Naheel Jawaid's Blog

This post is pretty simple, read the title and let it sink in.

I’d like to illustrate this point through a couple advertisements.

http://youtu.be/Gs3a8NDPPl4?hd=1

http://youtu.be/pSLOnR1s74o?hd=1

As evident in both ads, the product itself is not the focus. Not once are specs, price or features mentioned. Instead, the viewer is stimulated emotionally through creating a “picture perfect” experience they could achieve with the help of the company.

I believe this is the key feature of good marketing, focusing on the experience you are delivering to the consumer and leaving other details for later. This is because consumers usually make choices, not based on data and logic, but on an emotional level. No matter how much you explain the health issues related to eating McDonalds, you will not be able to convince a kid that has seen the joy of a “happy meal” through a McDonalds commercial.

As with my last post on commercials, it turns out I yet again have to make a promotional video for BizzComm club tomorrow. Our team is still coming up with ideas for the video. I wonder how I can implement this idea…

At an IB Club meeting today, I ended up talking to a 2nd year student while chowing down on their free wings (If you are a Sauder student reading this, go to their events… you will not regret it). The conversation got onto the topic of marketing and the person I was talking to (his name was Chris or Greg or something, I swear) had the view that marketing was evil and manipulative. I disagreed, stating that good marketing often leads people to “feel” they are better off, regardless of reality, and that that was most important.

I read a post today on the Influential Marketing Blog.

One of the coolest things about Marketing is changing perceptions through the most subtle changes. This blog post was eyeopening.

The blog talks about how consumers have no real grasp of what something should be worth, and are heavily influenced by comparing the price of one good to the price of another to see if they are getting a good deal.

This brought up the issue once again in my mind, as although someone like Chris (or Greg…?) might see this as manipulative, I believe the use of behavioral psychology in this concept is genius.

We hear a lot in Sauder about LinkedIn, a social media site created for business networking. Jenn brings up some great points about the importance of networking, a message we are bombarded with constantly as Sauderites.

Take a look at her full post by clicking here.

There was one particular sentence that really got me thinking. It was this passage, “LinkedIn… gives users a false sense of security that online networking will really bring them the career they have always wanted on a silver platter.”

From personal experience, I can say that I have added people I don’t actually know on facebook, and have had people send me friend request who I don’t know in return. Although on facebook this merely means awkwardly avoiding these people on chat, in the context of LinkedIn, it can mean something much more dangerous.

I fear there will be a section of individuals who start steer away from traditional face-to-face networking, in exchange for simply doing all their networking online. Although it is too early to tell now, I hope dearly that my fellow Sauderites will not get lazy and do the majority of their networking online.
Also, they should join BizzComm Club.

It’s Friday night, and you know what that means. I’m checking out Raeanne’s comm 101 blog, when I come across something that catches my attention.

WOAH, What’s this? Click here to see.

Raeanne pulls out a brain-tingling post about Buckley’s, a Canadian cough syrup company, and its unique marketing pitch.

“People swear by it. And at it.”

“How bad does it taste? That depends. How bad is your cough?”

“Since 1919, we’ve been leaving Canadians with a bad taste in their mouths.”

A shocking use of reverse psychology that I’ve heard since childhood, but never really stepped back and analyzed. Raeanne’s post made me take a closer look at why such advertising might be affective.

The market for the product, people susceptible to colds, do not want to be lied to. Buckley’s target this sentiment and gives them a simple, no-BS message. Their shockingly truthful statements set them apart from their competitor and give them brand marketing as a straight-shooter in the market form cough syrup.

Thanks Raeanne, that post was what’s up.

Here’s a small glimpse of what goes on at Postsecrets.com

Shocking stuff. Uncensored, perhaps even edgy. One word you may not have linked to these, however, is “profitable.”

Frank Warren has turned, what was once his art project to give people an emotional outlet, into a successful business venture.

The site came form humble beginnings, as Frank posted his home address online and asked people on the internet to anonymously mail their secrets to him, as a way to get things off their chest. What he got in response was a wide variety of homemade postcards, ranging from humorous exaggerated secrets all the way to dark emotional stories.

During the beginning of the project, Frank made it clear that he would not put ads on the website, claiming that would be disrespectful to the people who sent in secrets.

Although Frank vowed not to go that route (a potentially great source of revenue), he ha figured out an alternate way to capitalize. A new I-Phone app has been released, allowing users to read and share secrets on the go. The app has already reached apple’s list of top-20 best selling apps.

And that’s what’s up.

To read more, click here.

It’s late at night but you’re up reading my blog for whatever reason. Don’t worry bro, I got something for you:

How do I get away with posting this? Simple, I’ve got some actual probing questions to ask about this ad. (GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER).

Now although I can display this ad, Lynx, marketed as Axe in the U.S., has been banned from using it. The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) deemed this ad to be objectifying towards women and ‘likely to cause serious and widespread offence.’

This begs the question, where is the line drawn. Sexualization of such products is widespread in advertising these days. So why was this ad specifically banned. Should it have been banned? I would like to know your opinion. Hit me up.

Cause that’s what’s up.

If you’d like to see more pictures get to know more about this issue, click here.

PS: If you don’t get my title, it’s a reference to Arrested Development.

If you read my last blog post on skittles’ viral marketing campaign (https://blogs.ubc.ca/naheeljawaid/2011/11/23/test/ … this counts as linking another person’s blog right…?) then you would have noticed some of the unconventional methods used by the company to create an impact with consumers.

Upon further analysis, I noticed some key elements of the video such as the length of the video, 30 seconds. This is intentional in order to keep the attention of today’s average internet user. Another element was the intentional absurdity of the clip, intended to get viewers to forward the video to their friends.

With just a few key points in mind, I was ready to make my own commercial, for UBC Bizzcomm, the premiere club at Sauder that teaches the importance of networking and business communications. After a couple days of work, I was ready to release the video. And no, I will not be disclosing how much I am getting paid to plug the club on my blog (hint: it’s zero dollars)

Here’s the video.

And that’s what’s up.

Prepare to be either slightly aroused, or creep-ed the f*** out.

http://youtu.be/eDlaJlb1ezg

So what’s up with ads such as this one. Does “Mars, Incorporated” expect this ad to convince us of the sugary goodness provided by the colorful ball of artificial preservatives that is a “skittle?” The answer will not surprise you. It’s “NO.”

So why spend money on producing this entertaining but largely irrelevant clip? One word. Brand recognition*. The marketing department at skittles hopes to associate its product with fun and quirkiness, creating brand recognition among its target demographic.

This concept peaked my interest, I decided I would put it to the test. Subscribe to the blog and you’ll find out where I went with this idea.

*The author apologizes for going over my word limit of one

I’m scrambling through my papers, nothing but doodles and dried drool from my econ lecture. Normally, this would be cause for panic, however, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of a couple Eastern Canadian university students, I need not worry.

Notewagon.com – A social network with an academic twist. This start-up company is making headway as it expands from the University of University of Waterloo to other Ontario post-secondary institutions and beyond.

The product it offers, notes on lectures, is not new. However, it’s method of of obtaining, organizing, and distributing these notes are what gives it a competitive edge in the market of University students.

The organization allows students to upload and “sell” their notes to other students. With a little bit of magic (and something called the “free market”) quality notes get recognized and are paid more for and Notewagon makes a percent of the profit.

The company is taking a risk, in that there are other note-sharing platforms, and in order for it to thrive, it needs to be widely used like a social networking site. It’s working currently to get funding of about $1,000,000 in the silicone valley in order to expand its market rapidly.

More notes for me. Hell yeah!

It is found that business professionals in Kenya who engage in fraud and corruption are alumni’s of Kenyan business schools. This leads many to question Kenyan business schools and the role of ethics education in their curriculum.

Although experts have condemned Kenya’s business school curriculum, the article points out that not all cases of corruption involve business graduates.

The article examines how Kenya’s business schools can integrate ethics into the education, as Kenyan institutions feel that their “syllabus is already jam-packed” and thus ethics courses should be only optional.

This brings up the question of what these schools can do in order to produce more ethically minded graduates. Some suggest integrating insightful questions into the curriculum about ethics in the context of the world we live in.

The USIU’s inter-disciplinary Research, Grants and graduate Studies (REGGS) supports initiatives that aim to integrate more education on the topic of ethics and is helping to resolve this issue in Kenya.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion+++Analysis/+Are+business+graduates+failing+ethics+test++/-/539548/1235162/-/item/1/-/k76832z/-/index.html