Sydney Ren's Blog

Is it the end of term already?

My group chose Groupon for our project because we thought it would be interesting since they rely mostly on word-of-mouth marketing.

In Assignment 1, we researched Groupon using a variety of sources: company website and statements, library resources and online databases, like eMarketer. It was interesting for us to learn how Groupon’s business model works and how many partnerships Groupon has with other companies. It wasn’t surprising to us that an overwhelming majority of Groupon users were women; as a group we discussed heavily our own Groupon experiences :). Because we had all used Groupon before, sometimes we had trouble keeping our experiences separate from the facts about the company and its competitors, but tried to be as objective as possible.

In Assignment 2, we targeted males of the same demographic and lifestyle of Groupon’s existing female consumers. We had to justify the segment by finding data that supports the male segment to be substantial, profitable, reachable, and responsive. An interesting subject that we ended up reading about was differences and similarities in female and male consumer behaviour.

The video or Assignment 3 was probably the most enjoyable experience. Our group came up with many ideas during our brainstorming meeting, and was extremely productive in writing the script, filming, and editing the video. We created an investigative news story, filmed completely at UBC. Somehow, with five group members, we were able to portray 11 characters with the help of  disguises and props.

Charlie and Thomas in disguise 🙂

Katarina and Thomas in the paintball scene

Me and Angela as news anchors

Overall, I think the marketing plan assignment was well-designed and got students to apply the frameworks and concepts we had learned in class.

How many of us honestly pay attention to the flight attendants when they demonstrate how to use a life-vest? Like this author from Marketo’s blog writes, Virgin America brings the human element into advertising by making an informative advertisement that consumers can hum, sing, dance, and ultimately, relate to. Virgin had a plan to get people thinking about safety again – they launched the first ever musical safety video, which features notable choreographers and dancers from the popular show So You Think You Can Dance and singers from Idol grooving their way through all the required safety features in a humorous manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtyfiPIHsIg

It was shocking to most viewers that Virgin is not just using the video as a PR campaign; the video will in fact be aired on flights starting by the end of this month. Personally, I believe Virgin is the only airline that can pull off these unexpected and unusual campaigns. In a highly standardized and regulated industry, Virgin has always been a standout from it’s good-humoured founder to it’s daring, cheeky, red uniforms designed by Vivienne Westwood, renowned British fashion designer credited for making modern punk mainstream. We all remember when Richard Branson dressed in drag as a female stewardess for losing a bet to CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes. Given their eccentric brand image, the #VXsafetydance video was barely a gamble for Virgin and fit within their brand’s culture effectively.

The response to the safety video was practically all positive. YouTube comments stated, “Why can’t all airlines be like this?”. However, I wondered if the flashy video detracted from the safety aspect. If I watched this safety video on a flight, I would be too entertained to know where the safety exits around me are, for example. Despite these issues, the video has become a viral hit, garnering almost 7 million views on YouTube alone with many more shares on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.

A girl can dream, right?

This past year, Chanel re-issued its original Première watch, which was the first watch model the company ever created in 1987. The original Première was inspired by the octagonal shape of the No 5 perfume bottle’s stopper, which was originally inspired by the shape of Place Vendôme as seen below:

Place Vendôme, Paris, France

Before this campaign, Chanel’s watches were arguably in the plateau area of the maturity stage in the product life cycle. The re-designed watch effectively extends the product life cycle of the French couturière’s watches. The new Première watch increases the number of users by appealing to a much younger market and also increases the frequency of use by positioning itself as an everyday watch that could be worn to work and to a dinner party (as opposed to a jewelry watch). This line extension’s purpose to extend the product life cycle can be seen in the Première’s promotion video, which reveals gorgeous, fashionable young women sporting the watch doing quotidien things like grocery shopping or calling over a waiter.

In response to classmate Kate Gao’s September blogpost about greenwashing terms, Coca-Cola literally greenwashes an entire neighbourhood in Lithuania through their Roll Out Happiness stunt, part of their Where Will Happiness Strike Next? campaign. Watch as a whimsical Coca-Cola truck temporarily installs some green turf along with a vending machine that dispenses free Coke when people took off their shoes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ih0Drtuufc

While perhaps this stunt was not meant to greenwash, it effectively associates the Coca Cola brand with a few things: happiness, the outdoors, and ultimately, the colour green. The campaign targets the behavioural aspect of consumer attitude in order to influence consumer buying behaviour.

Personally, I associate the colour green with the following terms: natural, healthy, outdoors, calm, growth, and uplifting. In contrast, when I think about Coca Cola, these terms come to mind: red, sugar, refreshing, energy, and happiness. By default, green and Coca Cola’s signature red are opposites of each other on the colour wheel. However, Coca Cola’s green initiatives and campaigns try to merge the different positive associations of both colours under its own brand. These campaigns aim to maintain the core values of the brand while jumping onto the larger bandwagons of healthy eating and sustainability.

A recent ad for Coca-Cola made by Johnny Kelly, the creator behind Chipotle’s popular Back to the Start campaign, equates happiness, movement, and Coca-Cola – these are ultimately the brand associations Coca-Cola wants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkzFLkUA97A

In 2012, Nike gave Casey Neistat, a New York-based filmmaker, a budget to make an advertisement for the #makeitcount campaign and the Nike FuelBand. The video shows 10 days of Casey running around the world on Nike’s budget with quick cuts, daredevil stunts, a pulsing dance track, and inspirational quotes that fit the theme both the #makeitcount campaign and the original Just Do It slogan. The video feels spontaneous – perfect for Nike’s adrenaline-filled, fitness-loving target market.

The reaction, as suggested by the 10 million combined views on Nike and Casey’s YouTube channels, was explosive. It’s inspiring and motivating, raved fans. It’s a conceited, expensive travel log, claimed critics. Many pointed out that Casey isn’t seen with the Nike FuelBand, or with any other Nike apparel for that matter.

Two questions pop into my mind after watching this again. Was it really spontaneous? Casey stated that he came up with the overall idea of the video on the run. He also claimed it was a risk because Nike didn’t know about his plans. I don’t believe that Nike didn’t know about the concept from the start. Nike chose Casey for a reason; the directors must have seen his YouTube  videos and decided that they wanted a similar video for the ad.

More importantly, however, was it effective? The ad was supposed to showcase the FuelBand and support the #makeitcount campaign. I think the ad only accomplished the latter, but since Nike still benefited overall from the campaign, I believe the video was extremely effective. Casey produced an uninhibited ad that spoke to Nike’s target market, and that’s what matters. The 10 million views is a testament to how effective the ad was and still is for Nike.

Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Urbanspoon are online review websites that people resort to when seeking a third opinion. However, to what extent can we trust these reviews, which are posted by complete strangers? Someone once told me they thought 15% of Yelp reviews were fake, which seems ridiculous already.

Companies make money based on the consumers’ perception of the brand. Perception also includes how consumers expect their product or service to be of a particular quality. So it is shocking, but surely not surprising, that some companies have secretly paid for positive reviews, and even negative reviews for competitors. Companies providing false reviews have become more sophisticated and many false reviews now slip through algorithms designed to weed them out. There’s even a term for this practice: astroturfing.

Just this week, 19 businesses were discovered to have provided false reviews in an operation run by the New York Attorney General. The consequences were steep: $350,000+ in penalties for violating false advertising laws. The repercussions dig deeper than just monetary penalties, however. If the practice of false advertising continues to be prevalent on the Internet, consumers will be less likely to trust businesses to deliver what they claim, ruining any good reputation that existed before. Skepticism doesn’t sell.

A consequence worse than losing consumer trust, however, is that false advertising sets up a destructive business environment.  It becomes less about innovating and creating a better product or service for consumers, and more about shouting and claiming to be the best in the world. This kind of business environment isn’t healthy for the economy and doesn’t provide anything for society other than more noise to sift through. Marketing is all about adding value, and false advertising through fake online reviews only takes away value.