Reflection

So this is it, the semester has finally dawned a pond us and let me just tell you, it hasn’t been a walk in the park.  For this post I’m going to recap my experiences in the class.  In class we were assigned a couple of task to accomplish for the duration; a practice marketing computer simulation which we worked in groups on, writing a strategic plan for the simulation, presentations, creating an ad, and of course creating this awesome blog for all who are interested,

            For the practice marketing simulation we were to create our own backpacks and market them to see how much profit we make.  The main objective was to experience marketing first hand.  One of the more basic things that I understand is how valuable meetings are, we were responsible for meeting every week in order to make decisions for each turn.  In making these decisions you also learned a good portion of what goes into creating and marketing a product.  Market Segmentation, you learn how important each aspect of your product is when looking for a target market, from the raw materials used to where you advertise your product.  Customer satisfaction is the main thing when creating the product, my team focused on this aspect when creating our backpack but also making remembering that we had to remain cost effective in our choices.

            Coming up for the strategic plan for the backpacks that we created gave us structure in terms of how to go about this project.  Writing this paper was also the creation of the company as we created our mission statement, came up with goals, and developed a strategy to reach our target market and obtain accomplish our goals.  Strategic planning is the piece bought this project to life. It allowed me to experience what it feels to enter the introduction stage as you prepare to begin marketing your product. 

            In class we had to do a total of three presentations, two ad presentations and one Ted Talk presentation.  I just so had the fortune of being the first to present an ad in class.  The purpose for this was to get us more comfortable with presenting in front of people because marketing is a large percentage of face to face discussion.  My first presentation was on an old spice commercial, this was a good move because the comedy helped loosing me up before I actually presented.  I still submitted to nerves and began using a couple of fillers which was also a part of the object.  When it came to presenting my Ted Talk, that experience is definitely one that lives as a learning one.  I forgot what I was supposed to say in the middle of presenting and got stuck, that taught me that some things happen that are uncontrollable you have to learn how to adapted when something doesn’t go as planned, in that moment my reaction time wasn’t fast enough and that’s something that I have to practice in order to be better prepared.  My last ad was on a videogame and I feel like that one was the best because it felt more comfortable when I was presenting it. 

            Also for the practice marketing assignment we had to put together a video ad to promote our bags.  This is when branding really came into play in the class. We had to come up with a name that we felt described our brand, and a logo that would be seen as appealing to our target market.   In making the ad, it was very important to pay attention to all aspects of our promotion.  For example we had to do several takes from different angles to give a visual for our bags that shows consumers why our product is desirable.  Making sure that the tone of your scene’s are all in sync with one another or have good transitioning points to make sure viewers are always engaged. 

            This blog has been a great asset for learning this semester.  I used social media for business instead of just pleasure.  When you create a blog you have to understand that you are going to have to market that as well in order to get people to read what you have to say.  Staying updated with what’s going on around was also a take away, when relating chapter topics discussed it’s best to do so with up to date news and that was something that I stuck with during this assignment.  

Today's Promotion

As the semester comes to a close it's only right to promote this show one more time.  Son's of Anarchy is finally over after the seven years it's spent taking it's audience on an emotional roller coaster.  Still looking out for all of those who aren't caught up, no spoilers but I do highly encourage you all to hurry up and get caught up because the ending was amazing.  Thank you for sharing this blog with me.

The Nestlé Empire (#9)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

So you want to talk about a company that has some responsibility looking over marketing channels and supply chains? Fist coming from our good friends Kerin, Hartley, and Rudelius Marketing Channels consists of individuals and firms involved in the process of making a product or services available for use or consumption by consumers or industrial users.  Supply Chain refers to the various firms involved in performing the activities required to create and deliver a product or service to consumers or industrial users.  Nestlé is one of the powerhouse corporations of today not only in the US but worldwide they have products in baby food, coffee, dairy products, breakfast cereals, etc. Here is a little background history provided from our friends over at Nestlé: http://www.nestle.com/aboutus/history/nestle-company-history.

Under that we have one of the most familiar water brands, Poland Springs.  Nestlé tells us that “back to 1845, Poland Spring is the number one bottled water in the northeastern United States.”  This is a confirmation that they still are the best water distributor in this region if you check out the healthy hydration tab.  They distribute to retail stores, clubs, mass, out of home, home & office delivery. 

There’s not too many place you will go and not see some Poland Spring water being sold here on the east coast, trust me I know from experience.  The description that I like the best about Nestlé comes from Wikipedia, even though a lot of people don’t really like that source, it says “In succeeding decades, the two competing enterprises aggressively expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States.”  I like it because it feels so true, the way Nestlé products are distributed throughout the US, what kid didn’t love Nestlé chocolate milk at some point in their adolescence.  For Nestlé chocolate the supply chain for production follows a pretty typical production process but depending on the country and company the process could be really complex.  The first stage in the process is the Primary stage where the cocoa beans are grown, companies will check consignments for quality Nestlé may buy directly from an export warehouse, or go to intermediary suppliers who buy cocoa beans bulk around the world and have them supply to manufacturers.  The next stage is the Secondary where the manufacturing actually happens, this is where the companies bring together the sugar, cocoa, and other raw materials to manufacture the chocolate.  The third and final stage is known as the Tertiary Stage this is the stage when the product actually goes to the retail distributors for final consumption.

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/nestle/from-bean-to-bar-the-production-process/chain-of-production.html

Today's Promotions 

Because it's the season to be jolly I thought this promotion was appropriate.  If your looking for a "Funny" Christmas sweater for this years Christmas party then Tipsy Elves is the website for you.  I don't really think these prices are worth it but I think the art work is pretty comical.  http://www.tipsyelves.com/

http://www.tipsyelves.com/mens-christmas-sweaters

To My Bargain Hunters (# 8)

Season’s Greetings!

Tis the season to be shopping, yes as we all know it’s that time of year again, Thanksgiving is down the street and Christmas is right around the corner.  For businesses this means it’s time to make the real dollars and end the 4^th Quarter on a strong not, for consumers this means Black Friday deals.  Around this time of year businesses present what we call Seasonal Discounts, the technical definition is lower-than-normal prices offered as incentive to buyers to make out-of-season purchases for seasonal goods or services.  Retail stores are ideal to this type of discounting; they make their largest profit throughout the year during the time ranging from Thanksgiving to New Years. 

The National Retail Federation’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey estimates that American shoppers are likely to spend $804.42 each this holiday season, and nearly half of those surveyed say they will spend some of that money shopping online.  These bargain hunters don’t play any games during this time of year.  It makes you wonder if the purpose of the actual Thanksgiving holiday has gotten lost in the propaganda that is big business.  Moving on now, one company that is notorious for success during this time of year to the point where other companies are going to mirror their techniques this season is Walmart.  Last year they administered this technique where they had multiple sales throughout Thanksgiving day into Black Friday to prevent stampeding in their stores.  Let’s not forget about Cyber Monday, to eliminate so much chaos on the streets Cyber Monday was invited.  For those who don’t know this is the Monday right after Black Friday where online discounts will make your credit card say enough is enough. It is estimated that Cyber Monday will be more successful than Black Friday this year because the transition from in store shopping to online

http://www.wbir.com/story/money/personalfinance/ways-2-save/2014/11/17/matt-granite-cyber-monday-knows/19157621/

shopping is at a steady growth.  So go find those bargains and get that Christmas shopping out the way this Black Friday slash Cyber Monday because the deals are there.

Today's Promotions

For all my sneaker heads out there, I know you all know what's dropping this Black Friday, probably the main reason I'll be out and about myself.   Those Black Infrared 6's are definitely making an appears in stores this Friday.  Now for all of my none sneaker wearers who do like the style and are looking at possibly splurging by getting a pair of these please be mindful that there are some fake's lying around out there.  I urge you not to go to just any back store, specially my people out in NYC because any good sneaker head knows all too well that you'll first get beat over your head for the price, and second they're probably some B grades.  So make sure you go out with someone who has experience in this category of shopping,  yes the world of sneakers can be a dark place so know what your getting yourself into.  

http://sneakernews.com/tag/air-jordan-6-black-infrared/

  

In the Mix (#7)

Reporting Live from Fashion Week,

Yes indeed, in this segment we will be talking about fashion, something that I like to think I have a little experience with.  We aren’t going to be talking about just clothing here, the purpose of this is to look at brands and how they operate in order to gain a larger outreach with the hopes of gaining a larger profit.  First vocabulary term that is to be learned is Mixed Branding, here a firm markets products under its own name and that of a reseller because the segment attracted to the reseller is different from its own market. A good example of this would be Marshall’s, for those of you who don’t know Marshall’s Inc. is a chain of American off-price department stores that is owned by a company called TJX, they are the second largest off-price family apparel and home fashion retailer behind its sister company T.J Maxx. The slogan that they go off of at Marshall’s is “Never Pay Full Price for Fabulous,” some of their departments include clothing, shoes, home furnishing, cosmetics, luggage, and tech.  Some of the brands that collaborate with Marshalls are Adidas, American Eagle, Coach, Express, Forever 21, Kenneth Cole, Polo, True Religion etc.  All of these top name brands are willing to mark down their prices for the sake of expanding their market for example if you were to go to the Polo store you spending at least $25 for a shirt were as if you find that same shirt in Marshall’s it will be somewhere along the lines of $12. 

The next term to take note of is multibranding which involves giving each product a distinct name.  I have a really good example for you guys for this one; this actually blew my mind when I discovered this.  We all know Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer; they’re also the biggest

German automaker and the second largest automaker in the world.  What I discovered when looking at their ownership slash multibranding status is that they hold ownership of Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and of course Volkswagon. Audi has been a majority owned (at 99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen Group since 1966, Bentley is a British Luxury automaker who started out under Rolls-Royce Limited in 1931 but then was taken over by Volkswagen AG in 1998, now they hold all rights to the automotive company.  Bugatti was founded by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti in 1909 who then sold the company to Hispano-Suiza in 1963 who then sold the company to Volkswagen Group in July of 1998.  Lamborghini is an Italian brand and manufactuere of luxury sports cars and formerly SUVs, their back drop is a bit different they were actually acquired through Audi in 1998 which means they are technically owned by Volkswagen as well.  It seems to me that Volkswagen is trying to snatch up all of the top name luxury car companies any chance they get, can you say monopolistic (cough cough).

Today’s Promotions

It’s the final season and Sam Crow is unleashing hell in poor little Charming California, I don’t know how much more of this that town can take.  After last season shocking season finally (no spoilers for those who watch and aren’t caught up) know Jax and the rest of the gang have got themselves in some situations that don’t look too promising for them but we know the Men of Mayhem will find some way to slip through the cracks as they always do.  I just hope there aren’t any casualties.  This show is featured on FX for those who don’t know, and tonight is the premiere of the 9^th episode at 10pm, the way the last episode ended the suspense is killing all lovers of the show.  I can’t wait to see what Jax and the rest of the Redwood Original Reapers have up their sleeves as their timeline comes to an end.  You can start your crusade from the first season on Hulu.  

What's New (#6)

Hey All,

So today’s segment is going to talk about what’s new but first there must be an understanding of the product life cycle.  The life cycle describes the stages a new product goes through in the marketplace first is the Introduction stage which is pretty self-explanatory note that during this period sales grow very slowly and profit is definitely at a minimum because your product hasn’t earned it’s strips yet.  Next is the Growth stage, this is when your product has made a name for itself and there is rapid increases in sales (whoop whoop),  next is the Maturity stage which places your product in veteran status as a slowing of total industry sales or product class revenue occurs.  Last is the Declining stage which like the introduction stage is pretty self-explanatory, your sales begin to drop.   This is the Product Life Cycle in a nutshell if I do say so myself, all managers must be aware of what stage their products are in, in order to keep a handle on how much profit they should be making. 

On to business, I’m sure most of you have heard about livestream, if not they were formerly known as Mogulus, their purpose is streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet.  Livestream has been making some real noise in the business world as of lately, they were recently featured on Forbes list ranking in at #86 on America’s Most Promising Companies (2013), I feel confident that this number is rising to the occasion.  In another more recent article from Forbes titled “How to Reach the Six Billion Customers You’re Missing” Livestream is featured as a high-growth company.  In the article is says “Livestream, which counts Facebook and The New York Times among clients, has boosted sales by 613% over the past three years.  The company is at the forefront of streaming content via the Internet.”  613% is a hell of a number to boost sales in the course of three years.  Because Livestream is an internet based business reaching international customers is a natural extension of their business, the article goes on to say “Its two marquee clients alone allow the company to reach millions of international viewers,” so the question that lays in front of the company now is: Where should go next?  This is probably a question that every company wishes they were asked, the growth of Livestream shows us how consumers are shifting away from television and more towards live internet broadcasting, my god how scary technology is now-a-days.  This company is an innovator who is powering through the livestream industry; you can practically say that they are the creators of this fast growing industry. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/04/01/how-to-reach-the-six-billion-customers-youre-missing/

Today’s Promotions

So if you’re a video gamer you will fall under the category of a Call of Duty (COD) person or a Battlefield.  For me personally I am definitely a COD guy and I know all of my fellow COD players enjoyed double XP weekend that just past, I definitely peaked in Ghost this weekend.  But the most important thing you should know if you don’t know already is Call of Duty Advanced Warfare has been released today! Advanced Warfare is the eleventh primary installment in the COD series and the first developed primarily by Sledgehammer Games but unfortunately they didn’t develop for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.  Those who pre ordered were rewarded with a Day Zero Edition that released yesterday; it featured double XP for the first day and two exclusive guns.  Here is the commercial advertisement to get you all excited! And just so you know, yes that is Kevin Spacey you hear and see. 

Market Segmentation (#5)

So you today I’m going to teach you all about Market Segmentation and how that plays a role in companies.  Market Segmentation involves aggregating prospective buyers into groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action.  This is a very important part of how organizations operate because this is what decides who your product or service will be most appealing to.  There are 5-steps in segmenting and targeting markets.

Step 1:  You group the potential buyers into segments.  Buyers within a segment should have similar characteristics to each other and respond similarly to marketing actions like a new product or a lower price. 

Step 2:  You put related products to be sold into meaningful groups. 

Step 3:  Organizations develop a market-product grid with estimated sizes of markets in each of the market-product cells of the resulting table.

Step 4:  Selecting the target market segments on which the organization should focus. 

Step 5:  Involves taking marketing mix actions-often in the form of a marketing program to reach the target market segments. 

Some of the bases used to segment consumer markets include geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral ones. 

            The company that I want to focus on because I’m a proud user of the brand is Samsung; they are in the race for the crown with Apple in the mobile market.  Samsung’s market segmentation has three levels

 1) Strategic Segmentation- vision, strategic intent and product benefits

 2)Managerial Segmentation- resource allocation, alignment and planning

 3)Operational Segmentation- marketing programs such as advertising, sales and distributions. 

http://www.academia.edu/6393045/Samsung_electronics_market_and_analysis

The activities of market segmentation are exactly the same as those in the actual process but they value opportunities, new market space, matching value requirements with capabilities, market targeting and strategic positioning.  Samsung main focuses on lifestyle and demographic variables in segmenting their market.  They has different levels of segmentation for their products that are targeted to different markets of consumers who have common characteristics, the four segments are Segment Marketing, Nich Marketing, Local Marketing, and Individual Marketing.  In each of these they look at Geographic Segmentation (Region, City), Demographic Segmentation (Age, Family Size, Gender, Income, Occupation, Education), and Psychographic Segmentations (Lifestyle, Personality). 

http://maktechblog.com/samsungs-strategy-for-mobile-market-segment/

            In their race to be crowned king Samsung has been a leader in innovation and also very efficient in regards to their products.  They regularly introduce new models in all segments in every 4 to 6 months, they were the first to introduce “mini,” “mega,” and “zoom” concept in the mobile market.  This benchmark was created with the introduction of Samsung Galaxy S series for all in one entertainment, Galaxy Youth/Star for young generations, Galaxy Note series for professionals, Galaxy Zoom for phot enthusiasts and Galaxy Grand for budget friendly buyers.  Samsung is always trying to lure customers in with their perks for example they brought keyboards in 9 Indian languages to market to Indian users.  This is just a very small example of how Market Segmentation plays a role in the world that we live in today, there are thousands of other examples of how companies choose what markets to target with their products. 

Today’s Promotion

Sooo Microsoft is jumping into the smart watch market pretty soon with the new product that is now in the works.  It has been said that Microsoft will be releasing their new product to the public in the next few weeks to come, so if you’re looking for a cool gadget to get someone for the holidays here’s something to look into.  The price of the watch is yet to be determined along with the name.  It is said that this gadget will passively track a wearer’s heart rate and work across different mobile platforms, it will also boast a batter life of more than two days of regular which is a better life span than Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and Moto 360 which both only last for a day.  In interest to see what other cool thinks this smart watch is going to be able to do and also how it’s actually going to look on someone's wrist. Click the link attached to the photo to read more about this gear. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/10/19/microsoft-wearable-smartwatch/

Brands (#4)

Greetings Earthlings!

            Coming to you live from the world of Marketing, I wonder how you all are doing on this evening that I write to you all.  Today’s agenda we’ll be looking at the awesomeness that is branding.  For those of you who don’t know branding is the marketing decision in which an organization uses a name, phrase, design, symbols or combination of these to identify it’s products and distinguishes them from those of competitors.  We all know a product brand when we see it for example the golden arches of McDonald’s or that good old check mark that is Nike. One product that has great brand equity when I think about it comes from Johnson & Johnson; Band-Aids are exactly what they sound like.  They are adhesive bandages that help protect your warrior scars, the significance behind this is how we give it recognition.  Majority of people refer to bandages as Band-Aids without regard to the actual brand that you are using, this is how you create what I like to call

‘Dominant Brand.’  As you can see on the Johnson & Johnson bandage packaging there actual name is very small and not to revealing the focus is all on the brand name and the actual product.  Their marketing strategy has been very effective over the years. 

            

            Another brand that people refer to a lot but doesn't necessarily have the same type of superiority as Johnson & Johnson is Kodak, who was the leader in the photography industry.  In the late 90’s Kodak began to lose their edge because they were reluctant to use innovation which they had the resources to propel them forward but they wanted to stick with using photographic film when new companies were emerging with digital film.  Now Kodak focuses on packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services for businesses around the world.  Its main business segments are Digital Printing, Enterprise & Graphics, Entertainment, and Commercial Film. In their rain of power and sometimes still used today whenever there is a beautiful moment at play in the universe people like to say “That’s a Kodak Moment.”  Taglines are used in marketing to fulfill task such as the one that Kodak fulfilled, that came up with this catchy slogan that appealed to consumers of all ages and ran with it.  A tagline if you don’t know is just another word for a slogan for example Uncle Sam’s famous ‘We Want You” phrase that is

seen across America when it’s election time, which by the way will be coming up in another year.   

Today’s Promotion

So in big news for all those Apple brand lovers, the company is making another innovative move with the start of their new pay system.  The way it works you have a finger scanner that recognizes you finger print and in participating store’s you can just purchase your items through your phone, also you can hold your phone up to the register and have the cashier scan the bar code which I can’t even lie being an Android lover is pretty neat.  Tim Cook announced on Thursday that on Monday, October 20^th the company will be launching this new system on their iPhone 6’s so if you’re an apple lover and have yet to upgrade here’s something else that will motivate you.  Cook let us know that roughly 500 banks will be participating in this system so the chances of you bank being one of them are very high, also the retailers that are participating in this event so far are Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Staples, and Whole Foods.  Some large trademark companies when you think about it which helps apple be more dominant than they already are today.  Click on the link provided below to go to the article to read more about this awesome new feature that Apple is bringing to the table and also to watch a video on it.  

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2014/09/11/apple-iphone-apple-pay-safer-than-plastic.cnnmoney/index.html