MKTG 101

Alrite alrite..i’ve finally been bugged by enough ppl to update my blog. Hee..i apologise (as always) for the lack of activity here. Have been really really really busy. A lot of progress has happened in terms of my biz..am now in talks with eNets to use their payment gateways for my biz as well as many other parties. We’re also in the search for Patent Agent as we intend to file for patent protection in terms of our biz operation. Millionaire Prof Loh, who sits in SMU BIG (Business Innovation Generator) advisory board has also hinted us of his interest in our biz n thus jumped onboard. Thus..i hav been awfully busy. And this..is only 1 of my 3 biz plans that I’m pushing for. That explains the things I have on my plate…not forgetting the fact that I hav jus finished Summer Term 3B..where I took Marketing 101. So..all the more..packed..

I changed my bid for Marketing 101 the moment I heard that we had a prestigious visiting prof from Goizueta Business School..A business school in the United States that is renowned for their PhD programs. Prof Bharadwaj (pronounced as bar-ra-watch) is a marketing guru that has won numerous awards and has done well to add companies like Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft, KPMG, Nokia, NOL, Siemens and many others to the list of high profile clients he has served over the years.

Since he’s from the states..i have expected him to be at least interesting in his teaching..and that was exactly wat he brought to the class room with him. Somehow I was the only one with coloured hair in the class..and from day 1..he seemed to notice a lot abt me. I guess speaking up in class really helps..we all know how detrimental it can be to be quiet in class in SMU…felt the full effects of it last sem when I somehow ‘Saved my group’s presentation’ according to the prof and can still get lower marks for presentation than someone else in my grp whom she felt was too lacking in presentation. But guess that’s how the world works..r’ship comes above everything else. Not Talent.

Although it was a 3 mth course packed into 1 mth..n hav seen us have quiz and project due every few days..Marketing 101 was nonetheless a joy to sit thru..probably due to the prof and the fact that I had my LTB mates to take MKTG101 with me. We could all draw a lot from his experience and enthusiasm which is one of the things I thrive to do in SMU. To learn from elites. Everyone knows how much I hate sitting thru modules that in my mind do not serve a practical purpose (finally freshman year is over!). I dun even bother to debate in projects when the mods hav near zero actual implementation potential. I am mighty glad to be taking proper biz mods again..

Prof Bharadwaj was fast to build rapport with us when he started asking for the reasons why we chose SMU..n started saying things like “who wants to go to..NTU??..wherever it is..” and that it is even nearer to travel to JB from town than to Boon Lay..which was a really mean statement. Lol.

For our Final Proj..we selected to change the marketing plan of Sunsilk simply becos they were not achieving max potential on their product. I bet you didn’t know that females in their 20’s were their target grp and that they actually priced their pdt low cos they felt females at that age were price conscious. I have no idea where they get that idea from. Isn’t it blatantly obvious that the ones who really spend most on beauty products are females in the 20’s??? And that there is a direct relation between ‘Perceived Quality’ and ‘Price’ when it comes to beauty products and hair care. I mean..which lady in her prime would wanna use the ‘cheapest’ shampoo in the market simply cos its cheap. When we presented the case..the prof couldn’t agree more n thot that it was suicidal. He even defended some of the doubts that were thrown at our marketing plan by other grps. We proposed to repackage the whole brand all together to deliver the one message (which I even got the class to repeat after me) that “Sunsilk is Trendy”. And the proposal was to have the brand come with a series of augmented products including education, colour themes and trendy association.

Overall I felt we did pretty alrite..n has chosen the rite brand to redevelop. I have thot this way b4 (since poly days)..n I still tink this way…that it is suicidal regardless at any level (corporate or school) to start changing the marketing plan of something that is already working. Before you start thinking ‘duh?’..look around and tink abt brands like ‘Nokia’ and ‘Sony’ who were clear market leaders 5 yrs ago and jus had to have the itch to change things for the worse. This is a realistic issue. There were a grp in the class who presented on a brand that was already working as well and started proposing some weird stuff which got all our jaws including the prof’s dropped. Like the prof always said during the course.. “Common Sense…is NOT common.”

Marketers treat it as a jinx to change things that are already working. While I was never known as a conformist..this time I hav to agree with the saying. I know quite a no. of my frens r gonna take MTKG101 the coming sem..n when MTKG 101 is taken during normal term time..you can rest assure that projs will be even heavier..but at the same time..more fun. Have Fun!