martketing diary

7/29/2019 Martketing Diary

1/12

ZAGREB SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT

Academic year 2010./2011.

Written by: Tanja Igi

Marketing diary

Course: Principles of marketing

Zagreb, 2010.


2/12

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 fashionbrands- 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 andprices. 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 soccerclubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In most cases, if you prefer Desigual, you wouldnever 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 andmaterials and also for following their shop openings and contacting Custos distributors

to market its products.

No one ever wrote about the end of this lawsuit and that is why I cannot give mycomment on the final decision, but I can comment on Custos decision about filing

Desigual. I consider it as a desperate action of trying to get more of a target market. What

they didnt consider is that Desigual lovers, after this affair, sticked even more with

Desigual. Unfortunately for Custo, Desigual is still existing, not only on the Spanishmarket, but worldwide, and it is stronger than ever.

Topic 2: Controversial marketing

IN

LEGAL

WAR


3/12

Shock advertising

Source: http://press.benettongroup.com/ben_en/about/campaigns/history/ (02.11.2010.)

It was few years ago when I heard for Benettons and Sisleys controversialadvertisements 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 isrepresenting 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 drawingattention 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 advertisingcampaigns in three separate phases and the first one started in 1986, when Benettonbegan cooperation with Oliviero Toscani. The phases where named: cycle of difference,

cycle of reality and cycle of free speech and the right to express it. Each released

campaign, such as the one against capital punishment, resulted in widespread protestagainst 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 repeatedusing controversial subjects for too long and that the impact on the customers was rather

negative.


4/12

Topic 3: TV advertising

Effects 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

thats why I decided to sign up for doing the internship. I had been invited for aninterview 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 wegoing 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.

I have never been a big fan of televi

fact, I have been avoiding watching trying to do something else instead,

have started high school. When I wwent to United States for a year

exchange student. Living there, surr

with lots of overweight people, junk fostarting to have weight problems m

have realized what a damaging ef

human health a food can cause. Since mmother was a nurse, she was taking

care about mine and my host sister's

diet. I have never heard about the topicbecuase the problem is not so spread

country, but my mom was always

about negative effects of televisio

advertising on eating behavior. If it waher, 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 ofunhealty 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 productsadvertised.

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 TVcommercial.


5/12

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 aretrying to have an impact on buying

behavior by ordering shelves, cleaning

fridges, putting promo material allover the place, thus creating a brand

awareness. MIT is organized two

times a year, before Christmas andbefore 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 wasgiven 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 brandawareness which is really important

for every product and company. Itwasnt an answer that satisfied me. I

went further by asking: 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? Thats when I got an excellent answer, which I will never forget. He told

me: 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 advertisingI have ever heard. This experience was unforgettable for me.

Source: my student internship (02.12.2010.)


6/12

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 glanceat all of the beautiful and colorful perfumes,

makes me buy them all. After approaching

the most beautiful and attractive one, withthe amazing desire of having it, you smell itand amazingly, it smells really bad. What

are you doing? If you have money, probably

you end up buying it anyways. If you dont, you wouldnt probably buy the bettersmelling 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 malepopulation 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 aperfume 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.


7/12

Topic 6: Brand image / Business ethics

Procter and Gamble testing on animals

Source: http://www.pandgkills.com/main.html (05.11.2010.)

I have been avoiding Procter and Gambles products ever since Ive heard that they are

testing one animals. I am a huge animal lover and for me, animal killing is almost ascruel as human. The Procter and Gambles 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 isalso one of the richest companies. Its 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 companys 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 dont 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 andGamble again, neither from the other brands testing on animals.

Despite their global popularity, the brand image they are creating is not as good as itcould 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.


8/12

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 Crocs 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 andexpensive, but extraordinarily comfortable.

I have never tried UGG boots myself but from other peoples stories they seem extremely

warm and cosy. Since I have been seeing them every day, they are not even so ugly forme 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 dont want to take them off. They are perfect choice in lots ofsituations 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. UGGAustralia and Crocs are two perfect examples for this statement and after writing this

diary I will probably give up from my decision to never wear UGG boots and go buy a

pair for myself.


9/12

Topic 8: Business ethics

Lying about price reductions

Last winter, I was in shopping for a jacket. While walking along Ilica, I entered a MissSixty 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 thats why I still rememberthe 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 thewinter 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 price

was reduced to 3700 kunas firstly and now, it is even more reduced, and costs only3000 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 theysay 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 youjust cant 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 saleseven 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 notrealize 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.

SALE!

!!


10/12

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.)


11/12

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. Thats is how I came across the articleabout 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. One of their most loyal customers is famous Victoria Beckham, who has ahuge 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 wecan say that each person who buys it is loyal to the brand. If it wasnt for loyalty and the

status symbol, no one would ever buy a million pounds worth handbag.


12/12

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 theadvertisements around me. I have noticed that most logos are

in the red color. I didnt know if it was for a reason and thatswhy I checked it on the internet as soon as I came home. Therereally is an amazing relation between the two and thats 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 andpassion 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 andcreates 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 shouldnt 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 colors and logos wasnt foolish at all. When seeing

advertisements and commercials, but buying also, people do notconsider a color as something that influences their buying behavior,

but researchers and marketing specialists are more than aware of this

great marketing weapon.

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