How do you market to a toddler?

Apparently, I do not understand the secrets of marketing to toddlers. My husband is in dental school and we have started receiving lots of dental products. Last week, it was a crayola toothbrush. I thought this was kind of a silly idea. A toothbrush that looks like a marker? I'm not buying it... but I was wrong. My 18 month old son has been refusing to brush his teeth, but ever since we got this toothbrush, he carts it around with him and wants to brush several times a day. I had no idea he would be so gullable. I'll keep that in mind from now on.

The Obscure P

Of the four P's of marketing, I always worried the least about price. Even learning about it in school, I thought to myself, "Isn't price something for finance to worry about?" Through the past few years, I have learned that price really is a marketing job, at least partly. Setting an acceptable price point, but also having a price that appears to be good. The old .99 trick is surprisingly successful, even though we all know that $3.99 is basically $4. Why is it that I would by the $3.99 sandwich but not the $4 sandwich? Today my husband and I saw the following traffic sign:

Do not block intersection

$101 fine

We got into a discussion about why the extra dollar. My husband, who is not a marketer, said it was pointless and they should simlify it and just have it be a $100 fine. I like the 101 for several reasons.

1) $101 really does feel like a lot more than $100 to me. It's amazing the difference it makes to be able to say "over $100".
2) The 101 seems more offical and calculated. It's not like one of those violations where they say, "I don't know, you shouldn't do it, so I guess we'll slap a hundred bucks on it." It's very official. You block the intersection and you cause exactly $101 worth of damage or inconvenience, and you'll have to pay for that.
3) From a design standpoint, I actually think 101 looks better than 100. I hate even dollar amounts. They always feel boring and seem like a waste of 0's. If I were going to paint a picture of traffic sign, I'd want it to have a nice symmetric 101.

When it comes down to it, price does matter. It is, in fact, a very important P.

I'm coming back

I think I'd like to make a comeback. That's because I was looking at my Google Analytics to answer a friend's question, and I saw that I still have readers stumbling along this blog almost daily, and I used to really enjoy writing this stuff, and I still think everything in my head. I just don't type it anymore. So sit back, and enjoy MY COMEBACK.

In the mean time, here are a few of my favorite posts, from way back in the day. Enjoy!

1. Shiny Stuff

2. World Domination

3. My Space

Finally, someone has accurately marketed juice. It might sound ridiculous, but I have been very annoyed with juice marketing in recent years. Everyone claims to be selling 100% juice and all natural juice. I was very disturbed to find what the phrases actually mean. Even though it is 100% juice, it has been concentrated, frozen, stripped of its natural nutrients and had all kinds of different juices and flavors put into it. I once read an explanation from a marketing executive for orange juice (I wish I could remember the brand or source). Anyway, they were justifying each of their marketing claims. 100% natural meant that it did actually contain some actual juice from oranges. "Fresh-squeezed" meant that there was a little pulp added to the juice. "Fresh" simply meant that it had been concentrated and frozen before the oranges went rotten. Like a lot of bad marketing, they tried to paint this beautiful picture but didn't have any actual quality to back it up. But finally, a juice company has done it right! Simply Orange Juice Company has created a fantastic line of juice that has never been concentrated, has no additional ingredients, and was gently pasturized for obvious reasons. I tried their line of apple juice the other day. It was incredible! It honestly tasted like I was just sucking on a really juicy apple. And the only ingredient... apple juice pressed from apples. No sugar added, no nothing! I finally realized what real apple juice tasted like and honestly, the artifically enhanced apple juice we have been drinking for years is a disgrace! There is nothing better than a magical marketing story that is actually backed by an incredible product that lives up to every one of its marketing claims.

Well, after taking almost a year off, I am finally back and blogging. What a crazy year its been. Finishing college and entering the "real world" is an exciting step to take. Anyway, start watching again for more frequent posts!

World Domination (or atleast less annoyance) via Cell Phones

An Annoying Situation That Could Be Solved by the Genious Marketers: Today I thought of a way to use an innovative marketing technique for my own personal benefit. Here's what happened.
On campus, I usually eat at a cafeteria that opens at 12. Since most classes start at 12:30, this leaves you only 30 minutes to order your food, have it cooked, eat it, and get to class on time. Today I was standing in line at noon wondering why they hadn't opened yet. They usually open a few minutes early, if not right on time. Then, I noticed all of the girls who work at the cafe sitting on the floor in the hallway that led to the cafe. They just sat there talking and laughing for five minutes. Finally, at about 12:05, they noticed me glaring at them and all stood up, but instead of coming over to help they went into a closet (with a glass window). All four girls stayed in there for an additional five minutes with every one of their cellphones open. They were showing each other text messages! By this time there were about 20 people in line and the cafe was supposed to have been open for ten minutes already. I was mad!
So here is my idea... One of the latest marketing techniques, which is mostly used in Europe for now, involves cell phone text advertisements. They can detect you cell phone within a certain range, like if you are in a subway station, and they send you a text message ad. I need this capability. I want a device that I can carry in my backpack that I just point at someone and it will detect their cell phone number and allow me to send them a text message. I would have sent every one of those girls a nasty little text message while they hid in the closet!
I think I'd also use it while driving in Utah. For those of you have never been been to Utah and don't understand the driving situation, imagine the busy traffic of California combined with the stupidity of cavemen (no offense to the popular Geico Cavemen). I would point my magical little device at every idiotic Utah driver that decides to run a red light and cut me off while talking on their cell phone. I would call them, give them a few carefully selected words, and tell them to hang up (Or I would instruct my passenger to do this for me... so that I wouldn't become one of those annoying cell phone drivers).

Isn't it amazing the immense loyalty you feel to a company when they first hire you? I wonder how long that lasts... As I have mentioned before, I recently signed with Melalueca to begin working in business development/marketing when I graduate in a few months. I don't even know the company that well, but I feel very loyal to them. The other day I was talking to someone and they said, "oh, isn't that one of those pyramid skeem companies that forces customers to sell to other customers." I was so offended! It was like they had insulted a member of my family! Melalueca is a consumer direct marketing company! Anyway, I thought back on it and laughed at how I feel personally associated with this entity that I don't even technically work for yet. I wonder if that loyalty will last in a few years when I get a better job offer from a different company.

We are watching funny commercials and I just found a new one that I had to share. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the classic San Francisco bouncy ball commercial. They actually dropped thousands of bouncy balls down the streets of San Fancisco. It is amazing. I just found a spoof on it that is even better. It involves some delinquent fruit. Fruit Commercial

I'm back and I'd like to share my all-time favorite commercial. My husband and I just watched it four times. We laughed every time. I hope you enjoy it. Dodge Commercial

Well, I have taken a very long break from my blog. I recently got married and have been out of town of my honeymoon. I am slowly getting settled back into life, only now its as a married person, which requires some adjusting but I'm getting there. I am excited to start blogging again. This is my last semester of college before I graduate and, unfortunately, I am picking up some GE classes and will be less focused on marketing. We'll see how it goes. Its very boring to go back to studying history and philosophy when I have spent the last few years focused only on my passion, marketing, so hopefully I survive this semester.

My space

So I'm home for the holidays and I think my family tries to relate to me by talking about marketing campaigns they've seen. My brother pointed out an interesting one that Honda is running for its dirtbike products. They show a bunch of photos of people riding dirtbikes in the mountains and at the top of all the pictures it reads "My space." At the bottom it says something clever about teaching your children that there is more to life than their internet profiles. It's actually a clever attack on MySpace.com and probably really appeals to parents who are concerned with their children's recent craze in using the internet as a social tool. They are concerned that their children will get so caught up in their virtual lives that they forget to experience their real lives, atleast that's how my parents put it. Speaking of dirtbikes, I think at some point in everyone's life, they should have the opportunity to experience an "Idaho Christmas." My brothers and sisters and I spent the afternoon pulling eachother through 2 feet of snow on a sled tied to the back of a dirtbike, which goes pretty fast despite the icy roads. The exciting part is when you get pulled right over the top of a snow mound created on the side of the road by the snow plows! It was also pretty fun to see the look from the police officer that lives at the bottom of our street when we flew by while he was shoveling his sidewalk. Aw... there's no place like home in good old Idaho!

I just finished one of my final presentations for a marketing class. We actually did a full Intergrated Marketing Communications pitch for a local business here in Provo. It was pretty fun to see everyone else's presentations. It's amazing what you can get when you make a bunch of creative marketing students compete with each other for grades. I think some lot of the people in my class could do a better job at marketing than a lot of the professionals who are making the big bucks!

I'm currently burried in final exams. Check back in a few days and I plan to be back in action with my blogging. Thanks for the patience.

The Final Day (but not really): Today is the final day of my school project (which is what this blog originated as) I have to admit that when I started the project a couple months ago, I was a little unconvinced about the magic of blogging. I was counting down the days until the project would be complete. If you read back to my earliest blog entries, this fact is probably very apparent. I'm afraid my opinion has changed. I think I am acutally going to continue blogging. I've found I enjoy blogging and reading blogs and looking around the communities on MyBlogLog.com, everything about the internet and its blogging connections is fascinating to me. So thank you to all of those who have read and commented. You've inspired me!

In my last post, I said that I thought the younger generation preferred humorous marketing to catchy slogans. At my ripe old age of 20, I would have to consider myself part of the "younger generation" and conclude that we definately prefer humor. Yesterday I saw the funniest commercial. It was for lottery tickets and it is hilarious! You have to watch this. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6047/do_you_know_who_i_am/

Is the jingle dying out? I have to say that in my opinion, the age of the "jingle" as an advertising strategy is quickly dying, if not already dead. In recent years, very few jingles have been successful. Most people, especially in the younger generation, think that jingles are corny and boring. I personally prefer humor to a stupid song anyway. I heard an absolutely horrible one tonight. It was for Beehive Bail Bonds. http://www.beehivebailbonds.com It was awful! It was some lame 70's heavy metal rock song that just repeated the phrase, "Stuck in jail? Call beehive bail bonds." It wasn't even brief. It was a full song that just sang that over and over again. I just think that jingles are out and marketers need to find a new way to make their name stick.

I appologize for my absense from my blog the past four days. I have been very sick and trapped in Idaho, of all places, because of my inability to drive. I'm feeling a little better today and plan to return to school tomorrow. To top off my terrible weekend, last night I was barely conscious but realized I need to do some laundry and, without thinking about it, I threw my sweatshirt in with my laundry, which had my cell phone in the pocket. Apparently, you aren't supposed to put cell phones through a washing machine. Well, I was in a panic all night because destroying your cell phone is a key opportunity for cell phone companies to take advantage of you. I was going to go in to the Sprint store today and they were going to charge me $150 cancellation fee on my contract or they were going to sell me a new phone for no less than $200. I would have to do one of these because they tied me into a two year contract when I signed up. Luckily, my genious fiance disassembled the entire phone last night and laid it out on a paper towel overnight to dry, and this morning when we put it back together, it miraculously still worked. TAKE THAT, SPRINT! Anyway, at some point there has got to be a low cost competitor that enters the cell phone market as competing with no contract requirements and cheap phones for those of us who don't care about cameras, etc. I want a cell phone that I can sign up for, pay month to month, and cancel anytime I want. I would probably never cancel! I think a company like this could quickly steal a large % of market share, especially if they marketed some signing bonus like, "we'll pay your contract cancellation fee for you!" Hmm... maybe I should go into the cell phone industry.

Another very bad marketing campaign: People who aren't from Utah have probably never seen this campaign, although you can get a general feeling for it if you go to the Brent Brown Automotive Group website http://www.brentbrownauto.com/ I hate this advertising campaign. They are using the slogan "We'll bend over backwards for your!" and they show photographs and TV ads of all their car dealers bending over backwards. It's just creepy. I guess they have a memorable slogan, but all I can think about is how much I don't want to go to their car lot and see all of these creepy car dealers that are always doing backbends. And I especially don't trust these circus freaks to sell me a car!

My brief thought for the day: (Imagine this in the Mastercard advertisement voice... it sounds better) My idea of the perfect morning is knowing that you will be late for class if you stop at the gas station for Snickers flavored hot chocolate, and stopping anyway. My challenge to you: be late to something this month just for fun. Merry Christmas everyone!
A disclaimer: Only do it once. I am normally someone who is very annoyed by non-punctuality.

iPod marketing conspiracy: iPod is running a new promotion for Christmas. Here's how it works: You order an iPod online and when you go to check out, they tell you they will engrave a personalized name or message on the back of you iPod at no extra cost to you. It's FREE! So you think, "great!" and you write your name or some cute little message to your sister and you've got the perfect Christmas gift. But here's my theory about the conspiracy behind this: iPod wants us to think they are just being nice and upgrading our item for free, but really they are trying to limit resale through eBay, classifieds, etc. Because really... who wants to buy a used iPod if the back of it is engraved with the phrase "Jim and Ralph forever" if the person buying the iPod is neither Jim nor Ralph? This so called "free feature" is really just a way of ensuring that everytime someone wants an iPod they go directly to Apple rather than shopping around on eBay for a used one at a bargain price. Tricky, tricky.

Shiny Stuff

I rememember being a young student in gradeschool. I thought I had a radical environmentalist idea when I realized that product packaging was wasteful. I think I actually read an article in one of those Weekly Readers that started the hype and I began intensely protesting products that had excessive packaging. And for a 10 year-old who buys candy bars at the dollar store at least three times a year with her own money, I'm sure my protest had a great impact. However, today my class had a discussion on packaging and its importance. This is another aspect of marketing that I am aware of but have given very little thought to in the past. It's amazing what a difference packaging can make. I thought of a weird example. I can't eat McDonald's hamburgers. It's not that I think I'm too go for McDonald's or that I am a vegetarian, or that I only eat healthy foods. There is just something about a McDonald's hamburger that gives me an "icky" feeling. This morning I realized what it was. It's the wrapper they put it in! It's a very low quality paper and decorated with a gross shade of red and yellow writing. However, I eat roast beef sandwhiches from Arby's all the time, and I don't even like roast beef, but they have those pretty, shiny wrappers. I was rather dissappointed when I figured out this system. I like to think I am immune to the dirty tricks of marketers because I am one of those dirty marketers... but I guess I'm just an easily persuaded sheep following the imaginary herd that marketers create, just like everyone else.

I am once again deterring from my marketing topic. I am considering changing this to a more general blog because I have had several recent entries that had nothing to do with marketing. Tonight I would just like to say that The Office is probably one of the greatest TV sitcoms I have ever seen. I find it is as entertaining as Arrested Development and 24, the only other shows I can stand to watch. I was working on a marketing project tonight (see... this post is kind of related to my topic) and I found myself wishing it was Thursday night instead of Monday night so that I could waste my time sitting in front of the television hoping for Jim and Pam to finally hook up and for Dwight to discover more of his desk items frozen in jell-o. Yes, I am pathetic because I would probably rather laugh at Michael's awkward comments than work on my marketing project, but hey... I'm just a young college student!

Recent Marketing Campaigns that I like:
--Ebay's "IT" campaign: it's cute and memorable.
--Cacao Reserve Hershey's Chocolate direct mailing campaign really gave the brand a perception of exclusitivity.
--Tonight I saw a TV commercial for high-speed internet in which a man poored some kind of magic silver elixer out of his interent cable that made him do the dishes faster. My fiance commented that "we needed to get some of that stuff." Of course, I can't even remember which internet company it was, so maybe it wasn't that successful.
--Burger King's all-inclusive marketing that uses funny phrases on the french fry wrappers, food bags, the doors, etc. They seem to have copied this from Jack-in-the-Box, who put funny conversational phrases on their bags years ago. However, Burger King has done it ten times better. I love it! If you have some free time, go to Burger King and just start reading everything. It is hilarious. It even makes me hate the creepy Burger King "giant head" a little less.
This list will definatly be added to. I thought of so many marketing campaigns that I loved today, but it's defintaly 2am because I can't remember most of them.

Recent Marketing Campaigns I don't like:
--The "tis beer" Christmas campaign... it almost seems like it's mocking Christmas.
--Laugh. Live. Love. a Coca-cola billboard. I usually love Coca-Cola marketing. This is the first time I have disliked something they do, but this phrase just seems a bit intense for soda.
--Utah news advertisements. They are positioning nightly news programs as an exciting day time Soap Opera. I hate the way they do "teasers" and tell you something intriguing about a news story but won't tell you what it is actually about until you tune in the news program hours later. The few times I have acutally watched the show to find out what they were talking about, it has been very disappointing.

I am working on a project in school that includes creating a hypothetical new restaurant and developing a marketing plan. It's been very interesting to me since that is what I want to do someday. We have to develop a restaurant that we think would be successful in Provo, Utah, which is a pretty difficult market because of how cheap BYU students are. They are extremely price sensitive. We decided to develop an autentic Brazilian restaurant that is lower priced than the other Brazilian restaurants like Tucanos and Rodizzio Grill. We are going to have it opperate "Cafe Rio" style. You walk in, order, then sit down with your food. I wonder if a restaurant like that would actually be successful in Provo. It certianly isn't the type of restaurant I have always dreamed of opening. I envisioned a high class restaurant in the downtown area of a major city (Minneapolis was the ideal for me) Anyway, if anyone has any good ideas about marketing a restaurant, especially our little Brazilian project, I'd love some input.

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?

New cell phone marketing: I really do enjoy marketing, but I must admit that creative marketing can get annoying. I just read an article about marketing that explains a new method advertisers are using. They call your cell phone and let it ring for only a few seconds so that it shows you have a missed call. If you return the phone call to the number that called, you get a pre-recorded advertisement message. At what point can we say marketers are going too far and becoming too intrusive?

Intrusive Marketing: Everyone says that marketers are the only thing worse than lawyers. I was reading an article on intrusive marketing that really got me thinking about this. Marketing is intrusive. I study marketing, I love marketing, and I am still annoyed when I am constantly bombarded with advertisements. It's only getting worse. Companies are beginning to send consumers advertisements using text messaging on personal cell phones. So here's my challenge: How do I create advertising that is entertaining enough to consumers that it does not seem to be intrusive?

Creating a new brand: In one of my marketing classes, we had a guest speaker from Hershey's. She told us the story of developing the new brand they are in the process of releasing. It is called Cacao Reserve by Hershey's. It was amazing to listen to the whole process. Hershey's also recently bought several premium chocolate brands. Someone is my class asked why they did not simply develop their own premium cholocate for each segment, rather than buying other brands. She explained that developing and marketing an entirely new brand was very expensive and time consuming, not to mention how difficult it is to gain recongnition against already established brands. I had never thought of how much it costs to create a new brand. It made me reconsider franchising a restaurant, rather than trying to start my own. Also, Cacao Reserve chocolate is amazing!