Marc Werthmoeller

Last Friday I went to the Vancouver International Auto Show at the convention centre to check out the newest and hottest cars from all over the world. Well maybe not the hottest because Vancouver is not really comparable to car shows in Geneva or Detroit. However I had a really good time chatting with people, filling out surveys and even bought lottery tickets to win a brand new Mercedes. Unfortunately I didn’t win.

So how does it connect to marketing? I think such an exhibition is a great opportunity for car manufacturers and dealers to get in touch with potential clients and present their newest models all at once; and the customer actually has a great chance to compare his or her favourite type of car with those of competitors. It is all about grasping the interest of visitors whether they are simply car enthusiasts or future buyers. Such a show is probably targeted at those people who will buy a car simply because they feel emotional affected. This is when the AIDA model kicks in. Even though most people might not be able to afford high end vehicles they still will feel inspired by living out their desires for a short moment during such an event. They will more likely buy a car even though it might not be their dream car… Even I was considering buying a new one. Well when I gave it a second thought this idea evaporated as fast as it arose. I mean who doesn’t want to drive around in an Aston Martin?

It is really amazing what such a small camera can do. Couple weeks ago I went to Whistler with a few friends and bought a “Go Pro” camera from Hero. It’s fascinating. The concept is extremely simple. You attach the camera to any part of our body or equipment and you can record amazingly accurate videos and pictures.

Since last year the company made a tremendous boost in popularity because it effectively used two different communication channels. First of all it equipped several professional athletes with its camera and intensively advertised their videos on its own website and on youtube. Youtube quickly became an opportunity for everyone to share his or her own videos. The company also relies heavily on word of mouth communication/advertising.

When you go to Whistler you see more and more people wearing one of the Hero’s cameras and the general tenor is quite positive. Right now Hero has the biggest market share in this kind of industry because they were able to effectively promote its product to the public. There is not much noise going on around Hero’s communication channel because competitors weren’t quite able to come up with alternative product solutions.

Here is a recent video that I found on youtube:

So what’s up with this Bieber kid? Who likes the Biebster? In my opinion Justin Bieber is just another teeny success that will eventually fade over the years and he will go back to where he came from. Ethical marketing also comes into play because agents, parents and other people try to take advantage of mostly unprotected kids that grow up too fast and often lose their fixation to reality.  There are many other popular examples of successful teenagers who were unable to cope with their success and popularity. Often pushed by greedy agents they get all too often abandoned if their future performances don’t meet the expectations of previous ones.  Most prominent casualties are Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Macaulay Culkin.  Does Justin Bieber await the same destiny or will he be positively remembered in the next decade? What do you think?

In 2008 an agent discovered Justin Bieber on youtube and since then his success story is unlike any other. At the age of 17 he already got awarded two platinum albums and was nominated for many different awards. Recently his first concert movie “Never say never” was released in movie theatres. He is indeed building his own brand at the moment but the question will remain if he will be able to maintain its reputation over the next couple of years.

I have read Alex Joshi’s blog “Location Based What!?” the other day and completely felt the same way. The idea of promoting to individual likes and dislikes as we would say in facebook talk nowadays, is a genius idea. However the concept behind it is extremely poorly developed. The advertisements don’t appeal to users because they appear in a style that does not trigger people’s interest. As Alex said they are simply annoying. Nevertheless we remember them because our sub conscious is being exposed to it everyday and eventually gets used to it. But I don’t think that negative attitudes towards a product, even though the advertisement seems to be effective in a particular way, are any good for a company’s reputation.

To me it doesn’t make sense why facebook and its partners are not able to do a better job in their promotion. There are good examples out there. Google’s search engine not only generates desired search outcomes but also offers alternatives. Searching for a particular product triggers thousands of results related to your personal search criteria. The google sidebar effectively promotes ads that might catch the searcher’s interest by offering different solutions.

Companies should reconsider their online marketing strategies and make more efficient use of tools that already exist.

Rolex is one of a few Swiss watch manufacturers that is known for its exclusivity and vivid history. At the beginning of early 20^th century visionary Hans Wilsdorf was the first who dreamt of a wristband watch. Nowadays some people even think that watches are old fashioned and rather rely on their phones and other “high-tech” technology.

Rolex however was able to create its own culture with a unique customer base. Exclusivity and prestige pricing have remained a core strategy for the company.

Besides being an exclusive brand Rolex interestingly decided to sponsor the world of sports… but not any type of sports.  The type of sport and certain events associated with it play an important role for Rolex advertising strategy. “The partnership of Rolex and tennis dates back to 1978 when Rolex became the `official timekeeper´ of the The Wimbledon Championships. This date marks the beginning of a privileged association between two partners driven by the same pursuit of excellence.” (http://www.rolex.com/en#/world-of-rolex/sports-and-culture/tennis). They also equip selected players with their watches. Especially Swiss tennis star Roger Federer who is considered as best player of all time is promoting Rolex through his reputation and elegance. A company as Rolex has to ensure that it keeps its product quality high and only sells selectively to its customers.

Didn’t you always want to take your running skills a step further? Here is how it works:

Couple years ago Nike has successfully cobranded with Apple introducing Nike+ that linked Apple’s Ipod with a small chip inside of a Nike running shoe. Even though this technology already existed in form of speciality products tailored towards more advanced runners, Nike and Apple were able to capture a bigger scope of the market by targeting people that casually go for a run and already own an Ipod or a Nike running shoe.  Since their first cobranded product launch Apple and Nike have introduced further running related products.

In 2010 Nike built another co-branding relationship with Polar. The Polar Heart Rate Strap is the ultimate addition to an already existing product line. So here is how Nike introduced it on its news blog to its online community: “Just fit the strap snugly around your chest and take it for a spin to hear spoken feedback and see your beats per minute during your Nike+ iPod workout, …“  Isn’t that cool? Go check it out:

I am a big fan of Nike+ products. Ever since I bought Nike running shoes and connected them to my Ipod I have been out there on the running tracks more often.

My last week’s blog was about the advertisement of Heineken beer so I thought that it might be interesting to relate it to another industry, which also has been around for hundreds of years … the tobacco industry. I hope that you don’t get me wrong now and think that I am an alcoholic and heavy smoker; in fact I don’t smoke at all and I do enjoy a beer once in a while.

Both the alcohol and the tobacco industry rely heavily on their marketing strategies. Those strategies are not always free of flaws since they have to match certain lawful and ethical criteria. However both have a common advantage in their favour: the human taste. The human perception is mainly generated through our senses so our mind has the ability to form meaningful images of our environment.

Marlboro is probably among the most famous brands worldwide and is widely known for its cigarette taste and its typical cowboy ads.  So what is it exactly that makes those ads so effective? They try to use this particular human brain outlet to make a connection between the cigarettes’ taste and a desired emotional state, which is being triggered by the cigarettes’ ingredients. It is interesting that the marketing strategy has not significantly changed over the past 50 years.  The ad’s setting, usually a cowboy in the plains, is designed to release a feeling about limitless freedom. So the connection between smoking a cigarette and the desired outcome (benefits from smoking) is a key factor in Marlboro’s promotion strategy. Even though smoking cigarettes is highly addicting, Marlboro or the tobacco industry in general tries to reach its customers by simply addressing their unconscious desires.

After all there is so much more to say about those ads but I think it mostly depends on the customer’s value of benefits, which is highly influenced by perceptual taste.

While I was on facebook today I have seen someone posting this really cool Heineken ad (“Walking fridge”) which made me laugh again even though I have seen it already a couple of times because it has been around for quite a bit.

Heineken is one of the biggest beer sellers worldwide and supplies more than 200 different sorts of beers. The company was founded in 1863 in Amsterdam and since then it grew to one of the favourite beer brewers among many people around the globe. So how was Heineken able to market its product so effectively for such a long time? First of all Heineken was among a few European breweries which were able to sell their products in the North American market. As many beer drinkers know the European beer culture has been around for centuries. By delivering a beer, which exceeds many others in its tastefulness, Heineken reached out for a wide range of customers.  Their marketing strategy mainly focuses on the separation between males and females since beer is mainly targeted at the male population. They also have done a great job by creating some sort of Heineken cult around the making of the beer, which makes them unique and gives them a real competitive advantage. This cult is also being celebrated on Heineken’s webpage (http://www.heineken.com/), which really pulls the viewer into a world of beer and we are not talking about just talking about any beer… It’s a Heineken.

This week’s blog is about competitive advertisement within the car industry. Matias Rocha (https://blogs.ubc.ca/matiasrocha/) gave a great example about Audi’s competitive campaign to open people’s mind so they can think outside their stereotypes and develop new brand awareness. This is really what marketing is about: influencing people’s purchasing behaviour by initiating a positive feeling about the brand so they will stick with that particular company for the rest of their life. This is especially difficult in the car industry since a car is not a product that is regularly repurchased by the same consumer.

In recent years more and more car manufacturers have evolved and the competition became even more vigorous. Even though I am German I think that the German car industry still has the leading edge compared to most other markets and they are doing a great job in promoting efficiency, sustainability, lifestyle and design. Matias mentioned that he is “not a supporter of this kind of ads that compare and say bad things about their competitors“; However I think that it is essential to compare your own brand with others in the same rubric. By showing the advantages of your product the company is able to create additional value. Consumers who will buy or already have bought a company’s product will be appealed by those ads since they manifest their purchase decision and make them feel better since they think that their product has a slight advantage over others.

I found another ad online which is also a competitive ad about cars. This time BMW is positioned as the superior brand compared to Audi. In this kind of industry everyone is making such ads because they do not simply want to talk solely about their product. They rather want to make comparisons so the viewer gets to choose which one he likes better.

Enjoy watching:

The first time I stood on a pair of skis was at the tender age of 3 years and ever since then I got extremely excited when the first snow touched the ground.

Not long ago most people were only thinking about race or big mountain skiing and did lack the vision that skiing can mean something more. There always have been the extreme skiers but they were neither recognized by the public nor got some media attention. This image has completely changed through companies such as Red Bull, K2, Salomon and others who launched extensive campaigns to promote a new skiing lifestyle. Clothing has changed and most people do not attribute skiing as old fashioned anymore compared to snowboarding. The film industry with producers such as Matchstick Productions (“Seven Sunny Days) and Sherpas Cinema has changed people’s perception and imagination about the way of skiing.

The ladder production company has recently published a teaser of an upcoming freeski movie called “All.I.Can”. This teaser is absolutely mind blowing and once you see it you just want to get out there and do it yourself. Astonishing and beautiful images are being created with high definition and slow motion video cameras, which capture sequences that were never seen before. It clearly affects the emotional part of our perception. Most skiing companies who operate in the freeskiing sector use marketing strategies, which are tailored towards an affective response within the viewer’s mind. The new lifestyle and new possibilities are tailored towards people who are adventurous and wish to perform just beyond the ordinary.  There seem to be no limits.

More information about the movie and the production company can be found under: http://rockymountainsherpas.com/news/now-playing-allican

I hope you will enjoy watching the trailer: