In Repsonse to Emma's Post: "Logos"

"Does the size of the logo make a difference to you when you're purchasing an item?"

I definitely think the size of a logo affects whether or not I would buy an item. While reading Emma’s  blog, I was also thinking of Aeropostale as an example of logo size because they usually have “Aero” written largely across the sweatpants or sweatshirts. This makes me not want to buy that item because Aeropostale is seen as such a young store. I prefer to buy clothes that have the logo very small in the corner, like American Eagle, Hollister, or Abercombie & Fitch have it. Because I spend so much money on the clothes, it is important to me to have the brand logo on the item somewhere. Similar to this is another type of logo that these brand-name stores use: the back of jeans pockets. I’m sure these companies would be happy to know that when I see a pair of jeans on someone, I look at the back pockets to see where they got them. Like the Nike swoosh or the Hollister seagull, the designed stitching on the back of jeans is another way of branding the product. Can you think of another way these stores brand their items so well?

Branding

On Thursday of this week, William Faulkner from Logopak came into class to talk about product branding. I also found this article that says consumers usually follow their gut when choosing a brand. The article relates this to dating websites and how people choose a compatible mate by following their gut and not using the rational list of personality traits given by the matchmaking website. This relates to how consumers choose products and which brand they use because, like William said, there usually isn’t much of a difference between brands; it’s all based on emotional feelings toward a product or brand. Brand managers should think more about how to win over consumers in a way that makes them feel comfortable in their decision to buy your product. When was the last time you chose a certain brand over another? What was the basis of your decision?

In Repsonse to Lyndzi's Post: "Marketing in a Consumer Market vs. Business Market"

Do you think companies in a consumer market spend more money on marketing than companies in a business market?

Yes, I do think that companies in a consumer market spend more money on marketing and advertising than those in a business market. In her post, Lyndzi stated various reasons and methods of advertising for the two different markets and I agree with what she said. In a business market, the focus is more on beating out the competitors and promoting why your product is worth using over another very similar product. And in a consumer market, the focus is on choosing your brand or product over another company’s. The type of products that are being marketed in a consumer market cause those companies to spend more money on marketing. For example, if they are selling a can of soda, they are marketing to everyone who might drink soda. But for a business market, they may be selling a fax machine, and in that case they would only market to offices. Business markets don’t have to spend as much money on tv commercials or creating eye-catching interesting ads. Have you ever decided to buy a product solely because of a commercial you saw?

Domino's vs Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut and Domino’s have always been direct competitors in the pizza industry. Relatively, the two companies are the same. You can get an inexpensive pizza pie quick and anywhere in the country and it will always be the same no matter where you order it. Some people would even consider Domino’s and Pizza Hut to be fast food restaurants because they guarantee the order will be ready or delivered within a short amount of time. In Chapter 3 of our textbook, we went over the competitive forces in the marketing environment. Pizza Hut and Domino’s fall under the category of Brand Competitors because they serve similar food items. But looking at the average annual revenue between the two restaurants, Domino’s surpasses Pizza Hut by about $750 million despite Pizza Hut having almost twice as many locations in the United States. What are some of the reasons that you think Domino’s is so much more successful than Pizza Hut?

Mass Effect 3 In Space

In an attempt to boost the hype for the new video game, Mass Effect 3, EA Games has decided to launch multiple copies of the game into space a week before the game’s release. The point of this was for fans to search for the copies when they landed back on Earth. Each of the games contained a GPS tracking device and fans were told to follow the coordinates to find the games. Once the game was found, they were able to keep it and gain a full week of play before it came out in stores. This sounds like a very nerdy version of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket scavenger hunt. And it seemed to work for the most part. Games were found in Las Vegas, New York, and London but two games were lost in a dense forest in California. What are some marketing reasons for why the company would go through such extremities for the launch of this new game?

In Repsonse to Professor Johnson's Post: "The Case of John Smith"

Questions: Should John smith sell the names? (Be sure to answer the poll to the left of this post.) Also, Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? Go to the AMA website (American Marketing Association) and look at their Statement of Ethics. What in the Statement relates to John Smith's dilemma?

I don’t think that John Smith should sell the names to the car dealership. Even though this would help the car dealer a great amount by giving him names of prospective buyers, it would be wrong because the people who took the survey were most likely told their names would be kept private throughout the survey process. The American Marketing Association’s Statement of Ethics provides information on ethical values a company must uphold. One of which is honesty. It would not be honest of John Smith to hand out the names because the people who took the survey would not know about it. It’s unethical because John Smith would be breaking consumer relationships. Yes, John Smith may have to lay off some employees in his company, but isn’t that the company’s fault that they don’t have the money to keep employees? There are other ways for John Smith to make the money to try to keep employees, what do you think they are?

What's Gotten Into American Idol?

American Idol has been on the air for eleven years now. Some would say it has dragged on long enough with the new similar shows “The X Factor” and “The Voice”. These newer singing competitions seem to be more focused on giving ‘nobodies’ the chance to change their lives and make something of themselves.  Has American Idol changed from a singing competition to some sort of talk-show? Is the show focusing too much on the quirky people who audition instead of the talent that’s out there?