La-vie-en-Rose

All right so I used to work for Starbucks but unfortunately I had to quit so as of recent with my lack of 30% discount at corporate stores, I’ve been heading up Timmy’s. I have found that there is a huge difference in the Market of Starbucks vs. Timmy’s. When I go into a Starbucks I can customize my drink a thousand different ways and I love it because in general its made exactly the way I want it every time. When I go to Timmy’s, no I don’t get to customize my drink down to its very unique existence but I get to have a Mocha made the exact same way every time and tastes so sweet and good. Therefore, recently realizing that based on price, product, my tastes, and location that both Starbucks and Timmy’s provide me with different experiences and different product but I have no preference of one over the other because they both Satisfy a different need. I find that I have a Starbucks when I am in need of something that screams amazingly-deliciously-me and an experience that only Starbucks can give. And that I have a Timmy’s generally when I’m at school because its right next to Sauder and because it cheaper. So all in all I find that Starbucks and Timmy’s are both completely comparable and at the same time are so different. However, I love them both and wish that one day some brave soul will make a Stimbuckys of which has EVERYTHING and they are EVERYWHERE and get this HUGE monopoly on the market and the word will finally be rid of competition mongering from both Brands.

— Ash 😉

I can’t believe it. Last night when I was watching TV (for the first time in a while) I could not believe how many toy commercials there were. Also not only the amount of commercials confounded me but the range as well. There was everything from little tiny tot commercials about “Leap Frog Reading” to this really cool looking glow in the dark crayola commercial. I laughed at my self after I saw that one because I actually wanted the toy after I saw the commercial… before I started to Market Analyze it… I also noticed the difference between regular commercials and those for toys. Although it could be said many commercials are similar in the sense that they want you to feel some kind of emotion or make some kind of connection to the product, most likely doing so by making the people in the commercial project the kind of response they want the consumer to have. I found that there was a significant difference between the toy commercials for children in which everyone was extremely happy, like Prozac happy and in the other “regular” commercials the actors were happy but not that excited-pee-in-your-pants-you-are-shaking-because-this-toy-is-so-amazing-happy.

Like this excited child

Moreover, I found that the colours and themes used in the Christmas toy commercials  were far more interesting, exciting, and encapsulating than those of the “regular” commercials. So all in all I have have watched my Christmas commercials for the season and probably wont watch any more TV until the unbearable excitement of Christmas is over. And hoping that the my friends and family wont do this when I buy them the Glow in the Dark Amazing Crayola Crayons I buy them this year…

— Ash 🙂

Hello,

Although I am not doing Axe as but company/product of choice for the group assignments. I was still interested in the campaign and positioning that it uses. I have stumbled upon a Blog http://axeads.blogspot.com/ that pertains only to Axe ads, commercials, concerts (apparently) and etc. I was intrigued when I saw on Graeme Lee’s Blog that he has posted about an Ad by Axe called “Clean your Balls” It was supposed to be a huge joke introducing the Axe Detailer and basically made fun of the paradigm “Clean your Balls”. I found it absolutely hilarious. However, I also became more interested in the product as it is also used by my boyfriend. Upon reading this blog I found out more about the positioning and target markets of the Product. I also found that the particular way that they position themselves is not only different from other Body Fragrance, washes, soaps, etc out there. But that it has stuck to its particular mode with vigor.  I find that the positioning of “women will want you if you use this product” both light hearted and extremely interesting. Because essentially they are lying but also everyone know it but still buys it and thinks in the back of their mind: “Women will want me if I smell like this product” Its very interesting how they are positioning for something outlandish of which everyone is aware and yet at the same time they are able to lure consumers in with this very lie.

What I also found interesting is how broad their product has spread across different faces while keeping the same product. They have expanded into the Axe “Detailer”, Axe Concerts, and Axe: Woman’s Day. They are all ridiculous but I can’t help but smile every time I see, hear or read an Axe Ad. I find it absolutely hilarious.

So all in all I wanted to point out that when you have a product that has a very good position in a market it is still better if you can expand and move into other areas, faces, parts, concepts, etc of your market that were not possible without a well established foundation such as the one that Axe has created for itself.

– Ash 😉

I was hoping that I would be able to blog about my Blackberry today but I don’t have enough time on this busy Sunday. However, I just like to mention that the other day when I happened to be sitting in from of my computer I realized how much I hate “pop ups” as Sunny Pao wrote about how she dislikes pop ups and finds them a nuisance. I also feel the same way I also find them at the same time very effective and ineffective. In general when there is some kind of pop up I tend to hate whatever the pop up is about if its for shaving cream or some kind of dating site thing. I generally close it without looking at it or curse under my breath due to its annoyance. In this way I find them very very ineffective because in general they just make you mad and you close them with out a second glance. However, there is also another side to it as well. I find that on Facebook on the right hand side of your home screen or profile page there are little adds on the side that sometimes can actually pertain to you and what you say, “like”, or have an interest in on Facebook. This is actually far more effective I find because this way its actually an advertisement that you have a better chance at looking at. A great example is that I have an interest in Lord of the Rings and on that little side space there always seems to be adds pertaining to Lord of the Rings I’ve actually clicked on a few of them which lead me to sites and fan forums. This I find is far better and more effective marketing that a extremely unwanted pop up for something I don’t desire to look at.

Ash 😉

Hello all!

I realized this morning after I had, had a shower that advertising is very very beneficial to a company when it is through word of mouth. During our first couple of marketing classes (I don’t remember which one ) we were asked how many brands to we use before we come to Marketing Class. My friend sitting beside me when we were asked kept saying how much she loves her dove body wash. It made me think well if she loves it so much they maybe I might really like it as well. So within a couple of weeks my parents decided to go to the states for a mini vacation and were planning on going to the Costco there I figure hey if there’s any where that’s going to have a huge bottle of dove body wash then it will be Costco so I placed my order and have been using it for the past 3 weeks. And this morning when I woke up I was so excited to shower because I would get to use my soft creamy dove body wash. This got me thinking how amazing it was that in a short period of time and because of an advocate of dove products I then became myself an advocate for the product.

Positive Word of Mouth — Powerful Stuff

When walking to school the other day after I got off the long bus ride from Richmond I realized I’m a pretty loyal Consumer of Starbucks. Not only did I work for Starbucks for almost two years I pretty much consume Starbucks on a Daily basis. And I pay full price for it ever since I quit. When I wake up in the morning the only thing I really think of besides what to wear and how warm my bed was is “I need Coffee” and where do I usually get cofffe? Starbucks. Therefore I have finally realized that I am what starbucks would call an Advocate a loyal consumer of their product. I just wish that they would give us some compensation for being such avid consumers 😉

Over the past month leading up to my birthday I have spent probably over 10 hours weighing my choice of a new phone. The Blackberry or the iPhone. My hard work in weighing the costs and benefits started when I became unhappy with my current phone the LG Neon

I absolutely hate this phone, it is glitchy, slow, drops calls, turns off randomly, all in all it was a very very long year to spend with this phone. Luckily I wasn’t on a contract so switching phones wasn’t a problem. The problem was however the CHOICE.
I began to weigh which one a liked more, iphone had won this, its form, reliability (warrenty), apps, capabilities, and over ll sexiness beat out the Blackberry for me. However the fact the the iphone 4 is back ordered till January then and is not as affordable and I pretty much didn’t want to buy the 3Gs if I could get the iPhone 4. But what I really needed to consider and figure out is what am I actually going to use this phone for? the main aspects were email, browsers, planner, and couple other cool things for on the go and my busy life. So I made my choice between the two: BLACKBERRY.

Which one though? I was intent on getting the Bold at first because I thought it was the best. But I figured my best bet would be to compare on the Rogers Website the Specifications of each phone. I found that the Blackberry Bold was actually the worst of the 3. So my choices narrowed between the Torch and the Curve 9300. Both very similar, their specifications were almost identical. But in the end I figured hey if I’m going on the 3 term plan I might as well get a hella good phone for that time. I also talked to so many different people and got opinions from iphone users and blackberry users and many people said that if they hadn’t got the Curve when it got out they would have gone for the Tourch.
However, my main point of this blog is that half way through my intense search for the right phone I went through and ENTIRE customer decision process. I went through the entire diagram from start to finish. (well almost finished) I just gotta get it this weekend.
So Ill keep you posted with the review of my final choice of the Blackberry Torch.

–Ash

When thinking about what I wanted to blog about I began searching funny or interesting commercials on Youtube. There happens to be a lot of interesting ones on there. However, the one that caught my eye was this Condom Commercial, mainly because it was Balloon Animals and one was pink 🙂 I like pink. But anywho, so I click on the Commercial labeled “Best Condom Commercial In History” and this funny thing pops up.

So I watch the Commercial and I laughed like crazy. It’s kind of ingenious making the balloon animals out of condoms, I thought it was pretty cute actually. But the main point I’d like to take from this commercial is that they way that they marketed the Condoms was by showing them throughout the Commercial, out of package and the different colors of their product that they offer in this particular way. Also they chose to make it light-hearted and funny to watch unlike some commercials where is steamy and sexy this one was actually cute. (and it didn’t make anyone feel awkward as I watched it with a few friends in Econ Class)  😀 But all in all I thought it was a good way to market a product that many consumers are shy, quiet, awkward/ don’t talk about  into something that when you see it you laugh. Therefore I think this type of marketing to consumers was effective because it took off that edge and made you think about the product with little negativity.

— Ash

Nissan is a well respected Car company across many countries. I find that Nissans Advertisements are similar to others but have something particular to them that sets them apart. For other car companies such as BMW or Porsche the class of their companies are very different compared to Nissan. Therefore the type of commercials that they produce do not play up the utilities and capability for carrying items that a family may use, they play up the class, prestige, speed and beauty of the cars. However for Nissan they use concepts that play on the utility of trunk space or having some quality family time. In the Nissan Rogue commercial the lady is loading the trunk with an array of items for her family and then it cuts to a picture of her laughing with a drink in her hand. This is a good marketing technique for the modern family or even for a young couple who lead active life styles. Although the Nissan Rogue is in no way similar in class to the Porsche Cayenne the cars are ultimately the same. Both are modern SUV’s that can be used to carry many different things as both have a similar amount of trunk space and seat space. However the Porsche Cayenne commercial displays class and prestige of Porsche not the utility factor of an SUV. It displays a middle age man who is driving the car at night, simply showing of the status, speed and beauty of the Porsche not the actual utility of it. Therefore, it is easy to see how Brand and Commercials can display essentially the same car but in very different ways. The cars even look very similar minus the logo of Porsche or Nissan. I also would like to point out in BOTH commercials that the emotions that the actors display are both joy, contentment, happiness, and other similar feelings. Therefore promoting the idea that “If you purchase this vehicle you will feel this way” However this is a similar tactic used in many different car commercials although none the less effective on the human Psyche. If you look at the two commercials differently Porsche plays up the idea that “If you purchase this vehicle you will look, feel, and be similar to this happy man. Do you want to be like him?” and for Nissan they play up the idea that “Oh these people are having fun with family in friends because of all the space and luxury of this affordable young family car. Do you want to take more trips in a car like this one?” So they both make the consumer feel something different but in the same fashion about similar products. However, my major point and opinion is why would you bother buying the Porsche Cayenne if you’re not going to use it for actual SUV purposes such has holding a range of different items or you have a family of younger children? Why would you pay over $20,000 more for a car that I would use less of. It doesn’t make sense because you are basically paying for a Brand, which I’m sure many people are willing to do.

— Ash

Hello Fashion Lovers!

There are very few high end clothing brands that pertain to “larger” or “real life” women. Most of it is based on Celebrities with the perfect body or malnourished models and let alone do these fashion companies advertise their product regularly. It the fashion world, not only plus-sized women but ANY-sized women are severely under-represented. Not all of us are a size 2 even if we try. However, some more forward fashion opportunists have taken a leap of faith in a world of size two and have made their mark on T.V. Reitmans Clothing has used a marketing plan that is relevant to mothers and “real life” women ranging from ages 20-60 as well as both sizes petite to 14-plus. This marketing plan has done well. The reason I wanted to blog about this is because of their entertaining commercials. Also similar to Dove they make women feel better about themselves the way they are. I find that the commercial is so successful because there is both humor and well put slogan that makes me want to go to my nearest Reitmans and see if they have anything for me. Although it says nothing about the prices the slogan “designed for real life” also means “a real budget”. As well on their website http://www.reitmans.com/en/index.cfm they also have the slogan for certain wardrobe classics called “designed for everybody and every body” which is something many women look for when going into clothing store or looking online. How many times have you asked yourself “will that look good on me?” or “Can I pull that off”.

The commercial starts out with a typical scene of which you would chose a certain outfit for. Such as a lunch date, walk in the park, etc. A typical scenario in which a woman would want to be noticed or look presentable for the occasion. However, the parody is that they first dress a model up in High Fashion and have her walk through the scenario. Of course it is disastrous because almost all of high fashion although interesting on the run way are in NO WAY wearable in reality. So as the commercial goes on the “Reitmans” model walks out and goes through the scene perfectly. The best part however is the scoring at the end which is always “Reitman’s 1, Au Couture 0” and finished off with the slogan “Designed for real life”. I thought in general the commercials were well done and I always stop to watch one if it’s on T.V.

Here’s an example of the commercials:

P.S. I love the part where the dog “fetches” her hat thing in the “park” commercial 😀

-Ashley