A-M-A-N-D-A

To all my univesity peers out there; have you realized that the things your father sometimes, or usually buys, isn’t something that is very useful? or that the thing he buys would be more useful to you than it is to him?

that is what fathers do, i have come to see. our fathers or the past generation, widely known as baby boomers, have not the experience and knowledge of technology and advertising today like we do; and they are more easily sucked into things that really, they do not need!

Whereas in marketing we learn to take the good with the bad. to analyze advertisements, go behind the scenes, critize a firm’s supply chain managment and learn from another firm’s marketing success. On the other hand, our fathers, the very people who tell us the importance of money, saving, getting a good job, etc…  how ironic is it that every once in a while, or everyday, depending on who what type of person your father is; buys something that is very high-tech but really, all he ever does with it doesn’t do it any justice.

My father just recently bought a new iPad. Now there has been many opinions about the iPad. you either hate it or love it. The same thing can be said about Apple in general. My dad, and me to tell the truth, are both big apple fans. HOWEVER, the day my dad bought an iPad was the day i began to question him AND myself, and the effect Apple was having on us, and generally the whole wide world.

The thing is, do we REALLY need another ipod? another iphone? another ipad that is basically either a very large itouch or a very light and less useful macbook?

Do we need all the things that we see on tv?

there is a difference between what you WANT and what you NEED. A BIG DIFFERENCE.

We as commerce students will in the future be the ones to decide what the consumers of the world will buy. In a way we are our own hypocrites.

I had a recent dicussion with a friend who is, if there is a simply way to put it, very anti-commerce. In a way i do understand how she feels. The world today is a commercialized society. We hear that all the time in our commerce classes, commerce conferences, commerce networkings. In the business world it is a great thing. To the everday man and woman, it isn’t.

What do i think? I remain neutral. I choose to learn commerce, but not let commerce control me.

that is all.

Remember what people say about high school not counting for anything in the future? that everything you put your heart and soul into – Maths, Geography, Science, History;  All of that don’t matter when you begin to look for a job, hoping to land a high paying career and live in the top floor of one of those high rise buildings you see on tv all the time.

You think everything will change when you start University; only to find that people nowadays are saying the same thing about university that they did about high school. How your bachelor’s degree will not amount to anything; and that it is your master’s degere that matters. To become a successful Businessman, Doctor, Lawyer, Psychatrist you must at least complete your masters and even after that, consider accomplishing your P.H.D.

Think about all that time spent! Nay, All that MONEY spent! and here you all are now trying to gradually pay off your university debt in a couple of years time. What will you do when the time comes for you to do your masters? your P.H.D?

You may be sucked into the stories of people unable to find a job after graduating from their first 4 years of University. May stress about which University you will apply to for your masters even before finishing your bachelors at your current university.

I, on the other hand, choose NOT to focus on these things, but take my time to enjoy wha is now my second year of University in UBC. In a way, i think of Unversity as a huge corporation. Especially private universities like UBC who are Profit organizations. Of course they want motivating, idealistic students to nuture and live up to their expectations and reputation. They also want money.

I find it troubling when i access my bank account sometimes. Where i am shocked each and every time by the amount i have spent. Everywhere you go in UBC you spend money. It is like a small city. There are restaurants, commonly known as UBC FOOD SERVICES; who price their products twice the amount it is worth anywhere else. You have printers that don’t print double-sided, forcing you to spend more on paper than you would like to. Even worse are the professors who demand that you print only on One side Double spaced with a Title page, Appendix and everything.  Not to mention the lack of water fountains around campus, leaving you with no choice but to buy water bottles for $2 each.

University is Important. I understand that. I wouldn’t be here if i didn’t. But i also do know that Universities are profit-based organizations who make money out of the students taht attend; more so if you are in faculties like Commerce and Engineering; where you are expected to pay for the construction of new buildings even if you may not be around when it is finally completed. I am not saying that it is a bad thing. But it does make me feel that, if so much of your money is being spent on your first 4 years of University education; it would be a good thing to actually use that education. Don’t rush straight into your masters. Don’t let what you learnt vanish into thin air.

The future is always undecided.

Vancouver Fashion Week ran from Nov 2 – Nov 7, ending on a pleasant sunny Sunday morning. There were Cameras flashing, models strutting their walk, designers smiling and the audience clapping with delight. Without a doubt, Vancouver Fashion Week was an extreme success, and everybody who came and participated will already be planning their next visit in 2011 for the spring/summer collection. I was a volunteer in this amazing event, and i would like to share my experience of it with you, both from a personal and a marketing perspective.

Not all things the end well start well. The chaos backstage; which i was a part of, will be to this day kept behind the scenes. Many people would be surprised at how much effort, time and evergy is spent every minute of every day getting everything prepared so that when the show starts, there will be no complications. And trust me, up to the last second before the first model got on stage and began each show, there was always something that had to be done, changed or corrected.

I was a backstage and a front door helper for all of Vancouver Fashion Week. Fashion has always been my passion and being able to help out was by far one of the most amazing experiences that i have had in my entire life. I was responsible for so many errands; like finding the suitable models, fitting those models, tapping shoes (not as easy as it sounds by the way), steaming outfits ( a very careful task), handling the designers clothes, ensuring that the designers were properly attended to, quick changing the models when the runway started…

All of these things were always fun and interesting, but i must admit that at times i felt the strain and pressure on me as i fought hunger and fatigue.

Admist all the craziness; i thought about how this related to marketing. Many people think of marketing as the part where you promote a good or service through the media, using advertisements, commercials, brochures and many more. They do not consider what goes behind the scenes.  In other words, they are not aware that marketing also involves the “Place” section of the Marketing Mix- the 4 P’s. I myself was not aware of that untill i started Marketing (Comm 296) in my second year of the Sauder School of Business. Being involved backstage during Vancouver Fashion Week make me realise and think of a lot of topics talked about in Marketing.  From the backstage settings to who would sit where in the audience; everything had a marketing aspect to it. I had to connect with the designers backstage, remember the models that the designers wanted and make sure that the models knew their order, what clothes and shoes they were wearing, and how many changes of clothes and shoes they had. This took a lot of communicating with almost everybody involved in fashion week, from another volunteer to the director of the event. Everything had to go through someone – it was the supply chain of management.

Through my experience in Vancouver Fashion Week, not only did i get to live out my passion (a commerce student aspiring to work in the fashion industry and in the future open her own boutique); but i also learnt firsthandedly; so much about the supply chain of management that is widely talked about during our Marketing classes.

For those who are into fashion, who heard about Vancouver Fashion Week and went to the shows, or wanted to go to the shows but werent able to; even those who had no idea that this was going on; come and check out all the glamour that was Vancouver Fashion Week by clicking on these links below! Get to know the designers who make Vancouver Fashion Week such a success, and enjoy viewing the fantasic collections as well as the poise and elegance of the models on the runway.

http://www.vanfashionweek.com/

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Photos+Walk+catwalk+Vancouver+Fashion+Week/3786591/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Models+show+vibrant+styles+Vancouver+Fashion+week/3795847/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Fabulous+designs+from+Vancouver+Fashion+Week/3773569/story.html

Nestle is one of my all time favorite brands. It is a reminder of my childhood and a brand i wake up to every morning. From the tiny bites of kit-kats to the munching of nestle cereal that gives the milk that goes with it a touch of sweetness; Nestle has achieved what all marketers’ long-term goal is – Turning me into a loyal consumer of Nestle products.

Nestle’s product mix is vast and delicious. Out of all of Nestle assortment of goods a few of my favorites are:

MILO. SMARTIES. NESTEA. MAGGI. KIT KAT. HAAGEN DAZS. AFTER EIGHT.

I can still picture myself as a young child, sipping my milo in the morning, slurping a bowl of maggi insant noodles for lunch, and taking a long awaited bite of a kit kat in the afternoon after coming home from schoool.

I just discovered recently that Nestle, although many of its goods are avaiable worldwide; there are still a number of products that are specific to a certain country. There are different product lines of Nestle in North America and Asia. The Comm 296 Marketing Course has taught me that this sort of expansion and product variance is very common in relatively large and growing companies like Nestle where increasing profits, sales and brand image is concerned. However,  as stupid as it sounds, i had no idea about any of this before my marketing course. Living my whole life in south east asia; in countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia; where all of Nestle products were the same; i gave no thought to the possibility that; when i moved to Canada a year ago to attend UBC; Nestle’s products offered there would differ to what i was normally used to in Asia.

A major product line that Nestle differed in was the Cereal line. It surprised me that in Canada, Nestle did not have a lot of variety when it came to cereal. They focused more on the chocolate and beverage line. In Asia however, particularly in the countries i lived in; Nestle had a large market share on the cereal line; where they were responsible for cereals like:

COCO CRUNCH. HONEY STARS. MILO CEREAL.

Marketing is all about creating, capturing, delivering and communicating value to customers. Sellrs are constantly trying to build products that are distinct from their competitors. Products that will capture the consumer’s attention. Their goal is to build customer loyalty, and retain those customers who do become loyal to their product(s).

I have lived in Vietnam for over 8 years. Being an avid shopper, i have noticed a lot of marketing strategies through experience, communication with salespersons, family, friends and searching the web. Some techniques are sneaky; and i have learnt to become aware of it over time. Not everyone plays fair. After all, the bottom line is for the seller to make a sale, gain profit and growth.

Here are a couple of Marketing strategies that you may not have noticed when you go shopping in a mall, a small convenience store, or a marketplace.

1) ESCALATORS

Ever wondered why the two escalators beside each other both either go UP or DOWN? and that you have to walk one whole round to use the escalator on the other side? This is a Marketing Strategy to force us customers to walk around the mall, so that they will look at the products they walk past more. Customer are more likely to consider and buy a product that they are forced to see more and more.

2) PRICE DISCOUNTS

Stores are constantly having discounts. There’s summer sales, winter sales, end of season sales, promotions, anniversary sales. The list goes on. What you may not know is that SOMETIMES, not always; stores would BUMP UP their prices before they give discounts.  For example, a shirt that originally cost $50, is given a 50% discount, technically lowering the price fo $25. In some department stores, they would first scale up the original price of $50 to say, $60. Only then will they give the 50%, lowering the price to $30 instead of the $25 it was supposed to be in the first place.

3) DISPLAY OF PRODUCTS

This is very common in the marketplace, where stores are privately owned and bargaining is allowed. In order to draw customers in, sellers would display only a few of the same items outside. This makes some customers think that the products are in scarce supply, implying that the products are very popular. Crowding of the same products is not a good marketing strategy. People are more likely to pass by a store with a large abundance of products than they would a store with limited and selected products.

There are a lot of other strategies that marketers use to draw customers, in these three i found were the most intriguing, and unexpected.

So next time to you are near an escalator, remember; they aren’t just functional; they also have a marketing purpose!!!

Thanks for reading A-M-A-N-D-A

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The current months and recent years we have been under a great recession. I call it a pain in the ass. Prices have gone up; and my monthly allowance has gone down. The fact that I do not work make it all the more difficult to spend money that I receive from my parents. I am under a lot of pressure to get high grades, graduate with honors and find a well-paying job. all this talk about the recession kind of makes me feel like no matter how hard I try in University; there is a chance that finding a decent job will not be as easy as people say it is when we have a business degree.

Therefore I went online in search of jobs that i may want to consider in the future. Instead i found something more interseting; Jobs that people DO NOT want to consider doing. With the advancement in technology and constant changes in the marketplace; a lot of jobs have become obselete. The link below mentions the top 10 obselete jobs that you do not want to be caught doing in this time and day.
<http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2408-Job-Info-and-Trends-10-Obsolete-Jobs-We-Love/?SiteId=cbmsnjm42408&sc_extcmp=JS_2408_jobmod”>

Written by Rachel Farrell, as a special to CareerBuilder; titled “10 OBSELETE JOBS WE LOVE”

IT IS ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING…

HAVING JOBS LIKE THESE IS A SIGN THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE LAID OFF.
RECESSION = DEPRESSION.

Here are the ‘would be’ and ‘only do this if you are looking for unemployment’ jobs:

1. Elevator Operators
2. File Clerk
3. Iceman
4. Inspectors, Testers, Samplers, Sorters and Weighters
5. New Vendors, Street Vendors, Store to Store Salesman
6. Machine Feeders and Offbearers
7. Milkman
8. Paper goods machine setters, operators and tenders
9. Switchboard operators
10. Typist

And there you have it.

One of the most important and ongoing piece of advice on how to be successful in the future is that you have to MARKET YOURSELF. In other words; sell yourself to corporations in a way that make them value you more than other applicants. This is achieved through building up an impressive resume, a professional appearance, a concise cover letter, a sociable nature and confident character.

Likewise, hollywood stars sell themselves by constantly getting publicized in various types of media, and often what they get publiczed for is not neccessarily good. Stars like Linsay Lohan and Paris Hilton have been splattered over the tabloids with what can only be described as appalling and shocking to ‘what? again? and ‘that’s so lindsay’. After a while all the scandals that happened between these oh so glamourous starts become not so scandalous anymore. One might say that if a star manages to stay away from scandals, he/she will never become famous. Break-ups. Divorces. Affairs. Drunken nights. All of these make for very effective marketing.

Using the four P’s; the stars are able to sell their
PRODUCT (i.e. their love life, their body) at the right
PRICE (magazines are usually affordable to the majority of society and there are TV almost everywhere).
They are usually in the correct
POSITION (they are at the right location at the right time) which allows for a lot of
PROMOTION (their face gets displayed all over the media within minutes).

Now remember that this only applies to hollywood stars. You dont get famous without receiving any benefits along the way. Most people expect scandals from Stars. They WANT scandals. The public would like nothing more than a little naugthy to spice up their otherwise mudane and normal lives.

However, normal people like us would never get away with something like that when we are looking for respectable jobs. The goal of selling yourself is not to sell yourself TOO much; meaning do not put inappropriate pictures on your Facebook because believe me; employers nowadays aren’t like your everyday joe; they know technology and one of the first places they will go when considering your application is your FACEBOOK PAGE. Market yourself in a way that says; Im normal, but Im different from the others.

Do not try and get away like those people in Hollywood. Your best bet is to be yourself. be real. Get real.

People today have multiple leisure activities available to them. There’s bowling, drinking, partying, hanging out in nice and chic coffe shops, or spending the day at the mall. Another favorite is going to the movies.

Movies today have gone a long way. From black and white to color, from 2-D to 3-D and maybe even to 4-D in the future. The large variety of movies allows the public to nick and pick out what they want to watch. Chick-flicks for girls, Action for guys, Cartoons for kids, and romance for couples.

All movies go through a long process of screenings and marketing schemes that will hopefully increase their ratings and showings in movie theatres. A common maketing scheme is to show a ‘preview’ of the movie before it airs in theatres or comes out on dvd. A good preview of a movie is usually what determines the movie’s success. People generally like to stick to the genre of movies that they are familiar with, and they do not tend to watch movies that are completely different to the genres they they usually watch. Previews give the audience an insight into what the genre of the movie is, who is acting in it, who the director is and bascically a summary of the movie’s plot. It targets both people who may or may not like the genre of the movie. For those who do like the genre of the movie, it gets them excited and pumped up for the movie’s opening.  For those who aren’t a fan of the particular genre; the way the preview is made and the specific scenes of the movie it contains aims to make those people think; “this isn’t the type of movie I usually watch, but somehow it seems interesting! i might give it a try!”

Therefore previews are never more than 2-3 minutes or less than 30 seconds. Good marketing tactics make previews that are 1-2 minutes long. These previews puts the movie in a little nice box where it, in the given time, manages to reveal parts of the movie that will amuse their audience, but not too much that their audience are able to obtain a clear view and opinion of how the movie is going to be; and therefore may decide instantly whether or not they are going to watch it.

I am the type of person who judges movies very quickly. I place a lot of importance on previews and usually use them, instead of ratings or movie critics remarks; to decide whether i would watch the movie or not. I like being held in suspense after watching a well-made preview that tells you just enough to make you want to know more.

In the year 2007, I watched my first preview of a thai movie. It was during one of my trips to thailand, in the city of bangkok where, while waiting for my parents in a shopping mall, i started watching a preview of a local thai movie on one of the big television screens displayed in the sitting area.

The thing about thai previews that I had never known before, is that they actually tell the complete plot of the movie. Their previews are a little longer than most hollywood previes, ranging from 3-5 minutes. In that 3-5 minutes, I saw what I imagine was the whole movie, but of course with a whole chunk of an hour cut off.

the first thing that came to my mind was; ‘whaaaaaaaaaaaat?’ I was astounded and a little amused at how explicit and detailed the preview was. The next day I met up with a friend who had lived in bangkok for several years. I mentioned the preview i had watched yesterday and heard a response of laughter, a lot of nodding of the head and eventually her saying; ‘Yes, I wasn’t used to it at first, but all thai previews are like that.’

Apparently, thai previews are meant to show the whole movie, but in a very short amount of time. To this day i am still not so sure why; and though I am sure that thai movies are very interesting and fun to watch; I do not completely understand how showing the whole movie in the preview is going to make the audience want to watch it more. In any case it could put off the audience if the movie doesn’t look good.

One thing’s for sure, thai previews are one of the most honest maketing schemes i know.

YOU’VE seen advertisements of almost everything our economy has to offer. Cars. Hair products. Food. Beeer. Clothing. You barely notice them as you go by, due to its sheer commodity and normality. As you’re driving in your car or walking down the street they seem to you as nothing more than background scenery, combined with the shadows of the trees and mountains of British Columba.

Nevertheless there are times when you are caught off guard by advertisements so unique; so explicit, that you stop to stare at it in wonder, intrigue, admiration and sometimes even shock. Nevertheless these are the type of advertisements that the public love.

All of what i’ve written so far however, isn’t what i want to fous on. What i do want to focus on aren’t advertisements you see in your daily lives, but those that you don’t see. Everybody knows that some products are funner to market than others. People would not normally want to create advertisements for products like toilet cleaners and dishwashing soap. These products admittedly do not offer much to work with.

Where creativity lies are in products  that, for example, promote safe sex. You know what i’m talking about.

Condoms are a really controversial product. They are banned in certain countries, and worshipped in others. But one thing’s clear; and that is that they’re responsible for a few of the most interesting, humorous and memorable advertisements today.

Unfortunately, many a times those advertisements never make it past paper.  But fortunately, thanks to a thing called the internet, we are able to find anything, anywhere and anytime. I found this list of ‘advertisements you’ll never see’ on the webiste http://2leep.com. Most of the advertisements are from the brand DUREX. Do not take them seriously, for that isn’t their purpose. Their purpose to the create entertainment and laughter for their audience, and likely for the creators themselves as well.

I saved my favorite for last.

Ever felt so bored at home that you decide to look up interesting facts on the internet that you think will perhaps make you a little more interesting too? maybe look up the ten most disgusting tatoos, or the ten most amazing architectural buildings. Lucky for me, i happen to feel bored all the time and those kind of interesting facts/images are not a much of a interest to me anymore. Therefore i decided to go for something more random; say for example, interesting facts about a banana.

Now i hope you realise that i didnt actuali think topic of this myself, i happened to chance across it when i was searching the net for other fun and interesting things to do. which at that time, all didnt appear as interesting as the banana website.

So here’s what i found out about bananas. I can’t gaurantee that some of it is true but that can be something you guys, if you’re ever feeling bored yourself and just not in the mood for studying, can find out yourself!!

FACT NO1

BANANA TREES ONLY GROW BANANAS ONCE. AFTER THAT THEY ARE JUST NORMAL BORING TREES.

FACT NO2

THE SMALL BANANAS YOU ALWAYS SEE ARENT REAL BANANAS. THEY ARE CHEMICALLY MODIFIED BANANAS.

FACT NO3

DUE TO FACT NO2, BANANAS ARE SLOWLY BECOMING EXTINCT. THEY ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES.

FACT NO4

BANANAS ARE GREAT FOR HANGOVERS. (Now this would be a ‘try it yourself’ kinda thing)

FACT NO5

EVER WONDER WHY BANANAS DON’T HAVE SEEDS IN THEM? ALWAYS THOUGHT BANANAS NEVER HAD SEEDS? WONDER NO MORE! THEY REALLY DO! THEY ACTUALLY ORIGINALLY LOOK LIKE THIS!

THEY DONT LOOK SO APPETIZING NOW DO THEY?

Now here’s a fact i’ve added myself. Im sure a lot of you are already aware of it but for those that aren’t, here you go!!

p.s. i know it may not sound as interesting as the facts above but hey,

AMANDA’s FACT

BANANA MAKE EXCELLENT SMOOTHIES. THEY ARE ESSENTIAL FOR ANY SMOOTHIE BECAUSE OF THEIR THICKENING QUALITIES. SMOOTHIES WITHOUT BANANAS TEND TO BE LESS CREAMY AND WHO IN THE WORLD DOESN’T LIKE THINGS THAT ARE CREAMY?

MAY I GET AN AMEN!!

That’s all of today!!

THANK FOR READING!