Blog de Shimi

A blog created for the purposes of a marketing course I currently undertake. Amsterdam, HvA and IMBS Student. 

[simonevdn-blog]

After 8 weeks of following marketing courses I can honestly say it is not in my blood. Saying that I just don’t like it is kinda weak, thus in this last blogpost I’ll try and explain why I think I am not fit for marketing.

The main reason is that I think I do not have ‘it’. Last week I...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

I agree you don’t have to be pushy - you may mind your own success in being an honest entrepreneur. If people learn you only sell something when you believe in it, it is likely to strike some long lasting business relationship - as im sure you’ve developed in the cheese market. Don’t be put off sales and marketing just being you don’t like being push. The world needs more honest sellers.

[dahintenfabian]

What is a good salesperson? Well… The successfulness of a salesperson can easily be measured by the amount of sells he or she is able to make during a given period. But in order to do that: do you have to be naturally talented or could someone teach you to do so? The answer is: there is no black...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

I can 100% resonate with your opinion, sales people need something extra than just being trained. In my blog I spoke about how it can be charisma that separates the wheat from the chaff, but now i think about it; conviction is probably just as important. 

[fabiandekruijf-deactivated20201]

The Money Show said a couple years ago “A Salesperson is the most visible and perhaps the only outward manifestation of your business seen by customers. They play a very important role of not only upholding a company’s image but also holding the customers hand and generating leads into sales. This...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

Loved the post. Nice use of many different sources. I agree, I think that some traits for the best sales people are born - however you could say  it may also be due to a particular type of upbringing also.

[purplebrain-hva]

A plea for a slowdown in sports marketing

There are many examples for bad marketing: Choosing the wrong medium, delivering a false message or messing up the creative strategy – to mention only three of many different ways how to fail a marketing campaign. Personally, I have experienced one specific method, how to do bad marketing, more and more often over the last years: Commercials during sport shows. We do not have to take the Super Bowl as an example to see, that there are by far too many commercials in sports shows nowadays.

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

I agree with you, absolutely criminal to advertise on sports! you would never see that in England. As you mentioned, the super bowl and the American soccer game, I think its a good point to recognize that the USA is having a big influence on capitalist marketing in Europe - potentially stimulating campains such as redbull.. maybe?

[mayathu]

Bad advertisment

Today’s blog is about bad adverts and for the first time, I’m not procrastinating the blog until the very last minute before the deadline. This means, I actually have time to think about the topic. Yay, let’s see if I’m more creative like this. 

In my opinion, bad advertisement doesn’t have anything to do with lack of quality or creativeness. That’s just a matter of taste. Bad adverts are adverts that fail to deliver the message or are that controversial that you feel ashamed watching it.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv2jYhw-HAk

Sex sells. True that but this goes beyond socially acceptable adverts. It is basically a porn and the last line “taste the rainbow” makes it even worse. Kids are watching TV! How can any marketer think that this is okay? I couldn’t even watch the ad properly because I felt so ashamed of this. It is not even nice to look at like maybe other adverts that uses the method of sex sells. Skittles are sweets that shouldn’t have anything to do with sex. I would understand if a Victoria Secret would have ads like this. But it is still not defendable. Skittles used this form of advertisement to get attention and therefore, people would talk about the brand.

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

I think yes, maybe this advert is a bit indecent but you can’t deny it’s pretty funny. I think the advert is playing on its comic value a bit more than its sexual reference. However i totally agree this shouldn’t be for the eyes of young people, but i am open to this type of advertising, its jokes. Maybe after the watershed is a nice compromise.

[abm9521-deactivated20160424]

Generally, a manufacturer works with a single importer who can sell and support their products in a given region. The importer usually has local dealers and distributors who resell the imported products; this is called a distribution channel. The grey market refers to merchandise that is...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

I like that you have the opinion grey market is a negative result of globalisation. however have you considered that it may be a positive thing in terms of sustainability, when countries recycle goods selling them abroad?

[serenamdania]

Many people tend to notice how placed above my little cupboard are about 15 bottles of perfume (its clear that I like to smell good). Well, maybe two or three or four of all those perfume bottles were bought in Europe in the total of ten years that I have been living here. As perfume prices in...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

An original point that although the grey market may be seemingly ethical it may be unfair to some locals in poorer countries who are exploited by the high touristic prices. It’s just two tempting when you are abroad isn’t it?! (find myself guilty)

[jamesagilbert-deactivated201604]

“Men never stop playing with toys, they just get more expensive as they get older”. It’s true, and here is a good example. Need, no. Want, yes.

New innovation is a topic of great interest to me. I am constantly updated on product developments and the latest technology. But today i would like to...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

WOW, what an amazing product. I too would defiantly not invest in such an expensive goggle but I can see the appeal. Imagine what ski goggle will look like in 500 years, product innovation is amazing.

[carlijnoffereins]

Chocolate, candy, alcoholics, cigarettes, or maybe your secret guiltypleasure; these are all examples of tempting products. Of course these examples are subjective, one person could be very tempted by his PlayStation (controller), and the next person finds his or her pleasure in food. Some...

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

A thought provoking post about a newly developed product. Maybe It has shown to reduce the extent of addiction how ever im not so sure that it could prevent people from everything. The shop is only down the road!

[thorestoffregen]

Is "real" Market Research dying out?

Today´s blog is about market research and the research methods have changed in the last decade. Especially in the context of marketing, traditional methods like questionnaires, focus groups etc. seem to have lost their importance a bit. 

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

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 A very stimulating read throre! Written in an excellent tone. A very interesting point that it is a ‘game’ between consumers and the companies, who’s wining.. i don’t know.

[thomharting]

Let’s have a look at market research, if I have to define market research for myself I would say that the definition of market research is to find information about the market that has your interest. In this blog I would like to talk about today’s market research and maybe compare it with market research as it was several years ago, in combination with the development of social media and internet. 

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Nice informative blog. Well written and I like the style that you use through out, engaging and still formal. Would recommend to somebody who wants to understand market research in general a bit more. Ace!

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

A reflection of blogging

6/10 - would sporadically blog again. To be honest, blogging is something you have to enjoy to be really good at. 

However, I must give thanks to the fact I was able to write these blogs in my native language. Otherwise, I would have been totally lost. What I did enjoy about blogging is that it’s kinda just one big unstructured mind splurge. I found this ability to let go, type and relax. 

On the other hand, I found the process of coming up with ideas to be a little stressful. When you click the ‘post’ button after you’ve inserted some hashtags for those all important extra reads, that blog will stay there for a while. For the world to see, unless I take it down. Often i’d write the first thing that’d come into my head, on a different day, maybe i’d have expressed a differing opinion. In addition, I disliked the time constraints I was set. I’ve come to the conclusion that blogging is an art form. You wouldn’t tell an artist to paint something they’ll be really proud of in 5 minuets. 

On the contrary, I could probably blog about bass guitars, cheese and being an english man in The Netherlands. Since i’d enjoy it, I would manage it. 

In essence what I have learnt is:

Go forth and blog, but only if your really want to, otherwise you’ll find it a wee bit tedious after a while. 

 ‘Will he blog again? Tune in next time to BLOG DE SHIMI’ 

It was a pleasure, peace x

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

Sales, born or trained?

Personally, I believe being a good sales person is something innate but most defiantly nothing with out a bit of cheeky training in the right direction.

When I started my job in a sports store at the age of 16, retail and sales was completely foreign to me. I mean how do you even approach a customer!? The thing is, after a year I was pretty sure I could sell most things. My training was my practice. After-all, how can you learn without making mistakes?

However, this is needless to say that some people have a wow factor. 

A good childhood friend of mine is often spoken of (in regards to his future) as somebody who ‘will be alright’. Why? Bucket loads of charisma. You can’t teach sky high levels of self confidence. Some people aren’t competitive. Not everyone has it in them to knock door to door in the pouring rain and for those reasons, I believe the best of the best are born as a sales baby. 

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

Bad advertisement

So today I am writing about BAD ADVERTISEMENT:

Today I made a big decision, a decision to enter a social discussion that for me enters the new category of blogging that is best described as the ‘news about the news’.

Long story short - Starbucks released a campaign on the 17th on March 2015 that encourages people to talk about racism. Now at face value, this not a bad thing and it really isn’t when you think about it.

But what annoys me is that Starbucks made a calculated decision to pursue this campaign - therefore they believe some beneficial coverage would arise from it. And at the end of the day, you should start a race campaign based on your beliefs not brand image.

Granted - Starbucks have been heavily criticised as a result but their motives are still unethical in my opinion. For that reason I view the #racetogether campaign as bad advertising. An advertisement should reflect a companies mission and purpose. After all if we were to all race together, i’m pretty sure the Jamaicans would just win.

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

It’s not legal but not it’s illegal

Today’s blog will be about THE GREY MARKET:

Now let’s not dwell on the grey market for to long as it is a rather grey area for a blog topic.

So a great example of the grey market is in the Japanese car industry. Did you know Japan is frequently replacing its cars? With aims to reduce carbon emissions, the government subsidies to those willing to buy and introduce new environmentally friendly engines. Combined with strict maintenance regulations, the subsidies create a surplus of second hand cars that need to be sold.

Sooo.. the cars end up in UK and are sold for a tidy profit. But is it ok?

This grey market exists because everyone benefits. The Japanese get rid of their cars and UK boy-racers get the performance car they always dreamed of.

For me that makes it ok, it makes sense. It’s like how people used to swap raw materials in trade in the past. Maybe the VAT wasn’t written down and faxed to the nearest government office. But it was all above board. You got your chicken and I got my loaf of bread.

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

In nova tion

Today’s blog will be about NEW PRODUCT INNOVATION:

I am not going to write about a specific product but about innovative culture in general.

What I am taught at university is very different to what my parents experienced. There is a new culture for innovation starting from a grass roots level and it already exists. In the past companies had focus on bureaucratic business models,  productivity and getting the job done. However nowadays we observe Google and Apple brandishing their headquarters specifically geared up to create innovative climates. And the thing is, innovation is sexy, like a new word that found itself in a latin text book, innovation is taking over. The thing that excites me most is that due to such a culture shift I believe my generation will have broader horizons.

So what are the implications for me?

I believe nowadays a higher importance upon displaying creative traits in a job application process is absolutely imperative. Certainly I will try an reinforce my CV with creative bohemianesque aspects.

[carlijnoffereins]

[shimtrain-blog-blog]

Valentines day feeds itself to exist by convincing everyone things must be bought to be satisfactory lover. In that sense I think valentines is innately materialistic and should be ignored. What I find hard is that these campaigns still work!

Some people arealready counting down the days until the 14th of February; the day we areshowing people we love them, we call it Valentine’s day. However, businesses only think of (new) marketing...