Reflections [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 6]
Course Reflection
Innovation is a simple word. A simple word that propelled Apple from a hipster computer manufacturer to the number 2 tech giant in the world. It’s also a word that governs the value proposition of 21st century communities, corporations, and educational institutions.
Merriam Webster denotes “innovation” as “the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, inarticulated needs, or existing market needs.”
It is a good definition that sums up our generation and our needs, most of which are inarticulated in our everyday lives. For students, much of our learning has been constructed based on pre-existing notions of 20th generation intelligence, and is currently evolving to adapt to the malleability of the millennials.
Marketing, in its purest form, is the living embodiment of capturing ideas and adding value to inarticulated needs. It is a canvas that links the innovation of the few to the needs of the many. And what better way is there to educate people on innovation, but to let them innovate?
Group Project Reflection
The group project was a very concise and well executed term-long expedition that set clear goals and expectations. To me, it was a simple and characteristic way of learning and measuring marketing. Utilizing a combination of research, planning, brainstorming, and creation, the project displayed the underlying beauty and concept of the marketing process for all of us who are being exposed to it for the first time. It is innovative in the sense that it has rarely been seen before in University, yet it provides so much possibility for growth and creativity. As technology develops, the projects will undoubtedly become more creative and amazing as time goes on. The course has offered a place for great minds to collide and innovate together in a fearless and inspirational setting.
The early stages of the project was a good opportunity to learn about the various concepts of marketing and really connect them with corporations you see in real life. Before choosing the company, it offered an amazing inside look to some fantastic marketing campaigns and corporate strategies that we may have never considered before. Subconsciously when we pick our companies as a group, we are analyzing the greatness and failures of each and every company through our individual interactions with each brand and product, barely realizing its true effect on our mind. It allows me to realize how impactful marketing can really be on our lives.
As the project progressed, we were able to successfully incorporate what we learned from the textbook and lectures into our project, which few courses are able to do. We generated ideas based on real-concepts we see and observe from lectures and real life, and successfully translate the images and sounds that we’re familiar with since birth, onto paper. Taken from the analysis we made earlier, it’s easy to see how certain campaigns and strategies are adopted and utilized.
The video project is the final step in which we take what we had on paper and present it in an interactive method. The good thing about this is that it allows you to think outside the box, which is what successful marketers must do in order to be successful. One recommendation I have for future projects of this type is to reduce the amount of content that needed to be covered via text/speech in the video itself. Perhaps one way to combat this is to create an ad for just the ‘revised’ marketing campaign after the recommendations have been made, as opposed to making the ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenes. This video can be a shorter, 3-5 minute video that outlines why your recommendations and target audiences are appropriately chosen, and why your plan works. In support of that, we can have a full report on the details of the plan that can be submitted, this way we also have a paper copy to refer off of when we create our video.
4 to One [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 5]
1 Million units sold.
Shares climb 3%.
1 day.
Tech giant Sony debuted it’s new flagship video game console, the Play-Station 4 on Friday Night and smashed records by hitting over 1 million units worth of sales in less than 24 hours. Priced at $399, the PS4 undercuts main competitor Microsoft’s Xbox One by $100 and steals the spotlight from Microsoft, converting legions of heartbroken Xbox gamers.
Why?
Marketing. Marketing. Marketing.
Aside from the blaring advantages that the console offers over its competitor such as the lack of online checks and enforced restrictions on the use of your disc-based games, Sony’s campaign and build-up of this new product has phenomenally strode closer to consumer hearts than its competitor. Since E3, Sony’s primary campaigning focus has been the distinguished market of avid gamers. While Microsoft has been aiming to appeal to a wider range of consumers and convert the Xbox One into an everyday living room essential, they are losing the battle for the existing pool of customers that give value and prestige to their product: the hardcore gamer.
Price: Competitive and profit-driven pricing schemes puts Sony far ahead of its competitor. Cheaper unit costs allow Sony to exploit this advantage.
Product: Quality of product and continued excellence in innovation and performance. Lack of online checks and enforced restrictions on the use of your disc-based games.
Place: Sony’s debut launched a few days earlier than Microsoft’s Xbox One, giving the company a huge advantage in capturing the hearts of the customers who are undecided between the two console giants by offering the opportunity to put a console in their homes at an earlier date.
Here’s a taste of Sony’s advertising scheme:
“We give [gamers] what they want. We don’t give them everything, because we don’t think they want everything,” PlayStation CMO Guy Longworth said, in an interview Tuesday.
Gamers — a typically irascible group — have lovingly embraced Sony’s advertisements and also the PS4 in response.
After 7 years of no new console releases from tech giants, this new product cycle for the 8th generation of gaming system sparked the upcoming era! While we still wait to see how Microsoft’s product market diversification process goes, Sony has already successfully built upon the trust that was established with its previous generation of gamers and aim to bring new gamers into the mix. Having already penetrated the consumer market, Sony finds opportunity to utilize word of mouth marketing amongst its consumers while Microsoft struggles to catch up, still unable to reach past the fence of their newly defined consumer base.
Sources:
http://invezz.com/news/equities/6833-sony-share-price-climbs-ahead-of-playstation-4-market-debut
http://www.businessinsider.com/ps4-day-one-sales-one-million-2013-11
http://adage.com/article/digital/playstation-4-marketing-focuses-gamers-unlike-xbox/242056/
http://kotaku.com/sony-just-smacked-the-xbox-one-in-the-mouth-512492046
The Star-Spangled Vana [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 4]
Teavana Logo
Starbucks has been a revolution that has changed how the world drinks coffee. And in the past few months, the franchise teamed up with Teavana to debut the chain’s first 1000 teahouse, Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar throughout North America. Combining chic and sustainable décor, the tea bar builds an immersive new experience in tea drinking and marks the start of an expansionary project for the tea giant in the next five years.
Teavana Tea Wall
Seeing an opportunity in the tea market, Starbucks cleverly takes initiative to diversify their product line up to attract those customers who may have never thought about dropping a single penny at Starbucks before. That’s right, Starbucks in extending their reach to tea fanatics who have previously loathed the same old Tazo tea offered in plastic cups from Starbucks.Unlike Starbucks, where the culture is more about drinks-on-the-go, at Teavana, the aura, design and mood is all about lingering. The contemporary-designed chairs are padded and comfy. The lighting is low. And the sheer variety of teas and munchies seems to require time to sit and savor.
Superior Tea Print Ad from Teavana
The difference between a Starbucks coffee shop and a Teavana teahouse “is like night and day,” says Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, in a phone interview. “It’s much more zen-like than anything you’ll find in a Starbucks store.”While the product and promotional strategies may be evident from the pictures we see above, we’re also seeing some very competition oriented pricing. With each cup of team prices at $2.99 (regular), $3.99(rare), and $4.99(zen), we’re seeing Teavana put up their prices in response to the established franchise and #1 competitor David’s Tea.
In terms of place, Starbucks main strategy aims for convenience and strategic placement. With some Teavana tea-bars built right into Starbucks such as this one
in Manhattan, and others placed conveniently around other health conscience stores such as Lululemon and Dea and Deluca, which add value to the consumers.
Sources:
http://inhabitat.com/starbucks-revolutionizes-the-tea-experience-with-new-teavana-tea-bar-in-nyc/
A (5C)olourful Phenomenon: Marketing Genius or Positioning Failure? [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 3]
Tech giant Apple released two new phones earlier in September, the 5c and the 5s, aimed at different target markets in various aspects of social demography and lifestyles. The 5c model, with it’s intricate plastic redesign and emphasis on colour, lags behind the more advanced unit (5s) in sales by a nearly 1:2 ratio. Apple reported 64% of all mobile sales are coming from the 5s, while only 27% from the 5c, and the other 9% being filled with the antique 4s. (While the 5 has been taken off shelves)
While speculations have been rousing about Apple’s approach to marketing this new device, many are praising Apple’s launch of the 5c as pure genius. Though the device itself might not be selling well, it serves as a comparison product that boosts the image of the higher end model and projects ‘high quality’ all over the gold casing of the 5s. The 5c is commonly perceived as a copy of the iPhone 5 with a more colorful case, but what consumers don’t realize the fact that this perception will in fact improve the sales of the 5s.The improved quality and higher price point of the 5s gives consumers a sense of desire and want for something that is in high demand and low supply.
Others say that the original intention for the 5c was for a global Asian market place take-over; thus naming the phone 5c (5china). But if this was the case, the tech company would’ve been hugely disappointed by results from the Asian market as demand for the 5c dropped significantly while sales for the 5s sky-rocketed.
Regardless of the purpose, Apple is trying hard to implement new marketing tactics to bring the spotlight back to all the bright colours that was fading away too quickly. By reinventing the marketing campaign, Apple decides to re-brand the phone into a device that speaks diversity and integration through the use of video ads seen on their website and social media outlets:
“Designed Together” – New iPhone 5c Software/Hardware Integration Ad
“Greetings” – New iPhone 5c Diversity Ad
In addition, strategic positioning of print ads on city landmarks allow the company’s creative design to shine through to potential consumers. They are choosing to reintroduce the product and educate people into the benefits of the lower-cost, more personable device. A price cut from popular retailers such as Wireless Wave, Walmart, Verizon, and Best Buy also illustrate Apple’s intention to reposition the phone as flagship device that will pivot the price-war with their competitors.
Sources:
Satisfry: A Fry Too Far? [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 2]
Fast food giant Burger King has been stirring up a marketing storm lately with their new marketing campaign for their crinkle-cut fries that boast 30% reduced calories content compared to their original fries. This might come as a big shock to regular burger goers but what follows this new venture has had the North American consumers caught between laughter and tears. Burger King has decide to promote their new fries using a never-before seen gimmick: a fake re-brand of the entire franchise.
The company also tweeted a video spotlight in which it refers to itself by the Fries King moniker (“formerly known as Burger King”),
and has even gone to the trouble of replacing the signage and packaging at one of its locations with the new Fries King logo as well as uploading a 32-image album onto their Facebook page titled: The Recrowning.
What gave the company away was the fact that the brand has not given up its @BurgerKing handle on Twitter, and its Facebook name remains Burger King. But this does not deter the onslaught of outrage and hilarity in customer reactions in many forms. Judging by some the majority of responses, people aren’t happy with the change. Some are genuinely confused about whether or not the name change is real and others have written passionate posts decrying Burger King’s decision to turn its back on “a well known family name.”
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/burger-king-is-now-calling-itself-fries-king-2013-10
http://business.time.com/2013/10/02/the-web-hates-burger-kings-fake-name-change/
http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/burger-king-fries-king/244514/
Absolut(ely) Subliminal [Comm 296 Marketing Blog Post 1]
Absolut Vodka Lmt. has infamously utilized a set of creative marketing tactics to bring their distilled Swedish beverages to the world. Lately, they have begun to step up their print and digital media advertisement game to include subliminal messages through both images and text that are meant to trigger unconscious psychological reactions in our heads to bypass our perception of the product. Take a look at somes of the famous examples throughout their campaign:
Aboslut L.A. – An example glorifying the traditional Absolut marketing campaign.
Much of Absolut’s fame is due to its long-running campaign (created by advertising agency TBWA) based on ads that frequently feature an Absolut bottle-shaped object in the center and a title “ABSOLUT ____.” at the bottom. Having started around 1980 with photographer Steven Bronstein, and with more than 1500 ads, the ad campaign is the longest running ever.
Recently, Absolut has picked up a on a new marketing trend that is taking the beverage market by storm. And yes, I am referring to the use of manipulation of sexuality and desirability in both digital and print ads that are used to frame their products as something that is used to trigger a deeper connection with the consumer than past techniques that emphasized price and product. Competitors like Gilbey’s, Johnny Walker, Campari, and Heineken have all picked up on these trends.
Can you see the subliminal message in this Absolut Vodka ad?
What this sparks is a shift in the norms of conventional marketing and brings about a new debate of sexuality and ethics in association with the product. With the growth of social media and technology, more and more young people are exposed at earlier ages to these advertisements. Of course, liquor companies know this, and are in turn adapting a new “get them while they’re young” strategy that garners loyal consumers who play a large role in the alchohol industry.
Sources:
http://subliminalmanipulation.blogspot.ca/2010/09/odd-usages-or-get-em-while-theyre-young.html
www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-42750795/the-10-best-subliminal-ads-ever-made/?tag=bnetdomain
http://blogs.ionis-group.com/profs/drillech/pub/absolut/Absolut-Advertising-Compilation.pdf
Panasonic To Axe 10,000 Jobs
Hideki Kawai, CFO of Panasonic Corp. speaks after the shares plunge on November 1st.
In an interview with the CFO of Panasonic Corp., it seems that about a fifth of Panasonic’s business units are losing money and only half so far meet the 5 percent operating margin
Hideki Kawai says that the technological giant is expected to axe 10,000 jobs before March of 2013, looking to reduce its costs and return to making a profit. We’ve seen a trend with Panasonic getting rid of workers in the past few years, and this is just the middle of a larger movement of the electronic competition market. A large chunk of Panasonic was actually sold away last year and since then the business has been under performing. As of now, the company’s credit rating is close to junk.
Panasonic shares which are near decade lows slumped by another fifth in early November 1st, giving the company a four-season losing streak. The company, which is being out-competed by electronic giants such as Samsung, Sony, and LG is looking at its last desperate measure to being the business back on track. If the firm does not reach its goal of 110 billion yen in the next fiscal quarter, we may easily see the end of another decade-long electronic legacy.
References:
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2012/11/14/Panasonic-prepares-for-garage-sale-to-axe-10K-jobs.aspx
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204712904578091520438721316.html
The Money of Energy
You will be able to power your home with energy you create yourself.
Or so that’s the catchphrase of the 21st generation of energy aware companies. “Anything that moves or produces heat has the potential to create energy that can be captured” Day to day energy creating actions such as walking, jogging, bicycling, the heat from your computer, even the water flowing through your pipes can be recycled by new, renewable energy technology reused to power our homes, offices and cities.
IBM has recently launched sixth annual “IBM 5 in 5″ (#ibm5in5) — a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years. The list is based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s research labs around the world that can make these transformations possible.
In terms of business, this is a huge new line of opportunity and innovation that is open for the engineers and businessmen alike. To harness renewable energy is to harness the pockets of 21st generation consumers. And not only will this drive profits, but it will give your company better publicity and make it more sustainable while you are minimizing your costs.
References:
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=93997&slide=2
http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/industry-sectors/renewableenergy.aspx
RE: Canadians Willing to Pay Higher Tax Prices
This blog post is a response to Aaron Cho’s blog post which can be found here.
This is a very interesting survey result. Although personally I am a little bit skeptical about this Nvironics Research, not to mention comissioned by former NDP leader Ed Broadbent. I do not find it strange that Canadians are willing to pay higher taxes for income equality. I think most people can generally agree that monetary possession is the main measure of social power in modern society. Some even argue that it is the cause of inequality and suffering.
I must first say that I disagree with Aaron suggestion that Canada is shifting to a more left-wing society. As illustrated by our previous election results, I think this is far from the case. In fact, I question the credibility of this research, and will only take its results with a grain of salt. However, I do not doubt that if you go on the street and ask people about the disparity between the rich and the poor, they will definitely tell you that they wish to see it closed. But one must consider, does this necessarily have to translate to an increase in taxes? Are there no greater, more general problems and capitalistic fundamentals that lie at the root of this cause?
A left-wing comic illustrating the difference between the rich and the poor.
https://blogs.ubc.ca/choaaron/
Invest for Success
Statistics Canada says foreign investment in Canadian securities grew to $13.9 billion in September as investors bought government bonds and corporate equities.
Government bonds, being the safest type of bond for investors, often attracts many foreigners (both amateur and experienced) to start their financial career by investing in a government bond. And although this isn’t news, the government of Canada has drastically improved their investment security over the past few years. Since the introduction of the Tax-Free-Savings-Account in 2009, pensions and benefit plans have improved in return rates compared to the past few decades. With the exception of the CPP, which increased the minimum age of retrieval.
Alphil Guilaran, Cheif Executive Office of the Financial Counsil, came to Henry Angus on November the 5th for a FLY@UBC event (Invest For Success) to talk to many intrinsically motivated learners about the basics financing. It was interesting, to learn about investment on a personal level, a national level, and a inter-continental level. The world today is all connect through the movement of funds and investments, and even money that does not physically exist may cause such drastic effects on our global economy and our individual lives a whole.
Alphil Guilaran, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Counsil at FLY@UBC event “Invest for Success” teaching Sauder students the basics of investment and global economy.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax-Free_Savings_Account
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/16/international-securities-transactions.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/FLY-at-UBC-Club/237542739642682