Throughout the term, we were able to apply the marketing concepts we learned in class to a real life company by completing three marketing assignments. My group analyzed TD Bank and it was interesting learning how an established bank executes its marketing.

The last portion of the marketing assignment required a video project highlighting our marketing recommendations to TD. I have never filmed or edited videos so it was a huge learning experience!

My group decided to defer from the typical recording of a presentation by doing a seven minute “skit”. My team felt this would be the best way to portray the marketing strategy we developed for TD in an interesting and informative manner. To create the video, my team split up into various roles- one member wrote out a script, others wanted to have more acting roles, one person was in charge of filming and I took on the role of editing.

During each task, we discovered many things. For instance during filming, we found out that the video cameras in the CLC were not the best quality (even though it claimed to product 720p quality), and that the cameras were always, without fail, out of battery. To combat this, we filmed some scenes on my iPhone 5, which ironically had better quality than the video cameras in the CLC. If we were to do this project again, we would just film on my phone.

In terms of acting, I learned how hard it is to memorize lines. I had a scene in our video in which I was informing Wendy (my group member) on TD’s debit and credit cards. It was difficult to remember all the points I had to cover and make it sound as natural as possible. Regardless to say, the TD office scene was definitely the hardest scene to film in the entire video.

I also took on the role of editing the video on iMovie. I never used the software before but I found it to be user-friendly and relatively easy to use. At times, our film  was a little dry but we discovered that adding background music really pulled the film together. Now we know why movies have soundtracks!

Overall, the video project was a fun experience and it was a creative way for us to present our marketing ideas.

Daniel Todaro recently blogged about celebrity ambassadors on Branding Magazine. He claims “celebrity endorsements are a staple of brand marketing” as “product and celebrity have always gone hand-in-hand… selling not just items, but aspirational lifestyles, too”.  Daniel also says that in 2013, there are many highly paid celebrities endorsing things from toothpaste to current accounts, all to attract a certain consumer. However, he also states consumers have an “abundance of choice” and “wealth of information” so they can question whether the brand promises are truly accurate and worth buying into. Thus, it seems the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements are waning.

He points out some partnerships such as Beyonce supporting Pepsi do not have a lot of consideration as to how well the brand and celebrity fit together. Instead, it’s just “a high-spending brand throwing cash at a problem and expecting results.”

I agree with Daniel that there are a lot of celebrity endorsements in the modern day, so the effectiveness of such partnerships may not as beneficial. However, some brands still consider how to leverage the celebrity’s interests and fans to their advantage. An example of a brand that does celebrity ambassadors very well is Nike. The company is known for its partnerships with celebrity athlete such as Michael Jordan,  Maria Sharapova, etc.

Although Nike partners with celebrities,  the company also takes into consideration the aspect of relevance. Instead of asking a movie star or signer to promote their products, Nike asks real athletes that are the best players in their fields to model their products. Since world-reknown athletes advertise Nike’s products, customers will have a notion that Nike’s products must be the best, since players such as Michael Jordan are affiliated with them.

Conclusively, I believe celebrity endorsements may not be as effective as they are before due to the vast amounts of them in the marketplace. However, if companies can utilize endorsements with celebrities that are relevant to their products, there is a high chance for success.

References:

http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/10/10/celeb-ambassadors-finding-match-made-heaven/

http://www.nike.com/ca/en_ca

Minyoung recently wrote about fashion & beauty gurus selling via YouTube. She summarizes that beauty and fashion gurus are creating sponsored YouTube videos which is when a company gives a guru payment or free products. Minyoung points out that viewers use the gurus’ reviews and suggestions to learn more about products and that viewers should take what gurus say with a grain of salt. However, she states there are “vulnerable viewers – the younger shoppers, the shopaholics, the trend followers”, essentially people “who may be easily convinced to spend on things that their role model gurus gush about”.

From a marketing perspective, I definitely understand why sponsored videos are becoming increasingly popular.

Some beauty & fashion gurus have millions of subscribers such as Michelle Phan, Macbarbie07, Zoella, etc. This indicates a lot of people enjoy the gurus’ content and want to know when they are posting their next video. These user bases are invaluable to cosmetic and fashion companies that want to target people that are interested in makeup and fashion.

Beauty and fashion gurus create content that is dedicated to makeup and fashion. This is valuable to companies because instead of traditional mass marketing (e.g.: TV advertisements), companies are better off promoting via gurus’ platforms. Viewers subscribe to beauty and makeup channels because they are genuinely interested in learning more about the topics. Essentially, the gurus have already attracted these companies’ target market. Additionally, having a guru promote a fashion or makeup product ensures the company’s products are advertised to the right group of people.

Lastly, sponsored videos are valuable to viewers because it involves content marketing. Instead of a typical TV advertisement that evokes emotions or feelings, sponsored videos show you how to use a product. Generally, sponsored videos are more informative and thus, more effective than typical advertisements. For example, Chriselle Lim (a well-known fashion stylist) partnered with Macy’s to publicize their back to school clothing line. Chriselle styled various outfits with Macy’s line, and also featured a giveaway with Macy’s gift cards. Chriselle gave different occasions (e.g.: first day of school, class presentation) in her video and showcases some outfit ideas for those scenarios. Styling Macy’s clothes and seeing the created outfits definitely sways viewers into purchasing pieces. The video can be viewed below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iir4Ag-eLDI]

I believe selling through YouTube gurus is okay, provided the gurus continue to provide viewers with helpful insight and high-quality content. Many viewers draw inspiration from makeup and fashion videos and recreate them with alternatives such as cheaper drugstore makeup or less expensive clothing. Ultimately, sponsored videos is a great way to market products but viewers need to take things with a grain of salt.