This article I found about anti-littering campaign in Toronto caught my eye because I wouldn’t expect Canadians to be against environmentally-friendly campaigns. However as I read through it, it became clear that it is the companies that were used in the campaign that were against the use of their brand names in this negative connotation. It is completely understandable, as no respectful firm would want their products to be looked at as litter and the government supported it.

Nonetheless, looking at this issue from a marketing perspective, the campaign leaders could have advertised it to these companies as being a part of creating a cleaner environment in Toronto and therefore the firms could take advantage of this to enforce their social responsibility in the name of their brand. This in turn would eliminate the “damaging effect on their trademarks”, and would do quite the opposite.

Based on the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/toronto-ads-crossed-the-line-with-depiction-of-prominent-brands/article20379559/

We are living in the age of evolution of information technology and online shopping is no exception. It is easier nowadays to order items, such as clothing, electronics, home appliances and even food online, then spend money, time and energy on driving to the shopping centre to get these items. This is a great opportunity for the retail stores to open up new possibilities and start selling their products online. Many stores, such as Apple or Wal-Mart, took that opportunity and experienced a sales increase.

This new market is not only profitable for businesses that are looking into entering it, but for the consumer, who is receiving the service at his convenience. But there is another question that arises, what happens to the actual stores? If e-commerce keeps expending, there will be no need for shopping malls and they will just lose business and close down. Therefore in order to survive, Shopping malls need to step up their game with offering entertainment, in the form of indoor amusement parks for children, cinemas, etc. A great example of this are the malls in Dubai, which include indoor ski resort, hotels, huge aquariums and amusement parks. Therefore malls in Dubai are so successful and they also make great profit for their owners.

Based on the article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/online-shopping-forces-malls-to-evolve-and-keep-customers-coming-back/article20777568/