One of my favourite cars. (For best viewing experience, watch in HD)

In the beginning, I was very surprised that I was part of a team which consisted of only 4 people (all the other groups in the class had 5 team members in a group). At first, I thought we were disadvantaged in some way because all the work would be divided into 4 parts as opposed to 5. However, as we worked together as a team and go to know each other, we all agreed that a team of 4 was much more efficient and manageable. We could come to a consensus faster as a team as well as implement our plans faster and more efficiently. I really enjoyed working with Julian, Joyce, and Zoey.

I developed skills in filming and editing videos during the Marketing Mix Analysis portion of the group project. We had to pay attention to lighting, as well as product placement; every minute detail had to be addressed to create an engaging video which effectively presented the message to the audience. I was surprised at how many takes we had to do for just a small portion of the video. I can’t imagine how many takes they would have to do for a short scene in a Hollywood video.

Before I took this course, I thought marketing was a very “touchy-feely” type of topic. I thought that Marketing was just advertising on television and billboards. I used the terms interchangeably. However, after the first few classes, I learned that marketing is not just qualitative, but also very quantitative. I became more aware of all the marketing around me. I learned about the 4 P’s which must be considered together and that if a company was missing any one part of the 4 P’s they would not reach their full potential. Promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free make much more sense to me in terms of increased quantity sold to more than compensate for decrease in contribution margin per unit. Buy-one-get-one-free is more of a sales oriented tactic. Before I took this course, I also used the terms tactic and strategy interchangeably.

I recently saw on the news that Facebook was introducing their newest product, the Facebook Home. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced this family of applications (for Android) to solve a pressing issue his company was facing. There aren’t enough people using the Facebook app (or Facebook in general) on their mobile phones. With the current Facebook apps, it is difficult to implement advertising through the mobile interface. With the advice of Horace Dediu (owner of the consultant agency Asymco), Facebook decided to create the Facebook Home.

Every since I was introduced to Facebook in 2007, it has changed the way I interact with friends and family online. Facebook’s messaging system has replaced my usage of Windows Messenger. Facebook definitely has some good ideas on revolutionizing the way we connect with our friends and family. Back in highschool, I remember everybody writing notes and ‘tagging’ friends in notes. The notion of writing on someone’s ‘wall’ was also new to me back then. I remember when we could draw pictures (which were called graffiti) and post in on peoples’ walls. I thought this idea was pretty neat, as pictures drawn on the walls of buildings are called graffiti.

I am interested to see how the Facebook home app will play out. Do people really want Facebook to be the home page of their mobile devices? I wonder how the ads would affect peoples’ decisions to adopt the Facebook Home app. So far the project seems to be promising, as Facebook’s stock rose 3.1 per cent to $27.07 USD after the announcement of Facebook Home.

For now Facebook is partnering with HTC Corp. They are releasing a phone called First on April 12, running on AT&T in the U.S., with Home built in. This is most likely an example of co-branding.

I was first introduced to the sport of paintball when I was 12 years old. I went paint balling at North Shore Paintball in the summer with my brother. North Shore has a great promotional event every year in March called the North Shore Paintball Easter Event. The event incorporates the traditional Easter Egg Hunt aspect of Easter through the distribution of “eggs” throughout the paintball field. The eggs are filled with paintballs, discounts, vouchers, and coupons. Many players attend the event in hopes of winning a paintball marker by tagging the “bunny”. Entry tickets for the event are also put into a draw to win paintball “swag” such as paint grenades, hoppers, barrels, gloves and markers. This is an effective marketing strategy because they can charge premiums on entrance fees and gun rentals, and increase their contribution margin through larger quantities sold. Many paintball fields like NSP offer deals on social commerce/ e-commerce websites such as Groupon and TastyGo.

There are multiple game types in Paintball. Woodsball is described as any type of game conducted in an open area outside such as a forest or the woods (thus the name “Woodsball”). Usually, scenario games are played in the outdoors where players have limited paintballs, limited air in their HPA tanks (High Pressure Air). Woodsball is often played with natural obstacles (e.g. trees, hills, streams) as well as artificial obstacles (e.g. tires, cars, treehouses)

Speedball is a much faster paced game type often played with artificial bunkers and obstacles to hide behind. It is often played on an artificial turf or arena specially built for the sport.

A typical Speedball game:

Paintball is definitely a niche market with the better half of the consumers/participants consisting of males. This may be due to the fact that paintballs can cause welts and bruises if fired from a close distance from the target.

I came across Drew’s blog about how marketers often make the mistake of assuming that consumers “care about them, what they sell and how it works”. When I read the line “what’s in it for me”, I immediately made a mental connection with Gateman’s Economics 101 class I took in Year 1. When we arrived at the chapter on supply and demand, we were introduced with one of Adam Smith‘s famous quotes. The quote goes something like this: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest […] self interest, not benevolence is the basis of social order.” Although it would be nice for people to do things purely out of the kindness in their heart, the reality is that people will always asks the question “what’s in it for me?” in their minds. When individuals pursue their own self interests, society as a whole may benefit and coordinate toward a common goal. The reason why people donate to charity is because they want to feel good about themselves. The warm, fuzzy feeling that people get when they help someone across the street or when they give up their seat on the bus for an elderly person is the feeling of satisfying one’s self interest. No matter how they put it, in the end they are still doing something that they want, something they desire, which means that they are looking out for their own best interests. I realize that this notion may feel a bit cynical but it is because this notion holds true that we see peace and harmony in society. Another concept discussed in Gateman’s class which is related to Adam Smith’s quote is the principle of Pareto Optimality. The principle states that you cannot make someone better off, without making someone else worse off. Since all resources are scarce, the consumption of one resource results in its inability to be consumed elsewhere.

I came across Emily Tang’s blog post the other day about the launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4. I remember how much video game consoles has impacted and shaped my childhood. It all started when I got my first Nintendo 64 from Toys “R” Us. I would spend countless hours trying to beat Super Mario 64 with my brother. To this day, I still think Super Mario 64 is one of the most classic games out there along with Super Contra, Pac-man and the others. In terms of the Diffusion of Innovation theory, we were actually one of the early adopters (which represents 13.5% of all buyers in the market). Early adopters are crucial for the introduction of the product to the other three buyer categories after them (the early majority, late majority, and laggards). I experienced this theory first-hand because I remember telling all my friends about the Nintendo 64 and a few weeks later, they had purchased the console as well. At first, many people are hesitant about the performance of a new product (e.g. are there any bugs, does it overheat) but when they hear reviews from friends and trusted sources, they are more willing to try the product out for themselves. The customers belonging to the late majority can be thought of as more risk averse.

I feel that the PlayStation 4’s biggest threat is the direct competition it receives from the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Nintendo has many loyal customers and customers that are very nostalgic about Nintendo products since they grew up with Game Boys and Nintendo 64’s. Whenever Generation Y’ers think about console entertainment, or video games in general, they tend to associate with Nintendo. They have a strong affective connection with Nintendo’s products; Nintendo is not only in their retrieval set, but they also have found a spot in their evoked set. I am interested in seeing how the Playstation 4 will contend with the Wii U.

With the rise of new technology and ever increasing social utilities, one might wonder about the privacy issues which may arise. Is it okay for corporations to collect private information or monitor the activities of customers through various marketing strategies? For example, companies use Air Miles point cards to monitor the type of groceries one purchases, when they purchase it and how they paid for the transaction at Safeway. An interesting video shows just how convenient (or scary) this could look like in the future:

By collecting information about purchasing habits of the target consumers, companies hope to increase sales and create a long lasting relationship with their customers. However, is there an upper bound as to what information or data a company can collect from its clients? How much information is considered too much and would be considered as an invasion of privacy?

It is said that Database Marketing has been the cause of privacy issues in the field of marketing. This type of marketing is most relevant because is employs statistical techniques to harvest data from customer groups and creates models to illustrate this behaviour. Social networking sites like Facebook have friend suggestions for you, all of which are people you know. Public utilities such as Google Maps are definitely very convenient for locating addresses, but it may lead one to wonder what little privacy is left in our everyday lives. A really interesting article reveals that a large company such as Target or Walmart can actually find out one is pregnant before one even finds out oneself, through analysis of buying habits and cravings. We are in the informational age now, where almost everyone has access to as much information as they desire. We must do our part to ensure the ethical usage of all the information we create and collect.

I read a blog on the Economist showing America’s view on Chile’s mining industry. Since our world relies heavily on mining to extract valuable minerals, fossil fuels, natural gas and petroleum, all of which we consume on a daily basis, I thought it was interesting to bring up the blog of a professional in the industry. Copper is an internationally traded metal which is both malleable and ductile. These properties make it a useful material for industrial electrical applications (copper has the highest electrical conductivity of any metal). Copper is now reaching a sky-high price, giving rise to corporate “drama”. Since copper is an essential exported good of Chile, the CEO of the mining company wishes to undertake an expansion strategy, as opposed to just a change in the company’s tactics. However, government intervention would prevent too much market power for any single firm, because of the Competition Act. If the firm successfully acquires the British conglomerate (Anglo American), they could decrease output of copper and raise prices to earn more profit. Since copper is not a renewable resource, the fluctuations in price would affect goods that are used jointly, such as wiring in electronics and substitutes.

Reference: http://www.layher.com.au/assets/projects/chileancoppermine.jpg

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2011/11/chiles-mining-industry

We were presented a company which focused its business efforts on employee benefits and satisfaction. The CEO, Tony Hsieh, offers a monetary incentive ($2000) after training sessions for employees to leave the company. This is meant to filter out all of the money lovers (i.e. the people who were only interested in their salaries) and retain the employees who actually are motivated by the job description of the company as well as its long term strategy of Customer Satisfaction. Hsieh explains that when he started up Zappos, he didn’t have enough money to pay himself. He had all the determination and perseverance to set himself apart for the people who abandon their dreams just because they could not acquire enough capital to overcome the natural barrier to entry for any new firm starting up in an industry. Hsieh also works alongside his employees (humble) and gives many employee benefits (healthcare).

However, I feel that in the long run, the $2000 tactic will prove to be counter-intuitive (due to word of mouth by current employees to reject the offer and reap the employee benefits thereafter). I feel that the company will need to employ a new tactic in the hiring process.

We were presented a problem in class by the guest speaker Joel Primus, who was the founder of NAKED Underwear.

The manufacturing operations had too much inventory and the inventory wasn’t fitting properly. This would potentially affect the turnover ratio of the company, as personal undergarments are quite case sensitive and sales may be negatively affected. This issue was the exact opposite of what Lululemon had and I had encountered on Kyle Yoshida’s blog which addressed the issue as a “supply chain issue”. I personally do not see excess inventory as an issue because all that needs to be done now, is the allocation of inventory via operations and marketing.

Other cases include Zara, which competes with the swiftness of delivery. This makes it so that Zara does not need to get direct feedback from its consumers. It can be noted that one of Lady Gaga’s outfit styles were imitated by Zara and resulted in everyone in the crowd looking like Gaga in the concert. For DELL, it has a huge advantage over its competitors such as HP because it can get primary information (i.e. communicate and get feedback directly from its consumers) which drastically improves a company’s turnover ratio.

I came across Stephen He’s blog the other day regarding the unethical practices of some restaurants in China using “gutter oil”. I have heard of similar stories in China. Because China is labour intensive, this allows large firms to produce at extremely low costs. I have talked to a family friend who manufactured tools in China who claimed that the same tool in North America cost twenty times more (including the currency values) than if manufactured in China. These methods of cutting costs occur not just in the industrial side of operations, but also in a regular Chinese restaurant. The notion of competition on price is worth noting, as Chinese manufacturers are motivated to think of creative (i.e. unethical) solutions to produce steamed buns (Shanghai Shenglu Food Company, was using unknown chemicals to make the buns), toxic bean sprouts, pesticide-drenched ‘yard-long’ beans, leather milk, ‘aluminum’ dumplings, glow-in-the-dark pork, ‘cadmium’ rice, etc. There were many other scandals that have been covered up by the Chinese government, as their government is very secretive about internal operations . The media and press are only exposing a tiny fraction of unethical practices which will in turn affect all countries which China exports its goods to.