John Smith

John Smith is faced with a problem that I believe he can fix. By selling the numbers he can help his business get back on the track. Although this may not seem like an easy choice to make I believe it is. The action of selling the numbers to the car company will not be hurting anyone. If he decides to let his business go under then he is hurting people. He will effect not only his own family, but all the different people who work of him as well. I don't think John has an easy choice to make but I would sell the numbers. I do believe that this happens often in businesses. The economy still isn't great and I think people are willing to do a lot for their business.

Do you think you would sell the numbers?

Response to Sean

Could John turn this deal down and stay in business? If yes, how so?

I agree with Sean. John should sell the names of his employees to the car company. I do not think that John Smith could remain in business, as well as turn down the deal. Although it may not seem like "the right thing to do," it will help his business in the long run. Sean continues to discuss how according to the AMA Statement of Ethics John would not be breaking any rules. John is not harming, or fostering the trust in the marketing system. Selling these names will help his employees, himself and his family. I believe that if I was faced with a choice like this I would do what Sean suggested, and sell the names and numbers to the phone company. I believe it is the smartest most proficient choice to make within the circumstance. 

Specials

Restaurant specials have always been something that restaurants used as an incentive. Specials can help both the consumer and the business. The business is getting rid of food that dose't have much time left on the shelf and customers get to spend less. I went to a restaurant recently and noticed how descriptive and extravagant the specials sounded. The specials seemed to have more detail then anything else on the menu. Once I realized this I thought of other restaurants I had been too in the past and how they seem to do the same thing. My mother was with me and already knew what she wanted to order. When she heard the specials she changed her mind. The detail of what was going into her dinner made her more attracted to the special meal. Do you think specials have so much detail because they want to attract the customer? Or do you think it has to do with something else?

IPhones

IPhones have been a big selling item for about the last three years. Almost every college student seems to have one now. It actually seems odd when a student doesn't have one. I do have one and I do believe that it is the best phone I have ever had. At the same time, I am sure that there are other good phones available. There seems to be a new IPhone out every few months. The new model of the phone always promises to do something completely amazing. They keep making the phones because people keep buying them. Do you find yourself always wanting the newest high tech item? Even if you current one works fine?

Response to Allison Ray

Do you buy things specifically because you have a coupon for it? Do you go out to eat at a restaurant because you have a coupon for it?


I am not normally a person who has a lot of coupons. My parents have both never been people who use a lot of coupons. I think it is because we are usually on the go so we don't have time to find them. My mom will use them sometimes if she finds them in her purse but I don't think she goes to a place purposely because of a coupon. Whenever we use them it is usually for clothing stores. Sometimes places such as Victoria's Secret give incentives when shopping. I find myself and my family using these a lot. For example you can get 10 dollars off if you spend 100 dollars or more during certain times. If we spend 80 we will go out of the way to reach the hundred to get the 10 dollars off. 

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon bombing was something that effected many people throughout America. Living outside of Boston, my family kept telling me how dead the city for the past week. Until the second terrorist was captured many people in the Boston area did not leave their homes. Businesses located in these area's shut down and had signs outside their establishments that said things like, "will reopen when terrorist are found." Until now I did not think about how this past week effected the businesses in Boston. Many of them shut down for about two days causing them to lose hundreds of dollars. This was money that they are sure not going to get back. Tourism in Boston will probably not be as popular as it normally is in April during school vacations. It will take a long time for people to believe Boston is a safe place again. Because of this happening, many small businesses will be effected. For example, places such a Cheers is not a place people from the Boston area usually go to. It is mainly for people from other states and countries when they come to visit. Will these places be able to stay open if they do not have as many tourist this year as they usually do?

Response to Allison Ray

Do you buy Fiji water or Smart water over a brand like "Cumberland Farms Natural Spring Water?" Even though it is more expensive, why would you buy it?

When I go to cumberland farms or other stores to buy bottled water I usually find myself getting the more expensive one. Truthfully, I am unsure as to why I do this. I think most of the time I am in a hurry or barely thinking about which water I am grabbing for. I believe that automatically I go to grab the brightest colored bottle. My roommates buy the most expensive bottles of water claiming it "taste" better then other water. In the end water is water but still we believe this extremely expensive water should magically taste better. 

Dove Marketing

For another class I am writing a paper on Dove's campaign against the Victoria Secret's Campaign. Both of these campaigns are about women feeling good about themselves. The main artifact of both of these is a poster of women with little to no clothing on being happy in their own skin. The Dove on has women of all shapes, sizes, and colors making them look like an average women. On the top of the poster it says "Dove Real Beauty Campaign". The Victoria Secret's campaign has their models as the women in the poster saying they love their bodies as well. On the top of their poster it says "Victoria Secret Love My Body Campaign". Both of these campaigns are used to make women buy their products because they believe they will either "feel real beauty" or "love their body" after using these products.

When a company uses something like this in advertisement do you feel you are more likely to purchase it?

Response to Will Redding

Do you think this is a good market strategy for Best Buy? Do you think this policy will help with Best Buy's poor stock performance?


After reading Will's post I believe Best Buy is using the right marketing strategy. They are currently working harder to make their customers base larger. This idea of matching prices will cause more people to go there. I think that this is a very smart idea. In the long run I believe they will gain money because they will have more people coming to them. 

Different Advertisements

Have you ever noticed when you go on websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networks there are advertisements that are related to things you are interested in. Recently, I have noticed this more then normal. Websites I have been on to online shop are showing up under these social networks. If the website has a sale or a new item I instantly know about it because of this. This form of advertisement is different then ones we have done in the past. We are no longer only using commercials and billboards to learn about new items we are interested in. We have these on are pages that are literally focused on our own interests. Do you believe this form of advertisement is better then other forms?

Response to Caitlyn Croasdale

Caitlyn talks about how Walmart stocks have gone down. She asks the reader if they believe this is because people are trying to buy more locally. I believe that could be part of it but not the whole thing. It is no secret that Walmart has a terrible reputation. I think that many people still shop there because it is cheap for household items and other products. I just think people don't want to stop supporting them  by buying stock within Walmart. I believe because a lot of people still do not have jobs, Walmart has nothing to worry about because of their extremely cheap products.

Advertising in Movies

In many movies different companies show their label to reach their target audience. For example in class this week we watched a part of The Breakfast Club. At one point in this movie a Coca-Cola can is shown a few different times. It made me wonder how much Coca-Cola was paying to have this viewed in the movie. It also caused me to wonder if this was a successful way to advertise a product. Do people really pay attention to this in movies? I had never noticed that companies do this until someone pointed it out to me. Once someone did I was surprised at how much I noticed different products featured in movies. When a company uses a billboard, commercial, or other standard type of marketing it usually explains the product. The actors in the movies never really explain the product. All of the actors in The Breakfast Club did not mention the fact that they were drink a Coke. Do you believe that companies should continue to feature products in movies? Or would it be better for them to save money to use towards more standard versions of advertisements?

Response to Vinny Frasco

Vinny asked the question: If you are a new customer and weren't told the personal trainer helping you is pregnant, do you believe it is false advertisement?

I believe that to a point this can be false advertisement. Personal training is something that is usually pretty expensive. A lot of the training is hands on and this might become difficult for the trainer to do this to the best of her ability. I believe that if I was spending a lot of money on something I would like to know if something was going to effect my training down the line. For example what happens once the trainer has her baby? As the person who is getting trained, would I be getting a new trainer who would have to get to know me. I would be unsure about this and think that it would make me pick a different gym to go to in order to avoid this problem and delay. 

Youtube Commercials

Youtube has become one of the most popular websites. It is extremely well known and some people are on it constantly. The other day my friends and I were on youtube and found a commercial for Internet Explorer. The commercial talked about Generation Y and how we have changed over the years. We loved the commercial because it highlighted our childhood games and toys in a quick 5 minute video.  It made us remember things that we had forgotten about. We became completely engrossed in the video and had no idea it was even a commercial until the very end. I overheard one of my friends saying "Wow, that was the best commercial I have ever seen. That is such good marketing!" I thought about this after and really believed what a great marketing strategy it was. They didn't talk about the internet they talked about changes. In the end they linked Generation Y's changes to Internet Explorers changes. Most of us are Mac users and it made us think about Internet Explorer more then we normally have. I believe this was a great new way to do marketing and targets the perfect target market for this product. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkM6RJf15cg&noredirect=1

Do you believe that youtube commercials are more effective now then television commercials are?

Response to Kevin Provost

In one of Kevin's blogs he makes a good argument about bank hours. He discusses how most of bank hours fall under a time that is difficult for most people to come at. I have always found myself wanting to run to the bank after hours. With work and school it is difficult to make time to go to the bank during the week. Weekend hours are the only time that I can usually make it. The problem with this is that my bank has reduced hours on the weekend and aren't even open on Sunday's. Kevin talks about all the business they are losing by doing this. I have found myself saying this before. If a different bank had significantly different hours then mine I would consider changing banks. Still most banks have roughly the same hour making it not worth the extra work. Banks should stay open later to make it easier on the consumers that they have.

Pricing

Over spring break I went to the Bahamas. I noticed that they dealt with pricing and marketing a lot differently then we do. They have little markets and huts where they sell products. Everything is homemade or home grown. The didn't seem to have too many chain stores or resturants. The competition that these sellers have is each other. As the consumers we were able to bargain with the sellers. We would be able to offer them a price we taught the product was worth. Depending on the vendor they would either agree or ask you for a few dollars more. If the vendor would not offer the product for a certain price we would simply walk over to the next person. When you began to walk away they would instantly offer you some amazing deal. They would want to sell the product for less then they thought it was worth, then have you give the money to another vendor. It was interesting to see how this worked out for them. They got most of the money they made from the tourist and wanted to make sure that they made the most they could.

My question is do you think this was a smart way to price products or a bad way to sell products?

Response to Justin

Because of the current ecomomic situation, and the climbing number of consumers switching to generic brands, do you think that these cheaper options will take over the market, consuming more expensive brands that can't lower their prices? Could this lead to a greater number of outsourced jobs as a result?

I do not think that generic brands will take over the market. I think that they will become more popular because people are trying to spend less money. Still I think lots of people are still drawn to name brands. They have used these products for years and years and I do not believe they will stop now. Although generic brands usually do the trick for what we are looking for the original brand name can do it better. If someone is able to afford this then I believe they will. If anything I hope this can open up more jobs. I think making generic brands more popular might cause them to open up more factories causing them to hire more people. Still brand names will have enough people buying products I do not believe many of them will lose their jobs. 

Recycled Material

Because many young adults today are looking to live in a greener world many companies are using more recycled materials. This can become a lot more costly for the company making some prices go up. The material is better for the environment and will keep the air cleaner but not everyone is going to pay extra for this. They are trying to reach the target market but currently many of us don't want to pay extra for these things. It seems that companies who should invest in greener materials should only be ones who can afford it. If the company has extra money to use these materials they should just began to for not just target market, but for the world as well. They will be helping their children and grand children shouldn't it just be the norm for them to do? Would you pay extra for a material that claims to be made in a more green way?  

Response to Julianne Braverman

Do you think that you would be able to give up your cell phone for a day? A week and be able to get through the few days not being connected at all time?

Personally, I do think I would be able to give up my cell phone for a day. I am not as big as a cell phone user as most of my friends are, they are constantly yelling at me for taking to long to text back or call back. I lose my phone constantly and never really care where it is. It's sometime relaxing to have a day off from being constantly connected to everyone. Still, I think I couldn't go much longer then a few days. I believe that our generation has a hard time not being constantly connected because it is the way we grew up. We have all had cell phones glued to our hip since we were about 13. Although it seems like too much I don't believe any of us could go a long time without being connected.

Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl advertisement is one of the most popular times for marketers to show off the newest products they have. Millions of people from all over America are glued to the television for roughly three hours. Some people even watch the Super Bowl just for the funny commercials that they have never seen before. They are normally extremely witty and have great visuals for the audience to enjoy. Most of them are related to car companies, alcohol companies, or chip and other junk food. Viewers who are watching the Super Bowl are the perfect target audience for these items. Still its costs millions of dollars to show these commercials during this time. It is an extremely higher price then a regular commercial that people will see as well. Knowing how many people watch the Super Bowl commercials would you be willing to pay that much extra for a few seconds with that many viewers?

Response to Ariana Barone

I believe that flash mobs are a great idea for advertising. They are different then a regular commercial, grabbing the viewers attention even if they are not interested in the product. Even if someone doesn't enjoy regular advertisement, chances are they are still going to pay attention to a flash mob. It is a fun way to get people involved in a product and make them excited for it! People would rarely forget a flash mob, making them remember the product that was getting advertised during a flash mob.

Generation Y

"Generation Y"is the generation for adults and some teenagers who were born between 1979-1994. We are said to spend over 200 billion dollars annually all together and, spend about 10 trillion dollars in a life time. This is extremely high and makes our generation one of the largest groups that markets are trying to reach. They depend on us to make the newest product take off. People in this generation are buying big ticket items such as cars, homes, computers, and cell phones. We are willing to spend an extreme amount of money to have the newest toy available. We have grown up in a the time of a large rise in technology and, we begin to think we can not live without it. We are said to be the most diverse of the generations and the biggest, researchers believe that this makes up more accepting and willing to try new things.

Do you find yourself in need of a constant new item or toy? Do you find yourself to be a big spender or saver?

Response to Allison Ray

I do agree with Allison that customer satisfaction has little to do with the actual product the consumer is receiving. I also worked in retail for the majority of my teenage years. I found that customers were the happiest if we helped them with something, or even allowed them to return an item for a new one. The attitude of the customers rarely relied on the products that the company was selling. The customer always became very upset or defensive if a store employee treated them poorly. The actual product we were selling was rarely brought up in customer satisfaction issues.

Question One

 Markets are currently giving people too much of a variety, making it extremely difficult to shop for just one item. For example, think of a clothing store in mall such as J.Crew. They give you a variety of about twenty-five over priced shirts, in this economy you know you can only buy one.  Eventually store such as J.Crew will not be making a profit, some might not even be breaking even. When this happens stores will be forced to close down causing a large amount of job losses and will vastly affect the market.

        I believe that this is going to happen in the very new future. It is not uncommon to here about how much the market for cars, and clothing has decreased during the years. Eventually, it will decrease to such a small amount companies will no longer be able to stay a float. For example it was only 5 years ago that GM, Ford, and Chrysler asked for a $34 million dollar bailout so they could avoid bankruptcy.  They will be forced to lay off jobs and sell items at an extremely reduced rate. This happens because we have too much to chose from. If we have a few clothing stores with different likely priced clothes the market would do better. Do you believe that giving people a smaller amount of options will make the market go up or down?

Response to Caitlyn Croasdale

After reading Caitlyn's blog about "Horse DNA in Meats" I was concerned. I agreed with her about the concern for different illnesses consumers could catch on top of the ones already recognized. Caitlyn asked towards the end if the reader believed that this company should still be allowed to produce meat anymore. My answer to that question would be no. Even if they got rid of the meat and passed health codes it would still be too much of a risk. If they were so careless before I believe that they would become careless again making the consumer open to pathogens. I also believe that food industries should not get a second chance when it comes to issues such as this. Different illnesses found in food can kill someone. If a company is careless about this hundreds of people could die without the company even realizing. 

PRODUCT (RED)

Product red is a company that has been going on for the past couple of years. It's goal is to not only spread AIDS awareness to young adults but also to raise money for current AIDS patients. Product red has signed with many different companies such as American Express, Apple, Coca-cola, and Converse. Different items that companies distribute that have the (RED) logo one them will help people from all over the world fight AIDS. This logo has become so large that people from everywhere are starting to know what it means. The marketing behind this is extremely smart. Product red signs with companies that are currently popular in the main stream. This causes many young adults to use this logo as a fashion statement as well as a form of philanthropy. Product red also makes sure people know that 100% of the proceeds go AIDS patients. Other companies who have tried something such as Product red have a difficult time admitting how much of the money is going to the actual cause. Product red also has a mission statement that makes the customer feel determined and worthy. The mission statement talks about how we need to push our generation to be an AIDS free one. It also gives statistics on how many children and adults suffer from this illness. Would you be willing to pay extra for a (PRODUCT) RED item or not? Why or why not?

http://www.joinred.com/aboutred/the-red-manifesto/