Blog 5: Viral Marketing

  

     ‘Buzz Marketing’ is one of Word-of-Marketing, and it is effective marketing that one person who already has used a product recommends the product to his friends, families, or neighbors. As Information Technology is developing, the way of Buzz Marketing became various. Nowadays the most popular way of ‘Buzz Marketing’ is using Social Network Services, and it is called ‘Viral Marketing’. Its purpose is to try to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives like profits. ‘Viral’ is derived from the spread of viruses or computer viruses. And also ‘Viral Marketing’ is different from the existing online marketing. The existing online marketing did not have their target, and they just do marketing randomly. However, Viral Marketing has its target market, so it is more effective than the existing online marketing. There are some examples of success by using Viral Marketing.

    McDonald’s Big Mac Song Campaign is one of examples. It already operated in USA, 1970s, but in 2011, it got big succeed in Korea, over 4,000 videos were uploaded for a month. McDonald gave the Big Mac free coupon to everyone who uploaded their Big Mac song videos, and someone who ranked the first won the prize, ₩5,000,000(about $5,000) and McDonald used his video as an advertisement. Over 3 million people visited McDonalds’ website to vote, and through this event McDonalds’ revenue was increased by 36.5% compared to last month. The first reason that they could get big succeed in Korea is that they chose right target market. Korean is very interested in music, songs and dance, and all music programs got succeed at that time. The second reason is that IT technology developed surprisingly, so it was so easy to attract Korean’s interest. McDonalds got not only financial benefits but also positive impression, high credibility and loyal customers.

#1 Famous Comedians : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9cqBsWhPVg

#2 Real McDonald's TV Advertisement : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfYzB66dT5s&list=UUh-PIUDPlZkXnwU5zgX_oAw&index=99

    Red bull is the highest company which spends money to do marketing. Its slogan is “Red bull gives you wings”, and it really fell down from sky. It dropped down from sky at sudden, and people were surprised. People were curious that, and after that they posted in their twitter or Facebook, ‘Today I got FREE DRINKS for sky!’ Red bull applied their energetic impression to their viral marketing method, so they designed Red bull fell down unspecific places at a sudden. Their purposes were not only to test sample drinks but also to use word-of-marketing. Finally over 8 million people could get know about that, and 1 million people posted in Red bull Facebook page. The first reason that they got succeed is that they applied their products’ energetic image to their promotion event. Second is that they could attract people’s interest by creative idea which drinks fell down from sky at a sudden and free drinks.

    Not only Facebook, Twitter, also blog is effective viral marketing. Even a new word came out; ‘Power Blogger’ is the blogger who has the most impact on other consumers. Usually power blogger gather people’s interests by great contents and speedily updating. However, there are some examples that abuse their impact. There are some ‘black consumer’ and ‘black blogger’, and they post negative opinion about a product calculatedly or they threaten companies by their power in online. There are some side-effects of viral marketing, but there is nothing effective marketing as much as viral marketing. So it is expected that viral marketing must be popular to companies as the most effective marketing method. 

Photos from: http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=blogphoenix&logNo=220069018519&parentCategoryNo=&categoryNo=&viewDate=&isShowPopularPosts=false&from=postView

                  http://blog.naver.com/joappp/220111904891

Blog 4: The importance of Localization

‘Walmart’ is one of high revenue companies, it was $469,162,000,000. There are many Walmart store in USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, China, India, Japan, Mexico, the UK and Africa. Walmart became the largest company in part of retail store. However, there are two countries where Walmart failed, Korea and Germany. Especially in Korea, some foreign retail stores wanted to get succeed, but almost every company failed.

                  Walmart entered the Korean market in 1998, when Korea went through the monetary crisis (IMF crisis in 1997). There are three types of Walmart retail stores; discount stores, supercenters, neighborhood markets and other small store formats. Walmart chose ‘supercenters’ in Korea and it was declaration to domestic retail stores. But Walmart left Korea in 2006, and they agreed M&A to ‘EMART’, Korean domestic retail store. Experts pointed out that the biggest reason of Walmart failure was ‘failure of localization’. First problem was that Walmart decreased the number of workers and the quality of service instead of low cost. On the other hand, Korean customers wanted not only low cost but also same quality of service as a department store. And also Walmart overlooked the fact which Korean wanted ‘one-stop service’; shopping, eating, entertaining with their families in one place.

                  Second problem was that accessibility to products and preference to fresh food. While people in foreign countries buy food for one to two weeks and keep this in a freezer, Korean buy small amount of food at many times and they cook soon. So this eating pattern made Korean to prefer retail stores which they can buy fresh food and they can go easily. For example, ‘EMART’ is rare case in the world, it harmonized western retail shop with traditional market in Korea. In Walmart, many items were displayed in high shelves, so housewives had to call clerks every time when they wanted to get their items. Korean neglected Walmart which adhered to layout of stores for western people.

                  Third problem was low brand awareness of ‘Walmart’ in Korea. All Walmart stores in Korea were only 16. Walmart hesitated to invest in Korea, so they could get only 16 stores because of low investment. It shows how making quick decision is so important in administering investment. Besides, some people thought that this came from some prominent companies’ domination. Wall Street Journal said “Walmart exits conglomerate-dominated Korea.” It pointed out that some prominent companies dominated market in Korea so it was so hard for foreign companies to get there.

                  However there is one example of successful foreign retail store in Korea. ‘Costco’ is very popular in Korea, and even Costco in Yangjae(One of Costco in Korea) ranked the highest revenue among all Costco in the world. There are two secret of Costco; does not have much margin, and annual fee& refund policy& PB products (Private Brand products). They stick to the fixed margin rate; the margin rate of general products is 14%, the margin rate of KIRKLAND’s products (PB products) is 15%. Customers paid their annual fee gladly. That is because they satisfy with refund policy and Private Brand products. They can get refund any time (only computers have limit), and the quality of PB products is very good even though the price of these is cheaper than others. Through examples of Walmart and Costco, we can learn that researching and adapting to culture decide company’s fate. 

Pictures from : http://blog.naver.com/jmk654/220137712767

       http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?Code=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=001&aid=0001433262

       http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1115031

Mad Shoes Our logo in the Marketing class

Blog 3: 떡볶이(Tteok-bokki) Franchise

One of famous food in Korea is 떡볶이(Tteok-bokki ). It made by rice cake and Korean’s red pepper paste, named 고추장. It is very familiar to Koreans because there were Tteok-bokki  stores in front of every elementary school. Until I graduated the elementary school, the Tteok-bokki  store in front of my school was the only one I know. However, from about 10 years ago, franchises of Tteok-bokki  were founded. No one thought that Tteok-bokki  became one of very popular industries. Though that, there were someone who did challenge. There are very famous 3 Tteok-bokki  stores.

아딸(Addal) is the one of famous Tteok-bokki  stores. Addal is the oldest Tteok-bokki  shop. The name of store means that ‘dad makes fried food, and daughter makes Tteok-bokki ’. The father in law of Addal CEO owned a fried food shop, but in 2002, the Addal CEO opened the first Addal with his family. The mission statement is that ‘Make the world which all families are happy by eating healthy and fresh food’. It focuses on the taste of food and the health of family. For globalization of Tteok-bokki , they created new menus a lot. They tried very hard so they could get success. Creating new menus was not only for globalization but also for their competitive power. They could get distinctive characteristic by making new menus.

죠스떡볶이(Jaws Tteok-bokki ) is also famous one. The name has not special meaning. When it was made at first, the founder vowed to use only fresh ingredients for avoiding a preconception that Tteok-bokki  was dirty because it was sold in streets. They are focusing on the operation system so their mission statement might be that ‘Own by the best’. They made the most optimized management system. The feature which only Jaws Tteok-bokki  has is professional. They have not various menus but they only focus on basic menus, Tteok-bokki , 튀김(Fried foods), 순대(The pork or the beef roll), 어묵(boiled fish paste).

어묵(boiled fish paste)

떡볶이(Tteok-bokki )

순대(The pork roll)

튀김(Fried Foods)

국대떡볶이(Kukde Tteok-bokki ) is the last one. 국대(Kukde) is the abbreviation of 국가대표(the representative of nation). The mission statement of Kukde Tteok-bokki  is that ‘Humility, Appreciation and Distribution’. They focus on an original Tteok-bokki  shop like was in front of an elementary school. Their interior is the distinctive feature. They put antique chairs and tables, and they use old days’ font.

Not only those distinctive features of each stores, but also they have different tastes. Although these differences, they have similar things. They are all doing social contribution activities. Addal does various social contribution activities like regular support to orphanages. Jaws Tteok-bokki  does also support to orphanages, and Kukde Tteok-bokki  aids 2~4 children through ‘World Vision(NGO)’.

Nowadays, there are many Tteok-bokki  franchises in Korea. They have their own distinctiveness, for example some stores sell much spicy or some stores make Tteok-bokki  on customers’ tables just after they get order. Among many similar competitive companies, having their own distinctive features is the only way to get success. In sum, it can be applied to many various industries. Differentiation is the most important thing to marketing. 

Pictures from : http://cafe.daum.net/truepicture/Qt7/981976?q=%B6%B1%BA%BA%C0%CC&re=1
                        http://www.addal.co.kr
                         http://www.jawsfood.co.kr
                        http://www.kukde.co.kr

Blog 2: Paris Baguette in USA

Paris Baguette in Korea

‘Paris Baguette’ is the bakery and café from Korea. In Korea, there are over 3,200 stores and it ranked first in National Brand Competitiveness Index among 206 brands. This brand started in 1986, actually the original Paris Baguette was opened in 1988. Paris Baguette has tried hard so it became the top of baking industry. There are reasons why they can become the top. It focuses on the quality. They started to import most of their ingredients from France. And they hold many events related to seasons in Korea. For example, there was an event that they gave Rudolph shaped hats to customer who bought cakes in the Christmas season. Also they make events or products by catching nowadays trends. They make a new cake by using a famous cartoon character among children. When a macaroon is very famous in Korea, they released a macaroon ice cream and macaroon cakes. Paris Baguette can keep its popularity by trying hard again and again.

Rudolph shaped hat

            

      We can find Paris Baguette in USA. There are about 35 stores in USA. They are located from New York to California. On the cross of Lexington avenue and New York 52th street, there is a ‘Paris Baguette’ in front of ‘Au bon pain’. That store represents the power of Paris Baguette in USA. Before December, 2014 (when Paris Baguette established there), many people used to go ‘Au bon pain’. During rush hour, over 80 peoples visited ‘Au bon pain’ per 30 minutes. But after Paris Baguette was opened, most of customers changed their familiar bakery. The number of Au bon pain’s customers declined to 50. They started to buy breads, sandwiches, cakes and soups in Paris Baguette more than Au bon pain. The price of Paris Baguette is more expensive than the other one but customers gave up buying breads at the cheaper place. The reason is the high quality of products. They make coffee and bake bread themselves in the shop while other bakeries receive coffee and bread from factories. So customers can eat fresh and delicious bread in Paris Baguette. And also they sell different products by time. For instance, they sell pastry and espresso in the morning, sandwich and soup during lunch time and bread and cake after lunch time.

Paris Baguette in USA

             Their mission statement is “World class company, World class partnership”. They also said that they want to make customers satisfied by trying to create revolution. Paris Baguette is the company which never gives up challenges. They already have shops in Korea, USA, China, Singapore and Vietnam. They keep trying so they became famous in USA, China, Singapore and Vietnam. They opened a shop in Paris on July. In that store, they chose a premier artisan boulangerie concept so baking masters make Paris Baguette’s products. The CEO of Paris Bagutte said that Paris Baguette was the brand which introduced bakery culture of France in Korea, from now, it would be the brand which extends to the world. They tried hard until now so they got succeed but they are still trying hard. It is the point that other companies have to learn. 

Paris Baguette in Paris

Blog 1: The first semester in Vermont

My first semester in America was just started! I’m from Korea, of course South Korea and I’m an exchange student. In Korea, also a new semester began. It’s a little bit awkward that I’m not in my university. I’m taking of 4 courses instead of 6 or 7 courses. If I was in Korea, I would take 6 or 7 courses. And also I talk in English and read English books instead of talking in Korean and reading Korean books. It’s really awkward and weird. Anyway my semester in St.Michael’s college started. It’s totally different from that a semester in Korea is begun.

First of all, I wanted to be an exchange student for my dream. I want to work in International Organization, for example UN, WTO, or IMF and so on. So I need to make my view wider and have a lot of experience. Making my view wider is the most important thing and having a lot of experience can be my strength too. In conclusion, the first goal this semester is making my view wider. And having a lot of experience is also.

  Second, my personal goal is to improve my English skills. Not only the part of speaking but also grammar and writing. I could come here because I had the good IELTS grade but actually I don’t have confidence to using English. Koreans learn English since they enroll an elementary school and even before elementary school. But Koreans are afraid of English. The reason why there is a saying that we have to study English until we die. I have studied English since I was in the kindergarten. However I am afraid of using English also. My English grammar, speaking and writing are not perfect. There may be a limit to study English only in Korea, I guess. So the second goal this semester is improving my English skills included grammar, writing and speaking.

 

Lastly, making a lot of good friends is my last goal. And it would be my goal in next semester too. I used to be active. So I liked to be friend with everyone. However I’m getting older, I became shy to be a friend. I’m getting to have many worries and making friend became one of bothersome task. But it’s not good. Then I want to change that. It’s very good chance to live here. There are 3 reasons, all my friends are in Korea, I’m alone here and most of people in here are very kind. That’s my last goal this semester.

 

I am in America and I want to become much better person in here. I wish it becomes a very good chance for me to become better person. In sum, making my view wider, having a lot of experience, improving my English skills and making a lot of good friends are my goals. I really wish that I can achieve these goals in this semester. I will try hard to achieve these goals. Good luck to me! Good luck to all!