Reflection on the Team Video

If only we had more time…

This video project was a lot of fun to put together. I was certainly my element, as I have some videography experience and all the necessary equipment. My main role for the project was to be in charge of filming and editing. My group-mates were the stars of the video and were in charge of writing their own scripts and arranging times with me to film. Due to limited availability on my part as well as the busy schedules of my group-mates, we sometimes struggled to get the best shot and often had to work with what we had. I believe we were innovative given our time constraints, and had some good laughs exploring the Henry Angus building.

I have learned a lot about Amazon and marketing through this assignment. My only regret is that I feel like the others in our group contributed much more to the research and writing of Parts #1 and #2 than I was able to.

General Thoughts

In general, I found this class and the Marketing Plan Assignments to be interesting and engaging. However, this class uses far too many methods to assess our learning and assign grades. I appreciate that the variety allows different learning styles to excel, but when you have to organize and complete blog posts, a video, an in-class assignment, iClicker questions, team assignments, a midterm and a final, it becomes terribly overwhelming.

This blog post is in response to a post by Tim Devaney and Tom Stein called “Why Email Is Still More Effective Than Social Media Marketing” on Forbes.com

Devaney and Stein identify social media as a useful tool, but not as effective as email when it comes to attracting consumers to online businesses. In fact, it cites some studies indicating that both Facebook and Twitter were essentially insignificant.

In this era of social media, why is it failing as a means to drive online purchases? The blog post suggests that email, Facebook and Twitter hit different user needs, similar to how companies target different segments. Facebook is a method to engage customers with the company on a brand level. Twitter offers breaking news and updates from a company. Email is for a willing audience who have chosen to subscribe to deals and information from the business.

The “willingness” factor is key. Social media offers a bombardment of information; it is easy for a user to overlook an advertisement, post, tweet or link to a website. Email is sent to people who have chosen to receive them (and if they do not want them, they can choose to stop receiving them), and is a targeted presence. In other words, potential customers who are receiving the emails want to see that information, and won’t necessarily glaze over it.

One of the challenges businesses face in producing an effective online marketing presence, is to leverage emails in a positive manner while still having an effective social media presence as an aiding tool. With many people now using their mobile devices to access email, the same information and ease of purchase needs to be communicated on a much smaller and compatible scale.

This blog post is in response to Kamila’s post Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty”

Dove has been known to advocate for natural beauty in women. Awareness is certainly a positive action, and Kamila puts it well when she says:

“Dove did a really good job by raising the issue of how we see beauty”

However, in addressing what can be a sensitive subject, Dove has also opened a can of worms in regards to what sort of message is really being portrayed by their Real Beauty commercials. Take the recent “Real Beauty Sketches” ad for example:

This feel-good commercial which has certainly incited sentiments of self-confidence in women across the United States, or as Kamila put it:

“one of the best advertising campaigns, because it is directly addressed to the real people, passing by the stereotype of female beauty with model looks”

has also come under fire for making assumptions to how we address real beauty.

On the top of the list of complaints is the idea that one of the sketches is considered ugly while the other beautiful. Does that mean that age, wrinkles, moles and face roundness constitute unattractiveness? Are women the ones that need to change their attitude towards what they look like? It begs the question whether we as society should be telling women that they are more beautiful than they think, or whether society needs to change their assumptions about beauty.

So how genuine is Dove really? Do they really believe the message they are putting out there, or are they perpetuating an idea for their own marketing benefit? I don’t know the real answer, but Dove is certainly doing something right. If the virality of their commercials are any indication, they are also doing some good along the way.

For more regarding criticisms of the “Real Beauty Sketches” Dove commercial, check out the posts below:

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-hate-doves-real-beauty-ad-2013-4

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/5-reasons-why-some-critics-are-hating-doves-real-beauty-sketches-video-148772

Note: This blog post is unrelated to the blog assignment for COMM465

In response to the string of sexual assaults happening on the campus I love so dearly, Facebook has exploded with respectful discussion and engaging conversation, as well as petty arguments. When I made a post geared at sharing some safety strategies, I received some comments which made me uncomfortable and a little upset. I felt as if my good intentions were being overshadowed by the need to educate people about rape culture and victim blaming — a topic which I thought I was fully aware of.

As I read through posts on the event page for Take Back the Night UBC, I reached a moment of sudden clarity — a realization hidden amongst all the emotion and lingo. I don’t know how it came to me, but I hope to be able to share this epiphany. So without further ado…

Continue reading →

In today’s society of memes, YouTube and social media, the term “viral” has received a whole new meaning.

 viral
ˈvʌɪr(ə)l/

Two of the three above definitions only came into existence over the last decade or so. Since then, thousands of viral advertisements have been produced, from Old Spice commercials to just about anything on Super Bowl Sunday. Please direct your attention to the video below:

tl;dr Celebrities face off in a musical debate over whether the crust of a Hot Pocket or the meaty inside is truly what delivers in the taste department and the primary reason for why people love eating them

This advertisement by Hot Pockets (Nestlé) uses star power, popular Internet references and a fabricated debate to draw attention from the masses. The battle between #TeamCrust and #TeamMeat does not appear to create a need for the Hot Pocket product itself. Instead, it uses humour and the attractive power of Internet virality to bring consumers to buy Hot Pockets.

What’s going on? If a consumer doesn’t need to buy the product, why do companies invest so much money into creating the next viral ad? It seems that today’s consumer does not look only at the basic need for a product, like food, but how that food is generally perceived by society. If a product is popular due to a recent viral spread, then society will generally also perceive the product positively, or at least with some viral value.

So I guess there really is a perceived need after all. A need for social validation. A need to fit in and to be in the know. How often do people really need the products they buy? In this day and age, it seems that most purchases are really just fulfilling a need to belong.

Last class, I referenced an infographic which describes general differences between “Western” culture and “Eastern” culture. I was first introduced to this piece created by Yang Liu as part of Intercultural Communication training with the UBC Student Ambassador team. Knowing your customer is essential for more than just marketing.

Connections and Contacts

What is important is not necessarily knowing absolutely every one of the distinctions between cultures and the way different people view different aspects of life. There is no way that an individual from one country can absolutely empathize with the way someone else from another nation thinks. The key is knowing that there are differences, to be patient, and to seek to understand. This is all fine and dandy from an individual to individual stance, but what about for marketing?

Marketing is different because the people on the receiving end don’t necessarily look for understanding if an advertisement doesn’t make sense or happens to be offensive. Marketers need to be extra careful, because the battle is uphill. This is why companies hire local experts who can advise on marketing decisions abroad. It’s not good enough to try hard; you need to be perfect.

For more: http://bsix12.com/east-meets-west/

Political attack advertisements have garnered a lot of attention, particularly in Canada over the last two elections. The effectiveness of the Conservative Party’s ads have been credited as a factor in their successive election victories. However, the Conservatives were not the only party running smear campaigns. All major federal political parties are guilty of running negative campaigns at some point in their history. So what’s the problem?

Exploitation of voter ignorance.

While it is difficult to deny the effectiveness of attack ads, what makes these ads unethical, in my opinion, is that it panders to the average citizen’s emotions. In other words, Canadians are tricked into making irrational assumptions about individuals based on half-truths and not-the-whole-picture. Political parties are getting votes by taking advantage of the fact that many people don’t care enough to research important issues, but are willing to listen to what a talking head on a screen has to say in between their favourite sitcoms. Simply said, it is much easier to tell people why the other guys are incompetent than it is to educate voters on why you are the best choice to govern the country. Attack ads capture people’s attention.

Now why does this strike a nerve with me? I will admit that I once voted against Stephen Harper because I thought he was the most boring man on the planet. But does his ability to wear only sweaters reflect his ability to lead the nation? A government should not be voted into power because you think Stephen Harper is as interesting as a carrot, because Michael Ignatieff looks like Sam the Eagle or because Jack Layton has the coolest moustache this side of the 49th parallel.

What will make the 2015 federal election interesting is that voters are starting to catch on, especially in light of the Robocall scandal. Not everything you hear is taken at face value any more. For more on attack ads, check out this Maclean’s article from the lead up to the 2011 federal election.

My name is Michael Ignatieff and I endorse this message.