My response to Sarah Allen's question

Question: What level do you think relates most to your consumer involvement?

If I had to put myself into one of these groups, I would say that I belong to the "Interest" group. I am not a big shopper, which is to say that I don’t walk around in a store looking for things that I like to buy them. I tend to be very particular about what products I buy and therefore I tend to be very cautious about what product I choose. Most of the time will only buy things that pertain to my interests. I very rarely will buy a product on a whim. I like to go into depth in researching a product online in forums and reviews by other customers before I make my decision as to what company and product I chose to buy from. I feel this is the safest way to shop.

What is the highest cost you are willing to pay for something on a whim?

Sexism vs. Marketing

This is something that I have wanted to write about for a while but just haven’t gotten to it until now. Some of my female friends and I Have had arguments in the past about the way a product is advertised and whether some of the images or slogans etc. that is used are sexist or just a specific kind of marketing/advertising. For instance, if there was a new energy drink introduced to the market that was aimed at women and the can was pink with the words "low carb" on it, would you consider it sexist or is that just an advertising ploy to attract more female customers? I believe it is the latter. Gender specific ads have been around for a while and have targeted both man and women with different strategies designed to get them to notice the product. I see a great example of this in the magazine rack in the convenience store. You can clearly see what magazines are targeted to what gender based on what’s on the cover. I don't see this as sexism rather just trying to grab attention from a potential consumer.

Do you think gender specific marketing is sexist?

Response to Mia Gauthier's question

Question: Do you think that this company will be successful if it continues to stay as a strictly online-based company?

This is an interesting company with a very unique purpose and I have never seen anything like it. When I first read Mia's post, I though that all the coaching was done online and you would have to check in online to get feedback from your coach which seemed like a stupid thing to do but after I checked out the site, I saw that it was nothing like that. The site asks for your location, sport, price and distance then it automatically matches you up with coaches that meet your specifications that you can then hire and work with. I think this is a great idea and could turn into something very big if more people begin to use it. This is a great way to find and meet a personal coach and I see this company doing very well for itself if the site continues to grow.

What do you think are the similarities and differences in leadership between and professional coach and a corporate CEO?

Smart Phones

This past week over break, my father called me and said that his cell phone contract was almost up and he was thinking about getting a new smart phone with his new contract. He then asked me what smart phone he should get and I thought about it and I didn’t know what to tell him. There are so many different brands out there but they all have fairly similar levels of performance so it really comes down to the style and appearance of the phone itself.

This got me thinking about the different kinds of marketing strategies that smart phone manufacturers use to appeal to different kinds of people.

It seems to me that all the different companies use different brand images in an attempt to attract different consumer base. Some are presented as more high performance than the competition while others are presented as a trendier and cool product. All these different phones are presenting themselves as a certain product and try to appeal to specific groups of people.

What smart phone do you like based simply on the brand image and why?

The Marketing of spring break

With spring break next week I thought I would make a post about the idea of marketing spring break as almost a "product" to people. There are definitely places or locations that have built their entire economy based on tourism. Look at Las Vegas. That place has built itself around making money off of people who come to visit. This is why I was wondering if the idea of spring break is marketed to students to try and stimulate spending amongst college students.

The idea of the "typical" spring break of going to somewhere warm and partying has been stressed though movies and other forms of media. I believe that the concept of spring break is almost treated like another holiday by corporations and others groups looking to cash in on college students on their break.

Do you think the idea of spring break is marketed to students?