Alexis Vinh

I came across another outsider blog that was quite interesting, called “Fashion Law Blog: An Interactive Discussion of the Business of Fashion”. I was browsing her posts, and thought I’d discuss a little bit about counterfeit goods. A couple interesting facts from her post:
“Fakes are bad. But just how bad are they?

The US Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) can’t put a number on it, but estimates counterfeit goods affect the economy in the order of $200 billion. Apparel, footwear and handbags comprise just over 50% of this figure.

The World Customs Organization estimates that counterfeit goods steal $600 billion annually from brand owners, or 7% of global trade. Whether it’s $200 or $600 billion, it is clear that counterfeiting is putting a dent in the global economy.”

Looking at it, it’s obvious that buying counterfeit goods is horrible and that these companies are losing billions of dollars to it. But really, what if people just can’t afford it? Although Louis Vuitton may be losing billions of money, they probably are making double, even triple, what they are losing. Some people want to feel that “luxury” and portray that image that is associated with carrying such an exclusive brand. Should that be looked down upon?

Then I saw..
“Profits from counterfeit sales have been linked to human trafficking, drug crimes, and terrorism. The worst part is that while much counterfeiting occurs in factories in other countries, it also occurs under the radar at “purse parties” which are much harder for law enforcement agencies to track.”

Purse parties??! After googling it, Wikipedia defines it as “a type of party plan marketing scheme wherein a party is held in a hostess’ home for the purpose of buying and selling handbags…nearly always consists of knock-offs.” Scary facts!

More and more companies these days are co-branding with other companies to promote their products. What’s really emerging right now is that several high end clothing lines are collaborating with chain retail stores or with celebrities, letting them create their own line under them. I’ve been seeing them everywhere…Lanvin with H&M, Miley Cyrus and Max Azria for Wal-Mart, and even Lauren Conrad for “mark.” makeup. Personally, I really like the idea of forming these “alliances”, and I think most collaborations have been successful (for the most part.) Companies generally do this to appear more “affordable” to consumers by entering this new market. More publicity is given to these brands and their target market is expanded. As stated in the Marketing textbook, “exclusive cobrands have a double benefit – they are exclusively available at only one retailer, and they offer name recognition similar to that of a national brand.” Downside is that profits have to shared.

Anyway, I happened to find out that McDonald’s is doing a collaboration with Sanrio, and was giving away watches with every happy meal. So what did I do…. obviously go to McDonald’s and get my Hello Kitty watch!!!

I really enjoy entertaining commercials and I came across a TV blog which I LOVE!! It has so many hilarious ones so you guys should definitely check it out!

A good laugh usually leaves a lasting impression on consumers!

I was browsing blogs again, and I came across Kimberley Chung’s blog about how she’d always get tricked into promotions. I found it pretty funny because it actually happens to me too, almost ALL THE TIME… and I end up kicking myself in the butt for it because I really didn’t need it in the first place! What’s worse is that sometimes, with all these promotions and coupons that are going on, I feel the need to take advantage of them, thinking to myself..”oh.. this might come in handy in the future…so might as well buy it now!!!” If only I didn’t fall for them, I’d probably have more money in my bank account today.

It’s funny when you look at the promotion signs that companies’ use, especially retail stores. 95% of the sign says SALE 50% OFF. 2.5% of it says “up to” beside the big 50 and last 2.5% says “on selected items”, both in size 8 font. I work in retail, and I’ve lost count of how many times customers have asked me “The sign says sale, where’s the discount on this one?” Then my job is to go “Sorry, the sign actually says ‘ON SELECTED ITEMS.'” As irritated as I am repeating this, it is actually a somewhat deceiving, yet useful marketing tactic. Step 1 is to attract customers in the store, and even if the sale items aren’t attracting them, hopefully something else will.

Skype Beta was launched about a month ago. Now, with Skype Beta, you can immediately go into video calls without as many clicks, and you can have conference video calls with multiple people. It is much more user friendly, whereas before, it would only have voice calls with multiple users. However, many users are disappointed with MSN’s new changes. Many users feel that MSN is trying to copy Skype’s idea, its major competition. Many of MSN’s features now look almost identical to Skype. Many users also complain about how MSN’s video chats are poor quality, and have bad connection with audio and visuals.

Skype Beta

Windows Live Messenger

Earlier, I was reading my good friend, Rena Zhou’sblog on Reebok EasyTone. She describes how she feels that the commercials target consumers by solely focusing on how the product raises the butts of females higher, and that the commercials were very sexually suggestive when the camera focused on the actress’s bottom. However, I feel that it is very normal and I do not find it offensive at all. From my point of view, Reebok should be focusing on that selling point where female butts will be raised if you use the product. Reebok shoes have not been good sellers for many years, and seems to have been losing market power in terms of it’s line of shoes. I feel that in order for Reebok to be successful, it must show its consumers that its products can do things that other brands can not. And plus, I don’t feel that the commercial was inappropriate at all, commercials on television in this century are similar to this. I felt that it was humorous, effective, and attractive.

Back in 1985, the Coca-Cola Company introduced New Coke as the replacement of the original formula. The reason was because Pepsi, the biggest competitor, had started selling a similar, sweeter, and more popular product. The market share of the original Coca-Cola shrunk from 52% after World War II to 24% in 1983. As Baby-Boomers aged, they will more likely prefer more healthy drinks, and younger drinkers prefer sweeter drinks, like Pepsi. Consequently, New Coke was born. It was “smoother, uh, uh, yet, uh, rounder yet, uh, bolder … it has a more harmonious flavour,” according to one of the flavour chemists. The consumer’s reaction was poor, and some even tried to have the original Coca-Cola imported from other countries where the New Coke was not yet introduced. The New Coke is recognized as the biggest marketing mistake ever made by the Coca-Cola Company. However, these mistakes in similar situations are often difficult to deal with. In Coca-Cola’s position, they sold a similar but not as popular product as Pepsi, and they felt that changing the marketing strategy is mandatory, and changing the formula would be the best way. This is another example of how poor estimation of consumer popularity can cost a company everything.

Recently on television and on the newspaper, I have been noticing that some political parties have been posting some advertisements. However, they were not promoting their own party, neither were they telling the audience about their own party platform. Rather, they were trying to state all the actions that the leading parties has done that is currently ruining the government of Canada. I felt that this sort of political marketing is unethical. To have an ad solely on how other parties are not fit for power in my opinion is not right. It doesn’t show what they have been doing good for the country, and doesn’t show what their own party is about. I feel that if a party were to advertise, it should be promoting its own strengths, not stating other’s weaknesses. And there are many ways to advertise, through television, internet, blogs, websites, and connecting more with the citizen in public events. Trashing others should not be an option

Coca Cola is the leading beverage in the world. The product is everywhere. vending machine’s, gas stations, restaurants, sports game, schools, and even hospitals. It really really gives a very healthy, happy image of its product. But as we probably are all taught, Coca-Cola is very unhealthy. One can of Coke a day usually leads to guaranteed obesity. Coke is used for cleaning drains. However, even when I think of Coke now, I think of happiness and a free life style. I watched this video and thought of how happy I would be if life was like this realistically. I really admire Coca-Cola’s marketing.

So just to get this blog rolling, I had to “Share my screen” on the wonderful Skype so that my good friend Kojin could guide me step by step in figuring out how to start writing a post. As you can already tell, I am not much of a blogger…and clearly, not very technologically savvy. I really wish I was though. The internet is exploding with marketing and the e-commerce world is expanding like never before. Sad to say, I’ve got a lot to learn beyond the world of facebook, email, and microsoft word.

As for my first blog post, I’m going to keep it simple and post a pretty neat video. Enjoy!