For our term project we decided to choose Mountain Equipment Co-op.  We were led to this decision by a simple google search that showed us that MEC had recently changed its logo by dropping the mountains.  As seen below.

The news articles associated with this search showed us that there was some public outrage from this change and our group could only ask why?

After doing some research we found out that MEC was reinvigorating itself with a completely new business strategy and we know that this was the company we wanted to choose.  Our first assignment focused on MEC’s roots.  A place for outdoor enthusiasts to find sustainable products for almost anything associated with the outdoors.  This was the MEC we all knew.  However, we found out that MEC, financially speaking, was not doing to well.  In order to fix this MEC was planning on repositioning itself in the market while still remaining loyal to its current member.  With the increased Urbanization of the Canadian population MEC is starting to carry yoga, cycling and running gear more useful for its new demographic.  All this is associated with new products and promotional strategy which we found incredibly useful and interesting for our project.

Overall, our team was very good.  We all participated equally while everyone was welcome to facilitate conversation while brainstorming for our project.

Today the world of Marketing is much different than it was a decade ago.  Now companies have multiple platforms to reach their consumers these include tv spots, billboards etc.  In this new age companies are now more frequently using other platforms such as twitter, facebook, instagram, google + all other forms of social media to reach their consumers.

Personally, as a person who does not use these sites or visit them often I have alway questioned the value of this type of marketing.  So this blog post will try and summarize the benefits of social media marketing.

The main purpose of social media marketing is to gain website traffic or attention through different platforms of media.  The strategy behind this is quite interesting as efforts are focused on created content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it.  If this is successful a corporate message can be sent from user to user and resonates stronger as the message comes from a third party source as opposed to the company itself.  Similar to the old word of mouth technique, social media marketing is a form of earned media.

One of the strongest arguments for social media marketing is that it is accessible to anyone with internet.  Also it is a really inexpensive way to implement marketing campaigns.  Finally and most importantly is the fact that people love using it and will continue to do so as Lance Brown outlines in his blog.

This is why people value these social media sites so much and why their IPO’s have been so successful.

Market research is a key pre requisite to any marketing decision a firm makes.  In the past marketing research was mostly conducted through focus groups, looking at census’s, interviews with individuals and surveys.

Later, with the progression of technology it moved onto scanner data and loyalty programs which enabled firms to recognize what their consumers were purchasing.

More recently, over the past few years technology has dramatically increased and now a lot of market research can conducted without any knowledge of the consumer.  A good example of this is Google as it is able to make a profile of you based on what you have researched on the search engine.   One of the issues I have with this is that there is no trade off of value between consumers and marketers.  For example, when looking at scanner data or loyalty programs at a grocery store, the consumer is trading his or her information for cheaper prices.  With google the consumer is not receiving any benefit but Google is able to create an in depth profile of its user.

Moreover with technological change we now have consumer information stored electronically and its security can be questionable.  An example of this is Playstation as in 2011 over 77 million consumers personal data was “breached” by an external source.  Luckily credit card information was encrypted however all other information about Playstation users would be accessible by these hackers.

Technology has made it easier for marketing research.  Still there are a few ethical questions that do arise with how consumer information is obtained and the security of that information .  I feel that consumers in general need to be more informed about todays marketing research techniques in order to understand what information they are giving to these firms and how some of their personal information is stored.

As a former athlete it is hard to think about the study of marketing without thinking of Nike.  A month ago Nike celebrated its 25^th anniversary of its ‘ Just Do It’ marketing campaign. The following post summarizes and emphasizes Nike’s marketing greatness throughout the years.

Not many know that in the mid 1980’s Nike fell from its position as industry leader.  They had badly miscalculated the aerobics boom giving their competitors an opportunity to capture and develop part of Nike’s market share.  In order to regain top position Nike worked on a new campaign in order to differentiate itself from its competitors.

This began with Michael Jordan’s commercials and the development of the most popular shoe in modern history, the Air Jordan.

Jordan

Following this series starring the greatest basketball player of all time.  In 1989 Nike’s cross training business exploded by once again branding itself with a famous athlete.  This time it was dual athlete Bo Jackson, and the “Bo Knows” campaign which vaulted them once again to the top of the industry and have yet to lose that position since.

Bo Knows

In the 90’s Nike decided to expand and dominate new markets in attempt to further their global reach.  Naturally, Nike signed several individual Brazilian soccer players and a bunch of other national soccer teams.  Furthermore, in 1996 Nike Golf partnered with the unproven young golfer Eldrick  “Tiger” Woods.  Who would later become one of golf’s best and one of the most polarizing sports figure today.

Ronaldhino

Today Nike has somewhat changed its approach to solely focusing on partnerships with one athlete. Nike has somewhat stepped away from the big athlete, big ad strategy that was so successful for them before.  Now, with the development of technology Nike has once again dominated their industry through marketing through viral culturally relevant videos.  Nevertheless, Nikes marketing strategy through the years have allowed them to dominate their industry.

Here are some of my favourite new advertisements by Nike.

Greatness

Do More

Notice the flavours and product design

An example of a product that participates in unethical marketing is E-Cigarettes.  Better known as electronic cigarettes they are battery operated nicotine inhalers that are currently increasing in popularity, especially among the younger demographic.  According to Huffington Post this new form of cigarette is expected to bring in $1.7 billion in U.S sales this year.

Not only have studies found E-Cigarettes to be unhealthy, but Big tobacco companies have also marketed their product towards younger people by manipulating loopholes in current legislation.

Firstly, unlike other tobacco products E-Cigarettes can be sold to minors in many states in the US.  Luckily, in Canada the sale of E-Cigarettes to minors was banned in 2009.  Unfortunately, minors are still able to purchase the product online legally.

Secondly, cigarette companies are directly marketing E-Cigarettes to kids.  An example of this is their product flavours.  I was able to find vanilla, cherry, strawberry and cookies and cream milkshake flavoured E-Cigarettes.

Finally, laws regulating cigarette ads do not yet apply to E-Cigarettes.  As E-Cigarettes are not legally classified as cigarettes they are allowed to air commercials on TV.  Big Tobacco companies are making use of this as industry advertising increased to 20.8 million in 2012 compared to 2.7 million in 2010.

In my opinion the actions of the E-Cigarette industry has been unethical.  I believe that the E-Cigarettes could be successful with its ability to market itself to current smokers as E-Cigarettes are able to be smoked indoors, could lead to greater savings to current consumers and also could be healthier than regular cigarettes.  Instead in order to increase their bottom line, big tobacco companies have elected to cease their opportunity with the current lack of regulations in order to further target young adults in hopes of enthralling them in the tobacco industry.