Charlene Low's Blog

The greatest lesson may be a tough thought to affiliate, but despite many tidings, i have decided to select this quote, fairly known “why do you try so hard to fit in when you are born to stand out.” Heard from a movie but repeated not too long ago by a close friend of mine.

Being a 1st year Bcom Sauder Student is a life changing experience, a new school, a new country, brand new environment and etc. As every student would be doing, trying to fit in, finding where they belong. This friend of mine from back home, where everything was a comfort to me, parents assuring you are going the right path, long childhood friends, everything basically spoon-fed. He stood by me, even miles away guiding the steps i need to overcome challenges. I learned to be strong, to not give up, one failure doesn’t last forever and everyone is born to stand out.

Sauder school was utterly different from what i perceived it to be, and nevertheless brings out the best in a person, bring out the determination and the will to strive for the best. My friend told me  in the midst of me giving up, to stay strong as the best is yet to come, nothing comes easy and when the hard work is done, it will be worth it.

This is not a lesson that may mean much, but with a little help, it may be all you need.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Bell was pronounced the main telecom sponsor of the world-known event. Despite TELUS losing the bid, TELUS had used different marketing strategies such as strengthening its affiliation with Tourism Whistler. In addition TELUS had also indirectly found methods of advertising its services with the 2010 Winter Olympics through its sponsorship of Alpine Canada, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Snowboarding Association.

Bell was then faced with the dilemma of ambush marketing—an unethical form of marketing. Immoral towards the millions of dollars Bell has spent towards the 2010 Winter Olympics, TELUS had prevented Bell from attaining much of the pre-marketing strategies for the 2010 Winter Olympics; this ambush marketing concerned Bell.

In order to protect the brand from facing disputes, VANOC will enforce actions by using a two-step process of assessment:

• infringement assessment
• enforcement assessment

The two assessments dictate that if a business is unlawfully using the brand within their business, VANOC will take action against that said business.

VANOC proposed solutions to prevent ambush marketing as such:

• implementing a public educational campaign
• grandfather businesses that misuse protected terms
• VANOC could advertise its services at other locations within Vancouver despite TELUS’ contracts with organizations at Whistler.

What is old spice? Why would you buy it?

Here is your reason! What many consumers are attracted to is not the product itself, but how the business sells its product. What makes the brand known, selling ordinary deodorant that any other brand is capable of. But what makes people want to buy old spice?

In the Old Spice commercials, it perceives an image of an “ideal man” and how the Old Spice product is able to “do it all”. The commercial shows what “The Man Your Man Could smell like”. This may seem corny, however yet by the amusement brought upon the commercial itself, it was able to re-attract millions of hits on websites such as Youtube. The brand itself relies on popularity and number of viewers in order to sell the commercial and the product.

Old Spice’s principals of social media marketing are as follows:

1. Creating a persona that i strong and on the point

2. Seed social network with invitations to interact

3. Engage the engaged, the famous and the influencers

4. Personalize the response and people will complete for inclusion

5. Make it episodic and easy to share

6. Keeps the video, simple and short

7. Promote it with ties-in offline

In marketing, how a company is “perceived” is the key factor for success.

Now in the 21st century, companies and consumers are copious about the environment, and how a business could contribute. A key factor is “Sustainability” and Corporal Social Responsibility.
As one of my favourite shopping outlets, “Zara” is committing towards the sustainable development of society. It has created a environmental policy as such:

“AT THE STORE

– We save energy.
– The eco-friendly shop.
– We produce less waste, and recycle.
– Our commitment extends to all our staff.
– An environmentally aware team.”

By having these new goals, Zara achieves a new distinctiveness to their company and their look. Though from its spectacular brand image, who ever thought Zara would need to devoir in such a concept? Sustainability Sustainability is a balancing act
-sustainability development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Zara now uses new economical material, fabrics to create their products which does not diminish the quality of the goods in order for the price to decrease, but could possibly increase the potential liability of the customers to return.
Recycling goods such as hangers, carboard and packaging reduces the amount of waste within the company also by involving staff members to become more economically efficient, increases the reputation of the business.
Ecology is the new “in-thing”, to suceed a company may want take upon this approach!

http://www.zara.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category/ca/en/zara-sales/18001/Our%2BMission%2BStatement

Twitter, a micro-blogging, social networking service that has caught the attention of countless number of people of all ages. Well developed countries all over the world have soared to reach every corner of the globe. So how far do they reach?

Statistics have shown that this little bird has found its way to the land of many islands “Indonesia”. A country known to have so little with their massive population, has become the world’s biggest user of Twitter! With a mere 140 characters, twitter has amazed them.
So why?
Research have found, because of the cheap mobile phones sold in Indonesia, many well off people in Indonesia are able to afford smart phones (mainly blackberry’s but that is another story) and thus social networking emerges. Though Indonesia may not be a highly developed country, they can afford to sell products at a lower selling price to consumers in order to benefit both the seller and the consumer. This causes Indonesian’s to follow the trends of the global society of facebook, twitter, blackberry messenger etc. There is a strong sense of community within the country as they communicate with one another through these networks.
In order for a company to be successful, it has to be known in the community!

links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/22/indonesians-worlds-biggest-users-of-twitter

Social entrepreneur: Someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurship to solve that problem.

Jamie Oliver, a chef or an entrepreneur?

As worldwide known chef, Jamie Oliver has set out on a mission to raise awareness of the importance of nutritious and cooking and the impact it has on the lives of everyone, especially young people and underprivileged people. He does this by building up a foundation whereby these people are given the opportunity to join an apprentice program in which they can learn to work in a restaurant business and as their progress increases, their level of responsibility increase. This program is funded by the money made from the business, and have an actual business model, in comparison to a charity business which gathers funds from others.

As said by Jamie Oliver:
“Having not been the brightest banana in the bunch myself, I realised that my biggest weapon in life was the determination, enthusiasm, hands-on and “actions speak louder than words” approach my father taught me, and I wanted to get this across to others, especially those interested in food.”

He has brought to achieve fundamental societal change using this method of innovative change!

Rumours had it that Microsoft is planning to work together with Adobe in order to compete with the ever success of Apple. As a recent heavy trading, shares of Adobe ascended and report has it that there may be a possible buyout of the company.

As Apple has conquered the cellphone industry with the amazing Iphone invention, both Microsoft and Adobe are seeking to overcome the Iphone. As what is lacking in the Iphone, is the flexibility of the usage of other products within the Iphone, yet many people choose Apple because of the distinctiveness against all other phones/products, having their own system, many other companies can’t integrate their software into Apple. Therefore Apple stands alone. They have already achieved the top position in the markets for their products, they also prevent other people using other products due to the system they have. This sort of marketing strategy allows Apple to create an image as the only product that should be used. From this, customers are much more loyal to Apple in comparison to other software such as Microsoft.

There is still uncertainty whether this change will create a huge impact, however it will surely attract a number of customers.

link: http://tech.ca.msn.com/canadianpress-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25867781

On October 11, a whole line of new phones are revealed to the world using the brand new software created by Microsoft, “Windows Phone 7″. It’s still a mystery to us. Yet i know, many people would be interested, as the brand has been created, selling the product won’t be tough as long as it keeps customers satisfied. As smart phones are replacing ordinary phones, more and more people look towards what more they can achieve from the phone besides the call/ text features. From camera to video to internet usage, it never ends.

Microsoft has developed a strong company name, and became well known into the world as one of the first computer software programs. Here Microsoft is trying to achieve distinctiveness from other competitors. Creating features that are different and unique to other phones. Although Apple has already achieved this, Microsoft has their own regular customers, and because of their flexibility in their software, many people still prefer to use Windows.

Microsoft will surely be successful in this new product, as having built their image sustained well throughout the years. They are not bound to fail!

link: http://tech.ca.msn.com/pcworld-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25848392

Piracy itself has taken an impact in many businesses profits. They are losing millions of what they should earn from digital sales. Here in this article states that google searches for ebooks have increased by 50% in the last year alone. With this issue, companies have little power as to stop millions of people uploading and downloading pirated goods. With this, even being well known in the business world, creating a name/brand for yourself won’t increase your sales, but increase the illegal downloads occurring.

This article shows that by the creation of the Ipad, from their original illegal downloads of 1.5million-2 million, a 20% increased has occurred. Apple products have taken an impact in the community, and from this new products instantly has people wanting the product. Therefore from the Ipad, many business people, have taken it to be used to read ebooks, it does create a greater problem to publishing companies as people have adapted to using the Ipad to read their books rather than buying from a store. Publishing businesses are affected, however hoping that people are malleable, and realise for themselves.

link: http://news.ca.msn.com/money/article.aspx?cp-documentid=25895847

The founders of Google have stand to exceed themselves in this modern technological world. Though, still in the experimental stage, creating automated cars that uses sensors, cameras, laser range and a detailed map in order to control the direction and speed of the cars. This project is done in order to “help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emission” as the project leader Sebastian Thrun wrote. He believes that they are “the new highway trains of tomorrow”.

Due to Google’s booming business, they are able to afford to experiment new designs. They believe that creating these new models of cars will decrease petrol consumption and increases the safety of the roads. in my opinion this idea can bring road accidents to a minimum, however by the automobiles being automated, there will still be someone controlling the system. If a technical problem were to happen, it may cause a greater danger. The system must be absolutely safe in order to be used.

The advantages and disadvantages will have to be laid out, such as using the SWOT analysis. It may seem like an exciting idea, however reality is much different. Will the people like it? Is it affordable?

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25899139