Social Listening

Recently a brand that has received a fair amount of backlash from the Youtube Beauty Community is “Too Faced”. They are well-known for their more expensive high and makeup and unique fruity collections that they have been pushing out in recent years. I personally selected them because I am a huge makeup enthusiast and I have a few of their holiday collection sets. However, just a few weeks back, many people in the community were shocked by one of Too Faced’s employe comment on a trans beauty guru’s coming out story. The comments were received as negative and reflected badly on the company.

Too Faced’s value proposition heavily relies on the quality of their makeup product. Their shadows are known to be pigmented and blendable. They also enjoy giving their products fruity and chocolaty scents and names, while at the same time heavily focusing on the packaging and presentation of the makeup products. This is how they primarily engage their customer base because customers see something that no other brands offer. 

On the other hand talk about one of Too Faced’s employee’s comments has spurred outrage from the beauty community. As of now, multiple articles have been written denouncing the whole company as transphobic because of the comments. For instance, one article I found from Nylon.com was claiming that not only were the comments transphobic but that the “beauty community is vowing to boycott the brand for good”. On Instagram, various makeup enthusiasts were disgusted by the employee’s comments and were claiming that perhaps the bran’s name of “Too Faced” was fitting and well thought out because they were engaging in two-faced behavior. Lastly, I found a tweet of the YouTuber that was deeply hurt by the transphobic comments of Too Faced. In the tweet, she seemed to have expressed deep regret that she ever signed a contract with them and that she ever liked the brand, to begin with.  

Too Faced is a makeup company they sell products ranging from palettes all the way to skincare and primers that enhance the effectiveness of their makeup. Being rejected and called out by the beauty community is extremely bad for them because that is where their customers come from.

Too Faced’s marketing heavily relies on its partnership with brands and Instagram/youtube influencers. For instance, Too Faced has a partnership with both Ulta Beauty and Sephora where they offer exclusive items that aren’t offered anywhere else. In regards to their partnerships with influencers, this is by far the most important part of their marketing strategy because they essentially have beauty influencers review their products on their channel which exposes their audience to the products and bring attention to the brand. Because this is Too Faced’s primary marketing strategy, the recent scandal with the trans YouTuber looks bad on them because all that past great work of influencer raving about the brand and quality is undone.

However, the company didn’t just let their good name go to waste, just after the scandal Too Faced quickly responded by letting go of the employee who had made those horrible comments to let their customers know that this wasn’t something they were supporting. I think this was a good decision on their part because the scandal was starting to ruin their image. You can’t always control what people within your company do and when someone does something wrong it is good to show their customers that that is not something they stand for or tolerate. 

If I were a brand manager I would have done something similar. The first step was to definitely let go of the employee that made the comments. I would have taken it a step further by putting out a public apology regarding what was said. Aside from that, I would take steps to make the brand more inclusive and supportive of people that are part of the LGBTQ. 

What I took away from this assignment is that it is important to listen to your customer base whenever they are saying something good or bad about your brand because scandals have the potential to completely shatter your brand’s image. It is also more than just listening but acting according to the criticisms you are receiving and making things right. 

Marketing in the News

About a week ago, I was tasked with an assignment of finding a marketing-related news article. It was difficult at first because not many well-known media outlets publish on such a specific subject, normally they tend to focus on politics and whatever is viral at the moment. After scrolling through several google pages I came across MarketingDive.com which is a site that publishes marketing stories on successful business decisions of well-known brands.

I came across an interesting article on Alaska Airlines that caught my attention because I love traveling. Alaska Airlines is a company I respect and am familiar with as I have had the opportunity to fly with them various times before. 

The article itself specifically spoke about how the airline company is currently having a promotion and offering discounted flight tickets depending on the projected intensity of Northern Lights by a local university. An important take-away is that popular northern airline company understands how crucial of a tourist attraction this is for the state of Alaska and the many destinations they fly to. Not only that this promotion does an excellent job at taking advantage of this time of year to increases sales and incentivize travel. However, this isn’t the first time Alaska Airlines has employed this genius data use tactic, last November they used surf forecasting data to determine flight discounts to Hawaii. This is another excellent example of how to utilize a tourist attraction and create a promotion to get people's interest. 

As a previous Alaska Airlines passenger, I would say their value proposition lies within part of its name. They are an airline that offers flights in the pacific northwest regions at a very reasonable price. Unlike other airlines like United and Spirit, they provide good on flight service, their airplanes are quite comfortable and some providing tech entertainment. Like most airlines, they highly value safety and limiting risks. The best part about Alaska Airlines is that they are well-known for frequently offering all types of discounts and promotions from time to time which is great for the consumers. 

The marketing relevance of this article is centered around their promotion which in my opinion acts as a great sales strategy. The article explains how their use of forecast data on the Northern Lights led them to discount their flights in hopes that this link would incentivize travel to wintery destinations and experience the natural phenomenon.

The main challenge they are attempting to overcome with this promotion is the decreased amount of travel during the month of January now that the New Year has begun and the holidays are over. 

The approach they took was unique in the sense that they utilized weather forecasting data to provide their customers the opportunity to experience a beautiful natural phenomenon during a slow travel season. Instead of hiking up prices during an important event, they did the opposite and lowers prices for their customers’ benefit.

I believe this was a great marketing approach by linking science data to prices for their customers to get the greatest experiences at such an unexpected month to travel. The most important thing I learned from this article was how useful data can be in the marketing world not just to create important decisions regarding what interests people but also to get people’s attention.

Article Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/alaska-airlines-ties-airfare-discounts-to-northern-lights/570365/

Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Patricia and I am a dual-enrolled student here at both LBCC and OSU. A little bit about my background. I was born in small-town near Havana, Cuba and when I was around 10-years old I moved to the US. I lived up in Beaverton OR for a good part of my life after I got to the US. Just recently in the past 2-years, I moved down to Corvallis to become a full-time college student and hopefully obtain my degree. I enrolled in this course mainly because it is a requirement for all Accounting and Business majors like myself. I specifically decided to take it this term because I thought it would pair well with some of the other classes I am taking. One of the main things that I look forward to learning about marketing is how to closely work with a client, interpret their business concept, and to come up with a unique form to reach out to their customer base. Surprisingly enough for a future Accountant, something I am really passionate about is getting creative and designing digital houses in my free time. I like coming up with interesting floorplans and experimenting with cool interior designs. My goal in the future is to be able to turn some of my digital creations into reality.