Month: November 2010

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Apple commercial that starts with the phrase.

“Hi I’m a Mac. And I’m a P.C.”

A popular Ad comically contrasting a human image of a Macintosh and a Windows machine. This ad is targeted to enhance the product image of Macs while degrading its rivals through contrast marketing.

In usual circumstances, a company must create commercials and show them for a long period of time in order to engrave the commercial in the consumer’s head. This takes tremendous funding and time. However Microsoft has created a commercial that skips over the funding and time. They have decided to hop on to the “I’m a Mac and I’m a P.C.” commercial by using the same catch line to counter the Mac commercial and the negative stereotype that Apple created towards Microsoft.

The commercial first displays the stereotype that Apple created towards Microsoft and counters it by showing that Windows users are everyday people and not just tech savy young people like Mac users. I find that this ad is clever in a sense that it uses Apple’s ad and creates an effective and develops on a popular meme without spending much funding or effort.

To readers reading this article. Please take a glance at your cell phone now. Does it play music? Does it have a camera? Access to popular social networks and web browsing perhaps? Many of these new phones, commonly referred to as smart phones are surely to be the next generation of our boring phones from the past. Communication and entertainment have never been so flawless. Well maybe just for the tech-savy or young age group looking for more and more features. On the opposite side, there are a lot of consumers who feel there is too much on the new devices which make them confusing to use as simply a communication device. Is it possible that the extremely quick development in technology is creating a niche demand for simple cellular devices that provide the bare minimum?

John’s Phone seems to be doing just this. John’s Phone is a simple cellphone with only basic phone features. It doesn’t even have a proper address book! Simply a notepad in the back to write down numbers. Although this maybe a slightly example, there is definitely a demand for non-smart phones for users looking for a simple phone.

At this point and time there is no dominant leader in the non-smart or simple phone market. Could a simple phone be the next best way to make smart profit?

For years, we have been accustomed to the 2-D culture when it comes to digital media. From movies, computer games and plain old television. But the age of 3-D has come. Or has it? With the explosive hit of the movie “Avatar”, many consumer electronic companies have rushed to meet the rising demand and hope for a 3-D television outside of the theaters to recreate the “Avatar” experience. Indeed when the3-D t.v. was first introduced, it immediately sold out at many retailers.

However, sales quickly declined later this year. This is due to the lack of 3-D contents offered and the incompleteness of the technology. The first point is straight forward, there is not enough 3-D content offered because broadcasting companies don’t see the merit in creating special programs to satisfy such a small portion of the viewer statistic. Secondly, the 3-D technology is clearly not perfected. Due to the fact that 3-D media uses frame sequential technology a viewer is forced to wear a bulky pair of expensive glasses just to convert the blur on t.v. into a “3-D” image. These glasses are inconvenient for consumers already with glasses and also makes the t.v. experience more tiring than the regular 2-D method.

I think it may have been too early for the 3-D phenomenon to leave the theaters to jump into the households. The 3-D t.v. seems to be an example of when a new technological advancement will not always create a beneficial and sustainable profit.

Besides, wouldn’t it be scary walking into your living room full of people with 3-D shades muttering. “Wow…. dolphins flying through the living room.”

Through the development of the web, many music lovers have begun refraining from purchasing actual CDs at stores. Loyal fans continuously purchased CDs or albums online to support their favorite artists. However, the number of illegal music downloads have dramatically increased and it has been said that record companies and artists have been losing mass revenue.

Several classes ago, we had an opportunity to welcome Tom Doberzanski, a keyboard player of a locally raised band “The Zolas”. In his visit he gave us an insight about illegal downloading from an artist’s perspective. Mr. Doberzanski described that marketing and publicity was a key step in producing a successful band. To achieve this, a certain amount of funding must be put into marketing the band and its music to generate loyal fans who will generate enough revenue to create a profit. He mentioned that for a start up band, downloading music was actually beneficial because it is a form of marketing where a band or record company will not have to spend any money on spreading the band’s publicity. Conversely, illegal downloading is benefitial to an artist who lacks publicity and marketing funds because it can create future profit. On the other hand, already popular bands are losing profit from downloading since it completely destroys their reason for spending high costs to get new listeners. This is a loss of potential customers and is hurting the music industry.

Although it may be illegal, it was interesting to find out that downloading music did not always create a negative effect. As a business student, it was an eyeopener to discover that issues that may look unprofitable can be actually profitable depending on the position in the market a product, or in this case a band, is located in.

Here’s a song by The Zolas from their latest album Tic Toc Tic.

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people drinking the new generation of water, Vitamin Water. This beverage sensation was cleverly marketed through celebrities and was not commercially advertised giving it a more high class brand image. It has been marketed as though it can supply you with all of the important vitamins and hydrate you in a healthy way.

However, despite Glaceau’s claims on vitamin water’s “healthiness”, this beverage contains about the same amount of sugar as a can of coke. A surprising 32 grams of sugar in one bottle will be sure to make any individual looking for a healthy drink  unhealthy in no time. On top of that, you’d find yourself better off drinking a glass of orange juice if you wanted more vitamins than what is in this product. I find this new drink to be a fraud not because of the drink itsself but the way it has been marketed to sound like a healthy substitute for water. It obviously does not have the health benefits it states on the bottle. But because of the clever marketing, many people will call me crazy for thinking that Vitamin Water isn’t healthy.

I would love to have the freedom of knowing if my drink was actually healthy or not. Wouldn’t you?

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

In the past, Japan had a market primarily focused on business within the company and viewed the global market as an addition to its vast domestic market. However, things are changing rapidly. With the decline in general sales in the domestic market due to a catastrophic recession, many organizations are looking to move forward on a full scale globalization process. One of the first companies to get a jump start on this was Uniqlo, a clothing brand similar to H&M with fast stocking and affordable fashion. They have spread from Japan to England, America, China, Korea, France and have recently opened a new store in Malaysia. This is not the only factor which pushes Uniqlo into a global minded company. They have recently decided to use English as their official language in Japanese head quarters. All employees are expected to speak and pursue business in English at all times. Even the cafeteria has converted to English! Although keeping a global mind is a good idea, it can be problematic to convert a company residing in Japan into an English speaking company. It is quite obvious that communication will become more confusing and misleading when everyone uses a second language to communicate. Since using English as an official language in companies’ is a fairly new concept, it will be interesting to keep an eye out for if companies like Uniqlo will be successful in the future.

Article: http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/2010/06/30/english-speaking-japanese-companies/