What Makes a Slogan Work?

By Ian O.

     Slogans, or attention seeking phrases used during advertising and marketing campaigns, are something that is always brought up when talking about whether said campaign is successful or ineffective. They are often times the only thing people will know about a company, and can dictate whether people remember you or not.

What makes these slogans effective though? 

    As stated in a very insightful Business Insider article written by Aaron Taube, there are 3 things to consider when making a likable slogan.

                                             1: Clarity of the Message
                                             2: Creativity of the Delivery
                                             3: Familiarity with the Brand

   This might seem very simplified, but in all honesty it isn't. The idea behind a successful slogan is rather simple, with most of the important components being listed above, Where most will fall short is in the execution, mostly due to either poor research or outside factors. To really illustrate this, lets look at a successful slogan as well as a not so successful one.

                                                                  The Good

   For our successful slogan, we look at non other then the titan of footwear, Nike. Their long running slogan "Just Do It." is one of the most recognizable phrases out there, and defines the idea of being short and sweet. This accompanied by the iconic Nike swoosh as its symbol is a great example. Lets run through the check list to see why this works so well.

1: The message is very clear, for it is short and demanding. Being a company revolved around sports and activity, "Just Do It." is a challenge that gets their customers on their feet.
2: It's creative in that most slogans are not so, for lack of a better word, bossy. Instead of trying to persuade you, Nike is just like "Nah, Just Do It". It was a gamble, but it worked wonders for standing out.
3: Nike had already gotten some traction before this slogan was used, so their familiarity was a a moderate level. This slogan was definitely part of their surge in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s however.

                                                                   The Bad

      For every good slogan like Nike's, there are always A TON of bad ones. The one we are going to look at is McDonald's newer slogan "lovin' beats hatin'". It replaces their previous phrase of  "I'm Lovin' It", which was iconic in it's status, and has been met with a large amount of backlash from both professional marketers and the average consumers. To better understand their dislike, let us run through the checklist once again.

1: This has to be where it falls the most. "lovin' beats hatin'", as many will point out, has very little to do with fast food. With their previous slogan "I'm Lovin' It", it revolved around enjoying the food. With this one, it sounds more like they don't love the product, but they don't hate it either.
2: The creativity behind this is somewhat lackluster, mostly because it really just piggybacks on their previous slogan. They try to bring in some new culture with the word "hatin'", which has become more popular as of late, yet still seems to fall short.
3: This is the funny part, THIS IS MCDONALDS! Even their global recognition can't save their slogan from the other two parts on the checklist. It really shows how important all 3 aspects are important and can not be neglected, no matter how big you are.

      Slogans are a crucial part of any marketing campaign, and knowing what makes one work is crucial to success. No matter how big you are, as seen with McDonalds, you need a good phrase or line that can be known by the public. This isn't just important for business either, for things like name recognition, which has similar aspects to slogans, is vital to any professionals career. Knowing how to be known is easily one of the most important, but also most difficult, things you can learn.









Business Insider Article:

 Taube, Aaron. "Psychologists Discovered The Secret To Creating A Really Great Slogan." Business            Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 27 June 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. 

Nike Photo:

Miller, Mark J. Nike Slogan. Digital image. Http://brandchannel.com. 3 July 2013. Web. 20 Mar.                 2016. <http://brandchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Nike-JustDoIt-560.jpg>. 

McDonald Photo:

Oscar: The Average Price for 30 Seconds Ads as High as $2 Million

By Jinsui Y.

 

On February 28, it seems that all the people around the world were cheered for Leonardo DiCaprio. After being nominated five times, he finally won an Oscar this time. Why an Oscar has that high attraction for the actors and film maker? It is because that it has high rate of concern around people, so, it’s not only a film event but also a profits resources in business.

It is reported that the actors who won an Oscar can get 20% more payback in there next film. What’s more, the average investment for film is 17 million dollars, but it can gain 8.25 million dollars after winning an Oscar. The return is as high as 395% of the investment. Also, advertisement is also a part of this commercial war. Many companies wants to fight for the advertisement right. Therefore, the price is high and grow rapidly in recent years. In 2015, the average price for the Oscars advertisement was as high as 1.8 million dollars. In the whole event, the total profits from advertisement is high to 110 million dollars. In this year, the price increase to 2.2 million dollars.

As the development of internet, social media also wants to gain something from it. The most successful social media marketing broadcast is the selfies. In 2015, Ellen DeGeneres took a selfie with some Oscar candidates and posted it on Twitter. This selfies was re-posted by 810 thousands of people during 35 minutes and it became the most re-tweeted selfies in Twitters history.

From the Oscars event, we could know that the concern of public and commercial is a way for the business to establish corporate image and produce promotions. As the development of media, the marketing and advertisement become more and more important for the success for a company. 

Image from:

Brain, Steinberg. ABC Press For Record High Price For Oscar Ads ( EXCLUSIVE). Digital image. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/oscars-abc-advertising-cost-1201618801/. 2016. Web. 19 March 2016.

References:

Brian, Steinberg. VARIETY.  ABC Presses For Record High Prices For Oscar Ads (EXCLUSIVE). 2016. Web 19 March 2016.

Luchina, Fisher. abc NEWS. Ellen's Oscar Selfie Most Retweeted Tweet Ever. 2 March 2014. Web. 19 March 2016.

Nap Time!

     By:Brendan K.     

        Do you remember back in High school trying to do homework and have a job, then have to wake up at 6 am to go to school? You seemed to never be able to get enough sleep and that only gets worse in college! Well I have some bad news for you. It might be this way your whole life. Unless things change you are looking at hard, sleepless years ahead of you. But that might be turning around soon.

       
     Studies are showing that workers who don’t get enough sleep have been costing companies $63 billion a year, reports the Wall Street Journal. The continuation of lack of sleep can cause stress leading to even less sleep. Out of 196 business leaders, consulted from the firm McKinsley, 43 percent said they didn’t get enough sleep at least 4 nights a week.

            Research shows that years of bad sleep can negatively impact your memory, decision-making skills, creativity, and social interaction. All of these are critical skills for people in top corporate positions. When you are asleep your brain flushes out harmful toxins while process information acquired during the day.

            Why aren’t companies promoting the necessity of getting enough sleep? Well some companies don’t have the organizational effort to emphasize it and it is lower on their priority list. But some companies are beginning to build a work culture that advocates better sleep and productivity. Some companies are implementing “Power Naps” during the work day, such as, Google, Zappos, Ben & Jerry’s, and Huffington Post.

            These companies have created nap rooms for their workers. Companies have also promoted this by encouraging employees to take all of their vacation day (40 percent of Americans don’t), restricting servers from allowing emails to be sent after a certain time, and not allowing them to send emails on days they took off.

            I think these tactics that big corporations are implementing will have a good long term effect on their workers. With the emphasis on getting enough sleep and encouraging workers to do so will increase their worker’s productivity when working because the brain is complex system, but it can’t function properly without enough rest.

Sources:

Che, Jenny. "Why More Bosses Need To Embrace Napping At Work." Huffington Post. 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

"Lack of Sleep Costs Billions? How About Cats?" WSJ. 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

What did Warren Buffett Invested in business last year?

By Jinsui Y.

Warren Buffett is known as the most successful investor in the world. As a fine example in investment, his decision and action in business are all concerned by public. He usually invests in a wide range of investment. However, it is observed that he purchase more stocks in the field of energy last year in 2015. He invested 1 billion dollars in oil in Phillips66. Why did he turn his investment to energy?

As The Wall Street Journal said, the profits of insurance service had decreased a lot in his investment in recent years. The compensation for car’s insurance in GEICO increased in 2015. There is a reason that the price of crude oil slump caused the price of oil decreased 50% in America. Therefore, more people chose to drive, and they drive more often. So, the number of traffic accident was increased. Another reason is that there are more competition in insurance service area, so, they profits became smaller.

However, many people would say that the price of oil continued decrease from 2014 to 2015. How could Warren Buffett make such an unadvisable decision? However, will the price of oil continue to decrease in 2016? That is necessarily so. For example, it is calculated that the price of crude oil had decreased rapid from 1997 to 1998, however, it rise suddenly and sharply to 105% in1999. So, it is very possible that the crude oil marketing will be change and the price will increased. In that case, the crude oil stocks which purchase by Warren Buffett in very low price will bring him a huge profit.

In a word, investment always has risk, but it is also the catalyst bringing about advance in development of business industry.

Image from:

Akin, Oyedele. While price were crashing, Warren Buffett kept increasing his bet on oil. Digital image. http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-energy-2016-1. 14 Jan 2014. Web. 14 March 2016.

References:

Travis, Hium. The Motley Fool. Warren Buffett Admits Renewable Energy Is Big Threat to Utilities.10 Mar 2016. Web 14 March 2016. 

Black Market

by Zeyang W.

Black market without government approval and illegally formed to deal allowed commodity market price or higher than the open market price, the characteristics of its secret trading market. Such as black market stock, gold and silver, smuggling and other black market goods. In order to escape the country on trading behavior of commodity prices, exchange rate and securities market prices, interest rates and other restrictions on the formation, known as the black market. Traded on the black market price, said the black market price. This refers to the use of improper means hedging of production and tight important consumer goods to high resale or trafficking in contraband smuggling, antique artifacts, exotic jewelry, firearms, ammunition, gold and silver, foreign exchange profits from securities trading.

There is a demand there will be supply a market. Essentially the black market is actually a natural formation in the market. But since human beings have consciousness of civilization, all acts will have good and evil points, thus the formation of the moral and legal. The so-called black market is unethical or substandard legal market. But this demand and supply still exists, so both parties will look for other ways to go underground from the ground, thereby forming the black market.

The emergence and development of the black market have adverse consequences to economic development and national interests. Make national cultural treasures outflow of counterfeit and shoddy goods flooding the market, a shortage of product concentration, the market out of control, rising prices, harm the interests of consumers, undermining the country's economic construction, harm the national interest.

sources:

pushit95notany."Black Market Reloaded-Tips To Stay Anmonyous".blog. October 17, 2013.web.Mar 2016

Prompt #9: Recognizing Significance

By Brendan K.

Marketing is a very important part of the business field. It is important to be able to use words that will pull emotions from your audience. Doing this will cause people to feel more emotionally attached to the advertisement.

I watched a YouTube video explaining the power of the words you use. In the video a homeless man is sitting on the sidewalk with a sign that says “I’m blind, please help.” He waits and only a few people give him some money. After a while and woman walks by and does a double take. She takes the sign and starts to write on it. She sets it down next to him and walks away. Now many more people are walking by and giving this man money. At the end the lady comes back and the homeless man feels her shoes and realizes it is the same woman. He asks her what she wrote and she said, “The same thing, but with different words.” They swivel to show the sign and it says “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it.”

This video was a very accurate representation of how marketing works. Walking by the sign you see that this man is blind and might feel bad for him. But with the new sign people start to realize what they have and this man doesn’t. They are enjoying a beautiful, sunny day with their friends and this man can’t even see any of it. This is similar to how marketers work.

 

In marketing the road to success is getting your brand to stand out and above all the other brands. There are many marketing approaches that are used such as repetition and celebrity endorsing, but it all comes down to what is said. It doesn’t always have to be the most emotionally provoking phrase. Like in the Super Bowl commercial Puppymonkeybaby. I saw that commercial 3 times and I could easily tell you that’s a Mountain Dew Kickstart commercial.

The marketing field is dominated by a combination of 3 colors and 26 letters. It seems like the simplest thing, but the combinations are endless, which means that this job isn’t for everyone. In a capitalist market dominated by the media, everything revolves around marketing. I think that this is an amazing field because you serve a great significance.

Sources:

Gardner, Andrea. "The Power of Words." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Gelok, Ron. "Power of Words." Ron Gelok III. 31 Aug. 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Hill, Brian. "The Importance of Marketing & Communication." The Importance of Marketing & Communication. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.

Business Ethics and Wether it Should be Taught

By Ian O.

      Business ethics is always a hot topic when discussed, and has led to many different opinions on the matter. One of the arguments that stems from this topic is whether or not business ethics should be taught, for many see it as subjective as well as counterproductive towards profit. A thesis, which can be found here, is a written argument against the idea. We are going to look at how John Hooker, a business ethics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, approaches his argument FOR the teachers of business ethics, as well as how he approaches criticisms to his argument.

His Approach

       As a preface, the majority of his views are typically made after he counters the opposing view, seemingly trying to build on the idea that his view is better by belittling the other. Now that this is understood, we can discuss his actual views.

      His first argument is in response to the counter argument that business's only responsibility is to make money. He responds by stating that while money is a main focus, to ditch the teachings of ethical ways to make money is to create a business world where everything is primal and based on only money. He argues that rules and ideas, as well as moral responsibilities, need to be taught in order to control business owners and companies. This argument is fairly well put, for it strikes what the other argument lacks, emotion. If we look at this from an outsider perspective, which would they sympathize with more? The one that is cold and says that businesses only care about money or the argument that expresses more of an emotional basis and sympathy towards the everyday worker.

   

      His other argument worth showcasing is made in response to the counter argument that if businesses were to behave ethically, it would be because of government incentives and sanctions, not the things they learned in school. Hooker's argument is that incentives alone can not persuade people to be ethical, and that the teachings of business ethics is needed as a "guiding light" in order to further motivate ethical practice in business. This is a fairly good argument, for it doesn't completely disregard the other argument. Some might see it as very passive, but what it does is explain that these things go together and thus makes it easier for someone on the fence to accept both the teaching of ethics and the use of incentives as options instead of saying only one works.

My Opinion

     His overall argument seems to be fairly solid, with a very effective strategy of not only showing his case, but countering the opponents case. There are some weak spots, which seem to rely on opinion and not numbers a bit to much, but besides those he has a convincing argument. From my own opinion, I already believed ethics courses, especially in business, were essential. Even though I am already for his argument, I still feel he holds up very valid points for his idea, and is focused throughout with consistent sources.

Sources

Thesis 

- http://web.tepper.cmu.edu/jnh/paper81.pdf

Picture 

- 1st: http://www.livetradingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/wheelbarrow-of-money-520x340.png

- 2nd: http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xd/495818052.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=DF8D445051B40C74CE3A5ABE036605E6D6D7111452E48A17F36836C6664EDF3447C960A44BD962FF