Communications Corner

  Hasbro's New Furby Toys 2023 Does anyone remember those annoying, trending furry toys that spoke gibberish and were receptive to most actions and noises you made? If so, the Furby has made a return on store shelves. Let's take a dive into the (potentially) triumphant return of the famous Furby 'Communications Corner' style.  The Furby accumulated much of its global reputation in 1998 and early 2000s because according to Hasbro it had over 40 million sales within three years of entry into the market. It was a truly innovative toy given the limited technological advancements of its time (compared to today) and was able to bring joy to its target market by listening and responding to their conversations and possessing conventional responses such as dancing to music. Pretty cool right? Now those who are reading may ask, "Nima, why would this toy possess any form of nostalgia for you? You're 19 and born in 2003". Well, good sir/madam, the Furby did have a com...

  A generic epitome of door-to-door sales. While my personal experience of door-to-door sales positions it as a niche domain of marketing, the past week has altered my stance - to direct forms of marketing in general.  As someone who is predominantly exposed to and since my childhood favour indirect forms of marketing such as television adverts, billboards, and many more, this area of marketing has been heavily neglected from my marketing lexicon. Since I completed my first year of university over a month ago, I have spent time searching for jobs related to my field to gain experience and hopefully, some money. I came across a marketing agency that contacted me (I won't be disclosing their name for confidentiality purposes) that worked on event-based and residential campaigns for clients in both the private and non-profit sectors.  When I was provided the position, I was tasked with undertaking residential campaigns by representing their non-profit clients such as Marie C...

  Tweet by @ACLetsTalk (June 3) - click here for tweet. If it's not evident yet, I'm an avid Assassin's Creed fan and highly anticipating the upcoming title, Assassin's Creed Mirage releasing October 12 2023. Nevertheless, I stumbled across an interesting tweet on Twitter by an Assassin's Creed fan page (@ACLetsTalk) which made an interesting comment about the controversial nature of Mirage's marketing campaign.  Despite marketing for the game was practically non-existent for eight months since its announcement in early September 2022, many of us thought the game was a...mirage. Anyways, the direction taken to market the game is a return to form, classic Assassin's Creed game in terms of the level design, and narrative structure. Something long awaited given the past two and arguably three games lacking core components of Assassin's Creed games (THE ASSASSIN'S - crazy right?). However, if the marketing direction is employed to resonate with fans of ...

Just Eat and Spotify. Admittedly, I'm not a Spotify premium member because I just don't want to pay money to listen to ad-free music (and offline). I have managed to find other free alternatives delivering the same service. Nevertheless, the drawback of not having a membership is listening to painstakingly tedious and repetitive adverts.  For me, Spotify comes into play when I'm either studying or relaxing at home or when doing anything productive such as cleaning my bedroom. Given the statement made above, I hear many adverts. And one, in particular, I have heard QUITE A LOT is this one Just Eat advert. I haven't heard it in a while, but it plays on my mind.  Unfortunately, I cannot find the audio for the advert for the one or two (that's pretty much it for now) viewers could have a listen, but I'm sure freemium Spotify members have heard it. The advert features a male Siri-esque, speed-up voice reading a script about not going to town and bringing the town to ...

  Photo taken November 2022 at a local Sainsbury's. Picture a Nima (me) who has eagerly begun studying Marketing and Management at university and is acquiring the knowledge of a marketer. So many new terms, definitions, and frameworks. He is bound to think about them during his commute or anywhere where he sees fit. In retrospect, this is how I was during my first semester.  My module in marketing principles established the foundations for my marketing knowledge and one I thoroughly enjoyed - a revelation after seeing my final grade. One of the weeks involved learning about how the value proposition is configured.  The value proposition comprises three parts: the core, embodied and augmented proposition. I will focus on the augmented proposition today. These are the additional 'augmentations' that are added to a product or service creating value for the customer. For example, when buying perfume from a retailer - let's just say Superdrug - you're also provided sampl...