Hello everyone,
An abbreviated Week 3 is now a wrap. After a "blizzard" gave me two days off from school (including on my birthday), we were back at it in our Honors Marketing class today, January 29th. Today's topic of discussion involved "information integration." This theme related directly to our Chapter 6 reading from our textbook, which discussed consumer decision making. The chapter talked about what goes through a consumer's mind before, during, and after purchasing an item. For my completed mind map for this chapter, I focused on the "coolness" of products. In our current society, social media is an extraordinary platform to launch or enhance a product's visibility. A large portion of this promotion involves a mass appeal that evokes a sense of "need" for people to have the product. Social media advertising of products can be a vital tool to impact the consumer's underlying decision making in buying a product. In class, we examined various government websites that provide information on markets, such as the government census website. More specifically, we looked at market trends and how "big data" is providing an incredible amount of insight to companies based on how consumer's are spending their money.
Based on these trends, companies can exploit new and growing segments in various markets. By keeping a watchful eye on active trends, companies can gain a competitive edge on the competition. Personally, one of my team's pain points includes how people cannot view how many staples are left in a stapler, unless they open the cartridge. This is quite a nuisance and an inconvenience, more than anything. Although there is not a real societal need for these staplers on a large scale, there could definitely be a potential market for a stapler that displays the amount of staples left in the cartridge. Using www.trendhunter.com, I was able to recognize some trends in new stapler designs. Recently, there has been a push for compact, right-angle, and economically-friendly staplers. Using this information, our team can incorporate our new idea and blend it with an existing hot market trend. Doing so will increase the desirability and popularity of our model. This is a first hand example of how being wary of market trends can provide invaluable insight into fresh market segments. Thanks for tuning in and have a good week.
-Chris
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Week 2 Reflection
Hello everyone,
Week 2 is in the books. Instead of having our standard two classes for our marketing class this week, we had three classes due to our groundbreaking Honors program collaboration with the Freshman engineers. I quickly came to the realization that business students are not like engineers. An immediate observation was that our interpretation of ideas and the implementation of those ideas are completely different. This was apparent from a design versus marketing aspect. Us business student thought about the people using the product, whereas the engineers thought about how it would be made efficiently. This collaboration involved identifying potential pain points for consumers across all areas of everyday life. I personally am fond of my group, called "Prorsum" which has entertained the concept idea of building a stapler which displays how many staples remain in the cartridge. We will see if our group chooses this as our final idea or not, but I am hoping for it!
This class particularly sparked the inner entrepreneur in me. I have decided to identify my own pain points as well. I am an avid Shark Tank viewer myself, and I have always entertained the idea of creating my own product. I love shoes and cleats, and I have identified getting the soles of footwear scuffed or dirty as a potential pain point. Therefore, recently I have started brainstorming potential footwear sole covers that are adhesive, yet durable, as a potential solution. Obviously the product is still in its fledgling stage, but I am actively entertaining my possibilities. To be continued...
On Thursday, we watched a clip from Shark Tank about a social media site called "Cheek'd." The entrepreneur was a former designer for Christian Dior and decided to quit in order to pursue her dream of a new take on dating. Instead of business cards or an online dating profile, her special business cards contained only a unique pick-up line and a special code for her subscription-based website. Her pitch did not win over any sharks due to a complete lack of revenue... Although, her passion for her brand was quite apparent. Connecting this clip to class, "Cheek'd" was non-demographic specific which was problematic. It could have reached a wider audience. Yet, its pitfall was that it was a subscription based service, and people do not want to pay $9.95 a month for a glorified Tinder profile. There was no specific market for her brand; everything seems to come back to "creating a customer!" The service also lacked being in a specific market. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are free. Some online dating sites are subscription-based, yet they offer specific, detailed matches based on a plethora of capabilities. Her brand was trying to fit somewhere in-between, and it unfortunately failed. People use social media as a form of anonymity, a different persona, and a way of tastefully bragging. All in all if she had scanned her environment to see that other services have dominated in that sector, she could have adapted her site to be free or completely app-based.
Best,
Christopher
Week 2 is in the books. Instead of having our standard two classes for our marketing class this week, we had three classes due to our groundbreaking Honors program collaboration with the Freshman engineers. I quickly came to the realization that business students are not like engineers. An immediate observation was that our interpretation of ideas and the implementation of those ideas are completely different. This was apparent from a design versus marketing aspect. Us business student thought about the people using the product, whereas the engineers thought about how it would be made efficiently. This collaboration involved identifying potential pain points for consumers across all areas of everyday life. I personally am fond of my group, called "Prorsum" which has entertained the concept idea of building a stapler which displays how many staples remain in the cartridge. We will see if our group chooses this as our final idea or not, but I am hoping for it!
This class particularly sparked the inner entrepreneur in me. I have decided to identify my own pain points as well. I am an avid Shark Tank viewer myself, and I have always entertained the idea of creating my own product. I love shoes and cleats, and I have identified getting the soles of footwear scuffed or dirty as a potential pain point. Therefore, recently I have started brainstorming potential footwear sole covers that are adhesive, yet durable, as a potential solution. Obviously the product is still in its fledgling stage, but I am actively entertaining my possibilities. To be continued...
On Thursday, we watched a clip from Shark Tank about a social media site called "Cheek'd." The entrepreneur was a former designer for Christian Dior and decided to quit in order to pursue her dream of a new take on dating. Instead of business cards or an online dating profile, her special business cards contained only a unique pick-up line and a special code for her subscription-based website. Her pitch did not win over any sharks due to a complete lack of revenue... Although, her passion for her brand was quite apparent. Connecting this clip to class, "Cheek'd" was non-demographic specific which was problematic. It could have reached a wider audience. Yet, its pitfall was that it was a subscription based service, and people do not want to pay $9.95 a month for a glorified Tinder profile. There was no specific market for her brand; everything seems to come back to "creating a customer!" The service also lacked being in a specific market. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are free. Some online dating sites are subscription-based, yet they offer specific, detailed matches based on a plethora of capabilities. Her brand was trying to fit somewhere in-between, and it unfortunately failed. People use social media as a form of anonymity, a different persona, and a way of tastefully bragging. All in all if she had scanned her environment to see that other services have dominated in that sector, she could have adapted her site to be free or completely app-based.
Best,
Christopher
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Week 1 Reflection
Hello friends,
After attending the first week of my Honors Marketing class, I thought I would update you on what the class is about. Firstly, our class has come to the conclusion that everything is, in fact, marketing. Promotion of ourselves and others, decision-making, and profit margins all have some connection to marketing. Marketing evaluates and exploits the underlying thought processes of people when they decide to make an exchange of any sort. Both parties in the exchange must interpret voluntary value and must use sound communication skills to promote their needs. For a corporation, marketing involves "soft" versus "hard" approaches. The quantitative side promotes getting sales completed, whereas the qualitative side uses a prolonged relationship with the customer approach. Marketing is a way more profound topic than I originally thought!
Class itself has been quite thought provoking and has made me link new ideas together. I have realized that companies like Nike and Adidas both saw promotional opportunities during this past summer's World Cup in Brazil. Hence, aggressive advertisement campaigns were launched to garner hype for their soccer products. Also, we have watched Shark Tank, which is one of my favorite shows. I have really enjoyed breaking down some of the episodes as a class. All in all, the class is interesting and off to a great start. Thanks for reading.
-Chris
After attending the first week of my Honors Marketing class, I thought I would update you on what the class is about. Firstly, our class has come to the conclusion that everything is, in fact, marketing. Promotion of ourselves and others, decision-making, and profit margins all have some connection to marketing. Marketing evaluates and exploits the underlying thought processes of people when they decide to make an exchange of any sort. Both parties in the exchange must interpret voluntary value and must use sound communication skills to promote their needs. For a corporation, marketing involves "soft" versus "hard" approaches. The quantitative side promotes getting sales completed, whereas the qualitative side uses a prolonged relationship with the customer approach. Marketing is a way more profound topic than I originally thought!
Class itself has been quite thought provoking and has made me link new ideas together. I have realized that companies like Nike and Adidas both saw promotional opportunities during this past summer's World Cup in Brazil. Hence, aggressive advertisement campaigns were launched to garner hype for their soccer products. Also, we have watched Shark Tank, which is one of my favorite shows. I have really enjoyed breaking down some of the episodes as a class. All in all, the class is interesting and off to a great start. Thanks for reading.
-Chris
Monday, January 5, 2015
Intro
Hello everyone,
I thought I could use this post as a tool for you to get to know me a little better. My name is Christopher Cokotis and I am a freshman here at Western New England University. I am currently an undecided Business major, but I am enjoying the business classes that have been offered thus far. I am hoping to declare my major at some point during this semester. I personally love the sport of soccer and enjoy playing Fifa on my Xbox One. I hope you now know a little more about me.
-Christopher
I thought I could use this post as a tool for you to get to know me a little better. My name is Christopher Cokotis and I am a freshman here at Western New England University. I am currently an undecided Business major, but I am enjoying the business classes that have been offered thus far. I am hoping to declare my major at some point during this semester. I personally love the sport of soccer and enjoy playing Fifa on my Xbox One. I hope you now know a little more about me.
-Christopher
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