Its the final blog post (B) #26

http://youtu.be/TcJ-wNmazHQ?t=13s (listen while you read)
Well its been fun (HA, pause not)

This is in response to Greg Matthews blog post on music piracy, in which he poses the question; 
"is our generation likely to be in favor of or fight against music piracy? " (i think it was kinda jumbled)

I think that our generation knows that by downloading music illegally, we are hurting, in most cases, our favorite musicians who are in turn losing money. But we know that there are still people who will pay to download and pay RIDICULOUS prices to see their favorite bands and musicians live. So they are still doing well for themselves.

I think that if our generation were to fight anything, we should be fighting record companies and programs like iTunes which take a large chunk of the money that should be going to the artist who is doing the work while they just sit there and rake in the dough.

I would still be more likely to go to YouTube or Spotify to listen to the music over downloading or paying for something. But for my favorite band, I would be more likely to download their work directly from them rather than through iTunes and have a share of their money get put towards a giant money hungry company.


and as the saying goes, "Thats all she wrote, folks".

Never blogging again

Blog 25 (A)

this is the final type A blog I will be making in Marketing 331, what a long strange trip its been.

For my final blog I'd like to talk about the gloriousness that is .99 cent Arizona Iced Tea. I am currently sipping on a Grapeade and loving every sip of it. How great is their advertising? Never on TV, never in print, just word of mouth, and a small yellow block on their can that says "Great Buy 99c"

From the first Arizona I saw, I knew I would be buying it based on the little yellow block alone. What a bargain. Since then I've been hooked, whenever I am parched and in a convenience store, I always know right where I am going. Right to that familair logo and yellow 99 cent box. What a bargain indeed.

How awesome are .99 Cent Arizona Iced teas?

Blog 24 (A)

Coke Vs Pepsi?

I love Coke, always have always will, my family has southern ties and those people love Coke. Compared to the north east, who loves pepsi. I grew up drinking both, but truley enjoy Coke over Pepsi any day of the week.

Do you think the difference between South/North and their soda preference is based on advertising? Or just people favoring a soda that is closer to their roots?

Blog 23 (B)-response to Professor Johnsons blog

This is in response to Professor Johnson's blog about selling employees names in order to raise money to prevent lay offs.

I think that John Smith is in a very interesting predicament. On the one side, I am sure that if the employees knew that having their information sold they would be upset, but if they knew it would also be saving their jobs, they would probably be ok with it.

Personally I don't think John should sell the names without asking those people first. If they end up finding out that not having their number sold might result in them losing their job I am sure they wouldn't mind.

Also if he doesn't sell the names, the people won't have money to buy a car later in the year anyway..Interesting predicament indeed.

Blog Deuce Deuce (22)(B) response to Allison Ray

This blog is in response to Allison Ray's blog in which she asks the question: "Do you think putting their (burton) name on huge events such as red bull and the olympics, or Burton and the x-games competitions makes them be perceived as better than other brands like Amp Energy or GNU? Does this make you buy the more expensive-known brand over the smaller ones?"

I think that bigger companies such as Burton, since they have been around since the start of snowboarding, get to put their names on the bigger events because they have the money to sponsor the bigger events. I think that people who may not be snowboarders or skiiers, may see Burton and think that is the best brand out there. But people who do partake in snowboarding, know that though burton is a quality company, there are many different alternatives to burton and they each have something unique to offer.

blog 21 (A)

Juicy Fruit, one of the most delicious tasting gums known to man (at least thats how i feel). The problem with it is the flavor lasts no more than 5 minutes. This fact is so well known that last time I bought a pack, the lady behind the counter said "Why would you buy juicy fruit the flavor doesnt last?" My response is it so damn delicioius for that first 5 minutes.

But it's got me thinking, is this just a clever advertising ploy by Wrigley Gum to get me to keep poppin fresh pieces of gum so that I buy more of their gum? Or do they really just not care that their gum can't hold flavor?

Blog 20 (B)- response to Drew Farrar

This is in response to Drew's blog about public service announcements.
In his blog Drew poses the question: "Do you think public service announcements are beneficial? Why or Why not? "

I think that PSAs are beneficial as far as helping to get an important message out that people might not be aware of other wise. America is a country that love's television, what better way to get a message out than through that medium? I can't see a PSA, no matter what the topic, having a negative impact on the subject. At least one of the millions of people who may watch it, may realize that whatever it may be, as in Drew's blog about Global Warming, is a serious issue and that one commercial may change someone's views and make them be more proactive towards the issue.

That one person that it reached, is now one less person who is contributing to global warming, and one more person who can join the fight against global warming.

Blog 19 (A)

This blog has a couple points I'd like to make, it is about the sport of Soccer (Futbol) and why it has never caught on to the extent that it has worldwide.

I believe that it is due to the fact that soccer plays to 45 minute running halves with no stoppage until half/end of the game. Its not the constant playing that turns people away from soccer, most people when they actually sit and watch a game or go to a game have a good time, I think the reason it is not popular is because due to the running time, there is less time for advertising.

In other countries, advertising is done on the players jerseys and around the perimeter of the pitch(field).

Do you think that soccer hasn't become popular in America because companies don't want to put money into a sport that doesn't really give them a large advertising advantage over competitors?

Blog 18 (B) response to Colin Raaberg

This blog is in reference to Colin's blog about pizza huts new cheese bread crust pizza. Colin posed the question: How and to who should Pizza Hut market this new pizza to, and what techniques should they implement??


I think that the new style of pizza should be marketed to people that may be eating pizza hut more than once a week, mainly college kids, and people who don't know how to cook for themselves.


Any kind of to go/fast food restaurant needs to be trying to capture the market of people that don't cook for themselves and would be most likely to order from their establishment.


They could do more tv advertising, internet advertising, and offer coupons for the new pizza.

Blog 17 (A)

In this blog I'd like to talk about internet advertising. If you are like me, or most of the internet using world, you use a search engine such as google or bing to look up a question, idea, product, or any other number of things.

What you may not have noticed, was that after searching for something, all of a sudden certain sites, such as facebook, have a banner ad that is identical to what you were searching for or in the genre of it.

This happens because search engines keep track of what you search for and then sell that information to advertising companies as a way to tailor advertisements to products you may be interested in.

I personally hate this, because I don't want anything I typed in to Google to be saved, let alone used to advertise to me and people in my age range.

Do you think it's right for your search history to be used as a way for advertising?

blog 16 (B) response to Jocelyn Frederick

This post is in response to Jocelyn's blog about having a camera robot in classrooms for a boy whose allergies prevent him from going to school.

I think that the boy having any kind of social interactions with other children will benefit him over being home schooled alone. Even if the only way he can do it is through a camera.

I also think that if the robot company can advertise this in an appropriate way it can help children who may be stuck at home, experience (the best they can) the social aspect of school while learning with other children who are in a school room, from home.

blog 15 (A)

This blog is about cigarettes in tv shows/movies.
I recently watched the Netflix Original Series House of Cards (great stuff by the way, check it out). And while watching the show, I couldn't help but realize the characters are constantly smoking cigarettes.

What I want to know is why that is? Smoking is no longer seen as an iconic thing to be done, and certainly could be avoided on tv shows. Is it because half of the cast is addicted to tobacco in real life? Or are tobacco companies having lobbyist pay actors/writers/Netflix production money or bonuses to have the characters smoking.

The world is well aware of the dangers of smoking, and yet this show is constantly showing it, one may even say glorifying smoking.

Who is behind the cigarettes? actor/actress Addiction? Money?

Blog (my lucky number) 14 (B) -response to Professor Johnson

Professor Johnson, posted a blog about facial recognition software, and asked what experience I have had with it, and how I think it can be used for marketing.

I can't knowingly say I have had experience with facial recognition software, but I think that for marketing, it would be a very slow process to gather all of the data that goes with the facial recognition. A store would have to put the face into the database, add how they paid and what they purchased, and then hope they come back so they can try and be slightly more tailored to that persons shopping habits.

I think facial recognition software should be kept to law enforcement, public access to this technology can result in a breach of privacy that could scare customers away from their stores. The technology scares people when law enforcement use it, but at least in that case, it is being used to generally protect the public.

blog 13 (A)

Know what really grinds my gears? YouTube commercials, easily one of the worst innovations of the internet. Nothing worse than wanting to play a song, or just a quick 10 second funny clip, and having to sit through a 30 second commercial. I don't really have a point to this blog, except that youtube commercials bother me, and I say that as someone who has a YouTube channel that features ads as a way to make money for myself (im up to somewhere around .27 cents, ballin' I know)

Do you hate YouTube commercials?

blog 12 (B) response to Kristen Shea

Kristen asked about whether street vendors in the Bahamas who would bargain for prices were doing a good or bad thing by having fluctuating prices, based on the buyer.

I think that in a free market where there are no chains just personally owned stores, huts, and businesses, the owner/shop keeper bargaining prices might not be the best way to make a profit, since each item could sell for a different price. But it is what they need to do to sell anything, since as Kristen said, you can easily walk away and find the same product at a cart two feet away. The vendors need to do what they can to make the sale, it shouldn't be a problem for them as long as they know their business and know the lowest they can possibly go without losing money.

That is the key for those types of businesses to succeed, if you are making bargains, you need to just be sure you are making profit otherwise the business will surely fail.

Blog 11 (a)

As St Patricks day is approaching, one can't help but notice the increase in advertisements for "Irish" alcoholic beverages such as Guinness Stout and Jameson Irish Whiskey.  In the US St Patricks Day is a day to imbibe alcohol and party with friends, maybe go out and see the local parade.

In Ireland the holiday is not all about drinking, it is about remembering their nation's history.

My question is, why did it become such a party holiday in America, is it because of the marketing efforts of alcoholic beverage companies? Whether it be Anheuser-Busch, Jameson Whiskey, or the worlds largest brewery, Guinness, who is responsible for turning a day of remembrance into a day of partying?

Blog X (type B)

This blog is in response to Janell Grassman's post about Dr. Pepper 10's marketing campaign which is geared exclusively towards men.

Janell posed the question "do you think that this is a brilliant idea or a massive mistake? Did they take things a little too far? Also, do you think that companies do the same thing but advertising towards women and alienating men? Can you think of any?",

I think that this marketing campaign borders brilliant and massive mistake. On the one hand, "Men" tend to not like low calorie or diet foods or drinks because they think they are less manly and even feminine, Dr Pepper realized this and decided to try and make their diet product more masculine, the best way for them to do this was to grossly over do it, to make the men feel like they have a drink .that's for them, not for their female counterparts.

But on the other hand, I think they took it a bit too far with the extent of their masculinity advertising. Claiming no woman allowed, though obviously not a real rule, can easily deter females from purchasing the product on the terms of the product being sexist.

Finally, I don't think any companies try to alienate men purposefully, but they do have products that they gear towards woman, but usually they are products made for women, not a product that can be used by either gender, with the exception being cleaning products, though they aren't made for women specifically, most advertisements feature a women using the product.

Do you think it's wrong that house hold cleaning supplies always feature a women in the advertisements?

Blog Nine (A)

This blog is about commercial jingles, I at this very moment, have the old gold fish jingle stuck in my head "The snack that smiles back, Goldfish!". There are certainly worse songs or jingles that could be stuck in my head, but I haven't actually heard this jingle in years, but I heard it hummed once today and now I can't get it out of my head. Is it because I love goldfish? Or because I am brainwashed to love goldfish? Or did whoever create the advertising tool of jingles, come up with the ultimate advertising tool?


PS sorry if you can't stop singing "the snack that smiles back, Goldfish!"
It's better than the Oscar Myer Weiner song..

The Ocho (B)

In response to Heather's Blog about Sports Illustrated and Target Swimsuit Ads:

I have no problem with nontraditional gender specified advertisements in a magazine I read. I don't see why this would be a problem in the first place. It's not like I have to go through the 6 pages of swimsuits, I can just simply skip over the advertisement that matters nothing to me and continue on with my reading. If anything I could see this benefiting the company that is advertising. A guy could be reading his SI see the swimsuits, check them out, see one he thinks is "sexy" and in turn tell his girlfriend/wife or whatever about it, and she in turn looks, likes it, and goes to buy one.

What if the shoe were on the other foot? What if there was advertisements geared toward males in a copy of Cosmo? How would women feel about that?

Blog lucky number 7 (A)

FanFueled is a collaborative marketing platform that allows for companies to enlist everyday consumers to advertise for their company, using incentives from clothing to tickets. I was one of FanFueled's lackeys two years ago in an attempt to win tickets to Camp Bisco X. Once a week I would log on and click some buttons that would in turn spam my facebook and twitter account with links to Camp Bisco's site. As well as individually inviting my friends to join the page. When people clicked the links I got additional points. I partook in this for 5 months leading up to the actual festival in July. By which point i had 1100 points, enough for a simple screen-printed sweatshirt or lesser prize. Now fast forward to present day, Camp Bisco is back on fanfueled for their upcoming summer festival. However the layout has changed and the point system is completely different. As someone who was an avid FanFueled participant I now look at the site and feel it is nearly impossible to win/earn any prize worthy of spamming my friends.

My question to you is do you think it is fair for a company to take use people for advertising purposes when there is a very small chance they end up with anything to show for it?

Blog 6 (B) Response to Haley Bannon

Haley asked the question "Do you think that corporate responsibility should extend to the community where the outsourced work is?"

I think that corporate responsibility extends to all stake holders in a company. I do not mean stake holder in the direct sense of money invested into a company. I mean it in the sense of people who will be affected by an aspect of the company, people who work for the company, people in the companies community, people at other companies who make parts for the first company, these are all people who can be effected by the companies actions.

It becomes the corporations responsibility to take care of these stake holders, because without them happy or satisfied, they can join together and form a coalition or action group to fight the corporation's ways which will be bad for business. Regardless of whether the stakeholders are stateside or in a different country, the corporation should still be responsible for its actions.

Do you think that it is responsible for a corporation to outsource the work in the first place?

2.12.13 blog V (A)

"Do you believe self regulation is more or less effective than governmental regulatory agencies?  Why?"

Governmental Regulatory Agencies, such as the FDA, Interstate Commerce Commission, and the SEC, have been created over the years in order to create and maintain a fair business environment and to help protect consumers. Before these agencies were created it was solely up to the business to regulate and maintain their business and ensure they were providing a safe product for their consumers.

However, there are problems with both; with self regulation, it is up to the business and the business alone to regulate it's actions, in a perfect world they would run their business honestly and fairly, unfortunately that is not the case. One business may be self regulated and be an upstanding business in the community. While another business is selling the same product, however it is made using excess amounts of lead. Without a regulatory agency both business will remain open while one harms its customers and the other may have business harmed because people lump the similar stores into the same category.

With regulatory agencies, it creates a fair playing field among business, but it also allows for a safer product market for the consumer. It can also allow for more eco-friendly businesses because they have to adhere to the agencies standards. A downfall to the agencies is sometimes they are behind the ball on what is necessary for their standards. With self regulation, a business can hear about a way to provide a safer product, and figure out a way to implement it into their business right away.  Some regulations can also be outdated and harm the way that a company is doing their business. They might not be doing anything wrong, but if it goes against the agency's standards it will still be stopped.

Self regulation allows for innovative thinking for a better business and better product, but the government agencies create standards for a whole industry preventing individuals from doing something harmful. There certainly can be one without the other, but with both self regulation and government agencies, it creates an environment where there are safe standards and requirements, while allowing businesses to work beyond those standards and requirements to be more regulated and even more advanced than just the government agency and its regulations.

Final Thoughts; Self regulation can be more effective than governmental regulation agencies, but more often than not, a government agency will help to regulate a business in a more positive way than just self regulation.

Do you think government agencies are always thinking about what is best for the consumers? Or is there something or someone else at the top of their priority list?

2.11.13 - The Fourth (B)

In response to Ariana Barone's blog and question;
"Do you think social media is still worth it even though it does not reach everyone?"

I think that in today's day and age where technology reaches almost all aspects of our lives, advertising through social media is almost a necessity. It allows for a company to advertise its business, in most cases, for free. They can easily create a facebook page and a twitter account that they in turn manage and post as they feel necessary to allow people, who already like the store or they wouldn't be linked to their accounts, to know that there is a certain deal, bargain, sale, or new merchandise, available right that instant in their store.

By having a social media page, where customers "like" the page and subscribe to the updates, it allows the customer to feel a personable connection to the store, they feel as though they are getting sales updates before anyone else and will in turn, go to that store for the new deal that they just found out about. It makes the customer feel that much more special and that much more connected to the business.

The social media allows for the people who like the store to stay in formed, but it also allows for the fans to share their favorite business and the sales by "retweeting" or "sharing" a business post. This allows for a theoretical sharing to "everyone". One or two people share to their 500+ friends then one or two more share to their friends and it creates a large network of shared data, all through one simple post by a business.

I think social media is still worth it, and will be worth it as long as it remains prevalent in our society, and business still have the ability to control it themselves.

Do you think social media advertising will someday be more popular than television or print ads?

2.4.13 Blog Three (A)

Yesterday was  one of the biggest marketing days of the year, Super Bowl Sunday. A day where companies spend around four-million dollars for a 30 second TV advertisement that in turn was viewed by an estimated audience of 55 million Americans. When you think about how many people are seeing the advertisement, and hopefully, in turn, go and by or use that product, four-million dollars doesn't seem like such a big deal from the business aspect of it. With ads ranging from cars, to movies, to products, it's easy to get lost in the humor of the tv-spot and forget that you are watching an advertisement that is trying bring business to their company. My biggest problem with Super Bowl Sunday advertisements is the majority of the time, they don't tell you about the product, they show you an attractive person or flashy object, and use them to convince you that their product/company is a good whole-hearted company that deserves your money, just as much as you deserve their product. I would be much more likely to purchase a product I saw in an advertisement if I knew about the product and maybe a little bit about the company, rather than Bar Refaeli kissing a teenager for a GoDaddy commercial. For those who don't know GoDaddy is a domain hosting site where you pay to have a website hosted there. See a connection between Bar and an Internet Hosting Site? Neither do I. I think it's silly to create an advertisement for that price, that doesn't give the viewer a real idea about the product being displayed.

Do you think it is worth it for a company such as GoDaddy to spend 4million dollars on a 30 second spot, where 20 seconds of it is the sound of kissing?

1.30.13 Blog 2 (B)

In Response to Roland Rumrill blog post/question "Are the differences between a GMC and a Chevy truck enough to keep both brands?"

Roland wrote about companies offering too many choices to consumers and tied it in with General Motors and their many different lines of cars. 

When I think about car companies the first thing that comes into my mind are all of the Ads i see featuring new and different models of cars. But when all is said and done, as someone who is far from an expert of cars, I can't tell the difference between half of them, I recognize a difference in logo's and maybe some body work. But what is inside of the car means nothing to me, all I want is something to get me from point A to point B. I don't need 4 different type of honda Civic's or Toyota Corollas and Camrys that look almost identical. When I really think about it, I agree with what Roland said. The difference between the GM car lines with different logo's are not enough to keep both around. However I think that in our society, brand loyalty means a lot to a lot of people, especially when referring to car brands. There are people that like GMC over Chevy and would never even considering purchasing a Chevy truck, they ride GMC till they die, and they mean it. 

Getting rid of one line of truck/car may help to reduce the amount of options in buying a new vehicle, but will it be worth it to lose a loyal customer who will always be willing to buy that specific model with that GMC logo on the front grill?

1.30.13 Blog One (A)

The following is in response to "Are customer satisfaction and customer value interdependent or mutually exclusive?  Can satisfaction occur simultaneously with low customer value?"

I think that customer satisfaction and customer value are interdependent with one another. When a consumer or customer is making a purchase they tend to do some research on the product they are buying, they look at the places where they can make the purchase for the best available price, they also look for the best service available, for both the original purchase (best price) as well as after the purchase (return policy, extended coverage, repairs). The customer does the research so that they feel they are making the best purchase possible, in terms of saving money and being satisfied with their purchase. In a capitalist consumer economy, the customer wants to be satisfied with their purchase, and in most cases a customer will be satisfied with a purchase if they feel that they were treated well, and given a good price for the product that they wanted to buy. Walmart, Target, TJ-Max, these are stores that help to prove that customer satisfaction and customer value are interdependent. Typically products in these stores are of lower quality, but also come with lower prices. These are all stores that are doing very well financially and have many locations globally. What this proves is that though people don't really like to shop exclusively at places such as these, when they go there, they feel like they are saving money, and buying a product that, though it is not top of the line, will be of use to them, making them feel like they got a good value and are satisfied with their purchase.

When you stop and think about it, are you really shopping at Walmart or Target because you feel satisfied with the quality of your purchase or because you saved some money?