Tag Archive: Internet

Growing up too slow or too fast!






Marketing for any business operating in today’s harsh business world isn’t easy. Getting the right campaign to the target market is a huge task. Hitting the nail on the head can be a massive gamble. Companies who use the services of marketing/advertising agencies most times are not in control of what the agencies produce. Somehow, companies even accept anything that the agency produces without contesting or even make suggestions to improve on the advertisement. It is sad when companies have to withdraw ads that offend a segment of the target market even sometimes offending the society. Advertisements are not only produced for the intended market. Because they are viewed in the mass media, extending the reach of the ad, the advert may be offensive. Companies however have a huge role in ensuring that the ads that the company has on television, radio, print etc are comfortable and not offensive.

Recently, KGB a company that answers questions that they receive by text messaging released an ad that some people find offensive. Some even want the ad to be pulled. The ad portrays black females in a salon getting their hair done. A female talent in the ad asked the other ‘What kind of hair is this?’ The response of the hairstylists says natural. The discussion there continues with the quest to find out what natural hair means by sending a text message to KBG for the answer.

From the advertising agency and company’s point of view they have achieved their objectives. They produced an ad reflecting the company’s proposition (product), and they used talents which reflected in some way their intended target audience. Success huh?

But the issue is bigger than that. The issue is the portrayal of black people. Culturally, the black race is known for their sense of humour, survival, hardworking attitude, breaking the law etc. Generally in advertisements the black talent would always deliver that punch line of a joke, or be seen eating unhealthy foods like chicken (not that chicken is bad). There are both positive and negative images that are embedded in ads today. These images can be offending; some can be flattering while others can be motivating.

There is certainly nothing wrong with the advertisement of this company. People will find issue with the ad that most of the actors were black. Normally, companies with a huge target market would show diversity in the ad to show that all races accept their product. This advertisement borderlines offensive because it appears to be saying that only black people wear weaves and emphasizes the fact that they cannot explain where it comes from. The believe that black people wear the most weaves may be a lie, but this ad does not make it appealing.

But how did we get here? There are issues within the black community and it is sad that this company is highlighting that flaw to sell their brand. Majority of people believe that black people use weave as a way to change who they really are. They use all the hair products and chemicals to look like someone else. Weaves do compliment and enhance a woman’s features. There is nothing wrong with wearing a weave. There might be a problem when weave identifies your race.

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Young vs Old

Corve DaCosta

42-17131830Many successful companies pride themselves on having the best employees. But could having a mixture of young and old make your business more successful? While the jury is out, I do believe that having the right mixture can make your business even more successful. In this article the age range thought of as young will be from 18-30 while the more mature audience will range from 31 upwards.

Many mature employees have a problem with young individuals joining their departments because they see this as a threat. This is because a young employee brings so much to the table while some may bring little. But in essence, in the professional world, many persons who join successful organizations are typically career driven and are most times motivated.

The young employee will bring smart, needed energies; innovative ideas as well as they are more connected with developing trends in society that businesses can use to grow their profit line. In this age, we have seen where companies are using social networks to be more marketable. They have coined the term Social Market Strategies. However, this is just the means where businesses use techniques such as blogging, twittering and connecting with customers on sites like Facebook. Who are they depending on to lead these new initiatives? The young, after all they are more aware of the technology and know how of the internet.

Communicating effectively with employees is imperative for a healthy work environment. Both the young and the old must share the same environment and clearly there are clashes in this regard. Where clashes occur I believe that there should be strong management in place to ensure that rules are maintained and that no employee is disrespected. When things go wrong in organizations it may take many years to solve because the same persons are in the environment. Communication is key and where age is not the only factor that separates the two, language barriers, and social etiquette are all other factors that play a role. It is left up to management now to create the right culture in organizations where both the young and the old can agree on terms in the work environment.

In business schools today, students are taught how to extend the life of a brand. The concept is the same, if management is not prepared to research, become innovative then other brands will emerge and take the market share. I believe it’s just the same with the young and the mature employees in any business. If a company is not prepared to employ young individuals who have innovative and smart ideas then be assured that that company will be losing out. Companies today must be prepared to think young and outside the box to touch markets that have been untouched and be reachable to markets that they thought they could not reach.

Young people today are filled with energies we didn’t have when we were younger. It is up to us to use those energies to make our businesses so much more than we thought it could be.