Week 8 EOC: Creative Content

Buddie Bites will be packaged in a simple rectangular box of 100% recycled paper.  The box itself will be an eggshell white to reflect the white chocolate taste along with a bold red font of “Buddie Bites”, along with a see-through section in front showcasing the different shapes of the treats.  I will create the label and box in photoshop.  There also will be multiple photos that I will then do a photo-shoot depicting a dog owner and his/her canine companion in different scenarios, where we at Puppy Café’, feel will be fun, positive scenes of the two friends sharing a snack.  Such as on a couch watching television, cuddling on the couch reading book, at the park for a picnic, etc…  These photos will be used for ads, posters, etc. Also I would like o create a website that gives access to a "fan club" where people can comment on our products as well as have applications ready for devoted fans to become one of our Buddie Marketers and we will give them the proper tools and freedom to blog about our products and in return our "Buddie Marketers" will receive free merchandise, incredible discounts, and our most successful "Buddie Marketer" will receive a free airline tickets to anywhere in the United States for them and their canine companion.“Engage a satisfied customer in a dialogue about a product—and give them a forum to express their creative aspirations for that product—and you will have a brand advocate who speaks from the heart.”- Marketing an Introduction 10th edition, Armstrong/Kitler, 2011.

            I will also like to attempt a short 30 second fun commercial depicting a man in a dark house snacking on the couch watching late night television and his little buddy at his feet whining for a taste of the tasty chocolate snack the owner has.  The owner says to his dog sadly, ”Sorry Buddie, these are no good for dogs. I wish there was something we could share together…” In steps a man dressed as a games how host answering excitedly “And now there is! Introducing Buddie Bites! A white chocolate treat for you and your lil’ buddie to enjoy together!  Enjoy!”  (He throws him a box) “ The man on the couch catches the box and replies gratefully ” I don’t know how you got into my house, but thanks!”  Then cuts to a photograph from my shoot of the front of the box. I want the commercial to be humorous, yet get the ideal scene of when to enjoy your Buddy Bites. 

EOC:Social Networks and Job Hunting

These days it seems like everybody has Facebook and companies are out to use this social network to their advantage.  Companies such as JetBlue, Sony, Microsoft, and McDonald’s, among others, are now developing a new breed of brand ambassador programs that organize and supercharge consumer-to-consumer interactions about their brands. -Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors: Employing Real Customers to Get Out the Word, Marketing an Introduction 10^th Edition.  These companies are focusing on the young, college student crowd.  They look for students who are already voice truss about their product and have many friends on their Facebook account. For instance, JetBlue hired a young woman named Rebecca who is attending a Tech College and their new brand ambassador.  JetBlue flew her out to New York to train her on the history of JetBlue and how to successfully promote their product when she is back home; organizing events such as her JetBlue BlueDay.  I think this a positive way to intergrade a company or product to a market and it gives college student a chance to earn income as well as get some real world experience and insight of the corporate world.  

           On the other hand companies are using Facebook as job boards to hire future employees.    The majority of social-media traffic to Waste Management Inc.'s careers website comes from Facebook, beating out LinkedIn, said Jenny DeVaughn, manager of social media and employment branding. The Houston-based environmental services company is currently trying to fill 1,500 positions—from software developers to garbage truck drivers.- The Wall Street Journal, “Recuiters Troll Facebook for Candidates it Likes”  This is interesting because that means Facebook is beginning to compete with job board websites such as Monster.com and LinkedIn.com.  As well as intrude a social network for other purposes than socializing.  When I hear this I honestly don’t like the idea of an employer being able to search where one socializes.  I think their needs to be a clear-cut separation between social and work lives.  People like to keep their social life private and I think there is an inherited conflict of interest because of this.

Week 4 EOC: There's an App for That!

What is the difference between a professional photographer with a DSLR and an amateur photographer? Its understanding light and how to set your camera accordingly. There  is a new app on the market that take professional quality lit pictures, helping turn amateurs into professionals over night without years of school or experience; it’s called the Light-O-Meter.  Professional photographers use hand held light meters for decades everyday to read the amount of light in each particular shoot to help them set on the camera’s the correct settings to make an exceptional, high quality, perfectly lit photographs.  A hand held digital light meter will read ambient light (natural lighting) and help you set your f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO for DSLR cameras.  The problem is that hand held digital light meters can get expensive, get misplaced, and are pretty bulky to carry around as well your DSLR camera for the average amateur photographer.  This is where the Light-O-Meter comes into play.  This app, which is downloadable to any smartphone, will read ambient light, as well as studio (Non-C) lighting so that the average amateur photographer on a budget can select there settings correctly on their DSLR cameras with ease to shoot professional hi-quality lighting.   Also with the advances of camera phones, the Light-O-Meter will tell the user if there is enough light to take a picture without flash, or if flash on your camera phone is needed.  These days you can get an old basic hand held light meter for around $45.00 to high quality hand held digital light meters for up to $300.00; the Light-O-Meter app will cost you $5.00 giving hig-quality readings that is on par with competitors and you can always transfer the Light-O-Meter as you purchase new phones during your lifetime.

With the Light-O-Meter you can stop taking low grade, under exposed photographs and start taking high quality professional photographs.  Your Facebook photos will improve tremendously and you will never take a horribly lit photo again!  Imagine an actor needing a quick head shot without running to a photography studio, saving them hundreds of dollars or an expecting Father wanting to take well lit maternity pictures of his expecting spouse.  The Light-O-Meter turns anyone with a camera into a professional photographer! 

Week 3- My Demographic (Generation Y)

My genration is known as "generation Y" or "the echo boomers" due to our relationship with the "baby boomers" which makes up most of our parents.  To be exact I am a eighties baby, being born in 1984, I feel lucky to have grown up in such a technologically advanced time in history.  My first introduction to computers was an Apple computer in 1st grade playing the game, "Oregon Trail" and I didnt get my first cell phone until I was a highschool senior at the age of 17.  Times have changed since then, where now, many first graders have their own cell phone, can navagate a I-pad with ease and use computers everyday; rather then it being a novice device.  With this being said,  my genration is very computer savy and when it comes to marketing to us there is no better way to do it then the internet.  We play fantasy football, Google rather than visit a library, and are Facebook crazy.  You can say we are a product of our enviroment, just as every generation before us has been and this I believe will continue to hold true for future generations as well.  My daughter just turned three and I can see a bright electronic future for her, I invision by the time she enters highschool textbooks and backpacks will be a thing of the past; replaced by the newest version of the I-pad. 

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

            I am part of a generation that grew up with video games.  I had the very first Nintendo, which my brothers and I enjoyed for hours at a time playing such games as; Mike Tyson’s Punchout, Excite Bike, and Contra just to name a few.  These days gaming is a competitive multi-billion dollar industry that many people thought was down-turn resistant.  Never the less, sales have begun to slide because of a variety of different reasons leaving companies to wonder what to do.  To assist in analyzing these trends one can use the Boston Consulting Group portfolio.  “Under the classic Boston Consulting Group portfolio, the company invests funds from mature, successful products and businesses (cash cows) to support products and businesses in faster-growing markets (stars and question marks), hoping to turn them into cash cows.”  -  http://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/books/9780558851903/content/7/chapter?page=10&q=Boston+Consulting+Group

            Using this model the regular Nintendo games of my youth would fit in as “the dog” (low market share, low market growth) because of its low popularity.  The NES or how I call it, Regular Nintendo was first released to North America October 1985 and discontinued in North America in 1995-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System.  Now, you can still play these games on the newer consoles such as Wii, but manufacturing the original consoles has come to an end.  So people have moved onto bigger and better graphics, games, and technically advanced consoles such as Xbox, PlayStation 3, and Wii, this would be "the cash cow" (high market share, low market growth rate).   Moving forward gaming seems to be moving towards a more player interactive style with games systems such as Wii-sports, Xbox Kinect, and the popularity of MTV’S Rock Band; which I would put in as "the star" (high market share, high market growth rate) with 3 of the top 10 games sold being player interactive games; #2 is Just Dance 3 by Wii, #4 is Kinect Adventures Xbox360, and #7 is Zumba Fitness by Wii. –http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/.  Now "the question mark "(low market share, but high market growth) represents what the next hot trend in video games will be.   For me it will be something that combines the ease of a I-pad with the inexpensiveness of the free game "Angry Birds", and the interactivity of a Wii-sports or Xbox Kinect.  Does this exist yet?  I do not know, but with the increasing popularity of interactive/fitness minded games, a new generation of youth building the climate of tomorrow, maybe such a thing will be developed and profited from.  Good luck to the video game industry! 

Week-1 EOC : Great Customer Service

"Customers form expectations about the value and satisfaction that various market offerings will deliver and buy accordingly. Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences. Dissatisfied customers often switch to competitors and disparage the product to others." - Marketing- An Introduction (Chapter 1, pg.8) 

I work as a bottle runner for a nightclub at the Palms Hotel & Casino at MOON Nightclub.  Other major nightclubs in Las Vegas treat people as just another number and often do not care about the satisfaction of their cliental just as long as they are spending money.  At MOON we are whole heartily about the customer.  Just this past weekend, Saturday night to be exact, I had a bachelor party from London in celebrating their friend’s last stand as a bachelor.  They had partied at Tao the night before and because of this arrived at our club reluctant and skeptical.  Once the bottles were ordered I made sure to introduce myself (company policy) and they were astonished that I even took time shake each of their hands.  They quickly explained to me the hellish night they had at Tao.  They went on to say they never knew their cocktail server, their bottle runner, or their securities name and that tonight at MOON, within the first 5 minutes we had all made time to come and introduce ourselves.  They then went on explaining, that they never saw their cocktail server again after she brought them their bottle, the table was incredibly messy, and someone stole one of their bottles off the table which they still had to pay for, with the gratuity.  I let them know we are not like most clubs here in Vegas, we focus on return customers by always putting the customer first, not focusing on the money being spent but the fun they are having.  With that they loosened up, ended up purchasing two more bottles on top of the agreed required amount, and were the last table to leave our nightclub that morning.  They all shook my hand (as best they could after partying hard all night) and vowed to be back in town this summer, tell everyone back home in London about MOON, and swore they will never go to any other clubs in Vegas besides the ones at the Palms.  

EOC: My Voice

As the founder of Zach Adam Photography, I bring to the profession a unique view of the world and a burning passion for my craft. I am born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada; which reflects in my images due to my use of vibrant colors and the energy of the city around me. I have been working as a freelance photographer for the past eight years and in my brief career I have had some success shooting event flyers for nightclubs, websites, weddings, family portraits and I was hired by NBA.com for the NBA Summer League (2005-2007). My goal is to one day own my very own studio equipped for everything from simple portraits to high fashion, as well as working as a sports photographer for a professional or collegiate team. My passion for photography began when I was a young boy, helping my Father (who is also a photographer) with lighting, posing, and composition. The photographer, which has most influenced my work, is David La Chapelle due to his use eye-catching colors, elaborate scenes, and his success in the industry. I keep my photo-shoots organized and fun. I live to shoot and shoot to live.