We are “Best 5”! From choosing the company to creating a marketing plan, the 3-month case project on WestJet not only richened my marketing knowledge, but also gave me an opportunity to approach a new field of study – video making. More importantly, it is a valuable experience to practice my team-building skills.

Honestly, at first, since I did not know much about the company and industry, I found difficulties in doing research. I spent a couple of days and tried to find information through different aspects, but the outcome was not satisfied. Therefore, I voiced out my problem and fortunately, thanks to the help and advice given by group members, I was back on the right track.

After getting the first two assignments done, we started to work on our most worrying part, video project. This was a huge challenge  since five of us had no experience on video making. From deciding the setting as a news report to shooting in the airport, from equally dividing the work to editing the video clips, we came across a number of problems, such as the environmental factors during shooting, quality of the clips, music, cutting, and most importantly, time constraints. Though we spent quite a long period of time to fix the problems, I felt glad that I had a chance to learn new things – at least I know how to trim video clips and do voice over now.

Overall, I found myself gain a significant experience on applying marketing concepts to real case and strengthening my problem-solving skills through doing the project. Besides, I really appreciated a lot on my members’ efforts. Despite the heavy workload from other courses, all of us had our responsible parts done by assigned due date. Although our final video product is not perfect, it is filled with our efforts and passion. More importantly, we finally made it!

Every morning, when I am on the way to school, I will definitely switch on my non-detachable phone to check e-mails. In the 5-6 new emails, over 80% of them are advertisements from different brands. Undoubtedly, e-mail marketing is one of the most common seen strategies in daily life. However, how many people would really click in these e-mails and read the promotions?

In the post “Email Advertising Still Delivers Productive Ad Results“, the writer Hollis Thomases stated that compared to all other online activities, consumers are more likely and frequently to use e-mails, with which marketers can reach their target market easily. Though I believe that email is the most popular online tool, I am skeptical about the effectiveness of e-mail advertising reaching the customers.

This is how my trash box looks like!

Let’s take me as an example. In general sense, I personally hate seeing e-mail advertising, especially when companies, such as Banana Republic and Staples, send promotional e-mails every single or couple of days. The fact is that I check e-mails every day, but at the same time, ignore those e-mails or directly dump them to trash box (You can see from the picture). As a result of the e-mail marketing, the inbox has more than 100 unread emails (I am quite sure most of you have the same experience as mine).

Nonetheless, not every advertisements are annoying, some of which with good titles and personalized content would attract me to click on the link. Examples are Ticketmaster and Amazons. Unlike Banana Republic, they do not send me e-mails every couple of days, but only when there are special offers of products  similar to my past purchasing goods or services. Through catering for my needs and preferences, I am more willing to take time reading the content and more favorable to the company. Therefore, the personalized e-mails, as recommended by Hollis, are effective to deliver the message to customers.

After discussing which type of e-mail advertising is effective, you may want to know more about how to increase the success rates of  these e-mails in addition to Hollis’s suggestions. Click the article link “Best Day to Send Email to Your Customers” and check it out!

“QR Codes can add value to a consumer’s experience through additional information or insight.”, mentioned in Maddie’s blog post “Adding Value with Awesome QR Codes!!“, which reminds me of a video I watched a year ago about how Tesco made use of QR Codes to boost its sales in Korea. In my opinion, Maddie’s view is right, but precisely, how this marketing tool adds value to customers’ shopping experience depends on the target market.

Consumers doing their grocery shopping in subway with QR Codes!

Tesco, an international grocery chain, of which operation in South Korea as “Home Plus” took the advantage of QR Codes to enhance customers’ shopping experience. They set up virtual grocery stores in the subway and allow customers to order the products by scanning the codes on posters during their waiting time for a train. After transactions are confirmed, the products will be delivered to customers’ houses in the same day.

I believe you may doubt about the effectiveness of this marketing strategy since customers may only know the real quality of the chosen items after  delivery. You cannot pick the flawless products on the shelves by yourself. Whether the fruit or meat is fresh is a big question. However, this strategy really works in the Korea market! Why? Because Koreans are the second most hard-working people in the world. Though having the risks of receiving flawed goods, the most valuable thing for the Korean shoppers is “I do not need to spend extra hours in stores picking the products one by one.” Also, you may question about the similarity between online shopping and this virtual grocery shopping. You would probably get the answer that “This experience adds value to the distressing train waiting time, and the process of choosing the products makes me feel like doing shopping in real Tesco.” Though the answer is made-up, the enthusiasm shown on shoppers’ faces in the picture can more or less verify it.

With the rapid growth of technology, the high-tech tools have inextricably been connected with marketing to provide customers with a convenient and memorable shopping experience. QR Codes is one of the many. Wisely using the tool is essential for success. Remember, the first step is to know the behavior of your target market and tailor the implementation to maximize the value of shoppers’ experience.

Here is the video about the virtual grocery store in Korean subway!
Virtual QR Code Supermarket in Korean Subway – Tesco

I believe most of you have gone through a busy week with resume and cover letter. Did you double- or triple- check the formatting, including fonts, before clicking “Submit”? You may have noticed that marks are given for correct formatting in almost all formal writings. But have you ever thought of WHY it is important? The answer is simple: Brand Building.

Brand building is indispensable to the success of a company, since a strong branding can motivate and add value to customers’ buying decisions.  Nowadays, various forms of typography have been wisely used to reinforce brand recognition and convey brands’ positioning to their target market. Among all, what interests me the most is the Fonts used in logos.

There is a Chinese old saying, ” Calligraphy reflects a person’s personality.” In this case, I would say “Font reflects a brand’s value proposition.” Each font has its own characteristics. Different styles and sizes bring different impressions to customers. Therefore, it is essential to choose the right font is communicate and present the right message to the potential market. Let’s imagine a situation (a typical one for girls!). You are planning to buy cosmetics, but have no idea which brand is right for you. So, you may want to get some hints from the designs of brand names – Stila, M.A.C., and Chanel.

1.

The slightly random shapes of letters bring out a vital and carefree image, showing that it is the brand for teenagers or young adults.

2.

The modern design and round edges of letters represents the brand’s fashionable products and friendly services.

3.

The neat and clear-cut edges with the capitalized letters build a professional and exclusive image of the brand.

As we can see, three brands, three fonts, three impressions, three target markets. Based on your needs, I believe you may have known which is the right choice.

Making buying decisions according to information conveyed from first impressions of the brands are normal in today’s fast-paced and competitive world. One of the most effective ways to leave a strong positive image with right message is to utilize fonts in logos wisely. Let’s start learning from other brands’ logos now!

Other related readings –

1. 8 Steps for Building a Brand
   http://www.stealingshare.com/pages/Specific%20Steps%20to%20Build%20a%20Brand%20that%20Grows%20Market.htm
2. Reasons Why Fonts are Important for Logo Designing
   http://naldzgraphics.net/tips/typography-font-for-logo-designing/

“Which phone model is it?”, “Where can I get this dress?”, “What is the brand of …?” … These questions must appear, at least once, in our minds when watching TV series and movies. Nowadays, product placement has widely been used as a marketing strategy to draw viewers’ attention on the products or brands.

Ideally, this brand connection is a win-win strategy for both product and movie producers. The former can gain extra sales through improving product image and brand’s intrinsic value while the latter is benefited by a higher quality film production due to the additional product placement revenues. Yet, this ideal situation takes place only when the placement is successful.

In my opinion, a successful product placement should be based on the rule of “Natural, reasonable but not exaggerating”. In other words, the product or brand shown should fit in with the context of the shows in a proper length of time and present its value without deceptions. Let’s take Skyfall and the first Transformers as examples.

There were multitude of brands displayed in Skyfall, such as Omega watch and Sony Xepria phones. The sports timekeeping proposition of Omega fit especially well on James Bond, the agent who was required to have missions done in time. Despite the few-second appearance, the product gave a profound impression to audience with the strong character’s personality.

Omega Seamaster from Skyfall

The placement of GM cars in the first Transformers portrayed the brand with a heroic image, which attracted viewers’ eyeballs with a splendid and unbreakable image.

GM autobots from Transformers

All in all, wise and successful product placement should reflect brands’ intrinsic values and enable viewers to accept and understand the brands in a “natural, reasonable, but not exaggerating” way.

Here is a video more about product placement in Skyfall. Hope you enjoy it!
CNBC – Skyfall Product Placement

A shopper in Shanghai examines milk powder in 2008.

In 2008, the Chinese milk scandal was uncovered with nearly 1000 infants in health danger, causing significant strike on consumers’ trust in local milk manufacturers. Yet, improvements have hardly been seen since then.

Though regaining buyers’ confidence on local milk products should be a daunting task, I believe by combining ethical norms or values in production process and marketing system could make it not impossible. Presently, parents in China has switched their consumption to global, qualified brands, such as a British brand, Aptamil. You may ask why Aptamil?

Aptamil is specialized in providing professional help for pregnant mothers and babies, with a wide range of baby milk products supporting baby’s every stage of development. Apart from the secure baby formula, they offer customers reports and guidelines from experts regarding nutritional properties and other healthcare related issues. Moreover, in order to assure customers of being in the right consumption track, they have discussion forum and hotlines with any immediate responses to inquiries.

Aptamil illustrates ethical values through showing responsibility, respect and transparency to their stakeholders. As mentioned above, they give supplemental resources to customers, demonstrating a serious concern on different consumers’ needs and their commitment of supporting professional healthcare. Meanwhile, by using forums, they allow criticisms from buyers and form a spirit of openness in the operations. As a result, trust from Chinese parents is formed in Aptamil, but not in Chinese milk producers.

Indeed, taking Aptamil as an example or a role model, we are able to see a good fortune on Chinese milk industry. By considering “what we should do” to benefit firms and society in long run, changes in strategies and consumers’ confidence are possible to occur in the near future.

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