Carol Huang's Blog

The marketing assignments in which we analyzed the company environment, marketing mix, target segment and created a film project, was definitely a great learning experience. The assignments gave us a lot of practice applying lecture material in our analysis of companies we were interested in and helped me understand why we are learning everything we did in comm 296.  The film project  tied all the assignments together and since no-one of my team had filming experience,  filming and editing was a steep learning curve for us. Learning to use the editing software, as well as communicating and managing the different schedules of my teammates to efficiently finish our assignments were key skills developed in doing this project.

The company my team chose was Blackberry and our target segment was the youths in Indonesia, among which Blackberry is enjoying high popularity. In regards to marketing, analyzing the company and Indonesia smartphone industry (fun fact: elementary aged kids own BlackBerries in Indonesia!) taught me a lot about the steps marketers take in determining the 4 P’s. Being too broad was something my team really struggled on and therefore, one of the biggest take-ways from the project was going in-depth and focus our perspectives when choosing our target segment is crucial in effective marketing strategies.

If I were to do a similar project in the future, I would ensure early scheduling and project planning as top priorities, as I felt that the rush we experienced at the end of the project created a lot of stress on an already busy week. However, I would definitely choose another company that I am interested in and learn more about its activities in international markets, as it was incredibly rewarding!
Thanks for all your efforts, Team 7 :).

Consider the statements “For every person who shares this message, we will donate ___ ” and “If 75% of viewers donate, we will ___”. These statements, commonly from a company supporting a cause, have becoming a common occurrence, spreading virally across hundreds of Facebook profiles in the matter of minutes. I have always considered these campaigns the most effective forms of marketing through Facebook but have never really considered what it is about these action-spurring statements that makes it so appealing. In fact, if I had to choose, I would think that the first statement, where every donation is matched, would be more appealing than the second statement, which contains a condition for the donation. Katya, the writer of a non-profit marketing blog, argues otherwise.

In Katya’s blog “How to make your donors twice as generous”, she states that the sense of collective responsibility and shared reward is more inspiring to donors than the knowledge that there will be an guaranteed benefit (matched donation) for our individual decisions. In fact, she argues that donors would be twice as generous if the condition was present , due to the sense of peer pressure. In some ways, I can understand the reasoning behind it. If I were a potential donor, the thought that my action just might be the difference between meeting that target is very motivating. However, didn’t we learn in finance and economics that everyone is generally risk-averse? Wouldn’t I feel safer donating to a cause that guarantees the result that I am seeking, rather than donating while leaving the result in the hands of hundreds of strangers I will never meet?  With this mindset, I find it hard to believe Katya’s claim that that peer pressure is more effective than risk-less giving of a guaranteed reward. The possibility that is it exactly that risk that is present in the conditional sentence that makes the collective reward so much sweeter. Either way, this form of marketing, where viewers and donors feel empowered in that their individual actions shape the result of a campaign supporting a good cause, is one of the best uses of Facebook!

What are you passionate about? What would you be doing if today was your last? Those were a few of the questions posed to us at a PwC “Brand Yourself” workshop I attended a few weeks ago.  The experience of this workshop came back to me when I was reading Ryan’s post “The Truth of Marketing Yourself”. In this post, Ryan discussed the importance of not presenting an artificially perfect image of ourselves, but rather an honest impression of who we are, with our strengths and our flaws and consequently finding a job that truly suits our personalities.

As consumers, we scrutinize marketing tactics and advertisements for authenticity – our interviewers do the same to us when recruiting. In the PwC workshop, the campus recruiters ended the workshop by commenting that when we are talking about our passions, our faces light up and our excitement is evident in our voice. That is the authenticity that they look for, the genuine interest that colours our conversation that makes one candidate stand out over another.

Ryan utilizes the STP model in suggesting that we segment the jobs available on the market, target ones that complement our interest and position ourselves. I would like to take a different approach on the STP model in a way that reinforces comm 202. When applying for jobs, I tend to end up with a variety of jobs that I am interested in, reflecting the different sides of my personality. For example, some may be community-initiative positions while others are corporate analytical positions. In terms of STP, we can segment the different sides of who we are to determine the various jobs that are compatible with our personalities. We can choose which jobs to target by considering level of interest, chance of success, etc. We can then position ourselves to a particular job by determining which qualifications/experiences are applicable (comm 202!). While we are presenting ourselves differently for different jobs, it is still who we are and therefore genuine.

Someone once said, “Rather than striving to do your best to meet expectations, you should be your best self, in every situation.”

Similar to business schools, Canadian medical schools also compete for the brightest students through various marketing tactics. I recently saw a “Med School Musical” video trending on Facebook the other day, which was created by University of Alberta medical school students. The video’s parody of well-known Disney theme songs, hilarious med-school related lyrics and the amazing vocal talents caught my interest. The video showcases the University of Alberta’s med school environment and warm community to its applicants, in other words, a med-school advertisement.

Using the AIDA model discussed in class, we can analyze the effectiveness of the video as a promotional piece:

Attention: The video’s disney musical style attracts attention and curiousity, encouraging viewers to watch. Through trending on social media websites and word of mouth, the video is exposed to a wide audience.

Interest: The humour of the lyrics and descriptions of the intimidating application process speaks to med school hopefuls preparing their applicantions. The video leads the viewers on a tour of the University of Alberta medical school building and facilities, giving student a glimpse of what med school life is like to spark interest.

Desire: In the scene where an applicant finds out that she has been accepted, the excitement she demonstrates creates a desire for applicants to experience the moment of success as well. Furthermore, the warm community and fun-loving students in the video may influence students’ desire to attend a med school similar to that in the video.

Action:  Applicants should apply to the University of Alberta and join the amazing medical school community!

Unlike the usual marketing tactics utilized by post-secondary and graduate schools that are extremely formal accompanied by endless statistics of student success and satisfaction, I loved the “Med School Musical” for its ability to connect with med school hopefuls through its message and the general public through the well-written lyrics/script and beautifully sung Disney parodies!

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recently released a new commercial asking viewers “What will your last 10 years look like?”, part of their ‘Make Health Last’ campaign to increase the awareness of their foundation. The commercial encourages viewers to take ‘risk assessments’ of their health and donate to the foundation. Watching the commercial, I believe that it is a powerful message to viewers such as myself and those older than me who are still healthy and in the position to make changes to their lifestyle habits. We can identify easily with the healthy and active lifestyle portrayed on the left and feel empowered to create change to avoid illness. As Heart and Stroke Foundation’s intended market segments, their message resonates strongly, which demonstrates a successful marketing strategy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo6QNU8kHxI

However, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has received numerous criticism for viewers for playing on the fears of aging for profit, as well as indirectly placing blame on the elderly people in sickly conditions for not leading a healthier lifestyle. While the Health and Stroke Foundation has defended its stance by stating the message was meant for certain market segments, it is undeniable that audiences this message was not intended, such as seniors in poor health, were still exposed and affected by it.

In our lectures, we have learned how to assess possible market segments and its attractiveness by considering many factors, but we don’t assess the suitability of a marketing strategy by the minimizing the negative affects it may have on other market segments. I think that in creating this commercial, the Heart and Stroke Foundation may have focused too much on the effectiveness of its message with its intended market segment, and too less on the seniors that are featured in their commercial and vulnerable in society. Health and illness is understandably a delicate topic for marketers to approach cautiously, but I hope that the Heart and Stroke Foundation, as well as other health organizations, can find a way to communicate their message in a more optimistic way for future commercials.

Reebok recently donated 3 pairs of customized size 24 shoes to Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in the United States who had not been able to walk due to ill-fitting footwear that damages his feet. The story of Reebok’s altruistic action quickly spread through news agencies across the country. But why would corporations such as Reebok, hand out donations worth $25,000 without expecting some form of benefit from the transaction? Could it be that this donation is a marketing scheme that meant to shine the spot light onto Reebok and potentially draw in new consumers by utilizing the stories of the vulnerable people in our society?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWxTJQ2k6_M

Today, multi-national corporations are responding to society’s increasing value of corporate social responsibility by contributing publicized funding and resources to social causes. Yet when observing large corporations such as McDonalds and Pepsi contributing to fight social issues that their products are blamed for contributing to, the genuinity of actions of corporations are often scrutinized and criticized as publicity stunts. So does Reebok’s donation fall under this category? I say “No”. My reasoning for this is that unlike McDonald’s and Pepsi, Reebok’s demonstrates integrity in their actions, which are in-line with the purpose of their business and their vision to provide people with ” the opportunity, the products, and the inspiration to achieve what they are capable of…[to] fulfill their true potential and reach heights they may have thought un-reachable” (Reebok, 2013).

So what if Reebok’s $25,000 shoes donation may have successfully gained them more exposure from the media and won more consumer hearts than any successful marketing campaigns? If Reebok’s purpose was to market themselves, they could have easily allocated the money to other marketing strategies without ever entering the Igor’s life, but they didn’t. Instead, they chose an ethical outlet that not only helped someone in need, but also differentiated them from other corporations.

Act of altruism, smart marketing scheme or both, I would prefer to call it an ethical marketing investment that is helping shape the dynamic of the interactions between corporations and society and positioning Reebok as a leader in the minds of consumers around the world.

Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tallest-man-u-s-custom-made-sneakers-reebok-article-1.1187283#ixzz29nOeTspj
http://corporate.reebok.com/en/about_reebok/default.asp?cm_sp=Brand-_-Global_Footer-_-About_Reebok

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