The Essentials of Marketing

What I derived from both the Movements.org was that the group was motivated to engage the youth through new media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. I felt that this was a good approach to target youth for social justice, and that in today's society, utilizing these networks to reach out to the youth was a very effective technique. As for the combination of different top named companies at the summit, such as Pepsi, Youtube, and Google, at first I viewed the adjoining of these companies to have a positive effect on the community, showing that they can help out for a cause. However, it never slipped my mind that these companies would use their marketing strategies in order to benefit their own companies, which can be viewed as a good and bad thing. These companies are using the youth since we are the largest demographic for marketing and Public Relations, and they know how to catch our attention by finding new strategies to sell projects. 

If the money that companies make is going towards a beneficial cause, then it it should be fine. However, it is certain that their goals are not solely based on spreading awareness, yet hopefully these companies are using this movement to help society, not just as marketing gimmicks in order to obtain revenue for their companies. One idea that I agree with that was mentioned in class on Tuesday is the reality that there are needs in our society and corporations are filling those gaps and fulfilling these needs. 

I do believe that what drives most successful companies are their business strategies which are key components of good marketing. What bothers me, however, is how these websites may not actually be driven by young people, but mainly the marketers who are just engaging in these websites in order to advertise their products, so it is slightly biased. I also found it interesting that people’s own revolt for social change or awareness is repackaged, remodeled, and sold pack to an entrepreneurial elite. This idea actually reminds me of the music industry, specifically, where record companies collaborate with organizations in order to support a cause. One example I can think of are Live8, a movement in 2006 whose mission was to "make poverty history" in Africa by holding a variety of concerts. With this approach however, there is still poverty in Africa that has not been fully eradicated, and the record companies (and some artists) still made a profit from this movement. The big-name companies who were involved in this movement were AOL, BBC, and Nokia, who most likely benefited from this event and used their clever marketing tactics. Nevertheless, Live8 also claimed that, "The beneficiary of excess revenue after the costs of the concerts were donated to the Band Aid Charitable Trust." Therefore, the reality that companies fill the gaps in our societies towards our needs is still relevant today. Even through campaigns such as the Peace Iced Tea,  consumers are still being manipulated  into buying the Arizona products. Thus the Arizona company obtains revenue while advocating a cause. But like I said, it's all in the marketing strategy. You gotta do whatcha gotta do...