Writing this final blog post, I am thinking back to everything I have done in COMM 296 that has added value to my knowledge and understanding of marketing. The marketing plan assignments (1&2) have been especially helpful because it has allowed me to apply classroom and textbook material and analyze a company’s marketing strategy, the environment in which it operates and how the company positions itself in the eyes of its desired target market.

In the beginning of the term when I first learned about the assignments, I was excited to learn that I would be doing a marketing analysis of a real-world company with a team and implement suggestions that would improve the company’s overall operations. Coming into the course, I had no idea what CDSTEP, the 4Ps or STP was. Despite the long hours and late nights spent on the marketing plan assignments, my team grew and developed as a whole having thoroughly grasped the textbook concepts and extra information.

With regards to assignment 3, it has been an overall positive experience for myself and my group members. The Digital Media Lab was a very helpful resource for our team in that talking with one of the experts there provided our team with a framework for our group to work with. They also taught us how to work with the software on the computers in the lab. However, what I realized was that, unless the group had at least one person who was familiar with video-editing technology, the assignment would have otherwise been very difficult to complete. Thankfully, my group had an individual who was comfortable with video-editing software. Thus, as a group we were able to work efficiently and effectively because he would tell us what was needed for the video and collectively, as a group, the rest of us were able to gather the images and videos clips as well as the recordings needed in a timely fashion.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experiences I had with these assignments and in COMM 296 as a whole. It has been a very rewarding journey, opening my eyes to the possibilities in the world of marketing.

I recently read Denise’s blog post about branding for small companies with tight budgets. She briefly touches on some relatively low-cost methods for marketing a small company on a limited budget. In her post, she mentions YouTube videos as a way of advertising.

Every company’s ultimate goal is to create a positive brand image in consumers’ minds. To do this, a company must promote itself through effective advertising. Effective advertising is about selecting the medium that best suits your company’s budget and needs. As with any type of advertising there are pros and cons. A YouTube video can be powerful method of advertising because it can contain specific content catered to the product or service your company and is highly flexible and interactive in that you can constantly make new videos and update the content in the videos. Furthermore, it is interactive because people can leave comments and tell you what their thoughts are on your advertising medium. From those comments a company can figure out what they are doing well and what you can improve on. And the most obvious advantage is that it’s free!

However, there are cons of making YouTube videos as well. The primary issue with choosing the Internet as a medium of advertising is that the Internet is becoming cluttered. A link to your YouTube video is no longer just a link to your video. Rather, there is a multitude of other advertisements from other third parties. For example, sometimes when you click on a video, there is usually another 15-30 advertisement that plays before your video. Also, sometimes there are pop-up ads during the video. This can get distracting for the audience that you want to target because they may get annoyed and/or frustrated and may not interpret the message that you want to convey in your ad as well as you had hoped.

And indeed they do. A trip to Menchie’s never fails to bring a smile to my face. This popular frozen yogurt franchise with its myriad of yogurt flavors as wells as fruit, nut and candy toppings is always coming up with new and creative flavors such that every trip to Menchie’s is a unique and exciting experience.

The reason I love Menchie’s is because I get to make my own personal mix of frozen yogurt with the toppings that I love in the quantities that I like. Menchie’s creates value for me because it allows me to customize my frozen yogurt and that is what draws me to their store. I like being able to try a different concoction every time I step foot in the store and it is the originality and freshness of every trip that brings me back to Menchie’s time and time again.

Menchie’s would be a great example of micromarketing as its customers can get their yogurt tailored exactly the way they want it. Going to Menchie’s isn’t just about buying some frozen yogurt, it is an experience all in itself. Menchie’s also owes its success to excellent marketing in terms of place and product. Its stores boasts a friendly and inviting atmosphere, with signature pink, white and lime green walls. Their cute mascot as well as their cute bowls and spoons for holding the frozen yogurt are very good at attracting customers’ attention.

Moreover, the simplicity and convenience of buying frozen yogurt at Menchie’s – “mix, weigh, pay” adds consumer value to the Menchie’s experience. It is a place where students can stop by during a lunch break and parents can bring their kids there after picking them up from school. No matter what time of day, a quick stop at Menchie’s is sure to make you smile.

Reading this blog post from “The Infleuntial Marketing Blog,” I thought back to our class on product strategy and how to accelerate the rate of adoption. This post talks about offering customers free trials, samples and generous return/exchange policies. Here, this concept of an “expiration date” is geared towards software products such as mobile apps and games. I think it is a great idea to offer a limited amount of levels or plays instead of a “lite” version that never expires. The reason being, once the trial period expires, customers are more likely to go and purchase the full-version of the game if they really liked what they experienced during the trial version. Free trials are a great way to let the public know about a company’s products, but if the trial version never expires, many customers will continue to use the trial and be less inclined to purchase the real thing.

Another idea from this post is to extend the free trial period. I think this is a great way to speed up the rate of adoption for a product because by reminding customers that their free trial is almost over and offering them an extension (even if it is a short extension) on the free trial, it will show customers that you care about them. This trial extension will give customers more time to evaluate your product and further increase the chances of them adopting your product.

Lastly, with regards to return and exchange policies, I think it is a good idea to have a relatively long time frame in which customers are allowed to bring the product back for a refund or an exchange. This will give producers insight on whether or not their product is liked by consumers as well as the problems or glitches associated with the product. Generous return and exchange policies definitely increase customer loyalty and strengthen brand image because you are giving your customers a promise of quality and assurance and that in itself ties back to the heart of marketing – value creation for customers.

I have to admit, after all this hype about the Super Bowl, especially the commercials aired up to and during the game, I decided to check some of them out, just to see what the hype was all about. From the myriad of car commercials to beer commercials, it was obvious to see that the majority of these commercials were targeted towards men. However, there was one commercial that really stood out for me; in fact, I even teared up a little while I was watching it.

Budweiser’s “The Brotherhood” commercial, unlike most other commercials which tried to come across as “funny” or “cool,” was very sentimental and humorous in a subtle way. It begins with a man tending to a very adorable Clydesdale foal and it shows the horse’s growth and attachment to its owner until it gets drafted away by Budweiser. I couldn’t resist shedding a few tears when I saw the horse parting with its owner. Then, it fast forwards to three years later where the man and the horse have a reunion. The commercial ends with Budweiser telling viewers to tweet at them if they want to help name the baby Clydesdale shown in the ad. Not only is this commercial well-made in the sense that it has a good storyline, it also makes good use of social media as a means of advertising because they are using Twitter to further engage customers with their brand.

I really liked this commercial because it’s different from the typical Super Bowl commercial where the ad is mainly targeted towards men and sends across the message “if you use our product, you will be popular among the ladies.” Rather, this commercial seems like it is targeted towards a wider audience – the growing female audience. This classic rearing-to-separation-to reunion story of the Clydesdale and its owner was deeply touching for me and changed my opinion about Super Bowl ads for the better.

An increasing trend these days is diet drinks, some of which are lower in calories than regular soft drinks or even calorie-free altogether. However, just because these drinks have the label “diet” on them, does not mean that you should jump to the conclusion that they are healthier for you.

Loaded with aspartame, cyclamates and saccharin, artificial sweeteners in diet drinks have been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Diet Coke is an example of unethical marketing where the company, Coca Cola is making false advertising claims. One particular marketing campaign that Coca Cola launched was endorsed by Karl Lagerfeld, the Chanel designer who claimed to have lost 80 pounds on a diet composed mainly of Diet Coke. Karl says “I drink Diet Coke from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed … I drink nothing else.”

Targeted towards women, Diet Coke has become an ultimate fashion trend with a world-renown fashion designer as the face of the product. Since inception of the product 30 years ago, Diet Coke cans have been showing up in “every model and celebrity’s manicured hand.”

By using stick thin models and fashion designers who are obsessed with body image only makes the situation worse because it is giving women, especially young women, the wrong message. They are being told that obsessive dieting is acceptable and that Diet Coke is the key to being thin and beautiful. This is very detrimental to young girls as it has negative impacts on their self-esteem and body image.

Coca Cola should not be using Karl Lagerfeld’s radical dieting ways as a means of promoting their product. Rather, they should limit such extreme statements and use regular everyday people in their ads so as not to give the wrong message about Diet Coke being directly correlated to a “healthy” body.

Article Sources

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-vs-diet-drinks/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/2013/jan/12/diet-coke-fashion-favourite-fizz

http://jezebel.com/5894899/karl-lagerfeld-doesnt-drink-water–just-diet-coke