Noelle Lee's Blog

Waking up in the morning with a cup of coffee is part of the Western culture. This explains why Starbucks is so successful in the United States and Canada with over 12,000 retail stores. Currently, Starbucks has more than 17,000 stores in over 50 countries globally. Even in a small city like Hong Kong, there are over 110 Starbucks stores.

I have been living in Hong Kong for more than 17 years, and in this blog post, I would like to talk more about Starbucks in Hong Kong. Due to cultural differences, the proportion of people drinking coffee in Hong Kong is less than those in Western countries. Besides, many people in Hong Kong prefer teas and bottled drinks to coffee. Hence, we don’t often see people carrying a coffee cup while walking on the street when compared to the US or Canada.

In order to promote its brand in Hong Kong, Starbucks collaborated with G.O.D to create a Starbucks with the 1950’s Hong Kong tea house design on Duddell Street. In the 1950s, people went to the tea house for coffee, tea, and some trendy Western treats like ice-cream. This design definitely incorporated Hong Kong’s unique history and highlighted the richness of Hong Kong local culture.

All images from http://www.unlawyer.net

In response to Janice’s blog post about Starbucks in the Beijing’s Forbidden City, I agree with her that opening up one of its store in this historical location is not a wise move.

http://captainstlucifer.files.wordpress.com

Distribution is all about getting the right product to the right place at the right time. Beijing’s Forbidden City was built in 1420, and it has a lot of historical value as it was home to 24 emperors until the end of imperial rule in 1911. On the other hand, many people see Starbucks as a modern international coffeehouse company.

Due to the differences in their images and culture of the Forbidden City and Starbucks, this Starbucks branch was forced to close down after huge protests.

http://www.flickr.com

Two months after this Starbucks branch’s closure, the Forbidden City opened its own café. This “Forbidden City Cafe” contains a lot of traditional Chinese elements, such as wooden tables, wooden chairs and pictures featuring Chinese culture. In addition, this new café does not only serve coffee, it also has some traditional Chinese beverage such as tea.

From this example, we can see that PLACE is a very important factor as it affects the success of a company. Companies should definitely think carefully before opening up a new retail store, especially at a historical site.

In order to promote products, there are different types of media that firms can choose for advertising. We can always see firms promoting their products and services through television, magazines, catalog, and internet.

However, after learning more about promotions from class, I was greatly inspired by another type of advertising media, outdoor advertising. So, after I went back home, I researched more about different creative outdoor advertising. Outdoor advertising is relatively cheap when compared to television or direct mail. On the other hand, it is hard to focus on firms’ target markets.

Below are some examples of billboard designs:

Images from http://blueblots.com

In my previous marketing class, we talked about the communicating with consumers and how marketing communications influence consumers’ decisions.

Take Juicy Couture’s Spring -Summer 2011 Ad campaign as an example, we can break down the steps that consumers take before actually buying the product from Juicy Couture using the AIDA model.

http://www.juicycouture.com

Awareness:

The advertisement uses many different colours to attract consumer’s attention. As the brand name is printed at the bottom right corner clearly, consumers can immediately identify the brand that this advertisement is promoting.

Interest:

After gaining consumers’ attention to the advertisement, the ad has to increase their interest in purchasing the products. As Juicy Couture’s target market is women ages 10-26, in the ad, there are three good-looking models wearing eye-catching outfits and luxurious accessories. These can help to gain consumers’ interest in those products.

Desire:

This advertisement is promoting the Juicy Couture’s fun, luxurious, and fairytale-like image. After looking at this ad, consumers may want to be like those models and have the desire to purchase the products advertised.

Action:

In the end, if the ad has caught consumers’ attention and made them wanted to own the products, they most likely will act on that interest by making a purchase.

Recently, I read an interesting blog posted on March 17 about how ABC killed their fan base on Influential Marketing Blog. The writer of the blog post was trying to find the latest episode of the ABC drama V that he missed on ABC.com. However, he was very frustrated when he found out that the site no longer allows people to watch the episodes of V online.

http://www.rohitbhargava.com

I totally agree with the writer that ABC.com should focus more on monetizing the content that they already have instead of trying to think of ways to prevent people from accessing the content. In addition, I think that even if it does not allow people to watch the full episodes online, it still cannot help to stop piracy around the world.

We are always talking about how important the marketing mix are to the company. In this case, I would like to focus on one of the four Ps – Place. It is very important to get the right product to the right place at the right time. I think that ABC.com should make their shows, dramas, and movies more available to its viewers. For example, they can put all the episodes online so that viewers can have access to them anytime they want, or they can sell the episodes online with a low charge. By increasing the distribution intensity, ABC.com can benefit from the increase in number of people viewing their content legally.

In every March, Tim Hortons holds its annual “Roll Up the Rim to Win” contest. Beginning in 1986, Tim Hortons’ “Roll Up the Rim to Win” contest is celebrating its 25^th anniversary with more than 47 million prizes and better odds of winning.

Learning from my marketing class, this contest is a sales promotion strategy that encourages consumers to purchase more of the product. Not only it encourages present consumers to buy more hot beverages from Tim Hortons, the contest also increases consumers’ involvement and generates excitement.

Last year, Tim Hortons received a lot of complaints about how hard it is for consumers to win in the contest. In response to the complaints, this year, Tim Hortons makes good use of the social media to provide daily updates about where the winners are on http://www.rolluptherimtowin.com.

Even though I am not a regular consumer of Tim Hortons, I found myself visiting Tim Hortons more often whenever the “Roll Up the Rim to Win” contest is held. Have you rrrolled up the rim yet?

The people that inspired me most are “The Faceless 50”. They are a group of brace technicians who stayed behind in the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant five days after the devastating tsunami in Japan.

Quoted from the New York Times,  “ They have volunteered, or been assigned, to pump seawater on  dangerously exposed nuclear fuel, already thought to be partly melting and spewing radioactive material, to prevent full meltdowns that could throw thousands of tons of radioactive dust high into the air and imperil millions of their compatriots.”

I was greatly inspired by their bravery and willingness to sacrifice for the country. The amount of radiation that each worker could be exposed to is five times the maximum exposure permitted for American nuclear plant workers. Even they knew about the health damage that would cause to them, none of them tried to quit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk

ikea.com

During the reading week, I visited IKEA with my friends as they wanted to purchase a table lamp. While I was in IKEA, I could immediately relate the materials taught in my marketing class and recognize how IKEA implemented the marketing mix to increase its customer value.

ikea.com

Product:

IKEA has a wide range of products and it has everything you need in your house (from bedroom furnishings to toys and whole kitchens). In addition, each type of products has many different styles. Take table lamp as an example, IKEA offers the very basic table lamp design as well as stylish table lamp that serve various functions.

Price:

I think that all the product prices in IKEA are quite reasonable. Quoted from IKEA’s website, “low prices are the cornerstone of the IKEA vision, business idea and concept”. It is obvious that IKEA is very concerned with charging a price that customers perceive as a good value for the products.

Place:

The products in IKEA are readily accessible for its customers. After visiting the showrooms, you can simply visit the furniture warehouse and collect the products that you would like to purchase. It is easy and fast for customers to obtain their products. Furthermore, IKEA has an IKEA Home Shopping service where customers can make orders by phone or online 24/7.

Promotion:

For promotion, IKEA publishes an annual catalogue which includes most products available in store as well as their prices. This catalogue allows IKEA to communicate with its customers about the value of its offering.

In our marketing class last week, we were talking about the new Valentine’s project by Blenz Coffee: Blenz Red Band. This Red Band Campaign runs from February 1^st till February 28^th. In this Valentine’s season, when you buy a coffee from Blenz, you can choose to put the customized red sleeve on your coffee cup to indicate you are single. The red band also gives you an opportunity to talk to other singles in the city without looking awkward and maybe meet your potential dates.

vancitybuzz.com

In Jessica’s blog post about the Red Band Campaign, I agree with her that this campaign is successful because Blenz differentiate itself from their competitors such as Starbucks. As Valentine’s Day is approaching, Blenz Red Band Campaign is targeting to all the singles in the city and giving them a change to meet other people. However, on the other hand, Starbucks did not have any special promotions for Valentine’s Day. I really think that Blenz’s Red Band is a brilliant marketing idea.

Which colour sleeve will you be spotting this month? 🙂

We know that social factor is one of the factors that influence consumer decision process. Some examples of social factors are family members, reference groups, and culture. Many companies realize how the images from consumers’ reference groups can greatly affect their purchasing behaviours, thus they always include celebrities in their advertisements.

In recent months, some of Katy Perry’s songs are very popular among teenagers. OPI make use of Katy Perry’s popularity and teamed with her to introduce the Katy Perry nail polish collection.

Consumers always try to identify and affiliate with their reference groups to create or maintain their self-image. Many teenagers may purchase the new Katy Perry Collection by OPI because they see Katy Perry as their role model and wanted to look like her: a fashionable, sexy, and talented celebrity.