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Everyone thinks “knowledge is power”. If you have a certain knowledge, you are automatically more powerful. But unless you have a way to put that knowledge into practice, the knowledge is useless. 

In the case of our marketing class, I felt that I was able to learn a lot more through the project than just listening to lectures during classes. By learning the concept of segmentation, targeting and positioning in class and then actually applying it to a company that we all recognized and are able to relate to, I was able to fully grasp the materials. The company that my group chose was the Toronto Dominion Bank. And as a current customer of TD bank, I felt that I was able to learn a lot more about the bank through the company’s point of view.

The group that I worked with was very dynamic in personality and skillsets. Once we started working together, we realized that each one of us brings something to the table that other members of the group do not have- one team member had many creative ideas while the other was very organized and so forth-. I enjoyed working with such a dynamic group and felt that because we were so different, we were able to generate a flow of creative ideas that we were able to apply to the project. During the project, everyone contributed during meetings and completed their part by the deadline that our team unanimously decided upon.

During part B of the assignment, when we were completing the SWOT analysis, we felt that it was incredibly hard to come up with weaknesses of the company. The researching process took a long time, however we found that once the researching component of the project was completed, the following sections flowed smoothly as we understood the company well.

For the last part of the assignment, we were all dreading the fact that we had to make a video as no one in our team had any experiences in filming or editing videos. However, everyone still tried to contribute and put forth efforts to learn how iMovie works as well as contribute in skit ideas and so forth.

Overall, I enjoyed working with my team and thought that the project was a great way to enhance our learning of the concepts learned in class.

Just sometime last week, I came across a viral video on facebook that showcased a stereotype-breaking video advertisement for launching a new product to a new target segment. The video showcased young girls playing with “toys for future inventors” ² which are essentially engineering toys for girls, completely breaking into the male dominated profession of engineering. Take a look at the video below.

According to Marketing Daily, the video has “gathered almost 7 million views [and] it is a ‘hot topic of conversation on social media’”.₁  Due to the hype of the video, Goldie Blox has qualified to be one of the four finalists for a Super Bowl commercial.

As we learned in marketing class, this is an example of the first mover advantage. By selling engineering toys to girls (a market that has not been tapped in before), Goldie may have a chance to earn increasing profits. At the same time, if consumers-namely the young girls above the age of 8- decide that they do not like the product, or lose interest in the products, Goldieblox will be incurring a huge loss in profit as they have already incurred a sunk cost in research and development. The products themselves seem very interesting and the video is indeed captivating as it shows a fresh perspective. Let’s hope that the product does works out to “bridge the gap of gender disparity in engineering”₃ which is the purpose of the product, as Sterling, the founder of Goldie Blox stated in publications posted.

Sources:

¹ http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/214060/goldie-blox-goes-viral-with-girls-send-up.html?edition=67172

² http://www.goldieblox.com

₃ http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/living/goldieblox-ad-toys-girls/

“If used properly, the word “no” emphasizes planning, encourages making good choices, provides freedom and control, and recognizes that every ecommerce business great or small has limits.”₁

I absolutely agree with this statement. A simple “No.” is incredibly powerful and effective as it forces those that are involved to simply stop, evaluate and ensure that all the pieces are in place. Given that our generation lives in a culture of “Yes”, simply going along with the flow many result in dangerous decision making.

The example that was mentioned in the article was the case of a multi-channel retailer that was located in the United States. This retailer worked on a promotional flyer that was to be distributed to their potential customers during the Christmas season to get shoppers to visit the company’s store. However, just before the flyer got its final approval, a new marketing opportunity arose. A vendor, whose products were already listed in the flyer released an offer stating that if a customer bought $150 worth of products from the vendor, the customer would be able to obtain a $25 online gift card to a popular entertainment site. And this vendor wanted the offer to be included in the promotional flyer as well. Though surprisingly, the merchant said “No.”

Why would the merchant say no if the vendor even offered to pay for a part of the flyer’s production cost? By including the promotional offer into the flyer, wouldn’t customers buy more at the store thus increasing the profits of the merchant as well?

This seems like a win-win situation, so why did the merchant make the decision that he/she did?

While at first the merchant’s choice may cause us to raise our eyebrows, if we think from a marketer’s perspective and remember that a marketing plan was already created, we may see why.

The company should have a clear understanding of what they want, and if opportunities come up that do not fit with the company’s marketing goals, then no matter how attractive the opportunity may seem, the company should forfeit the opportunity, as they did in the article. While that would have been a great opportunity to obtain higher sales per customer, it is important to keep in mind the company’s marketing goals- goals that stem from the company’s overarching business goals- was to attract shoppers to the store, not to encourage shoppers to shop more.

Since the additional offer was not included in the marketing plan, it is important to understand that by adding this offering, many other variables will have to be considered as well  such as “how the online gift card would be distributed. How customers would respond to the offer, and whether the offer was best suited to attract shoppers to the store”­₁.

That being said, if the company’s marketing plan was to increase the sale per customer, and the opportunity fit into the company’s budget, the company should take advantage of the offer.

By knowing who and when to say no, the company will be able to narrow their focus and meet their marketing goals instead of diverging their marketing resources into focusing on the offer if the merchant had instead said “Yes”

Sources:

₁ http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/61082-The-Most-Powerful-Word-in-Ecommerce-Marketing

In response to Minyoung’s post on the ethical issue of marketing ads that showcase the fragile nature and weakness of Africans, often by showing an image of a malnutritioned African child that is looking weakly at the camera, staring at you as you look at the poster and often resulting in feeling a tugging at your heartstrings, as if it is your responsibility to donate to the not-for-profit group to ensure that the child will survive. This type of pity marketing, while effective is, as Minyoung stated, “distorting the image of the people of Africa beyond their control is unethical and manipulative”.

By constantly showcasing such images to guilt-trip people into donating to not-for-profit organizations, marketers achieve their ultimate goal of receiving money. However, because of such images, Africa will be forever be embedded in people’s minds as a malnutritioned, fragile, and weak country that is at a stagnated state of forever not being able to get out of the rat race of poverty, even though they may have many other strengths as well. While it achieves the marketer’s goals of obtaining money for the not-for-profit group, I believe that the marketing tactic is unethical as a leaves a false image of Africa to the people who see the advertisements. As well, because so many of these ads were used by many different groups, I believe the effect these type of ads have on people have drastically decreased as people see them everywhere and thus have become immune to them (no longer feeling the guilt-trip they may have felt when they first saw these ads for the first couple times). Instead, if marketers showcased the beauty of Africa like Minyoung said, then the messages to be conveyed across to the target markets will be much stronger because people will be able to see that Africa is indeed improving and have come a long way from the malnutrioned state and fragile nature of the country due to lack of resources and poverty such as the ad below.

Drew McLellan’s blog post on how to get customers to choose your product over a competitor’s is essentially what we have been discussing in class majority of the time– differentiation and fully understanding your customers-.

He mentioned that it is important to “go back to really understanding how you’re and what sub-set of potential customers is in perfect alignment with that distinction”_1.

 If we stop and think about the most recognized companies and brands in the world, we may notice that most of them fully understand their customers and thus in their marketing strategies, incorporate what they think will pull at the strings of the customers’ heart and move forward from there. For example, Apple’s target market are people who want a simple and clean-looking design in technology that is highly functional, and also people who want to be associated with the image of being a trendsetter.

Therefore, what Apple sells is not the product itself, but the lifestyle of being cool, hip and trendy, and the community that Apple users are automatically a part of once they buy the product.

People want to be first to have something new and popular, and Apple’s products have turned into that something.One of the many cases that show people who want Apple products are trendsetters was when the iPhone 5 was released. On CBC News, it was reported that “In London, England, some people camped out for a week to be among the first to get the phone.”2

What the Apple brand does for its users is so much more than providing a functional product to satisfy the customer’s functional needs. Apple’s product satisfies many of our generation’s psychological needs of being belonging in a certain group or community (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) as people long for a different self.

By knowing what your brand does for the consumer, all the company has to do is present the product correctly. It is all about telling a consumer what they want to be and how your product will help them achieve their desires.

_Sources:

 ₁ http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/2013/09/why-would-i-pick-you.html

₂ http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/21/apple-iphone-launch-sale.html

In the 21^st century, eating fast food has become a weekly routine for many families with children, even going as far as becoming a staple in the family’s diet. And when children think of eating out, usually one of the first images that come to mind is McDonalds. According to TIME, 40% of parents reported that their child asked to go to McDonald’s at least once a week, and 85% of parents reported that they bring their 2-to-11 year-olds to a fast food restaurant within the previous week¹.  McDonalds have become a huge part of children’s diets and childhood experiences and while the world’s number one leading fast food chain is growing substantially and earning ever-increasing profits by reaching to the children through direct marketing channels, is it ethical for them to direct their marketing activities of the proven unhealthy and processed food towards such vulnerable children?

The marketing campaigns that are generated towards children are highly deceptive, as children have not developed the cognitive ability to judge from right and wrong, real or fiction. Instead, they absorb what they see as facts (the numerous advertisements on television and online). The Happy Meals that features a toy capture’s the child’s attention and result in having the child nag their parents until they are able to go to the nearest McDonalds to collect each and every piece of toy that is in the Happy Meal collection as is the case with a mother of two from Sacramento. According to the mother, “the main reason her six-year-old daughter asks to go to McDonald’s is to get toys based on Barbie, i-Carly, Shrek, or Strawberry Shortcake. The food seems almost beside the point to the kids”². The following commercial clearly focuses on advertising the toys instead of the food. In fact, the food does not even appear to be in the advertisement.

By using such deceptive practices to entice children to buy Happy Meals, the renowned corporation may be one of the causes for such unhealthy standards of living that have risen during the past 5 years³. The CCFC campaign’s mission is to “raise healthy families by limiting commercial access to children and ending the exploitive practice of child-targeting marketing”⁴ and I fully support the campaign to cease marketing efforts directed at children.

Sources:

¹ http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/08/study-fast-food-ads-target-kids-with-unhealthy-food-and-it-works/

² http://www.cspinet.org/new/201012151.html

³ http://www.childhoodobesityfoundation.ca/statistics

⁴ http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/about-ccfc

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