Emelia Thibeault Marketing Management Blog

As I was working on a previous blog (Lush's "Naked" Campaign), I started to think about how Lush is able to charge a higher price for their products due to the higher value that they offer their customers. The company is strongly against animal testing and refuses to even purchase ingredients from companies that use it. They use 100% vegetarian and organic ingredients in their products. They utilize ethical buying and boast naked packaging. Naked packaging means that products either have no packaging at all or the packaging is made from recyclable, compostable, or reusable materials. All these company attributes provide additional value to customers who care about the environment and animals. They are willing to spend more money on a "premium" Lush product rather than buy a less expensive product from a brand that uses animal testing, low grade ingredients, and has no concern for the environment. I wanted to make a comparison of one of Lush's products to oth

Lush is a global organization that sells fresh handmade cosmetics. If you haven't heard of them check them out on their website . Lush is all about environmentally friendly products. The company is strongly against animal testing and refuses to even purchase ingredients from companies that use it. They use 100% vegetarian and organic ingredients in their products. They utilize ethical buying and boast naked packaging. Naked packaging means that products either have no packaging at all or the packaging is made from recyclable, compostable, or reusable materials. Back in 2007 and 2008, Lush created an extremely unique and attention grabbing promotional campaign that was focused around their naked packaging. The same campaign occurred in Lush stores during 2017 as well. During this campaign, employees in Lush stores stripped naked. They wore their lush aprons only. This may seems crazy, but it actually fits with Lush's positioning perfectly. Their position is an eco-co

I recently came across these very interesting Polar Seltzer water flavors. I thought this was a great example of competitive advantage gained through marketing. Seltzer water is a low involvement product meaning that customers don't do research on the product or spend a lot of time shopping for "the best seltzer water". Instead, they rely on brand familiarity (past purchases), price, and maybe, recommendations from friends and family. This means that in order to get customers to try their product, Polar has to create a unique, attention grabbing marketing strategy that will convince customers to try something new. The following photo shows how Polar has done just that.  They have created mythical creature themed drinks with colorful, engaging packaging that draws in potential customers. The box doesn't even say the actual flavor of the drink, but instead labels it "unicorn kisses", "yeti mischief", or "mermaid song." The adds an el

While learning about brand equity and how it can affect an organization, I thought of the food safety problems Chipotle faced in 2015. In 2015, food from Chipotle caused 10 outbreaks nationwide of serious illness including E. Coli, Norovirus, and Salmonella. At least 500 people were affected, but no deaths were reported. This led to various lawsuits brought against Chipotle aiming to obtain compensation for medical bills, loss of wages, and other damages. Additionally, a suit was brought against the Simi Valley, California store for attempting to hide evidence of a Norovirus outbreak.  These events all contributed to Chipotle's brand liabilities. "Brands can also incur brand liabilities due to product failure, lawsuits, or questionable business practices" (Best, pg 253). Check, check, and check. Chipotle's product failed by getting people sick, lawsuits were rolling in, and food safety and transparency (Simi Valley) practices were definitely questionable. 

This blog post is addressed to the Hot Table team that I worked with in campaign planning and management, my classmates that also worked on the campaign, and my professor, Dr. Spotts, who was always excited when we incorporated marketing theory into our campaigns. I also believe this information will be helpful as a real world example for my marketing management classmates. While reading through the book and completing the week 4 simulations, the performance trade-offs and customer value really stood out to me. I think it directly reminded me of the Hot Table campaign because of the Hamburger example. The attributes in this simulation (4.4) were similar to those that we found most important to Hot Table customers. Especially, taste quality. During the campaign, we looked at eateries in general to get a better idea of who our target market was and how to best reach them. The industry is split into three main categories; sit down restaurants (ex. Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden), fast