Burger King announced today that they are beginning to make the transition to cage-free chicken and pork for their products. While they have been using some cage-free eggs since 2007, they vow to use only cage-free chicken and pork by 2017.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47172360/ns/business-us_business/
When I first read this article, I was a little bit disappointed that it was going to take them 5 years in order to make this transition; it kind of seemed like a marketing ploy for them to look better in the eyes of consumers, but to still continue skimping on food costs by using chicken and pork from caged animals. Although, I realize now--considering the volume of each product that they buy every year (hundreds of millions of eggs and tens of millions of pounds of pork)--that it's going to take a little bit of industry reformation to be able to supply the food chain with that much food.
This makes me like BK a lot more, because they are not only sacrificing profit to support cage-free animal farms, but are also forcing their suppliers to transition to being cage-free if they want to continue their contracts with Burger King. This press release will also influence their competitors (McDonald's and Wendy's) who will want to meet the raised expectations of the fast food industry and compete on an equal level. Therefore, this vow by BK will transform the food industry, and bring the problem of caged animals to the forefront of our culture by making that many more people (fast food customers) aware of it.
The only down-fall of this is the perception that the cost of BK's products will rise dramatically, making it unaffordable for those who normally eat at fast food restaurants. However, a study cited in the article says that it's only about 1 cent more per caged-free egg. The price change for pork is not yet known.
How much does a company's animal welfare policy influence your decision to eat there?
Will you be more likely to support Burger King now that they are making the effort to go cage-free?
I can't believe that it's taken me so long to mention the marketing strategies that Zumba Fitness employs--because I'm around it all the time. I think that fact that it has become so popular and become an international phenomenon in just 8 years indicates the sheer genius of their marketing techniques.
So first off, their product: A fun fitness class, which is just as challenging as others, that focuses on health, happiness, and feeling confident about yourself. It's all positive! How could people help flocking to it?
Price: The same cost as any other fitness class--for more fun!
Place: The classes are at the gym people go to anyway, and all classes are normally included in gym memberships. And now, it's everywhere.
Promotion: Word-of-mouth. People just love it so much, they can't help raving about it to their friends and encouraging them to go with them next time.
Packaging: The instructors are so charismatic and wear great clothing that the students want to buy Zumbawear to be more like them and feel like a part of the Zumba culture.
It just goes to show how having a positive product to offer can make marketers' lives easier; it promotes itself!
The real genius, however, is how they secretly focus on instructors as the target market. They get most of their enormous revenue from us instructors all around the world.
First we have to pay them to get certified, then we have to pay $30 a month to be in the Zumba Instructor Network (to get music material and stay certified), and we all drop lots of cash on Zumbawear, because we have internalized the wardrobe as part of the identity of an instructor and feel that we aren't a "real" one unless we look the part. In other words, we feel that we don't totally embody the brand unless we have the bright and crazy Zumba-look. And I won't even talk about the cost of the Zumba conventions...which we all feel the need to go to, because "everyone is doing it!"
And the best part is... we LOVE spending all this money on Zumba stuff, because it's such a positive influence on our lives. Incredible....
Do you know any products that promote themselves so effectively?
I just picked up my mail and was extremely frustrated--as always--to see how many advertisement letters (i.e. "junk mail) I had received. I find this method of promotion irritating in two ways:
- The same companies send me the same things over and over again--to no avail.
- A tremendous amount of paper is wasted in the process, and they make me feel irresponsible for having to dispose of them (through recycling, of course).
This got me thinking... Is there still relevance in including snail mail in companies' promotional strategies? Does it have any benefit at all?
The obvious alternative to snail mail advertisements is promotional emails. The benefits of this medium is that paper can be taken out of the equation--there's no cost to the company for materials and paper is not wasted. This form is also instantaneous and can be sent to infinite amounts of people at the same time. However, the big shortfall of emails is that they are so easy to delete, especially when people receive so many of them in a day.
That said, mail ads could be beneficial in that people actually have to hold the ad in their hands before they discard it (whereas one doesn't even have to open/view emails). And because the mail ads are tangible objects and are mailed right to your door, it may feel more personal to the recipients and they may take a little more time looking it over.
What do you think? Do you think the way of the snail has passed, or is it still useful? Or another take on this: is it ethical for companies to unnecessarily waste paper now that email is so widely used?
