Ring the Buzz.

Have you ever been in a situation where you go to a mini market or your local convenience store and see that one cold drink all the time but never had the urge to try it, or even noticed it? That scenario happened to me, and that product was bottled green tea, flavored bottled green tea.

I like green tea. I like green tea a lot. Though, when it comes to choosing a brand of green tea, I'm kind of picky. So back the scenario, one day my friend that likes green tea as well told me that there's this particular brand of green tea that drove her taste buds crazy. I'm not naming any brands so let's just say it's Green Tea X. Sounded familiar to me but at that time I couldn't recall where or when I saw said Green Tea X. Well, she described it as if she just discovered the fountain of youth so I went looking for it the next time I went to the local convenience store.

As I got there I just realized that Green Tea X is actually the same green tea brand I've been ignoring this whole time! I decided to buy it, didn't taste as good as her description but it wasn't bad, but not not bad enough for me to buy it again. Then it occurred to me, why have I been ignoring that brand the whole time I saw it?

Well, maybe because:

(a) I never saw their TV/Radio commercial (Not their fault, I don't watch TV nor listen to the Radio)
(b) I never heard of their promotional activity of any sort before (again, maybe because it's my caveman lifestyle)
(c) A friend never referred it to me before and I'm too hooked up on my current favorite bottled green tea brand.

But even if there were advertisements, I'd just know its existence and unless it was a very impressive and effective advertisement, I wouldn't buy it.

Promotional activities are good but not good enough if I'm not involved in the activity and no one that I know is involved.

The third one, however, is a very interesting one. A good word of a product from a good friend could rocket the levels of my interest from awareness, surpassing interest, skipping desire a bit, and straight to the action phase. Think about that for a minute marketers. Think about that and embrace the omnipotent of the buzz marketing. (look it up)

Is advertising dead?

So, is advertising dead?

Interesting question really. If you haven't realized this issue, let's recap with this little quiz:

1) You're on the road, there's major traffic, and the only thing that's keeping you from transforming into Hulk is because you're listening to your favorite song on the radio. You're jamming, epileptic somewhat. Then the song ends. Then an advertising shows up telling you how much you need to have this new credit card. You then:

a) Turn the dial to the next channel

b) Become interested to the ad and stay tuned

c) Decide to climb a coconut tree and pursue your career as a coconut.

2) You're watching your favorite soap opera. If you're not into soap opera, then imagine you're watching your favorite movie. If it's not your favorite movie then your favorite program. If neither then, for the sake of anything holy, pretend you're watching whatever it is that you're into. Then just when whatever you're watching's getting good, just right when the hero was about to save the damsel, just about when Darth Vader was about to tell Luke he banged his mother all a sudden some overly-happy looking kids shows up on your screen telling you how good whatever their drinking is. You then:

a) Change channels or do whatever you were supposed to do before you decided to slack off.

b) Admire the ad, albeit you watched it for the millionth time by now, and even develop the urge to purchase that product.

c) Decide to bite a spider and see if it becomes Man-Spider, the totally opposite version of Spider-Man.

If you chose anything else other than the option b, you should understand by now what people mean when they say "advertising's dead". If you chose C and decided to enact it in real life, you might need professional help. 

It's a bit exaggerated but I'm pretty sure you get the point and can relate... somehow. Back to the main question, is advertising dead? Considering people are tired of being bombarded by advertising and its every form, whether it's TV commercials, radio commercials (especially those built-ins, sometimes they just sound so fake) billboards and such. 

Is it true that advertising has no more effects on audiences anymore? Is it true that although the cost for advertising is way more expensive than the price of your left shoe, that it is futile? IS IT TRUE THAT DISNEY'S IN CHARGE OF THE NEW STAR WARS MOVIE??? Yes, that's true.

But for the rest...

I hate to leave you in a cliffhanger, because I'm nowhere near a cliff and it just happens I lost all my hangers recently, however I'll discuss more of whether advertising is dead or not on the next post.

Phones These Days ...

I'm a geek, more or less. I'm a technophilia (I just knew that actually is a word two seconds ago). I love the fact that nowadays phones are as handy as ever. Back in the days you'll be using your phone for calling, texting, and probably for playing snake when you're stood up on a date. Now? Now it's different.

Didn't bring your camera? Don't need to, your phone camera's even better than most pocket cameras. On a tight schedule and need to study for a kickoff presentation? Study on your phone on your way there. Feeling like exploring the batcave? Don't worry your phone has a flashlight and GPS.

Oh noes!

However oh so powerful is its omnipotence is it still has its flaw. You know what I'm talking about, its batteries... Seriously phone batteries these days drop faster than some alcoholic on his payday.

This issue is pretty much irritating for consumers. Irritation is bad, ever had one before? Trust me, it's an unpleasant experience. However bad it is for the end users, it creates a demand. A demand for an energy source, a mobile energy source if possible, because no matter how detail of a person you are there are those days when you happen to forget to bring your charger and that day just happens to be the day when you need it most.

Marketers around the world saw this opportunity and, as a marketer should, they use it as much as they can. Then powerbanks started to show up and before you know it everyone around you started to have one and bring one around wherever they bring their phone along, which is everywhere.

The question of the day is however, why stop there?

You see, I own a motorcycle which I happen to not know how to ride it and is afraid I'd crash and burn if I ever dare to try to ride it. However, I need to get to places and when I need to get somewhere without bus access, I resort to taking cabs. Because I'm sometimes a very annoying talkative person I like to start conversations with the drivers, which at that time happens to be the driver of a new taxi company. It's still within the same taxi company of the taxi that I normally take so for starters I had trust in that particular taxi brand.

At first I thought it was the second-line of my regular taxi company, a cheaper version, turns out it was meant to be the premium line of the company. Why'd I assume it was cheaper? Well, basically because it seemed cheaper. The only difference is that they use a Ford while the original armada uses a Toyota, which may be more convenient for the driver but feels like the same as any other taxi for the passenger.

Then I realized, why not add chargers to taxis? Since you know, portable-smartphone-car-chargers (I don't know the right term) is a thing nowadays. What if they equipped each car with those car chargers and with two types of cables, for iPhones and for everyone else (since you know, Android phone chargers are generic)?

I wonder how the customers would feel, since no other taxi has had or did this idea before. I wonder if just by those chargers, the customers would tell their friends and start a chain reaction, or what we call word of mouth? More importantly, I wonder if it's possible that just by adding a simple feature, a charger, it will result in the overall income of the taxi company?

This doesn't just go for taxis, think of airline companies, restaurants, cafes, or any other business venture that requires their customers to wait, what would happen if you add that simple feature? Sometimes the simplest things have the greatest impact. Actually, for marketers usually the simplest things are usually the best.

Anyhow, if you happen to try out this idea, be sure to let me know how it goes for you.

There's No Impression Like The First Impression

For the past few years, there's this sentence, a question, that when asked to me I'm dead silence in confusion, more or less I look like your dog when you try to teach it how to read. That staggering question is a common and more or less a simple one really, it goes like "What is your passion?" But seriously, until about a year ago I'm clueless about what my passion is or what counts as a passion. 

I like creating things dating back from my first Lego set. With just limited blocks I can make a million and one different things (just an expression, I probably made a couple dozens instead of millions). I like learning new things and by things I mean anything, whether you teach me how to roast a better brew of coffee or how to fly a plane (please do teach me), I'll be sitting in front of you listening to everything you tell me. I like music, any type of entertainment that amazes me, and most of all I love amazing those around me. Innovation is another thing that I like, because you can say I'm an innovative person (or you can say that I'm the kind of guy that gets bored doing things the same way over and over again.) Well, you get the point, I like a lot of things but I wonder if that counts as my passion...

That question doesn't bother me anymore however. I have to give credit to my Public Speaking Class lecturer considering she decided that making a speech about your passion would be a great idea for the test. The answer came to me minutes before it was my turn to go up front. I ripped the script I spent hours making the night before considering my brain loves to come up with brilliant ideas at the last minute. I realized that the answer was right in front of me all this time, since I was on the fifth semester as a marketing student. I like many things... but I love marketing.

I love everything about marketing and its activities. Sure the end result of any marketing activity is profit and I'll be terribly lying if I told you that I don't like profit, but that's not my main motivation. Cold, hard, profit is sweet but for me, seeing a campaign that I orchestrated succeed is even more rewarding. Seeing that I can provide the things that my customers want in ways they can accept gives me a certain sort of satisfaction that I can't find anywhere else. 

You see, marketing is part of your everyday life whether you realize it or not. For example, there's this term in marketing we use often, it's called AIDA, which stands for the stages of customer actions starting from awareness, interest, desire, and action. If you managed to find and read this post, then I've succeeded so far in getting your awareness (of this blog of course). Better yet, you've managed to stick around long enough to read this far, which means I've done a pretty good job in getting your interest. 

So you can say I know a thing or two about marketing. Don't worry though, later on you won't be re-living your college years, I'll be keeping it classy. This isn't just your everyday marketing blog... 

This is Marketing In Style...