The Book on Snuggle

Robert PedleyAmy LynchDani IvanovSaadiyo BarrePatience Ekene Nesiagho

1

Is It Cool Yet? Group 4

Contents

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Group Members

1.2 Group Biography 1.21 Robert Pedley

1.22 Amy Lynch 1.23 Dani Ivanov 1.24 Saadiyo Barre 1.25 Patience Ekene Nesiagho

2.0 Branding (by Saadiyo Barre)

2.1 Appealing to Generation Y (By Amy Lynch) 2.11 Defining Generation Y 2.12 Gen Y’s definition of ‘cool’ 2.13 Brands on the internet

2.2 Different Methods of Branding a Company with personality (By Robert Pedley) 2.21 Branding Methods2.3 Brand Marketing (By Dani Ivanov)

3.0 Individual Topics

3.1 Ethics and Social Responsibility, Robert Pedley 3.11 Case related to Ebiz Game theory 3.12 Instructions on how to integrate your topic in the CRG 3.13 Conclusion

3.2 Leadership, Amy Lynch 3.21 Case related to Ebiz Game theory 3.22 Instructions on how to integrate your topic in the CRG 3.23 Conclusion 3.3 Business Blogging, Dani Ivanov 3.31 Conclusion 3.32 Case Related to Ebiz Game Theory

3.4 Community Branding, Saadiyo Barre 3.5 Digital Marketing Creativity, Patience Ekene Nesiagho

4.0 Company Reference Grid

5.0 Blog Assignment

6.0 Reviews of Group 5

6.1 Reviews by Dani Ivanov 6.11 Manuela Gomes 6.12 Ahmed Ibrahim 6.13 Joey Wilson 6.2 Reviews by Amy Lynch

2


6.21 Charisse Evertsz 6.22 Gilanne Wiels 6.23 Aleksandra Matkovic 6.24 Overall Group 5 Review questions 6.3 Reviews by Robert Pedley 6.31 Josephine Barranger 6.32 Warris Jacob 6.33 Axelle Tourne 7.0 Conclusion

3


1.0 Introduction

The overall aim of Snuggle, where branding is concerned, is to be viewed by society as a cool brand. This manual will develop ideas to present facts and theories on how a brand can achieve “cool” status. The book also includes information about the group behind writing the book.

Snuggle is an Ice Cream company located in London, UK. They sell soya-bean ice cream that is suitable for all because they contain no animal produce. The concept of the company is to sell unique flavours of ice cream to the consumer market by adding a fun and quirky experience alongside.

4


1.1 Group Members

Robert PedleyStudent Number: 546596

Amy LynchStudent Number: 546593

Dani IvanovStudent Number: 488382

Saadiyo BarreStudent Number: 518254

Patience Ekene NesiaghoStudent Number: 504701

5


1.2 Group Biography

What makes this group unique? The members of Group 4 are from diverse cultures, which makes our group unique in comparison to others. Combined, we can speak a variety of languages from around the world, which shows that we have brilliant communication skills with one another, but more importantly, other people. As we were such a small group, it allowed us all to be focused on the important aspects of the company without miscommunications. It also allowed us to delegate tasks efficiently and work productively in order to finish work and peer assess each others work. What to stand out on?

When creating the brand Snuggle, we focused on how we would be communicating the brand to our audience using the skills we have within our group. We did this through creating a fun and entertaining brand concept that will appeal to a mass group of potential consumers. The group has the same ethical beliefs to that of Snuggle as the same enthusiasm needs to be behind the brand in order to provide consistency.

6


1.21 Robert Pedley

I am a 20 year old marketing student from the UK about to begin my final year of my degree. I moved to Rotterdam in 2014, through the Erasmus programme, to study at a foreign university with a different culture and line of thinking. The Erasmus programme brings together different nationalities in order to work together and learn from one another. My individual values include passion and reliability within my work ethic. I also have the ability to view contradictory forces from an outside perspective which is beneficial within tough decision making prospects. I am also hyper vigilant and can detect problems within a situation. This combined with my other qualities makes me a unique character within my group.

7


1.22 Amy Lynch

I am a student, aged 20 originally from Liverpool, England. I am currently studying Marketing Management at York St.John University in England. I am in my second year, which means after I complete one final year I will graduate with Bachelors Honours. As part of my second year on the degree course I chose to partake in the erasmus study abroad scheme, moving to Rotterdam in January 2014, the experience has taught me how to work in an academic environment with people of different cultures and languages which has helped me to develop a better understanding of communication, this experience will become useful in a practical environment later on in life.

Outside of academia I look to develop creative skills through keeping a beauty/fashion and lifestyle blog which I work on in order to build up a portfolio from which I hope to gain internships and work experience in the fashion communication and marketing industry: so far I have gained experience interning first hand with the creative director of british brand: Kirsty Doyle, worked as a contributor for a free magazine: One and Other, and most recently interned for London Fashion Week as a digital marketing intern.

The qualities and traits which are perceived in my personality are of an extrovert nature, I possess natural leadership skills through organisation and planning as well as creativity and the ability to inspire others to see my vision. These qualities are of value to me as I believe that it is important to recognise one's own qualities in order to enhance and develop them into tools for business.

1.23 Dani Ivanov

8


I have a strong preference for introversion although that does not mean seclusion. Some of my values include strong analytical skills, reliability, loyalty and serious obsession with perfectionism at times. When working within a team I am usually the quieter person who doesn’t argue every decision made unless I see serious flaws in the direction the group is heading to. When conflicts arise I am usually the one to try and find a solution that satisfied both parties involved. In my leisure time I enjoy taking walks, writing for my blog, and reading fiction as well as non-fiction theoretical books on a various topics that are of interest to me.

1.24 Saadiyo Barre

9


I’m a passionate, optimistic & dedicated person who takes up responsibilities with utmost enthusiasm and see to it that I complete my tasks and assignments in time. I’ve a great amount of perseverance to achieve my goal. My optimistic and planned approach in

things I do is what driving me towards my success.

10


1.25 Patience Ekene Nesiagho

My name is Ekene Patience Nesiagho , I am residing in The Netherlands. I have a Bsc. in Biochemistry and a Diploma in Professional Secretary (Online study) from Penn foster career school in Scranton Pennsylvania USA I am currently in Inholland University in the Netherlands studying Int. Bus. and Management studies. My working experience in Netherland make me part of who I am today. I have working experience in De-tuinen, Kruidvat, Mooi Perfumery, Parfumstar and work placement with Candelabra b.v in The Netherland.ProfilePeople describe me as a motivated hardworking , representative and energetic person. I am a good team player and task oriented. I have a good command of English Language,Dutch Language, typing skills, and am well organized.

My core competencies• Creative• Experience with International team• Eye for details• Good command of English language and Dutch• Initiative• Social• Punctual• Perseverance• Representative• Self Disciplined• Team playerMy motto in life is to never do to others deliberately what I wouldn’t like them to do to me.

11


2.0 Branding

Companies cannot build their strategy on predictable markets anymore ‐ all organizations nowadays need to adapt to change. In the heart of the change lies organizations identity. Corporate identity is closely related to corporate branding. This study focuses on a situation of change in a company with multiple identities. The case organization used to operate under several product and company brands that were merged into one and began building a coherent corporate brand.

Nowadays, the most important capital of many businesses is their brands (Kapferer 1992, 1). Businesses create brands to differentiate their product and service offerings from their competitors. Organizations are all the time striving to create a sustainable advantage in an increasingly competitive market. This has been the ground for schools of thought such as brand management, which emphasises the customer as the central element of organizational decision making. As such, brand management has become an area of interest in marketing over the last couple of decades in recognition that brands reflect consumersʹ perceptions of an organization as well as represent strong financial indicators of organizations. The evolution of brand management can be mapped against organizational focus changing from product orientation to market or customer orientation. (King & Grace 2005, 278.)

In many corporations there is a varying understanding of the brand in different parts of the organization. This may mean that different people in the company have differing expectations for the brand, they possibly attempt to develop the brand in different ways, communicate the brand inconsistently,or in the worst cases, are unable to define the brand at all (Rubinstein 1996, 271). Many of the problems experienced by brands have been the result, not of a poor strategy, but of poor implementation. Especially in large internationally operating firms, communication is complicated ‐ but that only means that it is more important, not less. (Randall 2000, 134.)

Kapferer, JeanNöel. 1992. Strategic brand management: new approaches to creating and evaluating brand equity. New York: Free Press

King, C. & Grace, D. 2005. Exploring the role of employees in the delivery of the brand: a case study approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8, (3), 277‐295.

Rubinstein, H. 1996. “Brand First” Management. Journal of Marketing Management, 12, 269‐280.

Randall, G. 2000. A Practical Guide to Branding. Planning, organizing and strategy. London: Kogan Page Ltd

2.1 Appealing to Generation-Y

12


Where branding is concerned for the Ice-Cream company Snuggle, appearing ‘cool’ to Generation-Y is at the foremost of importance, in parallel to Snuggle’s desire to be seen as a quirky, individual, boutique feeling ice-cream store appealing to Generation-Y is what will bring the brand image into fruition . This section of the practical handbook for achieving high status brand image and social conceptions of a brand with Generation-Y will concentrate on the target market.

2.11 Defining Generation YFirstly, it is important to understand the target group, Generation-Y consists of mostly 13-25 year olds, whilst this age group will have differing interest and experiences one major factor which members have in common in the 21st century is that they are drastically aware of affluence. Devices such as mobile phones are commonplace within the demographic, meaning Generation-Y are massively influenced by the era they are brought up in. Gen Y-ers are children of the cyber revolution (Bergh. J and Behrer.M, 2013) It is thought that “Gen Y is currently one of the largest demographic groups and will soon outnumber baby boomer generation. (USA $200 billion in purchasing power)” which makes them a powerful group which equally means creating a brand image that will appeal largely to the demographic is no easy Job.

Clelia Morales, Head of Social Media and PR at eBay Europe believes that “the challenge with this generation is that your organization must be ready to act fast enough as a response to their feedback and input Social media helps you to detect their thoughts and feelings right away but Gen-Yers will expect you to react immediately and come up with improved products or campaigns much faster than ever before.” At Snuggle the company will attract Gen-Yers by investing in a social media response team in order to build customer-brand relationships. (Shultz, 2009) believes that the key to building a successful customer-brand relationship is to follow an “integrated brand communication model” (see below) which indicates that inorder to achieve successful, ongoing customer-brand relationships: achieved by the likes of Coca-cola, the company must align the customer, delivery and content with the brand. Otherwise, regardless of how innovative the idea is no one will hear about it and it will fail. For Snuggle this type of alignment will be achieved in consistency, relating to the previous statement of Clelia Morales constant social interactions and speedy actions to meeting customer needs will be the core of the company/ brand.

13


Generation-Y as previously mentioned have gained a huge buying power of consumers, Hubert Grealish, Global Head of Brand Communications at Diago believes this is due to the fact that “They know how to manipulate media and play with brands” (Bergh. J and Behrer.M, 2013) Many marketers still believe this is a threat to their profession but infact it creates large opportunities for brands to engage with their customers. Gen Y is capable of moving an idea forward and co-creating value, therefore it is vital that Gen Y find the marketing techniques of Snuggle to be cool.

2.12 Gen Y’s Definition of “cool”Due to media and styles it is harder than ever find a single definition for “cool” it can be said that the meaning of ‘cool’ signifies some sign of admiration or at least approval (Bergh. J and Behrer.M, 2013) Obviously youth slang changes continuously and generations tend to linguistically differentiate themselves from their predecessors. Gen Y-ers (Kerner, Pressman & Essex, 2007) perceived a “cool” brand and something which: is attractive to them and when it has an air of novelty and originality. Snuggle will aim to achieve this level of novelty through: Ice-cream flavours, store interiors, and imagery used on websites/emails.

The least connect keywords with “cool” (from the same study) were: arrogant, luxurious and alternative - alternative being an anomaly as previous generations saw this as THE key word for cool. Gen-Y are not attracted to companies who take themselves too seriously, this is why Snuggle will use informal language when communication with customers, yet still delivering an excellent customer service.(Kerner, Pressman & Essex, 2007) Suggests “cool” is the ultimate point of difference. When brands evoke the characteristics of cool they are more likely to stand out in today’s cluttered marketplace.

Similarly, from this source it is believed that “today everyone wants to be an ipod of their industry be behind an amazing original idea that single handedly revolutionizes a business model...think different! “ In a category that is based almost exclusively on a bland product to truly break through your point of difference often needs to be engineered. eg.premium vodka named “grey goose”.Frank called his vodka grey goose, because he already had the name, he believed in what he was selling and the disruptive nature of his strategies that inspired consumers to follow his vision, not a well manufactured name. Snuggle will mimic this ideology and believe in the brand, snuggle will be disruptive to the ordinary sales techniques in order to capture the attention of Gen-Yers.

2.13 Brands on the InternetMany said the Internet would eliminate the need for brands. This argument suggested that, because people could examine and access any product or service from every possible provider via the Internet, the brand would be irrelevant – customers would always choose the one with the lowest price. We now know that logic was grossly flawed. It assumed that customers were primarily price-driven and that brand (and all it means) played little role in the decision-making process. In fact, we have learned that brands are even more important in cyberspace than they are in most other channels or environments.Again, the reason is simple. With more and more choices from many providers that are relatively unknown, customers tend to choose a provider they know – one that represents a

14


set of values or attributes that are meaningful, clear, and trusted (a brand), especially if they cannot see or confirm that the provider is “real”.According to a recent survey reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, of the 1,360 customers polled, 82 percent reported that brand names play a persuasive role in their online purchase choices( Strategic Management, 2002). For branding to be effective, it is worth acknowledging that customers relate to brands, not to products or services.

References

Bergh, J., & Behrer, M. (2013). How cool brands stay hot (1st ed.). London: Kogan Page.

Kerner, N., Pressman, G., & Essex, A. (2007). Chasing cool (1st ed.). New York: Atria Books.

Schultz, D. (2009). Building customer-brand relationships (1st ed.). Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.

Strategic Direction (2002) "When branding met the Web", Strategic Direction, Vol. 18 Iss:10, pp.25 - 27

Van Ham, P. (2001). The rise of the brand state: the postmodern politics of image and reputation. Foreign Affairs, pp.2--6

2.2 Different Methods of Branding a Company with Personality

To create personality within a company the branding needs to appeal to the appropriate target market. In Snuggle’s case, this is Generation Y. A company needs to choose a method of branding that will give a unique persona which has to be consistent online and offline to create one strong, universal brand image. It also depends on the type of company and their product lines as to which method of branding would work better.

2.21 Branding Methods

Branding based upon user experience allows the consumer to feel involved with the company. First encounters with the product and brand are important as the brand image can remain positive which could lead to positive word of mouth recommendations, a free and effective method of advertising. Disney World Resort in the United States gives a unique experience to their customers which creates a talking point for consumers to discuss with friends and family. Staff at the Resort are trained to “project images of helpfulness, caring, and sincerity“ (Francoeur, 2004). Staff and their mannerisms can be very important to certain brands if they work closely with the general public as each staff member will interact differently with every member of the public. Brand experiences are “conceptualised as sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand’s design and identity” (Brakus, Schmitt and Zarantonello, 2009) Based on this ideology, customers view brands and develop their own emotions and feelings

15


to go alongside the brand. As this is on a personal level, it can have a vast variation based upon the consumer.

Branding by imagery is another method in which companies market their products to their customers. Brand imagery “are the tangible or intangible elements that consumers associate with a brand” (Gunelius, 2014). It can also immediately distinguish a target market and the users in which the brand will be appealing towards. High end brands such as Abercrombie and Fitch brand their clothing products using attractive slim models but also have a high retail price which can only appeal to high end earners. In stores, staff or “models” are hired based upon how well they “promote the brand to customers” (Targetjobs, 2014). The association of attractive people with their products gives a positive outlook of the brand, (creating personality), especially as clothing is all about perception and the way it looks on people.

Self expression can also be a method in which brands are created and enhanced. Social media websites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook allows regular daily users to grow and develop their own personal brand image by simply posting to a small community and allowing it to organically expand. Bloggers in particular need to create a blog that entices everyday users to not only read, but also regularly return to the blog. Blogging is becoming extremely popular in the 21st century and it is becoming harder to stand out from others due to the vast amount of blogs out on the internet. Niche blogs are extremely popular because of their specific and informative content appealing to groups of interested individuals. According to Heidi Cohen, a marketing expert, she says that branding a blog involves having an appropriate title and tagline but also a simplistic or “basic” theme with a typography that can be read by all audiences (Cohen, 2012). Although this may appear to be obvious, many blogs are unsuccessful because of an inconsistent routine when uploading content and also their overall blog design. If the user experience isn’t as good as a competing blog, users generally have no alliance to blogs and so will happily find another blog with similar content written in a more appealing way.

Consumers who are familiar with a brand are more likely to repeat a purchase of the product because of their recognition and quality of the brand. “Transforming a product into a familiar face is the secret behind the success” (Franzen & Moriarty, 2009). The branding and presentation of a product can not only attract consumers but it can also determine quality also just by the way it looks and feels.

Our company, Snuggle, will be using a variety of these techniques in order to be original and stand out against competitors. User experience will be important for Snuggle as our shops will be fitted with astroturf which will give an authentic and natural feel. The experience will allow users to pick their ice cream which will be placed into a cow shaped pot which adds originality and fun to the user experience. Staff will be trained to talk to customers with a ‘quirky’ personality that will again link closely with the concept of Snuggle as a brand. They will be engaging but also informative in order for each customer’s questions to be answered.

References

Brakus, J., Schmitt, B. and Zarantonello, L. (2009). Brand experience: what is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?. Journal of Marketing, 73(3), pp.52--68.

16


Cohen, H. (2012). 20 Tips to Brand Your Blog. [online] Heidi Cohen. Available at: http://heidicohen.com/20-tips-to-brand-your-blog/ [Accessed 4 Jun. 2014].

Francoeur, B. (2004). Brand Image and Walt Disney: A Qualitative Analysis of “Magical Gatherings”. 1st ed. [ebook] p.1. Available at: http://www.uwlax.edu/urc/jur-online/pdf/2004/francoeur.pdf [Accessed 25 May. 2014].

Franzen, G., & Moriarty, S. (2009). The Science and Art of Branding (1st ed., p. 311). Armonk: M.E Sharpe Inc.

Gunelius, S. (2014). Developing Brand Image Through Brand Imagery - Part 1. [online] Aytm.com. Available at: https://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/developing-brand-image-through-brand-imagery-part-1/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2014].

TargetJobs, (2014). Abercrombie & Fitch: get to know its culture and brands : Abercrombie & Fitch : how to get hired: TARGETjobs UK. [online] Targetjobs.co.uk. Available at: http://targetjobs.co.uk/employer-hubs/abercrombie-fitch/322591-abercrombie-fitch-get-to-know-its-culture-and-brands [Accessed 1 Jun. 2014].

17


2.3 Brand Marketing: The importance of staying up to date with theory and trends

As the popular saying goes “the world keeps turning” so does behavior of consumers evolve and change and so must companies adapt with the latest techniques and methods or perish into obscurity and history. Just imagine what the world today would be like if iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi or McDonalds did not adapt or evolve. They would all have been replaced by more trendy, modern and overall “cooller” brands. In the following couple paragraphs you will read about some of the more recent trends and techniques as they relate to branding, building a company image and communicating customer value.

Psycho Drawing as a method to understand customer’s perception.

Often people that have had good experience with a particular brand remain loyal to the brand for years to come and even go as far as to become brand advocates by telling everyone how satisfied he/she is and how all other brands are no good except that particular one. When asked why is it that they are so satisfied with that brand, they’ll likely respond by naming a few generic values such as reliability, value for money or integrity. However, market researchers often want to get beyond the direct and obvious.

Word association can be used to draw out brand values that are more subtle in nature. In a recent study done by a university, students were asked to sketch out the first image that comes to mind when they think about their university. Most students drew an armchair, foetus or a house and each image represented one or a couple values for the brand. This study stimulated the unconscious mind by asking to draw the first thing that comes to mind as often images are deformed by rationalization, logic and your conscious mind. (B2B International, 2013)

Brand Trust and Social Responsibility (Gunelius, 2012)

The average consumer has become more conscious and aware of what he is buying, what he is eating, and he knows exactly what he wants from a company and a product. It’s not a supply driven world anymore but largely a demand driven world. This is why companies and

18


brands aim to satisfy every need of the consumer or else he will just go to the competitor and never look back..

Customers who have lost their trust in a brand can bankrupt even the largest corporations nowadays. The digital revolution have made it easy for consumers to share their dissatisfaction for a company or hold the company responsible for unethical business practices by utilizing social media to send a message worldwide with the click of a mouse. It is more difficult for companies to sweep unethical behavior under the rug as consumers are vigilant and are not afraid to tell what is on their minds. (Fisher and Lovell, 2003)

Conclusion

The digitalization and easy of access of the internet have made it really simple to share information with your friends whether this information will take a positive or negative aspect and whether it is being direct at a business entity or not. As a result, these companies must be aware of the role they play in society and in daily life, and strive to understand what makes them unique and how the consumer sees them and what values they attribute to your brand and company.

References

B2B International, (2013). B2B Branding: Business-to-Business Branding White Paper | B2B International. [online] Available at: http://www.b2binternational.com/publications/b2b-branding/ [Accessed 28 May. 2014].

Fisher, C. and Lovell, A. (2003). Business ethics and values. 1st ed. Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall.

Gunelius, S. (2012). 10 Brand Marketing Trends that Should Dominate 2013. [online] Forbes. Available at:http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/12/18/10-brand-marketing-trends-that-should-dominate-2013/ [Accessed 28 May. 2014].

19


Robert Pedley3.1 Ethics and Social Responsibility

Ethics are very important to a business and they can shape the identity of the company as a whole. This is because the ethics and moral judgements of a corporation can give consumers the decision as to whether they would like to be associated or not with the company. This could potentially boost sales and profits as customers could prefer one company to another due to their morals. Also, employees of the company are more likely to continue working with them if they have a positive ethical behaviour, which will reduce labour turnover and can increase productivity within a business.

Over the past 30 years, businesses have struggled with the responsibility they hold with society. Some argue that a business’s sole responsibility was to provide large financial returns to shareholders (Carroll, 2008). Although this may be the leading principle of any company, there are times when companies make profit even though they contradict the general morals of society. However, it is becoming increasingly harder for companies to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the abilities of the future generations. Businesses are being told “to take responsibility for the ways their operations impact society and the natural environment” (D'Amato, Henderson & Florence, 2014) by governments around the world and so it is becoming increasingly common for companies to incorporate ethical and social behaviours into their business plans as consumers are becoming more aware of where their products come from and the methods in which products are made.

Many advocates believe “businesses should not only make a profit but also consider the social implications of their activities”. (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald, 2014).

According to a study, which compares European and American companies, European companies scored higher when analyzing whether CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) was embedded within their corporate strategy. (Hurst, 2004). This study shows that European businesses are more conscious of what customers think of their brand image. UK smoothie company Innocent, is a prime example of a business that uses it’s financial gain to help others in need. Innocent have set up an organisation named ‘The Innocent Foundation’ which generously donates and helps out those in need around the world. Most importantly, Innocent funds seed planting in countries so that communities in the developing world can sustain and support themselves. (Innocent, 2014) With their business goals set at helping others, it gives off a positive brand image to their consumer which gives them more of an incentive to purchase Innocent’s produce instead of a similarly priced competitor. Snuggle will be working alongside the RSPCA, a UK charity that works in the prevention of cruelty to animals. The RSPCA relates to our company because of the non-dairy ice cream that Snuggle produces and sells. Working with an established brand that is already trusted by the general public will help increase the awareness of Snuggle’s brand and ethics.

However, over the years many companies have not paid enough attention to the ethics of their companies which have caused controversy, placing a bad name on their brand image. Apple, one of the largest technology companies in the world was hit with criticism after it was

20


reported staff were being forced to work overtime and underage workers were in the factories. There have also been a number of suicides by workers due to the working conditions they have faced. This caused a massive outroar and dented Apple’s very high profile brand image. It has been reported that some workers are made to “work illegally long hours for a basic daily wage, as little as £5.20” (Daily Mail, 2011) At Snuggle, staff will be treated fairly and paid above minimum wage in accordance to UK Law. The motivation in staff will be increased due to a system that will measure how many ice creams are sold relative to their working hours. The member of the team with the biggest sales will receive a reward which will encourage other staff members to work hard.

Ethics can also be affected in the digital world as many companies have been affected in recent months by a worldwide virus named ‘Heartbleed’ This has affected millions of consumers by revealing what was once described as safely guarded information. The virus has released information from popular websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Yahoo. Two of the biggest servers used by these websites “had a combined market share of 66% of total users”. (Heartbleed, 2014). Companies with millions of users should be more aware of hacks and viruses that places their customers personal information at risk. This is part of their social responsibility, to protect personal information given trustingly by their customers. As the world is moving towards complete digitalization, with data being transferred from paper files to online documents, there needs to be security measures put in place in order to prevent data being accessed by anybody. It is the trust between companies and their consumers that allows this information to even be shared with these websites in the first place.

3.11 Case related to the Ebiz Game Theory

Ethics and Social Responsibility relates to the Ebiz Game as the game makes users think about every section of their company. When creating a business within the Ebiz world all decisions need to be made with perfectly reasonable explanations behind them. In some cases, such as choosing transportation methods, the effect on the environment should be taken into account in order to show that companies have a positive ethical outlook to their consumers.

3.12 Instructions on how to integrate your topic in the CRG

The company reference grid (CRG) is used to discuss various topics within a business specifying what the company is going to be doing and how they will be implementing it successfully. The CRG helps to solve problems within a business by asking the user ‘What’, ‘How’ and ‘Do’. In regards to ethics, the CRG is used to answer how the ethics of Snuggle are going to be integrated successfully into the business plan.

3.13 Conclusion

21


Ethics are an extremely important part of a company as they install and withhold trust between the consumer and companies. Snuggle will purposely be transparent with their consumers in order to gain trust from the offset. Also, all nutritional information will be given on their mobile application but also in store. All data that will be received from customers will be placed within a safe and protected system so that as our database grows, so will the confidence of our consumers. A strong relationship with a charitable cause can bring consumer awareness to Snuggle which will also enhance their ethical values.

References

Carroll, A. (2008). The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility (1st ed., p. 39). London: Routledge.

Daily Mail,. (2011). You are NOT allowed to commit suicide: Workers in Chinese iPad factories forced to sign pledges. Mail Online. Retrieved 22 May 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382396/Workers-Chinese-Apple-factories-forced-sign-pledges-commit-suicide.html

D'Amato, A., Henderson, S., & Florence, S. (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business (1st ed., p. 1). Greensboro: CCL Press. Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/CorporateSocialResponsibility.pdf

Hartman, L., DesJardins, J., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business Ethics: Decision Making for Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility (3rd ed., p. 30). McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070921989/226745/ferrell_sampleCH02.pdf

Heartbleed,. (2014). Heartbleed Bug. Heartbleed.com. Retrieved 27 May 2014, from http://heartbleed.com

Hurst, N. (2004). Corporate Ethics, Governance and Social Responsibility: Comparing European Business Practices to those in the United States (1st ed., p. 2). Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/hurst/comparitive_study.pdf

Innocent,. (2014). The Innocent Foundation. Innocent. Retrieved 21 May 2014, from http://www.innocentfoundation.org/what-we-fund

Visser, W. (2012). CSR 2.0: Reinventing Corporate Social Responsibility for the 21st Century | Management Innovation eXchange. Managementexchange.com. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.managementexchange.com/hack/csr-20-reinventing-corporate-social-responsibility-21st-century

22


Amy Lynch

3.2 Leadership

Leading a company correctly is the foundation to success.The concept of power is often related to leadership (Northouse, 2004) the aspect of power which is believed to be intermittent with leadership is the power to influence others, it is the role of leader within an organisation specifically, to create a vision for the company and inspire the employees to believe in the vision, in order to create a strong focus throughout the hierarchy and brand.This section of the handbook will explore different methods of leadership and the role in which a leader must uptake. To relate directly to Snuggle the this section will also include a description of how leadership influences the company reference grid and finalising with the specific leadership styles which snuggle will employ.

Strategic leadership is just one style of leadership which is used, “one of the myths surrounding strategic leadership is that strategy is the CEO’s job and that others play little or no role in the process” (Hughes and Beatty, 2005) However, contradictory to this strategic leadership is influenced by all rungs of the hierarchical ladder. Strategic management is not just tool used by those who hold positions of power, but is also a “method of interactive leadership that clarifies purpose and priority”(Morrill, 2007) within a company. Therefore strategic management is a style which involves and includes employee opinion and needs in the decision making process, it could be said that a company which respects employees needs would be more successful because the employees are driven within the company, as they feel they are valued.”relating the idea that “Your story is how the product improves the lives of your employees and your customers”(Gallo, 2013)

One theory surrounding leadership is the trait perspective , the “trait perspective suggests that certain people have an innate or inborn characteristic which make them able to lead” (Northouse, 2004). Whilst there are many other theories and possibilities to what makes an individual able to lead, it is my belief that an individual’s skills in leadership are in parallel with the ideas presented by the trait perspective. Many factors contribute to this idea, focusing on attributes which make an individual a natural born leader: organisation and planning skills are vital but do not override the importance of creativity and vision. In order for Snuggle to become a successful brand it is vital to employ the correct leaders which encapture the vision of the brand well and can influence people.

The ways in which the brand image and vision are maintained throughout a company is through consistent management, according to Hodgkinson (2005) strong brands are managed outcomes. Whilst it is paramount for a company to withhold good leaders to influence the vision of the brand, a management style of leadership is equally as important with regards to achieving the companies missions and aims as “effective organizations rely on leadership rather than leaders.They need to provide guidance on any change” (Watkin and Hubbard 2003), Leaders control the quality of the brand and the future choice of the company, Stewart (1997) also asserts that even companies with promising cultures and highly effective incentive programs will not succeed without having dedicated and responsible managers. In particular Howard Shultz of Starbucks is one exemplary leader who has focused on inspiring “You cannot inspire unless you’re inspired yourself. Passion is everything and, as a leader, you must share that passion at every opportunity” (Shultz.H

23


quoted in :Gallo, 2005).This quote from Shultz expresses further the importance of leaders sharing their passion to influence employees in order to create a strong overall brand image.

In many ways leaders determine the destiny of the brand so long as they have the power of influence over their employees and subordinates. The process of managing an entire brand demands focus on two aspects: a leader's sense of self and value and the compilation of the perceptions held about the brand by society. It is equally important that the perceptions of the leader are held in high regards by the employees as “we need to know what others think in order to find out if their perceptions are aligned with our own” (Hodgkinson, 2005). It is important to develop brand/ employee relations as it would be detrimental to have employees working with a brand heavy company who have opposing ideas to the company: a this would represent a contradicting front.


As the Ebiz game relates to all departments of a company, leadership relates to the theory because, overseeing the successful formation of the company which embraces the brand vision is the responsibility of the leader. Leaders need to be sure that all aspects interlink with one another to ensure a smooth transition from planning into fruition. Without a leader the Ebiz game Theory would be likely to fall into separate departments and lack brand focus which would lead to brand conflict. 3.22 How to integrate your topic in the CRGLeadership in relation to the company reference grid has one stand out pattern, and that is that it is the leader's role to influence the processes which appear in the CRG. The grid is used to form a coherent aim through different departments of the business, it is the leader's role to oversee all departments and ensure they are in connection with one and other, as well as the brand. 3.23 ConclusionLeadership is a key element of a company, without it there are no foundations for the company to build upon. Choosing the correct style of leadership to present the company could be the key to success or to failure. Snuggle are a company who are looking to maximise their brand image, from digital advertising right down to how the brand is represented in stores. From the leadership styles discussed in the previous section Snuggle would be best suited to an amalgamation of strategic leadership and inspirational leadership. The employees of Snuggle need to feel their opinions of how the company should be ran are valued in order to present the brand to customers in a coherent way. However, the method of inspiration used by Howard Shultz is a tried and tested method of positive brand awareness, and therefore for Snuggle it is extremely relevant to inspire employees to believe in the brand before the company can expect customers to also.

References

Gallo, C. (2005). 10 simple secrets of the world's greatest business communicators. 1st ed. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks.

24


Hodgkinson, S. (2005). The leader's edge. 1st ed. New York: IUniverse.

Hughes, R. and Beatty, K. (2005). Becoming a strategic leader. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Morrill, R. (2007). Strategic leadership. 1st ed. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Northouse, P. (2004). Leadership. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Stewart, T. (1997). Intellectual capital. 1st ed. New York: Doubleday / Currency.

Watkin, C. and Hubbard, B. (2003). Leadership motivation and the drivers of share price: the business case for measuring organisational climate. Leadership \& Organization Development Journal, 24(7), pp.380--386.

25


Dani Ivanov3.3 Business Blogging

Introduction

October 2011 there were 173 million blogs registered worldwide compared to 127 million blogs registered just two years previously. This represents a total growth of 46 million new blogs in two years which averages to 23 million blogs created every year and 12 million blogs every single month. (Statista, 2014) It seems as if everyone is creating a blog, but should businesses even bother?

Why every business’ should have a blog

A blog, although widely used by individuals for personal publishing, is a logical communication channel for any business both online and offline. People who read your company’s blog can, in a way, become connected and involved with your brand and future vision. It’s a good way to show that your company is constantly evolving hand-in-hand with the latest business trends.

A blog can build authenticity and trust amongst your readers. Two elements that are required for any successful business. A post published by the chef working in your restaurant explaining why the mixture of spices and other ingredients within a particular dish makes it taste so good, will show both experience and expertise, which in turn will add to the authenticity and trust for your company. Getting personnel from different departments to talk about their experience within your company and the various projects they are involved in will show the readers the “human side” of your business. Showing experience, expertise and the human side of your business is always a good idea, but the main goal of any business is to generate revenue.

A blog for converting visitors into customers and generating revenue

If you desire to convert your blog readers into customers, you need to have a conversion funnel setup in place that will guide your visitors through a carefully designed path optimized to convert as many visitors as possible into paying customers. The widely used AIDA formula is also perfectly applicable in a digital scenario.

26


The AIDA Funnel (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012)

Awareness – Your potential customer should firstly become aware of your product offerings. You could optimize this process by improving your SEO strategy, link-building, by working on your social media presence and last but not least buying targeted online ads. Although, these activities are more internal than external, and creating customer awareness is should predominantly be an external activity. You should ask yourself where are your customers coming from and how did they become aware of my product. You can easily use the answers given to optimize these customers touch points and expand to similar branches and improve awareness. By doing so you will receive more visitors to your blog which also means a higher bottom line.

Interest – Secondly you built interest for your product by crafting your website copy as to highlight the best features you are offering. But how do you know if you’ve aroused interest from your visitors? You could give them a free eBook, whitepaper, or something else of value in exchange for their names and email addresses. The website’s visitor-to-subscriber ratio will be indicative of how many visitors were truly interested in your company as they were willing to share their names and email addresses with you - something that people are very protective of.

Desire – You can’t expect everyone who shows interest in your product to make a purchase. In this step you plan the seeds in the mind of the customer in the hopes that it will grow into a favorable action. Once you’ve got your customer’s email address you can use it to send them valuable pieces of information, also called an autoresponder sequence, that will build desire and relationship with the customer over time. If for example you are a subscriber of LifeHacker, you could receive an email series of 52 emails, one email weekly during the next year, focusing on a single “life hack” thereby building long term customer relations, interest, trust and desire.

27


Action – This is the narrowest point of the funnel as not everyone makes it to this point. During this step the customer makes an actual purchase and the product is being delivered to the end consumer.

You should also keep track of during which stages of the AIDA funnel customers drop out. By doing so you have the opportunity to improve your funnel and increase the amount of people that take action and/or send people into a different tunnel that will hopefully get them converted into a customer.

Which blogging platform should you use?

When it comes to choosing a blogging platform you should obviously choose one, if a single person is going to blog, that suits your personal wishes and desires, and that you feel comfortable using in the long term. However, if you own a business and you are planning to let anyone create their own posts, then you will be looking at factors such as reliability, robustness, and features like multi-level user roles and/or revision history. So which platform should you choose?

A poll of 9,181 respondents organized by Lifehacker (Fitzpatrick, 2014) puts WordPress as the most widely used blogging platform grabbing 55.5% of the total votes, followed by Blogger which has 16.6% of the total votes and Tumblr with 13.1%.

WordPress is the leading blogging platform as shown by the poll, however, when choosing a platform there are two more decision that you should make. Would you like to have a self-hosted blog or would you let WordPress host your blog on their servers? (Wordpress.org, 2014) There are pros and cons to both options.

Self-Hosted WordPress blog on your own server

● You have total control over the files on the server.● You can redesign every aspect of your blog.● Often you’ve got more features and the possibility to add even more through a huge

library of plugins.● You are responsible for the security level of your website and server. Although

website security is quite a technical topic, you can outsource your server management and security management to a third party organization.

Hosted by WordPress on their servers

● You don’t have control over your files, which means that you can’t make any modification to them.

● You cannot hire a web designer to customize your website since you don’t have access to your files.

● You don’t have total control over who access your database. This means that your customer data is not secure.

● You must adhere to the Terms Of Service (ToS) and policies of WordPress as opposed to creating your own policies and rules. \

3.31 Conclusion

Having a blog for your business, especially now that the world is digital, is a necessity for any business. It is, though, something that business under develope as especially large corporations are being managed in the traditional way by utilizing business practices that are

28


considered safe and which have passed the test of time. However, people cannot claim that the act of blogging is just for hobbyist writers, proven by the fact that more than 23 million new blogs are being registered every single year. Thats about 64,000 (sixty four thousand) new blogs created every single day. A blog is not only a great way to show experience, expertise and the “human side” of your business, but a way to communicate, reach the right target audience, and have them converted into loyal customers.


When thinking of a blog as a medium to communicate the “human side” of a company, companies which are managed by traditional top-to-bottom hierarchy do not have good environments for developing a truly creative and interesting blog as the staff will feel “managed” and will have to abide to certain limiting rules bestowed upon them by management. In a flat hierarchy where the company culture and environment is highly creative in nature, people will feel empowered to write the way they feel and think, which will result in a blog overall more appealing to the person reading and thereby will have higher popularity and a better conversion ratio as opposed to the blog build by the top-to-bottom hierarchy staff. References Fitzpatrick, J. (2014). Five Best Blogging Platforms. Lifehacker. Retrieved 13 May 2014, from http://lifehacker.com/5568092/five-best-blogging-platforms

Lamb, C., Hair, J., & McDaniel, C. (2012). Essentials of marketing (1st ed., p. 515). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Statista,. (2014). Number of blogs world from 2006 to 2011 | Statistic. Retrieved 11 May 2014, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/278527/number-of-blogs-worldwide/

Wordpress.org,. (2014). WordPress. Retrieved 13 May 2014, from http://wordpress.org/about/features/

Saadiyo Barre

29


3.4 Community Branding

Today, brands are one of the most important and valuable assets owned by many producer companies, especially in the consumer goods sector. For example, the value of the McDonalds brand has been calculated to be 71% of that firm’s total value on the stock market. Similarly, the value of the Coca Cola brand has been calculated as 64% of the total market value of that firm (Keller 2008). Relatively recently, producers have come to appreciate that they do not have total control over the way consumers perceive and value their brands. Thus a firm may introduce a brand or branded product, promoting it so as to establish a specific brand meaning and image in consumers’ minds. Consumers, especially when acting together in “brand communities,” will then often reshape and change the meaning of a brand as they interact with it (Muniz and O'Guinn 2001). For example, a manufacturer may promote a brand of automobile as “reliable and fun” – but if consumers find that autos of that brand are in fact not reliable or not fun when they use them, the attributes associated with that brand in consumers’ minds will change independent of the brand owner’s wish.

Despite the evolving perception of the importance of consumers as “co-creators” of the meaning of brands, the strong, often implicit assumption in the brand and more general management and economic literature is that producers are the initial creators of and also the owners of commercially-significant brands and related profits.

The modern practice of creating powerful proprietary brands began centuries ago, with product producers that uniquely identified their offerings to the consumer by “branding” them with proprietary trademarks. (Trademarks have long been legally protectable as a form of intellectual property).National product brands originated in the nineteenth century with the advent of mass-produced consumer goods. Producers soon learned that products labeled with a trusted brand could be sold at a price premium – a “brand premium” - relative to otherwise identical, generic products (De Chernatony and McDonald 1992).Around the 1940s, it was generally recognized that customers often developed powerful mental associations to some brands that extended far beyond attributes of specific products. Thus, a brand might come to represent fairly general, positively-valued attributes such as good taste, luxury, social responsibility and so on in consumers’ minds. E.g., “Hermes means luxury; Caterpillar means power and reliability.” And/or, of course, consumers might also learn to associate particular brands with negatively-valued attributes such as low quality. Brand owners responded by purposefully investing in creating and strengthening and extending positively-valued general associations to their brands via advertising and other methods.

Research indicates that brands support consumers in their creation of self-concept and social identity (Ahuvia 2005; Belk 1988; Fournier 1998). Muniz and O’Guinn (2001), Cova (2003), Kozinets (2002), and McAlexander, Schouten, and Koenig (2002a) also argue that brands allow consumers to regain a sense of affectionate community, and that shared interests, rituals and traditions related to a specific brand can serve to bring consumers together into “brand communities.” According to Muniz and O’Guinn (2001 p.412), “A brand community is a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand.” It may seem quite remarkable to the uninitiated, but there are consumer-formed brand communities consisting of individuals who

30


are passionately dedicated to admiration and discussion of branded products ranging from Saab automobiles to discontinued products like the Apple Newton.

Identity products show us one possible vision of a future built around community brands rather than commercial brands. Producers of identity products have traditionally supplied firms and other organizations with low-cost items such as t-shirts, coffee mugs and watches imprinted with any logo or message. Today, at least the customized t-shirt segment of this business seems to be entering a new, more main-stream phase. New firms have entered this segment, and are creating a great deal of interest. Spreadshirt, Threadless, Cafepress and Zazzle alone generate collective revenue of more than $200 million per year and are highly profitable (Piller 2008). At spreadshirt.com, more than 300,000 communities ranging from soccer clubs to dog enthusiast associations have already opened their own “spreadshops” where they sell their customized T shirts to members as well as to the general public (Spreadshirt 2007).

When we understand community brands better, and the nature of their interactions with commercial brands, we can go on to consider strategies that commercial brand owners can take to compete with or cooperate with community brands – and vice-versa.

References

Ahuvia, A.C. (2005), "Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives," Journal of Consumer Research, 32 (1), 171-84.

Belk, Russel (1988), "Possessions and the extended self," Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 127-40.

Cova, Bernhard (2003), "Analyzing and playing with tribes which consume," Finanza, Marketing e Produzione, XXI (1), 66-89.

De Chernatony, Leslie and M. McDonald (1992), Creating Powerful Brands in Consumer, Service and Industrial Markets. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Fournier, Susan (1998), "Consumers and their brands: developing relationship theory in consumer research," Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (March), 343-73.

Keller, Kevin Lane (2008), Strategic brand management: building, measuring, and managing brand equity (3 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Kozinets, Robert V. (2002), "Can Consumers Escape the Market? Emancipatory Illuminations from Burning Man," Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (1), 20-39.

McAlexander, James H., John W. Schouten, and Harold F. Koenig (2002a), "Building Brand Community," Journal of Marketing, 66 (1), 38-54.

Muniz, Albert and Thomas O'Guinn (2001), "Brand Community," Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (4 March), 412-32.

31


Piller, Frank (2008), "Personal interview with Frank Piller, a leading mass-customization researcher and editor of a famous blog on mass-customization” http://mass-customization.blogs.com/

Spreadshirt (2007), "spreadshirt PRESSEMAPPE." http://www.spreadshirt.net/Public/Media/eu/spreadshirt/aboutus/press/Pressemappe_Spreadshirt_1207.pdf.

32


Patience Ekene 3.5 Digital Marketing Creativity

Internet has created the possibility to communicate products to thousands of people irrespective of the location. Contents needs to be easily digestible , so authors has to be creative in writing and using appropriate keywords when microblogging with twitter, pinterest is highly recommended in today's digital era.(Sciencedirect.com, 2014).

Visuals is essential in this day and age of digital marketing using social media. Putting pictures into contents on social media can increase engagement. Videos for instance, has to be made with high quality and the content has to be educative, helpful and interesting. Most important social media websites commonly used by companies and businesses nowadays are Pinterest, Youtube, twitter, facebook and Instagram.( Rocheleau, 2014)

Company such as Ben & Jerry are great with using Pinterest to help their audience to learn more about their company. You can find a board about the company on Interest that teaches you about the company background. Some companies or individuals sell items on eBay and create a board on pinterest and share these items from Ebay to Pinterest, from doing so, they engage in multimedia marketing and increase the chances of sales (Ray, 2013). Most companies have Facebook page to create relationship with their customers. eBay for instance uses multiple tactics in their updates such as tagging, hashtag, eye catching photos to create attention for their lifestyle blog.

Being creative with social media can help companies to increase traffic to their website, increase conversion rate, create brand awareness, create brand identity and positive brand association and increase efficiency in communicating and interacting with key audience (Kim, 2014). Social media creates an avenue to enable customers have direct access to a business. These media gives a customer ability to express how they feel about your business, social media is very effective for customer service and many companies uses social media to serve their customers better. It is very important for businesses to bear this in mind and understand that social media is not a platform to sell product, rather to create awareness. Whenever the customers are ready to buy, they will come to you. Some companies create brand awareness by posting videos on social media, by doing so, they tend to strengthen their relationship with their customers online and create awareness. (Stelzner, 2013).

Best practices in planning and managing online public relationship using social media includes, communicating with media owners online, link building, web 2.0 content including blogs, podcasting, RSS feeds, and widgets, managing how your brand is presented on third party site and creating a buzz-online viral marketing. Facebook is the most important social network in most countries. For many companies, the Facebook presence has become more important that web presence, so getting Facebook marketing right is a priority Blogs and Blogging. . ( Chaffey D and Ellis-Chadwick, F 2012).

Ways that you can use social media creatively to boost brand visibility:

33


● Find social media from your fans out in the wild and share in on your brand channel. Don’t just push your corporate posts.

● Ask questions to find out what people want to hear and see from you.● Use fun hashtags to ask people to participate in your activities or join in existing

hashtags if it fits your brand.● Embed social media posts from customers on your company’s blog.● Be a good listener and respond to positive as well as negative comments.● Cross-pollinate your social media platforms. Tweet your Instagram photos, share

Instagram snaps on Facebook and help people find you on other platforms. This will help build your followers across different social channels.

● Had a great post earlier in the week? Don’t be afraid to repost it with a cute title like “hot post of the week” or replay from our greatest hits.” ( Fitzpatrick, 2014)

References

Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Chaffey, D. (2012). Digital marketing (1st ed.). Harlow: Pearson.Fitzpatrick, P., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2014). Use Social Media Creatively to Boost Brand Visibility. Peg Fitzpatrick. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://pegfitzpatrick.com/2014/02/10/use-social-media-creatively-boost-brand-visibility/ Kim, A. (2014). Learn PPC in three guided courses with WordStream. Knowledge is power!. Wordstream.com. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketingRay, M., & Ray, M. (2013). 3 Creative Ways Brands Are Using Pinterest |. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/creatively-using-pinterest/Rocheleau, J., & Rocheleau, J. (2014). Powerful Branding Techniques through Social Media. Hongkiat.com. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/powerful-branding-techniques-through-social-media/Sciencedirect.com,. (2014). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681309000329Stelzner, M., & Stelzner, M. (2013). 9 Creative Ways to Use Social Media to Launch a Product |. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved 10 May 2014, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-product-launch/

34


4.0 Company Reference Grid

The company reference grid is a theory which allows businesses to ensure links between departments, in order to identify patterns in the company. By doing so, the company is able to build a structure/ story based on common factors which affect multiple areas of the business plan. In order to make the grid application to snuggle easier to read in this handbook, the group has decided to follow a numerical format, see below for the application of the CRG theory to the company upon which this handbook is based: Snuggle.

CRG Vision AssessmentDesign Rules and Scenarios

Development Implementation Maintenance

Business 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Process 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

Application3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6

Data4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.6

Technical Infrastructure 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

Organisation Structure and

HRM 6.1 6.2 6.3. 6.4 6.5 6.6

Explanation 1. Business1.1 To develop a unique brand of ice-cream to be seens as “cool” to generation-Y1.2 Check the status of the brand in the eyes of Gen-Y through social media feedback (hashtags )1.3 70% digital, 30% physical feedback. Receiving bad feedback online could alarm potential customers.1.4 Develop to over 90%digital communication with customers other1.5 Hire a team of social media marketeers who will start up the social media pages for Snuggle and communicate with customers online 1.6 Keep social media terms and trends up to date constant hashtags on twitter to keep the company in the public eye and hopefully trending. Feedback and apologies to customers with a bad experience will help to resolve.

2. Processed2.1 Product to remain fresh through process of delivery from warehouse-store-customer. Every customer to receive service which represents the brand2.2 Company quality standards/ control. Using temperature, texture and date. Customer surveys (feedback) given by employees with their name.2.3 Transportation refrigerator fails and ice cream is spoiled. Put batch on special offer (alert customers immediately through app)

35


2.4 Opening distribution centres/ warehouses in multiple locations (nearer to stores) Updated staff training on a regular basis.2.5 Invest in high quality refrigerated transportation.2.6 Standards and quality control on each delivered batch to every store. Staff performance assessment meetings. 3.Application3.1 Have a company app, downloadable on itunes which our customer base can freely access to find their nearest Snuggle store using GPS3.2 Assess the number of downloads of the Snuggle mobile application3.3 The app could potentially fail and not appeal as initially intended3.4 Further the app to allow customers to receive updates, flavours and events / offers through the app3.5 Design ‘where are we’ mobile phone application that gives the location of our physical stores.3.6 Update software whenever possible in order to keep appealing to Gen-Y 4. Data4.1 Own database information acquired by the company(Snuggle). Create transparency on data sharing. 4.2 Assessment will be based on the customer data information collected by team members and sales persons. 4.3 Snuggle might not be able to acquire accurate data required.4.4 As the company grows, will acquire better quality data collection tools and equipments that will enhance data security. Collaborate with External suppliers of data.4.5 Acquire cost effective data implementation tools.4.6 Employ High quality information management staffs. Update software for data collection and storage of data. 5. Technical Infrastructure5.1 To develop a website where people can easily get a “Snuggle” and find the nearest store location plus to get and present the Snuggle app for their iphones or android phones5.2 Assessment will be done with Google Analytics where you can find number of visitors who visit our website, time on website, and pages viewed. Plus, we will use a web service called CrazyEgg with which you can visualize the most active places on the website which can be used to optimize the website’s design and layout.5.3 To prevent from our website going offline, we will use a CDN service which makes a cached copy of the website and distributes it to multiple servers thereby if one server goes offline, our website will not be affected.5.4 The actual development of the website will be outsourced to a web designer company or, to keep the costs down, we can hire freelancers who will develop the website at a fixed cost. 5.5 To design, implement and launch the website from a financial point of view we will require an initial funding of about EUR 2000. Furthermore to develop the mobile phone app, we will need around EUR 3000. The App will be freely accessible and distributed via iTunes for iPhone users and Google Play for Android users. 5.6 Maintenance of the website and app will be done via an outsourced agency/freelancers on “per request” basis. As the website will be monitored together with Google Analytics and CrazyEgg, based on the feedback and result we receive, we can decided to improve on the current layout and design. as to improve usability and conversion ratios.

6. Organizational structure and HRM6.1 to be recognized as a preferred employer and provider of innovative and results-oriented human resources services, policies, and system

36


6.2 the assessment approach will focus on problem identification and provide guidance and processes for analyzing specific HRM functions that will result in recommendations and actions needed to address these problems. 6.3 Developing HRM content for a new five-year HR policy and strategy6.4 Developing the most superior workforce so that the organization and individual employees can accomplish their work goals in service to customers.6.5 implement new HR technology and HR systems in order to streamline their processes and increase efficiency6.6 Preventive actions: these actions are plans for employees’ safety in the workplace. They try to decrease some hazards that relate to work.

5.0 Blog Assignment

For part of this assignment Group 4 were required to develop a blog to accompany the handbook. The group decided to take the opportunity to put the brand knowledge into practice by developing a blog which would act as an actual company blog, communicating with customers and establishing a brand story. The way this was done, was by creating a fun and quirky feel to the blog, using bold backgrounds, which relate to the brand (ice cream) and an informal tone to promote the brand’s avoidance of gaining a ‘luxury’ label in order to stay attractive to Generation-Y. To accompany the blog the group thought it would be beneficial to create a Twitter account which would also promote the brand, using the twitter handle IneedASnuggle, which is the name of loyalty scheme used at Snuggle. Below you will find the link to the blog, twitter as well as some screen shots of the social media platforms developed by the group.

Blog: http://thetruestudentvoice.blogspot.nl/Twitter: https://twitter.com/INeedaSnuggle

6.0 Reviews of Group 5

37


As well as writing our own handbook, our classes mates were assigned the same task. In the interest of peer reviewing, you will find in this section reviews of group 5 made by members from this group, also giving a provisional grade to the individual student in order to allow some insight during the draft stages to the group, in order for them to hopefully find guidance in feedback to improve, prior to the final production of the handbook.

6.1 Your name: Dani Ivanov

6.11 Your review the work of: Manuela Gomes from group nr: Group 5with student nr: 517969

Brief description of the group project:The group document is incomplete. All individual parts are included except for one person, I think. There is no group work, hence it is impossible for me to describe the group topic. I reached out on Facebook to one of the group members – no response so far.

Your review of the individual topic:It was about group think, which is a term used to describe the willing for group members to yield to the desire for consensus or unanimity instead of being creative and brainstorming new ideas. The tendency for groups to go with the flow and the opinion of the leader. That’s something that I have experience myself but now I’ve got a word for it “group think”. I am really happy with this work, it is very well done.

What questions do you have for this student?No questions.

Your review of the group effort (CRG, policy making, international strategy, entrepreneurship and management):Group effort is not included in the Facebook document. Perhaps they will update it later today, but at the current time there is no group work included.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?I could totally see a business around the idea of group think. Yes, I would.

What questions do you have for this group?None.

What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?(e.g. alignment, creativity, capturing value)My critique to the whole document is that there is no group work done. There are although placeholders for an executive summary, introduction, etc, but these sections are empty. I don’t think that they took the assignment seriously enough. As a person who has went through 10 different school projects each having a different mix of people and culture, I can say that I understand how it can be difficult to come together and co-operate when everyone’s head is just not in the group task and especially when the leader is lacking some planning and perspective skills. Although, I cannot say for sure what happened and I can only speculate.

38


What grade would you give this student?I would give a grade of 9 since the individual part was very well written and I can relate to it based on previous experience that I’ve had with other groups. Very nice!

6.12 Your review the work of: Ahmed Ibrahim from group nr: 5with student nr: 458048

Brief description of the group project:The group document is incomplete. All individual parts are included except for one person, I think. There is no group work, hence it is impossible for me to describe the group topic. I reached out on Facebook to one of the group members – no response so far.

Your review of the individual topic:The individual work of Abraham was about Marketing in general and marketing from a group/team perspective. It was not badly written, although he could have been a little bit more creative and imaginative throughout his text. Instead of just describing the survey’s results from Forbes, he could have also elaborated on what impact the results will have on the possible future career of students.

What questions do you have for this student?None.

Your review of the group effort:Group effort is not included in the Facebook document. Perhaps they will update it later today, but at the current time there is no group work included.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?Again, no group work.

What questions do you have for this group?I have no questions.

What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?(e.g. alignment, creativity, capturing value)My critique to the whole document is that there is no group work done. There are although placeholders for an executive summary, introduction, etc, but these sections are empty. I don’t think that they took the assignment seriously enough. As a person who has went through 10 different school projects each having a different mix of people and culture, I can say that I understand how it can be difficult to come together and co-operate when everyone’s head is just not in the group task and especially when the leader is lacking some planning and perspective skills. Although, I cannot say for sure what happened and I can only speculate.

What grade would you give this student?

39


I would give Abraham’s work a grade of 5.0. I didn’t find a clear coherence throughout the article, just a lot of generalization of the topic and nothing concrete.

6.13 Your review the work of (student name): Joseph Wilson from group nr: Group 5with student nr: 488382

Brief description of the group project:The business is centred on providing sleek, fashionable, smart watches for women. However, this is based on Joseph’s individual part as the whole document is missing a group part.

Your review of the individual topic:The individual part was about gamification (how game or story elements can be used to spice up tasks which are often not everyone’s favourite). The part also talked about Nike+ and how Nike has constructed a community based around the idea of gamification.

What questions do you have for this student?I have no question for Joseph.

Your review of the group effort (CRG, policy making, international strategy, entrepreneurship and management):At this particular moment there is no group part included in the book.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?Based on the information I have so far about the smart watches, I feel that I cannot make an accurate decision. However, the idea has potential.

What questions do you have for this group?I have no questions for the group

What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?

(e.g. alignment, creativity, capturing value)The same as I’ve stated in the other group member which I have reviewed.

What grade would you give this student?I would give Joseph a 7 as I enjoyed reading his part and I am generally interested in the topic.

6.2

40


Your name: Amy Lynch Your group nr: 4Your student nr: 546593 6.21 You review the work of (student name): Charisse Evertsz from group nr: 5with student nr: 489375 Brief description of the group project: Group 5 have concentrated their project on groups and teams, however in the current document there is no group description which explains fully the purpose and finding of the overall group project, therefore making it difficult to review the project Your review of the individual topic: Charisse’s individual topic was focused incorporating. The student gives her own opinions, thoughts and feelings on the topic allowing the reader to better understand the source and tone of the article. A brief definition of the topic “incorporation” is given however there is no academic resource to support the students ideas. However, further on int he article the student quotes a source- unidentified background- expressing the need for integration within a project, moderately linking back to the overall topic of the group. The student gives a list of possible difficulties which working in a group which she draws from her own experience furthering the personal/ individual aspect of the students work, as well as offering the reader caveats to these issues. The student relates to the overall group topic in parts however it may have been beneficial to have a constant relation to the overall group topic. Whilst the student makes comments on the qualities they have learnt throughout the process it is unclear in this section of the handbook who the company are or what they are selling, it would improve the handbook to make it more explicitly clear what the company is and how incorporating effects this company specifically. What questions do you have for this student?Did you find the theories and ideas which apply to a large business are the same as those which effect a small group, such as the one you worked in, or is size irrelevant to groups. What grade would you give this student?In relation to the brief I would give this student a 6, due to the fact that the content is not surrounding the overall topic and the company is not explicitly divulged.

6.22 Your review the work of (student name): Gilanne Wiels from group nr: 5with student nr: 517344 Your review of the individual topic: Gilanne gives a thorough introduction to her individual section, allowing the reader to understand why the topic she has chosen to write about “goal sharing” is personal to her.To being with the section gives the key fundamentals of goal sharing which expresses the uses of the topic whilst working in a team or group, which is relevent to the overall topic of the group “teams and groups”. Whilst referring to some key theories and academic structures, there are no fully referenced citations, pointing to the conclusion that the student may have plagiarized, though it is likely an honest mistake. The

41


theories are relevant to the students individual topics which shows the student has done extra reading to inform her statements, making them appear more credible, however, with the absence of academic referencing the section loses a portion of its credibility. The conclusion of the section sums up the idea of the topic “Goal sharing”well and overall the reader should be able to develop a good understanding of the topic, however, it would be better informed if the student related the theories and ideas presented in the section back to the company which the group are building in the project.

What questions do you have for this student?How would the theories which you have presented in the document benefit specifically the company which your group has developed in the project? What grade would you give this student?I would grade this student a 7, adding properly structured citation to the theory and relating the company to the topic would, in my opinion boost the grade of this student, overall a good piece of work which ties in well with the theme of the book.

6.23 Your review the work of (student name): Aleksandra Matkovic from group nr: 5with student nr: 520182 Your review of the individual topic: Aleksandra focused the individual topic on communication. The student portrays well her background and drive to study the chosen topic, pointing out her key skills: one downside is that the student could related more explicitly how this relates to the over topic of teams of groups, however it is easy for the reader to assume this link. the student puts emphasis on the topic as being “most important” which could lesser the importance of teammates work, on the other hand the student provides information and theory as to why communication is so important. There is a broad use of citation within the section which supports the claims made by Aleksandra, however, it is unclear exactly where the citations begin and end. The student drives off topic by dedicated an entire paragraph to the communication in romantic relationships, it is unclear how this type of relationship applies to a business and its fundamentals: at the end of the section there is a quote which could support this idea in part from Paul J Mayer how ever it is unclear how reliable or credible this source is in terms of business strategy and the student has not made it explicit that this quote is relevant to the information in a previous topic. The student offers an analysis of the information provided surrounding the topic of communication which also relates to the company the group will be working on for the project, offering both postivie and negatives which shows good evaluative skills.

What questions do you have for this student?I would ask: How do you think the theory presented in a romantic relationship can be used to identify traits which form in a business relationship?

What grade would you give this student?I would give this student between a 7.5 and 8 Overall, a well structure peice of work which is both relevant and informative.

6.24 My Overall Review Questions for Group 5

42


From the students reviewed in this section (6.2)

Your review of the group effort :The CRG table provided by the group is not fully developed in that the statements made are sometimes conflicting and often do not relate to statements made in the sections which have been reviewed in this article of the handbook “is it cool yet?”. It appears that the group have equally distribute work which allows the sections to appeal to a well structured format, however often there is not a smooth transition from one topic to the next. It may make possible improvements if there were an overall focus to the individual topics, as currently there appears to be sporadic mention of the company in question. Would you invest in it? Why or why not?I would be reluctant to invest in this company from the handbook in the form it currently stands as it is unclear from the offset what the company is and how the group believe it would succeed, the theories presented in the handbook are average advisory statements which could relate to general business models, however in the industry business is constantly changing and there is a larger demand for individuality and creativity. Therefore I would not invest. What questions do you have for this group?Whilst writing this report were you aware of the topics chosen by other group members, and did you discuss the content of these sections?

6.3 Your name: Robert Pedley 6.31 Your review the work of: Josephine Barranger from group nr: 5with student nr: 546783

Brief description of the group project:Discussing groups and teams in which the group goes into further detail about the various areas of this specific business section.

Your review of the individual topic:The content about Adaptability is there with application of the theory to their own business also. The topic was discussed to a good standard talking about different theorist and bringing into account her own views and contrasting views, which gives a neutral, unbiased discussion. However a clear referencing system wasn’t used, questioning the plausibility of each theory discussed.

What questions do you have for this student?How are you going to implement a referencing system now that your work is nearly completed?

Your review of the group effort (CRG, policy making, international strategy, entrepreneurship and management):

43


The group part are not as well drafted out as the individual sections having only a CRG. This section shows that the group understand their company, however but uses very little detail to explain it.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?With the information provided, I would not invest as the technology industry is an oligopolistic market with high end companies having large market shares. There isn’t enough information for me to want to invest money that could be done to a better standard by any other business.

What questions do you have for this group?How much money do you think it would take to bring this product to market? And how will you access this money? What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?There isn’t enough group work to know how they cooperated effectively as the individual group works are longer and more in depth, hinting that the group work better individually. What grade would you give this student?

7 6.32 You review the work of: Warris Jacob from group nr: 5with student nr: 518832

Brief description of the group project:Discussing groups and teams in which the individual group members go into further detail about the various areas of this specific business section.

Your review of the individual topic:The topic discusses the different methods of management and organisation with a brief description of each type of method and an overall conclusion of which type of management would work well for Elegance and Smart.

What questions do you have for this student?Would you just consider using Participative Coaching as a form of Management or could you implement other management strategies to help organise the company?

Your review of the group effort The group part is not as well drafted out as the individual sections having only a CRG. The CRG shows that the group understands their company. There is no Executive Summary as the book is still only in a draft form, but a brief description of the company would be helpful for the reader to understand the smart watch product.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?The management behind the company seems well thought out, however not many large technology companies use the participative coaching approach. Companies such as Apple

44


and Google have always used a directive approach with the company director telling workers what he expects from his brand. Technology also isn’t used as much by women as it is men, and so a niche market within the technology industry could be a risky move which is why I wouldn’t invest in the company yet.

What questions do you have for this group?The company isn’t mentioned much much throughout the book, only the product. What is unique about the brand of the company to persuade customers to purchase your product instead? What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?There isn’t enough group work to know how they cooperated effectively as the individual group works are longer and more in depth, hinting that the group work better individually. What grade would you give this student?6.5

6.33 You review the work of: Axelle Tourne from group nr: 5with student nr: 546598

Brief description of the group project:Discussing groups and teams in which the individual group members go into further detail about the various areas of this specific business section.

Your review of the individual topic:The content is discussing the topic creativity, which uses a good range of academic sources throughout the text. The topic then goes on to discuss the importance of creativity as it allows people to have various viewpoints. Creativity is linked back to the product to show the thought process behind this product.

What questions do you have for this student?What made you choose creativity out of all the possible topics of ‘Groups and Teams’?

Your review of the group effort The group part is not as well drafted out as the individual sections having only a CRG. The CRG shows that the group understands their company. There is no Executive Summary as the book is still only in a draft form, but a brief description of the company would be helpful for the reader to understand the smart watch product.

Would you invest in it? Why or why not?Understanding the creativity behind the product helps to understand the potential of the product, however the market is so vast with technology companies already having loyal customers which would make it harder for the company to penetrate the market as a whole.

What questions do you have for this group?The company isn’t mentioned much throughout the book, only the product. What is unique about the brand of the company to persuade customers to purchase your product instead?

45


What is your critique regarding their cooperative effort?There isn’t enough group work to know how they cooperated effectively as the individual group works are longer and more in depth, hinting that the group work better individually. What grade would you give this student?7

The Book on Snuggle

Business

Transcript of The Book on Snuggle