MediaSlap blog

1. Which margarine talks?
2. What was the original name of the popsicle?
3. Where is Folgers coffee grown?
4. How pure is Ivory soap?
5. What soft drink was invented in Waco. Texas in 1885?
6. In 1919 a food chemist developed a product from a substance contained in bone, cartilage, and tendons. What was the name of the product?

(answers below)

I have always said perception is 99% reality! Therefore marketing can make the difference to a product or business. It’s all about consumer awareness.  When my daughter was in High School she realized that her father and mother were involved in marketing and communications for the first time. I got the deer in the headlights look from her. She thought advertising was evil. Now that she is in college and had been exposed to economic and marketing courses she sees the value, and may actually consider it as part of a life focus.

It was better marketing that pushed VHS over Beta in a video format war in the 1980′s.  Beta was a superior picture format but Panasonic beat Sony in this marketing war and VHS became the winning format.  Of course in time they both lost to digital. Take a look at the 1984 TV commercial from Sony for Beta’s sharper picture.

Where would products be without marketing? Would you even know about the products in the trivia questions above without marketing? The medium and the message changes constantly. So is marketing different than PR? What about marketing and propaganda? Marketing and communications? Read what a college professor says about the subject. “PR, propaganda, marketing, publicity, communication – is differentiation important”?

The above article says PR is increasingly being defined by marketing and there is a natural progression toward social relationships. Perhaps that is why social media is so big now. Is this a rebellion toward how cold and impersonal our technical world would be without it?

I just ran across an ad for Blackberry directly marketing against Apple. Is one better than the other? It depends on who you ask. Both phones look like they are betting their future on the Internet and social media. Is the Blackberry vs. iPhone the VHS and beta of today? Neither phone is perfect but they will try to convince us we can’t live without them. I watch with interest because they are both excellent marketers and good products. What do you think?

Trivia Answers:

1. Parkay
2. Epscicle
3. It’s mountain grown in Columbia.
4. 90 and 44/100 pure
5. Dr. Pepper
6. Jell-O

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