Ford Targets Miami to Test Driverless Food Delivery

A media test run of Ford's self-driving delivery vehicle, part of a partnership with Domino's, is seen in a handout photo.

Ford started to test the waters in the market of driverless cars and services. In the midst of several companies attempting to break into this new market, Ford designed a test which comprises of an actual human-driven car pretending to be driverless. They want to evaluate the customer's reactions and experiences, starting with deliveries for Domino's Pizza and Postmates.

It it interesting to notice how Ford is joining different companies in a very promising but competitive market. This competition to design the perfect driverless car/service will certainly push companies to develop bigger and better technologies, benefiting us- the customers, after all.

Why you should cut cable-- and what you'll miss.

     Cable has been around since 1948 and back then it was all the rage. In this day and age, people have started to cut the cord and get rid of their cable. This is possible because of how many other streaming services are available now. This selection ranges from Hulu, Roku, Youtube TV, Amazon Fire and the newest thing yet, Sling. All these services are meant to be used as a replacement for cable. They provide about the same amount of channels and services as a regular cable box would; however, there are some issues that come along when cutting the cord.

     While both types of services offer the same things, one lacks more than the other. Services like Roku, Hulu, Youtube Tv, and Amazon fire do not provide as many channels as the cable services do. they have very select channels that come included with the service and other channels which you have to pay a monthly subscription to be able to watch their shows. These outside services can end up costing way more than the cable box service does. While the outside services themselves can be much cheaper than the cable box service, in the end, it means giving up certain channels and shows that one is not willing to part with.

     This is an issue I currently face with my family. My mom has been talking about cutting off Xfinity because we all watch TV on our laptops or iPhones now. However, we keep telling her that even though we physically do not watch the tv in our room, we use Xfinity's on-demand service on our devices. We still get our money's worth out of cable-- just not out of our physical televisions.

The Four Ps associated with outside streaming services are as follows:
- Products: These services are something that the consumers clearly want. Many people have made the switch from hundred dollars worth of cable bills to a small monthly charge for practically the same service. These services have changed the name of the game and the market will never revert back to solely cable usage.
- Price: The price for these services are ridiculously low in comparison to cable prices. One can pay as low as $10 a month for a free range of channels and packages on these services while with cable you pay upwards of $200 dollars a month, which includes the rental charge of the cable top box. The price of these services is definitely more appealing to the customers. 
- Place: The place of these services are was more convenient than with a cable service provider. there is no need for a technician to come and install or repair anything. It is a simple online service which does not require any outside help to start up.
- Promotion: These services are widely promoted all over the place. Youtube Red's service is promoted from places like time square to billboards and even the radio. Services like this are promoted on their competition. There are plenty of Roku, Hulu, and Amazon fire commercials presented on cable's most popular channels. 



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WSJ Link

The PGA Tour: Scouting New Fans

The PGA Golf Tour has a problem. An aging audience and an overall decline in television viewership have left the Tour in need of a new marketing strategy. Luckily, with the guidance of Joe Arcuri, chief marketing officer for the PGA Tour, a plan is in motion to engage a new generation of fans.

 Photo Credit: http://golfcontentnetwork.com/lists/pga-players-discuss-topics-about-golf/

The past model was simple and effective: corporate sponsors bought the right to put their name on the tournament and advertise during the broadcast. While this marketing method historically worked well with the older and affluent fan base, Arcuri hopes to “future proof” the Tour using technology and innovation. The PGA marketing department has identified two new target markets—millennials and “sports socialites”—and plans to engage them in a new, fan-focused approach.

According to Joe Arcuri’s recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, “sports socialites” do not necessarily differ in age from millennials. Instead, they are a distinct group who wish to connect with the sport on a personal level. Socialites are engaged by background stories and what Arcuri identifies as “outside-the-ropes” content. Despite identifying two segments of the market, the interview suggests that Arcuri plans to use a combined target market approach, focusing on both segments through fan engagement and social media. PGA hopes to encourage fans to create content on social media platforms and engage with one another, staying true to the new fan-first strategy.

Inspired by the success of TopGolf, the PGA Tour aims to change what it means to “consume” golf by altering the product. Millennials have demonstrated that an interest in golf does not necessarily include playing 18-holes at the nearest country club. The PGA Tour hopes to capitalize on the social aspect of the sport, utilize the latest technology, and ensure the Tour's future with a younger and more diverse fan base.

Written by Rachel Ann Eades

WSJ: PGA Tour's Plan to Get More—and Younger—Fans
Published on February 19, 2018 10:10 p.m. ET

Airbnb Expands to Hotels

Airbnb Expands to Hotels

Airbnb was started in 2008 and is an online marketplace for people who are looking to rent temporary short-term housing. The places that people rent were usually owned by ordinary people who either lived there or allowed others to rent the place. Most people use this app to find nice places to stay for vacation or to host their private parties. It served as an alternative to booking hotels or motels. I personally have used this app/website to book a place for my private party. It allows me to see what kind of accommodations are offered, what activities there are to do around the area, information/ratings on the host, and reviews about the place. This site also allows hosts to leave reviews on the guests that are staying there for future hosts to see if they approve of the guests. Airbnb recently has made the jump to add hotels and luxury listings as places potential guests can book.

Using a service called Plus, Airbnb will be evaluating homes in terms of comfort, accessibility, design, etc. in order to certify them as well as their hosts for future guests. As Airbnb branches out to this new frontier, they will be competing with hotel booking sites like Expedia or Hotel.com. These sites offer loyalty rewards and special bonuses/discounts to those who continually return to their website to book a hotel. Airbnb has answered by rewarded their highest rated hosts, known as Superhosts, with better customer support as well as discounted goods to furnish their homes. Superguests, a new loyalty program, gives guests free nights or other discounts to best rated guests. This gets me excited because Airbnb will definitely try to offer lower booking prices as well as better rewards for returning members. Maybe Airbnb will finally get credited for their advances and hotels will open up more partnerships with them, making traveling and booking less stressful and more enjoyable. Airbnb hopes to reach 1 billion yearly bookings by 2028 and it has booked over 300 million in total over the last 10 years.

WSJ Link

Dalila Perez
Talenti Gelato Is Delicious—If You Can Unscrew the Lid
February 26, 2018, 8:42 PM

       Don't you love the feeling you get when you finally get to open that tub of delicious ice cream that you have been waiting all day to get your taste buds on? I know that I do. Well, unfortunately, in most recent news customers who have purchased Talenti ice cream have not been able to enjoy that luxury. According to Katherine Bindley who wrote the article, "Talenti Gelato Is Delicious—If You Can Unscrew the Lid", Talenti customers everywhere are suffering from this problem. She has experienced it hands-on as well, which is what inspired her to write this article.

A Talenti customer settles to using a knife
 in order to open the tub of ice cream 

A few of the tools that have been
used to open tubs of Talenti
ice cream

      As a lover of ice cream, this article caught my eye. Although I prefer Blue Bell over any other ice cream brand, I can not imagine how irritated I would be if I had to go through any of the struggles these Talenti customers have had to go through just to satisfy their sweet tooth. The fact that many customers have had trouble simply trying to get the ice cream open is enough to drive current buyers and prospective buyers away. If the company does not fix this problem soon, their sales will decrease and the company will lose money. The fact that people are posting the problems that they are having trying to open the ice cream could go both ways, however. People could see this a think, "Wow, people are actually willing to go through all this trouble just to get a taste of this ice cream, it must be really worth it", or seeing the trouble behind purchasing this ice cream could just simply push the customers away.
      One could say that a way Talenti has applied to other business is by the fact that one customer in the article has so much trouble opening the tub of ice cream that she simply decides to go to the nearest Sonic and purchase ice cream from there. If she would have been able to open the ice cream, she may have never decided to go to Sonic and that would have been one less customer for Sonic. All in all, Talenti is a very popular ice cream that many people are willing to sacrifice their time to open, in order to get a taste of its deliciousness.   

By: Dalila Perez
  

Dalila Perez
4 Alarm Clocks Smart Enough to Actually Get You Out of Bed
February 26, 2018, 6:44 PM

      In the article "4 Alarm Clocks Smart Enough to Actually Get You Out of Bed", Steven Melendez the author of this article, discusses 4 new refined, innovative and efficient alarm clocks that are designed to actually succeed at getting you out of bed in the morning. As a college student, my world revolves around sleep; whether it be calculating how much sleep I will get if I go to sleep at a certain time, or how long I have to squeeze a nap in, in between classes. As a college student, I am continuously trying to figure out how much sleep I can get or how much sleep I may need all while trying to fit it into my schedule. 

Pavlok Shocking Bracelet

Beddi

      This article contains photos of the products being discussed. 

These photos look professionally taken and portray the products in a vibrant way. It includes intriguing pictures and displays products that are all multifunctional. These products that are being marketed in this article include features such as Bluetooth connectivity, the ability to connect to your coffee machine, control your lights and music, direct links to your Apple Watch or Fitbit and can also connect your Spotify account. These features allow other businesses to adhere to this product. Not only do these products contain features that could help with your everyday life, but they can be used to stop bad habits. An example of this would be the second product presented called the Pavlok Shocking Bracelet.An advanced version of the Pavlok Bracelet can be set to shock you for things like biting your nails, smoking or wasting time online. Continually, the third product presented called the Beddi, does not stop bad habits, however, it can call one of your overnight guests an Uber by connecting to your smartphone app and a wide variety of other apps. These are all great attributes that will widen the target market because do not want to purchase a product that is clunky and takes up too much space. So if there is a small multipurpose product out on the market, people will be more willing to buy it.         

The New Snapchat

The New Snapchat

            For those who don’t know, Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia mobile application. This app has about 187 million daily users. Snapchat has recently changed their entire app, making many new changes. Many users of the app were not at all satisfied with the new changes, demanding that it be changed back. These users went so far as to sign a petition, trying to make Snapchat change back to its old design. Most of these users probably do not know why Snapchat has decided to make all of these changes. I have taken interest in this topic, because I currently use Snapchat. However, I am still trying to adjust to the new interface. 

            The biggest reason for Snapchat’s change is their competition. Snapchat was the inventor of the story mode where users can post pictures and videos for people to see for 24 hours. Instagram and Facebook liked the idea, so they took it from Snapchat and integrated story mode into the Facebook and Instagram apps. This became a large threat for Snapchat because more people made and watched stories on Instagram. As a result, Snapchat was becoming less popular. Snapchat’s biggest weakness it that it is nothing like a social network. You cannot post on timelines, look down news feeds, or even like and comment on anything. Most people prefer to be able to have all these things, so they tend to migrate towards Instagram or Facebook. Snapchat is trying to become something entirely different, because they can no longer compete with Instagram or Facebook. They are trying to come up with something that their competitors cannot copy. Unfortunately, Snapchat has lost $1.3 billion dollars in market value ever since the latest changes.

WSJ LINK

By: Shawn Pham

Toys ‘R’ Us Plans to Close Another 200 Stores

Toys ‘R’ Us Near You May Be Closing

After closing various stores, Toys 'R' Us plans to close another 200 stores and many employees suffer from unemployment creating financial issues for employees and their families who are laid off

Image ( https://wellroundedny.com/local-toys-r-us-may-closing/) 

By Jose Mendez

Published Feb. 23, 2018 12:50 p.m.

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This summer famous retailer Toys 'R' Us filed for bankruptcy, resulting in an enormous number of store closings, over 200 and still counting, the toy company is trying to turn their luck around.

This number of store closings is affecting approximately 4,500 workers and leaving them unemployed. When the company first filed for bankruptcy back in January of this year, they promised those employees who would be affected with financial assistance but now the company has walked away from this promise and managers were instructed to tell their hourly wage workers that " there are no severance benefits being provided for the store-closing process."

The company has struggled with poor holiday sales in the past few years, during peak seasons when toy retailer's profit the most such as the Christmas holidays. The company currently refuses to disclose the amount of money that was made during the 2017 holidays.

Before I get into detail on how this all fits into our marketing class, I would like to show the history of retail stores and introduce why Toys 'R' Us has had a huge decline in sales.

As you can see in the video, retail first started with the creation of the first mall, now a days we don't think about where and how these stores got started, we just want to spend our paycheck and find the most trendiest things. After the mall came different individual stores that affected the businesses at the mall but did not damage them, until stores like Wal-Mart and Target came around. Customers realized you can find everything under one roof and it was very convenient for them creating a big competition with smaller businesses that later pushes them out of business.

In the world today people can find anything online and have it delivered within a couple of days thanks to online stores like Amazon.com and online shopping. This shows that the customers needs are changing. Not many customers want to leave their house to go shopping, they would prefer not to deal with the long lines, grumpy store associates, traffic and just shop from the convenience of their home.

Amazon is currently leading the market and will continue to do so as time goes by, who knows maybe Amazon will create a new target market for customers and expand its business.
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Link to WSJ Article (https://www.wsj.com/articles/toys-r-us-plans-to-close-another-200-stores-1519254948)

Thoughts and Prayers are Not Enough for the #NeverAgain Millennials

Once again, we are waking up to our country raising its flag to half-staff as we mourn the lives lost to yet another mass shooting. This time in Parkland, Florida, where a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School walked into the school and opened fire with an AR-15 killing 17 students and teachers. It is during this time that our country, already accustomed to the routine of mass shootings, comes together to watch in horror and hope it doesn't happen in our community. Our customary thoughts and prayers are sent to the victims and their families. Then, we half-heartedly demand change for a day and forget about it until the next mass shooting happens. It has been a week since the tragedy and the Stoneman Douglas survivors are determined not to fade into thoughts and prayers and are adamantly keeping their story fresh on the mind of America and its politicians to stop mass shootings once and for all.  

These survivors are the voice of a generation who didn't adapt to the internet, they were born into it. Only a week after the tragedy, these millennials are using their pain and strongest asset on the internet, social media, to ignite a movement to stop mass shootings so that the lives of their peers and teachers are not lost in vain. The Stoneman Douglas survivors took to social media not just after the incident but during as well. Despite the opinions of the older generations, the quick-thinking millennials took to SnapChat while the shooting was happening and documented the horrific situation they were in. It opened the eyes of the viewers and struck a nerve. It is one thing to read about a mass shooting, but to witness it through the eyes of a student is a much more powerful tool to cause awareness. They also took to Twitter and Periscope to share their stories using a simple yet effective hashtag #NeverAgain to connect other gun violence survivors and create a movement to "never again" go through a mass shooting in schools or anywhere else. Within a week, these teenagers have already reached out to senator Marco Rubio in a CNN Townhall meeting and a sit in with President Donald Trump to discuss possible solutions to this problem. 

These internet born millennial teenagers know how easy it is to utilize social media to network with thousands of people and express their thoughts and opinions. They don't shy away from it, instead, they embrace the power of it and use it to their advantage over the older generation. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchap all have the capabilities to live stream footage and post real time commentary. Twitter connects like minded individuals with short and sweet messages using hashtags. These teens have used every form of social media to further their cause and market themselves to anyone and everyone willing to help them. Within a week, they have already made so much advancement in creating a way to work together with politicians to help stop these mass shootings. 

By: Roxanne Cepeda

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-florida-school-shooting-turned-into-a-gun-control-movement-1519416915