It’s November 30, 2012. One more day and it will be the start of December again. With all the Christmas decor around malls, shops, and even in school, you can’t help but feel excited for the upcoming holiday. I personally love the holiday season. Christmas for me is a time for family and friends and a time to be extra thankful for all the blessings I had throughout the year.How will you spend your holidays this year?

One thing that is in my Christmas checklist is to visit the new Vancouver Christmas Market that just opened last November 24 in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre outdoor plaza.

This annual Christmas event started last year. As you enter through the beautiful gates of the bazaar, you experience Christmas in Germany. Several unique booths fill the open area.

“There will be a mix of food and merchandise booths including some specialties such as German Bratwurst, suckling pig and Swiss Raclette, traditional Christmas cookies, Lebkuchen, roasted chestnuts, baked apples and spiced Christmas Cake (Stollen). Beverages will include the famous German Christmas Drink (Feuerzangenbowle) and authentic hot spiced red wine (Gluehwein) and a selection of German beers (Weissbier).” Oh how these sound delicious!

“The merchandise will include authentic wood carvings and wooden toys, knitted clothes and scarves, Christmas pyramids and tree balls, tin toys, stain glass, nutcrackers in various sizes as well as advent wreaths. You can find unique gifts such as glass jewelry, Polish pottery, organic baby clothes or German beer steins.”

This Christmas bazaar is so unique from the regular stores that we always see in malls. There is a small entrance fee, but what we will be paying for is feeling of comfort and awe that the cozy friendly German Christmas atmosphere would be giving us. I can’t wait to visit this beautiful event in Vancouver. Christmas is really here!

*Watch the videos in their website HERE and start your Christmas early!

5 MORE DAYS!

I cannot believe its less than a week till this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show airs on TV! Every year, I gather all my gal pals, put on some comfy pajamas, get some tubs of “half baked” and “chunky monkey” Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and watch the most fabulous event in television.

Samantha, a classmate in my marketing class, posted a wonderful article about this year’s fashion show. Read it HERE.

I guess we are all going to be watching the show together on Tuesday!

Anyways, I went digging to know more about Victoria’s Secret and their huge PR stunt which is the fashion show. Here is what I found out.

It all started when when a graduate student named Roy Raymond from Stanford Graduate School Of Business felt embarrassed when it came to purchasing beautiful lingerie from a department store. Year 1977, Roy opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center in San Francisco. The stores were created to make a man comfortable when purchasing women’s lingerie, the decor of the stores were Victorian designed with wood panel walls and friendly staff. Instead of bras and panties being hung on a rack, they were already paired together in all sizes and mounted on frames. The stores were very detailed and were quite inviting when a gentleman came to purchase lingerie. It is very ironic that part of what differentiates Victoria’s secret from other lingerie stores is that their atmospherics was initially targeted to help the men!

In 1995, the FIRST Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was born! The first show is almost unrecognizable by today’s standards: no over-the-top costumes, no live musical performances, and no public broadcast. It was simple, elegant, but still, with top models like Stephanie Seymour, Beverly Peele, and Frederique van der Wal, it was the start of a fashion phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, oh how the show has evolved to the out-of-this-world spectacle that the whole world watches! After introducing the WINGS in their 1997 fashion show, Victoria’s Secret makes every show better and better by each year. More glitter, more wings, more big celebrities, more supermodels, more lights and cameras, and more worshipers! The Victoria’s Secret Fashion show is a huge PR stunt to keep the whole world watching their lingerie. Actually, the lingerie is not even the focus of the show – it’s the beautiful and creative costumes and production! Unlike other fashion shows that keep everything simple and make the clothing the focus, Victoria’s Secret puts the focus on their supermodels and their production. It all works though since it makes the whole show entertaining. The spectacle keeps people watching every year and brings people inside their stores because they also want to be like the fabulous models in the runway. (I know I want to be one! )

 

 

Check out the evolution of VS fashion show HERE!

 

Thanks to Morgan for creating a blog post titled “Shock Tactics in Advertising– Russian real Estate” in the Canadian University marketing blog. Click the link to check it out! Watch the videos if you can, but be advised, these are not for the faint of heart.

To add on to Morgan’s post, shock tactics is a risky way of marketing and advertising a product, service, or even a message. ‘Shock Value’ has become a staple to companies that know the value of attracting the attention they need to conquer their competition and pull in profits as a result. This tactic is all about shocking the readers and customers so they can leave an impression of their product. Some folks will use foul language to shock their readers. Some will use incredible stories. And still others will tell them how they have made huge mistakes.

Basically, the main purpose of shock tactics to to get people’s ATTENTION!

Take a look at UK’s anti-smoking campaign as an example.

This is an example of a campaign that uses shock tactics in a moderate way. The ad shows the harmful effects of smoking. The shock value in here is enough to grab the attention of viewers and let them stop and think about smoking. Compared to the commercials of a real estate company in Russia which was posted in Morgan’s blog, this is less disturbing but still effective. Marketers must make sure that they make good use of shock tactics.

Remember if you put someone in a total state of shock, your chances of getting them to react to your message will go in vain. The key to using the “shock tactic” strategy is to use it in moderation and just enough to get the job done, the message across and no more. The shock tactic that the Russian real estate company used is too much that instead of getting consumers to listen, it repels them. We don’t want anyone to get a heart attack here.

 

Back in the Philippines, Bayo has always been a very successful brand for Filipino women. They have established an image of Filipina (Filipino women) pride and strength. Almost every mall in the capital city, Manila, features a Bayo store. However, recent controversies arise when they launched their “What’s You Mix?” campaign.

 

This campaign, which was planned to encourage consumers to be more daring and playful with their fashion styles, sparked negative responses and backlash. Consumers questioned the ethics of this marketing campaign. Ordinary Filipino commuters were puzzled about the advertisement’s message. Do we have to be a mix of other nationality to be considered beautiful? Is race a matter of mixing and matching?

Bayo then responded to explain their campaign by posting this advertisement on their social media websites. However, sadly, consumers branded it as racist and offensive.

 

 

Netizens have also questioned if the Philippines’ Ad Standards Council (ASC) should move against supposedly racist ads. According to the ASC Code of Ethics, “Advertisements shall not directly or indirectly disparage, ridicule, criticize or attack any natural or juridical person, groups of persons or any sector of society, especially on the basis of gender, social or economic class, religion, ethnicity, race or nationality.” In the end, Bayo gave a public apology and put down the ads. (Click Here for their apology)

The “What’s Your Mix?” campaign relates to an ethical issue in marketing where advertisements can be hurtful and harmful. However, I believe that there is nothing wrong or unethical with the campaign. The marketers of Bayo tread into deep waters when they decided to go with a sensitive subject of race and nationality, but their message was created, clearly, not to discriminate against Filipinos. For me, it actually elevates the status of a Filipino by saying that no matter what racial mix you have, with Filipino blood in you, you are beautiful. Miscommunication is a big reason why this campaign fell apart. Bayo wanted to show that their new style of clothing is more daring and playful, thus the mix and match, but they failed to emphasize this in their advertisements and ended up maybe hurting the feelings of some consumers who focused on the mixing and matching of nationalities.

Bayo built a brand that promotes Filipino beauty, talent, and creativity. The company prides itself for supporting Filipino women empowerment. Hopefully, in the future, they can build stronger and sensitive campaigns, knowing how their market can react.

 

Diversity in the world is a basic characteristic of human society, and also the key condition for a lively and dynamic world as we see today. -Jinato Hu

Have you ever wondered what it is like to experience life in a different country? Have you ever dreamed of strolling the cobblestone streets of France, munching on the nutella waffles of Belgium, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, or riding the elephants in Thailand? Every country boasts its own attractions. Having varied cultures and traditions, people from different countries showcase their own uniqueness. We all have our individual preferences and tastes, but most of us, are open to learn about new cultures. It is exciting to experience how life is in the other side.

IKEA found a way to use the value of culture diversity to present their new products. Let us step into the mesmerizing floating markets of Asia.

 

The floating market showcase is one of the recent projects of The Cake Group (featured in my last post) for IKEA, UK. They brought so much creativity and awe to the promotion that it brings so much sincere enthusiasm from people. That is what makes a marketing tactic work – if it makes people say, “I want to go!” or “I don’t want to miss this!” Creating that lasting enthusiasm from consumers is not easy. Trends come and go; people change their attitudes and likes/dislikes in a snap. Marketers have to find ways that will always attract people to their products. They have to adapt to what the consumers are looking for and what they will respond best to. For this IKEA project, the company knew that in the present world, globalization and diversity are significant and people have the sense of adventure to travel or gain experiences outside their usual routine. They used this and created one big hit event for their new fall-winter collection.

 

 

People like to be heard. We each have our own opinions, tastes, and preferences for what we buy. So, we desire the companies, who bring us the products, to take notice of these. Now, picture a time when a brand took over your life. Some brands force us to patronize them. They don’t cater to what we want, but dictate what we should want. There’s a grave difference in that.

Enter, the Cake Group.

The Cake Group markets itself as “an ideas company that helps brands become part of peoples’ lives.” Basically, they are a company that brands such as IKEA, Coca-Cola, and Havaianas hire to promote their products to customers. Their clients can be companies, organizations, and even celebrities. However, the Cake Group brings marketing to the next level. From a big 100-person IKEA sleepover to product launches with the universe recreated in hot air balloons, The Cake Group incorporates ideas. They bring the ideas people relate to, what entertains them, what astonishes them and what influences them, to real life. Their promotions are interactive and unique, which give the people what they value out of the product. They work to “incorporate brands into the social media consumers trust, into the social networks they choose to be part of and into the real world experiences they enjoy when they log off.”

I stumbled upon The Cake Group as I was searching the web for inspiration for my first blog post. Honestly, I was thinking of eating cake at the moment; and though the link of The Cake Group that popped up in my screen was not edible in any way, I was satisfied. Looking through the work of the company, I was blown away by their various projects for well-known companies that I myself love. Actually, The Cake Group promoted themselves perfectly. I was sold.