Celebrities are always an interesting topic of discussion when it comes to their marketing because, at a fundamental level, their value is the perceived benefit or association they portray. However, though most celebrities have their every word planned and memorized – except for a few horrible missteps – this is truer for no other market than young teens.

    I believe that this is in large part another aspect of the sharp division we have seen in most aspect of our society and culture. People are moving farther and farther away from what we used to consider normal and generally centre towards extreme ends of the spectrum. Teens are now either extremely censored and protected, hardly reflection any of the hardships that teenagers and young adults might face – other than obviously heartache – or partaking in drinking, drugs and other inappropriate behaviours. People have become simultaneously oversensitive and desensitized to what we now consider entertainment in the form of celebrities day-to-day lives.

   As a result, we see cases of celebrities who are made or broken based on their ‘image’ and ability to successfully control their public relations. Whether this controlled reality that we hold to such great standards is beneficially to the young teens who follow the every move of these celebrities is extremely questionable, but the culture to do so has clearly become an unmoving portion of their lives.

“I think the biggest takeaway from this is that perhaps “viral marketing” isn’t about making a message viral, but attaching a message to a whole new product (high-quality web content that will go viral). At the time I’m writing this, the video has over 27 million views; it also reached as high as #6 on the global iTunes charts.  Why? I would think it’s because people love this music video and song, not because they love hearing about rail safety.”

    Viral marketing has been incredibly effective for those companies that have been able to capitalize on its results despite the unpredictability of public reaction. However, with anything that is viral, there is always a risk that people will dilute, mix and react in complete opposition of the original intent of the message, especially when it is connected to “a whole new product.”

    This concern was especially pronounced in regards to Metro Trains’ video and Clayton’s last comment, which stated that people love the song and not necessarily the video. People on the internet sometimes take content to heart, as a challenge to defy any sort of standard and become bigger than the source of popularity. Though Metro clearly ment to place hiding in a washing machine and selling both kidneys as akin to unsafe transit practice, I fear that many would take this as a declaration of ‘you can not’, reacting by engaging in these exact activities.

    Controlling the outcomes of a campaign that has gone viral are next to imposible, and though I commend Metro Trains for their amazing video, I hope that the message isn’t mixed in the medium.

    Opioids are now the largest cause of accidental death in the Unites States, surpassing car crashes for the first time1.

Opioids: decrease perception of pain, decrease reaction to pain as well as increase pain tolerance. The side effects of opioids include sedation and respiratory depression2. (Includes Morphine, Codeine, Heroine, Vicodin OxyContin and Methadone.)

    However, what might be surprising is that these deaths are being caused by legally prescribed medication. The US currently consumes 80% of the worlds pain medication3, and what used to be prescribed only to cancer and end-of-life patients is now being used for common ailments such as back pain.

    Abuse, addiction and access to these drugs have increased dramatically in the past ten years, but many blame the marketing campaigns of large pharmaceutical companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s for the current market conditions and this growing health crisis.

    The largest and most well know of these offenders is Purdue, who launched a campaign in 1995 to convince doctors and patients that these heavy painkillers, which are incredibly addictive and were previously rarely used for moderate chronic pain, were as safe to use as Aspirin. They even released a promotional ad stating that addiction to prescription opioids was less than 1%. Sales increased for Purdue by just over 6500% over the next 13 years and a new market was created for opioids4.

    Since Purdue’s original campaign may have been extremely successful, they later pleaded guilty in court for a misbranding of the drug “with intent to defraud and mislead the public.”5 However, the effects of the product itself have been more detrimental and long lasting to the American population than anyone could have expected.

    As physicians and politician attempted to curb opioid use, it is important to continue the conversation about how companies represent themselves, how much we trust the messages of companies that have their own interest at heart and the long-term implication of short-term market expansion.

Companies are out to make money, even if their mission is to theoretically help you.

    Two days ago I visited the Clearly Contacts website, and though I did not buy anything – my time spent on the website exceeding no more than a minute – today, every website I visit that functions around Google ads is featuring one of these :

    Though in recent years Google has seen a lot of negative publicity in regards to their privacy policies, it has never been a tightly held secret that Google tracks and stores its users web history in order to provide more personalized, and hopefully more effective, ads. However, never before has this fact been more obvious and creepy than in the past few weeks, and this is where I doubt the effectiveness of Google ads themselves.

    Disregarding the negative perception people might have towards their privacy, the beauty in online advertisement lies in the seamlessness with which it integrates content. I should not be consciously noticing these ads, not realizing exactly how and why they are being targeted at me, and definitely not looking upon them with distaste. In the past 24 hours I have seen this company appear on the websites I visit  more times then I can count, but my perception of this brand is not a positive one.

    Subtly in a fine art, and I’m finding that Google’s lack of is rendering its ads not only pointless, but counterproductive.

A new world, the same blog.

Black Friday has been an American tradition since the beginning of American consumerism, however, recent trends show that the increasing Canadian dollar have made Black Friday canadian pastime, if only for those close to the border.

Consumer have always known that shopping in the United States can lead to saving, but the recent increases in the dollar has seen more and more Canadians crossing the border to do even their most simple shoppings. This shopping pattern is exemplified even more in the American shopping holiday of Black Friday, where deals and sales leave shoppers with even more savings.

However, though this may be good for Canadian consumers, retailers and stores are suffering as the continue to fail to compete with american prices. Canadians are exercising their buyer power. Retailers have no way of stopping those who choose to cross the border, if the canadian dollar continues to rise in the long term, they may be forced change their prices to compete with american prices.

Nevertheless, retailers are unlikely to change. There are already regulations in place that limit the amount a citizen can bring back into the country and only a dramatic change might distort the market enough to impact price difference between Canada and the United States.

Globe and Mail

Kiva Micro-financing or Kiva.org is a not for profit organization that funds small entrepreneurial businesses in developing and developed countries around the world. The organization allows individuals and groups to upload money onto the website and choose who to support, and with the help of partners, Kiva is able to transfer that aid to the recipient.

However, whats unique about the process of Kiva is that their donations and donor involvement is not linear. Not for profit organization are typically operated and funded by individual donations that go towards projects and often encourage people to donate again and often. Kiva, on the other hand, operates as a bank and therefore donations are rarely lost to the system, which makes it a great long-term investment.

As a school or organization who donates to a charity every year, Kiva allows them to accumulate their aid over the years and make a greater impact. With every loan they give and then recollect, the donor is given the power to impact another persons life with having to reinvest in the organization.

Kiva has reinvented the idea of donating, a social enterprise helping enterprise.

Maker Studios Founders

Where the internet meets internet and then real life, Part 3.

Though YouTube has enjoyed a large increase in its viewership during the past few years, it has failed to reach a level even close to that of television and many doubt that is has the capability to so. However, a few young and successful stars have crossed the boundary and taken the next step in obtaining a quality and level of production that could rival even that of televisions.

However, making that leap with a somewhat unstable platform such as YouTube had never been done before and the founders of Maker Studios showed what I believe to be the key entrepreneurial qualities when they started their company.

Entrepreneurs in their essences are problem solvers. They look at a function or servers and identify any issues associated with it. They then take a risk by coming up with a new and unique solution for the issue they have identified and by doing so improve and propel the market forward.

Maker Studios saw a number of talented and hard working artists, each with their own camer and equipment, and working out of their homes, garages, and basements. An efficient and resources consuming process. They understood that by uniting these YouTubers, their collective power would not only raise their level of production and output, but also fuel their creativity, exposure and viewership. They are part of the growing mass of entrepreneurs on the internet.

http://makerstudios.com/

Will Barnes and Noble meet the same fate?

Barnes and Noble has faced hard times in the last few quarters as it tries to compete with competitors that can sell the same product for a much lower price, such as Amazon, and the recent and strong emergence of the e-reader.

However, they recently made the decision to remove DC Comic books and associated products from their shelves after the company sold exclusive rights of some of its products to Amazon, Barnes and Noble largest competitor. Pam writes in her blog that Barnes and Noble has made a grave mistake in failing to adapt quickly to the electronic market and I agree with her assessment. It is clear that Amazon is leading the field, with their Kindle sales alone, but the question now remains whether Barnes and Noble will be able to survive.

It seems unlikely that Barnes and Noble will be able to release a electronic reader that would compete with the likes of the Kindle or iPad, who have already established themselves within the market, and without the an associated product consumers are more going to gravitate towards the ease buying from the manufacturer rather than a third party.

The future looks dim for Barnes and Noble as they move forward on the path of become another old book on the shelf, seldom to be read, except by a sentimental few.

Amazon’s Kindle Leaves Barnes & Noble Flaming

Lululemon has is a brand known for the lifestyle and image they portray as much as their products, and as one young blogger writes “there is no reason that a pair of stretchy pants that cost less than five dollars to make cost you over $100, …… I wouldn’t mind so much if the product was innovative, or the pants could make me fly.”

However, though there are now multiple brands that offer knockoffs to many of Lululemons

key products, the business continues to do better than expected and they are continuing to grow internationally. This is because what Lululemon offers is more than a products, they offer a general lifestyle that people value more that the product itself.

Lululemon was the first, and they are doment force in the market which is unlikely to be removed in the near future.