“What truly distinctive about the kind of Asian hospitality that Shangri-La offers is our colleagues’ genuine care and respect for our guests and each other. For us, this is more important than talking about palatial buildings or beautiful locations.” said Greg Dogan, president and CEO of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts.

In 2010, Shangri-La developed the new campaign“It’s In Our Nature” which emphasized the essence of the Shangri-La culture “embracing people from the heart and treating them like family”. When I first watched the TV commercial, I was pulled into the short story and so touched by it. Wolves come out to warm an exhausted traveller, embracing a stranger as their own. Instead of showing how beautiful and gorgeous the hotel is, this campaign inspired the employees and customers by a sweet moment, and it also conveyed the value of genuine kindness, which enriches the society.

Nowadays, there are kinds of commercials and marketers are striving to find different ways to catch consumers’ eye. An impressive campaign would attract more attention. Shangri-La did successfully for this campaign. The target market for this campaign is people who have a young attitude and love nature, travel, and adventure. Kindness will make them feel happy. Therefore, this campaign could touch their hearts.

Following is the TV commercial. Enjoy！

Following are some awesome magazine advertisements for this campaign.

Source:

http://altnews.asia/content/2010/06/01/shangri-la-hotels-and-resorts-launches-new-global-brand-campaign

http://ournature.shangri-la.com/en/#/home/

As I worked though my team assignment, I found the step of target market identification is very significant and influential in making the marketing decision. By doing that, it gives me further understanding for the marketing tactic and marketing knowledge that could go beyond the marketing assignment.

The target market identification always starts from doing the research. However, better target market identification could be done by having a clear recognition of the issues or goals that the company wants to solve or accomplishment, instead of starting research directly. It would be very helpful in defining the target market and would always contribute as sort of guide-line into the research.

When I was doing the target market identification, I realized it is not only need to define the group of people who are customers, but also find the group of people who are the solution to a company’s problem. It is quite different from what I thought before. As the target markets are a congregation that could solve a company’s problem but not only limited to increase sales or market share. The target audience could be anyone, includes customer, investor, lobbyist, etc. It depends on the situation that the company is facing; even the same company would have different target audiences.

In order to do good target market identification, it has to do good segmentation and identify segments from different variables, includes the geographic, psychographic and demographic aspects. Then narrow it down by outline and express as many as characterizations that find from research. As more proper descriptions provided, easier it would be to identify the target market and develop the company positioning and 4Ps.

In this August, Victoria’s Secret, the world famous brand of lingerie and sleepwear, was having a grand opening in downtown Vancouver. On the opening day, shoppers started to line-up from 5am. Why is Victoria’s Secret so charming?

The simple reason is that: Victoria’s Secret does pretty well on marketing their products and building a strong brand image. Their fantastic marketing strategies are pervasive from store interior design to their advertisement and supermodels, who are known as “Angels”.

I went to the new store last week. The two-story, 35000-square-foot store really impressed me. The double spiral staircase with the large screen is stunning. The atmosphere is quite different from that in other stores: the colors are vivacious, the floor is sparkling, and the music is upbeat. The interior design, which is pretty and fashion, attracts most of the young girls, who are the main target of the company. This place makes girls feel like a princess.

During the opening period, there was a promotion that if customers buy over 75 dollars, they would get a pink Victoria’s Secret umbrella for free. Lots of girls came out from the store with an umbrella. This strategy is quite smart considering the fall weather in Vancouver.  Even if someone didn’t read news, he/she would know Victoria’s Secret comes to Vancouver by seeing the whole street pink umbrellas.

 Victoria’s Secret is also famous for their annual super fashion show. Actually, I heard about this fashion show before I knew this brand.  The fashion shows have many eye-catching focal points, such as the new designs, the supermodels, the popular singers, and the annual “fantasy bra”.  Many girls, who are the main target market, like to watch and talk about this show. The psychological needs make them want to buy and emulate the supermodels.

Although the merchandises of Victoria’s Secret are expensive, consumers are still willing to come to the store and believe the value gained offsets the high price. Creating and providing wonderful value to consumers is the key of the Victoria’s Secret’s success.

Source:

http://globalnews.ca/news/804389/vancouver-retail-scene-booming-with-victorias-secret-store-opening-aritzia-sale/

As I was watching videos on YouTube, one of the Coca-Cola commercial pops up as my video’s pre-ads. I am not an ads person. I always skip the ads after its 5 seconds playing, but not for this time. Coca-Cola has great commercials. I enjoy watch every Coca-Cola ads.

Then I questioned myself, what makes Coca-Cola’s ads so attractive? Is that because I feel Coca-Cola taste better or the commercial’s self is good? I end up with watching 10 more Coca-Cola’s ads and I think I find out the answers. Unlike other ads, Coca-Cola’s commercial is not about selling their bottles; it is about sharing the feeling that everyone enjoys, happiness. Their commercial is trying to build a bond between their brand and the feeling of happiness. What a genius idea! It is just like the impression that Apple gives us is simpleness and that for Lululemon is yoga. With that in mind, I believe Coca-Cola is working on their impression toward happiness.

This also reminds me a marketing article that I have read, Push and Pull marketing strategies. Push is sellers offer or push the deals to the customers. For example, sellers ship their products to retail stores and customers see it and decide to buy. Pull is sellers interact with customers and wait for customers to take action. Coca-Cola is definitely using the pull strategy.  As a well-established brand, Coca-Cola creates their demand directly from their customers with their advertising campaigns all over the world.

As I scrolled down to the comments box, I read a comment from Anael “Bring happiness to Israel! We really need it! “. I realize maybe Coca-Cola is not only building their brand images, they are also delivering it to the world—happiness.

Check out the videos below, there might be one that will touch you. Enjoy.