Month: October 2010

This week I just picked up the new Office Mac 2011.  I certainly didn’t need it, but like many other mac products it just sucks you in.  The features are amazing, and is major upgrade from Office 2008.

The thing I noticed about Mac though is how high they are on Customer and Product Excellence.  Like I stated earlier I have only used it the new Office 2011 for a couple of days and it has totally blown me away.  Here is a video showing off some of its features and what the makers have to say about it.

The next part is their customer excellence.  The salesmanship at the store was remarkable as expected whenever you enter any store.  The feature that stood out to me the most though about Mac’s Customer Excellence is it’s Help Phone Line.  My mac had some programming errors (no clue why) which momentarilly didn’t allow me to enjoy the wonders of Office 2011. The Help Phone Line Guy though talked me through everything and reconfigured my computer and hardware for me.  It took a long time, over an hour, but the genuine want he had to help and his clear love for the job made it seem like I was talking to a friend.  Normally its a drag to get help over the phone, but Mac has definately made such hassles an enjoyable time as you learn about both your computer and how to fix it so you can get on with enjoying it.

To learn more about the amazement of Apple Joey’s Blog has the scoop.

Searching the web I came across an interesting Marketing Blog Article (How to Defend your 2011 Marketing Budget) talking about Marketing as a force to increase the bottom line of a company.

We all know that Marketing makes brands what they are and is an important driver for sales to specific segment bases.  The question is however, do companies really think Marketing is that big of driver for sales and total revenue at year end.

According to Lee Oden this is not the case as he outlines that CEO’s and companies treat Marketing Divisions as Cost Center’s slashing their yearly budgets instead of relying on the potential revenues that can be incurred through marketing.

Are CEO’s and firms really this ignorant to recognize the potential revenues gained from Marketing or is their more to the picture of Lee Oden’s experience.  That I don’t know and is up to the rest to debate.

Jonathan Mui‘s blog talks extensively about Youtube and three major components it offers businesses and consumers when it comes to marketing.

Reading this made me think about our school, The Sauder School of Business and how Youtube’s 3 components of keeping it fresh, real, and in the loop with total views, ratings, comments…

Looking at this video from an outsider’s perspective it makes Sauder jump off the charts with all the different elements of marketing it portrays putting Sauder out their as a world class Business School with extras that no other school can compare to.

It’s definately fresh, real, and in the loop.

McDonalds Corporation is back at it again with Monopoly.  Buy some food from Mickie D’s and there you go, could be rich, an instant winner or both.  I just played my luck today and got an instant win for any baked muffin, as well as property number 767 and 768.  Now all I need is number 769.  Wonder what my chances are, more importantly how big is this marketing scheme for McDonalds as a whole.

It’s ENORMOUS!!  Humans are a high reward risk seeking species wanting to obtain the greatest reward even if such a reward comes with magnificent losses.  Playing on this McDonalds Corp. has become the new Las Vegas, the new Power ball and it has some flavor to it to go along with your winnings.  Why not munch on some fries to the tune of winning, or at least fill up your sorrows when you realize you have come short.  Short by a long amount.

McDonalds seamlessly taps into our ‘get rich’ mind-frames only to crush those hopes just as fast. Only catch is, those crushed hopes don’t die forever as the next time you pass a McDonalds or a sandwich place selling the same price food, you’ll take your chance on ‘get rich’ quick scheme of Mcdonalds for the thrill of maybe becoming a couple grand richer.

McDonalds wins by a large amount, as the chances of the consumer winning a large reward is slim to nothing, keeping the consumer constantly yearning for more while the boardroom of McDonalds just counts its greens.  With this, McDonalds clearing steals the product part of the marketing mix analysis as its product stands out like no other on top of a pedestal when thousands of dollars awaits the buyer.

In the day of the Romans the image was clean shaven, chiseled frame, and a stoic look.   Those with beards were looked upon as oddities and potential threats giving light to “barbas,” the latin word meaning beard which eventually got transformed into our present day english word, barbarians.  Then came the age of adorning purple colored clothes and jewlery to show off ones wealth and influence for being able to obtain such treasures from the far off east.  Next came the style of fat-bellies portarying a man so rich that he doesnt even need to raise a finger to work but rather everything is done by a servant or a slave.  Now the fat-belly look is out the window, same with everything purple, trending towards the Roman look but one far distant from it at the same time.  No longer are the bodies chiseled and stoic looking but rather sickly looking as the current market fad is being too small to fit into your newest pair of jeans.

Fashion Moguls and marketers got this burning rage of “new beauty” by throwing Size 2 models and above out the window, turning a 6 foot healthy model into an instant twig.  The beauty that they were striving for, however, ended up being a very harsh beauty, one that purges on eating disorders (such as Bulimia and Anorexia) and kills the body, sometimes even killing the individual.  Jeremy Gullitzer a male model who all the girls loved fell into this trap slowly watching his body perish to a weak 66 pounds before dying because of the need for being too thin to funtion in today’s fashion eyes.

Besides the fashion industry this fad has grown too all areas including Hollywood, clothing outlets and numerous other industries.  A number of actresses have fallen into this trap, notably Nicole Richie and the Olsen twins, while those who didn’t such as Jennifer Love Hewitt were lambasted for looking like a normal person.  Clothing companies like Ralph Lauren have followed eagerly in suit portraying the super skinny to be the perfect size and today’s “normal.”

Is this extreme twist of reality being pulled by marketers and firms alike fair and ethical or should the real reality be shown to the public?  Dove believes the real truth should be leaked and capitalized on.  It’s a product that is a lone fish in an enormous ocean trying to revert us back to what “normal” actually is.  I believe more companies should stop the lies and hidden truths of reality, degrading our human population as a whole, but rather follow in suit with what Dove is doing.