Inspiring minds through creation

Nintendo just recently released the new Nintendo 3DS!

Personally, I think this new DS is super cool because it included the function of having 3D! I can’t believe this technology works now, meaning everyone will feel like gaming has come to life! They are currently doing very well to promote this new product and I realized how they did not allow this product to go into the decline stage of the product life cycle, in fact they introduced new technology and basically tried to attract a new market segment with this product!

Furthermore, to add on to their advertising strategy they even introduced the new Pokemon Black and White version that everyone is very into playing right now. This can definitely help since people may buy the new games along with the new Nintendo! Nintendo is using mutichannels for marketing, using the internet channel, the store channel and basically all the multi media and advertisements.

They are also using the AIDA model to first gather the attention of the young target market and then allowing consumers to play with the Nintendo and hold presentations to sell their product. This way it will capture the interest and desire of the target market. Finally, using followup techniques to establish long term relationships with customers. This sales process will allow Nintendo capture their target market and to be profitable.

However, with all the teenagers these days, it should not be hard to sell a product like this because everyone loves to game especially now there is the 3D function!!!! I actually never owned a DS before, only have the earlier gameboy color! Some people may rather buy the ipad rather than the DS and since the Ipad has more function it can be a big competition of DS along with xbox and PS3.

Finally, lets take a look at the first offical look video of 3DS

I recently stumble across this really cute advertisement for Telus and I have always been a big fan of Telus advertisements. The idea that Telus focuses on is providing a friendly service but they always tend to have great ads where they use cute characters or these really catchy music that just always get stuck in my head. They also always tend to use these really cute animals to raise awareness for their brand.

One ad that I found extremely eye catching and cute is this one:

1. Identify the target audience: I think the target audience they are trying to get is older adults with families as well as the younger generations because they are creating this “toy story” to attract young people to watch it. They are also trying to get the adults to watch this ad and remind them of how fun it was to be a kid and to play with toys. This would be targeted towards all age but more focus on families since they are the ones that will be using their plans.

2. Set Advertising Objectives: I would say this advertisement is a reminder advertising and informative advertisement. It is a reminder since it makes this really fancy video with catchy music to remind customer about the Telus brand and how it will always focus on being a friendly company. It is informative because it tells customers that the blackberry storm is coming soon and it gives a short flash of all the other cell phones telus provides.

3. Determine the Advertising budget: I don’t think the budget for this ad was very high since they are not trying to introduce a new product, don’t need to put a lot of money on advertising.

4. Convey the Message: The message that is conveyed is that Telus is a friendly environment, it is like a toy story and magic happens when you use Telus meaning they ahve a really good supply chain, everything connects and using their service will make your lives a lot easier.

Overall this is a very effective advertisement and personally, I think the music just makes it stand out even more along with the graphic. As Telus tagline mentions:

“The future is friendly” =)

One of the most devastating natural disaster has happened to Japan on March. 11, 2011, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that destroyed Japan and caused a lot of death. The situation has not gone any better since Japan now has to face nuclear bomb explosions.

I was reading an article about the radiation level rising in Japan http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/fukushimas-radiation-levels-force-workers-to-leave/article1942915/

This natural disaster killed more people than the horrible 911 attack and some people were saying if you add 9-11-01 and 3-10-11 ( the date that the earthquake happened in japan) you get 12-21-12 which is really scary because that is surprisingly the date with the world coming to an end.

Here is another video footage of how scary the natural disaster is and I really cannot imagine myself being there and surviving a situation like this

I constantly remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be safe which is why I really want to use this post to  tell people how we could help Japan get through this horrible disaster. After hearing about this news, I feel so proud to be in a place where everyone is willing to help and to start initiatives to fund-raise money for Japan. One of the initiatives happening at Sauder is folding 1000 paper crane for Japan and every student donates a minimum of one dollar for every crane they fold. Japan has this tradition that after folding a 1000 cranes we can make one wish and that wish will come true.

Few ways to get people to know about this is to use mutichannel marketing. First of all make sure there is a place to promote this event since location is always really important. The sauder building is a good place but it only targets sauder students so expanding to other locations can be useful to get the word out and to get more donations. Another way is to use social media: twitter and facebook and this works very effectively because it captures a large segment of people. Finally it is also important to use word of mouth and since this is such a meaningful way to help Japan, I am sure if it gets promoted well, everyone will be willing to donate and help out.

So I hope everyone will help Japan out either by folding cranes or donating money or having charity concerts or simply just praying for them.

I send my love and prayers for those in Japan- You can get through this,  Stay strong!

YOUTUBE is one of the most creative and wonderful sites ever created. I love going on youtube, in fact I can spend my whole day just watching videos on youtube. What is its marketing strategy and why is it so successful? I think this site is where companies market their products, it is where companies showcase advertisements and videos, it is where dancers promote themselves, it is a  place to attract consumers to watch certain movies and most important it is a place to show talent.

Many singers were discovered through youtube and few of my favourite singers that are not really famous yet but most people know them through youtube include AJ Rafael, Kina Grannis and David Choi. Another group that got really famous through youtube is the Wong Fu productions and basically they help a lot of different talented singers make music videos and of course they make short video clips and movies themselves too. I love them and i love how they are all connected and how they showcase their talent and actually got famous through the use of Youtube. AJ Rafael actually came and did a small concert and David Choi is also coming to perform on March 27th as well!

Some of my favourite videos and songs made by Wong Fu productions and sung by AJ Rafael  and David Choi.

Such a talented singer <3

I guess Youtube is super successful because of its positioning strategy and being able to have the right target market. All these famous youtubers know us teenagers or young adults will always watch youtube and surf the internet so that is why they can capture the markets and they can get famous without having to compete in singing contests. The distribution strategy is directly to the customers, they directly deliver I guess service and it is like a medium used to reach out to consumers without having to sell products at an actual location. This is definitely an internet channel, because Youtube offers the convenience of just going on to the site to learn about special products and how these products function.

Finally, Youtube not only helps to market products or help people get famous, it is a site that provides resources and entertainment for consumers that choose to watch Youtube rather than television.

This is one of my all time favorite song!!!!- Kina Grannis and David Choi

Last year, when Apple started selling the Ipad, I was not really interested since I thought it only looked cool and fun to play with but it wouldn’t provide a lot of functions or help me with what i need in daily life. However just today, Apple launched the Ipad 2 and I don’t know why but it looks so slim and nice and is definitely attracting me to buy it! I think the new design and software updates and all the different function is very attractive and Apple just made a product to further distinct themselves from their competitors.

Here is a link to the ipad 2:

It is interesting how apple prices their products, they are definitely a store that sells premium price products since their brand is very distinct and well known. They have the brand equity and I feel like they are not a profit orientated or sales orientated but more a customer oriented company. They focus on consumers who highly value their products and they sell it at a relatively high price. Yet as consumers we actually buy these products because Apple produces such innovative and nice products that we feel obligated to buy and fit into the social trend.

Since the Ipad for Apple started on the introduction stage last year and now its in the growth stage and more people are willing to purchase this product now, apple can gain more profits. Since apple is in a pure competition, there are not many substitute products which means Apple does not have to lower their prices to compete.

I think Apple is once again very successful in creating newer and eye catching products, customers who are loyal to them will continuously buy their products and since they constantly make new models, Apple has become one of the most trendiest and most well known brand in the world.

Just recently, my friend showed me this youtube video of this really cute and interesting product called the Baby Bullet which is an addition to the magic bullet. The first impression I had after watching the video was how cute and funny this product is but at the same time it seems very useful. This is the video link: 

The design of this product is very eye catching because it made the original magic bullet to turn into a baby looking machine with a smiley face on it. You can see that the company used product extension and created another item by feeding off the magic bullet since it was so successful.

If this product were to go through the product life cycle, I would say it is currently at the growth stage since it has been introduced about a year already and now I think more people are beginning to hear about it and actually willing to try it. The feedback from people are quite good since they are really happy with how fast it can make baby food at a very cheap price. This product is definitely targeting mom’s and since they provided trialability  through letting people try out the machine, more people are willing to try out this product.

For more information about this product check out their website: http://www.babybullet.com/. This product is definitely successful because no only did it create a blender but it also added accessories such as babycups or baby bowls or even spatulas that went with the whole baby bullet set. Since the magic bullet was a brand itself and it delivered a certain promise of blending anything or grate anything in a very short amount of time. Now the baby bullet is building onto this brand and trying to deliver a promise of being able to blend any food into baby food within 10 seconds.

Overall, I found this product really cute and amusing and I think because of it’s innovative design and packaging, it will definitely be a profitable product as it can differentiate itself and produce a unique brand.

After reading Vivian Leung’s Blog and going to marketing class today, I decided to write about this new and exciting marketing strategy that Blenz has which is to putting a red band coffee sleeve on your blenz cup to tell people that you are single!H

Here is the link to the article: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/archive/2011/01/20/buy-a-blenz-coffee-get-a-date.aspx

but I won’t talk much about it since most people probably read it before class today. However I do want to share and talk about how exciting class was today since we got to skype with the president of Blenz – George Moen who is actually a graduate of Sauder!!

Here is a quick video link of George talking about Blenz

I think it is so amazing that George has created a company that is very distinctive in many ways and they are constantly creating innovative marketing strategies to attract consumers from their big competitor starbucks. This idea of red band is so exciting because since I’m single myself, I would love to just buy a cup of coffee with this red band and tell other people out there that I am single and ready to mingle =)

The market segmentation for this new idea includes:

Geographic: Since Blenz is selling the drink, it is targeting all the people that live near the store or perhaps students living on campus or people that go shop at malls.

Demographic: It is targeting all the singles that ranges from teenagers to young adults or targeting those who work or goes to school and require coffee everyday. I think Blenz is really trying to capture the young guys and girls because that group is where there are most singles that want to find a date for valentines!

Psychographic: Definitely targeting the group of people who see’s themselves as singles, fun and outgoing and ready to meet other singles. They are trying to communicate to people who have a exciting lifestyle and to those who wants to have a good time. Targeting people who are enjoys a cup daily cup of coffee and promoting the idea of how Blenz will help them stand out from peers and that it is okay to be single with confidence.

Loyalty: Blenz is also trying to segment the group of consumers into loyal consumers and  consumers that drink from Blenz occasionally. Buy using this red love band, it will not only retain most of the loyal customers but it can also attract new consumers who purchase coffee from Starbucks and Tim Hortons!

I definitely find this red band idea super innovative, but Blenz does not stop here, they also serve awesome coffee with latte art which is such a cool idea and it definitely captures the youth market. Here is a video showing a worker at Blenz making a heart and  a rabbit on the coffee!

So what are you all waiting for? Grab a cup of coffee at Blenz if your single!

This post will be a response to Mandy Cheung’s post about her running for 3rd year CUS representative.

Wow, it has been crazy these past two weeks with student elections and all and I realized I never paid much attention to it. Today I attended the CUS forum talk and listened to what each of the candidates had to say and why we should vote for them. It is very interesting because while I was listening I realized everyone is just applying marketing when they present theirselves through facebook, they are basically marketing and selling themselves to us and in return they want us to vote for them! Marketing actually comes into use quite frequently and these few days I have been trying to decide who I want to vote for and I realized I even went through some factors that affected my decision process even though I am not quite buying a certain product.I actually took the time to look through the plat form of each candidate and considered all the alternatives.

All these candidates are basically trying to show how they have a sustainable advantage over the other candidates and they are trying to add value to themselves so that we see them as the ideal person to vote for. I will close in onto my two friends that are running for CUS 3rd year rep and they are Gabriel Wong and Mandy Cheung.

Both of them have their own value and advantage over others in my point of view and each presents their own unique skills that attracted me to want to vote for them and not because we’re friends. I think Mandy’s Cheung greatest quality that allows her to have an advantage over the others is the fact she is super friendly and always has a great smile and I truly believe that students can actually walk up to her and talk to her and tell her about matters that they are not happy with for CUS. As for Gabriel Wong, I think his biggest advantage is having lots of experiences that can help him be a great representative!

Overall, i think student elections are very fascinating and I look forward to the results because it really shows marketing being put into use. And last but not least, a little bit of promotion here: VOTE FOR MANDY CHEUNG AND GABRIEL WONG FOR 3RD YEAR REP!

So just recently my parents and I have been deciding to get a new car because my car was getting old, have been driving it for 12 years or so. My dad finally decides to post an ad on Craiglist to sell my old car and within the very same day I got a reply and that night my dad sold the car!

Goodbye Car =( I was so shocked and realized how much I’ll miss my car but that also means a new car!

I definitely went through the whole consumer decision process but it was quick process since we bought a car the very next day!!!

1.  Need recognition: Since I sold my old car, it meant that i I did not have a car to drive around so I realized i had to buy a new car in order to be satisfied. There was definitely bout functional needs and psychological needs involved.

2.  Information Search: We didn’t do a lot of research since my dad is a car salesman and knows most of the cars functions, it was more internal information search and we just looked at a few pamphlets on the cars we wanted to test drive. We looked at the Honda Civic, Mitsubishi- 2011 RVR and the Nissan Juke.

Mitsubishi–>

3.  Evaluation of Alternatives: Basically we had in mind to choose between the Honda Civic and Nissan Juke because we didn’t like the appearance of the Mitsubishi.

However, for us the evaluation criteria was that the car has to be relatively cheap and saves gas. The Nissan Juke was a lot more expensive and we didn’t really like the appearance. Also our old car was a Honda so we trust that this brand of cars is good!

4. Purchase: Basically we found the car we wanted on the website and my dad went down to the Honda dealership in Langley to buy the car since we got a better deal.

5. Post Purchase: I’m very satisfied with the car I bought and Honda definitely has my family’s loyalty!

Today when I was reading the news I came across an article talking about Apple and it mentioned how Apple has become “one of the world’s most valuable corporations, with a market capitalization of more than $310-billion (U.S.)”. Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/apple-stock-shrugs-off-leadership-change/article1875045/

I started to wonder how come Apple is so successful or how does it attract and lure all these customers. I began to think how it lured my family into buying their products since both me and my dad has the Iphone 3GS, and I also have the ipod touch 1st gen and a macbook pro. Just recently, my friends and I also bought the newest ipod touch 4th generation for my friend as a birthday present!

After attending several marketing classes, I finally realize why Apple was so successful and it was because of its marketing strategies and their ability to have a sustainable competitive advantage over other companies and products.They added customer value by having:

Customer excellence: Every time I enter the Apple store, there are always tons of sales members providing great customer service. They are also able to create loyal customers through constantly creating new products with functions that customers cannot resist.

Operational excellence: I bought the ipod touch for my friend online and I am amazed at how efficient apple’s supply chain management is because within less than a week the product was delivered to my house.

Product excellence: One of the main reasons why Apple is so successful is because of its ability to product the most innovative products. I love Apple, all their products are very sleek and creative and their functions are amazing. Apple has created its own image and has revolutionized this era of technology.

Locational excellence: Apple stores are located everywhere and no one can ever miss their store because the atmosphere they portray is always a very bright and futuristic theme.