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… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Product and Distribution Strategies (p420)
A Celebrity Bank Card, if Not the Bankroll
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… Read more »
Alec Baldwin for Wegmans’ Supermarkets: Now It’s Hip to Be Unironic
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… Read more »
digits: The Beatles Invade iTunes
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 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/digits-the-beatles-invade-itunes/874EB528-ED14-44A4-B14E-2529BB1659DC Questions for… Read more »
Retailers prep for sales frenzy
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… Read more »
Start a small biz with $500
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 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2010/11/11/sbiz_tweezerman_dal_lamagna_500_dollars.cnnmoney/ 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… Read more »
Newsweek’s Printing Press Was a Top Draw for Diller
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:… Read more »
RIM Taps Teens’ Messaging Mania to Top Apple in Latin America
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 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-11/rim-taps-teens-messaging-mania-to-top-apple-in-latin-america.html Questions for discussion: Why is RIM’s Blackberry more successful in this market? What… Read more »
75 years later, Monopoly rolls on
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… Read more »
Chasing Pirates: Inside Microsoft’s War Room
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… Read more »
