WhyHire.Me

I've recently joined a website (WhyHire.Me) as part of a school project, and essentially the site allows you to create your own online profile showcasing your experiences and achievements, to create your own personal brand.
I'm personally really excited about having done this project, it has forced me to think about what kind of person I am, and what my goals are in life. While I may still not know EXACTLY what career I would like to have after graduating from Carleton University, I have a much better idea of who I am, what I stand for, and what makes me happy.
I never thought about the importance of branding myself before, especially when it comes to my online presence; I do see now how important it is in this day and age to really be active online and make who you are known to the world, while being careful about what you're sending out.

We all go out with friends to have a good time, taking lots of pictures and talking about it for days afterward; but what is considered acceptable to be put online? Do we ever think about things like this when we log in to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or any other social networking site? Not usually.
We seem to think that we can put anything we want on the internet and that it will still be "ours", safe and private; but in reality, this is not true at all. I've already found it difficult to erase what I've posted in the past on some social networking sites, not because they were particularly "bad" things, but they would certainly be considered inappropriate in a professional setting. There are certain things you would never say or show to a potential employer during an interview (like that picture of you dancing it up with your girlfriends at the bar) but you would post it on Facebook, right? Well, whenever you put something like that online, it's just like you've hauled it out during an interview.
Potential employers can EASILY search for you online and find things you didn't even know were there. What impression do you think you've made on them without even knowing it? Potentially not a good one!
 It's amazing how one sentence you've said to a friend can potentially make you look like an idiot, and then it seems almost impossible to change that impression.
I'm very happy to say that while my online presence has yet to really grow and become substantial, that also means there isn't a whole lot about me that can be searched. I am, however, making an effort to portray myself (online and in person) as the kind of strong, hard-working, intelligent person that I am. It's a daunting task at times, but I think it's something that everyone should strive to achieve.

The internet and technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives and we really need to be a part of it, learning and growing along with it. WhyHire.Me and my Marketing: New Tools class have helped me understand this and I am grateful for the opportunity.
I would suggest to anyone trying to make a professional statement about themselves to try a site like WhyHire.Me, LinkedIn, or any other social networking site that is surrounded by a "professional" theme.

Brilliant Marketing Strategies - Part 2

If you've ever heard "A Diamond is Forever", then you've heard of De Beers Jewellery. I believe that De Beers is another one of those companies that came up with a brilliant marketing strategy and built up on it to make something incredible. De Beers spent $67 million on advertising in 1999, according to an article I read called "DeBeers Plays Up Details, Diamonds in Ad Push" by Christine Bittar. I've seen their ads hundreds of times and each time I find that they are getting more and more creative with every new release. So I can see why they invest so much money into their ad campaigns. I am talking mostly about their print ads, however most of their money is going to much larger advertising productions. Here I've included just a couple examples of some of my favorite print ads, and I'll discuss a little later more about the other ad methods they use. 




What makes these ads so brilliant to me is the fact that they are so obviously targeted to men in relationships and De Beers plays up on the stereotypes of relationships so well.

The idea that women will do anything and forgive anything for diamond jewellery is a pretty simple marketing strategy. One thing that seems to be ever prevalent in society is the idea that men will never understand women and women will never understand men. It's a generalization, of course, but it is still a pretty common theme among many movies, television shows, music, books, and other media. 
De Beers realized that women love jewellery, but advertising to women was not a profitable marketing strategy because women rarely buy expensive jewelley for themselves. However, jewellery is a great (and pretty common) gift for men to give to their girlfriends or wives. De Beers used the theme of men making women happy and coupled it with a down-to-Earth sense of humour to create advertisements that appealled to men who needed that "last minute gift idea" or a healthy reminder that "diamonds are a girl's best friend". 

While many of these ads are comedic and play off of stereotypes against both men and women, you might think some of the ads could come across as offensive. In reality, no one has really complained about these advertisements from what I've read and seen. In fact, I personally find them hilarious and, being a woman, I take no offense to any of the ads I've seen. This is of course my own personal opinion and how other women may feel is not necessarily even close to how I feel about the ads, but, as I've already said, I haven't heard of any complaints yet. 

Other advertising tactics used by De Beers includes an installation set up in August 2008 an placed in Grand Central Station using 25,000 roses (image left), to make a point that, unlike roses, diamonds last forever.

This was not only an expensive installation, but also a seemingly successful one. There was a lot of hype given to this installation, and there were even a number of case studies done about it. (I did try to read some of these studies but it would appear they are only available to subscribers).

The next advertising tactic that I thought was really impressive was the "Unbreakable Kiss" installation. This was done in a New York City park in 2008. This installation allowed couples to document a kiss in a 360-degree video. Couples could kiss underneath mistletoe (shaped like the diamond logo) for a $5 donation to the Elton John AIDS Foundation for World AIDS Day. 60 cameras photographed them from all angles and the photographs were then combined into moving video images.Not only was De Beers able to raise a considerable amount of money for the foundation ($50,000), but it also allowed men to give a very unique Christmas gift to their girlfriends/wives while De Beers benefitted by building its brand name and overall awareness. It was very successful considering that De Beers website traffic increased by 94% versus the previous year. The videos were enjoyed by over 300 viewers (more than just the couples who participated were checking out the hype) and $4.6 million worth of free publicity was gained for De Beers. You can read up more about this installation here.

While there are many more De Beers advertising examples I could go through, my point here is that these were all very brilliant strategies that have been very successful for the company, and also very enjoyable for the consumers. I highly suggest that if you haven't seen many of these ads that you look them up because some of them are fantastic. But please be wary of the fake (and sometimes very vulgar) ads that have also been put up, and know that they are not from De Beers.

Brilliant Marketing Strategies - Part 1

I recently read a blog about the new Shreddies marketing campaign for "Squares vs Diamonds" and it got me thinking about other advertisements that I have seen over the years that appeared to be particularly brilliant to me. As I started to think back, I realized how these "brilliant" advertising campaigns really stuck in my mind and had an affect on me.

When I was younger, I always enjoyed the Buckley's cough syrup commercials and advertisements because I (at that time) had never perceived advertising as a particularly honest form of media. Yet, Buckley's was telling us (as their potential customers) that they have the worst tasting cough syrup. I don't think Buckley's could have done a better job of building up a relationship with consumers; by being so brutally honest about the awful taste of the syrup in their advertisements, they allowed the viewers to gain trust in them. So, when Buckley's uses the slogan "It tastes awful. And it works." The consumers believe that it will work because the company is so willing to admit that it tastes terrible, therefore the product's effectiveness must be worth the taste.
This campaign has proven to be effective, on Buckley's website they admit that "The bad taste campaign increased Buckley's market share over 10% in the Canadian cough & cold category and has won numerous advertising awards." (http://www.buckleys.com/about/history.htm) This comes as no surprise to me; Buckley's created an image for themselves that said "Hey, we aren't going to sugar-coat anything. This is going to suck, but you'll be glad you did it."
I think it's safe to say that when you're sick and you're coughing up a lung, you want something that is going to WORK. This is why Buckley's appeals so much to consumers, they know it will work even before trying the product just because of the way Buckley's advertises so honestly.

I personally think that this was a great strategy, and it really allowed consumers to embrace Buckley's as a household name, I doubt that the company would have had as much success without the use of the bad taste campaign.

I'd like to know what others think about this campaign, and if you agree with the idea that the campaign is more or less the backbone of Buckley's tremendous success.