Being a huge fan of Google and fashion, I was exhilarated to learn that Diane Von Fursternberg (DVF) , a high-end fashion designer collaborated with Google+ to host the first ever shoppable Google+ hangout.

It was very well-organised. The Hangout participants and their questions had been prescreened in advance, and asked their questions on cue.

#shopthehangout : captions and screenshots were posted on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

The hashtag #shopthehangout was crucial to this campaign in compiling pictures, captions and engaging information, and promotion via the Youtube video, email and influences were well-executed. However, the campaign could have been improved using viral marketing like updating the DVF website with information about the hangout to speak even more viral content.

Once von Furstenberg finished answering a question, a model, donning pieces from her collection would appear on screen. Von Furstenberg selected a handbag for each model and talked up each garments’ fabrics and technical details, prompting viewers at home to buy. Merchandised, shoppable pages were easy to use and hosted on Google Shopping Shortlists. To make purchase users would click through to DVF.com. Engaging features included the opportunity to “watch later” and a social sharing button allowing viewers to easily share the collections and designs on Google+. This showcased the site’s capabilities brilliantly, displaying a window of DVF products for sale to the right of the video window on users’ screens.

DVF fashion collection items available for purchase exclusively at Google+

Although there were no statistics available on the revenue from this online collaboration, there was reportedly a lot of interest leading into the Hangout, with 2.3 million views garnered for the trailer below:

Their collaboration is also a perfect example of a 3-way relationship between Google, DVF and customers, which keeps things fresh and engaging and enables them to bounce ideas off one another. Google is the perfect interactive platform to promote DVF’s collections, and DVF is a marketing product in Google’s arsenal and product research.

Personally, I found this to be a well-played move from Google+, as it is still struggling to capture mainstream social media users, and divert attention away from larger competitors.

What distinguishes Google+ is its accessibility (users can log in from their gmail accounts instead of having to download Skype) and ability to store Hangouts in Youtube. This collaboration is just one example of Google’s strategy to attain new users by integrating interesting features into Google Plus that people want to use. It greatly increased the number of fans in DVF’s circles. Although Google+ has a long way to go before it even stands to trump other networks like Facebook, but its future is looking bright.

References:

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/10/07/Diane-von-Furstenberg-Google-Shoppable-Hangout-100713.aspx

http://www.fastcompany.com/3005682/future-google-plus-and-its-path-social-media-domination

As a proud Singaporean, I found a lot to relate to in the article “How Singapore Airlines Keeps its Brand Strong in An Age where Everybody Hates Flying”.

It reinforced my opinion that marketing is the most delicious layer of icing on a cake, but if the cake is not delicious, it will not sell itself. Ultimately, product quality is really what matters. “Maintaining a high standard that is executed by an impressively trained staff is but one of the methods.”

My personal favourite Singapore Airlines video is the above one – tinged with sepia and nostalgia, whereby a pleasant, personable and beautiful Singaporean air stewardess attends to the needs of customers in various cities.I feel like this embodies what the whole Singaporean Airlines brand is about: “The Singaporean Girl Service Experience”- classiness and meticulous attention to customer’s needs.For instance, they know their customers exceedingly well – even to the point of catering to their brand preferences “Dom Perignon or Krug champagne, With caviar, nine different types of rolls to choose from and eight varietals of wine”. Furthermore, “they cater to expectations is that they don’t have to suspend the lives that they lead on the ground because they are boarding an aircraft.” This would bode well for customers, especially regular business travellers, who hate flying (I can strongly identify with this!) because of how uncomfortable it is.

I really appreciated reading Jessica Li’s post on Kiip’s style of value-based marketing.

I do agree that slogans such as “you should really be awarded for the effort you put into the games!!!” and “reach them when they win” do place Kiip as a cut above the rest in terms of interaction with customers. This is a clever link to social and personality psychology – in which users gain an earned sense of satisfaction after receiving Kiip rewards. I feel like this complements the concept of intrinsic motivation and lets customers know that they are valued, as their needs are specifically catered to. “Real rewards for virtual achievements” sums it up perfectly.

Kiip’s method of merging the mobile space, gaming space and personal space is admirable and caters to the lifestyle of many mobile customers.

My personal favourite video is the following one, developed by Epipheo Studios.

This advertisement embodies the spirit of Kiip – fun-loving, dynamic, user-friendly and customer-centred.

I strongly agree with Catherine’s point on how customers can strongly identify with the brand Converse Chuck Taylor Allstars might be the most badass shoes in American history. The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, & Dexter were determined by an informal official poll to 3 of the most badass and popular television shows, and rightly so!

To add on to this point, I believe that the strong fan following of the sneakers will not only create brand equity, but also create a customer lifetime value, improving the value of entire stream of sneaker purchases that customers make over their lifetime. This is a super creative and smart technique as Dexter and The Walking Dead are both shows which have massive fan followings. The more loyal the profitable customers and fans, the higher the firm’s equity will be.

Furthermore, this is likely to contribute to true friends, as there will be high profitability and long-term customers.

Creepily glorious - what a work of art!

On the topic of Zombies...

More blood and gore, Dexter-style!

Credits: https://blogs.ubc.ca/catherineguan/2011/11/06/when-chucks-met-the-dead/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-turns-online-privacy-into-public-service-crusade-with-multi-week-marketing-campaign/2012/01/17/gIQAq6xW4P_story.html

A UK Google Good to Know Advertising Campaign

Personally, I find the advertising campaign appealing to customers.

Google has successfully achieved Step 3 of the Marketing Process which is to design a marketing strategy. It has considered which customers it will serve by gathering personal information to allow it to segment customers and identify its target market. As Google’s revenues are highly dependent on its advertising, I think this would help enhance its value proposition by reassuring consumers that it will protect their image and respect their privacy.

The Good to Know print ads are visually appealing, concise and reinforce that the website should be visited to ensure that customers fully understand their rights. Its message is clear, albeit a bit wordy. An area of improvement would be to translate the long lines of text into a catchy in-your-face slogan with a smaller area of text that neatly sums up what the campaign is about.

In terms of satisfying the 4 Ps, I think that Google has room for improvement under Promotion. It deals with the public relations aspect as it rebrands itself as a trustworthy company. However, it has to work on creating a stronger personal connection with customers. Instead of just tailoring objects to their customers’ specific tastes, it should work on place – channels of how the advertisement will be conveyed, whether it will be a variety of methods such as online or physical posters. Online would be more appropriate as Google is an online search engine.

My sole pet peeve with this campaign is that Google must go above and beyond this campaign to be fully credible, as it has suffered from previous online privacy lapses.

2. What you have learned about yourself in class (Comm 299)

Some of the exceedingly important skills I have gained from Comm 299 are self-branding and presentation skills, interview skills and overall, a better sense of my future role in the business sphere. Self-branding and presentation skills come into play when I had to work on my resume and select the most relevant experience. I had to think unconventionally about how I could present myself in a way that makes me stand out from the rest, yet stick to a solid tried-and-tested format. With the mentoring of my TA, I was able to more strategically position myself as a self-motivated Business student. I also learned a lot more about professionalism – how to present myself as a credible, professional individual. As for interview skills, I was daunted by how to perform well in the interview, but after conducting intensive practice with a friend, excelled during the interview. I learnt that I need to focus more on my nonverbal communication skills, as I tend to lose eye contact with the interviewer while I formulate an appropriate response to the question posed. Most importantly, I have a better idea of the kind of business environment, culture and career I am looking to go into in the future. The lectures provide informative and abundant resources and opportunities that really equip me with the knowledge and experience that I need to excel in the corporate world.

1. Your proudest achievement

My proudest achievement is receiving 6 As and 1 B for my Advanced Level Examinations. I spent 2 years in my Junior College preparing for the Cambridge Examination Syllabus. It was really challenging to juggle the rather heavy academic workload with extracurricular and community involvement activities. Furthermore, I experienced difficulty with Biology, as it involved a lot of memory work and application, which was not particularly my forte. However, with the help of my excellent form teacher who went above and beyond her duty to provide us with the best resources to excel in the Biology, and ensure our general wellbeing amidst the skyrocketing stress levels, I managed to score an A in my worst subject. My good grades helped me to gain Direct Entry Status into the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. In retrospect, the number of As on my results transcript do not really matter as they were a means to the end of getting into my desired university. However, the effort and persistence it took for me to attain my desired results reaffirmed my confidence in my abilities. Achieving this, despite facing several setbacks, reminded me of the potential I have to excel in whatever I put forth my efforts and energy to.

2. What you have learned about yourself in class (Comm 299)

Some of the exceedingly important skills I have gained from Comm 299 are self-branding and presentation skills, interview skills and overall, a better sense of my future role in the business sphere. Self-branding and presentation skills come into play when I had to work on my resume and select the most relevant experience. I had to think unconventionally about how I could present myself in a way that makes me stand out from the rest, yet stick to a solid tried-and-tested format. With the mentoring of my TA, I was able to more strategically position myself as a self-motivated Business student. I also learned a lot more about professionalism – how to present myself as a credible, professional individual. As for interview skills, I was daunted by how to perform well in the interview, but after conducting intensive practice with a friend, excelled during the interview. I learnt that I need to focus more on my nonverbal communication skills, as I tend to lose eye contact with the interviewer while I formulate an appropriate response to the question posed. Most importantly, I have a better idea of the kind of business environment, culture and career I am looking to go into in the future. The lectures provide informative and abundant resources and opportunities that really equip me with the knowledge and experience that I need to excel in the corporate world.

The person I look up to most:

intricate link between marketing and supply chain as seen from http://marketingplanbook.com/2010/02/22/marketing-strategy-supply-chain-management/

stages of marketing within supply chain taken from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1509222&show=html

Article taken from : http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11418?pg=0

In class, we talked about how marketing focuses on top-line revenue and, accordingly, seeks product variety (available on short notice) from well-stocked inventory pools. Operations worry about cost, looking for efficiencies in manufacturing and the supply chain.

An intriguing point was how a lot of companies fail to focus on creating value for customers. A notable example would be Amazon. The name referring to the tension between marketing and supply chain is Differentiated Service Policies.

Marketing wants to offer the broadest possible array of titles to reinforce Amazon’s sales pitch of having huge variety and delivering those titles instantaneously to reinforce the convenience of online shopping. Operations, on the other hand, cannot support such a proposition — at least not cost-effectively.

It tries to address this conflict by examining the economics of inventory and understanding the value of lead time to customers. Thereafter, it sets shipment lead times to come to a good compromise between marketing and operations.

Another underrated solution is to use price to drive customer behavior ranks among. Companies should also consider option bundling to increase complexity and offer a variety of services to customers. Examples include packaging complementary products that are easy to market and supply.

the network potluck belongs to taken from: http://www.potluckcatering.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catering

Potluck Cafe taken from http://www.potluckcatering.org/cafe.html

Potluck is a good example of a social enterprise. It operates a fully professional enterprise that services corporate and non-profit clients.

It is a registered charity whose café and catering revenue is invested back into 5 community social programs. It provides a daily Meal Program with free meals for residents. It also has a Community Kitchen Program that welcomes DTES residents to learn basic cooking and nurture relationships. However, it is hard to determine whether it is creating sufficient social value. Potluck must work on increasing the availability, accessibility and choice of quality, nutritious food.

It combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination. Its social mission is explicit and central. Through its programs, it is evident that mission-related impact is its central criterion. It is difficult to measure its social value creation through customer satisfaction.

Whether Potluck attains a long-term social return on its investment remains to be seen. It has to come up with innovative ways to ensure that their ventures will have access to resources as long as they are creating social value.

This link gives a good idea of the social entrepreneurial standards Potluck upholds.