Am I Invisible?

How ironic is it that my blog is primarily about marketing and advertising and I can't even advertise myself? 

I'm invisible, with 0 followers, and approximately two readers (whom are my classmates). This needs to change. Am I that boring? 

Create something remarkable.

Create something remarkable. 


This is the main message of Seth Godin's book Purple Cow (which I highly recommend). In a world with millions of advertisements, it's difficult to make your product stand out. If you have a remarkable product, it's a lot easier to gain awareness and, well, be successful. 


I think Cake Boss perfectly exemplifies Seth Godin's philosophy. Carlos took something as simplistic as baking, and made it remarkable. He created a story around his bakery, with a focus on family and values. His values are humanizing; he has extreme talent and a successful bakery, but he has similar values to you, and he's a down to earth guy. Throw in an accent and a good sense of humour and now he's entertaining. I don't even bake, and I watch Cake Boss on TLC on a regular basis. Carlos has extended his target market from the avid baker that watches TLC to 20 year old university students that never bake, but find pleasure in seeing remarkable things created before them. Who doesn't want a piece of the remarkable?

Valentine's Day, A Marketer's Haven.

Valentine's Day... A holiday exploited by corporations. Valentines Day makes even those without significant others feel obligated to take part in the festivities. Valentine's Day was established 496 AD by Pope Gelasius. I really would love to blame corporations for this horrible day, but I guess we have Pope Gelasius to thank. 


The good thing about Valentine's is that some corporations develop advertisements that capitalize on this day. Take Thrifty for example, or Absolut Vodka. Enjoy.

 

Target launches an affordable Valentine's collection to appeal to price sensitive consumers, whom have either just met their Valentine's date, or want to maximize the dollars they spend. Genius.

iButterfly- Social Media Efforts in Japan

iButterfly iPhone application

Today I learned about this iphone application iButterfly. iButterfly is an augmented reality iPhone application. I'm not entirely sure how it works since I haven't had the opportunity to try it out. My understanding is that a butterfly will "fly" across your iPhone depending on your location, and you have to try and "catch" it. The butterfly actually represents a coupon for a store or restaurant for the area that you're in. There's even the option of sharing your butterflies with your friends, again through augmented reality. iButterfly is an application that saves you money, but is appreciated by users because there is an experience associated with getting deals. This application works great in Japan because they have a culture in which they like to share with others. Not that North America doesn't have this type of culture, but in Japan, people are open to sharing just about everything (even personal space). This is why it has been so successful in Japan, but I still think it has the potential to be successful here.

Check out the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEE6M0iW-Nw

Then and Now

Wrigley's Gum Then
1928

"There is real Peppermint in Wrigley's Double Mint- a new and better
peppermint flavour- lasting, healthful, and antiseptic"

Back in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, Wrigley's used to position itself as a gum with health benefits. "Good for the teeth, throat, stomach, and digestion." But antiseptic? To describe the product? Really?


Definition
Antiseptic: of, relating to, or denoting substances that prevent the growth of disease-causing microorganisms. 


Synonyms

• bactericidal
• uninfected
• germicidal
• sterile

Wrigley's Gum Now

Chris Brown endorsing Wrigley's Spearmint Gum

Wrigley's now uses celebrities to sell their products. Talk about contrast. It took 80 years to shift from a weird looking character on a sled that discussed the antiseptic properties of the product to an influential young artist making the product visible to many young teens. Do I think either of these ads were effective? Chances are the ad launched in the 1920s probably was effective. There was a lot less noise back then and consumers were more willingly to pay attention to advertisements. Is Chris Brown holding Wrigley's gum effective at increasing revenues and market share? Probably not. Is it effective in gaining awareness and building brand equity? Yes. 

Regardless, I couldn't find much on Wrigley's advertising in the present time. Come on Wrigley's... Step up your game. Do something innovative. I'm waiting. 

Julie and Julia Marketing Challenge

I recently visited Chapters this weekend. There's something that bothers me about visiting Chapters. Whenever I visit Chapters I come to the conclusion that I want to read every book in the business section but I can never find the time. Sometimes I buy books, but they sit on my shelf for months until I actually get around to it. I need to take action about this. Something needs to be done. I'm going to challenge myself. I'll call it the Julie and Julia Marketing Challenge.

If you haven't seen the movie, here's an overview:

Julie (main character) loves to cook, and she really looks up to Julia Child. Julia Child is a french cook that has written many books and is basically a cooking genius. She can cook anything. Julie challenged herself to cook one of Julia Child's recipes every day for a year. The movie captures Julie's frustrations, accomplishments, and personal growth throughout this period of time. I'm going to apply the same concept, but to marketing. I one day hope to be a marketing genius, and I realize I am nowhere close. This is why I am challenging myself to read a marketing book every week for a year. Regardless of how busy I am with exams, midterms, and extracurriculars, there will be no exceptions. I have decided to do this and I'm sticking to it.

Bring it on. 

Poster Campaigns

It's happening. Students at Ivey are running for various positions on the student executive team for next year. There's something that angers me about all this campaigning... and it's the lack of campaigning. The following picture says it all.

These posters result in one of two following outcomes for me:

1. I don't know the person. I've never seen them, or heard of them, and I certainly won't vote for them if they only put up a poster saying: Vote John Smith, VP student events.
2. I know the person. They're in my class, and I certainly won't vote for them if they only put up a poster saying: Vote Alim Fahreed, VP student events. Why would I want to vote for Alim if he's coming across as lazy by only putting up posters of himself?

Where's the passion? Why do I want to vote for someone who is putting no effort into this campaign whatsoever? Why don't they do the following?

• Send out personalized emails to all the individuals they know explaining why they would be a good fit for the position they are running for and how they would appeal to my individual wants and needs. 
• To reach out to the individuals you don't know, set up a booth around Tim Hortons and make yourself present during break times. Hand out print advertising that talks about how great you are (but make it comical to spread word of mouth). Giving away food at your booth is also a great idea. 
• Use social media to your advantage. Tweet about it, make yourself visible on facebook. Start a facebook event. If I am voted as VP student events, I will; throw a party for all of the HBA1s, donate my hair to cancer, organize a rave, etc. (Anything that will draw attention to yourself and raise awareness)
• Make T-shirts. Get all your friends to wear them in order to create awareness. On the back of the t-shirt state what your platform is. 
• Make an announcement in all of the classrooms. Provide students with your email address, twitter page, etc. 

These are just some ideas that could be implemented. Of course there are tons more. 

So what's the point?

Don't vote for someone just because they're your friend and they put up 10 posters around the school. If they only put up 10 posters chances are they won't do a good job at whatever position they are campaigning for. Many of the students that are campaigning for the executive team at Ivey are coming across as lazy. Where's the passion? Why would I want to vote for you? What would you do for me? I'm sorry, but the poster with your face and name isn't communicating this.