Blog 3: Trends faced by Marketers

 With so much competition in the market environment it has become more and more difficult for companies to maintain growth and sell marketable products.  According to a study done by IBM creating growth through the acquisition of new customers and sustaining growth through superior loyalty is at the top of most companies priorities list.  Return on Investment is no longer as much of an issue.  Companies need to create products that will draw in many customers as possible, creating a brand that customers will come back to time and time again.  There are certain companies that have a step up on other companies in how they are marketing their products to sustain growth and customer loyalty.  The top marketing companies tend to be more engaged in customer interaction and knowing exactly what the customer wants out of the product they are trying to sell.  Companies can interact with customers in various ways such as customer surveys, promotional events, or discount prices.  The graph below shows some of the ways the top performing marketers  differ from the other marketers and how they reach out to consumers.  

Marketers have come up with so many unique and creative ways to market their products.  I think that one of the biggest roles in marketing today is technology and keeping up with the ever changing digital age.  Companies that have their product available online tend to be more successful and have put other companies that weren't online out of business.  For example Netflix emerged on the Internet and allowed customers to stream TV shows and movies right from their lab-tops or computers.  As a result companies like Blockbuster went out of business and couldn't compete with Netflix's online streaming features.  Netflix has even needed to compete with other online streaming websites by adding original series you can only watch on Netflix. Companies like amazon have resulted in many bookstores going bankrupt because you can buy books online at amazon and it saves people the effort of going to a bookstore.  Consumers want what they want as fast as they can, and that is why having your products available to purchase online is a huge advantage.  

Marketing online also provides various ways for marketers to communicate with consumers.  Marketers can figure out what individual consumers are purchasing online and use that to send suggestions of other similar products that the customer may want to buy.  This also helps marketers figure out the environmental forces going on in the market. 

         It is definitely true that in todays competitive market, marketers have to lead their companies to success in creating a profitable brand that can compete with other competitors.  It is key that companies figure out the environmental forces in the market that will make their brand profitable and sustainable.

Blog 2: How Marketing and Media Have Turned NBA players into International Celebrities

The NBA is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in our country.  The league is currently full of amazingly talented players with tons of exciting teams to watch.  Yet these players aren’t just NBA All-Stars, they are hugely famous celebrates that are known worldwide.  Through the power of marketing and mass media, NBA athletes have become bigger than ever.  Media outlets such as television, the Internet, magazines, and video games have been used in many ways to market the NBA and have had a huge contribution in making NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James some of the most famous athletes in the world. 
Back in the late 1970s, the NBA was not very popular in the U.S and had very low television ratings.  However the 1980s brought the dawn of Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson rivalry with the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.  In order to hype up the rivalry the NBA began to televise the games between Bird and Magic on national television and the media constantly put them in the spotlight, which brought in more NBA fans and made Bird and Magic some of the most well known athletes in sports.  This sparked the age of mass marketing in the NBA.  Not only did NBA games become more regularly televised on cable networks, but also major sporting brands such as Nike and Adidas began to revolve advertising campaigns around NBA players to help promote their products to the public.  Nike teamed up with Michael Jordan in the 1980s to create Air Jordan, their own line of basketball shoes and apparel using Jordan’s name in the brand and making him the center of all their ad campaigns.  Air Jordan has become one of the most popular basketball shoes in the country and now currently sponsors over 21 NBA players.  Nike also comes out with different lines of basketball shoes each year and is named after various NBA stars, each with unique designs and features for each player.  So not only has marketing NBA players helped increase their fame, but it also has had positive results for companies like Nike in successfully marketing their products. 
Due to the ever-growing popularity of the NBA, players have a constant presence in the media.  Sports News shows such as Sports Center and other various sports talk shows are constantly covering the NBA.  Games are on aired on cable at least 3-4 times a week on channels such as ESPN and TNT.  The NBA also has its own network covering the NBA 24/7 even during the offseason.
The NBA has also gotten much more popular in foreign countries such as China and the Philippines.  The NBA is one of the most popular brands in China and is the NBA's second largest market outside the United States, generating $150 million of revenue in 2012.  NBA commissioner Adam Silver predicts that the league will generate $5.5 billion in global revenue with Asia being a huge factor.  Nike and Adidas have sent NBA stars to China every summer to promotional tours, which has made these NBA stars just as big of celebrities in China as they are in the United States.  Kobe Bryant in particular is huge in China.  He is featured in Chinese advertisements and sells out arenas when he come to play.   
The NBA has been around for over 60 years and has seen some amazing talent throughout those years.  NBA Hall of Famers such as Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor, who played during the 1960s, may be considered some of the greatest players to play the game.  However they played in an era where the NBA was not nearly as big as it is now and never came close to being as internationally known and famous as the NBA stars of the 21^st century. 

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wslYWQwtf9A

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/business/international/nba-looks-to-asia-for-next-growth-spurt.html?_r=0

         

Matt Cibotti

Marketing

September 14, 2014

Blog #1:  My Goals for the Fall Semester

            With the fall semester of 2014 in full swing there are many goals and ambitions I hope to accomplish within the next four months at St. Mikes.  Along with my Marketing class I am taking Financial Accounting, Reporting for Media, and Environmental Journalism.  After being in these four classes for two weeks I have given myself goals that I need to accomplish in order to get the best possible grades I can.   

            My first goal for the semester is to become better at making presentations.  I often struggle at making presentations in front of a class.  I tend to get nervous and forget what I’m supposed to say.  In our Marketing class we are going to have to make a lot of presentations in front of the class.  Since making presentations is not one of my strengths I am going to need to spend a lot of time practicing and preparing for them to make sure I feel prepared to talk about the topic I’m presenting.  Hopefully my presentation skills will improve throughout the semester and I will be able to be calm and confident taking in front of my class.  Becoming better at making presentations will not only help me for this current semester but for other semesters to come and even after I am out of college and in the working world.  Making presentations is something that I am sure I will have to do for years to come so all the more reason to practice getting better at them now. 

            Another academic goal I hope to accomplish is to improve my writing skills.  A lot of times I struggle with writing and trying to put my thoughts on paper.  The classes I take this semester are all very writing intensive.  My Reporting for Media class requires us to do a lot of writing including doing interviews and providing a lot of detailed background information on the articles we are assigned to do.  In Marketing we also have to do a lot of writing when we have to write our marketing plans for practice marketing and our blog posts.  Therefore I hope that throughout this semester I will be able to figure out ways to improve my writing.

            One other goal I hope to accomplish this semester is to try and find out what areas of my major and minor I am interested in so I can begin to have a direction as to what I want to do when I get out of college.  I am majoring in Media Studies and minoring in business.  For a while I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with my major.  I am hoping after I have finished taking Marketing this semester I will figure out whether or not I would want to pursue marketing as a career path.