Week 15: Promotion

Last week in class, we spend close to the whole class period talking about promotions and how they affect consumers' everyday lifes, choices and financial situations. In class, we talked mainly about Facebook and how their marketing and promotional techniques are successful and targeted to each individual, based on their deomorgraphics, realtional status, location, network, etc.

Its all Marketing Information!

Yeah, information about you, how you live, what you wear, where you travel, what you eat and drink and where you like to do it, and, best of all, you also tell them who your friends are so they can combine that information into larger categories. Facebook knows you better and has much more interesting information about you than your Mom or Dad.

Think about it.

Remember all that profile information you've filled out with school and movies and TV shows and religion and sexual orientation and availability. And, all those pictures! Think about the marketing information in those pictures. You even name names in some of the photos. There you are with your friends at the Martin Stadium for the Cougar football game. What's everyone wearing, what are they drinking, what kind of haircuts and styles, any tattoos? Oh, and some wedding pictures. How many guests? Sitdown dinner or buffet? And think about all those silly What Famous Movie Character Are You Most Like or My Favorite Precious Stones or fill in the blank with a consumer preference questionnaire disguised as a game?

And, best of all, you tell them your network. Facebook can link you to your "friends" and see how similar and how different you are from each one. It can determine which ones you talk to the most and those you don't and then look at the pictures to see if something's going on - maybe you don't play with "friends" who are older than you or who went to high school with you, but then went to a different college.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

Week 13: Place: Distribution System

This week, we covered distribution centers, and how products get from one place to the other. I found a video on YouTube, that shows AT&T with the 3G IPhones, and how they are packaged, shipped and distributed to businesses to sell. As you can see in the video, AT&T owns a distribution warehouse, where all of their products are kept in stock, and shipped out to suppliers and consumers when an order is placed. The video shows how products are taken from storage, boxed up, and send down a convayer belt to be scanned, tagged an shipped.

Week 12: Pricing

Currently in the United States, every American that drives a vehilce, are affected by the ELASTIC DEMAND of gas prices. Cars are the number one source of transportation for Americans and in order to drive, you must pay the price for gasoline. The price of gasoline is elastic becasue, no matter the price consumers are forced to pay the current market price if they want to drive their vehilces.

Also, the price of rubber currently is very expensive, and factories that produce car tires are forced to pay the high price for rubber and then pass on the price to the consumer, which is known as COST-PLUS PRICING. This is a technique that businesses use to pass the burden onto the consumer and avioud their fixed prices to decrease, so they can still make a profit.

Week 11: Marketing Services

This week, we talked about services that businesses offer to their consumers and suppliers. I had first hand experience over Thanksgiving Break when I was in California. My Grandma recently bought a brand new Lexus and took it in for a routine check-up and oil change at the Lexus dealership. A few hours later, we went back to pick up her vehicle and the car had an oil stain on the carpet, wasnt vacuumed and wasnt washed. Usually, with luxury dealerships such as Lexus, they wash, vacuum and wash the windows after they service your vehicle. My Grandma was very upset, and there was a great deal of GAP ANALYSIS involved. My Grandma expected a high-quality service experience from Lexus and that's not what she recieved.

This was a first-hand experience that made me think of Marketing 360 over Thanksgiving Break. What we learn in this class really does affect your views on marketing and businesss' actions.

Week 9: Managing Product Lines

Week 8: New Products and Innovations

The New I-Pod Nano just came out in September 2009, and people are flocking the stores to buy the "new and improved" I-Pod Nano, which allows you to video record, along with downloading and comes with an AM/FM radio tuner. This is an example of a Continuous Innovation product. The product is very very similar to the first I-Pod Nano, but this one is "new and improved" with new features of the AM/FM radio and allows you to talk to your I-
Pod and speak what song you want to play, and the I-Pod will play that song. This is a new product, but only slightly improved from the previous I-Pod.