Not until I read Kate Wallace’s blog post McDonald’s Make Over did I realize the changes. This official sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics plans to spend 1 billion dollars to renovate McDonald’s restaurants all across Canada. As Kate has stated, the golden “M” has taken a big hit after the release of a documentary, Super Size Me. I, for one have definitely changed my fast food habits from three times a week to three times a month after watching this film. During the seven years after the documentary, McDonald’s has tried its best to regain customer loyalty and I agree with Kate that the new modern look will help reach their goal.

Aside from the new renovations, McDonald’s has launched their new McCafe line. Serving a wide variety of drinks and mini snacks, they seem to be heading down the same road as Starbucks. However the difference is in the price and convenience. The 24 hour operational McDonald’s, can help satisfy all your late night cravings with ease.

Revenues has raised by 9% after these modifications. This portrays the classic example of getting knocked down but coming back stronger.

Read article here.

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Ever wondered why the big shiny apple is cheaper than the smaller unattractive one at your local supermarket? Chances are, the more eye-catching one is genetically modified (GM). Conflicts have aroused between the supply chain of organic, conventional and GM crops. Every country has a different level of acceptance towards GM organisms and many countries in Europe have banned these entities.  Since having independent supply chains are very pricey, they must share facilities and they have found genes from the modified crops on the fields of organic and conventional plants. This problem set up a dispute because organic consumers pay a generous amount to have 100% non contaminated food, and that’s not what they’re getting. Since dollar signs are all most people see nowadays, farmers have continued to produce a growing amount of GM crops because they can increase capacity and cut down on losses.

Since a suppliers goal is to provide what consumers want, will you choose the big shiny apple to promote GM strategies, or the unattractive organic apple to stand by organic growing?

For original article click here.

Remember the silly Skittles slogan? “Taste the rainbow”. It sounds completely ridiculous, how can you taste the rainbow from chewing their tiny sweets? Well, the recent candy marketing tactics are to try to beat competitors at thinking outside the box. So in this case, the sillier the better!

During the last few months, Maynards created a “Make your face a Maynards” contest. Fans across Canada can send in a picture of their face to attempt to have it used as a new version of the candy. The winner will receive “$5,000, a year’s supply of their own candy, and a trip to the Hamilton factory where the treat is manufactured.” It may seem meaningless that someone would want their face on a candy, but this plan worked and over 3,000 Canadians entered the contest.

Nowadays advertisements in newspapers, magazines and busses are just not enough. For that reason, most firms have lead to promoting on social networking sites and YouTube. People have adapted to be extremely dependent on technology and everything revolves around it. If most individuals need technology to function and are so easily entertained by these silly commercials, what does that have to say about our knowledge?

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Click here to watch the “Make your face a Maynards Candy Commercial”.

Read article here.

Can we ever keep up with technology? Cell phones are amongst the fastest growing technologies now a days. There are many functions available to increase satisfaction and convenience, for instance the addicting “Angry Birds” and online banking. NFC, Near Field Communications, is one of the new business technologies to help add convenience for consumers while making a purchase. By simply tapping your smartphone or tablet with a NFC chip on the reader platform, the transaction will be made upon your confirmation.

Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that by 2015, 40% of new mobile devices which is 630 million NFC handsets will be shipped globally. The idea of NFC is closely parallel to the “Octopus Card” used in Hong Kong. People use this card daily for commuting and shopping! Inventions like these makes everyday life easier and you will no longer need to carry a wallet around. With the quick paced technology advancements, an app for digitally opening house doors is probably on its way and the need to carry a key around will be eliminated.

Octopus Cards used in Hong Kong.

Photo credit: http://anasarmiento.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/octopus.jpg

Here is a video showing how NFC transactions are made.

Click here for source.