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.

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.