How brands are getting involved in the Royal Wedding

The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has been the hot topic around the world. Even marketers are getting involved in the wedding of the year.  Marketing Matters have you covered. Here are some brands that have seized the royal wedding trend.

IKEA

IKEA understands those single ladies’ are feeling heartbroken of the royal wedding. The brand posted a witty social media post with their Harry chair, “Don’t worry, Harry is still available”.  This simple post received over 10k reactions, 2.527 shares. IKEA’s spokesperson said the royal wedding has been a hot topic on everyone’s lips. It's an opportunity to mark the date and tell customers know that Harry (Chair) is still available in IKEA.

Source: IKEA

Moreover, IKEA had a post-wedding post to attract more netizens. A leftover wedding cake is in the Pruta plastic storage box with the caption “When you’re stuck with leftover cake from 600 wedding guests.”

Source: IKEA

Marks & Spencer

British retailer Marks & Spencer celebrates the royal wedding by renaming the brand to ‘Markle & Sparkle’ for three days. The brand characters, Percy & Penny Pig, had their wedding ceremony at the Windsor store on the day before the royal wedding as a kickoff.  M&S also changed the logo of the website and social media account; redecorated the store windows.

“As a quintessentially British brand we had to do something special to mark the royal wedding and what better way to welcome Meghan to the family than to ‘marry’ both our names together for the weekend," said Sharry Cramond, M&S marketing director for food & hospitality.

Source: Marks & Spencer

The official unveiling took place at the M&S' Windsor store. Source: Pretty 52

Original article: ‘3 brands that wittily rode the royal wedding wave this weekend ’, posted by Marketing Interactive, 21 May, 2018 

‘Marks & Spencer is renaming itself to celebrate the royal wedding’, posted by Marketing Interactive, 21 May, 2018 

Written by Peggy Lau

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School.

The Sleep Revolution by Somnium Lab

University of Sydney Business School students make a revolution to pillow business with the solution to neck pain and optimise sleep. Somnium Lab with the title of champion of the 2017 Student Challenge at Innovation Week has launched a Kickstarter for MuTu Pillow.

A former Bachelor of Commerce and Liberal Studies student Tycho Hugh and biomedical engineering PhD candidate Suri Susilo founded Somnium Lab. Winning the 2017 student challenge was a shot in the arm for them, “It was also a great step in further validating our concept and business model, which helped to keep us hustling every day.”

Somnium Lab founders: Miles Tycho Hugh (left) and Suri Susilo (right). Image source: The University of Sydney

Hugh now works as a tutor in Business School’s marketing faculty. He emphasises that listening and understanding customers is the key values of their Kickstarter campaign.  “Seeing that people actually want the product, and seeing that what we're doing actually provides value to people's lives, I know it's all been completely worth it,” 

He started the business in University and has been thankful for the experience. “The University of Sydney Business School is filled with so many interesting, high calibre people who have given me so much inspiration, help, and support thus far,” said Mr Hugh. He also met another co-founder, Suri, through a friend he made in his Business Capstone tutorial.

About MuTu

As the world’s first pillow, MuTu can be customised 66 unique sleep positions through air suspension technology. Unlike other pillows, Mu Tu is free from filler that prevents the accumulation of dust or bacteria. The technology also allows MuTu to keep its shape overnight and absorbs pressure while sleeping that allows for a better sleep.

Image source: Somnium Lab

MuTu Pillow is available for per order on Kickstarter. 

** Original article, ‘STUDENTS KICKSTART SLEEPY BUSINESS’, posted by the University of Sydney, 3 Apr, 2018 **

Written by Peggy Lau

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School.

In the Age of Digital Content is King

In the digital age, there’s a saying that goes, ‘Content is King.’ And you know what? It’s not wrong. Besides from social and and online ads, which have both grown by around 70% in the last year, content has also seen a increase in use of 62% and is predicted to only grow in the future.

So besides being a key aspect of digital marketing, having the skills to write content or a blog will definitely help you in your career.

The importance of blogging goes without saying. Am I right? Unfortunately for the Master of Marketing program, our very own Marketing Matters blog is now captainless! This means that from now on, the blog will be kept afloat by students and contributors. For marketing students, this provides the opportunity to learn practical skills in a professional context and allow them to publish their blogs, gain exposure and enhance their employability.

Source: Australian Marketing Institute

If you have no idea how to write or manage a blog, don’t panic! I’m here to guide you on the ins and outs of effective blog writing. Pretty much anyone can write a blog if they have the magic formula. So that’s precisely what I am going to give you.

The Right Tone

Blogging is a completely different style to academic writing. It’s likely that your audience is reading your post on public transport, during a coffee break, or while they are waiting for a friend to arrive at a bar or café. They probably don’t have a lot of time to read a lot, so try and feed them the information in bite-sized pieces. Keep it conversational and easy to read and think short sentences rather than long. Break the information up with headings and don’t forget to accompany the sections with relevant images.

TIP: Even though you may be an expert in your field, it’s always good to write in layman's terms – as though the reader has absolutely no background in the subject matter.

Generating Leads

First up, what are leads? Well in the University of Sydney’s Master of Marketing program, the Marketing Matters Blog serves to generate leads to a number of stakeholders: prospective students who are researching marketing courses; employers seeking to employ top level marketing graduates, industry professionals who may be interested in providing guest lectures or joining the teaching faculty, etc. The list goes on...

Without the blog, MoM really wouldn’t have a way to demonstrate how talented its students are, the quality of the program’s design, and the high standard of teaching at the University of Sydney Business School.

So how exactly do you generate leads? Well, depending on the type of blog, you might decide to use backlinks/hyperlinks or weave keywords into the metadata. Take Marketing Matters for instance, if the audience wants to learn more about the program, the information is easily available for them. They just have to click on the link, get taken back to the program page and then they are free to explore the course structure, fees, and application process.

Leads ‘lead’ to actions, which is pretty much what content is all about about. Being able to research, write and edit effectively will always be valued and once learned, students can take these skills and apply them to their their own roles.

Written by Alyce Brierley

Graduating student from the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School.

What the Cambridge Analytica scandal teaches marketers about data privacy

What do customers’ needs mean for marketers? Marketers rely on data to target users with ads. Does that mean your customers want targeted advertising rather than their privacy? The Cambridge Analytica scandal reveals that data leakage has become a marketing practice.

Mark Zuckerberg appears before the committees of the US Congress (Image source: The Guardian)

Professor Mark Ritson reminds us that customers’ needs are not what marketers think. According to YouGov research, 55% of British viewers hate personalised advertising, but don’t worry, this doesn’t mean marketers cannot use customer data. YouGov's research categorises the British adult population into two segments: ‘Customers who believe that ads helped them decide what to buy’ and ‘Customers who accept targeted ads to some extent’.  ‘Personalised Pioneers’ is the one segment which likes to engage with targeted ads, meaning that we can target this group of customers.

Image source: Marketing Week

Privacy is about respecting customers. We should explain to consumers in detail instead of hiding the terms and conditions. Here is a great reminder from Steve Jobs eight years ago. At the D8 Conference in 2010, he stated, “Privacy means people know what they are signing up for… I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of you asking them. Let them know exactly what you are going to do with their data. That’s what we believe".

Current Apple Chief Executive, Tim Cook, also emphasises that marketing does not need a personalised data mountain for the future. Indeed, we should change the focus on improving customer satisfaction in innovative product design rather than targeting customers.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal alerts marketers to focus on customers’ real needs. It’s a time for us to review the marketing practice and reinstate our relationship with data privacy.

Original article: 'Mark Ritson: This is a critical point in marketers' relationship with data privacy', posted by Marketing Week - April 3, 2018.

Peggy Lau

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School.