The Finale

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The semester has been a busy one, that’s for sure. One of the most time consuming activities this semester was this video project. My team and I spent over 10 hours filming and re-filming, and then re-filming some more. The entire time I just kept thinking how much easier a presentation would be. Between planning, filming and editing, the hours that went into the video felt like they could have been used elsewhere…but then I saw the finished product. The video that was a large weight on my shoulder for a few weeks turned out to be something I was very proud of. Not only was the finished product better than expected, my team cohesion also increased. It may have been the desire to leave the classroom we had been cooped up in, but my team finally put their heads together and worked well. Ideas were flowing and people were finally speaking up. It felt nice to see everything come together.

Looking back, I do not feel as negatively about this project as I had before. Yes, a presentation would have been shorter and easier to create, but I think the finished product would have suffered. We would have rushed through the thought-process, practiced the presentation once or twice through and then called it a night. The video forced us to stick it out until the end and for that I am thankful. Overall, this has been a great learning process and I would be happy to do it again.

Lululemon makes a smooth recovery

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After reading one of my classmates blog post on Lululemon and the luon issue, I began to look more into the outcome. Ashley Anderson commented on the fact that she believed Lululemon’s brand loyalty would decrease after Chip Wilson, the creator of Lululemon, said that the reason the luon pant was see-through was due to the fact that women were not buying the right size. This created a lot of backlash from consumer who were offended by the comments. The result of these comments led the company to recall the pants. Many wondered how this would affect Lululemon’s brand and consumer brand loyalty.

It would be easy to assume that consumers would be unhappy with the company and for their loyalty to decrease. When I first heard of the issue, I thought consumers would be reluctant to buy the pants once they were re-released. Personally, I would question the quality and also feel hesitant to support Wilson’s comments. However, an article published in The Huffington Post, disproves such beliefs. As soon as the pants were re-released, Lululemon’s shares went up 18%. Consumers were much happier with the new, thicker pants.

I was surprised by these results due to the fact that Lululemon had a large amount of upset and offended consumers. This goes to show that the company really has created strong brand loyalty. Wilson made comments that offended a good chunk of their consumers, yet they still come back to the store to spend $98 on a pair of stretchy pants. Lululemon is definitely a company to learn from.

The benefits of SMS marketing

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When it comes to signing up for a company’s website online, my phone number is one of the last pieces of information I will be willing to give. I am already annoyed with spam emails, I do not need the information spilling over into my text messages. However, Ryan Hoffman posted an interesting blog on the value of having a customers phone number. In his post, Start delighting your customers with SMS this holiday season, he explains that over 90% of people will open the promotional text, and they usually open it within 3 minutes of receiving it. I personally, had never looked at this technique as a good way of promoting a product, but when I really thought about it, I realized that I am 100% more likely to open a text message than I am an email.

Hoffman warns that there are special steps that need to be taken in order to find and retain consumers through SMS marketing. These steps include making it easy for the consumers to join, such as having a QR code ready to be scanned. From there, they consumer can opt into receiving texts and be given a coupon for doing so. Such little effort has already saved the consumer some money. The benefit to a coupon receive through a text is that the consumer cannot just toss it into the trash upon leaving a store. The coupon is literally in their pocket, ready to be used at any time.  He also notes that consumers should be allowed to dictate how often they receive a text. This way, they will not feel overwhelmed and choose to opt-out because of an influx of promotional texts.

After reading Ryan Hoffmans blog, I have a different outlook towards SMS marketing. I see the value in maybe receiving a coupon or two for signing up. The best part is that I will not forget said coupon at home because it will be store in my phone, rather than sitting in a pile on my desk.

The Power in Devoted Consumers

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We recently had Sauder alumni Andrew McKee come and speak to our class about his many business adventures, but more specifically, his coffee shop, Great Dane. The small coffee shop has been on campus since 2012, however, I did not even know it existed until this September when I moved into the apartments above the shop. I was excited to see a coffee shop so close to me, yet, I did not bother to try it out until after speaking to a few people about it.

The question “So where are you living this year?” is asked by many when they return to UBC for the fall. My answer was always “Above that Great Dane coffee shop, if you know where that is.” It was everyone’s reaction to Great Dane that shocked me the most. Almost everyone I told said, “Their coffee is so good!” It was at this moment that I realized the power in word of mouth marketing. After hearing my friends say they liked the coffee, I felt more compelled to go and check it out.

Mckee told us that the most Great Dane has ever done in terms of marketing has been a couple of signs posted around campus. He explained that they rely heavily on word of mouth marketing and it seems to be working for him; there are daily line ups that extend out of the door.

It was not until this little coffee shop appeared that I realized the power in word of mouth marketing. Great Dane seems to have a devoted customer base that expands due to the fact that their coffee is delicious, their customer service suburb, and their quaint location.

Pre-Christmas Jitters

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I am the person who loves Christmas so much that I play Christmas music starting in late October. I string christmas lights and begin my Christmas baking soon after that. However, I understand that I am not the norm, and that many people get the shivers thinking about christmas any time before mid-November.

Target made the mistake of launching their Christmas campaign in mid-October last year. They received a lot of backlash from consumers who just were not ready to begin making shopping lists or buying gifts. As well, for all Americans, Thanksgiving had not even happened yet. Many people need to get past one holiday before they can begin planning for the next. Through their mistakes, Target realized that they were missing out on a big market by not making their store as somewhere consumer could go to fill their Thanksgiving needs. This year, the store sees the value in making themselves a “one-stop” shop for all

holiday needs. They have included decorations and supplies necessary for Thanksgiving.

With this new marketing campaign, Target has decided to push a lot of their marketing budget into online sources such as Twitter and Facebook. The hashtag #mykindofholiday has been created to blend both Thanksgiving and Christmas into one big marketing campaign. Target has successfully managed to now include two holidays into one without giving consumers the anxiety of planning for Christmas before they are ready to do so.

 

Sources:

After Jumping the Gun Last Year, Target Pushes Back Holiday-Campaign Launch

Wanted: Gender Neutrality

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The younger a person is, the easier it is to shape his or her views on a subject. Children are extremely easy to persuade. For example, gender roles have been pushed on children since birth. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, when companies go out of their way to state what is meant for females and what is meant for males, issues begin to arise.

One of the easiest ways to begin to form an child’s views on gender roles is through toys. There seems to be a stigma around toys that dictates what toys girls are allowed to play with and what toys boys are allowed to play with. For example, children are raised to laugh at a boy who plays with a doll and make fun of a girl who is playing with toy cars.This stigma has retailers like Hamsley creating a “girls” floor and “boys” floor within their stores. By adopting gender marketing strategies, Hamsely is only helping to confirm that women cook and men work.

“Let Toys Be Toys” is a campaign that was created when an group of parents were finally fed up with toy companies deciding which toys were suitable for boys and which toys were suitable for girls. They believed it to be unethical to tell a child what they can and cannot play with based on their gender. Through social media, the people behind the campaign have reached out to various toy retailers and called them out on their gender marketing. Many companies have admitted their mistakes and made the appropriate changes to no longer label a toy as a boy toy or a girl toy.

The ethical issues surrounding gender marketing are becoming more apparent and campaigns like Let Toys Be Toys are proving that change can happen.

 

 

Resources:

2012: The Year in Marketing Ethics

Retailers| Let Toys Be Toys