The super bowel which just finished awhile ago taught us a lot about advertising. The most important question for a super bowel advertisement is how do you deliver a clear message to the viewers in merely 30 seconds? First of all, we need to understand a 30 second commercial is considered extremely short, most of the daily advertisement we see on TV are closed to a minute. That extra 30 seconds allow companies to put way more information into a commercial and deliver a much clearer message. So, how do we achieve all this in 30 seconds? The Doritos commercial give us the answers.

 www.google.ca   www.google.ca

First the most important thing is telling the viewers who you are. In the pug attack commercial we can clearly see the classic red bag with a huge Doritos name on it. So people will not mistaken Doritos with any other chips companies which are also doing commercials during the super bowel. Second show viewers who you are targeting. In the pug attack commercial, we see a young couple inside a cozy house. We immediately know that Doritos is trying to target young costumers instead of adults or seniors. Third show the customers why Doritos has good products. Doritos show that by showing  that a pug will do anything for some Doritos, and Doritos will make them do crazy things.

All these information in a 30 second video delivered a clear message to the viewers about who they are, who Doritos are targeting, and the quality of their products.

New forms of business come into the market everyday. From smart phones to tablets, from hybrid cars to electric cars, these brand new commodities have already became part of our daily life. These new forms of businesses have become extremely successful in recent years, and many of their owners earn big revenues. So if smart phones and electric cars can become popular commodities, can a space rocket become a product as well? Certainly it can.

 www.google.ca www.google.ca

 Recently, a new U.S high tech firm has begun their rocket business. This company dedicates on researching and developing new kind of cargo rockets, and it plans to have its first launch in 2013. This company has just successfully developed their new cargo rocket called Falcon. This egnormous rocket can carry 114,000 pounds of cargo, and it is the biggest rocket since Saturn V, and it has the ability to carry cargos or men into the Earth, Moon, or even Mars’ orbit. This company had already begun working with NASA and NASA actually plans to put astronauts into the rocket if the company can make several successful launches. As results it will make this company become the world’s first private rocket company.

After reading Jennifer Aniston’s Sex’s Tape by Rebecca Abel, I believe Smart Water deliberately choose that title. Personally, this title has purpose. First, get people’s attention, whenever people see some outrageous things about a popular star, they will go watch it, read it or look at it. Everyone knows Jennifer Aniston, and most of the men on this planet love pornography. So a title which includes super star celebrity +pornography = unstoppable attraction.

 www.google.ca   www.google.ca

I bet a lot of people clicked that video because they thought it was a real sex tape, and a lot of them would love to see Jennifer Aniston gets naked. And I bet a lot of the viewers were actually disappointed because it was not a pornography video. The second purpose is to conduct the message to the targeted market. Clearly, smart water’s targeted market can be everyone. From kids to teenagers, from adults to seniors; these people can all become Smart Water’s targeted customers. However with this sexually appealing title, seniors are out of the list.

 www.google.ca   www.google.ca

So, did Smart Water really do a good job on communicating with their customers in this video? Personally, I disagree. There are a lot of times I don’t really understand the true messages. For example, what is the video trying to tell me when there are a lot of dogs running around Jennifer Aniston? And what is the video trying to tell me when there are three computer nerds watching Jennifer Aniston drinking water? As a result, I don’t believe this video deliver a clear message about this company’s product. And the title of this video is purely used to attract viewers. This is cheating 🙁

After reading Angel Hou’s blog Cool Design Do Make A Difference , I was amazed by the beauty of those buildings and stores. In fact the design of a particular building does have strong effect on its customers. From my personal opinion, I would like to see a Nike store reflects its strong dedication on athleticism. So when people see the store they know this is Nike and they know this is a sport store.

 www.google.ca  www.google.ca

Also, all the people around the world have curiosity. So whenever we see something strange, something beautiful, or something weird, we would love to take a look. Therefore, if the design of a store is outstanding, it can attract customers who are not interested in the product, or customers who have never heard of the brand before. A store with beautiful design also triggers purchasing desires. As we learn in marketing class, a strong store atmosphere does increase sales. As I mentioned before, the design of a store also tells the customer what kind of products they are selling. The apple store in NYC 5^th avenue is a great example.

 www.google.ca   www.google.ca

When people see that store, they immediately know this store sells high tech products. And the huge trade mark on the wall also tells the customers which brand they are choosing. The Apply store on NYC 5^th avenue, also reflect a company’s strength compares to companies. Because people expect strong companies to have fancy stores, and Apple does exactly that. That Apples store already told customers a lot of information before they even get into the store. As a result, a beautiful design for a store does matter, and does make a difference.

After reading Lauren Nipp’s blog about Coke Zero vs Pepsi Max, it got me thinking for a while. I do agree with Laruen that Coke does have a better name, and as male, I prefer the color outfit for coke’s container. The classical black is a strong indicator of strength and power. It has a strong appeal to man. However, the blue and black for Pepsi Max is not so appealing compare to me. I personally believe blue is a kind of neutral color.

 www.google.ca   www.google.ca

I also agree with Laruen that Coke uses a name which makes more sense when the customers are purchasing the product. However, when I first saw Pepsi Max, I didn’t really understand it is a soft drink with zero calories. Though Pepsi Max has a tagline underneath the name, it is not as important as having a good and clear name which conducts the correct message to the customers. Therefore, even Pepsi has a really good tagline underneath the name; it does not make up for having a confusing name. Also, when customers see a product at first sight, they look at the name first. Therefore, if there are any customers who don’t pay attention, they won’t even see the tagline. They might even think this is a drink with maximum calories. So from a personal point of view, I believe Coke have both better color outfit and a name which convey the clear message to the customers.

Commerce 299 is one of the most important courses in Sauder School of business. It provides students with essential information and skills to prepare them for future job interview. In this competitive market, finding a job is never easy, and after learning commerce 299, I believe I had obtained many necessary knowledge and skills to overcome future job searching and job interview challenges.

One of the most important knowledge I learned from commerce 299 is to be the real me. When people try to find a job, they always try to act like others, try to be like others. Especially when people see someone who gets a job, they try to act like that person thinking they will also get the job acting this way. However it is not true, trying to learn from other people doesn’t have negative impact on a person, but try to be another person has huge negative impact. Trying to be others make a person lose his or her own identity, a person’s identity is how others differentiate one human being from another. If we try to be another person, we will lose our own identity and as a result we will have nothing special to offer to our employers.

Another important lesson I learned from this course is to find my own interests. The time for choosing an option is almost here, and knowing what we really want to do is critical. Nobody wants to get stuck in an option he or she hates for another two or three years. So choosing one’s favorite option is much more important choosing the most popular major. The most popular major might not be what we thought it would be, and it could have negative impact on a person’s life and self-esteem if the person doesn’t like the program from the beginning. Our professor wasted a lot of time studying the major he didn’t like and doing the job he didn’t like. It cost him a lot! So be yourself and choose what you like is extremely important.

In the end, commerce 299 is a very useful course, and I am glad that Sauder School of business offers this course to its students. It is in the student’s best interest to start to prepare for their future now instead of letting their future slip through their hands.

Apple has been the leading brand in this new tablet market, and Apple had enjoyed a huge success with its first tablet device which called the iPad. This device contains most functions of a computer, and it is extremely easy to carry around. It has the advantages of being light, and the size of the device allows the user to put it into most of the bags people use. A while ago, Apple introduce the plan of iPad 2, which will be more advance than the originally iPad.

www.apple.ca www.apple.ca www.apple.ca

According to the Apple website, iPad 2 will be 241mm tall, 186mm wide and 8.6mm thick. Also the iPad 2 will be 80 grams lighter than the original iPad. However the most impressive function of the new iPad, is its face time camera. It allows users to video chat with other users with the device or any other people who have a camera on their computer. The iPad 2 also allows user to record video and share them with friends at any time. However, a great product comes with great cost. The iPad 2 is considered expensive. The new iPad 2 will be sold at a base price of $499.00 for 16GB and Wi-Fi, the next step up is 32GB for $599.00, following is 64GB for $699.00. You can purchase the new iPad’s with 3G and Wi-Fi, and they will run in price as follows; $629.00 for 16GB, $739.00 for 32GB, and $829.00 for 64GB. If you are currently not an owner of the original iPad and are wandering how much more it will be to purchase the second generation instead of the first, the original is typically priced around $399.00 currently. So you could save about one-hundred dollars, but if you can afford to you might want to consider getting in on the iPad 2.

When I was young, I always gave up easy and afraid of challenges, troubles, and mistakes. A lot of times when I met a challenge I always tried to avoid the challenges. So, if there is a challenge, I couldn’t overcome it, and I appeared to be an unsuccessful person. However, deep inside my heart, I want to be successful, and I want to achieve something through my life time. After many times of avoiding challenge and troubled by failures, I finally came to realize that is not because I can not overcome difficult tasks or challenges, I was afraid of failures. Whenever things get difficult, I fail to continue, because I don’t want to accept failure. However, a conversation with a stranger changed that part of me.

One summer, I and my family were traveling. We arrived at a beach in southern California, the weather there was beautiful, it was sunny and the entire family was having a good time. After awhile I decided to take a walk myself, and I saw a person far away from me picking up something from the beach. So I went closer and try to see what that person was doing. And when I got close enough to that person, I found out he was actually picking up sea stars alone the beach. Every time when he saw a sea star got washed to the beach, he picked it up and through it back to the sea. I was standing there for around 40mins, and he kept doing the same thing. I was shocked by this person’s consistence. Then I walked to him and presented my curiosity of his action.

 There is millions of sea star being washed to the beach everyday, you will never be able to pick up all of them and throw them back to the sea. Some of them will die eventually, and your action is a completely waste of time. However, he told me:” Yes, there are millions of sea stars being washed to the shore everyday, and I don’t have the ability to save them all, and I know I can’t. However I want to try my best and save as many as I can. So at the end of the day, I can tell myself that, I have tried my best, and therefore I have no regrets.” I was stunned by his response, compare to what he just said, I felt ashamed of myself, and all the challenges and difficulties which I tried to avoid. After that conversation, I always force myself to try my best for all kinds’ challenges and difficulties, and I ended up overcoming many of them with great results.

The fast food industries have been struggling with consumers’ eating behavior for a long time. Decays ago, no one really understood the threat behind constantly eating fast food, however in recent years, the eat habit for most of the consumers had changed dramatically. People understand fast food cause various kinds of problems such as heart attack, obesity, and diabetes. As result many fast food restaurants began to bring in healthier food into their menus, and try to persuade customers that their foods aren’t so bad. However, the Heart Attack Grill had chosen a completely different approach when it comes to healthy eating. First the store offers fast foods at an extremely low price, and the French fries are completely free.

(www.google.ca) (www.google.ca)  (www.google.ca)

Second any customer who is over 350 pounds can eat their entire meal for free. The store also offers a great selection of burgers: cheese burger, double cheese burger, triple cheese burger, and quadruple cheese burger. The atmosphere in the restaurant is also appealing. All the waitresses dress like nurses and they all have perfect body shape. They are constantly walking around the restaurant with smile and talking to the customers. And all the customers are provided with free costumes so they can dress up like patients with heart diseases. Finally the owner of the restaurant dressed like a doctor, and he tells all the “patients” they should eat more junk food.

The Heart Attack Grill is also using overweight people usually around 400-500 pounds to be their representative. In the TV commercial, viewers will see the super fat guy with a sexy “nurse” hugging and kissing each other while the representative is eating a quadruple cheese burger. People might think no one will go to this kind of restaurant for foods; however, the exact opposite is happening. The restaurants’ business is booming, and the owner had just opened a new chain in another state!

After the 2010 Olympic game, the Olympic village lost its former days of prosperity, and no one was living in the Olympic village for a long time. Since nobody was living in the Olympic village lights were always off, and the entire village was dark, so a lot of people called it the ghost town in Vancouver. However, the location of Olympic village is convenient, and it has beautiful view of downtown Vancouver, then what was making it so difficult to sell?

Let’s do a little analysis. In the market mix, a product needs to satisfy 4 factors in order to achieve good profit. They are product, price, place, and promotion. The Olympic village has a good location, and Olympic village belongs to water front estate category, so it is a high end property which indicates it is a great product. Also the developers of Olympic village did a lot of promotion Champaign. As a result the Olympic village already satisfied three of the four factors, then why can’t it generate excellent profit? Unfortunately, though the Olympic village already satisfied three of the four factors, it didn’t satisfy the second factor which is price. After doing research, I found out the pricing for Olympic village were really high. In 2010 a studio with no kitchen, no living room, and no bedroom was selling for 319,000. With this amount of money, people can already buy a 1 bedroom townhouse in Vancouver. The penthouses in Olympic village are also extremely expensive. The average price for a penthouse is 1,590,000. This year, the developers made radical changes on pricing. On average the pricing for any condo in Olympic village had deducted by 30%, making those condos much more affordable. As a result, the Olympic village is selling out much more condos compare to before.