Lynn's Marketing World

“Business is blooming: The international Floral Industry”

As we are approaching the end of the term, I have been reviewing Marketing chapters in recent weeks.

When I was struggling to figure out what I can put in this week blog, I suddenly recalled the video we watched at one of the classes. There is a discussion question asking us to give specific examples from the video that shows each of the four criteria of an effective channel.

a.  Reduce the number of marketplace contacts, boosting exchange efficiency.

The agent guy takes responsibility for everything including choosing the right flower to sell. He was also there when delivering flowers to the wholesaler. Besides, G&G, which is a delivering company, measures the temperature of flowers. Therefore, they don’t need to hire another group of people to do the quality check.

Examples of b and c are easily observed so I don’t waste time here.

For d, temperature measuring standardizes exchange transactions. After quality inspection, there will be no difference between flowers to be delivered in terms of their quality.

Nowadays, people are more aware of the importance of protecting the environment and hence, they are more motivated by the innovative green products. Markets see this social trend as a new chance.

Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and services based on their environmental benefits.

These products could be environmentally friendly themselves or sold in an environmentally friendly way.  Consumers who have strong environment awareness see the greenness as one of the benefits carried by the product.

In North America, people usually sort out used waste into different types so that bottles and paper can be recycled. In China, however, the situation is different: people usually throw all their used items into a large trash bin without sorting. Chinese people use hand wash more often, while people in North America prefer to use dish washer. I guess that the size of family makes a difference here.

Health-conscious consumers are concerned about natural products such as organic foods, bottled water, and organic fertilizer. Since they base “greenness” as a benefit, they value these natural products much more.

I acted as a green consumer when I bought Hilroy notebooks for each course. Hilroy use recycled paper and has a recycle logo on the cover of the notebooks, promoting the idea of being green and environmentally friendly.

Recently, I have read an interesting blog from Ries’ Pieces and I would like to comment it. From Laura’s prospective, celebrity endorsement only works if the celebrity matches the brand.  She thinks that the idea of Tiger Woods endorsing the Buick brand is totally unreasonable. Since no one could ever image that Tiger Woods would drive around in Buick, the endorsement is a failure and a waste of time. The Buick/ Tiger Woods example tells us that companies should use right models to sponsor their brands.

Superstar branding is now becoming a new way of advertising, and it is used to satisfy people’s psychological needs. Since people have different psychological traits or character, they also have different tastes of dressing. Some people described themselves as outgoing or sports type, so they are more willing to buy casual clothes brands .In order to attract these consumers, companies should build a clear brand image so that people will know that it suits them best. In addition to great slogan, celebrity branding is considered as one of the most effective ways. As the textbook says, “a consumer might have various reference groups, including family, friends, or famous people the consumer would like to emulate.” Consumers can emulate famous people to develop and maintain their self-image.

It should be pointed out that celebrity endorsement only works if consumers have a strong belief that the celebrities would like to buy the products. Otherwise, consumers won’t be massively influenced by the endorsement.

The company could sign a contract with celebrities and they can show in the public or attend events for promotion. However, the celebrities do not need to be too well-known because people may get tired of seeing their faces all over the place. As Laura says in her blog, if the company always changes its celebrity, people may not trust the brand. Consistency is a key here. Usually, most brands consider a contract of 5 years.

At last but not least, only those powerful companies could afford celebrity endorsement as they have enough money support. So, it is not a good idea for a new company to do so.

When the weather is getting colder and colder, my skins are getting pretty dry. So, I went to the body shop in Metrotown, seeking for some lotion to moisturize my skin.  When I entered the store, I was impressed by the store atmosphere.  Products are placed orderly and neatly based on their category so that people could easily find what they want.

The body shop has mainly five product lines: skin care, make-up, fragrance, bath and hair care. Skin care is prevalent among teenagers, which offers different categories: Tea tree, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Seaweed, and Aloe.

Each series provide a wide range of products such as cleanser, toner and serum.

As we learnt from chapter ten, we use terms breadth and depth to describe the total products offered by firms. In this case, the body shop provides a variety of goods within each different product line and skin care is more depth.  

I heard that Vitamin E serum targets on dry skin type  and I planned to buy it. However, the sales people told me that it has already been sold out for weeks.

It seems that the body shop probably has to enhance its inventory replenishment management.

Itasha, is the newest product in Janpanese animation nerd culture. The word “Itasha” describes a car that has been plastered with stickers of anime  characters.  Itasha” literally means “painful car”. It also describes the emotion  that people would be embarrassed to drive around in an Itasha. It becomes an innovative marketing strategy for animation companies to increase their reputition and promote their products. Itasha craze allows anime fans to  customize their cars with their favourite anime characters.When people drive in an Itasha and show their love for a specific animation, they are advertising for the animation company as well. Normally, people do not drive around the city in an Itasha. These cars are presented at shows or parades.
Itasha is not limited to cars. Even newly released ipad was subjected to the new culture.

My friend Mindy (Fang, Minzhi) posted this educative video on her blog, which I find it quite interesting to comment about it. The video, how to sell your soap, shows different possible marketing strategies of selling a commodity: soap. It starts with an old-fashioned way: walking around and ringing doorbells and sell your products door to door. It is time-consuming since the more you want to increase your sales, the more you have to walk. Alternatively, you could build several billboards in the shopping malls or broadcast your soap ad through TV, hoping people to pay attention to your soap promotion. Although this kind of promotion method gives you a key access to your audience, you do not know which group of people is your main demographic. How about building a strong brand image and letting your loyal consumers tell their peers or family? Some people may think that friends’ words are more convincing than what TV ads say. That’s what viral marketing means!

The ad is quite amazing. We actually have no idea what the ad is trying to promote until we see the end . All the women at the dance ball dress exotically and they all want to attract the prince’s attention. Cinderella stands besides a giant mirror,looking gorgeous and pretty, however, the prince doesnt notice her at all. Then the clock strikes at 12, Cinderella’s pearl necklace and her beautiful dress are disappearing, and her hair become extremely messy. She runs upstairs  and rushes into a room where she find a gha hair straightener! After using the strightener, she walks downstairs slowly, with her new fabulous hairstyle. She now becomes the superstar in the ballroom!

It isnt hard to see that the effectiveness of a gha hair straightener!  The portability, functionality and versatility it offer make it a perfect tool for hair styling and building confidence.

This ad seems fun to me at the first time when I saw it.  People in the ad are so happy, and they behave quite exaggregatedly  when they find out some very little cheerful things.  Cheers Beer targets the worldwide populations, especially depressed drinkers. We know that some people drink to relieve from stress or excape from the reality. However, the ad is trying to tell us that we drink because we are happly! We can be more cheerful or thankful about every little thing happening around us, and we can be more happy by purchasing their products! Beer Cheers differentiate itself from others by persuading consumers that they sell a happy lifestyle or spirit  rather than just beers.

All in all, the ad is quite sucessful for two aspect. Firstly, it redifines the meaning of drinking beer; Secondly, it leaves a strong impression on consumers.

Based on our research on the group project, we know that Axe’s target demographic is mainly young teenage boys aged from 18-25. Axe’s advertisements always depict women’s uncontrollable attraction to men who sprayed on its  products. Chocolate Man has caused a public outcry because of its unethical contents. The commercial shows a white young male sprays himself with Axe’s new scent, chocolate, and then he turns black and becomes an animated chocolate man. When he runs down the street, he becomes an object of  women’s sexual desire. This scene shows unequality, because women are not merely attractive to cheap body spray with chocolate scent. From the textbook chapter three, it is said that it is important to make good ethical decisions to maintain long term profits. When companies advertise their produtct, they should pay attention to ethical implications behind their advertisements.

This advertisement about lenovo clearly shows its  advantage over apple Mac. Since  Mac is quite slim and light, it is hard to emit hear from inside. So, customers need to buy some add on stuff in order to cover the drawback of Mac. Compared with Mac, lenovo is much portable and provide better built-in software or programs. Customers do not need to buy a USB hub or other electrical stuff.