How much will it take for you to buy a car?

A recent article in MarketingVOX revealed that Saturn spends an average of $1012 in advertising on every car they sell. I thought that was a fairly high number. Apparently, Toyota and Honda spend half that number. Interestingly enough, Saturn sold 213,657 cars in 2005, about half the sales of the Camry alone. Toyota sold over 2 million cars in the US last year, and Honda sold just under 1.5 million cars. Source

I was surprised that the top two car manufacturers still spend so much to sell their cars. Toyota sold 10 times the number of cars Saturn did, but still spends half of what Saturn does on advertising (per car). That's a staggering amount of money spent on advertising considering these cars are the bestselling cars in America, and one would think they would sell themselves. If there were no more ads for the Camry on TV, how much would sales drop? I'm sure it would be a significant amount- Toyota and Honda would not be spending 500 advertising dollars on every car they sold if they did not have to. With all the competition in the car market, a great product is good, but not good enough- it's all the other marketing stuff like customer support, service and advertising that makes them great.

Bikini with built in UV sensor and alarm

With the growing concerns of skin cancer and global warming, Canadian swimwear manufacturer Solestrom has designed a bikini which has an inbuilt UV meter. There are two kinds of displays for the SmartSwim UV Smart Fabric Bikini so far- one with a digital LCD display on the belt which displays the current UV level, and the other which has beads which change color, from white to dark purple, to indicate different levels of UV intensity.

Prices range from $70 to $140 (Canadian) and these bikinis are available at Solestrom's website. Seems like a high price to play, but with a million new cases of skin cancer every year in the US alone, it doesn't seem like that much after all. The built in LCD UV reader also has an alarm that beeps when the UV index reaches dangerous levels. As for the one with the beads, you'll just have to keep checking on the beads color.

With a number of these bikinis already sold out, you should get yours soon if you want to have one for this summer. With little marketing, these bikini's have become extremely popular in a number of regions that are experiencing abnormally high temperatures this summer. That's less money spent on marketing and more money spent on R&D for more cool products like the SmartSwim UV Smart Fabric Bikini. The company also sells a tote which has a built in light and portable solar charger for cell phones, MP3 players and other small devices.

Taking the fun out of the game

In an effort to keep up with the plastic economy, Monopoly has stopped making their famous colorful bills. Instead, new monopoly sets are going to come with phoney Visa debit cards and a calculator / reader which keeps track of your money.

Is the game still going to be as much fun as it was with paper money? As for Visa.. nice job on sealing that deal with Monopoly, every child out there playing the game will know who you are before they know MasterCard or American Express.

What's next? Texas Instruments keeping your Taboo scores? Digital snakes and ladders boards? Somethings, I would like the remain the old school way.

Making the most of the PC / Mac ads

I was listening to the radio, on a radio, (yes, I'm one of the few people that still do that) and this ad comes on- "Hi, I'm a PC ; I'm a Mac" .. you know how it goes.. and then this DJ's voice comes on and he says something to the effect of "Hi, did you know that both of you can listen to this station for free online, anywhere in the world, virus free...... "

I was pretty impressed. Making ads based on ads is not a new concept, but it is when there's a positive spin put on the ad, instead of something derogatory or competitive. Normally I tune out when ads are played, but this definitely caught my attention. Nice job!

India banning Blogs

When I read about the banning of blogs in India, it I thought it was a joke. Never before have I heard of India restrictng freedom of speech. It's actually one of the silliest things I've ever heard.

Is the Department of Communications (DoC) ignoring the fact that some people make a living off of their blogs? Journalists, freelance writers, amature writers, and just people that use their blogs and others as a way of keeping in touch with the world and learning important information all stand to lose. Not to mention companies that use blogs and product reviews as part of marketing budgets.

Censorship of this type stifles free speech, and advancement. How is a developing country supposed to grow and seek investment from other countries if its governmental organizations let this type of stuff happen? There are always talks about the brain drain and leaving talent in India... can you blame them? Talent is not something to be surpressed.

This isn't marketing India very well to the rest of the world now is it, DoC?

Technology for your Pets

You really can't be in any industry and survive for too long if you are not thinking of how to tech it up. Litteraly. :)

The Litter-Robot is an automatic self cleaning cat litter box that promises to leave you and your cat purring! No more litter scooping and plenty more long weekends and business trips without worrying about your cat's litter box. The waste drawer has the capacity for several days, and changing the drawer is supposed to be as easy as changing a kitchen garbage bag. It's easy to set up and with no special receptacles or expensive waste bags, it's definitely a long run money saver. It's also supposed to last through all nine lives.

Are cat owners drop $300? I've yet to see any commercials for the Litter-Robot. So far, reviews are pretty good. This definitely is evidence, (not that much is needed) that technology plays into everything, from sunglasses to flushing your toilet to pets!

Rent Something Green

There's a rental car company that's all green. EV Rental offers its customers the three most popular hybrid cars to choose from- the Toyota Prius, Highlander and the Honda Civic. It is the first US company that carries all hybrid vehicles. It's growing really fast because it a great way to let people try out a hybrid car longer than just a test drive, and it's time and cost efficient, and the daily rates are the same as any other rental company.

So far, the only EV Rental locations are at airports through Fox Rent A Car. They have 8 locations, all on the West Coast. With soaring gas prices and increasing traffic, hybrid vehicles get more than 55 miles per gallon, and they qualify for driving in the carpool lane in California.

I rented a car twice in the last 2 months, and I did not have the choice of renting a hybrid, but if I did, I would definitely get one. Are we going to see Enterprise and Avis and all the other car rental companies make the switch to hybrids soon, or atleast include them in their fleet?

If I was a part of Toyota or Honda, I would give hybrid cars to rental companies for free, or atleast give it to them for a great price. It's a great marketing tactic- it takes a while for some people to adapt to something new, let alone try something new. By offering hybrid cars at car rental companies, it speeds up the awareness and adoption process, and hybrid car manufacturers are not spending millions of advertising dollars doing it.

Shop and Save the World

Through the ecoShop, you can make all the purchases you normally would online. The only difference is, you collect ecoMiles with each purchase you make. These ecoMiles are like points that you get when you shop at retailers. And these points are equal to dollars. However, what makes this so cool is that you get to donate these dollars to an economic or enviornmental development initiative of your choice. So, you get to shop at places you normally shop at, and the only different thing you have to do is log in to EcoMiles first. You still get your credit card points or AirMiles, you get your store points and you get to be part of economic development or environmental preservation.

There are close to a thousand major e-tailers affiliated with EcoMiles. Corporations want to be good global citizens right? The main goal of this type of service is to create a global, barrier-free currency to help a good cause- and you get to choose what you would like to invest in- wildlife, birds, children, or the environment. So why not? You always wished you could do something, but just dint know what. Here's something you can do, and it's effortless. You may actually get better prices through EcoMiles than you would if you shopped directly from a retailer. So far, everything about it is a thumbs up- so, give it a shot- if we all do it, imagine how much of a difference we can make.

Exclusivity

A decade or two ago we did not have as many choices as we do today. Stores brag about being a "one-stop-shop" satisfying every need a person can have, giving them all the choices possible. At Carrefour in Dubai, and other parts of the world, they have everything from cheese to TV's to clothes to shampoo. Pretty much like Wal-Mart here.

So, what's with Apple stores, and Nokia stores? Besides, ofcourse, the fact that they are gorgeous!

And that's just the outside. Once you're in the store, it's even more mesmerizing. And is it possible to go in and come out empty handed? iPod users allegedly spend $1 on iPod accessories for every $4 they spent on their iPod. Whoever said accessories never go out of style wasn't talking about the iPod, but it sure does apply. So, is the one-stop-shop going out of style? Personally, I love the exclusivity of these stores- I like being surrounded by all those amazing products, all from one glorious brand. That's why they do it. You compare Nokia products with other Nokia products, and not with competitor products. They get you into this exclusive store, enamor you with amazingly beautiful displays of their awesome products, - it wouldn't be right if you walked out empty handed. Or so they hope.

Are these stores just a place to make a purchase that you would make anyways, or are they part of a huge marketing ploy to eliminate "options" from your mindset and make you focus on just that one brand and all it has to offer. Are we going to see more of these exclusive stores? Will Motorola, Sony and Dell follow suit? Will they start changing their business models and adapt to this new trend? Or will too much exclusivity give way and the one-stop-shop prevail?

Competition Spurring Innovation

I've always rooted for the underdog- unless I feel very strongly about a team or product or brand. I've waited for a long time for something to challenge the mighty iPod. Not because I don't like it, but because I like healthy competition. There's been a few MP3 players that have created a little talk, but nothing that has said, "iPod, get ready for a challenge".

Zune, the MP3 player Microsoft is working on, has incorporated the iPods simple and easy design, but has added some handy and enticing features. Besides playing audio and video, Zune is supposed to be WiFi enabled allowing users to download from MTV's Urge service straight to their MP3 players, and it also lets Zune users share their music with each other. It is also rumored to have gaming capabilities, and some say it may even offer Sirius or XM radio.

Sounds like worthy competition. Now maybe both will try and outdo themselves, possibly add GPS capabilities so it works as a navigation system as well. But more and more cars are coming with nav systems anyways, so that may not be a good idea, but it would be handy.

How will the Zune do, considering more and more people are downloading and listening to music on their phones? You can even play sudoku on some phones. Will the next generation of the iPod or the Zune be the answer to the much wanted convergence of technology? Or will the cell phone take over and soon erase the MP3 player? If the iPod can facilitate communication between you and your shoes, why can't your cell phone do it? Will the iPhone do it? Will it be too much for the cell phone to handle? Or will we just be paying a little more for the super cell phone which combines your digital camera, MP3 player, nav system, PSP, personal computer and more? It sounds like a lot, but nothing's impossible- hopefully anyways. :)

This Advertising Company I Used to Work For

When there's a good product on the table, how do you take it that extra step further, and make it an amazing product?

I worked for an advertising company that had, in my opinion, a great product. They sold certificates full of buy one get one free coupons, for free oil changes, or buy one get one free ski resort passes, or buy one get one free dry cleaning, and my favorite, buy one get one free movie passes (and some passes were entirely free!) The entire value of these certificates was no less than US $500. And they sold them for anywhere between 20 and 40 bucks.

Would you buy one of those if you ordered pizza fairly regularly and you ordered 2 pizzas at a time? I would and I did! I paid 25 bucks and got 4 oil changes and a bunch of other discounts on brakes, alignments, and other stuff. Normally I'd pay 25 bucks for one oil change, so the deal made perfect sense. I dont ski, but the people I knew that did, were all over our sking certificates- that stuff can get expensive, and more often than not, you dont go sking alone! And the certificates came with buy one get one free meals at the ski resort restaurant and other goodies.

The way this was marketed was going door to door or business to business. This way, 90 percent of the houses or businesses we went to heard the name "Pizza Hut" or "Sam's Dry Cleaning". How did we know where to go? We located the business we were doing this promotion for, and drew a 5-10 mile radius around it. We broke up the map into grids, and targeted these grids. Everyday, a sales rep would go to a new grid, and there were anywhere between 5-15 sales reps working every day. That's a lot of word of mouth advertising. And even if people dint buy these certificates, they heard the name of the company we were representing, so the next time they were going to order pizza, Pizza Hut was probably one of their choices.

Our advertising company did not charge these Pizza Huts anything for doing them this great service. Pizza Hut had their name out in the public without paying a cent for this advertising - ofcourse, to get something, you gotta give something - all they gave up was a free pizza or 4 bucks off a large pizza. But wait, most people, if they think they are getting something for free, or they think they are getting a good deal, they will reward themselves for it... so, yea, i'm ordering 2 pizzas, i'm getting one for free, why dont I go ahead an order some wings since I saved on the cost of that second pizza. Or, my movie ticket was free, so I'll get myself some popcorn. Do you think one seat at a movie theatre was a lot to give away for the Cinema? Probably not... however, they just made 3 or 4 bucks on that popcorn you just bought, and that cost them 20 cents.

Great idea right? I certainly think so. So, why aren't more companies doing this? I know of one company that was a client of ours, and after our promotion was over, they decided to make their own certificates and sell them at their store. It was a local automotive repair shop. Apparently, the promotion we did for them brought in so much business, they loved the idea of these certificates and started designing and printing them themsevles. This way, they weren't giving away free oil changes, but were still getting the money for the certificates, and the customers that already went to them, had to option of getting their certificates directly from them and they got to save a bunch of money on their cars maintainance costs.

Why aren't we seeing these certificates at more stores? If I went to Applebees once a month, every month, and I always went with a friend, I would give them a one time payment of 20 bucks if I got buy 1 get one free meals for a year. That would cut the dinner bill in half every time and I would make my 20 bucks back in a few visits there, even faster if my friend split the 20 bucks certificate with me.

I think the idea the advertising company had was a great one- there's nothing like word of mouth advertising. Companies need to smart up and do this for themselves if the advertising companies aren't doing it for them. This way, Pizza Hut gets to keep the money from the certificates, not the advertising company.

Brajackets

Adding on to my earlier post about product placements in books, here's another cool marketing innovation that has book readers in Japan all over this new trend. Brajackets are just branded bookcovers. They go easily over a book, keep the book clean and neat, and is free advertising for companies, and users can choose brands they identify with. The covers are free and durable, usually in vivid colors.

It's a great way to give consumers something they can use, identify with a brand or product, and its advertising for companies. It's great for cities where public transportation is a norm, or where coffee shops are abundant and frequented by book enthusiasts or book clubs.

As far as I know, these brajackets only available in Japan so far, and are on stands in bookstores. Why not take it everywhere- coffee shops, retailers, laundromats- unless ofcourse the bookstores have a special contract with them. But, if a company is paying for the printing, how does it matter where these brajackets are distributed? Once everyone knows about it, they'll be rushing to these distributors and increasing foot traffic there.

Some of the big brands already in the game are Adidas, Canada Dry, Perrier Universal Studios, Levi's, Haagen-Dazs and a Japanese music bands. I hope this trend attracts more companies and catches on in more countries. Come on Barnes and Nobles and Borders, you have to get these brajackets in your stores, and stack them near the bestsellers and clearance stands.

Why not kick it up a notch? Why not have these brajackets for all kinds of book? The incredibly hard to advertise to segment is high school kids right? Maybe even college kids. If high schools and colleges stocked these brajackets at their local bookstores or ebay or half.com gave away a free brajacket of the consumers choice everytime they sold a book, that'd help get these brajackets popular in new markets. Ofcourse, there'd have to be a little something something in for the distributors, but that's a small price to pay for getting their names into these target segments.

This probably wouldn't be free because of the cost and quality of materials, but the companies making these brajackets could start making laptop sleeves. I have a boring one- i'd much rather have a sleeve with a product or brand that I like.

Flat Furniture

Who thought flat furniture would be an idea that sold? It's obviously not really flat, but it ships flat- thereby reducing its shipping size and therefore, its cost to ship. IKEA certainly din't.

Blu Dot owes its success to great furniture design and also lower shipping costs because their furniture is shipped flat. That's a pretty big selling point. I wouldn't buy furniture online because shipping would probably cost more than the furniture. However, if shipping costs are almost equal to what I'd pay to rent a truck or to get the furniture delivered to me, and I can do it all online, or after seeing it at a store, I'd definitely get it online. That's what everyone's doing right- buying everything possible online. Blu Dot's furniture is supposed to be easy to assemble too. So, win-win for the customer.

Some of Blu Dot's line of furniture is sold by a few retailers. So, if you are the type of person that needs to see something in person before buying it, (and it is furniture, so it's OK if you are) you can definitely check it out in these stores and order it online - or, since it's all boxed flat, it may even fit in your car.

More companies need to focus on making their products consumer friendly- and online consumer freindly. Almost everything you purchase online has a shipping cost to it, so if you can reduce it and save your customers some money, they'll probably come back to you the next time they need something- till your competitors catch up anyways.

Product Placement in Books

James Patterson is one of my favorite authors. He's the only author whose books I've read I can't put down- literally. I finish them in less than a day- which annoys me because I like the idea of reading a book before going to bed every night or at a coffee shop on the weekend. But, Pattersons books are seriously un-put-down-able!

James Patterson has 3 kinds of books- the Alex Cross Series, the Women's Murder Club and some romantic stuff that I've never read. I love the Alex Cross series- perhaps because Patterson has so many books in that series and all of them revolve around Detective Alex Cross and his family and friends. You get to know Alex Cross and his family and that, I think, is one of the biggest selling points of his series. He's a very likeable character, and he's really good at what he does. Oh, and if you decide to read the Alex Cross series, try and go in order- the best part, 2 of his best books are the first in his series- Along Came a Spider and Cat and Mouse. The movies don't compare- the books are awesome. I read a few of the Women's Murder Club books and wasn't that impressed by them- probably because there was no Alex Cross and he was something I was accustomed to and expected when I picked up a Patterson.

There's my bit of free advertising for Mr. Patterson. I can't wait for him to write more in the Cross series.

Now for the product placement bit. We've seen product placements in movies and on TV. None of the books I've read so far have them. Sure, it's gonna be a long shot deciding who your target audience is or even finding out how effective your product placements have been if they use books, but think about it - If there are fans out there, like I am of James Patterson, they'd keep coming back for more - if Alex Cross used his cell phone for something out of the ordinary and it was described in the book, or if the book revealed that he read Forbes magazine on his oh-so-frequent flights because he loved how it caught him up with all the latest business news he din't get to read in the newspaper or online because he's too busy solving crimes and catching serial killers- wouldn't that leave an impact on readers? Whether people read it in print, e-books, or in their cars on their way to work, I think it's a great way to reach a new segment.

Will we see John Grisham writing about his characters using the best law related databases in his new books? I sure hope so- that's a sure way to get the law enthusiasts aware of this hot law database.

Bacardi Party

Sure, we've all had parties with a lot of bacardi bottles. They were fun. But Bacardi's doing it better. They host the party at your house. They give you a DJ, a bar, and a lot of Bacardi drinks. They are your bartender, your DJ, and you get to be a guest at your own party instead of making sure everyone has a drink and worrying about what kind of music everyone will like. It's called Bacardi Bespoke.

I don't know what kind of price range Bacardi's charging for this service- but it is cheaper than ordering a drink at a bar because it's promoting bacardi drinks- and, it's all Bacardi. Great marketing tactic. As of now, it's only available in the UK, but hopefully, Bacardi will introduce it in other countries soon.

Once again, hats off to Bacardi. I thought Bacardi did amazing with the Mojito commercials and the "Mojito" dance, but this is brining service into a product dominant company. They are capitalizing on their amazing products and making more money from it by offering it as an incredible service package.

Intro

I've always been intrigued by innovation. How does it happen? How does an idea become reality? Can one person really be behind a product or a commercial? How do products get to market? Why do so many products fail?

Well, my college recently introduced a major called Technology Management in their MBA program, and that convinced me to go to grad school. The major covered most of those questions I had. I dont agree with the name "technology management" as I don't think it expains what is covered in the degree. Nonetheless, there were some great professors in the program that made me realize that this was the field I wanted to get into.

I have a marketing background, and I think that it's a big part of innovation and successful products. I've done some direct sales- it was quite an experience. Definitely something I don't see myself doing again, but, it made me realize how important it is to get to know customers.

For more about me, please go to my webpage.

Here's to the blend of marketing and innovation.