Working in a team has always been my preference when it comes to completing assignments; not because we delegate and share the tasks with others, but because I learn the most from each experience. Working in a team requires communication, patience, determination, involvement and sacrifice. All of these characteristics are very important to develop and further practice in a business and personal career and I definitely did throug the process of completing the marketing assignments.

While working in Assignment #3 and finally putting together all the research, analysis and work we had done on the company for the previous two assignements, I realized how well we had worked together as a group. Not only we managed to interact effectively in a proffesional way, but we all got along very well. We were able to share what we had all individually gained from the class and further apply it to the assignment. We used all of the tools and resources we learned in class in order to analyze Lululemon and further look for a place of improvement with a specific target market. We analyzed each of the companies 4Ps in depth and made logical and smart recommendations by applying what we learned in class.

I had an amazing time during this course and working on the assignments. It was extreemly interesting to be leraning something that seemed so theorical in the book, to then relating it to something more realistic in class and lastly applying it to a real-life company simulating a hands-on experience. I learned that marketing is not just about promoting and advertising but it is about transmitting an image while developing a sustainable brand in the market.

The definition of branding according to the business dictionary is “the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers‘ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.”

Branding is a way to ensure sustainable marketing. It is promoting to an extent that a product is remembered above and beyond its uses and offerings. After reading Nicholas Tan’s Article Magical Marketing Lessons From Disney World, I agree with what he says about how Disney World uses interaction to reinforce its brand. As he says in his article, “Disneyland doesn’t just provide rides and attractions; they provide an interactive theatre experience. It is an escape into an fairy-tale world. Their ride planners are called ‘Imagineers’ and their staff are ‘Cast Members’. Disneyland doesn’t have ‘bad days’. They make every day feel special with parades, special characters and full ride service.”

Disney World is selling much more than a sevice, it is selling experiences and memories. They have developed and enhanced their marketing mix, emphasizing on each of the 4P’s specifically to such extent that their image can be hardly harmed.

http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/02/7-magical-marketing-lessons-from-disney-world.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/branding.html#ixzz2Q0c6qZVB

According to the business dictonary, consumerism is “Continual expansion of one’s wants and needs for goods and services.”
Is enough ever enough? The more we have, the more we want. Companies know this and take advantage of it as best as they can.

In Shelley McQuade’s article I Want It All, she mentions human’s excruciating need to buy as much as they can afford and even more. She continues stating, “If I have it all does that mean someone else has to go without? Will having it all really make me happy? What if I don’t care about the “things” that are part of having it all and/or it sucks the soul out of me to get those ‘things’? Hence the reason I have shifted my thinking from having it all to having “my” all.” I completely agree with her with the fact that if we continue with the mentality of wanting it all, we will never be satisfied and therefore never happy. We must understand that “having it all” represents completely different outcomes to each individual and we must create our own in order to be satisfied.

Companies will try to take advantage of all consumers and brain wash us into making us believe that we absolutely need their product and canot live without it. But is is ourselves and only ourselves who must know to differentiate between wanting and needing.

We decide when enough is enough.
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/consumerism.html#ixzz2Q13QG3Mx