UFC on the Rise

UFC on the Rise

Jakobi Nunn | Marketing 3343 | Dr. Zhang

Original Article - http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ufc-goes-for-a-knockout-with-celebrity-investors-in-its-corner-1475200801

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, is an American mixed martial arts promotion company, a subsidiary of the parent company William Morris Endeavor, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the largest MMA promoter in the world and features most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport.

WME-IMG, an entertainment agency known for representing Hollywood actors and directors, recently purchased UFC for approximately 4 billion dollars. After WME-IMG's initial investment, they were able to get multiple high profile celebrities to also invest in their endeavor. 

Twenty-three celebrities, including Ben Affleck, Adam Levine, Serena and Venus Williams, Jimmy Kimmel, and Tyler Perry have invested in the UFC since it was purchased. Terms of their investments have not been disclosed, but with a company as successful as WME-IMG, celebrities have no issue investing in a company that already has a large fan base that continues to grow.

Target Market
MMA fighting has quickly grown in popularity, taking over for sports like wrestling and boxing. The rise in popularity is due to the fact that mixed martial arts is a combination of multiple fighting styles and it is very violent. This sport, which at first was targeted towards adults, has quickly become popular among younger audiences. The UFC is targeting all age groups now.

Competition
UFC is in a world of its own. There really is not a sport that offers the same type of excitement, except boxing, as the UFC. Combine that with incredibly brash and cocky athletes, and you have must see tv that millions of people pay to watch on tv.

Who Needs a License?

Who Needs a License?

Jakobi Nunn | Marketing 3343 | Dr. Zhang

Original Article - http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-parent-alphabet-forms-new-driverless-car-company-1481650433

With all the recent technological advances in the world of autonomous cars, who needs a drivers license anymore? The race is on between many different companies to create the first fully functional self driving car.

Waymo LLC is the new name for the self driving car division of Alphabet, Google's parent company. The move to create this stand alone company means that autonomous cars will soon be a common thing. Based in Mountain View, California, Waymo LLC plans to partner with car manufactures to provide self driving technology in everyday cars.

• Target Market
• All car drives
• special focus on the elderly and handicapped
• Competitors
• Telsa
• Other car companies

The Difference

The difference between Google's autonomous car technology and that of its competitors is, the removal of all driving aspects of the car. Waymo LLC wants to remove the steering wheel and brake pads making the car fully self functioning.

Purpose

The reason for developing this kind of technology is to create a safer driving environment for all members of society. They believe self-driving cars will help prevent traffic, reduce crashes caused my distracted driving, and create greater mobility for those who aren't able to drive for themselves.

Personally I believe autonomous cars are a great idea. The thought of being able to continue to get ready for worker/school while in the car and not have to worry about getting distracted would save a lot of time and even possible save lives.

Uber for Private Flights

Uber for Private-Jets

Jakobi Nunn | Marketing 3343 | Dr. Zhang

Original Article - http://www.wsj.com/articles/private-jet-booking-app-lands-105-million-in-funding-1481567687?mod=trending_now_5

With the help of some major investors, Jay-Z is trying to succeed where others have failed in creating a cheap private jet service.

JetSmarter is a company that is based in Fort Lauderdale. JetSmarter buys empty seats from private-jet operators and makes them available through its app, either on scheduled shuttle flights on major routes or empty-leg trips, in which planes are flown empty from one airport to another for their next passenger flight. JetSmarter is essentially Uber, but instead of cars you get a plane.

Jay-Z is one of JetSmarter's main backers and investors. With the the help of the Saudi Royal family and other investors that include venture capitalists, fund managers, celebrities and technologists, Jay-Z is trying to make flying private cheaper to rival commercial flights.

The jet-booking business is very competitive business that has seen other starts up fail. The difference with JetSmarter is they were able to acquire over $157 million in investment capital which allowed the company to be valued at over 1.6 billion dollars.

• Target Market
• Individuals who frequently take commercial flights, but want more privacy and security
• Already has over 6,000 members 
• Price
• $4,000 initial payment
• $11,000 annual payment
• Place
• offers about 50 routes in countries around the world
• rose from 3 routes in a few years
• Plans to expand further into India, China, and South America

Google Parent Alphabet Forms New Driverless-Car Company

A Google parent company called Alphabet Inc. is starting off its own "driverless-car technology." The article shows that the company is finally ready to move out of the labs and into the field. The article actually shows that the company has already tested a product of theirs on the road in Austin, Texas, where a blind man rode in the vehicle on the road. Alphabet Inc.'s announcement is a huge since it directly shows a shift in technology and a sneak peak at what driving in the future holds.

Amazon is working on at least three grocery store formats

           Amazon, one of the major leaders of E-commerce, where almost anything and everything that you could want is available for purchase has just announced that it will be joining the grocery market. Amazon is working on a number of grocery store formats that will overcome the traditional formats we are all used to. So far it has released details on two of its current plans and they have us excited to see their ideas become a reality.
         The first of the two is Amazon Fresh, where you can go onto the Amazon app make a grocery store list of the items that you require and go through the whole purchasing process right through your phone. Once the Checkout is complete, the groceries will be delivered to your door in a matter of a few hours by a Amazon delivery truck who picks up all the items from local vendors.\
        The second is a bit more complex but much more exciting, Amazon wants to place physical stores in our communities where we would be able to walk in, grab what we need and walk out! Yes! just walk out, no lines, no waiting, no annoying checkout staff. The physical store would be equipped with an array of different technology to make this happen. You enter the store by scanning your phone at the door which allows the store to connect to your Amazon app. Once connected, you walk through the store and grab what you need off the shelves, all the items in the store have RFID chips which once picked up and placed into your cart, it is added directly to your virtual shopping bag on the Amazon App. Once you are done with your shopping all you have to do is walk out the front door and your amazon account is automatically charged for everything that was placed in your cart. This is an idea that might take some getting used to and will take a while to be implemented but it is something that I am looking forward to.
        This Article ties in with the new product chapter in our text, Amazon is releasing details about its new service and measuring just how much interest there is before it makes it happen. Once the physical stores are implemented it will have to market them through advertising and bring in customers.

IKEA Adapts to Growing Urban Populations

     This past Wednesday, a top executive at IKEA announced that the company will begin to build stores in central locations. This announcement by the Swedish company was due to research that has emerged which shows 70% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. Currently the company has stores that are built outside of urban centers because of their incredibly large size. The new store design that IKEA wants to embrace is a retail store that is also a hotel, and a commercial and residential living space. IKEA says that it will be able to afford the expensive real estate in major cities by transforming their property into a multi-functioning space. The high land costs will be offset by the hotel revenue, as well as the commercial and residential space. IKEA already owns 66 retail centers in 15 different countries.
     IKEA announced that their net profit for the year ended on August 31 rose 20% to $4.5 billion. Their large increase in net profit was a result of the 14% rises the company experienced in the German and U.S. markets. Germany and the United States are IKEAS two largest markets; Europe made up 69% of their sales, and the U.S. made up 18% of their sales. The company has began to store their products closer to customers so that they can deliver faster and less expensively. They have also began to build multifunctional distribution centers that are capable of directly delivering to their retail locations as well as customer's homes.
This article is relevant to our marketing class because it relates to the place aspect of the marketing mix. The IKEA company is trying to increase their profits by increasing the efficiency of how they deliver their products to consumers.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ikea-adapts-to-growing-urban-populations-1481112341

Toyota Looks To Electric Cars

    Toyota's reported earnings fell due to a number of factors. These include: American consumers shifting their preference of what type of car they buy, and low gas prices in the U.S. With gas prices at all time low in the U.S., americans are buying more trucks and SUV's because they no longer have to worry about the price at the pump. This shift in opinion has led to their extremely popular Prius hybrid to plunge in the U.S. market. While many consumers are leaning toward large trucks and SUVs their is also a spike in electric car sales. Major players like Tesla have become exceedingly popular and many consumers are purchasing their first electric car and ignoring their loyalty to major brands like Toyota.
      What's even more daunting for Toyota is that the consumers lining up for their first Tesla, used to be Toyota's eco friendly clients that once owned Prius's. The Japanese auto maker has a solution but a long road lay ahead for them. Because of their original skepticism of electric-based vehicles due to their practicality and actual feasible mile range, Toyota is behind on their electric car endeavor. Another factor hitting Toyota is the Yen currency strengthening in their country. The Yen becoming stronger makes their brand at home less competitive which is making it harder for them to keep their foot in the automotive market. Toyota's response to the Yen strengthening is to manufacture a larger number of their vehicles and their parts in the U.S.
     The new technology Toyota has spent their time developing instead of electric-cars is their hydrogen-cell based technology. Toyota believes the interest and demand for their hydrogen-based vehicles will increase once consumers become aware of the hydrogen cars having similar milage and recharging times as electric cars. Toyota is already selling their hydrogen-fueled car, the Mirari, in California. However, with the delays in constructing the hydrogen gas stations the Mirari's sales in California have decreased dramatically. This is a dismal sign in as eco-friendly of a state that California is.
     Toyota is remaining hopeful and expects to sell 30,000 hydrogen fuel-cell cars by 2020. This large vehicle sales forecast will happen just in time for Japan's hosting of the 2020 olympics. The 2020 Olympics is when Toyota hopes to showcase their newly developed hydrogen technology.
This article is relevant to our marketing class because it relates to target market and a company trying to have a green, eco-friendly reputation. It also relates to trends in the market shifting a companies previous stance on a issue like electric cars.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/toyota-profit-falls-on-strong-yen-weak-u-s-sales-1478586115

Put a Drone into Your Pocket!

Reason why I have cargo pants Now I know: This is what I bring to my drones reconnaissance aircraft. Mavic Pro is the latest DJI flying camera can be installed with pocket or XL stripe package. It is also suitable for items that are too troublesome as a backpack.

Mavic Pro Magic Thousand $ - Refunds sold or purchased in many places - it is a transformer. It is not much bigger than a brick of fruit cake, it has expanded to part of the most advanced fraud flight technology. I actually tend to take a vacation or magnificent hiking to me.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/dji-mavic-pro-review-a-drone-that-fits-in-your-pocket-and-your-life-1479757619

Using Trucks to Deliver Data! Amazon.

LAS VEGAS In Amazon Web Services, Amazon has built one of the world's most powerful computing networks to deliver more than $ 12 billion in revenue this year.

But the retail giant on Wednesday presented a stunning way to move data from large enterprise customer data centers to public cloud computing operations: through trucks.

The network can only move large amounts of data so quickly. The truck, as it turns out, can move it faster.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-extends-web-based-artificial-intelligence-1480529802

DraftKings and FanDuel Agree to Merge

Fan Duel and Draft Kings are fantasy sports websites. They offer daily fantasy sports contests in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, MMA, auto-racing and eSports for real cash prizes. These two companies are major competitors in their respective markets concerning daily fantasy sports. These two are major competitors like Coca Cola and Pepsi. This article tells us that the two competitors have decided to join forces for a better cause.

The two companies feel like they have spent so much time and money on advertisement instead of improving technicalities within their company. The two companies combined spent a little over 500 million dollars last year just on advertisement trying to build their own unique brand. Now that the two companies plan to merge, they will no longer need to spend as much money and time on advertisement. They will use all of that money and time innovating new ideas for their joint company. They will no longer have a major competitor so they can focus on giving the consumer the best product. Both companies have come out saying that they have one vision of where they want the joint company to go but haven't had the chance to invest in it. Saying that they have a lot of ideas, this should lead to great things for the company and the consumer.

This article shows us a whole lot about marketing. First off it shows us how these companies have spent a lot of their efforts on the promotion side of the target market. They no longer have to worry about a major competitor and are now able to focus on the product part of the target market. The joint company can now focus on their opportunities and strengths and not have to worry about weaknesses or threats very much. This move to combine companies will be very beneficial in being able to make money and give the customer a better product.

Can you imagine life without your smartphone?

         Most women in India will never own a cellphone due to their fathers or husbands forbidding it. It's not that smartphones are expensive or unavailable for purchase, but rather they allow new advances in technology that they believe should be reserved for men. Families in India tend to allocate all their assets and resources, even school education, for their sons, since the girls will eventually be married off to another family. One of the largest gender gaps in the world is in India, with only 28% of females owning smartphones. Out of the 30% of female internet users, only 9% of those females know how to do a simple internet search or send an email. On the other side of the world, these tasks are essential to living. As a college student, there's not a day that goes by where I don't use the internet to research a topic or send an email.

       India's largest cellphone brand company, Micromax has been trying to break the gender inequality and target women by creating affordable handsets and local-language operating systems. They are also projecting an increase in sales by promoting the safety of women, so that the men would buy the cell phones that are designed with a panic buttons to alert their family and the police in case a dangerous situation arises. These models are expected to launch in January. Norway's Telenor ASA also has a team that goes door to door in villages selling sim cards at an extremely cheap rate only if bought by a women. The purpose of this is to encourage men to allow their wife or daughters a cell phone, since it is offered for such a cheap amount. Another program called, Helping Women Get Online has been offering free access to the internet, tablets and smartphones through thousands of bicycles that go to several villages in India. They have also been teaching these women simple things they can do online and how to effectively use their resources.
       

    

To read this article click here:

Can you imagine life without your smartphone?

         Most women in India will never own a cellphone due to their fathers or husbands forbidding it. It's not that smartphones are expensive or unavailable for purchase, but rather they allow new advances in technology that they believe should be reserved for men. Families in India tend to allocate all their assets and resources, even school education, for their sons, since the girls will eventually be married off to another family. One of the largest gender gaps in the world is in India, with only 28% of females owning smartphones. Out of the 30% of female internet users, only 9% of those females know how to do a simple internet search or send an email. On the other side of the world, these tasks are essential to living. As a college student, there's not a day that goes by where I don't use the internet to research a topic or send an email.

       India's largest cellphone brand company, Micromax has been trying to break the gender inequality and target women by creating affordable handsets and local-language operating systems. They are also projecting an increase in sales by promoting the safety of women, so that the men would buy the cell phones that are designed with a panic buttons to alert their family and the police in case a dangerous situation arises. These models are expected to launch in January. Norway's Telenor ASA also has a team that goes door to door in villages selling sim cards at an extremely cheap rate only if bought by a women. The purpose of this is to encourage men to allow their wife or daughters a cell phone, since it is offered for such a cheap amount. Another program called, Helping Women Get Online has been offering free access to the internet, tablets and smartphones through thousands of bicycles that go to several villages in India. They have also been teaching these women simple things they can do online and how to effectively use their resources.
       

    

To read this article click here:

Auto Makers Struggle with High-Tech Dashboard Screens

                   Traditional automakers such as Ford, Honda, Volvo, Toyota and General Motors are all struggling to produce and install succesful infotainment screens in their vehicles. The infotainment screens have a purpose to make their vehicle more technologically savvy and more attractive to todays consumer who are more centered around using technology to enhance their lives. The traditional automakers have all introduced these infotainment screens and made them almost a standard in some if not all their vehicles and have seen a substantial amount of softwares crashes and the technology not working how its meant to be.
                   Problems range from the consumers not being able to connect their phones via bluetooth to the infotainment software completely crashing and thus becoming inoperable. In order to combat all these failures, traditional automakers have begun to hire and look for more software developers in order to fix the bugs and create more advanced software that will add new features and make a strong comeback amongst consumers. The traditional automakers plan on making the software so that it can updated in order to constantly add new features  and keep customers satisfied.
                  All these technological bumps that the traditional automakers are facing can be tied to certain marketing concepts that we have learned in class. We can tie it to the product introduction part of the product cycle, where all this new technology is being presented and put into the vehicles but there are many issues along with it.  

Samsung's exploding Smartphones and washing machines.

In an article titled, " U.S. Announces Recall of Samsung Washing Machines," the Wall Street Journal reports that the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 2.8 million top loader washing machines.  There were 700 reports of washers blowing themselves apart while in use, and in some cases causing injury consumers.  This recall affects 34 top-loading models that have been sold at various stores throughout the US since 2011, and the company has faced a few lawsuits regarding this issue. The same article also highlights problems with Samsungs galaxy note 7 phone which has been known to spontaneously combust.  The company diagnosed the problem to be a faulty battery that could ignite while in use.

Vox is Launching a Travel Content Site For Chase

PHOTO: VOX MEDIA

Vox is a news site trying to inform the audience about many topics like politics and pop culture. To reach out to their target market, Chase is reaching out to Vox for help to make a travel website, known as "Meridian."

• Why: Chase is asking Vox to create this website because they are late to joining the "task of backing a full-on publication." Due to their expertise in creating creative articles and videos, Vox will create "Meridian" to be more appealing to the customers than Chase could have. 

• What: As time has passed by, the popularity of marketers reaching out to other companies, like Buzzfeed and Vice, to produce their articles and websites has grown. Vox is providing their data, software, and network of customers to Chase by building the travel website. By doing so, Vox is showing that they can provide their services to other companies 

Interesting: Vox creates short informative videos in a creative way that catches the viewers attention. By getting views from their creativity, Vox will create a travel site that is informative but eye catching. When people view the website "Medirdian.net", they will have a fun time learning about different locations like Japan instead of being bored.

Relevance: Marketing is a list of activities to fit the companies objectives while satisfying the customers. Therefore, to make an appealing website, Chase had to reach out to Vox. Vox's marketing strategy includes having enjoyable articles that are easy to read and understand.

Business: If any company would like to create a website that includes imagery and articles, their best move they can make is to reach out to companies like Vox. This will help companies save money from making unappealing websites. Since Vox is helping Chase, Vox is showing other companies that they are expanding their services. Thus, more companies will join the trend of asking companies like Vox and Vice for help on particular projects.

Click on "VOX" to go to the article

By: Mike Sheilds 

Time: Oct. 11, 2016 6:00 am ET

Blogger: Raul I. Chaidez

Time: November 4th

U.S Announces Recall of Samsung Washing Machines.

       

          The U.S product safety officials have announced a major recall on all Samsung produced washing machines in response to various claims that the washing machines can disassemble and even explode during use. There have been a various amount of incidents where consumers have even been injured by the devices. Samsung apparently has been aware of the defects in their devices as early as in the year 2013 but have failed to release a statement or recall until now. The company has finally decided to release the recall and have all owners of their washing machines get in contact with them in order to resolve the issues and to inform the consumers of the risks of continuing to use its product. The Samsung company has offered in house repairs, discounts on a new appliance and even full refunds to all owners of the product in order to resolve the issues and to keep the consumers happy. The major issue the company deals with is trying to keep its customers loyal to the brand.
          This is not the first time the company has issues wit one of its devices, earlier in 2016 the company had issues with its Galaxy note 7 mobile device which were catching on fire and overheating to the point where it would burn its users while sitting in their pockets. The Company had a major recall on all of it suits and tried to save its brand name by offering replacement devices. It soon came to light that even those replacement devices began to catch fire. The company lost a great amount of customers and failed to maintain their loyalty. Now that we include the washing machine scandal into its list of issues, it seems that Samsung will have a hard time bouncing back. The issues that Samsung is facing can be tied to brand loyalty and to the product life sections in the text for they are struggling to maintain its loyal consumers and have faced having to end some its products life cycles in order to save the company from more lawsuits.

The Secret To Hostess’s Comeback: Making the Same Old Twinkies

The new owners of Hostess bring back Twinkies! The revival of the company comes along with the same old fashioned Twinkies and the introduction of deep fried Twinkies and other products to the market. To make a strong comeback, Hostess thought about making Twinkies "healthier" but this idea was soon thrown out due to the fact that in previous times when Hostess tried to change the original formula, consumers complained. Also, many consumers believe that when one wants to eat a Twinkie, they want to fully indulge in the flavor and spongy texture and disregard the fact that they are not healthy. Hostess would like to make Twinkies healthier by removing any artificial colors but keeping the same taste and texture.
This relates to our marketing class because Hostess is looking for innovative ideas so that it can come back strong to the market while still targeting their original target market.
The article mentions that many people, specially moms, are sometimes ashamed to say that they like or allow their children to eat Twinkies simply because they do not want to be judged for enjoying or providing unhealthy food. Yet, Twinkies's sales rise in August and right after the winter holidays -- back to school seasons. This relates to marketing class because it shows that people do feel a social pressure to purchase certain products or they feel shame when purchasing certian products.
Finally, the company will cut back on costs by making the shelf life of its products last twice as long. They will try to achieve this by adding a natural enzyme to the formula that will control moisture content of food.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/give-the-people-what-they-wantmore-twinkies-1478184809?mg=id-wsj

Nintendo Earnings Pulled Down by Wii U

Nintendo is rising once again their profits have double or maybe even more since the last quarter. I was surprised to hear that their Wii-U console did not meet expected sales and at the same time did not meet customer satisfaction they lost a total of 7.8 million dollars (Do to the fact that the Wii-U was unpopular). But now they have reinvented themselves thanks to the help of Pokémon Go their sales have raised. They booked a 115 million profit from Pokémon games in this past quarter (April to September) and the net income from July to September rose a 603 million compared to the 30 million from the year before. Something that has also busted their sales has been their support from the Seattle Mariners baseball team (they had a one-time gain) from a profit that occurs from the sale of an asset. Since the asset is gone after that, the profit cannot be reproduced, so it is a one-time occurrence. But over all we have notice a decline in consoles since 2009. Nintendo has unveiled their latest console but it failed to impress once again, the name of the new console is “switch”, Nintendo’s shares have declined a 6.5% since last Friday. I’m personally quite disappointed in the fact that their product has once again failed, but I still have high expectations for them (since I’m looking forward to purchasing the console) since this might fix the problem they had with the Wii-U, if the switch works the sales will be incredible and once again sky rocket. This new console will or might take the x-box and ps4 out of the picture. Nintendo has analyzed and well strategized their target market not only for single player use but multiplayer use and its bringing back the old style of socializing which is amazing. (Nintendo knows its competition well, 4c’s). This will defiantly be a new product that will need to educate its consumers of its benefits but once its past that point and it had demonstrated success the sales will bust high because everyone would want to

get their hands on it.

P&G To Scale Back Targeted Facebook Ads

P&G is known as Procter and Gamble Co. and are the biggest advertising spenders in the world.  P&G originally performed a huge portion of their marketing through Facebook, as it had been known to be a great source to market directly through, to a subset of shoppers.  After years of pouring millions of dollars into the use of Facebook as an advertising strategy, P&G realized that Facebook was advertising to ineffective target markets.  P&G came to conclusion that successful marketing would need to advertise relative ads to age appropriate consumers, as well as advertising through a more widely used traditional platform, such as digital sites and the television. P&G exercised their concluded hypothesis for the first time, when they tried targeting ads for their febreze air freshener specifically to pet owners and households with large families.  Febreze found that sales stagnated during the effort, but rose when the campaign was additionally aired on the television and digital sites.  After P&G’s success of discovering their newly found marketing strategy, several other companies caught on, and they too found success.  Facebook acknowledged marketers needs to be allowed advertising to specific target markets of age appropriate consumers, and they made them readily available to marketers by using mass reach and personalized targeting.  Facebook is actually one of today’s number one sources used for marketing. 

I find marketing quite interesting because it is such a major form of communication and awareness in today’s world of business, innovation, and life.  I find relevance of marketing strategies, applicable to the product life cycle in the aspect that changing your marketing strategy can actually keep a product in the growth or maturity stage and out of ever reaching the decline stage.  Marketing strategy is also applicable to building product recognition and consumer satisfaction, leading to positive consumer relations and an increase in customer return rate and profits.  Marketing is life, especially in the business world. 

Link to WSJ:

         http://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-to-scale-back-targeted-facebook-ads-1470760949

Baby Boomers to Sleep With The Fishes???

Dean Chagaris | Marketing 3343 | Dr. Zhang

Original Article - http://www.wsj.com/articles/baby-boomers-encase-me-in-concrete-and-dump-me-in-the-ocean-1477583957

You read the altered title correctly; Baby Boomers are opting for this new burial trend as opposed to the traditional box 6ft deep or being placed into a jar!

There's dead people in these concrete things!

So those things pictured above? Yeah they are made out of concrete with the ashes your love one mixed into the concrete and formed into an artificial reef. These are then taken to the ocean location of choice (not sure how these options are chosen) and then it is placed on the bottom of the ocean to attract the fishes for millions of years to come!

How come people are choosing this option for their "final destination?"

• It's environmentally friendly
• Can be slightly cheaper (not much) than a traditional funeral ($2500-$7000)
• The ability to give back to a greater cause - Saving the Planet!!

The Skeptics

• Critics say that it isn't environmentally friendly as its just dropping concrete into the ocean
• Some scientist from a lab on an island in the Pacific say that it will not attract new fish populations to previously inhabited areas
• Hawaii has stated that it will not allow any further reef burials without further investigation into the results of this practice

Target Market - Anyone who plans on dying soon

Exact target Market - Baby Boomers

Product or Service - This is both. They provide the service of turning Uncle Harry into a funny shaped sphere of concrete (product) with holes in it so fishes can swim through him

Logistics - Deliver a jar of ashes then after your loved one has become a product, they are trucked to a doc, placed on a ship, craned into position, placed on the ocean floor.

There is some exclusiveness to all of this madness; once your loved one is turned into a reef and is hauled out to sea, the family, in a separate vessel, can watch their family member be placed into the drink. They will also be given rocks made from the same material to throw in after Auntie Edna as a sort of memorial service.

In addition to all of this you can have a plaque placed on the concrete reef with your loved ones details. Not that fish are going to read it but instead so people diving the reef at a future date. 

But wait theres more!!

All people tossing loved ones into the ocean will receive an exact GPS coordinate location of Cousin Lester so they can dive down alter on and visit if they so choose too! See pic below;

Seasonal job hiring starting early this year

In a tight labor market, employers are frantically  looking to hire new temporary staff before the holiday season begins. Studies show that competition for labor is big as early as August. This means that the temporary workers you meet at your local chain stores during the holiday season are being hired as early as Labor Day to get ready for the economic blizzard that is Black Friday and later Christmas sales. Companies say temps are being hired now to start their training; something that apparently takes a couple months. Another reason is that unemployment is at a 5% for the past year and companies are competing for labor. It's better than 2015 and wages are increasing. As employee training is currently underway, you will be seeing holiday decorations being put up early. This is something that everybody complains about but it's fun to know that as businesses are putting up Christmas decorations in October, they are also training their temporary staff for December's Christmas shopping season.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/retailers-get-early-start-on-recruiting-seasonal-workers-amid-tight-labor-market-1477301581

Toyota and Suzuki Partnership

            Toyota Motor Corporation is collaborating with Suzuki Motor Corporation in an effort to share the research and development costs of developing self-driving cars. Suzuki currently has the upper hand in creating small cheap cars, and Toyota wants their help in sharing of ideas of how they make these mini-cars so cheap. Suzuki’s profit in these small cars is also not enough to even consider spending to develop self-driving cars technology, so these companies both team up for a help-me help-you partnership; however, this will not be a merger. These companies will continue to be operated independently, and only share ideas and costs of developing this new technology.

            Suzuki currently holds more than 40% share in India, and these low cost cars are more needed in today’s market, because of Govt. environmental regulations that are getting stricter globally to prevent pollution, global warming, and adapting to increasing world population that puts more cars on the road, especially in Asian and European markets. These regulations can make Toyota’s future uncertain in the Asian and European markets if the future regulation is in favor of the Suzuki 1.0Liter engine small cars, as Vietnam currently has a 100% tax rate on vehicles and Singapore has an extremely inflated price on cars, just to prevent pollution and overcrowding on roads. European nations also tax vehicle owners based on their engine size.
            Toyota already owns shares in Subaru, as they worked together in developing the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FRS cars, just as Suzuki previously partnered with BMW when they wanted to know Suzuki’s recipe for small-car success. This is related to our marketing strategy planning in terms of marketing program, as Toyota’s focus is on long-term profits of the company. Toyotas smallest car in the USA is the Yaris model, but it is not at all popular because the laws in this country do not favor tiny engine sizes.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/toyota-motor-suzuki-in-talks-on-business-partnership-1476255924

High- Tech Bassinet for Sleep- Deprived Parents

Can This High- Tech Bassinet Keep Sleep- Deprived Parents Sane? 

The idea of the new SNOO Bassinet, which retails for $1,160, is to soothe a baby to sleep before the parents of the baby have to get up to put the baby back to sleep themselves. At first glance, the bassinet seems odd, mainly because it's basically a robot taking care of a baby for the parents...to a certain extent. The bassinet is not built to soothe the baby should he or she be wet or sick, of course, only to soothe an upset baby. The bassinet soothes the baby back to sleep by mimicking the motions of a moving car and creating white noise meant to grab the baby's attention and then relax it. 

From a marketing perspective, this bassinet could be an instant hit (among parents that can afford it). It caters to a market that has essentially been the same since the beginning of time: the new parent market. It's a market with a problem that even people with no kids and no intention of ever having any have heard of- everyone's heard the horror stories about how new parents survive on lack of sleep and constant noise. From that perspective, this bassinet is on a path to success, because if there's anything people will pay thousands for, it's the promise of more sleep. 

Click Here

Google Signs up CBS for Planned Web TV Service

Who wants to continue paying for channels they don’t care to watch, much less bare through the commercials?  Nobody!  In early 2017, CBS Corp. will be publishing “Dubbed Unplugged”.  A web TV service produced by Google, offering a “skinny” bundle of live TV channels with a small monthly price range from $25-$40, depending upon the desired amount of channels.  Its bundling of TV channels consists of a portion of You Tube Red (an ad free subscription), channels owned by NBCUniversal and Walt Disney CO., CBS sports network, Fox sports, national geographic, ABC, and ESPN.  Google creators of Dubbed Unplugged face the unavoidable battle of competition.  A few network companies have produced similar web TV services such as Dubbed Unplugged, Allowing Google the chance to perform comparative advantages.  Customers of web TV services are unable to express specific channels of desire to companies, though they can prove who’s making desirable selections by their purchase of cable network.  CBS Corp. plans to enjoy its commission of $2, per subscriber, from Google, after nationally publishing Dubbed Unplugged.  It is currently in the making and strongly hopes to dominate all of today’s available web TV services.

            This article was highly of interest to me in the fact that I enjoy watching TV but hate commercials.  Let’s face it, super bowl commercials are the only exception.  Today has made for an expansive variety of TV service providers, and we as the customers, are never really one hundred percent sure of which to purchase.  Keeping updated with the latest production, performing research, and reading reviews are about the only things we can do. 

            This article is applicable to our course material in many ways than one.  It covers innovation, decision making with marketing information, and the scientific method exercised when performing research for keeping one’s self updated with innovation.  This general idea, as well as the concepts used in this article may also be applied in your everyday life.  One must always convey research to perform proper preparation, which prevents poor performance.  Inventions remain constant, as should society’s research and awareness. 

Article Found @ http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-signs-up-cbs-for-planned-web-tv-service-1476902412

Ultra Beauty Wanting Recognition

While giant retailers such as Wal-Mart and Macy's are closing some of their store's location,
Ulta Beauty plans on opening up hundreds of stores in hopes of gaining brand recognition. The beauty retailer says it will open around 1400-1700 stores from its current 900.

Founded 26 years ago, it has been slowly working towards increasing its brand awareness first through national TV ad back in 2015 and now through the use of social media. In additionally, the retailer is also trying to build its brand loyalty by shifting from broad discounting and more towards loyalty focused promotions. Like its Ultamate Rewards loyalty program which gives members perks for shopping at its store, which represents more than 90% of its sales.

Ulta's marketing exposure strategy rely on intensive store outlets to get brand awareness. At this point in time, the retailer's life cycle is at the market growth stage. Thanks to its marketing strategy of expanding assortment, growth of its hair salon business, and its loyalty program; Ulta's current share of 3% will double according to Stifle analysts.

To read this article click here.

Just In: Facebook Delivers!

JUST IN: FACEBOOK DELIVERS!

           At yet another attempt to expand their brand, Facebook launches an app that allows users to order food, movie tickets, and book a salon appointment. Facebook is taking a stand, trying something different than what they are accustomed to, and moving beyond social-networking. In other words, there are several apps coming out that are assisting in expanding Facebook. They even launched another app called Marketplace that allows users to buy and sell between each other. However, they faced a setback as users started posting banned items such as guns and drugs.

             They are utilizing the large amount of data they have on their users to their benefit, hoping that it will benefit them in the long run. Social butterflies and utilitarians will finally establish a connection through these Facebook apps. However, there are risks to targeting utilitarians: it must increase it's search function in order to appeal to that target market.

           Thankfully on our behalf, Facebook has stated that they will not bombard users with many advertisements. Instead, the users see what they are actually interested in. The easier the app is, the more users the app will gain. Thus, the app will become more successful.
         
          Facebook is expanding their target market as they launch multiple apps and features. However, they are facing competitors such as Uber Eats and Amazon Delivery. They are currently in the marketing growth stage of the product cycle, as they are trying to stick out from their competitors. Overall, Facebook hopes to succeed and achieve their goals.


-Elizabeth Gobran