Month: February 2011

Forget subscribing to magazines and reading about products to try, subscribe to Birchbox (USA) or Loose Button (Canada and USA)and get “deluxe” sized samples right to your door! This idea really sparked an interest in me because I am the type of shopper who is often lazy to go to the mall and ask to try products and brands out, this service delivers various products to me and are from reputable, luxury brands. They are geodemographically targetting people just like me, and the others who are not near a Sephora or a department store that can provide samples. Obviously this type of subscription also appeals to the market women who are interested in beauty products.

Subscribing itself is very flexible, you can choose to subscribe to 1 month, 2 months, or the whole year and it only costs around $10 USD for each month. From the videos I have watched of girls opening their box full of goodies, it seems that they are often very satisfied by 1 to 2 items out of the 4 to 5, and some samples are retail size! So the value perceived is that what is in the box is actually worth more than the $10 subscription fee

As for the companies who expose their items in the box, they are focusing on the relative advantage of trialability. It can be assumed that if a subscriber reacts positively to a product sample, they are likely to become more knowledgable of the benefits of using that specific brand. Basically what I am saying is, if I like the sample of Lip Balm from Burts Bee’s, I will go to my London Drugs store, or the internet and find out what other products they offer and be a potential buyer.

Here is a video, of what it would be like if Birchbox shipped to Canada.

During hours of procrastination and plain boredom, alot of females, like myself, will turn to popular sites like Youtube for some quick entertainment. A few years ago, I noticed a spike in videos that revolved around Makeup Tutorials. Amoung the most famous makeup gurus, according to youtube titles, is the Most Subscribed Guru of all time, Michelle Phan. The basics of these videos are that girls are teaching other girls how to look pretty. But what is important and relevant to marketing are the products that are being used in these videos. Michelle Phan alone has secured a job with Lancome because of her videos, she is also given a variety of beauty products from other brands such as Lise Watier, Body Shop, and a few others in order for her to use and try on during videos.

Why is this relevant? Because consumers are living in a world of google on the go, endless opinions and reviews about products and many means to get all this information. A luxury item like expensive makeup is typically not an impulse buy and therefore consumers will get seek opinions they trust and are familiar with.

Makeup brands recognize that this market that wants to learn more about the endless array of products before purchasing is vast and growing exponentially. What better place to appeal to these eager consumers than with online videos, which are basically free publicity? Michelle Phan’s videos rack up, up to 1 million views, and chances are if she raves about a product some girls are going to go out to buy it. These guru’s have a subscription base and these are the people that will trust the opinion of their favorite guru and purchase accordingly.

With expanding videos about makeup products, good and bad: it is easy to be tempted by the pretty faces on youtube to buy the products they use.

As a celebration of their 50th anniversary, Sanrio partnered up with McDonald’s again to offer an exclusive adjustable watch that would be sold individually and with the purchase of your favorite Happy Meal. These cute and fully functional watches sold out within weeks and I personally was quite disappointed I didn’t collect them all when I had the chance to! The corporate partners both McDonalds and Sanrio have been working together for years and without a doubt they are looking to sell to kids. Even though a child’s personal income may just be $20 a month from allowance they spend (in the U.S) “more than $200 billion a year on personal items”1 and have a significant influence on their families overall spending.

Sanrio/McDonald’s toy’s

However, is it ethically right to market to a vulnerable age demographic that are arguably the most impressionable? The Center for Science in the Public Interest doesn’t think so, they have threatened to sue McDonalds for using toys to lure children to preferring unhealthy meals. The meals have elevated levels of calories, fat and sugar that contribute to childhood obesity and is part of the reason why the generation of children who are eating these meals are being considered the first generation that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Children are unable to analyze and understand marketing tactics like a skeptical adult can.

Happy Meals

While the toys may be irresistible, maybe parents could substitute purchasing the toys separately and making their own healthier, happier meals.

1 Textbook, Marketing: Second Edition. Pg 97