Look who we’ve got out product on! November 22, 2010

Look who we’ve got out product on!

Procter and Gamble is Fortune 500 multinational billion dollar corporation. Cover Girl (CG) is a brand of women’s cosmetics by Proctor and Gamble. In this ad, covergirl is promoting its new flavored lip gloss, Wetslicks fruit spritzers lip gloss.

The “easy BREEZY BEAUTIFUL” Cover Girl

Wetslicks fruit spritzer lip gloss with a splash of color and fruity taste.  The fruity flavor in Wet Fruit Spritzer provides a fun twist on a beauty basic. To use a pop superstar like Rihanna, Cover Girl also seeks to reach fans of her music. The commercial ties in her hit single “Umbrella” to convince consumers that rain or shine, she wears Cover Girl Wet Fruit Spritzer and that you should too! This product coupled with the beautiful iconic pop star, CG hopes to reach an audience that’s young, fun, flirty and fresh. Typical looking for a less dramatic look than found using traditionally bold pigmented lipsticks, those interested in the CG brand tend to be Caucasian females ages 13-34.  Sources.

The “EASY breezy beautiful” Cover Girl

                                                                                                                                                                                           

Cover Girl is the name of the brand that implies that women who are found on the cover of magazines wear these products. Celebrity faces of CG include Rihanna, Drew Barrymore, Queen Latifa, and Ellen Degeneres. Cover Girl cosmetics brand can be found in most drug stores at a low cost and certain convenience versus most expensive department store brands. Demographics show that 52% of CG users have a household income less than 60K. CG seeks to appeal to the younger more influential audience by using popular celebrities that can reach the audience they want to listen.

Rihanna and Drew Barrymore are seen in commercials that are used to market to a younger audiences often promoting lip glosses, eye shadows, and mascaras. Queen Latifa and Ellen Degeneras are used to appeal to a more mature audience that are interested in products like foundation, concealers, and anti aging crèmes.

Because CG’s products are so user-friendly and versitile they are easily adopted. Wetslicks fruit spritzers lip gloss varies so slightly from traditional beauty products that the lifecycle of this product is very likely to stay in the maturity stage as generations replenish themselves. To learn more about product adoption and life cycles Click here.  

When CG promotes a product their brand, they do it like no other company. With stunning celebrity embellished commercials and picture perfect print ads, CG is sure to get the attention of its viewers. Perhaps one of the most effective efforts to promote their products is their free product give aways on their website and sponsoring contests like America’s Next Top Model. Once the product is in the customer’s hand it’s the quality of the product that encourages the buyer to stay loyal to the brand.

Consumers of beauty products aspire to look like the models they see in the ads.  If they believe they can use the products and achieve the same results the product will easily become a must have. Seeing these ads creates a desire for the product. CG offers makeup tips and tutorials online and in magazine spreads that help you create the perfect looks and awesome ads that inspire you to try new ones.  This idea of “the essentials” is created so that consumers see the product as an essential part of their beauty regimen.   

 Everyone wants to be like Mike

  Hanes and Hanes Her Way are brands of apparel currently owned by the HanesBrand clothing company.  In this ad, Micheal Jordan introduces Lay flat collar tee-shirts.

Will this shirt help me play better?

Not just people who play basketball admire Micheal Jordan. Statisitics show that 63% of people who wear Hanes are female, and 35% of Hanes cosumers are between the ages of 35-49. These demographics show that these same consumers are more than likely to shop at department stores like Kmart and are 85%  likely to be Caucasian. 58% people who wear hanes products earn over 60K. Using MJ as the face of this product would hopeful seek to increase the demographics by encouraging more men to purchase the product.

Look Good, Feel Good

Hanes is found everywhere its competitor are, however Hanes was one of the first makers of “tagless” innerwear. The ad claims that the new cotton tee’s are more comfortable without the itchy tag. This product grew in popularity and soon became the industry standard. The tagless shirt was such a revolution, but it had a relatively short growth period due to being stunted by imulation.    

As a brand, most consumers would consider hanes a quality product considering its purpose and industry. Demographics for Hanes show that people who buy hangs products are less likely to have children versus their competitors Fruit of the Loom.

AIDA

To inform consumers about this new product, they needed someone to get their audience’s attention.  When using someone like Micheal Jordan who has had such a historically significant role in American culture its almost safe to say his face could sell anything. The fact that the product actually is different makes for a win win scenario for the company. Purchasing items like underclothes and other innerwear are low involvement rational decisions so interest in this type of apparell is essential and should stay in a maturity stage unless another breakthrough in the market occurs.

What arouses the desire for the Hanes brand is once again the celebrity endorsement and the quality of the product. These tee’s are usually sold in packs. Offering an extra shirt for free inside adds value to the purchase as well as encourages repeat buys and multiple purchases. FCB grid. Still need help understanding how and why products are adopted and how they diffuse through the market? Click Here

Global Steel Company (Case Study) #Mkt350 October 19, 2010

 

Situational analysis

Global steel is one of the two major producers of wide flange beams in the United States. Wide flange beams are one of the principal steel products used in construction. The other producer is USX. Global’s mill is limited to flanges up to 24 inches, because they felt like customer usage of a size over 24 inches was likely to be small. Above 14 inches flanges only USX and Global compete and above 24 inches USX has no competition.  In recent years there has been a definite trend toward larger and heavier beams.

The customers for these manufactures are called structural fabricators. The structural fabricator must sell on a bid basis based on the plans and specifications forwarded to that fabricator by a contractor. Since the price is the same from all producers, they typically buy beams based on availability.

Sometime ago Global noticed they would have excess capacity of plate capacity and that new technology enabled them to wield three plates together at once. This development in technology would allow Global to use the excess plate capacity and now they could offer larger sizes up to 60 inches. Cost analysis showed by using a fully depreciated plate mill and the new wielding process it would be possible to produce and sell larger wide flange beams at the same price charged as USX. SWOT for my SWOT analysis.

Problem

The market has been hesitant about the new product and their ability to use it. Global’s marketers had failed to market the new product to the clients of the fabricators. The structural fabricators felt as if they couldn’t use it without the approval of their customers. The contractors that actually used the beams know very little about the beam or that they even exist. These firms are the ones that actually send in the orders to purchase the beams. The fabricators were worried that the new beams deviated too far from the specified measurements ordered by the contractors. It was pointless to try something new and unfamiliar with no price advantage.

I think that Global needs to back up a step back and rethink about their marketing plan. Global focused too heavily on trying to give USX some competition that they may have jumped the gun without analyzing the entire situation and coming up with a full proof plan.  Although marketing strategies are not the whole company plan, company plans should be market oriented. They completely lost sight of what a proper marketing mix should do. They did not advertise to their true target market. They focused solely on the new product and how that product would be priced based on the price of production and what their competitors charged. Marketing strategies mean planning and finding attractive opportunities and developing profitable marketing strategies.

 They failed to take into account that proper marketing leads to the eventual sale of a product or service. The only outreach was a general informational letter sent to a broad mailing list. They marketed to the fabricators instead of the architectural and or structural engineering firms that actually created the bids. These new beam were a specialized product that should have been marketed to the correct target audience.advantage or perceived benefit.

Solution

Global could do a mailing list through that particular market segment based on lists held by the fabricators or they could cut out the middle man and do it themselves by doing presentations and looking for potential customers. Once they actually know who they are selling to they can restructure how they promote their product as well as where they place or position themselves in the market. Other manufacturing do product shows and also showcase their product online. The website can display pictures along with measurements and suggested uses. It really was a win-win situation because they didn’t have much to lose, but they did a poor job at marketing and advertising. Perhaps if customers knew how they could possibly in benefit in terms of cutting cost and or time they would be less apprehensive.

Rationale

They need to have a better understanding of their product. They need to know what their edge is so that they may market it. If Global didn’t know how their product was going to benefit consumers why should they buy it? Fabricators won’t buy without the okay from their clients. If their clients don’t see the benefits or even trust the new product they wouldn’t be ok with this unfamiliar change. Construction is an industry where safety and consistency are important. 

 So what exactly are the 4P’s? Click here  Here is an example of how other companies use the 4P’s. http://bit.ly/daDhMV

Casting Elegant Shadows in Chanel’s Garden October 6, 2010

By CATHY HORYN

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times Models walk the runway at the spring 2011 Chanel show in Paris. See the full collection.

Anyone who has seen the Resnais film “Last Year at Marienbad” (1961) will recognize the source for Karl Lagerfeld’s black-and-white garden at the Chanel show today. Some 2,800 people saw the show, at the Grand Palais, a gorgeous display of pale colors and filmy black dresses against a white pebbled ground and black terraces. The garden extended in three directions, with a fountain in the center, and a full orchestra set up at the end of one allee.

The beautiful show gave a greater emotional charge than the winter collection. Well, no wonder — it was set around an iceberg. Mr. Lagerfeld exchanged fake fur for feathers, to convey the sense of lightness that ran throughout the collection. Many of the fabrics are not what they might appear. For instance, classic tweeds may be loosely woven ribbons in pale pink and pistachio; a gray ottoman knee-length dress with a slightly rounded shape was actually done in silver metallic threads. The clothes were light in both construction and attitude, with a disintegrated quality to tweed jackets and frayed denim. A pale pink taffeta A-line dress was slashed with holes and then embroidered with black beads. The hem was filled in with pink feathers.

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times Chanel spring 2011. See the full collection.

Hemlines were long and short, and Mr. Lagerfeld kept the colors soft and pale: pink, sky blue, peach, gold and silver tones — and heaps of black.

“I really don’t think women want to go around looking like a Saint Laurent shopping bag,” Mr. Lagerfeld said backstage, referring to the bright pink and orange of the vintage YSL bag. They are also among the hot colors for spring.

Before the show, Mr. Lagerfeld, dressed in a Tom Ford black suit jacket and Dior trousers, was visiting with people backstage. Brad Kroenig, the American model who has known the designer for a number of years, was there with his son Hudson, 2, who appeared in the show with his dad — both in a cream cardigan jacket with red braid and blue jeans. When I stopped by, Hudson was playing dinosaurs with the model Angela Lindvall.

Mr. Lagerfeld said that because of the international terror alert, 200 security people were at the show, many in plainclothes.

Confessions of a social media rookie September 30, 2010

Before Marketing 350 you could hardly call me a “rookie” I was a pure loser. Back in 2007 when I was in highschool I made a facebook page and never used it. Freshman year in college I deemed it a waste of time because it was too distracting .  Since my deactivation I noticed for some reason I was out of the loop on current social events around campus and for some reason my friends said it seemed as if  I had disappeared off the face of the earth.

Very recently I joined the facebook to reach out to members of my current organization.  Things seemed to get better from there on out. Now I can help my org promote better for events on campus, stay in touch and share ideas more efficiently. Social media networking is like a door opener for actual real life encounters. Starting your personal brand and marketing yourself properly for the future is a step in the right direction not just for me as marketing student, but for everyone. I actually plan to host an event for my org showing students how they can start now by presenting themselves better online. If there’s one thing I always keep in mind now when I’m posting  is to be CAREFUL. Things you put online will stay there for a long time, errors and questionable content especailly.  I really enjoy that everything we use in class is in real time. Its only been about 3 weeks, but now emails are SO outdated. I’ve learned so much since the start of Marketing 350.

When we start something new at first it’s a little overwhelming, but once I get used to it its really cool. I think Dr. Ward is doing a great job and that this is the way marketing should be taught to college students . This is definelty a hands on approach that will help us in everything that we do. Since the start of the fall semester I now have a twitter account (Follow me Yahkimajones),  and I now subscribe to my favorite blogs using RSS feeds, check these out Brandweek and Alltop. Im sure there’s more in store for this class so stay tuned.

 

Facebook Exec: All Media Will Be Personalized in 3 to 5 Years September 30, 2010

Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in New York today that in the next three to five years, a website that isn’t tailored to a specific user’s interest will be an anachronism, according to coverage from media industry blog PaidContent.

“People don’t want something targeted to the whole world–they want something that reflects what they want to see and know,” Sandberg said at publisher Arianna Huffington’s Advertising Week event today. So much for all the news that’s fit to print – Sandberg’s vision of the future sounds more like all the news that’s relevant to your taste profile and social graph. Is that emphasis on personalization, which Facebook is better suited to power than any other company in history, a good or bad thing for media and the democracy it ought to fuel?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_exec_all_media_will_be_personalized_in_3.php

Turning Relationships into Gold Through Social Media Marketing September 30, 2010

http://www.lipsticking.com/2010/09/turning-relationships-into-gold-through-social-media-marketing.html#more

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna’s Promo Talk

Social media marketing was one of the topics at last Thursday’s 2nd Annual “Inspiring Success: The Women TIES”  (Women Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success) Retreat which was held a the beautiful Lodge at Welch Allyn in Skaneatellas, NY. My friend and colleague from the WCEOhq Radio Show, Diana Palotas, joined me as we drove east on the New York State Thruway together early that morning from Rochester to make the breakfast/networking start of our day.

There were about 130 women in attendance, mostly all entrepreneurs who have their own businesses in the Syracuse and Finger Lakes Regions. We were all there for the same reasons; to network and invest in ourselves in the hope to become inspired and empowered to be successful leaders in our businesses. Last year I attended as a guest of Yvonne’s who was a speaker last year also on the subject of social media.  You can read about the event last year in Yvonne’s post.

We had several inspiring presentations from our women speakers, but I specifically would like to share with you some of what Janelle Fields of JFields Marketing spoke to us about. Janelle was to cover the topic of “Social Media” and Tracey Higginbotham, the President of Women TIES, asked Janelle to try to put the talk in the right perspective so that it wouldn’t leave the women feeling overwhelmed, or that they were so far behind the technology curve that they wouldn’t know how to begin.

So Janelle’s presentation title was “Turning Relationships to Gold Through Social Media Marketing” and she really did a great job of delivering what Tracey had envisioned. I always start my presentation on the subject reminding people that social media is about the people, the conversations, the relationships. Technology just helps us deliver it. So I was very pleased to see Janelle starting off in a similar way.

 Janelle related today’s state of the ever-changing, not-knowing what’s working social media era to that of the gold rush of 1848. “Go West Young Wo-Men and mine those relationships for gold!” People back then packed up all that they owned and headed west in search of gold. They did it even though they didn’t know what to expect or what obstacles would get in their way. But they persevered and some became very successful, others, well, did not.

Today many are trying new things and we’re seeing successes and failures. Janelle pointed out that Google recently announced that they are pulling the plug on Google Wave. To see that Google is struggling helps us to realize that we’re all in this together.

So we need to remind ourselves that we first have to engage in the conversation. Listen to what is being said and sell later. Too many times people and brands interrupt the conversation by coming in immediately trying to sell something or trying to reach their own goals too fast.

Janelle shared with us some interesting charts that showed that we currently have 1.75 billion people worldwide engaging in some type of social media. However, 90% of those are “Lurkers”, those that are just reading and observing, 9% are occasional contributors and only 1% are the heavy contributors. Seems pretty lop-sided, don’t you think?

Janelle conducted some interesting research regarding the members of the Women TIES organization and found that of the 250+ members, almost all have a website (234), 67 a blog, 64 utilize e-newsletters, 54 have a Facebook page, 34 a Twitter page, only 23 have a company Linked-In page, 21 an e-commerce site and 12 a You-Tube channel. I would think these numbers are pretty typical across most of small businesses. Next Janelle showed some examples from businesses owned by current Women TIES members that demonstrated what online marketing initiatives they were implementing. This really helped to bring it all together.

So, what can you do today to start to turn the relationships you have with your customers and prospects into gold through social media marketing? Are you a lurker, an occasional contributor, or part of the 1% that is heavily engaged? Yes, it takes time, but running and/or contributing to a successful business takes effort. As the song says “It don’t come easy”.

Thanks much Janelle for your insights and again to Tracey for hosting such a wonderful day. I hope to be back next year!

ArtPrize produces economic boost September 29, 2010

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/artprize/ArtPrize-should-produce-economic-boost

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) – ArtPrize 2010 already has impacted the local economy, and the event is expected to provide a surge to the region just as it did last year, preliminary information from Grand Valley State University suggests.

The Downtown Development Authority, Experience Grand Rapids and economic professors at GVSU have started gathering information on the economic impact ArtPrize has on West Michigan.

The Grand Rapids Art Museum reported the museum has had more than 40,000 visitors since the start of ArtPrize, a GVSU news release states. On Saturday, the museum had its highest daily visitor count — almost 14,000 people — and sales from Wednesday to Sunday had increased 112 percent from last year, the statement says.

Local hotels and restaurants are reporting significant sales increases compared to this time last year, too.

More than 220,000 votes had been cast as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the ArtPrize website. About 30,125 people are registered to vote.

GVSU will continue to monitor the economic impact of the 19-day event. A final report with numbers will be released once ArtPrize has wrapped.

Last year’s study indicated ArtPrize 2009 resulted in about $7 million of increased economic activity in the Grand Rapids area.