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

music while studying ?

As most college students these days, I study while listening to music. I wanted to know if this is conducive to my learning and retention of information. I've been listening to music while studying since I started college, well I only started studying after my first year in school. But besides the fact, I feel that it helps me a lot with focusing on what I'm typing but it might not be the case. I decided to listen to music when I took my first exam for this class and scored a lower grade than on the second exam when I did not listen to music. I found a study that a woman did for her senior thesis and she found that when people take a basic spatial reasoning test without music they scored on average of 90%. When they listened to classical music they scored 10% lower and when they listened to popular music they did even worse. I still don't believe this to be entirely true. I find I get more distracted when I hear other things, like people, squeaking chairs etc.. I feel the music is less of a distraction than other people. I don't enjoy studying in a place with total silence, it just makes me get distracted more easily. What do you all think about this??

to credit the article
http://takelessons.com/blog/2012/05/listening-to-music-while-studying/

She's hot...

stublisher

Hey readers,

My friends older brother just released his new website with a few friends called Stublisher. This is a site for people who like to share photos and stories about popular music events they attend. The name comes from the idea of saving ticket stubs as a badge of honor. Basically, people will put in all the photos or stories from music events they have been to and if others have been to the same events and posted photos, people can relive the experience. It's another form of social media without all the drama and popularity. It is for people who are dedicated concert goers and want another medium to share the experiences in a more dynamic way. Check them out, you just sign in with your Facebook and add all the concerts you have been to recently. The site is relatively new so it doesn't have a lot of smaller events but if more people catch on and start using it, more will be available for sharing. The site is interesting because it connects people with shared interest that may have met or danced and didn't have the opportunity to exchange information. It also helps promote the bands and artists in a more discrete way. They have been posting live feeds from concerts like Wiz Khalifa Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen.

Promotion abroad

An interesting article I read was written by Helen Wang, called “Half a Billion Opportunities for U.S. Businesses.” The topic covered is regarding the current growth in the maturing Chinese marketplace. The middle class consumer with disposable income is going to reach half a billion pretty soon and it can be very prosperous for small businesses in America. The ease and use of the internet is making exporting to China much easier and cost effective. Wang states, “Research also shows that the premium that Chinese consumers are willing to pay ranges for 10 percent to 80 percent or more.” 

Exporting to China will become more common with websites that link the consumers abroad to small businesses in America. The misconstrued idea that Americans need to shop in the US to boost our economy has created mental barriers for globalized sales. The largest barrier these days is the shipping costs and tariffs on imports and exports. If Chinese consumers are willing to pay much higher premiums on products to simply own a popular American Brand, it may be worth all the trouble. Small businesses should be promoting there products on sites like Tmall.com and Export Now. 

 

The ski industry is slowly growing in China and some of the companies that produce the hard goods are right here in America. Instead of letting the giant companies like Burton and Solomon dominate the online sales to China, small retail businesses that carry the American crafted skies should consider trying to expand their market share over seas. It  could bring in more sales using relatively inexpensive methods. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/helenwang/2012/11/30/half-a-billion-opportunities-for-u-s-businesses/

Pieces of April

After watching Pieces of April it really made me appreciate the family and traditions we do. Its been a while since I've been home but thats just because it costs so much to drive 800 miles to eat a silly meal. This movie was quite depressing because the family hated April and didn't have anything to be proud of her until the end. Everything seemed to go wrong, the oven broke, her family dreaded going, and it was the last time April was going to see her mother. I think the point of the movie was to show that the ultimate ritual is trying to keep a family together no matter what happens. Even if only one person wants to try, its the thought that counts. Overall, I thought this movie was really boring, but I did see how it can be a decent example of rituals. Thanksgiving is the main ritual used but others such a family bickering, the younger sibling bad mouther the older sister, parents not approving of April's boyfriend etc.. If anyone doesn't feel like renting the movie here is a good website to watch it. http://twomovies.name/watch_movie/Pieces_of_April

First Blog ( Better late than never )

I have finally found something I enjoyed enough to write about in this blog. I just finished reading Meghan Daum's article, "My Misspend Youth". It really opened my eyes and made me think about the decisions I've made that have landed me in this small town in Montana. It's crazy to me that her whole life decision came from the idea's of where she wanted to end up as a child. I think its great that she kept strong and she followed her dreams, but also think she is very naive. She clearly never had a kind of education that prepared her for the harsh realities of life. Possibly her parents didn't drill hard enough into her head that you have to become successful before you can act like it.

I was the typical kid who quizzed my parents with hundreds of questions about everything, including financials. I don't want to sit here and say I've got it all figured out, but I feel as thou I won't let a personal image overthrow reality. Maybe it was because my father is a stock broker and wanted me to be ready for what life was actually going to be like when I moved away to college and started my independent life. This article really made me think about my spending behavior. I typically use the excuse that I'm saving a bunch of money by living in Bozeman, paying a measly 300 dollars a month for rent while my close friends are living all over the country paying insane amounts of money for living and partying. I think that after reading this I'll try a little bit harder and make sure I don't let a similar situation happen to me, assuming I make it out of here before the "cops bust my party".