COMM 296 helped me to have a better understanding of Marketing.  With more knowledge in Marketing, I realized that Marketing is not only about commercials and advertisements.  Even though it is important to bring out a creative advertisement to promote the brand/product, the most important part is making it effective and attractive to the right people.  Behind those creative ideas, it is essential to gather information such as target market, Marketing mix, SWOT, etc. to ensure the advertisement is going in a right direction.

All new knowledge we learned in lectures would be used during group activities. It is extremely interesting to play with real commercial goods, such as water bottles and products from the “price guessing” game.  This helps us understand how things we learned in the class are applied on real products.

The most interesting part is making a video for our project. This is my first time to do a presentation in video form.  Unlike usual presentation, the video helps convey our ideas and messages more effectively and appealing.  Through reviewing other groups’ videos, we can learn from others’ strengths for future improvement.

Kevin brought up a significant topic about how McDonald’s targets unethically toward those young audience. The article, The Cost of Fast Food: America’s Waistline?, states that McDonald’s use toys to guide those naïve children to order Happy Meal.  Many kids are purchasing because of toys rather than meals. Even though the final decision makers of purchasing are parents, children make the incentive to start the purchase decision.  The toy, act as an extra bonus, adds value on the meal. Surprisingly, not only kids, even adult are attracted by these additional treats.  For example, for those Hello Kitty lovers, they are willing to purchase repeatedly to get the whole collection of Hello Kitty toys from McDonald’s.  McDonald’s introduces small treats that public wants and like to increase purchases.

Not only McDonald’s, many fast food restaurants or even chain stores also use this kind of strategy to attract their customers.  As an example, famous convenience, 7-Eleven, introduce promotion that allow people to redeem Hello Kitty figures after collecting certain amount of stickers or certain amount of stickers plus cash. These stickers are given out after purchasing of certain dollar amount. There are many people doing their shopping because they want to collect stickers for redemption.  This strategy is very effective, especially when the toys are characters of popular cartoon, animation and movies.

In most of the time, people are purchasing because of their perceived value of the product.  By adding an extra small toy, marketers add value to consumers’ shopping.  Additionally, the small toy gives out a feeling of exclusiveness when the company collaborates with other to introduce new figures that consumer can found only in its stores.

image:http://tsunami-hk.blogspot.ca/2012/12/sanrio-all-stars-x-7-eleven-sweet.html

Most airline carriers have their own Loyalty Program to retain old passengers and attract new passengers.  By collecting points through each purchase, passengers can use the accumulated points to redeem flight tickets or other commercial goods. Traditionally, the loyal program is more beneficial for frequent travelers because they can redeem their points faster through frequent purchases. However, the program is less attractive to less frequent traveler, since it will take a long time for them to accumulate enough point to redeem a ticket and there is an expiry date for point collected. In order to solve this problem, Tanya Mohn introduced a new policy in JetBlue’s Loyalty Program in one of her blog post, “In JetBlue Loyalty Program, Families Can Share Points”.

JetBlue, an American low-cost airline, introduces a new policy for its TrueBlue loyalty program to attract those less frequent travelers.  The new policy allows members within a designated group to share their loyalty points with no expiry date.  Members in the group do not need to be related, it can be family members or friends.   Individuals can decide the percentage of points that they want to contribute to the pool account. Through a sharing account, members can redeem a ticket easier and quicker compared to an individual account. People who are not purchasing tickets for points can also share their point to people who normally do.  This new policy enhances value for its consumers and strengthens the loyalty of consumers.  Even though JetBlue has a very few airline carrier, this new policy expands to a new potential market.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/10/11/jetblue-frequent-flier-points/2961001/

http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/in-jetblue-loyalty-program-families-can-share-points/?_r=0

image: http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt254/viewfromthewing/JetBlueFamilyPooling_zps8c49b446.jpg

PopSugar partnered with the luxury retailer, Neiman Marcus, to introduce limited quantity of mystery boxes with unknown item inside.   The box is sold at a price of $250 where the content inside is stated to have a value of $600. The boxes were sold out less than 24 hours even when they have little about what is inside the box.  People cannot choose what will be in the box, not even the color of the product. There is a big chance that not everyone is satisfied with all items inside. Base on the press release, the box contain eight designer items. The only item that was revealed is a knit throw blanket with price of $195. However, Neiman Marcus sold the same product with price of $100 in store and customers can pick color they want. .  Nevertheless, shoppers of Neiman Marcus still see a good deal, especially when Neiman Marcus is a retailer full of luxury products.

This selling method is not new to the market.  In 2012, Little Black Bag, an e-commerce company also use this method to raise a $8 million fund.  The company stated that their inspiration comes from the Japanese New Year’s tradition, “Fukubukuro”, where merchant are selling bags filled with unknown product in discounts.  This is not only a way to sell more products but is also used to market new products.  Company gets lots of impression from the social media when people are trading or commenting on products.

“Mysterious boxes” is an affective sales strategy, especially for business that consumers perceived to have high reputation and value. Companies want to let their consumer to try different products from their brand, even the less popular ones.

http://allthingsd.com/20120816/little-black-bag-stows-away-8-million-in-funding-for-social-shopping/

http://business.time.com/2013/10/22/shoppers-snatch-up-250-boxes-without-knowing-whats-inside/

image: http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/82775222-e1351105200128.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1

The arrival of fall raises the competition of product with pumpkin flavor.  For most people, pumpkin is a symbol of fall, especially when it is a significant part of two important holiday, Thanksgiving and Halloween.  For this reason, many brands have launched various seasonal products that focus on Pumpkin.   Popular coffee company, Starbuck, has had a great success on its pumpkin spice latte. The company has sold about 200 million cups of pumpkin spice lattes in last 10 years.  With the success of Starbuck, McDonald’s and many fast food chains also want to take some shares from this seasonal market.  Both McDonald’s and Tim Hortons have pumpkin spice latte on their menu during the fall. Not only beverages market, Krispy Kreme and Time Horton both introduce pumpkin spice donuts.

The use of limited-time marketing drives up the sales when people can only buy certain product in a short time period.   Companies want their consumers to feel that the product is “last for limited time”, “get it while it lasts”, and “one last chance”.  They hope that their consumers have anticipation on their limited products.  The limited-time marketing strategy is similar to those limited edition products. They both provide a sense of exclusivity when supply is scarce. However, Scott Stratton concludes that this kind of strategy is only suitable for known products.

sources:
http://www.inc.com/articles/201110/marketing-lessons-from-the-mcdonalds-mcrib.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/falls-secret-ingredient-for-drink-sales-pumpkin/article14196595/

image:
http://b-i.forbesimg.com/michelinemaynard/files/2013/09/pumpkin-spice-latte-sign-785463.jpg

Hewlett-Packard, like most technology companies, has its product produced in other countries by local supplier.  Most of these countries are developing countries with deficient legislation to protect employees.  A great amount of negative news has arose from the public in criticizing horrible working condition, very low wages, and recruitment of young workers.  The increasing concern makes HP limit its supplier’s use of student labors.

Products of HP and Apple are both supplied by Foxconn in China. As the corporate partner of these two world brands, the negative image of Foxconn somewhat reflect to the image of these two brands.   In order to maintain a positive image as a responsible corporate citizen, HP develops guidelines to ensure the standard of working.  It is common in China that college students are forced into internship in factory that is not what they are majored in.  To solve this problem, the company ensures that employees are  hired voluntarily and have the right to leave as they wished.

Unlike Marketing in decades ago, new Marketing strategies focus not only on product and consumer service, but also how company affects and add values into the society. Ethic is now a major part when setting up a Marketing plan, especially when it can be a competitive advantage of a company. A good ethical image can positively promote the company which result a long term success.

source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/08/technology/hp-china-student-labor/index.html

image: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/130208052425-hp-china-monster.jpg

China has become a large market for luxury goods when it accounts more than 20 percent of global luxury consumption. The demand is still increasing not only among rich people, but also the middle class. It seems that possession of luxury goods is the symbols of status and wealth. People will do whatever they can to obtain a piece of luxury good. The article gives an example about a girl who willing to skip meals to only purchases a piece of Armani Jeans Jacket.

In the news “For U.S. Brands, There’s No Middle in China’s Middle Class”, it discusses the powerful consumer base in China.   The growing market demand helps foreign companies to profit in China. Some of the brands even have higher profits compared to profit in home country.

In my opinion, people are buying for the brand instead of its quality.  They also want to shop for the exclusive service that provides by these brands. Because these luxury brands caught the minds of Chinese consumers, they successfully established their brand in Greater China.  Even though the market is much more competitive, companies still willing to expand their market into China because of the high buying power.

Sources:
Cruz, Julie. “Hugo Boss Plays Catch-Up in China – Businessweek.” Businessweek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., 12 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-12/hugo-boss-plays-catch-up-in-china#r=lr-fst>.

Rein, Shaun. “For U.S. Brands, There’s No Middle in China’s Middle Class – Businessweek.” Businessweek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-16/for-u-dot-s-dot-brands-theres-no-middle-in-chinas-middle-class#r=lr-fst>

Picture:
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/newsphoto/2011-12-27/450/C217N0030H_2010%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87_A99F_N71_copy1.JPG

Apple products always bring a big hit in the technology industry, since the launch of iPhone. i-Products gradually becomes necessities for majority of people. In Wanda He’s blog, she mentioned that the new product, iPad Mini, will not be successful like other i-Product. And future apple products will not be successful if they maintain the similar design and functions, especially there are several subtitles in the market.

I agree with the opinion that it is difficult to maintain in the field with such competitive market. However, I argue the point that people will choose other brand over Apple.

Even though people may be disappointed with the similar design or the function, they will still purchase it.  The new product targets a new market when it has a lower price than iPad. The decrease in weight and smaller dimension will bring convenience.

Some people are criticizing Apple product, but it does not affect the sales. Apple has established image and high reputation in the industry since the introduction of iPhone. The company set a position in the industry that is hard for other to overtake. It confirms that it is important to position the brand once it enters the market.

Source:
Farber, Dan. “The logic of Apple’s premium-priced iPad Mini | Apple – CNET News.” Technology News – CNET News. N.p., 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57539257-37/the-logic-of-apples-premium-priced-ipad-mini/>.

Picture:
http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/10/24/iPad_mini_inHand_Wht_iOS6_PRINT_1_270x224.jpg

When a product enters a new market, the company needs to consider different aspects to promote its product. In recent news, it seems that nationality is an important factor that influences the sales of the product.

In Shawn Li’s blog, he discussed how nationality in China affects the sales of Japanese products in China. The possession of the island creates not only political, but also economic war between two countries. Chinese consumers were separated in two parties, one is boycotting Japanese product, and the other still purchasing as usual.This kind of conflict is not only occur between China and Japanese, but also many other countries.

In my opinion, boycotting will show one’s patriotism, but no one will gain any benefits from it.  Chinese people vandalize stores with Japanese brands will affect the Chinese employees who work in Japanese company. Also, Chinese companies or factories that have cooperation with Japanese companies will suffer in this conflict too.

In news that I read, Japanese government decided to sue China for the vandalism of Japanese stores in China. The Japanese government seeks compensation from China. This may cause a new tension, which may cause a economic war again.

Source:
“BBC News – Japan seeks payment from China over protest damages.”BBC – Homepage. N.p., 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19658724>.

Picture:
http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121005&t=2&i=660158390&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE8940A2A00

It is hard to neglect the influence that Hallyu, Korean wave, has for the world, especially when it emerged its market into not only Asia, but also Europe and America. Even though people cannot understand the language, they still enjoy Korean songs and dramas.

Travel blog, Travelscope, mentioned how K-pop helps tourism industry. SM , one of the largest entertainment companies in Korea, smartly applies the popularity of their artists as parts of its marketing.

 In early 2012, it opened its own travel agency, SMTown Travel. Compared to other agencies, it features unique travel packages that introduce Korea with the aspect from k-pop and dramas. It also helps fans to plan trip for oversee concerts.  In order to expand its global market, the company had also acquired BT&I, the largest travel agency in Korea.

It is interesting to see how the Hallyu can influence the economy of Korea, when foreign travelers also contribute to the economy indirectly, especially when buying products that advertised by their favorite artists. Companies clearly know what fans expected, which helps introduce products and service that satisfied consumers’ needs.

Sources:
“Travel News: Top Reasons Why K-pop Is Helping Korea’s Tourism Industry.” Travel News: Top Reasons Why K-Pop Is Helping Korea’s Tourism Industry.  Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.travelscope.ca/post/view/travel-news-top-reasons-why-k-pop-is-helping-korea-s-tourism>.

Cha, Frances. “Harnessing K-Pop for Tourism.” CNNGo.com. N.p., 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/visit/harnessing-k-pop-tourism-386868>.

Pictures:
http://www.smtowntravel.com/image/common/main_visual.jpg
http://www.allkpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121015_yg_sm_jyp_family.jpg