Week 10 EOC: What are the Benefits vs. Features

What are the Benefits of the vodka Athabaskan vs. the Features?  “A powerful form of segmentation is to group buyers according to the different benefits that they seek from the product. Benefit segmentation requires finding the major benefits people look for in the product class, the kinds of people who look for each benefit, and the major brands that deliver each benefit.” (Marketing: An Introduction 10^th ed. Pg. 182) Well for starter this vodka is made with its consumers in mind so that it is catered to them specifically. The bottle of course will be designed to catch the attention of that target group but that will be a feature. A glass bottle with a design is common but what comes inside of the bottle is what is unique. My whole final project is based on coming up with a vodka that speaks to its target market. We will be a green company that will be a benefit. I hope that people will want to buy Athabaskan not just for the taste but because we want to take care of the environment. The slogan for Athabaskan will be “Remembrance Made Simple" and that’s exactly what we want for our customers. We want them to remember when times were simpler and we want them to remember that because this is what Athabaskan will evoke in them. They will drink it and see the care that we have taken in producing Vodka that caters just to them. We want our customers to feel like they are the benefit not just an ending feature. Athabaskan wants for its customers to see that we are a benefit to by paying particular attention to the details that we put into our vodka. That is why Athabaskan is not focused on being the flashy new thing on the market but the vodka that makes our customers feel special.

Week 9 EOC: Three Great Mission Statements

Shyann's mission statement is very well written and does a good job at explaining what she wants out of the company.

A.J.s mission statement is straight to the point and he really wants to the his customers believe that they are divas.

LaJuan mission statement is very detailed and I believe I would want to try his vodka.

Week 6 EOC: Me x 3

I tend not to be a materialistic person, of course there are things that i would like to have in my everyday life but they are not things easily bought on budget. I live my life very simply and for my defining things just are not myself. Obviously every person buys health care products, things that improve their hygene. So I could not say that "oh I buy toothpaste and that defines the person that I am." What I can say for myself is that I enjoy reading so books would be a defining factor of myself. Not all books obviously but books pertaining to life outside my own. I love to read and be taken out of my world and put into another. For that amount of time I'm not worried about my own issues because for that moment I have none. Books are a way for me to not focus so much on what my life is like but gives me a reason to allow my mind to wander, without reading I can not truly say that I would be the person that I am today. Reading has always been a big factor in my life. Growing up for me was not the easiest we had a poor family and even though I was loved very much by my family I moved around a lot so I didn't have many freinds and I could always rely on books to be there for me. The next thing that I believe would define myself would be paper and pens and yes they are linked together and for a purpose. I not only read books I also like to write them. I enjoy creating a world on paper, one that is mine, something I came up with. A world that is more easily controlled and changed. I was able to take the hardships of my life and make the character in a book I was writing find a way to conquer that issue. I have always liked to think of myself as a creative person and writing was my calling. I can not draw but I can create and the way I did that was through character creations and creating worlds to go with those characters. Even though they may have been fiction they still helped to shape the person that I am today and for that writing has alwsay been a defining part of my life. Finally and I just realized this calling not to long ago would have to be anything that has to deal with a camera. I love taking photographs and no not of myself but of actual meaningful things to myself. Such as nature, what better way to get away from it all then by just leaving your worries behind and going on a nice camping trip or hiking. I believe that people forget what else is out there and i want to remind them of that. The way that I do this is by taking pictures of what I see out in the wilderness. Taking a photograph that creates life long memories. The world is to caught up in moving forward that it forgets to stop and enjoy the scenery. Well I for one do not want to be swept up and caught by the hussle and bussle of daily life. I would rather take it one step at a time and enjoy it while creating beautiful pictures in the process.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Since the internet is such a hot comodity amongst just about everyone from children, teens, college students, to job employers, what better way to look for a job then finding one online. In my personal opinion I believe that doing a job applicatin this way takes out the personal part of the interview. On the plus side applications done this way take out the middle man. Looking at an application this way allows for the employer to focus on the qualifications and the skill versus a first impression. "Over the past few years, a new type of social interaction has exploded onto the scene—online social networking" (Marketing: An Introduction, 10 ed. pg. 14) Many places now use social networking as an opportunity to grow. "Social networking media range from blogs to social networking Web sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, to entire virtual worlds, such as Second Life and Gaia Online. This new form of hightech buzz has big implications for marketers." (Marketing: An Introduction, 10ed. pg. 14) Sites like Twitter, Tumblr, and even Facebook can now be a means of getting a job. I you befriend people and or follow people through these sites and you have similar intrests then who to say that you can not get yourself to a place or get a job by the people that you know. As a person who lives in Las Vegas, knowing someone is everything. Even though the city may seem big to an outsider, for someone who lives in this town you truly know that Vegas is incredibly small and if you mess up here then you will no onger be able to work here. This also works in the opposite direction as wel though if you make a name for yourself here every one will know who you are. Or even if you become friends with someone and they begin to recognize the work that you do and produce they could mention your name and from there you could take off.  Social networking will get you a far way in this town and with the economy being the way that it is most employers enjoy the word of mouth  to find jobs or to sale a product versus the advertising avalible jobs. "But these days, thanks to modern technology, armed with little more than a video camera, laptop, and a cell phone, anyone can spread the word about products and brand experiences to thousands, even millions, of other consumers." If you work at a company and hear that there is a job opening in an area that say your friend is good at then you can suggest that person to whoever is hiring. By doing this you take out the middle stuff. The business will not have to spend money on advertising the job and taking time to interview 100's of 1000's of people.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Lately there are a multitude of business that seem to be focusing on making money for good.We have charitable organizations that seem to be focused on truly helping the misfortunate out there. Obviously you can not have a business without making some sort of profit for the business itself in this way many people believe that the business is not dedicated to helping others but they truly are. Businesses like Wades Ride who wants to research more about SIDS."Participants and organizers look forward to this weekend’s second annual Wade’s Ride, a day of activities whose proceeds will go to benefit education and research of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)."(The Emporia Gazette) http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2011/oct/06/wades-ride/
Even though this particular organization has not been around for very long they have still decided to focus all of the proceeds that they make for this event to helps discover what is causing this particular thing to happen. Places such as the Salvation Army that gather food and supplies to give out to the public who truly need it. It is coming up on that time of year when giving is what happens all over the country. Schools have food drives as well as churches to help those that are misfortunate during this time of year.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

Born between 1977 and 2000, these children of the baby boomers number 83 million, dwarfing the Gen Xers and larger even than the baby boomer segment. This group includes several age cohorts: tweens (aged 9–12), teens (13–18), and young adults (19–32).( Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 10th Edition pg 16)   

Since I was born in the year 1989 this would be the group that I happen to fall under.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

The video game world is continuously changing day in and day out. One minute this game is important, the next this game system is rated the best. Video game technology in the last 31 years has made huge advances in their systems. We now have game that can be in 3D as well as games that we control through the movements of our bodies. "Hollywood is cashing in on the video game boom .In 1981, game cartridges that can be plugged into home television sets and coin-operated arcade games were and $8 billion business….In the last few weeks, nearly every movie studio has announced a joint venture… siphon off, some of those impressive video game revenues." (Sarasota Journal - Jul 2, 1982) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QSQeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wo4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6787,240175&dq=video+game+news+through+the+last+century&hl=en

This was just 30 years ago that every major business wanted some sort of in with the video game industry. Now though are video games still such in huge demand? Even in the last 5 years we have seen the advances of Sony's PlayStation, now in its 3rd version, Nintendo now has a complete interactive video game system with the Wii, and Xbox has it own 360 model. For the past couple of years these advances have been somewhat of a break through in the video game industry.

"Sony's Playstation 3 is in hot demand and short supply this weekend. And to make it an official video gamer weekend, on Sunday, Nintendo releases its coveted Wii gaming system. For the truly dedicated video-gamer, this weekend might as well have been New Year's, Halloween and the annual Star Trek convention wrapped in one. Today, Nintendo is releasing its new game console. It's called the Wii……The craziest consumers camped out to buy the Sony Playstation 3, which came out on Friday. At some stores, only 32 of the systems were available, far fewer than people in the line."http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6509671

Now though a few years later there is a new competitor for video game advances and that happens to be video game apps for the new iphones, ipads, and androids. So where do the old game types lie in comparison to the new craze? Well there is a way to answer this question. Through the Boston Consulting Group Approach we can see exactly where these specific games now lie. This system is broken into four groups the first is the STARS group. This group contains things that are in high demand and are continuously make new and better advances, what can be considered in this group is things such as the game apps for tablet type technologies. "Tablets are just great for gaming. Everything that modern cellphones bring to games — touch screens, tilt sensitivity and of course constant Internet access — the tablets do better." (The New York Times June 8 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/technology/personaltech/09TABLETS.html 

The next group in this system are the CASH COWS are low-growth, high-share businesses or products, what can be considered in this group are things like playstation, wii, and xbox video games. "Sony said it now expected an operating loss of 260 billion yen ($2.9 billion) for the year to end-March, after previously forecasting a 200 billion yen profit." http://in.reuters.com/article/2009/01/22/idINIndia-37600220090122

Next on this list is DOGS. DOGS are low-growth, low-share businesses and products things like the old playstation, xbox and nintendo game cube systems and games are at. They still sell occasionally but they are not in as high of a demand. Lastly is the QUESTION MARK group. The Question Mark group is a group where the STARS either go to die out or be rebuilt. Obviously each of these groups are a personal opinion of my own and each one can change in a matter of minutes but one thing is for certain our need for video games will not cease we seem to just advance along with the technology around us.

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

Great customer service I believe is mainly what we as a society truly want when we are out and about. We constantly look to others to make our lives better if we are not happy with them. The customer service business as a whole is created and should focus mainly on just that. When hired at any customer service place one of the first things told to the employees is “The customer is always right,” and under any and all circumstances relating to how their experience is whether it be a restaurant or a store, it is the employee/manager/owner to make it all better. We go out to eat not just to get great food but also have people wait on us hand and foot. It is nice to have someone cook for you, bring you everything you need, and to clean up the mess when we are done. How could this not be something we look forward to with customer service? When I personally go out shopping I look for the person that says hi to me. It lets me know that they have acknowledged me and know that I am there. By a simple smile and one word it better helps me to be able to ask questions when I need to. It helps me to warm up to the environment around me. With the economy being the way it is customer service has tripled within the last eight years. That does not mean that everyone who has gone into customer service enjoys the fact that they are there but making the best out of the situation not only helps us day to day but also makes the experience for the guests better. Customers are the ones who pay the average persons salary without them then more people would be without work. We encounter some sort of customer service every single day; we are there for the experience that it gives us as well as the value we get out of it.

About Me

As a photographer I tend to see life with a different sort of outlook. I like to think that I see things in what I call “Photo Eye.” “Photo Eye,” is looking at the things around you and figuring out how to make that into a memorable photo, something that everyone will see and want to see time and time again. Even though life as a freelance photographer can lead to difficulties it has been these difficulties that have lead me to strive to be better at what I do in order for everyone to see me as I want them to view me. Being a hard worker I believe is the only way to get what you want out of life. Even though life is short it takes time and effort in order to make it a life worth living. I am mainly interested in becoming a still photographer for movies at the moment. I believe that working on the set of a movie would be a fun and enjoyable experience. Just because I believe that it may be fun does not mean that I would treat the job any differently then any other it may even be a little more difficult. The memories and the experience that I would gain though would be those of a lifetime and something I truly think would benefit me. I like to say “ Work harder now so that way you wont have to work harder later,” I apply this principle in every aspect of my life because again it is a life worth living.