Month: October 2012

I recently read an intriguing article about consumer phycology and how advertising has changed over the last century. Evidencing the historical development of advertising and how it changed in correlation to the understanding of consumer phycology. Ditcher’s believed “that marketplace decisions are driven by emotions and subconscious whims and fears, and often have little to do with the product itself.” His new ways of approaching advertising in the 50’s built his career and “was considered so successful that he was even accused of threatening America’s national well-being.”

However, the idea that I took away from this article was that products should be seen as a projection of the consumer. Meaning that the soul of the product must represent the image that each consumer is, or wants to be. It is a simple concept, but one that can make or break a product. A phone is a perfect example, it is an extension of who the consumer self image. More and more advertising is appealing to emotion, and at the time of this advertising revolution it was seen that “Americans [had] become the most manipulated people outside the Iron Curtain.”

http://www.economist.com/node/21541706

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/142736-rim-falls-on-brand-report

RIM has fallen from 56^th to 93ed on one “of the latest ranking of global brands by an international consultancy.” This puts the firms estimated value at $3.9 billon, a 39% drop in the last year.

BlackBerry has failed to innovate as much as other brands such as Apple an Android. They are at a technological disadvantage and have had a few too many PR issues this last year with “BlackBerry shipments [being] down 41%.” With competition offering the consumers better products, BlackBerry must “clearly demonstrate its relevance and value in today’s crowded smartphone market.” In class we have undertaken various exercises as to why consumers purchase specific products, and what BlackBerry has to offer is more and more overshadowed by competition. Would it be possible to increase their sales via advertisement or a more diverse product line? These are the types of question that need to be explored in order to aid RIM with their decreasing market share.

Competing firms, such as Apple, have invested a lot of time and money in building and maintaining a positive brand image, however, RIM has not had the same success. One of BlackBerries unique selling point, “Black Berry Messaging” has lost its appeal to many consumers with alternate services, such as “Imessage” becoming available. RIM needs a new approach in order to gain back customers and increase profits.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/auto-sales-pick-up-speed-even-as-economy-sputters/article4581844/

This article discusses the recent increase in global sales of motor vehicles since last year. A major increase in sales has been seen in the U.S. market “which hit 14.9 million sales on an… annual basis,” however Canada has also had an increase in sales with the “highest numbers since September, 2000.”

The Canadian economy has been more stable than that of the U.S. over the last year and can be seen as a reason for the increase in automotive sales in Canada. However, the U.S. has also seen a rise in total sales, in particular, fuel-efficient cars. In fact, this month was “Ford’s best small car sales month in a decade.” It seems that what the consumer values is changing. The price of gas has increased and thus consumers are becoming more fuel conscious, and buying more fuel-efficient cars. This shift in the type of cars purchased indicates that the market for more fuel-efficient vehicles is growing and now would be a good time for firms think about capitalising on the increase of such a demand. Firms should always remain aware of changing consumer trends and facilitate the demand in order to maximise profits.

If the world economy stays stable, sales of cars are predicted to continue to increase, however many factors could effect sales and the economy is only one of them. International automotive firms have also seen a larger increase in sales with various German and Japanese based companies outselling major American brands such as Ford.