Does weather affect consumption

Being a local Oregonian, I have been accustomed to living in a rainy climate for most of my life. I find that I am not necessarily affected by low amounts of vitamin d from deprival of sunshine. The typical climate in Portland is rain, and more rain. It doesn't make sense to me but when it rains its one of my favorite times. It hardly ever snows and when it does it creates excitement like no other. I can only remember one time in my life when I actually had a white Christmas. People who live in Montana are the same way but for different reasons. Local Montanan's are used to lots of snowfall throughout winter and probably don't have the same feelings when a nice white dusting covers the streets.

It may be the worst possible time for me to study because all I can think about is going outside and playing in the snow. The weather will change the way I consume and spend money because it causes me to have different moods. I will tend to be less worrisome about spending money when its snowing or raining because the weather encourages me to go spend and create entertainment. Im stoked this is my last blog because it means that the term is almost over and I can go ski!!

Holiday Warfare

This article is quite interesting. It delves deeper into the discussion we had a few class sessions ago about how retailers can combat the increasing online sales. This article says that 16% of sales this holiday season will be online. Some of the innovative ideas that brick and mortar stores can implement are as follows. 

Constant price alterations to compete with online prices is one of the best ways to maintain a competitive edge. The idea of using apps is great for companies to still have the stores and capture some of the online market. They are making apps that will become active as you enter the store and can give you purchase incentives a few times while inside. Just like the idea of the gift giving app, Facebook created Facebook gifts. Its a program that people use to highlight their interests and make it available for other people to see. 

Some retailers are going to take drastic measures to encourage traffic to stores like 50% off discounts. Hopefully I’ll save some money while shopping for Christmas this season. Also, expensive pop up shops are going to be popular this season. It will be interesting to go home soon and see the changes in Portland. 

I suggest you read this article because it not only reassures everything you were saying in class, but also gives a few more examples of how companies can compete with the dominating online market. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mckinsey/2012/12/06/holiday-shopping-trends-making-a-list-and-checking-in-twice/

Watch this video

This is a very interesting video about what differentiates business in such a complex market. He discusses a model which explains why the most popular companies in America have been so successful. He talks about the golden circle, which can be broken down into three parts. The center of the circle is the why, the surrounding circle is the how, and the final circle is that what. The problem that many companies fail in is the order of how they describe their product. They start from the outside in and it should be the opposite. The best way to convince consumers to become apart of your company is to convince them that it is the right product to you. Companies need to present the need for a product before explaining how their product can fill that need. Watch this video, its worth your time.


http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Gymkhana!

This is one of the best advertisements I have ever seen. It not only is some of the best driving in the world, but one of the best productions of a driving movie on the internet. If you have not seen any of the gymkhana videos, here you go! Some of the ads I could spot include Monster, Oakley, GoPRO, Ford, DC etc... If you have never heard about Ken Block and his success he's a celebrity worth checking out. He used to own DC with Rod Dyrdek and ended up selling most of it to him. He has been racing in the pro circuit for rally car racing and has been featured in video games like Dirt 1, 2 and 3. He basically just get to rage 100 thousand dollar cars for the rest of his life, and get paid to do it.. lucky devil

Gymkhana 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv0f7_O25Z0

Awesome Guerrilla marketing

Check out some of these cool guerrilla marketing techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUlzNJSwfVQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocCYlqvJKC4

In my opinion, this is the best way for a company to "break through the clutter". It still costs the companies huge amounts of money and there is no way to measure effectiveness, but they probably work pretty well.

The term guerrilla warfare is defined by wikipedia as,  "a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians (or "irregulars") usemilitary tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and less-mobile traditional army, or strike a vulnerable target, and withdraw almost immediately." 

Guerrilla marketing is a fitting name because it too uses irregular tactics and has an element of surprise.

If any of you have seen some guerrilla marketing recently, please comment on this blog.

Burning Man explained

This article was extremely wordy and boring. My mom has been attending Burning Man for the past few years and usually fills me in on all the crazy things that go down. First of all to answer the question, can consumers escape the market? Of course not, people prepare for MONTHS to attend a festival for a week. It's just another form of a vacation where people express there individuality and all that good stuff. People spend THOUSANDS of dollars on travel, food, water, art, contribution items etc.. The idea is awesome that people for just a few days can escape their realities but it's something that takes huge preparation and tons of resources. The article doesn't explain very well what the rules are of the event. These are the rules from the Burning Man Website.

No cars are allowed to drive around
Leave no trace, this includes no peeing on the playa ( You can get fined )
You cannot buy or sell anything
Public Boundaries, no camping in the city
Strict burning policies
No dogs allowed
No music louder than 300 watts
Break any rules and get kicked out
No drug use allowed ( federal agents and park rangers are everywhere )
No guns

The last year my mom went she said tons of college kids attended the last two nights, as described in the article as free loaders and the weather was awesome. The harsh reality is that its a sand storm and people die almost every year. The system for how people buy tickets recently changed and it became an auction. This means that people who regularly go might not have won a ticket, which means all the cool artwork that could have made it might not, and all the people who went when it was nice weather will come unprepared next year.

craigslist is awesome

If any of you need a quick way to get money, craigslist is the way to go. This summer I went on a craigslist binge and sold a bunch of old ski gear and it sort of got addicting. The ability to set a price for any item can be really fun. I had some old ski boots that my brother gave me and sold them for over 100 dollars. There have been cases where people trade items and end up with stuff much more valuable than when they started. An extreme case that I heard a while back was a guy who started out with a cell phone and ended up with a porsche. Be careful tho, people sell stuff all the time that is stolen and you could end up in some trouble. Some helpful tips that I have developed over the years are as follows.

- Never use your personal information
- Its ok to use your cell phone #, but spell out some of the numbers so computer software cannot retrieve it.
- Make the posts simple and alter it a few times a week so it stays in the current posts
- Have a friend present if you feel uncomfortable about the situation or person when making a sale.
- ALWAYS post a higher price than what you want to sell it for, people usually come to the door with less money than the post.
- Don't provide to much information about the product, it will deter people
- ALWAYS use pictures

Super easy to way to make quick money for the weekends. Go out and have some fun