Month: March 2011

As I was taking a break from studying and watching a show with my mom just yesterday, we were stunned by the newest addition by Telus. I’m not sure why we were surprised, considering the leaps technology continues to make, but this ad made our jaws drop and our eyes roll.

Although this is another new technological feat, after the recent introduction of the Apple IPad, and shortly after the IPad 2, it almost feels exhausting to see another slightly more advanced piece of technology being released. Nevertheless, this is what it is about:

Social networking meets television in a new application. Telus has introduced a Facbeook app that allows viewers to stay in check with their Facebook friends’ activities, in a format similar to a side-bar that is simultaneously visible as their favourite episodes play un-interrupted. Not only can you see others’ status’s, but you can browse photos, walls, and profiles, and even leave comments and ratings. All this can be done through the tv’s remote, except for typing which must be done through the tv’s touch-screen capabilities.

Sign-in to the Facebook app on the TV is password-protected, so different people sharing one television would all have separate sign ins lnking to their own Facebook accounts.

The introduction of Facebook to Optik TV appears to be only a first step in Telus’ plan to expand social networking on its television service, as they are now making plans to include Twitter.

One thing I have not addressed so far is: who the heck actually wants to go onto Facebook while they are in the middle of watching tv? Are ads really that boring? I think consumers should just suck it up, maybe go outside and run?  Ha, knowing how inseperable my fellow generation X-er’s are with our Smartphones though, I am sure our phones (which already have fully functional facebook capabilities) will only be an arm’s length away as they watch!

Source: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/archive/2011/03/10/telus-optic-tv-the-future-is-facebook.aspx

Apparently, making mistakes can actually allow your company’s brand to be more positively perceived. I recently read this interesting post in a blog called Duct Tape Marketing, by John Jantsch, called “Fail in Favor of the Customer”. In it, he seems to blend a bit of marketing and HR. Essentially it is the idea that

“you can define your company’s brand in a way that generates a reputation for remarkable service, loyal customers, and confident and supported employees.”

Although a boss should not encourage mistakes, being flexible in such a way can actually lead to empowering your staff. With the spot light lately being turned onto companies like Google and Lulu Lemon, who are treating their employees extremely – almost unbelieveably – well, this is now an aspect that job-seekers want to be offered. So why aren’t more companies adopting similar strategies? Besides the fact that they may not have the financial resources to offer so much to employees, the major roadblock is simple; they can not figure out how to install this culture into their own business.

Perhaps they need just need to make the jump. Indeed, you may absorb a few projects gone bad,

“but the potential good buzz created by making a decision that has a positive outcome for the customer, will pay dividends far beyond the decision to jump in and spend money to fix something gone awry.”

If all goes well and companies in the next ten years increasingly follow this trend, then our graduating class will be eating at fine dining, sending our children to daycare, and taking breaks at the gym – all paid for by our company.

For insight on a different view of how treating employees well is more like treating them like kids, click How Google Keeps Employees by Treating them Like Kids.

This video says it all. Hot actress. Cute animals. Cheap-shot pain. Sexualized content. I am almost certain that these are the top 4 topics that young adults of today search for online when they are bored: attractive actors, animals, humorous pain, and sex.

With the recent Charlie Sheen extravaganza, it is obvious that our generation is easily amused by cheap entertainment. It seems that all that is needed to grab our attention is exactly what Jennifer Aniston’s ad claims. Although the ad is a slight parody of these advertising tactics it still makes use of them, and as Jen mentioned, is probably getting 100,000 more hits than it would have without her kicking the geek where it hurts.

By the way, how many of you actually remember what the ad was for? … If you forgot like I did the first time I watched it, it is for Smart Water. Although Jennifer is holding a bottle and mentions its tagline: “The purest tasting water there is”, the ad hardly focuses on the product itself but on other recent mainstream concepts as seen on YouTube, including the ‘lip-singing boy’ and the ‘so-high-on-drugs-seeing-double-rainbow guy’; some of the most infamous videos that have earned the highest number of hits. But why does Smart Water essentially divert attention away from itself? Well, it is actually quite …smart! They have carefully positioned themselves around their competition, focusing on the perceptions of the consumer rather than on the reality of the product, as they hit their target market (in this case, most young adults) and differentiate themselves as a water company that does not focus on health or nutrition but on fun, meaningless, procrastination-friendly entertainment – something that we (sadly) actually want to hear about.

Kopi Luwak advertises its premium coffee with a cat and the tag line: “Good to the last dropping!” The value the company communicates to consumers is that it offers the most exotic and rare roast, as it comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatr (…well, to be even more precise, from a cat’s bum).

Although we already mentioned this shocking business plan in class, I found it so unappealing that it made me reconsider the thought-process of consumers that fall for prestige pricing.

The luwak, who is in fact not a cat but a mammal, eats red cherries of the coffee tree, which while in the stomach undergo chemical treatments and fermentations. Eventually the still-intact beans exit the digestive system and are collected from the forest floor, cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee. Because of the strange method of collecting, the average total annual production is only around 500 pounds of beans, and most regular cafes do not sell it.

Because of its rarity, the price is quite extravagent; around $300 or more for one pound. In other words, you are paying for the experience of enjoying such an unusual and rare delicacy. This brings up the non-intuitive idea of prestige pricing, where goods are often intentionally difficult to get a hold of, creating an allure that only the best can have it. But just like how Louis Vuitton hand bags had to deal with copy-cats, Kopi Luwak has faced similar issues due to vendors who sell diluted, or simply fake, versions of its unique coffee.

So how come people are willing to pay these high prices for goods that really cannot be told apart? Is it just about status? Think about our blind Coke taste tests of in class, where many of us made incorrect guesses about which drink was the original Coca Cola versus the cheap no-name brand. But perhaps that it is the beauty of brand management in marketing. Creating a psychological build up in  the consumer’s mind to make them believe they want what you offer. Apparently, whether or not they really want to eat cat droppings is irrelevant…

Source: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/kopi_luak.htm