Everyone loves to go to their mailbox (physical or virtual) and find new coupons for their favorite stores. I know that I love the Target clipless coupons that they send out and also the dozens of coupons for Bed, Bath, & Beyond that I faithfully get every month. Making the public consumers aware of your brand is one step in increasing your customers, their loyalty, and sales. If I have a coupon for a certain store, I am more likely to go choose that store over another one because I know that I will save money. Even if it is a 10% off coupon and it won't save me much on my $20 purchase, I'll probably go there just because I have the coupon and I am reminded of the store. Many times I'll forget about a certain store, but once I get a coupon from them, I suddenly remember that I need something from that store. There are tons of stores that do not send out any type of coupon or promotional advertisement. I feel like if those stores would start to do that, then their customer base would expand and they would have more traffic to their stores. Even though coupons can be costly to a company, the customer loyalty that comes from coupons is amazing. I work in a clothing retail store and I see the same customers come in weekly because of the new coupons that they got in the mail. Most of the time theyw oudl not have came by to shop if it wasn't for the coupon. Once the customer is in the store, they are more likely to buy more than what is required for the coupon (if anything), so for the most part, it can benefit a company. Awareness of the brand is not going to come from walking by it in the mall, it is going to come from good advertising and promotional sales and coupons that will remind the consumer of the brand/store and draw them in to make a purchase.

Symbolic Positioning---Is it all fake?

Positioning can either be functional, symbolic, or experiential. A lot of companies use symbolic positioning to make consumers think that if they use their product or wear their product they will give them a certain status. One example are the ads for Abercrombie & Fitch. The ads include almost nude models caressing each other while music is playing in the background. First of all, it doesn't even show the clothing, so the product isn't even shown. Second of all, the ad is very sexy and conveys the view that if you wear this clothing, you will be sexy also and have people caressing you. Obviously, just wearing a t-shirt from A&F is not going to automatically make you sexy. Another example shampoo commercials. Many shampoo commercials show that their shampoo will make your hair shiny and full and beautiful. Of course it happens for the models on the commercial, but this is not definitely going to happen for you. Symbolic positioning is a way to show consumers what could happen with their product if you have the perfect body, or if you have perfect hair. Most people take these commercials lightly, but young, impressionable minds probably do not. Most uses of symbolic positioning are far-fetched...but at least they're entertaining.

Brand Managers

Being a brand manager for a celebrity or company comes with many responsibilities. It's your job to make sure that the person or the company looks as good as possible to the public. I think a lot of celebrities today should have better brand managers because a lot of brand managers are not doing good jobs in helping their images and making them someone that people like. In Hollywood it seems that all the young celebrities are being known for the bad things that they do and they are not getting known for the work that they do. I think that their brand managers should reevaluate what they are doing and really try to change their images. I think that having a certain brand or image is really important for celebrities today because that is what they are known for and that is what people are going to remember them by. They should take a look at what they do and try to better their image by doing things that will make them look better and be better people to look up to.

SICKO

Along with other topics, we discussed whether or not pharmaceutical companies are ethical in their advertisements. There were many who thought that pharmaceutical companies are unethical in showing commercials about new medicines that you can get from your doctor. I disagree because how is the COMMERCIAL and the MARKETERS hurting the consumer? The consumer is the one who buys into the commercial and diagnoses themselves with these sickness' or diseases. The companies do not make the consumer do anything that they do not want to do. I truly believe that it is a psychological problem that the consumer has. If they watch these commercials, diagnose themselves, believe with all their heart that they have this particular sickness, and the doctor prescribes this prescription to them, then that is their own will and no one can blame that on marketers. Marketing companies are only trying to advertise these medications for people who ACTUALLY HAVE this sickness or disease because they should be informed about their choices. So, for the sick people's sake, marketers are actually doing something quite ethical.

-Jordan.


---one side note that I would like to make is that if some of the students in our class are marketing majors or even CARS majors who are thinking about a career in advertising whether it be food, medicine, clothing, etc. and they think that these ads and marketers are unethical, than they may need to rethink their career choice because when they are the marketers and are trying to sell a product, they are going to do their job of advertising the product....regardless of if this product could POTENTIALLY harm the consumer. IT'S UP TO THE CONSUMER!!!! THEY ULTIMATELY MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS....NO MARKETER, ADVERTISING AGENCY, OR COMPANY IS PUTTING A GUN TO THEIR HEAD MAKING THEM BUY OR USE THIS PRODUCT.