EOC: Week 10: What Channels are you going to do to get your product noticed?

For channels I plan to use indirect channels I want to use indirect channels because I personally think that it would be to have mediator between us and business. “Indirect marketing channel: channel containing one or more intermediary levels.”(Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 10 Pg. 8) I think that discussing alcohol is a very touchy thing for some people, because some channels probably hate our fruity beers and only believe in drinking real alcohol. So we want to make sure that there is never going to be a problem. We want our mediator to make sure whether or not the channel is interested or not so we don’t waste their time and they don’t waste ours. I want our company to be able to look good to other channels; I don’t want our company and other companies to have disputes. I think that would just put a bad image on us and on our company. When we are being looked up would like our comments to be good not bad, especially since we are just starting out.  “When selecting intermediaries, the company should determine what characteristics distinguish the better ones. It will want to evaluate each channel member’s years in business, other lines carried, growth and profit record, cooperativeness, and reputation. If the intermediaries are sales agents, the company will want to evaluate the number and character of other lines carried and the size and quality of the sales force. If the intermediary is a retail store that wants exclusive or selective distribution, the company will want to evaluate the store’s customers, location, and future growth potential.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Ch. 10 Pg. 29) We want to be careful selecting our mediator, we want to make sure we pick the right person for the job, most likely not a person who doesn’t like alcohol or who doesn’t believe in fruity beers.

BOC Week 10: Famous Lemon Ad for Volkswagen

“The ad featured a black and white photo of the Volkswagen Beetle with the word “Lemon” in bold san serif font… that proclaims that this particular car was rejected … of a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove box. The ad goes on to describe the rigorous inspection process...” (http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1731)“This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.)We pluck the lemons; you get the plums.” (http://mayanmuse.blogspot.com/2007/11/lemon-ad-by-ddb-for-volkswagen.html)“The Model T Ford was the first "people's car," but a brilliant engineer named Ferdinand Porsche dreamed of one for the German people. So did Adolf Hitler, who saw a Volkswagen as a way to secure himself as Germany's absolute ruler. With Der Fuhrer's patronage, Porsche designed a simple yet sophisticated machine with a distinctive beetle-like shape. But just as production got rolling, Hitler began World War II and the little car's future was very much in doubt.”
(http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1931-1945-volkswagen-beetle.htm)My personal opinion about the advertisement is that it is a great way to trick you into reading the piece of paper that is in front of you. Too many times I have seen people who read magazines go right pass the ads because they do not interest them. This advertisement caught many people’s attention because Volkswagen made fun of their car which made it funny. The other part is the investigation by Inspector Kurt Kroner, who rejected the car; which makes people interested in reading about the investigation. So not only does the advertisement entertains its customers but also gives them information. Since the advertisement was made they successfully sold the car. Plus since then there has not been such a great advertisement of this potential in a while. So in conclusion Volkswagen created one of the greatest ads in history.

Final Project: Implementation Evaluation Control

The implementation evaluation control will be based upon the how much we sell the beer and where we sell it at. We want to be able to control how much we sell based on the market sell and where we sell it at. I don’t want to start out too big for our product if it doesn’t go well, but being positive here we want our product to sell great for Los Angeles and the clubs there. So for our plan we want to make our beer have the best flavor and a little bit of alcohol. We want to be able to test our samples and make sure that it is the best for our customers. The customers must be able to see that there is value in our beer for our plan to work. In conclusion the control of beer will be based on our customers and our employees.

Final Project: Pricing

Price is important matter to our company and that is why we want to start out in Los Angeles. We don’t want our drinks to represent “too pricy”. “Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that customers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 9 Pg. 4) “Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible marketing mix elements.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 9 Pg. 4) Drinks in Los Angeles for beers and fruity beers is about five, six dollars, we want our beers to not represent a cheap drink so we are happy with the price and hopefully with the experience the customers will see it as value and not worry about the price. That is what most important in pricing, is that customers don’t have to worry about it or care because they like the experience they have; they see value in buying it. That is what we want to see for our product, otherwise the price doesn’t really represent anything because we won’t make any money if our customers can’t trust our brand and think that the value and experience is worth it.

Final Project: Promotion

Our company would like to create the promotion mix for our company. “Promotion Mix: The specific blend of promotion tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg. 3) The promotion mix is based on advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, and direct marketing."Advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg. 3)  “Sales promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg.3) “Personal selling: Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg. 4)” Public relations (PR): Building good relations with the company’s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg. 4) “Direct marketing: Direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 12 Pg. 4)

Final Project: Distribution

Our company’s distribution we will probably be in a truck with our beer’s logo on it. We will mostly likely only have one delivery truck for all of our routes right now. Until if hopefully we grow and then we could use more trucks to deliver to more channels that we are connected to. I think that for our first distribution we should start in the clubs, I want to make sure our product would even make it in the convenience stores and Lee’s Liquor. Our product will be the same rate as other drinks in Los Angeles. We also want to make sure that we are the only ones that know the ingredients of our beer; we just want other channels to sell our beer, not to know how we make it. So our company will probably have VMS. “Vertical marketing system (VMS): A distribution channel structure in which producers, wholesalers, and retailers act as a unified system. One channel member owns the others, has contracts with them, or has so much power that they all cooperate.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 10 Pg. 12) Our company wants to make sure we have the option to set up a multichannel distribution system. “Multichannel distribution system: A distribution system in which a single firm sets up two or more marketing channels to reach one or more customer segments.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 10 Pg. 18) We want to make sure our employees are connected to our customers so we can have the chance to connect and listen to our customers and our employees will be in the same age rank and be able to connect with our customers and they can make them feel more comfortable. In conclusion we want our distribution to be smooth and go well with our customers and our employees so our company can thrive.

Final Project: Product

Our companies’ product will be called Dynamite. I want to make an original named beer that will be able to attract customers. “New product development: The development of original products, product improvements, product modifications, and new brands through the firm’s own product-development efforts.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 8 Pg. 5) We don’t want our project to fail for this product that will be our main goal. “Why do so many new products fail? There are several reasons. Although an idea may be good, the company may overestimate market size. The actual product may be poorly designed. Or it might be incorrectly positioned, launched at the wrong time, priced too high, or poorly advertised.”(Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter Pg. 6) As I explained before will be a beer that is made of brown color bottles. We want the best taste for our beer so we decided to go with the brown bottle packaging. The brown bottle packaging prevents the sunlight from going into the beer and prevents it from making the beer taste sour. Plus we are depending on our product to produce the experience of blasting flavor. We plan on doing this by adding more flavors to the beer and only a little bit of alcohol. When we start our company we want to give out samples to our employees, this how involved we want them to be. “New-product development starts with idea generation—the systematic search for new-product ideas.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 8 Pg.7) We want to make sure that we are giving our customers the experienced we promised instead of saying a lot of stuff and not meaning it. We want our company to thrive on our product not go down because of it. So hopefully if everything works out we will be able to produce our product with the best flavors in beer and our customers will love it.

Final Project: Target Market Strategy

For our company we will consider these factors for our target market strategy. We will not just consider who is our target market; but how and what. “Thus, in target marketing, the issue is not really who is targeted but rather how and for what.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 6 Pg. 34) Our target market is people who like the experience of a party in a club or just at their home who can enjoy a drink that is flavorful, but still has a little alcohol. How we will deliver this is that we will provide our drinks at club and at convenience stores and mostly likely partner up with Lee’s Liquor. We don’t want our alcohol to not look cheap, but we want our customers to be able to afford it especially in this economy. What is by hiring employees among the age groups and so they can tell people about our alcohol, we want to gain our customers trust and in order to do that we must treat our employees with the most respect, so that in return they will tell their friends that we care about our employees and so that maybe if we listen to our employees our beer will only get better, so that our customers will enjoy our delicious beer. Also with our market strategy we will also make a competitive advantage."Competitive Advantage: An advantage over competitors gained by offering greater customer value, either through lower prices or by providing more benefits that justify higher prices.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 6 Pg. 37) The competitive advantage is that we will have our beer available in clubs, convenience stores, and Lee’s Liquor, also since we are hiring people that we are targeting we will get the best ideas and opinions from minds that we need to hear from and as soon as we get customers we will also listen to their comments and ideas so we can combine both. In conclusion this will be our target market strategy.

Final Project: Objectives

The objectives for our company would be defining our market-oriented mission. What is our business? Who is our customer?  What do consumers value? What should our business be? Our business is to give our age related customers an experience with our product Dynamite. Our customers are people who range from twenty-one to thirty. Our consumers will value the experience and the flavor our beer. Our business should be a business that cares about customer relationship and employee relationship so we don’t have any distrust. I want our company to be like a family that is concerned about what our customers want and what they value and that their opinions matter to us. Our next objective would be our business portfolio. “Business portfolio- The collection of businesses and products that make up the company.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 2 Pg. 9) We would begin portfolio by an analysis. “Portfolio analysis-The process by which management evaluates the products and businesses that make up the company.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 2 Pg. 10) Our next objective would be to develop strategies for growth. “Beyond evaluating current businesses, designing the business portfolio involves finding businesses and products the company should consider in the future. Companies need growth if they are to compete more effectively, satisfy their stakeholders, and attract top talent.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 2 Pg. 13) Beyond this we must go into strategies for our teams and how product will be produced, what we will include in our products and if we are going to go beyond making beer, and how will we get it to people (through clubs?) and how will we create the experience for our customers. Also how will we serve our employees and what will be there tasks. There is a lot to consider for our objectives.

Final Project: Mission Statement

My mission statement is going to talk about my product and what it’s moral/ethic position, public image, target market, products/services, the geographic domain, and expectations of growth and profitability. The product Dynamite moral/ethic position is a choice the people can make whether or not to drink this product. The company will help with this by building trust with the customers and our employees. The public image that Dynamite will be able to produce is that it is a drink for college students to drink for the flavor and a little bit of alcohol. The company that makes the products/services will make many products for Dynamite representing different flavors. The services that the company will offer to its employees and customers are different. For our employees we want to give the service of giving free samples for employees and willing to hear their ideas for new products. For our customers we want to give them the experience we want to create with this drink and we will also be willing to hear their ideas on our website; we want to make sure our customers are satisfied. “Customer satisfaction: The extent to which a product’s perceived performance matches a buyer’s expectations.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 1, Pg. 20)The company’s geographic domain will start in Los Angeles; I think that is where we could possibly do the best in and we would consider working with other companies."Marketers can’t create customer value and build customer relationships by themselves. They must work closely with other company departments and with partners outside the firm.”( Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 1 Pg. 28) Expectations of growth and profitability will be for our company to move from Los Angeles to other cities as well and hopefully with enough profit we will be able to move to our dream which would be New York.

SWOT analysis

Our company has strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats just like every other company. Our company strengths are that we want to create an original idea for our product. Our product possibly has the strength to have customers enjoy the experience for the value our beer. As I have said before we want to create a beer that has a lot of flavor, but still has a little bit of alcohol. Our product as I have said before we will call Dynamite, which I think is original, because it will represent how much flavor we are putting in the beer and it will stand for how it explodes with flavor. Our company’s weakness is possibly that we are a small business that is starting out in a bad economy, but as long as our customers value our experience that we give then we will most likely do well. I think that our opportunities are that we are a company that values both our customers and our employees. Our company wants our employees to get involved with our product because we want to make sure that we are delivering on that Dynamite flavor in the beer. We do not want to promise something we don’t deliver; I wouldn’t want our company to be like that. We want our customers to trust our brand so our employees will be the same age range as our customers so we can get the best advice about what is going out there.  Our threats are other companies’ that serve beers just like ours and already have customer value and have their trust.  These companies’ have built something that we want and what we must achieve for. Our most important threat is our customers; their value will either destroy us or help us grow. In conclusion, we have these strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats we must face and achieve as a company.

EOC Week 9: Three great mission statements

In my personal opinion I believe that my favorite three missions’ statements have to go to Bowman, Derrick and Ernie. I think Bowman did a fantastic job on his mission statement. He goes into explanation how his beer (Nature Blend Brewing Company) isn’t about how the beer is made but the experience that comes with it. Also I love Bowman’s quote on his page I think that it is inspirational and I think that is a fantastic way to tackle this on. Which we have been learning throughout this entire class is that the customer is most important. I think that Derrick did a fantastic job in just delivering a fast short but explainable mission statement. His drink (Shotz) describes how he wants people to enjoy it everywhere which I think is different which is why I found it good. Also he didn’t want his customers to think that they were drinking the typical juice drink. Which I think it is important for everyone on this project to invent something different for them. I think that Ernie also did a fantastic job on his mission statement. His product or business Finish Line IPA explains how people could tell the difference between a real beers and how their beer will be made with Northwest ingredients.  Also I think it is great how Ernie talks about influencing others with his beer and how his company will focus on the customer side. Like I said before I think that is everyone’s focus on this project is the customer. It only seems like a few of us that considered their employees for this project. Which is fine, I mean we can only make our money based on the value that the customer has with our brand, which is why we want our separate brands to be so successful, so good job everyone!

EOC Week 8: Creative Content for project

The creative content for my project well be very simple. I just want to make a simple website for the product. In this website I want to talk about many different subjects. For instance, I want to talk about how the beer is made. For example, I want to talk into detail about how it is so flavorful and still packs alcohol. Another instance is that I want to talk about how great this beer is even though it has not been around a long time, in fact it is very new, but hopefully I will give people the urge to try my product. For example, I have many competitors out there that make flavorful beer and the market keeps growing with more flavors that are added or mixed to together in drinks. I will talk about the competitors in my analysis and I would like to discuss how my beer is better than those out there, because my company values our customers and our employees. We want our beer to be presentable but not too expensive. The creative content for the decorating of my logo I will try to create a brand new logo to really represent Dynamite. The creative content for my packaging I am not so sure about. For creative content research I think I will look up more about how beer is made with flavors and how it is represented graphically. I know that everyone does it different, but I just want some basic ideas that I could go off from so I can come up with my own idea for my own beer. That is all I really want to do for the creative content is to create something original, instead of creating something that everyone sees every day. Especially towards the group I am going towards, it gets boring.

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

After many weeks of trying to decide what to do I have decided that I am going to make a beer called Dynamite. My idea is that the beer is supposed to be blasting with flavors and alcohol. The examples I have are flavors like cherry limeade, strawberry limeade, pomegranate limeade, and acai berry limeade. The reason why I want to name my beer Dynamite is because I want to represent the beer to have blasting flavors but with a little taste of alcohol so it is not too sweet, but it still has that taste of bitter grain in the mix. The reason why I came up with Dynamite is because I like the name, it pops to me and I think the creation of my logo would pop to other people as well. I have also noted through my research of the segmentation of age and life cycle. “Dividing a market into different age and life-cycle groups.”(Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 6, Pg. 8)That most people my age like flavorful beer or light beer. Only sometimes do they like to drink the strong heavy alcohol because they usually have work in the morning or just something to do. Also I considered gender segmentation. “Dividing a market into different segments based on gender.” (Marketing An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler Chapter 6, Pg. 9)I think for my beer it would best if I sold my beer to project my beer towards both.  Most people that age thought that the “fruity” beers weren’t flavorful enough for them and that is when I came up with the idea. Well why don’t we make a beer that has strong flavor, but still has a bit of alcohol flavor to it. Another one of my ideas for Dynamite beer was to make my signature logo really pop out. So I was considering the normal things that people use with Dynamite, a bomb, a stick of dynamite lighting up, even a grenade. All these things are the normal for the logo for dynamite, but I would like to come up with something original for the logo. I want to do this because there are tons of beers out there that are “fruity” beers and I think that the only way I could make mine stand out would to make the logo pop at my costumers.

EOC Week 6: Me times three

Segmentation: Age and Life Cycle: “Dividing a market into different age and life-cycle groups.” Gender Segmentation: “Dividing a market into different segments based on gender.” Income Segmentation:” Dividing a market into different income segments.”
1. Secret Clinical Strength
b. Secret Clinical Strength (original) is a personal favorite care item. Secret Clinical Strength is a deodorant that promises that you will have clinically proven protection that outlasts whatever your day brings. The prescription is strength wetness protection and it is lightly scented and it is an advanced solid. It comes in two scents light and fresh and powder protection.
c. The reason why I like this product is because this is the only deodorant that actually works for me, the fragrance is not too strong for me and does not leave white stuff on my clothes.
d. http://www.secret.com/clinical-strength-deodorant.aspx

f. Segmentation: Age and Life Cycle- It is based on age and the time it is in your life; Secret is more for women that are into exercise, yes that can be based on different ages but women probably change deodorants in their life sometime. Gender Segmentation- a segment separated by gender; Secret like I said is made for women and based on the image of women. Income Segmentation: The income matters here too whether or not you want to pay for 10 dollar deodorant or a 15 dollar deodorant.

2. Safeguard soap
a. Safeguard Soap is antibacterial soap that contains an active ingredient triclocarban and that it is very rare to find this soap. This is all the information I could find on Safeguard soap.
b. The reason why I like this product is because like the deodorant it does not have a strong fragrance and it does not irritate my skin or leave me rashes.
c. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/249969/safeguard_antibacterial_soap_versus_pg2.html?cat=69

e. Segmentation: Income segmentation: Safeguard is can be cheap or expensive from 10-15 dollars.
3. Venus Embrace Razor
a. Venus Embrace Razor is apparently the first five bladed disposable razor, the blades are for a closer shave, protection ribbon of moisture for smoothness, a pivoting head to adjust to your curves, and a new soft grip for more hand control.
b. The reason why I use Venus Embrace Razor is actually because of those reasons I listed above, because it is true, well at least in my opinion. Also it makes it a lot easier for me just to be able to dispose the razor instead of having to always change the head or buy new heads for the razor.
c. http://www.gillettevenus.com/en_US/products/disposables/embrace_disposable/index.jsp

e. Age and Life Cycle- It is based on age and the time it is in your life; Venus is probably more for older teens and probably older. Gender Segmentation- a segment separated by gender; Venus is made for women and based on the image of women. Income Segmentation: It ranges from 10 to 20 dollars to depend on where you buy it and how many you buy.

Week 5 EOC: Health Care Reform

My personal opinion on the government reform on health care is way different from the way that others view, but at the same time I am open to their opinions as well. The government sees health care as big threat to the United States, because the more people that unemployed don’t have health care and that means that the people who do have jobs have to pay for those bills. So the government asks itself if we should even have health care. In 2006 the total amount of Americans that were not covered by insurance 46, 995. Now I know that might seem like a lot, but think of the amount money that everyone that had a job and was covered insurance had to pay for those 46,995 people for their hospital bills. Now in 2007 it states that only 15.8 out of 100.0 were covered by insurance. That might not be a lot either, because maybe the economy was good, so more people had jobs. So does that mean that people that didn’t have jobs were lazy and didn’t go look for jobs so weren’t covered by insurance? We will never know. Now in 2006 and 2007 there are many sections that are broken into for everyone that was not covered by insurance. However, in today’s society in 2010 we have the highest unemployment rate and you can read that anywhere. Well I think that we should have health care, because as of today I live in Nevada which is on a state of economic crisis where there are barely any jobs and I think health care should take care of those people out of work. Even though someone out there probably wouldn’t agree with me, but I think that there should some way that we can take of people without it coming out of our pockets.
The information about statistics I got from this website.
http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/health/h01_001.htm

Week 4 EOC: Advertisting is based on happiness

Mad Men says that advertising is based on happiness, but does advertising make happy all the time. In my personal opinion no, I have had my good experiences and my bad experiences with advertising and I have decided to tell you one of each. The time I had a good advertising experience is when I went to buy shoes for Track and Field in high school. My dad and I we were watching for deals on shoes since I wanted to join the track team and I knew that I wanted them to be good shoes, since I knew I was going to be running a lot. One day when my dad and I we’re watching television they had an advertisement for Nike shoes and they were on sale for forty dollars. So my dad and I decided to go to Big Five to buy these shoes, since we knew that Big Five carried Nike. Plus my dad and I trust Nike because we know that they produce good shoes. We saw the shoes that we saw on television and they were forty dollars on sale. So my dad and I decided that these would be good shoes to invest in and buy. I was not disappointed with the shoes from Nike. They actually lasted me until I went to Valley of Fire and they made my shoes red, so I had some good times with those running shoes, so it was a good experience.
The time that I had a bad experience with advertising was that one time when you buy something and you say why I bought that again. That is the experience my family had with these pairs of owls we bought. You see my family has a pigeon problem at our house and we thought it might be smart to buy something to get them off of our house. My family and I saw this advertisement about owls that made owl sounds that we supposed to make the pigeons go away since pigeons are scared of owls. Well we put those owls on top of our roof and those pigeons are still there, they aren’t even scared of the owls. In conclusion I thought it was a really bad waste of our money.

Week 3 EOC: Internet Privacy vs. Market Research

Internet privacy is a very important subject of our time. The reason why (in my personal opinion) is because almost everyone uses the internet and it is only right for those people that use the internet to have a little privacy from people that might hack into their computers and steal their information. “The right to privacy in Internet activity is a serious issue facing society. 1 Some users of the 'net wish to shield their identities while participating in frank discussions of sensitive topics. Cases of harassment and abuse have become increasingly frequent, aided by a cloak of anonymity. 2 There are also problems with frauds and scam artists who elude law enforcement authorities through anonymous mailings and postings.”http://www.netatty.com/privacy/privacy.html Internet privacy however, is not always answered by the law, sometimes your privacy is broken and you won’t even know that someone is hacking into your account. There are ways to protect you to have internet privacy, just know that it won’t always work. Market research in my personal opinion is companies asking you questions about their website and what you like about their website. This will usually pop up on the computer screen and it will be a survey. The reason why the companies do this is because they want to make their website better for you, because they want you to keep coming back to their website. Market research is “the gathering and evaluation of data regarding consumers' preferences for products and services.”http://www.answers.com/topic/marketing-research Market research is different from internet privacy because instead of people trying to steal your information; which is why you need internet privacy; market research asks for your information so they can make their website better for you. In conclusion I think that internet privacy is big issue because of the amount of information that can be sent out to be people just by hacking in your computer, while market research only asks you a few or a lot of questions to make their websites a better experience for you.

Week 3 EOC: Making money for good

The World Wildlife Fund mission is to conserve nature based on their knowledge and scientific skill and then they further that knowledge to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. The World Wildlife Fund as a goal which is by 2020 they will have conserved nineteen of the world’s most important natural places and significantly change global markets to protect the future of nature. The World Wildlife Funds supported eight two percent that went into conservation activities even though they were hit by the economical depression. “During this year of financial upheaval, we were immensely gratified by the commitment of our supporters. In the face of a historic economic downturn, our members and other donors continued their support in record numbers. In this year we achieved the highest levels of membership support in our history. While we did experience declines in higher-level gift amounts, the overall continued support was inspiring.”
http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/financialinfo/index.html

The next company I found was called 3 Clothing Co. 3 Clothing Co. mission statements is to provide fashionable and quality clothing using organic/clean and sustainable materials. “3 is taking the lead by using 100% certified organic/clean cotton and eco-friendly water-based inks in the creation of fashionable and artistic clothing.” 3 Clothing Co. also donates ten percent of every purchase to a charity. “3 Clothing Company donates 10% of every sale to the charity of the buyer’s choice off an approved list.”
http://www.3clothingco.com/site/about

The last company that I wanted to list is Newman’s Own the have ten products and list Presto recipes. This company donates all profits to charities. “Newman's Own Foundation continues Paul Newman’s commitment to donate all profits to charity. Over $295 million has been given to thousands of charities since 1982. The Newman's Own Foundation makes grants to charities within the United States and abroad.” In conclusion there are companies other than Toms Shoes that want to give to the community with the money that they have.
http://www.newmansown.com/index.aspx

Week 2 EOC:Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

Growth-Share Matrix




1. Star- Nintendo-Wii
a. The reason why I think that Nintendo is number one in the growth share matrix is because the sales of Wii are way out in front. “The April sales figures for the U.S. were released at the end of last week by NPD. They again showed the Wii way out in front, beating the PS3 and Xbox sales figures combined”
b. http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/05/18/sony-microsoft-nintendo-talk-npd-figures-ps3-xbox-spun-to-beat-wii/




2. Cash Cow-Sony-Playstation 3
a. Sony has always been in second player to Nintendo. Even when I watched E3 on television they came in second place against Nintendo’s beat down on everyone else with what they came out with. Sony’s general problem is its portable systems. “Sony Should Team with Google to 'Redefine' Portable Gaming with PSP Phone, say Analysts.”
b. http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-should-team-with-google-to-redefine-portable-gaming-with-psp-phone-say-analysts/



3. Question-Apple- Ipad or phones for general
a. I would say Apple would be the question mark seeing as they are high in generating new products for their customers and now it seems to be rumored that they are trying to get into gaming again, which will put everyone on its heels. “The Industry Standard posted an interesting article recently discussing the possibility of Apple releasing a mobile gaming platform. According to the writer, the circumstantial evidence points to Apple trying its luck with gaming once again. And while I think the company may want to do just that, it should attempt to make its way into the console market.”
b. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-9940041-17.html



4. Dog- Microsoft-Xbox or PC Games
a. Based on my information from the E3 Microsoft Xbox or PC Games have always been on the down. One reason is because Xbox had no real way to connect people together like Playstation 3 did or made people physically get into the game like Wii did or they have to play catch up all the time with Apple. Plus when people like me who are PC Gamers have to wait (and wait some more) for game companies to come out with our favorite PC Games somebody else has already come out with our favorite video game. Plus they make it seem like they are selling out their Xbox. “Surprisingly little from the press release Microsoft sent out had to do with figures that would stem from the 360 having been on the market for a year longer than the competition. That could be because they dedicated an entire portion of it to talking about how wonderful Grand Theft Auto IV has been performing on the 360. They even say it’s “outselling the other platform’s version by nearly 2:1 in the U.S.” — “other platform”? What’s up with that?”
b. http://news.filefront.com/microsoft-spins-the-april-npds-101m-sold-in-the-us/

Week 1 EOC: Customer Service

The customer service that I can remember the most was two years ago. My dad and I were discussing about getting a ride for myself. My dad went to this shop; I think it was called The Scoter Shop, he had heard from his friend (who was also buying a moped for his daughter) that was the place to go. So my dad called them and met the manager of the store (I can’t remember his name) and looked at the bikes and their prices. Then one day my dad brought me along and I met the manager and my dad and I (trusting the manager) bought a bike from this store. Now when I was there at the shop I thought those people were giving me a good bike, turns out I was wrong. More than once, my dad had to bring in the moped to the Scoter Shop because my bike wouldn’t turn on for some reason. So the first time they made my dad pay ridiculous amount of money to fix my bike. Then the second time I turned it in, they thought it was the ignition key, so they charged him for that. Then the third time I turned it in, they told my dad it was the motor, my dad and I had enough of that place and told them that we weren’t going to pay for a new motor. In my personal opinion they should have figured that out the first time we turned in the bike. So in conclusion we weren’t satisfied customers and obliviously they didn’t think about this “the idea that consumers will favor products that offer the most quality, performance, and features and that the organization should therefore devote its energy to making continuous product improvements”(Marketing An Introduction by Armstrong/Kotler, pg. 12)

Week 1 EOC: About Me

I am Melina Thompson and I want to be a web designer. In a few quarters I am going to graduate from the Art Institute of Las Vegas with a Bachelor’s Degree of Science: Web Design and Interactive Media. The reason why I choose to go into Web Design and Interactive Media is because I love computers. So the reason why I have gone to this school is because it has given me the ability to design and code with computers. This is what I love about Web Design. I love the Adobe Creative Suite Program, because that is what gives me the ability to design and code. For example, I have learned from Illustrator how to design logos, billboards and posters. I have also learned from other programs as well, which were: Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, Final Cut, and Premiere. My main coding program is Dreamweaver; it gives me the ability to see the difference between different codes, because of its color coding system with the code. I would I have to show sometime what I mean and in fact I would love to. However, I have not designed any websites for anyone because I am not prepared for that type of job yet. I would like to be though and that is what I look forward to in the future. Plus I have design my portfolio which I am really excited about, but also kind of scared because of the fact that I do not know what I need to know in order to design my portfolio. So I can only hope that in the future before I graduate I will have enough knowledge to do my portfolio and graduate from this school so that I may go on to a life filled with what I love to do.