Week 08 EOC: Creative Content

The creative concept for “Cocoa Cough” is to show my product to the world, by which I plan to make an ad for my product in Photoshop.

I will take a picture of a cough syrup bottle and design a new label for it. The label will be hand drawn and colored, then glued to the bottle so pictures can be taken of the mock product. The label will show chocolate and cough syrup pouring together into a single stream, filling a spoon to the brim. The pictures of the mock product will be taken in a studio setting to get the best results possible of the “Cocoa Cough” bottle. Once the cough syrup bottle and label have been photographed, I can import the image into CS4/CS5 Photoshop and then add text to the photograph, creating a slogan for “Cocoa Cough.”

The ad should show the product as something tasty and a more suitable choice to replace the overly medicated general brands of cough syrup on the shelves. “Companies that market experiences realize that customers are really buying much more than just products and services. They are buying what those offers will do for them.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, pg. 210) The customer should experience a delicious chocolate taste every time, making it a hit with children and parents everywhere

Final Project: Implementation Evaluation Control

Having business goals is an important part of being a business owner, running a company and providing a product.  It's important to be able to monitor those goals at regular intervals to make sure you are still on the right track.  Some of the tools that are instrumental and important to utilize are "...budgets, schedules, and performance standards for monitoring and evaluating results." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Appendix pg. 02) Budgets can be used to compare planned and unplanned expenditures from a given week, month, or a fiscal year of business. Schedules show when tasks are scheduled  to be completed versus when they are actually completed.  Performance standards track the outcomes of marketing programs to see whether the company is moving toward its objectives. These checks and balances help maintain proficient system, one that is able to implement its plans. "Through implementation, the company turns the plans into actions. Control consists of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing activities and taking corrective action where needed." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 02, pg. 31)

Final Project: Price

"Setting the right price is one of the marketer’s most difficult tasks. A host of factors come into play. But finding and implementing the right price strategy is critical to success." (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 09, pg. 275) Cocoa Cough will retail for only $12.99. This makes it roughly the same cost as the highest selling brands, such as Delsym Cough Syrup, and approximately $5.00 more than the cheapest selling brands. This makes it competitive with everyday brands on the market without alienating itself do to over cost. Setting the price too high will make the consumer stop and question the difference between your product and the next one that is ten dollars cheaper. Our price is worth every moment the consumer enjoys the delicious and rich taste of chocolate and the enjoyment that the customer will receive. "Customer value-based pricing uses buyers’ perceptions of value, not the seller’s cost, as the key to pricing. Value-based pricing means that the marketer cannot design a product and marketing program and then set the price. Price is considered along with the other marketing mix variables before the marketing program is set."  (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 09, pg. 276)

Final Project: Promotion

“Profits increase during the growth stage as promotion costs are spread over a large volume and as unit manufacturing costs fall. The firm uses several strategies to sustain rapid market growth as long as possible. It improves product quality and adds new product features and models. It enters new market segments and new distribution channels. It shifts some advertising from building product awareness to building product conviction and purchase, and it lowers prices at the right time to attract more buyers.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 08, Page 262) Cocoa Cough will be advertised in youth magazines and other periodicals that children and young adults would peruse. Television commercials will be shown featuring young children and young adolescents enjoying the taste of Cocoa Cough and feeling the effects of a relieved cough. “At some point, a product’s sales growth will slow down, and the product will enter a maturity stage.This maturity stage normally lasts longer than the previous stages, and it poses strong challenges to marketing management. Most products are in the maturity stage of the life cycle, and therefore most of marketing management deals with the mature product.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 08, Page 262)

Final Project: Distribution

“Distribution channels are more than simple collections of firms tied together by various flows. They are complex behavioral systems in which people and companies interact to accomplish individual, company, and channel goals. Some channel systems consist only of informal interactions among loosely organized firms. Others consist of formal interactions guided by strong organizational structures. Moreover, channel systems do not stand still—new types of intermediaries emerge and whole new channel systems evolve. Here we look at channel behavior and at how members organize to do the work of the channel. “(Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed Page 314) The best way to distribute Cocoa Cough would be through specialty store, such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, where the average customer has a more refined palette for finer things. Specialty stores attract a clientele that generally has the higher income to purchase better quality and tasting goods, such as Cocoa Cough. The packaging and bottle being made from recycled goods will also help Cocoa Cough identify with the environmentally conscience shopper as well. Another avenue to get Cocoa Cough to the public will be through online sales from the Cocoa Cough Corporation itself. “Changes in technology and the explosive growth of direct and online marketing are having a profound impact on the nature and design of marketing channels. One major trend is toward disintermediation—a big term with a clear message and important consequences. Disintermediation occurs when product or service producers cut out intermediaries and go directly to final buyers, or when radically new types of channel intermediaries displace traditional ones.” (Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed Page 320)

Final Project: Target Market Strategy

"A marketing strategy consists of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, the marketing mix, and marketing expenditure levels." (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 01, Page 33.) Cocoa Cough’s target market is young children, four years of age and older, and adolescents. These age ranges were carefully surveyed and polled, with both being found to have the greatest influence on the person in charge of buying goods for the home, in this case, the parents. Once a taste has been developed by our target market group, the parents will have no other choice but to satisfy their child’s need for a cough suppressant coupled a child’s need for something sweet. "Planning good strategies is only a start toward successful marketing. A brilliant marketing strategy counts for little if the company fails to implement it properly. (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 01, Page 33.)

Final Project: Product

"A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve. Market targeting can be carried out at several different levels." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 06, Page 186)

Cocoa Cough is a unique cough syrup, made only with the best ingredients and pharmaceutical medications to provide a superior cough syrup but at the same time is enhanced with a chocolate extract that provides it delicious taste. The chocolate extract will give Cocoa Cough the delectable options of Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and White Chocolate flavors without the added calories. You will hardly notice the difference from drinking a chocolate beverage compared to taking a needed dose of cough syrup to help suppress that nasty cold or flu side affect. Cocoa Cough will not only taste great but will be environmentally friendly by being packaged and bottled in recycled plastic and paper. So will it not only good for you and your body but the Earth as well.    

“In evaluating different market segments, a firm must look at three factors: segment size and growth, segment structural attractiveness, and company objectives and resources. The company must first collect and analyze data on current segment sales, growth rates, and expected profitability for various segments. It will be interested in segments that have the right size and growth characteristics." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 06, Page 186)

Final Project: Situation or SWOT Analysis

“Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT Analysis, by which it evaluates the company’s overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance. (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 02, Page 55)” 


Cocoa Cough’s strength would be that not only is the bottle and packaging not only visually stimulating to a buyer, but made of recycled material to save on cost. The cough syrup itself is of the highest quality with an unsurpassed chocolate taste. It will be supplied to specialty grocery stores, such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and select pharmacies around the country. Cocoa Cough’s weakness would be the fact that it mainly targeted towards young children and young adults, which could have it facing alienation from older adults and parents that are more health conscience and may be put off by the added chocolate flavor do to a concern about calories. A threat to Cocoa cough would be the other brands of chocolate flavored cough syrups, even though few in number, they are still competitive enough to challenge our bottom line.

 “The company should analyze its markets and marketing environment to find attractive opportunities and identify environmental threats. It should analyze company strengths and weaknesses as well as current and possible marketing actions to determine which opportunities it can best pursue. The goal is to match the company’s strengths to attractive opportunities in the environment, while eliminating or overcoming the weaknesses and minimizing the threats. (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 02, Page 56)”

Final Project: Objectives

"Customer insights groups collect customer and market information from a wide variety of sources—ranging from traditional marketing research studies to mingling with and observing consumers to monitoring consumer online conversations about the company and its products. Then, they use the marketing information to develop important customer insights from which the company can create more value for its customers. For example, Unilever’s customer insights group states its mission simply as “getting better at understanding our consumers and meeting their needs.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 04, pg. 102) Cocoa Cough’s objective is to produce and sell a better cough syrup brand than the general public has grown accustomed to. We are aiming to create a flavor profile of three different chocolate indulgences that people, especially young children and adolescent adults, will find delicious and tastier than the average cough syrup. If an individual is sampling Cocoa Cough for the first time, then we as a company want it to be significant moment in time, like a first kiss. This experience will lead us to be the number one cough remedy product. "We define a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. Products include more than just tangible objects, such as cars, computers, or cell phones. Broadly defined, “products” also include services, events, persons, places, organizations, ideas, or mixes of these." (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, Ch. 07, pg. 209)

Final Project: Business Mission Statement

Cocoa Cough’s mission is to make people happy around the world by selling the highest quality, most unique tasting experience made with passion and innovation to help cure the common cough. "Forging a sound mission begins with the following questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be? These simple-sounding questions are among the most difficult the company will ever have to answer. Successful companies continuously raise these questions and answer them carefully and completely." (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Ch. 02, pg. 39) Cocoa Cough is determined to provide the best tasting cough remedy for children and adults, while maintaining a tasty experience. "Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating. They should emphasize the company’s strengths in the marketplace. Too often, mission statements are written for public relations purposes and lack specific, workable guidelines." (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Ch. 02, pg. 40)

Week 07 EOC: The Pitch

As if we needed another excuse for imbibing chocolate, now research out of the UK shows that it may be used as a way to treat persistent coughs. Who knew that something we once craved and cherished, thinking it a sinful pleasure, could be good for us too.

Imagine the tears of joy you will shed when you no longer have to fight down the taste of over medicated cough syrups. Say good-bye to the nasty “Green Death” flavor and the artificial grape or cherry flavors that no body believes wasn’t anything but artificial flavoring. Gone will be the sounds of reluctant children crying and complaining that they don’t want to or it tastes funny, now they will line up and be eager to take it and enjoy the unique taste.

Now you can have rich and flavorful chocolate cough syrup. It can come in dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate flavors. The cough medicine will be know as “Cocoa Cough” and will be mainly marketed towards children but adults will want to get their hands on this once they see how much their kids love it. It will contain actually medicine and theobromine, found in cocoa so this isn’t just a candy or novelty to be consumed in mass quantities but treated like any other cough medicine. It will be package in a small glass bottle with approximately 3-4.5 fl. oz. It will not be sold in any packaging at all. The labeling will be bright and up beat so as to attract younger people, instead of darker colors, which are better suited for adults.

So stop standing there and drooling, get on down to your nearest Whole Foods or Trader Joes and buy a bottle today. When cold season hits you wont be sorry.

Week 6 EOC: Me X's Three

As a consumer and a freelance photographer in our current society, I often have to buy and utilize items for my personal life and career that help with my day-to-day life.          I guess in a way you can say these items help define me since you almost never see me without one of the following three items within my possession.

First, we have the Canon 7D Digital SLR Camera.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

I simply cannot live with out this camera. Ever since I purchased the camera in 2010, I have used it on every shoot and photo assignment I had since. With its 18-135mm zoom lens with an f/4 IS, I can capture images in relatively low light and go from wide angle to a decent zoom with the twist of my wrist. The 7D also has an 18.1 mega pixel sensor that will give you unbelievably clear and crisp images. This camera can also turn video camera at the flip of a switch and then you can record in High Definition .The other Canon camera bodies are decent but this is the camera for me.

Second, we have Adobe Photoshop CS5 for my personal laptop.

After I spend a day on location or in the studio doing what I do best, I open up Photoshop and get working on the true backbone of my job, editing. Any decent photographer will agree that you have to now the basics in Photoshop if you want to be competitive in our field. With Photoshop, you can do an enormous amount of post work on your picture. You can saturate the image with more color, change it to black and white, correct lens flares and remove blemishes from the model. Without this program, there would have been more than a few of my images that would have never come out as good as they have.

Third, we have the T-Mobile HTC My Touch Android Cell Phone.

This is my current phone and I couldn’t live without it. It’s like my little assistant and play pal all in one. I can keep track of all my scheduled assignments and write down when all my homework is due, just like on a calendar. Plus, it comes with loads of apps to choose from, so you are never bored or without some handy tool, like a flash light application. With its big touch screen and 3G storage, I can load tons of my work onto the phone and use it as a mini portfolio to show potential clients my work.