Month: November 2010

The greatest event throughout the year- Chrismas, is about to coming in one month. There is no doubt that all retailers and marketers are trying their best to attract more consumers. However, due to the economic recession in recent years, will the market experience a harvest this year? According to Deloitte Survey, across Canada, 44 per cent plan to spend less this holiday season than they did last year, four per cent plan to increase their spending, and 52 per cent plan to spend the same amount – which amounts to little or no change in consumers’ spending from the last two years. These data makes much sense than they appear to be. The newly applied HST in BC as well as the depreciation of US dollars makes the neighbourhood a paradise for shopping. Several friends of mine are planning go shopping in US during the vacation. It seems though economic is getting better, people are still cautious about their holiday budget.

I just found a really useful article in Yi Zhao’s blog about how different banks work on their customers primarilly offering them various benefits.

Link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/yizhao1/2010/11/07/6th-week-update/#comment-4

As a international student, when I first arrived in a totally unfimiliar country, I was totally confused about my accounts and made lots of mistakes (unpaid billings, unappropriate account, so many passwords). With the help of this article, now I can have a basic understanding of choosing the best bank for myself !!!

web link: http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/marketer/article.jsp?content=20101109_145531_7976

While “baked” and “fried” are usually methods of food preparation, in a decidedly un-PC ad campaign from Toronto greasy spoon Dangerous Dan’s Diner, they’re actually the target market.

The eatery, whose menu includes items like The Coronary Burger and The Big Kevorkian, has developed a campaign catering primarily to young adults experiencing drug–induced munchies.

Radio ads running exclusively on Ryerson University’s radio station, CKLN, feature unscripted, drug-fueled conversations on everything from Frisbee golf and Grease to how tattooed genitals will look on an old person.

All of the participants speak in the lazy drawl of the stoned, while each ad is filled with the sounds of laughing, frequent coughing and a bong burbling away in the background.

The radio ads are accompanied by a series of print ads showing Dangerous Dan’s menu items in all their greasy, drippy glory accompanied by messages like “You bake. We fry,” and “22% of Ontarians are obese. We can do better.” Some of the ads feature the tag “Dude, we deliver.” (Its success will likely hinge on whether its target audience can remember where they left the phone.)

The campaign was developed by Toronto’s Tattoo Sound + Music.

According to Forbes, Canada ranks 35 on a 2007 list of fattest countries with a percentage of 61.1% of its citizens with an unhealthy weight. So it is time to say no to fast food and get some excercise!

In recent years, I have been using several types of web browsers but unluckily I never found a perfect one. When I was viewing Derek Li’s blog, I saw an article (Creativity FTW) introducing Google Chrome and find it pretty interesting. I have been a Chrome user before and was not impressed by it. But the advertisement is really innovative and impressive. I totally agree with Derek about the primitive method to present the clip. We are so familiar with all kinds of ads presented in high technology ways and all of a sudden a manual and germinal ad just showed up. The huge difference completely drew my attention. There is no doubt Google is creating things with innovation.

Just found an interesting article called when should a company be funny in marketing from http://www.wordsellinc.com/blog/content-marketing-blog/using-humor-in-marketing/

Humor plays an important role in marketing areas such as campaigns and advertisements. However, not using appropriately, humor can be a double edged sword. The article provides 7 situations when humor will make a difference in marketing. The third one “when others are being serious” seems to be pretty outstanding. There are certain industries considered to be not appropriate for humor. As a result, the author argues breaking the rule and think out of the box will definitely get you noticed. But this again comes up with an ethical problem. For example, attending a funeral dressing up like Lady Gaga will obviously draw wide spread attention, but such behavior is really inappropriate in certain situations. Generally speaking, humor is a double edged sword, using it in a right way will be attractive while misusing it only leads to disaster.