EOC: Week 10: What are the benefits vs the features?

The benefit of my food truck is that everything will be freshly prepared the day we go out and that we offer a different variety of things without having too much to overwhelm someone. In example to the episode of Mad Men, where the ladies were pulled into the room to try on lipstick, the one girl only wanted one shade of lipstick and didn’t want to try anything else because she already knew what she wanted. With my food truck, I want to make sure the customer gets exactly what they want that I can offer and that they will keep coming back for more of the food and the great service.

Week 8 EOC; My Creative Content

What I wanted to do for my creative content was to create a website through weebly.com and also design the outside of the food truck.

Edit: I wasn't able to get pictures of my food or the design of my truck, but the website for Home Sweet Food is up and running. http://homesweetfood-foodtruck.weebly.com/ 

The design of my truck though would look like a house, and the window where we would serve the food would be designed like an actual window from a house, with a little shade covering the window.

Week 7 EOC; The Pitch

Sweet Home Food Truck

The comfort of home wherever you are; Breakfast, lunch, or dinner at your work. This truck will serve medium size portion of meals so that we have enough for everyone, we will have different menus for each time of the day and will also serve a different variety of drinks; soft drinks, milk, tea, lemonade, etc. We want our service to be like family and treat our customers like family, we want them to be comforted by our food and enjoy. For breakfast, the menu will consist of coffee, orange juice, different sorts of tea, and milk; eggs, bacon, hash browns, omelets, pancakes, cereal, etc. For lunch, we’ll have a larger variety of foods and regular soft drinks, lemonade, tea and what not. The menu for lunch could consist of chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese, Spaghetti Pie, sandwiches, Italian Chicken Salad, etc. For dinner, we’ll have some of the same items from lunch but add a few more things like, porcupine meatballs with noodles and gravy, goulash, chicken and mashed potatoes, and more.

What we really want to do is have the food ready to serve to you when you come out to get your breakfast/lunch/dinner so that you have time to enjoy it.

EOC Week 6: Me x 3 Products I Use

When I think about my life and the products I’ve used over the period of my teen life going into my young adult one, I realized there were three things I am never without. The first thing has to be my comfort, and when I mean comfort, I mean my shoes. My mother got me my first pair of Birkenstocks when I was about 13 or 14. Now these sandals are amazing in my opinion, they formed to my feet and I’ve never worn a different pair of shoe since I was introduced to them. They last a long time as long as you take care of them, and you can wear them pretty much everywhere; I’ve worn them hiking, I’ve worn them in theme parks, on the beach. Whenever I hear people complain how their feet hurt and I see that they aren’t wearing Birkenstocks, I normally tell them about the brand and how they help eliminate pain since they are the type of shoe/sandals to form to someone’s foot no matter what. I know that the shoes are pricy, but they are well worth the money.

The next thing is what I drink. I’ve never cared for water, I like milk, but since I was younger, I’ve always drank Sunkist, orange pop. It had the right taste and the right amount of fizz as silly as it sounds. I drank Dr. Pepper and Coke, but they were too fizzy for me and I didn’t like the taste of them, so I’ve never been without Sunkist. I’ve tried Crush and Fanta, but their orange taste wasn’t the same, there was a more chemical like after taste to item which was definitely a turn off, so I’ve never had to look for another brand other then Sunkist because they get it right every time I take a drink.

The last thing I use every time I was my hair is Tresemme curls shampoo and conditioner. I have naturally curly hair and since I was young, it was hard to contain the frizz that came from the curly hair. It took me a while to find this brand, but when I did, I’ve never bought anything else because nothing else really worked directly for my hair and what I needed.

EOC Week 4: Consumer vs Business Marketing

There are a good few differences between consumer buyers and business buyers. First of all, consumer market is made up by many people, who buy things for personal use. Business buyers buy goods and turn around to re-sell what they buy, for a profit. Another difference is what influences the buyers are under. "Often, consumers themselves don’t know exactly what influences their purchases. Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal, and psychological characteristics. For the most part, marketers cannot control such factors, but they must take them into account." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th Edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 6)

"Business buyers are subject to many influences when they make their buying decisions. Some marketers assume that the major influences are economic. They think buyers will favor the supplier who offers the lowest price or the best product or the most service. They concentrate on offering strong economic benefits to buyers. However, business buyers actually respond to both economic and personal factors." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th Edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 48)

Though it may seem like the consumer buyer has more decisions to make, it is actually the business consumers who have the most complicated decisions when buying something. "Business buyers usually face more complex buying decisions than consumer buyers. Business purchases often involve large sums of money, complex technical and economic considerations, and interactions among many people at many levels of the buyer’s organization. Because the purchases are more complex, business buyers may take longer to make their decisions." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th Edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 41)

"At a general level, marketing medical imaging technology or diesel locomotives to business customers is like selling refrigerators to final buyers. It requires a deep-down understanding of customer needs and customer-driven marketing strategies that create superior customer value." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th Edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 39)

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

 In society today, there are three known generations of people. Following World War II, there were 78 million people born, this generation being called the baby boomers, and the generation lasted until 1964. A year after that, the next generation was born, the Generation Xers, lasting until 1976 were 45 million people were born during this time, in the “birth dearth” following the baby boom. After that generation, the Millennials (or Generation Y) were born, 83 million children of the baby boomers, born between 1977 all the way to 2000. I was born in 1991, so I am considered to be a Millennial. “One thing that all of the Millennials have in common is their utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life." (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 17) This is where I belong, I have always been in love with technology and I always wanted the new gadget that came out, whether it be a game, phone, and mp3 player. I love the technology of the new smart phones, with all the games and apps, making the internet easier to use on the phone, it’s perfect for me.  “ “Young people want to be in control of their relationship with a brand. They want to customize and personalize.” ” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 17) This is something I also agree with, if I can’t personalize something to my liking, I’m not going to go back to that company. “Marketers of all kinds now target the Millennials segment, from automakers to political campaigns. However, the Millennials are bombarded with marketing messages coming at them from all directions. And rather than having mass marketing messages pushed at them, they prefer to seek out information and engage in two-way brand conversations.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation 10th edition, Armstrong and Kotler, page 17)

All I can say, is that I’m glad to be one of the Millennials.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

Star: Downloadable games for iphones/smartphones
Cash Cow: Nintendo
Question: Sony
Dog: Microsoft

In the gaming industry, all of the competing companies – Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, etcetera – have something to offer everyone.  The question though is which company is selling the most and making the most money? Doing a BCG analysis, I’ve learned where most of these companies stood, in my opinion. 

In the Stars position -we talked about it in class and I thought it was spot on- are the games for the smart phones or iphones, they are the most popular since they can be taken anywhere and can be played for hours on end; like the game Angry Birds. It’s free, but people tend to buy the upgraded version for the special levels and for more hours of fun. 

People want simple games when they travel, and can download good quality games for 99cents or less.

The cash cows are - in my opinion - is Nintendo.  They’ve been around for a longer time and have come out with great games for almost every generation when video games started getting more advanced. At the moment, they are the hottest on the market, for the games they are releasing to the systems they are releasing as well.

“With the DS and Wii, Nintendo has two hit consumer products and in the minds of the investment community that can make the company as valuable as all of Sony Corporation.” http://www.lunabean.com/news/20070629_video_game_market_analysis.php

The question mark is Sony. It all depends on what they come out with if it’ll be their downfall or their winning ticket. After they made the PS3, they seemed to go downhill in sales from the outrageous prices for the consoles.

“Sales data shows that while the introduction of the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable were initially greeted warmly, potential buyers quickly lost interest because of a lack of games. The fact is that games drive sales of video game hardware. Sales of the PlayStation 3 have also been hampered by its price tag of $800, which is significantly above prices for the Xbox 360 [$400-$600] and the Wii [$250].” http://seekingalpha.com/article/40770-the-video-game-industry-nintendo-back-in-the-lead

The dog at the end of this list is Microsoft, for their Xbox. They put more money into their consoles then they could get from it in sales.

“In terms of long-term strategy it is worth comparing Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft has shown an even greater willingness to lose money to try and build long-term market share. The Xbox 360 was the system that could benefit most from the PS3's slow, late start. One of the biggest events (or non-event) over the past year is that the Xbox 360 did little to solidify its lead.” http://www.lunabean.com/news/20070629_video_game_market_analysis.php

Week 1 EOC; About Me

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a camera in one hand and a pencil in the other. Finishing my high school education, I went ahead to pursue my passion behind the camera and learn more about my soon-to-be tools of the trade. I’ve already had that eye for spotting detail or that something special when looking through the camera lenses, I wanted to perfect my skills in the field.

From capturing those special moments between families, the fun times between friends, beautiful landscapes during those family trips or vacations, or those quirky animals, be a dog or cat, I’ve always loved what nature has to provide to us. Venturing out to become a world wide known photography, I want to give it my all in pleasing my clients with their unique photos and be well known for the quality in my pictures.

Keeping my dream alive and my passion still burning, I have the support from my friends and family to keep me going, and the clients that I meet to continue my interest in finding those unique pictures that no one else has taken or composing a completely new idea for an image that no one has thought of. So that is the thrill of my life, through my lense.