Lizzury Rodriguez
September 26th, 2008
RCS-362-01
Blog # 4
883875655

Flat Earth Positioning

Companies must make a really good effort to position their brands on the minds of customers. Nowadays, to keep their brands relevant and competitive, companies are investing heavily in reformulating their products with more nutritious ingredients or launching new marketing efforts targeting health-conscious consumers. This is the main principle of the Flat Earth company’s existence. A major challenge of the company is improving nutrition without sacrificing taste.


Although I have never heard of Flat Earth until now, I definitely agree with the positioning of the brand. It is really interesting to me because I think that they are reflecting very well how they want customers and potential customers to thing and feel about the brand.


The Flat Earth flying pig is a fitting symbol for a snack that was once thought impossible, but as the company says, “you have to believe you can do anything if you set your mind to it.” That’s the reason they used the slogan “When pigs fly,” because they developed a healthier line of snacks, tailor-made for the health-conscious consumers who actually can't just be content with salads, fruits and vegetables already available.

Flat Earth seems to be a brand-new food unlike anything that’s ever been done. According to Frito-Lay's website (2008), “the new snacks contain one-third of the fat, one-half of the calories, and one-1,000th of the irresistible flavor of Frito-Lay's classic line of potato and corn chips.” The presence of trans-fats and saturated oils is avoided. The company perfectly understood the differences in taste among their consumers and launched varieties of flavors, including Farmland Cheddar, Garlic & Herb Field, Tangy Tomato Ranch, Wild Berry Patch, Apple Cinnamon Grove and Peach Mango Paradise, etc.

However, if I could change something of the brand, it would be the name of it, because the first time I heard of it, many meanings about it came to my mind, except the fact that it was the name of a brand that has to be with chips. It sounds really boring. Also I would like to change the red color on the logo, because it reminds me of a farm and it is not attractive. Maybe I may change it to yellow, because eating healthy has to be a really lovely thing to do and this color is cool.


On the other hand, I think that the commercial is really good. It also reflects the positioning of the brand and motivates consumers to think about it and make them want to try the chips. The pig is like an angel that is trying to show the woman that she needs to know the brand and of course the chips. An angel signifies someone who shows you the right thing to do. I think the commercial shows perfectly who is their target market, because you can see a young woman in it who is in good shape and seems to be healthy and the kind of person who really takes care of her body. I liked the webpage because I think that it’s a very good idea that people (specially women) can be able to know the ingredients of which the chips are made.


Moreover, I believe women are the target audience because usually they are more concerned with their bodies. If the brand was positioned to a younger audience such as college going women, the brand should make commercials with teenagers or 20-year old women, and they should have to be shown between programs seen by this type of audience. Also, the brand could make some ads for teenagers’ magazines, and the packaging image of the chips could be innovated or changed too. Because actually its colors catch the attention of older women, not of an audience such as this one.

Bibliography:

* Frito-Lay North America, Inc. (2008). Flath Earth. Retrieved September 25, 2008, from http://www.flatearth.com/when_pigs_fly/

* YouTube, LLC. (2008) . Flat Earth TV. Retrieved September 25, 2008, from http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=FWHOYZP9280

* BusinessWeek. (2006). Are Diet Foods The Real Thing? . Retrieved September 25, 2008, from http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:Um7NucPiG6gJ:www.nbc4.com/news/13886416/detail.html+flat+earth+brand+for+college+women&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us

Ethics in Advertising

Lizzury Rodriguez
September 11th, 2008
RCS-362-01
883875655

* ETHICS IN ADVERTISING *

Nowadays, with the globalized world which we are facing, competition among companies has been increasing. Somehow they need to be able to find out the way to increase their sales as well. Unfortunately, the psychology that is being used in commercials and advertising campaigns, is causing harmful effects as a result.

The business of advertising is about creating insecure people who believe they need to buy things to be happy. Lately, one of the cases that most caught the attention of people is about prescription drugs. Commercials in this field are trying to convince people to buy pills or drugs they don’t really need, and consumers are buying the idea of the attractive benefits the pills may have on them, ignoring the drug's adverse reactions. It is happening because companies are not being truthful and tending to be manipulative with consumer thinking. Is that an ethical thing to do?....Obviously my answer must be no!!....but I really think that it is part of the consumerist culture in which we are immersed.

On the other hand, is the case of marketing to children. Advertising companies have realized that if they want to increase profits, children must be used. It means that they have to find the way to manipulate children’s heads and how to reach children more effectively. Kids represent an important issue to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they are able to influence the buying decisions of their parents and they are the adult consumers of the future.

Children love toys dealing with violence, such as action figures armed with weapons, and products that might show how powerful they could be. The power can be acquired for them mostly with cash, we can see this trend everywhere.

Children are being persuaded with the idea that they need to make money when they grew up and at the same time, are being used to get familiar with the necessity of credit cards and the possession of material things. Again, I think that this is not an ethical thing to do, because they are making their parents spend lots of money and at the same time are growing up with a selfish mentality.

Unfortunately, psychology is just a tool for companies, like anything else, but they are exploiting children for commercial purposes. I can think of Mc Donald´s as a clear example of poorly targeted marketing. Mc Donald´s happy meal is a way to keep the kids hooked when they display the toys that will come next and the children want to get the same, but the worst comes when kids are increasingly being exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, in the schools, etc.

* BRAND IDENTITY ANALYSIS* - BLOG # 2

Lizzury Rodriguez
September 5th, 2008
RCS-362-01
883875655

BRAND IDENTITY ANALYSIS
SPECIAL K

* Core Identity

Special K stands for people who want to loose weight and take care of their body, especially to women.

Value offering: Special K is a cereal that offers a hope to loose weigh in a healthy way. It proposes an entire way of life, trying to convince us that if we eat it twice a day, drinking water and making exercise, we will be as thin as we have dreamed to be.

Users: Women on the age of 18 to 35 years

* Extended identity

Convenience: The brand has been promoting their own Special K Diet
Challenge, which give us an extra impulse to start eating its products, because we only have to follow the diet.

Slogan: here is an example: "2 bowls… 2 meals… 2 weeks try the slimmer waist for summer challenge".

Product scope: nutrition, satiety, health.

Subbrands: Special K consist of many different types of products, such as cereal, snack bars, water iced tea, and these are available in all kinds of flavors as chocolate, red berries, fruit & yogurt, vanilla almond, etc.

Brand personality: exciting, cool, energetic, beautiful. The red brand color signify sensuality, is a color that wants to provide confidence to women by feeling sexies and beautiful.

Logo: A red letter K that looks in good shape. The logo makes me think that you can get a smaller waist because at least in Mexico, on the cereal boxes, the K has a measuring tape tight around the waist.

Country of origin: The trademark Kellogg’s Corn Flakes which owns the Special K brand, began in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA in 1906. The fact that the country of origin is the USA, mean to me that is a really good product, which his has been proved. It makes me think that is a trustworthy product and that you can consume it without harming yourself.

* Value preposition:

Functional benefits: good- tasting products. There are several varieties and presentations of Special K’s bars and cereals that apart of the original, other flavors are included.

Emotional benefits: Trying for a healthier lifestyle, and feeling more comfortable with yourself and with your appearance as long as the diet is being completed.


The Aaker’s model refers to the brand awareness, it means the degree in which people can or can not recognize a brand. The brand awareness pyramid is divided into top of mind, brand recall, brand recognition and unaware of the brands. I think that the great majority of people are able of recognizing it. I were asking some of my friends what ideas do they have about Special K and what’s is the first thing that comes to their minds when they hear the brand name and they said the following…”Special K is a brand that express a healthy way of living. It represents the importance of looking out for your body”…”The colors of Special K make girls identify this brand to a more feminine and personal way to eat snacks”…”When I think about Special K, I imagine thing girls on a diet. I don’t like the brand because I don’t like the idea which it stands for.”…”Being thin is not necessary being healthier.”

I really think that in this era, where appearance and being slim is such an important thing, women are getting obsessive with the idea of achieve this objective, that’s why products that are offered in market like Special K are being successful because they promote a healthier lifestyle and at the same time are shaping bodies.

“Our history.” Kellogg’s. 2007: 1st paragraph. September 4th, 2008. http://www.kelloggcompany.com/company.aspx?id=39.