Spending 5 weeks working closely with each member, our team finally finished the project and presented the video on vista. Although this was not my first time having a video project, it was the experience that I would always cherish. Unlike the traditional presentation project in front of the audience, the video assignment actually allowed us to learn more during the production of the clip.

A video project may not be accepted by other subjects, but it is unquestionably a perfect match with marketing. The video project provided much steeper learning curve compared to the traditional PowerPoint presentation project. Based on past experience, conducting a PowerPoint presentation project requires much less original thoughts as a lot of similar materials are available online. The video project, however, required students to do much more tailored researches, including the outdoor shooting, instead of solely searching online. In the last 5 weeks of production, our team had gone through all kinds of related materials, such as lecture notes and text book, in order to present a smooth and informative video to the audience. The academic materials I learned was much more than I could have done in other assignments.

Team work, as it is essential in any kind of project, was critically crucial in assignment 3. Our video could not be done without the effort of every single member. In each meeting, every team member could always voice proactively and provide constructive suggestions on the project. No one in our team was ever alienated or left behind. Not only we were efficient on the assignment, but we were also close like family. I can still recall the day that we worked until late night and cooked dinner together after we finished the project. Creating a friendly environment and harmony could sometimes be vital to success.

In general, our project was considered a huge success. It was not because we would receive the highest mark, but due to the fact that the project brought us together and allowed us to have a deeper understanding of the marketing materials.

Is it getting increasingly more complex to get a job nowadays? Indeed. As Kevin mentioned in his blog, you’d better watch out for each tiny step you take. Every detail of your life is available through the internet. Reading his blog reminded me the things I have written through the social media, and I will be absolutely more cautious from now on.

With today’s well developed technology, it is almost impossible to hide something you have done or said in the past. If someone intends to do some researches on you, he can find dozens of ways to do so. As asserted by Kevin, even though social media helps you expand your network, it also makes your life an open book to anyone who’s interested in you. Many people may concern this negative side of social media as it more or less blocks our path towards our dream careers, but is it really? A lot of people tend to behave differently in an interview from who they really are in the daily lives, and this is the main reason why people perceive it as the dark side of social media. They are trying to hide their true identities from the employers.

However, no matter what kind of situation you are in, hiding is never the solution. As I mentioned in my second blog, the most effective way of branding yourself is to embrace who you are, but not forcing yourself to become someone else. Social media may reveal something you may not want others to see. Then so be it. Everyone has his history. Everyone has done or said bad things, but that does not make you a bad person. We should not be afraid of social media tearing down our career path, but instead, we should accept it as chance to understand ourselves and find jobs that actually fit us. As I mentioned in my second blog, never force yourself to fit the job, but let the job fit you.

Companies nowadays are more and more customer-oriented. Under today’s macroeconomic conditions, associating with the latest technologies can no longer satisfy consumers’ needs. The key factor of succeeding is now how to quickly adapt to the customer buying dynamics. The businesses have shifted from technology-oriented to customer-focused.

Many companies can easily adapt to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, but they fail to catch up with the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. To fully understand the consumers’ behaviors, one has to have a clear concept of how consumers make decisions. The factors that the article summarized are fairly consistent with the concepts we learned in class. For instance, the Social Proof, Authority, and Liking section in the paragraph are also covered in the text book. Basically every customer’s decision is made based on or is involved with the social factors. The desire for social proof usually influences our decisions of purchasing items, such as outfits and decorations, as we want to be admired and accepted by the crowd around us. Even when we are indecisive on purchasing, we will often turn to the people we know, as known as the reference group, summarized under the Liking section in the article. From time to time, we will make purchases based on the desire of becoming the persons we admire, who are as well part of the reference group. It is claimed that almost 50% of shoppers surveyed admitted to making at least one purchase based on a social media friend recommendation. The Authorities, on the other hand, explains how consumers conduct information searches.

Besides the sections mentioned above, the Reciprocity, Scarcity, and Consistency also explain a certain level of significant consumer behaviors. “Repaying favors”, “less is more”, and “being loyal to certain brands” are three large social habits that influences the consumers’ behaviors. Only companies paying attention to these have a larger chance of surviving in the business world.

When confronting Google, such a multinational conglomerate, many companies probably would not consider they have a chance to win and gain more market shares. Kobo, a small Canadian ebook and e-reading company, however, succeeded on fighting off the e-commerce giant, Google.

Expecting to have a finger in the pie of the rapidly growing e-book market, Google designed a program with indie bookstores that allowed them to sell Google e-books. Only operated for two years, however, the program came to a premature end in the past January. Even Google failed to penetrate the e-book market; many would think it must be hardly profitable to rush into the business, but KOBO didn’t see it in the same way as the other and operated the same program after Google’s failure. Surprisingly, in the first month of operation, Kobo sold books more than twice of those sold by Google in two years. Google, being one of the most well-known companies in the world, got defeated so easily. How is this possible? It is possible when you have an improper strategy. The key factor that led to Kobo’s success is the devices. Since the majority does not have the habit of reading e-books, selling such products would be extraordinarily difficult if the complement good, in this case the e-reader, is not available in the very same store. Having a firm grasp on this concept, Kobo gave stores the opportunity to sell Kobo’s line of e-readers and tablets, which made it easier to sell its e-books.

Until now, Kobo already has 460 indie bookstores signed up for this program, and the number is expected to grow to 1000 at the end of this year. It proves that small firms can excel, but only with a proper strategy.

Celebrity endorsement is now increasingly prevailing in brand building. Using a well-known face, and the well-known character behind it, can be a great way to jump start or reinvigorate a brand and the associations you want consumers to have with it. During the search for the right candidate, however, a lot of companies only focus on the current performance of the celebrities in their certain fields, neglecting the other important attributes. Such criteria, associating with a celebrity only based on his or her ability to rise to the top of the leader board, is extremely risky to their businesses.

Performance, especially current performance, is only one of the criteria for those in search of a successful celebrity brand match. Even though being the winner is necessary, we cannot afford to disregard other attributes of the celebrity, especially moral attributes. Tiger Woods would be a perfect example for this argument. Woods is unquestionably the top golfer in the world. Lots of companies, such as Gillette, General Motor and Gatorade, plan to advertise their products featuring this world class golfer. What they see is only the perfect performance of this world champion on the golf course, but they forget about the potential risk of associating with Woods- his personal life is later proved to be a total mess. In 2009 and 2010, scandals involving Woods were exposed one after another. More than a dozen women claimed in various media outlets to have had affairs with Woods. The world champion’s public image soon got completely destroyed. Many companies such as Accenture and AT&T, re-evaluated their relationship with Woods and finally ended the contracts with him.

Consumers are forming relationships with brands and, as in any relationship, they want to feel comfortable before opening their hearts. Companies wishing to be successful in their endorsement efforts should ensure that there is a natural relationship between the image of the celebrity and the image of the brand. As being said, performance is not everything.

If you ever went to business school, the word you heard most frequently must be “branding”. Networking, interviews, socializing. These are all typical events teaching you how to brand and sell yourself. We are constantly eager to establish shiny images of ourselves. Most people, however, have forgotten the true purpose of branding. We all have taken lots of classes, workshops, and conferences focusing on how to build the business success based on effective branding, but how many of us actually did a good job on it?

After reading the article “5 Steps to Empowering the Brand You”, I have discovered that some students have been missing some key points on branding. First of all, understanding yourself is essential to branding. Branding is about presenting your true-self to others. When some of us try to brand themselves, they only bring out the good sides of them, mean while hiding the disadvantages that are not desired. People need to understand that there is no absolutely perfect person, and no one is hiring you to do everything. Show them your true image as a real person, but not something glorified. Although it seems that extroverted, positive, and cheering persons are more likely to succeed in their careers, in fact, a lot of truly gifted people are introverts. During networking events, a lot of people will always force themselves to be sociable and outgoing. This is a series mistake as they are not presenting their true image, and they won’t be able to deliver the same image over time. Embrace who you are, share it, and be proud of it.

Branding is marketing. STP is equally important in branding. When choosing a career, one should always first segment the job market, followed by targeting the ones that suit you, and then position yourself based on honest branding. In conclusion, never change yourself to fit the job, and let the job fit you.

“Scientifically proven, results guaranteed, improving immunity”- Do these words sound familiar to you?  Our lives are filled with misleading advertising. Through radio, posters, fliers, and as much as coupons, even if you never turn on your TV, the unethical touts can always find a way to reach you. Most of us have been victims of false advertising. The question is, will  companies change their marketing policies, or continue to prioritize profits over the consumers’ rights to know?

Bell, as one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, has also made various misleading claims to the consumers. As one example, Bell’s website advertised a bundle for home phone, internet and TV services starting as low as $69.90 per month. The lowest possible price, after the mandatory fees, was $80.27, or 15 per cent higher. This kind of scams is not new to us. We are constantly overwhelmed with misleading information. As today’s trend of advertising, companies always tend to exaggerate the effect of their products, disregarding the truth. It is the environment of prioritizing profit causes the dishonesty and irresponsible of the merchants. Even though we are protected under  the federal Competition Bureau, the unethical companies can usually find a legal loophole to escape the penalty. Although Bell has agreed to pay a penalty of $10 millions this time, there are still hundreds of on-going false advertising running in our daily lives. The penalty to Bell is only relieving the symptoms, but not a cure to the disease of our marketing environment. The blurring of pushing the truth and making false claims has caused the merchants to pursue their goals by fair means or foul.

“Love the property, seek for it properly.” As the Chinese old saying goes, a gentleman should have his noble wealth.

Source:

Bell Canada pays $10M over misleading ads

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/06/28/competition-bureau-bell-advertising.html