Take the Crown Royals!

According to different authors the marketing of sports events and teams is defined as designing or developing a live themed activity, exhibiting a sport event to promote a product, team, or organization.

One current event that is manifesting this concept is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, the 2014 World Series.

It has been since 1985 that our very own Kansas City Royals have won the World Series, and today October 29th they get another shot at winning the title. So what does that mean for Kansas City? More publicity!

One of the best ways to publicize a team and represent a city during a sport event is by simply wearing the brand. With the Royals in the World Series and the dozens of watch parties being held at local Kansas City bars, fans are out to purchase the best Royals gear to prove team spirit.

Local Kansas City stores have been struggling to keep merchandise in stock ever since the post season games began. I recently caught myself at a local Kansas Sampler watching “Hosmer #35″ shirts fly off of the shelves into the hands of die hard fans. While I was looking around, I asked the manager about recent sales, and as he rushed off to stock more items he yelled “sales yea a lot of them, you wanna’ give me hand?!” As much money as I have recently spent shopping there I wouldn’t mind the employee discount, but I respectively declined the offer.

The majority of customers (from the observation and assumptions I made) more than likely experienced the game in 85′, while others were probably only beginning to crawl at the time. Then there was I, the proud “bandwagon” fan , who by the way is ironically a California native that was born in South San Francisco. There is quite some shade being thrown at us “bandwagon” fans, but whether people like it or not, we are the result of successful sport event marketing. Us “bandwagon” fans (I hate the label, hence the angry quotation marks) are proof that sport event marketing is powerful and effective. So powerful that one event alone can create thousands of new fans, adding to the recognition and promotion of the teams involved.

So whether you have been a fan since 85′ or just joined the bandwagon, don’t forget your gear for tonight’s game as we watch the Royals take on the San Francisco Giants in the last game. So go on and wear your blue proudly !
Thanks for reading and remember, be royal Kansas City !
– Marla G

Are you ready for the newest big thing that gonna hit the market? Nixie selfie

The Nixie, brainchild of Stanford postdoctoral researcher Christoph Kohstall, is an attempt to make the world’s first flyable and wrist-wearable camera. The Nixie is for those moments in life when you really want a picture or video of something you’re doing, but using a standard camera or phone either isn’t feasible or would interrupt the moment. Imagine being able to capture a picture of yourself climbing a mountain, flying a kite with your children, or going over an epic jump on your bike.

The Nixie drone starts off as a somewhat bulky bracelet, but unfolds into a small, sleek quadcopter after you perform a simple gesture with your wrist. In theory, once the Nixie takes off from your wrist, it’ll know exactly where you’re standing, snap a photo or video, and then come back to you like a boomerang so you don’t lose it.

Endorsements, forever a marketers dream!

You would think with all the controversy that has surrounded the NFL lately, that marketers and brands in general would be steering clear of the NFL and all it’s affiliates. That is definitely not the case. One only has to look at the recent news involving Bose headphones, and their new mandate to have all NFL associates only use their products on camera.

In March of this year, Bose and the NFL reached a deal to make them the official audio supplier of the league. The deal now appears to have included in it a clause regarding the use of any other brands competing with Bose, most notably the Beats brand, which is by far and away the dominant force in the headphone market. These new revelations about the deal are set to include any appearances by players and coaches who are acting in an official capacity. That means that on any given game day, all viewers will see is Bose equipment. It has become quite a familiar sight recently, to see players coming off the team bus adorned in their Beats headphones, or even on the sidelines and in interviews. All of this will cease if the clause in the contract is to be believed.

This can clearly be seen as move by Bose to gain more market share in a notoriously monopolized market. Beats has disproportionately high 61%, of the “over $100″ headphones market, and one can only assume that the countless athlete endorsements (most of which is free) has helped them. Bose does have 22% market share though, and a deal like this could see those numbers rise.

Endorsements have long been the bread and butter of most established brands, and with this deal that trend seems set to continue.

 

McDonald’s Last Hope

What has McDonald’s been doing for the last few years? Some customers are starting to ask themselves this very question. After the initial spread of the “Pink Slime,” McDonald’s has gotten a nasty image in the eyes of the consumers. No longer is McDonald’s a place to get a cheap burger, but is now instead a safe haven for the morbidly obese. This is the picture many are starting to image when they here the name McDonald’s. With obesity in the United States at 34.9% many Americans wish to eat such poor quality foods. McDonald’s name has a huge black smudge on it, what are they able to do to help?

McDonald’s has recently kicked off a campaign to address each and every customer about questions directed towards the overall health of their food. Enter Grant Imahara, former Mythbusters co-host and all around tech guru. Grant will lead McDonald’s social media campaign to answer the public’s questions. Through this campaign they will gain insight about their customers needs and wants in the fast food industry. With millennials reporting a 20% decrease in fast-food restaurant visitations, this could be McDonald’s last chance to reconnect with its customers. As highlighted in Forbes they will address many things in this campaign.

“To dispel all these beliefs – and hopefully shift consumer behavior – McDonald’s is turning to social media to take real questions from consumers and deliver real answers. Answers to questions like, “What is mechanically-separated meat, and how do you turn it into a nugget?” or “What’s with that pink slime?” or “Why are there 17 ingredients in your French fries?” “Is there horsemeat in your hamburgers?” and the very, very, best of all: “Does McDonald’s even sell real food?”  Don’t believe us? Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaJUq1ncCRo”

Will simply telling the customers what they want to hear, pursue and change their mindsets? I say no, McDonald’s brand is lacking. Just telling people our food is healthy is not enough, rather McDonald’s needs to change their whole brand. This is simply a brand problem. Plain and simple the food provided will never be healthy, it is only convenient. Without complete re-branding McDonald’s will continue to fail each and every quarter.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpassikoff/2014/10/14/mcdonalds-hopes-new-social-media-qa-will-modify-food-image/

Cheers,

Connor Nutterfield

Writing Advice I Should Have Shared, Lisa Allen

Hey Team –

Our friend, Lisa Allen, published a blog post specifically for you all!

Enjoy!

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Earlier this month I was asked to share my insight as a writer with an eMarketing class at Johnson County Community College. I’ve been a guest in classrooms before, and even mentored a student who thought writing might be a viable career option. But this was the first time I’d talked with college students about writing.

The experience was exhilarating, at least for me. I loved the questions the students asked, and talking about writing reminds me that I’m lucky to make a living doing what I love to do. Because the class is focused on marketing, we honed in on copywriting and talked search engine optimization, the importance of blogging for business and why words still matter even when space is limited and attention spans continue to shrink.

We talked about research and metrics; editorial calendars and the importance of consistency. We talked about why it’s important to write not only for the audience, but for the client. We talked about how their writing might be different if they’re creating a website for a financial planner rather than an indie rock band.

There was some important advice I didn’t give them, though, which is that before they can effectively write evocative, thoughtful copy for a client they have to actually get out to experience life. We’re all working with the same tool kit: the same 26 letters in the alphabet, the same basic rules of grammar, and the same place in which to share what we’ve written (in their case, the internet).

Writing can be a learned skill, and even those of us who feel that writing is a calling know that it should be studied. Grammar, vocabulary, and structure all have rights and wrongs to follow.

But even the most technically perfect piece of writing can lack interest if it lacks voice. People who hire me to write profiles, blogs and books don’t do so because I know the difference between to, too, and two; they hire me because of the unique voice I bring to each and every project.

That voice is an undefinable mix of experience and perception. It’s my interest in the stories people want to share with me, and how I turn those stories over in my mind and write something that’s true to the experience but told in a fresh way that catches the interest of others.

None of us live in a vacuum, and even copy written with a sole purpose to sell needs to elicit some kind of reaction from the reader. It needs a ‘me, too’ factor that resonates emotionally. It needs to be genuine and relatable. It needs voice, and more often than not that voice comes from a writer’s own experiences.

So, students, that was the piece we didn’t talk about. It doesn’t mean that you can’t yet write because you’re young, because that’s not true. But if I could give you just one piece of advice that will improve your writing, it would be to get out there and live your life. Listen to others, and let their stories wash over you. Be open to new experiences and to people whose beliefs are different than your own, and embrace the unique perspective that makes your voice distinct.

Media Buzz of the Week

1. Apple and Facebook are now offering egg-freezing services for their employees..

Facebook and Apple are offering to freeze eggs for their female employees, to persuade them to join their staff. Apple provides benefits such as; extended maternity leave police, cyropreservation and egg storage. Why would they do such thing? To encourage their female staff to work their best and to pros-pone family planning. Facebook on the other hand offers up to $20,000 for egg freezing, adoption and surrogacy assistance. They even offer fertility services for males. Do you think that’s a good move?

N.B Marketing Strategy- to attrack women to the male dominated field.

2. Samsung developing  “super fast” WiFi 

“Slow Internet can make you crazy!” Well Samsung is developing WiFi data transmission at speed 5 times faster than any of the latest devices. It will take only three seconds to transfer a 1GB movie. Samsung’s 60GHz WiFi technology will increase data transferring speed from 108MB per second. This would do great for Small Business owners transferring large documents or video conferencing while out of the office. Is Samsung thinking outside of the box?

N.B Marketing Strategy- Most devices on the market; Tablets, speakers, phones etc ate two module’s behind this new tech so if Samsung launch this WiFi data transmission consumers have to purchase the highest speed Samsung tablets, speakers and phones to go along with it.

3. Twitter users in France will apparently be able to transfer money through tweets.

It’s called S-Money — a partnership between Twitter and one of France’s largest banks. Twitter users who hold a French bankbook can now send money via tweets; a simple, quick, free and as they say ‘secure’ means of payment. How does this work? The users can send a tweet by tagging the name of the recipient and hashtag the sum of money. The payment is also visible on twitter.

N.B Marketing Strategy- To view twitter and other social media as marketing channels to reach a wider set of customers and to extend the Banks existing mobile banking initiatives.

Yours Truly,

Camille A. Mullings

The Growth Hacking Process: An Overview, Pt. 1

Growth hacking. We’ve gone over what it is. We’ve gone over examples of it. But how can you start growth hacking? I mean, all the examples we went over seem to have a process that they used and they’ve got it all together!

Well, let me let you in on a little secret… THERE IS A PROCESS! And the process is such an easy concept, even you can remember and follow it!

Disclaimer: this was totally made by Sean Ellis. I’m just expanding on what he teaches.

Step 1: Acquisition

You’ve got to acquire customers. There are a couple ways you can do this.

Push Tactics and Pull Tactics.

Push tactics are kinda old school. Doesn’t mean they’re bad, but they’re old school. Push tactics are things like:

• Ads
• Promo Swaps
• Affiliates (pretty similar to ads)
• Old school stuff (like telemarketing)
• Getting Retail space

Essentially, push tactics get the product in front of the customer.

Pull tactics get the the customer to seek out the product or happen upon the product based on a search, referral, or something else.

Pull tactics are things like:

• Blogging
• Ebooks and different types of guides
• SEO
• Social Media
• Referrals
• Infographics
• And many more…

Basically, your goal with both push tactics and pull tactics is to get possible customers on your website.

Step 2: Activate Your Customers

Activating your customers is basically the process of getting your customers ready to buy.

The first thing you have to do for this stage is to think of your goal. Do want to activate your customers to fill out a form? Purchase a product? Sign up for a service? Figuring out your goal is so important because it will determine how you approach activation. What you say. What your landing pages look…. Oh wait, we haven’t gotten there yet.

So, here how to activate your customers:

• Create A Landing Page(s)
• Have awesome copy
• Create calls to action (no dip, Sherlock)
• Onboarding (Giving directions to people to tell them whats next)
• Gamification
• Pricing Strategies

Those are ways to activate your customers! But you’re probably like “The heck Ted! That doesn’t actually tell me how to do that stuff!” And that’s exactly why we’ll be exploring all of that more in depth a little later on… In another article…

So there you have it! The first 2 steps to growth hacking. There are 3 more. Next week, we’ll look at the last 3!

Want to know when I publish those articles?

Subscribe to my blog 🙂

Keep Calm and Party Hard,

Ted

The Wrong Doings of Social Media

In this new technology driven world, communication is at an all time high. People can simple go to Facebook or Twitter and tell the entire world exactly what they are thinking. This is a great achievement and has opened up many possibilities for the aspiring entrepreneurs or business persons. However, this “social world” runs rampant with wrong doings. In this article I will highlight a few key points to help you avoid community backlash and possible lawsuits.

With social media being only a click or touch away everyone is doing it. For the first time every, you have members of all generations getting together on one website and embracing the technology. All of this technology makes it easy to express your view points and problems. This is what can get you into trouble. Just this week yet another case has come to the medias attention, highlighted by The Leaf Chronicle, as a high school-er took to social media and issued a series of threats directed towards his Tennessee local high school. According to police he had absolutely no means to carry out such threats and was simply blowing off steam.

Now this raises a very serious question, just what is to be taken seriously on social media, and just what type of comments get the most negative attention. Many people simply do not think about the repercussions from their posts. Every single article posted on every social media website is going to be immediately under scrutiny. Everything you say on a social media site, or the internet for that matter, will be archived for the entire world to see at any given time. What you post is important and will reflect on you in the present and the future.

By following these simple steps anyone can avoid becoming a public target on a social media site.

• Do not post anything when angry, just like having a discussion, doing so when angry things are bound to slip and you will never be able to take them back.
• Never post anything personally, or any information you would not want everyone to have.
• Leave edgy and inappropriate topics alone, anything you would only discuss in the sanctity of your own home should be left there.
• Always proof read your post, many things do not come out how you would like them to, and reading them out loud is a simple way to find errors.
• Make it positive, social media does love a good fight, but these fights are never good. Make social media a positive experience for everyone.

Being cautious and courteous is key to having a positive social media experience. Just like when ordering things online you should embrace them with a certain about of caution and skepticism. At the end of the day just remember, “Once it’s on the Internet, It’s ALWAYS on the Internet.” Social media is an almost limitless way to express yourself to your fellow peers and friends, however it is available to everyone on the Internet. Just as in real life, things said are vital in creating and maintaining rapport. Don’t allow yourself to become just another statistic.

Cheers,

Connor Nutterfield

“Suspect in Social Media Threats Arrested.” Suspect in Social Media Threats Arrested. The Leaf Chronicle, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/crime/2014/10/08/clarksville-police-investigating-social-media-posts/16950237/&gt;.

Pink McNuggets?

In the past McDonalds has been through a lot of questioning. Some of the common questions are why their food looks a lot better on TV than in person and I would say their most popular question, why are your chicken nuggets pink?

It all started with a simple picture that made it online stating that the pink goop that was coming out of the tube was used to make chicken nuggets. The picture was shared by tons of people quickly becoming one of the most viral pictures in its time. McDonalds has come up with a way of answering some of the questions that have been asked. They started recording video responses and posting them on popular sites along with their own webpage. I found this to be a very effective way of sharing the truth and convincing the consumer that their chicken was not whatever the picture was of.

Below is a link to the video response that McDonalds created.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/mcdonalds-shows-how-its-mcnuggets-are-made-no-pink-slime-n23706

Loyalty Programs: Buying Customers Privacy

You’ve now officially been warned, but it’s time to realize that you are being bought out. What new marketing gimmick has you selling your personal information at a cheap cost?

Customer loyalty programs are not a thing of the past, in fact almost everyone has a key ring or a wallet dedicated to housing all their loyalty membership cards. Customer loyalty cards once served the purpose of maintaining a loyal customer report, but now they’re doing much, much more.

A few weeks ago I went to Target to purchase some groceries. When I went through the check out the cashier, who is always very thorough, asked me if I would like to sign up for a Target rewards card. I’ve been asked this almost every time I have been through Target, and I know they are required to ask this, but every single time I have always declined the offer. I had never been entirely certain why I didn’t want the Target rewards card, I’m a loyal Target customer and would likely benefit from having one. The likely reason I have always declined was that I carried the assumption that the rewards card was a credit card, and at this stage in my life I am not interested in the responsibilities that come with having a credit card.

In short, the cashier this time intrigued me differently by making me aware that the Target rewards card is not a credit card, and can actually be tied to your debit card. I found this very appealing, and although I passed on the card yet again, I continued to ponder the proposition for the rest of the week. I couldn’t help but wonder how it was that Target was profiting from having a rewards program which offers its members 5% back on all purchases, and offers coupons to customers on products they buy. It wasn’t like people weren’t taking advantage of it, in fact the two people in line before be that morning swiped their own rewards cards before the completion of their transactions. If it wasn’t a credit card, where Target would be profiting from the interest, why was this an ongoing promotion? How was Target continuing to turn a profit from a program that seemed to be designed to limit their profit?

As I continued to have this battle with myself over loyalty rewards programs a commercial from Walmart came on the television. The commercial was introducing the launch of a new loyalty program from Walmart. I found this intriguing because I had noticed Walmart was yet to have a loyalty rewards program, the simply fought for my business by claiming to have the lowest prices, which has long been their marketing pitch. The new program is available through Walmart’s personal phone application available to most mobile phones. The process is simple, simply open the app on your phone and use the camera inside the application to snap a shot of the barcode at the end of your receipt. The system will then analyze your purchases and then check to see if there is a better advertised price on the products you bought in your area. If there happens to be a lower price available, Walmart will the give you a gift card to their stores for the difference.

It really couldn’t be simpler, could it? However, don’t be so quickly fooled, because Walmart is buying you out of your own personal privacy. Like Target, Walmart benefits from this loyalty program because you are willingly giving them your personal consumer data. With this information Walmart gets an inside look to trends, and can then better pinpoint demographics. The Savings Catcher application from Walmart offers many consumer benefits to helping them with budgeting with pie charts and sorting receipt information, but on the receiving end you are fueling Walmart’s consumer database. Walmart is working to gather a sense of the predictability of their customers, and so the choice is yours, will you let Walmart buy your consumer habits at the small rate of return?

For more content from this author check out http://www.EvanJPflu.wordpress.com