Final Project Billbroad

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

 The PlayStation has the best on-paper specs and the demos have looked outstanding. Plus, it comes with an onboard Bluray DVD drive, which can hold more information than a standard DVD disc (the Xbox 360 supports HD-DVD, Bluray's main competitor, but not out of the box, and game support for HD-DVD discs is expected to be low or nonexistent).   
http://voices.yahoo.com/pros-cons-next-generation-video-game-systems-95271.html

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

Great customer service to me is when you walk into a facility or even if you’re simply calling a 1-800 number. And the associate goes above and beyond helping you.  Weather it’s telling all the new items they have or introducing you to new things. Keeping you up to date on the latest.  Not only satisfying your needs, but going over and extending offers.  At Zappos, taking good care of customers starts with a deep-down, customer-focused culture. “We have a saying,” proclaims the company at its Web site. “We are a service company that happens to sell [shoes or handbags, or clothing, or eventually, anything and everything].” The Zappos culture is built around 10 “Core Values,” ranging from “Build open and honest relationships with communication” to “Create fun and a little weirdness.” Value number one: “Deliver WOW through service!” Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P. 4.  The customer should always be right even when their wrong. If the shoe is not in stock, find out if you can put it on back order. Call around to another location. Check to see if the item is on display. Offer a style similar or in the same color. If it’s about an account that has been over charged for a service not being used or a mix –up.  Then offer another plan. Reinstate the customer credit back. Let them know about any of opportunity’s they can take advantage of. Always show the customer you care about their service. Remember happy customer, brings more happy customer. Great customer service set a relationship between the customer making them a long life time customer. That’s how most company’s revived this past recession. When you like the way your treated you become accustom to that. And you want it again, again, and again.      

Implementation Evaluation Control

“Planning good strategies is only a start toward successful marketing. A brilliant marketing strategy counts for little if the company fails to implement it properly. Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives. Whereas marketing planning addresses the what, and why of marketing activities, implementation addresses the who, where, when, and how. The process that turns marketing strategies and plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.”  Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P. 57 Feisty Pink Vodka would be very direct when it came to marketing. I want lifetime customers. I want the same customers I stared with to be there 50 years later. Action is when you see company growth. As long as you build a good relations with your customers and consumers, they will then share your product with others, who will then share the product with someone else and so on. “In an increasingly connected world, people at all levels of the marketing system must work together to implement marketing strategies and plans.  Marketing managers make decisions about target segments, branding, packaging, pricing, promoting, and distributing. They talk with engineering about product design, with manufacturing about production and inventory levels, and with finance about funding and cash flows. They also connect with outside people, such as advertising agencies to plan ad campaigns and the news media to obtain publicity support.” Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P. 57 Feisty Pink Vodka bold pink color, great price, everywhere you look, everywhere you go. All parties and events will carry my brand. I will support charities, Grand Opening, Corporate parties. Word of mouth is a must, but I want Consumers and customer so impressed they have no other opition.

 

Price

The pricing for a 750ml bottle of Feisty Pink Vodka would be $19.99.  I would like to distribute at a in between price, but still a great taste, with a happy feeling. “There are still some things that today’s consumers just aren’t willing to give up—such as chocolate. But as with eating out and clothing purchases, they are trading down. That is just fine with Hershey, America’s best-known chocolate maker. For years, riding the good times, premium chocolates have grown faster than lower-priced confectionery products. Slow to jump on the premium bandwagon, Hershey lost market share to Mars Inc.’ s Dove line. But as consumers pinch pennies, sales of premium chocolate brands have gone flat. At the same time, Hershey’s sales, profits, and stock price increases as many consumers have passed up the higher-end goods in favor of Hershey’s chocolate bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Kit Kat wafers. Hershey is responding with tactics such as running new ads that stress the value. It is also cutting costs by paring back the varieties of products like Hershey’s Kisses. As supermarkets trim back the shelf space they allot to premium chocolates, Hershey stands poised to cash in as consumers look to affordable Hershey favorites to satisfy their cravings. After all, even on a tight budget, people need to indulge at least a little.” Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P. 35 “Offering “the same for less” can be a powerful value proposition—everyone likes a good deal. Discount stores such as Wal-Mart and “category killers” such as Best Buy, Sportmart David’s Bridal, and DSW Shoes use this positioning. They don’t claim to offer different or better products. Instead, they offer many of the same brands as department stores and specialty stores but at deep discounts based on superior purchasing power and lower-cost operations. Other companies develop imitative but lower-priced brands in an effort to lure customers away from the market leader. For example, AMD makes less-expensive versions of Intel’s market-leading microprocessor chips”. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P. 200

                                   

Promotion

“Public relations (PR) are very believable—news stories, features, sponsorships, and events seem more real and believable to readers than ads do. Public relations can also reach many prospects who avoid salespeople and advertisements—the message gets to the buyers as “news” rather than as a sales-directed communication. And, as with advertising, PR can dramatize a company or product. Marketers tend to under-use PR or to use it as an afterthought. Yet a well-thought-out PR campaign used with other promotion mix elements can be very effective and economical”. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P 384.  Feisty Pink Vodka would be run by a top PR. Firm. When a PR represents a company, they can communicate on a level that grabs the attention of new comer’s while maintain a great relationship with existing leaders. PR would also advertise new inventions and you keep Feisty Pink Vodka word of mouth.     “Marketers can choose from two basic promotion mix strategies—push promotion or pull promotion. A push strategy involves “pushing” the product through marketing channels to final consumers. The producer directs its marketing activities (primarily personal selling and trade promotion) toward channel members to induce them to carry the product and to promote it to final consumers. Using a pull strategy, the producer directs its marketing activities (primarily advertising and consumer promotion) toward final consumers to induce them to buy the product”.  Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation P 384.   Feisty Pink Vodka likes the pull strategy where consumers will then demand the brand for whole sale at bar’s, nightclubs, by party promoters, charities, and restaurants.  Advertising is on the all-time high for the pull strategy.  You have to always stay ahead of the competitor because they what their product on selves and to out sell you. Just like everyone else in the business.

 

Distribution

The distribution of Feisty Pink Vodka will be offered just about everywhere a women shops and a man goes.  Since the drink is flashy, flirty, and fun; the first place would be nightclubs and local bars. You can for sure change a girl into a women in a night club. All the hot spots around town and big cities. The liquor store for sure will carry the product. local business, Costco, Sams club, wholesalers,  and party promoter’s. “The company must first decide who it will serve. It does this by dividing the market into segments of customers (market segmentation) and selecting which segments it will go after (target marketing). Some people think of marketing management as finding as many customers as possible and increasing demand. But marketing managers know that they cannot serve all customers in every way. By trying to serve all customers, they may not serve any customers well. Instead, the company wants to select only customers that it can serve well and profitably. For example, Nordstrom stores profitably target affluent professionals; Family Dollar stores profitably target families with more modest means.” Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. P. 8 “Marketing intermediaries help the company to promote, sell, and distribute its products to final buyers. They include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries. Resellers are distribution channel firms that help the company find customers or make sales to them. These include wholesalers and retailers who buy and resell merchandise. Selecting and partnering with resellers is not easy. No longer do manufacturers have many small, independent resellers from which to choose. They now face large and growing reseller organizations such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Costco, and Best Buy. These organizations frequently have enough power to dictate terms or even shut smaller manufacturers out of large markets.” Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. P.