Consumer-Oriented Sales Promotions

I believe that the print ad promoting Dish Network is very effective because it asks for immediate action. The section at the top states, "Call today and lock in a full year of savings." The section at the bottom states, "Sign up today and ask how you can receive $100 cash back." The package starting at $19.99 a month includes 120 channels, free HBO and Showtime for 3 months, a free HD DVR Receiver, and free installation in up to 6 rooms. All of these free premiums expire on May 3, 2010. There is a lot of free stuff and the price sounds really good. The low price, along with the limited time offer, really makes me want to pick up the phone and dial now. On the other hand, I find the battery promotion to be somewhat ineffective. The free premium of two "aa" batteries is a very small premium. I actually didn't even notice the premium until after I bought the batteries. The promotion doesn't ask for immediate action either. I would have bought the batteries without the premium just because they seem to last a long time. Two "aa" batteries will not make or break my day.

Company Blogs

Here is a photo that I found on a UFC blog. I think that this blog is intended to increase awareness of an upcoming event. This is there next paperview event and they want to get as many people as they can to purchase tickets. The main event on the picture is the most anticipated match on the fight card. Not only will this increase awareness, but it will also help to generate interest in the event. This blog would be appealing to anyone who may want to see a good fight.



This is one of Harley Davidson's blogs that I found. I think the blog's purpose is to create an image. I've seen a lot of ads from Harley Davidson that seem to be focusing on creating an image. Personally, I think they are trying to create an image about the cool attitude that can be found in their bikes. It's the "I don't care" type of attitude. The words speak for themselves in this blog. If you want to be a rockstar and turn some heads, buy a Harley Davidson.

The direct mail pictured above did not get my attention. I'm not interested in a new truck though because I am satisfied with my car. If I was considering a truck, the ad would definitely have caught my attention. The ad even has a chart that compares the 2010 Chevy Silverado to other trucks in the same class. Horsepower, locking rear differential, fuel economy, and power-train warranties, are all compared in the chart. Chevy comes out on top in all of these categories. This was very effective because people tend to compare things and usually want the one that stands out. This ad promotes mostly just the Chevy Silverado which is a more popular vehicle amongst men. Fuel economy and horsepower are two things that most men would like in a big truck. Horsepower, along with towing capacity, are mentioned above the chart as well. This is a male household so Chevy is reaching the right market. However, this may be just a coincidence. Chevy also uses a chrome background for this ad which helps to capture the attention of viewers. On the other side of the ad there is a list of Chevy dealerships around Wisconsin. The 0% financing for 60 months also helped to catch my attention. This is something that would be very appealing to a majority of the people in the market to buy a new truck. Overall I thought the ad was very good.

Outdoor Advertising

Above is a picture of the billboard that I see every week when entering Steven Point. It is placed on the old highway ten a couple miles before "The Store" gas station. I think it is strategically located because most people coming into Stevens Point on highway ten are very familiar with The Store. There are two of them in Marshfield and at least one in between Marshfield and Stevens Point. This happens to be my favorite gas station. Not only does this billboard look appealing, but it also helps to promote The Store's image.

Outdoor ads like these have been growing in popularity during the last several years, while other types of advertising have been doing the opposite. I believe that this is because People are finding ways to block out other types of advertising. For example, people often mute television commercials while changing the radio station during radio commercials. Outdoor ads are right there in front of you and cannot be blocked out as easily. Most of them are very basic and easy to remember as well. Increased travel, urbanization, and traffic congestion all help to promote outdoor ads.

Personally, I think that outdoor ads are growing in popularity because of their simplicity. They usually offer a simple message that only takes a glance to take in. People don't like to waste time watching commercials or reading other types of advertisements. Billboards only take a few seconds to take in and are very easy to remember. They don't pester you buy increasing in volume or annoying you for the next couple minutes of your life. They are just there and are not trying to force you to take them in.

Men's Health

The Men's Health magazine targets men between the ages of 25 and 45 who are passionate about improving their mental, physical, and emotional aspects of their lives. It is the best selling men's magazine in the U.S. and it is available all around the world. I never realized how much advertising was in the magazine until now. Just about every other page is devoted to one particular ad. However, clutter does not seem to be a problem because the ads are appealing to the target market. I really enjoy looking at the ads in this magazine. Most of the advertisements cover products including alcohol, automobiles, health products, supplements, clothing, perfume, food, and personal hygeine items.

Advertisers put their products in this magazine because both the products and the magazine have the same target market. This means that their ads will be as effective as possible. The magazine attempts to give readers an ideal self image of how they shouuld look and feel. Advertisers then promote their products in order to help the reader achieve the ideal self image. For example, there are fitness tips on one page followed by an advertisement promoting muscle building supplements on the next page.

I think the magazine does a great job positioning itself as a media vehicle for advertisers. It is the number one magazine in the U.S. for men between the ages of 25 and 45. This popular magazine is probably very cost efficient when it comes to reaching the target market for advertisers. Ads in this magazine are extremely effective since they reach the exact market they intend on. In other words, the people who read this magazine are likely to get involved in the ads, rather than blocking them out.

Spike TV

My favorite cable network would have to be Spike TV. Most of the shows on Spike TV are targeted at males. These shows include Manswers, 1000 Ways to Die, UFC Unleashed, Trucks, and Horsepower TV. It is easy to see why the network is very popular among males. Most of the commercials seemed to be targeting males as well. Spike TV has a lot of commercials for action and horror movies I noticed. Most of the commercials advertising movies were only about thirty seconds long. I assume young men in general watch the largest amount of action and horror films. There was also a lot of supplements and excersie equipment that was being advertised. The commercials promoting excercise equipment happened to be up to two minutes long. Other commercials promoted products including Axe, Iron Gym, Progene (testosterone pill), and Synthia 6, which is a muscle building supplement.

The commercial that was played the most was trying to promote UFC 109, a cagefighting event for sale on paperview this weekend. This happened to be during UFC Unleashed, which is a compilatation of past cagefighting bouts. Spike is a good place for these commercials since not many women watch the sport. Many of the commercials were promoting mens health products. It is probably very effective promoting muscle building supplements during a cagefighting event, where the fighters are in top shape. The show gives men an ideal self image and the commercial promotes products that help achieve those results. In general, most of the commercials were targeted only at men on a station with the objective of attracting the most men viewers.

Advertising Objectives

The marketer for this ad did a good job identifying a very common problem with vacuum cleaners. I'd say the communication objective was to reach buyers who have experienced the common problem of their vacuum cleaner losing suction power. This ad did a great job reaching me because all of the vacuums that I have owned in the past had lost most of their suction power very quickly. I'd be willing to guess that sales for Dyson would increase after ads like this because it identifies an ongoing problem with related products. Both Communication and Sales objectives would be important for this particular ad.

In this BMW ad I believe that the objective of the marketer clearly was to steal some of Audi's customers. Audi and BMW are two very competitive automobile companies located in Germany. Audi and BMW cars are similar in many ways so comparative advertising works well. Personally, I'd take either or for a car. However, now that I have seen this ad I'd rather have the BMW since it was world car of the year in 2006. Another communication objective may be to get the message out that BMW offers excellent quality. Comparing them to Audi is effective because most people tend to think of Audi as a high end car. Now those people may think of BMW as a better all around car than Audi. Winning a world car of the year award is much more difficult than winning South Africa car of the year award. Again, increasing sales would most likely be an objective as well. Giving BMW a better image may also be the marketers objective.

Environmental Influences

There are five different environmental influences on consumer behavior. Each influence impacts consumer behavior in a different way. Throughout my post I will describe each of them, explain how they impact consumer behavior, and will also provide an example

Culture is the broadest and most abstract external factor. The textbook states that culture is the "complexity of learned meanings, values, norms, and customs shared by members of a society." There are many cultures throughout the world and each one has a different impact on consumer behavior. For example, McDonalds was able to expand globally by studying eating habits of different cultures. Take a look at the website to see how McDonald's menu varies around the world. http://triffer.com/practical-travel/budget-travel/mcdonald%e2%80%99s-strange-menu-around-the-world/

Cultures are made up of many smaller groups of people who have different beliefs, values, norms, and patterns of behavior. These smaller segments are known as subcultures, and are often based on age, geographic, religious, racial, and ethnicity. People who live in a very cold region could be considered as a subculture. Snowmobile dealers would need to pay close attention to subculture. For example, it would not make much sense to place an Arctic Cat dealer in a warm southern state.

Social classes refer to a segment of society in which people share similar lifestyles, values, norms, interests, and behaviors. Level of income is often used to determine ones social class. People with more money usually buy nicer things. Therefore, it wouldn't make sense to place a Lamborghini dealership in a small city consisting mostly of middle class people. It would make more sense to put the dealership near a very large city where there is a larger upper class. Take a look at the locations in this Lamborghini dealer directory. http://www.autodealerdirectory.us/lamborghini

A reference group is a group of people whose attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, opinions, preferences, and values, are used by an individual for judgmental purposes. One can be heavily influenced by a reference group without being a member. For example, I might go out and purchase a "Easton Synergy" hockey stick because all of my favorite professional hockey players are using it.

Situational determinants also affect consumer behavior and there are three different types. The specific usage situation, the purchase situation, and the communications situation all affect perceptions, preferences, and purchasing behaviors. Situational determinants are very important in advertising. For example, a commercial advertising hair care products for women would be most effective if it were used during a "chick-flick," which would allow the commercial to reach the desired target market.

Introduction

My name is Chris and this is my first time making a blog. It took a while for me to figure out how to enable cookies and javascript, but I finally made it! I'm from Marshfield and I am going to school for business management and marketing. Both of my parents each have over 20+ years of sales experience, so I guess you could say that I have a lot to live up to! So far I have enjoyed almost all of my classes and am really excited about this semester.

Every morning I start my day off by brewing a pot of coffee and analyzing the stock market. Working and school occupy most of my time although I do have every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, which allows me to catch up on homework. I love to travel and intend on doing more as I grow older. If anyone has any recommendations on where to visit, don't be afraid to let me know. I also like to mountain bike and have been to Standing Rocks on numerous occasions. During the summer I spend most of my free time golfing.

Although I am not terrible at operating computers, I am not very familiar with blackboard or blogging. I have never taken an online or hybrid course until now, but look forward to learning new things. I like the fact how all of the courses I'm taking pertain to my field of study unlike the UW system. It is also nice that all of my classes will transfer to Lakeland University if I decide to pursue a bachelors degree. Anyways, I look forward to a great semester!