WingChun Cheung Jerry's Blog

Nowadays, all goods and services are not just simple goods and simple services; they are all packed in order to explore more markets, increase the market distribution and sell more. For example, the Baby Carrots. Without packaging, they are just simple and fresh baby carrots, but after packaging, they are all become snacks and seem really cool. It is because, as we all know, baby carrots contain cellulose different types of vitamins that are very healthy, and grow ups and healthy eaters are the main customers of baby carrots. But now, teens, who have less interests in healthy food (I don’t know why!), are targeted by Baby Carrots and it is repacked as a kind of junk food.

OK the introduction is long enough. Before I start to explain my ideas, I want to show a short video first. This video is taken by a passenger who took Cebu Pacific flight. This video is about how the FAs showed the safety instructions of using airbags and masks before the plane took off.

Youtube Cebu Pacific FAs dancing, “Survival Dance”.

Funny isn’t it? Safety instructions are always boring and identical(which I never pay attention on it), but this video shows a redesigned instructions “Survival Dance” acted by some beautiful FAs. In fact, this dance can definitely entertains the passengers, and attracts them to take Cebu Pacific next time.

You may argue that this dance will destroy the “high-class”, professional image of taking a flight, but the question is,”who set this image?” When we look back  to the age before air transport and international travel become popular, we can see the airline companies’ marketing strategy: taking flight was luxurious, taking flight showed your authority, and only taking flight took you to every continent. It sounded really cool, and that was why airline companies charge high prices in air ticket, so many people still bought it. Now taking flight is as common as visiting grandpa (especially for international students), then have a new marketing image could be a good strategy. Honestly, I really hope Airline Canada or Cathay Pacific can do the same thing, or make something even more inspiring, then i may have more motivation to go back Hong Kong……

P.S. In the dance, the background music is Lady Gaga. Famous artist and fast rhythm also make any shows attractive, and attractiveness always mean sells more!

When I have started to touch Marketing last year(just for fun), I heard about Marketing guru Seth Godin. This guy is awesome, check him out:

seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead.html

And also there is his Marketing Blog:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Why I know this guy? Last year I read about his article about his concepts of Marketing that inspires me so much(I still keep this article!), but now I can’t find the article online now, so I want to type it out and share with you guys.

Marketing has long relied on the four P’s – product, price, promotion and place – as an organizing prinicple. but the marketing guru Seth Godin on his blog suggests a more fruitful taxonomy would be these five elements:

DATA
Sometimes thought boring and thus overlooked, data can be powerful, telling you what is actually happening. WalMart uses data to decide whether the promotion at an end of an aisle is working. Google Adwords advertisers use data to decide whether certain copy delivers clicks and sales. Retail archaeologist Paco Underhill observes people in stores and uses that to invigorate stores.

STORIES
These define everything you say and do, because humans crave stories. “The product has a myth, the service has a legend,” he writes. Stories and data form the two building blocks of your marketing , while the remaining three elements are built upon them.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
These are the physical manifestation of your story. If your story is that you are cutting edge and faster, newer and better than your competition, than your product better exemplify that claim. And your story should tout something exceptional – average products for average people is an all-too-common story, but it doesn’t spread. “When in doubt, re-imagine the product. Push it to be the story, to live the story, to create a myth,” he urges.

INTERACTIONS
These are all the tactics you use to actually touch the prospect or customer. Interactions range from billboards to the approach you take to an overdue bill. There are many interactions and most of them are cheap. But make sure they don’t undercut or contradict your story.

CONNECTION
The end goal is to make a connection with your customers. But you also want to inspire a connection between your customers, creating a tribe of people who wish each other well and want to belong to this group of users. get the first four steps right and you may have a shot at this level of enlightenment.

<<By Seth Godin>>