Creating Value > Making a Profit ?

We've talked about a wide variety of topics during the first three discussions of our Marketing Seminar course. Because this semester's class has more students than our previous course, it makes for a more interesting discussion with brand new ideas and insight. I am excited to see where our class discussions will go from here! Yesterday, we discussed some of the bold and interesting statements of Peter Drucker, a management consultant, author, and educator. His insights on the marketing industry were out of the ordinary and gave my classmates and I a lot to think about.

In the beginning of yesterday's class, Professor Spotts had each student write a quote from Drucker's article on the board that he or she found interesting or surprising. Doing this activity not only improved my understanding of the Ascendancy of Marketing reading by Peter Drucker, it forced me to look at the quotes from a different point of view. The quote that I put on the board stimulated a lot of discussion and I'd say debate- because the statement was quite controversial. The quote I chose was "...profit is not the purpose of business and that the concept of profit maximization is not only meaningless but dangerous". WOW- that is quite the controversial statement in my opinion.

As I'm nearing the end of my undergraduate business education, it seems like all of my professors have constantly stressed the importance of making a profit in a business. What's the goal of a business (I thought)? To make money. How can a business succeed? If it has money. I began to re-evaulate my thoughts on these questions that I previously thought had such simple answers. If the goal of a business isn't to make a profit, then what is it? Our class discussed how the main goal of a business must be to create value. Based on what I know about marketing, this makes a whole lot of sense.

I think that businesses need profits to get started. Until they can get a strong customer base and figure out how to really get engaged with their customers, they'll need the backing of a good profit to stay in business. One of our classmates mentioned small businesses when talking about this topic, and how they are very customer-oriented, as opposed to profit oriented. I can definitely attest to this, because I work in a family owned jewelry store in Wilbraham. The owners are extremely generous and care much more about pleasing customers and creating a valuable experience than they do about making a profit. For instance, they will often give away jewelry cleaner to people when they visit for the first time, or do a jewelry repair for free. This not only shows that the store cares about its customers, it creates a positive experience and will create repeat customers. These value creating situations will cause people to come back in the store and buy things, which will in turn create a profit. I think profit maximization can come naturally if you are customer driven and create value for people who do business with you.

"Taste the Feeling"

As I mentioned in my first blog post, I recently followed Marketing Dive, a Twitter account that provides daily marketing news on various topics. One of their recent tweets about Coca-Cola interested me and reminded me of a few marketing concepts. The article discusses how Coca-Cola is recently trying to unify all of their different products to enable a "one brand" approach. Their new tagline for this campaign is "Taste the Feeling", which I think is clever and intriguing. Coca-Cola has always geared their marketing efforts to show that drinking their soda can be a hedonic, valuable experience. Focusing on the experience that comes from drinking the soda helps them establish a connection with consumers, and also allows consumers to connect with the brand.

The campaign will be released all through 2016 on an international level. The CMO of Coca-Cola, arcos de Quinto, expressed that their previous campaign called "Open Happiness" didn't capture the simple pleasures of drinking cola. Although I found this campaign to be creative and interactive, the brand has experienced a decline in revenue growth in recent quarters. Personally, I think the decline may be due to the fact that consumers are moving toward healthier lifestyles. I know that for myself personally, I have completely cut out soda from my diet because of how unhealthy it is. If Coca-Cola brings back the simple, old-fashioned idea of drinking soda on a hot day (as mentioned in the article), they might increase their revenue. Like we have learned in prior marketing courses, brands have to have a story behind all of their marketing strategies, because that will ultimately lead to consumer engagement and brand equity.

The "anthem" for this new campaign connects Coca-Cola with a variety of words/activities, such as "stories with Coca-Cola", and "Coca-Cola with smiles". I think this is very clever because it ties into the overall campaign idea of tasting the feeling and connects back to the emotional and hedonic value of the product. I think by also showing these phrases, it will generate a lot of brand association. For instance, people will think of Coca-Cola when they hear or experience certain words/things.

I think it is very smart of Coke to have this campaign represent all of their products, as opposed to having separate marketing strategies for Diet Coke, Coke Zero, etc. This will prevent product cannibalism, because no one Coke product is being marketed more than another. In addition, it will strengthen the overall brand name. Although Coca-Cola is a well-known, international brand with a strong reputation, they need to continue to reinforce it. Bringing all of their products together and promoting them as one brand will strengthen brand equity and brand value.

Overall, this new campaign seems like it will be successful in the months to come. I can't say that I will go out and start drinking soda again as a result of this campaign, but it definitely makes me view the Coca-Cola brand in a positive light.

The Beginning of the End

Hello readers! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Katie Farrell and I am finishing my degree in Marketing Communications/Advertising this semester. I am the Co-President of the Western New England University Marketing Association, member of the Class of 2016 Council, member of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, and a Student Assistant in the Marketing & External Affairs Department on campus. Off campus, I work part time at Quinn's Fine Jewelry, located in Wilbraham, MA. I help with marketing efforts at the store as well as sell jewelry. My marketing perspective and knowledge comes in handy while I work in this retail environment. 

I can't believe today marks the beginning of my last semester of college. The past few years have flown by. I can remember when I took my very first marketing course, and here I am in one of my last. Marketing Seminar is a course aimed to tie together different marketing concepts we've learned in the past few years and help prepare us to enter the workforce. This blog will be maintained throughout the semester during my time in Marketing Seminar. My posts will be about a variety of marketing topics, stemming from our class journal readings, class discussions, or everyday life! I am looking forward to this course and seeing what the semester has in store. 

Over winter break, I followed a Twitter account called "Marketing Dive", which provides daily marketing news on social media, digital strategy, online content, video, advertising, branding, mobile, location, targeting, SEO, and more! Now that I am beginning to apply for jobs in the marketing field, and will potentially have one in the near future, I think it is important to stay up to date with marketing news. Marketing is a field that's constantly changing, and I'm interested in keeping up with the latest stories and topics. This Twitter account will definitely provide me with ideas and insight for future blog posts. I think it's also important to utilize social networking platforms for business purposes in addition to personal use, especially because they are so prevalent in today's business world. 

I will be blogging on a weekly basis, and I will try to do so twice a week. Maintaining a blog has been a requirement for two of my previous courses here at WNE, so I am beginning to get the hang of it all. Blogging has been an interesting experience for me, especially because it helps me generate my thoughts and ideas for different topics. Stay tuned for my next blog post!