Final Review

          This marketing class offered many new perspectives in the international world of business. One of the most useful practices over the period of this course was the marketing simulation in which we had to design a backpack that we would sell to a designated target market. Our team was in charge of the running the company in the financial respect as well, analyzing net profit, market share, return on sales, among all statistical measures. We also were in charge of managing the advertising budget and deciding which distributors would be most effective given the target market. PowerPack Designs ended up in 1st place, largely because of our commitment to our target market. While many other companies would drastically manipulate their price or change to a target market, our team stuck to our original plan and it fueled our success. Another outcome from the course was improving our ability to speech publicly and present in an efficient manner. Given exactly three minutes to present a Ted talk, the class was forced a develop sense of punctuality, economic expression, and effective communication.
           A third outcome of this class was the comprehensive strengthening of interpersonal skills. Working with multiple people from different backgrounds enabled us to utilize one another for the betterment of the group. While there are often disagreements in the best course of action, everyone in my group contributed their share of the work and we collaborated to accomplish what needed to be done. A fourth outcome was the development of understanding concerning how marketing strategies are implemented by companies into the marketplace. One such way we learned this was through discussing marketing news everyday with Professor Nelson. By discussing the marketing strategies and issues raised in the economy, we cultivated an understanding of how companies handle problems and release strategies to maintain or further their brand identity. For example, when Volkswagen lied about the emissions released into the environment by their models, we discussed possible courses of action for the company and what had to be done. The company followed suit as predicted and forced the CEO to resign, and they looked to start a new chapter following an identity disaster and a company-wide fallout. The fifth and final outcome achieved through this course was the diligence and aptitude achieved through the process of following marketing themes and addressing them on a blog. Researching the advertisement of certain products, such as the Star Wars movie, has shown both the author and the readers how successful companies such as Disney can achieve brand extension flawlessly. Making a $4 billion purchase for the franchise would only prove fruitful for a few select companies, and Disney has managed to get everyone talking about the upcoming film, and possible twists and plots that go along with it. Life-time Star Wars fans are buying the action figures and other merchandise leading up the movie, and as are the subsequent generations. Overall, this course provided many outcomes and completed objectives that led to an improved comprehensive understanding and application of marketing in the business world.

Fight Against Counterfeits

            Counterfeits account for anywhere from $300 billion to $600 billion in sales globally, with the majority of them being manufactured in China. In fact, about 88% of counterfeits seized originate from either Hong Kong or China. This presents a massive problem for thousands of companies, as they try to establish their brand identities across the world. One particular Italian company, Gucci, has decided to pursue legal action after learning that there were more than 2,000 counterfeit Gucci eyeglasses found in the factory of a Chinese company. Earlier this year, Gucci filed a lawsuit against this company, arguing that they are producing counterfeit products under the company name. Gucci is just one example of many companies how rely on these raids and seizures to ground the industry of counterfeiting, but and their reliance and trust may be misplaced. Numerous intellectual-property experts with over 10,000 different raid and seizure experiences theorize that a significant amount of these raids are compromised. Documents and numbers can be faked and many times investigators can be bought off. Brands such as Columbia Sportswear, have decided to pursue legal action in lieu of ineffective raids and seizures. Hiring third parties to raid counterfeit companies doesn't come cheap, and with the integrity of the raids being compromised, the money might be better spent elsewhere.

            Of course, this affects marketing a product from the company's perspective, particularly those in the business of watches, jewelry, apparel, etc. Consumers have to have the security of knowing they are buying from you when they see the company name pressed on a product. Once counterfeits begin to become a problem in any region of the world, customers will be more cautious buying that brand due to the possibility that it is not the prestigious product that the logo implies. This happens particularly often for companies with a prestige pricing strategy. Because much of their price comes from the brand name, the production costs aren't as high as one would think and could easily be mimicked by fraudulent companies for cheaper production costs, and for the customer, cheaper prices. This is one problem that companies with low prices don't typically encounter. If the production costs of a product are low, there wouldn't be much money in mimicking it. Of course, people have become more privy to watches and jewelry on the streets of metropolitan areas, recognizing them as fakes more often than not. It is more likely that someone fall for apparel, shoes, consumer electronics, and pharmaceuticals. If companies are to solve this problem, they will have to find a more effective way than either seizures or legal action, as both are expensive and often become dead ends.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-the-fight-against-counterfeits-even-the-raids-can-be-fake-1449171005

Pinterest-Expands Visual Search

          The photo saving and sharing site, Pinterest will expand their product by adding a feature in which users will not need words to search for their desired object, but rather take a photo of it and send it into the search engine. By doing this, the user will allow Pinterest to show them similar sizes, colors, and styles of the object. Pinterest is regarded as a social network, but reportedly has longed to be seen as a search engine as well. By launching this feature Monday, it would appear they would be far ahead of their competitors in the visual search engine industry. The app is mostly used by women, as a global poll in 2012 found that 83% of users at  the time were female. This has generated the direction for Pinterest, while they attempt to get ahead in the visual search market. Both Google and Amazon have been attempting for years, but none of their attempts have taken off. One of Google's first was the inception of Google Goggles, an image- recognition app introduced in 2009 lets users retrieve information about landmark or building downtown by taking a photo. More recently, many of these major databases have been attempting a method known as deep learning, or a technique used to recognize patterns sifting through big data.

           With Pinterest launching this new visual search, the company has a high upside in the advertising industry. EMarketer expects the market for United States search advertising to over $29 billion in 2016, which would account for about half of digital advertising. Pinterest has been fast growing since its beginnings in 2010. By the end of 2011, it had already become one of the top ten social networks, with over eleven million views per week. In May 2012, Pinterest was valued at $1.5 billion and three years later, the company is valued at over $11 billion. Now, this quick ascendance certainly comes from paving the way in their respective segment of social networks. This is a company that knows to survive it has to constantly create and expand. It is for this reason that they have developed the visual search engine. If successful, this would be an example of brand extension as a company reaches outside of its formal function to offer a different service in a new market. They first got serious about visual search in 2010 when buying the image search startup, Visual Graph, created by Kevin Jing. Mr.Jing used deep learning technology similar to Facebook's face recognition to create the visual search that would eventually be snatched up by Pinterest. Pinterest already has a good stake in the social network industry, but it would be revolutionary if they managed to claim a share of the search engine industry as well. Facebook has been trying to do it for years, and has failed at doing so. Monday is a big day for not only Pinterest, but the direction and path for visual search.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/pinterest-sharpens-its-visual-search-skills-1447015155

Star Wars- The Force Awakens

         Merchandise toys are expected to be very popular leading up to the holiday season for the Stars Franchise, with their new movie 'The Force Awakens' coming out in December. The movie hits theaters the 17th, a little over a week before Christmas. Career collectors have already begun to buy the action figures for the upcoming movie, regardless of the fact that they don't have a background on the majority of the characters in the sequel of the dynasty. The 40 year old saga has recently been bought by Walt Disney Co. for four billion dollars, a seemingly absurd price tag that looks like a bargain given the revenue already being created in the preliminary excitement leading up to the first product of Star Wars coming from Disney. In most cases, merchandise are released anywhere in the range of six to eight weeks prior to the main event, but Disney launched the product line a full fifteen weeks before the release of the movie. They have done an excellent job re-establishing the franchise under the company brand, as almost all Star Wars fans are quite aware that Disney is now fully in charge of the destiny of the galaxy. The trailer had just the right amount of ambiguity, showing the former mask of the legendary Darth Vader, as his self-proclaimed successor looks upon. For the September 4th launch, Star Wars fanatics bought a plethora of both Halloween costumes and toys figures to grow the already strong excitement for the unveiling of the plot. Disney has had great execution in preventing the plot from being leaked. The company notes they have to use caution as a tool to avoid the internet's malicious tendency to spoil movies before they hit theaters. 

           It is projected that the worldwide gross box sales of the new expansion movie will fall between the first film 'A New Hope' and the first prequel released in 1999, 'The Phantom Menace'. The first film grossed $2,016,000,000 in inflation adjusted dollars, while the new film is expected to reach two billion in sales. Of course, the first film didn't have a book released prior to it, and didn't have the expectations that this movie does. For the time, 'A New Hope' was considered revolutionary in the futuristic genre, but the first six Lucas films have created a dynamic fan-base that makes the process for Disney that much easier. By buying Star Wars for four billion dollars, they are obviously expected to meet at least half of that expense with this first movie. One would expect Disney to expand the franchise in any direction they can, while many have speculated that they will in fact, remake the entire series. Steph Wissink, a Piper Jaffray Cos. manager director, expects retails sales of Star Wars toys to reach $1.5 billion within a year of the movie's release. Overall, between the overwhelming box office and merchandise sales projections, 'The Force Awakens' should be great start for Disney, as they position penetrate a completely new market from the one their accustomed to. Chances are, they will make back the investment and some, as they usually do.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-toy-marketing-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens-1447180464

Facebook Looks to Reinvigorate Their Search Tool

          Since Facebook's launching in 2004, founder Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that one of his main goals is to keep his users on Facebook for as long as possible. To do this, Facebook would have to serve multiple functions in terms of information, and it has. People get their information about their social circles on there, and they have begun to get information about world events through their news-feed. The company reported this past Thursday that it had indexed over two trillion posts, in an attempt to allow users to monitor discussions of events as they occur. As Facebook looks to reinvigorate their search tool, they will need brand their company as not only a social network, but also a search engine. It has long been a search for people and places, but people have shifted away from this notion in recent years. About 1.5 billion searches are made a day on Facebook, compared to about 3.3 in 2012. This is obviously a huge blow to the brand, as they fail to compete for Google in the information industry. To keep users on longer, the company has to find a way for customers to have access to world events, as well as giving them a review channel for both business, products, and places. When users tap into Facebook's plethora of information, they are looking for reputations. Reputations of businesses, of people, schools, musicians, movie stars, etc.
        When people think of Google, they think search. Google has created this dominance of the internet with consistency and efficient pathways towards relevant information. Their reputation for treating employees well, in addition to leading the wave of new technology in Silicon Valley, has led to people's trust and reliance on the company. Facebook has a similar stronghold, but on a different market. Yes, Twitter has dipped into Facebook's business, but Facebook still remains the giant of social networking and has propelled the industry toward more information-driven pursuits. Companies want to pay Facebook for advertisements, but also for their information. Collecting information on billions of users allows Facebook to sell this data to large companies who can better understand people, and break them down by demographics and psycho-graphics. If Facebook wishes to become a dominate search engine as well, they will need to provide information that Google doesn't offer, or at the very least make the information more accessible  than its rival.

            Obviously, this graph depicts that Facebook's search queries are indeed on the decline. This is something that is vital to not Facebook's expansion, but it's maintenance as the dominating social network. When people aren't searching, they likely aren't online as long as thus there is less information for companies to snatch up. When there is both less information and less uers available, it is the domino effect of people not being able to reach their friends and/or find out what's new with them because people are no longer publishing their information on the network. Zuckerberg has forecasted this, and it may not be time to hit the panic button yet, but that time may be near.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-takes-aim-at-search-again-1445552264

Google Releasing Ad-Free YouTube Service

             Google will be releasing a service free of advertisements on YouTube. YouTube Red will cost android users who subscribe $9.99 per month, while those equipped with IPhones will be charged $12.99 per month. This price difference is due to the 30% charge that Apple applies on in app purchases. This is a critical development for both Google and the music industry alike, as it has become more common to stream music for no charge. Because of this, we are seeing sales decline in the both the CD and downloaded music industries. Many on the wrong side of this trend have been calling for paid subscriptions for quite some time. Currently, Spotify holds a following of over twenty million, while Apple Music has six and half million subscribers after only three months from launch. 

Of course, this would be large for the music industry as well as Google, creating an entire new stream of revenue that would expand the face of the brand as well as forging an alliance with many lucrative record labels that are looking for a greater profit than what they are receiving from these other streaming and music playing services. 

             If Google can use YouTube to gain more access to the online music industry, this could greatly affect both the direction of the industry as well as that of Google. As course, it will be difficult to sell this premium product, given the free accessibility to both video and music on the internet. The plethora of interconnected communities sharing information has made it difficult for business whose products are very easily electronically shared without any legal consequences. 

             The music business has certainly been going in the wrong direction for profit purposes, but giving people incentive to pay is what will drive them toward YouTube Red. CD's and downloaded music are both declining, as streaming becomes more and more popular. Offering customers a service that provides them with something they cannot get access to without the subscription will be the cornerstone of the launch. 

              The question is; why is Google interested in investing in the premium music industry? YouTube makes their capitol from leasing advertisements over the website to keep it free, as does Google. Why take such a drastic turn to get people to pay for music when they haven't for so long? Google is attempting to create a personalized journey for the customer, allowing them to hit play and sit back. Starting next year, they will also have access to YouTube originals and will be able to download videos and music onto their personalized device so they can listen to it at their own leisure, without being online. This service essentially gives the user access to all YouTube creations, with absolutely no advertisements. While Spotify and Apple Music have seen good days, this service could render them obsolete, given YouTube has almost monopolized the music video industry and unseated MTV in that regard. This service has very high upside for YouTube and therefore Google. As we already know, Google doesn't fail very often. 

http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/21/youtube-red/#.ehwht6:qlid

http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-to-launch-ad-free-youtube-subscription-service-1445472241

Ad-Blocking- Marketing's Growing Issue

Advertising week is kicking off tomorrow morning, when the biggest names in the advertising industry will be congregating in New York to discuss the latest and biggest trends of the business. Currently, the online ad-industry is almost sixty billion dollars a year, and is expected to grow another 17% in the next year. A recent problem that many of these advertisers have been facing is ad-blocking. Because of the thousands of pitches, products, and brands placed in front of consumers every single day, people are beginning to sicken of the entire process. Because of this, ad-free streaming and ad-blocking have increased in popularity over the past year or so. Marketers are also worried about the possibility of piracy and the assurance that their ads are actually being viewed on the websites they put them on. 

Thousands of marketing, tech, and media executives will be meeting at the twelfth annual conference in which companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Twitter will be releasing some of their new advertising products and services. Facebook will also be showing how Instagram is an effective tool to market products. Hundreds of millions of people are on these internet tools every day, and companies such as Nike, General Electric, and Bank of America need to find the most effective way to spend their money to reach the largest amount of people possible. However, it is not only about reaching the largest amount of people; it is also about the image of the advertisement sticking in the consumer’s mind. To draw in the customer, an advertisement’s placement is crucial, as well as the color in relation to rest of the page, and even the font. Unfortunately for many companies looking to advertise on the internet, people are blocking ads and companies developing ad-blocking software that could accelerate the end of the advertising age.

Of course, there is no such thing as free. Facebook is free of charge because their benefit is your information. They trade this information to advertisers for profit. While we believe that Google, Twitter, and Facebook are free internet outlets, really they are the intermediary between us and the company that wants to sell us their product. When peoples’ information is no longer rendered useful, many internet sites are going to fall out of the profit range and may have to start charging for access at some point. Of course, the business is currently a sixty billion dollar industry; as such we are far away from that point. However, the conference is a critical one for these internet sites to show these fortune five hundred companies that information is useful and advertising on their sites is still very profitable. Companies have become wary of the patience that consumers seemed to have lost. Of course, this fast pace society has created much of this problem. The internet has made everything faster, and we process so much information every day, it does not take us very long to render the advertisement useless and to swipe it away with a touch. It is not up to the companies selling us products to find the solution to ad-blocking, it is really the social media and interface companies that need to overcome this constant need to swipe away advertisements.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ad-blocking-is-a-hot-topic-for-marketing-media-executives-1443259981