Adivce For A New Marketer

My advice after going through three years of college for marketing and being half way through my senior year is be different. Marketers seem to suffer from a lot of group think and attempting to market to the lowest common denominator.

A great exercise is to find any random product in a store, look at the packaging, the marketing, maybe watch a few commercials about it. Then re-envision it the way you'd market it if you were in charge of that product. For example I eat a LOT of beef jerky products. Jack Link's uses the "Messing With Sasquatch" spot for promoting their brand.

I try to think about it differently from an alpha male point of view and not try and be Bud Light humorous. Let's be honest, not a lot of man-bun wearing "men" are walking around with their man purses eating preserved beef products.

I'd promote that brand as something to live on while you're in the wilderness exploring desolate mountains or rivers in solitude. I'd promote the brand with other manly activities such as tearing down an engine in your garage, rounding up cattle to brand, building a house, things that appeal to men.

So new marketer, if you've read this blog you know its author is a natural born non-conformist and as such approach my ideas from that standpoint. Think of something differently and when you establish that strategy, tear it apart and see what will not work about it and make it stronger! Be scary, be intelligent, be informed, and do it your way!

Ben and Jerry's

This week's assignment is to pick a socially responsible retail company and outline how that stance is incorporated into their marketing strategy. This week is a home run! I picked Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Company. Their entire structure top to bottom is all about incorporating their ethical socially responsible practices into their marketing!

Just a quick visit to their website and you'll know first hand that it seems that ice cream is almost an afterthought to their socially responsible vibe. They post every step they use to be socially responsible such as fair trade, a caring dairy, cage free eggs, and a section to read more about their values. They might trumpet their social responsibility more than any other business I've ever seen.

Just by reading about the company you can tell they are (more specifically were since they sold to another company in 2000) very conscious about their social image. For example in 1985 The Ben & Jerry's Foundation is established with a gift from Ben and Jerry & 7.5% of the company's annual pre-tax profits to fund community-oriented projects.

I've read a lot of articles and I can find no situation, scandal, or case of any unethical practices by the original owners, Ben Cohen or Jerry Greenfield. I'd say they are definitely on the up and up about how they ran their business and were honest about it all. The company pioneers the pursuit of business with a double bottom line—profits and people—that Cohen and Greenfield called the “double dip.” (Page & Katz, 2012) Clearly they were concerned about their people and their profits which they tended to funnel back into the business and the community.

Page, A., & Katz, R. (2012, October/November). The Truth About Ben and Jerry's (SSIR). Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_truth_about_ben_and_jerrys