Pattie's thinking on a blog

Almost end of term but i’m still blogging this one up!

this is one of the craziest ad idea i’ve seen.

its simple and normal at first. please look at this!

let me ask you a couple of questions now:

1) where would you expect to see this?
2) why would you see it there?
3) what are you expecting to see from the website?

the situtation of this ad:
1) i saw this at a bus stop. it first attracted me becuase of its unique simple, black &white colour
2/3) at first sight, i thought the website on the ad was a forum on a website for transit riders to put their thoughts on what their ‘seat strategy’ is. Thats why it would be obvious that the ad was a a bus stop.

well, keep your answer of question 3 in mind as i tell you the real website it leads you to:

the link actually leads you to VANCOUVER WHITECAPS’ VENUE SEATS!

WOW! This is what we are learning in class : indirect promotional approach

they used an attractive ad and slogan to get me to link to that website.

i dont have much to say about this. it’s just the moment i got linked to a whitecap’s page when expecting a transit forum site.. i had to refresh twice. retyped the url thrice.. and finally concluded that i was on the right site.

now, this website url will always be in my mind… great job whitecaps marketing department!

with our society right now, i think it is hard to see someone not living without a laptop, computer, or cellphone.

Today, everyone is looking for more convenient and faster ways of communication. We rely on our electronic devices a lot. And because of this reason, we are slowly transforming ourselves onto the internet more. Come to think about it, we use the internet and the computer so much that we sometimes forget it’s only been the last couple of years that the internet has gotten so wide used.

Please take a read of this external blog i found about this topic by the Canadian Marketing Association:

http://www.canadianmarketingblog.com/archives/2010/11/the_future_of_ecommerce_has_be_1.html

After reading this, the first thing i thought about was what we learned in 299. We need to start displaying ourselves on the social media network. Our resumes will soon be all emailed, and our profile and skills will be displayed throughout the internet. And if people are beginning to do this, ofcourse businesses will need to start!

inorder to find your customers, businesses need to follow the economic trends and adapt to the best ways of communicating fully to your customers. In this blog, Wise discusses the transformation of e-commerce in retail stores.

In order for your consumers to feel that the online version of your ‘store’ is similar, they need to be able to relate the online and real life versions. Although i do agree with that point, i believe it is also important for the stores to have something ‘different’ between the two.

Once you achieve your customer base through the real life physical store, i believe it is important to provide to your consumers something ‘more’ in the online version. If the uniqueness of the website can draw more attention, they will automatically link your website to the retail store.

By providing similar and more on the websites, it will only help your grow and strengthen your business’ loyalty base. Like on resumes, you need to send the message through you have the basic skills they are looking for, but at the same time, you are proving to them you have MORE to offer.

All in all, to me, i believe once a company has a recognizable brand and product, i believe providing that extra spark in the ‘e-commerce’ version of your business will guarantee a more strong loyaly consumer base.

time to blog some more!

First, this is my friends blog that i will be reblogging about: http://bg413.blogspot.com/2010/11/gaadf.html

To ben, this commercial is completly different than that of pizza hut. However, coming to think about it, i think Pizza Hut is using the exact same makreting tactic as Axe.

I happen to be doing Axe for 296’s group assignments and after watching more commericals and seeing their goals behind them, watching this commercial makes me think of all the Axe commericals.

For Axe, their commercials are based on the fact that if you use their product, you will becomel like the people in the commercials. Fit, popular, and attractive. For Pizza Hut, this commercial is obviously sending the message that “even though you intake greasy and oil and fattening food, you will still be fit and skinny”.

Because people have the idea (which is probably true) that if you eat this, compared to something more healthy, your chances of gaining more weight increases. That’s their impression of pizza. So even though we will eat pizza every so often, it wouldn’t be the choice of food for a daily meal.

So this is Pizza Hut’s Strategy.

eating pizza will not affect your appearance. That least Pizza Hut’s pizza wont.

what do you guys think? did this make you want to eat more pizza? or atleast feel a bit more “safe” eating it?

Wifi on airflights? read about Bonnie’s thought about it here: #mce_temp_url#

First of all, i would like to thank Bonnie for researching these interesting news! honestly,  i’ve always thought some airline would sooner or later introduce this technology on the plane. Right? Come on, think about it, its been in cruise ships already!

Introducing wifi on planes (with or without fee) i believe would fit into airlines trying to create a ‘new’ market for their current product. In new users would be referring to economy class passengers. Because like Bonnie’s referred to already, business class already offers somewhat a wifi service. And if i’m not wrong, this is called market development

However, personally, i dont think i would pay that extra fee and create a hassle for me. If any one of you guys have tried internet connection on cruise ships… they are BRUTAL! it take a good chunk of time to load a single page and not to even mention, the cost (because of the lengthy time it takes to load pages)
maybe its due to the fact that i never really mind the ‘wait’ during a flight. (depends on which airline actually now that i think about it)

i actually would rather enjoy a good couple of movies that are being shown rather than turning on my laptop and waiting for a page to load while staring at a blank screen for minutes and minutes and minutes.

But by all means, if i were to travel on a plane for business purposes and during the flight it is expected of me that i stay connected. then i would say it is reasonable to charge a $5 fee to access the internet.

Now referring to bonnie’s latest blog on how google chrome is offering free wifi for a limited time…#mce_temp_url#

it makes total sense that google and virgin would come out with something this quickly to react to less noticeable airlines’ new innovation. i think google is smart in introducing this during peak demand air travelling period. Many students are flying back to their homes and what better way to get a free ‘sample’ of people trying out the service?

all in all, i believe i would try it out first (just because probably i would want to go on facebook during the time…and write “i’m in mid air” ).. but other than that, i probably would wait until something even better to come out (which probably wont take long until it is introduced).. although we dont know what it would be…

my bad for not updating last week, i totally forgot. Just when i thought i would get a break after writing all those midterms… i stayed up even later finishing assignments and projects!

anyway, back to marketing

as a daily commuter, going to and forth UBC, i enjoy taking those long bus rides reading the metro and 24. And recently, i came across something that both Metro and 24 do. They are very creative and smart with their advertisements.

many of the ads take up a whole page, or atleast half a page. Some others even manage to get their ads BEFORE the cover page of the paper!

But no matter how successful i see those ads being, i noticed the best ones.

Metro sometimes have a ‘travel’ section in their paper. You may think,  “yeah, they probably just talk about different travel packages and offer deals…” but NO! they dont!

take a look at this:

when i first got to that section, i was reading it like i was reading any other news. it attracted me so much and i didn’t even notice they were advertising and marketing something! They talk about different places, their different unique cultures and wonderful attractions.  only towards the end of the page that you see deals.

and then i thought to myself. “wow! did they just managed to get my full attention?” why did i think of this? usually, i skim through or even ignore all the ads in the paper (even those bring full page ones) But this section, totally caught my attention without me even thinking!

their plan succeeded.

i was attracted to all those places and all those attractions. i wanted to go. just when my brain starts thinking of the possibilities of visiting those places, the show me all the deals and cheap offers they have. WOAH. that’s all i can say.

to me, marketing sometimes isn’t using full pages or spending lots of money to make it to the front page. it’s using smart ways, and not to mention, unique and new ways to catching reader’s attention. Metro (or the tourism agencies/airlines) managed to ‘connect’ to the readers without using straight on numbers and bold words. just a plain simple article.

hey guys! i hope mitderms isn’t killing all of us yet! and finally, i can come here and write a blog!

(warning this isn’t going to be long cause yes, i gotta jump right back into my econ textbook!)

recently, i purchased a nestle watter bottle and i finally saw what nestle has written on there bottles now. If you guys didn’t know, Nestle decreased the size of the bottle cap and is using an average of 27% less plastic on each of there bottles.

to me, this shows me exactly the ECONOMIC in what we learned – CDSTEP.

within the macro environment of a business or product itself, they have to look at the economic factors like “growing” social trends. And without a doubt, Nestle is falling into ‘becoming green’. Because merchandisers like to see that they are doing their part in contributing to a more ‘green’ world, they will want to buy Nestle’s watter bottle if they see the information about their decreased size caps.

as you can see one of the ads here, they are now ‘eco friendly’ and ‘green’

However, to my opinion, that’s not the sole purpose.  although it may sound like it

i was thinking to my self: how come they have to take up more than a quarter of the wrapping around the bottle to inform everyone about this decrease? their slogan “together we can make a difference. please recycle”. It makes us feel proud that we’re purchasing an eco friendly water bottle. but doesn’t it come to your mind that its reduces their cost?!?!

yesyes, one bottle wont do much, but imagine how many of these bottles they produce each day, each period, each year!

Conclusion, to me, Nestle is winning both sides. They are earning more revenue from ‘green’ customers and reducing their production cost by lots!! To me, Nestle wouldn’t have changed their packaging of the cap if it weren’t for their own profit benefits. what do you guys think?

yes everyone, remember these?

These were the red mittens that went flying off of shelves and onto each and everyone of our hands?

The red mittens that created a sea of red during each and every event?

The red mittens that quickly went all fuzzy after days of continuous wear?

Well, these red patriotism waving ‘flags’ are back! After a successful launch of these inexpensive product, there comes out a new design  in support of helping Canadian Athletes fulfill their Olympic dreams!

Read all about it here at the official Canadian Olympic Committee:http://www.olympic.ca/en/news/iconic-red-mittens-relaunched/

You may think that i sound like i was trying advertising and  intriguing you into buying these new products, but to me, this is what the olympic committee is trying to do. Because my biggest questions after reading up on this is: would you go buy these mittens?

In fact, it seems to me that the organization has gone a completely different way of promoting these new mittens. No longer do they focus on accumulating every Canadain’s spirit into one symbolic item, but instead, they are targeting the idea of supporting all the Canadian Athletes in their dreams.

There slogan for this relaunch is “Make a proud donation”, but they designed it in a way that still brings out the patriotism in our hearts

Personally, i think when i saw this advertisment, i was actually quite fired up again. I actually felt the pride with our country. My mind had a flashback at all the events that were held during the Games.

Also, i think the Olympic committee is smart in that they are no longer wasting time attempting to get more ‘spirit’ from Canadians and already attacking from the pride each Canadian has. By using this pride, they promote by encouraging us to donate the $10 for future and current athletes inorder for them to continue their dream and for us to feel their dream fulfill.

Although i would need to believe that not as many Canadians would go and purchase one of these, i certainly think that how they are promoting these new mittens will attract many customers. perhaps me!

so, would you buy one? or would you think this is just the committee trying to raise more money themselves?

Within one weeks time, this innovative way of getting passangers to listen to the safety rules of a plan, has drawn the attention of millions and the youtube hit rate of this clip is also shooting up the skies!

Yes, if you guys don’t know what i’m talking about, its the dance by the Cebu Pacific Flight Attendants!

honestly speaking, i dont have much to comment about it except the fact that when i saw this, the first thing i thought of was to post this onto my blog here!

I think Ceba Pacific has created a very attention seeking move to attract more notice to their airline. Who here has heard of ceba pacific before this and how found out about Ceba Pacific after this clip?

they know that with the ever growing ways of uploading and posting videos, that if they do something that is eye-catching (which this certainly is), the message could be spread quickly.

but this clip always makes me wonder…

did having the flight attendant dance to the safely procedures of the plane really help implant all those actions into passengers’ minds, or does it do no difference knowing half of the passengers are just amused by the dance and not actually listening?

SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Hello there!

hope everyone isn’t too caught up yet studying for midterms and completing assignments already, as a stress reliever, we should all take some time out of the day and come here to read lots of interesting marketing blogs!

Well, i’m here today to talk little about what i found about consumer behavior. In a consumer’s mind, there are always factors that will influence their decision when purchasing a certain item. To me, i think social influences, especially family influences, does a lot to a consumer’s decision.

Here is a unqiue packaging of a type of candy. It is a very popular Asian snack containing Blackcurrant flavoured soft chewing candy- named “FRUTIPS”. I spefically chose this item because i believe the packing draws the attention of both the consumer and the customer (if they are not the same person)

As Tamar said in class, the person buying a product ( the customer) may very well NOT BE the person who is using the product (the consumer). In this case, the customer may be the parents of the consumer, who would be their children. Tamar also mentioned that the USER of the product may greatly influence the BUYER’s decision making. I believe both these points closely relates to this simple jar of Frutips!

Lets quickly highlight the possible family’s ‘buying decision’ on this candy, assuming a child is asking their parents to purchase this product.

• INITIATOR – child
• INFLUENCER – child ( or child’s friends)
• DECIDER – parents
• BUYER – parents
• USER  – child

We can see the ultimate buyer and decider both belongs to the child’s parents because they would be the ones purchasing the item. However, we see the user would be the person consuming the product, which is the child.

I can see this is a well thought out marketing packaging. in which it first draws the attention of the consumer and later, receives the ‘nod’ from the customer.

Ways it makes the USER want it:

• Solely its packing is attention seeking in which the name of the candy is bolded and ‘kid-oriented’ fonts
• the user can’t forget the taste of the candy
• possibly, the snack sets fame and popularity amoung the user’s social group

What will influence the BUYER to buy it:

• the labeling on the package which provides all nutritional facts
• the packaging includes many “healthy” ingredients and says “4x as much juice”
• The most important component is the user being able to influence the buyer!

All in all, i believe that Frutips has done a very good marketing strategy!!

Now, lets see you influence your parents on something bigger, on something more exciting!

In all honesty,when Tamar said marketing lives around us and that marketing is where we dont expect it, i had to think twice about that but ended up agreeing.

After Tamar said that, i started noticing things around me that involve marketing that i would never associate the term marketing with.

Let’s take sports for instance,
it wouldn’t be wrong to say that many sports attract people because of  its nature , but it would hurt to say that sports, whether professional or not, involves all kinds of marketing.

Lets look at one in specific, hockey .

First, and most obvious. Marketing hockey to attract more fans.

In a city of Vancouver,especially during the season, it is quite hard to get through a day without seeing anything “canucks”. Whether you see a commercial, hear an ad, see an ad on a website, or have you friend tweet on their latest thoughts of a certain player, that is all marketing! With the growing social media, it benefits the marketers of the sport because they need to put in less effort for more results! Lets say facebook, the Vancouer Canucks page only needs to write one status and within 10 mins, more than 3000 facebook users has either liked the post or re-directed it to his/her own profile page. And just like that, this sport is getting marketed directly and indirectly.

Not only does marketing for hockey happen through social media, but we see it everyday. From the jerseys to the caps, Canucks pride lives around the city. This not only shows someone’s interest to the association, but it also causes others to notice the team and the sport more! What a smart way of marketing!

Second, oral marketing which rises the level of attention of hockey

this point can be easily seen come playoff time. Not only do hockey commercials start to fill the TV, even people talk about it more often. The more you hear about it, the more you notice it. When one hardcore fan starts telling his/her friends (who are not as into hockey) that the Canucks has gotten through to the next round in the playoffs, the other friends might be drawn into it more compared to the regular season. Hence, more people will become “attached” and marketing is easily completed through this way. Another term arises when playoff season draws more people and these “fans”, though they might not know one single player on the team, start attending bars to watch the game: bandwagoners. : )

Lastly, Hockey indeed requires alot of self marketing

Whether you are a player, a coach, or even the general manager, you constantly need to self market yourself

If you are a player, you are trying hard every night to prove coaches that you can take on bigger roles during games, or you may just be trying to fight for a spot on a team. Without self-marketing, no one will know you can even play the game! In the situation of a coach, you have got to learn and know how to train up your players to their best potentials or the consequences will hit you and shows you that you have not self marketed yourself well enough

In a job like hockey, you are constantly required to prove yourself to being “fit” into any kinds of situation. Once your self-marketing slows down, it means your chances of staying with your job decreases also.

Although i’m sure there are more marketing involved with hockey, these were the first three that came up to my head while i was watching the Canucks’ first pre-season game.

Go Canucks Go!  : )