Tag-Archive for » Promotion «

28
Nov
Black Friday is over…?
Jeannie Chan

Black Friday is over. Or is it?

In this tough economy, retailers are doing everything they can to bring out as much holiday spirit as possible for as long as possible. By this, I mean they are doing everything they can to keep you spending as much as possible for as long as possible.

Sears and Target both are airing commercials highlighting that there are going to be deals all the time. Sears’ promo is particularly strong that Black Friday specials are available every Saturday from now till Christmas.

These commercials highlight how some retailers have adapted to the new normal. This does not apply only to retailers but to the business community in general. Over the last week, I was swamped at work for precisely this reason. I was working on a project that was something that we’d never considered in the golden days, but the golden days are history. The only thing that matters now is what we should be doing going forward.

Businesses are looking forward, not backward. They are no longer looking back thinking about the good old days, but aggressively getting their fair share, or more, in these much gloomier days.

Are you looking forward or looking backward?

Related articles online
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Best Buy #281 – The Night Before ‘Black Friday’, originally uploaded by Croixboy.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Category: Promotion, Strategy / Tactics  Tags:  3 Comments
11
Oct
Money vs Time
Jeannie Chan

This week I learned that the more money you have, the less time you have to spend on any particular tasks. You could hire someone to do it for you.

However, if you don’t have the money, you’d have to spend more time.

This is the equation that any marketer must understand. You don’t need to have a lot of money to have a successful campaign. However, the smaller your budget, the harder each dollar must work, the more creative you’d have to be, the more work you’d have to do yourself. The larger the budget, the more crazy stuffs you could try, the more you could have someone else do the work for you.

However, a small budget shouldn’t limit the success of your marketing campaign.

What’s sad is that this formula, that’s so obvious with small businesses, is sometimes forgotten by big companies.

This is the new economy. This is the new reality. This is a new year. This is the new budget. Everyone of us needs to learn to do more with less.

Photo Credit: funny money, originally uploaded by Material Boy.

Related articles online
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Category: Promotion, Public relations, Strategy / Tactics, Web  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment
04
Oct
Failed Starbucks Via Challenge
Jeannie Chan

Today I took the Starbucks Via challenge… and I was disappointed.

First of all, I could tell the difference. I didn’t know which was which, but I could tell the difference… and I did not like Via. The regular brew had a cleaner taste. So, the challenge did not sway me to buy Via.

However, I learned something about Via… it could be instantly dissolved in cold water, or cold milk! Imagine the possibility in the summer! But, wait… it’s only 50 degrees out… I don’t need a cold coffee… So, that’s an irrelevant message to me. However, I believe that Starbucks would launch a cold Via campaign in the summer. But of course, the problem would be how to differentiate this against the Starbucks’ bottled Frappacino.

Toward the end of the demonstration, I learned something even more exciting about Via. I learned that Starbucks designed the most nifty travel mug for Via. It is a regular travel mug, with a twist off cap that allows easy storage of the Via packages. Now, why isn’t this the focus of the campaign?

I understand that Starbucks is about taste, but Via is about the on-the-go lifestyle Americans have. In addition, a quick survey online would reveal that many could taste the difference between Via and the fresh brew. I am not alone in this. So, by solely focusing on taste, Via’s campaign is missing the opportunity to truly address what the product brings to the consumers’ life. Via’s branding should not be built on taste, something people already expect from a Starbucks product. Of course, people would wonder if Via could deliver on taste, but it isn’t a problem, unless Via really couldn’t deliver… People would not buy Via because of taste. They buy Via because it’s convenient! They buy Via because they wouldn’t have to make a coffee stop. They buy Via because they wouldn’t have to wait in line for a coffee. They buy Via because they could save two minutes in the morning!

Now, let me also give you the context of how this demonstration went. The barista was very diligent in focusing on the taste message. However, being a coffee addict and a marketer, I was particularly interested about this product launch. So, I stuck around and chatted with the Barista a little. It was after I was given the coupon, and the other couple that was also at that particular demonstration had left, that I learned about the cold brewing and the travel mug. Now, imagine how many people never knew about those two really cool facts about Via. How much potential sale lost…

Photo credit: Starbucks Via travel mug, originally uploaded by mhaithaca.

Related articles online
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
  • Share/Save/Bookmark
Category: Promotion, Public relations, Strategy / Tactics  Tags: ,  One Comment
« Previous Entries