Benetton who?

This week, my second last week of posting for marketing 402, we looked at the Benetton; An Italian fashion brand with somewhat controversial advertising tactics. My task was to interview 4 of my friends that are not in 402…a tough task in itself.

I have briefly described my friends before writing their responses to the given questions:

1. “1. Are you familiar with Benetton?
2. If yes, what do you know about the brand?
3. If yes, how do you feel about the brand?
4. [show a few of the print ads from our case study, observe your friend reaction]
5. What do these ads say to you?”

Friend one: Is a very liberal, young, life-loving individual.

In response to “Are you familiar with Benetton?” I was met with a loud ‘NO, but tell me about them/it’. I continued not by explaining what they did but just showing some of the advertisements they have released. Friend 1 responded with, “this is pretty cool.” So although friend 1 did not burst into lengthy discussion about the advertisements, I think she revealed that not all people are offended by Benetton’s advertising.

Friend 2: Friend two is a very smart individual who was formally a student-athlete and is now at medical school…she also happens to be my girlfriend.

Like friend 1, friend 2 also had no idea who/what Benetton is. As she is currently out of state, I sent her images of some of the advertisements that Benetton has used. I received a somewhat confused response. Friend 2 said that the advertisements were ‘very bold and are somewhat controversial, why do you need to know about this again?’ So… other than knowing that I should have explained what I was doing first, friend 2 revealed the presumptions that Benetton’s advertisements are controversial is accurate.

Friend 3: Great guy, from the south… a ‘mans man’

Have you ever herd of Benetton? ‘No’. Proceed to pulling up pictures of ad campaigns… I let him take a look. His response was simple and straight forward, “I would never buy stuff from them…can we drink beer now?’

Friend 4: Foreign, teammate, very new to U.S. culture…but this shouldn’t affect his opinion of Benetton?

In response to whether he has herd of Benetton or not he said, ‘yeah, I have herd good things’. He didn’t really know much about the brand though. After I showed him the images he said that their ad campaigns seemed ‘daring’ as if they were trying to cause trouble.

Now that we are done hearing about what my friends think of Benetton, here is a little about what I think…because that is what is important.

I had no idea who Benetton was heading into Tuesdays class, however; after reading the article sent out and listing to what other people had to say about him I was able to generate my own, very basic, opinion of the brand. I think that what they are doing is great! The pot need to be mixed every once in a while, sure they went against normal advertising strategies, but hey if you always go with the flow it can be hard to make a name for yourself. Sure some of the images are graphic and political but if that is what the owner of the business wants to portray in his advertising campaigns, if that is where the company places its values then who are we to judge them for it. I am very much believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, some people just have higher platforms to display these opinions. Benetton could be accused of trying to impose their opinion on others, but I feel that if you are not strong enough to handle someone else’s opinion on something then perhaps you haven’t done enough homework on the situation.

Get on their level

After watching the film on super food brands I was forced to go checkout my own cupboards to see if I have fallen victim to their grasps… I have, and so have all of my roomies too!

What stood out to me whilst watching this documentary on super brands was that we are almost all engrained with the idea that these super brands are better than the rest…it’s rather scary actually. I was particularly taken a-back by the food trial that they did with Heinz baked beans, taking a store brand label and placing it on Heinz product. When consumers tried the identical beans they almost all thought beans with the Heinz label tasted better… THEY WERE IDENTICAL!

In terms of applying something from this video to my individual project, I think that I would choose to look for something that my brand could use to better position itself. Obviously, I am not praying for a new world war or anything that catastrophic. However, it seemed evident that all of the brands mentioned in the super brands video had some sort of event, or structure that ensure that they became a household staple. For Fitbit this may look like sponsoring a sporting league like the Premier league, and make sure that all of the payers wear a band, or something to this accord. That way people will be come more and more familiar with the product. Obviously there are several obstacles to over come with this idea.

I guess that the thing left circling in my mind after watching the video on super brands is: Is it possible for a brand to establish themselves the way the current super brands have? Or is it too late? I feel like for a brand to establish themselves the way the super brands in the film have, they will have to enter a new market, such as apple, with their iPads. I feel that a brand like this may eventually establish themselves as a staple, but the thing about being a staple is that you need TIME! If we are still iPad/Apple fanatics in 10-15 years I think it would be safe to say Apple is a super brand.

Who made you buy it?

There are several strategies that can be used to encourage unplanned/impulse purchases, and we have all fallen victim to them at some point.

The class text book lists the 5 things that can encourage these ‘unplanned’ purchases:

1. Merchandise complementary products together
2. Encourage ‘add-on’ purchases
3. Create an emotional charged atmosphere
4. Make things easy to buy
5. Provide a discount

I believe that this method of sales is 100% morally correct. People that argue otherwise are just upset about good business.

Almost all of the examples mentioned in the text are actually giving the customer a deal, helping them have a better experience and in a lot of cases save money in the long run. Sure offering a pair of socks to a customer that just purchased shoes may seem morally wrong, but from personal experience the socks are usually at a discount…or maybe I am just lucky. Regardless, complementary goods are often useful or enhance the experience of the product that has just been purchased and many a time save you a second trip to the store.

Not enough for you, well lets look at ease of purchase. I have an amazon account, when I need a new ‘something’ I search and push purchase. The key to that sentence is NEED, I don’t search through amazon just to look, I go on when I am in need of something. This is where I may differ from others but at the end of the day people who buy things online shouldn’t be angry that the online company stores their information, they are the ones that push the purchase button. If the company somehow looses that info, or it gets stolen, now that is angry to get annoyed. Online companies are just providing good business, smart business, there is nothing morally wrong with it.

I could go on and explain how all of these methods are just good business, but that may be a little boring for all of us.

At the end of the day this is my opinion, everyone is entitled to their own, I just feel like if a company can get you to buy something they are doing their job!

The War to Inform

This week, we looked at the war on drugs! We examined the measures that the US Government and other organizations are currently taking, and have taken, to combat the war on drugs. All of the current methods have been relatively ineffective… SO, it is our job to try and come up with a new strategy!

Where I would start:

After reading through the case studies, and watching some of the ad campaigns it has become apparent that the types of drugs, and public opinions of drugs have changed since the campaign first started. One video targeted marijuana, trying to instill how bad it is for the youth. I am not saying whether this is right or wrong, as I am no scientist, however, it must be acknowledged that marijuana is now legal in a number of states. With this in mind, I feel that it is important to be specific about the types of drugs that are being targeted in this campaign. Do some research to see which drugs are being abused most and go after them. 1. Targeting the right drugs!

To delve into this even further, I feel that the campaign needs to address the difference between pharmaceutical drugs and recreational drugs as both are being abused. Yet there is a strong conception that one is worse for you than the other. 2. Define the difference between pharmaceutical drugs and recreational drugs and how they can both be damaging.

The last, and probably most important thing is to come up with a campaign that reaches the audience. We learnt in class that the scare tactics that organizations have used in the past were not received well by the general public. We know that TV and print advertisements are the most effective way to reach audiences, so we just need an effective strategy to help get OUR message across. 3. The strategy is key!

 

What strategy I propose:

We need to inform people of what the drugs are and what they do to you. It was mentioned that a lot of the previous campaigns had been accused of making teens even more curious about drugs; Telling someone that something is bad for you and that you should never do it can be intriguing to rebelling teens. Kids trying to fight the system may take it as a personal challenge. It reminds me of the abstinence first method of sex-education. Not giving teens all the right information about sex has seen teen pregnancy rates go through the roof.

If people are properly informed about how everything works then they are INFORMED and can make their own decisions. At the end of they day they are going to make their own decisions regardless. Why not deliver people the information to make this decision more informed?

So my strategy is to inform people about drugs, with a neutral standpoint. Let people know/see how drugs are made. Let them know what the effects are on a person. Let them see statistics about what happens when you take drugs. Let them understand how much it will cost…

Hopefully people presented with the right information will be smart enough to not choose drugs.

My ramble…

Do expensive items taste better than cheaper ones?

Whilst eating an energy bar this week I stopped to wonder if what I was eating was actually worth the price I paid for it. I enjoy a lot of different bars, of different price ranges and tastes, so I decided to create a little experiment. The experiment involved me trying 3 different bars, pictured below with their price.

$2.20 (40 grams)

$1.25 (68 grams)

$0.25 (40 grams)

 The idea behind the experiment is to see if the more expensive bars taste better? There is obviously really complicated and detailed ways to go about this…so I opted for the simplest one. Try each bar and write a little but about it, and then come up with a conclusion. So…

The “247” bar:

This bar was delicious, and only available in Australia so I appreciate it so much more that I would if it was regularly available. The flavor was salted caramel and banana with quinoa. Honestly, I was expecting more from the flavor. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it wasn’t AMAZING, which is what the price and list of ingredient screamed to me. This bar made me feel like I was eating healthy.

The “cliff” bar:

I always enjoy the cliff bars. They are more filling than most, and they always have interesting flavors. The bar itself is not that attractive looking…it actually looks like something that you may find on the bottom of your shoe, but hey, it tastes good so I don’t care. I can also have one of these bars and feel satisfied; I don’t need two of them like I do with many other bars.

The ‘Nature Valley’ bar:

This bar is a staple, sure its not the most lavish but it gets the job done. Its simple and cheap so you don’t feel too bad having two.

What it all means; price sure does make a difference in taste, at least when it comes to bars. Sure it may not be as big of a difference as the price itself, but there is a difference!

Obviously I tried different flavors, but this just adds to the argument. There is no way that you can find a bar that has ‘salted caramel and banana with quinoa’ for $0.25. The variety of flavors increases as the price increases. You just need to know what you like and how much you are willing to spend in order to get more flavors.

Call me a Viking?

I am originally from Australia, so this weeks assignment was somewhat interesting…not that they all aren’t.

This week we looked selected a country that we think would be interesting to live in, I chose Iceland! I mean how could you not want to live in a place where it is dark for three months of the year, the speak their own language (which is supposedly the hardest to learn), and they are direct descendants from VIKINGS!!! We were to analyze their cultural norms and compare the to our own. Although I have lived in the U.S for the last 4 years I chose to contrast Iceland with Australia, my home country.

So…in order to compare Iceland and Australia I was instructed to look at both countries CSV scores; “Geert Hofstede developed a theory to describe differences in cultural values. This theory is based on five key dimensions, with each dimension representing a core societal value. Core societal values (CSV), or cultural values, represent a commonly agreed upon consensus about the most preferable ways of living within a society.”

The comparison is pictured below:

Instead of just talking about where the differences are, let’s talk about how these scores might affect my lifestyle!

To be frank, they probably wouldn’t affect my lifestyle at all! Other than the blaring difference in how the Icelandic people care more about others and quality of life than Australians, there isn’t much difference between the two. It is said that a country with a low masculinity score ‘works to live’. This idea doesn’t really phase me as that is what I am currently doing. I guess that I do have some long-term goals of investing in property that are not a norm in Iceland and could prove to be an adjustment. My desire to invest in property is so that I will have something to fall back on after I stop earning income. I am not sure what the protocol is for retirees in Iceland, perhaps the government has a system in place to ensure they are well looked after. It would require some more research on my part.

I think that living in Iceland would be relatively easy in terms of cultural norms, however the language barrier could be another story!

 

Group Fun

This week (the week before spring break) in marketing 402 I was absent, I missed both of our regular classes. Before all you readers jump to the conclusion that I just stated my spring break a week early, hold up… I was at the Pac 12 Men’s Swimming Championships, in Seattle, WA. This is the perfect segue into this weeks topic though, groups that I belong too, both formal and informal.

ASU Swim team

Churchie Old Boys

Health enthusiast

Student Athlete

Student at ASU

Australian abroad

Sun Devil Media Relations

I could probably think of more if given more time but this will do for now. You may remember last week, I used the ATO model to determine my favorite type of sports watch… Well today I am going to use the ATO model to determine the groups that I hold most important.

**Please click on ATO model to see clear picture.**

As you can see the ones that are most important to me are, ASU Swim Team, Health enthusiasts and student athlete.

I am honestly not sure that I agree with the results of the ATO model completely. It is quite possibly due to the 3 areas I chose to evaluate the groups, time spent, level of commitment and enjoyment. Perhaps these are not painting an accurate picture of how I feel about these groups.

The ATO was accurate in placing the ASU Swim Team as my first priority! I have been a part of this group for 4 years now, but will be invested in the team for a long time to come. It has been such a huge part of my life so far; it is hard to ignore it.

As far as joining the ASU Swim Team the selection criteria are actually quite rigorous. You must be able to swim at a state, most likely national level, you have to be welcomed by the coaches and current team members and you have to be admitted to Arizona State University.

Does your watch tell the time?

As my college swimming career is coming to an end, it is important to me to stay in shape…rather, it’s important that I don’t get FAT.

My plan for after swimming involves some running, weightlifting and recreational sports. I would very much like to see my progress with my new activities. This has sparked my interest in the sports watch/activity tracker market. I am in the market for a device that has heart-rate capabilities, has a good battery life and is affordable. There are obviously other capabilities that come with these types of watches, but these are the intangibles for me. I have narrowed it down to 3 watches, the Fitbit charge HR, the Polar M400, and the Garmin Forerunner 410 all pictured below.

Fitbit Charge HR

Polar M400

Garmin Forerunner 410

I am somewhat stuck as to where to go from here, so I decided to use an ATO model…or maybe I had to use it for class, but it was helpful. ATO: Attitude-toward-the-product, it is basically how you feel the product scored in areas that you place value on. Mine is pictured below.

My results were not really surprising as my desire for a heart rate monitor is very high. The Fitbit offers a heart rate feature on the watch itself, the other two require attritional equipment. This is really where Fitbit won the battle. Other than this feature I was pretty indifferent about the watches.

Now I just need to start saving my pennie$.

Turns out I match the stats!

PRIZM… Potential Ratings Index by ZIP Market is an interesting little tool; it is used to look at the demographics of the area you live. As I am technically not an American resident (Australian), I looked up the demographics of my current address. What I found, considering that I live extremely close to Arizona State University, was mostly to be expected…

First, there are significantly more people in the 21-34 age category than there are in any other category. I feel like it goes with out saying; areas so close to a major university will always have a larger portion of the younger population. What did kind of surprise me is that the second largest age group was not the 10-20 year olds. I had guessed that with the number of students at Arizona State’s Tempe campus, 48,000, that the number of 17-20 year olds would be large enough to inflate the figures of the 10-20 age group… I guessed wrong. I suppose Tempe being a college town makes it an unappealing place to have/raise 10-16 year olds. The household composition stats back this theory up. It clearly shows that the majority of homes in Tempe are considered to be “other, with no children”, and that the smallest segment of homes in the area is “Married, with children”.

The next major demographic the site revealed was average household income. True to the popular belief… COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE POOR! The percentage of people in the less than $25,000/year segment was double that of every other segment.

The statistics that really surprised me at first were race and ethnicity breakdowns. I felt like it would have been more informative if they had of put every race/ethnicity on one pie graph… Instead they broke it down into two graphs as can be seen below:

I was curious to the actual breakdown so I visited the ASU website to see their facts and figures. As you can see, below, ASU is made up of 50% Caucasian/White and 30% minority races. Although I could be jumping to assumptions I feel like the surrounding areas must be similar to this.

In summary, I think that the PRIZM statistics are very accurate. I think that their breakdown of race and ethnicity could be simplified but some people call me picky…

Product Placement; adapt to survive.

Let me start by disclosing that I received no sponsorship/giveaways for this post… although that would have been nice.

When looking at whether or not I have been influenced by product placement, I feel like it goes with out saying… I sure have, in my opinion everyone has. Although you may not recognize it, everyone is subjected to product placement. You may choose to deny it, but this subjection most likely had an influence on you. Personally, I cannot think of any one particular product that I was influenced to buy. However, I know that when I am at the grocery store, I will chose by familiarity. Items at the grocery store are generally not expensive enough for me to do extensive research on before buying. If I have seen it used in a TV show/movie or mentioned in a magazine I will chose that product 9/10 times as I have some recollection of it, it is familiar. This is very evident with cleaning supplies, when I stand there bombarded with options I always go for what looks familiar.

For the above examples I mentioned specifically product placement in movies/TV shows and in magazines. There are other forms of product placement that have effects on us also. One I know that has influenced me in the past is Word Of Mouth (WOM). Put simply WOM is suggestions made by friends or family. I remember specifically when I was looking to purchase a new bike my friend suggested that I get one similar to his. I was young, I trusted his judgment and so I began trying to convince my parents that I wanted the “specialized P.2”, just like my friend. Eventually, after some convincing, my parents agreed to purchase the bike for my birthday. It was great. Although I really had no idea about the product, I just knew that it was what I NEEDED, because it was what my friend had!

An article in Utne Reader, “Word-of-Mouth Campaigns: Poisoning the Grapevine”, went into detail about WOM, detailing how it has such a strong hold in todays society, and that it will only continue to get bigger. I cannot say that I know for sure that my middle school friend was not working for Specialized, as I am truly not sure, but chances are he was not. Now that I think back to the situation though, it scares me how much value I placed in peoples ‘word’.

I think that WOM and other forms of product placement that go beyond the ‘norm’ will continue to have a greater, and greater affect on peoples purchases. Whether I agree with it or not, it seems to be the way the world is going… So who am I to go against the flow, if someone suggests something I will take what he or she has to say and if they can offer me a coupon, ill take that too. Who knows maybe people will base their relationships off which friends can offer them the best ‘deals’ in the future. Boundaries are made to be broken, and if you want to be successful you will adapt.