Of Marketing Strategies and Brand Loyalty

So... I received this in my mail today... as a good Toyota Merit member, I was offered 3 vouchers for RM1,000 discount for Camry, Fortuner & Wish, RM800 discount for an Altis, Innova or Rush and RM500 discount for Avanza, Vios and Hilux. Apparently, it is offered to me and my immediate family members.

Little did they know that I've let go of my Molly months ago when we've decided that I'm staying home and don't think I would live 'comfortably' with a Molly and new baby in tow. Furthermore, I was able to become a Merit member because the former company I was working with had paid for all the maintenance and the monthly instalments. So, it was easy breezy then.

I've come across many clever marketing strategy as this, with many sounding as fake, as this too hehe. Well, I guess the voucher would be handy if any of my immediate family member would want to get a Toyota. And I guess they are less fake as the vouchers are valid til end of the year.

Anyway, talking about marketing strategy, I think another one that sounds really fake is Hong Leong Bank. They already sent me 2 mailers to spend around RM4k every month for 3 months, all in order to get a free luggage bag or something for free. The thing is, if I can spend RM4k a month every month, don't you think I can buy one on my own? I could even just spend that few hundred bucks on a luggage instead of spending a total of RM12k for 3 months!

Recently, they sent another mailer asking me to spend more in order to win other stuff.

I think they should hire a new set of marketing staff for their marketing department. They should all in fact, hold other credit cards especially Citibank or say, CIMB, and such, so that they are aware of the other many more subtle marketing strategies. When I saw their mailer, they all go straight into the bin. They sound so fake and very insincere... not something that they should reward their loyal customers with.

To be fair to Toyota, I think their marketing bit is wonderful, on a whole. My brother owns a Honda but they don't get all these 'personalised' stuff. Since I own that piece of Altis 2 years ago, there were so many privileges offered. Even simple things like inserts into duit raya envelopes before raya and personalised post-it notes on my birthday are stuff that binds brand loyalty. What made me sayang Toyota so much is the very efficient support service for emergency situations like if you meet with an accident or your battery suddenly go dead. The operator gives you very useful tips and advise and will always call you back when they say they would. The maintenance guy will come promptly and calls you direct. Very assuring service.

Unfortunately, when I let go of my Molly for a comfy SAHM life, the Rush is too much for a SAHM and a Vios is waaay too small for a soccer mom. But, the one and I have agreed that the next time we buy a car, we'd definitely get a Toyota simply because they have such an original way of thanking their loyal customers and they set such high standards that goes along well will their reknowned reputation.

In other developments, brand-loyalty wise, we have also switched from using Buds to Johnson's & Johnson's for little jj. We were told during our ante-natal classes of the benefits of using Buds as opposed to other baby products for the early stages of a baby's growth, simply because of their safe ingredients (no mineral oil, sans parabens and stuff). But it gets a little too frustrating since a couple of months ago when they seem to show so many distribution problems maybe... or that they have not managed their inventory efficiently. We are always out of her body lotion or diaper cream and that sucks. Recently, even the body wash seem to be out of stock every where we go - the many Mothercare outlets, Mamours, and even those baby shops in 1U. So, since little jj is coming into her 6th month this month, we would like to believe that her skin is already pretty strong and it wouldn't hurt to use J&J, a brand name that has been with us since we were babies... I mean, as long as I don't use their Baby Oil that contains mineral oil, I should think we'd all be fine.

the bedtime range... they now have baby powder in this range.

So, last weekend when I was in the baby section of Jusco, I went bonkers on the many scents and types of product on one range. I mean, she's becoming like mommy now, with different moisturisers for different time of day - she's using the original pink lotion during the day and the night time moisturiser after her evening sponge. And I love, I love, I soo love the night time powder as well. The smell is so amazingly relaxing and I really think the product works since she'd always want to go to sleep immediately after we prep her up after that evening sponging.

I especially love her smell after we layer her with minyak telon and the bedtime powder. She smells so heavenly, errr except when you smell the back of her head... she still has that musty baby smell. Hehe.

See, even the famous minyak telon can be found almost everywhere. The thing is with wanting to be a good brand, Buds should also reconsider their distribution channels and a more effective way of managing their inventory. A loyal customer can easily get frustrated especially since there are many other good brands out there with the many range offered.

Urrghh... I gotta cook lunch already.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Buds.. the only thing I buy from that range is the bottle and vegetable washer. Hmm.. must remember to start stocking up on those now.

The Wan And Only said...

Oh no... Molly's gone??

Unknown said...

minyak telon tu apa ye? huhuuhu pernah dengar, tapi tak pernah pakai...

I agree with you, marketing strategies in Malaysia sucks... I've been watching TV3, and what I hate most is CIMB credit card ad yg mengajar org berbelanja walaupun takde duit... also Citibank CC using music instruments as their ad. anak dia nak violin, tp kat rumah dah ada grand piano. kalau dah ada grand piano, takkan tak blh beli violin cash? just like you said, kalau boleh spend 4K, takkan takleh beli beg tu satu? takkan beli grand piano pun guna citibank gold/platinum tu? tak masuk akal...

It's so much different here that plastic is not as favourable as in Malaysia or the US, or perhaps in other Asian countries too. We should change our lifestyle, kalau tak perlu CC, tak payah la kan? guna jer duit yang ada... kalau guna CC sikit2 takpe la, tp kalau dah tau ada CC dlm wallet, boleh ke tahan tangan tu? ehhehe...

toughcookie said...

harlow woman,
you must stock up la... takut abis.

azmir,
terpaksa la dude... if i want to stay home like this and not worry much about $$$, i had to let it go. not worth being a slave to money. now, money works for me hehe... macam la kaya raya LOL but at least i can relax la.

i got a better one now... suitable for a soccer mom. guess la what car. and paying only 1/3 of Molly's monthly instalments.

dearest chocfudge,
minyak telon tu wajib oooii... hehe. ala, it's like a massage oil for babies to make them feel warm. you letak kat ubun2 dia, tapak kaki dia, dada dia and perut. it's pretty good and i so love the smell. indon mari.

oh you are so right about them ads. memang bodo kan. especially the great malaysia 'savings' sale tu. HALO... apa savings nye kalau berbelanja. in the end, since you get the discount, you buy things that you wouldn't even buy in the first place before discount. boleh pun hidup kan.

oh yang piano tu memang kelakar hehe. but i guess that is targeted for gold card holders and above. the ad agencies sure dah buat research about their lifestyle cuma mebbe tak berapa berkesan their message sebab tak go direct to their target audience. kira tak efficiently spend their advertising budget la tu hehe. geeshh... i can be a media consultant too. heh.

now that i'm staying home, my CC bills memang memeranjatkan. never knew i could actually cut my spending to more than 80%. kalau dulu masa kerja i buat macam ni, dah lama i senang lenang early retirement ;P