Toys "R" Us > Amazon

Have you ever used Amazon.com to order something online? What do you think of the site? Do you think of it as an amazon of greatness…or a poor excuse of a business without any morals?

Just two weeks ago I read a case study about Toys R Us and Amazon’s awful so-called strategic partnership in 2000. I must say, after reading that, I have never hated a company so much!

To catch you up on what I’m talking about here’s some brief history. The two retailers signed a 10-year strategic partnership to leverage each other’s customer base and assets and competencies. Around the time of the dot-com bubble craziness, the agreement between the two was Toys R Us would be the “exclusive” provider of baby product and toys for Amazon. Their objective was to increase sales and drive more traffic to their website. Toys R Us was ballsy enough to get rid of their domain name and sold all of their toys and baby products through Amazon. Sounds like a dream partnership right? Exactly, it would only work out perfectly in a dream, especially with the way the rest of the story unfolds.

So anyway, there seemed to be a huge misunderstanding of the word “exclusive,” after Amazon realized Toys R Us did not have very broad product selection. Even though Amazon knew they would be going against their agreement and Toys R Us would be infuriated, they went ahead and offered links to other stores and brands. Toys R Us consulted Amazon and said they were not staying true to the pact and changes needed to be made. To shut Toys R Us up, Amazon said they would make some changes only if Toys R Us improved their inventory and had a greater variety of products for people to select from. Amazon’s objective was to become a one-stop-shop online retailer. They wanted to dominate the market and have people go to their site for everything they needed. Amazon apparently thought by “exclusive,” Toys R Us meant they would be the exclusive suppliers of the specific brands they were selling. But everyone in their right mind knows that Amazon didn’t need a dictionary or three brain cells to figure out what Toys R Us meant by the word EXCLUSIVE.

When Amazon started linking to other toy and baby product sellers, they were creating direct competition for Toys R Us and everything went down hill from there. Long story short, Toys R Us won the lawsuit and resorted back to its independent online retail store.

I have learned there are three main reasons companies enter strategic partnerships.

• Value Enhancement Opportunities such as leveraging customer base
• Skills and Resource Gap and leveraging each other’s competencies
• Environmental Turbulence-helping you adjust in foreign countries, familiarize people with your brand…etc.

  

Words of greatness:

Think of strategic business partnerships as your ideal relationship with prince charming

• IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS
• Be selective when it comes to deciding who you want to partner with
• Learn about the companies core values, goals, and motives
• Be extra cautious when entering an extremely long partnership. 10 years is like in eternity in business years. It’s like dog years, so much happens in 1 year. The economy changes, businesses develop new ideas and grow!
• Be careful when entering into a strategic partnership with a company that does the same thing you do! Ex: pairing up with another relailer…that can only lead you to trouble, unless you two are selling completely different things. But still, it pays to be extremely careful because they can easily steal your strategy and even worst, take business from you!
• When signing an agreement, make sure you both have a clear understanding on what you want out of the relationship remember---COMMUNICATION IS KEY!
• Just like in your relationship- If one of you is much wealthier than the other one, it would only make sense to sign a prenuptial agreement. I know, I know, it’s not the most romantic thing. But hey! It’s a crazy world and you never know what’s going to happen. Same goes in with business relationships…have everything written down clearly (make sure you have a SMART lawyer present when this all takes place).

Move Over Ronald McDonald!

Dear Ronald McDonald, 

I hope you are having a nice time at home and are being productive, now that you have so much time on your hands. I hear you drop by the Ronald McDonald Houses more often. I'm so sorry to hear they don't like you any more at Mc D's. Who would have ever thought, you of all people would be there new enemy. I guess that's being a little harsh, maybe not an enemy, just not the companies favorite person at the moment. Rumor has it, you are hurting their brand image because people associate you with unhealthy burgers and fries. Sorry buddy, better luck next time. Maybe you should consider becoming friends with Subway’s Jared and get him to help you lose some weight! Or even better, you should try eating the new items on McDonald’s menu! 

 As a strategic marketing decision, Mc Donald's has invested a lot of money to change their brand image. Not too long ago they used to have the same marketing strategy as their rival, Burger King. They have a competitive advantage over other fast food restaurants because they are the one of the first to transform their image target market.

 
Move over Ronald because according to a Bloomberg you are not the ideal bait for reeling in a sophisticate crowd. McDonald’s is shifting their focus from burgers to premium coffee and lattes. About two weeks ago after I visited the local McDonald's down the street, I could have sworn I thought I had walked into a Starbucks coffee shop. They have really upped their game. According to a New York-based restaurant consultant, the fast food restaurant is not giving up on kids and Ronald, 

“they just changed their marketing mix. Their colorful play areas have been replaced with warm toned cushioned seating areas. With an effort to keep up with society’s needs and consumer demands, Mc D's wants to be considered as healthy, modern, and innovative fast food chain rather than a saturated fat factory. They introduced the McCafe premium roasted coffee and added several healthier items to their menu. As much as I am going to miss zipping down their slides with the food trays, they are innovative and are moving in the right direction."

I find it interesting that Burger King is not conforming to the status quo. They recently introduced the King to the world, their version of Ronald. Ever wonder why the King looks like such a creeper and think "why on earth would kids like him...Ronald looks much friendlier?!" Well that's because his face was purposefully designed to look a little creepy and strange. News flash, fast food chains like Mc Donald's and Burger King are no longer striving to gain the attention of kids!! Their target markets have changed. The demographic Burger King is targeting is the young male audience, 18-35 year of age. Unlike many other fast food chains, Burger King is not focusing on offering a healthier menu, rather they are embracing the fact that they serve junk food, it is part of their unique marketing strategy. 

As bad as I feel for Ronald McDonald, it is cool to see how each company is fighting to be on top of the food chain (haha...literally). Now who's to say which company is right or wrong for doing what they're doing? I guess when you think about it there are a few lessons you can take away from this fast food marketing mayhem.

• Having a unique marketing strategy is very important. To help you relate think of relationships and what you look for when you’re out seeking your soul mate. You want somebody that is different, unique, and has a lot to offer; not somebody who is like everybody else…how boring. Then at that point  it doesn’t matter who you’re dating, if they’re all the same…why not just settle for the first one you come across. (Doesn’t sound like much fun now, does it?).
• Differentiate yourselves from your competitors. May the marketing mix be with you! You’re given these tools for a reason now use them. List out what your competitors are doing and what you are doing. If you are both doing the same thing, you may have a problem! It’s just like selling cars. If every single car company was selling the same exact car then nobody would bother searching around; once again they would settle for the nearest dealer and not have a preference as to what they purchase.
• Develop a unique selling proposition..it pays to be different! ( That is if you are doing it at the right time, place, for the right price, in a creative way!)
• In order to be successful, have a cohesive marketing plan. Make sure all of the strategies you are using are consistent and you are sending the same message the different channels you are using.
• Last but definitely not least-----------Mc Donald's vanilla ice cream and friends are a match made in heaven! (Well...they are!) Next time you’re their buy fries, dip then in a cone of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Until next time, TTFN, ta ta for now!

Miracle Whip, What Side Are You On??

I have a question for you; do you love it or hate it? Seriously,…which side are you on? In case you have no idea what I’m talking about…I’m asking you about Miracle Whip’s commercial! Miracle Whip ads ask “Love them or hate them?” Their new campaign is pushing the idea that they know “it’s not made for everyone.” To spread the word like wild fire, the first commercial part of their new campaign aired this week during Fox’s Glee.

It is so gutsy for a company to have a commercial with people stating they do not like their product…and even more surprising was the effect it had on me. Strangely, after watching the commercial I wanted to actually try it out and see if Miracle Whipe actually tasted as bad/good as people claimed it to taste. Having people from both sides share their opinion about Miracle Whip made the commercial seem genuine and did not seem like they were forcing you to buy their product. In the end it made you feel like it was completely up to you and you were in control, they weren’t using a “push strategy,” instead it almost required customer engagement.

One of my favorite parts of the commercial was around 32 seconds when the sitting on the steps said, “Miracle Whip tastes like disappointment, spreadable disappointment.” Just the fact that he referred to the product being advertised as “spreadable disappointment” shocked me! That part of the commercial genuinely caught my attention. Marketers for Miracle Whip managed to somehow create an emotional connection with their audience by…having people speak negatively about their products…it blows my mind! To make the commercial even more awesome was Jersey Shore’s Paul D’s part around 50 seconds. Of all of the people in the commercial, they had the famous person (or at the very least the only person I recognized from the commercial) speak negatively about their product. If that’s not courageous, I don’t know what is…! Near the end, text is written in what looks like Miracle Whip, it shows a person taking a whiff of the opened bottle, and he makes a face as if he just smelled a skunk or something. It’s like they’re not willing to hold back anything!

Creativity and emotional appeal are important in the world of marketing and Miracle Whip nailed it! Having people say they would never eat it or do not like the product is consistent with their theme of “It is not made for everybody” and it is okay if you do not like it. Their competitors should be taking notes and learn a thing or two about branding from Miracle Whip! Their new campaign is a great example of an awesome integrated marketing communications. Their television advertisements, print ads and social media send deliver a consistent message and work together in unison. Cohesion is very important when working towards create a strong brand image. I also loved the interactivity of the campaign because not only did have people give their opinions in commercials, they also allow consumers to be fans on FaceBook and on their profile page, the first thing that pops up is a survey sheet that allows you to share your opinion of whether you like Miracle Whip or not!

Pure genius.

Was Poor Barbie Valentineless?

“OH EM GEE!”

So, like the other day I was talking to my friend Audria and you will never believe what she told me…hold on to your boot straps because what I’m about to tell you is going to blow you away! She was like OMG…I was like NO WAY!



http://bit.ly/eXupjL



In case you did not get the memo, what I am going to tell you is a pretty big deal!

A few years ago after a 43 year relationship, Barbie and Ken split up and I could not believe it. I think I was shocked along with ever other five year old who was crying their eyes out over this Hollywood break up. With their on again off again relationship, rumors spread like wildfire that they would get together again. As usual about any relationship under the spot light, ridiculous rumors also spread about why they broke up. Let me give you some examples of how obnoxious these were. Patricia O'Connell from Businessweek address some of them in an article-

“Being single better suits the Cali Girl doll”



“Barbie has left Ken for Blaine.”

“Ken is gay.”

Then again, another rumor that tops all of the one’s I listed above…(a rumor that I STRONGLY) believe in….

http://bit.ly/goe0oA



Cynics called the split a desperate publicity stunt by the couple's company, Mattel Inc., which has seen Barbie's popularity and revenues in the U.S. drop recently despite her numerous image makeovers and new products.

http://bit.ly/eawAJa

Seriously, is that not the one of the most genius marketing ploys you have ever heard of? Of course, in a press conference the handsome doll had a statement prepared at a press conference to save face:

"Barbie and I decided to spend some time apart," the statement read. "She's got a new look ... I'm confident we will always stay friends."

As devastating as their Hollywood breakup was for all of the Barbie loving customers, I think this was a BRILLIANT marketing strategy. Just recently Mattel implemented another awesome campaign that revolved around Valentine’s Day and had millions wondering if Ken was going to take him back. Billboards were displayed all over the place with Ken begging Barbie to take her BACK!  

Not trying to be repetitive or anything but….Who ever thought of this idea IS A GENIUS in my book. The campaign was implemented just in time to reveal the Barbie’s answer right around Valentine’s Day. The bright blue billboards with Ken pleading Barbie to take him back created great sense of emotional appeal to women and young girls everywhere and the campaign generated a crazy buzz.

My brain flooded with dollar signs when I first heard of the campaign. I can’t even imagine how many girls cried out “MOMMM LOOOK OVER THERE! IT’S KENN!” All of the kids who went through the stress and emotional rollercoaster due to their separation must have been ecstatic Ken is back. What can I say, I guess even Barbie fell in love with the billboards and couldn’t help but take him back.

Although this campaign was probably a retention strategy I also think it was a great customer acquisition strategy. For the younger kids who may have just recently started playing with Barbie and are not familiar with Ken, this campaign was a great way to gain their attention.

I can’t wait to one day be the mastermind behind an amazing marketing and advertising campaign.

TTFN, ta ta for now!

Social Bookmarking Soul Mate

It’s official, I think I found my soul mate. She is not the cute romantic kind, more like the awesome social bookmarking kind! Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Kat Caz.

It has been a while since Kat added to her awesome collection of sites. The last time my soul mate bookmarked any interesting sites was November 9^th 2010.

She has fifty-six pages bookmarked and My three favorite pages Kat has book marked are AdFreak, Chris Brogan’s Blog, Top 5 Brand Culture Tips. Need I add her and I both have Chris Brogan’s site saved? I has hears about AdFreak once but had never really checked it out. This site posts some funny commercials and ads. I recommend you check it out if you like watching funny commercials and reading about some ridiculous ad campaigns. 

I’m telling you Kat is just something else. It’s like she is my cyber twin/soul mate…! She mainly bookmarks sites related to marketing, more specifically digital marketing, social marketing, campaigns, and web 2.0.

Although she has not saved any sites recently, the ones Kat as bookmarked provide tips and tools on how to improve marketing campaigns, have informative marketing videos, give advice on how to monetize social media.

She is a member of four groups on Diigo, two of which are web 2.0 related. She is also part of a blogging and social-media group. It is safe to say I am now part of that group as well. I still have a long way to go to catch up to her but…I’m slowly getting there! She has many tags but they are neatly organized so you do not have to worry about drowning though a redundant list. Another thing I noticed was she does not seem to comment on the tags or ad descriptions. She has everything from marketing films to marketing music. Some of her most useful tags are the website tutorials, social media and marketing ones. Why didn’t I know about her that one night I was up until 2AM, snacking on cheese puffs and Twix, searching the web for cool marketing blogs?

For future blog posts, I will refer to her awesome bookmarked sites to learn about new and funny ads as well as updates on the social media world. As helpful as her sites are, I would like to learn about more recent campaigns and case studies. I had come across other Diigo users who had social media and marketing tags but what made Kat stand out was all of her other important tags! She was one of the few I came across that had campaigns and advertising tagged. She is a good resource for finding interesting marketing strategy tips but up to date info on new companies I plan to use other sources such as Entrepreneur magazine.

I must say, I’m one lucky gal for finding my social bookmarking soul mate at such a young age. I have been dreaming of this day for such a long time. I think it is safe to say in the online world rules of  monogamy do not apply and one can have multiple soul mates. Although Kat Caz is one special gal with helpful and relative tags, I look forward to finding my next social bookmarking soul mate.

Can’t wait to see what to future holds for me and my blog! HAHA

TTFN, ta ta for now.

Marketing Extraordinaire-Chris Brogan

When it comes to blogging about marketing, Chris Brogan’s self-titled blog [chrisbrogan.com] is a very entertaining and interesting one to read. With eleven years of experience in the social media and marketing industry under his belt, he is a consultant to fortune 500 companies, a co-author, and a columnist in at Entrepreneur Magazine, my favorite! He blogs about several different topics ranging from tips and tools to reviews of different companies and their strategies.

In his blog titled Dream a Disney Dream , Chris Brogan shares his experience of the launching of Disney Dream cruise line. It is interesting how he incorporates links into his post and the text “Disney Dream” leads straight to the cruise line homepage. A lot of the landing pages of the links posted on his blog lead to informational homepages and help the reader learn more about what he is talking about.

When adults talk about Disney and cruise ships, many probably think they are infested with hyperactive, annoying children running around uncontrollably. Surprisingly, Brogan shares:

This ship wasn’t just for the young and the young at heart. It was also a pretty exciting place for a grown-up, too.

I like that he used the turn “grown-up” instead of adult. It makes his writing informal and inviting. I feel grown-up is usually a term used by children or adults when they are trying to teach kids a lesson. Since it comes off as informal language, it really matches the topic and goes with the Disney theme! It is also awesome how he manages to write about an academic subject and makes it interesting and fun to read. I did not want to stop reading his post but unfortunately, the cruise had to end sometime.

Although you can tell a lot about a bloggers persona through their writing, I must admit my favorite part about his Disney Cruise review post was the video of him on the water slide. It shows he really wants to relate to his followers and connect with them on another level. He seems cordial and it is almost as if he wishes we were there with him along for the ride. After reading his descriptive post, I hope I end up having a phenomenal vivid dream of me on the glorious ship sliding down the wicked water slide!

In another post of his, titled Managing Social Presence, Chris Brogan talks about the Hootsuite application and its different functions and tools. He says:

If you look at the graphic to the left, it lets you post messages and read messages from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare and elsewhere. It also lets you cook up searches in Twitter search, plus a few other things.

I love the informality of his writing and how he incorporates the phrase “lets you cook up searches.” He makes it sound like searching is an art or witchcraft. He surprisingly manages to write as though he is having a cool conversation about a simple online social media application!

When writing about social presence management needs, he uses lists and adds side comments in closed parenthesis. The lists also compliment his informal writing style and are an effective way for him to quickly share his opinions and suggestions. Usually when I think of a list, a never ending boring grocery list comes in mind but when I was reading his list I wished it never ended! One of the bullet points were:

A blog editor. (They’ve dabbled with linking Hootsuite to WordPress.com, but this shouldn’t be that hard.)

Every time I come across his comments in the closed parenthesis I think of casual conversations I have with my friends and how I do the same when I talk. He also uses italicized words. When he uses the word that…it is almost as though he is reassuring his followers it should not be hard and after watching the video part of the Dream a Disney Dream post I can totally imagine him emphasizing that word.

Another thing I admire about his posts is his voice does not change very much. Whether he is talking about his marvelous adventure on the Disney cruise line or simply writing about social media applications, he still comes off as relatable and cordial. I think when he adds his side comments; it helps make his writing sounds more like a conversation rather than a tedious lecture. Hopefully I come off the same way and you can relate to me.


Stay tuned for more goodness...

TTFN, ta ta for now!

P.S.  Chris Brogan: …I think you’re awesome!

Fellow Blogger Profile: Michael Fleischner

One of my new favorite marketing blogs is The Marketing Blog by Michael Fleischner. He is a true marketing guru and an author of a couple books on the topic. With 13 years of experience in the industry, he provides great insight to online marketing. He shares his experiences with different products and brands. The best way I can think of describing him is an amusing spunky nerd.

He manages to write about ‘all aspects of marketing’ and offer interesting tips to his readers while sharing his personal experiences with different products and services. His post on January 5, 2011 was one of my favorites because he passionately talks about email marketing! Some posts even come off as diary entries. His attention to detail is great and the examples he uses are very helpful.

In his post titled, “The Best Customer Service Email Ever!” He shares his experience with the company Bodybuilding.com. He copy pasted the actual email he received from the firm and said it is “the best friggin' follow up email I think I've ever received.” It is awesome to see someone get so excited about a confirmation email. It goes to show how important it is to invest in great customer service! Michael writes new posts roughly once a week and each receives on average ten comments. The greatest thing about his posts is they are not too long so it is great for people like me who have an attention span of a goldfish.

Another blog post I found interesting is “National Email Unsubscribe Day January 3, 2011.” I like that he does not use a boring tone and does not write as if he is a dreary business professor. Instead, he writes as though he is having an enjoyable conversation with his followers. In this particular post, he started by complaining about how difficult it is to unsubscribe from certain email lists and then he talks about the importance of having updated mailing lists. He then shares a quick tip, “Having a clean email list is great for us because it allows us to better understand our true reach and effectiveness with marketing campaigns.”

Similar to The Marketing Blog, I would like to write about my personal experiences with different products and services as well as talk about different marketing strategies of firms. Even though the world of marketing and advertising is loads of fun,what is great about his blog is he took an academic subject and managed to turn it into something fun and attractive.

Unlike Michael, I would like to write article reviews and about various case studies because I love reading about issues firms face and how they overcome problems. I plan to focus more on different marketing campaigns, sharing my opinion on whether or not their strategies coincide with their brand image. Our target audience seems to be relatively similar: people who are intrigued by the industry as well as looking for some interesting marketing stories and strategies.

His audience may be slightly more experienced as he is a businessperson with thirteen years of experience! I hope to attract a younger audience who is looking for an informal blog about the industry and it would be great if we started a community and shared different ideas and thoughts about what companies are doing…how about we go with the Marketing Mayhem Clan…I like the sound of that!
 

TTFN, ta ta for now!

Hello World!

Welcome to the awesomeness I call the Marketing Mayhem! Take this blog as my…not so secret journal of greatness. Join me on my journey as I delve into the world of retail marketing. Marketing includes everything from product development and design to product packaging and distribution. Ever since I took an e-marketing class during my senior year of high school, I have been infatuated with Marketing and learning about different strategies. As part of a class project, we were required to reposition any product of our liking. With orange juice as my product, I aimed to change the way people perceived it. We were given freedom to change anything we wanted about the product. My goal was to persuade people to think of orange juice as a cool and hip beverage rather than just a dull breakfast drink they consume with a boring muffin. I introduced Slominski, the world’s finest tasting premium orange juice, to the world. My project was a hit! Everybody loved the sleek design of black striped bottle. 







After getting a little taste of marketing…I was hooked! Being a communication major and a marketing minor, I am finally on my way to become a marketing guru. I specifically chose retail marketing because I am very interesting in learning about consumer behavior and am fascinated with the evolution of complex strategies. I have always felt as though business-to-business marketing does not allow for as much freedom and creativity as retail marketing does. My dream job would be to work for Disney or Dream Works in their retail-marketing department. I am obsessed with watching cartoons and learning more about how children’s programs and toys are developed and sold. I love the challenge of marketing to children because you have to market to both the kids and the parents to persuade them to purchase merchandise. Disney or Dream Works would be the perfect place for me to grow and have the freedom to allow my mind to be creative. It would be a dream come true! 

I look forward to writing about the evolution of marketing and the incorporation of psychology and different marketing cases about various companies. I would be interested in writing about different articles featured in Business Week and Entrepreneur magazine because I love reading about innovative firms and want to share my ideas with the world! Rhetoric plays an important role in marketing because, in order to fully engage the target market, a firm has to mold its communication and business strategy to fit its audience. Rhetoric and media composition would also be an interesting topic to cover because every communication can be considered a means of persuasion. Since I am taking a media literacy class, I would also like to analyze different ad campaigns and their graphic compositions. Social media will also make its way to my blog because with its introduction, the marketing game has completely changed. With the easy access of social media platforms such as FaceBook, firms now have access to free and a wide range of consumer data. They are able to learn more about their target audience and their purchasing behavior, preferences, psychographic and demographic.

More awesomeness to come in the near future…

TTFN, ta ta for now!