Today in my marketing class we came across the topic of branding, which is a fascinating topic to me.  It is unbelievable that every person in my class could distinguish between different companies’ logos without even seeing the entire symbol.  If recognizing and distinguishing between concepts and formulas in my classes were as easy as this, university would be a breeze.  So why can we all recognize these symbols in a blink of an eye?  Because of brand exposure of course!

Later that day I came across a blog from one of my fellow students mentioning a documentary movie about brand integration.  And what better way to expose your brand than in a movie?  Although I do have to agree with him, it is insane that companies will pay millions of dollars to have their product shown in a five second clip of a movie.  And it is even crazier to think that in the end this advertising strategy usually pays off.  Yet on the other hand, some companies also work very hard to have their products not shown in different types of media.  As I learned in class, Lady GaGa loves to incorporate different brands into her music videos and sometimes companies don’t like this.  Since they don’t want to be associated with Lady GaGa they will ensure that she is not advertising their brand.  It’s a funny world we live in; companies might pay millions to advertise their product in a video, yet on the other hand they might go to extreme lengths to avoid this from happening.

Steve Job’s death has been major news throughout the world.  It was even important enough for a student in my business class to interrupt the professor in the middle of the lecture to tell those 200 students the instant he died.  That afternoon the school was buzzing with students texting their friends about the news.  So why was this event so crucial to so many people?

The death of Steve Jobs left many questions of what would happen to Apple’s products.  Will they be able to keep their innovative ways and brilliant ideas without Mr. Jobs?  Will they still be able to market successfully without their charismatic leader?  Everyone is worried about the company’s future but I figure the company will be just fine.  The new CEO, Tim Cook, has already been in charge of the company for many months during Steve Jobs sick leave and the company seems to still be functioning the way it always has been.  Also Apple’s design chief, Jonathan Ive, has been in the company since 1992 and has been in charge of the innovative and sleek designs of Apple’s products for years.  Even though Mr. Jobs has been behind advertising that was always ahead of his time, such as the Mac vs. PC ads, the company relies on other marketing ploys as well.  As an article in the Globe & Mail said “Apple always says a ton by saying very little.” Apple uses the tactic of suspense to market their products.  By setting a release date and not saying anything further, people start talking about the product more than they would otherwise.  With Apple’s innovative marketing ploys, sleek product designs and experienced workers to take the place of Steve Jobs, Apple’s future is looking stable.