Shai's Marketing Blog

Recently McDonalds sought to increase brand awareness and expose their own brand of coffee to the world by giving away free coffee for a two weeks. In recent memory, this has been one of the best marketing strategies ive seen in a while. Not only did i not know that mcdonalds offered coffee, but I also found out that it serves a pretty decent brew. Giving away such large quantities of coffee created quite a hype as McDonalds coffee mugs were being carried everywhere. If they didn’t get enough brand awareness before, they were sure getting a double dose of it. Another benefit to the marketing strategy, that I had witnessed while standing in line for my free morning coffee, was that people often would purchase something to go along with their coffee in the morning. So, although it would appear that McDonalds was losing large sums of revenue with such a marketing scheme, they were perhaps covering a lot of their losses by bringing people into the restaurant and selling high profit margin items like muffins. Overall, a really interesting marketing strategy that I have come across recently.

Keeping it market savvy,

Shai

Being in that marketing frame of mind and with the holidays creeping up, I want to know what drives people to drop outrageous sums of cash  on gifts for others and themselves. Christmas is an obvious excuse to spend money, but why has consumption steadily increased over the past few decades? In the midst of a depression spending is relatively out the roof. Are advertisters taking advantage of these wintertime blues? Feeding us outrageous reasons to spend money even though our pocket change is dwindling? Maybe it has something to do with seasonal affective disorder? are we getting a little depressed in this gloomy season, giving us a reason to endulge in retail therapy? The possibilities are numerous. Who knows what it really is that gives people this sense that their pocketbooks are indispensable? Whatever it is, its food for thought and definetly has something to do with clever marketing.

Keeping it Market Savvy,

Shai

Taylor Johnston, a fellow  aspiring business student from the Sauder School of Business at UBC, has a fantastic and riveting blog that raises many key marketing concepts. (Look up tjthebizz’s blog here). In a recent post he claims to coin the term “self-marketing.” He is obviously slightly delusional, since this has a been a key concept right from the get go. I vividly recall our marketing professor, Tamar, on the first day say that even if you are not interested in majoring in marekting something to walk away with and that will help you in every endeavour is self-marketing. Taylor hits the concept right on the nail when he exclaims that, “you are the product!” This has become more evident to me even in the most non-business of settings. Say for example you are taking a beautiful girl on a first date, the way you greet her, the way you dress, how you smell, your body language, where you take her, and so forth all indicate a degree of self-marketing. This all accumulates to how you wish to be perceived by your date, and this is exactly what marketing comprises of; communicating value. Obviously the key components of this scenario can be transferred to a variety of different settings. This is why self marketing is such a valuable concept, because it applies to EVERYTHING you do. Keep this in mind at all times, and you are bound to be successful.

Keeping it market Savvy,

Shai

Are these toolsheds really influencing men’s comsumption patterns?

I came across a statistic stating that 80% of household purchasing decisions were made by women. I am inclined to believe that either this statistic is dated or that trends are changing as we speak. Now more than ever marketing is targeting men and getting us involved in purchasing decisions. A growing trend and recent phenomenon is metrosexuality. Men are now becoming more self indulgent and investing in self grooming products that maybe a decade ago would not have existed. Who would have known 20 or 30 years ago that the Axe product line would have been such a success in the present market. A brand offering grooming products exclusively for men ranging from hair products to bodywashes. So the question is what came first metrosexuality or did marketing prompt such behaviour? Maybe its social trends such as the hit reality show Jersey Shore whose male subjects take pride in taking longer than 25 mintues to style their hair before they go out. Who knows? As was the case with my last post regarding “age compression” purchasing power is no longer concentrated in one demographic. Men along with children are rising stars in the marketing world.

Keeping it market savvy,

Shai

A term i recently came across and that struck my interest is “age compression.” It refers to adolescent and younger kids who try to act older then they are by emulating pop stars and other idols. Advertisers have tapped into this market by appealing products normally intended for older demographics towards the younger crowd. Nowadays kids are using makeup, hair products, fragrances, computers and cellphones at a lot younger age. I remember getting my first cell phone in gr 11 (I still own the same one today). Now I look to my sister who just recently aquired her first mobile going into gr. 8, and she was the last of her friends to get one! This really says something for marketers. Industries are now realizing that purchasing power is not just in the hands of parents, but kids have tremendous influence in such matters. The money may not be in their pockets but that sure doesn’t stop them from getting what they want.

Keeping it market savvy,

Shai

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Hey everybody I’m Shai, a second year commerce student and a “newbee” to the blogging scene. Today on my commute to UBC I was reading the transit newspaper and learned that the new generation of the ipod nano is soon to be released. It got me thinking about the marketing applications of releasing new and updated generations of product with relatively little time between releases. Why do companies do this? Surely the answer is to maximize profits. However, what does this mean from a marketing perspective? It comes back to the example of the Ipod. Apple has already established itself as the forerunner in the digital music business through a series of clever and successful marketing schemes. To date they have released six generations of the ipod nano in the relatively short time that the product has been around. Why do they do this? to create hype, to keep the product up to date, and to create repeat and loyal customers who become entwined in the brand image. For example, I bought a brand new blackberry curve about three years ago when they had just come out with the first model and when blackberry had only started to become a household name.  Today I still maintain the same blackberry curve, but no longer is the product considered “hip” or current. In the short time that I have owned the product numerous generations have been released, rendering my blackberry dated. I have had the opportunity to take a look at the latest blackberry curve. My critique: its a great product, but aside from the asthetics (it looks amazing) not too much has changed in terms of features from my own blackberry. Case and point: companies constantly release newer and updated products in order to keep the “buzz” on them. They are driven by the competition. So next time Ipod releases a new Itouch or Iphone dont be a sucker and run out to buy the latest generation. Chances are that not much has changed since your last purchase.