Speak Up!

Based on the post “Benefits of Respect” by Hilary Johnson, I can say I agree that sometimes when you take a job it’s not the money that matters but the incentives given by the company to employees that have better performances.

If you treat people with appreciation and rrespect, you get loyalty and hard work in return. I believe that in businesses one of the most important aspects is respect, because if employees are respected by their employers and viceversa, other values increase with it, like confidence, honesty and loyalty. Being treated with respect could mean that you are not seen as a number or a walking asset to the company, but more as a contributor to the company’s growth. Receiving incentive prices for your hard work is a way of the company to let you know you are important for them, and they are noticing the effort you put into your job, making you want to stay there as you feel loyal to the company.

Incentive rewards help companies retain their employees, which is beneficial since they don’t have to qualify more people, spend time interviewing who is suitable for the job and so focus on what can they do with the employees they have now to make the company better in the future.

Link to the original article: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Sound+mind+over+money/5498751/story.html

I found a blog from Harvard Business Review written by Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital for PepsiCo Beverages, about the new digital role of TV ads and I decided to give my opinion based on what he is saying.

It is true that television advertising has changed along the years, helping different brands achieve their short and long term goals. It is true that now we are more engaged in advertising than people did a few years ago, although companies are still trying to achieve the same goal, by the first choice in the consumer’s mind.

I hadn’t stopped to think of the power we’ve given social media, letting it come into every aspect of our lives, not only do we see advertising in TV but also in the computer or cell phones at the same time, increasing the company’s opportunities of entrance.

That is why advertisement is really important for a brand, because by getting the right story or narrative they can remind consumers about their product. The catchier, stickier and shorter your phrase, the faster it enters customer’s mind.

One part I disagree with is the power loss TV is going to have along the years. It is true that internet, cell phones and computers are getting more popular across youth, but TV is still something people do for fun while doing other things, so instead of having new technologies as replacements we could use them as complements to help companies get their message across all imaginable ways.

As Shiv said “Reflecting that and sharing it with wider audiences in ways that correlate to the brand’s objective, is going to become the new role for TV advertising”, technology will help companies get the feeling of what customers want before creating the product, which could lower costs of production and increase future sales if they accomplish a more interactive way of staying in consumer’s minds.

To read the whole blog post go to this link: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/11/the_new_role_of_television_adv.html

I decided to write about “Charity: Water” a non-profit organization that uses 20 dollar donations, to build wells that pump clean, safe, life saving water to the people around the world that need it the most. This Charity is an example of a social entrepreneurship considering that their focus is on improving people’s lives by providing clean water to people in Africa that need it in an innovative way. This organization is leaded by an entrepeneur, Scott Harrison, because he found a new way of doing things, and an opportunity that could be exploited.

They have the opportunity to help African villages in need with the help of people around the world and local communities to move the economy of that place forward. They rely on donations and volunteers since every penny is put into their cause, and by embracing new technologies they are able to help more people. They’ve globalized a local issue, by giving foreign people the opportunity to help.

Their goal is to get donations, and to do so they use a video showing how families that live with less than $1 a day, have to walk for hours to collect water, water that is not even clean. This time spent collecting water, is time that could be used on learning to read or write. The problem is solvable; as technology improves there are more options on ways to build wells that pump clean, safe and life saving water to the 1.1 billion people that need it.

Clean water means fewer diseases, which means less money spent on medicines and more money spent on ways to improve education and people’s lives. Clean water also means fewer deaths due to unsafe water. They’ve found a way to get local companies and community members together to assist with the construction of wells. This helps strengthen the community and guarantees it is a long-lasting project.

Link to the Video: Water Changes Everything

Mission: index.php?video=video11

How can sustainability change a company’s structure and mission, and is it effective?

Acording to Chris Sherwin, sustainability is only of interest to a small, niche part of the market. People want the same brands, with the same prices and quality but with sustainability built-in.

Sustainability can be a brand builder. PepsiCo and Toyota have established new initiatives using sustainability marketing in recent years. What determines if a company’s actions of being sustainable are paying off is related to the consumer’s perspective instead of to the lead message from their marketing campaign.

Consumers expect commitment from “sustainable brands” to act accordingly to their campaigns. One example is Puma; its mission is to be the most desirable and sustainable sports lifestyle company in the world. By creating positive changes, it is helping their brand to be more desirable, which increases its sales.

Film and documentaries can have a positive impact and contribute to a positive change in consumer behavior. If the consumer is aware of the issues that the world is facing and you as a company are giving them the opportunity to do something about it, then it is more likely they will buy your products.

The benefits that the company is having apart from increased sales are the reduction of CO2 and waste water by 25% for 2015. Not only will this save them money, but it is also going to act as an investment, even though these products will cost more with the economies of scale prices will eventually come down.

Sustainability has to be a part of the everyday decision making process, and a brand might have to reinvent itself to create a positive change, but it engages its employees and also the consumers into working together to have a positive impact on the planet. Creative campaigns that show a brand’s commitment with the environment are going to attract the new wave of eco-friendly generations that are willing to take a stand into protecting our environment, leaving this brands with higher profits than their competitors.

Links: Green Messaging isn\’t enough of a Marketing Proposition, Puma chief on linking creativity with sustainability

I wanted to give my opinion about Occupy Wall Street. It started in the USA where people started protesting and got united by their concerns about growing inequality and corporate excesses. They are targeting the 1% in North America that makes more than $300,000 a year, specially now when banks are still giving high bonuses to that 1% that works for them while people are getting cut off by their employers because of the hard financial times.

My first thought was that if we are in a recession, banks should lower some of the bonuses given to the top employees so thing ey are able to keep others instead of firing them, but then I started thinking that in business, companies always try to get the best profit at the lowest marginal cost.

Watching some of the videos and reading the blog posts stated below, I decided that I do not agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement, currently every person who is living in Liberty Plaza is being provided with free donated shelter, pillows, covers, food and other things. People are just there for the commodity of getting free things, and many times people that are at the top and earn high salaries is because they deserve them, or at least they’ve worked to get it.

Protesting is everyone’s right, but if you want something to be done about it you have to provide a solution. After reading Malcom Gladwell and finding out that most times people are given the same opportunities but you have to work for at least 10,000 hours to become successful in that subject, then instead of protesting and just complain about other people achievements you should start working on your own.

You can see different points of view from supporters to contradictors, for example:

Articles used:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15326636
• http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/20/news/economy/goldman_sachs_occupy_wall_street/index.htm?iid=HP_River
• http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/10/24/111024ta_talk_widdicombe
• http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/10/20/n_greece_what_if_lok.cnnmoney/

The following article shows McDonald’s new efforts to become a sustainable company to attract customers in Europe. Europe and the UK in particular green businesses are making better profits.

So what is McDonald’s doing to fit in that category?

• It’s working with the Marine Stewardship Council to use a label in its McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and assure its customers that the fish were caught in a sustainable way.

Creating a new vision where its company is headed to become one of the leaders in sustainability for its industry sector and for major industries within its supply chain.

What makes me think if it’s going to be possible for McDonalds to gain consumers trust with the image that books like Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me have portrayed?

Many opinions are on the line regarding the standards MSC use to give companies their certificate and whether McDonalds is making the right decision since there is a big difference between green principles and a green company.

In my opinion their initiative is the right one, since it is part of the “Big Food Companies” and by being so big they will be able to have a significant impact on the society. Even though the project is in Europe, it won’t be long before it is needed around the world.

For more information the article is the following: McDonald\’s ocean rescue: Sea change or greenwash?

Northwest Business Videos is a Company dedicated to create lower-cost video production  for small businesses to promote them. They have the idea that people don’t read text, they skim. So the better way to grab someone’s attention is through small videos placed in social media, because people press play in videos they see on websites, and these business videos will help businesses grow.

I think this Company could be really successful if they take advantage of facebook and the adds previous to some youtube videos. Although they have to be careful that people consider most videos that appear on websites spam, and if they confused this company’s videos as spam then the advertising would be pointless because people wouldn’t even see it.

People would argue with the last point because the more people see your video, the more likley it is for your website to appear on google.

The tactic used by businesses to promote themselves is based on the idea that people buy what they’ve seen many times around, making them feel safe about the product. For them to work I think they would need to differenciate themselves from spam. Also we have to take into consideration that “every little bit helps if you want to stand out”, the videos will have to look professional and well made.

To see the Video go to: Business videos help businesses grow

An article about business videos can be seen in the following link: http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/oct/25/helping-business-go-to-the-video/

Hello, so today I decided to write about “Ken’s Breakup with Barbie”

It started as Greenpeace’s tactic to stop immoderate deforestation in Indonesia and save the 400 wild tigers that live there. Greenpeace’s activists took over the Mattel’s headquarters in California and hanged a sign that showed Ken saying “Barbie it’s over, I don’t date girls that are into deforestation” using the brands reputation and popularity to create a larger impact.

We can see the power that the image of a company has within its profit and overall image. Barbie belongs to Mattel, and Mattel uses paper packaging for Barbie’s and other toys from Assia Pulp and Paper (APP), known as Indonesia’s most notorious rainforest destroyer.

Taking advantage of the social media, Greenpeace made Ken’s angriness towards Barbie public. By making it public via twitter, facebook and youtube, Mattel got over 500,000 e-mails from people across the world asking them to stop buying from APP.

We know how important the way customers perceive a company is for its profits and market share, so it’s not a surprise that Mattel, largest toy company in the world, decided to take action and generate tactics to resolve the problem. This past October 5^th, Mattel’s vice-president announced that it couldn’t allow its supply chains to include products that came from deforestation.

Mattel’s new global policy includes:

• Avoid wood fiber from controversial sources.
• Increase the amount of recycled paper used in their business.
• Boost the use of wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

We can now see how important sustainability is for businesses today, people are starting to get greener, and they are looking to buy from companies that share that value. If we stop and think that approx. 946,080,000 Barbies alone are sold every year, and the amount of waste the boxes generate, we can understand the impact that Mattel’s use of recycled paper boxes will have in the environment. Mattel was forced to take action if they wanted to keep their reputation, also to keep up with the customers standards and be able to compete with other competitors that did take action after knowing APP’s unmoderate deforestation.

Now we just have to wait and see if Ken takes Barbie back after her decision to stop deforestation.

Articles and Videos used:

• http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Barbie+goes+green+giant+Mattel+packaging+paper+from+rainforest/5505843/story.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txa-XcrVpvQ
• http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/forests/asia-pacific/barbie/
• http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/success-barbie-and-mattel-drop-deforestation/blog/37176/

American Apparel CEO’s philosophy has been the object of many sexual harassment suits because it is considered inappropriate by many people, it has affected the company since it’s publicly held. In my opinion the CEO’s philosophy of “each person’s right to pursue one’s affection for another human being” is inadequate inside a company since it’s not a professional behaviour.

American Apparel’s ethics policy talks about “promoting ethical conduct, including the handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships”. Being the director of a company and forcing younger employees into sexual acts is not appropriate since you are not giving your customers a first good impression when promoting your brand.

The company’s sexual freedom philosophy has to be reviewed by the CEO and board of directors, since not only is it affecting their public image, but because their finances are dropping, showing that consumers are not looking at sexual images as a good way of marketing anymore.

Can there really be consensual sex in a workplace where individuals have different status, salaries, intentions and one has power over the other’s situation in the company? I don’t think so, even though it’s always been American Apparel’s image.

Even though the company pays its 10,000 employees well above the garment industry rate, future employees should consider the company’s philosophy before accepting their jobs, you should work at a company that reflects your values so you feel comfortable promoting them to others.  Until what point do high salaries make up for the image that the company you are working in gives to the public?

Link to the article