Marketing has caught the VIRUS!

Think of the latest video you watched on the Internet. Did you like it so much that you forwarded it to your friends? Did your friends then forward the video to more friends? This is how videos become viral.

In our Media & Culture class we recently talked about Viral Marketing which is a form of online marketing that encourages the receiver of a message to pass it along to others to generate additional exposure. But sometimes the message doesn’t have to specifically come from the marketers and advertisers themselves…

This is Lilly and this Youtube video shows her reaction when her mom tells her that they are going to Disneyland for her birthday.

                                      

Now didn’t that video just give you the warm and fuzzy feeling to want to take your children or little siblings to Disneyland?



Click to see Lily and Mickey Mouse

The video may not have been specifically made to promote Disneyland but it does have a big Emotional Appeal to its viewers. You form an emotional attachment to Lilly and her “brand loyalty” towards Disneyland and its services. Even if it wasn’t intentional Disneyland is still going to benefit on all the “buzz” created from videos like this.

I like to think of viral videos being very similar to testimonial advertisements. Everyday consumers are viewed positively experiencing a company’s brand(s). Rather then spending millions on celebrity endorsements  like Proactive, companies should be searching for viral videos and trying to benefit from them.

With your consumers just thinking they watched a really funny or adorable video they wont realize that in the back of their mind is the company or product(s) responsible for such reactions. Almost like a new 007 of product placement?

McGlobalization? (Revised after Marking)

Glocalization as the creation of products and services intended for the global market but customized to suit local needs (Tuckwell, K. Canadian Marketing in Action, Eighth Edition). McDonalds is a company that seems to be prospering from this strategy.

You need a lot of money to be a successful franchise. You need even more money to advertise to a mass market. You need even more money than that to market globally. And finally, you need a heck of a lot of money to be able to market globally to mass markets with local food within their cultures. Now what other franchise has the ability to pull off such feats as these? McDonalds of course.

 

The McRice in Hong Kong

It is almost sickening to think that a fast food franchise like McDonalds (which is starting to offer cheaper made products of poor quality for higher prices - as tasty as their food may be) is riding on the backs of multi-cultures people across the globe just to make a higher profit.

The Green Bean Pie also in Hong Kong

Serving items like green tea milkshakes and salmon burgers with dill sauce. McDonalds is a great example to any company that is thinking of expanding their franchise around the world. Strictly from a business point of view McDonalds is still a leader in the fast food service. Challengers like Burger King, Wendy's and Harvey's are finding it hard to compete with the customer loyalty and company longevity of McDonalds.

So I guess as long as children everywhere nag and whine for their Happy Meals, and the busy worker needs a quick place for a quick meal McDonalds will probably always continue to dominate market share of the fast food industry. That's a global McProblem I hope someone one day resolves.

The Croque McDo in France

Everything Can be Obtained... for a Price of course (revised after marking)

Have you ever stopped to wonder how companies like Sport Chek or Toys R Us achieve such a strong connection with their customers? How they seem to always catch the attention of clients perfect for their products without seemingly trying? How did they become so successful?

Whether it seems creepy and unethical or not, companies like NAICS offer Industrial Market lists which target specific businesses. Geographic (geocodes) targets people by their postal code locations. You can rent market segment lists based on demographics or social factor segmentation (otherwise known as peer groups.) You can rent lists that focus on psychographics, which are your attitudes, interests and opinions. You can also rent lists on customers focusing on shopping behaviour.

No matter what your target market is there will always be a way to find out valuable information on your future customers. But like I said everything comes for a price. For the great price of 10¢ per name (amounting to $100 per the standard 1000 name list) you can rent a list to help further your company’s success.

Below is an example of a market segment list from Neilson PRIZM of www.tetrad.com. This list shows the top 66 current demographic segments that humans as customers fall can be categorized into. It also gives a description of their likes, dislikes, income, attitudes, and age range.




CLARITA PRIZM NE 01-66 Segments 

  

Although some of these segments are stereotypical and possibly offensive, companies fight over this kind of information to gain an upper advantage on their competition.  So just remember we are always offering ourselves up to be compiled and configured into lists with hundreds of other shoppers just like us, for the benefit of the “big wigs.”

How far is TOO far, when it comes to Advertising? (revised after marking)

While searching the Internet I came across the subject of skin whitening. I found a post by The Situationist that discusses the newest craze of skin bleaching and the advertisements that are spawning from it.

VICHY Laboratories has created Bi-White the Skin Pigmentation ID. This line of products ranges from deep cleansing gel, whitening toner, and hydrating fluid. Advertisements like this are seen widely across India, Korea, Japan and China.

Companies like VICHY, L’Oréal, Avon, and Garnier are capitalizing on the the prejudice notion that the modern day successful woman is Caucasian or light skinned. The research firm Euromonitor International stated that the $318 million market for skin care has grown by 42.7 percent since 2001. That is a lot of woman who have been persuaded and cohersed into being unhappy and embarrassed with their own natural skin tone and buying into skin bleaching products.

Should companies be allowed to advertise such messages? As an African-Canadian myself, I find the idea very disheartening that businesses are now capitalizing on woman’s lac of self esteem and gullibility. Natural beauty should be preserved and cherished not bleached away just to get a six-figure pay cheque.

Below is a Fair & Lovely commercial that is shown in India to promote skin bleaching



If you want to learn more, follow their blog The Situationist!