Month: March 2011

I came across Beverly’s Blog “Apple “Us Vs. Them” Approach” and thought her opinion on Apples strategy is very interesting. Her blog describes how Apple commercials has been playing on people’s needs to be included in “the cool crowd” and how Apple does exactly this by “leveraging the desire of belonging”.

She also does a really good job stating the fact that Apple fails to give actual product fact in their commercials, but instead, desperately tries to mock alternative (in this case, their main competition PC) users.

Much like Beverly, I dont agree with this kind of attack advertisement due to the fact that it is not attractive to me in any way. Currently, I am a PC user but would not be opposed to the idea of switching to an Apple laptop but with these commercials in place and in addition to what Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has publicly said about its competitors, I am more and more convinced that Apple has nothing to offer its consumers and therefore has to result to aggressive, put-down commercials and actions like these.

Although Apple’s strategy might attract first time computer buyers, it certainly does not do a very good job of winning over the competitions current consumers as future clients.

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today

Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after…wards
I don’t want this weekend to end

These are the words from internet sensation Rebecca Black’s new debut single called “Friday”. Much like Justin Bieber, this new American teen star is taking over the world by storm, but this time, in a much less favorable light and all for the wrong reasons.

With nearly 18 million views on youtube, viewers call her “a trainwreck, just plainly a joke” and “the Black Plague”. Ever since the release about a month ago, there have been countless parodies, mocking responses and hurtful comments regarding her new hit song.

Why is this the case the case though?  How can fans go crazy for one teen star but express such criticism  for another?

This, I argue, is simply where marketing comes into play. Unlike Justin Bieber, this teen star didn’t have the right marketing mix to be presented to this world. ARK Music Factory owned by Jey and Wilson failed to consider what kind of effect the autotuning throughout her whole song and the repetitive lyrics would have on her audience. Neither did they realize that they’re target market probably shouldn’t have been Youtuber’s, but maybe rather a much younger audience.

After several months of being exposed to marketing in class, I realize that the marketing mix is relevant far beyond just the simple product engagement. It applies when trying to introduce anything new, including a teen internet sensation.

Rebecca Black on Good Morning America

Why do most girls’ eyes light up when they see tat tiny blue box with the white ribbon wrapped around? What is so special about it that could possibly change her “no way, not in this lifetime” answer to an “oh my god, YES I DO!” ?

Although it may “just” be jewelry, Tiffany&Co has manged to establish themselves as one of the worlds leading and most sought after jewelry carrier. The magic begins at the very sight of the little cute blue bag with “Tiffany&Co” carefully printed on. Once past the little bag itself, your heart will start beating even faster, your pupils will dilate and your breathing will be very uneven at even just the slightest touch of the carefully yet simply packaged blue box with the beautiful white ribbon wrapped around in a bow. Some argue that at this point, it is not really important anymore what exactly is hidden in the box itself, anything to be found inside will just be the cherry on top of the cake :).

What exactly gets girls (including me) so excited about this simple box though? I say that it is the really the feelings associated with the box that make Tiffany&Co jewelry so sought after. What feelings? Feelings such as the joy of receiving a sweet 16, “my first Tiffany&Co’s necklace”, to an anniversary “hunny, that’s perfect” bracelet to the infamous engagement “Forever and ever” ring. Feeling that simply anyone, any age could relate to. Once a brand has been able to establish themselves through the affective side, they are there to stay, at least for a good while.

With its infamous classic little blue box, Tiffany has been able to carry itself through many generations, and many generations more to come.

<3

I’ve come across Roosa’s blog recently regarding packaging and found it interesting that she has a very similar take on it as I do.  First and foremost, we’re both really lazy consumers so her, quite like me, don’t spend much time comparing products.

I moved here from Vienna not too long ago, so the way products caught my firm-time-buyers eye’s was through the help of packaging. Similarly to Roosa, I decided to choose my product based on their looks hoping that it would promise me exactly what they look like they would. So far, some have held up to their looks while others haven’t, and naturally, I stuck with the ones that I found value in.

Besides the beauty aspect of things, functionality is a huge deal to me. Even though it might be cool and different, I don’t appreciate anything too complicated looking. If I find that it might take me longer to get this product to do its purpose due to its packaging, I will move on to another, more simple looking product. In the end, the point of the packaging is to attract the consumer enough to get them, or in this case me, to buy the product, and not scare them off.