EOC WEEK 8: The Adventure

It was a cold and gloomy night in the Philippines for Phileas Fogg, he had no idea what to for the night so he decided to take a walk. He had been walking for a while when all of a sudden he heard a loud bang and crash. His heart started racing and he began to think “this will give me something to do”. So he followed the sounds for when seemed like forever. When he finally for there and looked around he saw a little bar and there was a huge fight going on. They were breaking everything and Phileas had no idea what to do. He looked over and saw some girls freaking out because all they wanted to do was get drinks and have a good time. So he decided to be the hero and step in and try to fix the situation. He ended up getting punched multiple times and then finally managed to contain the situation. The girls immediately started trying to clean the place up a little bit because they wanted to enjoy the rest of their night. Phileas started helping them and began talking to the girl. They all stopped and started talking for a little bit and after a few hours they began to clean again when Phileas came across this hard piece of food that he had never seen before and he got curious and wanted to know what it was. He tried to break it multiple times so the girls got curios and decided to check it out and see what he was doing, when they went over there they watched him and started laughing and helped him and they ended up all working together and having so much fun breaking it and found out that it tasted really good. They found all the ingredients and ended up making a huge business out of what they discovered.

Implementation Evaluation Control

Even though we are starting out small the Honey Bar is going to be a huge hit for single men and women because it is designed so that 2 or more people can enjoy breaking it and figuring out fun and creative ways to eat it.  “A company can divide sales responsibilities along any of several lines. The structure decision is simple if the company sells only one product line to one industry with customers in many locations. In that case the company would use a territorial sales force structure.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page416) The reason I say 2 or more people is because if people are double dating or even a group of people order it there is enough to go around. We will have a website for people to go to so they can order some if they are hosting a party as well. The Honey Bar goes great with any kind or drink and will be a hit anywhere you’re drinking. “In many cases, the move to team selling mirrors similar changes in customers’ buying organizations. “Buyers implementing team-based purchasing decisions have necessitated the equal and opposite creation of team-based selling—a completely new way of doing business for many independent, self-motivated salespeople”( Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page420)

Price

The purpose of the Honey Bar is to have the perfect salty sweet snack at the bar for people to enjoy there night and drink with. “Marketing research gives marketers insights into customer motivations, purchase behavior, and satisfaction. It can help them to assess market potential and market share or to measure the effectiveness of pricing, product, distribution, and promotion activities.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page106) Our price for the Honey Bar is going to be like $6 because we import the nuts and are going to give away money and ticket prizes.  The quality of the Honey Bar will be great and have an amazing flavor and is going to be the perfect snack for a night out on the town. “Cutting prices is often not the best answer. Reducing prices unnecessarily can lead to lost profits and damaging price wars. It can cheapen a brand by signaling to customers that the price is more important than the customer value a brand delivers. Instead, no matter what the state of the economy, companies should sell value, not price.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page274) We believe that the price of our product is perfect for it not to cheap and not too expensive. Our hope are that it will draw people’s attention and realize it’s a good snack with their drinks and that they can really enjoy themselves at the bar. “Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. More broadly, price is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page275)

Promotion

Since we are a small business for a bar snack, Honey Bar will have promotions every once in a while to grab people’s attention as well as tricking their taste buds. There will be many more in the beginning so that people are willing to try our product. Our promotions will be like buy two get one free, or buy one get one half price. We will have times where we will give prizes in our boxes maybe a small money prize or vacation tickets something like to attract our customers. Game nights there will be a discount on price such as 40% or 50% off of the Honey Bar. Eventually we will start adding special flavors just to try it out. What we want out of this is for our customers to love what they are eating and have the perfect snack to enjoy their night with that does not affect how the night is going by getting our customers full where they feel sick. “Promotional pricing, however, can have adverse effects. Used too frequently and copied by competitors, price promotions can create “deal-prone” customers who wait until brands go on sale before buying them. Or, constantly reduced prices can erode a brand’s value in the eyes of customers. Marketers sometimes become addicted to promotional pricing, especially in difficult economic times. They use price promotions as a quick fix instead of sweating through the difficult process of developing effective longer-term strategies for building their brands.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Pages294)

Distribution

As fare as distribution for Honey Bar we will get our nuts imported from the Philippines to ensure that they have the best flavor for the snack. We will have a factory in Arizona, I say Arizona because it’s right next to California and Nevada which has a bunch of bars so it will be a good place to start off. It’s going to be a small business until the Honey Bar really gets noticed. “Resellers are distribution channel firms that help the company find customers or make sales to them. These include wholesalers and retailers who buy and resell merchandise. Selecting and partnering with resellers is not easy. No longer do manufacturers have many small, independent resellers from which to choose. They now face large and growing reseller organizations such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Costco, and Best Buy. These organizations frequently have enough power to dictate terms or even shut smaller manufacturers out of large markets.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page68) Once the Honey Bar really kicks off and it becomes a hit we will start to sell it in liquor stores so that men and women will be able to have that same experience of having a great time and a great snack with their drinks  at home or wherever. It will take a little to start out but I see great things in our future. “The marketing concept states that to be successful, a company must provide greater customer value and satisfaction than its competitors do. Thus, marketers must do more than simply adapt to the needs of target consumers. They also must gain strategic advantage by positioning their offerings strongly against competitors’ offerings in the minds of consumers.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page69)

Product

“Many sellers make the mistake of paying more attention to the specific products they offer than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products. These sellers suffer from marketing myopia. They are so taken with their products that they focus only on existing wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs”( Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page7) The product I have created, Honey Bar, is a crunchy, salty, and sweet snack that will be offered at bars and possibly a few liquor stores. It is designed to draw people closer together and get them to communicate and get closer while drinking and having a good time. “Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences. Dissatisfied customers often switch to competitors and disparage the product to others.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-page7) After you purchase a serving of the Honey Bar it will be packaged in a long think rectangular box that will open from the top. There will be 4 small clear plastic windows where you will be able to look inside the box, but just enough where you can tell if there is something in the box. Inside the box not only will it contain the Honey Bar but there will be items, but there will also be prizes for our customer. “Marketers must be careful to set the right level of expectations. If they set expectations too low, they may satisfy those who buy but fail to attract enough buyers.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page7)

Target Market Strategy

The main focus of the Honey Bar is men and women at bars, preferably single so they have a reason to mingle with someone they are interested in while drinking and have a fun snack that they can break and figure out fun ways to eat the Honey Bar. “The company first gains a full understanding of the marketplace by researching customer needs and managing marketing information. It then designs a customer-driven marketing strategy based on the answers to two simple questions. The first question is “What consumers will we serve?” (Market segmentation and targeting)”( Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page30) The male role in our product would be a single male who wants to have a good time and meet himself a nice lady to sit down and have a few drinks with while snacking on our Honey Bar, maybe even get up and dance a little. “Some people think of marketing management as finding as many customers as possible and increasing demand. But marketing managers know that they cannot serve all customers in every way. By trying to serve all customers, they may not serve any customers well. Instead, the company wants to select only customers that it can serve well and profitably.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page9) The female role in our product would be a single lady who is ready to go out and have a great time, dance, drink, snack, and laugh, and just simply enjoy herself and meet herself a fun guy to hang out with. Our product is designed to be a conversation starter or an ice breaker for those shy people out there.

Situation or SWOT Analysis

“Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis, by which it evaluates the company’s overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T)” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page54) The strengths to the Honey Bar would be the fact that is a snack from the Philippines and the experience of how it is broken in smaller pieces so it can be shared between everyone. Our weakness would be how long the deliveries would take because of it being from the Philippines.  “The main section of the plan presents a detailed SWOT analysis of the current marketing situation as well as potential threats and opportunities. The plan next states major objectives for the brand and outlines the specifics of a marketing strategy for achieving them.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page55) The opportunities that the Honey Bar would offer would jobs because we would need employees in the factories as well as distributing the item. The threats we would have would be the other companies that are trying to promote their snacks at the bar and trying to be number one just like we our.

Objectives

The Honey Bar is trying to be the best bar snack out there for men and women to enjoy together. It has been invented so that instead of the normal snacks you get at the bar you can get a new and better taste to enjoy. It has been created so that men and women could have a salty and sweet treat while drinking and enjoying your social time. “The Company needs to turn its mission into detailed supporting objectives for each level of management. Each manager should have objectives and be responsible for reaching them.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page40) The plan for the Honey Bar is for it to end up being sold in most if not all bars as well as in liquor stores because it designed to go with alcohol. The will be an online store as well for the bars to reach out to as well as the liquor stores.  “More companies today are partnering with the other members of the supply chain—suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, customers—to improve the performance of the customer value delivery network.”(Armstrong& Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page48) The goal is for our customers to eat the Honey Bar with the ones closest to them or new friends and be able to have a great time and not worry about if it’s too sweet or too salty, it’s the perfect combination. “Consumers stand in the center. The goal is to create value for customers and build profitable customer relationships. Next comes marketing strategy—the marketing logic by which the company hopes to create this customer value and achieve these profitable relationships. The company decides which customers it will serve (segmentation and targeting) and how (differentiation and positioning). It identifies the total market, then divides it into smaller segments, selects the most promising segments, and focuses on serving and satisfying the customers in these segments.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing-Page49)

Business Mission Statement

My mission statement for Honey Bar is so that each customer has the opportunity to be able to sit at a bar and get a snack that is good with any kind of drink and not get full off of the snack. I want them to be able to experience the sweet and salty taste while sipping or straight downing their drinks. “Guided by the company’s mission statement and objectives, management now must plan its business portfolio—the collection of businesses and products that make up the company.”(Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing- Page 42) I want my customers to be able to have a great time with their friends and family or even while meeting new people and sit down and talk about random things or just goof off. Maybe buy the snack to share it and make a Game out of it. “An organization exists to accomplish something, and this purpose should be clearly stated. Forging a sound mission begins with the following questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be?”(Armstrong& Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing- Page39) I came up with Honey Bar so that it could bring men and women together and to bond at the bar and for them to make conversation just to let loose for one night. “This is the focus of strategic planning—the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization’s goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing- Page 39)

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

Name of the Snack: Honey Bar

The country that I choose for my project is the Philippines. The snack that I am going to create is going to be like a brittle but will have rice, coconut, and a nut that comes from the Philippines in it and I am finding a sticky liquid to make it all stick together. As the sticky liquid I would like to use is honey, it tends to really hold things together. The price of the snack is going to be $6 because we are giving out money and tickets when you purchase a box. The box will open from the top and have four small clear windows so the customer can see just enough to be able to look inside the box. After opening it will be wrapped in a special paper that keeps it from losing flavor. The Honey Bar is going to be sweet and salty, crunchy and chewy. It’s the best of both world all in one snack, who wouldn’t love that. It will be sold at bars and eventually liquor stores. It will also be available online for when someone decides to host a party. Our Main goal is for our customers to have the perfect snack while drinking and mingling, with a fun and creative way to eating and break it. You can even take your frustration out on it when in a bad mood at the bar. It’s an all-around great snack that tastes great.

Week 6 EOC: Me times 3

EOC

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

         When it comes to social networking and job hunting things can sometimes get very difficult. I say this because finding a job depending on the time of year can actually seem almost impossible. However, in this article: Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors: Employing Real Customers to Get Out the Word it explains how people talk about things that tend to make them happy and in doing so they are promoting that product without realizing that they are. Due to technology “anyone can spread the word about products and brand experiences to thousands, even millions, of other consumers.” (Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors paragraph 1) So when job hunting look for something that you love or just enjoy doing because I doing so you will love to talk about your job or even business and it won’t seem as if you are actually working when in fact you are. The article states “marketers are now working to harness the newfound communications power of their everyday customers, turning them into influential brand ambassadors.” (Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors paragraph 2) Which means that management or business owners are looking for great customers to make them their great employees and help out the company. “Companies are looking for consumers who are passionate about their products.” (Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors paragraph 3) As the companies hire or employ their consumers they rely on them to talk to their acquaintances, friends, and family to promote their products as well as expand their business. As you are doing this you won’t even realize that you are working because you market products every day without realizing that you are doing so. Why not get paid in to process.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

        So in my marketing clad we discussed emailing as a huge rite of passage in this generation because nobody emails anymore. Personally I did not think that emailing was that big of a deal in words of a rite of passage kind of situation because I have been sending emails for years because that is how I got ahold of my grandparents, but that’s besides that point. A student at the University of Maryland stated that “I’m more of an adult now that I send email, becoming a person who sends emails felt like a bigger rite of passage than registering to vote.” (For generation Z, Email has become a rite of passage paragraph 2) For this research paper done by Christopher Mims says numerous times that generation Z is so into the new technology that email my disappear.  “From 15 young adults, ages 16 to 21: Email is for communicating with old people, the digital equivalent of putting on a shirt and tie.” (For generation Z, Email has become a rite of passage paragraph 6) The answers people gave during the surveys in this passage made me realize just how foreign email is these days. I mean yes I emailed every now and then but I thought that most people emailed every now and then, I was very wrong on that part. People have said that with email it is to slow and it could take a while for someone to realize they have an email and for them to even get a response.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money For Good

         

            When it comes to making money for good I’m not just talking about making money for life, I’m talking about making money for a good cause and helping out the community. When doing so find a career where you can enjoy what you do every day and look forward to working. One that half the time you don’t even feel like you’re working, something you’re passionate about. That tends to help out a lot actually. Once you have found a job that you very much enjoy doing figure out what you can do with that job to help out your community and give back for once. It will not be easy at first but as you continue with it things will get easier. So for example there is a make-up company who donates 100% of the profits made from their lipstick to men, women, and children with HIV and AIDS. It is said that “Since 1994, MAC has raised over $270 million primarily through VIVA GLAM products”. (Making money for good paragraph 1) To promote their products they decided to use celebrities that the community looks up to for the personal triumphs which they have said that so far there have been over 20 celebrities who have been featured. “We’re working to ensure that under-served and marginalized people and communities, including sex workers, injection drug users and gay men have access to the prevention, treatment and care programs they need and deserve”. (Making money for good paragraph 2) When giving back to the community you don’t have to give money to the same cause you can give the money to any cause that you feel is important, there are so many different charity programs out there to donate to you can choose any of them. Once you start to give back you will feel extremely good about yourself.