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How do you sell a product no one needs? Create a problem that no one has and convince them that its a problem. While thinking about how I wanted to finish off my 10th post about marketing, I was wondering to myself what would be a good way to finish off my blog. I came to the conclusion at around 3:30 AM last night while watching the “Magic Bullet” informercial for the 132nd time. Some products when you see them makes you wonder what kind of individuals would be interested in buying them. Obviously as Marketing students, we’re just way too clever to fall into their marketing schemes. Here are the top items on my list of Useless Products with Effective Marketing.

1.) Go-Girl (Female Stand-up Urination Device)

This product was brought up in my marketing class and therefore gets first honours. First, I just want to point out that I’m going to pretend this product isn’t horribly disgusting. Besides that, I don’t think I know a single girl who would want to own this device. And if you do, let me know as I can no longer associate with you. This device is useless, as the pee apparatus you were born with is fine and I don’t see why you would need to improve on that. So far this product has been a hit at trade shows. My guess is that its mostly for some poor joke birthday/wedding gifts.

2.) Snuggie

This product really demonstrates the laziness and improvements of comfortability that we are now discovering. I would love to meet the individual who came up with this. This blanket is comfortable, portable and not exactly socially acceptable. But at the very least, your arms will remain warm and you’ll never have to get tangled in your blankets ever again. Also, according to the below commercial, you will save money on heating.

3.)Facial Flex

When I first heard about this product, I thought it was a joke. However, it most definitely is real. This product is targeted towards those work-out junkies who want a ripped jawline or those individuals who don’t get out much and actually think these braces substitutes are actually going to improve the shape they’re in.

These are just three examples of useless products with effective marketing. It just goes to show that one need not have a good idea in order to make money off of it. Just a good marketing strategy and excellent targeting of the stupid demographic.

In Karolina Nowak’s post “More Than Just 15 Seconds of Fame” she blasts how reality shows and the power of twitter have turned semi-famous people into media monsters who refuse to let their 15-seconds of fame last only 15-seconds. She also mentions the abilities of these people to pique our interest in not only their irrelevant lives, but also in the products they choose to consume. Our increasing reliance on technology and social media to shape our decision-making allows for these attention whores (pardon my language) to represent different companies and peddle their products.

Furthering my post on the power of twitter, comes the companies that are currently making money off these people. Advertising companies such as ad.ly have been able to capitalize on celebrities incessant need to stay in the spotlight and companies need of exposure and have combined the two into making a business out of Facebook and Twitter. Currently ad.ly represents over 1000 different celebrities who are apparently willing to advertise for your company, including the likes of Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Vinny from the Jersey Shore, and Charlie Sheen.

Charlie Sheen in particular is quite the catch for the company, as he recently broke a Guinness book of World Record by getting 1,000,000 followers in 25 hours on Twitter and currently has over 2,000,000. (I guess controversy as a selling point works just as well online as off.) So who was the first to use Charlie Sheen’s online advertising? Well, this afternoon he tweeted for an internship position as his social media marketer (Scott Rolufs – get in on this!) which leads you to internships.com, the first advertisement from the bi-winning, tigerblood filled warlock, aka the quickly-spiralling Sheen. (As a side note, Twitter is quite possibly the greatest way to watch someone’s downfall in realtime). I suppose as the popularity of social media marketing rises so will the opportunities for how to advertise your product. It is a natural progression to use a website with so much exposure to try and capture a new aspect of your consumer base.

As a fairly skeptical and novice user of twitter, I suppose I never realized its usefulness until this semester. It can be quite fun to scroll and is an excellent time-waster while procrastinating statistics and HR. What I really chose to neglect however, is the incredible power it has on the entertainment industry. It makes sense really – as an industry built around selling yourself, it would be important to market yourself to the consumers (your fans).

Actors, comedians, musicians, writers, it seems that if you work in the business its a requirement to be “tweeting” your thoughts at least 9 times a day.

Its not easy to be gangster if the roof of your mouth hurts.

But I believe the most important industry using twitter is the music industry. From being able to launch Justin Bieber’s career to producing practical wisdom from 50 cent (my favourite being: Yo todays been a good day so far but the roof of my mouth is sore cause I eat something that was too hot) to becoming a self-marketing tool artists can use to reveal their personality while making a direct connection with their fans.

A lot can be said in thosee 140 characters including album reviews, concert updates, collaboration ideas, and just general comments that make the musical individual seem more human and real. I never really understood how personal it could get until the other day.

Blueprintevents is an music event-coordinating company based out of Canada. Yesterday, they tweeted something about a large electronic music festival that is happening in both Edmonton and Vancouver, but the headlining acts are different. Since I have already seen the headlining act for Vancouver (Calvin Harris) and have not seen the headlining act for Edmonton, I rudely tweeted back

@blueprintevents How come Edmonton gets @avicii and we get stuck with @calvinharris who comes to Vancouver 12 times a year to play his ipod

Calvin Harris

I thought this quip was clever considering Calvin (unlike some artists) actually makes his own music and does live shows in Europe but has yet to do them in Canada. I’ve seen him twice and he’s a great DJ but I mean, I want to see him make the music, not hit a play button. I didn’t think much of the statement and started studying. I neglected to realize the power of twitter in my belief that someone with over 350,000 followers couldn’t possibly respond to everyone. So imagine my shock when this comment showed up in my inbox

if you’re going to slate me, do me a favor don’t use my @ name – you’re a nasty piece of work. FYI i play CDs dickwad – Calvin Harris

Beyond the shock and awe factor (OMG CALVIN HARRIS MESSAGED ME DIRECTLY!) it really pointed out to me that this is something that never could have occurred before twitter. A direct connection between fans and someone they regard as almost untouchable (for me unfortunately, the realization came a bit late). It truly demonstrated to me the importance of social media marketing in the music industry to introduce new individuals to your music, interact with your fan base and shut up the haters (that would be me). Now back to stats. And Calvin, if you’re reading this remember:

Our campus is defined by many things, its history, the ocean, its landmarks and the students. They are what defines UBC and makes it such a great (or not-so-great depending on your perspective) place to go to school. However, there are a few aspects that I think could be improved through the incorporation of several brands on this fair campus.

SUBWAY

Because the current one we have in the sub is like half a subway that takes twice as long to make you a sandwich and doesn’t follow any of their sweet promotions (i.e 5 dollar Foot Longs)

APPLE

If my marketing class has taught me anything, its that 4/5 of their entire customer base goes to UBC. I don’t want to have to go downtown/to Oakridge to have to get my keyboard cleaned. They already have a sales staff at the Bookstore, just incorporate the IT into it. Can’t be too hard.

THUNDERBAR

I realize this isn’t a brand yet. But if Wyatt Hamilton ever hopes to get an audience at any one of his games this needs to happen. How are we as students supposed to show any school spirit when we can’t even afford to buy liquid spirit ($4.00 for half a beer? Get real!) I’m thinking this place needs to be like POITS but for everyone.

LULULEMON/URBAN OUTFITTERS

Because we need some clothing  stores on campus. And if your one of those people “too manly” for Lululemon, you’ve obviously never worn their sweatpants.

TIM HORTONS

I know what you’re thinking. We already have 2 Tim Hortons, we have 6 Starbucks and many other coffee houses. Why would we ever need another coffee house on campus. Well, I’m talking a real Tim Hortons. Not these ridiculous only-serving-frozen-baked-goods-and-coffee-close-at-4 o’clock Tim Horton’s that exist in the Forestry building and below David Lam. These are a sham of the great organization and quite frankly an embarrassment to it. I didn’t realize I had such a brand loyalty to this piece of Canadiana until I saw the price tag of coffee at Starbucks and others. Then I quickly became a crusader of fighting the good fight and seeingthis to the end.

Similar to UBC Tim Hortons

We need a coffee house on campus that is open all hours, where we can order things with small, medium and large (instead of the ridiculous pretentious coffee house sizes), a place that serves soup and sandwiches (aka real food besides donuts that were frozen an hour earlier) at affordable prices and that will significantly cut the line down at the DLam Timmy Ho’s. I shouldn’t have to wait 45 minutes for a medium single single. That’s absurd.

One trend that I have noticed since my recent introduction to Sauder was the emphasis placed on things such as LinkedIn, Twitter, untagging yourself in compromising photos on Facebook and even the importance of blogs. AKA – Social Media Marketing. In Commerce 296, the importance of these websites are held to high esteem and its even been suggested that this is the future of networking, marketing and job hunting. In fact, one of the blogs was recently quoted in a local newspaper! But a number of things have come to my attention that point out some holes in the idea that these are now necessary components of the business world.

The first was an article I found on Social Media Today that brings up two points that seem very valid to me (Although I suppose I would count as one of skeptics as described in the article).
1. Most social media professionals overestimate what social media can do.
This point resonates with me. Social Media has been around for an incredibly short time span and while there is no doubt that there are a tremendous number of things available to do with it, the sum of its abilities seem to be incredibly exaggerated.
2. No one has a single intrinsic way of describing the value/ROI of social media.
What is the value of social media? What does it actually accomplish for your firm? How do you even value something like this? By the amount of work put into it, or by the number of viewers you receive. This is why it boggles my mind to know that some people out there are making a living through social media.

But perhaps not for long. Especially if we take the following article to be true.
Canadian Business’s newest issue suggests that this social media craze is the reincarnation of the dot-com bust.
Especially with a number of these companies about to start offering IPO’s in the near future, (doesn’t it seem disconcerting that Facebook is valued higher than Time Warner, Newscorp and eBay already?) the time to wonder is now. People stand to make a fortune or lose millions and it all depends on whether social media is here to stay.

Controversy has the power to raise public interest in certain characters. This direction in public interest allows companies to exploit misfortune in an attempt to sell ads. I have noticed a few companies attempting to capitalize on their own endorsed celebrities downfalls in order to peddle their products.

NIKE

Tiger Woods was once one of the most celebrated athletes in the world. An individual to be revered and respected by all golfers (to say the least), he brought the game into the mainstream and is one of the only golfers to actually be considered well-known. He was a cash cow for many companies including  GM, Gillette, Tag Heuer, Gatorade, Accenture, AT&T and especially Nike. Part of his appeal to many of these companies was the fact that he was a family man, and a squeaky clean one at that, at least until the allegations began. It all started with a minor car accident in December 2009, but it escalated quickly into what could be considered the downfall of the Tiger Wood’s empire. Soon, one woman turned into 15, a reputation for being an honest family man was destroyed and one of a drug and sex addicted, generally sick individual emerged. His endorsements began dropping with GM, Gillette, Tag Heur, Gatorade, Accenture and AT&T all falling by the wayside as his life began to fall apart. Nike was the only company that stood by his side through all his turmoil. And 5 months after the scandal was exposed, a TV ad was released capitalizing on Tiger’s extreme exposure and tugging at the public’s heart strings by using the voice of his late father. While the appropriateness of the TV spot could be called into question, there is no questioning the effective use of the public spotlight for Nike.

WRANGLER JEANS

On the lighter side of controversy comes the Brett Favre story. Which in the most basic sense is Brett Favre being known for retiring from football and then coming back and then retiring and then coming back again, and also for a bit of a sexting habit. Wrangler jeans has taken advantage of the Favre controversy to release a humorous ad targeted on making funny of the subject matter.

Both are highly effective campaigns. One makes light of a controversial situation and one attempts to humanize the situation. Regardless it seems capitalizing on controversy is an effective way to bring notice to your brand. Once again proving the old adage, any publicity is good publicity.