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’.