Rosenberg Interview on Holiday Shopping, U.S. Economy
November 29, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates, talks about the outlook for the holiday-shopping season. Rosenberg, speaking with Sara Eisen and Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack,” also discusses the prospects for the U.S. economy.
Source: Bloomberg.com – video report
Date: 11/26/2010
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64814870/
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the opinions presented in the report.
- Do you agree with them?
- How do they compare to those of CEO Terry Lundgren of Macy’s?
A Celebrity Bank Card, if Not the Bankroll
November 29, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: THEY’RE the faces of everything unapologetically excessive about pop culture: from Rodeo Drive shopping sprees to sex tapes to Nascar. So why wouldn’t the Kardashian sisters, nouveaux-celeb stars of the reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” promote a prepaid debit card?
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 11/26/2010
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/fashion/28noticed.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- What are the ethical and legal issues related to the promotional strategy presented in the article?
- Who are the target customers?
- What is the appeal of this product?
- Why do you think there has been a backlash to this strategy?
Alec Baldwin for Wegmans’ Supermarkets: Now It’s Hip to Be Unironic
November 29, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: Upstate New Yorkers are agog at Alec Baldwin’s completely unironic TV ads for a local grocery chain, Wegmans. There’s a cute backstory about why Baldwin is doing these ads — his mom shops there — but they illustrate one of the more charming new trends in advertising: to cast a famous person against type in a commercial, have them play it straight, and then leave consumers to guess what the heck is going on.
Source: BNET.com
Date: 11/24/2010
Questions for discussion:
- Who is the target audience for these advertisements?
- What message are they sending out about the business?
- Do you think the advertisements are successful?
- What is it about using a celebrity in this way that works?
digits: The Beatles Invade iTunes
November 22, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: Beatles songs are finally available in Apple’s iTunes store. But ATD’s Peter Kafka says that iTunes is all about apps these days, while digital music sales have flattened out – and even the Fab Four may have a hard time changing that.
Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
Date: 11/16/2010
Questions for discussion:
- Who do you think will benefit more by the distribution of The Beatles music on iTunes?
- Who is the target customer for these songs?
- In the second report on iPads: how would you characterize the different groups of customers?
- How do you think customers will choose amongst the brands?
Retailers prep for sales frenzy
November 22, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: With just a week before the official kickoff of the year’s biggest shopping season, consumers are hitting the dozens of websites that track holiday sales and finding TVs, eBook readers and other items at their deepest discounts of the year.
Source: Marketwatch.com
Date: 11/18/2010
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/unwrapping-black-friday-deals-2010-11-18?siteid=nwtwk
Questions for discussion:
- How important is “Black Friday” for retailers?
- What does the report suggest about the buying and selling mood this year?
- What do you think the holiday shopping season will be like for retailers?
- Which retailers do you think will do best financially?
- Which retailers do you think will perform poorly?
Start a small biz with $500
November 15, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: Tweezerman founder Dal LaMagna says his company grew by being frugal with money and keeping stakeholders interests at heart.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 11/11/2010
Questions for discussion:
- Explain the global success of this game?
- What does its success suggest about consumer behavior?
- What need does this product satisfy for consumers?
- How do you explain the appeal of Monopoly in this age of electronic gadgetry?
Newsweek’s Printing Press Was a Top Draw for Diller
November 15, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 2 Starting and Growing Your Business, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: Barry Diller, who has spent the better part of a decade amassing a collection of Internet companies — a search engine here, a dating Web site there — has figured out how to help make the Internet work a little better for him. He is going into the magazine business.
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 11/12/20
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/business/media/13mag.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- What are the pros and cons of this merger?
- Do you think there are good synergies between the two organizations that suggest they can succeed?
RIM Taps Teens’ Messaging Mania to Top Apple in Latin America
November 15, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: The iPhone was an also-ran for Monica Amilpas when she chose her first smartphone last year. She opted for the BlackBerry Curve because it had an instant- messaging feature the Apple Inc. device lacked.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Date: 11/11/2010
Questions for discussion:
- Why is RIM’s Blackberry more successful in this market?
- What does this mean for RIM as teens grow up and eventually become adult customers?
- What can Apple do about this competitive advantage enjoyed by RIM?
75 years later, Monopoly rolls on
November 8, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management
Description: A special look inside the Monopoly factory as the legendary board game celebrates its 75th anniversary.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 11/05/2010
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/11/05/n_monopoly_birthday_factory.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- Explain the global success of Monopoly?
- What does its success suggest about consumer behavior?
- What need does this product satisfy for consumers?
- How do you explain the appeal of Monopoly in this age of electronic gadgetry?
Chasing Pirates: Inside Microsoft’s War Room
November 8, 2010 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Part 1 Business in a Global Environment, Part 4: Marketing Management, Part 5 Managing Technology and Information
Description: AS the sun rose over the mountains circling Los Reyes, a town in the Mexican state of Michoacán, one morning in March 2009, a caravan of more than 300 heavily armed law enforcement agents set out on a raid.
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 11/06/2010
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/technology/07piracy.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize how Microsoft deals with piracy?
- Why is fighting piracy so important to Microsoft?
- What are the criticisms of this strategy?
- What are the ethical and social issues related to piracy?
- Are there alternative strategies for the firm to follow that would solve the problem?
