It’s already April, and the Marketing final is only 3 days away. Looking back on everything we’ve learned, I’ve managed to sum up a few key messages that will definitely stay with me for years to come.

Marketing, like most things in life, is dependent on the situation. There isn’t a solution that solves every problem but a set of guidelines and factors to consider.

I used to think that all marketing entailed was advertising, but this course has made me realize that how much more there is to marketing. Marketing is about communicating with your audience, your consumers. Everything that marketers do revolves around selecting an audience, selecting the right message and the right channels to communicate with them in order to maximize your own value in their eyes. With that basic understanding of marketing, it always leaves me scratching my head when an organization tries to justify unethical practices through its seemingly positive intention. When so much depends on how the audience perceives and decodes the message, it should not just be about what the marketer intended them. It’s important to put yourself in the shoes of your audience and think about whether the message will be interpreted you way you intended it to be.

Finally, this course has given me another opportunity to work with team and apply everything we’ve learned to our own marketing plan project. I believe that the most valuable part of working in a team is having someone challenge your ideas. It concerns me when everyone comes to an agreement too quickly, without any debate. It’s only through the constant polishing of debates, discussions, and respectful disagreement can the best idea emerge with the combined perspective of everyone on the team. When a team simply tries to execute the idea of one person, it will be no better than a solo project.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain

In his recent blog post BRB Going to Space, Naven Johal talked about AXE’s latest marketing campaign: The AXE Apollo Space Academy. Naven made an interesting comparison between AXE’s all new contest and the recent Red Bull Stratos. While a case can be made to suggest that AXE is simply imitating Red Bull Stratos, I believe the two individual are very different in what they would do for the respective company’s overall marketing campaign. As I had mentioned in a previous blog post, Red Bull Stratos is simply another component of Red Bull’s ongoing campaign to dominate the extreme action sports community around the world. But for AXE, the Appollo Space Academy campaign is biggest thing AXE has ever done. Although, like Naven said, it is still a continuation of AXE’s goal to associate itself with social success, or being the ‘chick magnet’. AXE is offering you an opportunity to achieve something not many will have a shot at in their life time. It allows the male consumers to imagine travelling to space and the ultimate bragging rights that come with it. In the end, Red Bull seeks to inspire people to work towards greatness and allowing people to be associated with a elite group of superhuman athletes. AXE, on the other hand, gives you chance to have greatness handed to you. Which one is more effective? Well, only time can tell. But despite being a big fan of Red Bull’s PR campaign, AXE’s offer is simply too attractive to turn down, because ‘Nothing Beats an Astronaut’.

When someone mentions ‘Red Bull‘, you may immediately think of the ever-so-catchy slogan ‘Red Bull gives you wings!’ The real force behind Red Bull’s success is its ongoing public relations campaign, and it is a beast of many faces (in a good way, of course). From the annual break dancing competition Red Bull BC One, to the recent daredevil stunt Red Bull Stratos, not to mention the first ever World Wingsuit League Championships, Red Bull has its name printed on nearly every extreme/action sport around the world. With a great message, great planning, and spot-on execution, Red Bull has organized most of these events and sponsored thousands of athletes to establish itself as a synonym of adrenaline and extreme action sports. While many of these sports are beyond the comprehensions of the average joe, Red Bull wants to give you give a taste of the unreachable, of what most would perceive as superhuman feats, and that taste is the taste of Red Bull. Through its aggressive PR stunts, Red Bull has added tremendous value to to its brand and its product – the Red Bull energy drink (yes, in case you didn’t know, I have been talking about a energy drink company all along). Drinking Red Bull is no longer just a jolt of caffeine on the longest day of your life, but an exclusive membership to community of ‘superhuman’ athletes. It has allowed Red Bull to price its product above the market average while retaining the highest market share. More importantly, it is bringing the seemingly impossible ‘Gives You Wings’ advertising campaign that much closer to reality.

If you’re still not convinced, watching this video and tell me you don’t want of taste of the excitement – the taste of Red Bull:

Do you have a song that found its way to your iPod after hearing in the background of a movie? In many of these cases, songs that you’ve heard of before, when presented in a more significant context, can take on a completely different meaning that eventually catches your interests. In today’s world, where you can ‘Shazam’ any tune that catches your attention and find out what the song is in a matter of seconds, record labels should pay more attention to their licensing agreements, because with the right placement can add a tremendous amount of value to that-song-you-heard-on-the-radio-the-other-day.

Iron Man/Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr.) sporting a Black Sabbath t-shirt in the Avengers. © 2012 Marvel. All rights reserved.

A great example of effective song placement is the recurring AC/DC and Black Sabbath tunes in the Iron Man movies and their trailers. These musical legends from a previous era are now far from being a household name among the younger generations. While no Black Sabbath songs are featured in the latest Avengers movie, Tony Stark could still be seen wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt throughout the movie. The placement of music has undoubtedly generated interest from the younger movie goers who went to the see the movie. While good music is supposed to be timeless, it still needs to be introduced to people have never been exposed and are accustomed to something different. It is the same reason why Aerosmith saw a 250% boost in record sales following Steven Tyler’s $10 million judging gig on American Idol.

Although Record Labels have to right to ask for a licensing fee from production companies that wish to use their music to compliment their products, it is wonder that they’re not the ones paying to have their music and artists included in the media, because the agreement is clearly beneficial to both parties.

Super Bowl XLVII has come and gone. While everything that happened during the game is still being talked about, what happened during the game is still being talked about, what took place inbetween is also getting just as much attention. Drew has also written an article in his marketing blog on what he thought we two of the best ads from this year’s Super Bowl and the biggest problem they seem to have in common: both spots had quite the emotion impact on the audience but did little to affect their purchasing decisions. For the companies that can afford it (now costing up to $4 million for a 30 second ad), the annual Super Bowl has been the most sought after TV advertising slot in North America, as the most recent broadcast drew in over 100 million viewers in the United States. Not to mention it has also become an irreplaceable source of entertainment between stoppages. But an entertaining ad does not necessarily lead to a transaction, and in Drew’s case, these ads have not affected his shopping plan at all. While Drew argues that an emotional ad whose message has little relevance to the brand/product being advertising does nothing to reach into the audience’s wallet I would suggest that Drew simply isn’t a part of the intended target segment. Having spend millions of dollars on producing and placing the advertisement, the companies most likely have identified their target segment. Even if the ads aren’t tailored toward a specific market segment, the awareness that the ads create through shock value, emotional response, or comedic effect places the brand in the consumer’s retrieval set, and quite possibly the evoked set if the response is positive. When the times comes and the need rises, consumers will be more likely to purchase from the brand that triggered a emotional response.

Since the beginning, Coca-Cola has advertised its Vitaminwater products as a gateway to an “active lifestyle”, and the notion seemed to have to been well received by our increasingly health-conscious society. I mean, it’s hard to go wrong with a a bottle of flavoured water with added vitamins. It wasn’t until 2009, when non-profit group The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola on the grounds that the company made unwarranted health claims in its continuous effort to advertise the Vitaminwater as a healthy beverage. In fact, each bottle of Vitamin water contains 33 grams of sugar, which is online a few grams shy from what is found in a bottle of Coke. Health experts have gone on to suggest that Vitaminwater’s potential to promote obesity and other health problems far outweighed the limited benefits of the added synthesized vitamins. In response to the lawsuit, a representative from Coca-Cola responded by saying, “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.”
It’s become apparent that Vitaminwater was simply Coca-Cola’s way of disguising its new line of soft drinks as a healthy nutritious beverage by focusing solely on its benefits. What’s more outrageous is that the company believes that its marketing ploy can be justified by saying that they didn’t expect anyone to fall for their obvious deception. Personally, I have grown to become skeptical towards every ‘too-good-to-be-true’ claim made by companies attempting to sell us their products, and I believe that every consumer should be equipped with the same degree of skepticism. It is still unethical to stretch the facts so far as to distort and mask the truth behind a product’s true nature. But it appears that despite the lawsuit, Coca-Cola has chosen to continued to advertise Vitaminwater as a nutritious beverage:

An Vitaminwater ad poster banned by the British Advertising Standards Authority for its use of the word ‘nutritious’ in 2010

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12218673

http://healthy-eating.fitsugar.com/Truth-About-Vitamin-Water-541747

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html?ref=twitter

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/02/02/coca-cola-sued-for-marketing-vitaminwater-as-healthy.aspx

A recent blog post by S.J. in The Economist entails the difference pricing for each of the two editions of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Material trilogy – teens and adult. The blogger identifies this practice as a classic case of price discrimination through market segmentation. Although the books were initially categorized at young adult fiction, the publishers also recognized that the trilogy may also have a strong appeal to older adults as well. Ticketing the adult edition at a price that is 17% higher, the publisher hopes to increase sales within the adult market. The bookstore staff also described the practice as charging an “adult book premium” on the book for its not-so-childish appearance.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/30/american-library-association-banned-books

This behaviour by the publisher can be identified as a attempt to maximize profit as the respective costs for each edition are roughly the same. In reality, people do judge a book by its cover. It is a smart move on the producer’s part in recognizing the added value of the alternative version of book, and taking advantage of this added value by increasing the price of book to increase profit. Personally, I don’t believe there is an ethical issue in play, because adults do have the freedom to choose the cheaper edition over the other. It is simply a question of how much the reader is willing to pay for his/her image.

Price discrimination: The adult-book premium | The Economist:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/11/price-discrimination

Rachel Yang’s recent blog post “FTC rebukes Reebok Marketing in settlement” questioned Reebok’s misleading advertising in terms of corporate social responsibility. Reebok claimed that their EasyTone shoes could give the person who wears them “better legs and a better butt with every step.” This claim was later revealed to have been drawn without any scientific backing, therefore, making it a false claim. The Federal Trade Commission orders that Reebok reimburse US $25-million to consumers for its false advertising. The 25-million dollar may seem like a large portion of the company’s revenue, but it is only a short term problem for the company. Whereas the long term damage was done to Reebok’s brand image. It may take years for Reebok to remove this stain from its logo as it made a untrustworthy promise to its consumers. Any further attempt by Reebok to advertise its innovative products will be questioned for its legitimacy, because this single incident has created a new association with Reebok’s brand – liars. Businesses everywhere must learn from Reebok’s mistake and be sure to make promises that can be kept. The bigger your brand, the more exposed it is to the public eye.

Rachel’s blog post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/rachelyang/2011/10/10/ftc-rebukes-reebok-marketing-in-settlement/

Wendy Yu discussed Yahoo!‘s decision to exit from the Japanese market in a recent blog post. Wendy identified Google‘s market dominance as the main reason for Yahoo!’s exit. Here is how Google was able to edge out its major competitors in the search engine market:

source: http://www.netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx?qprid=4&qpcustomd=0

In its initial stages, Google focussed its operations on developing the best search engine. It was able to do so, and over time, Google became the synonym for “search” and developed a large loyal user base around the world. As a result, everything Google offered became what each and every one of us expects from any search engine, and if the competitor fails to meet these expectations, they will lose their place in the consumer’s mind.  Google’s rapid improvements made it extremely difficult for competitors to be on par with its service, not mention outcompete what Google offers. Once Google was able to set up these barriers within the industry, it eventually expanded its brand to provide a variety of services common to its competitors, making it a one-stop channel for internet users to get access to everything the “cloud” has to offer. Thus, Google was able to dominate the internet market. Yahoo! on the other hand, does not dedicate the majority of its resources toward a particular service, therefore, it does not have a unique brand association to stand out from its competitors.

Wendy’s Blogpost: https://blogs.ubc.ca/wendyyu/2011/10/10/15/

In today’s world, entrepreneurs enter into established markets with innovative ideas and battle for market share. But more often than not, the most successful entrepreneurs create entirely new markets with their exciting products and services. In this case, entrepreneurs exploit unattended needs of consumers and well as undiscovered demand within the market. As a result, consumers have little to no expectations for the goods that are to be introduced, it is now up to the creativity of these entrepreneurs to fill in the blank slate. As the bar has yet to be set, the concept of points of parity ceases to exist in brand new markets. Entrepreneurs who create something different for consumers are able to break the rules set by the status quo of marketing, and completely change the way people think about the world. At the heart of innovation, successful entrepreneurs capitalize on the uniqueness of their ideas and leave a lasting impression in the hearts of their future customers.

Globe and Mail – Five Ways to Challenge the Status Quo:                                                   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/five-ways-to-challenge-the-marketing-status-quo/article2199894/