Marketing Diary

ZAGREB SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT Academic year 2010. /2011. Written by: Tanja Igic Marketing diary Course: Principles of marketing Zagreb, 2010. Topic 1: Competition Uniqueness as an absolute advantage Source: http://www. fashionunited. com/news/leads/custo-and-desigual-in-legal-war-200823070855 (08. 10. 2010. ) The topic I chose as the first one is the legal war between two famous Spanish fashion brands- Custo Barcelona and Desigual. The reason why it is the first entry is because I am very interested in fashion and Desigual is my favourite brand.This summer I went to Spain and I realized that there is a brand very similar to Desigual, both in design and prices. This was the first time that I have heard for Custo Barcelona. Unlike Desigual, Custo is not an internationally known and famous brand. Oppositely, in Spain, the competition between the two is very high. I can even compare it with two major soccer clubs –Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In most cases, if you pre fer Desigual, you would never buy from Custo and vice versa. Shock for Desigual lovers came in 2008, when Custo Barcelona filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Desigual.Custo accused Desigual for copying its mixtures of patchwork and materials and also for following their shop openings and contacting Custo’s distributors to market its products. No one ever wrote about the end of this lawsuit and that is why I cannot give my comment on the final decision, but I can comment on Custo’s decision about filing Desigual. I consider it as a desperate action of trying to get more of a target market. What they didn’t consider is that Desigual lovers, after this affair, sticked even more with Desigual.Unfortunately for Custo, Desigual is still existing, not only on the Spanish market, but worldwide, and it is stronger than ever. Topic 2: Controversial marketing Shock advertising Source: http://press. benettongroup. com/ben_en/about/campaigns/history/ (02. 11. 2010. ) It was f ew years ago when I heard for Benetton’s and Sisley’s controversial advertisements for the first time. Since then, I have been checking out their new ads every now and then, because they keep shocking me every time I see them. Recently, there has been a new billboard by Sisley on the streets of Zagreb.The picture is representing a young women on the floor with lots of cucumbers around her and one in her mouth. They just keep shocking, but why? Probably because controversial marketing is known to have an impact on drawing attention to the brand. When searching about the reasons why Benetton is doing such commercials, I found out that they want to raise the awareness about global problems and concerns among their global customers. They have officially divided their advertising campaigns in three separate phases and the first one started in 1986, when Benetton began cooperation with Oliviero Toscani.The phases where named: cycle of difference, cycle of reality and cycle o f free speech and the right to express it. Each released campaign, such as the one against capital punishment, resulted in widespread protest against the company, from the customers as well as governments. Usually, it ended up with lots of free publicity and an increase in sales, but after the ‘death row’ campaign, they decided to stop controversial advertising. They faced the fact that they have repeated using controversial subjects for too long and that the impact on the customers was rather negative. Topic 3: TV advertisingEffects of television food advertising on eating behavior Source: http://www. yale. edu/acmelab/articles/Harris_Bargh_Brownell_Health_Psych. pdf (21. 11. 2010. ) Topic 4: Market impact teams in Coca Cola HBC Does it really increase sales? Few weeks ago, I have received an e-mail offering a student internship in Coca Cola HBC in the selling department. It seemed very interesting from my point of view and that’s why I decided to sign up for do ing the internship. I had been invited for an interview and the week after I have started my internship in Coca Cola. It lasted for a week only.First day of my internship, we all gathered together and were explained what are we going to do in the next five days. Firstly, I was disappointed, but now, after I have finished those tough five days, I am really glad because of that experience. Market impact teams are teams of two or three people, one student and two Coca Cola employees usually, who are going around coffee bars and shops and are trying to have an impact on buying behavior by ordering shelves, cleaning fridges, putting promo material all over the place, thus creating a brand awareness. MIT is organized two times a year, before Christmas and before Easter.In Coca Cola, they are very proud of this actions, but I have always been asking myself, does it really increase sales? The answer was given to me by a young manager, who I was working with. He told me that in the short run and in general, it does not increase sales, but it creates a brand awareness which is really important for every product and company. It wasn’t an answer that satisfied me. I went further by asking: â€Å"But Coca Cola is a well known brand, actually, probably the best known brand in the world. Why are you still trying to raise brand awareness? † That’s when I got an excellent answer, which I will never forget.He told me: â€Å"Yes, everyone knows about Coca Cola, but sometimes you just have to remind people that your product still exists! † That is probably the best explanation of advertising I have ever heard. This experience was unforgettable for me. Source: my student internship ( (02. 12. 2010. ) Topic 5: Packaging and price Is the price, package or smell of a perfume what matters the most? Going into a perfumery and having a glance at all of the beautiful and colorful perfumes, makes me buy them all. After approaching the most beautiful and attract ive one, with the amazing desire of having it, you smell it and amazingly, it smells really bad.What are you doing? If you have money, probably you end up buying it anyways. If you don’t, you wouldn’t probably buy the better smelling one either. This question arises in my head every time I see millions of amazingly looking small packages of perfumes. The other fact that I have realized is that perfumes for male population are not even comparable to female ones. Is the package of the perfume what really drives our purchase behavior when buying perfumes? Some researches show that associating a beautiful design and color of a perfume with the smell makes the perfume more attractive, which increases the purchase.But what if a perfume is a great looking, with average smell and high price? That makes him even more attractive. It is well know that expensive perfumes are luxury goods. Higher price will make them more desirable because when seeing a beautiful package and a high price, we are creating an image of it before even smelling it. Not only for perfumes, this phenomenon happens with other luxury things as well. Human nature is just not strong enough to resist a beautiful package. Topic 6: Brand image / Business ethics Procter and Gamble testing on animals Source: http://www. pandgkills. om/main. html (05. 11. 2010. ) I have been avoiding Procter and Gamble’s products ever since I’ve heard that they are testing one animals. I am a huge animal lover and for me, animal killing is almost as cruel as human. The Procter and Gamble’s testing on animals was also a topic of my speech on the second year of college and that is when I did a little research on this topic. Not only that Procter and Gamble is one of the most famous brands in the world, but it is also one of the richest companies. It’s cruel method of testing can be easily replaced by an alternative.Despite this fact, P&G refuses to stop testing on animals, even though more reliable and humane alternatives do exist. By testing on animals, not only that they are creating a bad brand image and are representing a company’s unethical behavior, but they are also losing a lots of customers each day. Still, it is not important for them. Their earnings are probably still so high, that they don’t have to take care about those 100 people giving up from their brand each day. I am one of them and I can tell for myself that I would never buy from Procter and Gamble again, neither from the other brands testing on animals.Despite their global popularity, the brand image they are creating is not as good as it could be if they spent the huge amount of money they have on behaving more ethically and switching to a less cruel ways of testing their products. Topic 7: Design Ugly, comfortable and expansive-perfect combination I have tried hard to resist buying UGG boots this and last winter, and fortunately, I have succeeded. Different story is with my C rocs slippers. In fact, I have 3 pairs and I just love them. Those two brands I choose because they are well known for being ugly and expensive, but extraordinarily comfortable.I have never tried UGG boots myself but from other people’s stories they seem extremely warm and cosy. Since I have been seeing them every day, they are not even so ugly for me anymore. Crocs slippers neither. From my own experience, I can say that Crocs slippers are so comfortable that when you wear them once, you just don’t want to take them off. They are perfect choice in lots of situations and places, such as home, beach or long way walking. From these two examples, we can see that recently, people changed their points of view a bit.Of course, people still take care about how they look but sometimes, the way they feel in their clothes and shoes leaves a stronger impression than the clothes itself. UGG Australia and Crocs are two perfect examples for this statement and after writing this diar y I will probably give up from my decision to never wear UGG boots and go buy a pair for myself. Topic 8: Business ethics Lying about price reductions Last winter, I was in shopping for a jacket. While walking along Ilica, I entered a Miss Sixty store to see if they have something interesting for me.I came across a really nice, but for me, very expensive jacket. On the price tag, it said that it costed 3000 kunas but it is 50% off, so it costs ‘only’ 1500 kunas. The jacket was from the winter before and that is why the price was reduced. I never got over that jacket and that’s why I still remember the story. This year I was walking along Ilica again and went in the Miss Sixty store to see the new interior of the store. The very same jacket from the last winter, that was actually from the winter before, was still on the hanger. The thing that surprised me the most was the price on the price tag.It said that the jacket costed 4500 kunas in the beginning, but the pr ice was reduced to 3700 kunas firstly and now, it is even more reduced, and costs ‘only’ 3000 kunas. That really shocked me. After telling this story to other people, I heard very similar experiences but with other stores and brands. It usually happens that, if a product is not sold on the discount the year that it has been produced, the price next year appears to be the same, even though they say it is on sale. From my own experience and point of view, words like ‘sale’ or ‘discounts’ or ‘price reduction’ are very influential on human brain and thus, buying behavior.Sometimes you just can’t let other people buy that great shirt or a jacket that is on sale and you end up buying it, even though you might not need it or its price is still high. Experts dealing with selling products and services are very aware of the basic facts in buying behavior and human nature. They know that only a word ‘sale’ will increase sa les even if there is no sale at all. What bothers me is that I am probably falling for that trick almost every day but I do not realize it. As well as experts know how to sell, we should know what we want to buy and we should never follow the words, because sometimes they are just misleading.Topic 9: Brand loyalty Waiting up to 6 months to get on the waiting list – Hermes Birkin bag http://www. dailymail. co. uk/femail/article-1184169/Bag-lady-Victoria-Beckhams-100-strong-Birkin-bag-collection-thats-worth-1-5m. html (05. 12. 2010. ) Since I am desperately waiting to get my degree and have a chance to go for a Master programme in Milan and have my dreams come true, I have focused on a fashion industry and happenings from this field, to be up to date. That’s is how I came across the article about very famous Hermes Birkin bags.Everyone knows how expensive and popular they are but I would never expect that people would wait up to 6 months to only get on a waiting list. On e of their most loyal customers is famous Victoria Beckham, who has a huge collection of their bags, worth about 1. 5 million pounds. This shows a great brand loyalty they have, among the celebrities but the rich part of population also. Birkin bag is a luxury, rather then a need and from that point of view we can say that each person who buys it is loyal to the brand. If it wasn’t for loyalty and the status symbol, no one would ever buy a million pounds worth handbag.Topic 10: Color psychology and marketing Do colors really impact consumer behavior? http://www. syncrat. com/articles/color-psychology-in-marketing (27. 11. 2010. ) On my way to new Arena center, whose logo is by the way, also in red color, I have given some attention to the advertisements around me. I have noticed that most logos are in the red color. I didn’t know if it was for a reason and that’s why I checked it on the internet as soon as I came home. There really is an amazing relation between the two and that’s why firms pay a lot of attention when designing a logo or making a commercial.It is said that red color is a symbol of aggression and passion and it is used to motivate an individual to take action or convey a warning. It is also believed that is stimulates appetite. Oppositely to aggressive red color, green color is way more relaxed, symbolising growth and wealth. It is often used in commercials for natural products. It calms the mind and creates a feeling of happiness. Black color, an example of a neutral color, is well know symbol for elegance, power and sadness, as well. It is said that black color shouldn’t be used a lot when advertising.It can cause sadness and depression. On the contrary, white color symbolises cleanliness, purity and spirituality. It is used a lot in advertising but mostly as a background color, because it makes other colors seem more vivid and bold. All of these examples show that my question about the relation between colo rs and logos wasn’t foolish at all. When seeing advertisements and commercials, but buying also, people do not consider a color as something that influences their buying behavior, but researchers and marketing specialists are more than aware of this great marketing weapon. ———————- IN LEGAL WAR [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] I have never been a big fan of television, in fact, I have been avoiding watching TV and trying to do something else instead, since I have started high school. When I was 15 I went to United States for a year as an exchange student. Living there, surrounded with lots of overweight people, junk food and starting to have weight problems myself, I have realized what a damaging effect on human health a food can cause. Since my host mother was a nurse, she was taking a lot of care about mine and my host sister's healthy diet.I have never heard about the topic before, becuase the problem is not so spre ad in our country, but my mom was always talking about negative effects of television food advertising on eating behavior. If it wasn't for her, I would probably never realize the shocking effects of TV on the eating behavior. All of us know how unhealthy is to eat in front of the TV. It is because our brain isn't getting signals fast enough and we don't stop eating as we would stop if we were concentrated only on eating.Effect which is related to this one is the effect of food advertising on TV and our eating and purchasing behavior. Nowadays, obesity is the fastest growing cause of disease and death in America, caused by reductions in physical activity and overconsumption of unhealty food. A lot of people consider that unhealthy messages communicated to children through food advertising is a leading cause of unhealthy consumption. It is also confirmed that food advertising leads to greater preferences and purcahse of the products advertised.What we can conclude from these facts is that we should try to avoid eating in front of TV or eat whatever is advertised on TV at that moment. When going to the store we should be led by the healthiness of a product purchased and not its package and great TV commercial. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] SALE!!! [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] hRQh!. 5? >*[pic]B* CJaJphâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬0h? )? h? )? B*[pic]CJ aJ hmHnHphsHt INCLUDEPICTURE â€Å"http://www. frechen20. de/include/downs/Editor_files/image/Sponsoren/Topsponsor/bauhaus%20Logo%20sahin(1). jpg† * MERGEFORMATINET [pic]