The Darker Side of Crowdsourcing

Unfortunately, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, what's good for one agency is not necessarily good for them all. And it's even worse for the talent pool out there. Major issues include:

1. Talent is only paid for chosen ideas. This means that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people are working for free in the hope of having their idea chosen. This devalues creative talent enormously.

2. Other traditional agencies find it hard to compete. Not unlike the Shawshank Redemption, in which the prison inmates could build a railroad for a fraction of the price of a regular business, crowdsourcing is hard to beat. Does that make it wrong? No. But it does skew the marketplace in favor of freelance-only business models, which could be very bad news for creative careers.

3. Wages average out to fall well below average, for the lucky ones who actually have their ideas chosen.

4. Greater probability of failure. Creative departments in the world's top agencies are staffed with the best minds. The talent pool that remains is not comprised of the top-level talent, as 99% of those are employed. Crowdsoucring sacrifices an expensive A-team for a much cheaper B-team.

5. A breakdown of working relationships. As creatives change on each job, it's tough to build solid relationships with reliable staff.

6. No accountability. With no contracts and low (or no) wages, the creative team will always be on the lookout for the bigger, better deal. When they take it, the agency is left bag.

Is Crowdsourcing the Future of Advertising?

Maybe. Right now it's too early to tell. There are many upsides, and many downsides. But as the downs fall on the shoulders of the creative talent, and the industry thrives on creativity,

Unit 16

Marketing mix

Promotional mix

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Marketing mix.

There are five main aspects of a promotional mix. These are:

· Advertising - Presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Advertising is a form of nonpersonal promotion. It is when companies pay to promote ideas, goods, or services in a variety of media outlets. It can be found everywhere. With advertising, a company engages in a one-way communication to the prospect or customer

Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and emails.

· Personal selling - A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral presentation. Basically personal selling is one-to-one communication between seller and prospective purchaser. It generates direct contact with prospects and customers. It is one of the most expensive forms of promotion.

Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face selling or via telephone.

· Sales promotion basically represents all marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising, and public relations. Sales promotions are used to stimulate purchasing and sales and the objectives are to increase sales, inform potential customers about new products, and create a positive business or corporate image.Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability.

Examples: Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, product samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins, and exhibitions, point-of-purchase displays.

· Public relations is paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product, service, or business unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in the media. Public relations activities enable an organization to influence a target audience. Most of the time, public relation campaigns try to create a favorable image for a company, its products, or its policies. Companies give news releases to announce newsworthy developments about a company's products or services, distribution channels, facilities, operations, partners, revenues and earnings, employees, and events. Publicity is one tactic that public relations professionals use. This means bringing newsworthy information to the public.

Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio presentations, charitable contributions (campaign to encourage businesses to donate computers to schools, donating to hospitals), speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.

· Direct Marketing is a type of advertising directed to a targeted group of prospects and customers rather than to a mass audience. Two forms of direct marketing are printed by mail, or direct by e-mail. The goals of direct marketing are to generate sales or leads for sales representatives to pursue. Direct marketing allows a business to engage in one-way communication with is customers about product announcements, special promotions, bulletins, customer inquiries, and order confirmations.

Examples: mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising.

Corporate image Corporate image may also be considered as the sixth aspect of promotion mix. The Image of an organization is a crucial point in marketing. If the reputation of a company is bad, consumers are less willing to buy a product from this company as they would have been, if the company had a good image.

Sponsorship is sometimes added as the seventh aspect.

Unit 18

Maslow's Theory Critical Evaluation

The most significant limitation of Maslow's theory concerns his methodology. Maslow formulated the characteristics of self-actualized individuals from undertaking a qualitative method called biographical analysis. He looked at the biographies and writings of 21 people he identified as being self-actualized. From these sources he developed a list of qualities that seemed characteristic of this specific group of people, as opposed to humanity in general.

From a scientific perspective there are numerous problems with this particular approach. First, it could be argued that biographical analysis as a method is extremely subjective as it is based entirely on the opinion of the researcher. Personal opinion is always prone to bias, which reduces the validity of any data obtained. Therefore Maslow's operational definition of Self-actualization must not be blindly accepted as scientific fact.

Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to empirically test Maslow's concept of self-actualization in a way that causal relationships can be established.

Another criticism concerns Maslow's assumption that the lower needs must be satisfied before a person can achieve their potential and self-actualize. This is not always the case, and therefore Maslow's hierarchy of needs in some aspects has been falsified.

Through examining cultures in which large numbers of people live in poverty (such as India) it is clear that people are still capable of higher order needs such as love and belongingness. However, this should not occur, as according to Maslow, people who have difficulty achieving very basic physiological needs (such as food, shelter etc.) are not capable of meeting higher growth needs. Also, many creative people, such as authors and artists (e.g. Rembrandt and Van Gough) lived in poverty throughout their lifetime, yet it could be argued that they achieved self-actualization.

Unit 19

Exhibit Marketing Mistakes: Ten Tips on How to Avoid Them!

The key to great exhibiting is marketing. But marketing is a very inexact science that leaves room for a multitude of errors to occur. The following are 10 of the most common marketing mistakes that exhibitors often make. Learn to avoid them and you will increase your chances for a successful tradeshow.

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