Week 9 EOC: 3 Great Mission Statements

The three mission statements that I found the most interesting were written by Kayleigh A Bloomfield, Holly Vivian Burke, and Tharindu Wijesekara. In my opinion these three mission statements were well thought out, and written very well. In Kayleigh’s mission statement I thought she did a great job of targeting her market and their needs when she stated, “Our mission is to pin pointing the needs of our target market, males between the ages of 18 & 27. We plan to not loose sight of the above statement and keeping with the brands classic style all the while providing competitive pricing and exceptional product for our mostly college student target market.” This was a very specific, and well-stated statement that really let me understand where she felt the company needed to be headed. Holly Burke did a great job with her mission statement as well. She stated that the company would “…introduce Fabreeze to a new section of customers. This will take this trusted product to almost universal acceptance as THE must have household necessity.” I believe this to be a strong statement and goal of the company. The third mission statement I enjoyed was Tharindu’s because of its direct and concise approach. He stated. “what we sell is healthy and it gives you strength, and that’s why the customers buy our products before any other products. “ A very simply put, and strong statement that defines his company. Brilliant.

EOC Week 8: Disastrous New Products

There are many products that are made that do not exactly last the test of time. According to Frank Pinto there are 2000 new products that are released to supermarkets every year. Only 5 of these items will actually become a staple item in the market, and the rest will dissapear. I have thought of three items that I think would be very bad ideas to market. Coffee flavored peanut butter. It just sounds all kinds of bad on any sandwich. The second is a touch screen that would attach to your stearing wheel that would allow you to text and drive. A motorist favorite! I am sure you local highway patrol officer would love that one. The third item I have come up with is, a cigarette shaped teething device for babies. Your baby can teeth while developing a new habit all at the same time. All these items are truely horrible, and at least one of them will have the government force you to cease and desist immediately. Hope you enjoy these disastrous ideas. Or not.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

EOC Week 6: 9 Apps

The world of phone apps is ever expanding throughout the market. There is just about an app for anything you can think of. Here are three apps that I believe to be great,  Urbanspoon, iShred LE, and -9-Tool Box. Urbanspoon helps with the ever important question, ‘what are we going to eat’. The app suggest restaurants that meet your criteria for type of food, location and cost. Or, if you're completely undecided, just give it a shake and see what comes up. (howstuffworks).  It also links to the phone’s GPS to locate the restaurant for you. Because I am a musician it is always important to get your ideas down when they come to you. Not always easy to do. IShred LE allows you to make music with your iPhone in a realistic way. The app uses actual guitar sound samples and passes them through your choice of eight effects pedals and a simulated amplifier. (howstuffworks) I am definitely getting this one. 9-Tool Box is an all in one app that can actually be helpful in getting stuff done. It includes a currency converter, date calc, Days until, Holidays, two inclinometer, Loan, My Girl’s Day, Tip Calc, Units, and price grab. Now for three not so great apps. Girlfriend caller is an app that allows you to set up one number for speed dial. That’s it. Help Me is an app that allows you to speed dial emergency numbers. I guess 911 is too long. Pour one out is app that allows the user to pour a virtual 40 ounce of beer. Wow. If I were to develop an app it would be one that would link to Avid’s Media Composer to let me know when files are done exporting. That would be sweet.

EOC Week 5: Best and Worst Superbowl Commercials

If we are discussing the 2011 Super Bowl Commercials, best and worst I think we should start with the best. In my opinion it has to be the Volkswagen ‘Darth Vader’ commercial. I have to admit my take on why I enjoyed this one so much has nothing to do how funny it was or anything like that. It was the sound! Or should I say the lack of sound. The commercial had no dialogue and was solely dependent on its soundtrack. The entire commercial was based on music that moved the story along. The music rises and falls to create feeling and movement that you do not typically see in commercials anymore. It had humor, and really portrayed the vision from a child’s perspective. The interaction between the objects and the child were fantastic. Check it out <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R55e-uHQna0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>.  This commercial will definitely stand the test of time as being one of the best.  Well since we talked about he best commercial, lets look at the worst. The Go Daddy commercial featuring Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels was just so cliché and dumb. I have to admit that I think most of their commercials are bad, but this one really tanked. I understand they are trying to capitalize on Patrick’s and Michael’s sex appeal but really what was the point. It was just a re-hash of all the other “naked” girl commercials they do that really go nowhere. Until I actually went to their site, I was not really sure of the services they provided. I love beautiful women just as much as the next guy, but this is just ridiculous. Maybe it would have been good if they would have done a spin off the previous commercials. No sense of creativity shown. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WqbTpzoagRk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Week 4 EOC: Business to Business Consumer Marketing

When analyzing any market companies must first begin by knowing their demographic, and the particular needs of that demographic. In the consumer market the factors that influence their buying is based any many things. For instance, cultural factors, personal factors, and psychological factors. As the Armstrong and Kotler explain in Marketing: An Introduction, “It requires a deep-down understanding of customer needs and customer-driven marketing strategies that create superior customer value. But that’s about where the similarities end. (reference to business to business). The action of buying from a company’s standpoint can be a long arduous process that requires approvals from many levels. The buying process for the consumer consists of need recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. The process for B2B is much longer including proposal solicitation, supplier selection, orders routine specifications, and performance reviews. The consumer also goes through stages of adoption and diffusion. The process of awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption are part of the consumer experience. In the B2B world there is much more scrutiny involved in this process, which requires many more checks and balances by businesses. In a B2B situation, we see many more influences that the consumer would not have to think of, such as political or regulatory issues. Organizational factors such as procedures and such come into play. The normal consumer does not usually have to think of such things. The business market can be looked at as a few larger companies buying in volume from a manufacturer, rather than a number of smaller companies buying in smaller volume. These companies again have to scrutinize every aspect of buying in bulk, looking at factors such as cost, efficiency, and reliability. These factors are fostered by the manufactures and the business to business relationships they develop.

EOC Making Money for Good

Companies that give to charities, or have direct philanthropy are far more prevalent than people think. It is important to understand that companies can benefit financially through donations and/ or philanthropy through expanding their company’s vision and name in the world. According to Forbes.com "Corporate 'philanthropy' is a really misnomer, because it benefits the company through a number of different ways," says Indiana University's Burlingame, who prefers "corporate citizenship."  (Forbes.com)  One of the best companies known for its philanthropy is Target, owned by Dayton Company, a founding member of the 5% club, which donates 5% of its earnings back to the community.  The following companies are known for their donations around the world, Coca-Cola Fund: $1 million to the Red Cross, United Parcel Service Inc: $1 million in aid, half in cash and half in services,  Lowe’s Cos Inc: Donating $1 million to the Red Cross, Google Inc: Donating $1 million, Bank of America Corp: $1 million, Abbott Laboratories: $1 million in humanitarian aid, including donations of medicines and nutritional products. (http://www.businesspundit.com).  It is easy to see why companies would donate to charities, because of the social implications that go with it. If a company looks bad to the public for something they have done, then they will sometimes make donations to that group to show the public that they do care. It is important to make a good public image to the world, and maintain a high level of integrity. I hate to think of charity as buying something, but for some companies it is. On the other hand you have companies like TOM Shoes that make it a part of their business model to donate to charity. These companies perform at the highest level of charity in my opinion. Who goes into business to give parts of their profits away? Good ones.

Week 3 EOC; My Demographics

Generation X, is defined by, “The 45 million people born between 1965 and 1976 in the “birth dearth” following the baby boom.(Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler). This are my people. To truly understand Gen Xers are defined by the following, “defined as much by their shared experiences as by their age. Increasing parental divorce rates and higher employment for their mothers made them the first generation of latchkey kids. Although they seek success, they are less materialistic; they prize experience, not acquisition. For many of the Gen Xers that are parents, family comes first—both children and their aging parents—and career second (Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler). I have to admit I hit almost every criteria in this statement. My wife and I (both Gen Xers) grew up on opposite sides of the country but still share so many experiences it’s scary.  As far as divorce, I was fortunate to have my parents stay married, only to separated by death. I didn’t know as a child that I was a latchkey kid to many years later as an adult. I thought caring for myself was something that “big boys” did. I have never been materialistic. I am not sure if that is a product of my generation or my parents practical sensibilities, but it exist. Experience has always been key. My younger friends remark to me all the time, “what haven’t you done”. I have never had much, but to be honest, things always seemed like more trouble than they were worth. Being a good son, has always been very important to me. At times more important than my own happiness. As I watched my mother pass away last year the first thought that came to my head was, taking care my father.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

According to the above mentioned article the video game industry is suffering in the current economic market. The value for video games seems to be in question. People seem to be downloading more games for phones and other handheld units rather than buying game consoles. “ … higher sales from used games, digital downloads, games for smart phones and games played over social networks kept video game content sales at $15.4 billion to $15.6 billion for 2010, flat with 2009.” (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Video-Game-Sales-Decline-in-zacks-3332226628.html?x=0&.v=1)  The consoles are very over priced and the more they require add on’s  to play these games seems to be driving the industry further down. According to seeking alpha.com, “declining hardware sales, which declined 13.0% year over year to $6.29 billion “(http://seekingalpha.com/article/247116-video-game-sales-decline-in-2010). As a parent it is impossible to keep up with all the add on’s for each console but it makes more sense to allow my child to play a free game on the internet. According to casualgaming.biz, “The free Lite version of Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 11 million times; YouTube videos relating to the game have topped six million views; and more than 77% of players grab updates when they're made available. (http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/30380/Angry-Birds-iPhone-passes-65m-sales-milestone). Gaming consoles have been a cash cow for a very long time. No longer is this the case. With the IPad, and various multi-format phones that are available there is not that direct need to have a true gaming console. The video game companies need to look at gaming from a different point of view if they want to capture the ever growing market of internet gaming. The ability to enjoy these games, especially for families on the go (such as mine) requires something new. Something to be accessed anywhere, anytime, at the touch of a button.

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

Customer service in my opinion is the greatest value a company can give its customers. Some people look at who has the best price, or who has a better product. Those two things are important and I do not mean to make light of them. In today’s economy everyone is looking for the best deal. Lets think about it for a moment, how does a company keep its customers, especially when companies are lowering prices all the time to get people in the doors. If one store is selling the same item at a lower cost one week they win the customer. If the following week a different store has a lower price, then the customer will shop there instead. So how do we keep customers coming back? They must offer superior customer service to create customer relationships. As a former employee of Nordstrom I saw customer service at its best. “Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. The twofold goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction.” (Marketing: An Introduction p.3)