Month: October 2011

In a recent blog post by Cole Routtenberg, from the Section 103 class, he discussed the results of July’s HST referendum and an in-depth explanation on its causes and effects.

His post focused on the fact that of those who participated in the referendum, 50% believed eliminating the HST would help their financial situation, but only 28% believed it would help the overall economy. What does this show us? Well, as Routtenberg put it, the voters put their own interests first and essentially voted to weaken an already fragile economy in order to strengthen their personal financial status.

Some anti-HST politicians would say that the outcome of this referendum, despite the strong support for keeping the HST, is a demonstration of our restored democracy. I would argue that it merely shows how citizens voted. We didn’t think economically; we focused on our own self-interest, which ironically enough, is a driving factor in the everyday economy.

While it may be unfortunate for BC’s economy now that the HST is being transitioned back into the PST/GST system, are we really surprised this happened? People go for benefits over features. The HST may have had some cool features in the form of being a more visible tax, having higher annual payments to low income families, as well as others; however, the immediate benefits of the GST/PST system outweighed them in the eyes of most BC folk.

This morning, I happened to click my way to an interesting article on www.marketwatch.com discussing somewhat of a breakthrough into the customer insight sector. The USA’s largest privately held company, Merkle, announced an interesting new piece of technology involving customer insight and market research – the merkle monitor.

Essentially, this monitor provides insight into consumer behaviour and is an interesting solution to primary market research. Using a survey format, it acquires information pertaining to consumer perception, consideration, as well as buying behaviours regarding insurance & wealth management services.

It’s very interesting that something like this is considered to enable “actionable marketing strategies.” While it’s great to gather a general overview of how customers perceive Merkle’s services, the monitor is overlooking many important market research aspects affecting consumer behaviour such as cultural, social, and personal factors. Merely basing strategies on what some survey questions provide you with seems like questionable action on Merkle’s part.

I see the Merkle Monitor as an amazing tool, aiding the advancement of consumer behaviour understanding in its respective field; however, it’s findings should not suffice when planning out marketing strategies. More in-depth research covering many other aspects other than general consumer perception should be taken into account!

After recently reading Claudia Lau’s blog post, The Silent Salesman, I’ve definitely gotten a new perspective on marketing as a whole.

In a nut shell, she talks about how Patagonia, an eco-conscious outdoor clothing company, is utilizing a twisted marketing campaign – the promotion of buying less!

Discussed in the Time Moneyland, the company is essentially asking customers to only buy what they need, and when doing so, to buy what will last. They also mention repairing and recycling older garments.

It’s very interesting to see that their points of parity include high quality products (normal), while their point of difference is a marketing campaign discouraging excessive consumer purchases (not as normal).

Many other clothing companies focus on being socially conscious and include that in their value propositions, but twisting it to the point where you’re telling consumers to stop excessive purchasing is innovative marketing-wise.

The Lamborghini commercial we saw in class was later mentioned to be a means (in one respect) of making people want what they evidently couldn’t have. Patagonia is doing something along those lines; they’re controlling consumer behaviour by telling buyers it isn’t good to buy too much, only to make them want more of said product.

Kudos to them!

There’s no doubt Apple Inc. is a large controller of technological apps. Nevertheless, according to business week, The Financial Times has launched its own web-based reading app (currently available for subscribers), without collaborating with iTunes.

As Andrew mentioned in class yesterday, MIS and BTM can sometimes work alongside fads. I’m definitely seeing some of that being applied in this particular case since the market for smartphone/tablet apps is getting larger. Also, it seems as if the FT is trying to do a couple of different things:

1) They’re capitalizing on the fact that technology is huge right now. They’re definitely doing exactly what Andrew mentioned – revolutionizing innovation by sharing what they have in a new, more fad-worthy way.

2) FT seems to be attempting this – without working with iTunes – as a power-move. Since Apple is worth billions more than them and their publisher, I see creating an app independent of iTunes and the App Store as a smart decision because it helps them remain in somewhat of a controlling position. By also attempting to get readers to jump ship from the IOS version to the HTML5 (the new, FT app format), I can definitely see some power-moves coming into play.

Regardless, technology is evidently an important factor in today’s world both as a means of communication and gaining power in a given industry.

I’ve embedded a video link with more information on the FT app.