Mark McCutcheon's Blog

–Blog for Comm 299–
Comm 299, a career preparation class at the Sauder School of Business has taught me a lot about the world of employment. Not only have I learned about resumes, interviews, public speaking, and techniques for applying and successfully receiving a job, but Comm 299 has also taught me a lot about myself. In particular, in the first half of the semester we participated once a week in public speaking in front of our class of 20 odd students and received helpful feedback from our T.A. I learned a lot about what I need to work on as far as public speaking goes. My clarity was not usually an issue, neither was my engagement with the audience but what I continuously worked on throughout the semester was eliminating the “umm’s” and disconnection from the audience to search for words. The second half of Comm 299 has the career fundamentals portion of the course that taught me how to for once properly put together a resume and cover letter. The most useful exercise/assignment we were required to do was the interview assignment that followed the application of a job posting from “COOL.” I learned a lot about myself in the 15 minute interview I had with the interviewee. I learned that I really need to prepare myself for interviews and think about the possible questions they may ask. Also, I have a lot to work on, such as eliminating stuttering in my speech and maintaining a professional brand throughout the entire interview.

–Blog for Comm 299–
When I was in grade 5 at about the age of 11, I did not have a grasp on the concept of hard work. Previously, in elementary school everything was relatively easy and even the odd homework assignment was completed with the aid of my parents. My fifth grade teacher was considerably laid back and devoted an hour every day of our school day to play soccer outside and the only subject we really focused on was mathematics. As I entered middle school the following year we were required to be much more individualistic and the much larger workload compared to past years was difficult for me to adapt to. To say the least, my marks that year were quite poor. Grade 7 quickly rolled around and I decided to try something new and I joined the football team. One day at practise, in frustration because of our lack of effort, my coach sat us aside and began to talk to us about the significance of hard work not only in football but in school and more importantly, in life. He was unbelievably motivating and I could sense that every player felt the emotion behind his speech. That year I worked considerably harder in school and to becoming a better athlete, and in turn saw significant improvements in both categories that year, and even still to this day.

In today’s world driven by technology, forms of communication such as mail and postcards have been nearly abolished. Instead, the internet is widely used by people and businesses as a resourceful communication network. Many large businesses have successfully adopted forms of social networking that generate a circular flow of communication and information easily within the organization. However, social media is especially essential for entrepreneurs starting small businesses. In fact in many cases, without the use of social networking devices such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr, these entrepreneurs struggle in developing a base of customers and therefore lose ample amounts of money in the short term. The use of social networking can be incredibly beneficial in many ways, one being the establishment of a brand image. Creating Facebook groups, Youtube channels etc, generate increasing customer interest and recognition of the brand. After a few months of service/production, social networking sites allow for customer feedback and suggestions for improvement and in turn benefiting the success of the company. Many people have had successes and failures in developing small businesses, however, with increasing technological advancements the use of social media has become a very important aid to many entrepreneurs and will likely continue to be in years to come.

Here is a link to a site thats suggests 5 major benefits a company has when using social networking.

Below is a video I found that provides many very interesting facts about the revolution of social media and its sudden successes. Check it out!

McDonalds has undergone much criticism over the years largely due to its stature as one of the richest companies in the world selling unhealthy fast food. About 6 months ago, they had been accused of unfairly attracting children to “happy meals” by use of toys. However recently, according to CBC news, a former franchise manager of McDonalds has demanded 17,500 dollars because he became obese while on job. The 32 years old worked about 12 years and gained roughly 65 pounds during that time. He stated that he felt “forced to sample the food each day to ensure quality standards remained high because McDonald’s hired “mystery clients” to randomly visit restaurants and report on the food, service and cleanliness.” Although this may seem like a choice he made himself, can McDonalds really afford this kind of public attraction? They have gone through enough criticism to date and are already well known for high calorie, unhealthy products. McDonalds is trying to build a reputation and image as a provider of healthier alternative meals and the last thing they need is another incident reiterating their unhealthy image.

Care to read more on this case? Click here for the link.
Also, here is a link for more about the California County banning happy meal toys.

As you already know, the 2010 winter Olympics were hosted in Vancouver British Columbia and the majority of Canadian hype revolved around the Men’s Ice Hockey gold medal win over the US. An astounding 10.6 Canadians watched the gold medal game making it the largest audience in Canadian history. As “Canada’s favourite past time” and most popular sport, advertising by TOP sponsorships with rights to advertise the event would ideally capitalize on this know fact by basing their advertising scheme around hockey. Coca Cola is an example of a TOP “vanoc” sponsor that prioritized their marketing strategies by integrating hockey into their ads. The first YouTube video below shows the emotion and Canadian spirit behind their ad which is directed towards those who truly love the game of hockey. There is a good chance a large percentage of the 10.6 million gold medal game viewers enjoyed that ad. Conversely, the second link below shows an Olympic ad made by bell. Although this ad does include quick hockey scenes, it is not nearly as entertaining and doesn’t capture my attention, primarily, in my opinion because of the lack of emotion and excitement it is missing as well as the overall tone of the ad.

Here is the Coco Cola ad. Note the emotion it presents and the anticipation it brings to the Oympic games!

Here is the Olympic ad Bell released. Note the sort of mellow tone and lacking excitement.

Several marketing strategies are used in attracting cigarettes to not only elder smokers but also to younger children and teenagers in today’s world. The various colors of the different cigarette packets attract younger prospected smokers and distinguish each company from one another by their own “brand image.” Let’s be honest, a bright red cigarette pack is much more attractive and more likely to attract a younger audience of consumers then simply a white label with black writing on it.

This idea has brought much discussion over the last few years. In attempt to deter young people from taking up smoking, ministers have generated the idea of forcing cigarette companies to package in strictly brown color packaging with only health descriptions and warnings. Deaths rates and poor health resulting from cigarette consumption are still far too high and they believe young people should be protected from the start and not be lured by these flashy products.

As a younger person myself I also have noticed the distinct attractiveness of cigarette products and although companies have done a good job of creating a brand image, it is not ethically right to create an attractive product that kills thousands of people every year.

Want to read more, here is the article I found online!

Below is a quick video about the misleading information provided on current cigarette packages and that consumers may be fooled less of the time if packing was standardized.

href=”https://blogs.ubc.ca/markmcc/files/2010/11/IKEA.jpg”>Entrepreneur; an individual that wants to work for themselves through innovation and risk of starting a business. The company IKEA has many characteristics of entrepreneur born qualities and I would undoubtedly consider it to be an entrepreneurial business. IKEA is owned by a man named Ingvar Kamprad and today, his business is far from a “small business” as it extremely successful with over 200 stores in 31 countries. Ingvar, born in Sweden, learned at a young age he could buy bulk quantities of matches and sell them for profit. With his profits he expanded to selling fish, seeds, Christmas tree decorations, pens, and pencils. When he was 17 he founded IKEA where he continuously expanded. He generated wealth by creating unique products designs that caused new demand for his products. He knew that by creating a new demand it would almost be as if he were opening a new market of demand in turn creates sufficient profits. However, every new product he brought in proposed an enormous risk to his small business as there was always uncertainty of the success his product would have. Although IKEA and Ingvar are now well known they are still continuously taking innovative risks to generate profit!

Want to read more? Click here for the link.

Here is a Youtube clip featuring Kamprad talking about innovation and risk taking, it is an Interesting watch.

The green movement has taken a large role in modern economy and many companies have created certain features of their product that are less harmful to the environment. An example is the hybrid vehicles or smart cars and their reduced emissions in efforts to decelerate global warming and other health issues. Fritos Lay has made its contribution to this movement by packaging its popular Sun Chip’s into biodegradable bags. Although, earlier last week Fritos-Lay announced they would be going back to their original bag because of an outcry of complaints about the noise created when you pick up a bag of Sun Chips in their new bags compared to their original bags. Customers noted that this excess noise adds to “noise pollution,” so consumers asked Fritos-Lay to do something about it. Customer complaints were even made into YouTube videos. Fritos-Lay will continue to package its original chip in the biodegradable bags while trying to create a less noisy product. Until then, I do not see why we don’t just put up with the noisier bags as it is much more environmentally friendly. The earth’s health should be a priority over a moment of noise from a chip bag any day.

Care to read more? Here is the link to more info.

Here’s a related video worth watching! “Melissa McGinnis with Greenopolis TV asks viewers if they think Sun Chips should keep manufacturing the new compostable bag, even though consumers are complaining that the bags are too noisy.”

In August of 2008 a $1000 Iphone application called “I am rich” was cancelled due to its lack of purpose, it was simply a screen saver of a glowing red gem to prove your apparent wealth. However, unlike this pointless pricey app the Bar Max California Edition app has a useful purpose that may be worth every dollar. The Bar Max app is to help California law students prepare for the Bar exam. The reason for this outrageous price is because another company called “BarBri” sells test preparation for this exam for 3-4 thousand dollars. Bar Max justified their price based on the fact they are just an Iphone app and could get away with selling their product for merely a quarter of the price of BarBri’s product. This app may not seem like much but it is filled with useful study materials including: 2 months of audio lectures, 1372 past exam questions, over 800 flash cards, over a 100 real practise essay questions and much more. Unlike “I am rich” and many other wealth portraying applications that have been discontinued by apple, Bar Max is a helpful tool to particularly law students of California and is worth the listed $1000

Here is a link to more information about this $1000 dollar app!

Below is a video that shows the previous 1000$ app called “I am rich” and it demonstrates how pointless it really was!!

Whatever happened to the body cleansing advertisements simply advertising a smooth, clean, body that can only be achieved by using their product? “No tangles,” or an “irresistible smell,” are among the popular slogans used in promoting body wash or shampoo products. Today, advertisements in the world are becoming more and more creative, in particular Old Spice, who is well known for “the man your man could smell like.” Old Spice seems to be taking a different approach on advertising by displaying irrelevant pictures or sayings that have absolutely nothing to do with their product. In this example on the right, Old Spice is advertising their product by a picture of a woman eating an ice cream cone. Clearly this has no connection to their body wash product they are promoting, but it is unique and humorous. What other company has ever advertised their product in this way? No one I can think of. As mainly a men’s product, Old Spice is attracting men to their product with this quite practical ad of a woman. Although it is undoubtedly irrelevant, it is a great way of attaining their reputation and establishing their brand image. 

  Below is another example of a popular old spice ad that is not entirelyrelevant to the product but, regardless, is still a clever approach to advertising. Take a look!