M@rketing!

This is the trailor to the movie that I was speaking of in class today in relation to the “Pink Tshirt Day” phenomenon.

It’s another great example of how some of the pop-culture trend/movements today can successfully tap into the internal stimuli of emotions within consumers – and make it a profitable venture:

The Underdog is humanity’s greatest story. Throughout history, we have seen it in through the rise of african-americans from slavery to freedom, the uneducated asian immigrant from rags to riches, and many other stories of those dealt a bad hand that pursues and achieves the American Dream. Jeremy Lin personifies and embodies this American Dream in today’s sporting world:

From “the end of the bench” to electrifying New York’s Madison Square Garden, the largest stage in all of sports, Jeremy Lin has created a story that comes once or twice in ones lifetime. Undrafted and unwanted, Lin’s story from no one to someone has touched an extremely diverse segment of the global population. He has become a pop-culture phenomenon, and in today’s social-media connected society he has risen to become a household name in a record breaking amount of time. As shown by Enzo Woo’s post on Nike’s marketing strategy, sports and marketing are two very intertwined concepts and Jeremy Lin’s brand potential is an example.

Jeremy Lin has become not only the name of one of the first Asian-American basketball player in the NBA, the first Harvard player in more more than 50 years, or someone who was cut from two NBA teams prior to the Knicks, but his name has now become a Global Brand. For the NBA, this brand has been able to tap into untapped profitable market segments. The population has been drawn to the story of Jeremy Lin out of curiosity. Those who have never watched basketball, are now beginning to turn on the TV just to watch the New York Knicks next game. It has become a global phenomenon that has lit the entire world on fire.

The key driver to the success of Jeremy Lin’s brand value:
his story’s ability to engage the population’s emotions.

Most Marketers attempt to tap into the consumer’s mind and position their product to make them think that they need their product. However, people have been drawn to Lin because his story in the consumer’s mind makes them feel a certain level of emotional engagement. People feel that they could relate to his story – the story of achieving one’s dream despite adversity is both timeless and universal. The story of the underdog, the story of failure, the story of rejection, the story of feeling unwanted, and the story of fighting for a chance to make it in the world are all stories that the majority of society can relate to.  The psychogenic segmentation of those who can relate to Lin’s story is massive. For basketball, this has resulted in a rising attraction to the sport. For the New York Knick’s, this has resulted in rising ticket and merchandise sales. Ultimately, for the NBA organization, this has resulted in profitability.

What Marketer’s can ultimately learn from the story of Jeremy Lin, is the importance of tapping into the feelings of the consumer. Emotion is one of the strongest internal stimuli within an individual. If a focus can be put into the marketing strategy of product to engage with how a consumer will feel opposed to what they think, stronger brand value can be generated. If successful, it can generate brand loyalty, and increase the power of word-of-mouth marketing through the products consumers.

No matter what the future holds for Jeremy Lin’s career, the story of what he has achieved will never leave the pages of sport history and will always remain within the mind of many consumers.

As most of us have recently discovered in COMM 296, the term “MIS” is the acronym for two different familiar concepts. Fortunately for us, it is not the boring class that all BComm students have to endure before graduating. However, in all seriousness, both Marketing Information Systems and Management Information Systems play equally important roles in the dynamics of a successful business.

Sarah Barwin’s blog post on the importance of strong market research touches on a very key point; before entering any new market, or near the end of a product development cycle that is soon available to hit the store shelves, it is integral to have proper market research. Without proper segmentation, targeting, positioning, along with the due diligence of constructing a well-thought out strategic marketing plan, the product will face a higher probability of failure once it enters the market. Although there is no doubt of the importance of good market research, a great marketer can not overlook the importance of a good MIS with effective analytics, clean data, and relevant information that is needed well before the market research portion of a marketing plan.

A lot of the large and successful companies today are staying on top of their respective markets due to an effective MIS. On the contrary, smaller companies are struggling to get to the top due to a lack of an MIS. However, the fixed cost often poses as a challenge for smaller business. In a digital age that is filled with information, it’s the ones that can leverage the data to receive a return in value that gains the competitive marketing advantage. Knowing what kind of product a consumer wants is important, but knowing how a consumer wants to receive their product is also important. Although conducting market research externally is important, leveraging existing customer information thats already existing within the company internal databases is a more efficient first step to collecting marketing information.

Here is a cartoon illustration of what an MIS is:

The video below demonstrates RIM’s recent marketing strategy to reposition it’s products to become a social device instead of just a strong business phone, which has been Blackberry’s key image earlier in this past decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX5YsU8sir4

However, according to this Globe and Mail article, Research in Motion clearly needs to rethink it’s marketing strategy to survive.

RIM has recently suffered major criticism from not only the press, but also the investors as it’s value has fallen 74% over the past year on the stock exchange. This is a reflection of both the investor and consumer’s lack of faith in the Blackberry product. A result of stagnating innovative prowess in a market now dominated by Apple, untimely service blackouts, and faulty hardware, RIM has become a victim of falling behind in a rapidly moving technological age.

With a newly appointed CEO, and now a newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer, RIM is now attempting to restore faith in it’s consumers. RIM will attempt to re-deliver the once lethal dependance on the “Crackberry” to it’s loyal customer base once again. With a “focus more on consumer marketing”, RIM’s new marketing strategy, and destiny, will depend on it’s “ability to turn around the consumers’ perceptions of the brand” – in hopes of not only retaining their current user-base, but also gain market share against the many dominant players in the marketplace.

Marketing Strategy, Awesome.

Ability to engage the target market, Awesome. 

Communicating the brand of a great product, Awesome. 

Everything about this video, Awesome.

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This clip, which was used to promote UBC’s Annual Student Leadership Conference which draws over 1,000 UBC delegates every year, displays many aspects of effective marketing in today’s society. There are a few characteristics of this video that makes it so great in achieving it’s purpose.

In today’s fast pace, quick-access-to-information environment, consumers do not value just receiving quick e-mails and IMs, but also quick messages in an ad-dominated world. With a bombardment of information all around, the ones that can get the message to the consumers efficiently oftentimes are the most successful. This video is a great example of that. The SLC Marketing team was able to pack a catchy punch in just 37 seconds. Targeted at UBC students, who oftentimes don’t have more than 5 minutes to get between one class to another, 37 seconds is more than appropriate. In addition to an Awesome song that flows perfectly to match the beat of the changing images, the effective quotes captures two essential characteristics of the conference itself: student representation and everything that makes UBC… of course, Awesome.

Meme’s, punch-lines, and trending topics on Facebook and Twitter is what dominates social media today; and this naturally affects the way marketing strategies need to be redefined to reach the realms on the consumers. Understanding that students, besides spending an abundance of time studying, also spend an abundance of time on social media, and therefore was able to create a trending word that captured the attention of many students.

This kind of advertising is what makes Marketing… Awesome.

Love it.

Past: I was born in Vancouver in 1992 and spent the first 6 years of my life living in Montreal, Quebec. I then moved back to British Columbia in grade 1 where I grew up in Abbotsford, the place that I now call home. I went to a local public high school and a fact that not many people know about me is that I spent a lot of my time in high school on athletics despite my stature: I played both football and competitive rugby for both my school and local club.

Present: I now live and go to school at UBC! I am pursuing my Bachelors in Commerce and am enjoying being actively involved on campus. I am currently involved in student politics for the Commerce Undergraduate Society and competing in case competitions has become a developing passion of mine over the last few months. I really enjoy school, and I don’t hide the fact that I am a huge nerd. An interesting fact today is that I have 4 other siblings: Sister, 22. Brother, 18. Sister, 15. Sister, 6 (I named her Summer).

Marketing Experience: I am a consumer and I’ve been bombarded by advertising everywhere that I spend my time: social media, school, textbooks, movies, and even youtube now. However, after my summer job with Red Bull this past year, I’ve learned that marketing extends from product development, to sales, and well beyond just the advertising that we see. Working in the Brand Management department, I spent a lot of time assisting in data analysis and coordination of marketing initiatives in the Vancouver area – it was, without a doubt, the funnest work experience I’ve ever had.

Future: Despite having gained experience working with a global brand within their Marketing Department, being a Teaching Assistant for the OBHR department here at school, and having a strong interest for the capital markets, I have recently decided to go into the public accounting profession to pursue the CA designation. This summer, I will have the exciting opportunity to intern with KPMG in the Vancouver office. My mid-term career goal is to receive the CA, and then move into consultancy or business development – I am sure only time can tell. Ultimately, in the long-run, I would like to be the CFO of the Vancouver Canucks (I know, how specific =P). However, I try not to forget about the short-term which is why I am currently making the most of my university years.

Carpe Diem, latin for “Seize the Day”, is my life motto.

Second one from the left.

So Why this Picture?: I think this picture best reflects both my life and my character.

#1. I have a hunger for achieving my goals and being highly ambitious; this photo captured the time in my life where I graduated from high school and was making the transition to the university of my choice, getting there through dedication, desire, and hard work – three qualities that hold close to myself when working towards goals.

#2. I am a life-time scholar and will always seek to acquire knowledge to continue to learn and grow as an individual.

#3. Friends and family are the ones I want to spend my time with in times of joy and success, not materialistic things like money. They are the ones that motivate me to work hard and inspire me to reach my potential as an individual. It is through their support that I have, and will, be successful.

#4. “Just don’t worry and be happy, things will work itself out”-kind-of-mentality.

#5. I have weird, but awesome friends from high school that are not still with me at UBC. Interesting fact: I have had the opportunity to sleep on a bunk bed as roommates over the last year with 2 of them – great experience.