Naamloos

[dahintenfabian]

product innovations

The ability to think and create differentiates us humans from all other living creatures on mother earth. There have been life changing innovations like the car, plane, telephone, lightbulb, smartphone.. you name them. But for today`s blog post I’ve chosen 3 rather funny and less important innovations, which nervertheless can be quite helpful in everydays life.

1. The Pizza-Scissors

(Source: http://www.funtoxin.com/2011/08/07/15-creative-and-innovative-products)

Not much to explain I think. Great tool which will definitely makes your life easier.

2. Message-Toaster

(Source: http://www.designswan.com/archives/10-creative-and-innovative-product-design.html#p5)

Wonna leave a message for your kids or your partner in the morning, but don’t wonna waste paper or ink? Easy: toast it! This innovation definitely get’s a space for next christmas’ wich list.

3. Luggage-Scooter

(Source: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004IU0OZY/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=desswa-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B004IU0OZY&adid=0Y2YKR33GE0M458YRAPA&)

This long, never ending corridors on airports. You waste so much time to get to your terminal! Or even worse: you have to get a connection flight, but you have too little time. This gadget helps out. From Heathrow terminal 1 to 5 even quicker than the tube. Awesome!

[thomharting]

Nice post, an introducement of some very uncommen but cool and handy looking products!

[mennobranger-blog]

Innovation, the process oftranslating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay (business dictionary, 2015). This will introduce the subject of this week. In addition, few three-letter words are more exciting than ‘new.’ It brings forth an image...

[thomharting]

I like your post, and the idea of electric cars, although I think that these should only be small city cars. I mean I would be very pissed off is I had to drive 500 kilometers, for example when going on holiday.

[nikkivanb-blog]

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...

[thomharting]

Nice blog, I was not aware of this kind of grey market. I agree with you, I think there are mainly disadvantages on the grey market.

[purplebrain-hva]

Summer 2002, it’s time for the world cup. Young 11 years old, I spent some weeks of this summer in Ireland. Since Ireland was no favourite for the world cup, my fascination focussed mainly on Germany and England. I tried to get an England shirt everywhere – however, wherever I came, the shirt was...

[thomharting]

Nice blog, I can really see myself in your blog as the 11 year old....wonderfull to read something like this.

[jamesagilbert-deactivated201604]

Clean Your Balls!

In this week’s blog I will be discussing one of young mens most influential grooming brands known as Lynx. The British-Dutch Unilever company, also widely known as Axe tends to make unfair or inappropriate conclusions based on women. Take the beauty industry for example, this is where one of the greatest issues surrounding ethics comes into play. Here, marketing tactics are just being used to assume that everyone will feel and look like one of the top models represented by the brand.

Image 1: Advertisement Lynx

Source: Click here

Now lets have a look at the Lynx “Cleans Your Balls” video, starring Jaime Pressly as fictional tennis star, Monica Blake (see below). It humorously highlights the cleaning power of the improved Lynx Detailer Shower Tool and the importance of maintaining clean equipment. "Cleanliness is one area with which guys are notorious for needing some help.” In my opinion i find the ad to be very effective and humorous at the same time, But this was actually banned because of the demeaning of older men. The part of the ad deemed unacceptable came at the end, when an old man produced two deflated medicine balls and asks, “Can you help me with these saggy old balls? Nobody’s played with them for years.”

Numerous complaints have been sent to the brand. One comment read: “It is smutty and filled with crude innuendo of a sexual nature. It is not clever advertising but rather immature banter akin to schoolyard talk. It has nothing to do with the advertising of the product and is totally unnecessary and demeaning to men”.

I don’t really see much of a problem with this ad, even though it is slightly inappropriate, men don’t take things like this as serious as if it was for women’s breasts for example. To me this shows the sense of humour the brand has, However Lynx/Axe does have many other banned ads that i think are not very effective. Here i just see the humour. What do you think? 

Read More

[thomharting]

I think you did a good job, when you see such a title, you want to read the whole blog.

[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.

[thomharting]

Very nice blog, especially where you compare what you get to learn on university and what your parents experience. I would recommend someone to read your blog.

[damenlaurien-blog-blog-blog]

The question of this blog is: ‘Is a good sales person born or trained’? To me immediately the issue nurture vs. nature pops up. And actually this is always a difficult question to answer.

To some people being a good slales person comes naturally. To others, it does not. Some people find selling...

[thomharting]

I like the part where you make the difference between nature and nurture, and you last scentence: How bad do you want it. In my opinion this says it all regarding this subject.

[cameeremak-blog]

Everything needs to be sold, a product, a service, an idea, it all comes down on how it’s presented and if you can persuade the potential buyers into actually buying these goods. That’s where sales people come into play. These people need to be able to make a connection with the buyer and between...

[thomharting]

Hey Camee, nice blog and an interesting view, since I personally think that people are also born with some kind of talent. Nevertheless I can fully understand you and therefore it is an interesting blog.

[abm9521-deactivated20160424]

This will be my last marketing post, and to finish it well, I want to talk to you about Christian Louboutin’s marketing strategy. First of all, what does Mr. Louboutin offer? Well, you would know him if you would be into the fashion industry, but as I guess that most of you are more...

[thomharting]

I like your blog! Especially because you discuss Christian Louboutin. I think a lot of people don’t know the brand, therefore this blog is some sort of unique.

[abm9521-deactivated20160424]

What does today’s title suggest? Perhaps when I read the word “global”, I immediately think about globalization. You know, this leading force that destroys geographical boundaries, and makes people feel that the world has literally shrunk. To certain extent, since globalization took place,...

[thomharting]

I like your blog, although I think that this does not contains every consumer.

[mennobranger-blog]

“Allmarketing decisions are based on assumptions and knowledge of consumer behaviour,”(Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2007)

Consumer behaviour differs worldwide. Therefore certain formulas work in a specific country or region. A company that really does understand their target consumer behaviour is...

[thomharting]

I really like your post Menno, I didn’t know anything about this market, and in specific nothing about the Chinese market. I think you valued consumer behaviour in a good way.

[fabiandekruijf-deactivated20201]

Ethical values of marketing

Ethical standards differ in every organization, and have a high or low meaning for the company. Ethical values regarding to marketing is also a part of the organization that either play an important role for the organization or not.

Personally, I think ethical values are important to marketing and to have clear norms of how organization should behave and not try to cross the line.

For example, in the US advertising has not got any rules and companies are allowed to publish everything they would like to publish in advertisements. On the other hand, what happened is that company’s started to fight each other through advertisements, also known as comparative advertising. Personally, I think this is unacceptable because I think it is an easy way of promoting yourself by embarrassing the other competitive company. Furthermore, this should not be part of the ethical values of the market. In the Netherlands there are rules connected to advertisement and one of these is that companies cannot embarrass each other on television or in tabloids.

I think ethical norms are important to each market and define what is right or wrong. In the Netherlands these norms are very clear for every market and sometimes there are even to many norms connected to the market but this give clearness to the organizations that deal with the market.

[thomharting]

Fabian, I think you did a good job with this post, you put in your personal opinion and an advertisement, this gives a good and clear view on the subject

[carlijnoffereins]

Valentine’s day: About true love or just a successful marketing stunt?

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 strategies to generate very high profits. The shops are overloaded with adorable presents to give to your beloveds and restaurants are fully booked with tables for two. Even fast-food company MacDonald’s comes up with a new marketing stunt especially designed for Valentine’s day. Some McDonald’s customers will have the opportunity to pay for their meals by performing various ‘acts of love’. For example, instead of paying for a Big Mac, you may be asked to hug someone you like.

The marketing stunts around Valentine’s day could be an example of questionable marketing ethics. It suggests that if you spend enough money, you can ‘buy’ love. People might feel obliged to buy a present for their beloveds to meet up their expectations. And businesses play along with these expectations and take advantage of people’s believes and hopes. But overall, we can’t buy happiness, right?

[thomharting]

I can find myself in your post, personally I think valentine’s day is overrated and more of a opportunity for companies to launch a marketing campaign.

[thomharting]

Marketing?

So after 7 weeks of analyzing and thinking of marketing

and sales it comes to an end now.

My last blog I would like to dedicate to an guest lecture I had yesterday. And then specific the influence of Social Media on Marketing

and Sales. With the usage of internet nowadays people can share anything they want with anyone, I think this increases the level of marketing

and sales massively. By this way, marketeers

do not even have to set up a campaign because it is done by customers already. They share their experiences with their friends, and those people share it with their friends and so on.

But social media is also a huge market

for marketeers, they can promote their brand to whoever they want. This can be done by the ads, which can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube for instance, but I think the most powerfull way of marketing is to promote your product via a celebrity, these people are followed ofted by millions of other people, just by having one picture with the celebrity with your product millions of people will see it and like it.

Therefore I think Social Media has the future, and that television will slowly decrease in level of importance for marketeers. On the internet people can see what they want to see, on the television there is a program for shows and movies which people may not like, then they decide to go on the internet and watch their favourite show there. Next to the positive aspect of social media I think this is a big challenge for marketeers as well, because you have to distinguish yourself from other by setting up something unique which is interesting for a lot of people, and since almost every marketeer is on social media already, the sea is bigger than ever, but there are more fisherman than there have been fishing in the same sea before.

[thomharting]

Born or created?

Is a good salesperson born with his talents or is he trained? Personally I think that a good salesperson has to have both aspects. I believe that a good sales person is born with specific qualities which make him a good sales person. Being creative and out of the box thinking is something you are born with. On the other side a good salesperson is trained as well, this is because strategies and other tactical movements are trained. To be succesfull as a sales person, you have to take strategies and tactical movements in account. These qualities will be provided by a good education. This education can only be achieved by a good scholar. I think the importance of training is being undervalued. Its a fact that well educated people achieve better jobs in life. So the main conclusion for me is that a good and successfull sales person is born with standard qualities and an certain level of motivation, but has gained a lot of qualities by training as well. So to be a successfull sales person you need training and an standard level of qualities.

[thomharting]

Deleted Commercial

ou

When thinking about bad advertisements I inmediatelly had to think about the youtube movies with deleted commercials, these commercials were not found appropriate to show on television. After a little websurfing I found a perfect example of such an deleted commercial.

In this particular case the commercial is from the candy brand “Skittles” and this commercial is ther to promote the candy.

So why was this commercial deleted?

First of all this is supposed to be a commercial for candy, and however grown-ups eat candy as well, the main target group for candy are children, so therefore a commercial with two grown-ups as main characters does not attract to the main target group. 

Secondly, since this is the promotion of candy, a sexual action is not appropriate to show in the commercial because there is no link between the two, or at least not a clear link.

And last but not least, the broadcasting of sexual intercourse in a commercial is not ethical at all, and will probably have the consequention that the sales of the product which is promoted will decrease.

So the conclusion is that for a good advertisement you have to know what your target group is, keep a clear link between the product and the context of the advertisement and stick to the ethical values of a good commercial.

[thomharting]

Legel, Illegal or grey?

When I first heard about the grey market I forgot what the meaning was. After some research I found out that the grey market is a market where legal products are imported or just purchased by distributors and then are sold for a more expensive price. So distributors look for products in countries where those products are cheaper than in their own country. My first thought regarding this market were the shisha tobacco industry. The shisha industry is growing in the Netherlands, the shisha tobacco is purchased by distributors from foreign countries, mainly countries from the middle east. The market leader regarding shisha tobacco in the Netherlands is Al Fakher. Al Fakher is a big brand worldwide. The tobacco is cheap to purchase from Dubai where it finds it origin. A kilo of tobacco will cost around 10-20 euro's and is sold in the Netherlands for 40-50 euro's a kilo. For me this is a typical example of the grey market.