Hi, I am Monica Moran

RE: https://blogs.ubc.ca/sallycai/2011/11/06/36/

I thought this was an appropriate topic to write about based on the fact that I’ve been on Twiter none stop for the past few days. I think it’s nearly at par with the number of times I go on Facebook! One of the main reasons as to why Sally’s blog on Twitter caught my attention.

So what is Twitter? Why has it become increasingly popular for several people across the globe? In fact, Twitter has grown so much for the past year, thanks to its appeal of being able to quickly share what’s on your mind in an instant. It’s a channel of social media that is now being utilized by several big businesses around the world because of its more immediate interaction with consumers. For instance, customers can tweet a message to a company, and the company can choose to “re-tweet” the message (appearing on the company’s twitter page) or reply to that specific customer. In a business point of view, I would say that Twitter is much more interactive and personal than Facebook. Instead of customers liking the company page on Facebook, Twitter gives them the ability to actually say something with a higher chance of being heard.

Furthermore, its a great marketing tool in advertising new products or even for companies to test new ideas. Avid followers of a particular company can easily tweet their thoughts on a particular idea a company has put out there, and can easily stimulate fast responses. Its a tool for companies to touch base with their consumers, and hence this interactive process can develop the company’s brand loyalty as well as their public relations. Rather than just pushing a product or a service or overwhelming individuals with advertisements, Twitter in a sense pulls consumers in through this interactive process. Just think about it: a company responding to your thoughts about them or acknowledging what you say…isn’t that cool? I think that’s pretty amazing actually. Even celebrities are using Twitter to boost their brand image, portraying themselves as more than just “famous people” but people with lives. It just continues to stress the importance technology and social media has on the business world and in our lives.

Who know? Twitter may be the next big thing. Watch out Facebook, Twitter’s just around the corner.

I once wished that I could one day live in Disneyland so everyday, I could wake up to happiness.

I have been exposed to Disney my whole life and it’s no surprise that it has sustained such a strong presence in the market for this long. It’s a company that has penetrated the minds and hearts of many people across the globe through its association with happiness, dreams and possibilities. The strong impact and the stability of consumer relationship is because of the brand it has built for decades, and the way they have always constantly lived up to it. People don’t just want to go to theme parks or watch Disney movies; they need it. With such a harsh and complex reality, people need to escape it at times and feel like a kid where the world was filled with possibilities and hope.

Disney started off as a basic cartoon studio consisting of its iconic character, Mickey Mouse. Over the years, it grew into something more than just a cartoon, with various product extension strategies  such as movies, theme parks, merchandise, apparel and clothes. It has been first targeted to young children but has now grown into a family-oriented brand. People of all ages visit Disney Land as a means of escaping reality, enjoying the fleeting moments of childhood again before reality comes knocking on their doors again. In fact, Disney’s recent marketing campaign on Disney theme parks focused on well-known celebrities posing as famous Disney characters from Snow White, Pocahontas and Aladdin, illustrating the sense of stepping into these fictional lives when entering Disneyland.

Disney has effectively captured the essence of this through the way they have positioned themselves in the minds of consumers. The constant themes that appear in movies of hope, courage and dreaming big are the concepts that the brand revolves around, further extending its brand to a brand personality; it inspires and triggers certain emotions in people. For Disney, its a mixture of happiness, love and sadness.

I love Disney; always have and always will.

**Picture above: Zac Efron as Prince Charming and Vanessa Hudgens as Sleeping Beauty

RE: https://blogs.ubc.ca/hishamismail/2011/10/10/36-orange-mini-dresses/

Ambush marketing. It comes up a lot, but what is it really? I never fully understood the real meaning behind this concept, which is why I thought it would be interesting to talk about Hish’s blog about Ambush Marketing.

Ambush Marketing is defined as a marketing strategy in where companies associate themselves through advertising during a major event without paying a sponsorship fee. Although it is not illegal, it does pose ethical arguments. Several companies pay millions of dollars to sponsor an event to gain major publicity and be able to plaster their logo throughout the event. It’s a “dirty” concept in a sense that when another company comes along that have not gained the rights to sponsor anything – as Hish put it so creatively – the sponsors would “react and try to kick that freeloader to the curb.”

Yet this is what makes Ambush Marketing so effective despite it’s ethical controversies. Some companies that are able to play their cards well will be able to utilize such a strategy without conflicting with sponsors. As Hish said, they can “dance along the line, advertising CLOSE to your event, but not actually “at” it.” Take a look at Nike for example during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The main sponsor was Adidas, yet Nike, a non-sponsor was still able to make an indirect yet significant impact on such a worldwide event through social media. In fact, various sources state that Nike was more associated to the World Cup compared to Adidas! Their “Write the Future” campaign involved major soccer players such as Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Wayne Rooney of England. Evidently, the theme of their advertising video was soccer, with famous players playing for their respective countries and doing their country proud.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

In one of our marketing class, one of our clicker questions asked us about the number of brands we use daily? The options were along the lines of less than 50, 50, 100 or more than 100. I picked less than 50 thinking that this was the most reasonable; you can’t use a 100 or more brands in one day. It’s impossible!

“Is it?” my friend next to me asked me, “think about it. When you wake up, the blankets you use, the clothes you put on, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo etc; that’s got to total up to more than a 100 in one day!”

“Oh ya, I didn’t even think of that!” I replied.

The point is, brands are everywhere. When you wake up in the morning to when you get back to your bed the number of brands you encounter throughout the day are endless. We may not be aware of it but it’s everywhere. We breath brands everyday, influencing our perceptions of various products, services and companies. Without brands or branding, companies spiral down to nothing.

Why do people choose to buy such expensive products such as those from Chanel, Burberry and Loui Vutitton when there are products that can be bought for a cheaper price but still of good quality? The answer is simple. Branding. Such fashion companies build such a reputation for themselves as a result of creating brand loyalty. They create advertisements based on celebrity endorsements, sponsor high-end-fashion magazines, with simple yet chic images of skinny models. People want the elegant and rich lifestyle, high-end fashion designers provide them a picture of that: buy the product and that’s how you’ll feel. Deceiving? Yes. Ineffective? Abosolutly not.

Furthermore, with companies being able to build such a successful brand reputation, they are able to set prices high knowing that there are thousands of consumers out there still willing to purchase that purse or those shoes for thousands of dollars. I know I have. To be able to beat out competitors and rise up from the ground, marketing must start with building the brand because that’s the key to consumer demand. A brand may be simple yet it’s value can be worth so much more.

First blog post for marketing…where do I start?

I guess I’ll start here. Hello everyone! I am not going to begin my introduction by stating my name since it’s pretty obvious what it is from my blog name. But I will start off by saying that I am an international student, born and raised in the Philippines until I was seven. I then moved to Sri Lanka and had an amazing four years there, then began my next six year adventure in Jakarta, Indonesia, where I spent my High School years. All that moving around…pretty crazy huh? People often tell me that I am very fortunate to be given an opportunity to live in so many countries; and I am blessed to have been given this experience. Yes, I got to travel, yes it gave me exposure to various cultures, and yes I made friends from all over the world. You develop a tough skin to protect yourself from such drastic changes in your life and develop confidence in yourself.

I am now a university student at UBC, and having been exposed to marketing in my High School IB Business class, I realize it’s marketing I want to pursue when I graduate.

Marketing plays a very important part in our everyday life; we see it everyday, working it’s way into our minds, and often wonder why did we purchase this? Why do we choose this brand from countless others? In fact, I believe that marketing is the most crucial aspect of a business as it is the one that launches a business forward, sells products and services. Brand image, company reputations etc, are all part of marketing; it is a combination of numbers, analysis and creativity. Exploring consumer thinking and behavior is what makes it so fascinating. That aspect of Psychology that can be brought to the table, making marketing open-minded and innovative.

Hands down, my favorite brand so far is Apple. It’s innovative designs satisfy our wants and needs and its advertisements are simple yet elegant. One word: inspirational.

Oh and I love Harry Potter, so I guess an interesting fact about myself is that I’ve read the last book seven times!

The books have ended, the movies have come to a close, the characters have left school and off doing their own thing, but to a lot of us Muggles, like me, who have journeyed many years with our magical friends, Harry Potter lives on. And I am telling ya, he’s sill a bright flame still burning strongly in our hearts.

Harry Potter. The boy who lived. I clearly remember the days when my dad read out those words  in a small, paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone, right before we went to bed. I remembered when he brought to life Harry, Ron and Hermione’s ventures to the Forbidden Forrest and the Chamber of Secrets. My long afternoons just laying on my bed reading after school, trying to fit as much chapters I could before doing homework. I even snuck into my parent’s room and peaked at what was to come after the 3rd Triwizard Tournament task (sorry dad!). AND Reading the 7th book SEVEN times because I didn’t want to believe that it was the last Harry Potter book published.

You get the picture. What can I say? I am a huge fan.

Clearly, he is not just any ordinary boy or even just any ordinary character. The boy who lived represent something more than just our childhood or childish fantasies. He represents friendship, hope and courage. The message that good can always trump evil. The repetition of the pure blood vs. mud-bloods concept is symbolic to the common societal issues of discrimination and racism. The beauty of Harry Potter didn’t solely lie in the plot or the magic; it also lay in the deeper meanings J.K Roweling attempted to convey through her writing.

And as the scene faded to black, I felt as if a part of me had been torn away. Just like a Horcrux, a part of my soul lived inside the world Harry Potter; in fact, it still does. Instead of calling it an obsession, I’d like to call it a “part of my life.” A livid memory that will never falter to escape my grasps. I know for a fact that it’s those kinds of stories that will live on for centuries. “Let me tell you a story of a young wizard named Harry,” you might say to the little girl sitting on your lap, turning the page that opens a portal to a whole new realm to a childhood dream.

Harry Potter lives on, and if that continues to remain true, then I believe that we can all say that “all is well.”

A few times in my life, I recall being asked the same question over and over again: If you were granted one wish, what would it be? Literally, the question in itself is quite simple but its dimensions and layers upon layers of dept creates its complexity. Well, for me at least. See the thing is, if you indeed were given this one wish that indeed came true, would you wish for something for yourself or for the greater good of mankind? Would you waste it for money or for fame? Or use it to change something in the world that could carry on for countless generations? And there lays the complexity of such a question. What decision will you ultimately make if you had this limited yet valuable power?

In those many times I have been asked this, I never seemed to give a proper answer. Usually my reply would be along the cliched lines of “I don’t know…one wish isn’t enough” or “I would wish for ten more.” It was just too big of a question for me because I honestly didn’t know how to answer something like that. Selfish me would wish for all the money in the world or to gain immediate success, a jump start to my career. Yet why waste a wish on something that I could achieve myself if I worked for it? It would be tougher and longer but I’ll get there eventually. So scratch that. Now selfless me would wish for world peace, where governments rid themselves of corruption, and humanity rid themselves of slavery, inequality and greed. We’d all like that. And given the global turn of event’s and negative headlines splashed all across the news, who wouldn’t want to wish for a better world. A world without sin..

So as I sit here sipping on hot chocolate and listening to Jon Schmidt’s mash up of Love Story and Viva La Vida, my mind still can’t shift through all the possible rubble of wishes that circulates my mind. Selfish or selfless me? Selfless me clearly seems to be winning. So why can’t I still make a final decision? Come to think of it I don’t think I’ll ever have a definite answer. See the thing is, a world without sin, without evil is purely impossible. Even if we were to wish it, humanity would never evolve. We become stronger when we have gone through suffering one way or another. It’s in our nature. We have to fall down to get back up again. I am not saying that global conflicts are a good thing. I am merely stating that in some way, it contributes to development. And that’s why I can’t just wish for that even if I was granted a wish. It’s too complicated. Maybe I’ll wish for a superpower or something. But we all know that’s too unrealistic for this world and this lifetime.

So, as corny as it may sound, be careful what you wish for because a wish isn’t as simple as it’s cut out to be.

[Dedicated to my little sister Olivia…you will always be my number one]

My first creative writing class inspired me to write something. I was thinking at first to start a story but then realized that I should save that for later and just write on my blog. And this time, to write something more substantial; something more than just talking about day to day life or school and such; something that allows creativity and emotions to intertwine with the words. So I chose to write about my sister because she means that much to me.

Before I came to college, I always took my sisters presence for granted given the fact that she would sometimes annoy the hell out of me, drive me insane, fill the house with constant bickering and useless arguments, which would sometimes evolve into huge fights. I have to admit that there were times when hatred and tension replaced sisterly love.”They fight a lot…stop fighting!” seemed to be the main phrase that was associated with our relationship. That wasn’t surprising at all because it was fact!

Yet, she was still my little sister.

Behind those rivalries and nonsense lay memories that can never be replaced, memories that only my sister and I could share; the laughs, the craziness, the jokes and the tears. Days in the car where we would act like fools, stifling laughter even though Papa told us to be quiet. The thought of my days packing and leaving to college felt very distant, and I focused on cherishing the now. Moments like those were just irreplaceable.

She’s my best friend.

When I left home and began my journey across the Pacific Ocean, I never thought I would have days where I would really miss my sister. Miss her presence and reminisce on the good old days when we were together. I would always tell myself that this was finally the time where I could have time on my own and not have to worry about her constantly. But in the end, I came to miss that as well. When you’re really gone from that person for a while, it really hits you, and you realize that being apart from family like a sister or brother doesn’t really make you feel better, free or relieved. The moment they’re gone…that’s when it hits you. It makes you want them even more.

I wonder if she feels the same way. I know she’ll never admit how she really feels about me not being around the house anymore but I know – well, like to believe – that deep down she misses me just the same. 🙂

Having a sibling is a blessing because they give life to you and play a huge role in making you the person you are today. My sister plays a big part in my life as she completes me. And I promised myself that I’ll always be there by her side no matter what happens…

That will never, ever change.

To be perfectly honest, Comm 299 has been a very useful course in so many ways, mainly in how to strive in the business world. From CAR statements to resume and cover letter writing to the intense interview process, this class has been a valuable learning experience, and I am not just saying that because of this blog assignment. It’s the truth.

These various processes and tasks has mainly opened my eyes to the skills I never knew I possessed. I remembered, when I did my interview, the main thought that was circling my mind was “I am repeating myself; I am going around the bush; I am not stating my main point.” I gave myself a 17 when the TA/Interviewer asked me what grade I would give myself and the reason being because I felt that I was just rambling on. Yet he gave me an 18 instead because according to him I stuck straight to the point and never went off topic. This was a relief as I always had the notion that during interviews or whenever I have a formal conversation I always feel like I never get to the point and I am not clear. Thankfully, the interview process showed me that this isn’t the case at all and in a way knowing this made me feel like I can be even more confident in other interviews.

Comm 299 also gave me the opportunity to become more confident as a business student. More confidence to actually write to an employer to a particular company you are interested in or even cold call the company to express interest to work for them. I realized in this class that it’s okay to do these things because after all the business world is very competitive. You have to stand out from the rest and fight for that one position. Confidence is key and this class helped me developed that trait a little bit more.

P.S. (or fun fact) I also learned that consistency is everything. Especially in resumes. Even with commas! If you accidentally forgot a comma where it’s meant to be, it can result in a 0/20. This teaches us that consistency and being careful is very important also in the business world.

For most of my adolescent years, I’ve always lacked confidence in myself. Lacked confidence in my abilities socially and academically, even though I had the capabilities to succeed in both these fields. I remember the moments where the first thought that crossed my mind before and after an exam would be “I will/have fail[ed].” Furthermore, I  Not exactly the best attitude to approach things. I remember my friends and parents constantly telling me that lacking confidence is a waste of energy, and that in order to take risks for the future and be successful, you have to always believe in yourself.

But then something happened. Something that allowed me to step out of my shell and shape me to become the person I am today. In 2008, when my grandpa die, I watched my grandma battle grief and sorrow. She had spent the peak of her years with my grandpa; he was her companion, loved one and friend. Loosing him was one of the hardest moments she had to endure. Yet as I watched her overcome this obstacle in life, I noticed the immense amount of confidence she had gained; she was not afraid to speak her mind, not afraid to try new things and undertake new challenges despite her age. Her strength and bravery allowed her to move forward in her life because she believed that she could accomplish just as much on her own.

My grandma taught me the importance of believing in yourself despite the various challenges life hits you with. Academically, it will allow you to take chances and grab the opportunities that come my way, study smarter, and achieve better grades. Socially, having self-confidence will garner you respect from others as people would admire the respect you have for yourself. Being in college now has opened my eyes to the vitality of confidence. Living a halfway across the world from my family, having to fend for yourself in the first few weeks of university, and fight your way to the top requires confidence. Starting university wasn’t easy at all but that confidence I manged to develop in myself made things more bearable, and in the end, I survived.

Something that I believe sums up the importance of self-confidence is a quote by E.E. Cumings. He said that “once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experiences that reveals the human spirit.” And based on my experiences thus far, confidence is a beautiful thing.