alliradiuk

Although the marketing plan was strenuous, I can safety say that I benefitted from all the work my group and I put in.  Working with a group isn’t always easy and this marketing plan definitely pushed us.  Throughout the assignments, my group improved with each portion.  I think there were a few different reasons for our improvements.  First of all, once we got to know each other, it made it much easier to communicate and discover who was best suited to do certain tasks.  Also, we began to work on the assignments together, opposed to just dividing the work and compiling it.

In addition to growing as a group, I experienced personal growth as well.  Between the marketing plan assignments, blogs, exams and weekly readings, time-management was essential to this class.  I notice a huge difference in my time-management skills from the beginning of the semester to now.

There are a few things I would do differently for next time.  Even though we started quite early for some portions of the marketing plan, we didn’t always meet regularly to finish them early.  Meeting twice a week would have been beneficial for us.  Overall, I really enjoyed this class and believe it helped me to develop necessary skills for a business career.   I’d like to thank my wonderful professor, Tamar, for helping my group and I along the way.

Brand image is one of the main goals of marketing and very important to each and every company.  I’m assuming everybody reading this blog post knows Lindt Chocolate (obviously because it is so delicious).  Lindt maintains a strong brand image since their chocolate is such high quality.  Also, fun fact; they also donate over 250,000 chocolate bunnies to food banks for Easter.  This is exactly why Lindt Chocolate tried to prevent a German chocolatier from copying its signature gold wrapping on their Easter bunny chocolates (as seen above, if you haven’t enjoyed this little slice of heaven before).  Brandchannel’s blog “Lindt Loses Out on Epic Easter Bunny Suit” describes the court situation in further detail.  They also describe how they lost this suit right before Easter weekend, where they make most of their sales.

Personally, I find it understandable why Lindt would take this lawsuit to court, as this could possibly damage their brand image that they have worked so hard to develop.  If somebody purchases a gold bunny expecting the Lindt-quality chocolate and receives something mediocre in return, that’s not good…  Not only that, competing brands benefit and expand their market share from all the behind-the-scenes work that Lindt did from creating its brand image by coping their product packaging.  In my opinion, when I see a company copying another brand’s packaging or logo scheme, it makes me think less of that company because it seems like they are trying to attain some of the qualities of that other brand.

In Staci Dawidowski’s blog Branding an Entire Species, she describes how Coca-Cola’s brand image uses polar bears to market their product by playing on the heart strings of consumers.  While an effective strategy, it is also can increase brand equity, as Staci mentioned.  Marketing and advertisements are an excellent way to get your company’s brand image and company culture across to consumers.

Coca-Cola is not the only one to use the cuteness of animals to make you like their company.  Telus is known for their advertisements involving cute animals, such as; monkeys, hippos, goats, bunnies, otters, birds, fish, pigs, you name it.  They use these animals is everything from billboards to television commercials.  Their animals ads promote their slogan “The Future is Friendly”.  I find it nice that their marketing reflects what their company culture is, it makes it easier for consumers like myself to decide on brands.  Although Telus does not donate funds to these animals that they advertise, they use this to demonstrate that they are an environmentally friendly company who’s goal is to minimize waste and energy.

Personally, as bad as this sounds, once my contract was finished with my previous mobile company, one of the reasons I chose to go with Telus because of the brand image they were promoting.  I believe their marketing is a direct reflection of what Telus is all about.

Just a few of my favorite Telus commercials for your entertainment:

Otter Commercial

“Epic” Commercial

Lululemon has always been an upstanding company in my eyes (see my blog on their ethics).  I believe they have a strong culture and morals, especially when it comes to the not-so-friendly business world.  Recently there has been a lot of press surrounding Lululemon about their faulty products.  More specifically, their famous Luon yoga pants have been recalled due to sheerness of fabric.  This has resulted in the decrease in stock prices for Lululemon, along with a crazy amount of press on their hands.

There has been suspicion around Lululemon that they used this as a marketing ploy to attract more attention since it is a free way to advertise and it was not extremely scandalous by any means.  Since experts believe it will not deter their target market from continuing to purchase products, it does not seem to have many serious repercussions from this mistake.  Personally, I do not believe this was a marketing ploy.  Releasing a statement about the issue does not necessarily mean it was to attract attention.  Lululemon demonstrates a company culture in which consumers are treated as guests and their mission statement is highly regarded and implemented.  I will remain a faithful Lululemon customer and this has not changed my personal opinion of the company at all.  However, I am within the target market who’s feelings experts expected to remain the same about the company.  So who knows if I am correct or if their marketing ploy was just successful.

Every day we are swarmed with ads, promotions, coupons, billboards, multiple forms of marketing from companies that are fighting for our business.  A company with an admirable marketing strategy is Starbucks.  They have portrayed their coffee as accessible, trendy and personal.  They make it accessible for almost everyone as they are located everywhere; sometimes even multiple stores per block.  Starbucks makes every drink you order customized to you by giving you the exact drink that you want, even giving you the option of making it extra hot.  Some of their marketing strategies include; buy 4 get 1 free promotions, cheap lattes at a certain time of day, social media posts on Instagram and Twitter, the mobile phone app, memberships to collect points from purchases, etc.

These strategies and tactics have made Starbucks appealing to a broad target market, including myself.  One of my favorite features that Starbucks offers is the mobile app.  It allows me to find the nearest stores, browse drinks, access my membership card and best of all, it allows me to pay with cell phone.  I love this app and it is one of the reasons I choose Starbucks over different coffee companies.  My favorite feature is not having cash on hand and still being able to buy a coffee.  This has given Starbucks a sustainable competitive advantage over the competition, which is absolutely necessary since $5 for a coffee seems slightly overpriced to have without getting extra benefits in return. 

We all know Lululemon as a yoga-athletic wear company that promotes healthy living in spirit, body and mind.  This is an excellent culture to be promoting, however Lululemon does more than just demonstrate ethics in their values.  Their goals are to; give back to the five communities that they impact, which are the stores, regions, hometown of Vancouver, ambassadors and suppliers, ensure their factories reflect and function by the values they uphold, and to be environmentally friendly to work towards a cleaner future.

By striving to achieve these goals by organizing events such as beach clean-ups and free yoga classes to the underprivileged, donating funds to the less fortunate and third world countries, reducing their factories’ footprints and use of resources, and countless other initiatives, Lululemon has proved that they not only talk the talk, but they also walk the walk when it comes to ethics.

Being an ethical company has also become quite trendy in recent years.  This gives Lululemon an advantage over companies that produce similar products such as Nike, who have been known to take part in unethical practices.  When I buy a Lululemon product, I feel good about the fact that my purchase is making a difference in my community.  I believe that ethics can be used as an advantage for companies and Lululemon has found a way to successfully make it a key component to their business.

Emily Margitan’s blog “Taxi Drivers Ripped-Off” was very interesting.  In her blog post, she explains how taxi drivers are underpaid for the work they do, barely making minimum wage.  Taxi companies are demonstrating a mediocre company culture.  Company culture is the values, beliefs and atmosphere that a company has and promotes.  The company culture might not seem bad on the inside, however on the outside; it does not seem like a desirable position for most Canadians.

This blog struck me because it reminded me of one of my past jobs that had an awful company culture.  Every worker was paid differently, we were severely monitored by our boss and certain workers got special treatment from the supervisors.  All in all, it was not an enjoyable job.  Having an enjoyable company culture is definitely an asset to companies as it ensures employee happiness, which leads to employees being more motivated to work better and be more dedicated to the company.  As Emily mentioned, Zappos has an excellent company culture by creating a pleasant atmosphere and fun activities throughout the day.  They may not be the richest company or offer the highest paying job, but their company has extremely happy employees, which is what company culture is all about.

Picture attained from;
http://iowacareerguru.com/4-steps-to-building-great-company-culture/

It’s that time of year again; the Grey Cup final.  The Grey Cup is an event that requires countless business structure and skills, such as marketing, accounting,
financing and sustainability?   You may be curious about how sustainability is becoming part of the Grey Cup final, so was I.  In the article in the Vancouver Sun, it
discussed how the Grey Cup is keeping track and trying to offset their greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint.  This year’s game will have an offset of 200 tonnes, which seems extreme compared to the 13.6 tonnes that I release per year.  However, these numbers prove to be low compared to previous years when this was not considered a concern.

It is refreshing to see businesses making an effort to go green.  This will have multiple effects for the Grey Cup.  It will help the planet, they will be looked at as being sustainable, and they will acquire a better image for marketing purposes.  All in all, I believe this is a win-win situation for football and for the planet.

Picture attained from;
http://blogskeeweewee.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

Paul Klein’s blog “Five things to know about partnerships between corporations and non-profits” on Canadian Business, made me think of the social entrepreneurship topic we discussed in class.  It is not specifically about a social entrepreneurship business, but he describes a charity and a business forming a partnership to benefit both companies.  In his blog, he states that these “partnerships” are not actually partnerships, just a method of companies donating to charities to get a better brand image and charities receiving money.  Business strategies are not part of this partnership.  Another point he states is very few charities are able to demonstrate the benefits of this partnership.

From Paul Klein’s viewpoint, these partnerships are not considered an advantageous move.  In my opinion, social entrepreneurships would not encounter these dilemmas that Paul mentions.  Social entrepreneurships are beneficial for the business community as they require good business structure and strategies to start and maintain a business.  They are also beneficial for the social community, as they give back to the community.  Promoting social entrepreneurships is more valuable than creating partnerships between charities and businesses.

My classmate David Booth’s blog post about Coca-Cola increasing profits and expanding its company was interesting to me.  In his article, he explains how Coke is the leading soda product in North America and has plans to expand to other markets such as China, India and South America.  This will definitely increase Coke’s profits and brand.  Meanwhile, Coke is not only expanding to other markets but it is also starting a charity campaign for polar bears.  Coke is donating two million dollars over the next five years to the World Wildlife Fund to save the artic and protect the polar bears.  This is depicted as a marketing strategy to pull on your heart strings and make you want to buy a Coke in belief that you will be saving polar bears in the midst of drinking your beverage.  Coke is developing many different ways to expand its brand, whether it’s marketing strategies or expanding to a new market.  This is why Coke is one of the leading brands in North America.

Picture acquired from;
The Magazine.ca. Polar Bear vs. Beaver: Which should represent Canada? http://www.themagazine.ca/2011/11/03/polar-bear-vs-beaver-which-should-represent-canada/