shuoli's marketing blog

I was recently introduced to this new app on my iphone: Talkbox. I found it the coolest and the most usefull app so far.

Talkbox is a new, free iOS application, which allows iPhone users to send “voice IMs” to their friends and family. This clever mode of communication is quick and easy, and is perfect for those times when you want to relay information fast without battling with your iPhone’s virtual keyboard.

This app has a lot of features, such as, push-to-talk instant voice messaging with your friends, group conversation – talking among multiple friends, invite new friends into a chat anytime, location Sharing – send your location to your friend directly, Facebook connects – sync your TalkBox friend list with your Facebook friend list. All your Facebook friends who has joined TalkBox will be automatically available for chating, push notification to let you know any incoming messages anytime and lastly conversation history.

I think this is quite a good idea. Sometimes, a phone call would be preferable to using TalkBox, however, with this app the recipient of the IM can “talk” back at a convenient time. Furthermore, both parties save their voice minutes. So we don’t have to struggle with the virtual keyboard anymore, I perosonally really hate the virtual keyboard.

As i continued to followed up on Starbucks’ new logo, I read this blog post by Nigel Hollis: “Starbucks’ new log: A risky move”.  In the article, I found it really conviencing that the aurthor compared Starbucks’ ne logo luanch to that of Apple’s. Apple changed its logo once as well by removing “computer” from the logo. The idea behind the actions of both Apple and Starbucks are the same- a brand extension. However,  at the point of its rebranding, Apple had already proved to its customers that it stood for more than just computers. By contrast, Starbucks is dropping the word coffee in anticipation of venturing into new territory. Thus if Starbucks is going to focus on products other than coffee, then it make sense to erase the word “coffee” from the logo. The problem is the removal of coffee may lose the core focus when appealing to customers. Also suggested by Geoffrey James, the brand image my get harrmed by providing other products since “Starbucks” is synonymous with coffee. These are the risks that Starbucks has to deal with. I hope Starbucks will be successful on its new logo and identity.

Starbucks’s luanch of its new logo is getting a lot of attentions from the media. After I read Jerry Wang’s blog post: Starbucks is on fire, I also have some thoughts on the new logo.

As we just finished our marketing project on Starbucks. I think Starbucks did a great job as a leading coffee provider in the industry. This time Starbucks is changing its look at its 40th year by putting the Siren outside the original logo. It allows the company to move beyond just being a purveyor of coffee. As we can see Starbucks is trying to change its image appealed to consumers. This brand extension can help Starbucks to get rif of the image of only selling coffee, so taht Starbucks can expand its brand, its products and attract new segments. However this action also has risks, as we can see there are a lot of critiques on the internet, and in respones to Starbucks’ blog posts and forums. I am looking forward seeing the actual result of this new logo luanch.

Recently, two famous Chinese celebrities got married. Due to the fact that they decided to marry each other after dating for only 20 days, media and society are putting a lot pressure on this new couple. Some fans give their best wishes, but some people do not have faith in this marriage, and others think this marriage is just a hype. In order to protect their marriage, they do not allow any pictures, videos or details of the ceremony to be publicized. However, the CEO of Yahoo China, also a good friend of the groom, decided to video type the whole ceremony and posted it on yahoo’s new micro-blog in China. We all know Twitter, and this micro-blog is the Chinese version of Twitter. Sina’s micro-blog is the most successful and most used by celebrities in China. In order to with compete with Sina’s micro-blog, Yahoo’s CEO decided to record and publicize this video. Now, almost everyone in China knows about Yahoo’s micro-blog and pageview has increased dramatically. 

Of course, this is a good way to advertise one’s product without actually having to spend anything. And similar situations happens all the time in today’s competitive market. But we need a ethical guideline that will set a limitation on what we decide to do, and consequences have to be taken by themselves.

This “launch hype” is built into the very marketing strategy for Blizzard games. What this does is help to create a wave of momentum for launch day: one that maximizes sales right out of the gates. 

Blizzard announces their games generally two to three years before release. The key is to strike a balance between having the conceptual groundwork for the product established & the final product. Hitting this mark enables Blizzard to showcase & preview the game well before it’s complete, allowing ample time for hype to grow & momentum to build. By the time their product is ready, there is a long waiting list of customers ready to buy.Tons of previews, screenshots, videos, developer interviews and you name it: all work to build momentum and hype for the release of a big Blizzard game. 

Its any wonder this “launch hype strategy” is rarely applied to new software products. You just don’t see too many startup companies maximizing their product launches on a Blizzard scale.

I think that true breakthroughs are made in business by taking successful ideas; principals; concepts & strategies prevalent in other industries: and applying them to your industry. To your product.

What amazed me about Blizzard Entertainment is that Blizzard only has four product lines, each is a huge success and has thousands of  loyal players across the world.  Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft are the four featured games developed by Blizzard. These games made Blizzard Entertainment a solid brand that every gamer knows.

What made Blizzard’s games so successful ? The way it markets its product contributed a lot. I think that Blizzard’s marketing strategy composes of defining a bold brand image, creating a rock solid product, back it up by lifetime support, and also creating a luanch hype momentum.

Bold brank image: Their attention to detail is unmatched on every level: and this doesn’t just apply to the game itself. The artwork and overall presentation of their intellectual properties transcends every element of Blizzard’s existence: from the game itself, to the box art, their websites, trailer videos, and any other marketing material. Hell, even their office has that badass visual appeal.

Creating solid products: With Blizzard, their product development strategy has never been about fancy graphics or trendy features. It is about rock solid, perfectly stable, absolutely perfect user experiences. With every new game release, they will push the envelope a little bit – while keeping the primary focus on perfecting the fundamentals. They never re-invent the wheel, but they are relentless perfectionists. The end result is a rock solid product every time.

Long-term dedication: Last year Blizzard released Diablo 2: patch 1.13… 9 years after the game’s initial launch. This is a prime example of long term dedication to product support. Throughout the lifespan of each of their games, Blizzard releases an extensive number of patches: constantly fixing exploits, issues, and major revamps to the game’s balance. Blizzard shows fans that they care about making their games the absolute best – even long after the product’s initial release. The end result is a tremendous respect for the company from loyal fans. And a long withstanding interest in their games. Yet it’s not just keeping loyal fans. Their model itself breeds new fans too. Go to any Wal Mart and you will find the WarCraft and StarCraft BattleChests on the shelf. Shit, these games have been out for years! But they still get prominence on Wal Mart shelves, because they keep generating sales – and have consistently been in the Top 10 retail PC game sales since their respective releases.

As i want to talk more about their product luanch combining with concepts we learnt in class i will explain how Blizzard’s hype luanching contributes to its great marketing strategy.

After reading Angela Wong’s blog post #3 on her Gundam models. I decided to write this blog to share my ideas on how to promote Japanese animation better in North America. I am also a big fan of building Gundam models, here is the picture of the one i am currently working on. It is really hard and it took me 4 hours to build only two legs. 🙁

I got into Japanese animation because of these guandam model sold in China when I was very young. Since then I started watching Japanese cartoons, not only Gundam series but also Naruto, Bleach, etc.  However, some people buy animation figures or models after they have watched some cartoons or manga that they really like. Thus, cartoons, manga and character figures are complements. Some cartoons are with a lot people while they grow up, just like Walt Disney cartoons, so it could be hard for people in North America to accept Japanese animation since heir styles are completely different. I came up with the following ideas.

Fisrt of all, promote japanese animations more in North America region. Let people here have more chance to know more about them. Introduce and advertise more animation movies to cinemas and series on TV, so far only Riverport cineplex carries a few Japanese animation movies but they are not advertised. I hope to see more in the future. There are many stores where we can get all these animation figures and models like Sakura on Robson and in Richmond center. But the price of the dvds and figures are quite expensive, i think they should lower the price so  that more people will accept them and loyal consumers like me will be ableto buy more. With more movies, episodes, promotions and lowered price introduced to us, the sales of these toys will also increase. These action willnot only satisfy loyal consumers buy also attract new consumers as well. Most importantly, Japanese animation producers can introduced their animation culture to the whole world.

   After the huge success of Nvidia’s award-wining GTX 460 graphic card, Nvidia Coporation introduced the upgrade version of GTX 460, the GTX 560Ti. This new graphic card is based on the same technology of the best gaming graphic card GTX 580 on the market. However, the new GTX 560Ti is only 30 dollars above its former and 250 dollars cheaper than GTX 580. The success of GTX 560Ti is ,of course, based on its own amazing performence, and also the target market segmatation is the biggest contribution. As the fast-paste developing technology of  intergrated circuit, and the more demanding games, graphic cards are developed and renewed faster than ever. Comsumers need to upgrade their graphic cards more often. However, only hard-core gamers will spend more than 550 dollars for a GTX 580. Most gamers of computer enthusiasts will choose a crad that will deliver them the best value, which was GTX 460. But now we have a better choice of this newly designed GTX 560 with a 30 dollar increase in price, a 10% increase in performence and 15% decrease of power consumption and heat realse. Nvidia always develop its product focused on the mid-level spending comsumers, which is also the majority.

        Comparing to Nvidia’s biggest competitor, AMD’s market target segmatation, Nvidia also did a great job. Same as Nvidia, AMD also delivers high-end graphic cards with extreme performence, but it lack of products that can statisfy mid-leve comsumers. AMD’s low-end cards are famous for its price and performence. However, there are not a lot of graphic card comsumers will buy those low-end cards, because these cards are not powerful enough for gaming and even low-demanding usage, Thus comsumers that care about the graphic quality of their computer will buy cards from Nvidia or they can just  buy a computer with intergrated grahpic card from Intel for regular use, such as checking emial or daily office use.

You guys probaly have seen this ad in movie theater before. This is the best Coca Cola ad i have seen so far, because it shows a lifestyle with coke.  It is a hot day and what you think about, what you feel and see is coca cola.

As we all know, Coke’s toughest competitor is Pepsi, and both of them spend huge amount of money on advertestments trying to get a bigger share of the market. However, the style of their strategy is totally different. Pepesi uses a create cast of celebrities and sports players in their advertisements and the casts are different in Asia and North America. On the other hand, Coca Cola’s advertisements are close to our lives.   The cute polar bears, vending machine fantasy, the gta, and of course there are a lot more related to different holidays and world events.  Coke has become a part of our life now, when we see a vending machine we recall how coke is “made” in that vending machine; when we watch FIFA World Cup, we want to lie on the couch while drinking a bottle of coke. Coke has marketed its brand into our lives.

   On Jan 17Th, 2011, Steve Jobs announced his absence to focus on his health and the stock market was closed for Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday. One day later Apple also announced his Q1 2011 earnings. A lot of people know that the stock price is going to drop due to Steve’s absence, so Apple released its Q1 earning hoping that this would offset Steve’s announcement. The announcement of Steve’s absence on Jan 17th, and Apple’s Q1 earning on the 18th is a great marketing strategy that attempt to mitigate the full reaction in the share price.

Apple competes  across several highly competitive markets, including the personal computer industry and related software, the consumer electronics industry with products such as the iPod iPad, digital music distribution through its iTunes Music Store, and in the smart phone market with the Apple iPhone. I think Apple’s marketing strategy focuses on creating a new lifestyle to its users; imagination; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology. Apple also positions itselfin the market as having great simplicity and the removal of complexity from people’s lives; people-driven product design; and about being a really humanistic company with a heartfelt connection with its customers. Take Apple’s laptops for example, they weigh less than all the PCs with the same size and also Apple’s software is easier to use than some of the PCs.

I like Apple’s products really much and by thinking of its marketing strategy I am more interested in Apple Inc. Hopefully other people share the same opinion with me.