Month: March 2011

After coming across Victor Kong’s blog on creative outdoor advertising titled, “SURPRISE!,” it influenced me to go see what other creative outdoor advertisements were out there. Since learning about this topic in our marketing class on Tuesday, I became interested in seeing what kind of advertisements like this had been made. With so many traditional billboard or plain ads on bus stops, marketers need to be able to capture people’s attentions and creative outdoor advertising is definitely one way to do this.

I agree with Victor that while these advertisements are more comical than informative, it is the element of surprise that captures people’s attentions. Having said that, capturing people’s attention’s is also extremely important as it is the awareness part of the AIDA model. In order for consumer’s to gather information and interest in a product, they first must be aware of it.

One important thing to remember when advertising outdoors though is that location plays a huge part in the success of the advertisement. No matter how creative or good the outdoor advertisement is, it needs to be in the right location to target or attract the right market. Creative outdoor advertising is significant because it presents immeasurable options for advertisers to connect with their audience. It also serves as a way for companies to effectively differentiate themselves from its competitors and attract customers. After searching online for some, below are some of the ones that really stuck out for me.

Ever thought Costco would be selling wedding dresses? Well, now they are. The discount wholesale club is the latest major retailer to launch a bridal collection and Costco says, “It’s making the all-important dress selection process more convenient, casual, and affordable.” The wedding dresses will be sold at prices ranging anywhere from $699-$1399.

“In a world where the average wedding dress costs $26,984 in the U.S, brides on average spend around $1,099.” While the wedding dress market has always been associated with high prices, Costco came up with the idea of creating a line of wedding dresses that cater to a different market – people who want cheaper prices, the convenience of picking a dress out easily, and just want the dress to be simple.

Recently, other retailers have begun to include wedding dresses in their stores. Urban Outfitters launched a bridal line called BHLDN last month. Even highly respected fashion designers like Vera Wang are starting to think more mainstream by developing a line of more affordable wedding dresses at David’s Bridal.

The question is will this bridal line at Costco be successful? Taking a look at their market, customers of Costco tend to go to the store for lower prices on food products, technological products, and household items. They do carry a stock of clothing but including wedding dresses might be going to another extreme. Also, as we learned in my marketing class, customers tend to base the quality of products on the prices. If the gowns are priced cheaply, customers may think the gown is of bad quality. Sure, people want more affordable, convenient, and casual wedding dresses, but I’m not so sure this will be a profitable line for Costco to sell.

Yesterday, as I was watching a show on TV, a commercial came on during the break comparing the continuously competitive soft drinks in the market, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This commercial featured Coca-Cola’s, Coke Zero drink and Pepsi’s, Pepsi Max drink. Immediately, the commercial got me thinking about the importance of brand positioning.

Since both drinks promise zero calories but still great taste, both companies needed to create a strong positioning statement and advertisement tagline in order to be #1 in their segment and category. Below are Coca-Cola Zero’s advertising taglines.

Coca-Cola Zero’s Taglines:

1)      “Coca-Cola Zero, the flavour nobody expected.”

2)      “The same taste as always, zero sugar.”

To be honest, when I first saw the names of both products, I thought that Coca-Cola Zero had a better name as it made it more clear that the drink was healthier with zero calories whereas Pepsi Max sounded like it had more or the maximum calories and was a little more unclear to me. However, my opinion changed when I heard Pepsi Max’s taglines below. I thought Pepsi did a good job entering the market by trying to say they are better than a zero and ultimately taking a stab at Coca-Cola.

 Pepsi Max’s Tagline:

1)      “Maximum Taste. Zero Calories.”

2)      “Too much taste to be called a zero.”

Overall, this product competition between these two very similar drinks will always continue to go on. It’s just a matter of each company currently updating their positioning statements and advertising taglines to have an edge over the other. Which company do you think is doing a better job of this?

Starting Monday March 7th 2011, Tim Hortons will begin serving smoothies in its stores in Canada. The company has already introduced the product in the States but has been testing the product in Canada for five years. According to Dave McKay, the marketing director for beverages at Tim Hortons, “Canadians are snacking more and they are looking for healthier snacks, so it’s a big business opportunity to launch smoothies in Canada” (Canadian Press, 2011).

As soon as I read this article, it immediately got me thinking about Tim Horton’s STP outline. Through research about lifestyle trends towards healthy alternatives and what its competitors were offering, Tim Hortons realized that they could segment their market into those who want regular coffee beverages and those who want healthy drinks like smoothies.

By segmenting the market into these two groups, Tim Hortons can target those who want to have a healthy drink. The Tim Horton’s 10-ounce smoothie will cost $1.99 and have 130 calories, zero grams of fat, and a full serving of fruit. In a fast-paced generation where convenience is valued, this product will also benefit those customers who don’t have time to eat their portion of fruits for the day.

As a positioning statement for Tim Hortons, the company can claim that they are a reasonably priced coffeehouse company that also provides healthy alternatives. This gives the company a jump on some of its competitors and allows them to secure another portion of the market besides coffee beverages.