There are millions of logos in the world but how can YOURS stand out?

For my last blog of the class, I decided to do something different and write about an external blog which would relate to some of my earlier posts. This blogs gave advice for picking the right logo for a company. As i blogged a few posts ago, Gap and Tropicana suffered a big loss of profit when the company decided to suddenly change the logo brand.

A company’s logo is the main IDENTITY of the business. It is one of the most important branding and marketing elements for your company. As many business often forget, a company’s identity is just as important as any other aspects of the business.

This blog advises new emerging business to hire professionals to help with logo design and to make sure to start early in the business. Trying to sell a product without a logo shows a lack in dedication for the business, as the brand is suppose to convey the consumers the message of the company. With clear planning, defining of needs and a realistic budget, logo design will not become a last minute struggle and provide an opportunity to effectively make a first good impression to consumers.

Christine’s original blog post

Google, a name known by every computer user on the planet, is one the biggest company in the world. As we wrote in our business plan, for a company to stay ahead as a market leader, it needs to be innovative. By inventing “Google+“, Google just demonstrated that it has the innovative resources to stay at the top.

As it just launched it’s new innovation, Google partnered with top NBA player such as LeBron James to market its new product. Encouraging the fans to connect with their favorite teams through “google+” by promoting free live streaming, Google is targeting a specific market, sports. Google hoped to create a new social networking website which would rival facebook and targeted sports fan first and expected to expand in the future but the idea was not as successful as anticipated.

I agree with Christine that due to a certain lack of innovation and originality, Facebook subscribers did not see the incentive to switch to a new social media and waste time since there were no appealing characteristics to Google+. If google wants to create a new attractive social media website, the company should make sure that Google+ will attract more then just a particular target market.

More about google +

Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield turned a $5 correspondence course on ice cream and built one of the largest ice cream empires in the world by making humanitarianism and philanthropy integral parts of their business ethic. Entrepreneurship is defined as a business enterprise that makes a profit through undertaking risks and innovations; Ben & Jerry’s fit well by the definition.

In the market for Ice cream, there are many competitors but Ben & Jerry were able to place an emphasis on innovation by creating new products and new production methods which revolutionized the ice cream industry.

Ben & Jerry’s was able to introduce many new varieties of flavours which matched customer’s tastes and preferences and was able to sell it a reasonable price. Ben & Jerry’s set their company apart by one distinct characteristic, upstanding the highest level of business ethics at all time. “Business has a responsibility to give back to the community”. – Ben Cohen.

Ben & Jerry’s faced many challenges when they started their small company but they became recognized for its successful social entrepreneurship as for its ice cream.

More on Ben & Jerry’s company:

http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/1296/1/social-entrepreneuship-ben-cohen.asp

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197626

What are the dangers of changing a company’s image?

Every company one time or another will be challenged and met with problems but the ones who learn from their mistake will become very successful.

GAP, the internationally known clothing store, learned this lesson the hard way. After 20 years of having the original GAP logo, the board of directors decided to change the logo to a more “honouring logo” without first consulting with the company’s customers.

This mistake backfired and caused a myriad of criticism all over the internet, days later the company admitted its mistakes and reverted to the original emblem. To solve this problem, product positioning has to change first and let a chance for customers to give their opinions then the logo should be the last thing.

Some companies learn from their mistakes and some do not.

BP is one company who was not successful in changing it’s logo and brand image. The logo change cost the company $7 Million dollars in brand research and much more supporting the change to a greener company but spent less on renewable energy.

Important lesson: You can not pretend to be something that you are not!

To read this article : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11517129

I agree with Priscilla’s thoughts about Hyundai’s efforts to become a international company. Although many people believe Hyundai is unreliable; over the past 10 years, due to technological advances, the company has changed their manufacturing techniques to decrease the overall cost and improve the safety of each cars. Hyundai is now an global company known as very reliable in terms of safety and very reasonably priced.

Looking for a cheap and reliable car? According to the “US News Best Cars“ ranking, Hyundai ranks 9 out of 35 in affordable small cars regarding 3 main criteria: test drives, reliability and safety.

Hyundai was able to stay at the top by staying innovative and keeping an attractive exterior, a roomy cabin and exceptional fuel economy ratings.

Although Hyundai has good reviews, manufacturing a reliable at low cost will have some pros and cons. The main problems with Hyundai design is the poor rear visibility, cheap interior materials and imprecise steering which increases safety risks. With so many competitors in the market for automobile, companies should use market research to help predict what consumers want most and maximize profit.

Since Japanese automakers have problems with the competition, they should try to develop a cheaper car. Trying to improve the manufacturing process would also make the overall cost cheaper.

In the recent years, sustainability has been a growing criteria to follow by companies and will soon become essential.

The Chief Executive of Puma stated, “sustainability is essential to the health and future of our business”. Puma has become the first major famous brand to fully publish details of the cost of its impact on the environment.

Cost of the carbon it emitted in 2010: 94.4 Million Euros.

How does publishing these numbers benefit the company in the long run?

Puma’s target by 2015: reduce its carbon, energy and water waste by 25%. Publishing these numbers for the public to see will show if they are actually implementing this change and will make it easier to track the changes.

Chief executive of Puma stated that reducing Puma’s environmental impact would improve its future performance and would help build Puma into a more “resilient and sustainable business model”.

Puma is taking action to reduce their environmental impact now to benefit them in the future. Puma believes they will gain a competitive advantage over their rivals since sustainability will be necessary for companies to have in the future.

Undergoing such restructuring towards more sustainable outcomes will become more favourable in the long run.

More about Puma’s change:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8619165.stm

How to pick the right university? How are universities reaching out to students?

Over the recent years, it has been clear that social media has been vastly increasing. Universities began using Facebook and Twitter to get in touch with prospective students and anyone interested in the school.

According to a recent study, universities’ use of social media to communicate with students has increased from 61% to 100% in the past 4 years.

“The younger generation has grown up with social media, they expect it to exist”. As we learned in class, being able to adapt or restructure the company to fit the preferences and needs of the customers is a priority in marketing research. 10 years ago, colleges would send representatives or letters to students but with this new technology, they are able to reach out to millions of students in an instant.

98% of colleges now have a Facebook page and 84% has a twitter account, with current students commenting about their life in the school. Students can now take a tour of their possibly new campus without even having to leave their house. Prospective students will view the brochures and Facebook pages similarly to school propaganda.

As we discussed in the previous class about apps to improve business strategy for certain companies, I will focus this blog on new airplane apps.

Checking-in flights, downloading boarding passes, selecting a seat or choosing an upgrade for the flight are already available options for airplane companies, what could be the next one?

Delta Air Lines has been spending time on improving their mobile functionality since Airline IT trends survey shows that more than 90% of companies are doing it and it is also a way to generate more revenue and better customer loyalty.

Being able to rebook a different flight and download the new boarding pass while in the air for passengers who missed their connections would make life a lot easier and surely increase customer benefits.

Tired of always having to deal with lost luggage? Travelers can now track checked-in luggage from their mobile devices and efficiently retriever their possessions.

The hope with this new app for Delta Air Lines is to generate new revenue streams AND giving passengers customized experience. These apps will offer a new level of customer service and convenience, which has never before been possible in the airline industry.

Related articles:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/travel/smartphones-air-travel/index.html?hpt=tr_c2

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/09/19/flight.time.itinerary.changes/?iref=obnetwork

There could be 40 million extra deaths from TB from 2010 to 2050 due to smoking. How can Tobacco companies keep continuing aggressive promotion of smoking in many parts of the world when they know the consequences?

Nearly a fifth of people in the world are smokers; many in countries with high rates of Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a contagious infection that mainly affects the lungs but could potentially spread to other parts of the body. If not treated it can damage the lungs or even be fatal.

All the research and efforts done on many health problems caused by smoking are greatly undermined by the continuous publicity of tobacco industries. One way of fighting this upcoming tragedy would be to aggressively try to decrease the supply of tobacco or greatly increase the tax on the sale of tobacco, which could avert millions of deaths.

How can this problem be diverted if the government undertakes no measures to stop it or companies keep promoting their deadly products? Although taxing or aggressively trying to control tobacco industries would cause problems in the economy, it could possibly save the lives of millions. Which is more important?

More on this topic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15164170

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12193602

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4638449.stm

As you all know, Steve jobs, co-founder and figurehead of apple, passed away a few days ago due to a long-term illness. If you look for example in our COMM 101 class and calculate how many people have an iphone or even just a touch screen mobile, statistics would reveal that a majority of us possess one of these amazing gadgets. Apple was the first company to come up with a touch screen phone, which soon after took over the phone market.

Can Apple survive without Steve jobs’ guiding and vision?

Many apple fans have high expectations about apple’s new iphone 5 and hoping for yet “another technological leap by the nimble giant”.  Instead of impressing their fans, apple introduced their “new” model, which was virtually indistinguishable from the previous model.

Apple’s share price dropped 5% right after the announcement of the new iphone and it became clear that Apple is struggling without Mr. Jobs. Apple is one of most known companies in the world, and this incident will not affect them in short term but in the long wrong, Mr. Job’s absence and Apple’s lack of imagination for new products may become a problem.

Related articles about Apple and Steve Jobs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15195448

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15197037