Marketing…drink it up!

In this post, I’m examining the marketing strategies used to sell products in the water bottle category. The $10 billion bottled US water industry has enjoyed aggressive growth in recent years, and it does not show any signs of slowing down. The Corporate Accountability International Company reports that today, 1 in 2 Americans drink bottled water, while 1 in 6 drink it exclusively!

The bottled water industry has engaged in an expensive public relations campaign that has allowed marketers to fuel this growth by creating the perception in consumers’ minds that bottled water is better than tap water and, bottled water is the best drinking option.

So what do marketers say/do to motivate consumers to purchase bottled water?

1) It is healthier
2) It is better-tasting
3) It is more convenient

From the leading bottle water Aquafina, to others like Dasani, Nestle, Deer Park, Great Value, Crustal Geyser, Smart, and many others—all marketers for these waters strategize to convey the “healthier, better-tasting, more convenient” message found in all of these products. Even simple things like use of the color blue, is used to illustrate a refreshing, clear, cool experience for the consumer.

Bottled water centers around a refreshing taste that quenches thirst, rejuvenates mind—body—soul, and induces peace and serenity. Marketers want to create an experience for consumers, motivating them to choose bottled water to satisfy their needs and wants. For example, the Deer Park water bottle displays a mountainous scene—depicting pine trees and a background tinted blue…there is also an actual deer in the middle of the picture. This picture is peaceful—it celebrates the outdoors and “mother nature,” advertising that Deer Park water is “natural.” Strategies like this can be identified as classical conditioning because Deer Park (and others) are utilizing a positive stimulus (in this case: animals, the outdoors, freedom, mountains, etc) to sell the “naturalness” of the product to consumers.

Another example is Crystal Geyser bottled water. This company sticks with the blue-color theme, and depicts what looks like ice in the background—promoting that cool, refreshing feeling. But, MY FAVORITE example of bottled water marketing is…Fiji bottled water. The Fiji packaging shows flowers, greenery, and blue, and it also says, “From the Islands of Fiji—Natural Artesian Water.” The display is pretty—the bottle even has a square shape to it…kind of cool! This idea can be classified as Affective Preservation—Expression. Fiji water allows me (the consumer) to express who I am…a creative, an artesian, a healthy person who enjoys drinking water!

Many of the bottled water companies use eco-friendly packaging, and donate a percentage of their sales to charity or other non-profit organizations which are examples of operant conditioning. This conditioning (along with classical conditioning) is a technique that motivates consumers that activates behavior and provides purpose and direction to that behavior.

Sources:

PerleyIsaac Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University (2009). Lesson 2:The effects of learning, memory, positioning, motivation, personality an emotion on consumer behavior.Retrieved November 2, 2009, from the WVU eCampus Web site: https://ecampus.wvu.edu

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap2.asp

Burning down bookstores with only a Kindle

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore. – Steve Jobs , January 2008

With the release of Amazon’s eBook reader, Kindle, the speculation flourished on how successful such a product could be. Two years since its release, the Kindle has generated Amazon a large amount of revenue in both Kindle sales as well as eBook purchases for the Kindle. In the current digital age, paper based literature had seeming gone by the wayside. The Kindle is a fresh attempt to move print into digitally consumable package and extend a lifeline to publishers and authors alike.

The Steve Jobs quote highlights the general conception of reading in America. What Jobs disregarded was that only a small number of consumers who do read books purchase the bulk of books. These heavy consumers are the only thing keeping your local bookstore from becoming solely a coffee shop. With that in mind, what effect does the Kindle have on brick and mortar bookstores? According to Seth Godin, the heartbeat of brick and mortar bookstores should be prepared to flat line in the coming years. The effect of channeling”load-bearing” consumers from any market into a new venue is sure to collapse the original structure they helped maintain. This all progresses towards the next question that might be asked. What will happen to the libraries?

Retrieved on December 28th from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/how-the-kindle-let-amazon-make-a-lot-from-the-few/

Retrieved on December 28th from http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/08/despite-flaws-kindle-a-growing-success-for-amazon.ars

Retrieved on December 28th from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/its-not-the-rats-you-need-to-worry-about.html

How mobile news affects traditional television news outlets

The recent explosion of smart phones in the consumer market has had a dramatic effect on the way people consume news. Suddenly, breaking news does not just happen to interrupt your regularly scheduled program if you happen to be watching television. Instead, breaking news generates a small buzz in your pocket and awaits your attention. Mobile news distribution is having a dramatic effect on how consumers stay informed.

The traditional example of a business person who consumes their news with the television playing in the background while they prepare for the day suddenly becomes streamlined. This model of a classical news outlet has several limitations that are exposed by the opportunities of mobile news.

First, indulging in the morning news show allows only a single source at a time (unless you have multiple televisions just buzzing around the house). By changing the channel, you can begin to consume another source of news, but this may cause you to miss important information from another outlet. With mobile news applications, users can designate multiple sources of news and customize the how often they interact with each source. This “have it your way” style of news consumption allows for news to be consumed by individuals who demand variety and the ability to filter past unwanted information.

Second, consumers become allocated to time slots of traditional news. If you sleep in that morning, your news opportunity has been cut short. The rigid behavior of traditional media content allows for many missed opportunities on both the consumer side as well as the media outlet’s side. Consumers can easily miss a news opportunity because of a scheduling conflict. News outlets are losing opportunities for advertisement and brand penetration as well. In the mobile news arena, stories take on the behavior of a text message or an email forwarded to the device. When an opportunity arrives for a consumer to view the story, they can take advantage within the flow of their day.

Mobile news application

retrieved on December 28th at http://mashable.com/2009/12/24/news-media-content-trends/

iPhone vs. Blackberry

It’s an ongoing battle between the iPhone and Blackberry…a rich debate—and you’re either for one, or against one…there’s no in between!

Let’s talk the talk:

Blackberry was created to “do business.” Companies and corporations are more likely to operate with Blackberry server products. The Blackberry is far superior to the iPhone in this realm because of its connectivity to Microsoft Exchange server, and the mobile email. The Blackberry has a slower CPU,but makes up for it with office applications.

BUT, the iPhone has more storage, a faster CPU and more RAM. All of this indicates that the iPhone is more condusive to playing games. Recently, the iPhone became compatible with Exchange Server, which was a huge step toward integrating with business.

The Blackberry is said to be sturdy and durable, but the iPhone is commended for it’s exceptional graphic interface.

In a recent poll, here were the results:

Blackberry wins for best keyboard.
Blackberry wins for longest-standing battery.
iPhone wins for best voice recorder.
And for email–it’s a toss up between them both.

From what I’ve read, and from what I’ve experienced using both phones…neither is particularly better. It really depends on the person. As for me for example…I’m not so much into touch screens, or advergaming of any sort…so Blackberry works best for me. I enjoy checking my email, having a functional keyboard, and using it for work-related services.

What are your thoughts? Who are you rooting for—the Blackberry or the iPhone? Ooohh…it’s a close call!!!

References:

Retrieved on December 27th from http://www.iphonevsblackberry.com/

Retrieved on December 27th from http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/08/great-geek-debates-iphone-vs-blackberry/

Let’s Evaluate.

There are some websites that help consumers evaluate brands one at a time. Then, there are other sites that help consumers compare brands across the board. In this post, I’ll be explaining how these different websites might influence consumer decision-making in both a positive and negative manner.

Amazon.com allows consumers to evaluate brands at one time. As we all know, Amazon is a website that features a plethora of products, but I narrowed in on the “Beauty” category. On the left side of the page, I was able to view a long list of beauty products—ranging from Sephora, Clinique, Avon, Estee Lauder, and many more! The website allowed consumers to search by brand. One at a time, I went through the brands that I was interested in—looking at all the specials, gathering color and style information, and paying attention to the “Average Customer Review” listed below each product. The “Average Customer Review” could influence consumer-decision making because it provides feedback from real customers, who’ve had real experiences…both positive and negative experiences. Therefore; this could both positively and/or negatively influence consumer decision-making.

Also, looking at each brand individually was in one sense positive because it allowed me to look at each brand one at a time and to focus on that particular brand and gather details before moving onto the next brand. However; I was interested in comparing the eye shadow shade colors among the different brands, and I was unable to see them side-by-side, allowing me to get a “close-up” comparison.

Another site I visited was www.autotrader.com. This website helps consumers compare brands across the board! A consumer simply goes to the site, clicks on the “Compare Models” tab, and from there—consumers are able to select car brands, makes, and models and evaluate the different products all at once, across the board. This method of comparing brands “across the board” is positive because the consumer can compare the price, features, and info for several products at once. However; this could also negatively influence the consumer too, simply by choosing a brand over another based on that direct comparison that the website provides.

Sources:

Retrieved on December 8, 2009 from www.amazon.com.

Retrieved on December 8, 2009 from www.autotrader.com

The 3 M’s…media/marketing/MISHAPS!!!

What exactly is cross-cultural marketing?

It involves learning how to adapt your company’s marketing strategies and marketing communications to the cultural differences in your various international markets. By applying cross-cultural marketing techniques, companies can increase their overall international marketing effectiveness….but they can also decrease their effectiveness if they aren’t careful…

Many unfortunate situations can occur when a company crosses cultures and fails to recognize the meaning of a particular symbol or symbols. Of course, these sorts of misunderstandings can happen with language, mannerisms and other aspects of communication as well.

Just a couple cross-cultural MISHAPS on the wall of shame—

“Besides the product, which is the manifestation of the positioning, the name is the most critical link to positioning itself. A name can add value, add margin, and add positive associations with your company product or service” (Hiebing & Cooper, 2003).

IKEA
IKEA introduced a workbench named, “FARTFULL.” Since “Fährt” is German for travel, that term fits the product well (in Germany) because the product is actually a mobile desk. Sales did not suffer from this translation barrier.

Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce changed the name of its car the Silver Mist to the Silver Shadow before entering Germany. In German, “Mist” means manure. It was a good move for the company to eventually change the name to “Shadow” rather than to keep “Mist” when Rolls Royce crossed over into the German market with this product.

Common phrase/term
Germany uses a refers to the American sachel/knapsack as a “body bag.” A term that isn’t used lightly here in America. It’s a product whose understand certainly gets lost in translation.

Sometimes companies choose to change their product name, and/or re-phrase a certain mannerism. However; there are other times when “any attention is good attention” is the concept. In our readings we’ve learned that what’s in a name counts! Naming your product is very important, and understanding how your product name and/or phrase translates in a different culture is key to product success!

Here’s a link to a long list of marketing and media mishaps!! —> http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/crosscultural-marketing.html

Sources:

Hiebing, R. & Cooper, S. (2003). The successful marketing plan: a disciplined and comprehensive approach. McGraw-Hill Professional.

Say ‘Yes’ to Property Rights!

Property Rights…

I think property rights are definitely important—if these regulations were not put in place, materials would be distributed from place to place, without giving “credit where credit’s due.” Property Rights are vital to protect online material…it’s unethical to take someone else’s work, and claim it as your own.

Several websites and online companies have really started to seriously practice the solid idea of Property Rights—one example that comes to mind is Utube…especially concerning the rights of various broadcast networks. In this past week’s lesson in my IMC Class, we learn that, “Among the biggest Internet privacy issue concerns undisclosed profiling – a process by which marketers construct user profiles based on information like name, address, demographics and online/offline purchasing data. While marketers argue that profiling helps them target special market niches and speak to consumers with tailored messages, the FTC has stated Web sites that claim they don’t collect consumer information but allow advertisers to build profiles are violating consumers’ rights and can therefore be charged with deception (Wilkerson, 2009).”

I believe that if we didn’t have regulations, Internet users wouldn’t feel as comfortable sharing information online—completing inhibiting our access to creativity, art, and a vast ocean of information and details.
Finding ways (concrete standards) to regulate the rights of episodes, officials videos, books, and much more has in some regards been challenging. In this week’s readings, we learn that it’s not always easy to regulate a medium that does not occupy a physical space. (Lesson 9: P.I. Reed School of Journalism).

In my opinion, social media sites will fight to be ethical, if privacy infringements like these continue…it’s important that online material is protected.

Check out this UTUBE video that talks about Internet Governance… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTG-J0IrSs

Sources:

Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University (2009). Lesson 9: Codes of Practice, Ethical and Legal Issues Regarding IMC Uses of Emerging Media. Retrieved December 22, 2009

Sipior, J.C., Ward, B.T., & Bonnor, P.G. (2004). Should Spam be on the menu? Communications of the ACM, 47(6), 59-63. Retrieved on November 18, 2009, from http://ecampus.wvu.edu