Wk 10 EOC

I'm loyal to Starbucks

I've been a coffee drinker for most of my life. I have frequented Starbucks for years, not because their coffee is the best around, but because of the convenience, some stores are open 24/7. As a freelance web designer and student, my hours are erratic, to say the very least.

Usually, I make coffee in my french press at home. It's quick, convenient and much cheaper than buying a cup of joe Starbucks style. Here's the thing, though, sometimes, I need outta my house in a bad way. A trip to the Eastern/Pebble Starbucks can be just the thing to snap me out of a creative funk sometimes.

I think that at this point in the game, I'm well-beyond coffee having much of an effect on my physiology, I think I might drink too much of it, but it isn't just about the coffee. For me, it's the much needed time away from my computer's glowing face, the drive and ultimately, that hot cup of comfort, albeit brief.

Starbucks is a socially responsible company and they make no bones about marketing those facts. I've known quite a few Starbucks employees in my time and they know how to treat their own. They offer competitive wages, opportunities to grow with the company and a pretty nice work environment, so I feel good about supporting my neighborhood Starbucks!

wk 9 EOC When I'll Pay More

It happens to all of us, we end up paying more for something knowing full well we can pick it up elsewhere for much cheaper. I had a situation at the very beginning of the quarter where I really needed to upgrade to a new hard drive, but I really didn’t have the cash to make it happen. In fact, I believe Fry’s had terabyte drives for $150 or maybe even less, unfortunately, I just didn’t have it.

Granted, there were other viable options, I could have burned all my files to DVD and thrown them in an album, and I have done this in the past, in fact, when I started school and all I had were 1 or 2 gig thumb drives, I did precisely that. The work from those quarters is safely tucked away into an album and the duplicates are at my best friend’s home, just in case.

This, however, was a special situation and a 1 or 2 gig hard drive just wasn’t going to cut it and I really didn’t want to go through the hassle of burning about 150G of work onto DVD, at around 7 G a pop, it can really add up, not to mention be incredibly time consuming. I’m a woman on the go, no time for that kind time-wasting! Not to mention, my 300G portable was beginning to show its age, at times, it would take a full five minutes to even show up on a computer. No, this was no time for cutting corners.

So, what did I do? I did what most broke students do, I went to the Supply Store on campus and paid $300 on my student account. My new hard drive is a beast with 500G of memory and it even requires its own power source. This was a superior machine! With interest, I’ll be paying dearly for this hard drive for quite some time, but sometimes, it’s what you have to do.

My biggest challenge with this project

So far, my biggest challenge with this project is coming up with enough copy to satisfy my instructor. Honestly, today is my "uninspired" day. Usually, I can be so very wordy.

I'm very eager to get started on visuals, it's going to be a lot of fun putting together. I've already got some design concepts floating around in my head along with fun little extras like giveaways for the plan.

wk 6 EOC

Suit in a Bag
Because Life Happens


Initial launch:
Business professionals

2nd Phase:
Casual wear
Children’s clothing
Club wear

3rd phase:
Courier service
Customized travelers packages

Members:

Shane Hooper
Rahkeem Supreme Kearney
Barry Hamilton
Minnie Rodriguez

Life happens. Do you have a backup plan? What do you do when the client across from you spills salad dressing on your suit in a lunch meeting? Do you drive all the way back home? Place an emergency phone call to the cleaners? Nope. You go back to the office and open the environmentally friendly, scientifically designed package containing your wrinkle free, custom sized suit in a bag. Save gas, save face.

Suit in a bag is tailored to our clients. We know what it’s like to have to quick change when every available option is an inconvenience. Suit in a bag is packed in state-of-the art, flame-retardant packaging which was originally created by NASA.

EOC Week 5, What my Classmate thinks about Marketing vs. Advertising

Marketing vs. Advertising, here we go again!

It's pretty easy to confuse the two, honestly, they go hand in hand. Marketing studies people, finds out what they need, what their most secret desires are , then Production creates the 'flavor of the week' item, something made with with acai berry or hoodia to help you lose weight. Then the advertisers take over and get the word to the fad dieters that their product is ready, "Come and get it!!!"

My friend Rebecca summed it up in her blog post, "Marketing uses advertising to help sell the product." (http://fashionfopa.blogspot.com/) There you have it, 'nuff said. She later
alludes to an episode of MadMen we watched in class and it got me thinking about it a little more. I guess if I had to sum it up, I'd say that advertising is the hook. It's that special something a consumer needs to hear to be assured he/she is picking up the right item, whatever that might be. I'd even say it's how you get people to buy stuff they don't need. Ahhh, America!

Here's what April had to say about it: "The true difference between advertising and marketing is that marketers focus more on the needs of the consumer. Advertising seeks to create awareness and persuade potential customers." (http://gamboldeproductions.blogspot.com/) I couldn't agree more! April also alludes to the episode of MadMen we watched in class and it brings to mind the door-to-door
snake oil salesman from back in the day. Man, he's got a bad reputation for selling people garbage, but he's so smooth, he swindles the masses. That's what our hero from MadMen does, he sweet talks people into purchasing products, even those that are considered dangerous. His character is truly ingenius and to me, truly what an advertiser is.

Finally, here's what Trevor had to say: "When you Market something you will often do a lot of research before you create/release a product, and advertising is just one way of using that research. "(http://mindofshadows.blogspot.com/) Yes! It's really like a sandwich. On one side is 12 seed bread, these are our marketing efforts, in the middle where the delicious all natural peanut butter goes is the product, the end slice, well, that's some wheat bread that I really didn't mean to use in this sandwich, but the advertising was so compelling, I just couldn't help myself..... and that's lunch!

Week 4 EOC, Advertising Vs. Marketing

"Marketing is a process that focuses on delivering value and benefits to customers"(MKTG, McDaniel, Pg. 3)

Marketing takes place before products are ever developed or advertised. While advertising does utilize information gathered from marketing research, it’s the latter that dictates what products will hit the market and which ones will never see the light of day.

Market research involves segmenting potential users of a product into groups by ethnicity, age, geographic location or income bracket. It's this information that dictates whether or not cherry Seven Up will be advertised in North Las Vegas or not by using focus groups and surveys.
Because marketing is so targeted, it maximizes advertising dollars for the company trying to sell a good or service.

It's easy to confuse marketing with advertising, but the biggest difference between the two is that advertising's focus is primarily on some sort of return, usually money, it involves commercials, print ads, and the like to get the word out.

Week 3 EOC, How I Buy Stuff

Marketers love people like me. See, I’m the one they’re targeting when they fill end caps with marked down goodies. I guess you could call me something of a “shopping opportunist.” Usually, I shop because there's a need; I’m making Masaman, must pick up some more curry, out of cat food, got to hit Petsmart, you get the idea.... Price, more often than not, influences my purchasing decisions. Lately, I'm rifling through grocery store ads so I can stock up on the staples.

Sunday, I hit Fresh and Easy because they were running a great deal on peanut butter and a few produce items. I hadn't planned on 8 lbs of lentils or the bag of irresistible chocolate chip cookies that cleverly found their way into my shopping cart. The lentils are a staple in my kitchen and at .49 cents per pound; I really had NO choice but to buy! The cookies, well, those were more because I was hungry. Honestly, who doesn't love cookies for lunch?

Like I said, I habitually buy stuff to fulfill a need (real or imagined). What transpired on Sunday happens more often than not, I guess. Never really took time to consider it. It is clever marketing, pricewise anyway, that gets me to pick up the extra lentils, tortilla chips, jelly and come to think of it, those cookies were reduced to .65 cents.

Though most of my shopping happens at a grocery store, I never bother to write out a list. I pretty much comb the store for deals (my brother swears I have a nose for it) and then figure out what I can make with these items plus whatever’s in the pantry at home. I like to think of myself as a kitchen MacGuyver, saving the household from hunger with my delicious creations.

Me as the Consumer, week 2 EOC

I’m a 32 year old Hispanic woman. I am a Generation X child. I don’t make a lot of money at this point in my life, but there are certain things I will spring for. I am an artist and a designer. I like to cook, mostly, I like to feed people. My kitchen is a work of art. Herbs grow in the window to be added to stir fries and any rice concoction I have brewing.
I don’t spend much on “frilly” items like CDs or music credits on I-Tunes, but I have an amazing blender in my kitchen, that thing will whip up some hummus before you can get the pita bread out of the pantry! I own a Champion juicer that’s great for much more than just juice; I make amazing pates from walnuts and sunflower seeds. I own an Excalibur dehydrator which comes in handy when there’s a camping trip in the near future. I shop at several grocery stores on a weekly basis, ever on the hunt for good produce. I guess from this, you would deduce that I’m kind of a “foodie”.

Like most people, I fancy myself an individual. My clothes are usually second-hand items, though I will spend my hard-earned cash on a good pair of comfortable shoes. I just can’t sacrifice comfort for appearance anymore; I’ll leave that to the 22-year olds. I have dreadlocks, no monthly visits to the salon for me. I have an essential oil habit, though; I make bath salts, soaps and fragrances for bodies or dreadlocks or rooms. I guess you could say I’m a hippie. I live in the suburbs and drive a five year old car. I will drive that thing into the ground, you better believe it.

Great Customer Service

These days, I spend less and less time at stores. The convenience of ordering over the net is just too convenient. Why not just order everything online and be done?

If it weren't for good old grocery stores, the entire customer experience would be dead for me. So, last week, I was on my way to purchase the weekly goodies and came across a King Ranch at Tropicana and Eastern. It's really tough finding good hispanic foods in this town, so I pulled in and ran inside.

As a foodie, I get pretty excited about good food. As a starving student, I get REALLY excited about good food cheap! I found jalapenos on sale 2 pounds for .99! I nearly wept. Mexican produce is good and cheap. Forty dollars later, I was checked out by a very nice young man.

As the person behind me began her checkout process, I realized that the $3.50 special priced olive oil had actually rung up at $8.99. Though I'm not one to make a big issue of things, $5.00 is $5.00. So I waited as the customer was checked out and pointed out the error. My clerk handled it like a pro. He went to the oils aisle and saw that indeed my item was on sale. He came back to the register, apologized like a gentleman and handed me the difference. I was elated!

King Ranch, you have definitely become my new favorite grocery store!