Brandon Bonifacio's blog

To all of my blog readers,

Last night I had the privilege of being at game 7, trying to witness history.

Unfortunately, our beloved Canucks lost 4-0. At the end of the day, Boston did deserve to win this series and were the best team on the ice when it counted the most. However as most of you probably have seen or read in the news, the aftermath of yesterday’s game was absolutely horrendours. Riots ensued in Vancouver for hours and it portrayed our city in a horrible manner. Being a city which counts on tourism, this definately had a negative affect on our marketability as people from around the world caught these riots on T.V. or via internet. Our city got portrayed as being filled with the scum of the earth, and our city’s reputation could have been seriously hurt.

Some may think these events had no way of becoming positive, but what happened the next morning was truely remarkable. Hundreds upon hundreds of Vancouver residents sacrificed their own time and energy to help clean up OUR city. (Those rioters have no business being associated with us, and all of them should rot in jail…Sorry for being so blunt) There are many pictures circulating the web and it is truely amazing at how our city rallied around these riots to show the world we do have character. Instead of one night of madness affecting so many areas of business around Vancouver, certain individuals may have salvaged our reputation. Some people may view Vancouver as “dangerous” or not a place they would want to visit anymore, but throughout the day our city has been portrayed in an amazing way…the way we should be thought of.

After reading this blog, Celebrity Endorsements Study, on BrandChannel I was very intrigued at the results they got. The main point of the research is that only 4% of consumers will buy a product if a celebrity endorses it. I found this number very low, as having 2 younger sisters, I know they are swayed by what they see on certain celebrities in such magazines like US Weekly and other tabloids.

My main problem with the research is that I would like to see what kind of people they actually conducted the research on. Did they do research on all demographics? Or just very wealthy people? An example they bring up in the blog is Angelina Jolie doing advertisements for Louis Vuitton. However, in my opinion, someone who is purchasing Louis Vuitton really does not need to see an advertisement of a celebrity with the product. Due to Louis Vuitton being such a well renowned brand, the consumers know what they want and do not need to be swayed by seeing advertisements of celebrities.

This is Blake Lively, from the teen show Gossip Girl. I don’t think this is a smart advertisement for Chanel as most people buying Chanel purses do not watch Gossip Girl. Being a teenage hit, some consumers may be turned off by seeing Blake Lively in advertisements as they may see it as “trashing” the brand.

Another problem with having celebrities endorse your high quality products is that in the world of celebrities, reputations change very quickly. For example, last week there were naked photos of Blake Lively leaked on the internet (I don’t think a link is needed for this…) This is negative press for her and also negative press for Chanel. Having celebrities endorse high priced products can be problematic and high quality brands should reconsider who they use for advertisements.

In response to another interesting blog written by fellow classmate Khalil, Humour in Marketing, I want to discuss the different effects commercials can have on consumers. After watching this commercial for Alexandre Keiths, I agree with what Khalil says on how it is appropriate for certain target audiences. Throughout hockey games you rarely see commercials for children’s toys, but see a lot of beer  and alchohal advertisements. This is because people who like to watch hockey tend to also enjoy drinking beer.

Having humour in a commercial is a very effective technique and has been a trend for a lot of years. However, while watching the last Canuck’s game, one particular commercial caught my eye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSd8CqBEbcY

This commercial takes a more serious stance and tries to show you how much emotion these professional hockey players feel and how much the Stanley Cup really means to them. Being an athlete, I definately had goosebumps throughout this commercial and I felt even more emotion towards the actual game being played. I like this technique utilized by the NHL, and you also see it being used by other sports leagues like the NBA. Instead of getting viewers to laugh, they get more serious emotions circulating. Although this commercial is for the NHL league and not necessarily a specific product, it still promotes everything about the NHL like their merchandise and actually witnessing history being made. I’m sure after the Canucks win the Stanley Cup (Yes, I am very confident), I will be speechless and have no words to describe what I am feeling.

After coming accross many people posting this link on Facebook, Boston \”Vancouver\” Pizza, I thought it would be fitting especially as the Canucks 1st game is this Wednesday. For non-hockey fans (I’m not sure if that’s even possible with the state of craziness Vancouver is in right now), our Vancouver Canucks are playing the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. It is our first appearence in the Finals since 1994, and for a hockey hub like Vancouver it has been quite a LONG wait for another shot at winning the Cup.

Boston Pizza is a partner of the Vancouver Canucks and their pizza is offered at concessions inside Rogers Arena. Since Boston won the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston Pizza has taken an interesting marketing technique and has changed their name in British Columbia to Boston Vancouver Pizza. They also visibly state they are “proud fans of the Vancouver Canucks”. Due to Vancouver being in a hockey frenzy, I think this technique is not only comical but also very useful. Being a consumer, it definately got a positive reaction out of me. I felt a stronger connection to Boston Pizza and the fact that they support Vancouver Canucks makes me want to eat their pizza over other companies.

Although Boston making it into the finals could have had a negative affect on Boston Pizza’s business, they spun this into a positive marketing strategy. They now have a competitive advantage over other pizza companies, and die hard hockey fans may even relate to them more after they showed their support for the Vancouver Canucks. As our city keeps buzzing in a Vancouver Canucks frenzy, I will definately be eating my Boston Vancouver Pizza come game time!

Khalil\’s Blog on Pre-Sale Condos

After finally getting my blog registered (I have no idea why I didn’t work the first time), I had the privilege of reading a fellow classmates. I thought the topic Khalil discussed was very interesting. I have been following the Real Estate Market in Vancouver as I am looking to buy a property and pre-sale is how a lot of appartments are being purchased. I agree with a lot of what Khalil had to say, especially how marketing is VITAL in selling pre-sale condos. The agents/companies are selling consumers something that is not yet completed, by giving us something to imagine. 

Turning to what Khalil stated near the end of his blog, the prices in Vancouver for real estate are surging and there is no telling when it will stop. However where are all of these buyers from? Who can afford to spend this type of money for average properties? The answer is foreign investors:

 Chinese Spreading Wealth Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC

I am by no means saying that foreign investment in our country is negative, but it is creating a real estate bubble for local purchasers. Personally, I have two friends who work at pre-selling of condos and they have stated to me how a lot of Asian investors/purchasers do not even look at the appartment layout or graphics. They simply look at the location of the building, what floor it is on, and if there are schools nearby.  I do agree with how Khalil discussed how many tools are being utilized to attract buyers of pre-sale condos, but is this really the case? Or are investors purchasing appartments that will be completed in 2015 blindly just so they can turn a quick dollar? The injection of dollar is good for our economy, especially after 2008, but at some point local/federal legislations must be passed to limit the amount of foreign investors in our real estate market.

(Yes the picture looks nice, but starting at $760,000 for 825 sq. foot= absurd. A UBC dorm room in Totem is almost bigger then that!!!)

I thought it would be fitting to discuss the logo change of Starbucks as they were my team’s choice of business for our 1st marketing assignment. Being an avid coffee drinker I was quite intrigued when looking at how Starbucks logo/image has changed over the years.

Looking at their present choice of logo, which has no words, I find it more similar to the first logo Starbucks chose. After researching this, it turns out that Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, wanted the company to return more to its roots. This is a strong marketing technique used by Schultz as Starbucks has been having problems due to such large commoditization of their company. They are beginning to be viewed as a “fast food” chain of coffee, when really, their coffee is high quality.

Another reason for their logo change is that Starbucks is not just a coffee company anymore. They serve many different types of drinks, including teas, as well as offering food. Schultz has also stated that they want to be viewed as a more diverse company, and stripping the words off its logo will help do this.
Due to Starbucks having such a strong brand, they are able to have zero words in their logo, yet still have millions of people recognize them. This shows how massive their company is, and how without even including words on their cups, almost everybody can still recognize one. How does Starbucks do this? How is their brand image so strong? To be continued in Part 2…

  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/mcdonalds-replace-cashiers-touch-screen-computers-200601087.html

While going through the news today, I came across a very interesting article. McDonalds restaurants in Europe are trying to take away face to face communication to speed up their serving process. Essentially they will have no people working at the cashiers and will have touch screen computers. Initially I thought this idea would not work, but after some reflection I believe this is an interesting concept. A lot of consumers who go to McDonalds are not necessarily eating there because of friendly service. They want fast service for a cheap reliable tasty product. However part of the market could enjoy friendly service so taking this away may hinder business. Although in the past McDonalds has utilized their “Smile” advertising campaign, having electronic cashiers will take away this whole idea. I understand our world is becoming more technological, but is there a limit at how far we go? Being a sporadic McDonald’s eater (I am not proud!) I believe their idea could work in certain locations like airports or high traffic volume restaurants like in Downtown Vancouver. I think it would be better if the consumer had a choice of ordering at a cashier with a server or electronically. This concept is employed at grocery stores and seems to be having success. Being a McDonald’s eater, I think I would like the option of choosing between face to face interaction or touching a screen. Maybe it is just me, but a smile in the morning always cheers up my day!

 Happiest commercial I have ever seen

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

The greatest lesson I have learnt in my life is “Go Big or Go Home”. Essentially what this means is that if you want to do something correct, you have to invest all of your time into it. There is no prize in having regrets after you complete a task. This statement sums up all areas of life, not just school or work. It correlates to other areas like family or friends. If you want to be the best you can be, you have to go all out. If you put in all the work you can into something, you will eventually start to get rewards. All in all, to be successful in life, one has to put everything they can into something, to get real rewards.