“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”  — Phil Jackson

It has been an absolutely amazing semester working with my marketing team. Not only have we worked cohesively together, I’ve very much enjoyed getting to know our team of four incredible individuals.

The portion of teamwork that was incorporated into this course tested our tools of cooperation, efficiency, and communication that is imperative in group work. When I was first placed into my diverse group of five, I was skeptical as to how our conflicting schedules, personalities and strengths would be able to tackle the three marketing assignments. This course emphasized the significance of familiarizing yourself with your teammates, and stressed the ability to evaluate which individuals portrayed strengths in areas where others did not. These elements were vital when distributing roles among the team members and served as a strong basis to formulating the three parts of marketing plans. Although challenging at times when establishing which member is correctly completing what task, working with the same team throughout the semester taught us how important resilience and effective communication was.

Watch the video and learn about ARC Initiative!

This volunteer opportunity hits very close to home for me. Growing up in China, Korea, Cambodia and Kenya, I witnessed first-handedly real poverty around me. It is a major reason that motivated me to attend Sauder School of Business. A few years ago I participated in a humanity effort in my home, Nairobi, Kenya. In this project a group of people and I provided over 1,000 residents with meal rations. It was far from the perfect project, but it budded into my hopes of creating skill-based entrepreneurship opportunities in Africa.

This all came about when our group was distraught to find that we could not make as concrete an impact as we had hoped. The food subsidies only fed the residents for about one or two days, while they starved for the rest of week. Moreover, the food recipients excessively depended on the feeding program, which did not eventually motivate them to improve their lives on their own.

I realized that the program, along with countless others, only temporarily relieved the real source of the problem and was not a long-term solution. This experience allowed me to reflect how to assist the poor in a more effective and sustainable manner. In my opinion, the poor need to be equipped with knowledge and skills, in order to become productive members of the society.

One of the many reasons I chose Sauder School of Business is that I feel my education can equip me with knowledge and skill to accomplish my goal. The business courses will allow me to get in touch with the practical side of setting up and running a training program. Discussing about social entrepreneurship in COMM101 class allowed me to further develop my ideas. My dedication can only grow at this point, and I cannot wait for what ARC initiative has to offer.

Source:
http://arcinitiative.com/story/

Every screen in the store, from laptops to the massive screens on the walls, is touch-sensitive.

On the heels of the company’s newest operating system – Windows 8 – and the launch of its new Surface tablet, Microsoft opened its first store outside United States in Toronto, Canada.

In order to differentiate and highlight their customers experience, the store is designed to be entirely touch-sensitive. Although it is a novel concept, Microsoft is not the first one to heavily invest in retail locations. Samsung and Apple, the leaders in mobile space, have already adopted this strategy.

Microsoft is simply attempting to emulate the success Apple has had with their retail stores. Even though Microsoft has yet to develop a full line of innovative products that Apple has, the technology giant is waking up to the market opportunities of new inventions, such as tablets. However, if the company want to gain a competitive advantage against Apple, they need to establish a point of difference.

Companies’ motivation to maximize profit leads to advancement in technology. Ultimately, customers are the biggest winners in this scenario.

Additional Link: Microsoft or Apple? You decide!

Image Reference:
http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/467/technology/article5344575.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/20121115-ppower119.JPG

Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/new-microsoft-retail-store-aims-to-establish-cool-stuff-factor/article5353443/

Majoring in finance and accounting, Sauder alumni Dobrzanski was preparing for a career in corporate management accounting; however his soulful love for indie music significantly shifted his career path. [1]

Dobrzanski shared his entrepreneurship experience with the COMM101 class. In his presentation, Dobrzanski discussed the problems he encountered and how he managed to tackle them along the way. His inspiring success story certainly promotes a degree of self-reflection.

Like any confused undergraduate student, I truly hope university is the place where my passion will be discovered, nurtured and pursued.

Growing up, I have always enjoyed making art. Prior to attending Sauder School of Business, I was also accepted to several reputable art schools. Nevertheless, as a realistic dream catcher, I was terrified of failure, uncertainty and disapproval from others. Therefore I chose the safer path — the debatably more valuable Business degree.

Dobrzanski’s story made me realize, the only ways to live a vivacious life with no regrets are to explore and pursue what makes your heart beat, because passion differentiates a great career from good careers.

The principle to success is simple: You must quit inventing excuses that stops you from taking actions.

Image Reference:
http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/News/2012/~/media/Images/News/Fall%20campaign/Tom_Dobrzanski_body.ashx

Source:
[1] http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/News/2012/How_a_BCom_led_to_a_career_in_indie_rock

Twitter is a valuable digital PR tool. It allows you to reach brand advocates and talk directly to customers. Twitter is also a great way to build your community and engage with various influencers, media and bloggers online.

But, as with any real time digital communications tool, it’s easy to forget you’re communicating to a large public. The misuse of Twitter can damage your brand’s image and place your business in controversy.

Consider the recent derogatory tweet sent by Khalif Mitchell of the BC Lions. The tweet, which contained a racial slur, resulted in the CFL fining Mitchell.

The article discusses useful tips when using live-time social media tools for your business, including:

1. Draft a practical and flexible social media policy.

2. Offer media and social media training to the employees. 

3. Ask employees to set up separate professional and personal accounts.

Twitter is a great tool that allows companies to “humanize” their brand. However, it is important to think ahead and have the right policies in place to maximize the potential of every tweet while avoiding any negative impact.

Source:
http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/social-media/twitter-era-nothing-record

Image Reference:
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.999690!/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpeg

In spite of Microsoft’s success in selling software, the company struggles on the internet market. After numerous unfruitful attempts,  in the summer of 2011, Microsoft finally purchased Skype to ensure its significance in the market. Microsoft bought the internet telephone service for $8.5 billion, more than triple of Skype’s worth ($2.75 billion).

Therefore expectedly, this Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it will discontinue its Messenger service in all countries, except mainland China, asked its users to make the transition to Skype, merging the accounts and contacts for both services.

In my opinion, Microsoft has made a clever strategic move for the following reasons:
[1] Skype offers Microsoft a large customer base which gives the company a competitive advantage over other major competitors (such as Google).
[2] Windows Live Messenger has been on decline since other competitors joined the market (i.e. Facebook Chat, Skype). Buying Skype eliminates relative competition and gives Microsoft a new brand image.
[3] Microsoft can use Skype to enhance and promote other services that Microsoft has developed.

Image Reference:
http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/skype-windows-messenger.png?w=558&h=9999&crop=0

Sources:
[1]  http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/11/06/microsoft-skype-messenger.html
[2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/05/10/microsoft-skype-sale.html

External Blog Response: “9 Companies We Admire for Creating Marketing People Love”

Any company can do “marketing”, but only the companies that can consistently create marketing people love are the ones that stand out. A company’s lovability is a difficult concept to synthesize as every customer has various definitions and interests. It narrows down to whose marketing can bring marketing brings some human element to the company or interaction with their customers .

It could be their design sensibility. It could be their tone of voice talking to you on social media. The blog post lists nine lovable companies that has captured customers by incorporating these elements.

Dropbox is an example of a lovable company, because it communicates with customers on an interpersonal level.

The blog post encourages companies to seek inbound marketing strategies instead of traditional outbound marketing strategies. Traditional outbound marketing (e.g. door-to-door salesmen) intrusively irritates its way into people’s pocket. It becomes less effective over time and eventually destroys the brand image.

Instead of selling in an invasive manner, companies should transform their marketing to match the way customers buy products in order to capture their attention. To make a lasting impression, the company should create a lot of creative content (e.g. E-Book, newsletter, videos, blog posts). The creative content is the company’s permanent marketing asset, it can be distributed to different media channels as a way of promotion. The content personalizes the company and strengthens customers connection to the company.

More on Inbound Marketing:

Image Reference:
http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/images/dropbox1.png

Sources:
[1] http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33806/9-Companies-We-Admire-for-Creating-Marketing-People-Love.aspx

“Chairs are made so people can sit down and take a break. ” – Facebook’s first ad.

With more than 500 million monthly users worldwide, Facebook is without a doubt one of the largest websites ever. [1] Since the launch in February 2009, there have been over 1.13 trillion likes, 140.3 billion friend connections and 219 billion photos uploaded. Last Thursday, Facebook announced its one billion user milestone. To mark this special occasion, Facebook released its first ever, agency-created advertisement. [2]

Incorporating heart-warming images,  Facebook recognizes and honours the simple, overlooked objects in our everyday lives that make us come together. Through this marketing campaign, Facebook prepositions itself as a part of the tradition of things that connect one another. The sentimentality reflects Facebook is so much more than just a website, the human touch highlights our fundamental desire to feel belonged and connected.

The video has a gentle undertone of Facebook’s desire for people to connect with others who are separated from us by geography. This marketing strategy profoundly appealed to me as a third culture kid. Growing up in five countries across three continents, I use Facebook as a communication platform that keeps me connected to friends overseas. Via shared photos, videos and chat, my friends and I are able to learn more about each other’s most updated whereabouts, interests, and stories.

In spite of my sentimental attachment to the ad, Facebook’s commercial has received many criticisms for its “generic, silly” analogy. [3]

What do you think about Facebook’s new ad campaign? See for yourself!
The Things That Connect Us

References:
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/facebook
[2] http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/24047/facebook-runs-its-first-ad-as-it-reaches-1-billion-people.html
[3]http://gizmodo.com/5948904/facebooks-first-ad-is-facebooks-worst-ad?post=53224654

Image Reference:
http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Scitech/facebook%20is%20a%20chair.jpg

Read Samantha’s original blog entry at: https://blogs.ubc.ca/samkho/

Have you ever exaggerated a tad on your resume in order to stand out among your fellow competitors? Have you ever re-worded your experiences to make yourself sound as accomplished as possible?

Well, over-embellishment on your resume can cause you serious trouble, some even lost their jobs during the process. Yahoo’s Scott Thompson learned this lesson the harsh way.

In May of 2012, Yahoo’s chief executive Scott Thompson was forced to reign after just four months on the job. Thompson’s resume claims that he has earned both accounting and computer science degrees from Stonehill College near Boston. However, Thompson later admitted that he has been deceitful about the latter degree.[1]

At the end of Samantha’s blog, an important question is raised: “Is it truly worth it to lie?”

My answer to that is most definitely not. If you feel your past experience is not enough to obtain your dream job, there are many justifiable ways to gain the qualifications you need! For example, you could take night classes, volunteer for relevant organizations, or find a job in the similar category. Glamorizing your resume might seem like an easy shortcut. However, fabrication says more about you as an employee than your accomplishments ever will.

Source:
[1] http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/yahoo-fires-thompson-and-nears-deal-with-loeb/

Image Reference:
http://www.thetelecomblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FDNewsscottthompson1.jpg