Marketing Blog Post #9: It's Good to be Different

I was snooping around some blogs and founds a blog that really relates to what have been covered in class about advertising (AIDA) and how this helps the company become more well known. On BrandChannel, there was a blog post about creative inspiration. The company Bored Panda, is a "digital compendium, showcasing offbeat creative work, quirky visuals and branding examples that are clever and provocative". Most of these are art on plastic and paper bags that really turn a few heads and capture the people's attention. For example, there are bags that have electronic applicances on it and the electrical cords are used as handles for the bag for people to hold onto. I find this really attractive as it's not something that people would see on a daily basis.  This marketing strategy is really witty and amusing and continuing this will definetly increase it's brand awareness.

I think it's important for companies to differentiate themselves from others as it leaves an image in the consumer's mind. For me, bags are just bags. They're usually really plain and boring so if companies started to use these specially custom made bags, it would really appeal to me. Maybe I'd even buy something JUST so I could get my hands on one of those interesting bags! Who knows :)

Marketing Blog Post #8 - And Life Goes On

In class today we talked about the promotion strategy and looked into companies that spend a lot of time in branding their company such that viewers will instantly recognize their brand and possibly what they do. One particular ad that we watched in class, the Google Parisian ad really caught my attention and so I went on YouTube and watched a few more of their ads. I loved the simplicity, elegance and storyline that each ad incorporated. I thought it really brought out the functionality that Google can offer towards internet users and this promotion strategy really works for bringing out Google's message. 

               

 

  

 I for one dislike advertisements that are hard to understand and usually tend to like ones that are more easy to the eyes and simple to interpret. Google did a fantastic job in their marketing scheme and  their message was very easy to decode.  Other companies like Nokia also did a similar job with their advertisements. In my opinion, advertisement with storylines are far more interesting and can really make the audience relate to the ad emotionally. I think more companies should try this approch cause these ads definetly caught my attention and got me clicking for more :)

Marketing Post #7: It's here, it's there, it's everywhere!

The American mystery teen drama television series is based on the popular series of novels by Sara Shepard.  The story revolves around 4 girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their clique leader. One year later, her body was found and the girls begin to receive messages from a mysterious figure in the name of "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. This series,full of mystery and unexpected twists, captured my interest since episode one. However, I couldn't help but notice the numerous product placements that appears!

Product placement/embedded marketing, is a form of advertising, where goods/services are discretely advertised through the media. This form of marketing is clever because when viewers see these celebrities/their favourite character use/own these products, the audience would feel the need to get their hands on one too. In PLL, each episode has embedded marketing. For example, in episode 15 one of the four girls help promote Justin Bieber's new movie. As well, there are many close up shots of different brands of phones with their logo zoomed in.

How effective is this tactic? Well for one thing, product placement works because viewers sees these products being advocated through something they like and enjoy. Thus the product is usually advertised through positive word of mouth. As a result there is a higher possibility of gaining more and more publicity. But to what degree will people start finding this annoying? Because for me, the JB scene was a little too much. 

Marketing Blog #6: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

So I was reading Naomi Tse's blog and she talked about the importance and impact packaging plays in the world of beauty and make up products. She brought up the example of appealing Urban Decay lipsticks that are packaged differently with minature swords that pop at the end of the tube as opposed to highly prestige brands like Dior or Chanel. She goes on to say that items with nice or interesting looking packages can jump off the shelves and being packaged differently differentiates their products from their competitors and I agree with her opinion and thoughts on this topic.

In my opinion packaging plays a huge role and at times can "persuade" the consumer into making the purchase. For example, Sephora launched their Hello Kitty line back in mid January of this year. When Sephora sent me an email to notify me about this new product line, the first thing that popped out to me in that email were the pretty little packaging. Each product had the Sanrio Hello Kitty Face printed on it and each packaging was different in their own little way. In the line what captivated me the most was the bottle of perfume. The Hello Kitty Fragrance 1.7 oz Eau de Parfum Spray, is bottled in the iconic Hello Kitty bottle shape and is accompanied by a vintage-inspired pink atomizer.

Mac had also launched a Hello Kitty line not so long ago and their products also encompassed the trademark Hello Kitty Face and Shape. So I agree with Naomi completely when she said packaging helps influence the consumer's buying decision cause I for one love intricately designed packages.