Kevin Wang's Blog

Procrastinating on a warm, sunny day by surfing on 9GAG, I came across a blog that reports the latest trends in fashion marketing campaigns. With the idea of marketing campaigns in mind, I have to admit that sometimes it gets very annoying to be bombarded by companies/designers trying to make me pay for their overpriced products.

This blog post however, captured my attention because I was surprised to the creativity of Diet Coke’s 2012 Europe Campaign. Recently appointed as the Creative Director for Diet Coke Europe,  iconic French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is very excited to be releasing a series of limited edition bottles which centers around the idea of drinking coke “day and night.” While it isn’t uncommon for well-known fashion designers to stamp their label on non-clothing/accessory commodities, the child of these unusual collaborations has been giving viewers the heebie-jeebies for decades.

As the Coca Cola company hoped for a total makeover, Jean Paul gave them just that. After three commercials aired in Europe, sales have increased following tidal waves of criticism. Claiming that the new bottle designs will take the shape of a woman’s body Jean Paul personally starred in the commercials as he transformed three overworked and over-stressed puppet models from zeros to heroes. Moreover, the wacky designer was able to sneak fans a preview of his 2012 clothing and shoe collection (priced over $1000+/piece).

These commercials may offend many because it portrays models as being dumb and heavy drinkers. Meanwhile, Jean Paul had the pleasure of stripping them nude and and designing them new outfits after getting high on artificial sweeteners. Rather than simply selling Diet Coke, it seems that he is more interested in challenging our values.  However, there is a can of Diet Coke sitting beside me right now, congrats Jean Paul!

Consumers today live in a world where a typical person would embrace hundreds of advertisements on a daily basis. Whether we like it or not, marketers always seem to surprise us in places and ways like never before. After reading Michelle Holmes’s blog, I completely agree with her that consumers’ attention are becoming increasingly hard to attain. A company would have to go so far just to tattoo their brand inside the brains of consumers. I admit that Guerrilla Marketing  is the best train to hop aboard  but red flags have been raised against certain advertisements. However, I still respect all marketers because it is extremely difficult to constantly dish out new ideas.

While I was looking through some brilliant examples online, I came across Victoria’s Secret, A&F, and Axe (pictures down below). I believe we can all agree that “sex sells” but to what extent is considered as appropriate? While they are quite appealing and pleasant to look at, we have to consider its impact on the generations to come. Both Victoria’s Secret and A&F have introduced sub-brands targeting 14 to18 yearolds. However, both Pink and abercrombie kids are seeing an exceptional growth in preteen shoppers. Girls as young as 11 are picking out lingerie while 12 year old boys purchase the AXE collection hoping to experience the “Axe Effect.”  This is all done whether with or without parent consent.

While the goal is to simply push sales, marketing strategies relying on using overdose of sex expose preteens to a concept that they are not mature enough to fully grasp yet. While their young minds are being taken over by the hype of achieving a certain look, they may forget that there are much more serious issues in the world to care for.

Today I read an interesting post from Andy Mao’s blog. Aside from a pat on the shoulder for bringing up the good times in Comm290, I agree with Andy in being simple and thinking “outside the box ” for marketing success.

For starters, modern world marketing has “no boundaries” as success can be achieved when one applies the right strategy in the correct way. Many believed Apple had gone nuts when it chose to enter the smart phone industry, facing intense competition from specialists and adored brands such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HTC, and Samsung.  However, Apple had a keen eyesight and captured the weak spot of its enemies. While other products may be top-notch in terms of technology, almost all of the big brands were suffering from “marketing myopia.” By stressing purely on technology, the big brands forgot the mission of it’s products which is to make people’s lives simple and convenient. Complex operations and constant malfunctions of smart phones had users fed up yet no one bothered to clean up their mess and instead made matters worse. Apple on the other hand, came in and saved the day. With a simple home button and everything else operated at the desire of the fingertip, the iPhone (and iPad) offer consumers nothing but simplicity and the feeling that everything is within control.

From reading Andy’s blog, I feel he is a man of simplicity. The world is complicated enough as it is and we need a device that will save us when we’re no where near a computer. Apple identified the need and followed through, great success! Last but not least, Andy posted a very nice picture!

Original Post by Andy Mao: https://blogs.ubc.ca/wailungmao/2012/01/16/this-is-marketing/

After years of speculation, American casual fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch launches its campaign in Asia by opening its first retail store in Japan. The 11-story shop in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighbourhood is just steps away from Uniqlo’s flagship store and Swedish fast fashion brand H&M.

So far, things aren’t looking too bright ahead.

For instance, the staff greets shoppers in English, rather than Japanese. Nevertheless, having associates singing and dancing in the stores is considered wildly impolite for the Japanese culture. Tokyo shoppers do not want to be forced to strike a conversation in a foreign language or be cramped in a small space with all foreign employees. In addition, many of the male staff members have their chests exposed. Sex appeal may be a big part of Abercrombie’s charm in the US, but completely out of boundary with the Japanese norm.

In order for a company to be successful in a foreign country, it must present itself in a way that makes customers comfortable with a keen eye on opportunities and threats. As modern marketing revolves around customer satisfaction, Abercrombie failed to accommodate the Japanese culture from start as they bluntly introduced the All-American culture, hoping customers would accommodate the company. Management also failed to analyse the Japanese economy and consumer loyalty to domestic goods. Despite a strong favor for imported goods, Abercrombie made a grave mistake in charging it s products nearly twice the price that a consumer would pay in the US. Nearly 80% of customers feel strongly against this as they feel discriminated against. Meanwhile,  Abercrombie denim and woven shirts falls a tad short in terms of quality when compared to Japanese brands (Bape, Evisu, Neighborhood, and etc).

Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2010/02/in-tokyo-abercrombie-misses-its-mark.html

As my first year at the Sauder School of Business comes to an end, I have learned a very important fact about myself in Comm 299. I have discovered that I still have a very long way to go before I can be qualified as a successful business student. Upon being accepted by the Sauder School of Business, I felt like being on the top of the world and nothing could stop me (aliens included). However, the public speaking portion of Comm 299 taught me a valuable lesson. It has never been so hard for me to open my mouth and speak openly and fluently on a topic for a few minutes straight. I discovered that I have in fact, very poor public speaking skills. Therefore, I took initiative and overcome the problem by practicing over and over again in front of a mirror before each week’s presentation. As the months went by, I gradually conquered the shyness and anxiety within my mind as I delivered my speeches.

Moreover, in the latter portion of Comm 299, I was devastated by how unprofessional and immature my resume looked. Having gotten 9/10 on the high school criteria, the cover letter and resume format that was taught to me in Comm 299 was beyond my imaginations. All those years have I done it the wrong way. For the very first time, I learned of CAR (context, action, result) statements and Linkedin profiles. Without Comm 299, I’d still be in the clouds wondering why I did get an interview for a certain position. With that in mind, I took initiative and restructured my resume and cover letter. Despite not getting a high mark on the assignment, I’m glad that I did not receive a zero. On this very day, I have decided to once again redo my entire cover letter and resume immediately once final exams end.

The greatest lesson I learned from my grandfather is the importance of teamwork. Having worked as the master accountant for the government owned Steel & Alloy Company in Chao Yang city, my grandfather had led multiple teams and various individuals to overcome problems and troublesome situations. Ever since I was young, he always told me the important fact that “nobody really wins unless everyone wins.” This is because individuals all have their own perceptions and desires. Nevertheless, a band of chopsticks is stronger than one. Groups often outperform even the mightiest individuals because collaborating with multiple minds gives birth to new ideas that otherwise would have not seen the light of day. Despite the fact that conflicts often emerge from group meetings and discussions, my grandfather have taught me that most of these conflicts are beneficial to the overall progress and group functions as ideas and theories are being tested and tried by multiple aspects and perceptions. 

Progressing on, my grandfather has taught me that teamwork would also allow one to foster positive relationships with other team members and individuals. This relationship is extremely crucial and valuable because it exists between the two individuals even after the team have disbanded and members go their separate ways. Most importantly, my grandfather argued that having a friend is similar to having an extra choice while an enemy on the other hand, would serve as a roadblock. Fostering positive relationships with members of a team may potentially open new career paths and ideas that would allow one to achieve more success and fame.

As a first year student at the Sauder School of Business, I have had opportunities to carry out the lesson that my grandfather have taught me. Now, I completely understand his words as I established friendship with my best friends all through discussions and networking in various teams.

Shortly after the closing ceremonies of the Shanghai 2010 Expo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged China to continue moving down the path of sustainable development and emphasis more on environmental sustainability. Holding the title as the world’s most populous country with the fastest growing economy, China has become the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter but unfortunately the greatest emitter of greenhouse gases. “Your environmental footprint is growing daily,” according to Ban. Many of these development problems were raised during discussions as Chinese leaders recently met to draw the 12th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development from 2010 to 2015.

With the reduction in costs of transportation and rapid advances of information technology, globalization has allowed different firms from far corners of the earth to collaborate and ignore time zone differences. As scare and non-renewable resources continue to diminish, sustainable development has never been so important. The idea of preserving mother earth for future generations has recognized to be top priority of the world’s agenda. The rapid pace of globalization has also create problems such as desertification, global climate change, ozone depletion, and so much more. It is everyone’s responsibility to go one step further and make the world a better place.

 Sources: Han Yueling, Xinhua

URL: http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/11/01/167s602132.

Luxury apparel brand G-Star has announced its strategy over the next five years to triple the number of monobrand flagship stores worldwide. More aggressive measures will be employed with China Mainland with an expected growth rate of more than 400%.

The typical G-Star monobrand store highlight both clothing and accessories collections as well as providing consumers with an environment that conveys the philosophy, design aesthetic, and raw authenticity of G-Star. With G-Star’s prospective expansion plans and unique retail design model a more distinctive and prevalent brand image will be conveyed to consumers worldwide.

As the 21st century is marked with bombardment of advertisements, a distinctive brand image is more crucial than ever in order to linger in the minds of consumers. G-Star has done quite an exceptional job in establishing it’s brand image under tough competition from Levi’s and Evisu. Through top-notch quality and fashionable, non-offence design, G-Star has successfully addressed the needs of consumers with varying ages and background. Despite not being the first in the medium-high end apparel nor denim industry, G-Star is swift and fast in introducing new products around the clock to fascinate consumers. Nonetheless, the brand power of G-star continues to shine in its glory in the years to come.

Sources: Fibre to Fashion

URL:http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/fashion-company-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=82825

I believe in order for a company to be considered entrepreneurial, it must exhibit innovative and high risk taking behaviour. Upon success, entrepreneurial companies generate millions of dollars in terms of entrepreneurial venture. Palo Alto Networks, being the leader in next-generation firewalls, enables unprecedented visibility and granular policy control of applications and content by users up to 10Gbps. Thus, in mind my mind is Palo Alto Networks is worthy of the title “entrepreneurial company.”

Founded by security visionary Nir Zuk, Palo Alto Networks offers the only firewall which is able to accurately identify dangerous applications and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage. Enterprises can for the first time maintain complete visibility and control, while significantly reducing total cost of ownership through device consolidation. Nonetheless, management team and board of directors have been key drivers of some of the most important network security companies and related technologies in the last 10 years. Worth mentioning, with the support of Globespan Capital Partners, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital, Palo Alto Networks have raised $27 million for the funding of the next generation of firewalls. Launched only in 2006, the young company has already made more than $100 million in sales. 

Sources:  Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat

URL:http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/18/palo-alto-networks-raises-27-million-for-next-generation-firewalls/

Palo Alto Networks, Copyright ©2007-2010

URL:http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/company/index.html

After a day’s hard work, many finds surfing on Facebook to be relaxing and safe. Yet, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, “tens of millions” of apps on Facebook transfers varying information of it’s users to their personal databases even when user accounts were set to private. All of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook transmits its user’s information to its private databases and then sells them to research companies and advertising firms. Further attention is directed towards the privacy protection of Facebook users as apps are still finding it’s way to its’ user’s private information.

This in the long term could seriously hinder Facebook’s popularity as the world’s most adored social networking website is entrenched with spies disguised as friendly apps. It is unacceptable to use Facebook as a media to make a profit out of user information. Worst, it is done under the condition which many are unaware of. Who would’ve thought that relaxing on Facebook and farming on one’s virtual farm could lead to his/her private information being sent to else where in the world? Facebook must take a tough stand against this exploitation of social networking as it’s reliability is seriously hindered.

Sources: Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica © 2010 Condé Nast Digital.

Url:http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/many-faceook-apps-found-to-be-collecting-selling-user-info.ars