Month: March 2011

Fergie taught us how to spell glamorous, Gwen Stefani taught us how to spell bananas, and now it’s Rebecca Black’s turn to teach us the days of the week!

I went home last weekend, and my younger brother thought it would be hilarious to sing this song to me. Never have I ever heard this song before, until last weekend. Coming back to school everyone was talking about this for lack of a better word, singer. 12-year-old Rebecca Black, also known as RB (similar to JB), has become somewhat of a YouTube celebrity. Her song “Friday” literally has gone viral. As my friend and fellow classmate Deborah, posted on her blog that there were over 44 million views on YouTube. This has now changed to over 66 million, growing more than 22 million in less than a week. How did it grow this big? Probably word of mouth.

The comments on YouTube, as Deborah mentioned, are “negative and harsh.” Her voice in this song is so auto tuned, that honestly anyone could go to the recording studio and record this song, and sound exactly, I mean exactly, like her. The auto-tune isn’t the only thing that is bad, I mean horribly wrong with this music video. She is sitting in the car with literally 4 other 12 year olds, as the young boy pretends to be driving a car. Last time I checked the legal driving age was 16. Besides the illegalness of this all, she is wearing plaqued on makeup…way too much for a 12 year old. So, what does this do to her reputation and brand, well let’s just put it this way. She would have not been famous if it weren’t for YouTube and viral marketing, as Deborah mentions.

With all the bad, comes some good. We all know now that Thursday comes before Friday and Saturday comes after Friday! Thanks RB!

On March 19 and March 20, Sears Canada decided to match their prices with the prices in the US. With the increasing amount of people going to shop in the States, customer’s at Sears will not have to take the long drive down there to received better prices. Sear’s company objective is sales orientation, which is to maximize volume. They offer every day low prices, to maximize the amount of products they sell. But, with Sear’s Canada matching Sear’s America, they are somewhat focusing on competitor orientation, Sear’s America, being their competitor. Sear’s America is Sear’s Canada’s competitor because Sear’s Canada loses many sales to the Sear’s down in the States. Unfortunately, this deal of matching prices only lasts two days, which also is the start of Spring Break for many people.

This promotion-pricing tactic that is being used in the Sears’ case, is discounts and markdowns. This promotion is for a limited time, and it allows people to buy more products at a lower price.

Who doesn’t love the classic chocolate chip cookie? Superstore has a private label, known as President’s Choice. In my opinion, many President’s Choice products are very decent. For example their The Decadent Chocolate Chip. People apparently rave about this product. I certainly have tried this product, but doesn’t resonate in my mind, at the moment.

While looking on line, I noticed that Superstore now sells The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie baking mix. I suppose that Superstore’s growth strategy is product development. They are providing their current customers, with something new. Well technically, it’s the same product, but this one can be freshly baked. Therefore, you are offering your current customers, a fresher, warmer, cookie. The cookie mix will most likely be successful because of brand equity. Because The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie is super popular, therefore the respected brand name will transfer onto the Cookie mix. This also allows their customer’s to claim, to their friends, that they made a “home baked” cookie.

The chocolate chip cookie is definitely in the maturity stage in the product life cycle. Something as classic as the chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion, will not necessarily decline. Companies are always reinventing the chocolate chip cookie. For example, President’s Choice has an organic version, which may appeal to those who are more health conscious, therefore they are not losing any customer’s as culture and values change throughout the years.

Can packaging make a difference when it comes to marketing a product? I think a clear answer is yes! Whether you pay extra, or it’s the same price, seeing new packaging is, in my opinion, and my fellow classmate’s opinion is “slightly exciting.”

When you use ketchup do you dip? Or do you squeeze the ketchup out? Well, why can’t you do both? Heinz came out with a new packet design, which allows the consumer to both squeeze and dip. On Charlotte’s blog, she states ketchup is a monopolistic competition, but I believe that Ketchup is an oligopoly because there only a few firms that dominate the market, and there are a few barriers to entry. These barriers consist of the tomatoes being seasonal and the company needs special equipment to make the ketchup. This package is slower in developing the dip-able label, as many other sauces for other products are dip-able.

Manufacturing: package is somewhat small and stack-able

Retailers: Looks very presentable and way better than the old plastic, squishy, unappealing package. The new package looks a lot cleaner, and presentable

Consumers: It is convenient as it is both disposable, dip-able and squeezable.

Last month there were two days where you were able to get McDonald’s new Buttermilk Biscuit breakfast sandwich for free! I mean, who doesn’t want something that’s for free.  As the breakfast sandwich counts in at over 500 calories, according to this article, “free may be the only way McDonald’s will be able to get people to try these new breakfast items.” As we learned in marketing class the other day, McDonalds clearly has a sales orientation where they try to maximize their volume. In my opinion, although these biscuits weigh in at more than 500 calories, McDonald’s is convenient, fast, and feeds the crave for many customers.

Last month their was free buttermilk biscuit sandwiches, and if you missed out on the free sandwich, don’t fear, as this month, McDonalds is giving away free small coffees, until March 6. McDonald’s already has pretty low prices for their meals, but you can’t get more cheap than free.