I’ve always had problems with impulse control and concentration. Generally speaking, I suffer from mental surges where my mind is inundated by endless thoughts. When I was younger I couldn’t help but say almost everything –even those that required restraint– that came to my mind. In middle school, I once lashed out at my principle in anger and said things I should not have said. He told me my curse was that I let my mouth run before my mind. My best friend from high school still tells me that I should write things down rather than saying them out loud, to allow myself some extra time to think about what I am saying. Medicine, or rather psychiatry, explains this as the result of a physiological defect. Apparently, the parts of my brain (known as the temporal and frontal lobes) responsible for impulse control and concentration, are not as large as most people’s. Therefore, I get frustrated by the routine. Now, in my 23 years of age, I believe that I have made cnosiderable progress in controlling my thoughts, but every now and then, especially when I am watching television or surfing online, I have to take a deep breath to stop feeling like I am overdosing on caffeine.
There are two things that provide peace, one is reading; I pick up a book or the paper and retreat to a quiet corner. As I start reading, I enter into a new world, where my only mental activity is earmarking the ideas of the author. The other is writing. In between commas and spaces, I am usually able to organize my thoughts into coherent ideas. However, lately I notice that I keep getting these flashes in my head while I am writing. Sometimes I’ll remember a jingle, or the impression of an actor in a commercial that was designed to burn its irresistible message: “Thou shall consume” into one’s memory. And then suddenly my opinions will change a little. When, I read what I wrote out loud, I’ll realize that my prose mimics the rhythm of the commercial clip in my head. I accept its seemingly innocent conclusions wrapped in various contexts which, I was (according to some) subliminally programmed to adopt as my own.
For example, as I was writing my sociology notes the other day (the chapter was patriarchy and gender), I couldn’t get the Advantage Black-Advantage Rouge credit card commercial out of my head. It has a visually pleasing take on a provocative social statement: You can’t argue that men and women are different so embrace it…Here are two cards for you…let’s further the divide between the sexes, so you may yell at each other from across the poles and call your inevitable lack of communication and emotional incompatibility, passion. My next mental step was the famous book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, and before I knew it, the flood gates burst opened and in came an endless torrent of references, ideas, perceptions, and experiences I had to sift through helplessly. I must add that despite its message, which some will undoubtedly consider dangerously limited about the nature of sexual dynamics, this particular commercial was enjoyable to watch. And so I thank its makers for the brief moment of entertainment their work brought into my life. Yet, at the same time I can’t help but question the silver lining of the commercial’s message which basically reads: Never mind that you too will eventually be affected by the troubled global economy, never mind that in your culture debating sexual politics is a complete luxury, but CONSUME. And if you don’t have the money, here is a product which will loan it to you on rates that will literally bury you in debt. People like me do not benefit from this sort of temptation. But that is my problem and mine alone.
I am not of the opinion that marketers are evil, or that their sole purpose is to push the corporate envelope. Hell, I plan to be one someday. However, I strongly believe that someone somewhere should fight the good fight and monitor the mental environment. Let me quickly state, so that I may avoid intellectual theft that the idea of a mental environment existed for quite sometime now. There are publications that have gallantly established themselves as its guardians, but their position is generally against advertising and advertising alone. One of these publications is Adbusters, which I bought on an impulse while I was in America. Their slogan read: Who is in charge of the mental environment anyhow? I believe, this question, may just be one of the most profoundly important questions in our consumer culture. I could not find any articles that quenched my curiosity in that issue of Adbusters. So I went online to check out their archives. Then, I came across this:

“Your mind is a clear mountain stream running burbling through the rocks. Pepsi stands up, unzips its billion-dollar ad budget, and takes a leak, staining it forever brown. Your brain, a verdant old-growth forest, until it dies the death of a thousand swooshes. Your soul, filled with the crystal fresh air of early morning, until Philip Morris blows in a cloud of its seductive smoke (McKibben Bill, What’s my damage – A call for mental environmentalism, Adbusters Magazine, Dec. 2001).”

I don’t believe the issue is as black and white as this quote makes it seem. Marketing should not be held solely responsible for polluting the mental environment. Yet, there are certain practices that have to be monitored. In my opinion these include; the incessant poll taking at every website and corner stand via questionnaires and whatnot; spams which are already outlawed in 40 countries and the EU; and finally telemarketing.

Sebze Suyu

Geçen hafta bir süper markette dolaşırken test standlarından birinde ilginç ürünler dikkatimi çekti.Hiç huyum değildir aslında ama kendimi alamadım işte.Gittim bende denemek istiyorum dedim.Ürünün adı sebze meyve suyu. Yani meyve suyu görünümünde içinde hem meyve hem sebzelerin sularının olduğu ve renginin bir garip olduğu içecek.Arkadaşım yeşil renkte olanı bense kırmızı renkte olanı denedik.Bir yandan içerken bir yandan da içinde efendim kereviz havuç şeftali soğan gibi şeylerin olduğunu kutunun üstünden okuyoruz.Şahsi fikrimi sorarsanız tadı hiç bana göre değil hatta arkadaşım baya bir kötü oldu içince.Aynı şekilde meyve sularının tadlarına alışmış olan damaklarımızın kolay kolay kabul etmeyeceği bir tat diyebilirim.Ancak şu da kesin ki,içerdiği vitaminler ve katkısız olması diyet yapan ya da formunu korumak isteyen bayanların ilgisini çekebileceğini düşünüyorum.(Bu arada firmanın adı tat. Yani bilinen ve kalitesine güvenebileceğimiz bir marka.)

sosyal sorumluluk kampanyaları

Bazı firmalar müşteriyi fiyat, servis, paketleme, marka vb şeylerden ziyade sosyal sorumluluklara daha çok önem vererek de çekmeye çalışır. Örneğin hafta sonu eve gittim. Reklamlarda Eti Burçak'ın bir reklamını gördüm. Kendi tanıtımını yaptıktan sonra şunu belirtiyorudu; aldığınız her bir paket Burçak ile burçak tarlalarının iyileştirilmesine yardımda buluınuyorsunuz. Eti Burçak gelirinin br kısmını burçak tarlalarına ve bunun için çalışan kurumlara ayırmış.Tarımın git gide kötüye gittiği ve desteklenmeye ihtiyaç duyduğu şu dönemlerde insanları bu şekilde çekerek hem sosyal sorumluluğunu yapıyordu hem de insanların gözünde daha iyi bir marka haline geliyordu çünkü daha duyarlı bir marka izlenimi veriyordu. Mesela aynı şeyi özelleştikten sonra Türk Telekom da yaptı. Daha az kağıt israfı için netten fatura yani e-fatura devrine geçmeyi önerdi. Böylece daha az kağıt israfı olacaktı, gereğinden az ağaçlara zarar verilecekti, küresel ısınmaya karşı önlem alınmış olunacaktı. Bu da Türk Telekomun sosyal sorumluluk kampanyasıydı. Peki bu kampanyaların müşteriler üzerindeki etkisi ne oluyor. Müşteriler o firmaları daha duyarlı birer firma olarak görüyor( eğer firmalar bunların promosyonlarını ve tanıtımlarını yeterli derecede yaparsa ) ve diğer firmadan almaktansa bu firmadan alırım diyorlar. Çünkü hedefledikleri kesim genelde bilinçli tüketici ve onlarda gidişatın farkında oldukları için Burçak'ı destekliceklerdir. Ama belirttiğim gibi bu tip kampanyalarda tanıtımı ve promosyonu iyi yapmak , hedeflediğin kesime ulaşabilmek için çok önemlidir. Bu da bu tip firmalara extradan kazanç sağlıyor.(amaçları bu olsa da olmasa da ) Mesele Ülkerin aynı tipte bir bisküvisini yemektense şu anda bu kampanyayı bilen bazı insanlar Burçağı tercih edebilirler. Bu da Burçağın satışlarının Ülkerin aynı tarzda olan bisküvisinin önüne geçmesi anlamına gelebilir. 

Philips ve Satış Elemanları

Mağaza gezerken çoğumuzun başının belasıdır, satışla elemanları. Ya çok laubalidirler, ya hiç ilgilenmezler, ya dibimizden ayrılmazlar ya da potansiyel hırsız muamelesi yapıp adımı deli ederler. Genelde çok az rastlanır beğenilenlerine, gerçekten müşterinin aklında iyi yer edenlerine. Kipa’da ki philips mağazasını çoğumuz biliriz. Bundan iki-üç ay kadar önce oraya uğradım, fiyat sormak ve bir ürün hakkına fikir sahibi olmak için. Ne zamandır aklımdaydı, kıvırcık saçlarımdan kurtulmak için ve kuaföre giderek harcadığım zamandan ve paradan tasarruf etmek için bir saç düzleştirici almak. Saçımı yakar mıyım, verdiğim paraya değer mi, iki kullanımdan sonra kullanılmayan eşyalar dolabına girer mi korkularıyla cebellelişirken ve de arkadaşlarımın yanardöner eleştirilerinin hangisine güveneyim diye sorgularken- ki saç bu mahvolursa ucunda kestirmek var:(- kipada alışveriş yaptığımız günlerden birinde annemle gidip fiyat sormaya karar verdik. İçeride iki tane çok cici kız vardı. Biri biz daha fiyatı soramadan bize tüm kartlarla ve nakitle hangi koşulda en rahat ödeyeceğimizi söylerken, kendimi bir sandalyede oturmuş buldum, diğer kız ise saçımı düzleştirmeye başlamıştı bile, ürünün gerçek kalitesini göstermek için. Dikkatimi çeken bir başka nokta ise dükkanda ki tek müşterilerde biz değildik, sadece iki kişi olmalarına rağmen sanki on kişiymiş gibi herkese yetişiyorlar, her soruyu içtenlikle cevaplıyorlardı. En önemli nokta ise yüzlerinde daima bir sevecenlik ve gülümseme vardı-genelde satış elemanlarında bulunmayan. Bir başka dikkat çeken şey ise, kendi kendilerine öyle çok promosyon çeşidi, müşterilerin dikkatini çekmek için ilginç atraksiyonlar geliştirmişlerdi ki hayran kalırısınız. Enerjilerine, yaratıcılıklarına, ilgilerine ve en önemlisi ve takdiri hak eden güler yüzlerine hayran kaldım. Ayrıca her Kipa’ya gidişimde de dikkat ettim, acaba sadece o güne has bir şey miydi diye. Ama her seferinde aynı canlılıkla karşılaştım. Satış elemanı dediğin gerçekten de böyle olmalı, işini sevsin ya da sevmesin. Ürüne gelince, iki üç seferden daha fazla kullandım:) ve benim kabarık ve kıvırcık saçlarımı düzleştireceğinden aslında hiç umudum da yoktu, ama gerçektende dümdüz yaptı. Tabi biraz fazla sık kullanım nedeniyle saçlarımın uçlarının hali feci ama yine de herkese tavsiye edebilirim.

China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, which managed to survive for over 6000 years. Historically speaking, China has produced many crucially important products, such as: paper, gun powder, the printing press, and the compass. These were pivotal instruments that helped to shape today’s world. Before making my point, I would also like to mention the Great Wall of China, the construction of which was begun in the 5th C. BC. It was perhaps the greatest architectural endeavor of its time. Its purpose was to isolate a sophisticated and wealthy empire from the attacks of “barbaric Mongols,” who sacked villages’ wheat supplies. In a way, the Great Wall more than fulfilled its destiny; it shielded an ancient society from the rest of the world. As a result, China developed certain cultural characteristics in time, that make it impenetrable to the many multinational corporations, gushing to sell their products in its dynamic markets.
A lot has changed over the centuries; for both China, and the rest of the world. For hundreds of foreign companies today, China is synonymous with big business, cheap labor, and unfortunately, a plight of intellectual property infringements, that get lost in translation. The punishments for these infringements have been, at best, poorly sanctioned by the Chinese government. Perhaps it’s because they feel they have already contributed more than their share of originality (with the above mentioned discoveries), or that they can hide behind a wall (this time entirely bureaucratic), but so far Chinese marketing consists of making minor changes –if any at all– to existing brands’ tangibles (logos, slogans, and even names), and passing them of as their own. Nike and Starbucks are two of many “plagiarized” brands, with regard to whose copyrights, Chinese companies have been entirely indifferent.

In April 12th’s New York Times, there was an article about the Chinese sporting goods brand, Li-Ning, written by business columnist Joe Nocera. Founded by an ex-Olympic gymnast, Li-Ning’s sneakers are of high quality, but that’s not the problem. According to the article, the brand’s logo, slogan, and even design are suspiciously similar to those of Nike and Adidas. The logo is a variation of Nike’s trademark swooshes, and its English slogan “everything is possible” was created by putting a minor spin on the Adidas slogan: “Nothing is Impossible!” Li-Ning managed to get famous international personalities such as Shaquille O’Neal –who is poised in a lay-up on the logo of its basketball shoes – to endorse its brand image. However, this component too, reeks of Nike’s Air Jordan logo. Li-Ning sneakers cost about 20% less than Nike’s and considering Nike charges a near 200% mark-up on its products, I find myself in support of Li-Ning. However, the company is only able to keep its prices low because of the money it saved by copying existing brand tangibles instead on developing their own.

Another major copyright infringement –and one that has legally been resolved– involved the American coffee retailer Starbucks vs. its Chinese counterpart Xingbake. Starbuck sued Xingbake –Xing means star in Mandarin and Ba-ke is the phonetic equivalent of buck – for trademark infringement. The Chinese national Xingbake was found guilty of copying the starbucks name and logo and was fined a sum of $63000[1]. Although, the amount is insignificant in proportion to both enterprises’ revenues, it was an important victory on behalf of all foreign companies operating in China. It also indicates that the Chinese government is finally beginning to take intellectual property rights seriously.

Chinese companies are certainly eager to make their way into foreign markets, but as far as I am concerned, they are yet to be perceived as anything more than producers of cheap disposable goods, and various crafty knock-offs. For companies like Li-Ning –only 1% of whose $700 million annual revenue is derived form international sales[2] – the only way to success goes through effective branding. And so far they been going about it the wrong way.

[1] http://www.eastmids-china.co.uk/starucksvxingbake.html
[2]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/business/worldbusiness/12nocera.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=april%2012%20joe%20nocera&st=cse&oref=slogin

The Tipping Point

In the last marketing course I took, we were given the option of reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point for extra credit. I was already familiar with the author having read his essays in the New Yorker magazine, so I bought the book expecting nothing. I had not however - until I picked up The Tipping Point- imagined that he would produce a scholarly work so relevant to the field of marketing.
The tipping point is originally an epidemiological term which Gladwell re-coined as a sociological one. In epidemiology It refers to the moment at which the “momentum for change becomes unstoppable (Wikipedia).” As far as marketers are concerned, the tipping point is the point at which a simple trend “tips over” and becomes something more than just a trend; an epidemic.
Gladwell approaches the phenomenon from all angles. He analyzes a wide spectrum of social issues; ranging from the 90s crime epidemic in New York City, to the exponentially increasing teenage smoking rates. The Hush Puppies case serves as the framework, on which Gladwell explains various marketing concepts such as that of the trend-setters, which in turn is implemented in today’s marketing as the practice of cool-hunting.
You may remember Hush Puppies’ from their Timberland-like boots. Although the brand was initially a hit in the States, in time it became completely obsolete. Towards the end of the 90s however, something changed, reviving the brand’s image and hence its sales. The strange thing about this sudden change was that, it did not occur through any conscious marketing effort. When baffled marketers began investigating as to how this miraculous change came about, they discovered that it was all due to a few hip teens’ newly-acquired vintage sense of style. These teenagers, who lived in the East Village (NYC), began wearing the boots in order to distinguish themselves as unique, rejecting to conform by wearing the prevalent mass-customized fashion of the times. Through a series of rather fortunate events, Hush Puppies once again became all the rage for Americans, as hunting cool kids or trend-setters did for marketers.
Gladwell devotes an entire chapter to the word-of-mouth phenomenon which is one of the mechanisms that catalyze the trend-to-epidemic conversion process. He mentions historical events (Paul Revere riding all night to warn key American quasi-military officials of the impending English strike, during the American revolutionary war) as well as the reasons behind the sudden rise of the book “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” to the bestsellers list.
He identifies three psychological types of people as the key players of word-of-mouth; he calls them connectors, mavens and salesmen. Mavens are those consumers who can be defined as nit-picky or rather, demanding. They collect all the available information on products and make a lengthy comparison before purchase. Because they are highly aware of most market offerings, they usually pick up on new trends before others. This makes them innovators as opposed to laggards in terms of product adoption. Moreover, these slightly obsessive types become authorities on purchase decisions, enabling them to influence the decisions of others’ within their social group. One can understand why it’s crucial for marketer’s to communicate with these people, whose opinion matters more than most. Connectors are unusually social people who have a wide network of casual acquaintances. Salesmen have a charismatic authority that makes others want to agree with them. Gladwell uses the Influentials Theory[1] – dictates that making a change requires no more than the efforts of a few influential people with unique sets of social skills- to bring all the qualities of mavens, connectors and salesman that will trigger word-out-mouth and induce an epidemic, together. It is important to note however, that some marketers criticize this theory, claiming that the widely-practiced word-of-mouth marketing is widely ineffective.
Marketing is a vague science and the process of launching a successful brand is more an art than it is a science. If it were as exact as say accounting, we could not explain the near 80% failure rate of start-up brands. Malcolm Gladwell highlights a series of ingenious tricks that have been, are already being, and can be used to take control of trends; such as toll-free customer feedback numbers to attract, or “trap” mavens, achieving stickiness thorugh appropriate contexts in advertising, and many others. In my opinion, his most significant contribution above all, is the necessary framework in which to think about trends and related social phenomena in general.
[1] Thompson, Clive. Is the Tipping Point Toast

Osmanlı Kahvesi

Bir istatistik sınavı çıkışıydı. Okuldan arkadaşlarımla önce Forum Bornova'ya gittik. Daha sonraAlsancak'taki kitap fuarına uğradık ve günün yorgunluğunu atmak için gelen bir öneriyleKordon'da bulunan Osmanlı Kahvesi isimli bir yere gittik. Daha önce önünden defalarca geçtiğimama içine hiç girmediğim bir yerdi Osmanlı Kahvesi. Çünkü dışarıdan sizi o kadar etkilemiyorama içeri girdiğinizde çok farklı bir şekilde etkileniyorsunuz. Önce suratınıza doğru esen keskinbir tütsü ve kahve kokusuyla karşılaşıyorsunuz. Kahveyi çok içmeyen bir insanın aklına bile kahve içme düşüncesini taze kahve kokusuyla getirmişler. Biz biraz kalabalık bir grup olduğumuziçin bizi arkaya koltuklu bölüme aldılar. Çok şık ama bir o kadar da alaturka tarzda olan koltuklaratmosfere oldukça uygun seçilmiş ve çok rahatlardı. Her yer krem ve kahverengi tonlarında döşenmişti sanki size inatla kahveyi anımsatıyodu. Kullanılan aksesuarlar Osmanlı dönemiyle alakalıydı ve çok ilgi çekiciydi, etkileyiciydi. Arkadan gelen müzik hafif ve rahatsız etmeyecek birşekildeydi ve Türk Sanat Musikisi çalıyordu. Hiçbirimiz bu tür müzik dinlemememize rağmen ortama, o kadar çok uyuyordu ki başka birşey çalsalardı asıl o zaman çok rahatsız olurduk sanırım. Bir diğer ilgimizi çeken şey ise satranç masaları oldu. Değişik bir şekilde dizayn edilmiş satranç masaları vardı. Kordon 'da bulunduğu için dışarıda da masaları vardı ve dışarıda oturmak ve denizi izlemek gayet güzeldir eminim. Servisleri çok iyiydi. Bize yaklaşımları , sadece kahve içmemize rağmen, çok iyiydi. Gece boyunca başımızda dikilip başka bir isteğiniz var mı diye soran tür garsonları yoktu. Bizi hiç rahatsız etmediler. Bu nedenlerden dolayı burayı daha çok tercih etmeyi düşünüyorum artık ve herkese en az birkez olsun denemesini tavsiye ederim.