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.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

Living in a world where advertising is a daily interaction, to the point most people just don’t notice or care anymore, marketers are constantly trying to classify and categorize you as an individual to better their marketing campaigns. This is done by the study demographics. “Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation, and other statistics. The demographic environment is of major interest to marketers because it involves people.” (Marketing an Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, pg. 71)
Demography has categorized people into the following: Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Generation Y. I happen to fall under the umbrella of Generation X. “Generation X is the 45 million people born between 1965 and 1976 in the “birth dearth” following the baby boom.” (Marketing an Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, pg. 73) Although Gen Xers seek success, they are not overly materialistic and value experience over acquisition. “From a marketing standpoint, the Gen Xers are a more skeptical bunch. They tend to research products before they consider a purchase, preferring quality over quantity, and they tend to be less receptive to overt marketing pitches.” (Marketing an Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, pg. 73)
Both Baby Boomers and Gen Xers have difficulty saving money for the future/retirement but from what you read previously, Gen Xers spend more cautiously compared to the free spending of the Baby Boomers. I find this to be true having grown up in this era and watching the increase in pay and technologies go up and up. Were when I was a child, my parents or their friends would be care free with their money and just buy whatever looked good. I find myself asking questions and researching a product before I even think about buying it. So once you think about them and consider their pros and cons, even though you might fit a particular Generation type, I still think we all as a race share some commonalities.

Week 3 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

During a time of recession in the United States, more and more people have to cut expenses due to high unemployment rates. This has affected many industries and has more often than not been the downfall of such industries. One such industry, Entertainment, more specifically Video Games has taken a hit. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Videogame Makers Can’t Dodge Recession, it is explained that videogame sales have plummeted while people are “tightening their purse strings [waiting for game makers] to cut the prices of their consoles."

Due to fierce competition between the different video games makers, console games nearly meet their “death.” Dollar sales of consoles and other gaming hardware declined, mostly because of price cuts that have occurred in the past year from companies trying to survive the recession.  “Nintendo Co., for example, sliced the price of its 3DS handhold in August to $170 from $250. As a result, overall console sales dropped 9% in November to $982.4 million compared with a year earlier.” (The L.A. Times Business, Dec. 09, 2011)

Life seems to stirring once again in the general population as more and more people are finding work again. Companies like Microsoft and their Xbox just might be saved from this recession. “Thanks in part to the sixty-six million consumers who have purchased an Xbox and accessories, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted net income of $6.62 billion on revenue of $20.9 billion for the second quarter-ended December 31st.” (IRA.com. Thomas Hertog, 01/23/12)

Having recently studied the Boston Consulting Group matrix in Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 10^th Edition, by Gary Armstrong and Philip Kotler, I believe that the video game market, more specifically Xbox, is a “Cash Cow.” Cash cows are low-growth, high-share businesses or products. These established and successful SBUs need less investment to hold their market share. Thus, they produce a lot of cash that the company uses to pay its bills and to support other SBUs that need investment.  Having survived dangerously low sales, to only come back and begin to soar shows this

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

I am an avid coffee drinker, so I frequent coffee shops on a more than regular basis to say the least. Even though I go to multiple locations to get my caffeine fix, I find that nine times out of ten or at least 95% of the time, I go to the same Starbucks located in Henderson, NV near my college. To go to this location, I literally drive fifteen miles one way, when I have a Starbucks less than a quarter mile from my home to get my coffee and relax. The employees or Baristas at this particular location always have a smile on their face for me when I walk in. They treat me like I am personal friend instead of just another customer. When I am having a bad day, they notice and inquire about what’s wrong and have actually sat with me to talk and cheer me up. I have seen how well they treat the other customers but it never compares to the treatment I get. This kind of treatment just reminds me that “Sound marketing is critical to the success of every organization. Large for-profit firms such as Procter & Gamble, Google, Target, Toyota, and Marriott use marketing. But so do not-for-profit organizations such as colleges, hospitals, museums, symphony orchestras, and even churches.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, page 3) If it wasn’t for the treatment I receive from the employees, I wouldn’t have such a strong loyalty to that particular Starbucks and would probably frequent one much closer to home or another coffee shop chain all together. Treating you like a friend and not just another number makes you want to come back more for the good feelings, when you could go anywhere you so desire and hear another drone voice asking “You want fries with that?”