The Nucleus | QMAC

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omentum = Mass * Velocity.

A simple physics equation can explain a multitude of problems we face in our daily lives. Sadly, it does not help marketers decipher the delicate ingredients that impact the energy and momentum surrounding a marketing campaign. However, my experience as a DJ can help connect these two vastly different fields to shed light on the impact of optimizing the energy and momentum surrounding your marketing strategy.

I believe my experience as a DJ can shed some light on how to properly hone your campaign so it hits its peak right when you need it to.

I’m always asked what makes me different from any average Joe with an iPod or streaming service. I always split my answer into two parts – first, being the actual technical skills needed to mix music, which I won’t get into. And second, the ability to control the energy of a crowd over a period of time to ensure the maximum impact on each club goer.

“Look, I know it’s your birthday and you really want to hear Party for Two

BY ERIC FAULKNER

by Shania Twain but no, it will ruin the energy.” I measure energy by the amount of fun had by people on the dance floor. Some key performance metrics are the amount of hands up and the number of people twerking.

In the end, it’s really the level of engagement I’m seeing on and feeling from the dance floor. Momentum, on the other hand, can be measured by the amount of, and rate at which, new entrants take to the dance floor. The more momentum towards the dance floor, the more potential energy. The more dancing, the greater the kinetic energy, which ends up increasing the overall engagement of the audience.

As a marketer, the dance floor is both your market and your customer. The music is your content, brand, campaign, promotions, and all other attributes that you bring to the table.

You don’t want to use your best creative assets at the beginning when nobody is engaged. Doing this will not only crush any momentum you have, but the energy will spike at an inopportune time and then dissipate, leaving you right back where you began.

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Before a night of DJing, I will usually prepare a rough outline of songs, each varying in the amount of impact that I believe they will have. I want the energy of the night to run similar to a product life-cycle curve. Last fall, Timber by Ke$ha was my catalyst for momentum. I have witnessed that song singlehandedly bring every girl to the dancefloor, bringing with it an explosion of energy. Once that initial energy is established, the onus falls on me to ensure that the momentum continues building right to the apex of the night.

So how do you properly manage energy and momentum?

Timing is paramount. I recommend that every marketing plan have a distinct timeline that is still somewhat flexible, because we all know how quickly things can change. The parts of this timeline come directly from the formulation I use for building a set for the night. Think of your timeline in three parts: Buzz, Apex, and Aftermath.

Buzz: This part of the campaign is all about building buzz and energy.

As a DJ, this is achieved through playing somewhat new songs that maybe only half of the crowd will know. As a marketer, this buzz can be achieved through light, open ended contact with the consumer. Teaser ads via social media channels, guerrilla and experiential marketing are great ways to stir up some talk. This will get the momentum rolling.

Apex: The apex is the reason for doing what you’re doing – your campaign’s climax. You need to reach the most people, with the most impactful content, at the most opportune time. For me, the apex is found between midnight and 1:30am, when most people have arrived at the club and are ready to bust a move. Having a narrow window for an apex has its tradeoffs. You can focus more energy on a shorter timeframe, but risk excluding customers who aren’t present in that specific period.

“The apex is the reason for doing what you’re doing – your campaign’s climax. You need to reach the most people, with the most impactful content, at the most opportune time.”

An example of an incredibly well thought-out apex would be Molson’s “Anything for Hockey” campaign,

which focused on the playoff rounds of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Molson’s content push within the apex window captured the attention of the massive amounts of hockey fans watching the Games. The campaign engaged them with impactful content that reminded us we don’t have to be “sorry” to be proud of our country, and directly tied this pride to a single product: Molson Canadian.

Aftermath: The aftermath of your campaign is where you want to cut the momentum while significantly reducing the energy. As club goers leave, I usually switch to a less energetic mix of throwback, hip hop, and rap. A marketer can do the same thing, which usually includes cutting the length and frequency of ads. The aftermath is critical, as you must decrescendo your campaign so consumers aren’t left abruptly, but also aren’t oversaturated with content.

With the momentum and energy of your campaign reaching its optimal point, you will begin to realize the positive repercussions of timing your campaign effectively. Customers become more engaged and give you more feedback on everything. When I look at the crowd, I can feel the en-

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ergy they are expelling and can adjust things to their needs. Marketers can also take advantage of this type of real-time energy feedback, found through comments on videos and social posts or changes in search activity for their firm or product.

Marketing campaigns often fall below their potential due to poor management of the energy, momentum, and timeline of the campaign. Following the Buzz – Apex – Aftermath approach will help you reach your strategic goals when you are behind the turntables of your own marketing campaign. _________________________ Eric Faulkner is a fourth year Queen’s Commerce student with a love for shaping consumers’ minds, both inside and outside of the club. Aside from his DJ “What the Faulk” night job, Eric has worked in Marketing at Ford Motor Company and is currently interning for a non-profit focused on supporting people with intellectual disabilities.

DJ What the Faulk Soundcloud: https:// soundcloud.com/dj-what-the-faulk

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ith AdWeek’s recent release of “The Year in Creative” advertising aficionados are given this zen moment to reflect on the big trends of 2015 before we enter the New Year. The first trend listed, “Powerful Women”, references spots like P&G’s Always – #LikeaGirl Unstoppable – a key example of femvertising, which is defined as advertising focused on female empowerment.

Toronto agency john st. is always one to impress (and win laughs) when releasing its annual Strategy Magazine Agency of the Year Award videos. Favorites of mine include ExFEARential, Catvertising and Pink Ponies – the video that started it all in 2010.

In November 2015, a hot john st. drop came in the form of jane st. – a socalled sister agency with a big message to send on “powering female empowerment through the power of brands”.

Hilarious and cheeky scenes unfold as jane st. executives go through the strategy side of things including the

BY CAROLINE HAYES

“Core Lady Insecurity To Target” or C-LITT model. They jokingly reference empowering women with a yogurt (sidebar: what is up with yogurt commercials @Danone?). They run a focus group with a 0 Hour Deodorant featuring a “Nothing” scent. A huge crowd of john st-ers chant “WOMEN WOMEN” outside of the new jane st. office as I chuckle into my laptop. It’s brilliant, really.

Forever poking fun at advertising trends we’ve all just had a bit too much of, jane st. looks at the rise, and consequential fall, of the girl power ad. Now don’t get me wrong, I fully identify as an aspiring WIL (Women in Leadership) and have openly weeped during beautiful babe-targeted ads like Barbie’s Imagine the Possibilities created by BBDO San Francisco (more on this spot later).But john st. brings up an excellent point – are brands preying on the insecurity of women to just sell more shampoo or whatever? Okay bigger question – are brands forever preying on the inse57

curities of people (regardless of gender)? My strong belief is that brands and advertisers are out there to give consumers solutions to real problems, and to entertain them along the way.

But we are bored of interacting with female empowerment ads because they have become tired and every brand regardless of “fit” has hopped on the girl power bandwagon. A big issue is opportunistic brands are caught trying to skew female – and boosting confidence in an inauthentic way can only reinforce stereotypes.

Ads I’m not feeling include Ram Trucks’ The Courage is Already Inside and of course Dove’s Choose Beautiful which has faced a ton of backlash.

Jean Kilbourne, the mind behind

Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women, called the recent Dove creative “very patronizing” which is something I will gladly RT. With that being said, I’m going to take you through some of the Womanly Wins of 2015 – 3 unique campaigns that inspired and also entertained. Let’s focus on the hits instead of the misses.

BARBIE “IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES”

A huge home run for BBDO here, as the Barbie brand capitalizes on the power of imagination. Trying to shift parent perceptions, “Imagine the Possibilities” does a fantastic job presenting a narrative about the possibilities for girls. Evelyn Mazzocco, SVP & General Manager of Barbie adds that, “We want to remind the world what Barbie stands for. Founded by a female entrepreneur and mother in 1959, the Barbie brand has always represented the fact that women have choices”.

The spot is pretty hilarious – it gets me every time when Dr. Brooklyn asks her client if she has ever seen her cat fly. Another highlight is Professor Gwyneth summing up the difference between dog and human brains with the simple fact that there is no high school for the dog. These quirky little moments add a strong sense of nostalgia, and we remember the stupid things we said as kids. However, our passion and eagerness to learn is born out of the excitement that caused us to do and say such weird things. Barbie ultimately gets us excited about the future for these girls, because they are so excited themselves.

VODAFONE RED LIGHT APP

This is an ingenious app developed

by Y&R in Istanbul to give women a way to send a signal to trusted friends when they are facing domestic abuse.

The app was downloaded by 250,000 people in Turkey (24% of female cell phone users) and has been activated over 103,000 times. The media plan for this app is inspired (leading Y&R to a Media Grand Prix at Cannes) – tutorials on how to use the app were hidden in the back of makeup and cooking how-to videos. The actresses (masquerading as fake bloggers) appeared on popular daytime TV shows and in fake print ads with no branding. Y&R got the word out to a big piece of the Turkish female population, without alerting any men, which I quite frankly think is covert and badass.

SHISEIDO’S “HIGH SCHOOL GIRL?”

Created by Watts of Tokyo and released in October 2015, this mind-blowing spot makes a great statement about gender. Continuously compared to Dove’s Evolution, we watch in awe as boys are made to be girls, and the fluidity of gender is expressed. The spot closes with the tagline “Anyone can be cute”, which is less focused on the cute and more on empowering anyone to be who they want to be. The transformative potential of the makeup is revealed, based off the insight that makeup fans can craft their own identity.

This isn’t the traditional side of femvertising we’re used to, and that’s 58

why I love it. Shiseido goes beyond empowering females to empowering all, regardless of gender.

So what’s the secret to winning with femvertising? Be authentic, don’t be condescending, and focus on expressing something other than skin deep beauty. If relevant brands focused on real women instead of just real beauty, then we’d be able to see real wins in the form of innovation and societal change. An emotional connection is everything in advertising, but we need to achieve this in a way that doesn’t deteriorate the brands we’ve built. Sheryl Sandberg sums it up nicely: “Either we continue marketing in ways that perpetuate stereotypes or, instead, we can use messages that educate and empower”.

Your move marketers. __________________________ Caroline Hayes is a fourth year student at the Smith School of Business. She thinks advertising is fun. She relentlessly worships the 4 P’s – Pizza, Pals, Pints and Purpose (by Justin Bieber).

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ear generic apparel/retail company, I get it.

You want to be ‘with it’. Mom jeans were back in style before you realized they even went out of style. Young whippersnappers posting their outfits online and all these random… number signs. Are rainbow coloured hoodies not a thing anymore?

You make clothes, good clothes.

You’ve been around for a while, and you’ve got big stores and money to spare and big campaigns and employee nametags. Damn.

Things should be perfect.

But they’re not. You’re struggling to stay afloat in this generation of millennial kids, who all seem to want to do the same thing (work for a non-profit, get a fancy degree, update their LinkedIn obsessively with menial achievements, have the cutest Instagram around, etc.) but you don’t even know where to start.

You thought making a Facebook

BY KRISTEN SHI

page would help, but so far you’re just getting strange spam posts on your wall and moms telling you how they’re not liking your new return policy. Your HR manager and the new intern are the ones who like most of the content you post, and that’s after you asked them to.

Eesh.

Things aren’t looking too great for you, marketing-wise. You can see it in the numbers; sales are dropping amongst the millennial demographic. You’re reading articles, trying to remain engaged, and you’re willing to shell out major cash to revamp the marketing, but nothing seems to work. You’re a bit stumped.

You’re sitting there at your conference table, and 55-year-old Jim from Sales is telling you, ‘Let’s put out another commercial.’

Stop it, Jim from sales. We’re not a freaking Macy’s.

But I’m here.

I’ll be real with you. I have no mar-

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keting qualifications. I’m one of those millennials I described up there. I have less work experience than your average grumpy Starbucks barista.

But what I do know is social media.

I grew up in a pixelated world. I can, for better or worse, name you every Instagram filter name in order. And I can help you.

See, here’s the funny thing about us millennials: we’re different from our parents. When it comes to marketing for us, sometimes less is more.

Big commercials, big billboards, big blown up photos of models…doesn’t quite do it for us.

What millennials want? Honesty.

I know, gross. But let’s think about that.

Millennials have grown up in an age where the world just kind of sucked. Lots of corruption and poverty and human rights abuses. We also grew up in an age where suddenly everyone got really obsessed with talking about how awesome their kids

were; in other words, we’ve grown up thinking we’re born to be heroes, and that we’ll be the ones to solve all those aforementioned problems. So we like it when companies do nice things like endorse transparency and honesty because it reminds us of that fact.

We’ve also grown up with a distrust of big corporations. We were kids, maybe young adults, when the recession happened, and we don’t trust anything that comes with a big price tag. We’ve seen the collapse of evil governments or regimes. We’re more likely to protest our leaders than support them. In other words, the recession made us hate old businessmen and really like young people who shout against injustices. Or something.

We have a fundamental love of small companies, of ideals, of ‘socially driven enterprise’. Literally everyone we know has a startup and we think that’s super sexy.

But here’s the gist of it all: we don’t like people we can’t relate to. We want people who endorse virtues and honesty and talk to us like we’re actual people, not down to us like we’re dumb consumers. We respond best to communication when it’s equal and open, not when it’s intended to trick or surprise us, like the advertisements back in the day.

“We respond best to communication when it’s equal and open, not when it’s intended to trick or surprise us, like the advertisements back in the day.”

Now you turn to Jim, and Jim doesn’t know what all this political nonsense has to do with him, and certainly not what it has to do with the company’s ‘semi-unethical’ factory in the Philippines. But you know!

Millennials like social causes. They like small companies. They like transparency. But, most importantly, they

want someone to boost their ego; in other words, millennials don’t want to hear from you. They want to hear from each other, telling each other how awesome they are. Your most powerful marketing tool is quite literally the very audience you’re marketing to.

When you put out a commercial for some ‘healthy juice’, I’m not going to buy it just because you said ‘Wow, delicious!’. No number of commercial reruns or billboard signs will change that. I’m going to Google what it is, what the ingredients are, and ask my friend what they think of it. Then my friend’s going to tell me how awesome it was and we’re going to drink our socially conscious juice and feel great about ourselves. The commercial plays no part in the equation.

My theory is that if you want to successfully market to millennials, you need to do so more intelligently, not more expensively. Don’t purchase advertising time; use millennials and their favourite (free) platforms to market. Ex Machina, a critically acclaimed movie, literally used Tinder for promotions. Use creative hashtags on Instagram, and feature users who use your products regularly. Create a friendly corporate voice that people can talk to, whether you’re responding on email, Instagram, Facebook, or Youtube. Read online reviews of your company religiously, and take the criticism seriously with thoughtful responses or customer follow-up. You can even utilize video-platforms like Snapchat to give people an insight into your everyday life, and show that the average corporate office is not, in fact, an evil money lair.

For channels where you do want to spend money, look for people with established fanbases who can sponsor your product. Approach successful social media gurus, on Youtube or

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Vine, to plug your product, even if it’s just for a few seconds. Hire a designer to make a meme of your brand or your product, and do everything you can to make it go viral. Stop hiring professionals to edit your advertisements, and show raw images that come across as authentic and relatable (Aerie shoutout). Admit when you make mistakes as a company, and answer the tough questions, like McDonald’s did. And most importantly, show us millennials that what you do as a company matters beyond your products; take up social initiatives, partner with marginalized groups or charities, and show us that there are humans behind the corporate face.

The overall point is, millennials don’t care for glitzy advertising. We care to know that the companies we support are an extension of who we are. And who are we? We are socially responsible, social-media savvy, educated, and trend based individuals.

Use us, and the platforms we already love, to show us that you’re willing to communicate on our level and be invested in what we’re interested in. Don’t tell us that your product is great, have people we trust – Youtubers, bloggers, people like us – tell us why we should buy. Leave the marketing to us.

And fire Jim from Sales. Seriously.

Best, _____________________________

Kristen Shi is a second-year economics student at the University of Toronto. She is passionate about brand management, social responsibility, and entrepreneurship, and aspires someday to ‘literally become CEO of everything’. When not working, Kristen enjoys trying out new coffee spots, exploring Toronto, and taking Instagram photos.

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arlier this fall, City and Colour released their 5th studio album, “If I Should Go Before You.” More than just a shameless plug for my favourite artist, the promotional strategy caught my attention. Rather than releasing one single in anticipation of the record (as was the case for their last album in 2013), they released four. I started observing other bands.

Hedley and One Direction both took similar strategies: several singles and early-release tracks distributed digitally – months, weeks, and days before the actual album release.

At first I was confused by this trend. I guess the music purist in me believes that over-exposure to singles takes away from the album experience. The single may be great, but when you’ve heard it 30 times before the record arrives the single becomes its own entity, and the album loses its flow. For me, finding a great album is more rewarding than finding a great song, and this promotional trend seems more interested in celebrating the latter.

BY ERIC MACLISE

“That being said, after watching the Justin Bieber hype train steamroll through campus, social media, and the iTunes charts, the business student in me also appreciates how marketers are adapting to stand-out in a saturated pop music industry where its consumers’ attention spans keep getting shorter and shorter.”

In the wake of multiple arrests and a turbulent 2014, Bieber’s brand took a hit. Many called it a meltdown, and critics began to challenge his socalled “lasting power”. Now, less than two years later, Bieber has three songs in the iTunes top 10 and his new album, Purpose, raced to #1 on iTunes over a matter of weeks. What led to one of the greatest comebacks in pop music history? I’ll show you.

Although music is shifting away from an album-driven industry with digital downloads and streaming, the build-up to an album release remains the artist’s best opportunity to garner and capitalize on attention. When done poorly, the buzz lasts 24 hours (see Miley Cyrus’ VMA release); 61

when done properly, it can dominate the fan and industry discussion for months.

Excitement for an album peaks the moment it is released. The business manager’s responsibility now, more than ever, is to increase attention to a climax, while capitalizing on the buzz through album pre-orders, streams, and tour dates. It is important to note that Bieber’s three songs in the top 10 – “Sorry”, “I’ll Show You”, and “What Do You Mean?” – were all charting before the album was even released, driving buzz since the end of July.

WHAT DO I MEAN?

Bieber promoted the first single off Purpose, “What Do You Mean?,” more than some artists promote their album. In a brilliant campaign, Bieber announced the release of the single on July 29th, and each day leading up to the release, shared photos of major celebrities promoting the release on social media. Ryan Seacrest, Ed Sheeran, and even Shaq O’Neil helped countdown to release.

Released on August 28th, “What Do You Mean” became Bieber’s first number-one single on the Billboard Top 100.

INCREMENTAL CONTENT

Whether artists distribute new content as a single or an entire album, the amount of discussion generated is similar. This can be partially attributed to the decreasing attention spans of consumers. Many will not stay engaged through an 18-track album – especially with major pop albums released weekly – but four-minute songs released a month apart are more widely consumable. In order to maximize the duration of discussion, releasing music incrementally becomes the obvious thing to do. The increase and expansion in digital music consumption now makes it easy to distribute additional tracks early.

In a saturated market with the likes of One Direction and Adele competing for consumers’ ears, additional early-release tracks help keep the fan excitement around Bieber. Just as fans grew fatigued with “What Do You Mean?” Bieber dropped the second single, “Sorry,” as an instant-download track when you pre-ordered Purpose.

In another creative promotion, Bieber tweeted a phone number, which, upon calling, played his remix of Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” This free content went viral, and grabbed the attention of even casual fans.

During the week of album release, Bieber made some last promotional pushes. He joined forces with Ben Stiller, in character as Derek Zoolander, to co-promote Purpose and Zoolander 2 on Instagram. He also partnered with Ellen DeGeneres for “Bieber Week,” making several appearances and performances. On Ellen, with fan anticipation at its highest, he announced his Purposeworld tour.

With One Direction’s Made in the A.M. released on Nov 13th as well, Bieber faced stiff competition. Ensuring the pop spotlight remained on him, Bieber began releasing music videos every hour for all Purpose songs, which tied together as a movie.

Results show these campaigns paid off, with Purpose debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

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The music industry has learned that more than anything, they are selling attention. Tom Silverman, founder of Tommy Boy Records, told Forbes, “there’s unlimited ways that we can generate revenue once we understand that what we’re selling is the attention that artists create.”

Whether or not you’re a fan, it’s important to recognize how strategic content distribution and innovative marketing campaigns helped restore Justin Bieber as one of the world’s top pop stars.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Coldplay just released a new single. __________________________ Eric MacLise is a fourth-year marketing student at the Asper School of Business with a keen interest in the sports and entertainment industry. When he’s not active and involved with school, you can find him talking sports on campus radio, training for a half-marathon, or trying to convince his friends to see the new Jason Bateman movie.

BY VASANTH RANGANATHAN A VOICE FOR A GENERATION THAT’S LACKING IN PATIENCE

In my own right, I’m a textbook millennial. My life would come to a halt without my smartphone, Instagram gives me the validation that I’ve craved since grade-school art class, and the thought of old photos resurfacing on Facebook adversely affects the quality of my sleep.

We’re not so different, you and I. I know this. You know this.

And so does Drake.

TOO STRUNG OUT ON COMPLIMENTS

BARRING OBAMA’S RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN, DRAKE, THE KID FROM TORONTO, HAS MANAGED TO REMAIN COMPARABLY RELEVANT WITH THE CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THAT WAS A FAIRLY JARRING SENTENCE TO TYPE OUT. AS A POINT OF REFERENCE, THE TREND LINE FLIRTING WITH THE X-AXIS REPRESENTS MEEK MILL’S SEARCH INTEREST.

Drake’s music, which we’ll broadly consider his “product”, is defined by an uncanny ability to genuinely empathize with us, the Gen Y mass, on both lyrical and sonic levels. Drake’s competitive advantage stems from his knack for vividly painting relatable situations (we all know when the hotline bling) in melodic cadences (fluctuations in his voice).

As brilliantly unique as his sound is, it is Drake’s apt understanding of digital culture, or how members consume, share, and interact in the global online community, that has made him the pop culture giant who can transform colloquial speech, redefine an entire city, and have every track off a surprise mixtape hit the Billboard Top 100.

Drake’s relevance, baked into his incredibly nimble digital strategy, defines the ultimate marketing case study for millennials and follows three main areas:

• Digital Distribution • Digital Dissonance • Digital Democracy If you’re reading this, it’s not too late to follow along one of the most prolific ascents in 21st century pop culture.

ALIGNING DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION WITH THE CORE PRODUCT

Drake’s distribution strategy for his music has always hinged on easy accessibility for the masses. He has made a point to proliferate his sound through as many major digital outlets as possible throughout his career. Drake’s first digital mixtape, released in 2007 (for context: I’m talking 63

behaviour of his audience.

A recent example is the success of “Hotline Bling”. The song was first streamed on Drake’s Apple Music radio show, and then released on Soundcloud for free promptly afterwards, alongside two other songs. At this point, the track was clearly intended to be a fun throwaway for fans to gnaw on until a more substantive release.

However, picking up on important democratized metrics, such as the disproportionately high number of Soundcloud listens on Hotline Bling compared to the other two tracks and the related social media banter, prompted Drake to re-release the track on all major streaming services and develop supporting merchandise and media.

Drake’s dispute with Meek Mill, where Drake was “outed” for his use of writers, represented a tangible turning point in hip-hop culture on the back of digital media. The sparring match, fought through “diss tracks” (or responses) from each party, revolutionarily saw digital media users become judge, jury, and executioner in what would historically have been a backroom feud (or “beef ”). Drake’s response-tracks were aptly geared towards the listener with proper production, a repeatable and anthemic chorus, and clear enunciation. Meek’s response was the polar opposite – resulting in the digital community ultimately siding with Drake and palpably hurting Meek Mill’s pop culture appeal. It was a powerful testament (in an otherwise inflammatory war chock full of juvenile memes) to the democratization of digital media – an understanding that Drake has long owned.

way before hashtags), was made available on numerous mixtape aggregators and through MySpace – which at that time had overtaken Google as the most visited website in the US. His subsequent releases have been made available, with little discrimination, across all major streaming platforms from Spotify to Tidal and Apple Music/iTunes.

The brilliance of this distribution strategy is its alignment with Drake’s core product: relatable, empathetic music. The ability to match uniquely mass-market music with mass distribution is a cornerstone of his success. By no means was Drake an innovator or pioneer in employing these digital distribution channels – he simply had a sublime understanding of where his music fit.

THE POWER OF DISSONANCE IN DIGITAL PROMOTION

A major predicament facing mass/pop music is the homogeneity in its sound and, ultimately, perception. The very concept of Top 40 radio was inspired by the need to maximize profits (and, by proxy, the number of plays) from the same record or sound.

Drake has made himself amongst the most recognizable, intriguing, and widely-beloved pop stars by owning a level of dissonance and using it to stick out in the minds of listeners. The dissonant paradoxes are plentiful: Drake is the rapper who also sings, he is an elite hip hop star who hails from Canada, he is a Top 40 star adored by “hipsters”….I mean, the list goes on.

What remains masterful is Drake’s use of digital promotional platforms to cultivate dissonance in ways that engage different markets and innovate from a PR perspective. For example, his non-album songs (a number of which have eight-figure stream totals) are usually released on Soundcloud, a platform reserved for up and coming artists and underground listeners, while promotion for his merchandise, tours, or co-signs are mostly posted on the somewhat-forgotten Blogspot platform. Even his recent deal with Apple resulted in the now vintage radio platform becoming a core part of his promotional mix. These dissonant aspects of Drake’s strategy create an intimate and almost “underground” feel to his mass-appeal personal brand and product – a dichotomy that has certainly resonated with a generation who buys record players from Urban Outfitters as readily as they buy tickets to EDM festivals.

FAR FROM OVER

The tact behind Drake’s global brand, one that has already matched the chart success of The Beatles and is partnered with the most prolific corporation in modern history, cannot afford to be anything shy of calculated. These calculations are based on the fundamental alignment of distribution and product, the importance of differentiating promotion, and a humble respect for ourcollective power as members of the digital world. ________________________________________ Vasanth Ranganathan is a student at the Stephen J.R. Smith School of Business. His passion for all things music and media inspired him to start a record label and release a self-recorded album through it. Moving forward, he hopes to keep music a central part of his life.

Seriously. Take a listen. https://soundcloud.com/youth-couture-records

WINNING DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

The most profound outcome following the rise of digital and social media was the power it placed in the hands of its users and the ensuing democratization of nearly everything ranging from industry to national governance.

How Drake so consistently empathizes with such a large audience is, in many ways, his secret sauce. His digital presence alludes to a calculated and adaptive brand strategy that genuinely listens to and supports the underlying 64

BY VASANTH RANGANATHAN

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n the world of marketing, your brand is is the core of your business.

It’s what makes you memorable and it’s how you stand out in a crowded marketplace. It guides the actions of marketers, allowing them to check if things are “on brand”. Since marketers work so hard to curate a brand, it’s not hard to understand why they work so hard to protect it. However, it’s ever more important that marketers don’t lose a brand’s core personality in the process.

Things are no different in the world of professional sports. Players each act as their own brand, and they do so carefully. In the NHL, players have spent their years learning how to be an elite athlete on and off the ice.

In hockey, this means being quiet and staying out of the spotlight. Every star in today’s NHL has undergone extensive media training from the time they were kids, and the product is the monotonous, cliché-ridden postgame interview that hockey fans are too used to hearing. For fear of being seen as “flashy”, players decide to play it safe. This is the same for the teams

BY SEAN HOEY

these athletes play for, which err on the side of caution, not wanting to risk relationships with their fans. This can be seen in the social media strategy of NHL teams, which typically looks like boring score updates instead of creative and engaging content.

For a game that’s trying to grow beyond simply being “Canada’s Game” and expand into new markets, this makes things extremely challenging.

Part of the issue is that many NHL players simply don’t show enough personality to be marketable assets.

Sidney Crosby has been recognized as the face of the NHL since becoming the youngest athlete to win the scoring championship in any major sports league. Last year Crosby earned $4.5 million in endorsement dollars. This pales in comparison to the likes of Lebron James or Peyton Manning, who each earned $44 million and $12 million respectively last year, or the Houston Rockets’ James Harden, who just signed an endorsement deal with Adidas that will pay him over $15 million per season.

However, the NHL has recently 65

seen a new type of athlete emerging, who may be the solution to this problem. Players such as PK Subban and Tyler Seguin have shown a willingness to self-promote and the courage to be themselves in spite of media pressure.

Subban is recognized for his well-tailored suits, big personality, and flashy on-ice play. Subban is finding success doing exactly what NHL players have been told not to do for decades. This year, he gained attention by starring in a VICE documentary and imitating Canadian icon Don Cherry – two things that had never been done by an NHLer before. What’s remarkable is that Subban has become one of the game’s most respected characters in the process. PK has shown his personality, and has been rewarded for it, signing sponsorship deals with Samsung, Gatorade, RBC, Degree, Boston Pizza, Hyundia, and Nike. Not bad PK, not bad at all.

The NHL has slowly shown a willingness to promote Subban’s big personality. In 2014, Subban hosted a backstage video series at the NHL Awards, allowing his boister-

ous personality to show through his peach-coloured suit. This change in approach can be seen with how NHL teams market themselves, too. Their social media strategies have evolved to become more personable. Case in point: the LA Kings. After defeating the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 Western Conference Finals, the LA Kings Twitter account rubbed a bit of salt in the wound with this tweet.

The tweet was seen by some as poor sportsmanship and by others as a stroke of genius. Undeterred and

encouraged by thousands of retweets and favourites, the LA Kings continued this strategy throughout their Stanley Cup Finals matchup against the New Jersey Devils.

What made this so special was how much it deviated from the standard social media strategy of NHL

and attracting non-traditional fans.

According to the LA Kings Director of Digital Media, Pat Donahue Jr, “We even have a lot of people who aren’t even necessarily Kings fans. I’ve favorited two or three hundred tweets where they said they are rooting for the Kings to win just because of their Twitter account.” A great example is the account’s interaction with Rainn Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrutte in “The Office”. A newcomer to the game of hockey, Wilson tweeted the Kings’ account to see about scoring some tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings replied by sending him the tickets covered in Jell-O, a play on Wilson’s character from the show.

Today, this strategy has been embraced by many other franchises in the NHL. The Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh

Penguins, and Columbus Blue Jackets have all embraced a new, more human personality on social media, much to the delight of fans.

Interactions like these are powerful because they show a brand’s personality. When organizations are concerned with protecting what a brand stands for, they may miss opportunities to connect with consumers in powerful new ways. The same is true for players. Subban is one of the most beloved players in the game today because he isn’t afraid to show his personality. In order for the game of hockey to grow, the NHL should be creating a culture that promotes this new way of branding, instead of resisting it. Likewise, marketers should be sure that when protecting their brands they keep looking for new opportunities to showcase their brands’ slapshot personalities. _____________________________

Sean Hoey is a third year Queen’s Commerce student hailing from Uxbridge, Ontario. After growing up playing hockey and baseball, Sean now fuels his passion for sport as a Sponsorship Coordinator for the Queen’s Sports Industry Conference (QSIC). Sean hopes that his experience working in teams and his inquisitive nature will help him find success in the world of marketing after graduation.

teams. It’s a strategy that the Kings marketing team credits with increasing their engagement with loyal fans

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BY SHINGLY LEE AND JULIA TAO

Welcome to the New Age. Long gone are the Mad Men days of marketing where marketers relied solely on gut-feel and trial-and-error in strategizing and planning.

Today, marketing is becoming less of an art and more of a science.

One of the biggest game changers attributing to this shift? Big data. It has completely transformed the way businesses are making decisions and, whether you know it or not, is impacting much of our everyday lives.

But… what the heck is big data?

It’s a term that refers to the large volume of data that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis. However, it’s not the amount of data that’s important; it’s what organizations are doing with the data that really matters. Organizations that understand how to leverage big data through analytics are able to uncover a goldmine of insights that hold explosive power in changing the future marketing and sales.

Today, we’re exploring predictive analytics – an advanced subset of data analytics that’s been transforming

vers: historical trends, retailer constraints, and a gut check on the 4P strategies. With predictive analytics, marketers are uncovering key insights and predicting customer behaviour with more precision than ever before.

T he f uT ure : h ow P re Di cT i ve a naly T i cs h e lP s P roDucT l aunche s

F O U R T Y P E S O F DATA A N A LY S I S

marketing and providing businesses with customer insights like never before. In literal terms, it predicts the future. By leveraging historical information to build predictive and statistics-driven models, marketers are equipped to make better, more informed decisions that drive business transformation rather than transaction.

1. WHAT PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS MEANS FOR CPGS T he P asT : D aT a

as a

s ci e nT i fi c a rT

CPG marketers of the past scoured through sales performance and shopper behaviour data to make business decisions. This is based on three le67

Today, almost all CPGs are leveraging analytics to put data-driven insights at the heart of their decision-making and business operations.

So what does this actually mean?

Let’s look at Procter & Gamble as an example.

Procter & Gamble is one of the most technologically-enabled companies in the world. They use predictive analytics to introduce new products faster than the competition and can also predict the likelihood of market success. The company integrates virtual reality and 3D design tools to create realistic virtual prototypes and simulate new innovation sitting on store shelves.

For example, if a new Old Spice deodorant is launching, a brand manager or sales account executive will want

to understand what the optimized placement of the product on the shelf is to maximize sales volume. At eye level? Beside or on top of the market share leader? With rollerballs or anti-perspirants? Or by scent types?

These are just a few questions for one SKU (“stock-keeping unit” – a unique identifier for each distinct product on shelves). How about the 1000 other products that can be on the shelf at the same time?

Through focus group research, predictive analytics has helped

VIRTUAL PROTOTYPE OF SHELF

Procter & Gamble test design effects and understand how shoppers move, where they look and how they interact with the shelf, the products, and the advertising. In this particular instance, the data generated is used to optimize product placement on the shelf. By understanding where to place each product, and how the consumer will interact with it, the brand or sales manager can not only predict the performance of the launch, but draw insights that master what making a meaningful connection with the consumer really means.

2. PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS IN TELECOMM

Every day, telecommunication firms like Bell, Rogers, and Telus accumulate a staggering amount of customer data. While you are surfing the web and texting your friends, telcos are collecting and analyzing your call records, geolocation data, usage patterns, and even your customer account information. As

you can see below, data analytics have transformed this industry with applications in nearly every business function from Product Development to Customer Care, to Marketing and Sales. viP M ark e T i ng: P e rsonali z i ng s e lli ng o P P orT uni T i e s

How many people do you know who don’t own a phone, tablet, laptop or computer? We’ll answer this for you. Zero.

With nearly total market penetration by the telecom industry, a very real challenge is how to increase average revenue per user (ARPU).

Telcos are leveraging customer data and the power of predictive analytics to identify new selling opportunities, creating individualized and targeted marketing offers.

To get a better idea of what this means, let’s use an example from Pakistani cellular service provider, Ufone. If a customer calls into their service provider, the customer service representative can see a list of specialized offers in addition to traditional account information, such as their name, address, package type, and past billing transactions.

The representative can then cross- or up-sell new products, features, or upgrades that are most likely to appeal to the customer, based on analytical modeling. If the customer rejects the first offer, the representative can move on to the next offer, and so on.

This information is fed back into the analytical system, which can then be applied to improve offerings for other customers with a similar profile. This data feedback loop continually gives insights on the likes and dislikes of varying customer segments, allowing telecom firms to create individualized experiences for their customers.

So how is this list of specialized offers being generated? Firstly, marketing divisions determine the projected financial impact of each new offer based on the volume of 68

customers it will be offered to, the anticipated conversion rate (percentage of people reached who then purchase the offering), and the incremental revenue per conversion. Next, to determine who receives each offer, customers are profiled and segmented by cross-analyzing large volumes of customer data and behaviour patterns, including demographics, interaction history, usage levels, customer satisfaction, and customer account information. For telecommunication companies around the world, It’s clear that leveraging predictive analytics to make data-driven decisions optimizes marketing efficiency and effectiveness, ultimately leading to greater return-on-investment (ROI). We hope this brings a whole new meaning to bling, the next time “when that hotline blings”.

3. YOUR GUIDE TO DATA ANALYSIS: A 4-STEP FRAMEWORK TO EVERY PROBLEM

Now that you know what the heck big data is and how it’s impacting the CPG and telecom industries, how can you apply this knowledge when tackling your own business problem with data analysis?

Below is a four-step, foolproof framework we’ve adapted from An-

T H E 6I X G O D

drew Stephen, a Social Media Analytics Professor from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh..

We call this, “How to peel the onion”.

Step 1: GOAL – What is the business problem that you’re answering?

Step 2: DATA – What data do you

BIG DATA IS A MINDSET

have to answer your questions? What can do you do with the data to help you resolve your problem?

Step 3: MODEL – What does your analysis reveal?

Step 4: INSIGHT – What is the marketing decision driven by the data analytics? What’s its impact to the business?

4. CASE IN POINT: HOW NETFLIX MADE HOUSE OF CARDS

Netflix knows everything about you. What you and your friends are watching, what genres you’re most likely to browse, what time of the day you’re watching Netflix, and what movie, documentary or show to recommend to you next. They’re even tracking seemingly unlikely data points – how long it takes you to select movies, and even when you press “Pause” during a show. All of this information helps Netflix determine the absolute “perfect show”, in terms of every element from genre to what actors should play each part, scientifically guaranteeing that viewers will be hooked.

So the next time you find yourself six hours deep in a Netflix Originals marathon (re: House of Cards, Orange is the New Black,Narcos), you can thank predictive analytics!

Predictive Analytics Knew House of Cards Would be a Success The strategy behind the creation of House of Cards was almost entirely driven by data. Netflix found that their viewers will compulsively watch content directed by David Fincher and they also discovered that viewers have an unappeasable love for Kevin Spacey. A predictive model leveraging viewer data, was able to predict House of Cards to be the “perfect” show before it aired. In fact, it was immediately commissioned for 26 episodes right from the start, without even producing a pilot.

HO U S E OF C A R D S “C I R C LE S O F P R OVE N S U CC E S S”

P e e li ng T he o ni on : a P P ly i ng f raM e work T o h ouse of c arDs

T he

Step 1 - GOAL: What is the business problem that you’re answering?

What type of show should Netflix invest in developing that will appeal to existing and attract new subscribers?

Step 2 - DATA: What data do you have to answer your questions?

Netflix has data on viewing habits of subscribers and what their portfolios of previously-viewed shows look like.

What can do you do with the data to help you resolve your problem?

Netflix looks for patterns in viewing habits, and conducts correlation analyses.

Step 3 - MODEL: What does your analysis reveal?

A sizeable segment of subscribers who watch political thrillers also watch Kevin Spacey movies and David Fincher movies. They also watch an old British miniseries called House of Cards.

Step 4 - INSIGHT: What is the marketing decision driven by the data analytics?

Create a political thriller and involve Kevin Spacey and David Fincher to become U.S. series version of the old British miniseries House of Cards.

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Over the last two years, 90% of global data has been produced by digital, search, and social content. With this proliferation of information easily accessible to businesses, big data and predictive analytics are being integrated into the day-to-day operations of almost every business functional, especially marketing and sales.

Strong analytical skills are a must for future marketers in every space whether it be retail, consumer goods, or tech. Marketing leaders are multi-faceted; they must possess the ability to: understand the business problem, identify what subsets of big data will help you, develop an analysis model, and communicate insights that drive actionable business decisions.

So now you know, big data is not about millions of rows and columns on Excel – it’s a mindset.

We hope that we’ve helped you take the first step in peeling the onion of analytics. It’s now up to you to do the rest! Be sure to talk to industry professionals, continue learning about how data is transforming business, and become the next game-changer in future of marketing. _______________________ Shingly Lee and Julia Tao are both fourth year students excited to discover the marketing agenda of tomorrow. This dynamic duo serve as Co-Chair and Resource Coordinator on the Queen’s Marketing & Advertising Association (QMAA) and placed 2nd in Canada at Unilever’s UNIGAME International Marketing Case Competition earlier this year. Moving forward, Shingly will leverage her brand consulting, brand management, and CPG sales experiences at Kraft-Heinz full time. With product development and service consulting experience in the tech industry, Julia looks forward to joining the Marketing Development Program at TELUS after graduation.

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BY NICOLE HUTINEC AND SPENCER BAILEY

arketing is typically looked at from a product or service perspective. Something that is rarely explored, however, is marketing in politics. Much like in the business world, marketing in politics is changing – you can no longer roll out the same campaign year after year.

In recent times, candidates have sought to be more relevant in order to connect with younger voters. With this in mind, we will explore the marketing campaigns for the most recent Canadian election and evaluate the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to staying relevant with your marketing.

For each campaign, we evaluated how effective the campaign was through three criteria: 1. Timeliness: Did they reference events or subjects that were already being talked about amongst their target market?

2. Likeability: Was their message one that resonated with their target market?

3. Brand Alignment: Did it fit with their overall branding strategy?

We believe that these three pillars can be applied not only to political campaigns, but also to any marketer looking to keep their brand relevant.

and middle-income families, and saw an opportunity to turn the largest segment of the country (middle-income families), and a previously apathetic voter base (Millennials) into his ticket into office.

Some of the strategies that he employed included: 1. The Use of Influencers: Throughout the campaign, Trudeau leveraged well-known influencers to reach his target market more effectively than any media buy would.

His most well-known use of an influencer was on the day before the election, where he got renowned former Mayor of Mississauga Hazel McCallion to make a statement regarding Harper’s lies about the Liberal plans for seniors.

Beloved amongst her community, the video racked up millions of views and thousands of shares at a critical decision-making time for many voters, and is only one of many that he employed throughout.

2. Pull, not push: One of Trudeau’s strengths was understanding his target market. Identifying that Millennials typically like to see themselves as independent, and that they also consume their media online, Trudeau appeared on VICE News to underscore not why to vote for him, but why voting in general was so important. He also knew that younger voters typically don’t align with Conservative values, so by getting them out to vote, he was at the very least taking a vote away from his competitors and in all likelihood gaining a new one for himself.

3. Timely media buys: In addition to timing the above

THE GOOD

The first campaign that we looked at was Justin Trudeau’s “Ready” campaign that he pushed in the dying days of the election period. Trudeau targeted Millennials 70

strategies to sync up with the time when many were in the critical stages of the decision-making process, he also did a fantastic job of understanding where his consumers were, and when he could reach them most effectively.

Throughout the Blue Jays’ playoff run, Trudeau ran ads explaining what made him the best candidate and why it was time for change, knowing full well that the country was glued to their screens.

Beyond these three strategies, Trudeau excelled in the three areas that we identified earlier. In terms of timeliness, he took control of the messaging with his “Ready” ads to respond to Stephen Harper’s constant criticism of his experience. He answered the main questions that were surrounding his candidacy just as others were discussing it, and dealt with the doubts before they festered. In terms of likeability, Trudeau portrayed himself as transparent throughout the campaign, and made it clear that his values aligned with those in his target market. Finally, his campaign was extremely “on brand” through the entirety of the campaign, sticking to his plan to run an “honest, clean campaign”, and coming off as humble, forward thinking, and genuine throughout.

swer in a way that was much more favourable to voters (as we saw before), and could have been one of the greatest turning points in the campaign.

THE UGLY

As part of Stephen Harper’s campaign, he wanted to go beyond his target market and reach a new one: Millennials. Not a bad idea, seeing as brands are often trying to penetrate new markets. However, where he failed was in his execution. Check out the following link to understand what we mean: On one hand, he did talk about a topic that consumers are interested in, but his timing was not effective. He released this video right before the first debate when nothing new was going on with Netflix, and let’s be real – Breaking Bad has been old news for a while now. For that reason, he didn’t exactly meet the timeliness criteria.

Next, this video had the potential to be likeable if it didn’t seem so incredibly fake. Consumers are used to being bombarded with marketing all the time and have gotten very good at picking out authenticity, which makes it quite repelling when they feel they aren’t getting it. In the words of John Oliver, “‘I love movies and TV shows’ isn’t something someone says when they’re trying to be relatable, it’s something an alien disguised as a human tells you when trying to fit in at a dinner party.” It’s pretty clear he didn’t exactly score on the likability category.

Lastly, brand alignment is a vital part of any brand’s marketing strategy, and unfortunately Harper really missed the mark on this one. As we just discussed, his Netflix video felt extremely forced, which in part could be because it didn’t align with the topics and personality we tend to see from him. I’m sure he really does like movies and TV shows, but the gap in his alignment created a perception of deception rather than authenticity and relatability. Sorry, Harper – three strikes and you’re out!

THE BAD

The second campaign we looked at was Stephen Harper’s ads that ran at the beginning of the election, which featured a group of employees in an interview room criticizing Justin Trudeau’s “resume”, or past experience and preparedness for the role of Prime Minister. As a whole, this campaign was well thought out but missed a couple of opportunities that could have made a difference. The campaign sought to appeal to traditionalists and high-income families (in other words, typical Conservative voters), and aimed to protect Harper’s market share by highlighting some of the changes that were being suggested that could adversely affect these high wage earners. In addition to this, he saw the opportunity to accuse the Liberals of being soft on war and terrorism, something that his target market would potentially fear.

That being said, did Harper succeed in being relevant?

In short, not completely. Although the ads were well timed with the events of the time (ISIS was a continued threat), and his messaging aligned with his brand and the target he was attempting to reach, the Conservatives fell flat when it came to likeability. Many studies have been done on the results of negative campaigns that show why others are the wrong fit, as opposed to why that party is the best fit, and the results are conclusive – it just doesn’t work. In addition to taking a negative spin in general, some of the accusations were clearly hyperbolic – specifically lines such as “How is sending jackets to Syria going to stop ISIS?” and these overly-aggressive, unreasonable jabs backfired on him. This mishap left the door open for Trudeau to an-

TO SUM IT ALL UP…

By examining these different political campaigns and looking at them from the same perspective as a product or service marketing campaign, we see eerie similarities between messaging strategies for the products we buy and use every day, and the strategies of the leaders who drive our country forward. In both, it’s clear that staying relevant is a difficult tightrope to walk – get it right, and it could mean millions of new “users” or voters. Get it wrong, and you might just find yourself out of a job. _______________________________________ As members of the Queen’s Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship exec, Nicole Hutinec and Spencer Bayley both like to think outside the box. They are both 4th year Commerce students who are passionate about marketing and what’s in store by the year 2020.

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D

on’t look at the West for the latest mobile innovation.

Asia has become the world leader in developing what the future of mobile will hold. The largest mobile market in the world is also one of the fastest growing. This growth is happening not only in developed Asian markets like China, Korea and Japan, but in developing markets as well.

Developing countries in Asia have seen a 545% increase in smartphone adoption since 2013. The proliferation of cheap Android smartphones has flooded the market, driving down the price to make owning such a device affordable. This driver is even more remarkable when you consider that for the average mobile user, buying a new smartphone can cost a few months’ salary. This has made mobile phones the device of choice when coming online for the first time. In India and Indonesia, the percentage of Internet users that are mobile capable has now reached roughly 93% and 77%, respectively. Low-level income users using mobile as the platform is

BY ALEX KIRIAKOU

finally in sight.

The next billion people to come online will most likely use a mobile device. A majority of them will be from developing Asian and African countries. These new online consumers will need mobile-oriented solutions that are catered to their specific needs. The next big challenge for companies that have established business practices elsewhere is how to market to this lower-level income group and have their products and services demanded. There are many unique challenges that come with attempting to monetize mobile users in developing markets, and Facebook has experienced this firsthand. Facebook has only made $0.15 cents per quarter on its Indian users, compared to the $7 to $8 dollars it makes on each US user.

Earning ad revenue from developing world users has also been difficult for data-driven companies like Facebook and Google, as they have much less data collected about their users to sell to companies. Despite the cost 72

of data in India being around only $8 USD for 500MB, the cost to stay online is exponentially more costly as a percentage of their monthly income.

Sustaining this connection generates tremendous value for these users and therefore low-income users invest upwards of 5-10% of their monthly income to stay connected with their mobile phones. Each minute and each megabyte is valuable, therefore diminishing the effectiveness of high-value video ads or other high data usage marketing channels that have rewarded Facebook and Google’s financial statements in the developed world. Marketers are challenged with getting across the same message in a fraction of the data.

There are several other challenges with marketing on mobile. Distribution of content is equally challenging as the size and type of devices in developing markets ranges far wider than in developed worlds. Advertisers need to think of ways that their content can be dynamic enough to be viewable regardless of the device.

As voicemail is disappearing in the developed world, it is one feature that is being used more and more in developing markets. One great advantage of voicemail that has been able to conform to these usage and cost constraints has been the “clickto-missed call” and “click-to-SMS” marketing solutions. This strategy of the “missed call” allows users to make calls and leave messages essentially for free, saving valuable voice minutes. This missed call will then send a message to the company that the user is interested in the product/service and allow the business to send more details to the user via a voicemail or SMS. This feature has been very useful for farmers in rural areas in Africa and Asia to use click-to-SMS services to find out the daily prices of agricultural commodities when trading at

local markets.

Facebook has been able to integrate this feature into some of their ad offerings with great success. When a person sees an ad on Facebook in India, they can place a “missed call” by clicking the ad from their mobile device. The user is able to receive the requested content, such as music, cricket scores or celebrity messages, together with a branded message from the advertiser without using airtime or data. These click-to-missed call ads have proven to be much more effective than traditional advertising as the missed call ads generated 16 times more calls than all other digital print and media combined, while being 94% more efficient on a cost per call basis.

Although mobile has grown at rapid paces in these developing ar-

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eas, mobile advertising has yet to pick up the pace. As of this year, total ad spend by brands on mobile advertising is 2% of their entire advertising budgets. Advertisers are greatly missing the potential of mobile. It is not just all about how many clicks a banner gets or how many views an ad receives. Firms must adapt to and innovate around users’ mobile behaviours for the creation of a viable, long-term revenue model. ________________________ Alex Kiriakou is a fourth year Commerce student who co-founded the Queen’s Technology & Media Association (QTMA), which provides tech insights through white papers and a weekly newsletter.

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BY ALEX LEVY

usiness education has a new name. Students awoke on October 1st to the exciting breaking news that the Queen’s School of Business would now be known as Smith School of Business as a result of the extraordinary gift from alumnus Stephen J.R. Smith. As an avid sports fan, I secretly hoped that this name would indicate a partnership between sports television host Stephen A. Smith and star basketball player J.R. Smith at my very own university. To my dismay, this unrealistic fantasy would not come to fruition. The news quickly began taking over Facebook newsfeeds and erupted on social media as many students realized that their “Queen’s School of Business” quarter-zip sweaters would suddenly be deemed ‘vintage’.

Indeed, many were left wondering about the potential implications on future generations of the business program.

As a quick recap of the day’s events, it was publicly announced that Stephen Smith, a Queen’s Bachelor of Science (Honours) 1972 engineering graduate, and one of Canada’s most successful business leaders in the financial services industry, would be donating $50-million to the school’s endowment. This is the largest gift ever made to a Canadian business school and essentially doubles the size of the school’s total endowment. The gift is to be tied to endowed chairs and student scholarships with the goal of fostering academic freedom, world-class research, leading innovation, and growing Smith School of Business on both a national and global scale.

As Adjunct Associate Business Professor John-Kurt Pliniussen points out, the undergraduate Commerce program will remain Queen’s Bachelor of Commerce, the MBA program will still be Queen’s MBA, and late nights’ studying space in Goodes Hall will still be called just that.

All programs will, however, now be ‘housed’ under Smith

School of Business still connected with the Queen’s University brand via the new logo.

At a very high level, the new school name “means starting from square one, since it has zero awareness,” said the Executive Director Marketing & Communications for Smith School of Business, Glen Cavanagh. As with any newly-introduced brand, there will be significant effort and investment required to drive awareness of the name and logo. This will be predominantly through an integrated advertising campaign on all major Canadian business digital and print platforms starting on Monday. According to Mr. Cavanagh, this process has been in the works for over a year. Major investment into promotion and education about the new name will be of key importance in order to navigate through a complicated transition period for the brand. This will also entail a complete alignment of school resources and touch points to ensure the brand is consistent across all relevant media and platforms.

This undertaking is not unheard of in Canada. Professor Pliniussen claims that “all named schools go through this process at the beginning”. The Smith family will be joining a handful of major benefactors who have significantly supported other leading business schools in Canada. Other well-known charitable donors such as the Rotman family, the Ivey family, the Rogers family, the Schulich family, and the Desautels family, have helped mould the Canadian business school landscape. All of these schools went through this transition period when first named and over time were able to thrive as recognized names and now brands with widespread adoption. No one today says University of Toronto Business School; it’s always ‘Rotman’, which has become a strong and differentiated business school brand.

An important aspect to note is that everyone at Queen’s 74

shares the collective duty to use the correct school name.

“If there are holdouts, it will take longer until that nomenclature becomes popularized” said the Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Business Strategy at Smith School of Business, Ken Wong.

Queen’s University is an institution rooted in tradition and leading education. Though a number of concerned students and alumni feared this change would dramatically ignore that focus on tradition, Professor Wong points out that “innovation and legacy are not polar opposites.

Your legacy can be a legacy of innovation.” Queen’s has been known for leading innovations in the School of Business over its extended history and this underlying focus must define the school’s legacy moving forward.

More important than the brand name itself, “a brand is a summation of a name and all that it stands for” said Mr. Cavanagh. “All things we stand for remain unchanged.”

As a brand, the core values that come to mind when describing the positioning of the Queen’s School of Business included innovation, tradition, personalized, strategy, and legacy to name a few.

Professor Wong points out an important distinction about the transition; “this is not a rebranding. It’s a renaming. A rebranding indicates a repositioning. It suggests modifying your existing brand and this is not a modification to that positioning; it’s a reinforcement of it.” Rather than lamenting on what has changed, it is crucial to understand how this gift will enable the school, its faculty, and its current and future students to further grow while holding dear the same core values that have driven growth to date. As well, Professor Wong points out that “in this instance, it’s equally important to know what the name change means in the context of school pride, programs, alumni, and the students” in defining potential challenges in the adoption of this new name.

This gift is, at its core, focused on growth through investing in the endowment. This donation will specifically support competition against leading business schools worldwide for top talent (both professor funding and student bursaries) as well as enabling further growth in innovation and research. The result should also be the continued attraction for top Canadian and increasingly international students to attend the school. It is crucial for the Queen’s community to embrace this pivotal change in order for us to practice what we preach and embody the entrepreneurial spirit our professors preach and our students experience.

So, what IS in a name? Smith School of Business already stands for a number of elements that comprise its brand. It stands out as Canada’s top business school for innovation, tradition, strategy, and performance; the same fundamental elements that encompassed the brand DNA

of the Queen’s School of Business. The name is not a conglomerate of NBA personalities nor a step backwards for the school.

So as long as Smith School of Business grounds itself in the innovative history from where it came and challenges the status quo to grow where it could be, I will proudly say it is my alma mater. _______________________________________________

Alex Levy is a third year marketing student hailing from Toronto. On the 2016 QMAC Executive Team he acts as the Challenge Director. Alex is also an avid sports fan and is the Marketing Director for the Queen’s Sports Industry Conference.

PROFESSOR “INNOVATION AND WONG POINTS LEGACY ARE NOT OUT THAT POLAR OPPOSITIES” “INNOVATION POINTS OUT PROFESANDWONG. LEGACY ARE SOR “YOUR NOT POLAR OPLEGACY CAN BE A POSITES. YOUR LEGACY OF LEGACY CAN BE A INNOVATION.” LEGACY OF INNOVATION.”

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BY BRANDON MARTINS HIGH-END DISRUPTORS PRODUCE INNOVATIONS THAT OUTPERFORM EXISTING PRODUCTS ON CRITICAL ATTRIBUTES, SELL FOR A PREMIUM PRICE, AND TARGET INCUMBENTS’ MOST PROFITABLE CUSTOMERS, BEFORE SPREADING TO THE MAINSTREAM. EXAMPLES OF HIGH END-DISRUPTORS INCLUDE APPLE’S IPOD OVER THE SONY WALKMAN, AND STARBUCKS’ COFFEE AND ATMOSPHERE OVER LOCAL COFFEE SHOPS. THESE COMPANIES ENTERED THE HIGH END OF THE MARKET, AND THEIR INCUMBENTS DID NOT REACT FAST ENOUGH, LEADING TO THE NEW ENTRANTS TAKING OVER THE MARKET. –FORBES BUSINESS MAGAZINE

What comes to mind when one thinks of Tesla Motors? Futuristic?

Premium electric vehicles? Elon Musk? While these are all wholesomely appropriate, one of the most fitting adjectives to describe this Silicon Valley success story would be high-end disruptor. High-end disruption is evident is every aspect of Tesla Motors’ business, but the focus of this article will be on the disruptive nature of the company’s marketing strategies. Tesla’s marketing strategy can be broken down into three key components; the Tesla brand narrative, the reinvention of automotive retail (the Tesla expe-

rience), and the marketability of the real-life Ironman, Elon Musk.

THE TESLA BRAND NARRATIVE “TESLA MOTORS HAS NO ADVERTISING, NO AD AGENCY, NO CMO, NO DEALER NETWORK, AND THAT’S NO PROBLEM.” – ADVERTISING AGE

Tesla Motors allocates close to $0 to their advertising budget every year.

By contrast, other automotive manufactures spend incredible amounts on advertising. Nissan Motors is a prominent example, having spent $25 million in advertising their fully electric vehicle, the Leaf, in 2012.

This lack of advertising is disruptive marketing in itself; the non-existent action proclaims a statement of alternative marketing, one that earns consumers’ trust rather than buying it with advertising dollars. Elon Musk is incredibly focused on creating a lineup of the best electric vehicles in the world. Advertising the brand is not his biggest priority. In fact, it’s not a priority at all. I’ll bet my future Tesla Roadster that if Elon were given a fund of $5 million for Tesla’s adver76

tising, he would allocate every single dollar into research, development, and production. This product-centric and mission-based approach writes Tesla’s brand narrative like an epic odyssey, one with deep roots in conviction, persistence, and innovation.

Tesla’s brand narrative is one that undoubtedly challenges the status quo, and is all the advertising that this Silicon Valley start-up needs to generate incredible popularity and earn true brand advocates.

TESLA’S MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE WORLD INTO SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION. -ELON MUSK

Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by a cohort of engineers in Silicon Valley that wanted to prove that electric vehicles could be better than traditional gasoline-powered cars. With instant torque, incredible power, and zero emissions, Tesla’s vehicles would be without compromise. Each generation of product is increasingly more affordable, leading to the accomplishment of an even bigger mission: to

accelerate the world into sustainable personalized transportation.

Tesla’s team designed a powertrain for a sports vehicle built around the AC induction motor, originally patented in 1888 by Nikola Tesla, the legendary inventor that inspired the company’s name. The result was the Tesla Roadster, launched in 2008. This vehicle accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, and had a maximum range of 245 miles per charge on its lithium battery, an unprecedented achievement and a new standard in electric mobility.

In 2012 Tesla launched the Model S, the world’s first luxury electric sedan. The Model S redefined the very concept of the four door electric vehicle. It has room for seven passengers, the utility of a family sedan, and achieved an impressive 0 to 60 mph in about five seconds. The vehicle’s flat battery pack was integrated into the chassis and sits below the occupant cabin, providing a lower center of gravity that enables incredible road handling on a “tank” of 265 miles per charge. The Model S was named Motor Trend’s 2013 Car of the Year.

In 2014 Elon Musk introduced the dual-motor and all-wheel drive configurations of the Model S that improved upon the vehicle’s handling and performance. The 85D features an incredibly efficient motor at the front and rear, giving the driver an unparalleled control of traction when driving. The P85D sports dual motors as well, however, the rear motor is a performance motor for supercar acceleration, allowing this model to achieve a shocking 0 to 60 mph time of 3.2 second, the fastest four-door production car ever made.

There are now more than 50,000 Tesla owners worldwide and the company is preparing to launch its Model X, a crossover vehicle that will be in production in 2015. The model X truly defies what one thinks of a crossover, with its incredible acceleration,

falcon-wing doors, and three rows of seating.

Tesla owners wholesomely enjoy the benefits of their 100% electric vehicles. For long road trips, the Tesla Supercharger network (400 charging stations across North America) allows users to have access to high speed charging, “refiling” their vehicles batteries in as little as 20 minutes. Tesla’s vehicles are manufactured in a factory in Fremont, California, capable of manufacturing 1,000 cars a week.

Tesla is expanding its manufacturing across the world. The company now has manufacturing sectors in Tilburg Netherlands, Lanthrop California, and a Gigafactory in Nevada that is planned to mass-produce the affordable Model 3. In 2020, this Gigafactory will also produce more lithium ion cells than the world’s total combined output in 2013.

Each car launch, engineering advancement, or factory that is built by Tesla is not just a business advancement, but rather another written chapter within their brand narrative.

Each advancement reemphasises the journey towards the overarching goal: the acceleration into sustainable transportation. This ladders back to Tesla’s lack of advertising. Tesla’s story isn’t told on billboards, or TV commercials, but rather it’s an altruistic and genuine goal that advocates the greater good for all. Other automotive manufacturers have overarching goals, to “build the world’s ultimate driving machine” for example. And while their new product lines and business advancements reemphasize this mission, it is superfluous in nature, and undoubtedly not be the best approach to win over genuine, longterm brand advocates.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL: THE TESLA RETAIL EXPERIENCE

The Tesla retail experience is another component of Tesla’s disruptive marketing strategy. This past year, Tesla became the third highest vol77

ume luxury vehicle manufacturer for units sold in the respective year, behind Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Tesla, an automotive company still very much in its infancy, nearly outsold two of the biggest luxury automotive giants that have been building brand equity since 1926, and 1916, respectively. The secret to record-breaking sales? They have irrevocably disrupted, and even reinvented, automotive retail.

For nearly a century, the automotive consumer’s retail experience has been stagnant, even developing a somewhat negative connotation. In today’s age of the empowered consumer, traditional automotive retail strategies fall short. In fact, consumers will rarely enter a dealership unless they are at the very end of their purchasing journey, and millennials, who have no tolerance for negative customer experiences, will avoid the dealership experience all together, and seek other mediums to purchase vehicles.

Tesla has recognized this marketing insight, and used it to their advantage to build their retail experience. “ IN ORDER TO ACCELERATE THE ADOPTION OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES, WE MUST BE ABLE TO CREATE AND EXECUTE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT ALLOWS US TO ADVANCE THE KNOWLEDGE OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN A CONVENIENT, ACCESSIBLE, NO-PRESSURE ENVIRONMENT” -ELON MUSK

Tesla Motors sells, distributes, and services their vehicles with a company-owned retail strategy. There are no franchised dealerships. The company justifies this model by stating that it supports Tesla’s overarching mission and brand narrative: to accelerate the world’s transition into sustainable transport. Franchised dealerships are not the optimal medium for accelerating the world into fully electric transportation; dealerships are independent franchises and have a fundamental conflict of interest when incentivised to sell electric vehicles.

Tesla does not only disregard the traditional dealership franchise model, it disruptively reinvents automotive retail. The company’s showrooms are not located along major highways, but rather, they are situated in shopping malls, in close proximity to premium brands like Michael Kors and Apple. Tesla’s showrooms are erroneously small, only able to fit a single vehicle. Tesla stores have product ambassadors and owner advisors instead of commissioned sales persons. Their vehicles have a set price with no aggressive price negotiation, and transactions can also be done entirely online. Tesla stores have zero inventory and the vehicles are built to order.

Tesla’s retail strategy extends to its service strategy, and being an electric car, the majority of the service is software upgrades and the occasional service maintenance tune-up. This is a huge benefit for Tesla owners, as servicing gas vehicles is quite honestly an expensive and irksome experience.

“MORE EVIDENCE OF HOW DISRUPTIVE TESLA IS: JUST UPGRADED MY CAR, VIA WEB SITE, BY CLICKING A FEW BUTTONS. WAS EASIER THAN UPGRADING MY PHONE.” – JEFF WEINER, CEO LINKEDIN

THE MARKETABILITY OF THE REAL LIFE IRONMAN, ELON MUSK “IN THE SPIRIT OF INVETERATE AND WIDE-RANGING TINKERERS LIKE LEONARDO DA VINCI AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, MUSK HAS TRANSFORMED VIRTUALLY EVERY FIELD HE’S TAKEN INTEREST IN, FROM ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS TO COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT TO ELECTRIC CARS…THE RANGE AND SCALE OF MUSK’S AMBITIONS HAVE ATTRACTED SCEPTICISM, BUT OVER TIME, HE HAS PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE NOT ONLY AN IDEAS MAN BUT AN ASTUTE BUSINESS THINKER, HE’S A GUY WHO DREAMS

BIG DREAMS, AND MAKES THEM HAPPEN.” – THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE: TECHNOLOGY ISSUE

A final component of Tesla’s disruptive and innovative marketing strategy is the marketability of the co-founder and president of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, otherwise known as “The Real Life Ironman”. Coined as one of the greatest inventors of the 21st century, he has become a leader in space travel, solar energy, and sustainable transport.

These are all industries that have incredibly attractive appeal to the general public. He is consistently at the forefront of advancements within these industries and with his press releases, magazine coverage, and social media interactions he has become a co-creator of consumable content for the general public. Musk’s personal brand is similar to the archetype of the inventor; he embodies the 21st century curiosity for discovery of the physical world and advancement of technology.

Musk has developed a personal brand that has incredible equity, and he is using it as an impactful marketing force for Tesla Motors. The fully electric car company is irreplaceably tied to Musk and his personal brand.

As his own popularity and influence grows, symbiotically, the popularity and influence of Tesla Motors grows with him.

Musk is a consummate marketer when it comes to communicating about Tesla. He interacts with the community in ways you wouldn’t expect from the CEO of an automotive company. He creates communication pieces through Tesla blogs, providing his fan base with updates on the company, while constantly promoting Tesla’s one overarching mission: to accelerate the world into sustainable transport. There may be no better example of this than when he blogged about the public release of Tesla’s patents; a selfless act meant to allow the 78

entire automotive industry to adopt Tesla’s own technology and accelerate the shift into electric vehicle mobility “TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP IS NOT DEFINED BY PATENTS, WHICH HISTORY HAS REPEATEDLY SHOWN TO BE SMALL PROTECTION INDEED AGAINST A DETERMINED COMPETITOR, BUT RATHER BY THE ABILITY OF A COMPANY TO ATTRACT AND MOTIVATE THE WORLD’S MOST TALENTED ENGINEERS. WE BELIEVE THAT APPLYING THE OPEN SOURCE PHILOSOPHY TO OUR PATENTS WILL STRENGTHEN RATHER THAN DIMINISH TESLA’S POSITION IN THIS REGARD.” –ELON MUSK

Elon also interacts with his community via Twitter, a medium that he uses to play the role of an accessible, engaged, and transparent frontman of Tesla Motors to his 2,550,000 followers. This type of “free” marketing has allowed the company to become popular via word of mouth, a genuine method of building brand equity.

TESLA MOTORS’ FUTURE OUTLOOK

Earlier this year, Elon Musk boldly proclaimed to his shareholders that “Tesla’s market cap could match Apple’s $700 billion by 2025”. In order for this to happen, Tesla’s unit sales will have to increase 50% each year over the next decade, the stock will have to surge 2,700% higher, and annual profit will have to be in the range of tens of billions. These are incredibly ambitious projections, to say the least.

This astronomically ambitious goal may only be within graspable reality if Tesla breaks out of its niche of early adopters and steps into mass-market acceptance. This step will be incredibly challenging. The Tesla Model 3, priced at just $35,000 and set to be released in 2017, is a nameplate that is positioned for just that: mass-market acceptance. The success of this mod-

el will be a key determinant of Tesla’s long-term success.

While Tesla’s propensity to reach the $700 billion mark by 2025 may leave some feeling sceptical, there is no doubt that this 12-year-old automotive company and its marketing strategies have irrevocably disrupted the automotive industry. To compete against Tesla, automotive manufactures are preparing to produce their own line-ups of electric vehicles for mass consumption, as well as restruc-

turing their retail business strategies.

Within the next decade the entire automotive industry will dynamically shift. Whether Tesla accelerates to the forefront of this movement to become a global leader, or remains in their niche segment, remains to be seen.

One thing is for certain: Elon Musk has shaken the very foundation of an entire industry, and he may have just accelerated the world into sustainable personalized transportation, faster than he had thought.

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_________________________ Brandon Martins is a commerce student from McMaster University. He recently completed a summer co-op with J. Walter Thompson Toronto, where he worked on managing all of Mazda Canada’s national advertising. This automotive aficionado has been a part of the automotive industry his entire life, and upon graduation hopes to dive into a career within one of his favorite car brands.

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BY TROY WAGNER AND SPENCER LAW

Sports are disrupting the marketing landscape as we know it. eSports can be best described as, “organized multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players.” While it started as a niche hobby, the eSports world has since exploded into a multi-million dollar industry with an audience of 120 million people worldwide in less than a decade. A study by NewZoo revealed that participants and viewers of eSports “are more likely than the total population to have a Netflix or Spotify subscription, to have a high income, a full-time job, and to shop more frequently.” With the business-decision making power of big data, companies are developing innovative marketing strategies fuelled by insights like this to target the eSports audience. Further, with the rapid growth of online streaming technologies and international acceptance of eSports, companies are just beginning to realize the potential of this group of highly engaged consumers.

So what do these online competitions actually involve?

We saw eSports in action in a tournament this August, where 16 teams from around the globe competed in a video game tournament playing the revered, multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2. The prize pool? A whopping 18 million dollars. The two million fans who tuned in to the tournament accessed it through multiple channels.

Live-action fans gathered at Seattle’s Key Arena stadium, while the greater community joined in by way of Dota 2’s website, Steam Broadcasting, YouTube, and Twitch.tv.

Historically, video games have been stigmatized as be80

ing anti-social and immature, and have been condemned to a cult-like status for the shadowed masses. eSports are now widely considered a viable interest for millions of consumers. Culturally, eSports are nearly identical to traditional sports in terms of international interest, passion, and competitive spirit. According to the study by NewZoo, “On a global scale, the number of eSports enthusiasts compares well to mid-tier traditional sports. Currently, the popularity of eSports is on par with sports such as swimming and ice hockey. By 2017, the number of eSports fans will come close to that of American football.” The explosive growth in demand for video games, and eSports within that, has sprung a massive opportunity for marketers to explore previously uncharted channels, effectively giving them access to a consumer group who is rarely swayed by traditional forms of marketing and entertainment. These uncharted channels include live events, marketing partnerships, and sponsorship opportunities.

LIVE EVENTS

The distribution channel with the largest reach in eSports is live-streaming. This channel primarily consists of a few key players, but Twitch.tv has built their entire business model around streaming video game content.

Whether it be live events, online video shows, professional players, or casual streamers, Twitch has built a large and involved user base. By partnering with and empowering their customers, Twitch has amassed a gold mine of user data and attracted many marketers. For example, Old Spice ran a hugely successful campaign on Twitch that was

platform that they can leverage to promote their computer processors. They also host the Intel Masters global eSports tournament, a massive competitive gaming tournament that involves a variety of gaming genres. With Intel’s eSports support, interest in eSports has gained significant momentum and has brought Intel along for the ride.

On the other hand, other brands seemingly unrelated to eSports are also taking advantage of sponsorship opportunities that align with their brand values. Nissan North America saw the potential of eSports and capitalized on it by sponsoring a professional League of Legends team, ‘Team Liquid.’ Erich Marx, director of Interactive & Social Media Marketing at Nissan said, “eSports are very innovative, and that fits perfectly not only with Nissan products, but our marketing strategy.” Marx also mentioned that this partnership has resulted in increased awareness of their campaigns. This sponsorship is an excellent example of why the eSports landscape is attractive for brands with products that aren’t necessarily related to the stereotypical “gamer” demographic. eSports is a massive industry with enormous growth potential, which many analysts predict to be a billion dollar industry before 2020. With eSports still in its infancy, there is ample time for brands to leverage these channels to their own advantage and reach an engaged audience.

Game on! ________________________________________

grounded on two principles: authenticity and interactivity.

Passionate eSports fans also have the option to view these competitions in person. Brands that engage with this live audience can build awareness, drive trial, and ladder up to the positive emotions felt at the live event.

One brand that has greatly benefitted by promoting at eSports events is Turtle Beach, a premium gaming headset manufacturer that partnered with Major League Gaming (MLG) to deliver a co-branded product for professionals to wear while performing in front of a live audience – the PX 22. By providing their product to professionals, Turtle Beach drove product demand by leveraging the power of brand champions and piggybacking on their influencer status.

MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS

Brands are partnering with competitive gaming leagues and streaming channels to untap the purchasing power of their audiences. MLG is a global leader in eSports viewing and is also the host of the first eSports league. Relativity Media realized the size and potential of MLG, and formed a marketing partnership geared towards establishing a robust growth model for the league and collaborating on new content initiatives. HBO partnered with Riot Games and effectively promoted the launch of Game of Thrones Season 4 to the League of Legends tournament audience. Coca-Cola also partnered with Riot Games and developed a Challenger Series for prospective competitive gamers. By sponsoring an event where spirited competition could take place between like-minded consumers, Coca-Cola was able to create a connection between aspiring professional gamers and their brand. Coca-Cola even launched the Twitter account @cokeesports to engage fans and demonstrate their commitment to this new audience.

Troy Wagner is a fourth year Queen’s Commerce student with a passion for marketing and technology. Troy has previously interned at Myplanet Digital, a technology start-up, and is currently working with the Queen’s School of Business. In his spare time you can catch him immersed in countless lines of code or practicing his skills as a black belt in Karate.

SPONSORSHIP PATHS

Spencer Law spent the summer as an Account Executive Intern at Integrated Marketing Services, a shopper marketing agency.

When he’s off the clock, Spencer can be found researching the latest trends in marketing strategy or kayaking in the Great Canadian Wilderness. After he graduates in 2016, he will continue to pursue marketing as a passion and career.

Sponsorships put the spotlight on brands that resonate with eSports’ culture – whether the brands are functional or complementary to the industry. Intel is a veteran sponsor in this industry, partly attributable to their products’ proximity to eSports equipment. George Woo, Global Sponsorships Manager at Intel, mentioned that they sponsor competitive gaming events to establish a marketing

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BY ERIC DOWN

or many basketball fans, owning an NBA franchise is the go-to fantasy dream. Being able to have final say over trades and draft picks, hiring and firing coaches as you please, developing superstars and bringing home a championship are all just perks of the business. However, what many sports fans may not realize is just how much money these franchises are making.

Over the past five years, there may not have been a better overall investment than purchasing an NBA franchise. Those fortunate enough to be able to afford one of the thirty teams have seen an average increase in franchise value from $369 million to $1.106 billion from 2011 to

2015. And these valuations may actually be understating the true value of the teams – last year, Steve Ballmer paid $2 billion for the LA Clippers, nearly quadruple the $575 million valuation of the time. Clearly, the NBA is doing something right. The question is: what on earth is driving the incredible growth of the NBA, and will it continue?

TELEVISION AS A SLAM DUNK

The greatest driver of economic success for the NBA comes from the shifting TV landscape. In years past, advertisers had a plethora of options to reach their target market on TV, whether it was running a commercial during a soap opera or sponsoring a Sunday night primetime sporting event. However, with the advent of Netflix, On-Demand programming, and DVRs, a significantly smaller percent of the population are regularly watching commercials. Traditional TV viewing among the coveted 18-24 year old demographic has declined by close to 32% since 2011, as marketers spend countless advertising dollars on commercials that are easily skipped over. For marketers wanting to advertise on television, live sports are one of the few ways to make sure that your commercial 82

doesn’t get “fast-forwarded”.

Of course, the great exception to this is live TV rights associated with sports leagues. With the relative scarcity of eyeballs watching live television, it makes logical sense that the few programs that do command live attention will gain value. Sports leagues, including the NBA, are one of the last frontiers of traditional television in that they are among the few remaining “DVR-proof ” programs. This year’s NBA finals drew an average of 19.94 million live viewers, the most since Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls took on the Utah Jazz in 1998. Given the significant dropoff in overall live TV viewing over the past 4 years, the fact that the NBA has not been affected by this decrease makes their advertising rights all the more valuable.

This value is evidenced by the new TV contract that the NBA has signed with ESPN and TNT starting in the 20162017 season. This deal, which increases ESPN’s television, digital, highlights, data, audio and international NBA rights, is valued at $2.66 billion per year. Comparatively, the current deal which was signed in 2007 has paid the league $930 million annually. The 180% increase in annual revenue is a symptom of the increasing scarcity of traditional advertising mediums, and is part of the reason for the huge increase in NBA franchise value.

products.

There is no one who understands the value of NBA player’s endorsement in establishing a brand more than Phil Knight. The co-founder of Nike was an innovator in the shoe industry for a number of reasons, most notably for ushering in the era of the sport star branded shoe. In creating the “Jordan Brand”, Phil Knight fully realized the potential of the athlete’s endorsement, and turned Nike into the global superpower that it is today. In 2013, 54% of basketball shoes sold in the USA had Jordan branding, with retail sales reaching $2.25 billion. Not bad for the first line of shoes ever to be named after a player.

Nike shoes and other athlete endorsements do more than simply sell product. They expand the reach of the sport itself. Much of the NBA’s global expansion has been due to the advertising efforts of corporate partners; when Nike shoes are a fashion trend beyond just functional basketball footwear in China, it reaches an entirely new market of individuals who were not originally basketball fans.

The growth of the game in these countries will encourage young athletes to begin playing, setting the stage for someone like Yao Ming to become a legend in his own right. Superstars are truly the best way to quickly grow national basketball interest in a country – one needs only to look at the correlation of Steve Nash winning MVP during the 2005-2007 seasons, and a generation of Canadian NBA talent following in his footsteps 10 years later (see Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Nik Stauskas and others). Top talent entering the league creates a self-fulfilling prophecy within a country – the more Canadian talent entering the league, the more Canadians will watch the NBA, buy merchandise, and encourage their children to play basketball.

THE MARKETABILITY OF BASKETBALL LEGENDS

Although the new TV rights deal is an enormous influence on the NBA’s ballooning franchise valuations, it is not the only contributing factor. In fact, all major sports leagues enjoy the same benefit of live viewership, which it can pitch to advertisers. A major differentiator for the NBA is the marketability of its individual players.

One of the major reasons for the huge marketability of NBA superstars is due to the impact one player can bring to a team. By simply signing a deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James single-handedly doubled the franchise value from $515 million to the neighborhood of $1 billion.

Having a superstar of LeBron’s level reaps many benefits including guaranteed playoff revenues, higher merchandise sales, and significantly greater TV viewership.

With this incredible impact, NBA superstars have become more individually popular and therefore more profitable than their counterparts in other major North American sports. In 2013/2014, LeBron James earned $42 million from endorsements alone. That’s more than double his $20.6 million salary. Consider the NFL’s highest endorsement earner, Peyton Manning, who earned a comparatively small $12 million during the same time period. The earnings discrepancy is due to both the visibility and impact of basketball players compared to their NFL and NHL counterparts; the more that a viewer can see a superstar’s face, and the more that a player can impact the team’s success, the more value they will have when selling

TECHNOLOGICAL ADAPTABILITY AND MULTIPLE REVENUE STREAMS

As anyone reading this article will know, recent technological and social trends have permanently altered the marketing landscape. The rise of instantaneous information sharing through social media has opened up a whole new way to reach consumers. 20 years ago, NBA games were consumed by watching the action on television alone.

Now, fans will simultaneously watch the game unfold on television while reading injury reports on Twitter, and watching highlights from another game on their laptop.

These new ways of consuming basketball have unleashed numerous revenue streams, with digital advertising and subscription-based services leading the way.

Luckily, the NBA is positioned as one of the “most consumable” sports for fans with short attention spans (AKA most fans today).With incredible dunks and jaw-dropping displays of athleticism, basketball highlights translate very well to Vine, YouTube, Snapchat and other quick-burst video mediums. The NBA has 16.6 million followers on 83

Twitter, dwarfing rivals NFL (12.6 million), and MLB (5.2 million), which is a testament to the online brand that the NBA has built. Furthermore, the NBA has shown great foresight in predicting and capitalizing on these trends in comparison to contemporary sports leagues – Major League Baseball only recently allowed baseball highlights on YouTube, thinking that allowing consumer-created content would potentially damage their brand. In fact, the MLB didn’t release a video on YouTube under their own name until 2011 – a full 4 years after the NBA began releasing videos. This head start has allowed the NBA to reach 6.3 million subscribers on YouTube, dominating the NFL (252,000) and the MLB (493,000). Given the increasing popularity of digital consumption, establishing a strong online presence was a forward-thinking marketing decision by the NBA that will only continue to pay dividends via advertising reach.

(evidenced by the immense media focus on the traditional offseason in recent years) it will only continue to find new ways to capture consumer interest. As long as it continues to innovate and look to expand its global reach, all indications point to the fact that the NBA is about to enter its golden era. _________________________________________ Eric Down is the External Delegates Coordinator for QMAC 2016, as well as a 4th year Queen’s Commerce student working as an Human Resources Intern at Procter & Gamble. When not at work you can likely find him reading up on the most recent NBA news, playing squash with one of his 12 roommates, or expanding the reach of QMAC across the country.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

All of these variables have resulted in the recent surge in value of individual NBA franchises, as well as the league as a whole. Looking ahead, the NBA is positioned to continue growing long-term due to a few key advantages over its traditional competitors, the NFL and MLB. Consider the NFL – although it is currently the most popular American sports league, it attracts little to no global interest. Comparatively, the NBA has attracted many international fans, at least partially due to Nike’s global influence. In fact, the NBA earned $350 million internationally in 2014, and has grown at an annual rate of 18%. Furthermore, medical data is continually revealing the long-term brain damage associated with multiple concussions, discouraging players from joining competitive leagues at a young age (the USA’s largest youth football league saw a 9.5% decrease in enrollment between 20102012). Top young athletes will continue to choose other sports over football, and the long-term competitiveness of the NFL will be affected. Finally, the NFL has experienced a number of internal crises recently, which have seriously damaged the league’s brand. Star players are routinely getting in trouble with the law (see Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Aldon Smith), and leadership has continually bumbled these crises (see Deflategate, Bountygate).

Major League Baseball is in an even more precarious position. As consumer preferences have shifted towards faster-paced sports, baseball’s relatively slow pace of play has put it at a disadvantage. Fox MLB Saturday has experienced declining viewership from an average of 3.37 million in 2001 to 2.50 million in 2012. Their slow response to the social media explosion has not helped curb this trend, and it will be difficult for baseball to recapture their lost viewership.

As the NBA continues to evolve into a year-round sport 84

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very day, over 1 million people choose to “set pickup location” when they want a fast, easy and affordable way of getting to their next destination. It’s now happening in 315 cities and 58 countries spanning across 6 continents. It wasn’t too long ago when average folks like you and me could only get around on foot or by horseback. As funny as it may sound, today’s transit disruption in many ways parallels the entry of gas-powered vehicles in the early 1900s. When Ford began pumping out their first Model Ts, it sparked fear and outrage among city officials. Keep in mind, taxi licenses and commercial insurance weren’t really the talk of the town back then – it was more along the lines of “you want to move around the city in these dangerous machines?” In fact, early drivers in Quebec were charged by law enforcement if caught driving on the roads.

Sound familiar? We recently heard authorities hum a similar tune as they made an effort to “crack down” on Uber drivers. Yet, auto manufacturers fought back, claiming that their new technology would make life easier for city dwellers. As attitudes and regulations finally caught up, the world witnessed a revolution in transit. Precisely a century later, we all have front

BY VIKRAM KANDETH

row seats to what could be yet another, albeit similar, revolution.

Technology has helped turn an existing concept into a global revenue stream. As taxi monopolies and government bureaucrats continue to lose control over the ride-sharing boom, Uber has quickly demonstrated the benefits of free-market capitalism.

The best product at the best price will always win. However, regulations are once again lagging behind the fastpaced growth of technology. Political pressures to protect the taxi industry have given rise to major legal disputes in cities across the globe, with government officials taking a strong stand against the ride-sharing service.

Unsurprisingly, Uber continues to grow at a mind-boggling rate, backed by nearly $7 billion in venture capital. Amidst all the drama, in five short years Uber has established itself as one of the most disruptive companies of our time, recently surpassing Facebook as the fastest company to reach a $50 billion valuation. And they’re just getting started.

ON-DEMAND CULTURE

Remember when Napster blew up the record industry? A classic example of how to disrupt a system that was ripe for change. Sure, Napster 85

was shut down very quickly by industry lawyers, but they opened the floodgates to a generation of change in music consumption. We may not see it just yet, but Uber is positioned to do the exact same thing in transportation and logistics. The only difference being that nobody is shutting them down. Today, the narrative is all about ride-sharing, but let’s takes a second to look at the bigger picture.

The smartphone era is breeding a new kind of consumer – one that wants everything on-demand. As ride-sharing slowly becomes mainstream, the attention will shift towards other on-demand services. Uber boasts the world’s largest real-time logistics network with over 200,000 active drivers.

That is roughly double the UPS delivery workforce. It’s also worth noting that “active drivers” doesn’t take into account Uber’s lifecycle has seen over a million people take a trip as a driver.

We have already seen a foreshadowing of the company’s plans with pilots of UberRUSH – a bike courier service – in New York, and UberEATS – food delivery – in select North American cities. If Uber can figure out how to crack the fiercely competitive on-demand delivery space, they may very well shape the future of consumption across a range of industries.

SCALABLE MODEL

While demand for the product continues to skyrocket, it’s the driver side that ultimately makes Uber a real business. There has always been a certain stigma around being someone else’s driver. For many, being labelled a driver meant that you were on the lower end of the social totem pole.

Well, the system Uber has created is slowly fighting off that stigma. The other day I spoke with a driver, Linda, who was picking up passengers in her Acura RDX. She is 33 years old and works part-time as an Uber driver simply because she has spare time and doesn’t mind the idea of meeting potential clients for her real-estate business. The additional weekly income is just a bonus. Linda is one of many who have fallen in love with the flexibility of Uber’s driver experience.

Work (literally) whenever you want from the comfort of your car. It’s really that simple. For most part-time drivers – or “partners” as Uber calls them – a simple 10-12 trips per week is all it takes to pay off student debt or go on that much-needed vacation.

When there’s enough drivers to meet demand, it eliminates that dreaded surge price you’re used to seeing on your way home from the bar. With a model built on the basic economic principle of supply and demand, Uber is scaling its business in a way that has investors reaching for their chequebooks inside this seemingly ever-growing bubble.

CONQUERING ASIA

As of now, 70% of the United States

has access to Uber’s platform. So does this mean Uber has already saturated their biggest market? Not quite. Uber is doing what most American tech companies have struggled to do for years – break through the great (digital) wall of China. By the end of this year, China will surpass the United States as Uber’s biggest market, with over one million trips completed per day. Shockingly, this only accounts for 10% of the Chinese ride-sharing market, with local taxi-hailing giant “Didi Kuaidi” owning a commanding 80% of the pie. Meanwhile, India has also become a hot priority on Uber’s market expansion radar. In order to compete with local leader “Ola”, Uber is looking to grow its Indian business by 5X in 2016, also equating to approximately one million daily trips. With the help of local partnerships, Uber will reportedly invest $1 billion into each country’s operations by the end of this year. The latest influx of funds will be used primarily to improve existing operations, launch in new cities, and test new payment solutions.

As the on-demand app continues to gain momentum in the world’s two largest markets, the stage is set for unprecedented growth in the years to come.

As fast as things are moving, Uber’s road ahead won’t be all sunshine and rainbows. Legal issues and taxi protests continue to restrict growth in important regions like France and South Korea. The bigger picture might be on-demand delivery, but stepping into the ring with giants like Amazon

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will be no easy task. As expansion continues through many developing markets in Asia, key complexities are bound to create problems. And let’s not forget about Google. Before we know it, we’ll be getting into our very first self-driving cars. The need for transportation will never go away, and as we have all come to realize, disruption is inevitable.

For now, Uber is solving a global problem by creating a future of smarter transit. With fewer people owning cars and potentially fewer cars on the road, the world’s efficiency and productivity will rise. Cities will become cleaner with less carbon pollution, people will save both time and money, and we’ll continue to see more flexible jobs being made available to job seekers. This is the Uber effect.

Transportation and logistics will forever be transformed and one day we will all think back to the days of unpleasant cabs, frustrating wait times, and overpriced fares. Until that day comes, let’s all just sit back and enjoy the ride(share). ________________________ Vikram Kandeth is a fourth year Queen’s Commerce student with a keen interest in the mobile startup space. After previously completing internships at Pivotal Labs and Johnson & Johnson, he is now working with the Uber Canada team to grow its Toronto partner-base. When he’s not recruiting new drivers, he’s likely to be bustin’ ankles at the York Mills and Bayview ball courts.

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napchat Discover was launched as an ingenious way to monetize the app without disrupting the native Snapchat experience. It even has the potential to add value on its own, delivering headlines to 13–24 year olds as we want to see them – surface level.

Zero effort. Perfect. Well… Almost.

The golden rule of any social communication is targeted messaging.

When we’re networking, with our friends, or online, we must always remember what room we’re in and who fills it. Snapchat seems to have forgotten that. Yes, perhaps it’ll come later, but first impressions matter, especially when you’re aiming for user acceptance. Otherwise, prepare to be ignored.

While official usage rates for Snapchat Discover haven’t been made public, it seems that my prediction is fairly reasonable. An inference based on the

BY JACK SAUNDERS

number of active users and stated revenue per ad gives an adoption rate of only 1 per 150 users. Another source quotes usage at 0.7 per 100. Regardless of the exact number, usage rates have dropped 30-50% since the January launch, according to two sources who’ve seen the traffic data.

If you’re not inclined to believe industry speculation, what is for certain is that the CPM (cost per thousand views) has fallen from $100 in January to as little as $20 in June. Many experts attribute this decrease to slowing usage rates, as well as ineffective conversions.

Of course, Snapchat is reacting to this issue. They now allow you to share what you see on Discover with your friends. However, while this strategy is more social, it still does not address the lack of personalization. I question if it can be successful moving forward.

Here’s how I would have rolled it out: Give everyone six required channels, because hey, they are using the app for free, but invite them to choose six of their own. TV shows, YouTube stars, more relevant news sources; 87

producers with whom consumers have a more personal relationship, and who would have drawn attention to the new service. Once users are already there, then try to earn their attention on the core six channels.

If this were the case, my Discover might look something more like this:

(Side note: While Snapchat does heavily control content, they can likey trust these smaller producers to a greater extent. These producers have

an in-depth knowledge of their audience and their success is solely dependant on their ability to create and curate quality content.)

Adding this level of personalization is even more important as they’ve moved Snapchat Discover directly onto the updates page. With this new aggressive push (which is further proof that usage rates are dropping) perhaps the next step is actually a step back. Snapchat should take the time to refocus or rethink the product itself, rather than its delivery.

If you’re still not convinced, let’s examine the industry.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. They all have one thing in common: the core services they provide do not generate revenue. By offering a genuinely useful product to users, the exchange of personal data just seems to make sense in a model based on reciprocity. As these organizations gather information on us, profile us, and enable brands to target us, they aim to do it in a way that actually benefits users. Last week I considered buying a wallet, but opted out. Two days later, that wallet pops up in my Facebook feed, 20% off. I bought it.

This targeting capability allows Facebook’s Unpublished Posts, or “Dark Posts” (those sponsored posts you see directly in your newsfeed) to boast the highest conversion rates of any advertising medium out there. Why does it work? Because those ads are tailored to us, and are delivered amidst a wide variety of personalized content that ensures our attention. Personally, it’s a stream that has succeeded in keeping my almost daily attention since 2007.

At the end of the day, there’s no substitute for customization when conveying a message. It doesn’t matter if you have a powerhouse reputation – attention must be fought for and earned with every communication. So, when you write your next cover letter, email, or LinkedIn message, focus on who you’re sending it to my friends, and let’s strive to get it right the first time. _________________________________________ Jack Saunders is third year Queen’s Commerce student who loves discovering and challenging anything he can find in the broad world of marketing. Currently working on service development at a small technical support firm, he believes that no idea is too crazy for a discussion and loves to be proven wrong.

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putting your

where your mouth is: Investing Meets Sales

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BY CLAIRE LEVITT

n academia, we’re encouraged to develop our interdisciplinary thinking skills through coursework that requires disciplinary borders to be crossed. During my semester abroad in Paris, I took a class called The Concept of Race which required students to become proficient in the fields of Philosophy, Anthropology, History, and Epistemology, and to synthesize information cross-disciplinarily in a coherent way. The school’s curriculum is built with purpose; it aims to prepare students to act as agents of change in a complicated world. With innovation often being born from fragmented moments of brilliance, an interdisciplinary education equips students with the ability to draw inferences from scattered data points, and to thrive in ambiguity.

For many students, attending university presents the opportunity to explore subjects across a multitude of disciplines. If courses are scattered data points, today’s young professionals work to assemble all their capacities to best position themselves as versatile candidates, and tie their transferrable and direct skills to careers. Unfortunately, this desire to engage in interdisciplinary thinking often escapes us when we enter the workforce. Much of this is attributable to structurally siloed workplaces, where communication between departments is often scarce. In cross-functional environments, collaboration still is not optimized.

I spent my summer at Indeed.com, a company that prides itself in its ability to develop and mobilize a diverse

salesforce. Being a sales neophyte has forced me to enter the role with the spirit and inquisitiveness of a first grader; the educational approach I’ve taken to my sales rampup has allowed me to draw interdisciplinary parallels between what I’ve learned in my finance courses at Queen’s, and what I’m seeing in the sales world.

JUST LIKE AN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO, YOUR SALES BOOKS OF BUSINESS SHOULD BE DIVERSIFIED.

Diversification is a foundational element of portfolio management. Investment professionals seek to diversify their clients’ portfolios to decrease volatility. In sales, more often than not, we specialize in verticals to become industry experts. This allows us to market ourselves as specialists, and helps managers ensure that they’re penetrating all areas of the market. This makes sense for a company as long as it has sales professionals covering a variety of sectors. The issue with an undiversified book of business is the inherent volatility a sales rep ties to the success of a particular industry. If your industry takes a turn, your ability to both hunt and farm diminishes. If portfolio managers optimize their diversification efforts to limit volatility, why don’t commissioned sales professionals do the same?

OWNING A PORTFOLIO IS ABOUT MAKING CHOICES. IN SALES, NOT EVERY PROSPECT IS A GOOD BET.

Investment portfolios are inherently capital constrained. When portfolio managers consider investment opportunities, they calculate the opportunity cost of the 89

commitment. Sales is similarly constrained by time. In commision-driven and results-oriented environments, the success of a salesperson is tied to their ability to discern good opportunities from bad. Just like a poor investment choice means more than simply lost capital, misallocating time means wasting the opportunity to conquer better leads or upsell appropriately. While a literal opportunity cost calculation may be dramatic, it’s critical that sales considers the lifetime value of the opportunities that they engage in today, and the compounding revenue impacts of good and bad leads, for better or for worse.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE LONG-TERM AND IMMEDIATE GOALS OF THEIR INVESTORS. SALES PROFESSIONALS MUST COMMIT TO THE GROWTH OF THEIR BOOKS.

Investment managers rely on historical results to both persuade new clients to trust them and to retain their existing clients. In sales, the simplest way to stay accountable to your results is to meet and exceed your quarterly quotas. Unfortunately, when salespeople fail to develop their pipelines proactively, they struggle to meet their current numbers and scramble to generate desperate revenue next quarter. Portfolio managers are subject to constant interrogation from their clients on the returns on their investments; it’s hard to hide poor performance in the context of portfolio results. While CRM systems generally encourage salespeople to build pipelines early, better salespeople develop analytical systems that allow them to prospect, qualify, position, present, and close with purpose. While this may temporarily cramp their efficiency, it holds them accountable to continued results, and will eventually provide the insights that will allow them to undertake the sales process more strategically.

A mentor of mine once suggested that the best way to develop an understanding of finance is to be a student of the markets. I would never have imagined that applying this ideology in an interdisciplinary way would make me a better Account Executive today. The act of drawing insights from seemingly unrelated fields leads me to believe that by connecting fragments of thoughts, experiences, and opportunities, we are able to lead more rewarding professional lives. Ultimately, the healthy tension that prospers at the core of interdisciplinary thinking can be a key driver in your ability to learn from industry and learn from experience, and to maintain the attitude of a student of the business markets. _________________________________________

“IF COURSES ARE SCATTERED DATA POINTS, TODAY’S YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WORK TO ASSEMBLE ALL THEIR CAPACITIES TO BEST POSITION THESELVES AS VERSATILE CANDATES, AND TIE THEIR TRANSFERRABLE AND DIRECT SKILLS TO CAREERS.”

Claire is an aspiring autodidact and a lover of all things orange.

When Claire is not editing The Nucleus or creating Excel spreadsheets, she can be found juggling her ever-growing list of random interests, from cooking, to painting, to biking.

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THE FUTURE OF RETAIL: GROCERY GAMES

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oday marks Amazon’s 20th anniversary, and the company has announced that it will be holding a sale so big it puts Black Friday to shame. This sale treats Amazon Prime members especially well, giving them access to special flash sales running every 10 minutes. Amazon altered the retail landscape when it introduced Amazon Prime – a game-changing service that guarantees two-day shipping year-round for Amazon’s vast selection of products. Amazon, a long-time pioneer in the e-commerce space, left retailers scrambling to develop sufficiently robust supply chains to accommodate this shift.

Despite the ongoing rise in the popularity of online shopping amongst consumers, and in its continued prominence as a distribution channel, the grocery landscape is a topic of interest as it is still dominated by physical retail locations. Many consumers consider grocery shopping to be a chore with an associated opportunity cost: time better spent. Given that many consumers would rather get their shopping done from the comfort of their couch, many startups are penetrating the blue ocean of delivered groceries. Brick and mortar retailers are scrambling to maintain the relevance of their physical stores as the preferred vendors of shoppers change. According to Business Insider, online grocery sales in the USA

BY SPENCER LAW

will have a CAGR of 21.1% between 2013 and 2018, making online groceries an $18 billion industry by 2018.

Startups, such as Blue Apron, have innovated in this space by offering groceries delivered to the doorstep in the exact quantities necessary to prepare shopper-selected recipes throughout the week. This service focuses on offering its customers a full solution rather than a replenishment service. Today, some retailers with many physical locations have adopted a “Click and Collect” strategy in which the shopper purchases groceries online and then comes to the store to pick up their bundled purchases.

This approach allows shoppers to engage in a pre- and post- shop journey instantly as they browse the online section and ultimately save time on their trip to the grocery store. For shoppers who don’t mind paying an online premium, this solution helps shoppers spend less time in store searching for products to purchase.

While some retailers have begun to compete with the startups in this space, it is vitally important to their cost structures that the physical locations continue to flourish. With a consumer’s reasons to go to a physical location diminishing by the category, retailers have met their biggest challenge yet: figuring out what physical locations can offer that can’t be replicated online. The direct advantages 91

are: • The ability to try the product in store (for categories like electronics, clothing, cosmetics, etc.)

• The ability to find and buy the product on the same day (as opposed to waiting for delivery) • The ability to leave a unique and positive in-store impression on the shopper Given these strengths, I predict retailers will leverage the following tactics to grow the success of their physical locations: Scannable Packaging – Products themselves will deliver branded content via smartphone activation or wearable augmented reality devices.

With scannable product packaging on the way, product benefits will be made known within the context of the shopper’s known purchase history.

For example, if a shopper’s purchasing profile revealed that the shopper often bought fresh chicken, and the shopper then scanned a supplementary product to chicken (i.e. sauces, spices, side dishes), the scanned product would link to a total recipe solution.

Online shopping makes discovering new product information a simple and transparent process – however, by adding an element of discovery in-store along the path to purchase, shopping can transcend the limits of a fully optimized routine by adding unexpected value along their journey

of purchase-intent.

Beacon Marketing – Beacon marketing will add rich layers to the shopping experience; walking down the aisle will reveal hidden deals specific to the shopper’s tastes, creating a unique experience every time the shopper visits the store. The shopper will be able to choose from a list of deals specific to their location in store and view how different products fit into a broader solution within the shopper’s current purchasing patterns. However, a brand’s propensity to execute upon this tactic depends on their vendor’s desire to create the infrastructure to support it. Further, this tactic could be dangerously interpreted as invasive if consumers are not opting-in to the service. To ensure that this strategy can be implemented effectively, beacon marketing must be supported by robust analytics systems that track preferences and ensure the right message is being delivered to consumers.

Community-Centricity – Retailers like Loblaws and Longos have already begun moving in this direction by offering daycares, gyms, cooking classes, and dine-in areas. In the future, retailers will have to give shoppers a reason to come to a physical store other than to simply buy goods.

Nurturing an environment connected with the community at large will help retailers build strong emotional ties with its shoppers, which is an essential element of brand loyalty. A challenge I could foresee here would be maintaining organizational focus as offerings expand to meet broader preferences. For example, by expanding store offerings to fit more niche demands, this could impact the overall quality of the shopper experience if the supply chain isn’t designed to handle immense product varieties.

Further, the shopper’s level of engagement may be diluted with irrelevant messaging if the retail location can’t effectively communicate their specific

solution.

Seamless Entry and Exit – The shopper’s journey through the store will be as fast and convenient or as long and enduring as they wish. If the shopper comes with a pre-set list of items they need with no wiggle room for impulse purchases, the items will be gathered either prior to arrival, or the shopper will be given an optimal path to retrieve all items through shelf-routing technology. For shoppers looking to browse for solutions to a need state (i.e. date night, readymade meals, holiday décor and merchandise, prom night, etc.), there will be evolving store sections catering to notable calendar and community events. With mobile payments gaining traction, I’d imagine that “checking out” will be something our kids never know. Shoppers will cross the threshold once they exit the store and will automatically be charged through their credit cards for the products they carry with them. Of course, this tactic could eliminate some of the spontaneity associated with the buying process. However, the option for seamless entry and exit will be vital for shoppers who primarily value convenience. Otherwise, retailers will lose the customers gravitating to e-commerce companies developing more efficient cost models to provide same-day delivery.

As-You-Need-It Fresh Food – Shoppers will select specific recipes or meals for the week before coming in store and receive only exactly the quantities they need of each ingredient. For shoppers who are uncertain of what meals they want to make, they will be able to receive personalized recommendations for what meals to prepare in the next week and receive the exact ingredients and quantities they need. The shopper will be able to apply multiple constraints to help them achieve the outcome most suited to them: nutritional value, budget, type of cuisine, and cooking time will 92

all become controllable variables in putting dinner on the table. This model is similar to that which Blue Apron pioneered, where aspiring home chefs are given the means and the ways to cook for themselves through pre-portioned ingredients, home delivery, and foolproof instructions.

Order and Pick Up – Most shopping occurs either after work or on the weekend, occupying a chunk of the coveted free time that the working world cherishes. To remain competitive on the convenience factor, retailers will leverage real-time inventory and order-bundling automation to handle mobile orders placed and paid for prior to the retail visit. The products will be bundled and available for pick up, delivery, or drive thru within minutes of ordering online.

Retailers must leverage their own strengths to offer unexpected value to shoppers and engage them in ways that online retailers are unable to recreate. If retailers fail to meet evolving consumer preferences and adjust to the competitive environment, then shoppers surely will have the final say in their fate with their dollars. _____________________________

Spencer Law is spending the summer as an Account Executive Intern at Integrated Marketing Services. After he graduates in 2016, he will continue to pursue marketing as a passion and career.

“Don’t focus on the competition; they’ll never give you money.”

– Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon

BY IMAAN VIRANI

As a Torontonian who has the privilege of riding the TTC for my daily commute, I frequently witness the rushed culture that is characteristic of any urban city. Everybody seems busy with things to do and places to be.

It’s easy to see how us city dwellers don’t have the patience to spend more than a few seconds on each ad that we encounter. With this in mind, companies run the risk of developing an ad campaign only to find that their ads only return a cursory glance. So, how do brands cut through the noise to grab our attention?

One answer is hyper-personalization. Speak to any marketing student and they’ll tell you that brands need to segment and appeal to each unique customer group; that is textbook.

What we are seeing now is personalization on steroids.

In the cluttered atmosphere where brands compete for attention, personalization has evolved so that companies target as narrowly as cities and even neighbourhoods.

Nike is a leader in this strategy, having recently launched an ad campaign in support of their global #betterforit

initiative for women. The four-week campaign started in May and consists of six unique billboards strategically placed in key areas of downtown Toronto – where the female audience runs, trains, and lives.

These ads directly appeal to the habits, lifestyles, and shared perils of Torontonians. Each billboard displays

way to identify with every Torontonian’s personal vendetta against these animals. Nike even went so far as to include an enlarged Toronto raccoon holding up their signature logo.

Nike’s other advertisements in Toronto relate to our TTC system and the accompanying commute. The following video shows an ad that reads

an authentic message that would instantly cause me, or any other Torontonian for that matter, to chuckle.

Nike created an ingenious response to Toronto’s so-called “War on Racoons”. In a city that is dubbed by some as the raccoon capital of the world, Nike has certainly found a

“Train like a streetcar out of service, stop for no-one.” Having missed that 501 Queen streetcar one time too many, I can undoubtedly relate.

This campaign resonates with us because we feel as though Nike understands our challenges, habits, and motivations. Ultimately, these are

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the types of critical moves that help Nike emerge as a lovemark brand.

As a testament to the success of these campaigns, Nike’s women business is forecasted to reach $7 billion globally by 2017.

YellowPages is another example of a company that has applied the hyper-personalization tactic with great success. As a company that used to derive 95% of its revenues from print services, YellowPages leveraged the power of personalization to propel its evolution into the digital space.

Despite the emergence of other directory apps like Yelp and OpenTable, YellowPages has reengaged its target market by catering their ads to specific cities and districts.

In May of this year, YellowPages released over 250 location-based ads in Canada’s major cities to appeal to local markets and university towns.

These ads make indirect reference to how consumers can use YellowPages to improve or enhance their day-today lives. In each ad, YellowPages refers to problems that are easily solved

by using local intel in the form of a service or business in the neighbourhood.

This year marks YellowPages’ second local market ad attack, as they focus on their markets in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver & Calgary. The campaign will run for 8 weeks, until July 12. If you’re in downtown Toronto, you can see these ads in the subway stations at Union & Eglinton.

These ads demand interest from distracted viewers: they are bold, genuine, and highly relevant. Suddenly, YellowPages appears to be more than just a directory of local businesses and services. It gets us. YellowPages helps us find whatever we need before we even think to say it out loud – whether it’s greasy food at midnight in the entertainment district or a tailored suit on Bay Street. These ads have helped YellowPages undergo a brand

similar campaigns by YellowPages have also boosted app downloads by up to as much as 200%.

One more parallel can be drawn between YellowPages and Nike – both campaigns were executed as a shortterm initiative. These ‘ad blasts’ are an unconventional (but effective!) way for companies to leave a lasting impression on their viewers.

Every brand strives to make themselves memorable in the hearts of consumers. Brands want to be understood, and so do we. YellowPages and Nike demand attention from their target audience and insist: “We know what you’re looking for. And we’ll help you get it.” These brands want to be recognized as more than just a supplier of their product.

On the other end, customers are exposed to thousands of brands each day. And as a result, we crave the familiarity that comes with personalized messaging. So, when Nike picks up on our raccoon problem or YellowPages reminds us about five Chinese restaurants in the area, there is a moment of appreciation for a brand that goes the extra mile to know who we are. _________________________

transformation, as it emerges as hip, relevant, and user-friendly.

Over 55% ($450 million) of YellowPages revenues now come from digital assets. Previous executions of

Imaan Virani is entering her second year at Queen’s Commerce. She enjoys yoga, reading and being outdoors. She is often late for work because she stops to look at ads on the subway

“THE IDEA IS TO GO INTO MARKET FAST AND FURIOUS. IT’S A SHORT-TERM DOMINATION TO BREAK THROUGH THE CLUTTER, GET NOTICED AND GET AN EXPLOSION IN AWARENESS AND USAGE.” - ANDRE LEBLANC, DIRECTOR OF BRAND & MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AT YELLOWPAGES

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ompanies and consumers who participate in the music industry are experiencing a strange new reality. In many ways, people have been waiting a decade for this product – a company that could create something more appealing to consumers than piracy while building a sustainable revenue model. First there was Napster, which appealed to the lost generation of 18-30 year olds and nourished the consumer mindset that record labels and artists are unanimously terrified by: “I shouldn’t have to pay for music.”

After Napster was shut down, Steve Jobs built iTunes, effectively training the following generation of consumers to purchase singles, rather than albums – the life-blood of the music industry. Recognizing this progression and flawlessly positioning themselves to cater to the new media of life (mobile web and social networking) Spotify is the current disrupter. It has effectively identified a gap in what the music industry was offering and developed a product that directly targets it. Spotify’s social tools, as well as its capacity for curation and sharing have allowed it to radically consumer listening habits are changing.

THE DISRUPTOR

Spotify was first launched in Sweden, home of founder and CEO Daniel Ek. One third of Sweden currently uses the platform and one quarter pay

BY EMMA AMSTRONG

the per month fee for premium access.

Extrapolating this success on a global scale suggests that Spotify’s potential for growth is extremely promising.

Some people describe Spotify as a music system. More accurately, it’s an ecosystem; Spotify is an integration of all aspects of the listening experience that entice consumers to explore, share, and expand their musical interests. It’s a legal, elegant, and standalone application that allow users to listen to and save any song for free.

Unlike predecessors, Spotify has identified exactly what appeals to the 21st century consumers of music – social opportunity. The idea is that consumers spend hours curating an incredibly personalized site.

They get to discover and experience an almost overwhelming array of music at their fingertips, integrating it into their daily lives. Speed is important – Spotify makes sure songs are delivered within 200 milliseconds, because that’s how long it takes the human brain to process delay. Recognizing serious opportunity, Mark Zuckerberg embedded Facebook into the Spotify platform. This past summer, DST, Accel, and Kleiner Perkins invested close to $100 million at a $1 billion valuation.

With most of the attention on services, labels, and customers, Spotify argues that it has been the habit of 95

the music industry to overlook the most crucial players – the artists. In the race to own social music, artists have the potential and brand power to shift consumer opinions. These stakeholders drive social integration and support, ensuring that the service is welcomed, endorsed, and sought after. Recognizing the importance of maintaining positive relationships with the talent that drives their product, Spotify leverages the power of their massive partnerships with the biggest names and labels in music to add value for advertisers.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MARKETERS?

Music is one of the most pervasive forms of media in the lives of consumers. Imagine an evolving sharing space where advertisers have the opportunity to speak to consumers directly through their headphones and have access to expansive audiences through one centralized platform.

Spotify becomes a unique partner in accomplishing this. In terms of results, Spotify posted an estimated 55 million listeners (and climbing) in 7 countries with more than 20 million paying subscribers in January 2014; it’s unsurprising to note that it dominates the markets that it’s available in.

They’re also not alone in the streaming landscape. Apple has recently launched “Apple Music,” which

builds on foundations established by iTunes by adding a “Connect” dimension that allows both listeners and artists to experience the power of social music on a whole new level.

In addition to the fact that it’s backed by a tech giant with almost infinite resources, Apple Music is the first platform to truly go head-to-head with Spotify on a comparable feature basis since it launched Canadian availability in October 2014.

The real question is not whether Apple Music can win the race – it’s whether they can catch up. Adding 20,000 songs each day, Spotify is a pioneer in the new world of music platforms that supports itself with audio and graphic advertising, as well as multiple levels of paid and unpaid subscriptions. Some customers pay for higher levels of service – a paid

subscription to Spotify Premium unlocks features like the ability to store and play music on an iPod, mobile phone, or tablet without online access. However, even customers who decide to use the free service serve the purpose of increasing Spotify’s user audience and bring in enough additional ad revenue to be profitable.

Unlike Spotify, Apple does not integrate a free, ad-based tier into their offering.

Streaming advertising allows Spotify to guarantee revenue for music publishers and providers, while still allowing users to build and craft music libraries that showcase their favorite artists and preferred genres.

Social is the differentiating factor when selling to ad buyers – driving engagement and curation is the key to competitiveness. It’s a true advantage

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for advertisers. They have the opportunity to group demographics based on changing listening habits in order to create and position relevant ads. It’s an incredibly symbiotic relationship.

In the current tech landscape, Google is the search, Facebook is the identity, and Amazon is establishing itself as the retail. Spotify ultimately aims to provide the soundtrack, and it’s a whole new way for marketers to make noise. _________________________ Emma is entering her 4th year in Queen’s Commerce and is spending her summer working with the E-Commerce team at Johnson & Johnson. Follow her on Spotify (emmarmstrong) for enjoyable playlists geared towards people who prefer Oreos and movies over vodka cranberries and clubs on their Friday nights.

MOLSON CANADIAN & PAYTON MANNING: INDUSTRY ICONS

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f America was a monarchy, the Mannings would be the Royal Family, and Peyton Manning would be King. Manning is an icon that transcends the sport of football, and has established a personal brand on the basis of the perfection, vigour, and results that he brings to everything he sets out to accomplish. At 39 years young, Manning is a five-time NFL MVP and three-time Super Bowl competitor. Each year, fans of the sport are amazed at how he continues to dominate the sport and find new ways to impress the masses. At the kickoff of his career in 1999, Manning led the Colts to a 13-3 record, setting high expectations for his performance from that point onwards.

As Peyton began to wreak havoc on the NFL, Molson Canadian was brewing up a commercial that was the equivalent to a breakout season.

In 2000, they premiered the iconic “Joe Canada” commercial during the

BY PRITHVI MALIK

Oscars broadcast, and found the key ingredient to their winning recipe.

While Peyton used the no-huddle offense to great effect, Molson was able to tap into national pride like no brand had done before. In speaking with the Globe and Mail, Dave Bigioni, the VP of Marketing at Molson Coors Canada explained, “we’re proud people but we’re also humble people.

Part of the insight of this is how other people view us and how we’re perceived, as opposed to us talking about ourselves.” Joe Canada was never a rant about the greatness of Canada, or of our people. Joe Canada was instead ranting to make Canadians proud of where they were from. Not to allow our stereotypes to stand, but to celebrate our real differences. And with that, Molson was able to summon a feeling of national pride in Canadians that consumers attributed to the brand. Molson’s ensuing sales results speak for themselves; the brand saw 97

their market share in English-speaking Canada rise 2.5%, while main competitor Labatt’s fell by 3%.

As Peyton Manning gets older, the core of his success comes from the same place: the pace at which he thinks and plays the game. Just the same, Molson’s greatest successes have come when they are able to connect to Canadian pride in a way that only a brand that is as synonymous with the Maple Leaf as they are can.

In 2004, Molson removed the “I AM CANADIAN” slogan, but that didn’t change what Canadians knew them for.

In the mid to late 2000s, both Peyton and Molson had their fair share of struggles, saw others realize great success, and looked for new ways to reinvigorate their game. The solution for both seemed to be zeroing in on what they had always done so well, and using that as their competitive advantage. For Peyton this move was

a necessity; as his physical tools dwindling as his body aged, his mind became the strongest part of his game.

Molson meanwhile went back to the All Canadian brand that consumers had come to love, and in 2010 just in time for the Vancouver Olympics, Canada’s beer made a comeback.

With a campaign titled “Made from Canada”, Molson showcased what being Canadian means to Canadians on the international playing field.

In 2013, both Peyton and Molson rose to new heights unexpectedly. For Peyton, he answered all remaining doubts when he left behind more than a decade-long career in Indianapolis to play for the Denver Broncos. He broke the NFL record for touchdown passes, won the MVP award, and confirmed to himself, the league, and to his fans that there were still plenty of gas in the tank. For Molson, one small red fridge changed everything.

Molson’s goal was to bring a bit of Canada to those abroad, show them “the best our land has to offer” and make both the Canadians abroad and at home proud of their roots.

The campaign generated more than 6.5 million views, $160 million in PR value globally, and was widely recognized as ‘Best of Show’ at the 2014 Marketing Awards. Not only did this campaign reverse a 5 year downward trend for the brand, but Molson realized a share gain in the premium and total beer markets.

After Peyton’s big win – his MVP season – skepticism rose once again.

A Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks seemed to mark the end, while for Molson, Labatt came out swinging with their highly successful Red Light program. How could Molson and Peyton continue to find greater success? Just as they always had, by doing what they knew best. Peyton responded with another world-class season, and Molson showed that consumers related to good old fashioned Canadian pride as much as they always had.

A year later, after ‘the Fridge’ traveled through Europe, Indonesia, and to the Olympic Village in Sochi, Russia, the Fridge came home. They were able to find something original, unique, and positively Canadian in replacing the passport, with a pitch perfect rendition of O Canada!

The air of joyous spontaneity that this campaign evokes is tangible. As viewers watch their compatriots proclaim undying love for Canada and unlock the red fridge, Molson effectively unlocks more love for the Molson Canadian brand than ever before.

It’s Molson’s most recent win, and 15 years after its beginning, the brand has grown to be at the core of Canadian culture. And, after all this time, one stereotype is alive and well. No, we don’t all live in igloos and ride dog sleds. But we do love our beer – sometimes just as much as our country.

By taking a look back, the comparison with Peyton and Labatt brings out a few things. Both are what Douglas Holt, President of Cultural Strategy Group and author of “How Brands become Icons” would call iconic brands. What does it take to become an iconic brand? For Holt there are four necessary elements. The first is simple – it’s product performance.

Peyton is clearly performing at an incredible level, and Molson remains to be a revered brand, even with a product that is not loved by all consumers, beer drinks or otherwise.

The second element is “myth-making”. Holt says this requires cultural and industry insiders fabricating stories that are meaningful for the brand and seen as legitimate by consumers.

For Peyton, the “myth-making” is over the top. Athletes tend to always have myths created as they age, as memories fade we tend to remember the best parts, taking what may have been great past performances and turning them into “It was the greatest game of all time!” moments. Molson, I would argue, has been creating 98

the myths all themselves. The Beer Fridge and maybe even more with the “Hockey Heaven” ice rink in the mountain tops. These are moments that we can barely believe are real.

Molson has created a brand that is mythical at it’s core.

The third necessity is contradicting culture. Peyton brought in a new era of pass-first football into the NFL. He didn’t only contradict culture, he took a run-focused league and changed it.

Molson gets an easy checkmark here.

If I’ve lost you, go back and watch the Joe Canada video again. The campaigns in the early 2000s were not about Canadians having pride, it was about building our pride! Molson was attempting to change the way Canadians felt about this country, and they did it successfully.

The last key element is the “cultural brand management process”. This requires continued brilliance, constant “myth making”, if you will, to maintain the aura that’s been built. For Peyton and Molson, the success has never ended, and it doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. Both are incredible at what they do; they’ve mastered their crafts in ways others never have, they’ve created moments that we will never stop talking about, and with it, they have both become icons. _________________________ Prithvi Malik is a third year Queen’s Commerce student and two-time Pepsico Intern. When he’s not spending his free time working on QMAC’s Innovation portfolio, you can find him at CoGro asking for his go-to: a Top Secret bagel with a Peachy Queen’s smoothie on the side (to match his vivacious personality, of course).

THREE TOUGH QUESTIONS WITH BARRY ALEXANDERINTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY ALEX LEVY

Barry Alexander is the Senior Director of Marketing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club. Barry is an experienced marketer who has spent time in leading roles with Maple Leaf Foods and Rogers Sportsnet to name a few. Barry had a number of internships both during and proceeding his time at Queen’s. Barry first worked in investments at one of the big 4 banks. Following that, Barry spent time as an Assistant Brand Manager at a CPG, as well as working with a loyalty program in analytics; both of which helped him discover his passion for marketing.

Barry was also a member of the QMAC Executive Team and was the Founder of the QMAC Challenge in 2003.

day) over a 4-month period. Make sure you do this!

M ak e

As a manager, what I am looking for is the ability to demonstrate that you learned something and with that learning, demonstrated how you helped the business.

That’s how you best demonstrate potential for the future.

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO FIND MENTORS AT THE COMPANIES AT WHICH YOU HAVE INTERNED/ WORKED?

Don’t only shoot for that big C-Suite office mentorship.

Their time is valuable, so don’t misuse it. Though there is great advice there that could be gathered, in terms of frequency of conversations to get you the most value, they may not always be available. That said, make sure you are also having a more consistent 1 to 1 relationship with someone that is a peer mentor, 1-up, and/or 2-up.

Something I was once told is to have mentors from outside your organization. If you’re in a situation where you hit it off with someone at a conference or from a past work experience, those can be valuable for giving a completely different perspective that you may not have thought of.

What makes people well-rounded person is the ability to learn in a number of ways. External mentors can, therefore be more valuable to shaping your view. They are often harder to find and maintain than internal mentors, but the investment is valuable.

WHAT ARE 3 PIECES OF ADVICE YOU HAVE FOR ‘KILLING’ AN INTERNSHIP? you

are an i nT e rn .

D on’ T

T ry T o b e T he he ro.

A full-time position for a entry role would typically involve about an 18-month to 2-year process to impact the business in a manner reflective of your full potential. The first 6 months are just learning where to find information.

The next 6 are learning how to apply what you found.

After that, you spend the whole following year applying yourself and producing against that learning. Therefore, if at any other job the first 6 months is just learning, what are you going to do in 4 month internship?! Having that context and understanding that you are an intern, not a CEO, yet, is key. l e arn

sure T haT e ach Day y ou are M ak i ng a conT ri b uT i on .

soM e T hi ng e ve ry Day .

You have the opportunity to learn 120 things (1 per

AS AN INTERN, HOW DO YOU ADVISE BALANCING 99

ACCOMPLISHING WHAT IS ASKED OF YOU WITH TAKING INITIATIVE WHEN YOU AREN’T FEELING CHALLENGED? a lway s

T ak e i ni T i aT i ve T o De M onsT raT e y our le arni ng.

Internships measure potential. They don’t measure if you launched a new product while you were there or increased your social media engagement tenfold. They measure potential. The best way to demonstrate potential is to take initiative to demonstrate your learning.

T he

i nT e rnshi P i nT e rvi e w P roce ss i s li k e a case coM P e T i T i on .

Once you are in the job, now you are in real live situation, not a case competition. Interview presentations don’t have to always worry about budget or facts, as they often prioritize you demonstrating your thinking.

Now that you’ve landed your internship; insights, dollars, share to be won and lost, etc. all matter, so it is a different environment. Keep this in mind as you are evaluat-

ing the work you are doing in the office versus what you may have discussed in your case work.

This is why I always say that the value to an internship for both the employer and intern comes down to how much was learned and applied during the time of the internship. That is the true measure of the success of the exercise. Learn and contribute.

If you do those 2 things, you have no choice but to over deliver and you will in turn come out a much better person than you were going in. _________________________________________ Alex Levy is a third year marketing student hailing from Toronto. On the 2016 QMAC Executive Team he acts as the Challenge Director. Alex is also an avid sports fan and is the Marketing Director for the Queen’s Sports Industry Conference.

BUSINESS HAS ONLY TWO FUNCTIONS MARKETING & INNOVATION PETER DRUCKER 100

I

BY HAMY NGUYEN

n the last few weeks of my undergrad, I was sitting with a few friends over drinks, reminiscing the four years of university we had just completed. We had all come a long way, but some of us had a slower start than others.

I still remember quite vividly staring down at my first year marketing final, having no idea what the difference between the 4Ps and the hallowed Marketing Mix was. If you had been through even the most rudimentary marketing training, you’d know that there is no difference, but somehow I’d missed the memo. The Marketing Mix = 4Ps. Product, Promotion, Price, Place. One neat little checklist to make everyone happy.

Today, as a new grad entering into branding, everything has all but converged into one single P — People.

Brands today are no longer just a four-point checklist. It’s a convergence of every available experiences built around the customer. All hail the customer!

We, as customers, are constantly curating our own brand, and if we aren’t, we’ve probably been told to do so.

Just remember how many times you’ve been told to have an updated LinkedIn profile (and yes, please make sure you do). We place stringent measures on how the world views us – updating, reinforcing and selectively choosing to feature what’s most reflective of the person we want everyone else to see. Arguably, we, the customers, are the best brand managers we know.

Every decision we make, including the brands we choose to purchase from or associate ourselves with is a direct reflection of the idea of ‘me’ — so that I am different from you, and you’re differently from somebody else. We build ourselves into moving microcosms of brands, ideas, values and cultures. We’re not a part of brands; brands are a part of us.

One of the most successful campaigns over the last few years has been Coca Cola’s Share a Coke campaign. We

lined up for hours in order to stamp our names on bottles of soda. It wasn’t the soda, or the bottle, or even Coca Cola we desired, but the ownership of what we consider us. The desire to be seen as an individual is more powerful than any product, more valuable than any price tag, more effective than any promotion, and more omnipotent than any distribution or place. It’s no wonder “Think Differently” pierced through multiple categories and industries, or that a few college kids managed to create the most powerful, unifying network on earth to date.

It’s also no wonder that we retaliate so vocally against the things that brands do or stand for that we don’t consider altruistic or reflective of our values. When a brand takes a dive, we all feel the fall.

Companies mustn’t simply strive to build their brands, but build customers’ brands through their own. The decisions managers make in branding should all be traced back to the customer. It’s not digital for the sake of digital, or even because the competitor is now digital, but digital because that’s where customers live their lives. Brands need to embody the values their most loyal customers hold dear, who in turn, become brand messengers more powerful than any advertising or salesforce can ever imagine.

It’s a tough job, but it’s a job that has never been more challenging, more human and more rewarding.

And in case you’re wondering, I’d gotten the memo and never made that mistake again. _________________________________________ Hamy is a strategist, coffee drinker, lifelong nomad on an extended stop in Toronto. She was lucky to have fallen into business, and even luckier, to have fallen in love with business. She’s currently getting my wired on coffee as part of an amazing Hair Care team at P&G, and still bleeds orange every now and then.

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