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.

Week 9 Journal

Read the online case article “Applying global trends: A look at China’s auto industry” Discuss in small groups what are the impacting factors that can impact on business. Student should apply these to their own live case project. Strategically and operationally. Write this up in your journal and make comments.

1. Establish the reference frame
"right frame of reference - a specific problem statement and a clear sense of the industry context for long term shifts."

The UC Refectory could use this by asking questions such as how much of the market share will competitors such as Sizzles and Mizzuna capture in the future? How will this reflect the refectory in terms of profitability?

Because the refectory is re-branding itself it may take time to create consumer loyalty which will make the business think carefully about competing on aspects such as price and value.

2. Expand the solution space
"broaden the potential solution space by challenging conventional wisdom through the lens of global trends."

UC refectory needs to keep an eye on trends. This can be done by gathering data on information such as regulations, macroeconomics and demands.

3. Define scenarios
"quadrant crunching allows planners to generate extreme but plausible scenarios quickly by reversing their underlying assumptions to arrive at a number of different potential states of the world."

By creating scenarios, UC refectory will be able to work with any potential trends. E.g. if sales are down due to the GFC the refectory could already have a number of potential strategies to help them overcome the problem in the case of the GFC, the refectory may introduce marketing strategies such as new customer loyalty programs, discounts etc.

4. Quantify industry impact
"Delphi technique: systematic forecasting method"
keeping an eye of profitability and finances are an important part of trend watching and business success.


Discuss how you will evaluate and measure the success of your promotional activity and how will you use this in improving you recommendations and plan :

In order to evaluate our promotional activity we will be providing a quick survey sheet that will allow participants to quickly rate the activity. This information will be useful as it will help us rate the success of the activity, as well as give us an indication of how many people we get to participate.

The survey will have a space for comments and suggestions which will be useful for future promotional activities.


Week 9 Blog
The business and marketing plan templates provided on the business.gov are a good source of information for anyone who is creating a new business or is expanding an existing business. These templates compared to others found on the internet are more informative with links and explanations about what is exactly needed in order to complete each section of the plan successfully.

In terms of the live case study, the marketing plan will be very useful in order to see what information we need as the UC Refectory does not currently have a marketing plan.

Week 7 Journal

UC Refectory Branding: UC Eat!

The Refectory has just undergone brand maintenance to improve brand image, experience and quality. This brand maintenance saw the Refectory have a redesign of their logo.

The new Refectory logo has created a fresh new look for the business that will help give the Refectory a competitive advantage over other campus restaurants. The UC Eat! logo is a sub brand of the UC Life! brand. The other brands include: UC Live!(Live music, festivals and other events), UC Events! (Academic functions) and UC Fit! (UC gym)

The idea of this sub branding is that consumers will know that these campus activities are all related and run by the UCU. It helps build consumer relationships and create the idea that "everything I need is at the University." (i.e. all retail, events, fitness and food outlets)

The new logo has been treated to look modern without dating quickly. The spot colours have been chosen to look youthful and fresh, with secondary colours to be used to differentiate particular outlets.

Self Progress:
Throughout this blog and through the weekly activities and lectures I have been able to look at what needs to be included in our audit. Personally, this assignment has been hard work to relate my live case study as we really haven't been provided with the information we need. However we have been able to get small amounts of information from UCU and where we do not have information we can suggest or assume information to the business.

The business.gov website has been very useful with the templates and checklists offered and I can see how useful these tools would be in the workforce to be able to complete and audit.

I can imagine the work that would have to undergo a marketing audit in the workforce would be hard but a vital part of any businesses marketing and promotional operations.

Week 7 Blog

I was once again unable to get to a computer for sunday, however here is my response to the Business Consultation site.

The site was created to supply information about policies and regulations that may affect business owners and their particular field of business.
The site is not as successful as other elements of the business.gov site. When I searched words into the search field, no results ever appeared. However, when I clicked into the advanced search I was able to see the agencies and topics the consultation site related to. I think the site would be more successful if the users could see the list of options (agencies and topics) first, rather than searching for options that come up negative.

Eat.

http://www.eat.co.uk/index.html, Viewed September 18, 2010

A food store in England that uses a similar colour scheme to the UC eat! branding.
I don't think brown is a very successful colour for food branding, however i think the way Eat. has used brown in its logo and packaging creates a recyclable/ sustainable feel about the business.

I think UC Eat! could follow a similar approach.



iPhone App:creative promotional tool for the Eat. company

This iPhone App allows users to:
* Find the closest Eat. cafe closest to the user, where ever they are
* See the entire Eat. menu, as well as all the nutritional information for each menu choice
* Receive Soup of the Day alerts
* Receive special offers

Week 6 Journal

IKEA Case Study Questions

1. Describe what is meant by a SWOT analysis.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that helps a company to reach its goals by focusing on its key issues.
“Identification and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses inside a firm and the opportunities and threats in its external environment.”

2. Explain the differences between internal and external factors.
Internal factors describe the factors that occur within the business that the company can change easily. These include finance of the business, marketing and manufacturing processes. External factors are factors that the business cannot control. These factors can include economical, government or social changes in society.

3. Analyse ways in which IKEA has managed to minimize threats to its business.
IKEA has used various strategies to minimize threats. These go under three different categories: Social trends, market forces and economic factors.

IKEA has created a strong system to interact with customers creating customer satisfaction with an online help guide. Not only is this good interaction and follow-up for customers but also it is environmentally friendly and sustainable.

In terms of market forces, IKEA has a large market share internationally, which makes it hard for small companies to emerge.

IKEA’s economic factors include their affordable prices that appeal to those with tight financial situations, however the products also appeal to people who are financially stable and who have an eye for interior design.

4. Discuss the contribution of SWOT analysis to IKEA’s business growth.
The SWOT analysis is the basis on IKEA’s success and control of business activity. To improve business activity IKEA has assessed its external and competitive environments. This has allowed the company to find new opportunities to reduce threats. It also looks at its strengths and weaknesses to help them overcome weaknesses and improve their strengths.


3 Trend Sites



http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/trends-watch-emarketers-2010-predictions/

This is actually a marketing blog, however it had lots of useful information on trends and predictions in terms of e-marketing so I thought I would include it in my 3 Trend Sites.

The article covers predictions and trends about ecommerce, social media, ad targeting and privacy, and search queries.



http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/

Trends Spotting is a site and blog dedicated to marketing trends. Some of these trends include consumer trends, online, video and mobile trends, technology trends, and social media trends.



http://www.trendhunter.com/popular/category/business-trends

TrendHunter is a trend site that has a large range of trends ranging from fashion, technology, pop culture, art and design, advertising, business, environmental and social trends.

The trends have then be categorized into sections such as new, top 20, top lists, pro trends an must see. Trends have also been sorted into how recent

Week 6 Blog
I was unable to post this on facebook as I was not near a computer on sunday, however here is my response:

The three top items that would suit my live case study; UC Refectory, would be:
1. Marketing plan template
2. Growing a business checklist
3. Promoting your business

1. Marketing plan template

The marketing plan template provided on the business.gov website compared to the templates provided on external searches (such as google) was alot more comprehensive then the ones provided on Google. The business.gov template provides information about how to complete the template with helpful links to extra information. The ones that came up from the external search were basic with not much information.

2. Growing a business checklist

The checklist on business.gov is a good in depth checklist, however the search results for external checklists also had good ideas.I think it would be useful for businesses to use both internal and external information to compare different tactic in order to grow a business.

3. Promoting your business

The information provided on business.gov is simple and easy, however it is not very creative. I think once again the use of both google and business.gov would be successful in order for a business to find creative promotional ideas.

Insight Promotions

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

Insight 51 is a surf/skate/street brand that uses strong promotional media to promote the brand and their seasonal campaigns.

The brand is also well known for their strong creative and design ethos which is illustrated in their successful photographic posters. The posters are always playful and strong images appealing to youth and adults. Because these posters are so strong, they become a very viral visual method to promote the brand, with the images being blogged about across the globe.

I think using provoking images that attract viewers attention is a very successful way to promote a brand, as it can be used on the web and in print to reduce promoting costs.

Week 5 Journal

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/basketball.html



This promotional Youtube clip is one of the most successful in my mind. The viral campaign is for the “Look out for cyclists” campaign by the Transport for London.

It is effective in captivating the audience by asking them to participate by asking the viewer the question: “How many passes does the team in white make?” involving the viewer makes the clip interactive and captivating, which gains viewers attention and interest.

When the clip reveals the answer (13), viewers get a sense of satisfaction that they paid attention and were successful. However, when the clip then says: “Did you see the moon walking bear?” viewers may feel intrigued if there actually is a bear because when focusing on the white teams passes it is not noticeable.

In the second part of the clip when it replays and the viewers’ look for the bear he is present and moon walking.

The clip then goes to a slide where it says:
“It’s easy to miss something your not looking for.”

“Look out for cyclists.”

This message and use of the effect on viewers is successful in captivating the audience whilst providing a strong message that everyone who watches will understand. The user involvement and trickery used in the clip makes users want to show and test their friends’ reactions.

This awareness test is one of three Youtube clips created to raise awareness for cyclists.

ANSOFF Matrix: applied to UC Refectory

Product development
• New refectory
• New food

Diversification

Market development
• New product packaging


Market penetration
• Increasing existing customer usage of the Refectory
• Maintaining/ increasing customer market share. This could be achieved by using competitive pricing strategies and sales promotions


Week 5 Blog Response

“Both checklists are easily accessible, with the choice to preview the checklists before downloading the documents.

The information on each checklist is divided into appropriate sections. For example in the starting your business checklist information is sorted into different groups under the headings: Before you start a business, when you start, when you buy a business and running a business. Each section has comprehensive questions that users must answer in order to start their business.

Each checklist has links for advice and support, providing links to websites and phone numbers that a user may need in order to start/grow a business.

In terms of my live case study (UCU Refectory) the growing a business checklist would be useful as they are currently re-branding and growing the business.”