Month: March 2011

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.

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?