Word of Mouth

In Xue Shang’s blog post on January 27th, 2011, She talked about the price vs. value issue of Lush, an organic company of beauty products. Lush has had very recent, yet rapid expansion and success all over the world. their idea and and products are welcomed in almost every country and every culture. Even though, they are in no way the mainstream of hygiene products, they have still managed to find themselves a niche segment in every market. I agree with Xue Zhang, that they do offer a great value with their products, but I also think that there are other factors that the company has captured.

For instance, not only are their products organic and using fresh ingredients, they are all entirely made by hand, one at a time. This might seem odd, but it falls line in line with the social trend of anti-corporate. Lush has the size and the organization of a big corporation, but because all their products are still made by hand, ( they show consumers just exactly they made every single one of their products on a short video) people do not feel as distance and detached from the makers of the products. People not only expect to pay higher prices for better quality, but the idea that their money goes to a “small” shop with an innovative idea and a great cause (environment) also makes them feel better about spending that extra $3 bucks on shampoo.

On February 2^nd, 2011, my friend Ross wrote about his love for extreme sports and the genius marketing people working for Red Bull. He mentioned that by hosting and sponsoring all the extreme sports events and even having their own Red Bull athletes, the company has been able to charge above average price for their energy drinks.

I completely agree with Ross on the strategy that the company is taking. Red Bull has made the transition from a Proper noun to a common noun. For example, Kleenex is now used as a common word whenever someone is referencing to a paper tissue. Red Bull now has reached that state where people reference it as all energy drinks. I am not sure and in fact, quite intrigued by why the others have not tried to imitate them. Monster and Full throttle are the main competitors belonging to Coke and Pepsi respectively, they have access to great marketing budgets. Why have they not marketed themselves as extremely energized drink yet? Also, would they eventually take over Red Bull’s market share? By being the “face” for energy drinks, Red Bull took a lot of the hit form the negative publicity, ranging from accidents to death of teenagers from similar products. Which gave others a chance to be a head of the game and introduced new lines of drinks that are labeled as from “natural products”. This is something that Red Bull will struggle with for they have only one products with a very strong image to vary from.

This sunday will be the 45^th edition of the Football Championship in US. Over the years, Super Bowl has positioned itself in the sports entertainment industry for being more than just the final round of NFL. It is now a highly anticipated event for not only the sport, but also the halftime performances and especially the advertizements. Marketing firms compete viciously for the design of these ads and companies with big budget fight over each other for a 30 seconds slot.

Amount some of the most memorable ads is this Budweiser commercial form 2000 that marked many americans and is considered as being “THE classic Budweiser commercial”.

The commercial, simple yet amusing, caught the essence of what the consumers are looking for in a beer. First of all, Budweiser clearly established their target market by showing a group of single bachelors living together and enjoying the simplicity of life. They act as a reference group to other “sports and beer” guys who just want some relaxing yet good times with their “buddies”. Because beer is usually a shopping product, it is wise to create a commercial that makes a lasting impression on people so that when they stand in front of a fridge of different kind of beer, the name Budweiser will be part of their evoked sets, resulting more chance of purchase.