Week 10 EOC: Benefits vs. Features

There's really one significant comparison between the benefits and features of my Italian food truck. We offer features in the variety of entrees, sandwiches, pasta dishes, beverages and desserts. For whatever can be prepared in ten minutes or less, we also manage to keep it a pretty wide selection for many people to choose from. It is much like how you can select from 100 different shades of lipstick and have a ball with it. We have customers who seek something cold and low fat, and we have customers who want to experience the Taste of Italy to go. There needs to be an option for everyone (“Dividing the market into segments according to the different benefits that consumers seek from the product. P.182)

But you’ll have many people (like myself), that would like to get a certain item each time the truck comes by. And that’s where the benefit comes in. If you are that much in love with a certain entrée or whatever, then why would you want to waste your time and money on another product you know you wouldn’t like as much? (A sensational style may grab attention and produce pleasing aesthetics, but it does not necessarily make the product perform better. P.215) And that is why it is very important to provide true Italian cooking. You want these people to get food from you and not have to trek all the way to Buca Di Peppo for family sized meals at higher cost.

Our customer’s favorite tastes are the big need. What is it they crave on a daily basis? What do they want that the microwave lunch can’t provide? We give them the options, and they figure out which food item is their benefit. And that’s why we need to show that we are far beyond the microwave (“Design begins with observing customers and developing a deep understanding of their needs. More than simply creating product or service attributes, it involves shaping the customer’s product-use experience.” P.216)

Week 8 EOC: Creative Concept

As stated before, the truck would be called Mobile Italy, and the approach to gaining customers would be made through Social Networking and Direct Marketing. It is very important that a base of customers is established as quickly as possible so that we not only have regular customers, but also the base to build on through their connections. I feel that a personal communication with them is essential, to make it feel at home (" Direct marketers communicate directly with customers, often on a one-to-one, interactive basis. Using detailed databases, they tailor their marketing offers and communications to the needs of narrowly defined segments or even individual buyers." p.445). A Facebook account would be essential to this. We start by adding their friends, and we have them suggest friends to the Facebook profile. While this is going on, event pages would be set up letting people know when and where the truck will be. This would not be for a specific day, but for each stop. Personal communication via Facebook and Twitter is also essential because of the potential to establish one-on-one relationships with the customers, hear their compliments and their concerns and their suggestions to improve the menu and quality of the food (“Because of the one-to-one nature of direct marketing, companies can interact with customers by phone or online, learn more about their needs, and tailor products and services to specific customer tastes. In turn, customers can ask questions and volunteer feedback” p.447). We would also introduce a blog on our website that keeps updates on where the truck has been, pictures from said events (with lines of people waiting and eating), as well as posting customer reviews and input. Also, any video taken of said events that are posted on YouTube would certainly be exploited on these blogs. It’s the best commercial material out there right now.

Since funds are obviously limited for our start, I feel this is the best approach right now apart from an ad campaign that would be too expensive to produce at this time. Not to mention the better broad range it can reach in this digital age. Getting set up is the hard part, but once established, it can become the best tool. (“’You’re talking about conversations between groups of friends,’ says one analyst. “And in those conversations a brand has no right to be there, unless the conversation is already about that brand.” Rather than intruding, marketers must learn to become a valued part of the online experience.” p.469)

Week 7 EOC: Market Plan

It’s a true Italian cuisine on the move, named Mobile Italy. It serves freshly cooked Italian food in lunch sizes, such as pasta dishes with varieties of sauces, cooked homemade meatballs in a steamer to keep them fresh, condensed Italian entrees (Chicken/Eggplant/Veal Parmesan, Lasagna, Sausage, Chicken Marsala, fried cutlets) ready in a to-go box, and their respective sides (Breadsticks, garlic bread, brochetta, mashed potatoes, dipping sauces). Finally, we would have a selection of subs (Chicken Parmesan, Meatball/Marinara, Philly Cheesesteak, Sausage).

We would also serve Desserts such as Cannoli, Cheesecake and Gelato Ice Cream would also be available. Since I want this to be true to Italian cooking, we’d only have the food that could be cooked in a short amount of time between stops, hence the one-person portion sizes and whatever can be fired up or cooked in a few minutes. The goal is ten minutes, tops.

The truck would be painted with the colors of the Italian flag, with a retractable sun roof in red. Also on the truck would be fans that would blow out the air inside the truck, giving the aroma of Italian cooking from nearby and getting everybody’s attention (and hunger). It would have a staff of four on board inside, constantly cooking and taking orders.

Beverages would be sold by the can/bottle. And the usual utensils and napkins would be available at the corner of the open window, where the cash register would be placed, to make it accessible for the customer and save the cooks from the extra task of providing them.

Promotion would start with the basic Facebook/Twitter accounts and spreading the word by creating event pages on where the truck will be on a certain day and time, so people can plan ahead and be ready when the truck arrives. We would also become a presence at local Vegas events (StardustFallout knows when a lot of off-Strip events occur). We hope that the public will spread the word and invite their friends to these meetups for lunch and dinner!

EOC Week 5: Social Networks and Job Hunting

This was clearly inevitable, and very much preferable. Prospective employers are turning to Facebook to look for new talent these days. It's even on par, if not above, LinkedIn at this point ("Facebook's use as a job-recruitment tool remains small, but its appeal may be growing. Others note that while LinkedIn contains a more comprehensive résumé database, candidates tend to value referrals from their connections on Facebook more.", Light article). It is also very much cheaper to search through those than post something on a job board for a few hundred dollars at the Unemployment office. However, this is still that feeling among some that they wouldn’t want employers looking through their Facebooks, especially if they’re concerned with the personal image it projects. That’s why they still prefer LinkedIn. Even the very much useless Monster.com is benefiting from this (“Monster's core job postings businesses have benefited. Revenue in the second quarter at Monster Worldwide Inc. rose 25% to $270 million from the prior year.”, Light article).

Another tactic that, I feel, can only go so far is these PR agents that companies are sending out there to hype up your product. They use these social media websites to plug the product and all its benefits and features, in exchange for some small compensation, probably off commission (“Brand ambassadors: Marketing agency RepNation recruits and manages college student ambassadors such as CrewBlue, which spreads the word about JetBlue on college campuses”, page 144). The problem I see with this is that you will have your typical “Brand Ambassador” that is purely in it for the money, and it shows when they try to sell the product and it comes across half assed. Another is that it can also too aggressive and drive off a potential sale by pushing it too far.

EOC Week 4: Consumer vs. Business Marketing

Consumer marketing is based on the need for the product (“business demand is derived demand—it ultimately comes from (derives from) the demand for consumer goods…If consumer demand for computers drops, so will the demand for microprocessors., page 39”). It appeals to the direct need of the consumer and what the product can give to them that don’t seem so apparent on the surface. For example, your train company wants to buy locomotives from GE, but you’re concerned about the image it’ll project to the general public, the consumer marketing tries to sidestep it all (“GE locomotives might not seem glamorous to you, but they are beautiful brutes to those who buy and use them. In this market, GE’s real challenge is to win buyers’ business by building day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out partnerships with them”- page 40). Whereas Business marketing is a more complex situation dealing with the little details and formalities, to establish a long-term and satisfactory relationship with the customer (“In the long run, however, business-to-business marketers keep a customer’s sales and create customer value by meeting current needs and by partnering with customers to help them solve their problems”- page 40).

Another major difference is that Business marketing relies on the emotional aspect of the deal, playing to get their good relations, such as taking a sense of pride in your product. Consumers are more into the aspect of getting their needs satisfied, and as efficiently as possible in the least amount of time. No time to get all emotional about it.

The final difference is that Consumer marketing adjusts with the times. For example, AutoZone has ditched the grungy look for a brightly image. Business, on the other hand, goes back to that long term customer goal, so that no matter the economy or the times, they continue to use your brand on a consistent basis.

Week 3 EOC: Demographics- MINE

Being born in 1986, I obviously fall under the Millennial category. I feel I belong to a mixture of both of the Millennial and the Generation X categories.

I identify with the Millennial because of its connection with mass social media today, with the internet, social networking, and technology, and the ability to establish means of getting the word out, the best example being the successful Obama text campaign. (“Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate to be marketed like a high-end consumer brand…young people want to be in control of their relationship with a brand ”, page 17) The truth is, we are being modeled by our technology and per evolution, we should adapt and use it to our advantage.

I also identify with the Generation X because of their conservative means of saving their money and judging what is of proper value before you go and buy something. For example, when I want to buy a DVD/BluRay, I want to make sure I’m getting the proper value for what I am paying for. (“They tend to research products before they consider a purchase, preferring quality over quantity, and they tend to be less receptive to overt marketing pitches”, page 16)

While I am undoubtedly part of the category that is leading the way in technology and being the first that actually learned how to properly use it, I also feel comforted to know that at least the previous generation has managed to more or less shave off that “slacker” label as they’ve grown older (“Once labeled as ‘the MTV generation’ and viewed as body-piercing slackers who whined about ‘McJobs,’ the Gen Xers have grown up and are now taking over.”, page 15). It’s shown that the youth are very much aware of what we’re up against, and what we have to do to survive.