Topaz Glazer's blog

After reading Sean’s post https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct about Nike movement from their traditional celebrity and athletes endorsed campaigns into more of an IMC approach , I started wondering how relevant are the traditional celebrity endorsed ads (Like Pepsi or NIKE used to have) and whether companies should continue investing billions of dollars or are there better ways for companies to get similar or even better results while using celebrities just in a different way.

While searching for articles about companies that have moved away from huge celebrity endorsed campaigns I came across the KRAFT  “We’re not for everyone” campaign http://www.progressivegrocer.com/products/supplier-news/id799/miracle-whip-admits-were-not-for-everyone/ for miracle whip spread. using IMC, kraft let real consumers and celebrities such as  Pauly D from Jersey Shore to comment on either how much they love or how much they hate Miracle Whip. Consumers get to post comments on either the “hate” or “love” side on the website, in addition couples have the chance to win 25,000$ by posting how Miracle Whip have affected/ mirrors their relationship.

Kraft aknowledge that the “haters” will exist regardless of promotion efforts, but what they did is using those haters celebrities and consumers alike for the product’s benefit without spending billions of dollars in celebrity endorsement ads. With their campaign Kraft have managed to have A 631% increase in social media posting volume  and have 51 media articles garnering 98 million impressions over a period of 7 weeks, so really regardless of the fact that I’m with no doubt on the “haters” side I cannot help but have a new appreciation and interest towards the brand and the product, in my opinion this is probably one of the smartest ways to use celebrities and IMC and stay relevant in the fast changing marketing and advertising world.

Some time have passed since we talked about ethics in class (just before reading break) but I have decided to write about it anyways just because the

I would like to see myself as a relatively ethical person but the topic of ethics in the advertising and promotions has a somewhat sarcastic note in my head. I don’t completely know how I feel about businesses being attacked for “sugar coating” information about their products, for using unrealistic “model figures” in their advertisement or for portraying products in a way that leads costumers to have unrealistic expectation of the products. As a consumer I understand why consumers get frustrated and angry with businesses for practicing what consumer perceive to be “unethical practices”. Though as someone that sees itself working in the marketing and maybe even in advertising or promotions, I find the idea of selling a product in a total ethical way almost impossible, in addition I find the definition of ethics in the advertising industry as a problematic issue by itself.

Few weeks ago I came across this article http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/03/too-perfect-rachel-weiszs-loreal-ad-banned-in-britain-for-being-misleading/ about a Loreal ad featuring Rachel Weisz that was banned in the UK due to the fact that the ad was “misleading”. Loreal got in a lot of trouble for the use of photoshop in their printed ads and for being “exaggerated misleading”. Photoshop in not a new thing in the advertising industry especially when it comes to beauty products, while I may or may not support the use of photoshop in certain industries I think its quite unrealistic to ask beauty companies to remove those ads on the bases of “exaggeration”. What I find even more interesting is finding that line between “exaggeration” and  “acceptable” or between whats ethical and what is simply not.

This week we talked a bit about the idea of brand extensions, to me the whole topic of brand extension is fascinating because it can either go very well or very very wrong.

Recently, there was a lot of buzz around Starbucks announcement that the coffee giant will be introducing an alcohol menu across the US, this can be seen as a an example of a brand extension…. though I am somewhat puzzled with whether this brand extension have a potential.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/starbucks-to-sell-alcohol-if-youre-an-americano-6294125.html

As a Starbucks and wine kind of girl I was a bit confused with this move because from one way the idea of having wine in Starbucks did not seem too appealing to me, but in the same time it did not hurt me as a consumer so I was really indifferent to it because as a young adult I did not see any harm in having alcoholic options on the menu even if i may not use them.

In the same time, while I may not be “harmed” or  “devastated” by this announcement some other consumers just may be. Starbucks cafe are always warm, inviting and friendly which also attracts a lot of family oriented people or parents that bring their children for a hot chocolate, those costumers may be worried that this new move by Starbucks may attract “a different kind of costumers”  which may not blend with the current consumer base. If Starbucks offer alcohol menu to BC another costumer segment that might be unhappy are underage costumers due to regulations that may apply to them if alcohol is served in starbucks.

This brings me back to the question of what makes a brand extension successful? I believe that in order for a brand extension to be successful your current costumers or at least most of your current costumers should be harmed. Although I do see how this move by starbucks may hurt some costumers, I do not think (and i might be somewhat bias) that many consumers will switch from starbucks because they find this brand extension offensive or hurtful, so therefore I believe that this move will not hurt costumer loyalty. In the same time I do not think that bringing alcohol to starbucks cafe will attract a new market segment because I do not feel like starbucks will have enough of a unique selling point (unlikely to offer cheap prices and starbucks coffee shops do not exactly reassemble a bar atmosphere.) so unless starbucks creates some kind of a marketing miracle (which I believe they have the capability) I am somewhat indifferent to this brand extension, though I guess time will tell….

In the past week or so I have been reading a lot about SOPA and PIPA and trying to figure out my view on these laws. In theory I think that these laws make a lot of sense, it makes sense that content holders, publishers, artists etc will have the legal right to protect their creations from piracy, however in reality is SOPA really the way to go?

probably not, my main problem with SOPA is that gives reinforcement authorities to close down and damage legitimate businesses and websites. This, will not only affect internet users and consumers but also marketers.If a judge has the right to close down any website at any time based on one user’s post that may contain information or data that was pirated, then websites and marketers are in big problems.

The internet have become the largest growing marketing platform, companies invest enormous amount of time and  to come up with online marketing strategies and a lot of money to advertise on websites like: youtube, facebook, twitter, gmail etc… If laws like PIPA or SOPA would get approved it is likely to change the way companies invest in online advertising and marketing. Companies will have to think twice before investing in a n online campaigns due to the fact that their “place” of advertising aka youtube/ facebook/ twitter can get shut down at any time leading for their investment to go down the drain.

http://www.happyplace.com/13514/the-most-bizarre-obscene-or-pointless-entries-you-wont-be-able-to-read-on-wikipedia-today

Hey there!

I’m Topaz, this is my second year here in Sauder (and Canada), I have moved here a year and half ago after living in Israel and then in Shanghai, china for three years. I am intending to major in marketing and that is the main reason why I am taking this course.

During high school I have worked with different marketing teams those jobs have made me extremely passionate about marketing, which basically led me to choose this option and career.My experience as a marketer have really affected my experience as a consumer, it led me to appreciate well-done ads, commercials, and marketing strategies more, and believe them less.

Although I do not have a favorite commercial in mind I tend to LOVE any Coca-Cola commercial out there! This one would definitely be one of my favorties!

At the beginning of this semester I did not think highly of this course, in fact i was planning to show up to classes and not  pay much attention. However during the course of this course my opinion and attitude have changed. When I look back I came to this course with a really bad resume, not really knowing what cover letter is, and having no idea what I want to do with my life, so yes I guess I learned a lot in this course… I now know what a cover letter is and how to write a fairly good one… my resume is no longer shitty… and I feel much closer to figure out what I want to do in my life!

The greatest lesson that I learned from some one else is the importance of making the most out of every situation, I have learned this lesson from my mother.  As people we make plans all the time, but the facts remain that most things do not exactly work out according to plans. Woody Allen once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”. All of us get into situations that are somewhat beyond our control, and the way I see it if we are stuck in a certain situation we might as well make the most out of it. I believe that the most successful people in life are the ones that see every experience or situation as an opportunity.

Milk is one of this products that as consumers we tend to trust, there aren’t many people that would consider it as a dangerous or as an unsafe product.  However just two years ago, 21 companies in the Chinese milk industry  were involved in a milk scandal that led to the health complications of 300,000 people, left 860 babies hospitalized and directly caused the death of six children.

For those who are unfamiliar with the 2008 milk scandal, what happened was that milk companies adulterated melamine in order to reduce their manufacturing costs.

These 21 companies were only thinking about an easy way to cut in costs and hence increase profit and did not think or cared enough about the implications of their actions, now if that’s not an ethical issue than I don’t know what it is.

The implications of this scandal did not stop with the death and illness of children, it made millions of people across mainland China (including myself) and across the globe to stop trusting the milk industry and to stop seeing milk as a safe product.

More recent information about new milk scandals surfacing in China could be seen in the following link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8478195.stm

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