Business Education

On Sunday afternoon, April 3, 1892 , Ice Cream Sundae was born.

Reverend John M. Scott visited the Platt & Colt Pharmacy in downtown Ithaca.

There, the first documented “Cherry Sunday” was born.

Today, after 119 years later, on sunday afternoon,

Google celebrates Ice Cream Sundae’s anniversary with Doodle.

Google is great at marketing special days or events using its Doodle.

Everyone around now knows about this special day thanks to Google.

To celebrate this sweet Sunday, I gathered some interesting facts about Sundaes:

If you haven’t heard Far East Movement’s single “Like a G6” yet, the chances are that you don’t go clubbing and you don’t watch youtube.  Many people have heard of  “Like a G6,” but what many people don’t know is that it is an Asian-American group. Far East Movement is composed of four Asian-American members: Prohgress and J-Splif, who are of Korean Americans, Kev Nish, who is Japanese/Chinese American, and DJ Virman, who is Filipino American. “Like a G6” hit number one on Billboard Hot 100 Chart and on iTunes in October, 2010, and Far East Movement became the first Asian-American group to be at the top of the Billboard chart.

I think it is rather sad and that Far East Movement is the only Asian-American group to ever hit #1 on Billboard. Many top Asian singers, such as Boa, try to succeed in the American music industry, but they have not been so successful. I think it is due to cultural crashes and lack of sexuality in music videos. Far East Movement knew how to market their album: sexuality and Youtube. Far East Movement, because they are Asian-Americans, knew about American culture and portrayed party life  with sexual content in their music video. This grabbed people’s attention and the music video on youtube hit over million hits.

I am not saying people show use sexual content to sell music; all I am saying is that to market successfully, one needs to know about the culture they are targeting.

I really hope that more Asian or Asian-American groups can succeed in American music industry and many more will hit #1 on Billboard. Props to Far East Movement for setting a great example for others.

Just Go With IT is a romantic-comedie starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston. This is movie is about a plastic-surgeon who convinces his assistant to act as soon-to-be divorced wife to cover up a lie and go out with his dream girl. Even though Just Go With It has been out for awhile, I wanted to share my review of the film.

The film got attention right away for starring two huge stars: Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler.  The marketing was on the roll; over two million people watched the teaser on Youtube and they loved it! However, the movie was bashed by the critics. The critics hated it, and the audience loved it.  Ratings by the audience were off the roof!

One of the audience, Hal Cyone wrote, “If you’re looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend this movie. You’ll definitely enjoy it with your friends or your family. If I want to watch a comedy, I’m not critical about anything, if the movie can make me laugh then I’m good. I know what I was expecting when I went to see this movie but I wasn’t expecting that it was going to make me laugh that hard!”

I watched this movie on Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend, and it was just the perfect movie for the Valentine’s Day. When I was watching the movie, I couldn’t stop laughing either. This movie doesn’t have a strong plot and it’s not very realistic, but it’s a movie that gets you forget about anything and just enjoy. It’s a simple movie with simple plot with simple jokes. It’s a movie anyone can enjoy. You can watch it with your boyfriend or girlfriend, with friends, or with family. Sometimes, something simple is the best way to go.  If you haven’t watched this movie yet, I recommend it strongly.

While I was doing some research on smart phones, I came across an article “Samsung I9000 Galaxy S vs. Apple iPhone4: Collision course,” which compares Iphone and Galaxy S in great detail. In my opinion, Galaxy S is a much better smartphone. Galaxy is faster and has wider screen with 4″ SuperAMOLED display, yet it’s comparatively cheaper thanIphone. The author of the article praises Iphone, specially in its design and packaging. I was one of the people whowaited a long time for Iphone4 to come out and was disappointed in its quality and design. The design was too simple and didn’t grab my attention. So, why is Iphone so successful? Why are people crazy over Iphones? Well, I give credit to its marketing department. One of my friends said, “Steve Jobs has a way of making everything about Iphone seem new and unique when a lot of their technologies already existed in other smartphones. Apple is brainwashing people with their marketing.”

Galaxy S is in great demand in Korea, and everyone carries Galaxy phones. It’s rare to see someone with an Iphone. This is due to marketing in Korea; in Korea, Samsung markets Galaxy S in commercials with famous celebrities. However, in North America, Samsung lacks marketing. To compete with a brand like Apple, Samsung got to step up in their marketing. If anyone is interested in buying a smartphone, I encourage them to buy Samsung Galaxy S.

I found an interesting article on Felix Huang‘s blog that I couldn’t resist commenting.

I am the hugest Gossip Girl fan, and I love Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester’s role).   

Felix mentioned on his blog that the success of The Roommate (2011) was due to 

Youtube and College Humor. I agree that Leighton Meester’s “Don’t Touch My Shit”

was hilarious, and it definitely was popular, receiving over a million views. 

However, I never knew about the video until I read Felix’s comment.

My friends and I went to go see the movie because we wanted to see

Leighton Meester, not because we thought the youtube video was hilarious.

College Humour was a great way to get the name of the movie out,

but since the Roommate (2011) is a horror movie,  I don’t think it helped

with the sales much. I don’t think the College Humour is the reason of the

film’s success. I believe that it is Leighton Meester that made the movie

successful. A lot of people go to see the movie to see their favorite actors

or actresses. When famous actors, such as Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie shot

flims, the films automatically get the public’s attention. 

I would give props to  Blair Waldorf for the film’s  success in the boxoffice.

You have probably heard the phrase, “stress is related to 99% of all disease,” countless times. Do you remember where you heard this phrase? Guys will probably say, “I don’t know. Everywhere?” Girls will probably yell out, “Lululemon!”

Lululemon is yoga-inspired athletic apparel company, which produces a clothing line and runs international clothing stores from its company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Lululemon started as a small store in Vancouver, but now it is now seen all around in Canada, and has opened stores in other countries such as United States, China and Mexico.

So, how has Lululemon got so successful? 

Well, first of all, Lululemon fits well with North American culture. Even though Lululemon is yoga-inspired clothing line, many people wear Lululemon clothing for other athletic activities or for everyday activities. Lululemon fits well with North American culture since our way of living is often informal, except on special occasions. We often dress casually, sometimes even to workplace. North American culture also values individuality and individual expression; people don’t feel insecure about wearing tight Lululemon pants in public, or jogging around in Lululemon bras during summer. People wear Lululemon clothing when they go to school, gym, mall, or when they travel.

Second, Lululemon addresses the rising social issues in North America: obesity and unhealthy life styles. More people are caring about maintaining healthy life styles, and the participation rate in outdoor activities is increasing. Lululemon’s manifesto, “stress is related to 99% of illness,” grabs attention of people who want to live healthy. Also, Lululemon’s manifesto, “Dance, sing, floss, travel,” target those customers who want to engage in outdoor activities and balance between work and life.

Lululemon grabbed hearts of yoga lovers and many more.

I was reading through some of my classmates’ blogs and found a blog that I really liked. Michael Kim‘s blog was about K-pop and its success. For those of you who aren’t familiar with K-pop, it’s an abbreviation for Korean Pop from South Korea. Many of Korean superstars have become popular in many countries around the world, especially in China, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore.

As Michael mentioned, the girl band Girl’s Generation has earned the hearts of Asia. The Girl’s Generation received lots of attention from all Asia even before their debut because of their agency, SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment is in the center of K-pop movement. It has produced many famous artists and earned millions of dollars.

 Right now, SM Entertainment is in the midst of holding its 2010-2011 world concert series “SM Town 2010“, which brings together the company’s biggest stars, including Girl’s Generation, in an enormous k-pop extravaganza. Most recently, they held a concert in Tokyo from January 25-26th. The SM Town 2010 was a great success. In Tokyo, 12,000-seat National Yoyogi Stadium was sold out within hours, and a source close to SM revealed that the company is estimating earnings of 300 million yen (3.65 million U.S. dollars).  To accommodate many disappointing fans who couldn’t get a seat on those days, SM Town is holding another concert at Tokyo Dome in April. Tokyo Dome can hold 55,000 people, and the source expects that SM will exceed profits of 1 billion yen (12 million U.S. dollars).

K-pop has become the center of music in Asia, and the K-Pop madness will continue for a long time.

Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Christian Dior.

When we hear these store names, we instantly think of luxury. These stores are designed by famous designers and are indulgent and extravagant spaces. Historically, luxury started in France in “grand magasins.” The “grand magasins” were prestigious and offered high standards of customer service. Jackson describes luxury fashion brand is “characterized by exclusivity, premium prices, image and status, which combine to make them desirable for reasons other than function.”  

Six elements of luxury have been identified by Dubois et al. (2001) as follows:

1 Excellent quality

2 High price

3 Scarcity and uniqueness

4 Aesthetics and poly-sensuality

5 Ancestral heritage and personal history

6 Superfluousness.

What greater function does a $3,500 chanel purse have over a $35 Aldo purse? All purses have same functions, do they not? From a consumer perspective, Gutsatz (1996) suggests that “Luxury includes two levels of representation. The first is material, it includes/understands the product and the brand (its history, identity, unique know how, the talent). The second level is psychological, and covers representations, which are influenced by our social environment and the brand values.” When we hear Chanel, we understand its high-quality, but we do not spend $3,500 for its quality only; we spend such money because of its representation. The luxury and social status associated with the $3,500 purse is what cause us desire.

Chanel no. 5 perfume is well-known for its marketing campaigns with famous celebrities, such as Nicole Kidman, Keira Knightley, and Audrey Tautou. Chanel is using the celebrity’s luxurious image to market its product. Chanel no.5 is aiming for customers who desire those celebrities’s image and status.

Size matters.

Something big always grabs people’s attention. When people see something that stands out, they stop to take a look. Some people even take pictures and show them to their friends, getting the words across.

Jobsintown.de, one of the largest German online recruitment website, put up this gigantic advertisement for a job fair in Germany. This gigantic ad was a huge success, increasing the click-rate of jobsintown.de by 12%. Even though this advertisement is hilarious and gets us laughing, it also gets us thinking about an important issue. In the ad, it says “there are better ways to make career.” This advertisement implies that there are better and easier ways to find quality jobs than sucking up to your boss. This gigantic advertisement known as “Ass Kisser Project” has grabbed not only Germany’s attention, but the World’s attention.

So what caused such success? What kind of advertisement attracts the public?

Size definitely played a role in Jobsintwon.de’s success. However, its creativity and innovation were what differentiated it from other gigantic ads or billboards. It took a risk, mixing humour with a serious social issue. “Ass Kisser Project” is original, refreshing, humorous and effective.

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