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I’ve already blogged today, but I saw this picture in the Vancouver Sun and it made me think. (I don’t want to forget to blog about it either). It does have to do with Promotional strategy, which is what we’re learning about in class.

This is a picture of Megan Raymond (wife of Canuck Mason Raymond) helping to prepare and sell prize balloons raising money for families in need. I think this is a great initiative for a multiple of reasons, here is why:

1) This is very good for Canucks PR as it puts them in a charitable light. The Canucks have always been involved with raising money for the needy, most notably the BC children’s hospital campaigns that have been going on for a long time. I believe the Sedin brothers also donate their own money on a regular basis. Those type of people are true heroes in my eyes.

2) By having the wives and significant others of the Canucks as the “faces” of the fundraiser, this will definitely accomplish a lot more for the charity than if the volunteers were just your average Joes/Janes. I don’t know if the charity paid to have the Canucks sponsor them or if the Canucks volunteered themselves, but it’s a good strategy (celebrities promoting your product/service).

3) Good Samaritans who donate will also get a lot more value out of it. They receive a prize in their balloon, and not only are they donating to a good and worthy cause, but they are affiliating themselves with the Canucks organization. A lot of Vancouverites would put value on that. Having the Canucks may also attract people who may not have before to donate, simply because it associates them with the club.

Overall, I believe this to be an effective campaign as it benefits all of the participants. I’m no expert, but this is obviously a well chosen promotional strategy.

I was reading through some of my classmates’ blogs today, and I came across an interesting post by my friend Mei Chi (sorry I’ve linked to you twice Mei Chi, but what can I say, you write some good stuff!). I found her thoughts on awkward “networking” scenarios quite amusing and I agreed with it immediately. Being in Commerce encourages us to attend as many events as we can so we can learn more and meet new people. Most business clubs will promote their events by including such, ie. “come to this event and listen to this professional speaker, followed by dinner and a ‘networking session'”. Most students go out to these in hopes of networking with professionals and impressing them so much that they’ll get an excellent job offer in the future. However, most of the time it ends up being mainly a networking session between your peers in Commerce (boring). I understand that these may be the people who you might be working with/for in the future, but a networking session isn’t really going to give you a good idea of what sort of person they are. I probably wouldn’t join a competition with someone whom I’ve networked, but never actuallyworked with. Working in group projects in your classes are a better way to get to know people you might want to work with in the future. I would join a competition with someone I’ve done a group project with in the past if I knew what type of person they were. (This I have done actually – I joined an OB teammate’s group and we won the 2009 UBCMA Battle of the Ads).

Whenever I see the words “followed by a networking session” on an event promotion, it’s almost a turn off. Especially if the ratio of students to professionals is extremely high.

I recently saw a Walmart commercial on TV that I thought was a bit unethical. I think it’s a rather new one and I unfortunately can’t find it on youtube to show on my blog. I’ll do my best to just describe it.

A couple come home with lots of bags and presents, and it’s implied that it’s the night before Christmas. They begin setting everything up (ie. the presents under the trees) while the captions say things like “you can get THIS at Wal-mart for THIS PRICE”. Towards the end, they plop down in two armchairs, clearly exhausted, and the camera shows milk and cookies for Santa left out by their daughter. The father then drinks the milk while the mother tackles the cookies. The camera then pans on their daughter, arms crossed, glaring at them.  The caption then shows something along the lines of “and milk and cookies, for this price”.

While some kids at a young age may not understand the gist of the commercial, this advertisement could very well ruin Santa’s “being real” for children who believe. Of course, Wal-mart’s target market is adults, specifically parents of young children, but that doesn’t stop those young children from seeing the commercial. Way to potentially ruin Christmas for a number of young kids, Wal-mart.

I came across this commercial the other day, and since our group is doing Axe, I thought I’d share it. Some of you may have seen it already.

I don’t really like this commercial. I’m sure everyone gets the obvious pun, but with the commercial being so long, it kind of loses its value. I mean, if it were a short commercial with a spontaneous “CLEAN YOUR BALLS” while depicting some dirty sports equipment, it might be funny. This entire advertisement draws on for too long, and I think the idea is a bit out of bounds. I almost felt uncomfortable watching it with all the empty silences making it extremely awkward. There’s my two bits for the day. On a side note, I never thought it would be this difficult to keep blogging consistently. Drat!

Passing over youtube the past couple of days, I noticed a couple comments on videos consisting of “UNDERGROUND YOUTUBE DECREES”. Anyone is free to become a youtuber, and with the internet acting as a shield for those who want to act like jerks, there are always a lot of various, stupid comments on videos. Ie. shamelessly berating the uploader if they don’t like the video, multiple users getting into arguments, or just making a dumb remarks that has nothing whatsoever to do with the video. Youtubers are also free to “rate” comments by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down on the comment, so you get lots of comments desperate for ratings, such as “thumbs up if you agree that the reporter was hot”.

Coming across this “UNDERGROUND YOUTUBE DECREES” comment, I was actually pleasantly surprised and amused when reading it. If you’re a regular youtuber like me, you may appreciate these decrees as well.

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UNDERGROUND YOUTUBE DECREES

I Thou shalt not mention Justin Bieber

II Thou shalt not comment on the dislike bar

III Thou shalt not explain how something is different in Soviet Russia

IV Thou shalt not ask if he died

V Thou shalt not include “Chuck Norris” in a sentence

VI Thou shalt not ask for thumbs up

VII Thou shalt not ask if an inanimate object is ok

*Disobeying the decrees will doom you to a YouTube afterlife filled with bad rap music and male enhancement advertisements*

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You see these types of comments on pretty much EVERY highly-viewed video on youtube. Even if the video has nothing to do with Justin Bieber, some commenter will always talk about him (normally in a very bad way). You also see a LOT of comments on the dislike bar. “5832 people missed the like button”. Try going to any youtube video, and looking through the comments. You’re almost guaranteed to find some of these comments.

Commenting and/or reading the comments has lost some of its value. Yeah, you still see some people giving their true opinion in a reasonable manner, and those are nice to read. But more and more, you see these lame generic comments. Although I can definitely see this “UYD” comment becoming one that appears on every single video as well, I must say I agree with it. Lame comments are ruining my experience of watching the video.

If you watch TV, then you’ve likely seen the numerous Must Drink More Milk commercials. If you don’t watch TV at all, I imagine you must have good study habits and an intimidating academic record. (I envy you).

I came across my classmate Mei Chi’s blog today, and saw her post about the semi-recent campaign launched by the BC Dairy Foundation. I laughed. I also had the same reaction as her when I saw one of the newer commercials for the first time [below].

My first thought was “Seriously? What the hell is this?” which quickly turned to laughter after seeing Must Drink More Milk at the end (although not shown on that video).

I have to really commend the BC Dairy Foundation for their creative and quite humorous commercials. They did a really good job of positioning, with the whole “drink milk and you’ll be stronger, but we present it in a really funny way” idea. This was a consistent theme also evident in their previous campaign, with a usually strong something not being quite up to par due to the lack of drinking milk. Some of my favourite videos from that campaign are below:

All are pretty funny, and if it makes me laugh, then I consider it to be a good commercial. What about you?

On the 480 to and from UBC, and in various other places, I commonly see ads providing free English classes for immigrants.

Obviously, the market segment is immigrants from any country targeted to those who do not speak English. The positioning approach is very clear, in that it boldly states what it can provide for those interested. I think this is a good method, with simple, yet powerful statements that many Canadian newcomers are probably thinking. It is hard to get started after moving to a new country, especially if you don’t speak the language, and this service would definitely interest and benefit many (especially since it is free – funded by the BC and Canadian government). The home page of the website immediate shows links for many different languages, in that language, so it is easily accessible for those who do not speak English.

I think it’s great that the government is willing to provide English classes to those who want to learn. It shows what kind of country Canada is; people want to live here, and they are welcomed warmly.

I came across this post entitled 10 Tips for Aspiring Digital Marketers. I think it’s really quite helpful, especially in these times where the internet is everything. Many consumers find it easier and more much convenient to check out a company online, rather than having to take the time to travel to the place and ask about it. They can do it on their own time, and not feel pressured about it. A good online presence is impressive, and you see many products/brands these days using digital media to market themselves.

I find this blog to be very interesting, as the tips given are not simple ones that you would expect. Digital marketing is a whole new category of advertising, and there are numerous ways to pursue success, with new ones being discovered and followed everyday. Check it out, it might be a big help for you some time in the future! 🙂

In this country, almost everyone has a car. In this day and age, almost everyone has a cell phone as well. Combine both, and you could very well have an accident on your hands. Technology has advanced greatly over the past decade, and now it is quite common to see many people carrying a phone that not only allows you to talk to someone wirelessly, but also permits you to text, check your email, browse facebook, and much more. With more to pay attention to on your phones, it was almost impossible for cellphone-based car accidents not to happen.

These commercials have been out for a while now, but they still have the ability of drawing your attention each time.

I think these commercials were well done; they definitely chose a good direction to follow. The tone is dead serious, and it appeals to everyone who drives and has a cell phone (a rather large target audience). It is very clear that the cellphones were the causes of the accidents. It gets your attention, and then shoves the message into your mind. It’s not selling a product either, so it’s almost like a break from other commercials. Of course, you still see people “above the law” on their phones while driving, but that is definitely no fault of ICBC’s.

There was one thing I didn’t (actually, still don’t) like about the drivecellsafe commercials. It ends with “using a handheld cellphone while driving is not only illegal, it’s dangerous.“ The last bit seems weird to me because it’s in the WRONG ORDER. An activity being illegal is almost a given for it being dangerous or harmful. These phrases are supposed to go from like degree one to degree two, and it’s awkward if they don’t. It’s almost like saying “Smoking cigarettes not only gives you cancer, it’s bad for you!” or “She not only has a doctorate, but a bachelor’s degree!” The ending would have sounded much better if it ended with “is not only dangerous, it’s illegal.“ That would make much more sense, especially since a new law actually came into effect making the activity illegal. Anyway, drive cellsafe, marketing friends!

So I’ve tried having a blog before, but I don’t think anyone really read it. If no one reads the stuff you share, you don’t really feel compelled to keep it up. Dare I relate this to OB? Employees tend to be more motivated and productive when they are receiving positive recognition for what they are doing. Oh snap, I did dare to! But yeah, I don’t think anyone really followed it, and thus I didn’t feel any fulfillment with it and my interest in keeping the blog going faded too.

But wait, there’s more! Along comes 296, a new refreshing class, and a new blog is born! So on to post number 1.

Marketing, marketing, marketing. What to talk about? My family and I went down to the states for a shopping trip a couple of weeks before school started, and it was interesting to note all the University of Washington apparel that was available in many stores like Ross or Marshalls (think of “Winners” if you haven’t heard of these stores). It was also common to see a lot of people sporting UW/Huskies clothing, and a good number of these people did NOT look like alumni (What? I’m just sayin’).

I think this reveals significant pride from the local residents for the local university. It’s compelling that Americans are notably more supportive of university athletics than Canadians are. Exemplifying, I remember Duke Blue Devils basketball shirts being available at Champs/Foot Locker, and the NCAA finals are televised and even turned into video games. You don’t ever see UBC Thunderbirds apparel at Champs. Here, if you see someone wearing a university sweater or t-shirt, there’s a pretty good chance that they attend said university. I myself own some UBC apparel, but I definitely wouldn’t have gotten it if I wasn’t a UBC student. Wearing your university clothing away from home (if you’re a local student like me) offers a bit of a thrill, since you get to show off your “prestige” as well as the potential of being recognized by other students/alumni to foster a friendly connection. That being said, wearing it around home offers a thrill as well, especially if you pass someone who goes to SFU. Oh snap, again! 🙂

“I am UBC. I am not a number or an apathetic bore. I don’t go to school on a hill, or on an island, or in Ontario.”