The company chosen by our team is Sun-Rype, a leading beverage company based in Canada. By doing the assignment, I have learnt a lot from our mistakes, realizing that it is important to understand the task and the concepts before working on a marketing assignment.

In assignment #1, we lost heavily in SWOT analysis, because we were not very clear about the concepts including SWOT per se. Before getting myself familiar with the SWOT, I went straight to the questions with perceptions, or rather misunderstandings. We made mistakes in the opportunity part and the threat part for the SWOT analysis, because we did not know that they should be external factors. We wrote a lot about internal factors. Even though we had very good insights into the analysis, we went a wrong direction.

This time we study the key concepts closely beforehand in assignment #2. For example, for the positioning strategy, it combines the summary of our target segment and the way we differentiate the products from others. Then, we sought the key elements for the task. We selected the target segment first, and found the features that rendered Sun-Rype outstanding. Understanding the concepts properly helped us enormously by guiding us in navigating the difficulties. That is pretty much why we got 90% for assignment #2.

It is a great experience: thinking precedes acting. That lesson would benefit my future career as an accountant as well. As an accountant, I also have to meet clients’ demand and solve their problems in a meaningful way rather than just finishing the work. Even though it is a marketing assignment, I learn something that would benefit me in the long run.

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On March 14^th, Samsung launched its latest mobile phone model, Galaxy S4. Many technological innovations have been made in it, including new camera function, message translator and eye-tracking. With eye-tracking, customers will be able to pause a video by moving eyes away from the screen, and to scroll down an email or text by just looking down to the screen. The innovative function of Galaxy S4 has drawn much attention from the public.

Marketers believe that those innovations could help Galaxy S4 stand out. However, will customers really need these fancy functions? IPhone 4 achieved a remarkable success, partially because its innovations really benefited customers by presenting them with convenience and new experiences. No doubt, the multi-touch screen, millions of apps and advanced operating system all rendered the phone more handy and interesting. But, will the customers appreciate Samsung’s innovations this time?

Marketers are sure that customers will love innovations if they need them. This belief is based on an assumption that customers are rational. But, customers do not buy products for needs, especially for youth, who keep changing phones in order to follow the latest trend. Obviously, it is more about “want” rather than “need”.

In this regard, Samsung has secured at least a part of the market by keeping itself abreast of the fashion. As for those who care about “need” more than “want”—the majority of customers, Samsung has to persuade them that the innovations are actually practical and useful. If someone else stares at my phone screen from behind and hence triggers a pause to the video I am watching, I certainly will be pissed off and may switch off the ‘fancy’ function right away. So, despite creative and innovative functions are indispensable parts of a promising product, usefulness and convenience should never be overlooked.

In her blog “Products! Products! Products!”, Alexandra Marynczak indicates, “How a product is perceived and classified  can be almost entirely dependent on how it is marketed. Marketers hold tremendous power!”.  It is vital for a product to differentiate itself from its competitors in the market. And this difference should meet demands of the target group.

Alexandra mentions two examples. One is Toyota’s minivan, and the other is Born 3 egg, a type of eggs with omega 3. Both products distinguish themselves very well from others to meet the customers’ special needs. Toyota’s video captures young urban couple by satisfying both their family and personal demands. Born 3 egg renders itself special by adding extra nutrition ingredients, so it gains popularity among people who are seeking healthy lifestyle.

A product’s targeting strategy should concern not only its customers’ demands, but also the company’s general image as well. For example, if Channel launches a new handbag with colourful cartoon in an effort to distinguish itself from other luxury brands, it may well turn out to be a market failure. This is because cartoon with bright colours deviates too far from the general image of the brand, which is supposedly classic and elegant. Moreover, Channel’s target market is high-income women, such as businesswomen, celebrities and politician. It is not an attractive design for them probably.

To sum up, in order to gain larger market share in a competitive market, it is essential to have distinctive advantages over other competing products. In order to achieve this, however, customer’s needs, as well as, the company’s general image should be taken into account as well.

In her recent blog post, True loyalty found best on Valentine’s Day – for us marketing folk, Anna Duckworth talks about some new insights into customer loyalty from CMA’s Loyalty Conference. By going through various views and opinions from the conference, she concludes that quality, service, experience and value are essential in building a durable customer loyalty.

I like the way Anna tells the story. She argues that there are three main elements underpinning consumer loyalty: “Success can all fall apart with one bad service experience”; “loyalty programs can change behaviour”; “getting personal is all about knowing your customer to truly industrialize intimacy”. Then, she uses a conference participant’s story to support her idea.  In an effort to prove that bad custom experience would ruin a business, she writes about how Canada Post uses good service to attract consumer. This blog addresses the issue of building up consumer loyalty and largely summarizes the conference by presenting key examples.

However, it seems lacking attractive images and thoughtful analysis, and this, I believe, are her major weaknesses. If the writer could add some graphics to her post, it will function well in attracting readers’ attention. While the writer does a fantastic job in summarizing the participants’ views, she shows less personal thoughts into the topic. The whole article is all about what others have said, and it fails to well reflect the writer’s own concerns relating to the topic. The absence of deep analysis makes the post more like a report, than a considerate marketing blog.

In general, I enjoyed this blog post. It indicates a simple model of building a consumer loyalty in a concise way. It just like building up a romantic relationship. All you need to do is to show your heart, and then continue to contribute.

On January 30, Blackberry announced its new Blackberry 10 series.  Z10 is an all-touched smartphone without physical keyboard, just like iPhone. Z10’s twin, Q10, keeps a traditional blackberry keyboard with a multi-touched screen. Blackberry initiated this move in a critical moment, after all for the past 3 years; its share in American smartphone market has tumbles from about 35% to only 1.6%.

In order to retake the ground it lost, Blackberry needs to gain some new momentums. In terms of appearance, Z10 looks like any other multi-touched phones and has nothing special. According to a professional review, Z10 performs well in touched keyboard, operational system and camera, but showing no major superiority over others. In addition, it has a serious drawback that its system can only access to 70,000 apps, which are only 10% of Apple’s apps . So, what’s special about Z10?

In comparison, Q10 might win over some praises, since Blackberry’s time-honored keyboard remains intact in it. Its unique design combining physical keyboard with multi-touched screen makes it an innovation. On one hand, it certainly satisfies some diehard Blackberry fans’ appetite for physical keyboard. On the other, a multi-touched screen brings about convenience and somehow keeps the phone in fashion.

All-touched phones, like iPhone, Samsung changed many people’s habit. I used to be a keyboard fan, but iPhone has changed my typing habit.  Now, I have also adapted to the screen and love to typing by it. How many customers would still be attracted by the physical keyboard? It would be a key concern.

In conclusion, I don’t think Blackberry 10 could put an end to the downturn of the company, since Z10 could not differentiate itself in the market, while Q10 may experience hard times as the group of physical keyboard lover keeps shrinking.

The story starts with a news article, Coca-Cola dodges federal false advertising claim on its so-called “pomegranate” juice. This article talks about how Coca-Cola misleadingly advertises “pomegranate” juice, which is actually made by 99.4% of apple juice and grape juice. How does that affect consumers? Do “ethics” really affect the business?

In business areas such as employment relations, finance and advertisement, ethics issomething that has been fiercely discussed for decades. Among others, the discussion concerning misleading advertising claim is perhaps the most heated one.

The video, Advertising and Ethics, talks about how corporations send consumers misleading information, and this situation has not been changed for decades. Business textbooks say that telling the truth benefits corporations in the long run and may help them building trust with customers. I don’t think it is always the case. For sure, it is not the first time Coca-Cola lies to customers about its product. If you take a look at third-parties’ reports, they reveal many negative stuff about Coca-Cola. Does Coca-cola ever tell you these? Does that affect Coca-Cola’s leading position in beverage industry?

My answer would be “no, not necessarily”. It seems like that giving misleading advertising claim may cause ruining effect of business in the long run. However, it might not in some cases. Because consumers naturally defend themselves against advertisements and most of them assume everything said in advertisements has been exaggerated already. Consumers don’t believe in advertisements, so they won’t feel disappointed when they see misleading information. Also, a company won’t necessarily go down if it misleadingly advertises its products.

I think the most effective way that motivates corporations to advertise honestly is through improving the sense of responsibility and enforcing legal measures in this regard. There is an old saying in China, “Loving money is human, but it must be earned in a right way”.

(Source from: http://www.naturalnews.com/035962_Minute_Maid_pomegranate_juice_false_advertising.html)

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