Sales of Kraft Heinz fell by 2.7% in its first quarter. 70% of their revenue comes from the U.S, where they have struggled to keep up with the trend of shift towards fresh foods, new brands, and ready-made meals. Retailers pressed foodmakers such as Kraft Heinz, to cut prices, but Chief Executive Mr. Hee, did not agree.
Instead of cutting product costs, Mr. Hee plans to introduce new brands, expand globally, and modify products by removing excess ingredients such as artificial colors. By managing the product quality and expanding to new places and channeling systems, Mr. Hee expects sales to return to growth the following year.
Now a days, urban shops are trying to be more successful than the online shopping retailers by providing consumers an experience they won't forget. The store that is trying this out is called FortyFiveTen. They have just built a new location in Dallas and would like to stand out from the rest. They are aiming to be similar to stores such as Neiman Marcus where the customers are able to spend the whole day there. For example there would be lounge chairs, a restaurant, a bar, a bookstore, and refreshments throughout the store. Since online retail stores are becoming more convenient, these high-end stores are trying to become more of a destination rather than just a place to shop. For instance, Target just invested $7 billion in renovating its suburban stores to smaller urban style shops. I believe in the next few years to come, the small urban shops will be a huge hit for consumers.
Everyone is familiar with the food brands such as General Mills and Kellogs, we see them in all of our grocery stores. Now, due to newer, different, and more better tasting brands, these two companies are struggling with sales. For instance, they're competing with Yoplait and Fruit Loops, and instead of beating them, they have invested in these types of brands. The big known food brands are now looking into making food that is more healthy and less processed. But since these food brands are unfamiliar with these new food trends, they are struggling to adapt. Foods that are more fresh and natural are what consumers tend to shift to and that makes it harder for these food companies to make the switch.
Over the past few years, video game developers have had to get creative with the games that they come out with. There is a world full of possibilities when it comes to developing games and staying on top and relevant in the gaming industry is no cake walk. Recently, the newest and hottest way to continue making money off of a video game that was already bought is the concept of “add ons.” Add ons are basically things such as characters, stories, settings, etc. that players buy after their initial purchase of the game itself. Last year, worldwide, spending on add ons totaled at about $4.78 billion, with a project spending of $5.21 billion in 2017. Analysts also say that add ons are the main reason that many video game company’s stock prices have more than tripled in the past five years. However, while gaming companies are doing exceptionally well, there is a downside to the variety and amount of add ons being released. Before add ons, a game that was released was, on average, played consistently for about a month before consumers were ready and hungry for the next best thing that they could get their hands on. Now, with add ons coming anywhere from semi-annually to monthly, consumers play the same game with new add ons for a considerably longer period of time without getting bored. This means two things for the gaming companies. The good thing about consumers continuously playing the same game with new add ons is that if the company comes out with a game that doesn’t do as well as they would’ve hoped or not well at all, they don’t have to worry about the consumers not playing their games anymore because they are still busy playing the last game. On the flip side, add ons can often be the reason that other games don’t do as well. For example, if consumers are so wrapped up in COD III (with its consistent add ons), they won’t care too much or be as excited to play COD IV when it releases because they are still attached and content with its prior. That being said, game developers have to be even more inventive and creative to not only improve on their own games and their competitors, but, in a sense, they have to compete with themselves. Their new games have to be better than the add ons that the older games have, which ties in heavily with their marketing department. Videogame ‘Add Ons’: Billion-Dollar Business and Two-Edged Sword by Sarah E. Needleman
When someone introduces me a new item that I already have its hard to convince me that this is better, I usually decline, or for this case a laptop. Microsoft is introducing a new laptop called Surface Laptop. from previous experience, I remember this brand has been just been remade except for better enhancements. this laptop is supposed to compete against the Apple Laptop, which I find hard to do seeing as Apple Inc. is a mega company that excels at its products, in which the Apple Pro is known for. Not only that bad the infamous Windows 10 is being implemented in this new laptop, which many find a curse than a blessing. I personally do not care for this matter but from a marketing standpoint I think unless it's a significant update on laptop technology, making a new revised improved version of the same laptop is not as appealing as it seems
With recent years, there has been a focus on having an online presence, you could say the same about Facebook and Google. There has been trouble amongst fake news and violent videos online, circulating throughout the masses and causing distrust in the big name companies. This is not true, however, at least for Facebook. They have been capitalizing on the focus on the mobile online scene. They seem to have grown from this difficult challenge of creating a safe and reliable way for information spread online with their mass media website, Facebook. They are getting even bigger and bigger every year, their ads placements have gone up 14% since last year to tell you the growth. Even now they are trying to find new ways to make investors want to be part of this mass media company. For example they would like to add a middle of the video ads, personally, I would not watch the video if it didn't have an important the second I see an add. So good luck Facebook against these challenges ahead of you, because regardless Facebook will continue to grow.
Recently more and more marketers are trying to stay relevant by taking sensitive social issues that have the current attention of their target audience without alienating anyone within that audience; not an easy task. Many companies have fallen short in decorum when it comes to this such as Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s Super Bowl commercial about immigration or Audi’s ad touching on the gender pay gap. None, though, seem to have fallen so far as PepsiCo. did with their commercial, aired on Tuesday, April 4th.
Below is the video of the ad:
Before the ad even aired, the commercial received backlash from some critics who called it “a tone-deaf depiction of the Black Lives Matter movement” and others who accused it of being slanted against law enforcement. Pepsi never stated its position on the topics of the Black Lives Matter movement or police/law enforcement violence. This is the problem that most people had with the ad: by saying that everything would be resolved simply by sharing a Pepsi with the other party, therefore making light of the movement as a whole. And to top it off, they featured a celebrity, Kendall Kardashian, who isn’t known for taking up and fighting for social causes. And, to add insult to injury, the day that the commercial aired just happened to be the same day of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
From a marketing standpoint, Pepsi had received much backlash for the commercial, especially on social media with Bernice King, the daughter of MLK Jr. and the chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, tweeting “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi” and another tweet saying “Any product or service that is pro-Kardashian, anti-cop = hard, permanent pass. Looking at you @pepsi.”
