Being able to distinguish the difference between a need and a want in the society is a bit of a grey area in society today. Do we define a need as a “must have“ standard that we are used to in our quality of life, or do we define it as the bare necessities of life that we need in order to survive, such as food, shelter, air etc….? From Garrett’s Marketing Blog on “Needs Vs. Wants – Blurring the Lines”, I concur with the idea that besides the physiological needs of the body, and maybe the emotional relationship that the mind needs, “everything else is a want”1.

Marketers have always been criticized for preying on consumers; feeding them unnecessary wants and manipulating their idea of wants into needs. However, I think that marketers need to also have to some degree, a demand or need of a consumer integrated into the product in order for it to be successful. Marketing strategies strongly appeals to people through the way it allows people to define themselves, and the ability it connects people to a “bigger sense of purpose”2. This is the “emotional need” that is being met. What I mean by this is that, people who care about defining themselves by trendiness may buy from Zara, as the company is known for their quick adaptation to the new “it-fashion”, or people will make their purchase amounting to at least $50 from a grocery store just so that the $2 proceeds will go as a donation to some kind of cancer fund. The first was an example of allowing people to identify themselves, and the latter is the greater sense of purpose to life that people like to be a part of. These ideas are brilliantly described in an interview done by Marketplace on “A Marketing Battle of Wants Vs. Needs”.

1 Garrett Marketing Watch, August 2008, “Needs Vs. Wants – Blurring the Lines”, retrieved from the site: http://garrettmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/08/needs-vs-wants.html on January 14th, 2012
2 Ryssdal, November 2007, “A Marketing Battle of Wants Vs. Needs”, retrieved from the site: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/consumed/marketing-battle-wants-vs-needs on January 14th, 2012

Hi everyone!

My name is Rita Lee. I’m a second year BCOM student at the Sauder School of Business, and am hoping to specialize in marketing and international business with a focus on Japan, or Asia in general.

In addition to this course being a required course to take for our BCOM degree, I also really look forward to this course because I would like to further my understanding for what marketing is really about. What I find fascinating is that marketing occurs everywhere, sometimes people don’t even know it is happening. It presents itself in so many ways that is uncountable!

As a student and a consumer, I think that everything right now relies on marketing. It is not only the a way for profitable companies to communicate to their consumers, but it also works for non-for-profit groups, such as churches trying to spread their message, or World Vision trying to raise funds for a specific cause. To me, marketing is interesting in the way that it literally touches the lives of everyone in the country and all over the world -especially now with globalization. I also had a few experiences in marketing. Most recently, at a club I am in right now, we have numerous events that need promotion. We carry out this usually by designing our own attractive posters, whether through computer design or photographs taken by our own very talented photographers. Not only do we post these all over the school, we also distribute them to stores, restaurants and sometimes even newspaper companies. Also, another important way that we try to attract our target group is by word of mouth; we intentionally seek out groups or other clubs that do similar things as we do.

Recently, a way of promotion or advertising that I find surprisingly effective is the use of bi-weekly newsletters. In the past, I would always be annoyed at the sight of all the advertisement emails sent to me. However, now I am subscribed to some retailers, such as Club Monaco and also their own special “in the know” Refinery19 newsletter, and I find myself actually taking a second look at them. I think it may be because of the simplicity and just the refreshing ideas and messages it presents each time. A few reasons I find it successful is, first, it doesn’t bombard my email as it only comes once every two weeks. And second, the layout of the materials and information is easy for me to scan for things I am interested.

Something personal about me would be that I absolutely love chocolates and coffee. I am also partly addicted to Gossip Girl and Nikita.