First Impressions

It's funny how they say "never judge a book by its cover," when a large majority of the population does (myself included). I've been thinking a lot about first impressions these days. What is the best way I can make a good first impression at a networking event? How can I look as professional and polished as possible? Since first impressions are on the forefront of my mind, I couldn't help but develop an opinion on the following book:

What do you think of when you see this book? Would you purchase it? 


I certainly wouldn't. I find the front cover difficult to read. You think that a book on presentation skills wouldn't have a hyphenated word on its cover. Why would I want to take advice from a book that looks so sloppy? Especially when presentations need to be organized and easy to follow. 


I'm not trying to sound pessimistic; I'm simply stating the facts. Consumers make decisions about products based on their aesthetics, packaging, and branding everyday. I'm a living example of this. I'm sure T.J. Walker has some good content in this book, but unfortunately his branding efforts don't measure up. 

McDonalds- Product offerings aligned with branding strategy?

I volunteer as a marketing assistant for a local business (momstown KW, check it out!). In my most recent meeting with the owner, she expressed concern about McDonald's iced coffees. Unfortunately, McDonald's iced coffees are made with milk. 

So what? 

This means that those who are lactose intolerant cannot enjoy a delicious $2 iced coffee from McDonalds (unless you take lactaid pills of course, but who really likes drugging their body...). After contacting McDonalds numerous times informing them that they should provide soy milk, a healthy, lactose free alternative, my colleague has still yet to receive any feedback.

I decided to do some investigating of my own, and see if McDonald's product offerings are aligned with their overall business strategy. In particular, I decided to investigate the possibility of McDonald's providing iced coffees made with soy milk as opposed to regular milk.

• 308,745,538: U.S. Population as of 2010
• 72.4%: The number of caucasian people living in America
• 13,411,906 - 33,529,766: The number of lactose intolerant caucasian Americans. 

This means that McDonald's is ignoring at least 13 million consumers by providing their iced coffees made with normal milk.  

I then looked to McDonald's website in order to see what they had to say about their menu choices, and strategy.

"We have to be customer-centric and follow trends and the way people are eating. We have to be careful we don't forget about taste and fun, and we need to offer a choice... How we approach it at McDonald's is to make sure there's a balance on our menu, a wide range of items to suit a wide range of needs."

        -Chef Dan Coudreaut, Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Innovation, McDonalds

If there is a consumer trend that is prominent today, it's healthy living. Isn't soy extremely healthy for you? Is McDonald's really catering to a "wide range of needs" by ignoring those who are lactose intolerant? Thoughts?

Resources:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/trends_innovation/chef_dan_coudreaut.html

Get at me.

I also forgot to mention this in my last post...

If you would like a customized business card, I'd be more than happy to help you. (For free, of course). 


I'm new to designing, and would like as much practice as I can get. Feel free to contact me via email (Dsinclair.HBA2012@ivey.ca).

Tis the season for recruiting

School is fast approaching, and so is full-time recruitment season at the Richard Ivey School of Business. In order to prepare myself for the chaotic months that are approaching, I'm spending all my spare time preparing cover letters, brushing up on interview skills, and strengthening my personal brand. 


Last year I received business cards from school. The business cards displayed my name, contact information, and the Ivey logo in the upper right-hand corner. The Ivey logo is recognizable, and symbolizes one of the best business schools in Canada. However, there is a downfall to using this card; all of my peers have them! A business card is something that you can be remembered by. Unfortunately this statement doesn't hold true if 525 other students have the exact same card design, and attend all the same events that you do.


I want to stand out a little, so I decided to ditch the Ivey business cards and design my own. The only problem I'm facing now is which one to choose. 


Option #1: Clean and simple.

Option #2: Seth Godin, my inspiration.

I strongly prefer one over the other, but don't want to sway your decision. (Please ignore the thick border around each of the images, this is formatting that remains consistent throughout my blog).


Thanks for reading, your feedback, and for helping me stand out.

Skinny Scoop. Skinny Consumer. Happy Girl.

If you haven't heard of the company Skinny Cow (www.skinnycow.com), I highly recommend that you check it out. Ice cream is a pleasure to enjoy, but what isn't so pleasurable is the calories and the high fat content that accompany it. Fortunately there is Skinny Cow, a company that supplies the market with lower cal, lower fat content dessert products. 

On a recent family vacation to Florida, I visited an ice cream shoppe The Royal Scoop that I have been visiting ever since I can remember. The Royal Scoop have branded themselves seamlessly. They've created an experience around attending their store- a retro diner ambience, 60s rock music, and delicious homemade ice cream. 


So how does Skinny Cow tie into The Royal Scoop? 


Now that I'm more health conscious than I've ever been, I realize that The Royal Scoop gives you way too much high fat content ice cream for $3.49. One scoop costs $3.49, but they really give you 2.5 scoops for this price. I truly think that they should start selling "The Skinny Scoop" (inspired by Skinny Cow) which is one regular sized scoop of ice cream for $2.99. (Another thing to keep in mind is that The Royal Scoop is situated in an area where the average home is worth 1.8 million US dollars, so I'm making the assumption that consumers aren't price sensitive for small-ticket items.)


I'd certainly like to pay slightly less for considerably less ice cream. I'd visit The Royal Scoop more often if each time I visited I didn't feel so guilty afterwards. I emailed The Royal Scoop with my idea and have yet to hear anything back from them. Am I the only one who thinks this is a good business idea?

Always Fresh, Always Tim Hortons.

After returning from a fun, yet tiresome vacation I was greeted with the following advertisement situated above the baggage claim belt in the Toronto airport:

What was my reaction to this advertisement?

I'm sure I wasn't the only Tim Horton's deprived Canadian who reacted by hopping in the car and driving to the nearest location. Tim Horton's has done a great job associating themselves with one's home. When I think of home, a few words come to mind; comfort, belonging, welcoming, family, love, and warmth, (to name a few). It's safe to say that a consumer is compelled to make a purchase when that specific purchase evokes positive emotions. Not only did this advertisement bring to mind the feelings of home, but it also made me proud to be Canadian. The feeling of Canadian culture coupled with the comforts of home I had been missing for the previous two weeks, made my Tim Horton's purchase inevitable.

My point: Find a way to associate a positive emotion to your product. It's effective.

Imsorry.com

I have no excuse for not writing over the past two months. I apologize to my few blog readers. I gathered inspiration for this post from Imsorry.com, a website that allows people to send apologetic letters, emails, and gifts. 


Here is an example of a "real apology" from a user, Cody, of Imsorry.com. Im my opinion, Cody screwed up...


"I'm so sorry that they used a picture of you in the paper. It is a very pretty picture of you... but there are very few that aren't pretty. :) All My Love- Cody"


And I screwed up as well, by not blogging for ages; for creating this blog and not committing to it. As soon as I'm back from vacation (1 week) I will re-commit myself to blogging again.


Until then... I'll leave you with this. Liz Murray's life was full of apologies- apologies from her mother, her father, and almost everyone that she ever grew to love. Her book, Breaking Night tells her story of how she went from being homeless, to graduating from Harvard. Although this book is not directly about business, I think aspiring leaders can learn a lot from Liz. In Breaking Night, Liz exhibits great perseverance in stressful and ambiguous situations. Similarly, CEOs, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and anyone else that is an aspiring business leader face stressful and ambiguous situations on a daily basis. 


Chances are Liz will inspire you, motivate you, or at least shed a different perspective on the daily problems we face. 


Write in a week. Imsorry.com