Perception is Everything

Picture this, a sales rep shows you 2 types of chocolates. Both of these chocolates contain the same ingredients. They both have extra cocoa butter that enhances the flavour and mouthfeel, cocoa liquor that excites one's tastes, nutritious milk and delicious vanilla. The first chocolate is being held by a young guy in one of the sections in Harlem, New York. The other chocolate was being presented by a posh girl in one of the places in Manhattan, New York. Which chocolate will you choose and why? I bet you'll choose the second one!

As we all know, perception is everything. It is something we can control. Interestingly enough, I found a TEDx presentation by Rory Sutherland, current Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group who talked about how we can change other's perception by adding value to a product and not by changing the product itself.

He explained the concept very well by using a potato as an example. In 18th century, Frederick The Great was worried about the situation of the poor people in his territory. At that time, bread was the common food of people. However, he thought of introducing potato as a substitute for bread when there's famine or when the price of bread increases. However, people thought that potato was disgusting. Dogs cannot even eat a piece of it. So what did he do? He introduced the potato as a 'royal' food eaten and consumed by royal families. At that time, people (especially peasants) eat whatever was 'royal'. People started using potatoes in their kitchen and was being eaten routinely (staple food).

So what's the moral lesson of the story? That we do not have to do drastic changes to please others. We have control to modify other people's perception towards us. We need to improve our way of communicating with others (verbally and non-verbally). 

In the industry, there are a lot of ways on how we can change the perception of customers towards a product. Here are 3 ways:

1. Increase the price: For example, a wine is considered as a high-quality product if the price is higher than the average wine. People have the tendency of perceiving the quality of a product based on the price. 
2. Take the price out of the table: Words are very powerful. Words can make or break someone or something. Let's take a look at a diamond ring as an example. Sometimes, we do not have to tell the price of a product. Instead of using 'the diamond ring is expensive', we can use 'the diamond ring is forever'. It is innate to us, as humans, that we value a product if it lasts a lifetime. 
3. Fonts matter: Isn't it more enticing to buy a product if it uses interesting font styles with attractive font colours? Little did we know, there's a psychology behind fonts. Aside from the fact that fonts influence readability, fonts invoke a certain response to readers. New York Times presented 2 satirical articles using 2 different fonts, Times New Roman and Arial. NYT asked readers how they felt when the article was written in Times New Roman. Readers were more likely to connect the words "funny" and "angry" when the article was printed in Times New Roman as compared to the article that was printed in Arial. What do you feel and think when you see the words below?

 

Do you have more ideas on how you can change other's perception towards a product? 

Why You Do What You Do?

I love to watch TEDx. Speeches empower me to become a better person, to be aware of what's happening in the world and to remind myself that there are still lots of greatness in the universe.  I have TEDx app on my phone and tablet. I subscribed to the TEDx channel on Youtube. I attended to one of the TEDx events in Mississauga last year. Yes, I am a bonafide TEDx fan!

I discovered lots of great speakers and authors thru TEDx such as Seth Godin, David Kelly, Ken Robinson, Tony Robbins and many more. But my most favourite speaker is Simon Sinek, a communication professor at Columbia University. I never thought (I just found out today) that he is a marketer and advertiser who left law school to go to advertising and used to work at Ogilvy & Mather in New York. 

Simon Sinek delivered a presentation at one of the TEDx events and asked everyone their 'WHY's'. He also presented a simple but a great model called The Golden Circle (watch video below). The model only has 3 sections - what, how and why. 

WHAT

Every organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. These are the products and services that they offer to the consumers. We, humans, know WHAT we do. We study, work, travel and many more.

HOW

Some organizations know HOW they do the products and services. These are the things that make them extra special or set them apart from the competition (or what we call in marketing/advertising - unique selling proposition). We, humans, know HOW we study, work or travel. We do these by playing classical music (when we study), using a system (when we work), choosing to drive (when we travel) and eating with spoon and fork (when we eat).

WHY

Very few organizations know WHY they do what they do. A few people know WHY they do what they do. Why is not about having a greater profit or making money. That's a result. According to Professor Sinek, WHY is the purpose, cause and belief. It is the reason why companies exist. We study because we want to learn more and expand our knowledge. We work because we want our skills to be of use - giving us personal satisfaction. We travel because we want to experience different things. We want to understand other cultures and traditions so we become open as a person. 

I certainly believe in what he believed when I watched his TEDx video for the first time. I constantly use this concept not only in my professional career but also in my personal life. The concept guided me in everything that I did from the past few years of my life. It directed my life to choose the paths that I want to take, the people that I want to be with and the connections that I want to make. 

It inspired me to make better choices, drop the things that are irrelevant and take one step forward to be happy overall. 

This concept is very relevant in the marketing and advertising world. We will not be able to find the sweet spot if we don't know how to answer our targets' WHYs. We will be wasting a lot of resources if we don't know how to answer these 'WHYs'. Why do people do what they do? Why do people care? Why? If you know the answers, you're on the right track. 

What are your WHYs? 

Sheridan's Spring Open House 2016

It's almost March and you haven't accepted your offer at Sheridan yet! You're not sure if you're making the right decision. You're uncertain about the industry and would like to learn more the program in general. Well, look no further! Sheridan is hosting a Spring Open House 2016 event in 2 months!

You will have an opportunity to meet faculty members, staff and students. And I am happy to share with you that I will be there representing all the post-grad programs in the Faculty of Business particularly in my program, Advertising Account Management, for the second time around. All campuses are open on April 23, Saturday, from 10 am to 1 pm.

In addition to the opportunity of meeting the faculty members and students, you also have a chance tour the campus. It will be a guided tour presented by one of the Student Admissions Representatives who is also a current Sheridan student. I suggest you to ask any questions to the student representatives. Those representatives are sincere and will provide you great tips on how to survive in the class and at Sheridan. Representatives will not only guide you to check out some of the great spots on campus but they will also provide you more information about the services that are available to students.

I honestly didn't know about the student services when I was a new student. I only learned more about these great 'stuffs' when I was part of the recruitment team at Davis campus in 2011. Before coming to Sheridan, I never thought that schools are open for tours. I was new to Canada at that time and Asia didn't have that type of recruitment strategies. If I wasn't a part of the Admissions and Recruitment team, I will never be aware of the student services. All campuses have the following services: student advisement, financial aid (awards and OSAP), gym, medical insurance, databases (library), health centre, IT, student rights and responsibilities and many more.

After visiting the campus and talking to people who will help you understand more of your program, you can also visit the Marketplace area so you can do 3 things:

1. Learn more about OSAP/scholarships/bursaries
2. Evaluate the event for a chance to win a surprise gift (usually iPad)
3. Visit Admissions Department's booth so you can finally click the Accept button.

So what are you waiting for, SAVE THE DATE!

3 Reasons Why I Love My Program

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Nine more weeks and we're done with our program! My first term was a blast while this term is better. I am glad I chose this program. Today, I would like to share with  you 3 reasons why I love my program:

1. More in-depth topics:  Although this program is a condensed program of the 3-year program that is offered at Sheridan; the topics are more in-depth and relevant. There are so many things to learn and how I wish I can borrow SpongeBob for 2 more months so I can absorb everything that's being taught by the professors. I may not have saved everything that I learned but I made sure that I saved all my notes by the help of technology such as Microsoft OneNote, Google Drive and my laptop's hard drive. FYI, although there are lots of opportunities to learn, we are very lucky that we don't have to buy books. Who wants to read "academic" books, anyway? 
2. Creativity: One of the reasons why I went back to school after working in the industry for almost 2 years was my personal goal to improve my creativity skills. I believe that creativity is learned when you have fun. I can still remember Albert Einstein who once said that "Creativity is the intelligence having fun". I have realized how important it is to be creative in one's life. This term, we have plenty of opportunities to enhance our creative thinking skills. Honestly, prior to joining this program, I sometimes find myself getting stuck on a particular idea for a longer period. I seldom get frustrated and disappointed. As a result, I give up. That's really a bad habit! But hey, I changed a lot because of this program.
3. Great professors. I have a strong adoration to professors who "educate" students. My entire family and relatives are educators (My dad was once a university professor, my mom is a current grade school master teacher, my grandma was a teacher, my aunt is currently a school principal, 3 of my aunts are grade school teachers and the list goes on and on.), therefore, I understand how much effort that they have to do to ensure that their students understand the lecture. Sheridan advertising post-grad professors are exemplary. They go an extra mile just to ensure that we benefit from the program. They care and want us to be successful. They treat us as their own children. Yes, they get upset at us sometimes but it's normal. They need to discipline us if need be. If we are not paying attention (because we are doing homework that is not related to their class), they will tell us to stay away from doing unnecessary tasks. Yes, it's awkward but this helps us to be a better person (If I am a professor, I will probably do the same way too.).

I am satisfied and inspired. Although I sacrificed my full-time job just to go back to school, it's all worth it.