In Response to Erik's "Stumble Upon" Post

Erik I do agree with you that Stumble Upon is an extremely affective marketing tool. Freshman year is when I first "stumbled" across Stumble Upon and from the first time I used it I became addicted. I think that you put it perfectly when you said that "it is the the ultimate boredom tool". Whenever I am band just sitting in my room I am noramlly fooling around on my computer and it will always involve me using stumble upon for a decent amount of time. It always brings me to websites that I would otherwise never know of and a lot of times I find a lot of really interesting things. Also the like/dislike button is the most imprtant part of Stumble Upon because it makes this tool more personal and caters to your specific interests so that the sites it brings you too are geared towards you. I think that every company should add the like/dislike on Stumble Upon to their websites because it is a great way to market yourelf. Like I said Stumble Upon has opened me up and allowed me to view numerous amounts of websites that I otherwise would never new existed.

Ramuntos Promotion

Promotion is an extremely important variable of the marketing mix and it is something that has recently helped a local pizzaria in Keene called Ramuntos gain recognition. Promotion is defined as "communication to build and maintain relationships by informing and persuading one or more audiences". In this case Ramuntos is a new pizzeria in Keene that just entered into the market and opened up right on Main Street. I had heard that this place had opened up and that it was a pizzaria but did not think much of it seeing as how there are at least four other pizza places already established in Keene. Ramuntos had been open for a while before I finally tried it and the only reason that initially brought me in there doors was because they were having a promotion for all college students. All you had to do was go into Ramuntos on this one specific day, show your college ID, fill out a form where you provided your name, email address, and home address and you got a free slice of pizza and three garlic nots. They also were serving Bud Select draft beers for $1.66 to whomever was of age which was a big hit as well. Also while you were eating the free food waitresses were ramdomly picking the forms that everyone filled out and if your form came up then you could win anything from a free t-shirt, to a weekend stay at a mountain resort which included lodging and lift tickets. This promotion was extremely successful as the line was out the door all day and college kids flocked to Ramuntos to get free pizza, beer, and a chance to win free items. Not only was it successful that day but for me personally it has made me go back to Ramunots several times since then and has become one of my favorite places in Keene to eat, and I have heard the same thing from other people. Although this day was probably expensive for the company it did for them what every business needs when getting started, and that is to gained them recognition in the area and it definitely has brought them much more business due to this promotional skeme.

My question is wondering whether people think that promotional skemes like this actually pay off in the long run and if anyone at this same experience that I did at Ramuntos?

In Response to Aubrey's post on Google "Plus One"

In response to the question of whether or not the Google plus one button will make Google more competitive to social networking sites, I would say that it definitely will. I don't think that this is going to prevent people from using social networking sites like facebook less often but I do think that it will bring more attention to Google. I think that the area that Google will see the most impact on will be with businesses. The advertising business is huge now-a-days and it is the only reason that made facebook worth as much money as it is. With companies now being able to add this Google plus one button to their page it will give them another way to advertise besides on facebook. Some companies may look at this as an even more effective way to advertise than facebook because this will open up their ads to who ever is using the world wide web and not just people on facebook. I am predicting that this Google plus one button will be extremely successful and large companies may rather want to advertise with this Google tool instead of facebook because it allows you to reach so many more people.

Product Placement and Supermarkets

After recently making a visit to Shaw's Supermarket I noticed how they use product placement to their advantage. The most noticeable thing that stood out to me occurred when I walked down the cereal isle. Cereal is a product that you can really set clear distinctions on by age groups. Supermarkets like Shaw's are aware of this and apply a concept called "Eye Level Shopping" to their advantage so that customers with specific wants see what they want right away. Eye Level Shopping is the concept that when you walk down an isle like the cereal isle that depending on your age and height, that whatever brands are at your eye level are put there strategically. Cereals that are geared more towards adults like Raisin Brand are placed on the upper shelf while cereals that are meant for kids like Luck Charms are placed on the bottom shelves. Supermarkets do research into finding out the average height levels of all the age groups are strategically place their boxes of cereal according to the data they collected. Another way they use eye level shopping is with items that are on sale. If your walking down the cereal isle and at your eye level on the shelf are boxes of cereal that are on sale you are probably going to be more willing to buy them. For example if I were to be walking down the cereal isle and there were boxes on sale that were on the bottom shelves I may not notice them because my eye level and I would not buy them for that reason.
    I think that this is a very affective tool that supermarkets use and it is an extremely important aspect of shopping. The more that items are at my eye level the more I'm going to notice those products and not the products on the bottom shelves. I think that this concept is effective but I am wondering if other people think this way as well, or if placement on shelf levels don't matter to them when they are shopping?

In Response to Abby's "Starbucks and Keurig team up" Post

 After finishing this article, I realized what a good marketing plan this was. Why not make a deal to sell one of the most popular coffee brands in one of the most used coffee makers? This is going to benefit both Starbucks and Green Mountain and I think they will see tremendous profits as their outcome. Do you agree that this is a good idea, or do you think one of these companys will hurt in the long run?
      I do agree with you that this was a good idea for Starbucks and Keurig to team up. One thing I learned from reading your post was that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. owns the Keurig coffee machines. The Keurig coffee maker is an extremely popular product and by teaming up with Starbucks it can only help their image. As of lately Green Mountain Coffee is having a hard time defending their image because of the accounting fraud that phased them just a few months ago. Anything that this company can do to reestablish their credibility with the public is going to be beneficial to them. Also as Abby stated since Starbucks is one of the most used coffee brands why would they not want to serve their coffee in one of the most used coffee machines. Not only will this bring in profits for Starbucks when people buy there coffee cups to make in the Keurig Coffee maker but the popularity of Starbucks could in return make people go out and buy the Keuirg so they can have Starbucks coffee in there in their homes. All in all I think that this was a smart move by both Starbucks and by Green Mountain and I believe that both companies should see profits stem from this relationship.

The Overspent American

       After watching the video titled "The Overspent American" it really got me interested in the concept and really made me question the lifestyle that Americans are living at the moment. In  today's reality every person wants to have the best of everything and have an extremely lavish lifestyle. It seems to be a common trend that people are always comparing themselves to others and they always want to have bigger and better things. The saying used to go "keeping up with the Jones's" which meant that the Jones's were a family that you looked up to and wanted to have the same lifestyle as. The thing about this though that made this concept okay was that the Jones's were a family that lived in the same neighborhood as you and had around the same yearly income. Although now-a-days this saying has changed to "keeping up with the Gates". This concept goes along with the theory that everyone is constantly comparing themselves to each other and wants to have the bigger and better thing. The saying means that instead of looking up to the Jones's who were a family in your neighborhood with the same social class, you are now looking up to the Gates who is a family that is extremely rich and has a lifestyle that 90 percent or more of the population will never be able to have. This thought process that people are stuck in has caused people to enter into a lifestyle called  work-to-spend.
      The most interesting thing about this video was that in the past there was a time when America was moving towards a leisure society that was going to consist of a  four day work week and a three day weekend. I think that this concept makes so much sense and I believe that if this was ever put into affect than people would enjoy life much more. I think that people would  not be as stressed and if we just added one more hour to each work day than it would make a 4 day work week possible and everyone would have a better quality of life. I'm wondering if other people agree with me and if they think that a four day work week and a three day weekend is logical?
           

In Response to Erik Bergstroms "Tweet Tweet... BOOOMMM" post

To answer your question Erik, I would have to strongly agree with you when you said you believe that there is a greater meaning to social networking than just a way to meet people, advertise, or follow the stars. Like you said our generation is moving towards and possibly has reached a point where face-to-face communication is almost hard to come by. Now-a-days it seems as though people prefer to send a text, an email, or write on the persons facebook wall rather than call them or talk face-to-face. Although I am guilty of this as well I do believe that it is hurting us more than it is helping us as a society. Yes you can make the argument that it is convenient and it also gives you time to think about what you want to say before actually saying it, but all in all I believe this is having a negative impact. Getting rid of face-to-face communication between people is going to make everyone's social kills diminish rapidly and when it comes time for our generation and future generations to go on job interviews is one aspect where this will become a problem. Also one of the biggest reasons for why this has a negative impact is that without face-to-face communication you completely lose out on the tone in which people say things and their initial reactions, which can sometimes be more important than what their actually saying. Social Networking like facebook does have many positives but when it becomes addictive like it does to the majority of people I know many problems occur. Just a few days ago I decided to deactivate my facebook profile because I felt as though it was having a negative impact on me, and I do think that life will be easier without it. This is an extremely important issue and I think that people should really start to consider the possible negative ramification that social networking sites can have.

Sun Drop

      The other day I was watching TV and a commercial came on for a new soda called Sun Drop. The commercial caught my attention because of the the humor that was displayed through a girl drinking the soda and dancing to the popular song from Snoop Dog called Drop It Like It's Hot. The song was what originally drew me in and then when I looked up at the TV there was a girl drinking the soda and dancing in places where she seemed very out of place. This was very comedic to me and it made me pay attention to the product that was being advertised which was Sun Drop. After watching this commercial I was very intrigued by this new citrus soda, so I did a little research on it. I was surprised to find out that what I though was a new soda was actually developed in New Haven, Missouri in 1949. I found out that it was invented by a man named Charles Lazier who happened to be a salesman of beverage concentrates at the time. He was driving around in his car one day and all the sudden had a light bulb go off in his head with the idea for the perfect soda. He wrote down the receipt for the soda and gave it to his son Charles Jr who would go on to create it. Sun Drop was initially launched in 1951 with the original name of Sundrop Golden Cola or Golden Girl Cola. The rights to the soda was passed between a few different companies until it was finally acquired by Dr. Pepper who is producing the soda today and distributing it nationwide for the first time ever. It seems as though Dr. Pepper is trying to market this product towards the younger age group and my first thought was that it reminded me of how sprite is marketed. Sprite has taken a movement to market towards my age group and has done so through hip hop. That is why I made a connection between these two products. I am interested to see and wondering if people will think that Sun Drop will strive in the beverage market? 

Charity Fraud featuring U2's Bono

After recently reading an article and also hearing chatter of allegations towards Bono, I have learned he is now involved in a Scandal that includes his charity and fraud occurring. In the article that I read, it alleged that Bono's charity named ONE only donates one percent of their proceeds to the actual cause. Over 50 percent goes to paying salaries of the workers and the rest goes to promoting their campaign for the cause. Mostly talked about, his charity is dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa and Aids Worldwide. If these allegations turn out to be true it is definitely is going to put a dent in his image. In my opinion this is one of the lowest things that you could steep to and shows poor decision making as someone who is supposed to be a role model. Although he is still a normal person like anyone else he is still held at a higher standard than most because of his ability to persuade people. When you are someone as famous and popular as he is a lot of people would see him and think that this is a great cause to help, when in fact hardly any of your money is actually helping.
When his charity was confronted about this matter they responded by saying the money goes towards promoting for the charity and they defended how the charity is run. Ethics is a huge issue in this case and their is absolutely no question that if these allegations turn out to be true Bono will never be looked at the same again.

In responce to Erik Bergstrom's "Super" Marketing post

I agree with everything that Erik said in his post about the Super Bowl. Every year when the Super Bowl comes, I always here people saying how excited they are to watch it. The funny thing about this comment is that a lot of times the people that are saying this are only watching the game for the commercials. Whether you are a football fan or not the majority of the public watch the Super Bowl and company's have definitely made it a priority to advertise during it. The Super Bowl is considered one of the most watched programs of every year as this past year, viewer turnout ended up at around an estimated 111 million viewers. It is because of numbers like this the company's shell out millions of dollars for as little as a 30 second commercial. With a number like 111 million people watching it is no wonder why marketers take advantage of this once a year phenomena.

As to Fords newest marketing campaign with their new gas saving Focus I would once again agree with Erik that this is their attempt to show off their gas saving car. As Erik stated Toyota and Honda pretty much have this market locked down and it is a market that Ford needs to get into if they want to keep up with their competitors. Ford and their slogan "Built Ford Tough" has always had the image of, and been known for building quality trucks. However now-a-days gas saving cars are all the rage as the "Go Green" movement has swept the nation and people are demanding more fuel efficient vehicles.

Using the Marketing mix in the Job Market

When your in the market for a job there are a lot of questions that you need to answer before starting your search. The marketing mix is a very useful tool that can be extremely helpful while going through this process. The marketing mix consists of the 4 p's which include; price, promotion, place, and product. The great thing about the marketing mix is that you can use these 4 p's to come up with the questions that you need to ask yourself before starting your job search.

Product- The first question that you need to ask yourself is what is your product? In this case the product is simply yourself. Your trying to market yourself to employers that your the best possible candidate (product) for the job. Also once you answer that question for this specific product you should ask yourself, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? Once you identify these characteristics about yourself it will allow you to better understand who you are and what job would be best for you.

Place- When dealing with place there are a few factors that come into play. Not only do you have to think about where it is that you want to work, but you also have to think about where you live. These two locations are directly linked because they will determine how much of a commute you will have to make everyday. Not only do you have to consider is it worth it or not to drive a long distance to and from work everyday, but you also have to consider whether it is worth it or not to cover the cost involved in driving.


Promotion- Promotion is all about selling yourself to your possible future employers as being the best person for the job. This is where asking yourself what your strengths and weaknesses are comes into play and to your advantage. Once you identified these characteristics you can point out in an interview what it is that you offer and what you can bring to the table for that company. Also you can sometimes spin your weaknesses around to almost seem like a positive thing to some employers. For example if one of your weaknesses is that you are a perfectionist, you could say sometimes you take too long on certain tasks because of that and that is a weakness. An employer could look at that like it is a great weakness to have and it is also something that can be worked on very easily.

Price- Price is a very complicated variable because it is one that is not completely in your control. One way that you can have some control over what you get paid is being willing to work for a lower price than your competition. This is a strategy used to get the job over others and it is done with the thought that over time you will see a pay increase. Another strategy that there is a fine line with, is trying to go for the biggest salary you can get. This if successful comes with a huge reward but if not you can over price yourself and end up not getting the job.

Marketing, Advertising, Propaganda

       Marketing, advertising, and propaganda are three words that a lot of people tend to believe mean the same thing. Although these words do share similar meanings and purposes they are not the same by definition. In my opinion marketing is a term that defines a complex and well organized strategy that someone would use to attract customers and keep them brand loyal. The biggest difference to me between marketing and advertising is that marketing involves a lot more research than advertising does and it is also based more on a specific target market than advertising is.
       Advertising is a form of promoting a product or service that is meant to reach a large audience. Although advertising is meant to reach a target audience it often reaches an audience that is not a part of there market because advertising is so much based on quantity rather than quality. For instance the Super Bowl is a great example of how advertising is utilized. Last years Super Bowl attracted over 106 million viewers who saw advertisements for a wide variety of products and services. Although these companies, who were promoting their names, were trying to reach a specific market they were also reaching a lot of viewers who were not in their target market because of how many people watched this event.
       Propaganda is a form of promotion that is used in a way to influence or persuade a group of people toward a specific thought or cause. I think that it is a mix between marketing and advertising because it is used as a strategy that you have to do research for, but at the same time it is meant to reach a large number of people because with propaganda, your target market is everyone. The most famous example of propaganda was used by the Nazi party during WWII against the Jewish religion. The Nazi's would use propaganda against the Jewish people by creating posters of Jewish people depicting them in a negative way and spreading false information about them being bad people. The term propaganda is used more as a political term because of this event and it is used primarily as a tool of persuasion and influence.