Description: At the FailCon 2010 conference in San Francisco, New York Times technology columnist David Pogue identifies the stumbling blocks to success. Source: BNET.com – video report  Date: 10/27/2010 Link: http://www.bnet.com/videos/pogue-six-factors-for-highly-unsuccessful-products/479076 Questions for discussion: Do you agree with the explanations provided in the video? Provide one additional example that illustrates each of the errors… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Promotion and Pricing Strategies (p458)
Windows Phone 7 ‘Really’ Ad Sends the Wrong Message
Description: This clever ad campaign obscures Microsoft’s core Windows Phone message: This isn’t Windows Mobile. Source: PCMag.com  Date: 10/29/2010 Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371747,00.asp Questions for discussion: After watching the advertisement that is embedded in the article, do you agree with the criticism made? Analyze the message sent to the audience watching the advertisement. Who is the… Read more »
Pontiac, 84, Dies of Indifference
Description: Pontiac, the brand that invented the muscle car under its flamboyant engineer John Z. DeLorean, helped Burt Reynolds elude Sheriff Justice in “Smokey and the Bandit†and taught baby boomers to salivate over horsepower, but produced mostly forgettable cars for their children, will endure a lonely death on Sunday after about 40 million in… Read more »
Baidu feels lucky in Q3
Description: The Chinese search engine’s profits doubled after seeing a surge in customers following Google’s shutdown in China. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report  Date: 10/21/2010 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2010/10/22/mkts_baidu_q3.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Why has Baidu’s profits grown so dramatically? Is this growth sustainable? How should investors look at the risk associated with this firm? Do you… Read more »
Turning Customers Into Creators
Description: A FEW young women are gathered around a conference table dotted with bottles of colorful vitamin drinks, iPod cables and slender laptops. A whiteboard with lime-green writing almost swallows a wall in the room. Source: NYTimes.com  Date: 10/23/2010 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/business/24ping.html?ref=business Questions for discussion: How is this sort of research superior to other forms… Read more »
7 Ways Companies Miss Out on Huge Opportunities
Description: More often than not, companies manage to lock themselves into unnecessarily narrow market segments and, in so doing, lock themselves out of huge growth opportunities. It’s so prevalent it’s like an epidemic out there. I see it all the time. Source: BNET.com  Date: 10/21/2010 Link: http://www.bnet.com/blog/ceo/7-ways-companies-miss-out-on-huge-opportunities/5848?promo=713&tag=nl.e713 Questions for discussion: Do you agree with… Read more »
A day with Stan Lee at Comic Con
Description: The comics legend is still going strong, and still spends entire days promoting his new products and meeting his fans. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report  Date: 10/15/2010 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/10/15/n_cmr_stan_lee_comiccon.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: How important is Stan Lee as a leader for his company and industry? Why do you suppose there is such reverence… Read more »
Ass-Tastic: Why Ads Are Becoming More Disgusting
Description: If you think advertising is becoming more tasteless, you’re right. Several new campaigns  for Levi’s, Diesel, Arm & Hammer cat litter, Jack in the Box and Kotex, among others  currently use lowbrow body-part humor or unflinching references to biological functions that would previously have been unacceptable. Source: BNET.com  Date: 10/15/2010 Link:… Read more »
Google reveals surprisingly huge mobile and display ad sales
Description: Google’s profit soared in the third quarter, defying skeptical investors and analysts who feared that the search giant would never find a a significant new revenue stream besides search advertisements. Source: CNNMoney.com  Date: 10/15/2010 Link: http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/14/technology/google_earnings/index.htm Questions for discussion: Why has Google stock rebounded on the stock market? What are the sources of… Read more »
Rum Battle in Caribbean Leaves Tax Hangover
Description: Rum and politics have made a fiery mix since America’s earliest days, when a young politician named George Washington won election to the House of Burgesses in colonial Virginia with the help of spiked punch at the polls. Source: NYTimes.com  Date: 10/15/2010 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/business/16rum.html?ref=business Questions for discussion: What does this report have to… Read more »
