Month: October 2010

An interesting blog was brought to my attention by Vaidas Aleksejunas. He cited Kiwano Marketing, a Vancouver based marketing firm who has a really interesting blog focused on sustainability. I read a bunch of their blogs, but the one I want to focus on right now is about how UPS is sustainable.

I won’t go through all the details that they mention in the blog, but what I found extremely interesting was how a company/sector that is typically thought of as ‘polluting’ is doing so well and being so innovative. When you think of transportation, delivery, etc. you automatically think of cars on the road and airplanes taking up a lot of fuel. The most interesting thing I got out of this blog was that by cutting out left-turns, UPS has saved over 3 million gallons of fuel. Something that seems so simple like left turning created a wealth of opportunity for UPS and actually think for cars everywhere. Even though it may seem to be out of the way to only turn right, idling waiting for other cars/the light actually wastes more than taking an extra minute to turn right.

UPS has shown that something innovative and purely simple can be sustainable and pave the way for the future.

“Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.” – Jean Paul Ritcher

The main purpose of my blog today is to talk about Old Spice’s really popular and funny advertisements. I first saw these ads in the movie theatre, and ever since then they have become a phenomenon.

I think these ads are really effective for both men and the women who may buy/influence the buying process. Old Spice has even incorporated further social media usage by being active on Twitter, and also responding to Twitter posts through Youtube videos.

As you can see, this video has over 4 million hits on it! That is what I call a popularity phenomenon. What I find really interesting about these ads, though, is responses from other people.

My favorite response to these Old Spice ads is actually made by Sesame Street.

From what I remember from Sesame Street, they always did some pretty lame commercials that weren’t effective towards kids or parents. This is a huge leap forward for Sesame Street, as they are using modern technology and riding on the popularity of Old Spice’s ads. Good job for Sesame Street!

“Now that was television! Why can’t they do shows like that more often? Well it doesn’t matter ’cause I taped it and now I can watch it any time I want. I’m a lucky grouch.” – Oscar the Grouch

I just read an article in ‘The Globe and Mail’ about the possible ramifications of social media on our views on life. The article is called The danger lurking in the social-media shallows. This article caught my attention because of the metaphor the author, Ivor Tossell, used to describe the trend of social media. Basically he says in this article that social media causes us to perpetually be living in the world of the ‘now’, and forgetting what we did even a day ago. Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook reinforce this through having very difficult to access ‘history’ parts of their website (it is basically really hard to find on Facebook or Twitter what you posted a couple of months ago). All of this coincides with this trend that the author calls having a memory of a goldfish.

I think this trend is really important for a number of reasons. For example, as a marketer, you would want to know that consumers don’t even remember what they may have posted a month ago, which could basically mean for your product numerous opportunities to get on someone’s “good side”. There is the down-side as well, which is that consumers may easily forget about you, especially if you are new to the market. Another marketing advantage to this trend is that consumers may not remember how they got to know your brand (so if they got to know it through bad reviews for example), and therefore may be more inclined to trying it out.

Goldfish typically wouldn’t even remember if you tapped the glass of their tank and hurt them, and with social media laid out as it is, consumers may become more and more like this in regards to products. It is definitely something to watch out for!

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/personal-tech/ivor-tossell/the-danger-lurking-in-the-social-media-shallows/article1752572/

“Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events” – Albert Einstein

As business students, probably one of the most important things we can get out of marketing is how to market yourself. This is especially true in the current job market, where companies are probably being more selective and restrictive in their hiring practices. Your resume, cover letter, and especially the interview process are all key aspects in how to market yourself out into the business world, and hopefully successful marketing will land you the job.

Your resume and cover letter are the first things a potential employer will see about you, so they are the key step in your self marketing process that will take you from the ‘unknown’ to the desire-able ‘known’ category. I personally think both these documents should be tailored for each specific job (meanwhile traditional thought is just to change the cover letter). Even though this may seem like a hassle, changing the skill set you choose to highlight on your resume could be really helpful. Take me, for example. I currently work in a restaurant, so if I were to apply for another restaurant I would include my past work experience in other restaurants as well as highlighting that I have my Serving It Right and Foodsafe certificates. However, if I was applying for more business/marketing orientated jobs, I would highlight my education (BCom degree) first, then go into explaining how my part-time jobs have created team-working and time management skills.

Another step that I think is important in marketing yourself is going to networking events. Even if these don’t necessarily lead to interviews, it at least gets your name out there and hopefully gets people talking about you (in a good way!). Take for example, if you meet a really interesting accountant at a career/job fair, but have no intention of going into accounting. If you made a good impression on this accountant, he/she may go to their friends in other departments that you are interested in and tell others how awesome you are. Word-of-mouth marketing is still the most effective way to get your name/brand out there!!

The somewhat down-side to the fact that you need to market yourself is that potential employers (just like potential investors for a company’s stock) will always be keeping an eye on you. If you happen to slip up, one negative story can affect you 10 times worse (while a positive story will probably only get you 2 times as much feedback). I’m not saying that people don’t understand that everyone’s human, I’m just saying that you should probably try to keep a positive and semi-professional side to everything you do.

Market your self effectively and efficiently, and you’re sure to make a good impression, even in the very competitive business world of today.