever professional she uses. A more discrete product is the plenty of fish website but for sure the most obvious one is SONY. There iare multiple shots of the SONY computer screen and in addition the music video captures all the SONY tv screens. In my opinion, the product placements in this music video actually distract me from enjoying the music, instead I am constantly interrupted by the screen shots and close ups of the products.

recently I went to Holt Renfrew downtown just to browse and look around, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to afford anything that was really nice. Browsing in Holt Renfrew is definitely a cool experience, all the clothing looks so nice, and the store and the displays were kept very neatly.

holt renfrew

The bag section however, was what I really wanted to look at. I remembered that in class, Elaine mentioned that with prestige pricing, items sometimes don’t have any price tags on them such as high end bags. As I expected, while checking out the purses from chanel to prada, there were no prices to be seen! When it comes to these pricey items, everyone already knows that the price of these bags will be very expensive, and often they are able to find some prices online through the websites. Also, the people who purchase these bags are already very willing to buy them regardless if its 800 or even 1000.

hqgalerieboutique.blogspot.com

Another thing I noticed while I was in the handbag section was that even though there were salespeople around, no one bothered to come up to me right away and ask how I was doing, instead they generally helped older people. The store knows that these people are the ones who are most likely to purchase something from a high end store, so they give more attention to them. I thought that this was a clever strategy!

Recently, while scrolling down the many blogs, I came across Lauren Nipp’s blog  about Tim horton’s introduction of smoothies. I completely agree with her, that this new product will definitely open up a new segment for Tim Hortons. They really focused on creating this new product to target a new customer base. Previously they only concentrated on coffee, teas as the main beverages but as of March 7th, Tim Horton’s is getting it “into a trendy and growing but fragmented market for the healthy crushed-fruit drinks” (Freeman, 2010). As Lauren mentioned in her blog, Tim Horton’s realizes that they can segment to people who want healthy beverages especially with the trend towards healthy eating. http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Tim-Hortons-enter-trendy-capress-3938403974.html

tim hortons smoothies

http://www.couponsequalcash.com/2010/10/real-fruit-smoothies-for-99-at-tim.html

the new smoothies that Tim horton’s plans to introduce didn’t just get me thinking about STP but also brand extensions. Smoothies are a totally unrelated product category for Tim Hortons, yet the brand is still very distinct. They recognize that there is a whole untargeted area that they could move in on and in turn generate more revenue.

I don’t know how well this new brand extension will do in the long run, but I am definetely going to try it out!

The time has come again….tim horton’s roll up the rim!

the roll up the rim promotion is such a great way for tim horton’s to gain more attention and business from consumers. Going in to the store, there are huge posters, and ads hanging. Everything was  super colorful, big and eyecatching. There’s no way for anyone to miss it. This year, top prizes include: the toyota matrix, panasonic tv, mountain bikes and gourmet grills! There isn’t just in store promotions, tim horton’s has also effectively used social media such as facebook for promotions. From facebook, I found out that you could also play roll up the rim on the website! simply by just spinning the wheel. This just shows how important the role of social media is for promotion and getting the word out there!

In class we watched a video of Subways pricing strategy which gave them a competitive advantage and also adding to the brand. When people talk about roll up the rim, the name that comes to mind automatically is TIMHORTONS. They’ve established roll up the rim so that other coffeeshops haven’t been able to have a promotion quite like this!

Unlike anything else, the unique apple stores are truly innovative. Completely glass with a unique cubed shape design The picture below is the apple store in NYC 5h avenue

http://www.topboxdesign.com/tag/apple-store/

This got me thinking about some other stores that implement unique structural designs to help gain more exposure, customer satisfaction and a competitive advantage!

nba.basket-blog.net

The nba Store in new york is super distinct! It is huge and it even contains a basketball court inside. In addition consumers can buy any basketball merchandise. Another use for the store is to have autograph signings from NBA players and kids can even have their birthday parties in here

Another store that I found to be unique is the Alexander Mcqueen store in los Angeles.

below is another example of a really unique design of a restaurant. Its called the yellow restaurant in New Zealand. This restaurant is actually connected to a tree and it offers incredible views. I would definately go there to experience such a cool dining experience

While thinking of what to write for my blog and taking a break from studying i started to play my new favorite ipod game: FRUIT NINJA! so….why not blog about it?

appadvice.com

Its hard to admit, but ever since i downloaded the free trial and bought the game..I have been playing almost everday! What makes it addicting? the satisfaction of beating your own high score! After I thought more about fruit ninja and how I became “addicted” I realized that there was clever marketing behind it.

Marketing is really everywhere!! After this weeks classes on psychological and social factors of the consumer behavior, I started to think about that everytime a commercial came on tv. It wasn’t just a simple entertaining commercial anyore, but there was so much information revealed in a single commercial. The one that really stood out to me recently was an asian Hyundai commercial with one of the biggest stars endorsing it: Wang Lee hom. He is one of the most popular and influencial  stars in asia, endorsing a variety of products ranging from: chips, mcdonalds, shampoo and of course cars!

this one is his newest endorsement: The hyundai versa

2 aspects of psychological influences: cognitive and affective are represented 

Cognitive: gives you a lot of information about the car: the wheels, the gears, and the features. Consumers are able to receive all this information in the commercial to help with the purchase decision

Affective: the music in the background, the sleek visual appearance of the car and of course lee hom, all are associated with the affective component. When I watch this commercial, I really just want to keep watching, and be like him driving in the car. It makes people feel liek they can be closer to the lifestyle that celebrities have by purchasing this car. For me, when I hear of the hyundai the word sleek and sophisticated doesn’t really come to mind. However, this commercial does a great job convincing us of that aspect. Drive the new hyundai and you can look sophisticated and stylish as well!

Something that they did so cleverly was also incorporating not only lee hom, but his music from his new cd as well as showcasing his musical skills in the commercial! Consumers in asia get information on the car, and information about his new album! All of these components made me think of Reference groups. Celebrities have such a huge influence on us: the cars, the clothes, the accesories are always the next big trend, so its only natural that hyundai used a celebrity.

It really made me change my attitude towards Hyundai in just 2 short minutes! The power of commercials is amazing and it makes ME want to buy it too!

My first official blog post ever! Although this blog was started for comm 296, I’m excited to start my own blog, and hopefully I’ll be keeping up!!

Recently what caught my attention in the news was the upcoming launch of the new TRENTA cup for Starbucks. Being a fan of Starbucks, and frequently going to purchase a cup of coffee during school, I was very interested about this launch. The new Trenta Cup is going to be the biggest size holding a shocking 31 ounces! There isn’t a planned date for the launch in Canada but it is going to be introduced country wide in the states on May 3rd.

starbucks trenta

Now the questions in my mind is: Is supersizing really necessary for Starbucks? and is there even a point in offering such a huge drink?! First, I don’t think I or most people could even finish a 31 ounce cold drink. So then why would Starbucks choose to launch it? From what I’ve learned in marketing, the macroenvironment is a huge model and applies to this as well. Recently, the social/ demographic trend with the younger age group is the need for more, at better prices. We stress the importance of a low price because cost of tuition increases, the recession and many other factors, and people are not as willing to spend a lot. For this launch Starbucks markets the cheaper price: only 50 cents more than a Venti. This appeals to a lot of the young crowds who want more for their money! I think another key point about the launch is the timing. May 3rd is the countrywide release, and since the trenta is only available for cold drinks, it is the perfect time. Easing into the warm weather and sunshine.

I will keep following with the launch to see how it all turns out, the consumer’s reaction and if the new Trenta cup will really be worth it!

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2011/01/too_much_caffeine_is_never_eno.php