Welcome to COMM 296: Introduction to Marketing!
My name is Scott Rolufs and I will be the TA for section 102 this semester. Let me tell you a little bit about myself, I’m a fourth year marketing student here at Sauder. I was born and raised in Vancouver and wouldn’t want it any other way. In my free time, when I actually have some, I play volleyball, golf, ski, basically anything that gets me outside. If it wasn’t clear from my choice to enter the marketing option, I am passionate about the marketing world and everything it entails. Whether it be traditional advertisements, market research, or the emerging social media trends, I want to learn as much as I can and my hope by the end of the semester you will too.
My goal for this blog, amongst its main purpose of passing along class announcements and updates, is to have a place where everyone can share their thoughts on anything marketing related. A place to share that new favourite ad or that blog you can’t live without with a group of peers.
I’ll start this off by sharing a few of the blogs I like to read:
http://markettingblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.canadianmarketingblog.com/
|–> The last blog has a lot of content, you’ll want to take your time with this one.
Another thing I hope to do with every post is to provide an ad that I like. If I can I will try and relate the ad back to what we are covering in class to help add depth to your learning. Since we haven’t started our classes yet this post will contain my favourite set of ads right now. I’m sure most people have seen these but I will post them anyways:
Leave a comment with your thoughts in response to my blogs/youtube videos or post your own introduction below.
Looking forward to a great semester,
| Scott
8 replies on “INTRODUCTION: Vancouver…I Love This City”
I first saw this ad online and I find it really catchy.
I find it a very classic and textbook like ad as this ad aims to form a very direct relation of “the general manliness concept” with it’s product “Old Spice”.
At the very least even if this commercial does not get me to start buying Old Spice, I can still see me grinning to myself when I come across Old Spice in the isle of deodorants(Not that I need one).
Simple, classic brainwashing right here!
Here’s a follow up question. Who do you think the target market they are trying to reach with this add?
I’m going to have to go with Men. Even though the ad seems to be addressing the ladies, It kind of feels like an indirect message to the men instead. For example if all ladies were convinced that men who does not smell like “Old Spice” are not truly the “ideal” man, then, really, it acts to creates this need in men to smell like “Old Spice”.
A cliche example is men who drives motorcycles because the ladies love it.
I would agree with you for the most part Terry. I think that yes there is an chance that guys will do what they think ladies will like. I don’t know this is a personal opinion but I know I’m not Isaiah Mustafa and no matter how much old spice I put on I won’t be him. For me I would say that they target women on the whole. If most men are impartial to what soap or body wash they use (and I know this is an assumption but I would think its fairly true) how do they decide what to buy? I would guess the women in their life influence them maybe they are in the store with their girlfriends and it gets put in the basket or maybe it just shows up in the bathroom one day. Body wash for men is a relatively new market and I would be interested to see some of the research on who the primary buyer is and what influences their buying decisions.
I just wanted to point out the possibility that referring to a ‘ladies scented body wash’ is a subtle jab at Axe (likely their biggest competitor) products which are typically quite fragrant. Arguably, several of them smell like perfumes, whereas Old Spice scents are more distinctly for men (scents rarely worn by women). I always thought this before I first saw these ads and they just confirm my feelings. I thoroughly enjoy being associated with ‘the smell of a man’ and so I would have to say that they seem to be targeting men in these ads, though addressing women. There are a lot of single men out there who’s choices aren’t influenced (directly) by women, though they may entirely be indirectly influenced by women.
The old spice ad kept reminding us about how men should smell like ( old spice scented men ) by repeating this concept with ridiculous visual effects and language. I would say that it is one clever way to make an “inception” in our mind.
Oh.. I still dont like this city yet… Maybe because I’m still used to the cold weather and snowy days here. LOL
Anyways, for the ad that you have posted, it’s really funny! However, I dont know why I dont feel that the old spice products’ will have good smell. Seems that the smell of it will be very pungent. For me as a female, I wouldnt be moved by this ad but actually will tell my male friends, esp my boyfriend not to use these products. haha
After looking these two videos, they both promote one product “old spice”-man’s body wash. The slogan is “smell like a man, man”. It likely implies, “hi, man! You should use this product! If not, you would not be a man”. In addition, in the second video, they show three kinds of scents that can bring man different tastes and feelings. Potential customers have a chance to choose their favor flavor. In the ads, they utilize lady’s point of view to desire man to buy this product, though actually not all ladies like this scents. Depend on their ridiculous ideas, someone would be curious to try this product and love to prove whether man becomes more desirable or not.