Tony Liu's Blog

I was never a big fan of Apple until I received an iphone a few weeks ago as an early Christmas present. To be honest, I was quite impressed with it’s versatility and abilities. I came across to an article about Steve Jobs’ impact on his company and I was very intrigued in the changes he has done with Apple.

 In September 1997, Apple lost over $1 billion and was in a very devastated state. When Steve Jobs returned in the same year as Apple’s CEO, he was determined to find the major problem that is hurting his company. As a result, the critical problem was found in Apple’s line of product. The company was producing too many verisons of the same product in order to satisfy its retailers. Jobs was able to reduce Apple’s product line by 70 percent and reduce labor costs. Apple was able to make a profit of over $300 million in the following year.

Steve Jobs once said that “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do” and it applies for companies as well as for products. Apple does not carry various verisons of the same product nowadays. What seperates their product is essentially the products memories (16GB, 32GB etc).I never thought that a product line would be this essential to a company’s survival. Jobs was able to reduce his line of product by creating a product that is versatile and has many capabilities.

As someone who has been going to the gym regular for a couple of years, I have learned alot about supplementations, diet and proper training. Like other guys my age, I try my best to keep myself in good shape. From my experience with supplementations, I have came to find that too many supplement companies rely too much of a placebo effect to attract their consumers.

I train with weights three times a week and I would usually take some pre-workout supplements that primarily consist of caffeine to pump myself up for some heavy lifting. Superpump 250 is one of the many pre-workout supplements I have used and it did not stand out too much from the others. In the advertisement above, the CEO of Gaspari Nutrition states that research has shown that their product Superpump 250 yields more than 9 times more muscle mass than other products on the market. I have personally taken this product and I am positive that I did not see much difference in the size of my arm during the time that I have used Superpump 250. The supplement and nutrition industry today relies too much of a placebo effect to sell their product. When I walk into GNC or Popeyes store, the sales tries to convince me that in order to build muscle I need to buy fish oil, vitamins, protein powder, creatine powder and the list goes on. In truth, I think the general population believes that these supplements will indubitably assist them in building the physique they want. As a result, people will buy high prices for supplements that visually will have no effect on them.

Everyone knows or at least heard of the game ‘Call of Duty’, which is avaliable on various gaming platforms such as PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. So I was watching the trailer of Call of Duty 3 on youtube couple days ago and I happened to find a link to a similar video, ‘Call of Duty Black Ops: There is a Soldier in All of Us.’

The trailer was well-directed, with many special effects and crazy explosions (as expected from a first-person shooter game). What caught my attention was that the commerical starred both Kobe Byrant from the Los Angeles Lakers and Jimmy Kimmel. Because I am not very familiar with Jimmy Kimmel, I will briefly talk about my take on Kobe’s presence in this commerical. The commerical is well action-packed and consists of all kinds of people firing assault rifles, pistols and machine guns. Kobe, as one of the characters in the commercial, fires a generade launcher. The commerical does not show who Kobe was aiming at but shows a smirk on his face after he successfully fires the generade launcher.

As expected, people were upset at Kobe’s appearance in the commerical and NBA commissioner David Stern was informed to discpline Byrant. However, none of these happened.

I can understand why people are upset. In terms of business ethnics, EA games should not have used idols such as Kobe Bryant in their trailer. This would advocate younger consumers to purchase and play a game that is rated mature and contains explicit violence. However, EA is primarily targeting younger consumers and that is the essential reason why they hired Byrant. On the other hand, all Kobe wants is to make money. He was well-awared of the consequences of his presence in this commercial and EA probably gave him an offer that he couldn’t decline. I’m not even a Laker’s fan but come on, cut the guy some slack (he already has enough haters).

BMW and Audi have always been rivals in its class. For the past decades, BMW and Audi have been producing luxurous automobiles in Germany. The two automobile makers have considered each other as direct competition as with various luxurous makes such as Mercedes Benz, Jaguar and Lexus. Both BMW and Audi have been cartering to middle and high class consumers due to the price of vehicles they produce. Each year, BMW or Audi will come up newer and more advanced models of vehicles to top the competitors of their classs. This time, however, they have moved onto the marketing battle field in Santa Monica, California.

On the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Beverly Glen Blvd, Audi has posted billboards with a picture of the all new A4 along with the headline : “Your move, BMW”. Few days later, Santa Monica BMW dealership responded as if it was an virtual chess gamewith billboards of the its flagship sports car: the M3 along with headline : “Checkmate.”. So which of these two cars is superior? The BMW M3 coupe or the Audi A4? To be honest, it is no near a fair comparison when the cost of an M3 can buy you two and a half Audi A4s. However, the marketing technique by Santa Monica BMW is not only eye-catching but also extremely creative.

I have never been a regular consumer of alcohol but I do ocassionally have a beer or two with friends and familys. I could not really tell the difference between one brand of beer from another. I thought Coor’s Light, Heineken and Kokanee all taste pretty much the same. However, I know one fact about beer and that is it must be served chilled or not served at all.

So I was laying on my couch with the TV on and an commerical of Coor’s Light came across my attention. It features three men in a snowy environment (typical) and a man brings out a case of Coor’s Light’s new vented beer. One man illustrates the case’s new venting system by ripping the shirt of another man, leaving his nipples exposed. The way Coor’s Light markets it’s new product in a humerous way will definitely attract more consumers. However, the new vented beer case is just any normal beer case with a couple of holes on the side, creating a better ventilation within the case.

Similarily, Kokanee, one of Coor’s Light’s major competitors, introduces an oxygen-absorbing cap. In theory, it’s new Glacier Seal oxygen-absorbing cap will allow the beer to ‘maintain its freshness longer by reducing the beer’s exposure to oxygen.’ Although I am skeptical of the effectiveness of both the Coor’s Light’s new vented beer case and Kokanee’s oxygen-absorbing cap, the way the products are marketed create a certain degree of curosity within me to give them a try. Realistically, beers are usually taken out of the case and placed into the refrigator. On the other hand, the caps on beer bottles are usually skewed tightly to prevent any leaking air. If so, do these new products really work as effectly as they are illustrated? Nobody knows, but consumers will be curious enough to give them a try.

The greatest lesson that I have learned by far has to be from Darren, my District Manager from Student Works Painting. As a full-time franchisee of SWP this summer, I had to do numerous estimates on exterior and interior paintjobs. As a first year rookie franchisee, there was much for me to learn. I had to learn from how to properly do a precise  estimate to building rapports with various clients.  Of course, learning is a long process and I had alot of questions for my DM and my veteran peers. I still remember on my very first estimate, I did not know what kind of paint should be applied onto an interior stipple ceiling. At the time, I knew it was either a interior flat paint or an interior semi-gloss finish. However, I wasn’t 100% sure with which type of finish I should write down on the contract. Then, I tried calling my district manager to confirm with my decision but he did not pick up so I left a message. Because time was running short, I put down a sem-gloss finish on the client’s clients but I was still unsure. After the estimate, I called Darren again and found out that a flat finish should be applied to interior stipple ceiling in order to hide the inperfection of stipples. At first, I did not realize the magnitude of the issue. The estimate of the paintjob was around two thousand dollars and it would be extremely improfessional if I contact the client to tell him that a different type of paint should be applied to his stipple ceiling than the one listed on the agreement. Darren told me that it is mandatory for me to inform my client that a different paint will be used on his ceiling despite it will lower my chances of booking the job. I did what I was told and called my client right away. I did not book the job in the end but I knew I did the right thing. Afterall, the first step to run a successful business is to run a honest business.

Rogers Wireless is advertising its new series of high definition smartphones on YouTube with the aid of Nokia and Disney’s highly anticipated science fiction flick Tron Legacy.

A masthead ad on YouTube’s homepage  invited visitors to watch an exclusive movie trailer in HD. As you probably have already guessed, a small Rogers’ logo appeared in the bottom right hand corner.After clicking on the ad, a hand appears on the screen holding a Nokia N8, where the rest of the trailer is being played out. The words “Enter the world of Tron with HD phones from Rogers” appeared across the top of the page. James McDougall, creative director at Publicis Modem, pointed out that “the idea behind the ads was to take something as simple as a movie trailer and demonstrate how you can view HD content anywhere you go.”

While the only phone showcased throughout the trailer is Nokia’s N8 model, the ad ends with shot of the various HD smartphones offered by Rogers. Is this an effective marketing tactic? One may think that it is an smart way of advertising Roger’s products. However, at the same time, it may annoy or distract the audience who purely wants to watch the movie trailer rather than seeing Roger’s new products.

Some classes ago, we talked about how Canada consistss primarily of small businesses. However, the life span of these small business is fairly short. Small business should primarily focus on long term strategies that is able to maximize the comanpy’s growth. Five small business strategies include extending market reach, develop new products or services, finding partners, jointing ventures and enhaning productivity. Marketing is essential in any kind of business. Extending the market reach results in further penetration of the current market and gaining market share from existing competitors. Developing a new product or service will generate more sales and likely more profit for the company. Joining venture will allow the company to join forces with other business owners. As a result, new customers and market shares may be generated. Finding partners in a small business could be risky, in terms of loosing control of the business. However, partners who will add experience and expertise  will then become an asset of the company. Last butnot the least, enhancing the company’s productivity is definitely requied in order to become successful. Loans, grants and angel investors who can contribute captial to the company will undoubtedly enhance the company’s productivity.

For those who have watched The Social Network, the movie left many of its audenice disturbed and confortable. The key characters of the movie are Mark ZZuckerberg, the 26 year old founder of Facebook and Eduardo Saverin, Mark’s former Harvard classmate and Facebook co-founder, who originally owned 30 percent of company’s shares. Other characters included Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whom believed that Mark ZZuckerberg owed them of their rightful share of Facebook. Zuckerberg is portrayed as an arrogant and socially challenged computer nerd, who later decieves Saverin into signing documents that reduced his ownship of Facebook to virtually nothing. The question then becomes, “Could Facebook be where it is today if Zuckerberg didn’t betray his friends?” Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Marc Andreessen are successful entrepreneurs in our time. These great entrepreneurs all have one thing in common, they are illustrated as “bad guys”. Negative traits can be found in most young entrepreneurs, who eventually succeed in their fields. Arrogance is required for them to believe that their idea is more sophisticated than other’s. Their selfishness allows them to prioritize their project over anything else. Their ruthlessness make them forget friends who were once useful. Zuckerberg is all of that, and that may be just why Facebook is where it is today.

Speaking of 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, speed skating at Richmond Oval will be an extremely popular event. As a spectator, the most efficient way to get to Richmond Oval is by Vancouver’s newly built Canada Line Skytrain. However, the nearest skytrain station is 1.5km away from the Oval, which is equivalent to a 15020 minute walk. Especially in the month of February, a walk this long could be very chilly and cold. Occassionally, there will be a crew of people handing out free hot chocolate outside of the skytrain station from a catering truck. At first glance, the scene looks like Vancouver’s Olympic Spirit? Wrong, this hot chocolate came in styrofoam cups with a logo of a rival credit card company to Visa. Visa is known to be the world-wide Olympic sponsor, and its company logo can be found everywhere at the Winter Games. You might think this form of ambush marketing is cheating, but I think it’s just part of the game.