11/29/13

Fun Times: Toyota Team Project

Working as a team was a lot of work, but with the right group of people work became fun. We share our ideas and knowledge. We learn from each other’s interpretation of marketing and put forth the best marketing strategy for Toyota.

We had a few late nights together over the past few months working on our project. A few miscommunications. A few schedule conflicts. With the right team members and the right attitude, these things were just minor details that we were able to work through together. Thank God for Google Doc!

Our final video project took place during such a busy time in our semester. It was quite challenging trying to find a day that the six of us could be together to film. We made it work! And in a way, the time that we spent working on this video project together was like a nice break from other school work.

The idea of filming a skit came about when the six of us had a brainstorming session during our meeting after class. I was very exciting when we were working on our script and the idea of incorporating Friends came into the picture. Who wouldn’t be excited! Friends is awesome!

After putting all the parts that we filmed together on iMovie, it was really cool to get to see how all the pieces fit together so nicely into a short video clip. It created a sense of accomplishment to see that after multiple rounds of editing, rehearsing, and filming, we were able to create a funny, little clip that tells a story about Toyota’s new marketing strategy: targeting the new graduates.

I learn a lot from this project. I learn that iMovie is a pretty cool tool to make a homemade movie. And I also learn that it might have been better to use Premiere for editing instead! Last but not least, I learn what it’s like to have such a great team to work with. Thanks for being awesome, girls!

 

11/19/13

Mobile Game App: A Fun Way to Make Happy Customers

Who would have thought? A business that mixes French fries with a mobile game app!

Selling French Fries with a Mobile App is entirely possible thanks to Scott Nelowet, the founder of French Fry Heaven. A business idea that stemmed from his trip to Europe. Now a two-million franchise business,  a brilliant mobile app that contribute to the growth.

I think that a mobile game app is such a great promotion tool to use in the current customer culture. It appears that French Fry Heaven target market is the younger generation. Scott Nelowet recognized the importance of brand’s online presence for his customers. He understood that customers in the younger generation spend more time online and using their phones.

Customers can download French Fry Heaven Game app online for free! It’s a fun way for customers to interact and familiarize with the 50 flavours on the menu. Besides keeping themselves entertained, customers can earn freebies such as t-shirts and fries. Furthermore, French Fry Heaven webpage looks fun and definitely kid friendly, which is inviting to the customers.

I think mobile gaming app allows customers to be reminded of the product constantly without being annoyed because they voluntarily choose to use the app. In this sense, customers would have a positive association with the promotion and would encourage the customers to go visit the store.

And through a regular exposure of the logo and cute characters in the game, French Fry Heaven would appear to be a friendly figure in the food industry to the customers. An overall positive attitude would occur among the app users even before they go into the store to get their fries. Happy customers would make them a long term customers. Happy customers spread positive words about the product and the business. Consequently, French Fry Heaven is able to thrive and expand its business to 81 stores by the end of this year!

11/8/13

Social Media For the Win

source: www.squeezein.com

Checking In on a Diner That Understands Social Media  is a blog entry on the New York Times marketing blog that discuses about a restaurant called Squeeze In that uses social media to build a relationship with its customers. Squeeze In uses social media such as Pinterest, Instragram, Foodspotting, Foursquare, and Google+, which ultimately helps the business to grow and expand into four locations and franchising.

Understanding the customers is one of the most important thing in Marketing. Squeeze In has done just that. It understood the change in its customers’ culture, which differed from when the restaurant first started in 1974. Now customers  shifted their interactions from face-to-face to social media. Squeeze In recognized the opportunity to increase interact and building a relationship with its customers after noticing the increase in traffic of its video clip on YouTube.

After watching this video, Omma Lette, talking about how they cook their omelettes, using grade A eggs, and the atmosphere at the restaurant, it makes me want to go try their food!

I think using Social Media to build a relationship with customers is one of the most important tools that a business owner can use. Social Media such as YouTube allows business owners to relate to their customers’ culture while they can also use this as a channel to promote the quality of their product. Video such as “Omma Lette” is fun and at the same time letting the customers know that if they come to eat at Squeeze In the customers will get quality food.  Furthermore, Squeeze In has Facebook and Twitter account for each of its location, which allow the local customers to communicate directly to their favourite restaurant and tell the restaurant owner exactly how they like or don’t like their experience at the restaurant. This ultimately gives Squeeze In valuable information about the customers preference and consumption pattern, which allows the business operator to maximize customers’ willingness to pay.

“Best Omelettes on the Planet!” Now, who can resist that!

10/24/13

Society and Marketing

Response Post:

According to Ethical Issues in Marketing: Selective Marketing and Market Exclusion, the general trend is an increase in clothing size in USA. Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F), on the other hand, has been creating products that aim toward “thin people,” which exclude people who require larger sizes. Yes, it may limited the amount of profit that A&F could potentially make but the most important issue is the societal impact that such market exclusion can create.

The ethical issue in question is the body image that A&F tries to promote. They promote “thin” body type instead of promoting healthy body type. And when people associate with the word thin and clothing, people would tend to think of model body type, which at times could borderline anorexic. Consequently, consumers  internalize the model-like thin body or the muscular body of male model, which could altered the healthy body image.

Ethical issues can be viewed as important or not is based on the people in that society. In North American society, body image has always been an important issue. However, the issues of healthy body image is often overlooked by the marketers such as the ones for A&F. The consumers would keep the vicious cycle going if they keep indirectly promote the unhealthy body image by keep supporting the brand.

I have conducted an interview with a long-time A&F customer, who has been a loyal customer of ten years. He is not concern with the fact that A&F produces their clothes in a third world country where the factory workers could be underpaid and overworked or the fact that they discriminate against people with a certain body type. According to my interviewee, he said, “It’s [A&F’s] marketing strategy…people can choose to buy their clothes from other brands if they want something that fits.”

The interviewee is an example of how the marketers such as the ones from A&F can get away with discriminating a certain type of body image through market exclusion. When consumers in the society do not care, the mindless consumption can sustain the vicious cycle of unethical marketing, hence the negative impact that it contributes to the society.

Abercrombie & Fitch, The Militant Baker

Photo from Business Insider.

10/8/13

Marketing and Me

Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and I have long been in a relationship even before I realized that the relationship is created by marketing. One of the ways that Marketing can be defined is a profitable relationship between two parties, in this case, a company and a customer. The four P’s of the Marketing Mix, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion contribute to a long term relationship between Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and me that benefit both parties.

Product creates value for the customers and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo created a value for shampoo without harsh chemical. When I was younger, the baby shampoo was gentle and good for my baby skin, so my parents chose Johnson and Johnson over other brands.  The shampoo was really effective and delivered what the product had promised, which was clean hair without harsh chemical that would cause irritations. Now that I get to choose my own shampoo, I still choose Johnson and Johnson over other brands because I still value the fact that Johnson’s Baby Shampoo keeps my hair clean and gentle to my hair and scalp.

Price setting was reasonable and reflect the value of the product. Johnson’s Baby Shampoo set the price at the right level  in order to get new parents to try out the product for their newborn and for a University student, such as myself, to keep using the product because the price matches the willingness to pay.

Furthermore, Johnson and Jonson placed its baby shampoo at every supermarket, which makes it very convenient for me to buy whenever I want a new bottle of shampoo. I can buy a new bottle of shampoo when I go grocery shopping, so I do not have to make two trips.

Since Johnson’s Baby Shampoo has been available for 125 years, the promotion reinforces the value that the product is of quality. The promotion such as advertisement below increase my value for the product and suggests to me that the company is committed to creating and maintaining good quality, which increases my loyalty to the brand.

The 4 P’s of Marketing Mix have bridged  a long, profitable relationship between Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and I, where I enjoy using the quality product  and Johnson and Johnson increases their sales revenue. And with Johnson and Johnson’s commitment to maintain the quality of their product, I will keep going back for more Johnson’s Baby Shampoo.

09/23/13

The AXE Effect: Ethical Issues in Marketing

The marketing of AXE product line has long been associated with the sex appeal. One advertisement after another, AXE tries to send the message to its consumer that their products are superior than other brands simply because their products help men be more sexually attractive to the opposite sex. The ethical issues that arise from these advertisements lay in the the materialistic point of view and market audience.

The following video clip shows one of AXE’s previous shower gel advertisements.

What do I see when I watch this video clip? I see that an average-looking man is able to make attractive women lose control and paid attention to him through the usage of an AXE shower gel. The message clearly suggests that using AXE shower gel will give men the advantage of being more attractive to the opposite sex. The advertisement also illustrates that a man can use this product to get women to do almost whatever he wants. In addition,the message suggests that using the right product is the method of attracting females attention. It contributes to the materialistic value of the society, where the products that one uses define the lifestyle and who he or she will be dating with. It encourages people to put more emphasis on the material rather than the value of the people. And most important of all, this type of advertisement become more about selling the dream rather than the product itself.

Furthermore, AXE products target the younger male population of 18 to 24 year-old men. These young men, especially those in their teens, are at the age where they could easily internalize and idolize the values such as materialistic and sexualizing women from the media. Instead of buying the product for its quality, young men would be buying AXE shower gels and body sprays for the lifestyle that the products promise. However, this type of advertisement is a false promise and these young consumers would soon lose appeal to the products.

How is this a good way to build a long, lasting, and profitable relationship?