Global Marketing

I really enjoyed doing the research for this project. It reminded me that the world is becoming smaller all the time. The three global marketers I chose to research are Ford, Red Bull, and Apple. Each of these companies have different methods of appealing to their customers in different parts of the world.

Ford Motor Company

Did you know that you could pick up a brand new Ford Mustang in Abu Dhabi? Neither did I. Did you know that you can get the Harley Davidson-themed F-350 in Israel? If you check out http://www.ford.com/ you can pull up a map that will show all the countries in the seven continents in which Ford operates. When you click on a country on the map it will take you to that country's Ford website. Each website is in that country's language and unique to that country's tastes.

I was really impressed to see the amount of work that went into each country's website. I am a car guy so it was also very interesting to see all the different Fords that are sold all over the world. Ford, however, was not my favorite of the three websites .

Red Bull

Red Bull's advertising confuses me sometimes. One day there is a Red Bull commercial of a guy jumping a motorcycle on the Great Wall of China. The next day there are bizarre cartoon characters with wings. But their website is fantastic!

Red Bull's marketing campaign takes aim at a young, high energy crowd. So Red Bull sponsors a lot of international extreme sports and motor sports teams and events.

Visit http://www.redbull.com/ and the homepage has videos and articles on what is going on globally in Red Bull's different events. Don't miss the button in the bottom right hand corner that says "international". Click on this button and a list of the different countries Red Bull operates in comes up. Choose the country you want and not only does the text change to that country's language, but the content dramatically changes. The website's content focuses totally on the chosen country's specific sponsored events, music, and culture. That is brilliant to me! Red Bull's website differs from those of Ford and Apple because of the level of detail that goes into including each country's young customer interests.

Apple

Apple sells many of their products right off of their website. Like Ford and Red Bull's websites, it is easy to access the different international sites through Apple's website. But each county's version of the Apple site does not vary that much in theme or content. The only big difference besides language are the products offered in each country. Most other countries, for example, do not have access to the iPad or iPhone 4. The attention to detail that Red Bull and Ford puts into their advertising is not really there for Apple's international customers. Apple may have the global marketing mentality that Apple products just sell themselves

Assignment 1: Ethically Irresponsible

There are some pretty bad products and services out there. Some were blatantly bad and others that we think we need. At first it was a challenge finding information about failed products until I found Walletpop.com. And then I was reminded a of a jewel from the 90's called Web TV.

Unneeded product that failed:

Web TV was not dangerous or really unethical, but since the company could not seem to reach the million subscriber mark the bill for the Internet service became massive. I remember some of my more spoiled friends' parents got Web TV for them. It was dreadfully slow and not quite as easy as just using a computer.

Unneeded product that were successful:

Women's fashion magazines sell incredibly well. Doctored images of impossibly thin women can be seen in almost every gas station, grocery store, and bookstore in the country. The benefit of these magazines is to keep the reader informed of the latest trends in clothing and make up. But these magazines also show the reader the new trends in weight loss and unaffordable beauty products. The marketing strategy is unethical to me because fashion magazines play on women's insecurities, but also pretend to be there to help.

Planned Obsolescence:

There are two products that I believe fit this category well. The first is the cell phone. Cell phones are expensive enough to be a big ticket purchase, but flimsy enough to be replaced more often than your shoes. I can't really complain because my phone from 2006 won't seem to die. However most of my friends' cell phones seem to disintegrate in their hands twice a year. The unethical part of this scenario is that something expensive should be quality enough to last. The second product is the Amercian made car between the 70's and 80's. Hence, the negativity about American cars that my parents and their generation may always cling to.

Demand Side Market Failure :

I found a great list of products like this on Walletpop.com. WebTV is a good example of a service that just could not really attract new customers. Colgate TV dinners and Ben-Gay aspirin are two of my favorite demand side market failures. Because TV dinners made by the people who make your toothpaste just doesn't sound appealing. Ironically Kirkland, (Costco brand), does very well and they make lots of frozen food and shampoo. I think Ben-Gay aspirin speaks for itself.