Our team should have distributed workload more evenly. We were confused about all these new concepts, and we did not discuss them enough. It would help our group if everybody suggested ideas and offered opinions on how to apply those concepts in the context of the first 2 assignments. Asking for clarification from the professor would also give us a better understanding of the assignment and help to apply marketing concepts.

We were able schedule our work effectively. We did not have to rush at the end, and we had plenty of time to research our topic. I did not think it was possible, but we might have over researched it. The time could have been used more effectively if we picked relevant information and analyzed it in the context of the assignment. As a result of this information overload, we missed a few points in our answers to questions in the assignment 1 and 2.

Assignment 3 was more clear than the first two, probably because we had (hopefully) figured out the requirements and expectations of our professor. Since we had most of the analysis and content done by then, we had to work on the creative part of this assignment. i think we had a lot of fun designing and making the video. I am glad that at least some of our group members were as enthusiastic about making this video as I was.

A global survey of 2,500 marketers highlighted key trends, opportunities and challenges for marketing professionals. Many businesses have realized the importance of their digital presence. Monitoring new developments in this area is necessary to take advantage of business opportunities and identify threats.

Customer experience will be a priority for C2C marketers in 2014. It is the most exciting opportunity for 20 percent of respondents, who are focused on enhancing their customers’ digital experience. Mobile marketing is the second most attractive marketing opportunity for businesses worldwide. It will probably only grow in importance, as the number of people who own cell phones and tablets increase.

Mobile technologies have made it much easier for companies to access and communicate with their customers, but there are some challenges ahead. For example, cell phone screens are quite small, which requires marketers to adapt their messages and communicate brand image with very little available space.

For companies marketing their products to other businesses, content marketing will be the key opportunity in 2014, with 24 percent of survey participants giving it the highest ranking. The main purpose of content marketing is to engage business consumers with various forms of content (video, images, blog posts, ebooks, etc). at the various steps of the buying cycle. It seems that B2B marketing is quite information intensive, while B2C marketers focus on the whole experience.

It is interesting how personalization was the main priority for only 10 percent of respondents. One of the most recent examples where personalization is being used to increase sales is grocery shopping. ScanIt! mobile application provides consumers with different offers depending on whether they are time- or financially constrained. For example, it will send financially constrained consumers coupon deals, while time constrained consumer will be able to order deli and pick it up whenever they can.

References:

Blog: http://www.getelastic.com/key-digital-trends/

Hamstra, M. (2014, January 13). Targeted marketing: Retailers step up personalization. Supermarket News. Retrieved from LexisNexis Academic database.

Murthy, A. A. (2011). Content marketing. PRIMA, 2(1), 31-45. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1478064964?accountid=14656

Tesla’s last DriveFree campaign demonstrates a very interesting use of marketing techniques including social media. Promotion has become a difficult task in our time-poor society, which is constantly under attack of perhaps millions of advertising messages today. It requires marketers to ensure that each message that they develop for their target markets grabs attention and conveys the value of the product. However, it is necessary to define who your target market actually is.

The New York Post article mentions that Tesla wants its cars to be within the reach of upper-middle class. There are many different ways to define a company’s target market, and I think one of the best ways to segment Tesla’s market is using psychographics.

Since these people can afford a car that runs on gas, why would they buy Tesla? Because it satisfies more of their needs and wants, and it does so better than other car producers. I assume these are also the people who have certain lifestyle, beliefs and values. Not only should they be able to buy this car, but also believe that it reflects who they are or who they want to be.

Now, who exactly those people are? Assuming that Tesla established itself a luxury brand, its target market wants to buy things that are not necessarily practical, but promote their self-image. Their target customers probably follow a luxurious lifestyle and would want buy things that are the best in their product categories. High quality, high-tech cars such as Tesla’s Model S sedan would likely to appeal to them the same way innovative and technically superior Apple products appeal to its buyers.

This is the value that a luxurious electric car has for these consumers. One model will probably not be enough for them; Tesla wants to widen its product selection and target families. It will be very interesting to see how Tesla’s plans to expand its market share turn out.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/yahel/

“Tesla Cars to Allow Owners to See US on $0 gas.” New York Post. MarketWatch, 2 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2014. <http://nypost.com/2014/02/02/tesla-cars-to-allow-owners-to-see-us-on-0-gas/>.

The first time I came across the concept of marketing was in my introductory psychology class. We were studying psychoanalysis in the center of which lied Freudian ideas on unconscious irrational drives. One of the examples of a real-life application of Freud’s theories that we studied was the American Tobacco Company’s advertising campaign in the 1920s.

This period was marked by a tremendous success of the suffragist movement, when women who had just won the right to vote started to attend colleges and entered workforce in larger numbers. However, they did not yet achieve absolute social equality with men, and certain restrictions applied to women smoking in public. It was a taboo for women to smoke outside of their homes; they could be even arrested for lighting a cigarette on the street .

Tobacco producers were not going to put up with these rules. The president of the American Tobacco Company believed that cigarettes sales would soar if he could convince women to start smoking in public. He hired Edward Bernays, a “public relations counsel”, who, in consultation with a psychoanalyst, found a way to take advantage of the suffragist movement to change public’s opinion on smoking.

Dr. Brill concluded that cigarettes, which were equated in people’s minds with men, represented torches of freedom for women. This expression appeared on the pages of national newspapers, and produced the desired long-lasting effect on women smoking.

http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1929.html

I was appalled when I heard this story. While I may not able to give a scientific explanation for this effect, I do understand how it looks to people who are not familiar with the actual definition of marketing. Marketing is not a manipulation of people’s minds. It is a relationship between buyers and suppliers. Consumers have choice and information. Producers have to understand the needs of their consumers and create products that consumers value. That sounds ethical, don’t you think?

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