“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.