Annie Lee's Blog

Some of the brand logos that we are accustomed to today have experienced various phases of evolution. Tim Nudd on Adweek.com blogs about  the evolutionary changes  and potential logo changes of famous brands.

I thought Nudd’s predictions were fun and interesting to look at. When analysing the logos, you realize that the logos are beyond names and symbols; they can be a representation of a company’s relationship with consumers and consumers’ behaviour toward the company. Gap, for instance, launched a new company logo in 2010 that claims to provide “a more contemporary, modern expression.” (Parr, 2010) The new logo resulted with negative responses from consumers. Many comments criticizing the new logo were plastered on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media is a key influence in consumer behaviour. The negative word of mouth spreads quickly and can damage the relationship between the consumers and the company. Gap no doubt reverted back to its original blue box logo. This demonstrates how a logo is can be a strong representation of consumers’ identity. I enjoyed Nudd’s situational humour of Gap’s next logo change was creative.

When attempting to change logos, I think companies should stick to incorporating different colours other than the generic tones, black, grey, and white. As discussed in class, colours help establish moods for consumers. With different combinations of colours, it helps create a more engaging and upbeat atmosphere/look. As seen in Volkswagen’s chain of logo changes, it moved from tones (black and white) to colours (blue). Having a certain colour in your logo may help target a customer to feel a certain way about your product from the corresponding emotion of the colour.

Source:
Adweek.com

Facebook is offering free $50 advertising credits to up to 200,000 small businesses. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, believes that every small business should be using Facebook to help market their goods or services as it can “target every single person [that] they need to target at least once, and then they can grow their businesses from there.” Similar to advertisements placed on Google, each advertiser has a set rate that they have to pay for every click a user makes. Now the first $50 will be free to up to 200,000 small businesses.

Although advertising on Facebook is cost-effective and easy to use and implement, I don’t think it will be very proficient in results. Facebook is a difficult advertising channel because its core purpose is social networking. Most of the users’ time is spent on reading friend’s recent updates, posting status updates, skimming through photos, etc… As a semi-active Facebook user myself, my attention is rarely focused on the ads. It’s instead diverted to the center of the page –the news feed or a friend’s profile page.

In addition, a large segment of Facebook users are young teenagers and college/university level students. This market segmentation generally does not have the direct income to purchase various products or services. The advertisement could capture the user’s interest, but the whole transaction may not be completed.

I think the free $50 credit serves as a good trial and error experience for small businesses to experiment with advertising on Facebook. Through the free $50 credit of advertisement on Facebook, small businesses can monitor the amount of page impressions and clicks they receive, and evaluate whether their product or service is effectively reached out to their targeted audience.

Source:
Facebook offers free ads to draw customers

COMM 299 gave me the opportunity to further broaden my self-perspective. The resume, cover letter, and interview were one of my best and useful experiences in this course. I learned how to develop my cover letter and resume into one that is more professional and stronger by using CAR statements and the following formula: accomplishment verb + transferrable skills used + scope of action. For the interview, I received one on one feedback regarding my strengths and weaknesses. The feedback enabled me to realize what some of my strengths are and to continue to implement them. I also learned what my weaknesses were and how to improve and develop them.

What I further learned about myself is to be open to different opportunities and fields. During the tutorial sessions with my TA, Lauren, she shared many inspirational, personal stories. One of them included how Lauren initially planned to major in finance and she remained firm on that route. However, after many experiences and events, she discovered her interest in marketing. This strikes me to be open to different disciplines and opportunities. I am generally someone who prefers routine and structure, but I learned that I should be more open to different disciplines instead of focusing on one thing. If I am so narrow minded, I may actually miss the opportunity of discovering my actual interest or perhaps even confirming if something my real passion. I also gained more confidence from this course. I feel like I got to know myself more and I have a better understanding of the future. I feel more prepped for the future –I know what to do in networking events, how to find/create a job, set up an information interview, and many others.

The greatest lesson that I have learned from someone else is to compare yourself only with yourself. Before starting university, many schools held these meet and greet events intended to give you a brief synopsis of university. I attended them and one of the advisors from UBC said something that has stuck in my mind till now. While explaining something, he said you shouldn’t compare yourself with others; you should only compare yourself with yourself. When I first heard this paradoxical phrase, I didn’t think it made much sense. It doesn’t seem possible because we unconsciously compare several aspects of our life with other things out of own spontaneity. But after giving it some careful thought, some rationality developed. It’s rational to say that you will always be better than someone else, yet someone else will always be better than you. Thus, by comparing yourself with others, it doesn’t necessarily give you an accurate or good comparison. Sometimes it may motivate you to strive harder, but other times it may actually hinder you from excelling depending on how it’s interpreted. Rather, by comparing yourself with yourself, there is more consistency. You can always compare yourself with the things you’ve done and accomplished in the past to what you’re doing now and seek for any improvements or new goals. This gave me a different perspective and it helped me interpret and accept things in a more flourishing way.

Friday, December 3, 2010 marks the grand opening of Vancouver’s HP Store. This new HP store, situated on 1162 Alberni Street, instigates a new approach in HP’s operations. Parallel to Dell and other companies, HP now attempts to manipulate a direct business model. Their products can now be sold directly to consumers cutting out the middle man in the supply chain. I think this approach will assist HP in thriving. HP is now matching up to its competitors, including Apple and Sony, by launching its own store as the others have already done so. This assists in strengthening the company’s image and repute. Because HP is a fairly well-established company in the IT industry, the store opening will attract consumers, particularly those who are HP fans, to its store where customers can browse through and purchase an array of their products. On their Facebook event page, 438 people have confirmed that they’ll be attending their grand opening event while 133 are undecided. This already marks tremendous support and interest. Furthermore, this new approach will increase HP’s profits as there is no double marginalization. HP will definitely continue to flourish through the implementation of this strategy.

Sources:
HP to open retail store in Vancouver
Canada’s First Ever HP Store in Vancouver
Facebook: HP STORE GRAND OPENING EVENT

The George Foundation (TGF) demonstrates social entrepreneurship as it is comprised of the following three components. It consists of social entrepreneur, Dr. Abraham M. George, who established a social purpose venture, the George Foundation. The George Foundation was launched in Bangalore, India during a meeting. After staying in the United States for over 20 years, Dr. Abraham M. George returned India for the first time since his absence with an intention to initiate humanitarian undertakings. During the meeting with George’s best friend, Angeline Nair, and several personages of the Bangalore society, the George Foundation was launched.

This social purpose venture entails a social mission “help alleviate poverty, promote health and a clean environment, and strengthen democratic institutions and values in developing countries.” (TGF Mission) One project that TGF established was the Shanti Bhavan Boarding School that aims to provide education to impoverished children who are not different from those children who are more fortunate. To implement protection of health and the environment, TGF instituted the Baldev Medical and Community Centre where approximately 30 patients a day are served. Services offered by this centre include providing health checks for children, holding health education classes, and sending field workers to home. With a strong social focus in mind, TGF have also initiated several other projects using innovative approaches.

Sources:
The George Foundation Main Website
Wikipedia: The George Foundation

Zara is an example of a successful entrepreneurial company. Every week new products are displayed on their shelves and racks. Hence innovation is a key characteristic to company. Its competitive strategy of shipping new styles to their store each week is a competitive advantage. This strategy is very risky as not every company can replicate the same strategy and be successful. Due to Zara’s new introduction of fresh styles of clothing each week, Zara is constantly creating new markets. They are able to target teenagers to women in their 40s, as well as men. And because new looks are introduced each week, it attracts more customers resulting with new markets. In addition to that, Zara exhibits new production methods. Getting the labour done in Asia where labour is cheaper is a common thing most clothing companies would do. Zara, on the other hand, has production companies in Europe to do it. Although it is more expensive, it allows them to monitor their inventory easily. Hence this results with a new form of organization. Zara is an entrepreneurial company as it pioneers change and possesses unique traits that only constitute a small portion of the population.