BOC: B-2 B

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EOC Week 4: There's an App for that

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Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

            Of the 3 main demographic groups present here in the United States: the baby boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials, I fall under the Millenials. The textbook describes the Millenials as having an “utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corportation, 74) This statement itself does a great job in capturing the true essence of this demographic. Personally, technology plays an integral role in my life—I grew up with technologies evolving around me. Whether it is the newest console, or being a part of the switch from dial-up Internet to the high-speed Internet we see today; I have been through it. Therefore, technology can be utilized to reach my demographic. Furthermore, the textbook brings up an interesting point about the involvement of the Millenials on the web. “A recent study found that 91 percent of Millennials are on the Web, making up 32 percent of all U.S. Internet users. According to another study, 77 percent of Millennials frequent social networking sites and 71 percent use instant messaging.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corportation, 74) This is true for me: I rarely watch T.V anymore [in fact, I don’t have cable in my house] and get all my news and current affairs from the Internet. I do my shopping online, watch my shows online, and even submit my homework online. Finally, the textbook splits the Millenial demographic into 3 subcategories: the tweens, teens, and young adults. (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 74) Of the three subcategories, I fall into the young adult category. It would be interesting to see how the candidates running for office in the upcoming Presidential Election target my demographic for my vote.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Vision is one of the most important senses to the productivity of life today. It grants the gift of learning. It allows for people to work and operate optimally while at work. However, approximately 703 million people in the world don't have access to affordable eyewear [https://www.warbyparker.com/buy-a-pair-give-a-pair]. As many of you may know, prescription eyeglasses are by no means cheap. Especially with the majority of the eyewear industry controlled by one single entity, prices for glasses keep rising.

Luckily, Warby Parker has come up with a business plan with the people from all walks of life in mind. Warby Parker makes both prescription eyeglasses as well as sunglasses, providing a great look at a reasonable price. What’s more is the Warby Parker is a for-profit company. With each pair of Warby Parker glasses purchased, the company makes a donation to a nonprofit partner [in this case, a company by the name of VisionSpring] who then train men and women in developing countries to be able to give eye exams to the people out there. With that, Warby Parker also distributes glasses to these newly trained people who then go to sell the glasses to their communities at a very affordable price. One may question the whole “for-profit” aspect after hearing that the glasses are sold. By selling the glasses at a super low price rather than just donating them straight, Warby Parker introduces sustainability in these developing countries. Making these newly trained entrepreneurs sell the glasses creates jobs in these markets and offers affordable glasses for all at the same time. To date, Warby Parker has been able to distribute one million pairs of glasses to people in need thanks to the help of all the people who have bought a pair of Warby Parker’s here at home. Be sure to give them a visit and see their mission at: https://www.warbyparker.com/buy-a-pair-give-a-pair

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group- Video Games

          In a world where video games and video gaming is almost as serious as professional sports, it comes as no surprise that these consoles: Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Wii U, control the consumer market. The next natural question one would ask would be “who’s on top?” Though die-hard fans of each brand, respectively, would argue their favorite, numbers don’t lie. However, just because one console in this console war might be on top now does not mean the trends and future market may change. To best understand this, let’s look at a comparison between the big 3. Coming out on top out of the three consoles is the Playstation 4. Market research clearly shows the wide margin Playstation 4 has amongst its closest competitors. “In April, the PS4 not only bested the competition, but it sold more than the Xbox One and Wii U combined. VGChartz estimates that Sony sold a whopping 579,850 PS4 units, while Microsoft sold a respectable 335,101 Xbox Ones and Nintendo sold only 120,568 Wii U units. If you do the math, that works out to the PS4 selling over 73 percent more than the Xbox One and over 380 percent more than the Wii U.” (http://wallstcheatsheet.com/technology/xbox-one-vs-ps4-vs-wii-u-sony-and-nintendo-keep-strong.html/?a=viewall) Although the margin has since grown smaller, [Xbox One sales are slowly rising with Microsoft’s move to sell the Xbox One at a lower price point and separate from kinect] Playstation still dominates the playing field. Therefore, a Boston Consulting Group analysis would deem the Playstation 4 a cash cow in the market. “Much has been made of the fact that Sony launched the PS4 for $399, $100 less than the starting price of the Xbox One. But a more important comparison to explain its fast start is that the PS3 was released all the way back in 2006 for $499 or $599. The pricier model was far more desirable and adjusting for inflation would be $708 today. A $399 PS4 is 44% less expensive in constant dollars.” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/08/21/dear-sony-heres-why-so-many-people-are-buying-the-ps4/) Furthermore, a more recent finding from Forbes provides some insight on who’s buying Sony’s newest innovation, “According to data given to Re/code, Nielsen surveyed 1,200 gamers from age 7 to 54 and found that 31 percent, almost a third, bought a PS4 after owning an Xbox 360 or Wii, but not a PS3.” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/08/25/nearly-one-third-of-ps4-owners-switched-from-xbox-360-or-wii/) Clearly, a substantial portion of PS4 owners aren’t merely Playstation fan boys or loyal Sony users, but rather, a consumer who never came from the Sony franchise at all.
          Moreover, the Xbox One is the question mark in this equation. Its numbers prove [through a steady increase of sales since April] that the market growth is there. The only question would be the relative market share which, currently, is up in the air. How Microsoft approaches sales and marketing in the coming holiday season will determine how well Microsoft’s prize child will do. 
          Finally, we’re left with the Wii U. The Wii U has been out for consumers for almost two years now and their results aren’t as impressive as once expected. “Through June 30 of this year, Wii U has sold 6.68 million hardware units and nearly 37 million games. Both of those totals are under what Nintendo had at one point projected it would sell in a single fiscal year.” (http://fortune.com/2014/09/14/nintendo-wii-u-turnaround/) Nintendo has consistently been on the bottom for the duration of the console wars and for that reason; the Wii U lacks market power. Therefore, I would be inclined to say that the Wii U, in this point in time, remains the Dog in the market. There really hasn’t been any market growth nor and the market share value of the Wii U simply doesn’t compare to the Xbox One or Playstation 4.
          In final analysis, all three consoles hold a special place in a gamer’s heart. Even if your company didn’t make it on top, the fact still remains that gaming is a huge industry and cash crop in this digital age we live in. In the meantime, let’s all sit back, relax, and game on.

Week One EOC: Great Customer Service

Finding truly great customer service in a world full of less-than-enthused employees can be a daunting task for any consumer in the free market. For me, a paying customer in a tank full of corporate sharks, competitive pricing may seem like one of the only driving factors keeping me spending my hard earned American dollar. However, quite the contrary stands true: I believe great customer service and the customer experience defines a company. “Customer relationships and value are especially important in today’s tough economic times, when more frugal consumers are cutting back and spending more carefully. “The challenge facing us is not just one of consumers being more-value conscious,” says one marketing consultant. “It’s how we gain … a renewed relationship with consumers who have less inclination to listen to [companies with whom] they do not have strong and valued relationships (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, 4).”

My stand out memory of great customer service, as cliché as it sounds, comes from a time at Disneyland. No matter how many times you visit; from the minute you walk into the park, you are truly treated like a prince or princess. Effectively, you are an heir to the Disney name—treated like royalty. Whether forced or not, the experience—the Disney experience, is shared both by first timers and regulars every day.  Like the aforementioned quote states, any consumer in the day and age that we live in today is at least a little hesitant to spend upwards of $150 just for entrance to a park. What’s more is that once inside, you still have to pay highly inflated prices for any food or Mouse Ears you want to take home with you. Even so, Disneyland manages to attract a constant, loyal horde of fanatics to its gates every day and never fails to amaze and share the Disney Magic from young to old. It wasn’t just one employee or experience that lead me to feel this way, but the customer experience as a whole provided by the Disney cast: the ambience, the authenticity of the different sceneries, the characters and cast members, which led me to truly have one of the happiest days out of the 365 given to every consumer each year.

Week One EOC: My Voice

Who am I? To the outside world, just another art student with no “real” options to fall back on in life. In my world, the world I decide to live by, they might call someone like me an aspiring audio guy. A reality that I have relatively come to accept, a career in music and audio is all I can really see myself doing. Obsessed with the unique nuances of every organic sonic matter [noise] known to man, music has and continues to hold my attention in every aspect of my day-to-day routine. Whether it’s sonically dissecting every piece of music that plays on my morning commute to school or the rhythm I catch myself trying to sync with my blinkers on a stoplight, music surrounds and drives me.

You may be asking yourself what I might want to do with a career field as vast and all encompassing as audio lends itself to be. At the moment, my interests—my obsessions, rather, lay in live sound, the performance aspect of music, and traditional studio work. What’s my “dream job?” The dream for an audio cat like me sprouts from a long infatuation with all things Disney. Ever since I was could remember, Disney was, for me, synonymous with groundbreaking stories, visuals, and most importantly, outstanding sounds and music. The Disney Magic, as it’s more familiarly recognized today, lies in the smallest of details within Disney’s inner workings.  These small details are the same details I find myself lost in when I edit video as of recent. I’m a slave to the audio—enslaved to the extreme precision and timing, which must coexist in for audio in video to truly glue together to make something special. Finding the exact frame of impact and the perfect sound to match leaves me as happy as drug addict high off their drug of choice.

All in all, I’m a fan of good music, good sound, good audio.