Annie Lui's Blog

In response to Laura Matthew’s blog post, “Digging Deeper than the Foundation”, I agree with her that marketers are becoming cleverer in capturing consumers’ minds and influencing them into becoming brand followers.

With rapid development of the Internet in recent years, there has been a rather quick shift from traditional marketing to online marketing. Marketers are tweaking their marketing strategy and switching from the traditional billboard and TV advertisements to the contemporary online social marketing approach. While some may argue that unprecedented access to information and new technologies today have empowered consumers with a greater ability to tune out marketing messages, I think that it is exactly because of the access to this convenient platform that is allowing marketing messages to seep into and influence consumers’ minds more easily.

Building online presence by tapping into social media marketing allows companies to receive direct feedback from consumers. It also provides a much more convenient way for consumers to get information about various brands before deciding whether or not to purchase from them. With communication made so much more convenient, the effects of word of mouth are more powerful than ever, and consumers are reached more efficiently and effectively.

Now with more social networking sites developed with new and innovative approaches (Read about Pinterest!), consumers are presented with more choices to pick from than ever.

It seems as of late there have been quite a few big media sensations. For instance, last month’s “Linsanity” fad had been constantly tweeted and posted on every sports fanatic’s pages, earning the phenom Jeremy Lin a whopping 1.4 million subscribers to his personal Facebook page and over 2.07 million followers on Weibo. This month started with a different vibe, a more solemn one. If you don’t know what this may be, here is the video:

KONY 2012

This 30-minute documentary film is produced by Invisible Children, the advocacy organization leading the movement to bring down one man, Joseph Kony. As I type this, the video has over 71 million views.

Although there have been many bashing and skepticism to this campaign, as with other similar campaigns, there are many things to learn from it as a marketer.

Referring to Eric Vachon and Mary Manzo‘s posts on socialmediatoday.com, they’ve pointed out 3 key strategic marketing lessons from KONY 2012.

1. Make preparations so that it is easy for the audience to act
   • Invisible Children prepared their website with forms and contact information so that once you decide to take action, you can easily find and contact them
2. Target influential audiencewhom have reach
   • They went about targeting celebrities whom could amplify their message and politicians whom could actually act on it
3. Put the audience in state, and then move them to action
   • Very wisely, they didn’t ask you to take action until the end of an intense 30-minute message. They put you in state by starting with something we can all relate to – family and friends, and the desire to connect.

No matter what people’s opinions are regarding the integrity of the organization, I definitely commend their marketing strategy of gaining awareness through effective use of viral marketing.

“This is now becoming more than a trend – viral is, in large part, the future of marketing.” – Kenneth C. Wisnefski.

Small children seem to learn very quickly. In just a few years, they can learn to speak one or even several new languages, play a musical instrument, and handle many subjects at school. They can even play different types of sports and pick up new hobbies, and become experts in their favorite pastimes.

On a marketing perspective, what kind of impression do companies leave in the minds of these young fast learners?

As Vivien pointed out in her blog post, Marketing to Kids, children are able to recognize and categorize 300 to 400 brand names by the age of 10. Here’s Vivien’s attached video:

The girl in this video demonstrates to us the capabilities of a 5-year-old in recognizing brand logos and associating them with images or objects she has seen, “looks like the American flag”, “It’s an ‘M’ made out of fries.”.

Young children see, understand, and remember advertising. On one hand, this is an opportunity for companies to position themselves early on to ensure their place in consumers’ minds and to have first mover advantage. On the other hand, this may pose a threat if they don’t take caution in keeping ethics in mind for their advertisements.

McDonald's Happy Meal

For instance, many fast food restaurants target young consumers as these businesses strive to meet these kids’ wants. This sort of targeted advertising toward children is rather unethical. Children are usually unaware of the health issues associated with over-consumption of these meals. It is to the benefits of these companies to ensure that they do not go beyond the limits of marketing ethics. After all, they wouldn’t want to disappoint and lose existing customers, nor would they want to scar the reputation of their brand!

The first two weeks of marketing class has kept me thinking more about the marketing aspects of the brands I often use, as well as the places I go to.  We’ve had in-class discussions about retail stores and brands that sell products… but what about the service industry?

Caesars Entertainment, formerly known as Harrah's Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment is the largest gaming corporation in the world, owning over 50 casinos, hotels, and golf courses under several brands.  Its CEO is Gary Loveman, one who sees his customers as a set of probabilities wrapped in human flesh.

He considers probabilities such as gender and age, then factors in where we live, what we do, how much we make, and most importantly, how we wager and what we play when we go to one of his casinos.  From these, he finds valuable information that helps support his marketing strategies.  “Females are more regular gamblers than males and older women are the most lucrative demographic of all.” (Segmentation and Targeting)  Loveman knows, the happier his customers are, the more pleasant their experience at one of his 50 casinos, then the more likely the set of probabilities embodied in each of them will continue to pay out for him.  As a result, Caesars’ Total Rewards (Differentiation and Positioning) card is the industry’s most sophisticated national multibrand loyalty program.

Loveman took the theories of statistics, invested heavily in CRM technologies, and innovated marketing techniques to build the customer loyalty his company has today.  I think that what led Loveman to his successfully executed marketing strategy was his thorough market research.  He is able to create customer value and achieve profitable customer relationship because he understands and satisfies his customers’ needs and wants.

“When you look out at a casino floor, you see people playing blackjack or the slots; when Gary Loveman looks out at that floor, he sees his slots or his table games playing you.”

Read more about Casino Marketing:

Profitable Casino Marketing Strategies…
Scent Marketing…

COMM 299 has been rewarding. Aside from improving on public speaking, learning how to polish a resume and cover letter, and practicing interviewing techniques, I have learned something far beyond the technicalities listed on the course curriculum. It is indeed a one-credit course, and because of this, many students including myself disregarded its importance and believed that the weekly two-hour class was a mere joke or a waste of time. Nonetheless, I devoted my time to attend each lecture and discussion, hoping something would prove us wrong. After all, I thought, it is a required course, so there must be something in it that’s keeping its place on that list. And then, I was inspired.

This one thing that I’ve learned from the course, which truly struck me, is to find what I am truly passionate about. Cliche. But I’ve never actually put much thought into it in the past, despite the fact that people kept trying to drill it in our heads. I just never understood, and pushed it aside. It never came to me, the question of whether or not what I’m doing is what I love, nor did I ever worked hard to achieve that certain something that I’ve longed for. It is all because I don’t have something I am passionate about. I had no idea what it is or what it might be.

Coming to 299, I start to see what they mean. I observed my classmates as they made speeches in front of the classroom in T1. It amused me to see a few of them so vibrant and enthusiastic when presenting their topics. They seemed to be enjoying it so much that it puzzled me – and so I wondered. In T2, we met Philippe. As a Finance major with years of experience working in big firms, he told us that he disliked it. He spent over seven years doing something he did not truly enjoy. He explained that the reason he chose it was because of his lack of determination in seeking and pursuing his dream job. He followed the stream, misled in the midst of conforming. And so, he kept stressing in class the importance of pursuing our career in the field we are passionate about. Sunny, our TA, also emphasized this importance – that we should take the time to explore the different things available to us out there, to put our hearts into all the things we do, so to ensure we will eventually develop that passion.

All these information, these observations from 299, is what sparked me. As of now, I will work toward finding what I’m passionate about without letting anyone interfere or mislead me in the process. I will not let the fact that I am in Sauder to determine that I must one day become an auditor, a marketing director, a financial analyst, or anything that my peers may become. I hope that one day, I will also become one of those people you see on the streets with a set goal in mind, with that vibrant glow on their face, and that genuine smile from their heart that tells everyone how much they’re grateful to be living and doing things they sincerely love.