Category: Marketing

Nintendo, the multinational Japanese corporation that is best known for its gaming system Wii, is the focus of today’s blog.

I was just surfing the web one day and I stumbled upon a whole list of products and services Nintendo tried to offer. People probably only know Nintendo as the gaming company. But what they don’t know is that Nintendo was founded as a playing card company. It then went on and set up a taxi company, a love hotel chain, a TV network and a food company. Many of these ventures failed and it took Nintendo a couple years to enter into its niche market, which is gaming.

This topic relates to the central definition of marketing, where they were trying to satisfy the needs of too many customers and because of that, they were unable to provide the quality of services that was expected from them. It was not until they realized that they needed to focus on one target market and position themselves in a way where consumers see them as the superior gaming company, did they succeed as a company.

Red Bull is an energy drink sold by an Austrian Company: Red Bull GmbH. According to BBC, it is the “most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year.”

I still remember the first time I heard of Red Bull. It was when I was in high school and I had to study pull an all-nighter to write my History paper. I was getting really tired and when I turned on the TV to take a break, the Red Bull advertisement came up with it’s famous slogan “Red Bull gives you wings”.

In correlation to what we are learning in class about Consumer Behaviour, I believe it appealed to me through the psychological factor: perception. I really enjoyed the fact that it was a very simple advertisement. It is very simple because it looks like a moving sketchbook, and similar to the youtube video posted below, it is very humorous at the same time.

I believe that Red Bull became so successful because of its effective marketing strategy of repetition. To further explain this, Red Bull never strays from their slogan and their sketch-like video advertisements. This differentiates Red Bull from all the other energy drinks such as NOS.

As I reminisce about Hong Kong, I slowly trace my thoughts to the streets of Causeway Bay and Central. The two most busiest districts on Hong Kong Island. I recall the seas of billboards posted on buildings selling various brands. Ranging from sporting goods (Nike, Adidas, Puma, ASICS etc), to mobile goods (iPhone, BlackBerry), to clothing brands (Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel), those two districts are the most heavily marketed areas.

I believe this is the case simply because as one of the densest areas in Hong Kong, companies need to grasp the attention of bystanders. The way to do that would be to utilize billboards and big TV screens.

Through the nostalgic memory run, I start to remember how many times I bought certain goods because of the marketing strategy of the company.

(Causeway Bay)
Source: http://pacejmiller.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/travel-oversea.jpg

Word Count: 133

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Sponsoring a major sporting event is considered a good marketing investment under certain circumstances. Firstly, the company should have enough funds in order to pay the bid for the sponsorship. If the company does not have the money, it would have to take a loan and if the sponsorship does not boost its sales, it would be making a loss. Secondly, the company must evaluate the costs and the benefits. Sponsoring the event may mean that it does not have enough funds to invest in other fields. However, sponsoring the event leads to an increase in reputation of the brand. If the costs outweigh the benefits, then it is not a good marketing investment. Lastly, as a major sporting event, millions of viewers are guaranteed. If the company gets sponsorship rights, it would mean that everyone would see the brand, which may lead to an increase in sales. This would be a factor on why sponsoring a major sporting event would be a good marketing investment.

(Example of marketing: Standard Chartered Bank sponsoring Liverpool football club)
Source: http://www.gbposters.com/images/gbposters-com/lightbox/b7f7/SP0724-LIVERPOOL-the-reds.jpg

Word Count: 166

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