While thinking back to the filming process and how we had arrived at that point, I realized that this project was an excellent way of ending this course off and summarizing all the useful marketing material we have learned over the term.
Moreover, breaking the project up into three parts was a good way of keeping us on track, allowing us to prepare quality material at each stage which was beneficial to each preceding part. As I watched each video, I was able to see the results of the work done at each stage and how much they contributed to the final video. It was a pleasure to see the creativity and thought put into each video, which was emphasized by the reviews we had to do.  Going through each review, I was able to tune in to each group’s marketing mix for their company and learn things I had never heard of. I felt like that a peer review would’ve been reviewed in a similar manner even if we had a presentation, so I can’t imagine it to be overly different than our online peer reviews of these videos.

I could only imagine how much each group learned about their company, as my team had chosen Starbucks. Starbucks was a company I thought I knew quite well, but that was never the case! This project taught me so much more and has made me a lot more humble in regards to how much I think i know. The filming process itself was quite fun, and enabled our team to further bond together. As one of the actors in our video, I had a great deal of fun filming with the team. It also made things more interesting when we were able to voice our opinions and act them out via video. With the integrative use of video and professional editing software, we were really able to deliver our  ideas with style.

In response to Christopher Yim’s blog post about the rebranding of the New Orlean’s Hornets, I have to agree with the positive effect the re-branding has had on the franchise. By rehauling the failing franchise through a complete restructuring of it’s image and logo, New Orleans has really turned their organization around. Louisiana has always had a strong relation with the pelican bird, it being the official state bird, as well as it’s nickname “The Pelican State.” What the franchise succeeded in seeing was that the small market size in New Orleans for professional basketball was not particularly inclined to support their home team when it was called the Hornets. Perhaps a major reason was that the Hornets was not associated with Louisiana at all. It was originally meant to appeal to the Charlotte market, where it has remain associated with since then. On the other hand, when the franchise rebranded it self as the Pelicans, New Orleans and Louisiana state began to rally behind it, not only because it was the home team, because the organization stood for something greater. The Pelican was and always has been an important symbol for the Louisiana people. When Hurricane Katrina hit, as well as the BP oil spill incident, the pelican was one of the animals to receive the most concern. By switching the hornets with the Pelicans, the franchise was able to appeal to the correct target audience of Louisiana state, as well as maintain their support for such a symbolic team and image. With the drafting of new stars such as Anthony Davis, the Pelicans are able to add onto the support they’ve garnered from the logo change with support for an actually well-performing team. With that successful re-branding campaign, the franchise at New Orleans is looking at a steady recovery, both financially and physically.

Anthony Davis

Link to Christopher Yim’s blog post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/christopheryim/2013/10/10/rebranding-nba-new-orleans-pelicans/

In a recent article written by Marketing Manager EMEA Joel Windels, I have been really surprised by his revelation of how much social media actually prevails in professional life. I am sure many of us are familiar with how much social media is existent within our personal and academic lives, as well as how useful as a tool it is to marketers. However, what shocked me was how nowadays, for professional marketers it really seems like a go-to outlet for new leads. According to Mr. Windels blog, he states that 68% of marketers have created leads from social media, and that more than half of these wily marketers have actually made money that way. It is a very instructional blog as well though, because it goes over what we have learned in class – targeting customers, their various demographics, identifying their needs, and seeing things from the consumer’s perspective. He then proceeds to tell us that finding lot’s of different methods to market towards consumer’s is highly recommended, but also advises us to cut out ones that don’t seem viable. He closes the blog with another emphasis on quality. With the right methods and the matching market statistics, we can really target the right market. However, these leads should be constantly improved and refined before being handed off to sales – to ensure it gets approved and implemented quickly. This article really put into perspective of how relevant and applicable Comm 296 is. Virtually everything that Mr. Windels said has been covered so far in our course. Moreover, it also throws into perspective of how applicable social media is to the actual business world. Until now, I had no idea that such a vast majority of marketing leads derived from social media. I had always known it was an important marketing tool, but did not know that it was the starting point for nearly 70% of all leads!

link to Mr. Windels blog article: http://econsultancy.com/ca/blog/63752-how-to-use-social-media-monitoring-to-generate-viable-leads

For the past month and a half, Apple has kicked up quite a stir with the release of its new line of iPhone’s and iPads. Part of the reason for that frenzy is their new “updated” software with every new release, blowing past benchmarks and speed and performance. Although many of us may wonder how it’s possible to double your speed every time like clockwork, Qualcomm former Chief Marketing Officer tells us exactly how Apple does it – they don’t. Mr. Anand Chandrasekher, has called the new A7 chip  a “marketing gimmick” believing  it to provide “zero benefit” to the consumer. In a world where marketing campaigns of  many companies are under attack for twisting and hiding the truth, shouldn’t a reliable  source be allowed to speak their peace of mind more than anyone? Apple has marketed  this new chip to be “revolutionary” (as it always does) so although having a competitor’s  opinion may be biased, they still have a better knowledge of the industry than the average  Joe’s thoughts. Marketing should be based on true facts and figures, and if Apple gets  called out on it, people shouldn’t be demoted for it.  As consumers, is it really plausible for  something to increase it’s speed  exponentially, so consistently? How “fast”  will it get before it’s too fast? Mr. Chandrasekher has an excellent point about this chip being a marketing gimmick. By falsely advertising the performance levels of Apple’s new products (either by completely false numbers or manipulated tests), Apple is betraying the trust it’s loyal consumer’s have for the technological giant. Although people may not necessarily be glorified for making such serious accusations, demotion is a bit of a shock in terms of responding to such an incident. More importantly, Qualcomm is actually a competitor to Apple now, so it makes even less sense as to why they would punish an executive for criticizing the opponents.

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57609038-37/after-apple-64-bit-a7-criticism-qualcomm-exec-reassigned/

It cannot be denied that in recent years, the amount of news “leaks” have grown exponentially, so much so that many of us are no longer surprised by it’s presence in the daily news. For the purposes of keeping this post within a relative and defined topic area, I will talk about new technology. Perhaps the most obvious example would be Apple. At the moment, they are the ones that receive the greatest media coverage in regards of new product releases, and are closely scrutinized every quarter of the year. However, it becomes suspicious when, without fail, every new product release is preceded by a product or product part “leak”. We might remember the thrilling tale from Gizmodo, http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone, who allegedly obtained  the “picked up” prototype iPhone 4 in a bar. While many cannot help but remain puzzled  as to how this serious breach of secrecy occurred, it nonetheless gained a fair amount  of coverage. Fast forward to 2013, and once again Apple has had a “leak.” What turned  out to be stunningly accurate pictures of the new iPhone 5s were found days before the  release of the iPhone itself, with many wondering just what Apple was doing to keep it’s  products hidden from the spotlight until debut. The detail in this leak was truly  comprehensive. http://www.extremetech.com/computing/165955-iphone-5s-leak-  points-toward-colorful-silver-ringed-fingerprint-scanning-home-button 

This leads us to the question: “Is Apple doing this intentionally?” Well it really is a matter of perspective, but I personally believe that the leaks are controlled. This is really free marketing for Apple, having leaks stir up a frenzy for it’s products and potentially helping to drive up its share price in the coming days before the product release. Although a little unfair for it’s competition (if Apple really does plan these leaks), it is nonetheless an amusing notion for us to ponder. Just how on earth does a technological powerhouse suffer from so many leaks?

Since our senior year’s in high school, we have always been focused on the Canadian government in our social studies courses and such. We have observed our country’s constitution, it’s parliament, and it’s political parties and environment. When asked to bring up examples of political advertisements through any media outlet, a common answer would be Stephen Harper writing at his desk, working hard and giving off a friendly vibe. Or back when Jack Layton was still the NDP head, speaking to us with a warm and fatherly attitude. However, over the years, we have been seeing an increasing number of attack advertisements – something that is more common in the American political environment. Canada has always been known for its friendly and hospitable reputation, yet America’s culture is slowly seeping into our political scene. Ads such as the Conservative’s attack on Justin Trudeau (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKps7uG6eM) are becoming increasingly frequent, and presents not only a declining image of our country, but a bad influence to our youth as well. The marketing of a political party would make more sense to be of relevance to what the party is and plans to be doing in the future. Instead, we are focusing on the negatives of the opposition, something which lacks a little class. To the younger generation, seeing such reputable parties display put-down and negative behavior is detrimental to their personal growth. What if, in their next group project or debate, instead of focusing on the positives of their topic, they focused on making harsh arguments against the other side of the coin? Although that may be a trivial thought, it could become a negative aspect that will grow into an unfortunate habit. The marketing in the Canadian political environment should really focus back on what matters, the advantages and values that each party upholds and can bring to the country.