Brad Koenig's Blog

After reading Sara’s blog, seen here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/sarashams/2011/11/15/bad-news-bears/  – I fully agree about the fact that the new can will create a brand image about Coke that is positive. I would hope that everyone loves polar bears, and thinks they’re big, fluffy and cute (anyone with a heart anyways). The new can – hopes Coke – will bring in new customers attracted to helping Coke’s good cause. However, I agree with Sara that this can is very easy to mistake for diet coke, as the first time I saw it, I made that very mistake.

I’m indifferent about whether or not it was a good idea to change the can colour to white. On one hand, the colour of the can should be a very unimportant issue comparative to the state of the polar bears. But however, as Sara mentions, the red can is a trademark and a brand identity of Coke; when consumers see a red can, they think of Coke.

The best of both worlds? The red can with the polar bears.

For more information on the partnership between the WWF and Coke: http://wwf.ca/conservation/species/polar_bears_icoke.cfm

In the pivotal game 5 of this year’s World Series, the bullpen phone (of all things) most likely cost the Cardinals a shot at the championship. The Cardinals bench boss Tony La Russa called down to the bullpen during the 8th inning in an attempt to have one of his pitchers warm up. Due to the noise of the crowd and the location of the bullpen phone (apparently echos in the stadium) the bullpen coach was unable to hear all of what La Russa said. Noticing the mix up, La Russa called back and yet again, there was a miscommunication. All being settled, it left the Cardinals in an unfavourable matchup batter vs. pitcher, something that the Cardinals just didn’t win.

This led me to do a bit of research. Currently, Major League Baseball has 16 sponsors, and NONE of which are a phone company. Phone companies can take this opportunity to become a part with MLB, revamping the bullpen phone system, making sure this type of situation was one of a kind.

Full story can be seen here: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111024&content_id=25774312&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

It seems like YouTube is the new way companies are advertising their products. Instead of paying a large amount of money to run a commercial during primetime TV, YouTube allows companies to reach thousands of consumers for free. Since the majority of Internet users are teenagers or young adults, advertising through YouTube can reach a higher number of this target group as opposed through TV.

For example, the “Will It Blend” videos – featuring the Blend Tec blender – have been quite a popular hit on Youtube.

This particular video has reached almost 12 and a half million views. If an advertisement were to reach this amount of views through TV, it would cost them thousands of dollars.

The blog post seen here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/hyungjinjo/2011/09/26/viral-advertising/, states, “These advertisements actually does not increase sales.” Although this may be true in a general sense, but I think that something like the Blend Tec advertisements would increase sales. If I were ever in the position of needing a blender, I would definitely buy a Blend Tec blender for 2 reasons:

1) It’s the only blender company that I know of

2) If my iPhone ever gave me a dirty look I have the comfort of knowing I can                       grind it in to dust

At this point in the year, most of you have read – or at least glanced at, and thought about reading – the Marketing textbook. At first I thought nothing of it; it was great to have the real world examples of how companies are building customer equity, defining a market-oriented mission, or even how they are targeting their market segment.

But then I started noticing the amounts of brands that were actually in the book: Heinz, 7-Eleven, Telus, and SunChips, just to name a few.

A lot of the brands in the book are brands that appeal to a university student; the 18-24 year old who is aware of the environment, and who are technologically literate.

I’m not sure if there are any laws against this, but the ability to market through this textbook is immense. In some cases, there are 1-2 page excerpts (the Marketing@Work stories) that essentially “talk-up” the company’s ability to differentiate their product, their customer relationship management and even their marketing information systems.

Now I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that I have changed my opinion about a number of companies after knowing more about the social work they do, or how they’re making efforts to be more environmentally friendly.  This has led me to visit their website, explore and even research some of the products they offer. As a teen, A LOT of the TV ads really don’t appeal to me, and if anything, they draw me away from the product/brand.

By being able to learn about them at my own will, and being able to understand the decisions they’re making, it has helped me differentiate them from competitors.

In the near future, I could see companies looking into marketing through textbooks in order to appeal to the teens/young adults that can be unreachable at times. If not all, the vast majority of the market who reads textbooks (especially marketing books) are in university and will hopefully have the disposable income in the future to purchase high-end products.

A funny YouTube video that you may have came across during the textbook – although this video wasn’t allowed to be aired on TV, it has still received almost 4 million views on YouTube.

Throughout COMM 299, I’ve learned over and over again that each one of us is different. I’ve learned that every single one of us comes from a different background, and have different experiences which make us who we are, and make us stand out to employers. As well, I’ve also learned that I am able to bring something to an organization that someone else may not be able to bring, and vice versa, because of this, I feel like if I try my best at creating a well written cover letter/resume and have a good interview that I’ve done all I can for myself to get this job. Whatever happens after that is out of my control, which has taught myself to be able to move on in times like this, and to keep a positive attitude.

The greatest lesson I learned was from my grade 12 Calculus teacher, except, he doesn’t know that he taught me anything besides calculus. Up until grade 12, I was an average student who, like some, never put in 100% of their effort. I’ve always heard stories of this teacher, stories about how he is mean, or how he expects a lot from his students, and “lucky” me, I had never had him before in all my years of taking math at high-school.

When it was time for class, I never really knew what to expect, I had always liked math, so I went in with an open mind. But that year, I had hopes of going to University next fall, and I had told myself that I was going to bust my balls to succeed. Just the thought of calculus is enough to make some people feel uneasy, but when you have a teacher like I did, it makes it so much easier.

The semester went on and I began going in for some extra help at lunch, and after school. In turn, my grade in that class started skyrocketing. I realized to myself that if I continue to work hard, I can achieve great things. I ended up finishing the class with a high “A,” and it ended up being my best mark in my 5 years of high-school. As well, I took the same approach in to my other classes and I was rewarded.

Looking back, it’s easy to realize that if you work hard, everything else just falls in to place. He taught me that you should always work towards a goal, and if you work hard, you don’t have to worry about whether or not you will get there, because with hard work, there are infinite possibilities.

The emergence of powerhouses Apple, Google, and Motorola prowess has been starting to affect RIM negatively. Over the past summer, shares of RIM have fallen 9%, this is due in large part of the iPad & iPhone, as well as the Google-enabled Android, and Motorola.

Investors were left wondering if RIM was heading for the same destination as Palm. As we all now, Palm was once a powerhouse of it’s own, but ultimately started to fade away, leading to their recent purchase of $1.2 billion, just a smaller percent of what the company was once worth.

Since August, RIM has skyrocketed ~45%, even outperforming Apple. A New York analyst believes that the new Blackberry phone, the “Torch”, isn’t getting enough credit it should, despite strong sales numbers. The phone was put down at first due to the fact it wasn’t similar to the iPhone or the Android.

RIM recently purchased software company QNX, using the new operating system for the Torch. The new OS was greeted with smiles, as it allowed for outside developers to create applications easier than the old Blackberry OS.

And as we all know, the app trend is in full effect.

In this technological age, the amount of data that can be collected about how drivers use their cars is amazing. Riversimple, a British company, has recently developed hydrogen-powered cars, which will make a debut in Britain in 2012.  Although the release will be a pilot test, Riversimple’s sustainability office is already thinking of fun ways for this to catch on; she states that drivers could play games to see who is driving the most efficiently.

A number of data can be extracted, such as how the brakes are being used, the pedals, or petrol consumption. Cars will also come equipped with the ability to transfer this data to a USB stick, allowing drivers to view the data on their home computers. It will give tips for them to improve their driving, for example, shifting gears less.

The ultimate goal is to make this data available instantly, via the on board computer. “The plan is to tell you the most eco way to drive, by changing your behaviour, taking in traffic conditions and the structure of the road” such as how steep it is, Mr Peterlini says, VP for product development at Fiat

The North American market is a goal. This is coming through the eyes of any Asian brand looking to make a splash with their high end goods. Back home in Singapore, luxury tea provider TWG Tea has hopes of entering Canada, and hopes to establish a presence in North America. The only thing holding TWG is the fact they are yet to find a suitable partner in order to boost expansion.

The reason why TWG has had so much success in the high quality tea market is their personal relationships with the suppliers. The relationships give TWG the advantage of ensuring themselves the first pick within each harvest.

TWG prides themselves on variety. Variety, variety, variety. Aside from classics like Earl Gray and English Breakfast, they also offer around 800 more exotic types including the Middle Eastern-inspired Alexandria, which evokes flavours from the glory days of the Ottoman Empire. The philosophy of variety is paying for itself in the form of sales. In 2008, TWG opened its first international store in NewYork; stock sold out within days.

While it may be difficult to have such a wide variety on other goods, variety is something that allows you to appeal to a wider consumer base. If at all possible, companies should look in to providing some sort of customization, or try to provide a wider variety of goods (differentiating), as they just may see their profits increase.

It’s easy to trick consumer in to buying something they don’t necessarily want, the biggest of which, is to cut and price to make them think they’re getting the best deal out there. The other, you make the taxpayer subsidize the costs. I’m sure you can guess what technique is being used here…

Over the past few years, electric/”green” cars have been a big buzz, companies have been coming up left and right with new models. Even though the “green wave” has passed and gone, these cars are still not selling. Why? THEY COST TOO MUCH MONEY. Don’t believe me? Since about 10 years ago when the Japanese launched the first hybrid about 10 years ago, approximately 2 million hybrids have been sold. It may seem like a big number, but the nationwide car fleet totals about one billion.

The new, plug-in variety of these electric vehicles will be subsidized substantially by the government.The reason behind this is to basically increase the purchasing incentive. In the UK, the government will pay up to 25% of an electric car price, but not exceeding £5,000 per vehicle. The shocking part, the Canadian government plans to subsidize as much as $8500 CAN.

Toyota estimated in 2008 that they would sell approximately 250,000 of the Fiat’s in 2009. 250, 000 x 8500 gives us a number just north of 21 billion. Yes, that’s right… billion.