Luke Vu's Blog

Our last marketing class got me thinking about all the known and unknown marketing tactics that are out there. I think that finishing the course on an ethical note is very appropriate and can only be good for the future of marketing. As more and more sophisticated marketing strategies and tactics are being employed the need to consider ethical issues increases and as we saw in class, it is not so much a black and white, but most of the time, a gray area. Like Tamar said quite well in class, the key point here is about motivation and intention. Thus I think if we can use these two components as a base, it should make things easier in assessing marketing ethical issues. For example, in our “downsizing” story that was presented in class, while there is nothing illegal about reducing package size (as long as the weight is properly stated), the comments of the company’s PR person did not seem consistent or genuine. To state that the company shrank the package/portion of its product at the sole request of the consumer is only telling half of the story. If you do so while still charging the same price then it is quite obvious that your intention was and is to increase your margin or profit. The deception here would be to try to say otherwise, and this false intention is unethical.

In my opinion, company should realize that consumers are more and more well informed and will eventually figure out any deceptive marketing tactics. Do you really want to risk your brand equity over this? Ethical marketing is IMO needed for the successful implementation of value-based marketing. Therefore, in the long-term, ethical marketing is a condition for sustainable profitability. If companies were smarter, they would actually use this as an opportunity to differentiate themselves from other “unethical” or “ethically deficient” competitors, and build brand equity in the process.

Solution: I believe that as long as the motivation and intention of a company is to provide value to its customers then ethical issues will not be a major issue. This, ultimately will more than often translate into increased sales volume and profitability. Like the saying goes: “you can fool your customers once, but you can’t fool them twice.”  Remember that the more “unethical” inclined your company is, the more room you make for your competitors to move in and act as  “more ethical” and grab precious market share.

Dear Companies,

Wise up. Be ethical.

Sincerely,

Luke

I’m not sure why I’m so upbeat today. Perhaps because it’s the last day of class or perhaps because it’s the start of The Masters! (a major golf tournament) http://www.masters.com/en_US/. My feeling is that it has something to do with both.

In honors of the 2011 Masters tournament and the Fedex Cup (at end of the season), I decided to post some of the most hilarious and effective commercial ads from Fedex http://fedex.com/. The company was successful in segmenting and targeting corporate executives, which many are golf fanatics. The truth is that we all know what Fedex or UPS does. They are couriers. They carry parcels from point A to point B. Pretty boring stuff right? Well not according to Fedex. Their candid, while exaggerated depiction of the truth, approach creates brand exposure and equity by cleverly targeting decision making executives. Their ads are funny, refreshing, and clever. Their slogan “We understand” is straight to the point and portrays a sense of confidence and reliability. But best of all, their ads (and vicariously their brand) gets talked about and remembered!

Enjoy!

Luke’s #1 pick

Luke’s #2 pick

Luke’s #3 pick

Luke’s #4 pick

Luke’s #5 pick

Being a finance student, I thought I’d try to find a link between my discipline and marketing. I believe I found one.

In finance, the share value of a company often resides in the market perception and expectation of future earnings. It does not matter, to some extend, what its intrinsic measure is. What the market perception says is what counts. Well, this concept is quite similar to the marketing concept of positioning and consumer perception. It primarily has to do with how the market perceives your products and company as opposed to anything else. This perceived value will eventually translate and add to the company’s brand equity. And I’m a big fan of brand equity! For me, it’s really synonymous of “the true market value of a company” – marketing-ly speaking.

This sentence from Dave Dolak’s blog http://davedolak.blogspot.com/2007/05/what-is-brand-equity.html summarizes the concept well: “A brand is nearly worthless unless it enjoys some equity in the marketplace. Without brand equity, you simply have a commodity product.”

Below is a good description of brand equity from Dave’s Blog. Pay attention to the wording, as much of it is interchangeable between both the discipline of marketing and finance.

“Brand Equity is the sum total of all the different values people attach to the brand, or the holistic value of the brand to its owner as a corporate asset. Brand equity can include: the monetary value or the amount of additional income expected from a branded product over and above what might be expected from an identical, but unbranded product; the intangible value associated with the product that can not be accounted for by price or features; and the perceived quality attributed to the product independent of its physical features.”

After reading Karen Robinson-Rafuse’s blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/karenrrafuse/2011/02/10/business-school-the-benefits-of-branding/, I stopped and thought about how influential the “Sauder” brand really was… then I realized something. The reason why I had a difficult time pinpointing this was due to the fact that my perspective was from the inside, i.e. I was part of the brand! (and if you’re reading this, you are probably as well).

In a way you could say that generally speaking, admissions’ main job is to ensure that the students admitted will only add to the brand equity of the Faculty of Commerce… oops I mean the Sauder School of Business. So to all of you who intend to apply to the school; go pickup a marketing book for yourself. It will may very well help you in your application in branding yourself to the brand of the school.

Also, if you look deeper into the details you will notice many sub-brandings within the Sauder brand. You could even consider them as product lines of the school. These are the specialization departments such as Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Real Estate, Human Relations, Management Information System, TLOG, etc.

So how do I feel about being a brand you would ask? Pretty good actually. You feel like you’re part of something bigger, and as long as it grows, so will your personal brand.

Reading through Betty Tang’s blog: http: https://blogs.ubc.ca/bettytang/2011/01/26/coke-vs-pepsi/, it was interesting to see how brand perception plays a important role in our purchasing decisions. Well since I previously blogged about how colors are perceived by consumers, I can’t be too surprised. However it’s always intriguing to see how people don’t always act rationally. You would think that in a cola product, taste would be everything (at least the most important component). Apparently not. As Betty stated and quoted: “… Pepsi won taste tests when subjects were blindfolded, but when labeled, the majority of the same subjects would suddenly prefer Coke… The conclusion of this experiment in neuroscience journals?  “Branding is mind over matter”.”

All this talk about Coke and Pepsi, not only makes me thirsty, but also causes me to reflect on a another company that seems to fully understand this “mind over matter” concept. That company is: Grey Goose. Grey Goose was able to penetrate the vodka market, not with the quality of its liquor, but rather with the huge marketing campaign the company put together in positioning itself as a quality and premium vodka brand.

It is not so much the quality of the product that will ultimately generate  sales, but the perception that it is, that will.

When you think about it, going through the process of an interview is quite similar to the process of marketing a product: You!

To prove my point lets look at the following ten key steps taken from this website: http://www.ehow.com/how_107717_sell-yourself-job.html

1. • 1

     Find out as much as you can about the company: How is it performing? What is its mission statement and who are its customers? What are the interviewer’s priorities and responsibilities? The more you know, the more you’ll be able to ask informed questions about the job.

   • 2

     Study the description of the job for which you have applied. Be clear on what is expected and if you have the background and skills to do it.

   • 3

     Take an inventory of your strengths and practice discussing how they complement the requirements of the job. Write down specific examples that demonstrate these strengths and be able to speak fluidly and intelligently about them.

   • 4

     Make a winning first impression at the interview. Be prompt, make eye contact and give a firm handshake. Dress one notch above what’s expected for the position you’re interviewing for.

   • 5

     Look for common ground between you and the interviewer to establish a positive rapport and to stand out from the crowd. You may have the same alma mater or mutual friends. Be careful not to overplay this and look desperate.

   • 6

     Turn what could be seen as potential weaknesses into strengths. You might say “I haven’t worked in promotions but I coordinated getting the word out for my son’s school carnival and we had twice as many people attend this year.” Be calm and confident.

   • 7

     Use specific examples to describe why you’re a perfect match for the job. Ask probing questions to demonstrate a genuine interest in the position. In the process, interview the interviewer to find out why the position is open. Get a sense of what the turnover rate is at the company, what the position’s job track is, and how the company keeps its employees happy. You’re trying to find out if you want to work for that company as much as they’re trying to find out if they want you.

   • 8

     Demonstrate that you are a problem-solver. Identify an issue the company is facing or a problem you might potentially encounter in that job and discuss how you’d solve it.

   • 9

     Make the interviewer feel good about hiring you. Be enthusiastic, responsive, truthful and friendly.

   • 10

     Follow up with a thank-you note that reiterates your qualifications and mentions specific topics covered in the interview to trigger the person’s memory about your winning interview.

Point 1 and 2 relate to the marketing research process. Without proper research or analysis, it is very hard to successfully market yourself for the intended job. This is basically the foundation of your interview. Point 3 is very similar to a SWOT analysis. You look at your strengths, weaknesses (how to improve on them or find ways to not bring attention to them!), opportunities, and threats (these could be anything related to outside forces such as people competing against you). Point 4 seems to be under the P of product. More specifically under packaging. Your attire, handshake, eye contact are all part of “first impression”. Point 5 and 6 are definitely under communication and how you your message in sent and received. Key point here: avoid noise! Point 7, 8, and 9 appear to be under promotion, i.e. a mixture of advertising and personal selling (no pun intended!). I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Finally point 10 is all about feedback! (under communication process). As Tamar would say, this is such an important step that is often neglected. I will leave you with a “what not to do” job interview video. Well, at least you have to give the candidate credit for being confident!

In line with our current topic of packaging and branding, I thought I would talk about what really matters when making purchase decisions (especially for food products): Colors.

According to the Seoul International Color Expo 2004, 92.6% said color was the most important factor in their purchasing decisions. Only 5.6% attributed this importance to physical feel from the sense of touch, and 0.9% each from hearing and smelling. In addition, the Institute for Color Research (CCICOLOR) found that people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. Indeed colors are pretty powerful, I would say. So exactly, how do colors speak to you? For me:

White signifies wisdom, purity, cleanliness, powerful yet serene.

Black signifies strength, solid, stability, seriousness.

Red signifies war, power, energy, excitement, feelings.

Green signifies nature, freshness, money, liveliness.

Blue signifies calm, trust, dependable, peaceful.

Yellow signifies happiness, laughter, cheerfulness, freshness.

Grey signifies business, dullness, seriousness, practical.

Here is an interesting and practical color chart I found. Looks like I was not too far off… or is it the other way around? They got me figured out!

If you’re like me, you’re probably tired of  being bombarded by constant in-your-face ad campaigns that always yearn for your attention. Seriously, have you ever wondered how much advertising we are exposed to on a daily basis? I dare not to count for sanity purposes. Personally, I prefer the “less is more” approach. This is where I think product placement works well. It’s not consciously overwhelming yet subconsciously efficient. You’re being exposed to things you’re not aware off, hence you can’t consciously complain about it. How perfect!

Wonder why you suddenly crave for Taco Bell or an ice cold Pepsi? Perhaps that Back to the Future movie you saw three days ago is sticking with you more than you think. Pay close attention next time you see a movie; try to count all the product placements you can come up with. You might be amazed at how many there are. After all we are surrounded by products in our life, and movies only tries to emulate the real world, so why not squeezed in a few to make it more realistic… and make a few hundred thousand dollars at the same time? Product placement and movies, perfect like popcorn and butter.

Meet my buddy, Ace.

He’s a ten year old Labrador/German shepherd that thinks he’s still a puppy. Notice that Labradors have their ears folded down while German shepherds tend to have theirs pointed straight up. Now look at Ace’s ears. That right… right in between!

The pet business is big business as owners will usually go to great length in providing their dogs or cats with the best food and products. In line with what we learned in class about social factors and family buying decisions, I thought it would relevant to write about how my buying decisions are affected by my dog’s needs and wants or at least what I perceived them to be. In applying our concept we see that Ace is the initiator, user, and potentially influencer. I, on the other hand, am the decider, buyer, but also potentially influencer. So who exactly is the influencer? According to this great commercial, our four-legged friend is.

Welcome to my blog everyone!

For my very first blog I’ll start things off by talking about my favorite sport: Golf! Yes I said sport, not hobby.

Golf is the most challenging sport I ever encountered. If you’re a perfectionist you will both love and hate this game. It will bring you such joy at times and drive you crazy for most of the rest. Since golf is not a game of perfection, it is a perpetual painful love affair. While, many times, you contemplated of throwing your clubs into the lake, the birdie on 17th is enough to bring you back for more. It never fails.

It is indeed a sport. I walk (carry) my bag for an entire round that averages around four hours. Walking is very calming as you stroll down the fairway and absorb the scenery. It’s awesome. It is found that one can burn about 2,000 calories per round by carrying their clubs. It’s a great dose of exercise, both for the mind and body.

How does all this has anything to do with marketing? A lot.

Golf is one of the fastest growing sports industries in North America. Canada’s 5.95 million golfers spend $7.25 billion a year on greens fees and memberships, $2.25 billion on golf equipment and $1.73 billion on apparel. Simply walk into a pro shop and you will see that branding is huge in the game. Technology only comes second, and price last. Golf equipment companies spend millions of dollars trying to persuade you that their products will make you a better golfer… or at the very least a better looking one. The main brands include Taylor Made, Callaway, Titleist, Nike, and Ping.

Golf is a game of feel and companies have cleverly utilize this point in their marketing campaign. If a club feels good in your hands, it will induce confidence to your game. Brand endorsement by pros is one of the marketing strategy employed to reinforce this behavior and sadly it works. When you feel compelled to buy that new driver, every single year, although you know deep down that it won’t really make you a better golfer…  that to me, my friends, is marketing at its finest.