Marketing Beer to Women Article

I forgot to attach the article about marketing beer to women. Here it is:

http://www.lfpress.com/life/eat/2012/03/23/19541401.html

In Response to Evan Woolcott's Post

If you saw a bunch of people wearing "Blue Moon" shirts, and you were intoxicated, would you be encouraged to buy that beer?

I personally enjoy drinking different types of beer instead of drinking the same cheap Keystone or Bud Light all the time. So if I were to see someone with a Blue Moon t-shirt on and I was going to get beer, then that might influence my decision making because it would make me think about how much I enjoy Blue Moon.

On the other hand, I know many people that do not care much for other kinds of beers or just flat out don't want to spend the money to get a nicer beer. In the end, I believe it really depends on the person and they way they like to enjoy a few drinks. Its more of a lifestyle thing.

Marketing Beer to Women

I recently read something about the beer industry and how they market to customers. Primarily, beer is marketed to men. Advertisement for beer has a very masculine feeling to it whether its Keystone's "Keith Stone" or Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World". Beer has never been directed towards women and I myself am under the impression that the majority of women don't enjoy beer as much.

An article in the London Free Press writes about the demographic and lifestyle assumptions that go into marketing beer to women. One type of beer they mention is called Uptown Girl. This beer is a light beer that comes in a slightly smaller bottle and contains minimal calories. First of all, this beer directly refers to women in the name. This makes it look specifically for women. The slightly smaller bottle is there to make the beer less filling. This refers to an assumption made by beer companies that women cannot drink as much beer as men. Also, this beer only has about fifty calories, which is a very low amount for beer. This assumes that many women are conscious of the calories they intake.

If this marketing strategy works then its great for beer companies. After reading these changes made to beer based off these three assumptions I wonder, do these changes made assume to much of women and could these stereotypes be seen as offensive to women?

In Response to Jaycelyn's post...

Should Google have made this switch or should Google have kept the Android Market as it was?

Social Ad Success

I recently found this article online about a man  named Jim Olenbush, a real estate agent in Austin Texas. One morning this man was reading his newspaper and saw an article saying many Mexican families are fleeing to the USA as of late. He immediately used this news to his advantage and took out an ad on Facebook for his real estate business. As a result he netted 1.1 million in sales for his real estate firm as a direct result of his Facebook advertising and all it took was a mere $400 dollars spent on ads.

The popularity of social networks is having a very dramatic impact on the business world. Initially, social networks were just a way to stay in touch with people from a distance, but as of late they have become a modern marketing marvel. The majority of people in the United States is on Facebook along with the rest of the world. Firms can now determine their target market through social networking. Jim Olenbush took out an ad for real estate in Austin, Texas because of what he read in the newspaper. He anticipated his target market and absolutely nailed it. Personally, I've never paid much attention to the advertisements that go up on social networks, but if Jim here can do it so easily, whats the chance of paper-based marketing becoming a declining method in business? And what effect would that have on how we do business?

Here is the link for the article I read: http://socialfresh.com/social-network-advertising/ 

Marketing Through Senses

When walking into a store that sells any type of good, I can't help but wonder what products i'll see closest to the entrance and which ones will be located at the back of the store. There has to be a reason why products are placed where they're placed. This is most apparent in stores like supermarkets. When I walked into a supermarket the other day, the first thing I did was smell the aromas of freshly cooked bread. The bakery was located right at the entrance. This makes plenty of sense so people are enticed by other senses besides sight. The next thing I notice is the produce section directly in front of me. It is a very open area so it is quite easy to see all of the fresh fruits and vegetables. The lack of processed food in my initial view at the entrance of the store makes sense. Besides obvious nutrition, these fresh foods also have something that these packaged foods do not. They have the distinct smell of fresh food. When I first realized how the use of smell in the entrance of a supermarket is part of marketing it fascinated me. Marketing can be proven more effective through targeting other human senses besides sight. For instance, retail stores like Macy's don't just have clothes in them. They sell items like perfumes that people enjoy. Also, wholesale stores like Costco use free samples to help market some of their goods. This is using taste to help market a wholesale product that is often packaged instead of freshly made. These are my examples but I don't know. Are there any other major ways products are marketed without the use of sight besides these ones I've stated here?

Marketing Flops

I was viewing an online list of the biggest marketing flops in history, and I can’t help to discuss the ones that really caught my eye. For instance, one of the products was Smith and Wesson Mountain Bikes. When I saw this it just made no sense to me. Smith and Wesson has always made guns. Whatever caused them to believe that mountain bikes from Smith and Wesson would catch on is beyond me. I don’t see how the two are related. I wonder why upper management approved this? After all, gun and mountain bikes consist of target markets that are not even similar to one another. This just didn’t seem logical.

Another item on the list was Microsoft Web TV. This was a service in the mid-1990s that allowed people to get an internet connection through their television set. The reason this caught my eye was because having internet access through your TV is quite popular nowadays. The list states that one of the reasons this product failed is because of extensive customer service issues. I believe that this product’s concept was merely ahead of its time. Technology was not yet sophisticated enough to support such a concept and that is the main reason Microsoft Web TV flopped.

McDonald’s Arch Deluxe sandwiches were also included on this list. When I saw the explanation to this marketing failure it seemed obvious. The McDonald’s Arch Deluxe was meant to be for customers who preferred a more sophisticated sandwich. McDonald’s target market is mainly customers who want a quick burger on the go. This example caught my eye because it was another example of a company trying to venture outside its target market and just ending up with a failed product. Why do companies choose to expand their target market so drastically instead of easing into more closely related products?

Here is the link to the site where the list of marketing flops is located:  http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/top-25-biggest-product-flops-of-all-time/3662621/