Through the course of COMM 296 my group and I completed a comprehensive analysis on Groupon’s Marketing Strategies and provided recommendations to expand their current customer base. This assignment allowed my group to apply many of the concepts learned in class to a real company. All in all, I found the project interesting and the knowledge that I gained valuable. However, if given the chance to start this project over, I would likely do some things differently.

Establishing a project plan and mapping out goals early on is paramount. The absence of a project timeline leaves much uncertainty with regard to time, and the roles of each group member. Outlining who will do what, and setting deadlines for different portions of the project helps keep a group with 6 busy members organized. This would have alleviated some stress that my team faced as the project deadlines neared.

For me, this project stressed the importance of group diversity. Having a group made up of people from all over the world offered unique perspectives on many aspects of the assignment. For example, my Team member Eric, a transfer student from Paris, provided insight to Groupon’s role in the daily deals industry in France. This information was very helpful in the process of researching Groupon’s world-wide influence.

When I read that the final portion of the marketing assignment was to create a 5-7 minute video I was skeptical. I was expecting, as a business student often does, a final report and presentation. The blending of these 2 assignments into one video was an interesting way of wrapping up our project. Overall, I enjoyed writing, filming, and editing the video. My prior experience with this kind of media was non-existent, so the production of the video was a valuable experience. Would I rather have prepared a final report and presentation? Yes. However, I am glad that I had the chance to create a video, and I am proud of our team for the way the video turned out.

At the 2013 VMA’s (I think you know where this is going), our favourite Disney star Miley Cyrus performed a provocative dance to her song “We Can’t Stop.” In this video (CAUTION: Video contains explicitly terrible content), Miley is seen “twerking” on celebrity Robin Thicke, sticking her tongue out perhaps a few too many times, as well as performing some sexually alarming acts with a foam finger. All this begs the question: what’s the point?

In this article, Cyrus explains that the performance was expressing her new image, and that she wanted to “make history” like some other pop icons through history such as Britney Spears and Madonna. While this might sound reasonable, I am not quick to assume that these reasons were her only motive. While the public image of Miley Cyrus may not be positive, Cyrus has got the world talking about her. This idea of potentially benefiting form negative marketing is an issue where many people find themselves unsure if the method is in fact effective, or disastrous.

In this NY Times article, the idea of companies launching large campaigns to “push the envelope,” and gain huge followings on social media is discussed. While it can’t be argued that any publicity is good publicity, I think there exists a large grey area in what is right and wrong (or perhaps effective and ineffective) in advertising, and many companies are unsure of these limits.

With the exponential growth of social media in the past half decade, people are communicating more than ever, and have access to any content right at their fingertips. It is this ease of widespread advertising that makes marketers drool; hoping their next ad will be the next viral trend.

Perhaps this was Miley’s intention all along. It is clear to see that our little Disney princess is all grown up and has radically changed her image. Many critics claim Miley is foolish for so negatively portraying herself on the global stage – I disagree. While “making history” is a nice excuse, and potentially part of Cyrus’s reasoning for going through with the performance, I think Miley had ulterior motives that were much larger. Was this her plan all along? Have her and her publicist been mapping out the events that have unfolded in the past months? I think it’s likely.