As I recall from my high school courses, I remembered there was a course called Tourism 11/12. This course talked about variety of topics, which most of them i dont remember. But, there was this one topic that caught my eyes and my ears during class. This topic is “how do brands grasp public attention and how do brands make people remember the brand.” As I take Marketing class, this topic always floats around my head; it is probably because I finally realized that this topic is a sub-topic in the marketing course. Not that I’ve been exposed to the same topic or anything in Commerce 296, but I just feel like bringing this topic up since it suits what I am studying – Commerce.

My high school teacher who taught Tourism 11/12 once said, “Brands catch your eyes and ears by catchy slogans/phrase.” She then proceeded with a worksheet and pure melody music recordings, wanting us to identify the brand off the worksheet after listening to the recording once. At that time, I thought that I probably wouldn’t be able to identify any brands by their slogan music. However, as my teacher played the recordings, I recognized the tone and slogan right away. That is when i started to assure that catchy slogans with music actually grabs a lot of attention. And this kind of attention grabbing is considered as marketing. It is how they market their brand, making it more recognizable.

Here are several catchy slogans with music that almost EVERYONE can identify.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mBtOYYCrGY

http://subdelivery.com.sg/Subway-eat-fresh-US.jpg

Pictures/Information From:

http://subdelivery.com.sg/Subway-eat-fresh-US.jpg

As I enter 2nd year of university, I finally understand more about marketing. Since young, I’ve only thought of marketing as television advertisements. Being in Commerce 296 Marketing course has changed my thinking. Being exposed to other factors of marketing, I realized that marketing is not JUST about advertisements. It is about promoting value to customers. These values make up the marketing 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).

Product: what is the product? Does it create value to satisfy customer?
Price: Is this what customers want to pay for the product? (value of product in terms of currency).
Place: Is it convenient to buy the product? (convenience will increase of value in the product in customer’s eyes).
Promotion: How is the marketer communicating with the potential buyers to remind them about the product?

http://www.logomaker.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Starbucks-Logo.png

Starbucks is one of the companies that I’ve always thought that they have very bad marketing. It is obvious that after learning about the 4 Ps, I realized that Starbucks’ marketing is very well planned and implemented. In fact, Starbuck’s marketing is brilliant. Although their product is not that much of a difference between other cafes, it is more well known. Let’s have a break down of their 4 Ps:
Product: Different types of coffee, pastries, and different types of tea.
Price: Relatively expensive compared to other places that sell coffee.
Place: It can be found almost EVERY few blocks.

Promotion: Their green logo on the cups reminds people of Starbucks. They have effective communication with their customers by offering discounts/buy-one-get-one-free offers/gift cards/GOLD card (VIP card).

As mentioned in one of the 4 Ps above, Starbuck’s prices are relatively high, but why is that? It is because of the value added. What added the value? It is the convenience. As analyzed before, Starbucks’ shops are EVERYWHERE. You can see Starbucks almost every 10 minutes as you walk down a street. Starbucks is so successful due to its convenience. Its convenience pulls up the price. Also, there are other effects of the prices on customers. Some customers are willing to pay high prices for the value. Some of them wants to pay high prices because high prices make it as if it is higher class coffee. And some consumers are paying high prices because of convenience (they don’t want to walk another block/drive another 5 minutes for cheaper coffee).

Like I said before, marketing is NOT JUST advertising. Many other factors are thrown into consideration.

Pictures/Information From:

http://www.logomaker.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Starbucks-Logo.png

Google map

Starbucks website