Monthly Archives: January 2013

by | Monday, January 28, 2013 · 2:56 am

Gender Equality for Toys!

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Gender-based marketing is not uncommon. Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Simple. These color choices are part of America’s culture. We all grew up knowing whether we should wear pink or blue. We also grew up knowing that dolls are for girls, trucks are for boys, and only girls can have play kitchens. But should this still be true in today’s world? Nope. But, what’s a little boy who wants to cook supposed to do?

This holiday season, one 4-year old boy who wanted an Easy-Bake Oven turned to his big sister for help. In turn, she started a petition on Change.org to lobby Hasbro to change its marketing and packaging of the product in order to include boys. The petition quickly reached a critical mass of like-minded people and got attention world-wide, including support from many of the nation’s male chefs who joined forces to make a YouTube video in support of the campaign.

This is not the first toy company to face gender-equality problems. Another company with similar problems is Lego who launched Lego Friends – marketed to girls directly by having girly Lego settings such as beauty salon, splash pool and sporting the tag line “the beauty of building.” And let’s not forget about Bic pens – pink and purple pens targeted to women.

To the company’s credit, after reviewing the petition signed by more than 45,000 supporters, Hasbro has agreed to start designing and marketing Easy-Bake Ovens to boys. Score one for gender equality.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

 

1. Start the discussion in class by discussing the concepts shown on change.org: www.change.org.
2. Next, show the videos about the topic of the Easy-Bake Oven :
http://youtu.be/zHESKyxrxJMhttp://youtu.be/s1hB0S7u06U3. Discuss with the class the pros and cons of developing and marketing products to only one gender. When is it appropriate? When should it be avoided?
4. Divide students into teams. Have them select a product that currently has a gender bias. What could be done to make the product appeal to both genders?

 

Source:  Brandchannel.com, 12/14/12, other news sources

 

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by | Monday, January 28, 2013 · 2:54 am

Daily Emails Swamp Inboxes

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Have you noticed the volume of emails from retailers lately? Check you inbox. Count the number of emails from retailers that contain offers, sales, promotions, and reminders. Customers are getting more emails than ever before and it is easy to understand what is behind the increased volume; according to the Direct Marketing Association, email offers and reminders generate an average of $39.40 in sales per dollar of advertising.

Although most consumers like to be notified about a new deal or sale, they also don’t want to be annoyed or have mailboxes fill up with solicitations. When retailers over-do it with emails, consumers retaliate by opting-out of all communications with a retailer and its partners. The result is that retailers are now employing more sophisticated techniques and strategies, and are targeting customers with information that is of interest to them instead of sending out bulk emails.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, tailored emails can outperform social media for driving consumer action. One key to success is having the email and message be relevant to the individual consumer, but without overkill on frequency lest the consumer hits the “opt-out” button for future communications. To keep their email distribution high, many companies are adding addresses by asking customers for their email address when checking out at the brick-and-mortar stores, offering to send receipts via email as well as upcoming offers and deals.

 

Check your email – what is in your in-box today?

 

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

 

  1.  Have students save all the email offers that they receive. (Can do this for a week, month, or make it a semester-long project.)
  2. What are the emails? Offers?
  3. Were there items that were in shopping cart but not purchased?
  4. Were there new offers from retailers that you have never shopped at before?
  5. What are the main messages? Are these effective?
  6. How can companies increase their email distribution lists?

 

Source:  Minneapolis Star Tribune, 12/18/2012

 

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by | Monday, January 28, 2013 · 2:53 am

Promotions in Chinese Supermarkets

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Supermarkets in China are crowded with products, many of which can be undifferentiated from competing products. To help sort out the products for customers, and increase sales, Chinese supermarkets employ “push girls” who offer samples of products that customers can touch, smell, and taste before buying. On weekends, there are often more than 100 promoters ‘pushing’ their products. This is particularly useful since the volume of stock-keeping-units (SKU) in Chinese supermarkets (also known as hypermarkets) often tops 35,000 (versus 20,000 SKUs in U.S. stores).

The Chinese culture requires this marketing approach. While the Chinese customers may already be familiar with the brands from media promotions and advertising, when they visit stores they want to actually touch the product and understand it more prior to making a purchase decision. The in-store demonstrations provide companies with a longer, and more personal, opportunity to market their wares. The personal presentations also allow for customized product discussion and selection. For example, a push girl will engage differently with a mother with a child (engage the child, give him a sample) than with a man (be straightforward, give one or two benefits).

The promotions girls are important to the store’s atmosphere; promotional products can make up to 30% of a hypermarket’s sales.  The promoters are also selected based on height and weight requirements, as well as their personality and enthusiasm.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

1. Show the slide show with images from stores in China:

http://adage.com/china/article/china-news/catching-the-eye-of-the-chinese-shopper/238657/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage
2. What are students’ observations from the images?
3. Discuss the similarities and differences between stores in China, the U.S., and other countries?
4. Why is this technique effective? What are the negative aspects?
5. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a product commonly found in a grocery/discount store and design a demonstration that could be used to promote it.
6. How could the promotions be tailored to different customer segments: young mothers, teens, older men, etc.?

Source:  Ad Age China, 12/10/2012

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