Final Reflection on Blogging

Introduction to Blogging

The term blog is a contraction of the term “web log”. A weblog is a journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption (feedforall, 2010).

The content of a blog varies depending upon the blogger (the author of the blog) and the purpose of the blog. Most commonly it is a series of diary entries about the bloggers personal experiences and hobbies (wordnetweb, 2010), as well as a place of reflection and a place to voice opinions. The freedom to view blogs and the ability to post comments makes blogs an excellent place for discussion and debate. This can often be insightful and rewarding given the fact that anyone may comment on what you have to say.



Blogging is changing areas of society such as journalism and politics. It is set to rival e-mail as a personal communication tool. “The number of blogs is increasing exponentially. In March 2005, Technorati, a blog search site, was tracking close to eight million blogs, up from four million just five months before” (jeffryhill, 2005). In 2005 Google purchased the blogging site Blogger. In the same year Microsoft introduced the blogging service MSN spaces (jeffryhill, 2005). This shows that big businesses are taking blogging very seriously and it is an area they are looking to expand and develop.

The Blogosphere (The use blogs as a social networking tool) is also expanding. Any blog with comments can easily become a community for readers to converse and share opinions.

The Use of Blogs in Business

There is a clear use for Blogs in business, especially when it comes to marketing. The ability to reach millions and connect a community through discussion boards is an opportunity many companies would be foolish to miss. “proof that blogs had finally entered the business mainstream was given in May 2005, when the front cover of Business Week boldly proclaimed that 'Blogs will change your business'” (jeffryhill, 2005).

Blogs are now being used internally in companies as a method of project management. They are also being utilised for external marketing, as a communication tool and as a form of PR. The growth of the blog has even stimulated new jobs to be created where the primary role of the employee is to manage and maintain blogs (jeffryhill, 2005).

The barrier for entry on a blog is almost non-existent. They have minimal (if any) start up cost and they require very little skill to create, maintain and use. This makes blogs a very effective and practical way to establish and maintain communication with customers. Despite this however estimates suggest that only .03% of the 34.5 million existing blogs are driving sales or prospective customers to their bloggers (jeffryhill, 2005). However as companies become more proficient at blogging and learn to maximise its effectiveness, this number is sure to rise, after all it is still very new and there is always a learning curve for businesses when it comes to new communication mediums.



The use of blogs in business tend to fall into the following areas:

Humanising your business – Due to their informal nature.

Improving customer service – It can work as an FAQ and help service as customers can contact the business and find out helpful information.

Provide info to the target consumer – Blogs can be easily archived by the creator and navigated by the reader. This combined with the ability to join a blog, being informed of updates, makes it a useful information sharing tool.

Increasing traffic on the main sales website through use of links, blogs also function as a method of search engine optimization.

Promote products or services – You can even sell products via a blog.

Generating income – Through use of external advertising on the blog (Entrepreneur, 2006).



Blogs can be used as a form of relationship marketing, a process whereby a relationship is developed with identifiable customers. In contemporary culture, customers are bombarded with alternative purchase options, their choice has increased dramatically and continues to do so. Therefore it is crucial to establish customer loyalty and relationship marketing through use of blogs provides an excellent tool to establish this.

Traditional PR is dying. People no longer trust the slick and calculated corporate materials and today’s more educated consumer can see straight through PR campaigns. Due to the informal and personalised nature of blogs, people are much more inclined to trust what they read and be influenced by it, especially when comments allow direct communication between consumer and marketer. Blogs can have a downside however, the information contained on the blog is almost impossible to control once it is released which can result in negative outcomes. For example the bike lock manufacturer Kryptonite suffered estimated losses of over $10 million when a video was uploaded to their blog demonstrating how easy it was to pick the lock of one of their best selling products (jeffryhill, 2005).

Blogging can be used as an independent business model. A subscription model could be utilised however it is unlikely that paying for access to a blog will become popular. Selling advertising space and also being acquired by a larger company after gaining followers are also methods of gaining income through use of a blog.

The market for Blogs as a business is very competitive, due to the low barriers of entry. Therefore Blogs are best used as a method of supporting business activities rather than as a primary business model.

Due to the inherent lack of control in Blogs, utilising them whole heartedly can really be playing with fire (see Kryptonite example above). However, if a company is willing to take the risk of utilising this medium then the potential rewards of an almost endless viewer base await.

Use of Blogs as a Learning Aid

Blogs can be used as a method for students to demonstrate their work to their lecturers via the internet. They can make individual postings on various subjects, using various media to convey their points. The posts are viewable by lecturers and other students alike, providing the opportunity for discussion between the interested parties.

Strengths

Blogs provide an excellent learning aid as it allows communication between student, teacher and other students, affording the opportunity of analysis and evaluation of ones work.

It also allows students to view the work of their peers, getting a view of the same subjects from a different perspective, thus increasing the spectrum of the student’s knowledge.

The technology available also encourages the use of linking to academic articles and other sources. It is literally as easy as the click of a button. This encourages the behaviour of viewing and referencing articles, increasing its use in traditional assignments.

Blogging as an assignment allows what would otherwise be a daunting task to become a much more approachable, bitesize chunks activity.

Media such as pictures, music and videos make what would otherwise be flat and boring text, much more interesting for the writer and reader.

The creativity and personality that blogs allow to be conveyed will translate into regular assignments. It demonstrates to students that their written work does not have to be boring and lack personality to be successful.

Lecturers can view and mark work at their leisure, rather than facing the horrific prospect of marking hundreds of assignments all at once.

Lecturers can give instant feedback, affording students the opportunity to change and improve their work before the deadline. Mistakes can be corrected and it reduces the risk of a major mistake costing a student a lot of marks.

Students will be encouraged to increase their technical know how and embrace contemporary learning techniques.


Weaknesses

Students can get carried away with the options available to them (e.g. the embedding of Youtube videos) and focus more on flash rather than concentrating on theory.

Some students won’t take it seriously as they don’t view it as a “proper” assignment

Students without access to a computer are put at a disadvantage

Students without technical know how will struggle


Conclusion

Whilst there are some disadvantages to the use of blogs as a learning and teaching aid, the positives far outweigh the negatives. They provide a more interactive and interesting experience than traditional assignment and whilst some will prefer traditional methods, the majority are in favour of blogs as a teaching and learning medium.

After highlighting the positives, I am extremly releived to say...... THANK GOD BLOGGING IS OVER AND DONE WITH!!!



Cheesy yes, but I feel it makes my point.

Perception Research - CW1

Sensation – “the immediate response of our sensory receptors to such basic stimuli as light, colour and sound” (Solomon et al, 2006).

Here is a sensory receptor reacting to a stimulus, in thius case an eye to light.



Perception – “the process by which these stimuli are selected, organised and interpreted” (Solomon et al, 2006).

Here is a clip demonstrating how stimuli are filtered to allow for an interpretation of the situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYECPiCIVdY

Simplified, sensation is the raw information, what we see, hear, taste, feel and smell. Perception is understanding, interpreting and assigning meaning to these sensations.

Perception Experiment – How Colour Effects the Perceived Value of a Bottle of Wine.

Hypothesis

The the colour of the label on a bottle of wine will affect the perceived quality of the bottle of wine.

Method

10 individuals were selected and were individually shown pictures of the labels from 4 bottles of wine, labelled simply A, B, C and D. Each bottle of wine had a different coloured label. The individuals were then asked to give each bottle of wine a score on how good a quality they felt the wine would be based on the colours used on the label. They scored the products from 1-10, 1 being very poor quality and 10 being very high quality. This is descriptive market research as it provides a better understanding of a particular issue (Brassington & Pettit, 2006).

It went something like this



Thankfully it didn't really.

Results

Wine D had the highest perceived quality, with a mean average rounded to the nearest whole number of 7. Wines B and C both received an average score of 4 whilst wine A scored an average of 6.

Experiment Conclusion

“The colour of the label on a bottle of wine will affect the perceived quality of the bottle of wine”. The results support the hypothesis as they show a difference in perceived quality for the various bottles of wine based upon the colour of the label.

This correlates with perception theory. The participants followed the perceptual process, they received the information by viewing the wine label, they paid attention to the colour, they interpreted the colour in relation to their schemas e.g. a black and gold label signifies quality, and they responded with their predictions. As the theory would suggest they formed their opinions on the perceived quality of the wine based upon their schemas. Some of the individuals schemas grouped wines with a black and gold label together and considered them all high quality wines, others did the same but their schemas suggested that green and cream coloured label wines are higher quality. It appeared that the perceived quality was definitely affected by the individuals personal factors, specifically age. The older participants thought the more traditional light pink coloured wine label belonged to a higher quality bottle of wine where as the younger participants favoured the more contemporary black and gold.

The results suggest that the visual stimuli of colour should be utilised in order to effectively advertise and market a product as it appears to have an affect on the perceptions of the individual. The choice of colour could influence a consumer to purchase an item, or indeed not and therefore it should be considered as part of an overall advertising package.

The experiment however had many pitfalls which prevent the results from having any real implications. The sample size was far too small, a considerably larger sample size would be needed in order to extrapolate the results to the wider population. The participants age should have been recorded and added to the results. The labels contained more than just the colour, despite being asked to evaluate the wine on the colour of the labels alone, the participants found it difficult to ignore such variables as the name of the wine, the style of the label and the imagery (if any) depicted. The information collected was quantifiable, however the ambiguous nature of the question, specifically the use of the term “quality” means the results are difficult to interpret. To one person quality simply means the price of the item, to another it means the taste and to another it means something different still. A description of what is meant by quality should have been given to the participants before they participated in the experiment.

Family Purchasing

Family effects purchasing decisions. Just ask my dad if you don't believe me, according to him his money isn't his, and he's right.



Definitions of Family

Nuclear Family - Traditional structure, married parents and children who live together.

Extended Family - The above plus other relatives e.g. a grandparent

Family of Orientation - The family your born into

Family of Procreation - The family you make for yourself

The Nuclear family still remains the most commen, however sole parent families now constitute 23% of families.

A families needs is effected by the number of children, the age of the children and how many of the family are employed.



I don't think Angelina would be toy shopping if she didn't have a kid do you? At least not this kind of toy shopping.....

Here is a diagram of different family life cycles:



Depending on the stage of the cycle, different purchasing patterns will develop.

What is purchased for a 19 year old



Is not the same as what is purchased for a 1 year old



Things that affect who makes purchasing decisions are:

Discernment - Technical knowledge (you don't want granny choosing the new computer)

Price - Who has the money to buy it

Satisfaction - Who is going to use it (why should dad choose when im the one who's going to drive it???)

In a traditional family, the man earns, the woman spends (yes, this is bullshit unfair on us men)

In contemporary culture it is a shared participation, influenced by the fact that many women have their own income streams nowadays.

For each purchase there is usually:

A Gatekeeper - The one with the cash

A User - The one who's actually going to use the product

An Influencer - People who influence the purchase outcome

A Buyer - The person who actually purchases the product

A Decider - The one who makes the final decision ("your mum says no and thats that").

Who Buys What

Women are more likely to shop (Women 75% men 53%)
Men are more likely to do DIY (Men 46%, Women 26%)
Men are more likely to use the internet (Men 49%, Women 40%)
Men are more likely to play computer games (Men 27%, Women 12%)
Men are more likely to have shopped online (Men 58%, Women 48%)
Around twice the number of men had bought computer software and hardware and electronic equipment)
Women shopped on line for groceries (Women 24%, Men 17%)

Women tend to purchase hygiene and cleaning products as well as food.

This diagram shows that women tend to have authority on all the decisions regarding the family, a traditional view.



How can marketeers use this?

Marketeers can use this information to decide who they are going to target in their marketing campaign.

If the company is trying to sell a cheap little first car, then they need to take into account that although the car may be for a teenager, it is probably going to be daddy who is buying it, thus they need to appeal to the needs of both.



In this advert, it is clear that the marketeers are targeting the father in the family, as they are referencing Ryan Giggs, someone who will be popular amoungst most fathers.

As you can see in the division of tasks diagram, men have authority when it comes to purchasing cars, hence why the advert is targeted at men.



Here the advert is clearly targeted at mothers, as you can see by the use of Colleen Nolan, a woman mothers can associate with, as well as Jason Donavan, a heart throb for the generation.

It is targeted at mothers as they are the decision makers when it comes to purchasing meals (see division of tasks diagram).

Do you think the adverts would be succesful if Colleen was driving the car and Giggs was mincing around at a family get together?

No. Why? Because the advert needs to be linked to which member of the family is buying the product.

Social Class

"Social class is a division of society made up of persons possessing certain common social characteristics which are taken to qualify them for intimate, equal status relations with one another, and which restrict their interaction with members of other social classes" (Krech et al, 2000)

This is an outdated definition. Class used to mean everything in society. Upper class individuals received the best education, the best jobs and had the best social image. It was the aim of the lower classes to move up in class and appear as higher class as possible. To achieve a high rank in the army it was considered essential that you were upper class, actual skill meant less than the family you were born into. This higher class superiority/lower class inferiority was strongly reinforced for a generation when WW2 came around. Conscription meant that many had to serve in the forces and if there were ever a system which reinforced class it is the armed forces. Whilst this class system affected this generation and their offspring, lending to the above definition, this is no longer the case in modern Britain. this young lady articulates it rather well.



No that wasn't sarcasm before, she makes a good point. In modern society it isn't what you ae born into or what your parents do, its what you do that defines you.

Where as in previous generations the upper classes were idolised, contemporary culture glorifies those that emerged from working class backgrounds to find immense success.



Class is a silly indicator really. Ones class can be interpreted completly differently by 2 different people, one mans working class person is anothers upper middle class person.

Despite my protests however, social class is still used a lot as an indicator and marketing tool by marketeers.



Modern social class models are much more complex than ones of days past. There are far more groups and the lines between them are blurred.

The determining factors of class tend to be: Income, ownership, occupation, education, family backgrounds, costume, cultural refinement, reputation and language. However individuals have their own ideas of what constitues which class group soemone belongs to.

Marketeers split the classes into these groups:



Here are a few videos of characters that represent the social classes.

A and B



Jack Dee's character is well off enough to afford a nanny and a nice house. See the contrast between him and the working class electricians interests.

C1 and C2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8PoCIT-dY

The individuals depicted here are skilled working class people, their social interactions suggest they are lower class however they are skilled salesmen and have full time jobs. Funny program to.

D and E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_xd7vmN4oY&feature=related

These people are on benefits and are manipulating the system, a sign that they are lower class.

Determining social class and exploiting it can be very useful in marketing campaigns. Individuals may purchase a product because they feel it represents their social class and place in society, alternativly they may purchase a product because the feel it has the attatched value of making them appear higher class than they are.

Social class is a good indicator of purchase for moderatly priced items that have a symbolic meaning e.g. lower class people buying fake eyelashes, hair extensions and lots of make up where as upper class people may choose to get an expensive hair cut instead.

Income is a better indicator for high priced items that don't carry a symbolic meaning e.g. a hoover or a fridge.

A combination of income and social class data is required for high price, high symbolism products e.g. cars.

Conclusion

Social class is not the indicator it once was, it has become much more abstract. Classes mix much more than they used to and people are able to move between classes much more freely than in previous generations. Behaviour has become much more universal thanks largely to a change in social ideology and more respect being attributed to lower class individuals.

It ain't cool to be posh no more blud.

Culture

Culture can be thought of as the collective memory of society. The accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms and traditions amoung the members of a society.

One of the 4 primary influences on our behaviour, the effect of culture on oneself is not to be taken lightly.

Culture consists of 3 primary areas.

Ecology - The way in which a system is adapted to its habitat, shaped mainly by the level of technology usd to distribute resources e.g. more industrialised countrees in contrast to less affluent ones.

Social Structure - The way social life is maintained, including domestic groups e.g. single parent families and political groups e.g. labour.

Ideology - A shared world view as well as shared moral and aesthetic principles. How people relate to their environment and social groups.



How our culture affects our daily lives often goes unseen by ourselves, but thats because everyone else within our culture is doing similar things and thus we regard ourselves as normal.

Take a look at this video on Japanese etiquite. How does it contrast to your daily life?



It is very important to consider cultural differences when marketing a product to a group in a different country or in an area of different cultural beliefs. Otherwise you can risk not appealing to, or even offending your potential customers.



Whilst this ad may be popular in the US, how do you think a more sexually repressed culture such as India would react to it?

We now live in a much more global society. Large companies such as Mcdonalds have stores and sell products in hundreds of countries around the world. Whilst it is important to maintain consistancy with your brand and products, it is also essential to tailor marketing campaigns to specific cultures. When doing this they need to consider:



High Culture

The aspects of culture that require intelligence to appreciate and which are valued and esteemed by a society's political, social, economic, and intellectual elite.

This is in contrast to

Pop Culture

The cultural practices employed by the masses. These practices are undertaken in place of high culture activities, for example pop culture may be going to the cinema, where as high culture may be attending the opera.



Religion - Marketeers need to be aware of the main religions of an area and the moral valus within that religion. Your not going to get far if you try to sell bacon to a Muslim.

Values and Attitudes - Companies need to consider what a culture respects and what it condemns. I don't know many Amish with an Iphone, come to think of it I don't know many Amish.

Education - Marketing needs to reflect how educated the target audience is. Get too clever and the whole campaign could go right over the consumers head. A witty strapline isn't going to cut it if your audience cant read.

Technology and Materials - Marketeers must take into account the technology available to their target consumer. An E-marketing campaign won't work if the audience doesn't have a computer.

Law and Politics - The laws and political values of a culture can have a huge affect on sales. Saudi Arabians aren't going to but a 6 pack of beer of you, not when your in prison for trying to sell it.

Aesthetics - How people within a culture respond to certain smells, tastes, textures, sights and sounds. What is considered a hot curry over here would be considered bland in India.

Language - Obvious really, make sure your campaign translates well, if it doesn't, change it. Bad translations, while a source of hilarity, won't help you sell and products.



Here is an advert demonstrating how you can use cultural norms to help sell your product.



The marines, a graduation tradition and the statue of liberty, Coca Cola are suggesting that their product is a part of American culture in an attempt to drive sales.

Learning, Memory and Nostalgia

There are 2 main approaches to learning theory. Behavioral and Cognitive.

Cogntive learning theory suggest that humans are complex problem solvers and their behaviors are governed by their knowledge and intelligence rather than just a conditoned response to stimuli. It also suggests that humans are more than just how they behave in isolated events but there are deep underlying thought processes influencing us.

Cognitive Learning

The behavioral approach suggests that we are a product of our environment, our behaviour is the result of responses to stimuli that we have learned over time. It is not focused upon rational thought and suggests that rather than analysing situations we simply react to them based upon our conditioning (what and how learned).

Behavioral learning can be further seperated into 2 types. Classical conditioning involves the pairing of a stimulus with another. In other words you hear, see, touch taste or smell something and you associate that with soemthing else. For example if you hear the music from an ice cream van you instantly associate that with ice cream, causing you to run outside with your mothers change. Operant conditioning involves learning to perform behaviors that yield positive outcomes and avoiding those which yield negative ones. For example a child will learn not to swear if when he swears he is repremanded with a slap and when he does not swear he is rewarded with sweets.

Behavioral Learning

"How does this relate to marketing?" I hear you ask. Marketeers can utilise these theories to help sell their products. They can use classical conditioning to get you to associate their product with something else. For example Lynx get you to associate their product with the attention of sexy women.



They can use operant conditioning and reward you for purchasing their product or for being loyal to their brand. For example Tesco reward you with special deals and money off vouchers to keep you as a customer.



These learning methods can also be used to create brand equity by creating brand loyalty and brand associations. If a person has owned 3 Lexus cars and is extremly pleased with the performance and quality of all of them, then they will likely become loyal to the brand as they have been positivly reinforced every time by having an excellent experience with the car. Also a brand such as Lucozade have been able to creat the association that consuming their product makes you feel energised. Therefore when you feel tired you are more likely to buy a lucozade as you believe it will ake you feel better.



Memory

"If learning is the aquisition of knowledge then memory is the internal representation of that knowledge" (Blakemore, 1988).

In lamens terms memory is the storage of knowledge and what we have learned. Without this ability we would not be the dominant species we are today.

The memory process involves the initial External Input which is then Encoded and placed in memory. This inforamtion is then put in Storage and is retained there, to be Retrived when necesary.

What is stored in long term memory is very rarely lost, however it can be difficult to retrieve unless the appropriate cues are present. Ever had that thing in the back of your head that you just can't remember for the life of you and then suddenly after a bit of thought it pops out. It was always there, its just not always easy to access that information.

Who is Paul Mccartney's wife????



Heather Mills?

Sorry Bush but the answer I was looking for was gold digging nut job, better luck next time.


Memory works by related pieces of information being stored together in knowledge structures. For example different types of pizza will be stored in the same knowledge structure.

Links can be made between knowledge structures for example the pizza knowledge structure many be linked to the pasta knowledge structure as they are both italian foods and are therefore connected.

These links can cause triggering, for example if you are eating pizza it may remind you of the pasta you ate on holiday in Italy.

Nostalgia

A sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time. For example remembering a brilliant holiday you had as a kid and wishing you were back there living it all again.



These whimsical memories stick with us for our entire lives and the emotions we have linked to them can be manipulated by marketeers. By using a campaign with nostalgic themes marketers can link their products with the happiness the consumer feels and thus increase chances of a sale.

When it coms to nostalgia the more senses involved the better, if you can utilise them all then you can recreate environments that are sure to evoke a strong reaction in consumers. Iconic images, music, scents, textures and tastes of them time can all be utilised to great effect.

Senses link to our emotions and sometimes all it takes is the taste of a toffee apple or the smell of mums cooking to bring all those wonderful memories flooding back.

Generation Marketing

This is the method of marketing to a specific generation.



The generations are often split into 4 groups:

Millenials - Born after 1980

Empowered and optimistic. They live in a fast world and therefore expect everything to happen quickly. Being the youngest generation they are the most intelligent (the average IQ leaps 3 points with each new generation). This generation is also the most educated.

Baby Busters - Born between 1965 aqnd 1980

Instilled with a sense of economic uncertainty and a reduced expectation of long term fidelity between employers and employees. This is due to events such as the 1973 oil crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the early 1980's recession.

Baby Boomers - Born between 1946 and 1964

The post WW2 generation. People started settling down into family life and repopulating Britain. Without a war going on people also started to get jobs and establish careers, rebuilding Britains economy. They are aware of what their parents had to suffer and are grateful for what they have as a result. They are intelligent consumers and will not be won over easily by advertising.

Mature Citizens - Born between 1909 and 1945

An ever increasing generation in the UK. Thanks to improved healthcare, cultural changes and increased health awareness people are living older. Therefore the mature citizens market is ever increasing, so much so that it is split into 5 groups.

Over 55 - Approaching or already retired, still has commitments such as mortgage and perhaps children to fund.

Young Olds - Under 70. Both partners alive meaning a lot of disposable income.

Old Old - Over 70. Little money and unfortunatly usually living alone.

Silver Surfer - Less money than old old. Many rely on internet due to inability to travel.

Skiers - Their children are now earning the most they are likely to in their careers and they will benefit from their childs income.

The reader should bare in mind however that the above dates are only contemporarily relevant and need to be constantly updated as generations age and time passes.



Above is a life cycle for those fortunate enough to live a long life. It shows that while there are 4 main stages in life, there are also 3 significant transitions. These transitional periods are essential to marketeers as if they can catch people while they are transitioning, they may be able to influence their buying behaviour for a long period in there life.



Here is a graph demonstrating current population distribution.



It is worth mentioning that some generations e.g. silver surfers become a niche, due simply to the fact that there are so few of them compared to other generations.

SPOTLIGHT - Pester Power

"Kids represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents buying decisions and they are the adult consumers of the future"

Article on marketing to kids

Industry spend on advertising to children has increased dramatically in the past 10 years, from $100 million in 1990 to over $2 billion in 2000.

This is due to trends such as smaller family size, increased disposable income due to women gaining employment and later in life pregnancies, guilt purchasing.

Pester Power is the ability children have to nag, moan and pester their parents to get what they want. PERSISTANT nagging is simply asking for the item repeatedly, IMPORTANCE nagging however plays on the parents longing to provide the best for their children.

Pester power also plays on quick fix parenting. Parents who don't have time to spend with their child or perhaps do not even live with their child will rely on expensive presents to gain their favor.

Cultural changes in parenting have also had an effect. Children are now rewarded for good behaviour by their parents when in previous generations they were punished for bad behaviour and were expected to be good all the time without the incentive of reward.

Pester power can be very effective, advertise to an adult to sell a childs product and the adult will see it once, advertise to the child and the adult will hear about it a million times!

A child does not have the ability to analyse an advert or a product the way an adult can, looking past the adverts bells and whistles and objectivly evaluating the product. Therefore they are a much less complicated group to advertise to, a real benefit for marketers.

Enterprise Week - The Apprentice Challenge

The apprentice challenge is a competition in the style of the popular TV show The Apprentice in which teams compete in various challenges, with the ultimate goal of making as much profit as possible. Any current students studying any subject and from any year could compete as part of a 6 part team. The team would be given money from a sponsor company to participate in the challenges.



I will be talking from the perspective of team leader of team Smarty Pants, being Lynne, Francine, Hannah, John, Ian and of course myself.

When we heard about the apprentice challenge, it went the way of a school disco, all the girls teamed up and the boys did the same. Being that we are no longer 12 we decided that a mixed gender group would be more beneficial all round, bringing more variety to each team (plus who doesnt like a bit of female company). So, what proved to be an awesome team was formed.

The team then had to attend a preliminary meeting, unfortunatly only a few team members (Lynne and Hannah if my memory serves me well) were able to attend. It was they who created the enigmatic entity that is TEAM SMARTY PANTS.



CHALLENGE 1 - DOUGHNUTS



Mission - Sell doughnuts and doughnuts only for one day. The team with the most profit at the end of the day wins.

We elected to go for a buy a lot cheap and sell a lot cheap strategy, using all our budget to purchase jam doughnuts from Tesco. We managed to negotiate a spot in Eden shopping centre that gave us an excellent footflow and lots of sale opportunities, all that was left to do was to start selling.

We split our team into 2, the boys taking on a sales role that involved a lot of shouting and generally attracting a lot of attention and the girls handling the money and the transactions between customers. We then further split the team by setting up 2 seperate stands to maximise our sales potential. All the team members did very well, John used his innate charm and sales experience to great effect, Ian however, was utter shit.

An hour or so in sales were not going as well as we had hoped, we needed a USP. It was then that we decided to approach Starbucks to get free coffee to sell with our doughnuts. We managed to blag it and sales shot up as a result.



By the end of the day we had sold all of our doughnuts and we had made a tidy profit. This got us through to the next round!

CHALLENGE 2 - PROPOSAL



Mission - To propose an idea for a stall within Eden to management.

We decided to use our stall to sell painted pictures of popular childrens characters with a sale or return deal in place. Although they were impressed with our initial idea, implementing it was not allowed due to copyright laws. 6 teams passed through the round, each with different ideas. The strength of our initial idea got us through, although in 6th place and having to completly rethink our strategy.



CHAllENGE 3 - THE STALL



Mission - Sell whatever (legal and tasteful) commodity you wish so long as it is purchased using only profit from previous rounds.

After having our initial idea complimented and then crushed to dust we went with what we knew we could do well. Selling cakes and doughnuts. Our strategy was similar to before, although it focused more upon providing a range of cakes of different price and quality, as well christmas cards. This time the sales team went balls to the wall, assaulting the public with a barrage of charm. John and I made it our mission to approach each and every person who crossed our path, we managed an excellent rate of sale, especially amoungst young women thanks to John's gleaming smile. Ian remained a hideous salesman.

Come the end of the day we had sold our entire inventory, even down to the balloons and christmas hats we had used to decorate the stall. The whole team put in a great effort and if paid off, we had made it through to the penultimate round.

CHALLENGE 4 - THE PROPOSAL (PART DEUX)



Mission - Propose an idea for an event to be held in the SU infront of Uni staff and SU managers.

3 teams left, 2 teams get through, we fancy our chances. The team came up with an excellent idea of hosting a James Bond Casino Royale night. This would allow us to play around with a fun theme as well as capitalise on the income that can be generated from gambling. We decided to go the whole hog in the proposal. We dressed to impress and were accompanied by music as well as posters and all our facts and figures worked out. Although they had some reservations about our theme, our effort and enthusiasm got us in to the final round.

FINAL CHALLENGE - THE EVENT



Mission - Run an event in the SU, highest profit throughout all the tasks wins.

It's game time now. Having already decided on our theme it was now time to put the man hours in and make it all it could be. We went on a sales escapade and knocked on every door there was in student halls, selling as many tickets as possible. The girls did a great job soughting out decorations, creating posters, making jelly shots and generally organising the boys. Thanks ladies.

The night of the event arrives and it is crunch time. The doors open but the queues we hoped for were not there. Over the next few hours people came in drips and drabs, we sold a few jelly shots here and there and a few poker chips but there were no big profits yet. The other team next door were in a similar position. Our trump card was yet to be played however and we held on for a few more people before we held our 00's and Ho's auction.

The auction kicked off and despite my initial nerves as host it went quite well. We received some big offers and made a substantial profit (thanks largely to Anthonys longing to purchase the DJ) with no cost.

The end of the evening came and our nerves reached their climax. Before we knew it the announcement came and we were holding champagne and big cheque. We had won!!!!

It took a lot of effort and a little bit of luck to fight through each round and emerge victorious, but we did it in the end, forever confirming......



WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Lynne Carter opened a brothel with her winnings, Anthony Holt is a regular customer.

John is now pursuing an actor/model career, using his good looks and lack of morals to get work.

Hannah opted to have a new experimental plastic surgery procedure, she is now a member of the tall society.

Francine bought a share in Nestle to show her support for Yorkies, her stock went through the roof when Craft purchased Cadburys and she is now sipping mohito's on a yaught in San Tropez

Ian decided to use his new found "talent" for sales and start a telesales business, he is now homeless.

As for me, Im selling myself to fuel my crack addiction.

Future Apprentice Challenge members, team Smarty Pants will be back next year to defend their title, so watch your backs.

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

STP marketing involves segmenting, targeting and positioning yourself within a market.



Segmenting the market is based upon seperating the different consumers into groups. The market can be segmented based upon many factors which adhere to 4 groups, geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral. Using age (demographic) as an example, the market could be split into 3 groups, children under 12, teenagers under 16 and teenagers under 19.




Targeting is choosing which segment would be the most beneficial for the company to focus on based upon segment size, growth, profitability, current and potential competitors as well as the core capabilities of the business and then selecting which segment(s) to target.



Positioning involves selecting the target market and creating and sustaining a differential advantage in relation to the competition. This involves the use of the marketing mix.



In the above advert, bounty is clearly highlighting the fact that it attracts and absorbs spills much more effectivly than the competition. This is a clear demonstration of a differential advantage being marketed effectivly.

Group conformity, Opinion leaders and Peer Pressure

A group is 2 or more individuals who share a set of norms, have role relationships and display interdependent behaviours. A group can have an affect on what we learn and how we behave.

So why do we form groups?

If you break it down to its most basic function, people form groups in order to increase their chance of survival. Hunting, forraging for food, building and defending what is yours becomes much easier if you dont have to do it on your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwt1ioiqMgQ

In modern society however, it is much more complex. Groups exist to fulfill a huge variety of needs and wants.



Maslow suggests that it is one of mans most basic needs to belong to a group, we are very social animals after all.

One of the reasons we establish groups is for social comparison theory. We look at the behaviour of others to provide a guide for ourselves. We normally choose a co-oriented peer (someone whom we view to have equivalent standing) to benchmark ourselves against.

Different groups form different expectations and rules. Behaviour that is acceptable in one group may be considered out of line in another. These norms of behaviour are one of the main influential factors of a group. An individual can comply, internalise and identify or counter confrom in reaction to the pressures of the group.

The power to make an individual conform to a group is based on importance of membership, fear of negative sanctions and the degree of support they receive from others. This peer pressure is often utilised in the marketing world to stimulate purchase.

It is natural for people to want to fit in with people around them, be it neighbours, colleagues or people who enthuse on the same subjects you do. This behaviour is strongly linked to social marketing as people will purchase items in order to achieve this.



The Pepsi challenge provides 2 perfect examples of this. First of all, most people drank coke. The challenge showed that despite the fact most people claimed to prefer coke, they actually preffered pepsi. This would suggest that taste is not the only factor influencing purchase but perhaps people choose to drink coke because it is more popular and by drinking it they are conforming. Further proof of this is that when people became aware that most people prefer pepsi, pepsi's sales increased dramatically and coke's sales fell, why? Well I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to put a pretty substantial bet that it had something to do with wanting to conform to the new trend of prefering pepsi over coke.

Oh what a fickle species we are.

Opinion leaders are people who are frequently able to influence others due to their technical expertise, knowledge, social activity and high interconnectivity with the community. These people can be used for marketing purposes as consumers believe that if they are endorsing a product, it must be worth buying.



Hope you liked it, more blogs to be crammed in before monday.

Values

Values are our ideas about what is desirable, we establish belief systems upon these. We decide what our values are, based upon individual, social and cultural forces. Values tend to transend specific situations and they guide the way people behave. They are linked to related goals that the person wants to achieve, if a person values excitement then they are likely to set goals that will help them lead a more exciting life, for example they may choose to be very spontaneous and live for the here and now (perhaps affecting their impulse purchasing). This living for the moment behaviour will affect every aspect of their lives.




Values can vary from person to person and manifest in different ways. However Kahle suggests there are 9 values that are commen amoungst the masses.

1.Self Respect 2.Excitement 3. Being well respected 4.Self-fulfillment 5.Sense of accomplishment 6.Warm relationship with others 7.Security 8.Fun and enjoyment 9.Sense of belonging


Each of these represents a terminal value (end state). This is what you ultimatly want to achieve. We all go about achieving these end states in different ways.

We all have some of these values but we hold some in higher regard than others. For some self respect is everything where as for others fun and enjoyment is all that really matters. Makes life kind of interesting doesn't it?



Guess which one represents self respect............ Thats right its Kendra Wilkinson, any self respecting person wouldnt be caught dead in those glasses, come on Ghandi, they are soooooo 1935.

If marketers can understand consumer values and motives they can then manipulate these values in order to make products appeal to them. For example a product promising "a real challenge to the mind" is appealing to consumers who have a sense of accomplishment as an end state.



Marketeers can position a product as a means to achieve an end state, thus increasing the likelyhood of purchase. For example a nutrition company may advertise a protein shake saying "6 pack in 6 weeks". This will cause the customer to associate the product with their goal (fitness) and thus as a means to achieve their end state, in this case perhaps a sense of accomplishment.




Laddering is a commenly utilised technique that allows a link to be made between functional product attributes and desired end states.

1.Concrete attributes 2.Abstract attributes 3. Functional consequences 4.Psychological consequences 5. Instrumental values 6. Terminal values

Here it is using a protein shake as the example product.

Protein Shake---->High Protein------>Muscle anabolism---->Get bigger and stronger------>Look better naked----->Self-Esteem

It is clear that a solid understanding of consumer values and a strategy that implements this theory is a very effective way to sell products. It may be challenging and expensive to gain the information but the juice is worth the squeeze.

Thats all on values, on to the next blog!

Gender

Adverts aimed at men tend to emphasize ambition and strength,





















Adverts aimed at women tend to emphasize beauty and youth.



Gender roles vary from culture to culture and time to time, the extent to which we are expected to conform to these roles also varies. In some cultures deviating from the expected behaviour can result in a death sentence, in others deviation from the norm is accepted and even embraced.


You would be a fool not to acknowldege the significantly different approaches required when marketing a product to men or women.

Men tend to be controlled by Agentic goals, focused on self assertion and mastery.

Women are taught to value Communal goals such as affiliation and establishing harmonious relationships.

Throughout history marketing has been dominated by male values, with most situations handled in a more masculine fashion. As more women graduate and become succesful however we will likely see a shift in marketing strategy.

Gender should not be confused with sexual identity. Masculinity and Femininity are not innate, they are non biological characteristics that can vary considerably from culture to culture. In some cultures it is the cultural norm for male friends to hold hands, in others this would be considered unusual and a more feminine characteristic.

Sex typed marketing intentionally alligns a product or brand with one sex, taking on either masculine or feminine attributes.



Notice the association with physical prowess and ambition.



Clearly linking the product to beauty and youth.

Notice the products are very similar, they are both haircare products designed to improve the appearance of hair but they are advertised in 2 completly different ways. Without alligning the product to a specific sex it probably wouldnt sell. Why, because men and women want things for completly different reasons.

Androgyny refers to the possession of both male and female characteristics. No one is 100% masculine, nor is anyone 100% feminine, we all possess a mix of tendencies, however much of a man or a woman we feel we are.



Gender roles for men and women seem to be blurring as time goes on. Many women are now working and earning money, something far less common in previous years. Mens roles are also changing, previous masculine stereotypes are being disspelled and characteristics such as close male friendships are being utilised in marketing campaigns.



Marketing products to a male audience or a female audience is becoming more challenging, relying on traditional stereotypes as the foundation for contemporary marketing campaigns will leave you with an incomplete picture. What does the future hold for male and female gender roles? Only time will tell.

Self Concept and Personality

Personality - A person’s unique make up, which consistently influences the way the person responds to his or her environment.

Self-concept - The beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes & how he or she evaluates those qualities.

Self Concept

The self concept is both a complete evaluation of oneself and an evaluation of many parts of oneself. For example you can feel good about yourself as a whole but dislike the fact you are bald. Self concept has many attributes which span a large and confusing area. They can be seperated by their content, positivity or negativity (self esteem), intensity, stability over time, accuracy.

Self-esteem is the positivity or negativity of a persons self concept.

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People with high Self Esteem tend to be more confident, expect success from themselves and enjoy being the centre of attention. Those with low self esteem tend to expect failure and will try to avoid situations in which they may become embarressed or in which they may fail.

A persons self concept and self esteem is heavily influenced by social comparison. Social comparison is simply benchmarking yourself against those around you. If an individual is surrounded by the elite and they themselves are mediocre then they are likely to see themselves as inferior, likely causing low self esteem. If the exact same individual however is surrounded by those who are below average he is likely to see himself as superior, likely causing high self esteem. Therefore without social comparison, self-concept and self esteem becomes almost irrelevant. If you lived your entire life in isolation, never even seeing another image of a human being, would you care if you had a 6 pack or big boobs? I highly doubt it. Everything is only relevant when compared to something else, otherwise it is just meaningless words and numbers drifting through space. 9.48 seconds, the time it took Usain Bolt to run the 100 metres, gaining the world record. Completly irrelevant and utterly pointless without a social comparison.























































































We have 2 main images of ourselves. Our actual self and our ideal self. The former being a realistic evaluation of our characteristics and the latter being what we aspire to be.




The gap between our actual selves and our ideal selves differs from indiviudal to individual. For some people this gap is small, for others it is a gaping chasm.

We all have more than one self. Almost everyone adapts and changes themselves to better suit different siutations or to appear differently to different people. These changes are dependent on role identities. Certain roles e.g. a student or a boyfriend may be central to ones character where as other roles such as "the joker" amoungst a particular social group may be less prevalent and only shine through in specific situations.

The looking glass self is essentially looking at ourselves as other see us. This involves projecting the image that we feel people have of us. If someone thinks you are a "funny guy" then you may try and adhere to this image.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQId8tN0X8M

Does Russel Brand always act like this or has he adapted his behaviour because he is on a talk show? Furthermore is he only playing the role of the comedian because it is what everyone expects? What stopped him from answering Johnathen's question sincerely and made him go for a comedic approach? Would he answer the question in the same way if he was speaking to his mum? I doubt it.

It is incredibly important for companies to understand how these processes work in order to tailor their marketing promotions and products to manipulate certain tendencies.

For example advertising a product using a beautiful female model may cause consumers to make a social comparison, decide they want to look like the model does and therefore purchase the product in order to try to achieve their ideal self image.



Marketeers may also target certain products at people with certain roles in the attempt to make them buy the product with fulfilling that role in mind.