I'm afraid I'm straying from my marketing topic again. As an avid BYU fan, I feel obligated to share this video. This guy is a Utah fan and a friend of one of my professors. He lost the bet on the game, and so this is him singing the BYU fight song. I actually saw this guy when he was filming this video. It's hilarious.
http://www.midmarketmaven.com/2006/11/utah_fan_grudgingly_sings_byu.html

Police Radar Scrambler Advertisement: I heard the craziest ad on the radio last night. It was for one of those police scramblers. Basically, its a device in your car that scrambles police radars so that they can't technically clock your speed. I had a friend in highschool who had one. I have known about them for a long time, but I thought it was sort of a "black market" item. I was very surprised to hear a legitimate advertisement for the device. It acutally seems like a big mistake to market the product that openly. Scramblers should probably be illegal, because they don't just warn you that a cop is ahead so you can slow down. They actually make the police officer's equipment ineffective so that he can't give you a ticket. It seems like marketing the product in the open will make it very apparent that the product needs to be banned.

Second Life: I have been hearing a lot of buzz about Second Life. It's a virtual world where you create a virtual person and have a seperate life. You can make yourself look however you want, buy clothes, make new friends, gamble, basically everything you can do in real life. Second Life makes money by selling land, which is limited. Marketers have been using this virtual world to advertise. I keep thinking how stupid it is to create a second life in a virtual world, but that's usually how I feel about new fads like this, and eventually I get sucked into it anyway. I wonder how long it will take me this time.

I saw this video on one of my friend's blogs and it honestly almost brought a tear to my eye. Go cougars!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2309729676780902111&q=BYU+vs.+Utah+2006&hl=en

I just read something interesting about marketing. I found an article that talks about the danger of discount pricing through consumer promotions. I never really thought about the dangers. The article explained that discounts and promtions provide immediate increased sales, but they also teach your customers to be price sensitive and buy based only on prices. This means that your customers are not loyal. As soon as a competitor offers a lower price, consumers will switch brands. So maybe it is better to use more traditional advertising to develop a valuable brand image so that consumers care less about your price and more about buying your product and only your product. Interesting...

Mastercard Marketing Campaign: This weekend I was watching television and I saw yet another Mastercard "priceless" commercial. This ad campaign has to be the longest campaign I have ever seen. I remember almost five years ago when Jay Leno would do Priceless spoofs on his show. Everyone knows how the commercials go- "Cookies: $3, Chocoaltes $7, being too fat to fit in your wedding dress because you planned your special day during the holidays: Priceless. Some things money can't buy. For everything else... there's Mastercard." I have never seen a more famous ad slogan. Everyone knows it. There have been hundreds of them created by mastercard and other companies trying to imitate the success or make jokes about the commericals. Mastercard is still getting more creative and developing new scenarios for this campaign. And they can reach almost any target audience with the same phrase. It's genious! I wonder how much longer it will last?

Thanksgiving shopping craze: I am amazed at the marketing frenzie that occurs on Thanksgiving. The newspaper is at least four times thicker than usual due to being stuffed with so many ads. Stores do all kinds of promotions like selling DVD's for $2 and giving away free stuffed animals and other dumb knicknacks that you don't really want, but hey, it's free. I recently talked to an executive at WalMart who told me they sometimes price products below their cost and lose money on that product just to get people in their store and shopping. I'm sure this occurs a lot the day after Thanksgiving. It's an interesting marketing idea... intentionally losing money to gain customers, but apparently it works because they keep doing it every year.

I have been thinking more about the last post I made. I remember a few weeks ago reading about a lawsuit associated with WalMart's internet advertising. It claimed they were marketing to young children too heavily. It was causing problems for parents who couldn't afford the demands of their children. I think Walmart actually took a step back and agreed to market less to children.

Television and autism: I was waiting (for 1 1/2 hours!) at the doctor's office and I happened to read an interesting magazine article. The new theory is that babies who watch televsion are more likely to develop autism. The finding are very loosely supported, and I'm not sure I believe there is a correlation, but it's an interesting idea to play around with. I do think children are very heavily influnced by television advertisements, but I don't agree that it causes serious diseases. It just causes problems for parents whose children demand everything they see advertised on TV.

Gmail's genious marketing: I think gmail has discovered a way to advertise without using annoying advertisements. The email tracking system looks at keywords within the email you are reading and then lists possible links with information on those keywords. It's smart because the ads are not colorful or flashy. They just look like helpful, listed information. Also, I can be reading an email from my mom talking about toothpaste and then I see non-intrusive links that talk about toothpaste and how I can get more information on it. I have used these links several times, and I find them convenient and helpful rather than annoying and intrusive. Good job, Gmail!

Great New Marketing Blog: I just found a really good marketing blog that I have enjoyed reading the last few days. I'd definately recommend it. http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php

XBox 360 downloading capabilities: The newest development from XBox is downloading capabilities. You will be able to download movies and television episodes to watch on your XBox 360. XBox will actually lose money on the Xbox itself but hopes to make their profit on the downloads. There has to be some way to include advertising with this new feature. It's an interesting idea for marketers who are having a hard time reaching the TiVo generation.

Melaleuca marketing: I just got hired by a company called Melaleuca located in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I'm starting next summer when I graduate from BYU with my marketing degree. I am really looking forward to getting real world experience in marketing. I thought my marketing career was over when I decided to marry an Idaho boy. I am pleasantly surprised by my work opportunity with this company. Who would have thought that a great company would be located in Idaho?