Marketing

[nikkivanb-blog]

It’s all about the context

A couple of months ago a video from Lifehunter came online. The video was filmed on a popular food-expo in the Netherlands. The people from Lifehunter brought McDonald’s food to the expo (and made it look fancy) and asked the biggest food experts of the Benelux their opinion on the “organic” meal. The feedback they receive is hilarious. At one moment they ask the following question: “if you compare this to for example the McDonalds, what would be the biggest difference?” All the people definitely think that it tastes a lot better than McDonalds and that you can really see the difference with this “organic” food and McDonalds food.

(if you go to the settings on youtube, you can add subtitles, the second video already has subtitles)

Last week the people from Lifehunter released a new video. This time about an Ikea painting, which they will show in a Museum next to other artworks. Those other artworks are truly very valuable. Lifehunter thinks that people shouldn’t act "high-class" about art if they can’t even spot the difference between a painting of 2 million euros, or a painting of 5 euros. The art experts even say that “Ike Andrews” sounds familiar, while it stands for Ikea.

These videos prove that nowadays it is all about the context. When you put something ordinary in an exclusive setting, people immediately have a different opinion. If people can make a cheap painting look like a 2 million euros one by only changing the context, then marketing products in the right way is definitely very important. 

[nikkivanb-blog]

The Pursuit of Happyness

“Are great salespeople born or made?” is this week’s question. To answer this question, I want to talk about the movie The Pursuit of Happyness (it is misspelled on purpose).

The movie is about a mancalled Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith. Chris invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he then needs to sell. It is quite obvious that Chris is not born as a salesperson, but because he wants to support his family, he keeps trying. At one point Chris’ wife leaves him, he loses his house and then he needs to live on the streets with his son (which is Will’s real son).  At the end of the movie, Chris has sold all the portable bone-density scanners and he even manages to get a job. I think this movie is the perfect example that if you are motivated enough, you can do anything. Therefore I believe that a great salesperson can be made, as long as you know what you are doing it for, which is why I chose the following quote from the movie.

Source

Of course for some great salespersons their talent came naturally, but that doesn’t mean that everybody else cannot be a great salesperson. People that were born with it may have the skills but do they also have the attitude? People that learn it themselves may not have the right skills (yet) but they at least have the right attitude.

So here comes the dilemma, is it better to have the right attitude or the right skills?

[nikkivanb-blog]

Ordinary soap will do

Source

Lets start with the fact that I don’t actually know whether this advertisement is real or not (at least I hope it’s not). The advertisement is to “promote” Dettol soap and it is made clear that it is better than ordinary soap. Although I rather use ordinary soap now.

Dettol is abrand that focuses on hygiene, by making all kinds of cleaning and disinfectingproducts. Having clean hands is a good thing, but I think that having clean hands is taken to the next level here. Not only the bloody hands are inappropriate, the body in the background makes it even worse. It seems like some encouragement to commit a murder, while it should have been portrayed as a bad thing. It’s also not pleasant to look at, especially for children that I cannot imagine that the advertisement could just be placed on a billboard or in magazines. While Dettol should be soap for normal families, I think it completely missed its target group. I also really don’t know what kind of customers this advertisement is addressed to. Then the sentence at the bottom of the picture, is it really that far-fetched that “kills” is meant as a joke? 

To me, this advertisement is bad, since it is supposed to look hygienic and it definitely doesn’t look like it. Now I’ve seen this, I will never forget the image when looking at a Dettol product. Which is why I definitely won’t buy the product after looking at it. Of course it’s a good thing if you remember the product (even if its negative), but I imagine that the main goal is to sell. 

Would you buy Dettol after seeing this? Why/why not?

[nikkivanb-blog]

One shade of gray

The term 'gray market’ refers to commercial goods that are imported and sold in ways other than through the normal channels (not necessarily illegal). Since the costs for those retailers are lower, they can sell the commercial goods cheaper. Of course everyone would rather pay less, but the service and support for the bought products can be much harder to obtain. And even worse, there is a slight chance that the product is fake.

A friend of mine is a big fan of cosmetics and thenespecially of MAC cosmetics. She always gives me a shopping list when I go to the United States, since it’s much cheaper there (still expensive though). Apparently there is also a gray market for MAC, where you can buy the “official” products for less. According to the internet, the best known gray market cosmetics distributor is Strawberry Net. I don’t have any experiences with this website and since I’ve read some negative reviews, I probably never will.  

 Personally I would rather spend a little bit more,  since you have no idea what you’re putting on your face when the product is fake. There is of course also a big chance that the product is real, but then you will never know how old the products are or whether they have been stored correctly (which is important with make-up). And another disadvantage, if it did not turn out the way you wanted it to, your complaints will (probably) never be heard. 

There are not only disadvantages for the consumers of the gray market. The official companies obviously hate the gray market and not just because it lowers their profit. Even worse is that the distributors can ruin the reputation of the company.

To me, there are especially disadvantages to the gray market. What is your opinion about it?  

[nikkivanb-blog]

Where is the ink?

When I was in elementary school, I was in the same class as my niece (that's what happens when you live in a small town). At an early age my niece was detected with a severe form of dyslexia. Of course her parents (my uncle and aunt) wanted to do everything to help her, which is why they bought the reading pen you can see below. At that time I had never seen such a thing. The pen could say words aloud, translate and even explain words.

Source: http://www.tbraams.nl/kennisverdieping/tab-hulpmiddelen/de-readingpen/

Wondering what has happened in the meantime in terms of innovation in pens, I started searching on Google. Just like in elementary school, I was completely shocked. There are pens nowadays that check your spelling (wish I had that when I was in elementary school), pens that come with a scanner that allows it to choose colors from any object and recreate those colors, pens that are USB drives at the same time and even pens with a camera inside.

To me, a pen has just simply always been something to write with, but apparently it can be used and will be used for a lot more in the future. I still write a lot in order to learn things, so I hope that the normal pen will never dissapear completely.

Thinking about the future makes me wonder if it will still be possible to make an exam with gear with you, since for example the Google glass could make you cheat, a smartwatch could make you cheat and even pens could make you cheat.

 Do you have an experience with different kind of pens? What is your opinion about it?

[nikkivanb-blog]

Nikki I.D.

This time I wanted to write something about my own experiences, so when we talked about Nike ID in class, I immediately knew my subject.  

I’m quite picky when it comes to shoes, I like to have what others have but then slightly different, which is why I sometimes spend hours online looking for the “perfect” ones.

5/6 Years ago a friend of mine made her own Nike sneakers,so of course I wanted to do the same, which resulted in the shoes in the picture below. (What was I thinking when I came up with the colors…)

But having my name on my shoes made me feel so special, at that age I couldn’t think of something cooler (which is why I still have them).

Nowadays you can even customize chocolate bars, which I find a little bit weird. I would only customize products without an expiration date, since it takes way too much time for something you are going to eat. 

Not all companies are of course able to let their products be customizable, since it takes more time, which also makes it more expensive. That is why most companies do it for brand building instead of a higher profit. On the other hand, it could also save a company a lot of time, since they don't have to try to adjust to everybody's taste. My weird colored shoes would otherwise never have been for sale. 

Where should the boundaries be between mass production and customization?

[nikkivanb-blog]

McDonalds - Are we loving it?

Sometimes companies decide to adapt to different cultures, to meet the more specific wants and needs from people all over the world. McDonalds is one of the companies that tries to do this.  Of course McDonalds still offers their traditional food but they also offer a McBaguette in France, a Chicken Maharaja Mac and a Masala Grill Chicken in India as well as a Mega Teriyaki Burger or Gurakoro in Japan. But what if you loved the McBaguette when you were in France and you cannot get it in your home country?

 McDonalds also has a solution to this, they know that most products would not stand a chance internationally, but they do try to find the ones that would. They need to find the right product to expand it to the right area. One example is Australia's Chicken McBites, which are now being tested in Detroit, Michigan.

 This all has to do with consumer behavior and the globalization, because people know more about other cultures, they also want to try to eat what they are eating. I think McDonalds’ responds is very smart, since they offer countries their typical food and at the same time offering  foreign food. What is your favorite foreign McDonalds meal and would you like to see it in your country?

[nikkivanb-blog]

Ethics in Marketing

There has always been the dilemma between doing the right thing and making money. Of course it is possible to do both but just not everybody does it. Doing the right thing in marketing is called ethical marketing, however doing the right thing is different for everybody.

Companies choose an ethical way of marketing to gain trust by their customers. If the product is everything it promises to be, the customers will be happy and this wel reflect positively on the entire company. Unethical advertising is often just as effective as ethical advertising. Unethical marketing is not necessarily against the law, that is why a lot of companies use it to gain a competitive advantage. 

To me, it is okay to promote things that are not healthy, but I think that lying about products or services is just deceiving others. For example in the 1940s and 1950s tabaco was advertised as healthy. The picture below is from a Marlboro campaign which has been introduced across 50 countries. There are more posters and they show that Marlboro smokers have identity and that they "never are a maybe". Of course this is complete nonsense. 

 Dishonest advertising is not something I would be able to do, since I want to come home from work and feel satisfied instead of having the feeling that I might have ruined someones life. I think that if a product is truly that good, the marketing team does not have to lie about it and in the end the product will be bought. Of course products like cigarettes will exist, but as long as people know that it is not healthy to smoke, it is their own choice. Marketing to me should be to show the positive side of products or services, instead of making positive sides up. If we cannot even trust the production team of the product, who else can we trust?