I frequently see students suffer from cognitive bias. They define the world based on their own observations and experiences and it can be a challenge to help them break free of their own bias and look at the market more objectively. Demonstrating this bias is pretty easy – just ask your students how Coca-cola should market a new beverage. Chances are they’re going to answer the question based on what they think will be most effective for them and their peers but they need to think about it from a corporate perspective. What’s the largest and/or most profitable target market? Should they use a segmented strategy or combine multiple demographics together?
This Marketoonist cartoon and the accompanying narrative illustrates this idea. The article says that Baby Boomers control 70% of disposable income in the US and spend ~50% of the consumer product dollars but only 5% of advertising dollars are directed at them. What do your students think about that?
2018 was a rough year for Facebook on multiple fronts. This article, “
Wendy’s and McDonald’s are once again competing for customers. The most recent efforts have centered around luring customers into installing their mobile apps. Wendy’s has been giving away free burgers to help promote use of their mobile app and now they’re using giveaways to promote both the app and their new Harvest Chicken Salad (
Over the summer one of the most talked about marketing campaigns was the IHOb campaign. The International House of Pancakes announced they were changing from IHOP to IHOb and later announced that the “b” stood for “burgers”. Shortly afterward they admitted it was all a publicity stunt to help build awareness of their line of burgers. This campaign has potential for a couple of class discussions. First, was it successful? Clearly they succeeded in getting people talking about their company but whether it drove sales is more ambiguous.