Irene's Marketing Blog

One of the main reasons marketing fascinates me is  that it has the ability to shape and change the society.  Although companies use marketers to improve sales figures and profits, messages conveyed in their advertisements and their marketing campaign can heavily influence consumers’ values.

In the past few years, the emergence on the idea of sustainability has surfaced not only in the consumers’ world, but it has also been a significant topic in the corporate world. Companies are now beginning to focus on creating sustainable products and on establishing marketing strategies. Staples Advantage Canada, a business to business division of Staples has recently partnered with Evergreen to help green schools and communities across the country. Their promise is with every sale Staples’ Sustainable Earth Brand remanufactured toners, $1 is donated to Evergreen in assistant to the environmental effort.

As mentioned in Jennifer Chin’s blog, consumers are values and views on ethics are changing towards the notion of sustainability. Staples of consumers have expressed desires to purchase eco-friendly and sustainable products. With growing demand, business have been responding well to this change. Many companies have incorporated corporate responsibility into their growth strategies and has focused on sustainable development. However, I think consumers should not blindly support any organization solely based on a specific sustainable campaign without researching in the cause. Because of the trend towards sustainability, some companies have manipulated the idea to improve their sales and profits. In my opinion, a company who is truly sustainable is one that is honest and true to their mission in providing fair products and services to their consumers.

Do you still remember the time when you signed up for Facebook? Probably not. It seems as if decades has passed since the beginning of Facebook. In the 21st century, the internet and more recently, social networking sites have been a phenomenon. According to Mitch Joel, the president of Twist Image, if Facebook was a country it would be third largest in population after China and India. With so many traffic on Facebook, businesses have taken advantage of this network to expand the reach to their customers. Some have even started used Facebook as medium to sell their products.

This new form of business was termed, F-commerce. This idea of commerce is shocking, but not unexpected. The retail industry is in the maturity stage and is on the verge of becoming decline. Consumers are constantly finding new ways to shop and physical shopping isn’t has popular as now with so many alternatives. The internet has definitely played a huge role in the creation of these new channels of distribution. Business are beginning to adapt to the consumers’ need to become tech savvy. In addition, the emergence of F-commerce has allowed many companies to customize their business. As mentioned by my classmate, Jessica Lee, given Ebay’s nature of business, they have succeeded in mastering customization through their custom-made email service and timely adjusted price through auctions. One of a key characteristic of customization in Ebay is their use of dynamic pricing, sellers and buyers negotiate in real time and set prices that benefits both parties.

Going back to the class discussion on the Old Spice commercials, I have recently came a across a new Old Spice campaign. 

This time around the Old Spice guy bombs into other P & G brands such as Bounce and Charmin, portraying an underlying message that the Old Spice brand is so good it cannot stay in it’s own commercials. I thought this was a clever comeback after the original Old Spice commercials. They have had several other versions but were unsuccessful in keeping the brand positions in consumers’ minds. With this campaign Old Spice can actively position itself with leading brands of P & G, hoping to break into P&G’s strong consumer base and target these customers. This is a clever tactic for Old Spice as they can relate themselves to reliable brands and build their brand reputation. In addition, P&G is able to promote new products through creative means.

Having the discussion on creating a long-lasting creative campaign, Telus came into my head. In terms of developing a sustainable and long-lasting campaign that has not bored their consumers, I think Telus has effectively marketed their products to consumers. When Telus first entered the market, they had to fight against two strong competitors, Bell and Rogers. Their strategy is to provide quality service and strong consumer connections have allowed them to enter and thrive even with the two strong competitors. Every year Telus’ is winning hearts and over the past 12 months they have made 440,000 new “consumer connections”.

Following the trend in corporate responsibility and environment sustainability, Telus has donated to the Nature Conservancy of Canada as well as the Breast Cancer awareness campaign. Similarly, automobile companies are wanting to reposition their brand as eco-friendly products to be aligned with modern consumer behaviour. There is a trend towards being more conscious in choosing products carefully to prevent reduce harm to the environment. Moreover, as consumers have growing access to information about products, companies need to work hard in providing consumers fast and effective messages and position itself early to leave a good impression of their brand.

My reaction when I first read this article was that of relief.  They have finally made it much more enjoyable to sit through all those advertisements in the movie theatres before the feature presentation began. Early last December, Cineplex introduced a trial run of interactive ads used in replacement to the static, unexciting advertisements. These interactive ads are powered by Toronto-based company called TimePlay Inc.

How does this work? Viewers with smartphones such as a Blackberry or an iPhone are prompted to download an app in order to be a part of the marketing action. They are able to use their phones to vote on polls or play short and mindless games. There was an ad by Canon in which the audience was to participate in a game (play with the app to reduce a photo’s bluriness). In return for participating in the game, they were given a coupon.

As a member of the Generation Y population, I like the idea of being able to use my smartphone and interact with the ads. With this generation, marketers need to be able to communicate on the same wave length. Especially since the average age of the audience in theatres ranges from pre-teens to young adults, it is important for them to use creative means to capture their attention. With huge amount of marketing messages bombarding them every day, being able to differentiate themselves and actively engage the audience is key.

Using these interactive ads to build customer relationships is a powerful marketing tool and is what shapes the marketing culture in the  21st century. Google started a series of Search stories, where they highlight how their service impacted and changed people’s lives. I have to say that after watching the stories unfold I was truly inspired. Google values resonates with the values and needs of their consumers and it shows through in their advertisements.

Even with technology, we cannot forget the basic form of human interaction.

My friend from high school was one person who have given me a lot of insight about what I want to pursue as my career. She told me once that she wanted to be someone who can change the world for the better. She admired Muhammad Yunus for creating the Grameen Bank. She said “That’s what I want to do. To be someone who can make a change.”

My friend is one of the people I know with a big heart. It was one month before the end of eleventh grade and she threw me her idea of organizing a hair donation event. She was very passionate about the idea and worked out all the logistics of how the event could be possible. I was skeptical at first because I have never created or planned a large scale event before. However, my friends’determination to make the impossible possible inspired to continue with the project.

After organizing this event I was inspired by my friend to take challenges and not give up on anything I want to do. Her passion about life made me realize I want to live my life enjoying my job.

Networking is important for students, prospective employees and employers to meet and greet each other. These networking sessions help companies and individuals build their contact list. At these sessions, people can also share their experiences while learning from others.

Nowadays, online social networking has caused a huge impact on communication. The landscape of communication slowly modified itself moving from long phone call conversations to Skyping and Facebook chatting.

Since a lot of our networking are done through the internet, I wonder if there will be a push towards online networking sessions in complementary to the usual personal networking sessions. Reader’s Digest wrote an article about the impacts of social networking on the society. It suggests that social networking has changed the ways of how people connect with each other. Communication an important aspect of business is likely to be impacted this new phenomenon. Would networking sessions, thus be changed by this?

” In the U.S., eight- to 24-year-olds are expected to spend $224 billion of their projected $348 billion annual income, according to Harris Interactive, a market research and consulting firm.”

An article in Maclean’s Magazine discussed about the issue of excessive consumer consumption in the generation of buyers. In the past decade, many companies emerged in the market targeting teenagers. The Ipod Phenomenon was a like a disease spreading to everyone around the globe. These marketing strategies used by many companies to target young consumers have caused a problem to their spending behaviour.

Social networking sites are emerging to be the popular advertising medium in the 21st century. And it’s because of these sites that many young consumers are hooked onto buying things without thinking about their financial situation.

Online marketing has become a huge phenomenon, but how ethical is this trend for advertising? Many young consumers suffer from debt because they are unconsciously reeled in the world of consumption.

Slice TV hosted a show called Princess, where a financial consultant works with young consumers manage their spendings.

I remember when I was little how I loved it when my mom visted Gap. I remember the store being filled with people especially during the Christmas season. Gap was a store that prospered and effectively grabbed the attention of their target market.

However, in the past couple years,  I noticed that Gap’s popularity have been declining. The Gap stores nowadays don’t possess that glow anymore where people aspired to associate themselves with the brand. According to an article, Gap is losing customers because they “struggle to position themselves with a clear identity.”

Gap was founded by Don Fisher in 1969 with a simple goal in mind. It was to create a store where people can buy basic clothing conveniently.

However, as the society evolved, Gap’s vision started to lose focus. The group of customers they used to target grew out of Gap and the new generation are more interested in new brands like American Eagle and Hollister.

Recently, in 2009 Gap attempted to regain customer loyalty by creating the sprize program. This may be a good tactic for Gap in the short run to keep the customers coming into the store. However, as a strategy it may not be as affective because the problem still hasn’t been addressed. A revision on their focus and target market would be more effective.

The class we were exposed to the world of social entrepreneurship, I was intrigued. I’ve always had a strong passion for wanting to help the society and make a difference in the world. Listening to all the stereotypes people have of business made me wonder if i could fufill this secret passion doing business.

My question was answered during that class. After listening to the guest speaker talk abou what social entrepreneurship is and about the various social entrepreneurs, I went home to find more information about it.

I came across this website and found that there were lots of support and encouragement for social entrepreneurs. The CSEF is a Canadian Foundation whose mission is to help educate, provide resources, and a network for social entrepreneurs in Canada to succeed.

Examples of social entrepreneurs world wide like Jamie Oliver who opened a restaurant hiring and training people who have disabilities are inspiring for the new generation to do business in a new way.

Another example can be seen in locally; Vancouver’s Conviction Restaurant hires ex- convicts as the staff a the restaurant. This restaurant provides an opportunities for ex-convicts to start their lives over and rediscover their passion.

I think I’ve found where my passion is in the business world.

Recently, in an article in Vancouver Sun, Kim Covert found that companys should develope a buddy system for new workers. New hires who just joined the compnany are often confused of the tasks in the organization and of the goals that needs to be achieved.

Helping employees feel comfortable in the workplace would eventually lead to employees committed to the company; working as hard as they can to contribute to the company. As a result, the company would gain corporation psychological capital. Employees would be willing to work for the company as they are intrinsically motivated.

As seen from this video, a company’s focus is not only on generating maximum profit. A focus on good relationships with employees and customers are also important.

Companys should follow how Zappos rewards their employees. Their benefits and rewards are not all extrinsic. Employees working there enjoy a comfortable work environment, as well as good relations with their co-workers and the CEO, Tony Hsieh.

Covert, Kim. “The buddy system makes new hires better workers.” The Vancouver Sun 27 November. 2010: J1. Print.