Car Brands

Jeannie Tse recently posted an entry, “The Purpose of Car Ads?”, discussing how car companies ensure that their image and brand are highlighted in their commercials in order to differentiate themselves from other competitors. She included a youtube video of a car advertisement for Chrysler, which I too found very intriguing.

The first thoughts which came to mind after watching this video were the amount of affective components used to influence the audience. Although I am not from Detroit, I felt the national pride they were attempting to build, in order to gain support from Americans to buy American made cars. In addition, by having Detroit-born rapper Eminem in the video, it further engrains the idea that Chrysler is “imported from Detroit”.

However, I question the idea of emphasizing “imported from Detroit”. Jeannie mentions that “it was an ad that was targeted towards Americans, and specifically citizens from Detroit”. The advertisement starts off by asking, “What does this city know about luxury?”, highlighting the history and “know-how” of the city of Detroit in relation to the brand. What does this exactly say about the car, though? And how will they expand this idea to Canadians?

Schokolade

I went to a German conversational class today, hoping to improve my speaking German. We played games auf Deutsch, and prizes were handed out to those who won. I was grinning as I left the classroom with the chocolate bar in my hand, thinking how wonderful it was that the wonderful professor gave out wunderbar chocolate bars.

A Rare Occurence

Sunlight during the December winter.

Did Groupon Take it Too Far?

Groupon, a popular website which offers daily deals to major geographic markets all over the world, has struck up a controversy due to its Super Bowl Ad, which spotlights Tibet’s social problems in a serious manner, and then dismissing the problem by saying how beneficial it is that they received a deal from Groupon which gets them Tibetan food for half the price.

A blog entry on Socialnomics phrased it well when it said that “a social media company [Groupon] didn’t understand the social media backlash it could receive by running a culturally insensitive advertisement during the Super Bowl”. Despite a letter from Groupon CEO explaining the reasons for running this commercial, claiming that “they would bring more funding and support to the highlighted causes” by raising awareness, numerous people upset by the trivial nature of the commercial continue to voice their complaints on twitter, facebook, and other means of social media.

As a regular Groupon customer, I was shocked to see the commercial and simply could not understand why they had to make the ad in that fashion. Who was their target market, and why did they think that poking fun at Tibet’s problems would entice them to buy from Groupon?

Word of mouth is a powerful social influence, which can be a good or a bad thing. Sure, perhaps the commercial was a spoof which should be taken light-heartedly, but was it worth the risk for Groupon to potentially gain a bad reputation? I don’t think so.

Photo 12

I visited my high school last week to see my photography teacher, Mr. Fruhling, one last time before he officially retired. It was early in the morning, since I had to head to UBC for classes later in the day, so the class was empty when I walked in. Seeing the tiny television, his ancient boom box, and especially the back board entirely covered with black and white photographs made me really… well, nostalgic.

Mr. Fruhling walked in wearing the silliest and brightest yellow hawaiian shirt, catching me by surprise almost as much as I surprised him by my visit. Obviously, he couldn’t wait to retire! Not much has changed with him, I thought. He’s still the same kooky and restless fine arts teacher, but one that genuinely cared for his students and hugely influenced my love for photography and my perspective of viewing the world.

And to think, it all began with that ironing board…

Hook, Line, and Sinker

It amazes me to see just how much marketing affects our everyday actions. From deciding between choosing which alternative brands or stores to purchase from, to the different factors which affect the consumer decision process.

Here’s a quick example, in everyday language terms:

Today, I had a sudden craving to eat fries.  As I headed to the food court with a friend, I ran through a list of fast-food places to grab fries: McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, or New York Fries. Immediately, I crossed off Wendy’s and Burger King due to unsatisfying past experiences eating there. So, I was left with McDonald’s or New York Fries.

Photo credit: strategyonline.ca

At that point, I really just wanted to eat something and was about to head to McDonald’s since it was cheaper, but as I passed by New York Fries, one of their promotions caught my eye and stopped me in my tracks. They were advertising one of their new products, butter chicken poutine! “A bit odd,” I thought, “but I wonder how that tastes like?”. As I stood there reading their menu, the woman at the cash register greeted me hello with a big smile. Taken by such a friendly person, then and there I decided to buy fries from, well, New York Fries.

Photo credit: accesswinnipeg.com

Now in marketing terms:

I had a need, and I had to satisfy it (and fast!). Going through my retrieval set, which were the stores I could purchase fries from that I could bring from memory, I focused only on my evoked set, which were the subset of stores which I would consider buying fries from.

The promotion at New York Fries then caught my eye, and in addition to the cashier offering friendly customer service, influenced my decision process. Hook, line, and sinker.