Angelica Cabrera

Ever heard a customer demand something ridiculous at a store? That’s exactly what YouTuber Jia Jiang has been doing, but on purpose. Jiang has started a hidden-camera video series he calls “Rejection Therapy”, where he visits various stores and asks them for unusual requests, usually receiving no’s, to the amusement of his viewers.

In a recent video in the series (shown below), Jiang visited a Krispy Kreme in Austin, Texas, and asked to buy 5 donuts linked together to create the Olympic symbol. The recipient of his strange order? A woman named Jackie, who did not reject him and was instead patient, understanding, and creatively figured out a way to fulfill his request. The cherry on top? At the end of the video, she doesn’t even charge him for it, shocking Jiang.

The video has garnered 2.5 million views and counting in less than 2 weeks. The comments on the video on Youtube, Reddit, and other sites have been overwhelmingly positive, with many YouTubers saying she should get a raise or promotion. Twitter is abuzz as well, with the hashtag #heartjackie being spread by the online community.The Twitter account of Krispy Kreme Texas (@krispykremetx) tweeted “Krispy Kreme TX loves Jackie! Checkout her mad customer service skills!” Clearly, these 5 donuts that probably cost less than $10 have generated Krispy Kreme a thousand times more, at the very least, in PR and advertising online.

Comments on the video from Twitter (top) and YouTube (below)

I think the large part of the appeal is the genuine nature of the video. Jackie did not know she was being recorded, so her actions were authentic. PR is so often done in an intentional way by companies, by manipulating media and carefully issuing press releases, that videos like these are refreshing and are more meaningful to the public. Many of the posts on the Internet have also touched upon the fact that this type of behaviour is a “rarity” in the food industry – this type of behaviour does not seem to be experienced by customers in this sector (especially when dealing with large multinational chains), and clearly, they value it greatly.

Perhaps what Krispy Kreme can learn from this interesting experience is that customer service can be a primary differentiator in their ever-competitive market (in addition to those perfectly glazed donuts!). Becoming more relationally oriented and investing in training your employees to be like Jackie will benefit your company in the long-run, both in terms of product quality and marketing purposes.

Crystal blogged about the possibilities of virtual shopping, which was actually a response to another classmate’s blog about the same topic. So I’m writing a response to a response.. blogception? Okay, serious time.

The type of virtual stores she talked about where lighted wall displays by retailer Tesco, used in places like Korean subways. The walls displaying the assortment of items offered would be examined by customers, and customers would scan the desired product’s QR code to add it to your online cart. The purchase will then be delivered to the customer’s door at the end of the day.

Crystal said that this brings convenience to customers, and I agree with this, given that there is a trend in society of being time-poor as well as owning smartphones, a necessity to interact with the wall. As well, even if viewers do not use the wall to buy anything, it still serves a great advertising for the retailer (if the retailer makes their brand name obvious, which doesn’t seem to be the case above).

However, I feel like there are significant limitations to this technology. Brick-and-mortar stores are not threatened by this because customers like many aspects of a physical shopping experience for many of the goods they buy. It’s likely this would only work for convenience and commodity products, which customers buy the same of on a regular basis (like laundry detergent). I feel brand equity also plays a big part in this, as brands that are familiar to customers are more likely to succeed on this type of distribution platform, which heavily relies on visual cues of the packaging and not much else.  To be successful, I also think that these would have to be placed in unusual locations. In this example, locating in subways as they can take advantage of an individual’s train wait times to entice them to use the service  impulsively. Furthermore, people using the subway probably lead busy lives and are more likely to use it for the convenience.

Source –

Crystal Li’s Blog

This past week, PETA released the following ad coinciding with the approach of Thanksgiving. Targeted towards children, it will be placed in billboards near schools in the United States:

PETA has a history of controversial ads that push boundaries. I have always seen PETA’s ads to be somewhat ridiculous, but not necessarily unethical. Most of their campaigns are over-the-top that rational adults, after being shocked by the risque nature, would disregard their messages.

However, I believe this particular is unethical because of who the target market for this campaign is. Marketing to children is controversial in general, as children are very impressionable and do not have the same judgement adults do, and thus are more vulnerable to advertising. If this ad was not specifically meant for children, I feel like it would be harmless because it would not have the same effect on older individuals who can see past PETA’s argument of likening eating turkey to murdering household pets. As well, PETA could say the same thing about any animal consumed for food, showing this argument is not distinct. However, the affective component of this ad brought about by the analogous language and the image of a dog’s head photoshopped on a turkey, manipulates children into feeling shock and guilt. This will especially affect children who are close with their pets and posses limited rationality. PETA spokesperson Alicia Woempner says “children have a natural compassion for animals”, so PETA is aware of this. I am not arguing that a turkey’s life is worth less than a dog’s, but preying on children’s emotions in a negative and unfair manner by capitalizing on their naivete, in order to further one’s self-interests is exploitative and unethical.

Furthermore, I don’t even think this campaign will be effective in accomplishing what PETA seems to want to do. The ad says “Go Vegan” at the bottom. Choosing to become a vegan is a big decision as it is almost a lifestyle. Does PETA really think scaring children will cause them to become vegan, let alone stop eating turkey? Children may feel shocked from the ad, but they have short memories and this probably won’t leave an impact on them after a week. As well, I doubt relying on children to stop the consumption of turkey for Thanksgiving will be effective, as this is a long-standing tradition in society and children are usually not the decision-makers in families for this. The purpose of the ad seems misaligned with the message and target market. Therefore, in addition to it being unethical, it will also probably be unsuccesful.

Sources –

ABC News

Global Issues

This is a response to Seth Godin’s blog “The Bell Curve is Moving”, where he questioned the tradition model of production adoption, which, coincidentally, was the same model we learned in class consisting of early adopters. However, Godin stresses that this “bell curve” is changing, partly because of the efforts of “marketers work(ing) to change to the market”, to “turn people into geeks”. There are more people willing to line up to buy the latest gadget or adopt a new service because of the increasing amount of advertising, and simply because it is easier to convert. This issue was also addressed in the textbook briefly. Godin’s modified curve is shown below:

I found this blog really interesting, and, like Godin, I think it applies more to products and services in the tech industry, a rapidly changing sector where things go almost obsolete in a matter of months. “Obsolete” not in terms of becoming non-functional, but “obsolete” in the consumers’ minds because of insanely rapidly changing tastes. Pick up an iPhone 3 and it works great, but it is considered ancient history to most of today’s population. It doesn’t take years after a release of a product for a lot of people to switch to the latest “big thing”, instead we see it in everyone’s hands in a matter of months (this observability probably drives sales as well!)

However, this does pose a danger to marketers – with customers so eager to jump on the next big thing, companies will have to constantly innovate to keep their market share and customer base. Nevermind innovation – as each market becomes more competitive, companies have to have marketing teams that can understand fluctuating customer tastes and expectation and properly communicate and position their product or service effectively in order to sustain sales. Having to deal with these restless, almost insatiable customers means marketing will play big role in the future of this industry.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recently launched a new video, “#TheUndeading”, as part of their campaign to raise awareness about CPR to improve Canada’s CPR “save rate”, which is currently at only 5-6 percent. The theme of the video? A zombie apocalypse.

The video follows a woman who is wandering around a destroyed city, clearly frightened. She becomes surrounded by zombies and, out of fear, collapses from a heart attack. The zombies then go through the proper steps (which are highlighted through the use of in-video text) to aid a victim of cardiac arrest: calling 911 and performing compressions on the woman’s chest. The woman finally gasps for air, alive, only to be bitten by the zombies, who are now hungry for her now-flowing blood.

It is clear that the Foundation is appealing to a younger audience (around 15-35 years of age). Firstly, the big-budget ad has great production quality, and its stunning cinematography and ominous music score appeal to this demographic’s familiarity with the horror movie genre. This frightening element, juxtaposed with the subtle situational humour of zombies performing CPR appeals to the viewer’s affective component of their attitudes to incite a reaction. Short YouTube videos are popular with this audience, making them especially receptive to the video’s form of accessibility, and the release date of the video is  timed well, coinciding with the approaching of Halloween (these both apply to Placement from the 4 P’s). Furthermore, the popularity of Twitter is capitalized on, as the video’s title uses a hashtag (#), prompting viewers to “tag” the topic in their tweets to generate buzz for the video. Finally, the presence of a dedicated website (which continues with the zombie-apocalypse theme) provides more interaction with the public beyond the video. Therefore, I definitely believe the Foundation did well in marketing to this audience.

The Foundation’s accompanying website for the video, www.theundeading.ca

Is this choice of target market wise? I think so, as the Foundation’s research showed that individuals under 35 are the most uneducated on CPR. Also, it is probably this age group that it pays off to educate, as they are more physically capable of (and more likely to be in the situation of) saving someone’s life, as opposed to young children or seniors.

Will the video take off, and join the world of viral videos? Maybe. It’s not extremely funny or controversial, which is what usually launches PSA’s into Internet superstardom. However, it helps that the Foundation is not just relying on one video to be their public awareness campaign, but is launching several other initiatives over the next two months: CPR training across Canada, partnering with the Toronto Zombie Walk, and attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the largest CPR training session at Canada’s Wonderland. The fact that the  marketing campaign is diversified and is spread across various channels lowers risk and allows them to reach as many members of the public. So, even if the video doesn’t hit millions of views on Youtube, the multi-pronged campaign, overall, is sure to do its part in raising more awareness.

Sources:

The Globe and Mail – “Heart and Stroke campaign uses zombies to promote CPR”

Toronto Star – “Heart and Stroke Foundation launches campaign for cardiac arrest awareness”

Toronto Zombie Walk

On Thursday, EBay unveiled a new logo for their website that will be implemented this coming fall, its first change since the company started 17 years ago. Although the well-known colours of the letters in the logo remain the same, the font is a more contemporary typeface and the letters are arranged in-line, giving a more professional look.  Why the change? EBay used to be the hub for all items weird and wonderful, specifically “used goods, vintage items and one-of-a-kind finds”. However, the company is moving away from these “quirkier” offerings that were sold auction-style into newer merchandise that are offered “buy-it-now” manner at full price to mimic other online marketplaces like Amazon.

On the surface, the logo change may only be small, but it is part of EBay’s intent to create a more contemporary and cleaner experience (as opposed to their old “quirky” image) that is now focusing on offering fixed-price merchandise. Logos are so important in communicating what the company stands for to the consumer and it will likely change when the company changes direction, as logos are closely tied how a consumer perceives a firm. EBay is positioning themselves in the consumer’s mind as a more professional, modern company simply through a logo change. EBay’s new logo is a marketing tactic that is part of the company’s larger corporate strategy. While the rebranding may initially attract more consumers, EBay must also implement more changes in the actual website and in the rest of its marketing that are also in line with the “new” EBay in order for this strategy to truly succeed.

Source – http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/business-technology/new-ebay-logo-ditches-quirky-image/article4542071/

The following entry is a response to Melissa Chau’s blog post “Toms Shoes: Is It the Right Fit?”

TOMS is probably one of the world’s most well-known social entrepreneurship, as it donates a pair of shoes to a child in a third-world country when a customer purchases one of their products. However, Melissa Chau brought up an interesting point: are the consequences of TOMS actions really benefiting these countries in the long run? Chau stated that TOMS competes with local businesses by providing shoes for the poor, negatively affecting the economies of these countries and possibly doing more harm than good.

I agree with Chau’s claim that TOMS short-term help is only creating long-term problems. If you think about it, even in developing countries shoes are available, at a much cheaper cost than what TOMS incurs to ship in their shoes to these countries. However, many people in these countries are too poor to buy them. TOMS may help their situation giving them free shoes, but this is not addressing the bigger problem of the cycle of poverty. Perhaps TOMS could better utilize the profits it makes from its business to support local businesses. This would improve the economies of the area, making the population better equipped to buy shoes from local markets, and create long-lasting change.

Source: Melissa Chau’s Blog

The following entry is a response to Benedicta Chan’s blog post “Facebook + Skype = Video Calling on Facebook Chat”.

Facebook and Skype are partnering up to provide users with free video calling on Facebook Chat. Benedicta Chan, who wrote a blog about the topic, is attracted to the concept and feels that it would be successful because of its convenience for Facebook users.

While I do agree that it does provide an easier way to video call friends without having to use another application, I am still skeptical about the success of this addition to Facebook. Facebook is a social networking utility, but it is primarily used for communicating with people through commenting and wall posts. Facebook does this well, and I consider it one of its core competencies. The other social networking features Facebook offers are not used as much. I recognize that even Facebook Chat, which has been around for a few years, is not used as a first choice for instant messaging. I myself find it unreliable and users still use instant messaging applications like MSN for a more stable service. Integrating video calling into a web browser may lead to the same effect, where it does offer little  beyond a novelty. Therefore, I don’t really know if adding video calling to Facebook will enjoy popularity as users may still be loyal to separate and dedicated applications that can perform the function better.

Source: Benedicta Chan’s Blog

The Walt Disney Company was founded by a well-known entrepreneur, Walt Disney. What makes this company especially entrepreneurial is that the world’s largest media conglomerate, which heavily influenced the field of entertainment in the 20th century, started out as a modest animation company of two brothers.

One aspect that makes this company entrepreneurial is innovation. Disney created many of the world’s most well-known animated cartoons, films, and characters which were all original to the company. Walt Disney was a pioneer in the entertainment industry, being the first to use techniques in movie-making such as creating full-color cartoons and animated films with synchronized audio.

Disney also displayed risk, as in its early years, the business also had to make it through the tough economic times of the Great Depression and World War II. Disney struggled financially during these years, and it was not certain that it would accomplish the success it enjoys today.

Source: Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Network

The following entry is a response to Rachel Emma Silverman’s blog post “Making Work Like Angry Birds”  from Wall Street Journal Blogs.

Silverman discusses the trend of “gamification” emerging in the workplace, in regards to how an increasing number of firms are incorporating videogame-like aspects into employee tasks to increase productivity. Employees get points and rewards for completing tasks within a certain amount of time. In some workplaces, a leaderboard even shows the highest-ranking employees. Silverman is enthusiastic about this system because most work is “dull”.

The idea of motivating workers through creating a rewards-based, competition-like environment is interesting, and seems to make a lot of sense. For tedious, “number-crunching” jobs, this system could work very well in terms to increasing employee engagement. However, this would not work for all types of jobs, such as those that demand a high level of creativity and innovative thinking: as in this situation, gamification’s effects would not be great as employees are probably already highly motivated and enthusiastic. The appropriateness of gamification for each workplace should be evaluated before being introduced, but seems like a possible productivity-raising system that employers can consider in the future.

Source: Wall Street Journal Blogs