Week 4 EOC: Advertising is based on Happiness

Happiness –
What makes us happy with the items we purchase? Is it that we feel we got more than what we paid for or is it that the item we purchased worked the way it was supposed to fulfilling the need we had? For example a few years back I was looking to buy a new camera I wanted to upgrade into the SLR digital world of cameras. So I began researching different brands and prices versus functions and all that goes into making a purchase of high dollar amount. After doing my research I chose to stay with the brand I have shot with for years, which happened to be Pentax. I still have that camera and shoot with it on an almost daily basis. The camera exceeded my expectations and if I had to do so I would buy it all over again.

Dissidence –
On the opposite side of things, the last big purchase that I made that I ended up not being very happy with was when I bought my wife a new minivan. We looked at lots of new cars a few years ago, needing enough room and seats for seven people. We already had a suburban so my wife wanted a new van to replace the older van we had. After finding one, albeit on the high side of our price range, we had it for just a few weeks before it broke down for the first time. This first time was due to a sensor in the fuel tank that wasn’t working correctly and showing fuel in the tank when it was actually empty. After having that fixed a few more weeks went by before one of the sliding doors started malfunctioning. To make a long story short the van had problem until the day we turned it back in. This was definitely an Item that I had some buyer’s remorse over.

Week 3 EOC: Internet Privacy vs Market Research

As an internet user I believe I should have the ability to have my privacy not only protected but kept out of market research for companies to buy and sell to the highest bidder. According to an article on Forbes.com titled How Much Privacy? A company called ComScore Networks is a marketing company that is using the internet to capture marketing research in a manner that some might consider to be wrong. In the article ComScore says “its participants are willing exhibitionists, happily selling their online privacy for gift certificates and free screensavers. But two computer scientists are raising new questions about comScore, claiming that company tracking software is being installed without consent on an unknown number of computers.” (http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/07/internet-security-research-tech_cx_ll_1208comscore.html). I think that this is an illegal way to find and research people’s personal marketable information. According to an article writen by Lorrie Faith Cranor, "The Internet and computerized databases make automated collection and processing of information particularly easy and convenient. In fact, for the typical Web site operator, it's easier to collect information about Web site visitors than to figure out how to configure a Web server not to collect that information. As a result, there are now zillions of databases silently collecting mostly innocuous "click-stream" data from everyone who surfs on by." (http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/networker-privacy.html).

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

There are many companies out there that true try and help those in need, some of them do it thru donating money, some do it thru service and service oriented projects. I found a company that decided to try and help people through hair. Hair may seem like a weird way to help people and at first you may not even think how hair could help anyone, but like groups like locks of love Pantene chose to use their presence in the hair cut shops across the country to help people who have cancer. “Pantene Beautiful Lengths encourages women and men to grow, cut, and donate their hair to make real hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.” (http://www.pantene.com/en-us/beautiful-lengths-cause/default.aspx). Pantene had the perfect opportunity to get hair donated for their campaign seeing how they are a hair care product used in many salons and hair cut places already. In fact “the campaign has received more than 24,000 donated ponytails and more than 3,000 free wigs have been distributed through the American Cancer Society’s nationwide network of wig banks. Compare that to the 2,000 wigs created over the past 10 years by charity Locks of Love.” (Marketing: an introduction / Gary Armstrong, Philip Kotler. — 10th ed., Printed page 88). This is why I chose to write about Pantene, because if you have ever know anyone who has had cancer something as simple as a wig to cover up their head while they go thru radiation therapy it is a huge deal. I had an aunt that past away from breast cancer and before she died she depended on a wig such as the one Pantene is helping to make and for the short time before the end it seemed to make a huge difference in how my aunt felt about help personal outward self.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

The Star - According to NPD “the group found that console sales jumped 4% compared to last December, with the Nintendo Wii unsurprisingly leading the way with 3.81 million units moved (up from 2.15 million the previous year). That's followed by the collective DS offerings at 3.31 million and, somewhat surprisingly, the PlayStation 3, which racked up sales of 1.36 million (its first time cracking the one million mark) compared to the Xbox 360's 1.31 million.”(http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/15/npd-wii-leads-video-game-industry-to-biggest-sales-month-ever/).

The Cash Cow – According to Gamepro.com “The entire NPS unit posted a sales and operating revenue of 325.9 billion yen ($3.7 billion USD), up 32.4 percent over the 246.1 billion yen posted this same quarter last year. Losses in the unit also shrank from 36.7 billion yen ($420 million USD) to 3.8 billion ($43 million).” (http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/215974/playstation-sales-bolster-sony-earnings-quarter/). This is why I believe that the Sony brand and the play station is a cash cow.

The question mark – According to an article written on pcmag.com Apple’s IPad is taking gaming seriously. “RALEIGH, North Carolina - Apple's iPAD tablet computer hasn't been out a week yet but there are already over 830 video games that have been developed to suit the large format, high definition, multi-touch screen. That number doesn't even include the nearly 25,000 iPod Touch and iPhone games that will also play on Apple's latest gadget which is a mix between a smartphone and a laptop but also clearly aims to cater for the growing numbers of gamers. "The iPad is the fourth step in the gaming evolution," said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of publishing at Gameloft. (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362384,00.asp). This is why I think that Apple will become a major player in the video gaming industry.

The Dog – According to softsailor technology and review “Microsoft has just posted its Q4 2010 earnings and things are way better than they were last year as the Redmond-based company has announced a $16.04 billion revenue which is a 22% increase over the last year.” “According to Microsoft, Xbox and Zune services made $679 million operating income from the total $5.93 billion operating income. Microsoft’s net income for Q4 2010 stands at $4.52 billion, while profit stands at $3.25 billion.” (http://www.softsailor.com/news/34073-microsoft-q4-2010-earnings-posted-16-04-billion-revenue-3-25-billion-profit.html). This is why I think that Microsoft and the xbox are the current dog of the industry.

Week 1 EOC: excellent customer service experience

An excellent customer service experience that I have had was the last time I went to Red Lobster for all you can eat shrimp with my wife. The wait time for a table was short and the hostesses were friendly. The tables were clean and we did not have to wait long for our server to come to the table to take our drink order. After receiving our drinks our waiter took our order and also took a second order so that he was ahead of the game when placing our first refill order. Our waiter came back often to check on us to see how we were doing.  We never had to ask for drinks and our waiter was always ahead of us with reorder. Infact he was so far ahead of us with reorders we had plenty to take home and have for lunch the next day. To me this was excellent customer service and a very pleasant experience. Here is a quote from our book that I believe goes along with my excellent customer service experience. “Customer relationships and value are especially important in today’s tough economic times, when more frugal consumers are cutting back and spending more carefully.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 10th Edition, Page 2 or printed page 4)

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

I am a freelance photographer who specializes in landscape, nature and life's little moments. I am also in the process of starting a studio to be able to shoot portraits, still life, food, and a variety of other things in a controlled environment. I have also shot weddings and other events. My passion for photography started at a young age watching programs like National Geographic and reading the magazines, or looking at all the photographs. I also grew up in the outdoors and have a passion for preserving the outdoors for others to see and admire as well. It is my goal to one day work for National Geographic.  A photograph documents a moment in time, that moment can be something like a couple’s wedding or a never before seen animal or plant. As a photographer my goal is to help others see things in nature or themselves in a way they have not been able to before. As a freelance photographer I plan on working for National Geographic and when I’m not traveling the world I will be working for myself in my own studio.