Moses Richu

After reading Sonal Haria’s blog, which details the great lengths companies (in her example, Lays) will go to prove to consumers that they care for them. She linked a video showing (presumably) Lays workers hand crafting a wooden billboard over a period of 10 days. The objective is to illustrate to customers the how much care goes into the preparation of their crisps.

I would estimate that the average packet of chips retails at $2.50, and hence doesn’t constitute a large proportion of a consumers budget (hence consumers are less inclined to think too hard before making their purchase). Additionally, being a convenience good, consumers expect to be able to easily find the chips. Furthermore, consumers are unlikely to be deluded into thinking that every Lays chip that they eat was carefully sliced from a potato before having the various flavours massaged into it by highly trained ‘chip maker’. They are cognizant that chip manufacturing is an automated process, and hence that the chip that they are eating was a potato that rolled through a series of machines before finally being bagged and shipped to them. And for as long as the chip is of a certain quality, they are perfectly okay with it!

With that in mind, the only logical reason for a chip advert would be to remind consumers that the product exists, and subtly imply that the chips are good quality. This enables consumers to easily recognise the chips the next time that they are in the ‘Snacks’ aisle of their grocery store. One would therefore be inclined to think that a simple advert would suffice.

However, firms go far beyond this, into all sorts of (more expensive) advertising. But does all this work affect the behaviour of consumers, or was all they needed a simple reminder? Are companies wasting billions of dollars on elaborate advertising, instead of focussing on other methods of promotion? Or do consumers actually care?

Following my post on ‘Marketing though Threats’, I have been considering other approaches that firms can use to market their products. I am most impressed by the measures taken by BC Hydro, which, among other things, is the primary electrical power distributor for British Columbia.

BC Hydro’s latest campaign seeks to get people to be more conscious about power wastage.

This message is delivered in a very amicable manner, and ultimately shows us how ‘ridiculous’ it is to waste power. This more subtle approach doesn’t alienate the consumer. The use of threats on the other hand creates a divide between the firm and the consumer, ultimately resulting in poor brand loyalty, which would be fatal if another business entered the market.

Marketing is ‘normally’ a two step process; finding your consumers, and then convincing them that you best serve their need. However, after reading Oliver Cola’s blog, I can’t help but wonder whether there is another aspect of marketing. He termed it ‘Marketing by need’, but I postulate that it is more like ‘Marketing through threats’. Virtually guaranteeing Armageddon if consumers don’t buy your product sends them into a state of fear. They therefore consume your product because they are scared of the risks if they don’t.

On one hand, this guarantees sales. However, even for these ‘necessities’, is there no better way to market to consumers? Or is this unimportant, as consumers have little choice but to buy your product?

The wheels in my head have been spinning after reviewing my friend  Armand Konecsi-Luzny’s blog. He questions whether countries ‘position’ themselves, and considered Germany as one of his examples. German cars are generally known for their excellent craftsmanship, which influences the way we perceive Germany as a whole. Being from Kenya, I began to ponder how my country is positioned, which led me to a larger question; how is AFRICA positioned?

During my time at UBC, I have come to realise that there is a disparity between what African’s think of their continent (and country) and what people from other continents think of Africa and the 54 countries within it. Those who have had the pleasure of visiting an African country have generally been blown away by the stark contrast. The majority of those I have met who have not visited Africa mentally associate Africa with poverty, corrupt government, death, and the Maasai Mara.  They believe that it is a desolate, arid, undeveloped land. It must therefore be particularly confusing  for them to see African’s speak with great pride of their home, of the unforgettable beauty of the African sunrise, of the heart-melting warmth of the African people, and finally, of the great wealth that lies in Africa.

However, looking at the magazines and and other media available, I can not blame them. When discussing Africa, images of starving children are often splashed across the magazine pages, often accompanied by harrowing tales from the war-struck regions in Africa. While these stories are not false, one can not help but notice the absence of the tales of great success, such as the unfathomable development made in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide. Or of Kenya’s strides towards recovery since the 2007 tribal clashes. Despite this, I do not hold the media solely responsible, for we have all played some role in the development and maintenance of this ignorance.
This well-kept secret must be exposed, and the world’s false mental image dashed. After all, if Germany had never given the world a taste of it’s powerful machines, or Japan with its technology,  their industries would never have been where they are today. However, Africa faces some unique challenges; most obviously, a continent can’t be packed into a ship and sent across the world into showrooms or shop displays. Additionally, it is difficult to get the majority of the world to experience Africa, due to the travel costs involved.

With such challenges in then can we reposition the continent? What are your thoughts?

It’s that time of the year when students begin to question the wisdom in having taken up certain courses. For the ambitious lot within our masses who chose to do battle against 6 courses this semester, time is equitably appropriated between emergency studying, strolls to the café for another cup of coffee, brief naps and cursing the legion of professors for ‘thoughtlessly’ scheduling exams what feels like moments apart! Those who went out on a limb to ‘try something totally new’ now find themselves treading water in a deep ocean of confusion, as sharks in the form of T.A. markers set their firm gaze on them. On the other end of the spectrum, those amongst us who for no reason took on a particularly light manageable course load rather equitably appropriate their time between postponing studying for that far-away midterm, strolls to the café for a lovely mocha and chat, sleep and pitying the aforementioned students. Some energy is, of course, conserved, to pat themselves on the back for their unerring foresight. This begs the question; which group of students is happiest with the service they are getting from UBC?

Midterms are the time when post-purchase dissonance sets in amongst the students. Similar to that experience after buying amazing shoes, when you get home and admire them, mentally matching up potential outfits to match their excellent colour tone, and massaging them to fully take in their remarkable texture…not to mention that new smell! And then the cold fact hits you as hard as a result from Prof. Gateman’s midterm; you just spent two hundred dollars on those shoes! The guilt from having spend such a huge sum on the shoes quickly sets in. Hopefully, this gradually subsides and you keep the shoes instead of taking them back for a refund.
As soon as the midterms begin, the first two groups of students are pulling their hair out, staring at a mountain of books and wondering how they’ll ever get it all done. They fret over having been so heavily invested in this potentially precarious decision, and may even wish they could undo it. They worry about the possible effects on their averages. The wonderful opportunities they had envisaged, such as eligibility for certain programs or graduating early are all tossed out of the mental window, as  stress walks through the door.

Somehow they make it through all this, hopefully with a few strands of hair still attached to their head. And when they’re on the other end of the divide, with the exams behind them and the credits added to their logs, we must once again ask ourselves; which group of students is happiest with the service they are getting from UBC? The group which enjoyed the extra mochas, but didn’t get into their programme in the time they’d have expected? Or the group which finally managed to catch up on their sleep, yet are matching up their degree and school involvement just as they had envisioned while shopping at the course schedule website?

Happy studying!

Citations

All quotes are from frustrated, somewhat sleep-deprived Sauder students.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of effective marketing for any business.  However, I now realise that marketing pours beyond the shores of profits and sales, and flows into our daily lives. For everybody is a brand, and we’re always trying to sell that brand. The 4P’s have been painstakingly drilled into us, and we seem to have most of them down to pat; the Price, Place, Promotion(& Packaging). We have price in mind, which is what we hope to charge our employers. We have places too, guided by where we search out jobs  and Co-ops (COOL, newspapers, word of mouth). We even have an entire Comm 299 class dedicated to helping us improve our Promotion.

However, we seem to neglect the most fundamental of the 4P’s; PRODUCT. This is, ultimately, what we’re trying to sell, and the other 3P’s revolve around it. Despite this being painstakingly obvious, we continually forget to develop our product. We become comfortable with our progress, and decide to savour our accomplishments for far too long. We fail to push on, forgetting that ‘Champions never stop’ (Mohammed Ali). We spend so much time selecting the trendiest suits, picking out the perfect tie to match that shirt and leave an impression, and such little time developing the being who the shirt wraps around. When was the last time we carried out a consumer satisfaction survey, to find out how OUR product was meeting the needs of those in our environment? The last time that we pondered on what others were doing in order to become so successful? Have we given much thought to any possible strategic partnerships we could form? Or to alternative ways we ensure we deliver value to everyone who samples our product?

Very few surviving firms today can attribute their success to blind luck. There is generally a well-executed strategy behind their soaring profits. Likewise, we must strive to always improve our product, in order to best meet the needs of those around us, or risk languishing on the shelves as those around us are selected for opportunities that present themselves.