Final Project: Marketing Mix (Product, Distribution, Promotion, & Price)

Product

Food has traditionally been at the center of all formal and informal gatherings. For generations, mankind has often used it to facilitate bonding with friends and family or during the observance of important events such as birthdays, weddings, job promotions and even for the annual the Super Bowl. Warm nostalgic feelings are evoked, just as Sunday dinners often allowed time for communication and bonding with family, friends and loved ones. A meal shared during a first date or even a grandfather bonding with this granddaughter by sharing a chocolate cookie, all have the potential to be a memorable experience. 

"The company’s marketing strategy outlines which customers the company will serve and how it will create value for these customers."Marketing: An Introduction, pg.13, Armstrong & Kotler.   Treats & Eats will market their product, BuddieBites, not by selling simply a stand alone treat, but rather an experience, a means for an owner to share a special moment with his/her canine companion. BuddieBites will promote a positive bonding experience. "A new product must have the required functional features and also convey the intended psychological characteristics."-Marketing:An Introduction, pg.19, Armstrong & Kotler The treat itself is a tasty, circular, peanut butter wafer/cookie, dipped in canine safe white chocolate, as a delicious coating. Each wafer is approximately the size of a silver dollar.

Promotion

The Treats & Eats product logo will use a simple red, white and black color scheme for instant recognition on the shelves. "Why do so many new products fail? There are several reasons. Although an idea may be good, the company may overestimate market size. The actual product may be poorly designed. Or it might be incorrectly positioned, launched at the wrong time, priced too high, or poorly advertised."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.245, Armstrong & Kotler To avoid such problems packaging colors will consist of red, white and black which will help let the BuddieBites box stand out from other dog treats.  Red studies have shown evokes hunger, white to reflect the white chocolate coating of the treats, and black represents the chocolate.  The official mascot, “Buddie”, will be represented as a cartoon dog, always wearing a smile and a tie dyed shirt. These will be featured on every box cover and advertisement.

Any creative visuals for BuddieBites will always depict an owner and their pet having a fun, lighthearted time, while enjoying an incredibly tasty treat together. Treats&Eats, has casted the perfect actor as its spokesperson, Carlos Cardoza. Carlos is a classically trained actor who did a brief stint on Broadway from 2008-2010. His character for this product will be an overtly friendly and energetic salesman, who uses humor in his intense sales pursuit. The salesman will rightfully be named “Buddie.”

The humor behind the commercial and its star will consist of poking fun at crazy late night infomercials and their hosts, in an exaggerated manner. The human actor will be featured in every commercial, appearing out of nowhere, to save the day and help create the bonding experience lacking between a pet owner and his/her dog. The application of the catchy tagline “Share together” and the BuddieBites slogan, “For Everybody who has a Buddie!” will also be consistently included in each commercial. “Buddie” the salesman, will always be featured wearing quirky outfits reflecting BuddieBites packaging colors.  

 "Clearly, sales promotion plays an important role in the total promotion mix. To use it well, the marketer must define the sales promotion objectives, select the best tools, design the sales promotion program, implement the program, and evaluate the results. "-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.44, Armstrong & Kotler The first commercial for Treats&Eats will be viewed on major channels such as Fox, NBC, CBS and TBS, as well as being featured on ESPN, the Food Network and in all major markets. Treats & Eats have received favorable results in their test audience with their pilot commercial.  The following is the pilot commercial for BuddieBites.

"the importance of the media-planning function. The decision about which media to use for an ad campaign—television, magazines, cell phones, a Web site, or e-mail—is now sometimes more critical to the elements of the campaign."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.360, Armstrong & Kotler After viewing the commercial you can see this will be linked to YouTube for future viewing for customers along with every other future commercial for BuddieBites.  Along with YouTube, BuddieBites will use social media by finding "Buddies", people who love the product that are open to blogging, facebooking, and tweeting about the products.  These "Buddies" will be essential to the success of the product; they meet twice a year for proper product consulting and be given bonus checks for specific blogging activity as well as free merchandise and prizes. "As consumers spend more and more time on the Internet, companies are shifting more of their marketing dollars to online advertising to build their brands or to attract visitors to their Web sites."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.466, Armstrong & Kotler

Distribution

Treats & Eats will use intensive distribution of BuddieBites will be made up of popular grocery stores throughout the country. "Intensive distribution, stocking the product in as many outlets as possible."-Marketing:An Introduction, pg.324, Armstrong & Kotler You will be able to find it in any Wal-Mart, Target, Smith’s, Albertsons, Jewels, WinCo, WholeFoods and Trader Joe’s grocery stores.  Although it is a human snack made to share with dogs, it will be located in the pet aisle, more specifically the canine aisle of these grocery stores."Companies often pay too little attention to their distribution channels, sometimes with damaging results. In contrast, many companies have used imaginative distribution systems to gain a competitive advantage."- Marketing: An Introduction, pg.312, Armstrong & Kotler.  Treats & Eats has a fleet trucks for ground transportation, to save costs, with temperature controlled storage areas so that the white chocolate does not melt.  

Price

"Business analysis involves a review of the sales, costs, and profit projections for a new product to find out whether they satisfy the company’s objectives." Marketing:An Introduction, pg.251, Armstrong& Kotler  Understanding this, we realize there are many things to consider while pricing a product you have to consider many variables; labor, distribution, costs of materials, packaging, profit, etc.  "Most companies try to measure their demand curves by estimating demand at different prices. "-Marketing:An Introduction, pg.248, Armstron & Kotler. Listing the basic costs helped me with the analysis of pricing BuddieBites.

BuddieBites basic cost + profit list:

·         $0.85 per box (red, chineese take-out)

·         $0.99 for vacuum sealed packaging

·         $2.50 for the amount of 50 peanut butter wafers per box

·         $1.50 white chocolate used in each box

·         $0.75 for label

The sum of these items are $6.59, equaling the basic cost of one box of BuddieBites.  Treats & Eats will then sell each box of BuddieBites for $11.99 for a profit of $5.40 a box(keeping in mind that a percentage of their annual profit will then be donated to the Humane Society in efforts to help stop the cruelty of puppy mills)."The strategy for setting a product’s price often has to be changed when the product is part of a product mix."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.287, Armstrong & Kotler

Final Project: Implementation Evaluation Control

"Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.55, Armstrong & Kotler BuddieBites is a completely new product, brand, and advertised treat.  Because of this, evaluation and control is going to be forever changing with the tide.  Treats & Eats have done extensive research in this area and determined that this untouched shared treat market could be a marketing goldmine.  Implementation of  BuddieBites involves Treats & Eats programs, budgets, and procedures as well.  Along with its resources and motivation of its staff to achieve their common objectives. "We define sales first management as the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of sales force activities. It includes designing sales force strategy and structure and recruiting, selecting, training, compensating, supervising, and evaluating the firm’s salespeople."-Marketing: An Introduction, pg.416, Armstrong & Kotler. Knowing this, to be successful in these area's Treats & Eats has carfeully selected qualified managerial staff to at it's home warehouse in Las Vegas, NV.

EOC: Week 7 The Pitch

If you are like me, you share everything with your dog.  You take them to the park, they go on jogs with you, run errands, they cuddle next to your during blockbuster nights, sleeps on your bed, and you may even be nice enough to share left overs from last Sunday night’s dinner with your pet companion on a good day. BUT how unfair is it that man’s best friend cannot enjoy man’s favorite treat? Chocolate. 

Don’t worry we are not going to harm your little buddy, we here at the Puppy Café would like to introduce a safe white chocolate treat for people and dogs alike; Buddie Bites.  Now you and your most loyal friend (your dog) can share a treat together eating out of the same box!  These small bite size treats come in an assortment of shapes and made from all natural ingredients. Yes, finally there is a tasty treat on the market with doggy-safe white chocolate for dogs and their human counterparts to enjoy together. Our biscuits consist of whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, wheat germ, cinnamon, eggs, carob chips, honey, and are dipped in white chocolate for a delicous coating.

Each box of Buddie Bites comes with assorted objects that make Buddy Bites fun to eat.  Choose from a yellow fire hydrant, a kitty cat, or even a mailman become an enjoyable snack to indulge yourself along with your little buddy.   And on the back of every box contains recipes for treats that you can bake yourself for special occasions when you have a good mix of human friends and their dog counterparts, such as doggy birthday parties.  Each box of Buddie Bites are made of 100% recycled paper, include 50 snacks and cost just $15.00, with 10% of our annually profit being donated to the Humane Society to help end the cruelty of puppy mills.  What can be better than snacking for a cause!?

Week 6 EOC: Me Times Three

I do not consider myself a huge consumer.  Most of the time when I am out shopping it’s for a need, a gift for someone else, or if I see a good deal because I don’t like to spend money on wasteful things (and because my bank account is not large).  The things I do purchase for myself on the regular are watches, hats, and music.

            Watches have always been my most expensive purchase that I make.  I love the way they look, feel on your wrist and my Mother always told me “You can always tell a lot about a man by the type of watch they wear.”  Personally I am a very busy man and keeping track of time is essential.  As well as I think a watch completes a outfit like a cherry tops a ice cream sundae. 

            Hats are my most addictive purchase.  I am a huge sports fan and support many collegiate and professional teams, along with this I love the look of many different styles, and like a watch, I believe a hat can make an outfit.  Not to mention I have difficult hair to style on a regular basis, so hats are a tremendous help to cover my crazy hair on my lazy, or rushed to get ready days.

            This might sound weird, but I absolutely cannot stand a silent room.  I find it hard to do anything without music in the background.  It helps me concentrate with my homework, inspires me with while shooting my photography, and creates an essential vibe or mood when working out, having dinner with my wife, when I have company over, or even playing with my daughter.   So, obviously because of this I purchase a lot of music.  Whether it is old, new, iTunes, cd, records, tape cassettes, or what have you…I probably have it.

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.