Let me start by saying, I love marketing. Taking this course has made me realize how vast the subject of marketing is. Most people think it is just sales or advertising. Those people are SO wrong. Every level of a business involves some kind of marketing – Analyzing the market and understanding what customers need, designing a product to suit those needs, determining where and how to get the product to the customers, figuring out how to make the most money out of it, creating a brand and keeping customers interested. So there you go, it’s very, very important.

My team and I chose to do our project on RIM (Blackberry). We thought it would be interesting to analyze this company in view of all the negative criticism they’ve been dealing with and to find out if it really is a dead end for Blackberry. I found it quite effective that the project was divided into 3 parts rather than one huge business plan assignment. We were able to focus on each individual section of the business plan one at a time and understand it fully. We learned to examine and evaluate the various aspects of a company’s business environment. I think that is a valuable skill as every business needs to do this before making any major decisions. It also broadened our view on Blackberry’s prospects.

The STP analysis was also pretty interesting because we were able to identify where Blackberry was going wrong. In my opinion this was one of the easier parts of the project. My favourite yet the most challenging part of the project was the final video. How do you fit 3 assignments’ worth of information into 7 minutes? But we had to and we did. The time limit definitely taught us how to pick out the most important information and streamline it to portray the intended message. I would imagine this is the hardest part of the job for filmmakers too. Choosing the right footage and cutting things out is very stressful!  However, the video project was a great outlet to voice our ideas and findings in a creative way. I think this is also a vital skill to have as a marketer. Moreover, knowing that our video was going to be peer reviewed ensured that we chose an interesting approach. We reinvented a scene from the popular TV show Mad Men and we took it all the way. With the suits, the scotch, the dramatic music and a great dialogue, we had it all! Another great thing about the project was that we were assigned teams. It was a great way to meet new people in the class and to practice working with different types of people. I lucked out with my team. Everyone had great ideas and we had no trouble working with each other.

Overall, the project was a successful learning experience and I hope to see interesting assignments like this in more of my courses in the future!

We live in an age where media doesn’t only mean TV and print. It includes everything, from social media and online videos to mobile apps and tablets. What this means is that companies have tons of options to reach consumers. Facebook and Youtube have been a great platform to reach consumers, and what with Instagram joining in on the ad game too, consumers have nowhere to hide!  I found some recent statistics online that suggest that the number of TV subscribers are starting to fall and the use of social media continues to rise. Digital media seems to be where it’s at.

I read in an article from the Business Insider that the amount of advertising money spent on TV ads by American marketers is 50% more than on digital media. This should probably change seeing as young people today spend less time watching cable TV and watch their videos and shows online instead. People are also increasingly using their phones and tablets more than their TVs. I can definitely vouch for this trend, as a student. Many of my friends, myself included, do not subscribe to cable TV. We watch all our shows online for free!

One of the most desirable means of advertising is online video. A good video will find its way around a large audience because consumers will share it amongst themselves for no cost to the company. Especially if it goes viral. Isn’t that ideal? Moreover I learnt recently that people are more likely to remember and recall brands and ads when videos have been recommended through social media channels. The Business Insider article stated that video advertising is now up to 13.2 billion monthly views in the U.S. alone. In my opinion, this is where the advertising money should be, where the consumers really are!

I recently came across a classmate’s blog about the unethical extent some companies are willing to go to in order to maintain high profits. Click here to read his post.

When I was at Safeway the other day doing my weekly grocery shopping, I read a label on the chips section that said ‘Special Offer! Get 4 for $12.’ And I thought to myself, “Great! There’s an offer on these chips. I’ll just buy 4 instead of 2 to maximize my value for money.” I thought I was saving a couple of bucks in the long run and I was satisfied with this great deal. But then while I was waiting in check out line I had the opportunity to read that bright yellow label again. And there it was. In VERY TINY font, “$3.00 per bag.”

That’s when I remembered my classmate’s blog post. Some companies are so profit oriented that they use deceptive pricing and promotion strategies to lure consumers to buy their products. In the Safeway example I just mentioned, if I had bought all 4 bags of chips, I wasn’t saving any money in the long run. It wasn’t really a special offer. It was just a brightly coloured piece of paper that made me think I was getting more for less. Obviously 4 bags of $3 each will cost me $12. That label was unnecessary and misleading. Many consumers fall prey to this sly tactic and I think it is very unfair.

In the UK, there have been quite a lot of issues regarding this promotion strategy. Several supermarkets signed a set of principles, agreeing to abstain from such practices and to use fair price promotions. However, supermarkets have still been deceiving customers with misleading offers and discounts where the bundled price is even more expensive than the individual prices! Now that’s just mean, wouldn’t you say?

So in class, we hear all about the importance of brands and how a name/logo can affect a consumer’s buying decisions. It is amazing to see how much value a brand creates for a product.  And it happens a lot more often than we realize. For example, how many of us judge the quality of a handbag based on the name engraved on it ? If there were two bags that looked exactly the same, I would probably pick the one I perceive as a better brand, like ‘Michael Kors’ over something like…”Aldo.” They’re both associated with good quality but Michael Kors is known for expensive designer wear and  high fashion. And if it makes me look rich and stylish, why not?

And then it got me wondering how many brands have actually been successful at representing the image they originally intended to. One big brand that has definitely done well is Apple. When most people think of Apple, they think of their classy ads, elegant design, and high prices. It is regarded as a desirable and trendy brand. Google too has established a great brand image. When you think of Google you think of huge banks of information and the source of everything you need to know. “Google” has even become a verb as in “Why don’t you google it?” That’s how good they are. On the other hand, there are brands that may be well-recognized but have failed to portray the image they were meant to. For example it was brought to my attention by a picture I found on the internet recently that the Pepsi brand has slowly slipped into the shadow of Coke. Rather than differentiating themselves and competing, it has become more of a second choice or a replacement for Coke. This is how brands go wrong. And it would take an amazing marketing strategy to turn it around. There’s a whole blog out there full of well-known logos and how they are usually perceived. Take a look, I think you’ll find it amusing.

So who is McDonalds’ target market? According to them it seems to be anyone and everyone, from kids to families to busy workers. It’s most likely that their regular consumers not people who are considerably health conscious. Now obviously McD’s cannot go “vegan” or “wholesome and fat free” so they’ve decided to tap into a target market that is quite underrated if you ask me – Mothers. Think about it. Who usually buys all the groceries for the household? Who decides what brand of detergent is better, and what type of bread is healthier? Who does the research to find out which diapers are best for the baby?…Moms! They have  a lot of buying power, when it comes to shopping for themselves as well as the entire family (to an extent). Research has also discovered that moms are more likely to advocate brands and pass on coupons (M2Moms).

McDs has recognized the huge potential of this consumer group and has thought of a way to encourage moms to buy more Happy Meals for their kids. Now instead of a little plastic toy, Happy Meals will come with a children’s book and a finger puppet to go with it. And not just that, the stories in these books are original and actually carry nutritional messages! The fast food chain also wants to increase advertising juice and milk as drink options for Happy Meals rather than soda. Is this going to work? Will moms really start buying more Happy Meals for their kids just because the books are educational? Maybe, if they come out with new content often and it becomes somewhat of a collector’s item for the little ones. And although it might not change how moms feel about the unhealthiness of a Happy Meal, there’s always the chance that it just might make them feel less guilty about buying them. There’s also expectations that the company just might become the country’s largest children’s book publisher for the month of November! I guess we will have to wait and see.

The over-sexualization of women in the media is no secret to the fashion industry. In this day and age, one of the major issues facing young girls is their self-esteem: which can sometimes be a direct product of external influences. From the ripe age of as young as four years old, girls are bombarded with advertisements, posters, videos, TV shows and so on that tells them what it means to be a woman: and ultimately what it means to be beautiful. Leave it to the French to keep stirring the pot of the lingerie industry with a recent 2011 campaign for an undergarments line targeted towards 4-12 year olds. The name of the company is Jours Apres Lunes: the recent ad campaign features young girls styled and dressed in a way that’s reminiscent of a Victoria’s Secret campaign. This brings me to beg the question: how much is too much? Where does the fashion industry draw the line between innovation and unethical? Some words/comments that have been thrown around to describe these campaigns were: “Inappropriate”, “Does not sit well”, “Disturbing”, and “Shocking”. The company website featured bras and panties with lace overlays, pearl embellishments, and crystal studs all over: this is all coupled with the girls of varying ages posing in a manner that some would deem provocative.

One of the pictures from the Jours Apres Lunes Ad Campaign

Since the age of modelling has rose in the past 20 years, the general public have become increasingly used to young girls posing in magazines: but in my opinion this is taking it a little too far. There are certain things that a young girl should hold sacred: their childhood and innocence, in particular. These campaigns potentially have serious implications if major North American companies such as Victoria’s Secret and La Vie en Rose adopt this trend as well.

Growing up too fast? I think yes.