To promote their new collection of printed and patterned sunglasses, Ray Bans has come out with some really cool ads. Check them out and let me know what you think!
The Rare Prints Collection
The Colorize Collection
Friday, May 7, 2010
Calling all Starbucks Lovers
Starbucks is having a new promotion so listen up if you love Frappaccinos! For all you Starbucks lovers, Starbucks is having their very own Happy Hour at all participating stores between 3 and 5 pm. This Happy Hour will take place from May 7 until May 16. Customers who come in at this time can get a Frappuccino favorite or they can make their own "however-you-want-it Frappuccino®." And they're 50% off! It just can't get any better! So this week, indulge yourself, and take part in this awesome promotion.
On the Frappuccino website (frappuccino.com) customers can view a selection of already-popular Frappuccinos like the ones below:
If they come across a Frappuccino that looks good and they want to know what is in it, they can go to the products page on the website, and look at its description like the one below:
Love Gossip Girl? Well Starbucks has a sweepstakes for that as well as a promotion for the new Frappuccino. Check it out!
Finals + 3 Weeks without a computer = Oh Boy!
So I am currently going on three weeks without a computer. Long story short, my computer is basically dunzo unless I send it to the Apple Company to fix it for a nice chunk of change. I know it's absolutely terrible. I thought that I was starting to get the hang of managing my schedule to accommodate library and computer lab hours for projects, papers, and study guides. I was wrong. I now live in the computer labs every night and the library every minute I'm not in work, class, the gym, or sleeping. I've decided to call the Park computer labs my second home, followed by the library as my third. Hopefully, I'll be able to get all these assignments done in a timely manner! Wish Me Luck!!!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Case Study #3: Mobile Marketing
Over the last few years, mobile marketing has taken the world by storm. Today, marketers take advantage of practically all aspects of cell phone and smart phone technology, such as text and photo messaging, Bluetooth, and downloadable mobile applications. IKEA, a furniture and accessories specialty retail firm recognized around the world, launched a mobile marketing campaign early last year. This campaign took advantage of text and photo messaging, Bluetooth, and downloadable application tools via mobile phone.
When IKEA came out with its new PS furniture collection, it wanted to “stretch the idea of design and empower people.” Because their collection contained such unusual designs, IKEA wanted to help individuals picture certain PS furniture in their homes. To do this, IKEA created a mobile application that provided customers with an interior-planning tool to enhance their shopping decisions. The premise of the application was to make it easier for men and women to bring new furniture home with them to see how it would look in their homes.
How it Works:
When a consumer downloads and enters the application, he or she is instantly shown different pieces of furniture and accessories from the IKEA PS line. As the consumer scrolls through and selects a product, they are prompted to take a picture of the room he or she wants the product to be placed in. Once the photo is taken, an image of the room appears on the viewer’s phone in addition to the IKEA product. The viewer then has the ability to scale the furniture and move it around to fit better in the scene. Once the image looks the way the customer wants, he or she can take a picture of it. If he or she likes the photo, it can be saved on his or her phone or sent to friends by MMS.
Below is an illustration of what the application process looks like:
Target Audience and Distribution:
Since the IKEA PS line is such an eccentric design, IKEA wanted to target its audience toward contemporary German men and women who were willing to make a bold statement in their homes, but had trouble visualizing the image in their households. To launch their campaign to the public, IKEA created in-store posters that urged customers to send a free text message to them to receive a link to download the interior-planning application. In addition, customers on the IKEA website were encouraged to enter their cell phone number in to download the application. Lastly, IKEA installed Bluetooth pillars in certain stores to send out signals to nearby phones inviting them to download the application.
Evaluation:
Overall, IKEA’s mobile marketing campaign received an average user response of 5.21% by Bluetooth post and saw a user base of 15% on the IKEA PS microsite. Also, 6,800 people sent a text to IKEA requesting to download the application.
Personally, I think IKEA’s mobile application was a brilliant idea. It’s perfect for people that have trouble visualizing what the product would look like in their home. As a result, these customers are often on the fence about buying the product, especially when it’s expensive. By providing this application, IKEA enhances the consumer’s decision-making process. IKEA found a basic problem that prevents many purchase decisions and created a simple solution using cell phone technology, overcoming the purchasing barrier many consumers face.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Case Study #2: YouTube vs. Copyright
Since its creation, YouTube has faced lots of copyright persecution. YouTube, a video-sharing site, allows registered users to upload videos and unregistered users to view them. Although the site contains defamation, pornography, and copyright restrictions, the site is unable to control everything that is uploaded to it. As a result, YouTube has been sued, as well as, criticized for its failure to check that its videos respect the laws of copyright.
When a registered user uploads a video, a message saying: “Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts, or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself” appears on the computer screen. Although, this warning is shown prior to uploading, many unauthorized clips are uploaded each day. Because YouTube does not view the videos before they are posted to the site, they are often blamed for copyright infringement. Thanks to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, however, YouTube is able to leave the search to copyright holders who can issue a takedown notice to the site if there is a problem.
In the past, Viacom, Mediaset, and the English Premier League have all filed suits against YouTube. In these suits, each company argued that YouTube does not do enough to protect copyrighted material.
In 2007, Viacom sued YouTube for one billion dollars worth of damages, stating that over 150,000 unauthorized clips of its material were found on the site and had been viewed about 1.5 billion times. When the lawsuit was settled in July 2008, Viacom was given access to the records of what people watched on YouTube. As a result, many bloggers and consumers complained about Viacom’s potential privacy violations. They argued that if Viacom were to use the information collected from Google’s YouTube to track down and sue those who watched unauthorized copyrighted clips on the site, they would be in violation of the right to privacy. Since the lawsuit with Viacom, YouTube has created VideoID, a program that checks uploaded videos against a database of copyrighted content in order to reduce violations.
Over the last few years, there has been a lot of speculation whether taking down an unauthorized video on YouTube is enough. Many copyright holders feel that YouTube should be doing more than VideoID to ensure that a video is not in violation of copyright law. Many consumers, on the other hand, sympathize with YouTube rather than the copyright holders. They feel that it would be difficult to control the millions of YouTube videos uploaded each day and to ensure that each follows the guidelines of copyright.
In the end it is all a matter of who is responsible. Should YouTube be responsible for the millions of videos posted each day on its site or should it be copyright holders’ responsibility to search the site for violations? What do you think?
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