Cyrus's blog

This article on SeekingAlpha.com talks about Research in Motion, perhaps the leading Canadian technology firm in the world right now. The BlackBerry leading brand, and most popular product. Whilst traditionally considered an elite brand for business professionals, BlackBerry have been executing a brand extension of sorts, to segments that were not targetted before like students. BlackBerry is hoping that such a brand extension will enable it to compete with Apple and the Google Android, As they have been losing market share for some time in the lucrative smart phone market.

However, RIM also risks losing its exclusivity as a professional brand. RIM marketing to students is akin to BMW marketing to working class families, and as the article suggests, it may be a good idea to keep marketing to business professionals in order to keep the brand pure.

After reading Andrew’s post on Tim Horton’s (https://blogs.ubc.ca/andrewyfli/2011/02/25/rrrrroll-up-the-rim), I realized that ‘coffee culture’ has been an increasingly popular trend over the past 20 years or so. Of course, coffee has always been a popular morning drink in the West, but the increasing secularization of society, combined with the growth of a new model for coffee shops (namely a comfortable environment for interaction rather than just a place to buy drinks) has meant that coffee shops are becoming the ‘third place’ for people to socialize and gather (other than home and work), gradually replacing the role of the church in that regard. Even More astonishing is the fact that this is a global trend, meaning that coffee shops are becoming more popular not only in the West (where it has always played a role in society) but also in the East.

The marketing strategy revolutionized by the Starbucks saw an opportunity in the lack of spaces for people to gather, meet or study. Traditional coffee shops focused entirely on the retailing aspects of the coffee business, i.e. the act of selling the coffee, but Starbucks realized that creating a space for people to work and ‘chill’ with their friends, or wait for their dates would give them an edge over all their rivals. A comfortable environment, an ‘oasis from the rush of urban life’ was their goal. It has been a resounding success – the combination of high quality coffee with quiet, tranquil environment.

I came to Canada from Hong Kong. Starbucks is also very popular in Hong Kong, although they have to compete with an Asian based coffee shop chain, Pacific Coffee. It seems that whilst Starbucks is the one truly global coffee shop brand, most places have their own regional coffee brands as well. The popularity of Starbucks have contributed to the ‘coffee culture’, and this has also benefitted their competitors like Blenz and Tim Hortons in Canada.

The future seems to be getting more and more mobile. With the advent of technology such as cloud computing, large devices necessary for the storage of data seems to be unnecessary, and with ever more powerful computers fitted into ever smaller devices, we seem to be heading towards an era whereby we have access to our computers practically every moment in time.

Many companies seem to be marketing specifically for this possibility. WhatsApp is one example of a company well positioned to take advantage of the ‘mobile revolution’. An application which is accessible with all 3 of the most popular mobile devices (Apple iPhone, BlackBerry and Android), it allows users to communicate with each other for free via the internet, distinguishing itself from services like SMS (which is for pay) and provides better service in terms of quality, convenience and speed of delivery. In a sense it is like Instant messaging for mobile devices, and similar to BBM except it is cross platform. In terms of price, it costs $1 to purchase, whilst being free to use making it cheap enough for students. It is quite a unique product; similar products are BBM and SMS, but it is able to differentiate itself adequately from its competitors.

Positioning wise, I believe WhatsApp is focusing on the younger generation; mostly students, perhaps some newly graduate members of the working force. This demographic has the longest life time value, and WhatsApp is an application which is infinitely reusable as it is a platform for communication. It has also done a great job in branding itself; in fact, it’s name sounds sufficiently like a verb, possibly in the hopes that people would use it as a synonym for instant messaging on mobile devices (like ‘googling’ and ‘twitting’).

GroupOn is a deal of the day website that is localized to major cities around the world. Launched at the end of 2008, it has already become quite popular in terms of audience. The marketing strategy is quite interesting in that it takes a simple concept but applies it very effectively in order to add value to both the consumer and the retailer. GroupOn is basically a platform which connects the consumer to the retailer by providing them with ‘deals of they day’ – discounts for products or services in their specific cities. GroupOn requires that a specific number of people sign on by a certain date; should this requirement be met, the discount will be available to everyone. If it is not met, the discount will not be available to anyone. As such, the consumer is able to get a discounted deal, whilst the retailer is able to reduce its risk and possibly entice shoppers who would otherwise not shop to purchase.

The information provided by the GroupOn service is valuable in the sense that it makes people’s lives a lot more convenient. Moreover, since the GroupOn service is free to the consumer, there seem to be no downsides for consumers to check it out or sign up for discounts as they are not forced to buy it anyway. With an ever growing consumer base and audience, GroupOn becomes a more attractive marketing destination for retailers. Such a successful marketing strategy has been essential to GroupOn’s rise as a major player in the e-commerce market; other similar websites such as Skyara have already begun start up.

The technological advances made in the television and internet fields in the past two decades have rendered the older style of newspapers nearly obsolete. Despite garnering record audience sizes, newspaper companies have continued to lose more and more money by the year. In fact, many newspapers shut down as a result of the damage done in the recession to their finances.

A primary reason as to why newspapers have done so badly in relation to more modern forms of media news reporting is its relative high prices. Why both bother paying 25 cents for a newspaper when one can find all the latest news updated online? One way marketers have tried to solve this problem is by cutting prices. In Hong Kong, the Standard is an English language newspaper once sold for 6 HKD, but is now handed out for free near bus stops, subway stations and other hot spots. In a densely populated and eternally busy city like Hong Kong, newspapers are an easy way to pass the time, especially at work, where computers are monitored by employers and televisions are unavailable. As such, it provides all the advantages of a newspaper, with quality, organized journalism and editorial pieces, whilst having such a low pricing penetration strategy to cater to white collar workers with lower incomes or lower willingness to pay for something like newspapers.

Since it became a free newspaper, viewership has increased five fold. With increased circulation, it has been able attract more advertisers. A radical pricing strategy seems to the way forward for the newspaper industry.

Have you ever heard a piece of music playing, and instantly think of a television show, as it is the piece which the show opens with?

An important part of a television program is the opening and closing songs that accompany rolling credits. The opening piece in particular, is probably one of the most distinctive features of the show, and something which the audience should be able to immediately relate to. Since it plays at the beginning of every episode, and is usually very catchy, it can easily endear itself to the audience. For example, hearing the Friends theme song, one will instantly remember the show. The music is almost like the logo of a brand, something that people can instantly recognize.

As such, the opening and closing pieces of music are integral to the marketing of the show. A badly chosen piece can have a detrimental effect on a show’s popularity and viewership. Most of the most popular shows on television right now have extremely distinctive pieces of music, which reflect the atmosphere or theme of the show.

For example, this is the opening piece from House, a medical drama. One can probably sense the tension in the music:

Here is the opening theme from Big Bang Theory, a comedy involving two scientists as protagonists. It is more lighthearted and reflects the scientific theme of the show:

Here are two other themes..most people should be able to recognize both of them!

Great story about how Apple gets more technology headlines than any other tech company.

It wasn’t all that long ago Apple was in danger of going out of business yet now they are the world’s second largest company (in terms of valuation) and are within striking distance of becoming first.  A lot of that has to do with mindshare. And Apple has earned mindshare to spare.

The most amazing element of all this is how Microsoft formerly the world’s largest technology company, has not only lost marketshare but also mindshare.  While Apple garnishes 12% of all tech news stories, Microsoft is only at 3%.  So while Apple owns about 10% product share vs Microsoft, Apple owns 4 times more marketing share than Microsoft.  Divide those ratios and it says that Apple is 40 times more efficient a marketing machine than Microsoft.  And of course when people buzz about you (good or bad) your stock rises.  (Literally: Apple’s stock is up about 40x what it was before the iPod launched).

In fact, Apple has become rather infamous for it’s superior marketing machine. Numerous consumers have noticed that Apple does not provide a superior good, yet it wraps it in such an attractive package, so to speak, that despite selling for a higher price than most of its competitors, people are still willing to purchase it. So next time you wonder what coupling great design with great marketing can do for a company, just look towards Apple.

DotA is a WarCraft III scenario that exploded in popularity and became it’s own unique RTS gametype which is commonly used in tournments and played online, and has been expanded on and modified throughout the years. It initially began as a single custom map out of tens of thousands of maps customized and made by fans who sought to maximize their WCIII experience. Over the next few years, DotA fiercely beat its opposition to the ground, and became the #1 undisputed most popular map on WarCraft III, being even more popular than the original game of Warcraft which was developed by the professional team of Blizzard.

It has been 9 years since WCIII came out, and DotA still commends a gaming audience of around 22 million people, which is very impressive. DotA is essentially a free map, people can just download it off the web and play it on Warcraft III. However, Valve (a separate firm from Blizzard) has seen an opportunity to target existing DotA players, which is quite a substantial market. As DotA is not officially affiliated with Blizzard, Valve was able to recruit the developer of DotA by the username IceFrog to work under their firm. As such, DotA 2 is being released, which will not be free but will need to be paid for. Personally I found Valve’s marketing strategy very smart, as they were able to take advantage , of DotA’s popularity, which was party due to its free nature, in order to gain a large segment of new customers. Speaking for myself, I would never pay for another game as I am a university student and do not have too much time for gaming, in contrast to when I was still in high school. However, since I have developed an interest of DotA, I am considering purchasing DotA 2. I am sure this is true for many other DotA fans as well. They are also operating a blog, which is a viral marketing strategy in order to keep in touch with fans. One of the many strengths of the original DotA was its strong fan support and connection with gamers.

Internet companies have been high profile and considered the ‘next big thing’ since the tech bubble of the early 2000s. These days it is indeed the ‘big thing’, and with the possible exception of Apple, there are few other sectors that are growing faster than internet companies. The main source of revenue for firms like Google, Baidu and Facebook is online advertising. Websites as diverse as Goal.com (soccer) and SeekingAlpha.com (financial news and opinion) host ads in order to make money.

As a habitual internet user, I will confess that I have not once willingly clicked an advert from Google or Facebook or from any other website. Speaking from a personal point of view, online advertising does not work. Either it is too conspicuous, which means that consumers do not even notice it and are able to do what they wanted to without being hindered by the ads (meaning they are able to successfully ignore it), or else it is too blatant that it annoys the consumer, putting them in a bad temporal state and a foul mood, which makes them less likely to click on the advert. Either way, the firm loses.

On the seeking alpha website, there is an advertisement on the top of the site promoting another financial advice and news website providing financial reports which they presumably hope to sell to the consumer. Whilst Seeking Alpha is a reputable site, the other site seems less legitimate to me.  With sensational eye catching headlines, it definitely seems more of a tabloid site, which is a failure of promotion considering its intended audience. Furthermore, what does the firm think they are doing advertising themselves on another website which provides the same product (with arguably more legitimacy, quality and diversity) for free? It just does not make sense to me.

As the world’s most popular sporting event, the world cup should be a dream for large cap companies, willing to dish out a fortune for advertising rights. Sportsware giants especially, like Nike and Adidas, were able to take advantage of the this huge spectacle to promote their names and products. One example of successful marketing during the world cup was the sponsorship of Italy by Puma, which was a cause for the increase in sales following Italy’s victory at the world cup in 2006. As Puma is a relatively smaller company compared to Nike and Adidas, their successful sponsorship of Italy increased awareness of their brand following Italy’s win and affected people’s perception of their brand by associating with the winner.

In this post I will look at the Nike video which was posted on youtube, as well as playing on TV channels around the world.

Personally, as a huge soccer fan, I found this advert very successful as I appreciated the grand nature of the video and its usage of several sponsored players.  It manages to capture the significance of the event, firstly for the citizens of the participating nations around the world, and secondly for the players themselves. If they played well, they are assured a place in history. The music captures this atmosphere, whilst flash-forwards show a glimpse of what the future could be for each player if they play well. Subtle placements of Nike signs around the stadiums, shirts and other sponsored athletes (for example Federer) help the viewer associate Nike with success in the world cup. This is an example of an attempt to change the affective component of the viewers attitudes. An interesting feature of the ad is its attempt to integrate American culture within the context of the video, firstly with Kobe emulating Ronaldinho’s move, and then Ronaldo as a Simpsons character. Whilst soccer is the most popular sport around the world, it has not yet fully penetrated the American market, and this can be seen as an attempt to familiarize consumers with the sport, and subsequently Nike’s place in it.