The Marketing Plan assignment, was a great experience overall and one of the most interesting projects that I have had the chance to work on since my enrollment at The Sauder School of Business. It firstly deepened my interest in marketing and then solidified my intent on pursuing a marketing career. My group had chosen Coca Cola as the company that was the subject of our analysis. One of the lessons I learned is that this world never stops changing and can turn you upside down.  Coca Cola is known especially in North American as being one of the major players in obesity. But now with growing health trends it has to re position itself as a healthy brand. This is most likely the biggest challenged this brand has ever faced and will I believe determine whether or not is still will be a leading beverage brand. I also learned that marketing involved a lot more then just getting consumers to buy in to the products you were offering.

In terms of group work right from the start there was a lot difficulty in trying to meet in person for our meetings. Even though I personally tried to push the team to meet in person but unfortunately it never quite as often as I personally liked. Thus, most of our group communication was done via technology mostly in chat form. Also, as the project developed peers in my group started to have opposing views and disagreements as well as some were lost what had been done and decided. Thus, I felt as the group was getting more disconnected as the project went on and I somewhat assumed the role of mediator.  However, my peers were proven to be hardworking and all had a lot to contribute. Thus, Even though we had a hard time communicating we got the job done as it was truly a group effort and I believe that most were somewhat satisfied with the end result. I now greatly understand the value and importance of meeting in person and will ensure for future projects placing an emphasis on meeting in person.

Mariana’s Post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/mdelosrios/2011/11/20/starbucks-and-juice-a-good-idea/

I would like to add my personal opinion to this conversation. For the marketing plan assignment I had the chance to do Coca Cola a brand whose once popular product (Coke) is now declining in sales in North America. However, Coke has also many other beverage brands including Dasani one the fastest growing and selling beverage brands and recently has also acquired Odwalla a juice brand similar to Evolution Fresh. Coke known to be one of leading causes of obesity now trying to have a healthier rep? I believe a transition a lot harder to make than Starbucks. Just like Coca-Cola I believe that Starbucks is just simply following the money. I mean that like you said the health trend is particularly popular and growing and more people are trying to make healthier choices. Thus, there is a growing market out there and how long will it take for individuals to try to switch from drinking coffee to drinking smoothies? I personally doubt it will undercut their integrity I doubt that there is a numerous amount of individuals will even particularly even think twice about Starbucks acquiring a juice brand. The only problem I do see is competition. There are many large brands that now offer fresh and pure juices. But I do believe that it is a good idea.

To be honest it all started as an elimination process back in High school. I really did not enjoy the sciences, which already eliminated almost half of the possibilities. Then, being financially supported by other individuals they also apparently had a say and ultimately narrowed down the possibilities to just business. So, here I am enrolled in the Sauder School of business, lost in so many different ways. In first year the course I found the most interesting and captivated my attention the most was an Environmental History course taught by Dr. Tina Loo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXjZ2Zxp5k) a course that I recommend to those who don’t mind history and enjoy nature. Now, here I am a Second year student taking numerous amounts of required courses, many that I won’t regret to see in the rear view mirror after this year. But in my second term I had the chance to be in Tamar’s marketing class and I found myself in a class that I enjoyed attending and really felt as though I had something to contribute. Unfortunately, with other difficult courses on my timetable as well as other commitments I found myself unable to dive in the course as much as I would of personally liked.  I really enjoyed marketing because to me it was a course that seemed well rounded that involved a lot of aspects of business in general. I also felt that it involved a lot of problem solving which I particularly enjoy. Also with some of my own research I realized that marketing involved a lot of interaction with individuals and a lot of teamwork. Two things I personally really enjoy doing and I believe that I am good at. Thus, marketing seemed liked a particular great fit for me as I also believed that it would be something that I will enjoy doing for the rest of my life and give me a balanced lifestyle which I have decided to be of particular importance. I was lucky enough this summer to obtain an internship in brand management for one of the top growing food companies, I’m extremely excited about this experience and I believe it is a solidifying step towards my marketing career. I am also greatly impatient to dive in courses that I believe will captivate my attention and that I will be particularly be interested in next year. I’ll do my best to keep you in the loop of the great adventure that I plan on pursuing.

This year when I was looking for a possible internship I fell upon a sponsorship-marketing role. Immediately I got hooked on the idea and I don’t personally understand why a lot of companies don’t have any sponsorship practices. I personally got hooked on the idea and want to get personally involved in such activities is because it is essentially focused on the root of what marketing is all about, developing and maintaining relationships. Sponsorship marketing is not only about getting involved in something that current and potential consumers take to heart, but it is also about going beyond the consumers and getting involved in the communities. Not only are you deepening your relationship with consumers but you are also creating a relationship of trust with all those involved in some shape of form with your sponsorship initiatives in these communities. By sponsoring events companies are also able to really differentiate themselves from their competitors by standing out and becoming a great corporate citizen that individuals will recognize and trust. Companies are also promoting themselves and it can also give them the opportunity to showcase their products first hand to the population. Demonstrating the benefits and specific attributes of their product and how it can benefit the population. Also a lot of events are covered by the media, which involves a lot of Positive publicity. In addition, the amount and the particular types of media coverage that is generally involved would have most often than no been unaffordable if the company were to think of acquiring it and whether or it would be even available.

I had the chance to have an Informational interview with the marketing executive of one of the Fastest growing food companies in Canada.  I interviewed this individual because I intend on pursuing a marketing career in brand management so I thought I should get some more insight in this particular career and field. I also thought that it would be great to share some of this information with my fellow peers. Below you will see some of the questions I have asked and the particular insights I had the chance to gain. Please understand that this is my understanding of answers that were given to me and reflects my opinion and only my own.

“What challenges do you foresee in the food industry in the next few years?”

From my understanding the toughest challenge is to align retailers’ goals with the food companies. Currently retailers operate with the short goal to sell more than their competitors. Thus, selling their goods at a particular low price. Apparently retailers make very little to no money off selling their products instead they generate most of their revenue from programs with the food companies. Also, retailers continue to ask for more money but refuse to raise the prices of the goods they sell. The food companies on the other hand want to raise the price of their goods to increase their margins and enable retailers to also generate revenue from selling the goods.

“What are some of the growing trends?”

The particular insight I gained from this question was that there has always been a healthy trend but the bar is constantly raised. However, even if consumers’ health concerns have considerable weight in their decision-making, taste remains the dominant factor. Taste is the most important factor when selling food. For example healthy pizzas were released with whole-wheat crust and other healthy factors but they had a hard time selling because they weren’t of particular great taste. Some of the current trends that are here to stay however are organic, sustainable farming practices as well as selling or having local ingredients in the food products.

“What qualifications, competencies and skills are fundamental for someone who is pursuing a career in marketing?”

The greatest thing I retained was to have a good attitude and personality, as well as a basic level of; problem solving, organizing and strategy. To distinguish one self and to succeed you must have the ability to interact and deal with people and be able to lead cross functional teams and getting peoples’ goals all aligned with a common goal and get them to follow your vision. Marketing is not particular what they teach in school, given that there is some “marketing” involved but again it has a lot to do with people in general.

“What kind of extracurricular readings/research do you do in your particular field?”

I learned that it is good to watch what is currently going on in Grocery stores, Billboards and advertisements. Observing what other Companies are doing. What works and what doesn’t. Reading magazines about strategy and marketing seeing what happens in the real world and keeping track.

Nowadays we need to own something a little newer a little sooner than it is necessary. In other words we consume things that we do not actually “need”. This phenomenon is called planned obsolescence which in basic terms is “a business decision by a company to make consumer products in such a way that they become out-of-date or useless within a known time period.” Since the 1920’s planned obsolescence has played a fundamental role in our life and economy. So far we have not seen or been touched by the negative impacts of planned obsolescence mostly because most of the waste we have created is far from our daily lives and have been dumped thousands of miles away. But as a famous philosopher and critic of the growth society said it best “Anyone who thinks that infinite growth is consistent with a finite planet is either crazy or an economist, and unfortunately we are now all economist.” (Serge Latouche). Luckily enough however, we are slowly acknowledging the fact that we must change our ways and that we need to become more sustainable. Thus is marketing ethical? Is it ethical to advertise and to encourage consumers to consume goods that we know will be obsolete in a short period of time and will and up becoming waste? I believe that there are vast improvements that can be made to make our business practices ethical. They suggest that we create products that are made of organic matter that is safe, chemical free, as well as easy to biodegrade. Also, we are able to create materials that can practically last forever so then why don’t we do so?!

“This world will always be big enough to fulfil everyones needs but will always be too small to satisfy individual greed” (Gandhi)

Check out this great interesting documentary: http://dotsub.com/view/aed3b8b2-1889-4df5-ae63-ad85f5572f27?utm_source=player&utm_medium=embed