A Marketing Analysis; Wickr

Hi guys!

Today’s blog will be a review of a marketing analysis myself and my teammates did of the app Wickr.

For 30% of our overall grade myself and my group had to come up with a product or service, conduct a marketing analysis and show it through PowerPoint. The presentation consisted of a vox pop, background, founder key points taken from the 4 P’s, key issues arising internally and externally through a SWOT and PEST. A competitive analysis, key trends and ended with an evaluation and strategic recommendations we could offer the client. We chose to look into the app Wickr.

Wickr is an instant messaging app that allows you to send encrypted texts, videos and pictures to whoever you want with only the sender and receiver viewing the information. It is available on iOS, android and desktop.

I came up with the idea because my boyfriend was at the web summit 2015 and told me all about Nico Sell's talk about Wickr. Intrigued by it I started looking up interviews about Wickr. When it came to picking an idea for our marketing analysis I had the idea in mind. When I told my team mates about the app they were extremely interested and we decided we would run with my idea and learn everything we could about it. Wickrs main goal is to become the most trusted provider of secure data and communications technologies in the world.

I researched the founders and background, the SWOT resulting in key issues arising and the overall strategic recommendations we would give to Wickr if they were our client. Wickr was developed in 2012 by security and technology professionals with the idea of privacy for all in mind. All founders are parents and one of their main aims was the protection of their children. They wanted to protect their children's pictures, videos and messages they send and receive. Making sure that the NSA, data brokers and big companies who trace information could not find anything on them.

Nico Sell and Gilman Louie are the co-founders and co-chairmen of the app. Nico Sell was the CEO of Wickr up until May 2015 when she handed her position over to Mark Fields. Nico Sell is the main face of Wickr, doing interviews, talks and promotion of the app. Nico has described herself as an extremely paranoid individual. The founder admits she is turned off by people who invite her things through email as she doesn’t want anyone knowing any of her business! There is no pictures of Nico’s face without sunglasses on any social media what so ever. She wears sunglasses as an element to further protect her identity. After I looked into the founder and background of the app I then went onto a SWOT of Wickr. 

From my analysis I came up with the following key issues arising. Their aim is to Protect high-value confidential data and communications with the strongest multi-layered encryption technology. And they are successful at this being the only app of its kind to encrypt messages from one sender to another.

A weakness in the app is safety. Nico Sell has said “Back door for the good guys can always mean a back door for the bad guys.” This is a sad truth there is good and bad in everything and Wickr is not free from this. There is bullying on the app and terrorist activity and no one can be charged with it. This is because the proof of the message between the sender and receiver is deleted after a certain amount of time and is not traceable. The time of destruction can be from 3 seconds – 6 days max.

Wickr is used by the majority in US mainly businesses and activists. This app is a great opportunity for activists and others like them in society fighting for their rights and freedom. Wickr has a chance to change the world and give people back their freedom of thought and speech especially in dictatorship countries.

One of the key threats facing the app is competition. Social media is everywhere, when you sign up to any social media there is an invite that can be sent to your friends, gaining more followers through your contacts. Whereas Wickr does not have invites to friends. The app is spread from Nico Sell’s talks and word of mouth. While privacy is great there is a need to reach more consumers worldwide

With regards to the strategic recommendations we came up with an information campaign to document its security and design to allow potential users to understand Wickr. The campaign promotion worldwide will be called #winningwithwickr. The promotion will be done through the Wickr app as well as talks from Nico and the other founders in the main cities worldwide. We will use traditional media such as radio, news and TV because social media like Facebook and twitter is not something the app wants to be associated with. We also want to add more languages to the app to make it even more appealing. This campaign then feeds into the expansion of Wickr in businesses and with consumers since Wickr is mainly circulating around the US.

I really enjoyed undertaking the researching and learning about the internal and external factors surrounding the app. The vox pop section was completely new to me and I had never made one before! I think the overall presentation went well. I was a little nervous at the start but once we started talking about the app I became more comfortable. I think Wickr has the potential to be extremely successful in the future.

Clara

You can view our presentation here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1psL56LxQO8l_omWrz3fXUvtRx7d0E1hH-H3CqA1yRg8/edit#slide=id.p

Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man, review.

Hi guys,

Today’s post is all about Rory Sutterland and his stance on advertising and how we live our lives.

I really enjoyed this take on advertising with regards to perception and reality. A lot of advertising, marketing and PR is smoke and mirrors taking an ordinary idea and making it extraordinary.  Intangible value in advertising is seen in a bad way. Persuasion is better than compulsion, as no one really likes being compelled to do something whereas if you persuade them it is a different thing

People behaviour is key in advertising Rory showed this by giving the example of when Frederick the great of Prussia wanted the Russians to eat wheat and potatoes to stop famine and bring in a new source of food. The people’s behaviour was negative and to combat this he to make it compulsive but that also failed. He then looked to marketing potatoes a royal vegetable that were only for royal consumption. This as well as false Prussian guarding of potatoes, the Russian peasants now wanted potatoes as they seen anything that was worth guarding was worth something. Because of this the Russian peasants started eating potatoes when in reality it was the same product they were offered a time before it.

I liked how he mentioned Andy Warhol’s stance on coke, who thinks it’s great that the president and the person on the street drinks the same coke. Proving that all advertising does is change the way we look at a product but the product itself stays the same.

I found Rory Sutherland extremely easy to listen to as he brought a comedic value to the majority of what he was saying. This kept me entertained as well as alert because it was enjoyable. I appreciated the fact that he had interesting examples to back up the main points he was making which made it engaging and entertaining. 

Though I enjoyed the peace as a whole I especially liked how he ended saying we should appreciate the little things in life and those things we already have. We should put value on love, health and family rather than material things because are the things that make us truly wealthy.

Clara

See video here;

https://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man

The power of social media: Adele Hello single drop.

Hi Guys,

Music is the topic of today’s blog hope you enjoy!

On the 21^st of October Adele posted a letter to her fans on her twitter page about her past and hopes in life for her own future and her music. Her honesty about wanting what she can’t have and hindsight is refreshing. The letter raked in 123,021 retweets and 168,436 likes and left everyone including myself wondering when her return will be.

The next day Adele’s new single hello dropped and went viral. Adele is one of the queens of music capturing the heart if many with her amazing voice as well as the raw emotion and honesty in her songs and lyrics so it is not a shock that the world loved her new song.

However, I defiantly think social media had a major role to play in this. Adele was able to promote herself online on her personal twitter page with her fans making them feel connected and related to the singer I don’t think the letter and release date was a coincidence do you?

Hello has a staggering 238,623,706 YouTube views as well as smashing the US and UK charts becoming no1 and overselling all artists before her. She has oversold Elton John and Taylor Swift to name a few! The PR behind Adele and her single drop were on top of their game and made it look so effortless! Everyone is reading to see what her new album has in store in November. 

Clara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A

An evaulation into a L'Oreal SWOT.

Hi Guys,

In my latest marketing class the lecture was focused on SWOT and PEST and how effective these tools are in the world of business. SWOT: meaning Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. And PEST: meaning Political, Economic, Social, and Technological. All of which are key factors businesses need to look at when coming up with a new product or service. I had already known of the two before the class and I believe they are extremely effective ways of brainstorming.

I researched some SWOTS and PESTS and one that stood out to me was the L’Oréal SWOT from 2012. Here the euromonitor.com go into great detail about beauty and personal care with the L’Oréal Groupe. I learned a lot from this site as it was an interesting read as I use L’Oréal products daily.  

Innovation was pointed out as strength as L’Oréal manages many different brands ranging from make-up to skin care and so on. One of the most popular skincare would be the clarosonic which blew up over two years ago. A nod to the pricing tiers was also mentioned as a strength because L’Oréal has a variety of different products which all range in pricing.

A weakness that was pointed out in this report was hair care, back in 2012 there was not really much there. However, last year with the help of youtubers and advertisements the

L’Oréal shampoo and conditioners where a must have product for several months. With regards to opportunities the chance to further develop their brand with organics is an option. Even though Sanoflore is L’Oréal’s organic brand at the moment there is still a gap for more organic products. People are now more than ever are becoming more health conscious and would opt to go organic whenever they could.

As a threat competition in emerging markets was mentioned. This of course is an obvious threat but every business has competition. L’Oréal has the brand and quality that in my opinion wins over a variety of others.

They range from high end brands such as Giorgio Armani and YSL, to more consumer and drugstore brands like L’Oréal Paris, Essie and Garnier. This range in products means there is something for everyone depending on your personality and budget. I think L’Oréal is a power brand that will continue to thrive.

The link to the euromonitor report can be found here: http://www.euromonitor.com//medialibrary/PDF/LOreal-Company-Profile-SWOT-Analysis.pdf

A new way of advertising: Youtube

Hi Guys,

Welcome to my first blog post! Over the next few weeks I will be talking all things music, makeup and marketing that have interested me, hope you enjoy.

Back in August 2015 I read about the new advertising guidelines concerning youtubers in the Irish examiner. These guidelines insist that when a youtuber is gifted products in return for promotion in their videos they have to state that they are being paid for advertising. I didn’t think much of it at the time because i always presumed some of the content had to have been for promotional purposes. However, in the past month I have noticed that several of my favourite youtubers and the videos I have been enjoying the most are all sponsored and have (AD) at the end of their title. This has disheartened me a little because in the past I have gone out and purchased these “amazing beauty products” that were mentioned as “favourites” and “must haves”.

In saying this I think it is an extremely clever and effective way for big companies to make money advertising in a much cheaper and quicker way. Social media is getting bigger and better by the day. This YouTube culture and the celebrity vloggers are making big money for brands and themselves.  I am a YouTube follower and have many favourites, who I think deserve all of their success with the hard work they put into their videos. I just find it interesting that some of the main content is advertising, and has been all along which I overlooked before the new guidelines came into place. But like I said before, Youtube is a job for a lot of the content creators, they are making a living like any other business.

Will you continue to watch your favourite Youtubers and purchase what they are promoting without a second thought?

Clara 

Examiner link:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/examviral/technology-and-gaming/new-advertising-guidelines-mean-youtubers-have-to-tell-you-when-theyre-being-paid-to-promote-something-349092.html