Justin Bieber Teams Up With Best Buy

Woahhhhhhhh! Justin Bieber teaming up with Best Buy? What 16 year old girl has enough money to buy a smart phone? More importantly, what middle aged man will purchase a product endorsed by a teeny bopper?  Don’t get me wrong, I love JB as much as the next pre-pubescent girl. However, Best Buy should have probably thought about their choice of celebrity endorsement a little bit more extensively. As far as I know, Best Buy’s target market is small business owners and tech-savvy middle class consumers. Is this Justin Bieber’s target audience? Definitely not! Also, in the same commercial, Ozzy Osbourne makes an appearance. Not only does he make an appearance, but he also expresses his lack of knowledge of technology. Clearly, Best Buy made a subpar choice when it comes to celebrity endorsements.

What kind of blogger would I be if I only criticized? A pretty bad one. Best Buy could have hundreds of people that represent their brand better than a 17 year old pop sensation from Canada. So, what am I recommending? Use somebody that is close to the age of their target market. A middle aged man that uses technology on a regular basis, provides for a middle class family and enjoys being the “cool dad” who knows everything about technology. Best Buy’s previous commercials featured middle aged mothers and fathers shopping for their children. You’ve confused enough people on your branding Best Buy, go back to the basics.

Mercedes-Benz Takes on Golf

                Mercedes-Benz is seen as a premium brand of automobiles. They make classy cars and are known for their top-of-the-line products. In the sports world, golf is regarded as a classy sport that classy people play. For this reason, I think it could be a good strategy by Mercedes-Benz to enter into the golf market. From personal experience, I know a handful of people who drive Mercedes-Benz, all of whom play golf. Both the sport of golf and Mercedes-Benz have a similar target market as well. This furthers my thoughts that Mercedes has made a good decision.  Co-branding with one of the world’s most patrician sport will only improve the associations that are made with the Mercedes-Benz brand. On the other hand, Buick tried a stint with branded golf balls that didn’t work out so well. Since departing from this strategy, their brand equity has only increased. Mercedes will be branding golf balls and commencing a mobile golf tour co-branded with the PGA tour of America.

If everything goes to plan, this strategy could pay off. However, couldn’t Mercedes-Benz find something better to do with their money? I see the value in branding with golf events, but specific products is a different story. Although the values of Mercedes-Benz and the sport of golf are somewhat aligned, making Mercedes-Benz golf balls may not translate into vehicle sales. If anything, I think the campaign will increase the strength of the relationship that current Mercedes-Benz drivers have with the brand. It will allow them to show their support buy utilizing their golf balls.

The only question is, is the cost of the campaign higher than the extra revenue that strengthening these relationships will bring?

Thinsations-Facebook ad

Wait a minute...Facebook and Thinsations? Is there any causal link between these two? Thinsations is targeted towards middle aged mothers who don’t have the time to snack properly because of their hectic schedule. facebook on the other hand, is targeted towards the younger demographic who are tech-savvy and usually have a more rapid metabolism. Instead of going for a treat you crave that may contain a ton of calories, Thinsations tries to satisfy that craving without the negative effects.

Personally, I think this is a great strategy for Thinsations. By targeting a younger demographic, they may be able to instil healthy snacking habits in young adults. By doing this, not only are they increasing sales, but acquiring life-long customers. Facebook is also seen as “cool” in our society today. Being thin and fit is also considered cool in North American society. It seems like Thinsations are trying to become a trend. Obviously by using facebook they would like to increase their word of mouth marketing.

As the older demographic is becoming more familiar with facebook, this strategy will pay dividends. I think Thinsations made a bold move using facebook in their add and hopefully it will pay off.

Funnyordie – Charlie Sheen

In case you were unaware, Charlie Sheen is the most important issue in North American society at the moment. Is this a testament to how little North Americans care about world issues? Probably...Realistically though, this was a great move on Funnyordie’s part. By the introduction of the segment, “Cooking With Charlie Sheen”, Funnyordie’s website hits and relative clout among websites based on viral content skyrocketed. Funnyordie has never cared what is posted on its website, as long as it is funny and makes people laugh. Although Charlie Sheen is seen as the scum of the universe by some, he’s also known for saying hilariously outlandish statements.

Using Charlie Sheen effectively will greatly build Funnyordie’s brand equity. Not only is Funnyordie showing a video of Charlie Sheen like youtube.com and ebaumsworld.com are doing, but its showing a video of Charlie Sheen that he made specifically for Funnyordie. Every time this video is viewed by an individual from any viral video source, they will be forced to think of Funnyordie because Charlie Sheen is branded to it now. Big Charlie is currently the most popular celebrity on the planet. He is the Allen Iverson or James Harrison of entertainment. Love him or hate him, you’re still talking about him. Funnyordie is working on building brand awareness. The start of brand awareness is word of mouth and people talking about your product. This is what’s happening with Funnyordie.

Overall, I think Funnyordie and creator Will Ferrel are geniuses for teaming up with Charlie Sheen. Not only is it building Charlie Sheen’s brand, but is in turn, building their brand at the same time.

Chrysler and Eminem

Being a huge supporter of Eminem for the last 12 years, you would think I would be ecstatic to see my favourite musician in a commercial for a huge car company. However, this is not the case. I think this deteriorates both of their brands.

Eminem is arguably the best rapper in the world. Rappers are known for being hip, vulgar, not socially responsible, and loaded with money. Eminem should be associating himself with a more expensive car company and a more expensive car. Being at the top of his industry, it baffles me as to why Eminem would advertise a car that is for middle class, middle aged consumers. Eminem’s target market is not consumers with the monetary resources to even purchase the car he’s advertising. Where is the link between Eminem and Chrysler? Is it only Detroit!? Detroit already has a bad reputation, why add a disgruntled rapper with anger issues to your brand. Stupid!

Chrysler tried to make their brand seem upscale and classy through this commercial. Eminem makes a living off of unclassy remarks and communicating his lack of wealth and maturity as a youth. Unless Chrysler wants a rags to riches story with their car...they need a new spokesperson. 

Laurier School of Business and Economics

Laurier has had many brainstorming sessions on changing the name of the business program at Laurier. So far, it has been mentioned that they would like to rename the program after somebody in the community from Laurier, that has achieved something great. However, Laurier doesn’t want somebody who is still living to be their program’s representative. Obviously somebody who is still alive has the potential for missteps in business or in life that could negatively affect the program’s reputation.

Most other schools differentiate their business program from the rest of their school by using a different names. Schools that do this include Western, Carleton, University of Toronto, York and Ryerson. Personally, I think being different is the most important thing. If all the other schools have their own name for their program, I’d rather keep Laurier’s name attached to my program. Furthermore, the Laurier business program’s brand name is gaining momentum exponentially with its victories in successive JDC competitions. Changing the name at this point may not be beneficial to the program and may lose all of the brand equity that has already been established under the Laurier name.

Finally, I’m wondering how this will affect people who have already graduated. People are going to have degrees from Laurier and degrees from the new program. It will be interesting to see what happens to each brand.