teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

This ABC News clip interviews Aaron Shapiro whose new book Users Not Customers tells businesses to stop advertising.  I have not read the book and feel we must be cautious expecting that all businesses can use Google and Facebook as models.  Online firms like these have a unique cost structure that plays some role here.  Still, I think Shapiro has some interesting ideas.  You might consider watching the video to get some ideas about emerging marketing practices or perhaps show it in class with some discussion.  Perhaps asking whether all firms should follow this advice and eliminate advertising and, if not, where this type of strategy would be most/least effective.  We have posted it at Learn the 4 Ps.

This Wall Street Journal article/video combination is really two stories.  One is the remarkable success of Doug, Ford’s spokespuppet.  Doug’s YouTube channel has more than 3 million upload views.

On the other hand, focus of the article, “Big Brands Like Facebook, But They Don’t Like Paying,” (November 2, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here) describes a business model challenge for Facebook.  The company’s $70 billion market value is based on the idea that the social network giant will produce revenues and profits — largely from selling targeted ads on the site.  Big brands love the eyeballs their Facebook fan pages attract, but those pages cost little to produce and generate no revenue for Facebook.  And many firms, like Ford, are spending for other media — in part to drive customers to Facebook.  While Americans spend 15% of their online time on Facebook, the social network giant only attracts 6.4% of all online advertising.  The video below interviews with the author of the WSJ article.

The article has insights for teaching about advertising, media selection, and social media.

I am careful about showing promotion examples from the alcohol industry in my classroom.  I definitely avoid those that promote excessive drinking.  But this viral video (1:39) by Danish beer Carlsberg, takes place at a movie theater in Belgium, is funny.  The ad provides a good example of viral promotion.  The viral video is part of a campaign “That calls for a Carlsberg” that includes scaling Mount Everest (to watch a soccer match — see the ad) and the first man landing on the moon.  See the ads at the Carlsberg website (you have to enter birth date and click through to commercials).

We have made several previous posts on the impact of the economy on consumer behavior.  This ABC News video describes both how consumers are changing their behavior — and how major marketers like Target and P&G are responding.  You can directly link to the video and a related written story, “How to Advertise During a Down Economy,” (ABC News, September 23, 2011).  The video is short at only 2:39 — though you do have a :15 ad before it starts — and could work well in class.  It might stimulate some class discussion to ask:  What companies might do well in this economic environment?  How would you respond if you were Best Buy?   Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream? or Coca-Cola?

I am going to use this when I cover the economic effects on consumer behavior, but it might also work when you look at the external market environment.  We also posted the video only — not the link to the article — at Learn the 4 Ps.

There are plenty of articles (even a whole issue of BusinessWeek) paying tribute to Steve Jobs this week.  As much as we respect Jobs, we weren’t going to join the chorus because we didn’t have anything new or specific to marketing to say.  Then we found this 1997 video of Steve Jobs talking to Apple staff.  Jobs had recently returned to the company he founded (he was booted in 1985).

In the video Jobs explains what he thinks “marketing” is — actually explaining positioning — and introduces the new “Think Different” campaign (for a higher quality version of the ad click click here).

“To me, marketing is about values,” he said. “This is a very complicated world, a very noisy world and we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember us. No company is. So we have to be very clear about what we want people to know about us.”

You might want to provide some context for your students — most of them being only 5 or 6 at that time.  Our students know the successful Apple of today — but Jobs returned to a company crippled by years of losses and record low stock prices.  Apple’s market share in computers was less than 5% (it now may be over 15% based on recent numbers), there were no iPods, iPads, or iPhones.

This might be a nice addition when you cover positioning or advertising.  It might be interesting to ask if this type of positioning works best for certain types of products, and if so, for what type of product.  We also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

STA Travel is a discount travel agency for students.  This is a fun ad that targets our student market.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

This video, “Product Placement Goes Digital” appeared over at Slate.com (September 14, 2011).  The video clip briefly highlights the technology used to digitally place products into television shows after the show has been produced (or even after it has already run on the air).  The video alludes to some ethical issues that might be brought out in a follow-up class discussion.

The video might be a nice addition to your discussion of advertising or integrated marketing communications — as it shows how advertisers and programmers are responding to increased DVR use (and consequently greater zipping through commercials on television).  We have also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

‘Tis the season to sell, sell, sell.  Retailers, and marketing managers more generally, are always looking to give the consumer a reason to buy.  So today we have a couple of articles that show how that works.

First, an article in the Wall Street Journal that describes how retailers create 13 (or more) shopping seasons as a way to encourage more impulse shopping.  There are a lot of great examples of retail promotions in “A Season (or 13) for Shopping” (August 17, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here).

My second article on seasonal promotions taps into the recently ended Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  International examples are always nice to add as class examples — and I don’t see many examples from the Middle East.  This article in BusinessWeek is short and offers taglines and explanations for campaigns from McDonalds and Tang among others.  See “Islam’s Holy Month:  A Time for Self Promotion” (August 25, 2011).

That (see title) is the goal of neuromarketing research firms.  These market research providers use MRIs and EEGs to check out how your brain responds to various stimuli — like different olive oil labels.   The research firm NeuroFocus claims to see things consumers don’t even know about themselves.  For example, did you know that snackers “enjoy” a “sense of giddy subversion” when they have that orange dust from Cheetos on our fingers?  I didn’t know that either.   NeuroFocus looked at how women responded to Baked Lays — and the results influenced the subsequent advertising campaign and the introduction of single-serving packages.

The article, “NeuroFocus Uses Neuromarketing To Hack Your Brain” (Fast Company, August 8, 2011) is very long, but it includes lots of details and examples.  The article mostly advocates the practice — though a few critics are quoted.  I don’t think there is a lot of empirical evidence supporting (or refuting) its reliability and validity as a research method.  Time will tell — in the meantime, it is interesting.  For a related story, see a T4Ps previous post “New Product Development — For Pop Songs?“

Wal-Mart has long been positioned as the low-price leader.  Leveraging its supply chain and logistics system, competitors couldn’t match Wal-Mart’s cost structure.  Now at least some consumers perceptions are changing.  In this Wall Street Journal article, “Wal-Mart Loses Edge” (August 16, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here) we read about recent consumer surveys that show the retailer losing its “lowest price” positioning.  In one survey of 1500 Wal-Mart shoppers, “86% no longer thought it had the lowest prices” while in another survey the number was 60%.  Whichever the number, this is a big problem for a retailer that has long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for low prices.  While Wal-Mart’s perception of value fades, stores like Dollar Tree are seeing their perception of value rise.

While fewer consumers perceive Wal-Mart as the low price leader, what is the reality?  The article reports mixed objective evidence.  In comparisons with Target, with one study by Morgan Stanley showing that in Chicago Target is about even with Wal-Mart (though Wal-Mart was more than 20% lower priced than Safeway and Supervalu) and another study by Goldman Sachs showing Wal-Mart 6.2% lower than Target overall.

This case study could provide interesting fodder when you discuss positioning.  We define positioning in our books as “how consumers think about proposed or present brands in a market.”  You can remind students that perception is what counts among consumers.

You might recall that a few years ago Wal-Mart changed its tagline from “Always Low Prices – Always” to “Save Money.  Live Better.”  Wal-Mart wanted to appeal to a more upscale crowd and develop a greener image.  Perhaps this change de-emphasized the previous price positioning.  The new dual positioning may not be as clear to consumers — opening opportunities for dollar stores to take the lowest price mantel from Wal-Mart.

This opens the door to a good discussion with your students.  Asking them:  What should Wal-Mart do now?  Change its positioning?  Or try to re-gain the low price position?  Given its history and strengths, it seems clear to me that the retailer needs to regain the consumer perception of value.  Perhaps there is a need for more advertising?  Or should the store revisit the everyday low pricing model it has traditionally used — perhaps the hi-lo pricing models of some competitors have helped confuse the market and harmed Wal-Mart’s positioning.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.