Working with my team to analyze WestJet and create a comprehensive marketing plan + video was a great learning experience. Working in a group allowed me to hear the opinions of others thus getting a more thorough understanding of the topics discussed.

The written assignments were interesting but at times it was not clear to what depth we should go into. For these assignments we ended up receiving average marks. Looking back, I can say that we could have put more detail into our specific targets and segmented but I am happy with our performance overall for the written assignments. As for the video, this was an assignment that I especially enjoyed completing with my group. It gave us a chance to be creative and summarize all of our previous findings into interactive and funny video. I took a leading role in making and editing the video because I have had past experience with IMovie. The process of making the video was quite fun as well as watching and grading the videos of other groups. I think Professor Silva made a good choice in giving a video assignment instead of presentations. Video assignments are much more interesting to watch and make. In other classes students must sit through days of presentations and I think it is a waste of class time and can be very uninteresting.

In summary, working on the assignments and video in my team was a great experience that allowed me to learn from others and share my ideas. However, it is impossible to control the level of enthusiasm of other team members, I felt that some of the members in my group did not participate as much as I would have liked them to. Social loafing is hard to avoid in all groups. But overall it was a great way to get my feet wet with marketing, and I would do it again if I could!

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Let me begin by letting you know that this post is not about Justin Bieber, it is simply a clever title. The post is about the streaming industry.

With the development of the internet, consumers are now able to access a variety of media content such as movies and songs for free. But there is a catch! Most “now playing” Hollywood movies or recently released soundtracks can be downloaded but it is illegal. It is my belief that this development has caused singers and movie producers to understand that the willingness to pay of consumers is greatly reduced. When a consumer can illegally download a song or movie with ease, they are not likely to pay upwards of 25$ for a CD or movie ticket/DVD.

This is where streaming services come in. Specifically in the music industry, services such as YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify have become popular and have been embraced by the singers and song writers. why? Because they know that they should settle for less revenue per song, but a greater volume of legal purchases. The industry is transformed into a model that matches the willingness to pay of the consumers.

Highlighted by The Economist article “Beliebing in Streaming”, streaming has its upsides and downsides but is a good transition into a popular legal commerce. Specifically, it mentions that for the singers and song writers it is not a bad deal at all. Pay-per-month streaming services such as Spotify are extremely popular and pay close to $150 annually to song owners annually per subscriber, which is more than the average American spends on music.

In conclusion, I think the streaming of music as well as movies (Netflix) is going to be the only way to develop a legal market that respects copyright laws. As technology evolves, industries must change to accommodate for the loss of value to consumers. In the case of CD albums, it may have been valued at $25+ a few years ago but today when any song is available on Youtube for free, it is no longer worth that much to consumers.

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This post is my opinion of “Good News: GlaxoSmithKline Will Stop Paying Doctors To Promote Drugs” written by Jia Ling’s in her Blog.

Background: As described by Jia Ling, GlaxoSmithKline is the sixth largest pharmaceutical company globally. For years it has been paying doctors to promote its products to their patients. Recently the Company announced it has decided to stop using this promotion technique. It is unclear why this decision was made but it is known that the company was forced to pay billions in the past for drug marketing fines.

In her blog, Jia Ling expresses her opinion that it is unethical because consumers are not given a choice. In my opinion, the core issue is that consumers may be sold a drug that is not the best fit to their condition. When it comes to health, I believe marketing practices must differ from regular marketing. Drug companies should not target consumers but instead they should advertise what their products (medications) can offer compared to others. In this way, consumers will have many options no matter what doctor they visit.

I agree with Jia Ling that the company is making a huge step towards becoming a more ethically conscious company. Moreover, I believe that they have presented a huge commitment to doing the right thing by giving up an effective but unethical marketing practice that is based on the authority principle. Where people will most likely accept what a doctor promotes because it is the doctor, and not because the drug is the best for their situation.

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Earlier this week a video was published on YouTube by a German marketing firm Jung Von Matt/Neckar advertises DHL through a prank. Packages labelled “DHL is faster”are sent with competing delivery services such as UPS. Since the video was published earlier this week, it has been viewed over 3 million times.

After reading the blog post Agency’s Ice-Cold Prank Turns DHL’s Rivals Into DHL Advertisers by Gabriel Beltrone I was surprised to learn that the prank by this German marketing firm was not coordinated by DHL. According to Beltrone, the marketing agency made the video for to differentiate itself from its own competitors in the marketing industry.

In this case the marketing firm advertised DHL, to many consumers it may seem like this is the primary goal of the advertisement, to show that “DHL is Faster”, this was in fact the external goal, but the internal goal was to showcase the creativity of the German marketing firm. According to the blog by Beltrone, the firm had no specific interest in advertising DHL but rather, showcasing its own abilities.

In my opinion, the marketing firm has successfully proved its marketing abilities with this advertisement, because it has achieved exactly what it wants, it gained many views and many rumours regarding if the video is real or fake. At a time where commercials are seen as “annoying” and advertisers are doing everything they can to appeal to viewers such as in the Super Bowl; It is my belief that the firm wanted people to discuss the video, whether they thought it was fake or not was irrelevant. By having people talk about it, it has achieved its goal.

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Tesla has charging infrastructure across the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Recently the company finished installing charging stations that allow customers to travel across the US from coast to coast. These charging stations are exclusive to Tesla’s customers and allow the car to be charged in around 20 minutes; the company suggests that with a range of around 300 miles you would usually stop for a 20 minute break anyway.

I am a huge fan of the company and its marketing techniques, I have written about its retail store locations in a previous blog, for COMM 101 – BLOG.

Situated near coffee shops and malls, the charging stations are a great way for these retailers to attract customers. Because of this advantage to retailers, Tesla is rarely charged rent for installing these chargers at the lots, a win-win situation!

In recent news, a team from Tesla made a cross-country trip to publicize the superchargers and the fact the trip is absolutely free! The team kept customers and Tesla fans in the loop by updating on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #DriveFree. It has gained many followers and comments, and many people took the time to meet the team en route!

Tweets about “#DriveFree”

In my opinion, only companies that are so respected and produce quality products can benefit from social media as a free mode of advertising. The cross-country team showed consumers what the car is capable of, as well as how much respect it has. The followers on twitter that complimented the cars and were passionately writing about the progress of the road trip can be thought of as word-of-mouth advertisers, practically there were no negative comments made. I believe Tesla utilized social media (twitter, Facebook, Instagram) very efficiently to promote its cars and deliver the message of “free driving”. As reported by the New York Post, “Tesla Cars to Allow Owners to See US On $0 Gas”. This is the message that Tesla wants consumers to remember, as it is proprietary to the company.

Citations

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Targeted advertising is considered one of the most efficient ways for advertisers to market their products. However, these ads are based on complex online algorithms that must collect information from consumers online. The leader at this task is Google, it sells and advertises based on online activity of its users.

The ethical issue arises when online advertisers such as Google base their ads on sensitive information, such as health. As described by Matt Hartley in the article “Google’s Health Ads Run Afoul of Canadian Watchdog” the line between ethical and unethical practice is often unclear. In Canada the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is in place to protect Canadian consumers and their sensitive information, but a clear distinction of the ethics “line” is not made.

The problem as I see it is that advertising has become more and more exploiting in nature as companies try to find new ways to reach their implied customers. Often when I am online I see a clear connection between the ads directed at me and what I search online, this makes me feel vulnerable. As I result, I believe the PIPED

A protection act must be refined to eliminate any blurred lines and protect sensitive data that consumers do not want to have accessed by advertisers.

Citations:

Hartley, Matt. “Google’s Health Ads Run Afoul of Canadian watchdog.” Financial Post Business Googles Health Ads Run Afoul of Canadianwatchdog Comments. Financial Post, 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2014. <http://business.financialpost.com/2014/01/15/google-inc-privacy-health-canada/?__lsa=dba6-815f>.

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