Danielle's Blog

For those of you who don’t already know, McDonald’s has their FREE COFFEE promotion on right now! I have been taking full advantage over the past week gulping down one large coffee a day, and I plan to do so until the end-date of November 28th.

The promotion is smart. Coffee has a fairly low input cost so the huge company can clearly afford to give out the free samples. It’s good in two ways: 1. Plenty of people will buy other McDonald’s food items while they stop by to pick up a free drink, so I imagne that will make up for any potential losses the actual coffee costs; and 2. McDonald’s coffee is actually pretty decent but most people don’t think of them that way, so this is a good way of generating interest in their coffee products for the future.

All I know is the coffee is good and free, so I will be heavily caffeinated for at least the next week 🙂

I am a debater for the UBC Debate Society and at a recent tournament I had to debate a resolution regarding the ethics of online social networking companies selling user information to third party companies.  For those people unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, you clearly didn’t read the “user agreement” when you signed up for your Facebook account.  In brief, Facebook gathers information such as age, gender, sexual preference, location, likes, dislikes, favourite things, key word-use rates, etc and sells it to third party companies, who are then able to purchase ad space that is targeted to certain demographic groups or interest groups.

What does this have to do with marketing?  Well guess who’s buying your personal information kids?  That’s right, the big bad advertising companies who want to know who you are, what you like, where you live and how to trick you into buying things!  Sites like Facebook are taking most of the media heat regarding the ethical grey area of this kind of transaction with third parties, but the people buying the info are just as much to blame.

The arguments for both side are equally asinine.  The information-thieves argue that people have agreed to the Terms and Conditions (true), and that if they didn’t read them or didn’t understand them then that’s their own fault.  The sad-users argue that it is the legal responsibility of the companies to ensure that the contract is understood (true) and that often children under the age of majority who cannot legally agree to a contract sign up for Facebook, and that the company does nothing to mitigate this (true).  The thieves counter by pointing out that the information isn’t sensitive, it’s simple demographics, which isn’t inherently an invasion of privacy (true, ish, maybe…), while the sad-users point out that information about age, sexual preferences, etc CAN be sensitive if used incorrectly (true…).

This back and forth goes on a while, and only a person’s individual perception of freedom of information, right to privacy, contract law and corporate social responsibility will enable them to properly choose a side that suits their opinion.  And let’s be honest, how many people have the knowledge and actual brainpower to sort through all this?  Not many, which is why it’s a debate topic at an inter-varsity tournament and not on a part of a national election campaign.  Most people don’t know what’s happening, they don’t know their rights and they don’t know what they can do about it.  All they know is that they have 3 new event invites and they are, like, 85% sure their ex-boyfriend is dating some new girl, and no invasion of their rights is going to stop them from getting their daily fix of Facebook.

My opinion is I have no opinion.  I’m infuriated by the whole thing really, especially how companies that are purchasing this information are getting off with no real consequences.  That’s the most unethical part of this for me… using my own personal information that you got either against my will or without my knowledge so you can target advertise and try to sell me things.  I guess that’s just how it goes though… now I have to go check my Facebook.

So apparently the all-knowing octopus of World Cup 2010 fame has died. Firstly, who cares? Secondly, that’s hilarious! I remember reading about Paul (the octopus) who would predict the outcome of matches by landing himself on top of one of two jars filled with an oyster. The jar had flags of competing countries on them, and it turns out Paul the octopus got it right every time. SO FUNNY!!! Here’s the article reporting this sad sad loss.

The funniest thing is that Paul was actually quite an effective marketing tool. Even though he had been in the aquarium for a while before his psychic abilities (haha!) were proven, one octopus isn’t a really exciting addition to a large venue. But one that can predict the future… that’s a product! Or service? Either way, Paul’s presence drew large crowds and even incited donations from pleased customers. I wonder if they would have been so happy if he had correctly predicted Germany would lose over and over? It was genius on the part of the Sea Life Aquarium however, using something as popular as soccer in Europe to attract a target market who might otherwise be uninterested by pairing two completely unrelated things: sea creatures and soccer!

This honestly just goes to show how much hilarious novelties like this really can impact a population. According to the Wikipedia page about Paul, studies have been done to try to determine if it is actually legitimate that Paul may have oracle-type knowledge of the future. Apparently Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who seems to make weekly addresses criticizing the most RIDICULOUS thing he can find about the West) even mentioned Paul during the World Cup this summer, chastising him for something or other relating to Western-centralism. HILARIOUS!

A quick addition to my last post, my boyfriend found this spoof on youtube of the Old Spice ad.

To me, this just further proves the point that interesting and FUNNY advertising easily picks up in popularity. Typically, when some group makes fun of another, it is not viewed as a good thing. That being said, in marketing this seems to not necessarily be the case. When this spoof gets passed around the internet, it will only increase Old Spice’s exposure as it evokes the viewers’ memory of the original commercial, reaching into their right brain and (hopefully) concreting loyalty. Worked for me!

My name is Danielle Pelletier and I am most definitely NOT a marketing student.  Most things about advertising drive me pretty crazy, probably because there is a lot of bad advertising out there!  Now, of course, as I am taking this class to fulfill my requirements because it’s mandatory try to expand my horizons and learn a little about the evil world of making-people-buy-things-they-don’t-really-want-or-need, I will be keeping an open mind.  It is also conceivable that I do not really appreciate marketing because I do not really understand it (at all!) so I suppose this course will (hopefully!) do me a great service in educating me.

For now, the only insightful perspective I have to offer is coming from the consumer standpoint, so that is where I plan to start.  I hate television mostly because I hate commercials.  That being said, every now and again a spectacular gem of amusement comes across my screen and I can’t help but be enthused and enthralled that somewhere out there a team of advertising execs put together such a witty and hilarious commercial.  By no means does it equate to me leaping off my couch and running to the nearest store to pick up the product, but it does plant the seed of brand loyalty that may have me lean in the direction of that product over its competitor.  Thinking about this further, and knowing myself like I do, I think that while good commercials make me slightly more likely to buy a product, bad commercials make it DRASTICALLY less likely for me to buy one… probably because it infuriates me to give money to a company that is going to spend it on stupid mindless poor commercials!

To illustrate my point, here are two fairly new commercials (circa 2010 for sure) for two competing brands.  The first is a ridiculous Axe ad that basically states that simple body-spray will land you a smoking hot blond (and, it would appear, also some form of multiple-personality disorder).  Trying way too hard to sell a lifestyle that, quite simply, a little body-spray isn’t going to get you.  Not Funny!  The second is an Old Spice commercial that recognizes the ludicrousness of what Axe is doing and makes it into a great joke.  Very funny!

When I buy my boyfriend bodywash (because his Mom doesn’t live in this city and god knows SOMEONE has to take care of him!) there is no chance it will ever be Axe brand.  I hate their commercials!  Leave me a comment if you disagree with my opinion of these two ads, or just have something to say about them, but I stand true to my convictions that the second up there is one of the funniest commercials I’ve seen in a while.

To sum up this first post, I am an opinionated student who has no background in marketing, a flair for the humorous and a boyfriend who smells like Old Spice 🙂  ‘Til next time!