Mascot Advertising

If you are somehow related to Marketing you know what I am really talking about here. For those who don’t, I will introduce you the concept shortly. Have you ever seen some fictional characters with any brands? I am sure you must have? Think more and you will get more than one brands who have associated some characters with their brands. In my mind, I have 7-up’s Fido dido, Ding Dong’s Cat, Vodafone’s Puppy, Energizer’s Bunny, Safeguard’s Commander Safeguard, Kellogg’s Tiger and Nintendo’s Super Mario. Well, there are many I can name it but we have to talk about many other things besides just naming the mascots. First of all, why companies invest in making such mascots? If you are thinking all these mascots are developed just to target the children, you are definitely wrong because there is more than that. When you are managing a brand, you have to build stories around your brand and there are many ways. You can endorse a Hi-fi celebrity, you can do some Pr activity or you can create a mascot. Mascot is just a fictional character, representing the brand persona which teaches the consumers about what the product is and why consumers should buy it. It has some characteristics of the target market of course. Mascot is not just creating a creative character but also defining some characteristics which are related to the brand somehow. What's more, mascot advertising is a cost-effective way to help consumers remember your brand. A company could pay Shahrukh Khan or David Beckham millions of dollars to represent it, but if you don't have the budget then it obviously can't. Mascot enhances the possibility of brand recall and people or your target market can have a strong association with your mascot. In the long run, a mascot can help in creating strong brand equity which is a strong asset for any company. Mascots are very common in sports and if you haven’t noticed so far check out the different logos of different leagues, sports teams or even Tournaments who brand themselves. For example check out Olympics for which Mascots are used every time. Do you remember the Cricket World Cup 1996 in which a red ball was used as a character? However in my opinion the best mascot is the Michelin Man used by the Michelin Tires used since 1905 and it has the strongest recall I think till now.

Checklist before Creating a Mascot

1. Strong Association with brand

2. Must represent the brand Persona

3. Must be creative enough and well executed

4. Should have a professional name

5. Should provide fictitious credentials for the character

But before you create a mascot for your brand, you have to keep this in mind that you need to build stories around your mascot and your brand because that is what branding is all about. It has the ability that people should talk about your brand.

Creative BUT not Practical!!!!

This is a must read article for all of you. I believe there are two kinds of people in this world; one of them have really crazy ideas and they have the passion to do it. Others belong to the critics category, who are there just to criticize those people. Here, I am not talking about those people who criticize the ideas just for the sake of criticism but those who are experienced, practical and have the ability to think on long term basis.

But, I am here to support those crazy people in this world and this article is dedicated to those people who have the most craziest ideas but due to some SO CALLED CRTICS, they are unable to continue with what they are thinking.  I will start with quoting some examples from the real world. Blast from the Past, look at Wright Brothers, who used to repair bicycles. People used to laugh at them when they shared their idea that they are going to make something so that a human can fly. Look at different businesses that have opened new horizons for new businesses.  I will come to the idiotic ideas later but now I want to talk about those ideas right now which people used to think would be feasible enough to make profits but they turned out to be cash cow ventures for them. You know how facebook started, the concept behind facebook? If you belong to some western country and you are a student then you must know. But if you don’t then facebook was a message board in American universities which is used to socialize with new friends and find the old one. Mark Zuckerberg , the man behind facebook took the same idea and used it as for online social networking. Look at Digg.com, the most simplest and most innovative idea just to share news, websites and links but the person has become millionaire. Now coming to some idiotic ideas which have made the persons millionaire. Every year, millions of children around the world send letters to Santa and hope for a response. Byron Reese, the man behind this idea realized the potential in this market. He launched "Santa Mail," a service that allows kids to send letters to the North Pole. Parents enclose a small fee of just $9.95, and children receive a personalized letter back from the Santa himself. By now, Santa Mail had responded to nearly 300,000 children.

Why we cannot think on simple lines when we talk about creativity? Remember one thing Creativity lies in Simplicity more often and one don’t has to build Robots and Machines and go into some technical stuff in order to be creative. So its better to start working on it now. But remember few things before you think of an idea

1.      Even you have the most craziest idea, it should satisfy some of the need of human beings

2.      If you think there is no need for such idea you are thinking, Can you create a need for such things?

3.      Think about how you can earn money from your idea

Now you might be thinking that I am talking about those TYPICAL things which can make even the most craziest and innovative ideas unrealistic and unpractical. Well that is not the case because if you have a passion for something and you really want to do it, Just do it and yes that’s what Nike says all the time. But keep that in mind that one day or another you have to follow these  if you really want to earn money and make your idea consistently working.

Things you should know before availing discounts on coupons codes

There are certain things which you should know when you are purchasing something online and going to avail some kind of discounts through coupons. 

Search for discount codes

There are different kinds of discounts offered while you are purchasing something from an online retailer. Search for a particular discount code. They come in different types like some are in percentages while some are in dollars discounts. There are some companies which waive off the shipping charges as discounts. But you need to keep this in mind that you should not settle to the first coupon code in your search results. One should keep on searching on page 2 and even 3 of the search results because there are sites which could offer even bigger and better discounts but due to weak search engine optimization they are displayed on the second or third page of the search result

Subscribe newsletters for free coupons

Why search for coupons for your favorite brands in these websites? Some websites offers you newsletters in which they send you free coupons directly into your email so you don’t have to search for coupons from different websites to avail discounts. As you have seen that by consuming some time and effort, you can save a lot of money and this can add handsome savings.

Look for Promo Code

When shopping online have you have seen something like promo code or promotional code while filling out the form? If yes, then remember, this field can be used to gain some extra discounts even more than you get from the online coupons. So, whenever you are shopping online, have a look for the coupon code box while checking out. The name can be different for different websites but normally this field comes with this word of promo code, promotional code or something like that. 

Check the expiry of codes

Promotional codes always come with an validity or expiry date and it happens sometimes that they expire before the date mentioned. One of the reason might be the popularity of the promotional code and then the manufacturer or retailer has to cancel the code before the expiry date. Contrary to the situation, some of the codes work even after their expiry date passes away. The consumer has to make sure that they get the same amount of discount which is mentioned or promised by the company. Because there is a possibility that the retailer has ignored the promo code and he may charge you the full price of the item you purchase. 

Things to remember

• Some of the promo codes are case sensitive and while filling the form you have to make sure that you enter the right letter. For example if the code is 25OFF , the system might not accept if you write 25off

• There is a greater possibility that you can use the discount one time per customer

• As mentioned, coupons come with expiry date so you should check the date as well

Online Coupons- The hottest Sales Promotion activity in USA

Although the concept of coupons and the perception of these sales promotion actitivites is totally opposite in Pakistan, one cannot deny the fact how much coupons not only enable the customers to save their money. The perception about coupons is entriely different and people perceive those companies as DESPERATE who are involved in such kind of activities. But as far as the countries like USA are concerned, coupons whether they are online or offline are something which every consumer wants while purchasing anything.

In this world of cut throat competition, where your competitors are doing anything to gain the maximum market share, every company has to do something extra and something different in order to sustain and come up with new strategies that can help them to foster their sales. In today’s world of crisis where every consumer wants to invest very little and wants to get the best out of it, it is necessary to offer them something beyond the core product. 

We also  have to see WHY these discounts are being offered by the companies. What are the benefits of offering such discounts and how this activity can enhance the sales as it is said as one of the hottest sales promotion activity in marketing. Before we start, I would like to mention that coupons do not apply on each item. You can not offer discount coupons while selling a Rolls Royce to a consumer because the buyer of Rolls Royce is far away from thinking about discounts. So, the concept of couponing applies for things like grocery items etc.

Customer retention is very important and should be the focal point for every company. By focusing on online promotions, a company can not only cut their major cost of mailing and printing but also it can enhance customer loyally. One of the online promotion tools is by offering discount coupons online. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on directly mailing and printing newsletters, a company can send coupons directly into the customer’s email and your client can print and ask for the discounts at any grocery store. These discount coupons will help the customers to buy something else in the same budget because you will be offering some discounts. This activity will help the company to increase in the number of units sold but will also help them to retain their current customers. Definitely, with this sales promotion activity, one can expect to have some new users because discounts normally create a good word of mouth among the customers. But now the question arise that how one company you direct their customers to their websites. The best thing to do here is mention each and everything about your online promotion in your newsletters which you will send to your customer

Another great way to direct the traffic to have online coupons is to put a link to your coupons on your website. This will make it easier to find about the coupons in your website.

One thing companies have to keep in mind is to offer discounts which are better than your conventional printed discounts. Like you were offering 10% Off on a purchase of a particular item when you were using the conventional mailing method. Now, when you are emailing the newsletter with discount coupons, offer them discount like 15% to direct your traffic to your website.  You can also include a link TELL A FRIEND to create a good word of mouth about the discounts being offered. It might be a possibility that your potential customers who are not using your product currently might be looking for a deal. So, by offering them such discounts you can increase your sales and gain the highest market share. 

Why Pakistani e-Ventures are not successful globally?

Its not like Pakistani people are not creative at all in terms of generating new ideas. Personally I think we Pakistani are far better than americans as far as the idea generation is concerned. The problem starts when we dont have the proper infrastructure to develop those projects. This article will give you a brief introduction of american and pakistani mentality in terms of e-ventures. 

Look what americans brought to you...We have google, youtube, facebook, digg, stumble upon and twitter, yahoo, wikipedia, rapidshare and so on. Go to alexa.com and see for yourself the top 20 sites in the world with the highest traffic. Do you see anything common in it? Yes of course...there is onething pretty common in all these websites which is SHARING. I am sorry to say but Asian people donot have the mentality to share things. They have a perception that if I share something with other person he or she can somehow take away my recognition. But contrary, americans do share alot of things and they promote the culture of sharing knowledege, feelings and emotions. This is one of the biggest problem. 

Second problem is we dont think globally. Our e-marketers define the target market in terms of local consumers and thats it. Again, go to alexa.com and see for yourself which websites have the highest traffic. There are only two websites comes in the Top 20 one is GEO.TV and other is Jang group website. We have rozee.pk at number 25 which is an online recruitment portal. But the social networking site that we know is Naseeb.com. No doubt technically its a good website but look at the tagline is MUSLIM's social network. This is the point which I was talking about. Naseeb have clearly segmented that its a website only for muslims and the first thing come into people's mind is whether it is a matrimonial website or something related to islam only. Look at the websites which americans have made they have segmented the market in terms of lifestyles not in terms of geographic and demographic basis.

If you are aware of the hofstede's cultural dimensions, you must know Pakistani people are risk averse as the uncertainity avoidance factor is high. We dont work on simple ideas, we are always in complexity and complications. I mean look at Youtube, Digg or rapidshare or even flickr. Is there anything really Innovative in it? These are the most simplest ideas you have ever seen. Twitter is a website which i really dont know why is it so sucessfull but look at the traffic on twitter and we all know the functionality of twitter which is just a small component of facebook application. 

Thnk on these lines..May be, some of us come up with a global website

NIRALA - A wonderful Brand

When we were studying consumer behavior, a class fellow of mine did this interesting exercise in the class. During his presentation, he distributed the NIRALA SWEETS to everyone in the class to get their feedback. Those who were familiar with Nirala's taste were able to identify that the Mithaye (SWEETS) in it is not from the NIRALA brand, it is only packaging which was from NIRALA. Although I am not a great fan of sweets, but this incident was pretty surprising for me that students were able to identify that this sweet hasnt that unique taste which Nirala offers. All I said that time was WOW!

Nirala Sweets started their operations over half a century ago with a small shop in lahore. There was no concept of branding a mithayee(SWEETS) that time in Pakistan. Mr. Taj Din who was the founder of Nirala sweets started as a typical Mithayee shop with the entreprenurial spirit to grow it to a national level. They offered this unique taste of DESI GHEE which became their unique selling proposition.  His son Farooq Ahmad ( Chairman : Nirala Sweets) took his father's business further and adopted the growth strategy to further open Nirala's outlets to more locations in Lahore. As the product was superb, they were successful in getting good sales from other locations as well. But the proper branding started when Faisal Farooq and Ahmar Farooq ( sons of Mr. Farooq Ahmad) took over the business and came up with a concept of branding Nirala Sweets. As both individuals are MBA and they had this vision in mind to make it a proper brand and implements each element of branding in it. These people not only worked on the logo, and other promotional stuff but also on the facia, ambiance and the products they were offering. They implemented the same pricing, same brands and same ambiance so that the consumer have the same taste and feel while he is having mithayee from an outlet in Lahore or in Islamabad or whatever. 

Website is an important part of the marketing strategy and most of us when we want to know about something, we simply google it. So Nirala definitley wanted to have a strong online presence with a little ecommerce flair in it. User has also the option of ordering the Sohan Halwa ( one of their famous product) online. I have a little observation in the website. If you have ever visited any of the outlet, you will see a strong color which is Yellow, which I have found not present in their website.  I suggest they should also incorporate this color as the most dominant color.

 Now Nirala is not only in Pakistan but also in UK and Canada and they are still growing. They want to be present in every single market in Pakistan and these people have the vision to be a strong brand like KFC and Mcdonalds. 

Beliscity - Pakistani's Amazon

Whether we are business students or techy people, we have heard alot about www.beliscity.com. This website has come up with a very unique idea of selling the products online with a different mode of payment. Beliscity knew the physcology of Pakistan consumers that they are risk averse and they still have the fear of purchasing a product online. To encourage the Pakistan consumers to buy the products from home, they did two things which were like hitting the bull's eye. They offered the products cheaper than the market and secondly, they offered it without using your credit cards. There are four different methods to buy a beliscity product, through email, phone, sms or go to their store in clifton karachi which is actually a warehouse. But they are going to open their retail outlet soon. 

What they are offering is pretty interesting. Why i am saying that they are offering interesting products because its actually everything which our pakistani consumer really want to buy. Yes amazon is a good brand name so is barnes and noble but they cannot be successful because of the reason that people here in pakistan donot have the aptitude to read books and especially those books which are licensed. Around 80% of our books are low priced edition or pirated, so students dont bother to buy a licensed book. So what beliscity did was they offer products related to electronics and stuff. Today they have a wide range of products from a flash drive to laptops, jewelry, perfumes and even routers. 

The delievery system is also good. I never tried beliscity but my friends had good experience as far as the delievery system is concerned. Beliscity is planning to expand as they have also opened their outlet in lahore and most probably they are planning to come to islamabad soon. I suggest they should introduce product reviews section on their website so people can post comments about the products. This tactic can increase their sales and also work as a viral marketing tool for them.