Jenny Zimmermann's Blog

In his blog post “the essential question to ask before extending your brand,” Seth Godin divides the reasons behind making the decision to extend a brand into two main categories:

1)    Simply because it is possible.
AND
2)    Because there is a valid improvement.

He classifies the “because we can” group as the benchmark for mediocrity and sets the “because it’s better” group on top as the goal to strive for.

This separation is something I had never given any thought to, but now that I think about it, it makes me wonder:
How many of the products out there are actually created just because a company reaches the maturity stage of the product lifecycle and thinks, “I guess it is about time to come out with something new”? And, more importantly, why is it so?

It is no secret that new product innovation is an expensive undertaking – companies pour millions into generating, screening, developing, testing and implementing new products. Add the high risk of failure to this – approximately 80% of all new products fail or underperform – and the reasons become a little clearer.

In her blog post “Rise of the Twitter Teenager,” Stephanie Schwab discusses the growing presence of teenagers on social media sites – twitter in particular – and the growing importance of social media marketing.

The overall message is clear: “80% of teens use online social networks” and if a brand wants to market itself to this lucrative demographic, it better start tweeting away.

However, what really struck me was a piece of twitter-advice for the brands that are targeting these 13-19 year olds:

“Be conversational.”

Marketing is no longer a one-way street –
So you should no longer be satisfied, with just a retweet!

With the new forums for marketing, come new norms for marketing: in order for a brand to win over the hearts of this up-and-coming, technology-fluent generation, uniform promotion broadcasting simply will not suffice.

The teenagers of today have been online since they can remember, and have consequently been ignoring these promotional messages since they can remember. Selective perception blocks out most of what they do not want to see anyway!

The key is personal selling: instead of talking AT them, talk WITH them!

Yes – conversations with teenagers can be daunting, but listen to what they have to say and they will reward you with the power of word of mouth.

We are bombarded with advertisements and slogans all day long, but when a company asks advice, answers questions or interacts with its customers in a direct way, it sets itself apart. It will not be long until this is considered the normal standard for marketing.

The beauty is that none of this applies only to twitter, or even social media as a whole: Doritos even shows fan-made commercials during the Super Bowl!
[see: http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/]

Essentially what it comes down to is that the power of the consumer is rising and, particularly for the demographic segment in question, playing into this is the key to sustainably targeting them.

In her post “Branded, and Catchy Names,” Kelly Kan brings up several points that I have been thinking back to frequently this semester. The most pressing of these is, in a sense, a question of free will: in a world where the brand is king, do we really have any control over what we purchase?

As the world develops, every aspect of our lives becomes more advanced. The nature and structure of the economy, the technology we use, even the way we communicate. Companies that started as localized mom and pop stores are now multimillion dollar franchises and, as Kelly so eloquently put it,

“it’s time to admit that while you may think you own the brands, in truth, the brands own you.”

This is a scary thought, but a valid one nonetheless. Everyday we are bombarded with more brand logos and advertisements than we can process. Marketing is all about the consumers and knowing from start to finish precisely what specific target audiences want and need, before they even know themselves. Products pass through the development process from idea generation and screening, to product concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, business analysis, to product development, test marketing, and to their eventual commercialization.

Today there are even firms who put out competing products in the same category in order to speak directly to different types of consumers. Each of these products goes through multiple stages of testing before they even reach the shelves.

The entire process start to finish is extremely complex, almost a science in itself. It blows my mind to think so much thought and research went into every detail  – not only the product itself but also the shape and color of the packaging, the place it is sold, the needs it addresses.

Upon moving into my new apartment this year, grocery time always brought with it the question “No Frills or Safeway?” – major dilemma. At first, like many consumers, convenience was my only priority. However, fast forward a few months and my attitude has shifted dramatically. While I have found that Safeway does offer an overall higher quality product, a wider selection and special prices for club members, it was the simplicity, consistency and frequently lower prices at No Frills that ultimately won me over.

No Frills has set itself apart as the lowest price grocery chain in Canada, a tactic that has paid out since the onset of the recession

[FYI: European counterparts Lidl and Aldi also flourished with this tactic]

As can be seen from their name, No Frills has selected a simplistic, no drama marketing approach to cut costs and lower prices. From the second one enters the store: the displays are minimal – usually only stating prices – and the products are stocked on basic shelves, much like a warehouse. Selections, including President’s Choice, are certainly available, but their “No Name” brand, which also runs in the traditional No Frills yellow and red, has made saving money fast and easy. These products are very competitively priced by saving on extra costs (such as fancy packaging) and readily spotted. Furthermore, I have found the quality of their goods consistent.

An added bonus, especially in times of economic hardship, is that consumers leave feeling like they got more than they paid for. In fact, No Frills’ “WON’T BE BEAT” slogan goes as far as to match any competitor’s lower price.

And this is all inside the store! The store itself is located on 3 bus routes coming from UBC, next to a liquor store and banks, making it perfect for university students. What’s more, their website is straightforward but includes detailed information about specific locations and sales, while allowing you to create your shopping list online.

Price – check!

Product – check!

Place – check!

Promotion – check!

To summarize, No Frills has pinpointed its target audience and gets a 4P vote from me.

Upon graduating high school, I found myself confronted with the impending question that has haunted many people in the same situation as me: what now?

I had my university acceptances, but I simply did not feel ready. Ultimately, I decided to take a year off to gain some perspective. I ended up spending one month learning Italian and the following eight living in northern Italy and working in an Italian insurance software company.

From the first moment, I loved the independence of my new life: I had my own apartment, I paid my bills, I did what I wanted when I wanted and that suited me just perfectly. Now, that sounds all fine and dandy, but everything was not always what I had hoped for. Straight off the bat, communication proved extremely challenging. Living in a small city (30,000 people) in Italy, finding any English or German speakers can be quite the challenge. Being a rather loquacious person, to put it kindly, this was the source of much frustration and loneliness. This naturally was not helped by the fact that most people I worked with were a fair amount older than I was and had a completely different perspective on life than I did. Furthermore, I had no idea what it would be like sitting at a desk from 8:30am to 5:30pm staring at a computer screen on a daily basis. I would come home at night exhausted with an excruciating headache.

This all came to a climax around late October, after I had been in Italy for approximately two months. I was tired, sick, cold and alone so I did what any 18 year-old girl would do: I called my mommy. It was what my mother went on to tell me then that taught me the greatest lesson of my life.

She was sympathetic, but pointed out that that’s life. I had signed a contract, made a commitment and had at least another seven months left. She said to me, “Jenny, this is YOUR life, it is up to YOU what you make out of it.”

Not only did this drive home the fact that I was living in the real world and life was not like high school, but it also pushed me to take matters into my own hands. I worked on my Italian and built up a solid proficiency, which simultaneously allowed me to get to know my coworkers better. This made both work and my free time more enjoyable.

Looking back, I could not thank my mother more. Her advice gave me the kick I needed to truly grow up and realize that this was life. I now not only love Italy and the Italian language, but I also made great friends (and connections) and I have a real idea what the working world is like.

To summarize I would like to quote William Earnest Henley’s poem Invictus:

I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul.

On a daily basis, embassies send and receive official, often confidential, diplomatic telegrams known as cables. On Sunday, November 28^th, 2010 the website WIkiLeaks and five leading newspapers started to release 251, 287 confidential US cables. The cables are being released in portions to create the greatest impact and receive the most attention – and that they are, the original WikiLeaks site got dropped.

[Fortunately for all curious Georges out there, the information is available at

http://46.59.1.2/ or http://213.251.145.96/ ]

Now aside from all the specific and immediate negative implications of Cablegate, certain questions arise.

My question: Should the world see these documents? Do they want to?

ATTENTION WORLD:

PUT DOWN THE PHONE.

LOG OUT OF FACEBOOK.

STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER.

From the moment we wake up to the moment we wake up in the morning to the second we close our eyes at night, we are never not connected. Whether it is through texting, tweeting, chatting, facebook – we lead our lives in cyberspace. The Internet, social media in particular, has brought the world closer, making it possible for friends to keep in contact all over the world.

Research shows that in the last 50 years the time spent socializing outside of work hours has decreased by over half! We substitute face-to-face social interactions with online communications. Second Life is a game that, in essence, allows you to lead a second life online – even using real money.

Cyber-world is a fast becoming a dangerous addiction, it starts with students checking facebook during and tweeting their every move, but evolves into something far more serious. This new trend has gotten so large that even companies such as Warner Bros and Telus have set up new marketing ploys: they market and sell on Second Life. A phone is useless in this virtual world, but still a popular purchase.

Of course from the point of view of firms, the new opportunities cannot be ignored. It is true that they now have a new platform, a new chance to get their products and services implanted into the consumer mind and bring brand recognition to a whole new level.

The question is: is it ethical for firms for encourage people who are living their lives online, just so they can turn a greater profit?

[for more visit http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=139968 or http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US]

We constantly hear about how somebody donated some amount of money to somebody in need.

However, when possible, why not help them help themselves?

While providing aid to a country or people when they are in need clearly helps them, it is a short-term solution that creates a dependency. The key is micro credit lending: empower the people with small-scale loans and let them take it from there.

For example, MICA (Micro-Credit in Africa) has various projects set up in Africa, such as the Oxcart project that lends women the $280 USD to buy an ox and cart that they can then rent out to the people in the village.

[for more info: http://www.microcreditinafrica.org/projects/index.html]

While this may have several characteristics of a charity, what makes the people who micro-lend social entrepreneurs is that they provide people with the means to affect change in their society, without driving it themselves. As the monthly payments are relatively low and they are generating revenue, it is not as common that people default on their loans.

As the Chinese proverbs states, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

In my organizational behaviour class we took a look at TerraCycle, a company that specializes in producing goods out of recycled materials. TerraCycle was not the first time I had come into contact with this type of business though: Zurich’s equivalent is Freitag bags.

Started in Zurich by the Freitag brothers out of the need for really durable bags, the company is not renowned for building stylish bags, wallets, etc. out of truck tarps, seatbelts and bike wheels. The aim of the bags is to use recycled goods to make fun, strong bags that translate well into everyday life.

Over the years, Freitag bags have become a style staple in the Swiss streets and are now spreading their way across the world. In fact, one can even be seen exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

With the continuous rise of the green-trend, the future lies in companies like TerraCycle and Freitag that look towards sustainability by using materials that are no longer in use and otherwise just adding to the mass amounts of waste we create. Should corporations not have some social responsibility towards out planet??

If only more people believed that one truck’s junk could be another man’s treasure!

[please visit www.freitag.ch for more information]

Everybody knows the annoying buzzing sound the Formula 1 cars make while zipping around the racetrack. It is time to make that buzzing work for you: translate those laps into revenue.

The story is very simple: unlike many sporting events, Formula 1 is a global event and is broadcasted globally. It has a huge worldwide following, meaning there is a large audience focused on 15 to 20 races a year. Therefore, by sponsoring a race team, a race location, etc. your brand gets instant worldwide recognition. While it is fairly expensive, it is actually far cheaper than the alternative. The classic example of this is Red Bull. Red Bull sponsored two race teams so people all over the world saw the Red Bull logo race around the track, thereby giving the brand instant global recognition. Instead of paying to have 50 different ad campaigns around the world, they paid a significantly lower price for one ad campaign whose reach was worldwide.

In essense, it is a focused and efficient way to create brand recognition and get the world buzzing about your product!