I found a cool video from YouTube, which represent how cool marketing commercial effect people.

I am so proud of I am in UBC!!!<3

King Arthur and the Witch….[What do women really want?]

:King Arthur and the Witch:

[What do women really want?]

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur’s youth and ideals.. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question?…What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch’s proposition to have an answer by year’s end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.. …The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur’s closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur’s life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur’s question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered… is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur’s life would be spared.

And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him.
The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day….or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

What would YOU do?

What Lancelot chose is below. BUT….make YOUR choice before you scroll down below. OKAY?

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Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she was tearing down and announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.
. . . .

After read this article, some ideas jump into my head. What do consumers really want? My answer is let consumer make their own decision. When we look through the history of the marketing, it is kind of interesting that marketing is developed this way. As we learned in the class, marketing started at production era where consumers had no choice, then it moved to sales era that consumer had some choices. In the following marketing era and value-based era, company started to satisfied consumer’s need and focus on building long-term customer relationship respectively. I believe the intending marketing trend is providing more and more choices for consumer, in the other word, more customized. For instance, Save-on-Food started self-check out system 2 years ago, which is very impressive and convenient. Every time I go there, even there is a space for normal check out; I would like to wait for self-check out. I find that it greatly decreases the time I spend in line, and I know exactly what I have on the list, so I do not need to check if cashier put on the right price after shopping.

A few days ago, my friend told me that in some Europe countries, they already applied RFID. By using this next generation UPC, you can just take your commodities and pay you bill at credit machine directly, no more scanning, since all the shopping information is transferred to terminal while shopping.

How cool is that?

I cannot wait to experience the next marketing era, where you can get whatever you want and pay it easily by just swiping your credit card and take it away.

If you were trying to score an iPad 2 this weekend chances are very high that you didn’t get one. I went to future shop on 26th,  and returned home empty handed.

Apple, one of the innovative and largest computer companies in the world, who always bond their cool products with customer loyalty and satisfaction are depressing a huge amount of  potential and current customer now!

Some apple zealot support that it is not apple’s fault for two reasons.

One reason is Asian fad of apple’s product. On the first day when Apple launched its products to stores in United States, Asian gangs came and and bought all the products before other customers did. Since there is a personal purchase limit for five each, they even pay a few visitors tips to purchase Ipad 2 for them. So they can sell it in Asian later with higher price. More serious thing is that this is not just happened in one store. Many customers are complaining about this situation and Apple should quickly response to it. I think Apple should launch its product to Asian countires as soon as possible, especially China, where have the biggest population and potential customer in the world. Therefore, in order to stop those Asian gangs making products by “buy low sell high”. Apple should build up customer identification for Ipad 2 purchase and this is a great chance to collect customer information and improve their product.

Another reason is Japan got a earthquake and this broke the supply chain of Ipad 2, since Japanese produce 60% of electrical elements in the world. I think it is time that apple consider another chip companies to produce elements for them, since Japan is suffering both nuclear leaking and electric lacking crisis. This situation could not recover until a year long or even longer. Anyway, I hope this happening can be solved as fast as possible.

In the marketing class, prof and TA represent us a really cool Youtube commercial, so I dig in and find they have whole series of it!

This a really hilarious official advertisement and I also find some awesome parodies.

This is one is kind of freaky!

Woman version with interesting British accent. It is for celebrating 40 years in The Sun newspaper.

Another big dude

I have to say all this Old Spice commercial are classic and impressive commercials. I can watch them over and over again and I never get bored. But in the really life, I did not change brands or even try old spice products out. I guess their push strategy doesn’t work out really well, since the ads is kind of aggressive and harsh for those guys who are not “hot” enough, pretty much most of men in this world. Although company successfully broadcast their brand through media or word of mouth, this is still a terrible ads, since it does not motivate consumer to buy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ljW5YEdao

I did some research about it and the reason why the fries are not breaking down is because it has too much salt and oil in it to preserve the food. Mold and bacteria need moisture to live salt removes moisture, and the reason why the real fries molded so quickly is because they are not salted to death and they are not fried, frozen, then fried again.

The video looks scary, however, you can not compare that to what happens in our stomach!

I think either way you shouldn’t consume fast food all the time but once in awhile is okay …lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0&feature=related

In marketing class, our prof shows a really cool video about Star Wars and Volkswagen. This new ad for Volkswagen entitled “The Force” features a pint-sized Darth Vader who uses the Force when he discovers the all-new 2012 Passat in the driveway. It leverages humor and the unforgettable Star Wars music to create an emotional commercial.

A recently quick check of Colin zhang’s blog remind me the parody commercial of the ‘The Force’ video about Toyata’s unintended acceleration problem I have seen before.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/colinzhang/

Some media claimed that majority of unintended acceleration cases were caused by user error especially a few were caused by floor mats.

However, newspaper also indicated that they had about 18 recalls in 14 months. double of all other car companies out there last year. and that includes Roles Royce’s hood ornament malfunction. what really happened ? the power steering pump went out. that isn’t much, by time you hit 10 MPH you wouldn’t even notice it. the best part was that they couldn’t figure it out and just kept producing the cars with the same problems. why do people still buy these crappy cars. reliability can’t be the reason. 14,000,000+ recalled Toyotas.

As a international brand with brilliant reputation, this incident really bring the company down. Toyota should definitely stand out and response for there fault, but not stay behind or just say sorry, as what there government did in nuclear leaking incident.

Sometimes firms try to change their positioning.

The original hippie Starbucks owners did not sell espresso drinks, but mostly sold coffee beans, tea and spices.

The next, more familiar green logo has a more attractive stylized siren. The chest is hidden, but the belly button is still there.

They cropped the siren image so that only a hint of the tails is visible.

Lately, Starbucks changed the siren logo as part of store decoration and on coffee packaging again. Now it only has one tail. I guess the family-unfriendly image of a fish-woman spreading her tails is on its way out.

Since Starbucks has tons of experience of branding and repositioning, I think this is a significant sign that are not just coffee anymore.

Recently, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz outlined a three-part approach to growing the company’s brand, including growing social media efforts, expanding to grocery stores and the single-cup market, and expanding its brand to non-coffee products.

Hopefully, this is not just a short-term success of brand expanding since the sophisticated brand recognition is diluted.

Up until recently, parents are puzzled if they should get a cell phone for young kids. They want to be able to get in touch with their kids whenever necessary, but it was either way too expensive or there is a concern about if kids can use it properly. Now Firefly mobile phones have made their way to the market.

The feature of this phone is totally designed for kid: The address book button has up to 20 phone numbers in it. These are to be programmed in by the guardian or parent, who knows a Pin which is intended to keep the child from changing the numbers. In this way, parents control who their kids are calling. The phone also offers a call screening option which, when activated only allows the numbers that are in the phones memory to call that phone.The standard features are of the phone are up to 8.5 days standby time and up to 6 hours talk time. Texting and download capability are unavailable, which allows parents to manage phone costs.

I think this is a cool idea for both children and parents, children are be able to contact their friends and parents in moderation, and parents save money for signing up those expensive plans. However, there is a flaw in phone design since there are “Mom” and “Dad” buttons. Firefly offers no alternative button overlays to reflect families that are not mormal, such as in a mother and grandmother household or a single-parent household, or families that are non-hetero-normative, such as same-sex parents in the household.

Recently, all my friends who have iphone addict to talkbox.

When I checked on internet, I find a really interest blog post from Ryan

http://conedude13.blogspot.com/2011/01/app-battle-heytell-vs-talkbox.html

What is it?

Talkbox application is a new, free iOS application, which allows iPhone users to send “voice IMs” to their friends and family. This clever mode of communication is quick and easy, and is perfect for those times when you want to relay information fast without battling with your iPhone’s virtual keyboard.

By using this application, you can make massage faster, since Talkbox has a push-to-talk interface. you can talk the message, record it  and get it delivered instantly. No more typing hassle, uploading and downloading voice notes puzzle you. Also, you can involve anyone from any place to chat. Talk box send information through internet, so no matter where your friends are, TalkBox can deliver message in just a split of second. Lately, you can connect and add your friends by their usernames or link to your FB account and sync your friend list to TalkBox contacts.

After using talkbox, I have to say I’m very impressed at the look and utility of this application, the sound quality is excellent and the Facebook integration makes setup a breeze. I like the way conversations can be managed and that I don’t have to press play on every message, the conversation just flows and results in more thoughtful contributions from everyone. I can’t wait for more of my friends and colleagues to get it.

If you ask me what is epic?

I will definitely tell you, “Ipic theatre!”

Are you sick of crowded regular theater and narrow cloth seat that can just fit you in?

Here is a great option for you, Ipic theatre!

After trying out the Ipic theatre, most people claimed that they will never go to a regular theater again.

Why is that?

The movie it shows are the same, but just the service are changed! it’s not really the place for a budget conscious, family night out —- there are already places for that anyway.  If you want a fabulous date night that’s not the same old boring restaurant or night club then give iPic a whirl — you won’t be disappointed!

What do they have?

Free valet parking, free popcorn & m&m’s and the luxury, ultra-comfy seating, silk pillow, blanket and someone to wait on you!

Pricey?

A bit, but if you go on-line and sign up for free membership, you will automatically receive discounts.  You pay $9 at the regular movie theater, right?  At iPic,  It’s only $17.50. You would easily pay $8.50 more for the popcorn & valet alone.

Would you try this?