Month: October 2010

Well midterms are all over now and Halloween is just around the corner.  You have no idea how impatiently I’ve been looking forward to this much-needed weekend and  since Halloween is in two days, I thought I would write my next Marketing Blog in connection with this spooky holiday. 

In Marketing class the other day, we were shown a picture of Baby Carrots new Halloween promotion titled Scarrots.  As Baby Carrots are currently trying to join the market as a substitute for junk food such as chips, Scarrots are designed for parents to give out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night as an alternative to chocolate or candy. 

Now in all fairness, there is a growing trend towards healthy and organic foods as the obesity rate is unfortunately increasing and parents are encouraged to keep their children away from junk food.  However, Halloween only does come once a year, and from the personal experience of receiving boxes of raisins and even full apples while trick-or-treating, I can perfectly understand how kids all dressed up in their extravagant costumes will feel when they get bags of baby carrots instead of candy in their loot bags.

While Scarrots are in effectively designed ‘chip’ bags made to attract the attention of young consumers, (they even offer glow in the dark tattoos inside!), will they become the new candy of Halloween? While there may be some parents or health-fanatics who will buy this ‘treat’ to give out, I feel that Halloween is the only time when junk-food and candy is actually allowed…and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Therefore, in my opinion, although the current trend is toward healthy foods, Scarrots will remain on shelves this Halloween and fortunately not in the bags of trick-or-treaters. I’m sure Baby Carrots will have a better time promoting their product at Easter 😉  

Happy Halloween!

The past few weeks have not been my favourite.  Since the Thanksgiving long weekend I have had a bad cold which has not been helped by the fact that I had three midterms this week in a row.  However, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I managed to survive and therefore sit here now on a Friday night writing my Marketing Blog. 

As I spent the last week coughing I often wondered why there is nothing to say when someone coughs, such as “Bless you” when someone sneezes.  Robitussin has taken advantage of this and effectively branded their cough syrup so that it often becomes common to hear people say “Robitussin” when people cough. 

In addition to Robitussin, another brand popularly known for cough medicine is Halls.  However, Halls is recently promoting a new product named HALLS Refresh, which is simply a refreshing candy not associated with being sick at all.  Because Halls has such a huge brand with being a cough drop, with this new product development Halls has to ensure that consumers recognize and connect Halls Refresh to Halls Cough Drops. 

I recently saw an advertisement on a bus promoting Halls Refresh.  The ad had a picture of Halls Cough Drops with the caption, “For when you’re sick” with Halls Refresh candies beside it saying “For when you’re sick of the 3:00 slump.”  This advertisement aims to capture the attention of loyal Halls consumers who may be interested in the new product, and also to new market segments who do not use Halls for cough medicine, but may be interested in refreshing candies. 

Developing a new product in the hopes of reaching new markets can be a risky and costly innovation, but hopefully Halls Refresh can attract consumers who are not simply sick with a cough, but sick of the boring moments in their life. 

I love Starbucks.  From the warmth and relaxation the drinks provide in winter, to the refreshing and energizing fraps in summer time, Starbucks always has the perfect drink for me…despite the calories they pile on.

 Although I don’t watch that much TV, thinking back to all the commercials I’ve seen lately, I don’t remember seeing any Starbucks ads.  This is in high contrast to the many Tim Hortons commercials that I’ve seen and fortunately for Tim Hortons, remember.

However, I recently stumbled across an ad on Facebook promoting Starbucks that I instantly fell in love with.  It’s short, catchy, colourful, and has the forever charming Michael Bublé singing in it. 

 This commercial, linked below, is promoting Starbuck’s new Frappuccino Coffee Drink sold individually in bottles.  To capture the fuller attention of viewers, Michael Bublé serenades the female Starbuck’s drinker to make her drink even more enjoyable. 

 I absolutely loved this commercial and was not one that I could ever get annoyed with but could watch over and over again…which is in fact what I did!   Although many viewers may not be as captivated by Michael Bublé as I am, particularly the male population, Starbucks intentionally created this commercial to capture the female population. 

Does this mean Michael will appear to serenade you every time you buy a Starbuck’s drink? Unfortunately not.  But remembering this commercial hopefully will encourage people to buy Starbuck’s new drink and bring feelings of happiness, because if Michael Bublé likes it, that’s a good enough reason for many people.  

Every day I take the bus and skytrain an hour and a half to get to UBC.  Although this takes up a lot of time and can often be uncomfortable and miserable, I get to see a lot of new things I probably wouldn’t see if I were driving.  These sites include interesting people on the bus each day and of course, the many advertisements posted on the skytrain and bus billboards. 

 An advertisement campaign that has continually caught my eye lately, has been the posters for Maynard’s Candies such as Fuzzy Peaches, Swedish Berries, and Gummi Bears.  These posters are made to look as mug shots for each individual candy character with “Maynard’s Most Wanted” in bold letters at the top of each ad.  They are colourful, bright and appealing as they not only have the power to create candy cravings in people, but also generate a little chuckle from their phrases such as wanted for “disturbing the peach” in the case of Fuzzy Peaches, and wanted for “pucker-punching” for Sour Cherries. 

In addition, this campaign also does a great job of promoting Maynard’s candies as each poster also features codes that people can use to “Capture” the candy and enter in an online contest on Facebook for the chance to win $25,000. 

 Everyone loves candy.  Everyone loves the chance to win money. Maynard’s has certain struck gold with this new marketing campaign.