Getting My Mojo On For Valentine’s Day

By Jordan Lofton - February 14th, 2012 Category: CCMBA 2012| Semester 3: Dubai

Today I thought I’d spend a little bit of time going over some emotional marketing techniques…ones that Mojo won’t be teaching us in class.  I got this little idea when I opened up my web browser and Google greeted me with a very emotional story of a little boy who just wants to impress his lady friend as she jumps rope.  What would any little boy do in such a situation? He’d buy his beloved presents using Google to search for just the right gift.  Alas, his lady love was not impressed by these trinkets.  In defeat the young man begins to jump rope beside his lady love and then and only then does she recognize he is the man for her.  Now this is a story that appeals to Google users.  Men desperately searching for things to impress their lady on a day that undoubtedly brings stress to any man in a relationship, and women (at least in theory) really just wants a sweet guy to “jump rope” with.  What did this make me want to do?  It made me want to run a Google search!

Search criteria = Outrageous Valentine’s Day Marketing…see results as follows:

  1. Ladies, if your man orders a pizza from Pizza Hut today and seems to be taking an extra long time with the order, don’t be too pushy.  You know how good things come in small boxes?  Well this year that is particularly true!  Pizza Hut has a Valentine’s day special where the pizza comes with a ruby ring!  Not only that it’s delivered in a limo and comes with champagne, a photographer, videographer, and fireworks show!  How much does your man have to love you to do this for you?  About $10,010 apparently.  Yes…apparently you still have to pay for the pizza.

http://www.pizzahut.com/proposal.html

Siiigggghhh, oh the romance of it all.  I imagine the phone call to my parents would go something like this:

“Mom you won’t believe it.  Mr. Wonderful was ordering a pizza for dinner and for some reason he was taking an insane amount of time to ask for my relatively simple order of a thin crust whole wheat, low fat veggie pizza with extra sauce and half the cheese, no olives and extra hot peppers.  I was giving him a hard time because it’s really not that hard of an order.  He said he had to go pick it up which defeats the whole purpose of delivery.  Then a limo pulled up and he was in it with the pizza.  All I could think was, ‘Jeez, he’s so high maintenance.  Making them drop him off in a limo, with a bunch of paparazzi.  What a diva!’   Then he got out and bent down on one knee and opened the pizza box!  And there was the pizza!  He got the order right!  And there in the middle of my perfectly delicious, fresh, $10 pizza, was a ruby ring!  And Mr. Wonderful said, ‘Baby, I think I got your order right this time!’”

 I’ve thought about that a little too much.  Hmm…not sad…at all.  Sorry, I got carried away in the romance.

2. Gentlemen, lest you thought the marketers forgot about you this Valentine’s day rest assured Hooters always has a little something special for you.  That’s right, Hooters knows how much you like women in short shorts and tight white tank tops, and if you’re a Japanese business man…well…they know how much you love Hello Kitty.  You put those two things together and you have a  winning Valentine’s day promotion in Tokyo!  Gentlemen, there is nothing like this Pussycat Doll.  Hello Kitty in a Hooters outfit…now that’s the stuff dreams are made of.  How can you get in on this erotic offer?  Well, other than the flight to Tokyo from you current locale, you will need to order the “Volcano of Love”.  In return Hooters will give you a pin with Hello Kitty x Hooters.  This is only for the first 1,000 guests who order the “Volcano of Love”.  Gosh, I guess that means time is running out…better get that Kitty!

 http://eater.com/archives/2012/02/07/hello-kitty-becomes-a-hooters-girl-for-valentines-day.php

 Lastly, because I love you guys, and this is supposed to be a somewhat serious and useful blog, I figured I’d throw in something that might actually be useful to your marketing education.  And believe it or not it actually has to do with emotional marketing, from a company that has capitalized on it to build the Valentine’s Day empire.  They have a practice they call “The Value Star” and it works a little something like this: Equity, Experience, Energy, Money, and Product.

As you can see the star has rational (Money & Product) and emotional (Equity, Experience, Energy) components.  The “Emotional Es”, as Hallmark calls them, are what they use to appeal to their customers.  Hallmark has emotional marketing down to a science.  I could try to explain it to you here, or I could empower you this Valentine’s Day to read the full version for yourself.  I’m not copping out, I’m just so in love with my Starbucks’ slides that I have to cut this short to get my groove on.  So here’s wishing you some passionate marketing dreams this evening.

http://books.google.com/books?id=lo3ebx7rZ_kC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=valentine’s+day+emotional+marketing&source=bl&ots=3e3I2DWXho&sig=vBBfjXE6ai6Z83xb_u18nV169Vo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=V-I5T8m4EMy4tweIyLHWCg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=valentine’s%20day%20emotional%20marketing&f=false

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Islam- Interfaith Series- Article #1

By Jordan Lofton - February 12th, 2012 Category: CCMBA 2012| Semester 3: Dubai

It’s Term 3 and we are nearing the half way point in our journey.  One thing about this program that I love is how we’ve all been able to learn from each on so many different aspects.  It’s not just when someone raises their hand in class to share something, but conversations at dinner or breakfast, or even a crazy taxi ride.  Some of those conversations relate to business or skills we’re learning in our MBA, and some just have to do with learning more about people.

In CCL we learn about economic, social, and political tensions in each region we visit.  Something I’ve noticed is that no matter where you go religion in a given region, or even lack of religion, plays a role in each of the three tensions.  Because of the unique framework of the CCMBA and the diverse class we have a wonderful opportunity to ask and answer questions about a topic that is often avoided in a business setting, but undoubtedly plays a role…religion.

Our classmate Andy Domenico hosts an Interfaith dinner at each residency, and I had the opportunity to join while we were in Dubai.  The dialogue and discourse of all the different faiths is amazing.  Just at our dinner table alone we had Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists.  I am firmly convinced that if 20 or more of the CCMBA class can sit around and share each other’s faiths calmly then there is some hope out there for the rest of the world to do the same.

With that in mind I reached out to some of our classmates to see if they would share some information about their religion with the class.  What I think we’ll all see with this series is that there is so much we all have in common.  No matter where you go, no matter what your beliefs, we can all learn a little bit from each other.

To start off we have Tarick Gamay sharing with us about Islam.

  1. What is your religion or faith?

Muslim.

2. Were you born into this faith or did you choose to convert to this faith?  If you were born into the faith, describe how your faith was developed as a child.  If you chose to convert to this faith describe what drew you to this faith.

I was born into the faith. As a child, my parents had me practice the basic tenants of Islam. Our religion teaches that a person becomes responsible for his or her actions once puberty is reached. So at that age, I began fasting and praying. When I was in college, I began to explore the religion and question it to make sure that my beliefs were in-line with what made sense to me. I didn’t just want to blindly believe in something, I wanted to have knowledge with the understanding that only that could strengthen my faith.

3. Do you believe in a god(s)?

Yes. We believe in one God. In Islam, God is referred to as Allah. It is not some magical name that was randomly invented, but rather the Arabic word for God. The word Allah is very powerful in Arabic because it signifies the oneness and uniqueness of Him.

      4. Do you have a concept of “salvation”?  If so, how is that obtained?

 Not sure about this one, so I checked out Wikipedia: “Salvation” in Islam refers to the eventual entrance to heaven. The word does not cover the possible entry to hellfire, or the different levels of hellfire and heaven. The Quran teaches that the only thing guaranteeing no salvation is a disbelief in the “One God”; associating others with God,

Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed.[Quran 4:48]”

5. What are some ways that believers of your faith practice on a daily basis?

Definitely prayer is the most important daily faith practice. I have only recently come to realize the significance of remembering God as often as possible via prayer. It puts all of my worries and anxieties to rest and helps me focus on the big picture. Although prayer in Islam is more regimented than other religions, it is simply a way to remember God throughout the day with the body, mind and soul.

 6. What is/are some common mis-conception(s) about your faith?  Can you share an explanation to clarify this misconception?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Islam is that we don’t recognize other religions’ prophets or texts. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We recognize Adam, Moses, Jesus, Abraham, etc., we simply believe that they were mortal men who professed the oneness of God. Islam also recognizes the original revelations of text from the Bible and Torah, although the belief is that the original word of God was altered by man throughout history.

 

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Jet Lag- The Latest Security Feature

By Jordan Lofton - January 27th, 2012 Category: CCMBA 2012| Semester 3: Dubai

The ORIGINAL Team Double Deuces will attest that my life is somewhat unusual.  If there aren’t strangers at Starbuck’s talking to me about aliens, then there is a man urinating on my front yard as our team meeting is about to begin.  Or perhaps my 20 year old kitty cat will decide to give her opinion in the middle of the team call with a “Sqqquuuaaaccckkkkk”.  So this story will come as no surprise to them.  It’s just one in a million in the crazy things that happen to J.Lo.

This story is about the benefits of jet lag.  Until last night I thought there were none.  I hate lying in bed wide eyed during the middle of the night, and I hate even more trying to catch up on hundreds of work emails while falling asleep.  I think I’m able to survive residencies because the pace is so quick that I hit the ground running.  There is no time to think about jet lag when you’re being cold called or on a trip to a Mosque.

I arrived back in the States on Monday, along with about 20 other classmates flying Delta 7.  (Shout out to the party plane!)  Now, I need to tell you this part, which at first seems trivial, but in the grand scheme of my life becomes the central part of our story.  I had decided to take an originating flight out of Gainesville, Florida to catch the non-stop in Atlanta to Dubai.  That saved me about $800.  Since my Grandmother and aunts live in Gainesville I also had an excuse to visit.  I’ve been staying with my grandmother, heretofore called Nonnie, for the last few days.

Nonnie is about as cute as they come.  I tower a full 6 inches over her white hair which means when I hug her she nestles snuggly into my neck.  She asked me if I would sleep in her bed with her (because she was feeling lonely) and this is how I first learned of her bed time security ritual.

It begins with first making sure all of the doors are locked and dead bolted.  On the front door she then hangs a cow bell which if an intruder somehow managed to move the door even a hair will clank.  In front of the door she then places the dog carrier.  Then to her bedroom she goes.  The bedroom door is then locked.  She then sets the security alarm.  To additionally secure the door she places an old shower rod across it to bar the door.  If someone should then get into the room, she showed me a metal bar which she would use to subdue her attacker.  Nonnie’s dachshund, Hershey, is then called to the bed to sleep with her, so that her terrifying bark will provide further alarm.  This system actually does make you feel like you’re in a Fort Knox like situation, and you sleep soundly without any fear of invasion.

Since I’ve come back on Monday I somehow have managed to make it through a full work day each day, but I have been a goner by about 8pm EST.  I have been waking up at 3 or 4 am and trying to make myself drift back to sleep.  Last night I managed to make it to about 10pm before falling asleep in my Emirates Airlines T-shirt on the couch.  Nonnie woke me up and I stumbled my way into bed and I heard her go through her normal routine.

Three thirty AM.  I awaken to the house alarm going off!  Nonnie is in the bathroom and I jump out of bed!  I’m awake.  It’s 12:30pm in Dubai.  I AM AWAKE!!!  The security company calls.  Nonnie picks up the phone.
“Yes, this is Jane X. “
“Well that’s strange we’re in that room.”

“No I don’t see anything. I think we’re ok.  I think the alarm would have scared them.”

I am talking to her as she’s talking to the security company.  “Nonnie, tell them to send a police car to check the outside of the house and cruise the neighborhood.”

“Maybe just send a car to patrol the neighborhood once.”, she tells the operator non-chalantly.  All of the sudden the woman with a million locks is Arnold Schwartzenegger.  I am imagining my Nonnie breaking out with some Jackie Chan moves if there is still some perp lerking around.  Not likely.  More likely, the black beans I fed Nonnie for dinner combined with the stress of an intruder will cause her to produce noxious fumes.  (Yup, I’m an MBA candidate.  Note to self, build model for likely Nonnie vs Intruder outcomes.)

Nonnie gets off the phone, and again proves she is braver than initially thought.  She puts on her little cover up so she is not seen in her nighty.  She walks over to the bedroom door and opens it right up.  All the time, I’m wired and going “Nonnie, Nonnie, wait…we should wait for the police to come.  Wait, where’s the metal bar.”

Nonnie isn’t listening to me though.  She just sashays right on out to the living room turning on lights as I poke around under the bed looking for the metal bar.  I find the bar.  EUREKA we have protection….or maybe not.  Come to find out that the metal bar is the broken part of a wind chime.   It’s a hollow aluminum tube which is about four hand lengths long. 

That’s ok, I’m jet lagged!  This perp doesn’t know what’s gonna hit him.  He’s probably tired or at best wired on the latest narcotic.  But I have jet lag on my side and a somewhat short aluminum tube. 

Nonnie leads the way.  Mainly because I couldn’t stop her from going to more doors and windows to check them.  She’s like a little 5’2” leprechaun.  Every time I’d get over to protect her at one exit she’d be at the next.  “Jeez Louis woman, just hold still and wait for the police.”

Finally the police officer comes to the door.  Nonnie stands on her tippy toes to look through the peep hole and I crane my neck up to look through the top of the door.  “It’s okay Nonnie, I see his badge.”  I say standing behind her slowly lowering the bar.

The police officer checks around the house and reports back that everything is fine.  “It’s probably just the wind.” Him and my grandmother agree.  In the mean time I have figured out that if I were to hold the bar in a certain way it would like the barrel of a pistol.  I am debating about whether or not it is safer to claim it is a gun and “I’m not afraid to use it.”, or should I continue with it as a wind chime/thwacking device. 

We go through our little ritual of securing the doors and locking ourselves in the bedroom.  I put the phone and the wind chime on the bed in between us.  I think “I could put it underneath the covers and it would look like a gun if I pointed it out.  That way they couldn’t tell if it was a gun or not.  Although I might need to rethink my warning message.  I’m sure that would be a funny enough site for the perp to walk in on two women in bed with something poking up out of the sheets.”

And so, with my jet lag I laid back down, brainstorming ways to clobber an intruder.  Nonnie fell back to sleep and after about an hour I did too. 

So as you see, jet lag was quite useful.  I thought with a clear mind, and was clearly championing this whole situation.  No one is getting past this chica and her Nonnie.  So here’s to 9 hours of jet lag and all the security and mental toughness it brings.

Thus ends yet another typical day in my “normal” life.

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