Author: sarvansrini

The supplement industry

~ sarvansrini ~ 3 Comments

I lost 48lbs….. 54lbs….122lbs!!!……Hydroxycut!!!!

I am sure most of you would have seen this ad or similar ads. I previously wrote about the fitness industry and gyms like Planet Fitness. My follow up to that -is this article/ rant on the supplement industry.

Some employees in one of my earlier work places came up with a competition  (not company sponsored) – something on the lines of the Biggest Loser – whoever loses the max weight wins the cash.One particular employee in  an effort to win took some weight loss supplements – not sure how many but the next thing I know is that she was out for almost 5months and had to get admitted in a hospital due to some complications from this- She did lose weight but it was due to surgery which had to take place due to some complication from the drug.

There was also an article in the boston magazine that said 1 out 3 supplements are fake

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/blog/2013/11/04/one-three-supplements-fake/

and there was a news where some herbal supplements sold by top stores such as GNC ,Walgreens contained fake ingredients.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/herbal-supplements-targeted-by-new-york-attorney-general/

Are these supplements really worth it ? I am no fitness expert nor do I know a lot about these supplements but one thing I do know is eating healthy does not have to include taking supplements.

The way these companies market them is by creating a need and making the customer want this. Would you buy a box of protein powder from me or would you prefer to buy it if someone like  Arnold was selling  it.

The next thing they do is  use some complicated terms along with some natural sounding components and confuse the crap out of the consumer – then relate the results with either weight loss/ increased energy/ improved sex life. Everything that the average Joe wanting a 6pack by summer wants to hear.

Do you guys remember the energy bands that they sold in malls which contained volcanic ash – this was supposed to do everything from stabilizing your body to improving your sex life to curing cancer. Not sure how many of you bought that but  Volcanic ash – seriously!!!! and they sold for $25 a piece. I personally know people who claimed that they had increased energy through the day after wearing the band – Placebo effect (absolutely!!).

People will even buy plain water – if it is packaged under a title “miracle drink” for weight loss and improves sex life – just throw in a celebrity to endorse it and you will see the sales spike.

It’s all about creating a want – a demand (On a side track there is a Canadian company which capitalized on air pollution in china and sells “clean” bottled air (essentially means empty bottle) in China – no kidding just plain freaking air !!!! oh I forgot to add from the mountains!!!! –  it sells $50 per can)

In my honest opinion you don’t need a fancy supplement to help you become fit. Eat healthy and exercise (even if it is at planet fitness – that’s a start plus they give free pizza).

But again the supplement industry is a 80 billion dollar industry. If you can come up with a product and build your brand then jackpot!!!

For starters presenting to you miracle energy drink water-bottle

1 bottle a day  AND GET A 6 PACK 

body

 

 

P.S:

Dear Diary – this would be my last entry 😀 ( Yayyy!!!! On behalf of the readers and me)

 

 

Going Viral

~ sarvansrini ~ Leave a comment

There has already been a couple of articles about this – the death of tv ads – the rise of marketing on social media.

Even in social media the trend of placing/promoting ads on the company’s facebook page or twitter handle has moved to using facebook celebrities and instagram celebrities to promote products in their videos . I am not referring to say a celebrity like Bradley Cooper or Scarlett Johanson , I am referring to  people like you and I who became facebook stars or youtube stars.

I am a fan of the page “Bat Dad” and “Dude Perfect”.  Dude Perfect are you tube stars who became famous for creating trick shot videos. They are extremely skilled and their videos are super cool. They have already launched  a mobile game for iOS and Android, self-titled Dude Perfect and  Cory Cotton (one of the members)authored a nationally published book titled Go Big in which he shares the secrets the group has learned along the way building a business in a world largely influenced by social media.

The group received professional endorsements and requests, which began with then-Sacramento Kings player Tyreke Evans, in an effort to promote Evans’ run for Rookie of the Year.[7] Dude Perfect also worked with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, NBA starChris Paul, Australian bowler Jason Belmonte, actor Paul Rudd, singer Tim McGraw, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Russell Wilson, and Heisman Trophy winner quarterback Johnny Manziel[8][9] at Kyle Field,[10] Miami Dolphins quarterbackRyan Tannehill,[11] the U. S. Olympic team,[12] NASCAR drivers Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Travis Pastrana, James Buescher and IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe at Texas Motor Speedway,[13] New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.,[14] the Seattle Seahawks, and St. Louis Rams players Greg Zuerlein, John Hekker, and Jacob McQuaide 

The list is endless. Then there is Bat Dad ?Just a normal dad in Atlanta -no super skilled trick shot videos- he wears a bat man mask and makes videos around his house -which are quite funny – I get inspiration from him on how to irritate my wife.(I thought blogging was an effort for us to start our “Dear Diary” conversations and hence the confession). His videos are a huge hit and the now he has his own tshirt collection and he has also come up with a book.

bat dad

When you get  famous on a social media platform , brands take notice- Netflix capitalized on this and did a promotion starring bat dad – How cool is it. Now I am sure you would have guessed what his full time job is – Make videos !!!! how cool is that

I think this is just a tip of the iceberg for him and I am sure there are more promotions coming up- Good morning America has done a segment on him too.

What about grumpy cat – its a freakin cat !!! just a cat that looks grumpy and it has starred in an ad for pistachios!!!. There are actually “talent” scouts who look for the next viral sensation.

I think this is the future of marketing – going viral – using youtube stars and facebook stars. So are you ready to be the next youtube star.

P.S: I personally think our very own @AMIRNIKFETRAT has all the qualifications for a youtube star – get him some redbull  let him loose in Poland and he will zip around like the Tasmanian devil taz– Voila viral video !!!

 

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude_Perfect

 

 

Planet Fitness – Oxymoron

~ sarvansrini ~ 6 Comments

I am definitely fascinated by the fitness industry. The one industry which makes you feel extremely miserable about yourself for eating that extra slice of pizza or drinking beer – basically it makes you feel bad for everything that is fun. However if you are successful in building a brand in this industry then you have certainly hit jackpot. The Fitness industry sells on emotion.

I recently went for a 28 day boot camp at one of the gyms here in Albany where at the end of the boot camp I loved their workout routine (was a mix of cross fit and core conditioning); However, I did not choose to continue since it was too costly on a monthly basis ($150 /month – no thank you) compared to the boot camp itself ($50 for 28 days). Now I am bombarded with emails about why my life sucks and how unfit I am and why I should consider joining that gym on a monthly basis. I

Fitness centers follow a push strategy and all their training programs promise to take you to the next level. If you notice most gyms don’t target the extremely fit, super muscular people- their programs are always catered to the average ones (aka me). As a matter of fact the best customer a gym can have is the one who pays typically in January after a new (yet again) resolution to get a six pack by summer but does not turn out after a week.

Take planet fitness for example – with all their no gymtimidation and lunk alarm ads, their target market is certainly not the person with a six pack of abs but the one with a six pack of beers. $10 per month- and you sign a yearly contract. The purpose of the contract is supposed to make you feel compelled to go since you have signed the contract for a year.  In many cases it turns out to be – It’s just $10-I don’t lose anything in $10. Planet fitness is the Walmart of fitness centers- they make their profits by volume. A quick google search tells you that average planet fitness has 6000 members. Can you imagine what would happen if even half that number start going regularly.

I also found it strange that they would have pizza nights and bagel breakfast once a month. This defeats the purpose of a gym however this is brilliant. This is definitely saying I don’t care if you work out or not but if you sign up you get free pizza once a month.

It’s also not surprising that in 2011, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Planet Fitness #81 in their Franchise 500 list, #34 among the Fastest Growing Franchises, and #68 among America’s Top Global Franchises. –

Go grab your “free” pizza

References:

What You Need to Know About the Planet Fitness Franchise Opportunity: No Frills, No Judgement, and No Grunting!

Subliminal Marketing – Pure Genius or Evil

~ sarvansrini ~ Leave a comment

I guess this was an obvious guess that I would be writing (also read as rant) on this. I find it extremely hard to believe that subliminal advertising will affect you at a subconscious level and plant the seed to evoke emotion / the necessity to buy the product.  This is very similar to me saying I can get a voodoo doll and force the Sultan of Brunei to give me all his wealth or all the “Psychic reading available here” advertisements that you may see in tourist attraction spots (please don’t quote the show Long Island medium- repeat after me reality shows are fake).

In my opinion subliminal messages can’t control your behavior- they can only guide your decision

For example: If I do not smoke – showing an image of a Marlboro cigarette for a split second will not make me want to smoke. However if I am smoker, then yes it may make me want to smoke. For the sake of argument – let’s say it makes me want to smoke a Marlboro, how this is any different from me going to the concession stand to buy coke (the one you drink) and seeing a big advertisement for Marlboro cigarette and asking for it.

Isn’t the sole purpose of advertising a brand to attract customers to it?

The argument I had in class was two fold

  1.  I don’t believe people can get influenced due to subliminal marketing – If you cannot convince people to believe in your brand using massive bill boards and advertisements and consumer outreach programs , then a split second wouldn’t do you any good
  2. So what if it evokes the emotion to purchase the product and that particular brand – Isn’t that the purpose of majority of the advertisements?

The person who sued and won the subliminal marketing case just had good lawyers similar to the one who sued McDonald chain for  her spilling hot coffee on herself- it is hot coffee – it is supposed to be hot. This is just an example frivolous lawsuits and excessive lawsuits.

Data driven shopping

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As I begin to learn more about marketing – It does excite me that marketing is basically a data driven strategy to promote a brand and its product(s).

So where does this data come from and how do we find this data?

There are three basic ways to do market research

  • Exploratory research – this is done when you do not know the variables and you want to identify it. This involves the use of focus groups, conducting surveys using open ended questions and conducting in-depth interviews. ( Also promise to send coupons and get email ids – the coupon for get $5 off of $100, some people (my wife) forget the fact that you need to buy for $100 to get $5 off, and you may not necessarily need stuff for $100 but what the heck it’s on SALE!!! Yes I am brave and I do have an evil genius grin on my face for she would never even believe that I wrote a blog)
  • Descriptive research – this is done when the variables are known but the correlation between each other is not known. Descriptive research is also very rigid and helps you find answers for questions like
    • Who are the users of your product?
    • How do they use the product
    • The proportion of population that user your product vs your competitor
  • Casual Research – Test the extent of causation – testing hypothesis about cause and effect relationships. Often done using experimentation. The goal is to change the level of one or more IV keeping the DV constant.

Try shopping in amazon.com and you would find a list of suggested products below the product that you intend to purchase. Even better any browser that you may open from then on will have advertisements from amazon.com with similar product images.

What amazon.com does is known as collaborative filtering – it predicts what a user would be interested in buying. For example users who search for a fitness tracker, will also search for a new pair of shoes. What collaborative filtering systems do is

  1. Look for users who share the same rating patterns with the active user (the user whom the prediction is for).
  2. Use the ratings from those like-minded users found in step 1 to calculate a prediction for the active user.

So the next time you go shopping for a fitness tracker and amazon.com suggests that you buy shoes too- Do not buy them – you don’t need another pair of shoes – Opt for ice cream instead- you can and you will never go wrong with 2 ice creams.

Now stop reading this and go burn off those calories.

Brand Promise

~ sarvansrini ~ Leave a comment

 

I pray to the Gods of blogging to assist me and I apologize in advance to my 8th grade English teacher for any grammatical mistakes.

I have so far thought of marketing as advertisements, witty one liners ridiculing competitors and “Sale” /“discount” signs. If a product sells you don’t discount it, if it doesn’t then you don’t discount it. I have never thought or even considered how a company delivers as a brand. What does the company promise its customers?

So what is brand promise? – Brand promise is basically the difference between the costs to make a product Vs how much does the customer pay? – do people buy in to the benefits of the brand. Every brand promises something to consumers. The best brands deliver on that brand promise in every customer interaction. The brand promise is so solid that consumers develop expectations for the brand. They trust that the brand will deliver on those expectations and its promise in every interaction. For example – Apple- “Think Different”- People buy apple products because more than the product they believe in the brand – When you own an apple product, it is a status symbol- you feel different than the rest of the crowd. I know people who have an mp3 player but would still go and buy the ipod (Me). You buy it to look cool.

Any product can be sold, Selling is making sure the entire quantity of products you have is sold – either by discount or any means – w/o promise. Marketing is making them believe in the brand – people see the products are much better

There are 2 ways to be a successful brand – you can either be a problem maker or a problem solver. You can estimate what the future is going to be or you shape the future – some companies are good at predicting the future and some companies make the product and shape the future for the market.

Any activity that does not begin with the customer’s interest is not marketing, marketing always starts with the customer – creating and communicating and delivering the value to customers.

Think of a product being made up of 3 layers – transaction cost, attributes, benefit

  • Transaction cost – eg parking – more difficult park in your store vs customer’s store – your store has high transaction cost (0% interest vs not offering )- not sustainable in the long run because it can be replicated by competition easily
  • Attributes: What do you think about the product ( product specs)
  • Benefits: How does this benefit the customer (Always focus on this )

If a brand is focused on developing the products based on the benefits then they would have successful products. Marketing should always focus on the benefits (What is the inner motive for the products- What problem would they solve? In process engineering you would do a 5Why to find the root cause of a problem, similarly to understand the benefits of a product, the brand should conduct a similar “Ask why” session to get to its core benefits.

Once a brand is established, the next step is to grow the brand- The Ansoff matrix is an essential tool in any marketing executive’s arsenal. The Ansoff matrix helps determine the future direction which the business should undertake considering the risks and benefits associated with these each of these endeavours. It basically provides a business with 4 strategies to explore.

Ansoff matrix

References: