Week 14 Journal

Social Media

Social networking can be described as a network or community of people that have common interests. Social networking can be face to face however it is most popular online. Social Networking sites such a facebook, twitter and myspace allow users to stay in contact with each other without being face to face. This creates large scale communities with a range of interests whether it is for networking for personal reasons or business.

Social networking has become one of the most influential ways to advertise and promote business activities. This is evident in the breast cancer campaign "I like it on..." the campaign allowed any facebook user to write a status "I like it on..." the couch, the floor, the kitchen table etc. The users are actually writing about where they like to put their hand bag/purse however the sexual connotations are a successful marketing ploy. The campaign is to raise awareness for breast cancer and is successful at capturing a large audience.

http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/i-like-it-on-facebook/

Twitter uses similar marketing activities however it allows celebrities to advertise themselves. Twitter was also a marketing tool used in the past election with many politicians writing posts to gain votes.



A recent episode of futurama comments on the use of social media, the paraody "twitcher" was created with a virus that could control users minds. The episode comments on how the social media captures such a large audience and is generally used for nonsensical humorous videos.

I personally do not use twitter, however i do read tweets when they are posted on other websites. E.g. Pete Vs Toby is a clothing label that posts lots of interesting things on their blog about their designs, other creative activities and also shows their twitter posts. I think twitter is a really useful tool for anyone who has anything worth promoting or anything worth talking about. I wouldn't recommend an average joe to join twitter as no one will want to read your tweets.

References

Transport London "Do the Test", viewed September 14, 2010. http://www.dothetest.co.uk/basketball.html

"Good Morning Pluto" Insight 51 Campaign, viewed September 16, 2010. http://www.insight51.com/Campaign_Archive/2007/Good_Morning_Pluto/Good_Morning_Pluto.php,

Popular Business Trends, Trendhunter Business, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.trendhunter.com/popular/category/business-trends

Internet trends: marketing research and predictions, Trendspotting Blog, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/

Fredrickson, C 2009, Trends to Watch - All of eMarketer's 2010 Predictions, weblog, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/trends-watch-emarketers-2010-predictions/

Eat, the real food company, viewed September 18, 2010. http://www.eat.co.uk/index.html

NSFW. A hunter shoots a bear 2010, Tippex Experience, online video, viewed October 18, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M

The W3C Markup Validation Service, viewed October 20, 2010. http://validator.w3.org/

Parr, B 2010, “I Like It On” Facebook Breast Cancer Campaign Goes Viral , weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/i-like-it-on-facebook/

What is Social Networking?, viewed November 13, 2010. http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/

Pete Vs Toby, weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://blog.peteversustoby.com/

Abdusalaam al-Hindi 2010, "Futurama Satirizes the Apple iPhone", weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://abdusalaam.blogspot.com/2010/07/futurama-satirizes-apple-iphone.html

Glossary

Strategic orientations: businesses need to bring varying methods and levels of strategic thought and application.

Strategic vision: a long term perspective; the focus needs to be on the future in both strategy development and the supporting analysis.

Strategic opportunism: strategies that make sense today. The premise is that the market is so dynamic and uncertain that it is not always feasible to aim at a specific future target.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 5.

Strategic position: specifies how the business it to be perceived relative to its competitors and market by customers, employees and partners. It should differentiate the company from its competitors, and resonate with customers. It should also drive strategic initiatives and the culture and values of the organisation, as well as communication programs.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 46.

External analysis: involves an examination of the elements external to an organisation that are critical for marketing strategy. The analysis should be purposeful, focusing on the identification of opportunities, threats, trends, strategic uncertainties and strategic choice.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 50.

Internal analysis: includes a performance appraisal and an examination of organisational strengths, weaknesses, problems, constraints and strategic options, as these relate to product and/or marketing strategy.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 63.

Trend: An inclination in a particular direction; A tendency; A fad or fashion style; A line drawn on a graph that approximates the trend of a number of disparate points; To have a particular direction; to run; to stretch; to tend; To cause to turn; to bend.

Wiktionary, "Trend", viewed October 14, 2010. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trend

Differentiation strategy: in which a product offering is different from that of one or more competitors in a way that is valued by the customers. The value added should affect customer choice and ultimate satisfaction.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 198.

Value: 1. relative worth, merit, or importance. 2. the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange. 3. values, Sociology . the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.

Dictionary.com, "Value", viewed November 3, 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/value

Brand equity: a set of assests and liabilities linked to a brand's name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm's customers.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 210.

Week 13 Journal

Individual and group reflection performance

Individual performance: This semester I have under gone some quite serious medical complications, however a part from missing some lectures and tutes I feel I have performed to the best abilities I could. Although having a small extension for the audit I was sure to make sure my group had all the sufficient information they needed on the days organised by the group.

It was hard at times communicating with my group without seeing them face to face, however I think we managed.

As mentioned before, our group tried to divide the work of the promotion activity and marketing audit to suit the strengths of each person in the group. I do feel under appreciated in terms of my design strengths when other group members would re-do work i had done (facebook invites and posters for the promotion). However, this is something that does occur in group work from time to time when working with strong personalities.

As a group, I think we managed to produce a well presented marketing audit and a successful promotional activity. The stress of not being provided with much information at the start of the semester for the audit project made the assignment seem harder than what it was, I think this also due to the high standard of work and expectations by group members also.

Week 12 Journal

Group Audit Performance Reflection.

I think our group worked well in putting together our audit. We split the categories up with each others strengths and weaknesses in mind. For example, I am a graphic design student so I was assigned to the branding part of the assignment, as well as creating other graphical elements for our promotional activity.

There was a definite leader in our group, Karan. I think it is important to have a group leader in assignments such as this just so there is one person who is a representative of the group and a person who can collect everyone's work and put it together into one document.

However this being said, I think Karan may have become a bit too controlling, for example, when I would design the invite for our promotional activity or create posters, he would end up creating and using his own. I understand that he is a very studious person and he has a very clear idea what he wanted things to look like however, I wish he would have considered using my invitations and posters that we agreed was my job to make.

Apart from group members strong personalities, we managed to work together well, organizing meetings with UCU staff to get information and group meetings to put together our finished document.


What does it mean to be reflective and why.
Reflection is to evaluate a previous activity. It is important to be reflective to improve future activities by looking at what might not have been successful or what could be improved. It can also help indicate to a business what is already successful/profitable and help businesses strategise how they can use these strengths to become more competitive.

Week 11 Journal

Promotional Activity



Project: UC Refectory Food Court - UC Eat!
Group: Anne Andrew, Claire Bradbury, Chandima Atulugamage , Karandeep Narula
Date: Wednesday, 27 October, 2010
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: UC Concourse, in front of building 1
Description:
1. Game: Aim and Win (Dart Game) - Vouchers given as prizes
2. Food Sampling: will be run by the kitchen staff.






(CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Our promotional activity was a darts game where players could win free coffee and muffin vouchers for the refectory.

The player was given three darts to throw at a board covered in Stone Fest flyers. Behind some flyers were free coffee/muffin vouchers. If the player hit a flyer with a voucher behind, they won!

The concept of the game was easy to play and easy to win. We were supplied a large number of vouchers so we could frequently refresh the board with new vouchers.

To advertise the promotion activity before the date, we set a an event group on facebook and invited all our friends that attend the University.

UCU supplied us with a large UC Eat! banner that we placed at the bottom of the board to reinforce that the activity was to promote the new refectory. The side walls of the game also included images of the new refectory layout and plans. It would have been better to have these displayed more so in a way that participants could take a good look and understand the extent of the renovations of the eatery. As a group we felt like there needed to be a few more posters with quick slogans that would grab peoples' interest, so whilst we started our promotion activity, Karan went and printed off some small A4 posters that we stuck around the game booth.

We also supplied a sheets that participants could fill out after they had played the game. The sheet asked for simple information such as their name, rate the activity from 1 to 10, and any other additional comments. From the information gathered on the sheets, it is evident that the promotional activity was successful as all participants highly enjoyed the activity.

As a group I think we worked rather well, with all of us engaging with participants, talking about the new refectory, giving darts to players, and refreshing the board with new vouchers.

From the criticism given to us by Diane about our posture, I feel although we didn't act in a professional manner, we acted in a way that appealed to our promotional activity's target market. Because it was Stone Week, everyone was in a relaxed and friendly mood and I feel that we reciprocated this. If we were performing this promotional activity in a corporate conference setting, our posture and manners would obviously been more professional. I think our friendly-laid back attitude is what let some more hesitant players participate (with some encouragement).

Overall I think our promotional activity was a success as we captured a large audience and managed to give away all vouchers whilst spreading the word about the new refectory.

Week 10 Journal

1. What is reflection and why is it important in business and when planning marketing.
Reflection is a process of careful consideration and evaluating the effects of a process or action. It is important in business and when planning marketing in order to determine whether a marketing activity is successful or not, and to what degree was it successful. Reflection/ evaluation can also help create or improve new marketing strategies .


Week 10 Blog
The business.gov website has easy navigation with most aspects of a well functioning website. The search bar is positioned in the top right corner which allows users to quickly search for specific inquiries. The sites navigation is positioned on the left hand side of the page. It is more usual that a website has the navigation across the top of the page, however the site works well with the links running down the page. The right hand side of the page also provides useful links such as popular link, social media links, and related pages.The site also provides a site map for easy navigation.

I also checked the website in the W3C accessibility checker and it was approved, showing that the website has successfully completed all aspects that allows it to be disability friendly. These aspects are evident in the small text in the top right hand corner where users can change the size of the text on the site. (http://validator.w3.org/)

Promotion Ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M



This Tippex ad was on the Gruen Transfer a while ago however i think it is one of the most successful viral promotional activities i have seen. It allows users to be interactive with the video as it allows users to type anything that the hunter will do e.g. hunter hugs a bear, hunter fights a bear, hunter kisses a bear, hunter serenades a bear.... pretty much anything, and the hunter will do it.

The most effective part of the ad is when the hunter reaches outside of the youtube clip and grabs the white out product. The visual is strong and startling to the viewer which is stimulating attention grabbing.



I think something like this would be awesome for UC Eat! as it targets a young market segment that is computer literate and is a market segment that would enjoy the amusement of the clip, particularly to create a quick study break, which could also promote the eatery.