Week 8 EOC: Creative Content

For my project I plan to build a website for the product. This website will have a couple really nice Web 2.0 features and will be coded mainly in HTML5/CSS3/jQuery, not just thrown on top of CMS theme. Since the website will need content I will also create a company logo, packaging and a product style guide for the project. Different parts of the project may be pulled and used in the site as the text content.



The book refers to the type of site it will be as a corporate site. “The most basic type is a corporate (or brand) Web site. These sites are designed to build customer goodwill, collect customer feedback, and supplement other sales channels, rather than to sell the company’s products directly. “Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. 10. VitalSource Bookshelf. Pearson Learning Solutions, , Monday, February 27, 2012. And that’s exactly what the goal for the site will be, not to actually sell anything but to raise awareness of the product.



The site its self will most likely by a 5-6 page site with just the info for the product and static display images. The site would feature a home page, about, contact, beverage list page and a social media page. The Photoshop images for the packaging would be he most used images on the site. The site will be built in Photoshop first as a mock-up and then the assets will be used for the real site creation.



I will also ensure that the site is set-up to be social media friendly, by putting in things like Facebook like buttons and Pinterest “pin it” buttons. These little buttons are what starts things to go viral so having them will make the product look more real. I also see the site have a cool jQuery gotobyscroll effect being used with a floating nav box. The site will be linked to the blog and be wrapped in an iframe so that all the effects come thru.

Final Project: Implementation Evaluation Control

Once the product is out in the world the most important task will be to continually ensure that the company does not slow down. "Truly sustainable marketing requires a smooth-functioning marketing system in which consumers, companies, public policy makers, and others work together to ensure socially and environmentally responsible marketing actions. "Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation.Chapter 16 page 512. To ensure that Czekolada Beverages does remain a responsible company policies will be created. These will include policies to ensure that the high quality of the products remains and also that the social media presence of the company continues to grow. Product testing will also be very important so that a downturn in quality will be avoided at all cost. The company will also develop new flavors, explore different avenues for our beverages and try to innovate. "New products are important—to both customers and the marketers who serve them. For customers, they bring new solutions and variety to their lives. For companies, new products are a key source of growth. Even in a down economy, companies must continue to innovate." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 8, page 245. This is where the strength of not just making one chocolate infused vodka comes into play; we make many different flavors just as chocolate has many different flavors and combinations. The ability to update and expand our offering will provide the product growth needed for the company to remain.

Below is a mock-up of the home page for the company website.

Final Project: Price

"Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible marketing mix elements."Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 9, Page 275 Our products will be priced to compete with other mid-shelf flavored vodkas. Price will be set from our company at the bottle level of $20 for the 750ml bottle and $35 for the 1750ml bottle. Individual resale of the product, such as in bars, would be left up to the retail business themselves. Our goal is that by staying within the same price range as our closest competitors the quality of the product will allow to stand out. "The steps in the selling process as just described are transaction oriented—their aim is to help salespeople close a specific sale with a customer. But in most cases, the company is not simply seeking a sale. Rather, it wants to serve the customer over the long haul in a mutually profitable relationship." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 13, Page 430.  This is the goal of our company’s pricing program to take the cost out of the consumers decision and trust on our products to be successful.

Final Project: Promotion

"Although television, magazines, newspapers, and other mass media remain very important, their dominance is declining. In their place, advertisers are now adding a broad selection of more-specialized and highly targeted media to reach smaller customer segments with more-personalized, interactive messages." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation  Chapter 12. Page 375 This explains why Czekolada Beverages will choose to skip over tradition print and television advertising and focus on social media. The social media presence will offer examples of different drinks that can be made using the product and a bunch of lifestyle advice. It will also allow for more creative promotions like, extremely limited online offers and consumer rewards. "Examples of sales promotions are found everywhere. A freestanding insert in the Sunday newspaper contains a coupon offering $1 off Pedigree GoodBites treats for your dog. An e-mail from LLBean.com offers free shipping on your next purchase over $100. A Bed Bath & Beyond ad in your favorite magazine offers 20 percent off your next purchase." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation  Chapter 13, Page 432 These online promotions should foster an environment where consumers will want to check on our online sites daily to weekly. These are also ways to help the product go viral and gain exposure to a larger audience. This method of promotion will also be easily scalable into the global level and translate well into other countries.

Final Project: Distribution

In order to get the products to the market is important know what the distribution model will be. The product will follow the standard three-tier distribution method for selling alcohol in the US. The company will sell the drinks to a licensed distributor that will then sell it to the retailer, who then will sell it to the end consumer. The retailers will be the most important link in the chain of selling the product to the consumers. "Retailing plays a very important role in most marketing channels. Each year, retailers account for more than $4.4 trillion of sales to final consumers. They connect brands to consumers in what marketing agency OgilvyAction calls “the last mile”—the final stop in the consumer’s path to purchase. "Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 11, Page 346. Since the global market is not required to follow American law Czekolada Beverages will just "Straight product extension means marketing a product in a foreign market without any change. Top management tells its marketing people, “Take the product as is and find customers for it.” Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 15, Page 496. Since the product is such high quality and the globalization of the world connecting everyone, marketing in other countries will only require slight language changes.

Final Project: Product

Low calorie chocolates infused vodkas are Czekolada Beverages main products; these are to include the several different chocolate flavors offered. The bottles will be standard 750ml and 1750ml sizes. The book states that “We define a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. Products include more than just tangible objects, such as cars, computers, or cell phones. Broadly defined, “products” also include services, events, persons, places, organizations, ideas, or mixes of these."  Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. Chapter 7, Page 209. What we will offer is an enjoyable high quality beverage to the consumer in bottled form. To go a further in depth about other product choice it is important to note what the PLC concept is. "The PLC concept can describe a product class (gasoline-powered automobiles), a product form (SUVs), or a brand (the Ford Escape). The PLC concept applies differently in each case. Product classes have the longest life cycles—the sales of many product classes stay in the mature stage for a long time."  Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. Chapter 8, Page 258. Now that has been explained, the product class of what we offer is low calorie chocolate infused vodka and Czekolada Beverages is the brand behind it. The products are not just simply another vodka but a whole new class of vodkas.

Final Project: Target Market Strategy

Before we get into what the target Market strategy of the Czekolada Beverages is we need to discuss who exactly we are targeting. "Demographic segmentation divides the market into segments based on variables such as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation, and nationality. Demographic factors are the most popular bases for segmenting customer groups."Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. Chapter 6, Page 177. So with that out of the way now we can talk about which demographic segment out business will cater itself to. Women ages 21-50, middle-class income, mostly likely to be single or married without kids is the demo Czekolada Beverages wish’s to capture. It is this group that consumes vodka socially and also purchases chocolate for self-enjoyment; they also can be very calorie aware and concerned about their figure. The strategy Czekolada Beverages chooses is to use social media and newer forms of reaching out to people to ingrate with the target demos lifestyle. "Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics. It involves measuring consumers’ major AIO dimensions—activities (work, hobbies, shopping, sports, social events), interests (food, fashion, family, recreation), and opinions (about themselves, social issues, business, products). Lifestyle captures something more than the person’s social class or personality. It profiles a person’s whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 5, Page 147. By focusing efforts into things like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest we will have more of a impact then by simply shot gunning ads out. When people follow a company on a social site they make a direct connection with the company and Czekolada Beverages can take benefit of this by offering direct ads over these sites. Things like a nice photo on Pinterest can spark more of an intrigue and go viral quicker than any print ad might. The market strategy will also to present a company image that seems aloof and act almost above caring about reaching new consumers, a company that just wants to make high quality beverages. We want people to choose us and not to try and force ourselves upon them. And this is where the social media comes full circle, we will let people’s friends Facebook walls and Tweets do the advertising for us.

Final Project: 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)" Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. Chapter 2, Page 55. With that stated we can now examine Czekolada Beverages to see where it will fit into the current market place and what concerns will need to be addressed. The strengths of the company is that all of the products offer a variety of benefits to the consumer. All of the products are low calorie; this is a great strength in that it will help shrink the number of competitors. Another strength of the product is the versatility the drinks offer; they are not meant to be just consumed but to have other things mixed in with it. And finally the last strength would be the high quality of the product. The only real weakness is that there is risk some may not like the taste. Also desiring to create a niche for the drinks will help strengthen the consumer base it could alienate some potential consumers. This niche is also an opportunity for Czekolada Beverages in that a health niche will lead to health sales and stability of the product. "To create value for customers and to build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want. Companies use such customer insights to develop competitive advantage. “In today’s hypercompetitive world,” states a marketing expert, “the race for competitive advantage is really a race for customer and market insights.” Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. Chapter 4, Page 101. There is also opportunity that the product could grow outside this niche into the main market. The threats to the company and products are the not only the current related options but that of larger drink companies moving into the same product market. Even if Czekolada Beverages is the first into the market with low-calorie chocolate infused vodka it will not be the only one.

Final Project: Objectives

Czekolada Beverages objectives in the market place will be to stand out on the strength of the product and to create a new niche market for our unique beverages. To do this we want to become the go to beverage for our consumers get the to the point where if its not us then they don’t want anything. According to the book, “People vary in their emphasis on serving themselves versus serving others. Some people seek personal pleasure, wanting fun, change, and escape. Others seek self-realization through religion, recreation, or the avid pursuit of careers or other life goals. Some people see themselves as sharers and joiners; others see themselves as individualists. People use products, brands, and services as a means of self-expression, and they buy products and services that match their views of themselves." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 3, Page 89. It is this reliance people develop with products that we want to build on, by supplying them a product they just can’t get elsewhere. However it is understood that in today’s current world we will need to be flexible and need to continually develop new ideas and flavors of the brand. Just as “The product concept holds that consumers will favor products that offer the most in quality, performance, and innovative features. Under this concept, marketing strategy focuses on making continuous product improvements." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation Chapter 1, Page 10. So a driving objective of Czekolada Beverages will be to ensure that the quality of the products is always of the highest caliber. Finally the last objective of the company is not to just get people drunk off our amazingly tasty hooch but to ensure that they do so responsibility and are educated of the benefits our products provide.

Final Project: Business Mission Statement

For every business the one of the most important things is “what is the mission statement?” Czekolada Beverages is to be defined by what our statement is so first lets look at exact what should a mission statement be. “A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purpose—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. A clear mission statement acts as an “invisible hand” that guides people in the organization. “Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. 10. VitalSource Bookshelf. Pearson Learning Solutions, , Monday, March 05, 2012.

So what does Czekolada Beverages want to guide people to do, what does this company want to accomplish in the market place. Before the mission statement is created we also need to look at two very different sides of the company; the Product – Oriented and the Market – Oriented sides. Czekolada Beverages Product – Oriented Definition is to “Sell Chocolate Infused Vodkas.” The Market – Oriented Definition is to “Provide people with a flavorful alcohol inside a low calorie drink” Both are close to each other but different enough that they need to be combined to make the mission statement. This must also not be to narrow since as the book explains “Products and technologies eventually become outdated, but basic market needs may last forever. Cold Stone Creamery’s mission isn’t simply to sell ice cream. Its mission is to “make people happy around the world by selling the highest quality, most creative ice cream experience with passion, excellence, and innovation.” Likewise, Under Armour’s mission isn’t just to make performance sports apparel, it’s “to make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation.” Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. 10. VitalSource Bookshelf. Pearson Learning Solutions, , Monday, March 05, 2012.

Czekolada Beverages’ mission is to make people’s lifestyles more enriched though the taste and quality of our drinks.

Final Project: Pitch

Czekolada Beverages. Low calorie chocolate favored vodkas. Combining the finest chocolate favors with the inviting taste of premium vodkas all while being diet friendly. While the current market place contains either low calorie or chocolate flavored vodkas, no product offers both. This product would be attractive to the current consumers for both people that enjoy both and still remain different enough to stand out.

Czekolada Beverages would not just offer a single chocolate drink; it would offer an array of different flavors. Vodka at its best has no real taste and makes for a prefect base to add flavors to. Just like how dark chocolate and white chocolate are day and night from each other so would be the different vodka flavors. These would be the basic Dark, Milk, White Chocolate flavors and also include bolder mixes like Chocolate/Japeino.

By being low calorie the drinks will be a smart choice for that person whom wants a drink but not to worry about it later. Its also lends itself to becoming a standard choice for mixed drinks and help in the creation of new drinks by being a strong bold flavor.

EOC: Marketing Project Concept

For my project I plan to build a website for the product. This website will have a couple really nice Web 2.0 features and will be coded mainly in HTML5/CSS3/jQuery, not just thrown on top of CMS theme. Since the website will need content I will also create a company logo, packaging and a product style guide for the project. Different parts of the project may be pulled and used in the site as the text content.

The site its self will most likely by a 5-6 page site with just the info for the product and mostly likely text from the blog post as the content. The site would feature a home page, about, contact, beverage list page and a social media page. The Photoshop images for the packaging would be he most used images on the site. The site will be built in Photoshop first as a mock-up and then the assets will be used for the real site creation.

I will also ensure that the site is set-up to be social media friendly, by putting in things like Facebook like buttons and Pinterest “pin it” buttons. These little buttons are what starts things to go viral so having them will make the product look more real. I also see the site have a cool jQuery gotobyscroll effect being used with a floating nav box.

EOC Week 7 The Pitch

Czekolada Beverages.  Low calorie chocolate favored vodkas. Combining the finest chocolate favors with the inviting taste of premium vodkas all while being diet friendly. While the current market place contains either low calorie or chocolate flavored vodkas, no product offers both. This product would be attractive to the current consumers for both people that enjoy both and still remain different enough to stand out.

Czekolada Beverages would not just offer a single chocolate drink; it would offer an array of different flavors. Vodka at its best has no real taste and makes for a prefect base to add flavors to. Just like how dark chocolate and white chocolate are day and night from each other so would be the different vodka flavors. These would be the basic Dark, Milk, White Chocolate flavors and also include bolder mixes like Chocolate/Japeino.

 By being low calorie the drinks will be a smart choice for that person whom wants a drink but not to worry about it later. Its also lends itself to becoming a standard choice for mixed drinks and help in the creation of new drinks by being a strong bold flavor.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Both the article from the Wall Street Journal and the expert from the book are working towards the same marketing concept of hiring people based off of online social media. However they both differ in how well it has been working and both make a good case with the support they put forth. To start with the book it says, "In response, marketers are now working to harness the newfound communications power of their everyday customers, turning them into influential brand ambassadors." Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation. 10. VitalSource Bookshelf. Pearson Learning Solutions, , Monday, February 06, 2012. <http://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/books/9780558851903/id/ch05box01>. What the book is explaining that is that companies today are more inclined to give there customers power of the companies marketing. The book gives an example of how Jet Blue (no need to post a paragraph I'll summarize) now actively looks for customer to be product ambassadors and is so successful at it that there are people completing for this positions even thought they offer very little in return. To me people seek out this roles because it the already have a connection with the product.
Now the WSJ is also writing about how companies are trying to use social networks, mainly Facebook to hire people. The major difference is that they are exploring companies that are searching for normal company jobs (i.e. support, accounting, managerial) and people are not responding well to it. "Facebook hires account for less than 1% of the total hires companies are making, according to Jobs2Web, which helps companies track the sources of candidates and hires." Job Recruiters Turn to Facebook to Find Candidates - WSJ.com To me the reason why is that people like to keep private stuff away from potential employers. If one to apply on Facebook then they know the company is likely to look at their profile and a lot of people have things on Facebook they would prefer a potential employer wouldn't see.
The book and the WSJ are correct even though they are stating opposite conclusions of the use of social networks for hiring tools. The jobs referenced  by the books are more attractive almost a way to sneak in because you know someone and the WSJ jobs are just that, jobs.