Overall, the Marketing Plan Assignments proved to be a great experience with many great benefits. I liked the fact that the assignments framed the topics that we were learning class, making them almost seem like a review and real life application. This ultimately made it easier to study for exams, as the assignments force me to understand testable models and linked them to an application which made all the material easier to remember.

I learned that because this project had many stages which built on each other, it was essential to understand the class information behind each part in order to link it to the next stage. Due to each assignment requiring research and group discussion, I also learned the importance of scheduling appropriate times and dates, as group discussion was vital to completing the assignments.  This lead way to understanding the importance of group discussion, not just for the assignments, but als0 f0r studying purposes. I now better understand my style of studying and how to prepare for exams, these discussions also allowed me to work on my analytical and debating skills. Also, I have learned for the next time I do group work, to agree to one or two designated times a week to have mandatory meetings. This would allow for work to be done regularly and no cramming towards due dates.

The most important thing I learned about marketing and my largest takeaway, was the fact that there is a lot more to it then just promotional and advertising aspects. That’s right, I was one of those ignorant people! This misconception was blown out of the water during the first marketing class when we began our discussion about situational analysis, making class very interesting, as everyday I seemed to learn more things about marketing that I had no previous knowledge about.

I am sad to see class end, but I look forward to taking more classes with Professor Tamar!

“Keep calm and rape a lot” and “Keep calm and knife her” are a couple of the t-shirt slogans that were sold on Amazon via the merchant Solid Gold Bomb. These controversial slogans were brought to my attention by AdFreak and further research proved them to be a slip up with the algorithm technology.

The manufacturing process used by Solid Gold Bomb to generate their T-shirts is truly impressive. By utilizing algorithm software, thousands of catchy T-shirt phrases are generated by combining words pulled from a few word lists to create product lines. Once the word lists are built, almost the entire process is controlled by computers. The company does not have a warehouse of preprinted shirts, instead, they have a strong relationship with a larger supplier that prints the shirts on demand as they are ordered. Ultimately keeping inventory non-existent. With a combination of low inventory costs and low capital costs, they are able to offer 1000’s of specialized t-shirts at a reasonable price. Making new T-shirt line extensions, to satisfy changing consumer needs and the fashion cycle, extremely easy to do. Do consumers value these shirts enough to be willing to wait extra time for the manufacturing of them?

Solid Gold Bomb offers a shopping product, where consumers normally take a fair amount of time comparing brands of T-shirts, and gives consumers a convenient place to satisfy all their t-shirt needs. By offering 100’s of diverse product lines, Solid Gold Bomb lessens the risk that consumers will not find what they are looking for.

So what did the slip up in product development cause? I believe that it did great damage to channel partners, namely the amazon brand, and hurt Solid Gold Bomb’s band equity. But this also goes to show that as society gets closer to technology, costs are lowered and efficiency is increased, however, trusting in technology sometimes leads to massive problems as Solid Gold Bomb found out.

Clumsy paramedics, shooting scenes, football players and motorcycle babes? What’s not to like? This is the reaction Turner Network Television (TNT) was hoping for as they launched their new cable channel in the Benelux region.

Advertising agency, Duval Guillaume, had the task of creating an advertisement to market this channel to the targeted Drama-Hungry Dutch-speaking Belgian market, who choose TV channels based on preference for action. For TNT it was diversification; this was a new convenience product, a line extension of a new Dutch channel different from all its other channels, launching in a new market.

The TV channel industry is in a mature stage, where there is quality TV at a reasonable price, with constant demand. With numerous TV channels, it is important for them to decommoditize though differentiation via the programs they offer. Through this advertisement, TNT hoped to build brand loyalty and a connection to their audience that would place TNT first in their minds and ultimately have them choose their channel over competitors.

For the Benelux people live at the quiet square, they were put in a position that created an unforgettable experience, stirred emotion and added more drama then they could ever ask for. For them, Duval Guillaume was able to take an intangible service (cable television) and put it in a tangible experience where people could touch and smell the action.

By compiling the best clips of the TNT experience, they were able to advertise to the non-present Dutch-speaking audience just how much drama TNT packs. Duval Guillaume increased TNT’s brand awareness, and successfully communicated TNT’s brand association with DRAMA across to the Benelux region. Unintentionally the advertisement went viral causing the rest of the world to think: Would I push the button?

In fact, some people got the opportunity to ask themselves that very question as TNT produced the sequel.

Being a female born in the 90′s, I owned several barbies and my mother collected them as I grew up! Although I do agree with Masaki’s blog post regarding the negative ethics surrounding the unhealthy proportions of Barbie, there is much more to the Barbie brand and campaign.

Internally, Mattel (the makers of Barbie, Hot Wheels and other popular toys) is a strong company with a large diversification of products. Looking at the doll market, Barbie is an original product with strong brand awareness and loyally, therefore making the entry of competitors rather difficult.

Externally, Barbie is a brand that has recognized different culture expectations and beliefs when launching new products in different parts of the world. For example, the introduction of Barbies in India, where “a sari-clad slender doll adorned with jewels and make-up to match” was launched and proved to be popular.

When looking at demographics, Barbie has successful introduced new products to keep up with changing social tends associated with changing times and different cohorts. For example, when Baby Boomers were 3-12 years old, traditional Barbie dolls were appealing. Now, although some Generation Y children still do find the traditional dolls a joy to play with, Barbie has branched out to offer Barbie in ways that are keeping up with social and technological trends. For example, by brand licensing with Leapfrog, Barbie can now be enjoyed digitally by the same 3-12 year old demographic but in a new and exciting way.

But it is also this same opportunity, to offer their product to the world in new and innovative ways, which has caused a lot of controversy. Such as, The Sun Gold Malibu line which included dolls that were dressed in exposing bathing suits and followed the extreme tanned craze.Or the tattooed Barbie that Mattel introduced in 2011, which has followed the popular glamorization of tattoos. This makes me wonder if by the time I have children, the Barbie dolls I enjoyed will be non-existent as times continue to progress and Mattel continues to innovate.

Coca-cola is a marketing giant. Coke has presented the world with exciting, creative marketing campaigns and September 2011’s Share-a-Coke campaign was no exception.

They realized there was an opportunity within the global market, as studies showed that 50% of Australian teens and young adults had never tried a coke. Coke saw the need to reconnect with this geographic (Australia) and demographic (teens and young adults) segment of their market as they were not performing to their standards.

The Custom Can

As a young adult, I believe they approached the targeted market in the right manner. By reaching out via tweaking the iconic label was simple, but proved very effective. It was genius in the sense that it offered customization and a positive experience to consumers while also creating brand awareness. Creating this brand awareness plays a large role in future soft drink purchasing. Buying a soft drink is a very limited involvement task where consumers often base their purchasing on brand recognition and past psychological experience. The only question I have with personalizing the bottles is how would the concept work in a vending machine? You can’t exactly reach in to find your name…

Making heavy use of social media and creating an online platform to “share a coke” for the campaign was also a smart move and ultimately lead to its viral explosion. Being part of generation Y, we are highly susceptible to social media and tends, so by utilizing these technological advancements, it helped position Coke as an innovative and “hip” company.

In all, I see this marketing campaign as an effective way to reach their target market. After all, I found myself “sharing and liking” the Facebook page and wondering why we couldn’t we get personalized Coke in Canada? Adding to the Share-A-Coke phenomena that Coca-Cola created.

Dominico Dolce and Stephano Gabbana make the “stars look like stars,” as Dolce&Gabbana has been pushing the runway boundaries to produce some of the world’s top fashion trends. But did they push boundaries too far when releasing an advertisement which showcased “the glamorization of gang rape” to the Italian fashion capital? Yes.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2011/01/213.jpg

This advertisement was in defiance with Dolce&Gabbana’s own Code of Ethics:

2.1      Commitment and Professionalism 


Dolce&Gabbana puts its professionalism at the service of Customers with the aim of creating a solid relationship that retains their loyalty, based on the values of creativity, originality and integrity of the brand.

The release of this advertisement goes against brand integrity and any graphic standards put in place to maintain visual integrity in Dolce and Gabbana’s marketing communications. Having “a woman pinned to the ground by the wrists by a bare-chested man, with other men in the background looking on” is a sight which is regarded as degrading and offensive to women. Were the creators of this advertisement not thinking of the female audience they were targeting?

While in production, the creators may have been looking to boast a sexual view to promote their new fashion line and capture the attention of consumers. However, as a woman myself, this representation is defiantly not capturing my attention in a positive light. Does sex sell to consumers in this case?

As a teenager, I remember flipping through my mother’s high fashion magazines and idolizing the models. If I was a teenager in Italy I would idolize this woman as much as the other models. It is a scary fact but reigns true in the naive mind of the average teenager.