comm296 - Marketing Blog

In a response to Teresita and Stephanie‘s blog posts, I personally agree that Budweiser has in fact tapped into a soft spot with their hockey flash mob fans commercial, engaging end users directly and effectively. I was deeply moved by the efforts they put into making a community team feel special. Despite the fact the Budweiser chose hockey as the target of their ad, the message is clear and I feel reflects to every individual involved in a group that feels neglected or unimportant. Broadcasting the ad at the right time and place such as the Stanley Cup Playoffs versus the Superbowl is important, as timing always is key. (While the world was watching the world of football, here comes Budweiser with a hockey ad.) Many would say this was wrong timing, and I would agree. However, I do feel this type of ad is not persuasion advertising, but rather a reminder. So while football was on TV, it seems to me that Budweiser tried to Canad-fy the whole event craze by throwing in a hockey ad that still gives off the same team and community message. The ad is a good mix of hope, nostalgia, community and entertainment, and I personally enjoyed it. It allows for teams to hope that one day their team will be discovered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y0qZYqdsYAg

What started out to be a small project for Blake Mycoskie ended up to be one of the fastest growing shoe companies in our time. This blog post is a response to Vivien Lee’s markeing blog#1: is the One for One campaign of TOMS sustainable and value-based? . Being a huge brand advocate for TOMS (I own 2 pairs, and some apparel), I couldn’t help but feel an urge to write about them.

Sustainable marketing. Something a lot of companies strive for. Honestly, I don’t know if TOMS has achieved that level but they have recently explored into more product lines such as vegan products, apparel and eye-wear. And it doesn’t stop there. They offer banners, scarves, stickers with their logo and message – just to spread awareness. Blake has also written a book about TOMS. This speaks volumes of what the company is trying to achieve in terms of customer base and social movement.

One thing that TOMS does to swoon its customers, apart from giving shoes and eye care away is partnering with different humanitarian organizations campus clubs such as One Day Without Shoes, and using this movement to drive awareness and sales. People like being a part of groups and by doing this, TOMS allows kids, students, etc. to feel important, included and most of all, empowered. They offer jobs, internships and trips for people who show their passion and achieve something in their community through TOMS. This even applies to the retailers they select. They make sure retailers exude the lifestyle and the message that they reflect through their product, the ones willing to participate in their events, then ones willing to fulfill their mission and to go bare foot for a day. And in turn, they can concentrate reaching their target group and spread the word even more.

It seems like whatever they’re doing is working because pretty much everywhere I go, there always is one person that has a pair on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqNMBEn9I7o&list=UUXzKkMHsTalh2LW42CaB4oQ&index=18&feature=plpp_video

“Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do to sell your product is help your customers to imagine exactly when they should buy it.” – Rohit Bhargava

In Rohit’s blog post Honda Masters the Art of Marketing Timing, the importance of Honda’s choice in focusing mainly on the age and life cycle stage factor of consumer behaviour.

Generally, what Honda did was build on the fact that people constantly make goals, either deliberately or subconsciously, whether about life, education or love. And from this, create an online site for “Leap List“, where consumers come in and make a list of things they want to do before they “take the leap”, or turn 30, or get married, and enter it to get a chance to win a Honda CR-V. Then people can come back and tick things they have done or achieved on their list with pictures or videos as proof for judges to see. Honda takes this information and try to fit in buying a car for every life stage, whether it be having kids or moving out. And so what they were really trying to say was: Why wait? Why to buy a car? You’ll need it to do all things on your list.

This approach I find looks deeper into intrinsic values and subconscious wants of consumers. It allows them to really think about what they want to do with their life and from they where buying a car could fit in and if a Honda was one they would consider. This way of looking a consumer behaviour at the personal and psychological side enables Honda to build a connection with people who are going through a decision phase, achievers, or just people living their every-day life, moving from just marketing based on cultural and social factors to personal and psychological.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VhkDdayA4iA

An airline company I was very familiar with growing up called Cebu Pacific Airlines has upped their marketing strategy 8 years ago by strategically using the 4 P’s to the extent that captures the majority of the Philippine population.
They been extremely low key in the past, know as a third or fourth choice for an airline. But because of the recession and natural disasters, Filipinos are even poorer and will find the cheapest transportation despite the conditions. They capitalized on these events and focused on a whole new target market and decided to sell to the poor giving away promotions for very cheap (as low as $7 for domestic and $25 for international Asian flights) or sometimes free flights but charging excessively for other things such as baggage, food, special seat arrangements and the like. Although their initial target was lower income Filipinos, their pricing strategy created a waterfall effect and got the middle class, the rich and even the extremely affluent to book flights with them. This was because while all the other airlines were increasing their prices, Cebu Pacific cared less about making sure their customers felt like kings, focusing on things like efficiency and convenience. They positioned themselves as a very relaxed and fun company that did not care much about luxury and this was reflected in their flights. Their airplanes are small and crowded. They are not very clean, but the experience is a unique one. Experience a flight that offers live song and dance safety procedure announcement performances from flight attendants (10million views on Youtube), trendy music, games, basketball and other fun and quirky gimmicks, which made flights not only more bearable but hilarious to witness.  They reached out to more travel agencies and hotels, and advertized more often in newspaper which propelled them even further. They were very succesful and quickly grew into the number 1 airline in the country. But this did not sustain them as gimmicks and promotions die and now their sales and stock price are starting to decrease. This shows that although a strategy could put you at the top, but if you can’t sustain it, it will die down.

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