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There is no doubt that social media is an extremely prevalent platform in modern society. Numbers have shown that there are 1.96 billion global social media users, and this is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018 ¹. Due to these staggering statistics, it’s clear that utilizing social media could allow businesses to reach a broader range of consumers and thus increase exposure towards their brand positioning, reputation, and brand tone.

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Regarding this topic on using social media platforms to increase brand presence, I have found an excellent blog discussing this very topic: http://articles.bplans.com/how-to-choose-which-social-media-platforms-are-right-for-your-business/.  To begin, a notion which was brought up in the blog that I believe is significant is that a brand should establish its tone and “personality” within it’s preferred social media platform. For example, firms like Apple or Tesla whose products exude an air of elegance, sleekness and technological prowess, it would make sense that their posts on social media should be extremely professional, aesthetically pleasing, and organized. A good example of excellent potential Instagram photos for Tesla or Apple would be the following photos, due to their sleek and luxurious aesthetic:

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Another concept which was brought up in the BPlans blog was: take into account the age of the firm’s targeted demographic. The blog discusses how various demographics mean you should use specific social media platforms catering to those demographics, but I also believe that the company’s posts should also reflect the age range of their user-base. For example, if a company such as Palace, which sells skateboarding clothes mainly to teens, a great platform for them would be Instagram or Twitter, because a huge majority of users on those apps are young adults. Furthermore, I believe a good way to appeal to the young adult age demographic would be for Palace to post images of fellow teenagers wearing their clothes or even popular celebrities wearing their clothing. This would increase Palace’s sense of relevancy which in turn would result in young adults running to buy their clothes. The following images are examples of great social media-worthy images for Palace to use:

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Finally, a last point which wasn’t on the blog but I wanted to propose, is interaction and communication. The whole purpose of social media is to interact with one another, so why should it be different for companies? Interaction with a firm’s user-base can take form in a variety of ways, such as asking questions in their posts (e.g. Comment below which color of the new iPhone model you liked the most), or just simply replying to people’s comments and questions. This would definitely increase their popularity and reputation with fan-bases, as they would become more accessible and relatable.

Word Count: 444

Works Cited:

1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-profile/

2: https://www.iconfinder.com/social-media-icons?order_by=popularity

3: http://www.cultofmac.com/396743/fullscreen-iphone-7-concept-runs-ios-10/

4: http://bgr.com/2016/04/08/tesla-model-s-price-increase/

5: http://www.designbolts.com/2014/08/30/apple-iphone-6-beautiful-design-concept-launch-date-9th-september-2014/

6: http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/09/29/palace-skateboards/

7: http://lookbook.nu/look/7003382-Palaceskateboards-Palace-Pull-Bear-Skinny-Jeans

As many fellow athletes and “sneaker heads” (shoe collectors) can recall, Nike has dominated the shoe and athletic wear market for as long we can remember. However, recently, the world has noticed a gradual rise in another athletic-wear superpower: Adidas. In the past 2 years or so, Adidas has went from a declining company to an insanely popular icon in both street wear culture as well as sports wear. In fact, according to Business Insider, the most liked sneaker brand on Instagram in 2015 was Adidas by a large margin, which goes to show the company’s rapid increase in fan-base, and prevalence.

(http://www.businessinsider.com/kanye-wests-yeezys-helped-adidas-blow-nike-out-of-the-water-as-the-most-popular-sneaker-brand-on-instagram-in-2015-2015-12)

In my opinion, as a sneaker aficionado myself, the driving power behind Adidas’s fame in recent times can be attributed to innovative design, innovative technologies and collaborations. Sneaker design is extremely important in the industry due to the fact that the consumer-base is constantly on the lookout for fresh, stand-out looks while not having to compromise for comfort and performance. Recent popular shoes released by Adidas such as the Adidas Tubular Runner or Adidas NMDs puts both performance and fashion hand in hand by incorporating sport’s technology such as the boost or tubular soles with an innovative, sporty and flashy design. As a result, most of Adidas’s new shoes have a very unique, sleek and athletic look that appeals not only to sneaker fans but also athletes.

(http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/02/29/adidas-originals-nmd-r1-footlocker/)

Another reason for Adidas’ up-and-coming success is due to their constantly evolving sport technology which they incorporate into their products. One of Adidas’s most popular inventions is the boost technology which is found in many of their popular shoes such as the Yeezy boosts, NMDs and Ultralight Boosts. It uses foam bubbles for the sole of the shoe which gives it a bouncy and cushioned feel. Thus, the boost technology appeals not only to athletes that require the cushioning but also to casual wearers who covet the comfort that the boost gives for everyday walking. Thus Adidas has not only matched their points of parity with competitors but are also setting points of differences with their innovative technologies and designs in shoes.

Finally, Adidas has been evermore-so relevant in modern day fashion due to their collaborations with many influential icons in pop culture. For example, the Yeezy collaboration with Kanye West was met with huge popularity and demand, to the point where the shoes were being sold out within seconds in online stores. This is because Kanye West is one of the most famous hip hop stars in the music industry at the moment, as well as a fashion icon, meaning that people would flock to whatever fashion trend he was representing. This is a smart move by Adidas because it means that they would not only increase relevance for their shoes but also gain popularity and love from the fan base of Kanye West as well.

Works Cited:

(http://www.businessinsider.com/kanye-wests-yeezys-helped-adidas-blow-nike-out-of-the-water-as-the-most-popular-sneaker-brand-on-instagram-in-2015-2015-12)(http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/02/29/adidas-originals-nmd-r1-footlocker/)

Logo from www.Pokemongo.com

Over the summer of 2016, we saw the Niantic produced mobile game, Pokemon Go take the world by storm. People of all ages became enthralled with the concept of this game and its massive popularity resulted in it gaining the title of “Most first-week downloads in history”.¹ There is no arguing the fact that Pokemon Go was a truly groundbreaking and appealing concept for the mobile user base.

I decided to download the game to see what the fuss was about, and I found that even I had become hooked on the game, and found myself taking walks and bike rides specifically to play Pokemon Go. For around the first two weeks, its creative concept as an augmented reality game really pulled me in as it did with millions of other players, and I discovered that it must have been extremely profitable with its specifically Pokemon oriented micro transactions (e.g. 1$ for 50 Pokeballs). Furthermore, it created a sense of community within my neighborhood as well, as dozens of players gathered to play around the community parks and paths.

However, after the first few weeks of playing, as the hype as well as novelty of the app gradually diminished, the game and company’s flaws immediately became apparent to most users. In other words, after a few weeks of playing, most of the user base felt dissatisfied. My reasoning behind the app’s lack of long-term success is due to Niantic’s extremely lacking PR team. I have noticed in the past with many small indie game producers and start-up business, that these sprouting companies usually have excellent PR and customer relationships. This is because they usually have a small group of devoted fans, which makes it extremely easy for them to listen to feedback and communicate with their user base. However, with Niantic, due to the extreme boom in popularity with their app, it is understandable that the communication between the company and users would be strained. Nevertheless, this was not the case because as many people have pointed out: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/07/21/niantic-and-nintendos-lack-of-communication-about-pokemon-go-issues-is-inexcusable/#dc0ba8e2e832, Niantic didn’t even attempt to communicate with their fan base at all and instead just decided to roll out updates without even consulting the people. Furthermore, the people have complained for a long time about bugs such as the tracking and gym battles, but instead of Niantic fixing them, they just totally removed those features from the game all-together.

All in all, Niantic’s approach as a company towards the game as well as their user base resulted in a long-term failure of the app. In other words, Pokemon Go will soon die and never be brought up again. This is why I agree with Yash’s blog post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/yashroy/2016/10/02/nintendos-take-on-mobile-gaming/ as I believe Nintendo as a larger and more experienced company would be better suited to produce Pokemon Go and result in a longer-lasting success as a mobile game.

Citations:

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/22/12258874/pokemon-go-apple-ios-app-store-record-most-downloads

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/ianmorris/files/2016/01/DSC_3076-1200×800.jpg

As most of us know, the iPhone 7 released a few weeks ago. One trending topic as of late has been the removal of the earphone jack in the iPhone 7. From a business standpoint, this deliberately excluded feature tells us a lot about how Apple incorporates planned obsolescence into their business plan.

As excellently explained in this blog post by Ziyue Wu as to how planned obsolescence relates to the iPhone 7 : https://blogs.ubc.ca/neilwu/2016/09/11/business-ethics-companies-should-impact-consumers-positively/,

Planned obsolescence means that a certain product will “become out-of-date or useless within a known time period.” The iPhone 7 is an excellent example, as stated before, due to its removed head-phone jack. This means that people whom bought the iPhone 7 and happen to lose their earbuds are prompted to buy more Apple specific products, leading to more profits by Apple. Also, people whom don’t have the iPhone 7 are encouraged to upgrade to it, due to the fact that they can be captivated by the exclusivity, and modern, more “current” feel of the new model. All in all, this strategy by Apple will result in people leaving behind their old models to pursue the iPhone 7, as they would believe that the old models are out of date and in need of upgrading. The consumer’s need to stick to buying Apple earbuds exclusively as the old jack no longer exists result in increased brand loyalty and recognition.

Another way that Apple has been applying planned obsolescence in their business model, is with the use of constantly updating iOS versions. The key thing about this is that Apple is constantly updating the iOS firmware so that it is in line with the most current iPhone and iPad models. Furthermore, the current models for the iPhone are improving technologically, which means that older versions simply cannot keep up. In other words, as Apple continues to pump out iOS updates, they ensure that the older iPhone models have a limited lifetime, resulting in customers purchasing more iPhones. In fact, there is even a financial plan for Apple consumers to pay a certain fee each month and then receive the newest iPhone model at the end of each year.

Finally, another example of Apple’s planned obsolescence is that they have implemented tamper-proof screws to Macbooks. This prevents consumers from upgrading their machines themselves, which prompts them to upgrade to the next version sooner. Furthermore, these users would have to rely on expensive Apple repair services as the screws would prevent them from being able to repair the system themselves. All in all, the planned obsolescence business model that Apple upholds no doubt results in massive profits for them, as seen in their Annual reports. However, the downfall is that it doesn’t operate with the customer’s wants in mind, resulting in potential unhappy customers.

(Word count: 439)

References used:

https://actions.sumofus.org/a/planned-obsolescence-is-why-apple-isn-t-a-green-company

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-iphone-7-planned-obsolescence/

As news of social unrest, rampant climate change and discrimination continues to proliferate in news media across the world (e.g. police brutality in the US, Trump’s mass discrimination), it appears that now, more than ever, ethics is finding itself to be a particularly emphasized topic within the global community. People are now beginning to realize that should we continue to act with no unity, thought for others nor the environment, the earth will continue to go down its downward spiral, and perish, taking humanity along with it.

This is why I believe that the incorporation of ethics in business is the only path forward. I disagree with Friedman in the notion that utilizing a portion of a business’s finances towards an ethical cause such as sustainability (e.g. using biodegradable wrappers) result in increased costs from either the shareholders, employees, or customers and argue that it can actually result in profits and overall benefit in the long run. As Freeman states, an ideal business takes into account the suppliers, stakeholders, employees and community. When it focuses only on financiers and profit, the business is in fact slowly killing itself as it would result in disarray internally, and its reputation to be tainted as well. For example, in this news article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/turing-volkswagen-cases-show-firms-still-willing-to-roll-ethical-dice/article26549560/, we see what happens when a company puts profits before its consumers and ethics. Evidently, putting a company’s values and ethics at risk will also put its reputation at risk, which in turn will result in lost profits.

For example, I believe the Body Shop is an excellent example of a current business which actively promotes its ethical values and maintains them effectively as well. Within every store and product, we can see its values clearly outlined: the company strives to use organic, sustainable and ethically attained materials in all of its products. The store’s successes as an ethical business contradicts what Friedman was arguing in his piece, and I believe it is due to a couple reasons. Firstly, the Body Shop has excellent marketing, which means at a glance, you are able to see what values the company stands for and where it really shines. Furthermore, the Body Shop has a heavy emphasis on ethical values such as sustainable and ethical materials, which I believe is one of the major selling-points of the company, not necessarily the quality of the products. Thus, we see that the Body Shop’s success is due to it excellently marketing to a growing niche: Those whom are globally conscious and environmentally oriented. This is where I believe Friedman went wrong, because nowadays as more people become aware of the world’s issues, businesses which have ethical principles are becoming evermore so prestigious, praised and profitable, making ethics a valuable venture in the global market.

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