Informercials

Everyone sees the infomercials that are always on TV bascially every time we turn the TV on.  Price is a big part of the four P's of marketing.  These infomercials offer products that are cheap and they always seem to work very well on TV but I doubt really work that well when the product is in your hands.  Quality for a consumer is something they always want to see in the product they invest in.  These products offered through the infomercials are extremely cheap and quality might not be too far behind.  There are always new products that are being displayed on infomercials.  One quality product I have seen through an infomercial was Oxy Clea, the product actually really worked well.  Since it seems like there are so many different products on infomercials, do you think these products actually work?

In response to Aubrey's VH1

It seems some what surprising that VH1's viewings went down recently.  VH1 shows some good TV here and there but they have been around for a while.  Trying to attract more women to watch VH1 makes sense to me since they control 80% of the market as Aubrey says.  I also believe women watch more of a variety of television shows than men do.  Mostly men will watch sports and movie channels along with some different TV shows that they are interested in.  I do believe this could help VH1's ratings go up.  I also believe that if they showed more movies on their station then they would see their ratings go up as well.

ESPNews Sponsorships

While watching the NBA and NHL playoffs this past weekend on ESPN there were many different sponsors for ESPN.  Most of the sponsors would attract the attention of middle aged men.  This makes sense since most of the audience of ESPN would be middle aged men watching sports.  Bud Lite was a big sponsor that would come up often throughout the games during commercials.  A lot of these commercials were also brought back with a large advertisement on the screen showing the bud lite symbol.  The marketing of beer during sporting events makes a lot of sense to me since a lot of guys will drink beer while watching the games on TV.  Do you think these advertisements actually effect sales of beer companies or would they still sell the same amount of beer regardless?

In response to Dan Bayrouty's Ramunto's

Promotion is a huge part of marketing and it seems that Ramunto's did a nice job that day.  Free pizza and cheap beer is what college kids are looking for.  Adding in the beer part was a major contribution in my opinion since Ramunto's can actually make money off the beer while kids are enjoying their free pizza.  Giving away free trips or items also was a big help for promoting Ramunto's pizzaria.  Getting their company off their feet would be the most difficult thing to do so far since there are at least four other pizza joints in Keene, like Dan mentioned.  In my opinion I believe this is worth it for companies in the long run, as long as they keep up with their advertising to attract more customers.  If they do not keep up with the advertising then this will not be successful for the company in the long run.

Kay Jewelers

This is the time a lot of people get married.  Lately I have seen more and more commercials regarding jewelery stores that are advertising wedding rings.  This afternoon I saw a new commercial for Kay Jewelers that was showing a couple getting married.  I didn't understand why these commercials were coming on more frequently until today when I realized it is almost May.  Although it is almost the time people get married, I would assume they proposed a while ago and already had the ring.  Do you think advertising during this time of the year is helpful to sales at jewelery stores?

ACE

While watching the show Cake Boss there was a commercial of a man in his neighborhood gathering them all together to get their to do lists done.  He talks quickly how ACE will help those to do lists become done with the help of ACE.  The ACE store comes in to the picture and it shows how quick and cheap the prodcuts are there in order to get your to do lists done.  Many adults and people that own homes will be watching this show and it makes sense for ACE to have a commercial on during this time.  Drawing the attention of homeowners and people of the right age to ACE will help them draw more customers to ACE.  While our economy is struggling still, does it matter if ACE advertises a lot considering tuning up your house if a want than a need?

In response to Erik's Stumble Upon

I have heard of Stumble Upon but never visited the website until I read the blog on Erik's page.  Stumble Upon seems like a pretty cool website considering it is almost customized towards you.  By checking off your interests and likes it will bring up articles or websites that are directed towards your likes.  I can see where Stumble Upon would be a little bit better than a earh engine since it brings up websites that you don't even have to search for, just click your likes.  While checking out Stumble Upon it caught my eye since there are many interests you can check off that will bring up websites that might catch your attention.  The world wide web is so big nowadays that there are plenty of websites that people would be interested in but just have't discovered yet since there are billions of websites, but with the help of stumble upon people will find these websites.

TD Bank

While watching television around 5 p.m. this week there was a commercial about TD Bank.  The commercial explained how TD Bank was the most convenient bank available to customers.  Along with it being the most convenient bank they explain that you only need to have $100 in your banking account.  Right now banks are probably struggling to get more business since the economy is down still.  It made sense to me that this banking commercial would be on at about 5:30 at night.  The reason why this makes sense to me is because they are trying to advertise towards the people who are just coming home from work that actually utilize banks a lot more than the people not working.  TD Bank along with other banking commercials show how good their banks are and how low their rates are.  Do you think it makes a difference of how much advertising a bank does in order to attract more customers?

In response to Dan Bayrouty's post on Sun Drop

After reading Dan's post about Sun Drop soda, I believe it will not really impact the soda market.  The reason behind this is because as Dan said the soda compnay had been around since 1949 and he thought it was a new soda company.  Sometimes these soda companies will be more popular in different parts of the country.  I also believe it is difficult for a new soda company to make an impact in the soda market since it is mainly dominated by Coca Cola.  A soda that is as popular as Mountrain Dew or Pepsi is not as popular as Coke and they are really thriving in the soda market.  A market that has been overpowered by Coca Cola for so long makes it much more difficult for other companies to make an impact. 

DIRECTV Ad

This week I was watching MLB baseball on ESPN while a DIRECTV commercial came on.  These commercials have been on as of late if you remember the commercials with the baby giraffe in the room that was mostly gold.  This advertisement that I saw on televison during the game did not have the baby giraffe but it had women waiting on the man who was sitting in the gold chair talking about DIRECTV.  The man who is sitting in the gold chair obviously owns the house that looks covered in gold from the inside.  He is talking about how DIRECTV is really working for him and how much he likes it.  While this advertisement is clearly set up for times when people who would be interested in DIRECTV are watching the programming at that time.  Mostly men are watching the game and usually men are more interested in getting over thousands of channels in order to watch more sports.  Towards the end of the ad they put the price per month of $29.99 on the screen in big lettering.  It seems to me that prices for satellite television is going down, possibly because it is more difficult for the companies to sell their product to consumers since it is more of a want rather than a need.  This commercial was showing that if you have DIRECTV you could be living like the man that lives in the gold house.  This advertisement was obviously trying to sell their product to consumers while making it seem like the product will better your lifestyle.

Chili's Lunch

Recently I was watching Two and a Half men and during a commercial break there was an advertisement for Chili's lunch.  Advertising lunch for Chili's must mean they are trying to get more people in their for lunch.  Lunch time is a difficult time for restaurants since most people order take out since they do not have time to sit down and eat a full meal.  The deal Chili's is offering during lunch is a $6.00 lunch break that includes half a sandwhich, soup, and salad.  This is pretty cheap for lunch which Chili's is hoping will draw more people to Chili's for luch rather than ordering quick take out or bringing their lunch to work.  In my opinion I believe this will help them out since it is relatively cheap for lunch and considering the food in the deal it shouldn't take them too long to cook.  Even if people did Chili's to go with their new lunch deal it would still be successful since it is creating business for Chili's at lunch time.

Dos Equis

I recently saw a Dos Equis beer commercial while watching a Red Sox preseason game.  The commercial was a typical Dos Equis commercial if you have ever seen them.  They talk about how awesome the man sponsoring the beer is and also advertise the beer.  The man and the beer go hand in hand in order to make the commercial interesting.  The company is trying to say how awesome the man is and since the man who is drinking the beer is awesome then the beer has to be awesome as well.  A lot of these beer advertisements come on during games that they know guys who drink beer will be watching.  Advertising beer during games that men will be watching has helped beer companys throughout the years.  Target marketing is key to these companies since there are so many different varities of beer in the stores.  The company making it seem like only "cool" people drink the beer makes it seem like if people want to be "cool" they drink Dos Equis.  The commercials are always funny and this probably helps out Dos Equis with their selling of their product.

Gatorade Prime

This weekend we went to New York to start off our baseball season.  As we had some down time after our games in the hotel we would usually watch ESPNews or a spring training baseball game.  Advertisements for al sorts of sports equipment, beer, and basically anything to benefit athletes or entertain the adult males that would typically be watching these channels were advertised.  One of the advertisements that caught my eye was the commercial for Gatorade Prime.  This is a fairly new product from Gatorade that is supposed to be taken pre game to help fuel the athlete for the game.  Instead of a regular Gatorade bottle this is more of a pouch that contains protein and other ingrediants to help the athlete stay strong during competition. 
The commercial was a typical Gatorade commercial that would show athletes drinking the formula and then short clips of them performing the sport they play.  Gatorade has been successful in the past with selling their products since they have been around for a while and do not have too many competitors other than Powerade.  I think the advertising towards the right target market helps Gatorade get their products out their and it really helps sell their products.
In my opinion I believe that these products help stimulate the performance of an athlete to a certain point.  This summer I played about 50 baseball games in about 60 days.  Drinking a Gatorade at the start of each game would help me basically become more energetic.  The new Gatorade Prime seems pretty good for athletes since it has protein in it along with the other ingreadiants Gatorade that fuels athletes.

Response to Dan Bayrouty's Charity Fraud

Fraud is definitely a big negative when it comes to business, especially charity.  Even though Bono is famous and has his own charity called ONE, it does not mean he should be able to get away with charity fraud.  This should definitely hurt his image.  Charity fraud is not something anyone wants to deal with nevermind a celebrity.  The false advertising in his charity will hopefully make people understand the charities they are donating to and hopefully make them do more research before donating.

College Basketball Games & Advertising

Watching the Duke and Georgia Tech game earlier tonight there are many advertisements during commercial breaks.  These commercials are typically marketed towards college aged kids or male adults.  This is typical for companies like Gillette and Nike to do their advertisements during college basketball games; they understand college kids will be watching along with older guys. 
Every station has different ads on since the target market typically changes each time the channel is changed.  Advertising products for men during these games helps these companies and it allows them to reach out to their target market.  Most people do not enjoy watching multiple commercials in a row when they know they have nothing to do with them or will affect them.  Now that Gillette and Nike understand their target market is watching the game, do you really think this works?

In Response to Erik's "Fit Gaming"

I agree with Erik as to it is difficult to advertise to a public looking to become healthier and become more active.  However, I do believe it is not as difficult to advertise to the target market that companies like Xbox and PlayStation advertise towards.  These companies have been extremely successful in what they do and I believe that this is because they understand their target market and they create video games and such things that they know their market will be interested in.  Creating things like Wii fit could potentially help Nintendo because hopefully parents now are making their kids incorporate some sort of exercise along with the many hours spent on playing video games.

Subway's FebruANY

This month is Subway's FebruANY five dollar foot long promotion.  These advertisements have been all over television recently as well as advertised in the stores.  Each day of the month subway has a special sub that is five dollars the whole day then the next day a different special sub is five dollars.  This will take place all month in order to attract more customers to the Subways. 
I think this marketing attempt helps Subway attract more customers.  The reason why I believe this will help Subway is because it will bring in more customers to Subway and while they are there ordering the special sub for the day they will take a look at the menu and realize they have other subs for five dollars but they are five dollars everyday.  This will intrigue the customers to come to Subway more often and also realize that if put together correctly, the subs are a healthy choice for lunch or dinner.  More and more people are looking to eat healthy nowadays and Subway is allowing people to do that without going to fast food places.  When you purchase a sub from Subway you realize that it is a lot healthier for you than other fast food places and also that Subway's services are almost as quick as fast food places. 
This FebruANY month should attract more customers and it could potentially create newer consumers that will purchase Subway subs more often.  This seems like a good idea to me that should help stimulate the sales of Subway subs.  Since it is five dollars for a different sub every day, is there anyway Subway could lose some money if enough customers take advantage of the deal?

All State Mayhem

All State insurance has been showing commercials on television about how quality insurance the provide when it comes to insuring motor vehicles.  These commercials are usually pretty funny and they draw attention from the viewers because they can spin a commercial about car insurance into something funny and somewhat entertaining.  The commercials always have the same actor that is being used as a prop in the commercials, varying from a christmas tree to a gps. 
The commercial I am going to focus on is the one when the guy is the gps.  He is giving the driver directions to his destination but the driver has not updated the gps routes.  In a few seconds the actor tells the driver to turn right quickly which is a one way road and the driver crashes into some cars coming the other way.  He then explains how the drivers insurance most likely will not oay for the accident he just caused.  Then explains how All State will provide better insurance than basically all other car insurances out there.
These commercials can all relate to the four P's; promotion, product, place, and price.  The actor is causing accidents that are a little far fetched but it gets the point across in order to promote the All State car insurance.  Promoting car insurance in these commercials in a comical way is the best way to get consumers interest in my opinion.  Car insurance is a difficult thing to advertise since there is not much to talk about in an advertisement about insurance.  The product of All State insurance is shown on these commercials and it is related to the place which is on the roads with problems that can occur while on the road.  Giving detail about how All State is much better than other insurances gives the product the edge over the other products of insurances.  Towards the end of the commercial the actor will list off the low price a customer can receive the insurance for.  Giving detail about the price of the product is extremely important to the advertisement of the product.  That way the consumers listening to the commercial will hear the price of the product and they can compare it to the insurance they already have.
All in all I believe this advertisement was successfully put together since All State made the advertisement comical and creative as they used the actor as multiple props in these commercials.  Taking insurance and making it comical helps grab the attention of the consumer which is the main reason I believe this advertisement was successful.  Do you think it is helpful to add comical material into advertisements?

Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix consists of the four P's; which are product (person looking for a job), place, promotion, and price.  If someone was to place themself in the four P's then the Place would be where they were trying to become a future employee.  The product would have to consider the factors that go along with the place they are chosing to work.  The location is a sub variable of the place of work; which means the product would have to chose carefully while selecting location.  Location will be the place of work for the product so in order to be satisified the location needs to fit the product. 
While trying to become a future employee the product will have to promote itself in the process.  Promotion of the future employee would be considered as advertising oneself.  The product could do this simply by informing the potential future employee of his/her credentials and why the job is significant to them.  Getting the products name out in the job market can also be known as publciity.  The more job applications sent in to employers, the better the chance of the product receieving an interview with an employer. 
The last P in the Marketing Mix is Price.  The product will have to consider things like payment and credit terms.  The product has to find a salary that will go along with his/her lifestyle.  While taking into consideration the salary the product should also look closely to the credit terms.  The credit terms will be how the product gets paid and when the payments are given to the product.  There are different types of credit terms like wages or salaries and also incentives that can be in the contract of the job.
Marketing Mix and the Four P's can be translated easily into someone finding a job because a person looking for a job is going to want to market themself to the potential employers.  In order for someone to get hired or receieve many interviews they need to market themselves like a new product in the market in order to find success.

Type A Response

Marketing creates distribution, promotion, and pricing goods, services, and ideas in order to help companies develop a healthy relationship with their consumers.  These main points of marketing show that marketing is more than just getting the products name on the market in order to catch the eye of a potential customer.  An example of marketing would be the Boston Red Sox organization.  They have to distribute tickets, promote games, price the merchandise, food, and tickets, along with creating ideas that incorporate other businsses during games.  Advertising on the other hand consists of just nonpersonal communication about an organization and its products to a target audience through mass media.  The large Ford sign in the right field bleacher at Fenway Park would be an example of advertising.  Ford pays the Red Sox organization to display their name on a large billboard in right field in order to get their name out to consumers.  Propaganda is the most basic of these three terms because it's main purpose of to only give out information about a product to the public.  An example of this could be the signs on street corners for upcoming bands that are playing at the local bars or clubs.