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.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

With todays growing technology and societies insatiable need for more and more technology, its no wonder companies are turning to product fans and brand consumers to help sell their wares and/or services. On top of that, the Internet is becoming or more specifically sites such as Facebook are becoming the ideal place to go to find new employees for potential employers. No longer are the days of “pounding the asphalt” and going door to door, filling out job application and trying your hardest to make that first impression with the Manager. Now it’s all nameless and impersonal when applying for a job and just about education and provable work experience.

First, lets look at the increasing use of “Brand Ambassadors” and the companies that utilizes them. “Companies such as JetBlue, Sony, Microsoft, and McDonald’s, among others, are now developing a new breed of brand ambassador programs that organize and supercharge consumer-to-consumer interactions about their brands. These programs employ everyday consumers who are passionate about their products to act as part PR agents, part sales reps, and part evangelists.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, pg.143) Companies are constantly looking for a new ways of reaching the masses, and if they can find those ways of making it less expensive without having to hire a whole marketing teams, then all the better. The general public wants to hear reviews from real users of the product, which is why companies like JetBlue employed their “Crew Blue ambassadors” on college campuses nationwide to host events and promote their airlines.

Secondly, we have the Internet and social media sites now acting as job boards and are being used by employers to help in recruitment. “More companies are trying to tap Facebook Inc.'s 750-million-plus user base to find new employees, threatening traditional job boards and competing with LinkedIn Corp., which has dominated the online professional networking arena.” (Wall Street Journal, Joe Light, Aug 8, 2011) Even though this trend is growing, there will always be those who are uncomfortable with this potential resource, and think it will be an invasion of privacy if employers are able to see all their personal information on their Facebook page and use it to determine their job worthiness. These same people though need to realize and appreciate that nothing posted online is private anymore, and should not be posting things that they don’t want a million plus people to see or read in the first place. 

Week 4 EOC: There's An App for That

As a working freelance photographer, I often find myself trying to figure out the position of the sun in relationship to my current location and also when sunrise or sunset will be at my specific location. It’s definitely not uncommon to hear a photographer mutter to himself where’s my light or yell for an assistant to find out the same information. Well let me introduce you to “Where’s My Sun?” A new smart phone application to help photographers find the sun while on location shoots.

The application would use the on phone GPS system just like most weather applications do but in turn would tell you by showing an arrow where the sun is located in retrospect to your current standing location. You would also be able to determine the exact time the sun will rise and/or set in the area you are currently standing in. With this knowledge, you will be able to determine the exact times of “Golden Hour” light for shooting and you will never have to worry again about trying to keep the sun at your back. Also, when out scouting for a shoot location, the application would also be able to give you a 5-day forecast on the weather in the location as well so you don’t accidentally plan a shoot during expected bad weather.

I believe this application would be able to sell for $0.99 and have possible advertisement potential in photographic and hobby magazines to help boost it’s sales. The practical possibilities this application offers would out weigh the cost and being only $0.99, most people would buy the application out of sheer curiosity to see if it can actually deliver what it promises.

So download this application now and be ahead of the game on your next outdoor shoot.