Friday 29 November 2013

air

Description: air is a built in home computer system that allows you to access technology such as music, lighting and alarms anywhere in your home. air was created so that the consumers can have a easier lifestyle and rely an this system to make their lives simpler. The product will come in different designs so that it can easily match the theme of the consumers house. There will also be other product sold along side the main air product that compliment it once installed. Things like televisions that will be able to directly connect to the main system.

Target Audience: For people who own a house and also have a large budget. air is and expensive product and will be too much for some families to afford. We are aiming for our product to be bought by well known people with a lot of money. air will aim to become a status symbol in luxury homes.

Competitive Environment: Large companies such as Sonos and Apple. These companies can easily take the ideas create by air and recreate the concept with their own personalised design. This can create a wider range of the same product which will draw consumers away from our product. Sonos is a wireless music system that spreads music throughout the home. Apple systems have a siri feature which is a part of the phone that listens to your voice and does what you ask it to do. Our products will include both of these features adapted to the air product and it will also include a lot more.

Proposed Price: Pricing starts at £4000. air is an highly priced product as the new technology is hard to produce and has a constant demand.

Place/Distribution: We would have an online store where products can be explained, viewed and purchased. Products will be distributed by couriers.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:
New, modern product, that is one of a kind. Most up to date technology.

Weaknesses: Expensive, Instillation costs and time. The product is not in the needs of the customer, it is a luxury.

Opportunities: Collaborations with big companies. Chance to evolve quickly

Threats: The evolvement rate of technology. Companies producing similar products.

Product Justification: 


Tuesday 5 November 2013

Public Relations and branding

Task 4) 

What is Public Relations?

Public relations about managing the message, to get a good reputation. This results in what your audience says about your business. PR all depends on its reputation for survival and success. All of the businesses stakeholders have a big impact on the business as they all have an opinion about the businesses and organisations they come into contact with. In todays competitive market more and more people want to stand out from the crowd and have what nobody has got, and if a business gives that independence to people, they will have the competitive edge.

What is Branding?

A brand is a logo, but creating the brand is all about trying to create an idea of a specific or service that people connect with. With branding, we have to be very clever, we need to be different and come fresh out of ideas. If a brand tries to copy someone else's idea and produces it, the copied brand will have something new and fresh, and more people will still go there. To succeed as a brand, you must understand then needs and wants of your customers. You do this by mixing your brand strategies through your company at every point of the public.

What could harm a brand's image?

If any company tries to avoid tax, the company will become less and less popular with the market.

Any sort of criminal activity could harm a brands image, for instance, a few months ago, the Pope got accused of being a paedophile, so now less people are going to his church.

Also if a company raises their prices, it could harm them. For example, British Gas raised their prices dramatically high so more people are now changing their gas supplier.

Apple recently launched a new 'Cheaper iPhone'. I was researching this and saw some debates about, will the cheaper iPhone harm Apple's image? As Apple has set their prices increasingly high from the start, it has always been known as the best, but most expensive brand on the market. So will the cheaper iPhone be the 'okay but cheapest' phone on the market? I hope not.

What are the methods/organisations used to promote their image?

Advertisement:

Advertising your product on the online market place is a very good and cheap way to make your customers aware of your product. Also Billboards, posters and a magazine page will help with getting your brand well known.-

Social Networking:

This is one of the most successful ways to market you product, Having Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages will boost the amount of stakeholders in your business as you will get more and followers. You can also pay Facebook to advertise you product.

Blogging:

If you have a successful blog like Tumblr, with a lot of followers. Your brand could become very successful, as people like to view and read what you have written, its also a good way to market your product as everybody can reblog your posts.

Website:

Having a standard website on Big Cartel will help with sales, and will also market your product for you as there is a rank of the most viewed Big Cartel websites on one page, so its an easy way for people to access your website.

Promotional Gifts and Givaways:

Holding competitions on your social media pages will get all your followers involved and will eventually get a winner to have one of your products to market.

Activity - PR Case Study

Nike is an American multi-national corporation, selling goods such as footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. Nike is one of the worlds largest sporting suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel.  Nike also owns affiliates such as Converse, Hurley, Jordan Brand Nike Golf and Nike Skateboarding.

The brand was founded in 1964, but not as 'Nike', it was founded as 'Blue Ribbon Sports'. Then in 1971, Blue Ribbon Sports officially became Nike inc.

Nike was originally founded in Washington. Then over time spread out to over 40 countries across the world with 700 shops worldwide.

As of 2012, Nike has also hired over 44,000 people worldwide.

In 1997 Lance Armstrong introduced 'Livestrong' in 1997 after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Nike helped out to support 'Livestrong'  in 2004 and helped raise more than £66 million through the creation of wristbands, T-shirts and footwear.

Nike also helped out Thierry Henry to stop racism in football in 2005. By selling 'Stand Up Speak Up' wristbands.

Nike has been criticised for working with sweatshops to make their apparel. This resulted in a loss of sales over the scandal.

I would create events for Nike to advertise the brand. I would also get involved with charities and organisations. Also I would create a well made and detailed press release. I would also get sponsors through well knows sports like the Olympics and sports across the world.


Friday 25 October 2013

Marketing mix

Task 3) The Marketing Mix:

The Marketing Mix is a recipe which includes the 4 p's (product, price, place and promotion). They are the ingredients to effective marketing. Decisions are made about the 4 p's on the results of the market research.

The market mix is very important because it needs to ensure that the product becomes successful. Without properly planning the marketing mix (4 p's) the marketing campaign will not be a success.

iPhone 5S:

The iPhone 5S is the latest Apple product on the market. More and more people are buying products from Apple as it has a brilliant reputation, and they know it is a well made product.

Apple has always had a strategy of setting their prices higher than competitors such as Samsung and HTC. Even though the prices are set higher than other leading brands, consumers always tend to buy from Apple as it has a better reputation, and more and more people want the latest Apple products because it is much more different than any other brand on the market. In spite of it's highest price, being on the day that it is launched, still millions of people all over the world queue up for the product, because they want the latest technology now.

Apple don't tend to advertise their new products, they prefer to use PR through rumours, internal conferences and technical magazines. They then revert to advertising when the product has matured. Prior to the launch, they make sure that there is enough product all over the world to satisfy the long queues of people. Apple sell the product in their shop first, then a few days later, shops like Carphone Warehouse and EE sell it.

Functions and USP's: 

The iPhone 5s is a step up from what people have ever seen because it is a very different Apple product, due to the new operating system and functions. Apple have included a variety of new functions that nobody has ever seen for example,


  • A finger recognition button for signing in.
  • New transparent layers introduced for hierarchy and order.
  • More visible than ever, as the icons seem to be 3D
The iPhone 5S, like other iPhones, has a touchscreen. The web browser is faster than ever, and it has a higher mega-pixel camera.

Target Audience:

I would personally say that Apple products are aimed at 16-25 year olds because their products are growing increasingly more complex. Also they are the people that want the latest technology.


Friday 27 September 2013

Marketing PR questions

What is marketing?

Marketing is a method that companies use to promote their business in order to get sales. The 4 P's of marketing are pricing, (knowing the right price to sell the product), placing, (knowing where to sell your product), promotion, (knowing how to promote the product to your audience), and product, (knowing what your target audience want). There are many different roles in marketing. There is budgeting, advertising, promoting, researching, selling, networking, liaise, communications, stock control and PR (public relations).

What is involved in a marketing campaign?

Communications and research are the two main tools and techniques to market a business. To communicate with the audience there are many different advertising techniques. They are, print advertising, social media, online, technology, business to business, door to door, marketing events, sponsorship, competition, street marketing, direct marketing and emailing. Any of these techniques are guaranteed to gain interest from audiences. The other tool is researching. To become successful in your sector, you need to know the 4 p's. So research other company prices, research the best place to place and build your business around, you need to research how other successful companies have promoted their business, and research what is good about their product.

 What is PR?

PR means Public relations,  is about managing the message, which means in order to succeed the business need to gain a good reputation with the audience. It needs to gain publicity, and there are some clever ways of succeeding in it and get lots of people talking about it. Such as when Jim Carry declined to promote the post Kick-ass 2 because of the violence and because of the Sandy Hook investigation, so there was no red carpet or any other promotion. We also have a careful relationship with the media which we use to our advantage.

How has marketing strategy/technique evolved over the past 10 years?

There are many things that have changed over the years. Such as social media, there is 2 way conversations now and it is easier to get hold of people. There is more and more technology, and its global now. Marketing now speaks to individuals instead of in groups. Marketing is now easier and cheaper to generate and there is less boundaries in advertising which makes it less ethical.

How has our understanding of marketing audiences changed in the 21st century?

The audiences expectations are much higher because we expect more from businesses and we need more. But now we are much more aware of how businesses market there products so that could reduce sales. We are also syndical and much more powerful. We are less brand loyal now compared o just wanting branded clothes. Because prices are getting higher and we cant afford them. We also want more ethical products, such as organic and free range products.

What is more important, the product or the marketing. 

Im my opinion the product is more important, because without the product there will be no marketing. And even if you are selling your product in a shop without promotion, people will still see it and then buy it. And then other people will see it and then it will get well known, so it is kind of impossible to not market a product.