Chipotle

Chi-pot-le (as per Urban Dictionary’s first result):

A heavenly food experience involving burritos, tacos, quesadillas, burrito bowls, etc… Can ease stress of bad days, and also cause extreme indigestion. But that is alright. Because Chipotle, you are worth it. Student ID = free drink. If I had to choose between you and Chipotle, I would choose Chipotle.

Do you remember your first Chipotle experience, because I certainly do. 15 years old and at the Bellevue location- certainly analogous to a trip to Disney land. I assure you that this post is not solely dedicated to Chipotle, as enjoyable as that would be. It does however, pertain to the very recent and notably aggressive expansion of American based companies into the True North, strong and free.

Chipotle done good.

With the recent grand opening of Western Canada’s first Marshall’s- a hoarders paradise- as well as the proposed opening(s) of Seattle based retailer Nordstrom, female fun-times clothing retailer Victoria Secret, and sneaky little 5 Guys Burgers, we are once again reminded of the influence that our southern brothers have on us, as well as our consumption patterns. And who can forget our forfeit (basically religious sacrifice) of the beloved Zeller’s Chain in return for Target (actually pronounced Tarjay).

I look forward to how these American retailers and restauranteurs will market themselves in Canada. We are familiar with their brands thanks to weekend trips to Seattle, but will they assume we patronize them for similar reasons? How will their marketing and product mix change in response to their new target markets and environment (or will it remain the same)? I know that often when I drive down to Seattle, my shopping mentality is a little bit questionable in that I tend towards the lunatic-deprived type. I may even be in the overnight line-up when the Oakridge Centre Target opens. Will the opening of say, Target in Canada allow for a new and very much different approach that consumers take onto shopping? Only time will tell!

As a side note, I visited Marshall’s on opening day and it went a little like this: 

I would like to be buried there one day.

I’ve spent many a night trying to figure out how to include a web-link hidden behind a little click-me thing (don’t lie you definitely know what I’m talking about. The little underlined things. God I’m losing my mind.) Call me technologically impaired, I don’t mind.

Regardless of how well I can do the above, I am armed with a url and therefore prepared to use it. Behold: https://blogs.ubc.ca/amandajlai/2013/03/18/bic-for-her/. That just happened.

I really don’t know where to start with this one. I guess the only appropriate thing to say (ask) right now is- Why? I want to understand the logic that resulted to this … magnificent, godly, revolutionary product. More importantly, how did Bic even come to terms with developing the pens? I can see that there certainly were good intentions behind the product- maybe Bic pens weren’t cushiony enough for the delicate fingers or women, or perhaps the available colours weren’t fulfilling the needs of the 18-49 professional, or studious female target segment (what did I just say?).

Female customer needs are a-changing and Bic (Pens) For Her are at the forefront of this change! Or maybe the market for pens was just so saturated that the creative team at Bic thought- Hey, you know what would be a great idea, these pens. I’d really enjoy looking at the R+D, concept testing, product development and design, as well as prototypes for these pens. It would probably make my year.

Whatever the reason behind Bic For Her, I’d love to see where these pens will go and perhaps more importantly, if they’ll seamlessly be adopted by the female population. Moreover, I’d also like to point out how Ellen brought much of the attention towards Bic For Her. Though her intentions were primarily comedic, it really goes to show the effect a well celebrated celebrity has on consumer behaviour.