BP ruined the Ecosystem and their Reputation

I recently read an article discussing the effects of the BP oil spill. There have been detrimental side effects on the marine life because of the oil and other toxins.  Fish and shrimp have been mutated and it is likely that the gulf  ecosystem will not recover for quite some time. There were many pictures of fish and shrimp with mutations and open sores. Do you think that BP's reputation will ever recover from theses serious ecological problems? Do you think criminal penalties should be brought against BP's executives?

In Response to Aislynn's post about Apple

I completely agree with your post; I have a Mac, Iphone and Ipad and I love them all. I could never switch to anther phone or PC because all my devices work flawlessly together. They make it very easy for their products to work together and also make it very hard for you use other brands devices with them. This is the ultimate form of brand loyalty because I love the brand and they really don't leave me a choice to switch to another brand without spending a couple thousand dollars. Apples strategy is to come out with the best before all the others, so they really don't allow anyone to keep up with them.

How long do you think Apple will stay on top? Does anyone think any other companies stand a chance at this point?

Extreme Drink Branding

This is a stunt sponsored by Mountain Dew and it is very similar to what you would see companies like red bull do as a form of branding. They are branded as a "extreme" drink so they do extreme stunts to appeal to that particular demographic. They are normally young adults who do extreme sports like biking and skateboarding. This is a very similar target as Red Bulls target. Do you think that this type of ad is better than red bulls or do you think its an imitation? I think that they are kind of copying red bulls marketing strategy and doing it with much less success than red bull.

In response to Alex's Post abput Instagram

I think that it was 100% worth it and would have been a huge threat to Facebook if they did nothing about. Around April 4th, Instagram made its app available for Androids and proved that it was not just for one demographic, the richer Iphone user. After they made the app available their data usage doubled in one day.It went from a little over 750,000 users to almost 2 million and then reached over 2 million by April 6th. This is when Zuckerberg realized that if he didn't acquire Instagram someone else would. Twitter even made a bid one it and was unsuccessful. A while back Yahoo had the opportunity to buy Facebook for a billion dollars and turned it down. Look at them now, almost bankrupt while Facebook has a 100 billion dollar valuation.

Branding Yourself: Brought to a new level

In the beginning of the semester, we were asked to think of our selves as a product or a brand. well two recent grad students in the UK have done that and brought it to a whole new level. They have begun selling space on their face for ad's. They started the company BuyMyFace.com and are not selling spots on their face for up to $750 a day and have raised over $50,000 in the past 6 month. The spots were originally about $1.50 per ad per day but to to increased popularity they are selling 500 times more than there original price. They are allowing companies to physically brand them. I think this is such a simple idea and it is clearly working for these guys.  I cant think of anything legal that would draw more attention than a logo on someones face walking down the street. Would you sell a spot on your face for $750 a day? I think I would. Has anyone heard of anything else like this?
http://www.businessinsider.com/two-british-grads-sell-their-faces-to-raise-money-for-student-loans-2012-4

In response to alex's post about Google

These are called augmented reality glasses because they are able to add features like distance between too object or even facial recognition to things you actually see.I think it is a great idea and its very terminator like. Google comes up with all sorts of cool ideas like this because they give their employees time to work on things that interest them. This is why they came up with the self driving car. This is definitely a new market with very little direct competition or at least very little competition that could compete with a company like Google. I would wear these if they made them a little less geeky looking or created a lens that could fit into any glasses frame. Does anyone think that these are pointless? or do you think that Google could really be on to something with this ground breaking technology?

In response to Tyler’s post about Mobil Payment

This is an interesting post and almost reminds me of the movie Surrogate. In a world where humans do not interact they just use surrogate robots to do everything for them. But I don't think we are anywhere close to that state yet but we certainly have been on the decline with human interaction. The main reason, I believe, is that human-to-human contact from an economic sense is very inefficient. It take a lot longer to deal with a low skilled worker, who is most likely unhappy with their job, than to click a single button on your phone to order and pay for your food. Its brilliant from a business sense because you have increased efficiency at a much lower cost. Does anyone think we have crossed the line of relying too much on technology? It would be interesting to see how different our lives would be without our common pieces of technology, even for one day.

Facebook IPO Gearing Up

As many of you know, Facebook, has been planning its IPO for the last couple months. This week they had just halted all private market sales of their stock. There are a couple ways to buy stock before it goes public but you have to know someone at one of the investment banks that is doing the underwriting for Facebook, or have a lot of money (to receive special treatment). For the most of us we have to wait for the IPO date that is supposed to be sometime in early May. The fact that Facebook has stopped all private sales means that they are getting ready for their IPO and may even happen a little earlier that anticipated.
The company shares have been soaring in the private market at around $44.10 per share. This gives the company a total market value of $103 billion. This means that investors are really expecting a huge increase of sales revenue in the next few years because this valuation is half the amount of Google's market share with only 1/10th of Google's revenue. This should be a very exciting IPO and could generate a lot of income for some people especially those who got in early with private sales of shares.
Does anyone think their IPO will flop? Do you think their shares are going to skyrocket?

In response to Tyler post about the use Behavioral Characteristics in Marketing

I think that this is diffidently a grey area for advertising because it certainly works, in terms of getting us to buy their product, but its also kind of tricking us into buying a product we might not need. They play into our basic human needs of being social creatures that feel a need to be part of a group. There is nothing wrong with it right now but I feel like there are lines that could easily be crossed. I really like the point you brought up though about the cologne and finding a mate because in nature some female animals only will mate with the male that is putting off the "best" or most desirable odor or the one with the "nicest" feathers. It a really interesting point of how marketers use basic animal instincts to get us to buy their product without us even really noticing it. Do you think that further research on animal characteristics and instincts could lead to better marketing or in some cases more manipulative Marketing? Is their already a field of marketing that may do studies like this and correlate them to marketing products?

Kraft Attempting to Rebrand International Image

Kraft has been known as a household since the early 1900's so it is a bit confusing to me as to why they would try and rename a brand that is over 100 years old. The company wants to change their name to Mondelez. A business insider article said that one of Kraft's executives thought of the idea and figured it would be a great name to use to re-brand Kraft international. The company will still be called Kraft in the US, but it is going to be called Mondelez everywhere else in the world they distribute to. ""Mondelez" (pronounced mohn-dah-LEEZ') is a newly coined word that evokes the idea of "delicious world."  "Monde" derives from the Latin word for "world," and "delez" is a fanciful expression of "delicious.""(Business Insider). I have read a couple articles on this and it seems that they are being met with a lot of negative reactions to this decision. The first complaint is that the word Mondelez sounds similar to a vulgar German term for oral sex, this is also according to another business insider article. Whether or not the the largest snack distribute in the world is going to make such a huge change to its image is uncertain at this time. It would be sad to see such a huge campaign like this flop on its face. Can anyone think of any other re-branding fails? Does anyone think it is a good idea to change their international name?

In Response to Chris's Post Much snow this winter?

This really has been a crazy winter in terms of the amount of snow we have gotten. I can imagine how hard this season must have been for companies that rely on winter. If I were a company, like the hardware store owner, I feel like I would have to stock up before or else you could run out stock and possibly lose customers. It would be more afraid of losing my steady customers than losing money for being over prepared. Also I can’t imagine how much money the ski resorts lost this year with there not being much snow. I know they must have huge overhead cost that they usually make back but I'm not sure about this year. There were only a few weeks that had good conditions this year. Also a company I intern for paid for snow removal up front to get a better deal but it turns out that they are getting a much worse deal because they have only needed snow removal twice all year. Environmental conditions will always be factor when planning ahead you just have to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Does anyone know how bad the ski resorts were hurt this year? Does anyone else have similar stories about over preparing?

Red Bull Founder Dies but Leaves a Great Legacy

The founder of Red Bull, Chaleo Yoovidhya, recently died at the age 90, but has a very interesting story about great marketing caused him to rise to be 205th richest man in the world with an estimated $5 billion. It is well know that red bull dominates the energy drink industry with a much larger market share than anyone else that is around 40%. It all started when an Austrian entrepreneur named Dietrich Mateschitz was sitting in a bar in Hong Kong and learned about a popular tonic that was used by night workers and such to get energy. It was created by Chaleo Yoovidhya's small pharmaceutical company and was called Krating Daeng. Materschitz thought it was such a great idea that him and Chaleo Yoovidhya started the company Red Bull with plans to bring it to the western market. The company used marketing tactics like publicity stunts and contest that have been made popular by the company in recent years. They became very popular with extreme sports and the counter culture. Also red bull cost twice as much per can as a normal soft drink but not because it cost more to make but because they wanted to stand out and becuase their product did things that others did not. The company one a formula one team, a Nascar team, a hockey team and a few soccer teams. The company did such a good job branding that they brought a product that was struggling in Thailand and created one of the most popular drinks in the world just by re-branding it. Does anyone else think this is amazing how your style of marketing can have such a huge impact? Can anyone think of any other examples of this?

In response to Alex Purdy's post...

I think that companies use these different strategies depending on their target market. The annoying Geico commercials seem to be directed more towards younger people while their are more serious commercials that really display what their products are and how they will help you aimed at older more mature audiences. I think that these "goofy commercials" will continue to get even weirder as more and more companies use them so they can really stand out and stick in your mind. We all know what Geico does and what their products are so they don't really need to tell us over and over all they really need to do is have their name fresh in are heads when we are thinking about insurance. Do you think these are effective commercials? or are they too annoying?

Apple worth half a trillion dollars

It is amazing that Apple is now worth over 500 billion dollars or half a trillion dollars. This is the companies market value and yesterday their market cap reached over 500 billion dollars. There has only been 4 other companies that have ever done reached over that half trillion line. Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco, and General Electric are the only other companies that have done this. The company had 127 billion dollars in sales last year which is higher than Qatar's GDP. I find it amazing how a company that was started in a garage can grow to be worth that much in just 30 years. The stock price is over 500 a share, which is pretty crazy because it is more expensive to by 1 share of stock than it is buy a brand new iPad. Do you think they will sustain thier growth further? or do you think they will slip back down like the other 4 companies that reached that half trillion market cap?

In response to Aislynn Sherry's Post

How do you feel about a driverless vehicle? Would you be an advocate for this type of technology?

I think that these cars are going to be awesome. It is going to be like in the movie I-Robot and it is actually considered dangerous to drive the car yourself. I think that advances in technology like this are going to revolutionize transportation. I would feel a little uncomfortable at first but I think it could eventually be safer and much more relaxing. It would solve drunk and intoxicated driving problems and would be very usefully in emergencies. also this could change the lives of some people who a paralyzed or disabled by allowing them to drive. I think it is going to be a few more years until we see this technology fully integrated in future car. I read a similar article about Google's radar based diver less cars and they have been talking to all the major car companies and their cars have already been spotted on the road driving along side with traffic. Does anyone else think these are going to be awesome or do you think they are going to cause a huge problem?

Staircase Advertisment

I came across this article and picture on Businessinsider.com and i thought it was a genius and cool idea. I have a feeling we are going to start seeing a lot of these soon. The company that does this is called UpStairs Media and they have been doing this since 2004. They have a machine that prints on to the side of the stair so you can only see the picture form a little bit of a distance and the stairs look normal as you are going up. They are starting to pop up in Boston, Philadelphia, Wahsinton DC, and Las Vegas.
Nationwide Insurance Comapny has one of these ad's in Las Vegas of a car on a road going out of control with the tagline "life comes at you fast." I think these are going to be huge for large museums because from a distance these stairs really grab your attention and would definitely draw people in. Does anyone else think these are cool? Would you advertise you company with one of these?

In response to Tylers Post about Starbucks

Do you think Starbucks is a sell out? Also do you think Starbucks would have to develop a custom marketing plan for Italy?


I guess Starbucks could be considered a sell out but then every other global franchise would have to be considered a sell out too. It is very important for global companies to market products differently in relation to each unique culture. Every culture has different habits, rituals, and beliefs so a coffee place in the US would not be able to make achieve maximum profit without fine tuning their marketing stagey for each region. I also don't think a franchise coffee store would do well in Europe, apart from London and Pairs, because their are so many small local coffee shops at every corner in cities like Rome or Venice. It is just their culture difference that cause people in Italy to go to their local coffee shop, drink some coffee, have some pastries and finish with a cigarette (cigarettes are HUGE in Europe). 

Pepsi Firing 100 of its 150 Advertisment Agencies

I recently read an article on Business Insider that stated that this week Pepsi was going to be firing 100 out of their 150 advertisement agencies for various brands. The article said that it wanted to centralize their marketing campaign because there are too many brands and they are spread over too many agencies. This came from the CEO of the company about a week ago and the agencies have  not yet been notified which ones are going to be let go. This is causing a frenzy with many ad agencies, the agencies are calling the brand mangers and other  Pepsi insiders to get the details but most companies are being left in the dark until the decision is finalized. I recently posted about Pepsi increasing their marketing budget by about half a billion so this new came as a bit of a surprise to me. I haven't heard anything more about their supposed budget increase so I'm not sure whether they are still doing that or not. It appears to me that Pepsi is in a little bit of trouble so it will be interesting to see what happens with their marketing campaign in the future. They are in a state of falling demand for their product so they need to do something drastic like re-branding or increase their marketing significantly. Has anyone else heard any news about their new strategy? Is anyone else surprised by the huge cut in ad agencies?  

In response to Ethans post about Facebook

 Is it ethical to change your business principles if it means potentially losing customers, in order to stay ahead of your competitors?

I think that it is not only ethical but also necessary for Facebook to grow. They were valued as one of valuable companies in the world before they went public because of their huge network of users. They have over 400 million users daily. It is necessary for them to go public so that they could actually raise the money that they needed to grow and become a better company. They have many threats such as twitter and Google +, but now they will have much more money than their competitors and will be able create better software. They have mobile apps to keep updating and they are working on a phone. I don’t think they will ever make people pay to use the site because they are making a killing from advertising. Also their are many games that people play on Facebook that charge you for additional characters or new levels and such, so they are making a lot of money off that as well. As a user I wouldn't be worried about the site charging money or getting worse, if anything, they will continually make the site better and easier for its users. Is anyone else thinking it is unethical or is anyone else worried about the company losing its way? 

Starbucks to Start Selling Beer?

I recently read an article that said that Starbucks was going start selling beer and wine at a few stores on the west coast to test out the idea. By the end of this year they plan on  selling it in a few stores in southern California and Atlanta. I think this a good idea for some places in California where house wife's might want something a little extra with their coffee but other than that I think it isn't going to sell well. they are planning on selling it for 5 or 6 dollars a glass or beer, so it is definitely not going to be cheap alcohol. I think that people actually go to Starbucks to get the opposite, they go there to get caffeine so they can be more productive and get on with their day  and I don't think most people go their to get a little buzzed. It is an interesting idea though because their are people that go to Starbucks to relax drink coffee and read, so adding a glass of wine isn't that out of the question for some Starbucks regulars. I am kind of excited to see how well these locations do. The article says that a few locations in Seattle have been doing it since 2010 and they seem to do well with customers coming in after work to unwind a little. Do you think you will see alcohol sold at your local Starbucks anytime soon? Would you buy a beer or a glass of wine with your coffee? Do you think there will be any problems with people mixing too much caffeine and alcohol? (remember the Four-Loco drink ban was because of the caffeine and alcohol mixture)

Pepsi May Increase Advertisment Budget

In recent years Pepsi has been outspent by Coca Cola on advertisement by over a billion dollars. Last 3 years Pepsi spent under 2 billion dollars while coke spent about 3 billion dollars. Pepsi has been spending around 3% of sales on marketing while coke has been spending 8% of their total sales. This is pretty shocking because I consider Pepsi to be Coke's underdog so I would expect them to spend more than coke to try and catch up. This week Pepsi is going to outline their plans for increased marketing and analyst predict it will increase 400 - 500 million dollars this year on soda and snack advertisement. I also heard a rumor that Pepsi's Superbowl commercial is going "taking the gloves off" and attacking coke's polar bear, so that might be something to look out for this weekend. Has anyone else heard of Pepsi increasing their advertisement investment? Do you like Pepsi or Coke better? Do you think Pepsi should be spending more on advertisement to catch up with coke?
Source

Facebook IPO

This is in response for Chris Morin's post about the Facebook IPO. I have been reading a lot about the IPO that Facebook filed today. I for one will definitely be buying some stock in them because for the foreseeable future it will be a website that is used everyday by millions of people. It is estimated to be worth 100 billion dollars because of its huge amounts of users and because of how much advertisements the site can provide. Unfortunately, you will not be able to buy the stock yet because they only filed the IPO today and it will not actually be trading until April or May. The stock price is estimated to be in the rage of 30-45 dollars a share so it isn't going to be that cheap or easy for a college student to invest in but if you have a few hundred laying around it is a must buy. and for those who don't know much about IPO's, be careful when you buy it because on its first day of trading it is going to skyrocket and then drop to a reasonable price because of the huge demand for it. How much are most people willing to pay for it?

Walgreens Increased Spending on Media

 This is in response to Chris Moran's post about Walgreen's increased spending on media. I think it is interesting that Walgreen actually spent 164 million dollars on media because I don't think that I have seen a single add for Walgreen's commercial or add. This may be due to the fact that there are not many Walgreen's in my area so maybe they are more prevalent in other areas of the country. I also never really liked Walgreens that much I always kind of that of it as a lower end drug store compared to CVS or something. But clearly there media campaign is working a little because of the 6% percent growth. I feel that they expected a little more that 6% growth when spending 164 million dollars. But in 2011 any growth was consider good because there were a large number of companies and even municipalities failing. Do you think that Walgreens was aiming for a higher growth percentage? Or do you think that the 6% growth was sufficient?

Chris Beland... The Product

It is very interesting to think of your self as a product because you don't usually think of your self as an object, idea or a solid good. It is interesting because we actually market our selves in very similar ways that we would market a product. Of course most of us don't spend millions on commercials for our selves and have large billboards about us, but we market our selves every day by dressing and acting  in certain ways. We market our selves on our transcripts and resumes  and package our selves nicely in suits for interviews. When applying for a job you are essentially trying to sell yourself to the company.

The four P's of the Marketing Mix: Product, Place, Promotion and Price

Product: we work every hard to ensure that we are quality products. We go to the gym to stay in shape, we go to class to learn and become better products, we package our selves in expensive clothing in order to appear more appealing, we do all these things to ensure that we are good products in the global environment.

Place: This one is not as obvious as Product, but we work very hard to be able to live in a nice location. I am from Simsbury, CT and I am great full that I don't have to live in a less desirable location such as Compton in LA. We also like to drive nice cars and we need to get places so we spend exuberant amounts on transportation as well as our homes.

Promotion: We advertise our selves every time we apply for a job. When we give someone our resume we are basically giving them a flyer on why they should buy us ( or hire us). We put our most important features on that list to appeal to the buyer. We also manage our publicity everyday in almost every situation. We have a huge focus on impression management.

Price: I never thought that I could have a price, but when we accept a job offer, we are setting a price for our time. We are accepting a price that we find reasonable for our time. Sometimes we even take discounts if we have other incentives such as love of the job.

We are clearly Products in the Global Work Force so we do need to take time and market our selves even if we don't realize we are doing it.

What is the difference, in your opinion between marketing, advertising, and propaganda?

What is the difference, in your opinion (don’t look up definitions) between marketing, advertising, and propaganda?

I believe that the three terms are all very similar and overlap a little in definition. I believe that marketing is a broad term that both advertising and propaganda can fit into. Marketing is the process of making products more appealing to the consumers. Advertising is part of marketing, but it is really about getting the product on peoples mind and stimulating demand though commercials, signs and such. Propaganda is on the extreme end of advertising because it is using misinformation and other tactics to manipulate people towards a certain view point, usually a political view like in North Korea.