At the beginning of the year, our Marketing professor Rui told us that we are going to have a team project this semester. To be honest, I am not a big fan of team projects because there are always people that work and people that don’t. However, this project turned out to be one of the best projects I have ever been a part of.

My team is the best team! All of us have our strengths and weaknesses, so we managed to divide our responsibilities very efficiently. Still, it was not that great at the very beginning. Now, it is very funny to remember our first meeting. We were shouting our ideas without listening to each other because we were very excited about the project. Thankfully, for the second meeting we were more prepared, and worked out the most effective way to do it. Surprisingly, our group that consist of six girls decided right away that our subject has to be Toyota.

The most remarkable part of our project was the last one. At first, we were a little bit frightened by the idea of filming a video and then be able to edit it because none of us has done it before. Yet, we were very agitated. All of us had tons of fun during the whole process: writing a script, filming, and editing. Now, we are not just teammates, but friends.

By the way, from this moment, when I am buying a car, I will be considering only Toyota cars.

This is an answer to the external article

In the article, the author is expressing his doubts whether shampoo should be applied twice because it is better for the hair or because marketers told us so. A simple word “repeat” can double the sales.  I liked this article because it makes people think if they have to follow instructions without giving it a second thought and try to evaluate how relevant they are.

This article made me think as well. What are other similar marketing strategies that are aiming at increasing sales? First example that is coming to mind is advertisement of Tic-Tac, Life Saver, and different chewing gums. In their commercials, models never have just one piece. They are showing customers an example of what exactly they should do with their product. Strange as it may seem, a big part of company’s target market actually follow this example.

However, that are not all the products that are sold this way. A good example is toothpaste. In this case, people usually do not put that much toothpaste on a brush that it is advertised. It is quite obvious that the amount of it in different commercials is definitely exceeded. Still, it is possible that this trick is done not to make customers to consume more, but just with the purpose for an ad to look better.

People see how the product is used in the commercial, so without even thinking he or she is repeating everything in the same way. Do we really need two pieces of chewing gum in order to get rid of bad breath? If so, why the portion has not been increased yet?

This is a comment on Anna An’s blog post.

Earlier in September, just after new iPhones were released, Apple experienced shortage of an iPhone 5s Gold model. Scarcity principle, one of Cialdini’s principles of influence, did a really good job for Apple – people are still standing in queues hoping to buy a rare gold phone. In September, it was announced that it will be impossible to get it until October. Today, if a customer wants to buy either white, black, or gold phone, he/she has to wait 2-3 weeks.

Was that made on purpose or Apple has not expected a demand to be that high? Is it possible that Apple has manufacture difficulties because of a new color? There is no way for us to find the truth before Apple’s official statement. However, after a month and a half there are a lot of problems with new phones that discourages potential customers of buying them. Apple’s desire to release a new model each September sometimes can result in poor quality. This fact makes us think that Steve Jobs’s number 1 priority is no longer that important for the company.

The main problems that arose people’s discontent are reduced battery life and “blue screen of death” that is familiar to all Windows users. Apple acknowledged a battery problem that appeared due to a manufacturing issue. The company is ready to change each phone with this type of malfunction. Yet, there are also some software problems as well, and in that case it is impossible to blame anyone but Apple.

It seems that with Steve Jobs’s death Apple developers have hard times coming up with new ideas and preserving the quality of the product.

People think that multinational companies like McDonald’s or Coca-Cola are happy with what they already have and do not see a point in developing their business further – they already have more than enough. This assumption is wrong. Marketers from Coca-Cola are still able to come up with new creative strategies that actually can increase company’s market share.

Coca-Cola noticed that Australians prefer other soda brands over Coke, so they have decided to try a more personal approach. In 2011, they personalized Coke’s bottles by writing Australian names on its labels. Their idea was that people would share a bottle with their friends. This marketing campaign was a huge success in Australia resulting in an increase by 7% of Coke’s consumption among young adults, as well as in a greater traffic on Coke’s Facebook page.Two years later, in 2013, “Share a Coke” has shaken up European continent. In each of 22 European countries Coca-Cola has chosen 150 of the most popular countries’ names and put them on Coke’s bottles.Another attempt to attract new consumers was made this summer in Argentina. By targeting new sector of greener consumers that care about the environment, Coke is hoping to increase profits and extend their market. Their new product is called Coca-Cola Life that is produced with stevia and sugar as sweeteners and has 60% less calories than the classic version. However, it is not the first time when Coca-Cola is using stevia and Coke Life does not seem to be very innovative. But for environment-friendly consumers that might be a big deal because now a bottle is fully recyclable and is composted from 30% vegetable fiber. Coca-Cola Zero was also introduced only in one country in 2005 and now it is sold everywhere. If a new product successfully meets Argentinians needs, it is likely that soon we will also see green Coke in our shops.

Just a week ago, on October 1^st, Milan was agitated by a huge submarine that surfaced in the city center. Fortunately, it was a pedestrian street, therefore Milan traffic was not disturbed. Submariners started giving interviews and trying to explain what happened to them. However, soon it became obvious that they were not real submariners and it was not even a real boat! It turned out, that this whole installation was organized for Europ Assistance IT, Milanese insurance firm. More precisely, they were advertising their “Protect Your Life” campaign.

It is not the first time when companies are trying to market their product in such an creative way. In 1993, a crop circle appeared in a field of rye in Johannesburg. The South African media were widely discussing whether it was a sign of UFO. It took them a while to notice that this circle looks exactly as BMW logo.

It is interesting, that something similar happened in my home country as well. A fake meteorite fell in Latvia in 2009. Police, firemen and scientists arrived to the site right away and investigated the case for two days. Before long, Tele 2, a Swedish telecommunications company that operates in European countries, admitted that it was their campaign aimed at promoting their new rate plan called “Meteorite”.

TELE 2 campaign “Meteorite”

These marketing strategies appear to work really well. As a result of these hoaxes, a lot of attention is drawn to the companies that use this kind of advertisement. In the case of a fake submarine, this insurance company succeeded to arouse the interest not only of people they were targeting, but of a whole world. Still, they have to be very careful. Sometimes this commercial success might not be worth it, because it can entail serious consequences, for example, big fines from the government.

Photos are taken from:
http://www.designboom.com/art/a-massive-submarine-emerges-in-milans-city-center-10-02-2013/
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_bmw_crop_circle

Nowadays, it is very important for a company to have a good marketing strategy in order to sell their product. It is not enough to have a good product because most consumers will not look for the best offer. It is easier for them to buy what other companies had already promoted. Because of the tough competition, marketers are trying to use new methods that are most likely to draw consumers’ attention. Sometimes they cross the line and their methods are considered unethical.

It is extremely difficult to set these boundaries because everybody has different opinions. This subjective topic is especially controversial when it deals with race or religion. For example, a restaurant in Bangkok called Hitler and Antonio Federici advertisement of a pregnant nun:

However, this kind of advertisement does not seem unethical to me. I agree that it can offend some people who could take it too seriously, but they will punish a company enough by simply not buying their products.

Yet, there are some boundaries that marketers cannot cross. In my opinion, it is unethical to take advantage of people that are in a situation when they do not have an alternative choice. Some people could say that students have no choice when it comes to purchasing university textbooks. As they want to succeed in their studies, they are obliged to pay, even if prices are ridiculously high. However, they agreed to pay whatever university asks, when they made a decision to become students.

A good example of unethical approach is pharmaceutical marketing. If drugs require prescriptions, marketers are trying to influence customers through physicians. They are organizing numerous conferences and dinners for doctors, sponsoring hospitals and giving some office supplies for free. Of course it is not a bad thing to do, but doctors should not be affected by these generous gestures. Nevertheless, they are.

Pharmaceutical companies spend more money on marketing than they do on research. Around $12 billion goes to the gifts for physicians each year.¹ That means that these methods work and doctors prescribe their products more often than others.  The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhaRMA) has already taken some actions to prevent physicians from prescribing drugs that patients do not really need. Unfortunately, this problem will stay the issue of the day while there are doctors that continue accepting gifts and not thinking about their patients.

Reference:
1. http://rxethics.org/erman.pdf

Hi Everyone!

You have all probably read thousands of introductory posts, so when I decided to write it, I wanted it to be witty and not just trite: Hi, I am Valeria, I am 21. But you know, it is quite difficult to be witty when English is not your mother tongue. I hope that one day, no one will be able to say that I am not a native English speaker, but till that day there’s a lot of work to be done. So…

Hi, I am Valeria. I am 21 and 19 years of my life I spent in Latvia in a Russian-speaking family. For those who don’t know where Latvia is – take a look at this map:

Two years ago, I moved to Paris to study at Sorbonne University. Then, I have decided to take this opportunity and go on exchange to UBC because I wanted to discover new culture and leave my comfort zone.

Welcome to my Blog!

Valeria Kello