As the end of the term quickly approaches, I would like to do a reflection on the COMM296 Business Plan Project, as it provided me with valuable experience and knowledge regarding the subject of Marketing.

At the beginning of the term, we started with the SWOT analysis, understanding what the company was good at, what needed to be improved, and opportunities for improvement. Moreover, we analyzed the environment in which the company operates in, including their competitors, partners, and the social and demographic factors. Although this part of the project was time consuming and requires lots of research, nevertheless, it was interesting and provided a good practice for a real marketing analysis.

Later on, we identified the appropriate target market segment of the company, which in terms led us to the next step of the 4Ps. As a electronic appliance retailer and warranty provider, we selected the products and services that we felt the company should stress on, and drew out some promotional strategies.

Finally, we started our video production by first coming up with a story board, outlining the essential scenes and wrote scripts accommodating each scene while providing enough plots and information for the viewers to fully understand our story; and more importantly, our analysis of the company along with our recommendations.

After watching other teams’ videos and reading their feedback of our’s, I acknowledged that our team focused too much on producing an entertaining video and neglected the depth and completeness of the content. We were lacking many of the important aspects of our written report, and our recommendations were thorough enough. We should have spend more time on writing our script, making it more interesting, professional, and insightful. Moreover, some feedback suggested that the ending of our video was too sudden and did not have a proper closure. I believe that is something to pay attention to in future projects.

Despite the mistakes that we have made, our team were very cooperative and it was really nice working with them. Although the ending result was not as satisfying as expected, we learned a lot of lessons that will help us in our near future.

With the Malaysia Airlines incident approaching closure, I would like to discuss this issue with reference to Sheila Shayon‘s blog post Malaysia Airlines Grapples With MH370 Crisis Management. In this post, Shayon commented on Malaysia Airlines’ crisis management, quoting both positive and negative reflections from various sources.

As described on the post, one of the primary actions Malaysia Airlines took was the creation of a microsite that provides the most up-to-date information of searches in both English and Chinese (since majority of the passengers of flight MH370 is Chinese), along with messages such as public statements and toll-free contact numbers. Such treatment was appropriate because it helps sooth anxiety and somewhat promotes positive brand image (given that the company’s reputation are greatly impacted by this incident).

Other actions taken by Malaysia Airlines include the establishment of a Family Support Centre and monetary support. Moreover, it removed all promotional materials from social medias including Facebook and Twitter, focusing on providing the public with first hand news regarding the incident. Given the severity of this crisis, the airline was doing everything it could to respond. And given what they did so far, I think the airline demonstrated its professionalism and treated this incident with great importance.

Nevertheless, criticism is unavoidable, as stated on the Global Times “The Malaysian side cannot shirk its responsibilities. The initial response from Malaysia was not swift enough. There are loopholes in the work of Malaysia Airlines and security authorities. If it is due to a deadly mechanical breakdown or pilot error, then Malaysia Airlines should take the blame. If this is a terrorist attack, then the security check at the Kuala Lumpur airport and on the flight is questionable.”

Regardless of how well/poor Malaysia Airlines managed this crisis, their corporate image were greatly damaged. In the coming years, it will have to put in extra effort on brand marketing.

Why Water Less™ Jeans – Interview with Levi’s® Designer

While I was never a big fan of green marketing, Ernest Li’s Blog post regarding Levi’s ongoing Water<Less campaign really caught my attention, since prior to reading the post I had little knowledge about the manufacturing processes of jeans and the water consumption involved. As described on the company website and briefly on Ernest’s blog, these Water<Less jeans are made using a technology that saves up to 96% water during production, yet they are essentially the same products as other Levi’s jeans in terms of price or quality.

In Ernest’s post, he brings up the issue that “are Levi’s really concerned about the wellness of the society or simply wants to enhance its reputation and profit”. He points out that since Levi’s are not charging any premiums for the Water<Less jeans, it must be truly committed to this campaign. While agreeing with Ernest’s opinions, I would like to provide some inputs in support for his claim.

Besides all the slogan mentioning how special the products are (which is somewhat strategic and aiming for profit), Levi’s also provides information such as how much water people use each day and promote reduction in water usage (which is less profit-based).

Other than the Water<Less campaign, Levi’s started a more recent campaign called Waste<Less. While its objective is also to improve environment, instead of saving water, this time Levi’s makes jeans out of recycled bottles. This further demonstrates how Levi’s is genuinely trying to fulfill its social responsibility, as it consistently promote these green ideas instead of treating them as a strategy to create buzz.

With the Winter Olympic ongoing, it is probably a good timing to discuss Olympics and Marketing (yes…not sports). First, lets consider the most immediate and direct impact on the tourism industry. With the sudden increase in demand, there is a fierce competition. Travel agencies, airlines, hotels, and others in the industry need to carefully consider what values the consumers are searching for, evaluate their competencies to providing, and come up with products that best satisfy the target consumers’ needs. After creating the right product, companies will then have to promote their products through the most effective media (perhaps TV commercials between sport events or advertisements on popular websites or blogs). Only then can companies fully utilize this precious opportunity.

Another important element of Marketing during the event is the sponsoring activities for contestants or TV broadcasts. Not only is it a great chance to appeal brands on an international scope,  but it may also be viewed as an opportunity for companies to expand their domestic consumers by showing their support for their home countries’ contestants.

Now, lets talk in a more zoom-out perspective. How does the Olympic help market a nation as a whole, in this case, Russia. Olympic is undoubtedly one of the greatest sports event nowadays. Therefore, it is a extremely valuable  opportunity to demonstrate its wealth and authority. A successful Olympic will not only strengthen Russia’s image as one of the strongest country in the world, but also secures prosperity of the tourism industry in the coming decade.

Once in a while, I hear people around me talking about the new iPhone and IPad they bought yesterday, telling me how wonderful they are and how glad they bought it. In school, I hear professors talking about how successful Apple is, from marketing to human resource perspectives. This often makes me wonder, what makes people so willing to purchase products of these prices without much hesitation.

My first experience with Apple’s product was an iPod shuffle I bought in elementary school. Although it only had 2GB of memory and only allowed users to play musics on shuffle, I thought it was easy to operate, light, and had a fashionable appearance. Since then, Apple had become the one brand I go to when looking for a media player. And soon afterwards, I purchased iPod Touch and iPhone. I appreciate not only the simplicity of the iOS system, but also the amount of APPs Apple provides.

So, what values does others see in Apple? For my generation, I believe that product design is definitely a prevailing factor. On the exterior, Apple products are thin, light, and comfortable to handle. They often come in black or white, and have unibody designs, simple yet elegant. They operate on iOS, providing user friendly interfaces with useful functions and a large store of applications. This operating system can be conveniently upgraded online, and the system enables content exchange between devices.

Of course, above are just some of the values I discovered. True value lies in the eye of consumers. Some may purchase Apple’s products simply because others do; some for the charisma of Steve Jobs; and some for their reputation. Regardless of the reasons, they demonstrated how successful Apple is in marketing its products.

Additional Information: http://techland.time.com/2012/05/07/six-reasons-why-apple-is-successful/

In the past few years, competition between suppliers of consumer goods has become more and more intensified due to the advancement of media technologies and the innovations of products. One popular controversy raised by this trend is the question “are advertisements targeting children ethical?” Nowadays, we are exposed to an excessive amount of commercials in our daily routine, from the websites we visit, the TV channels we watch, or even on the buses we take. While adults may be able to correctly interpret the truthfulness in advertisements and evaluate their needs and wants with the costs of consuming certain products, children tend to be more vulnerable and often misinterpret these commercials. Such phenomenon leads to various problems, with rising child obesity being the primary, as a large portion of these commercials advertises unhealthy foods such as candy and fast food.

From businesses’ point of view, children are important targets not only pocket money, but also because they have tremendous influence on their parents’ purchasing behaviour. Although parents are the final decision makers and can make better judgement, after all, they want to fulfill their children’s wishes as much as possible. Understanding such mentality, businesses spend billions of dollars per year on marketing towards children through celebrity endorsements and product placements on TV shows and music videos etc. Some even hire psychologists to assist them in marking children.

Whether such actions are ethical or not are open to discussion. From a personal point of view, advertisements are undoubtedly necessary for businesses to introduce their products’ values to children. As long as they are not untruthful about the products they should not be prohibited. After all, a products’ value depends on how it is perceived by the consumers, and advertisements enhance such perceptions. Having that said, I believe that parents should direct more attention on the products for their children. Moreover, they should educate their children proper values regarding materials.

Additional Statistics: http://www.apa.org/topics/kids-media/food.aspx?item=1

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