Monthly Archives: October 2014

The Northern Gateway pipeline project has been postponed to 2018. The main reason for this is the opposition from the First Nation groups. The Nak’adzli have said that there will be no way they will accept, they will either take this to courts or block the project directly on land.

This land is of great importance; it has lots of valuable resources to the Nak’adzli, as well as its home to different species, trout, ducks, geese, grizzly, black bears and beavers. The biggest concern to First Nations is the possibility of an oil spill and the effect this may have in the environment.

Enbridge has said that they will try to come to an agreement with First Nations so they can continue working on the project. Some First Nations groups have already agreed;  25 First Nations groups have agreed to accept a 10% equity state in the pipeline. In the past First Nations have agreed to work with different companies and have had some positive financial growth because of this.

This is a case where an external factor is impacting the organizations business model. The time frame for the development of the pipeline had to be changed as well as discussions with First Nations have become on of the companies priorities. This social issue is stopping Gateway from developing its project.

In my opinion its good that First Nations are defending their land and natural resources, by doing this they are doing all of us a  a favor, taking care of our natural resources. Although I agree with them defending their land I think that First Nations should be more consistent with their decisions. In the past they have made alliances with mining and oil companies and their protects affect the land just as much or even more as the risks are higher.

“Nothern Gateway Pipeline Unlikely to Start Uo by 2018.” Vancouver Sun. Canadian Press, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vancouversun.com%2FNorthern%2BGateway%2Bpipeline%2Bthrough%2Bunlikely%2Bstart%2B2018%2Bproject%2Bpresident%2Bsays%2F10174245%2Fstory.html>.

There Will Be No Pipeline.” Www.vancouversun.com. Vancouver Sun, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/There%2Bwill%2Bpipeline/10122968/story.html>.

Sesame Street’s creators have just launched an initiative called Eat Brighter. This initiative is focused on promoting healthy eating habits in kids, the ultimate goal of  Eat Brighter is to prevent child obesity.

Elmo, the Cookie Monster and other Sesame Street characters will now be promoting  fruits and vegetables. The Eat Brighter initiative means that all these characters will be licensed, free of charge, to any fruit and vegetable suppliers for the next two years. Big companies like Sunkist have already become part of the initiative and Sesame workshop is recieving applications everyday. The idea is to compete against junk food suppliers using the same marketing strategy they use to promote their products.
Although studies have shown that marketing of food to children works, I am not sure if it will have the same effect on fruits and vegetables as it does in cookies, chips and cereals. Children like the taste of ” junk food ”  but children don’t usually like the taste of vegetables and fruits. This is going to be a challenge for marketing; Can it change the preference of children? Most likely it will help rise consumption of these products but the impact it will have may not be as big as expected.

The intention behind the project is good as Sesame Street is being socially responsible and helping combat one of the biggest social problems at the moment, child obesity. It gives a good impression about Sesame Street but lit also makes me think they are trying to fix their errors as t they also contributed to the problem by using these same characters to promote junk food for many years.

“Me Eat Vegetable: Cookie Monster Wants Kids to Snack Healthier.” The Guardian. The Guardian, n.d. Web. .

Social Networks have become something essential in our lives. Its rare to find someone who doesn’t have twitter or Instagram, even more rare to find someone that doesn’t have  Facebook. After Facebook’s great success many social networks were developed; Twitter and Instagram were  the most successful  and along with Facebook they have positioned themselves as the most popular social networks. Many have tried to imitate their success but have failed to do so.

This is an example of positioning. In” Positioning: The Battle of your mind”  Al Rice and Jack Trout  say that the easiest way to get into peoples mind is by being the first. Others may offer a service or product as good as yours but you have competitive advantage over them. In Twitter’s and Instagram’s case this is true but not for Facebook. Before Facebook there was myspace a social network many have now forgotten existed.

Ello is a new social network that has gained a lot of attention in the last few days. Ellos strategy has been to be the “anti- Facebook”. In the “about” section of Ello you can read “”Ello doesn’t sell ads. Nor do we sell data about you to third parties,” Its manifesto says “We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life.You are not a product.”

In” Positioning: The Battle of your mind” Al Rice and Jack Trout say that if a brand is not number one it must relate itself to the number one brand to be successful, this way it can position itself as the alternative.  Ello is not only doing this, but it is also trying to reposition Facebook by stating all the negative things about this social network and using this to their advantage by being what Facebook is not “a simple and beautiful ad-free social network”.

In contrast with Facebook, in order to be part of Ello, you must receive an invitation. During Ello’s first days they were receiving 4000 sign up requests per hour, in the last days that number has increased to 35,000 sign up requests per hour.

Rice, Al, and Jack Trout. “Product Positioning.” Product Positioning. Quick MBA, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/ries-trout/positioning/>.

Kashmir, Hill. “Ello vs. Facebook.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/10/01/facebook-vs-ello/>.

What Is Ello? ‘Anti-Facebook’ Takes Stand on Privacy, Advertising.” CTVNews. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/what-is-ello-anti-facebook-takes-stand-on-privacy-advertising-1.2028230>.