Week 8 EOC: Creative Content

For my pop up, I plan on finding an image and photoshopping my logo for "T-Burger" on the photo. Seeing as I am better with photoshop than actual photography, I plan on basing most if not all of my creative content on imagery, and graphics. I plan on making the employee name badges, potentially pairing a uniform with it seeing as the badge is a major part of the concept. I also plan on making the cover of the take out menu I will be offering along with my pop up. The take out menu will be for those who are unsure where we'll be next and would like to call to order at a later date or even those that want to come back later on in the day and just want to take a menu with them. The uniforms will be rather important as well, with the employee's favorite meal being placed on their badge, it should be show properly and is a key element to the pop up. Uniforms are often overlooked when it comes to food, the only memorable uniform that I think of immediately being hot dog on a stick. And while I don't want to embarrass my employees in such a manner, I want people to recognize my pop up immediately from simply looking at those that work there.

Implementation Evaluation Control

TBC...

Price

For what I am offering I do not anticipate having very high prices. With it being a pop up, it's not an extremely elegant dining experience. Burgers are normally around $5 each and $7 for a full meal. Some ingredients may cost more than others so those will obviously more expensive than others. Unlike Whole Foods, I don't want to overcharge my customers. "Kroger uses the data mining results, augmented with customer interviews, to guide strategies for tailored promotions, pricing, placement, and even stocking variations from store to store. Kroger says individual treatment builds loyalty by creating more value for customers and making them feel more appreciated. " We all plan to keep our customers, so I ask for a lot of feedback from those that come to eat at my pop up. "We continue your marketing journey with a look at a second major marketing mix tool—pricing. If effective product development, promotion, and distribution sow the seeds of business success, effective pricing is the harvest. Firms successful at creating customer value with the other marketing mix activities must still capture some of this value in the prices they earn."

Promotion

Social Media is a very popular point in this generation, making twitter, instagram, and facebook all focal points in every business. For instagram I plan on having a meal of the day, posting an image of the meal that is being offered. Unlike most places, the meal of the day isn't a one time only kind of thing. It will be offered regularly just highlighted for the time being. "Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it. Ford Motor Company spends more than $2 billion each year on U.S. advertising to tell consumers about the company and its many products. ¹⁵ Dealership salespeople assist potential buyers and persuade them that Ford is the best car for them. Ford and its dealers offer special promotion—sales, cash rebates, low-financing rates—as added purchase incentives." While I cannot offer as much money in promotions, I can offer an expertise on all social media aspects. Even having a snapchat run by management to focus on the fun environment.

Distribution

TBC...

Product

As a food service, my product is ideally going to be food. I am offering tastes of foods from different coasts of the US. The dining experience will primarily be outside, but the food will be made to order. I am sure I will garner more customers due to the the pitch of the pop up. I hope to remind the many people of Las Vegas of their previous homes. People in Las Vegas generally come from other states and the product will be burgers and sandwiches. The California will be a chicken sandwich with avacado spread, due to California's health kick. "Marketing must then convince buyers that the product's value at that price justifies its purchase. If the price turns out to be too high, the company must settle for lower markups or lower sales, both resulting in disappointing profits." I do not plan on offering a product that is not worth the price.

Target Marketing Strategy

The book goes in detail about customer driven marketing. The consumer is the most important part of any business. I am targeting my pop up mainly toward tourists and those who are from out of state, but I will offer a discount on the meal of the day when it comes to locals, but I am definitely aiming toward tourists and those that are not initially from Las Vegas. "Once it has chosen a position, the company must take strong steps to deliver and communicate the desired position to target consumers. All the company’s marketing mix efforts must support the positioning strategy." I fully plan on supporting my marketing strategy by tagging with posts as well as advertising on the strip, which is essentially the most tourist driven part of Las Vegas.

SWOT Analysis

TBC...

Objectives

My objective with this pop up is to bring a new dining experience to Las Vegas. I plan to make it possible that people can come to Las Vegas and experience a piece of their respective homes while they are in Las Vegas. I do not wish to completely leave out locals as a whole, but I do wish to make tourists feel more welcome in Las Vegas, which  is often harder to do for people visiting the city. As a native, I am aware how tourists are seen and viewed in the city, hopefully feeling more welcome at the pop up. As well as Vegas natives to get an understanding of the different tastes of America. "Concentrated marketing involves focusing on only one or a few market segments. " Which I do not plan on doing with my pop up. I plan on offering a joyous experiences.

Business mission statement

T-Burger plans to bring the tastes of America to your city. With a great understanding of the many cultures that blend America as a whole, I plan on sampling a piece of each coast, and placing it on  the menu for those in Las Vegas to enjoy. As a city that holds many people from many walks of life, we can appreciate what the US has to offer.

Week 7 EOC: Pitch

For my pop up, I'd like a burger shack that pulls inspiration for burgers from around the country. The US is an expansive country with a multitude of different styles of food. For California, seeing as they're so health conscious it would be a veggie burger with avocado and sold in a combo with a tea and baked chips, while the roadhouse burger (Texas influenced) would be a steak burger with A1 sauce, onion rings, with a side of fries. A common question with ordering food is normally "what's good on the menu?", so before the question is asked, whomever is at the register and ringing up will have their favorite item on their name badge. It would be a small menu of simply sandwich/burger style options. The only specialty drink would be a tea, possibly Fuze tea brand. Baked chips or fries as the two option for sides if wanted. There wouldn't be too much, making it possible to be put up and taken down within a pretty simple amount of time. (To be continued)

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Social media has become a pretty big part of society today. Everyone normally has some form of an account to update, making their most personal thoughts public. While it may seem crazy that jobs are sorting through Facebook for potential employees, it makes a lot of sense. A resume or application will note the person's highest points, but no one really knows what they're like until someone taps into some of their most personal details. They can say they're hard workers and offer a reference that will agree, but that doesn't necessarily make it true. "Candidates tend to value referrals from their connections on Facebook more." (Light, 2011) Which is honestly true. Facebook friends tend to be more honest than those hand picked and potentially more useful. Because essentially everyone uses Facebook, it'll be hard to compete with one of the top social media platforms. Job listings are definitely still prominent, but Facebook has the means to work just the same. Essentially people do go to social media to speak on how much they love certain brands. Instead of figuring out a giant PR scheme, it'd be easier to find the people that genuinely enjoy the product and use them as sales opportunities. Consumers being used as brand ambassadors seems to be a smart tool and potentially cheaper for the company as well. "For the ambassadors, it’s often a labor of love more than a paying job. Rewards include product samples, gifts, discounts, and token cash payments." (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011) This is a good way to spread the word about product references and grow as a company. Planting people that enjoy your product on social media to endorse it. This can be seen all over instagram, with celebrities and those with a lot of followers being sent free products to endorse. Skinny mint tea, being one of the bigger names to do so, as well as the waist trainer trend.

Week 4 EOC: New Phone App

A common issue I have is when I want to listen to music, I never really know which song to pick that fits my mood. And the song that plays after will completely throw me off and I'll end up wanting to change it either way. If I could create any app it would be one to guess your song choice based on your mood. The touch ID pad would be used almost as a "mood detector" and would work to pick a song to play or find a few songs that would work for your mood. The free version would do 10 songs at a time, while the paid version would put together a playlist of 15, 25, and 50 songs at a time. It would also store the playlists to get at a later date. It'd be a lot easier than having to switch songs and going through however many thousand songs available on your iPhone or iPod. It would also be a lot easier for those driving, and instead of risking your lives to change the song, it'd have a perfect one next up. Many people can relate to having the perfect song playing and then later it changes to one that basically ruins it. With this app there won't be any awkward situations where you can go from a 2 Chainz song to a Michael Buble song, on your way to a party. I would imagine more so teenagers and young adults would download this app than anyone older or younger. More likely the ages 16- 23.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Pencils of Promise is an organization formed to build schools in countries that seem to lack in the educational system. Their most talked about venture being, the school that was built from scratch with the help of celebrity Justin Bieber. Since, the literacy of PoP 2nd graders has gone up 33%. (PoP website) Their biggest support has come from Justin Bieber, who has donated a portion of each ticket sold from his believe tour to the charity. Justin Bieber has gotten a bad wrap in the music industry from a multitude of stunts pulled in 2013 and 2014. These proceeds have seemed to go under the radar, much like his constant awarding in the year end "most charitable celebrity". "He and Justin were able to turn several hundred thousand fans into several hundred thousand philanthropists with each of them giving one dollar to the organization." (Braun, 2011) This following the Christmas album released by Bieber that was one of the first Universal releases that had proceeds going to charities such as Make-A-Wish and Pencils of Promise. (Fekadu, 2011) The male also holds a record with Make-A-Wish as holder of the most wishes granted. This is in contrast to the many negative reports that have come out about Bieber. While he isn't a business, he is a brand that uses his massive fanbase to donate to a multitude of charities.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

I was born in 1993, making me part of the millennial generation. We are considered the most technologically advanced of all generations, which is technically a given considering the fact we are the generation that has gone through the most technology changes. It's apparent in most households considering most parents look to their children to assist them in the most simple technology based themes. iPhones and most other Apple products have been introduced and mastered by those of this generation. We are also the most diverse of the generations. Looking at the make up of the U.S. it is visible that each person is generally different. We all differ from our ethnicity down to personalities. If you take a look in any college class now, generally a wide range of people will be seen. On the topic of college, we are also the generation more reliant on loans to attend college. By the end of 2014, student debt has risen to an astounding 1 trillion dollars. A larger share of low income households have had at least one child attend college, the interest in private education going up. As a millennial that relies in most part to student loans, there is some truth to this. Attending the Art institute I get weekly updates on my loans, those of which I often hesitate to check considering I don't want to scare myself. Given the above facts, I believe these are generally truthful and very apparent in myself as well as my peers.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

My life has been surrounded by sounds since a young age, much how most people live. But, I am one of the many that have decided to make a career out of those sounds. My name is Tymia and I am an audio production major. I grew up as an extremely dramatic child that loved attention but didn't know how to act when I actually received it. At 16 I knew I loved music more than the standard person and I knew I wanted to go into some field that allow me to be around anything musical. At 17 I started a blog to critique albums, which unfortunately didn't garner as much attention as I wanted, but I didn't stop there. From tumblr to twitter I've looked for ways to stay updated in music and what is going on with the artists. I've always wanted to have a website for people like me, that are interested in hearing everything that has to do with entertainment, as well as the business side of things although most media outlets resort to gossip. I'm Tymia and I tend to talk (or type) a lot, and I only hope that some people want to listen (or read).

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Games

Video Games, as stated in The Wall Street Journal, plummeted during our 2009 recession. This affected a great deal of consoles, mainly the Nintendo Wii. The Wii plummeted 38% in sales. This turning the console from a cash cow to a dog in the BCG. The Wii wasn't the only on affected, considering this was a mass plummet for all video games, putting many retailers in trouble as well. "The turnabout is rippling out to companies such as online retailer Amazon.com Inc. Last week, Amazon blamed weak quarterly results from its media business on a decline in videogame sales." (Kane, 2009) As of 2015, the Nintendo Wii has dropped to #10 on the list of top game consoles. According to Peter Brown "Microsoft was on top of the world after the holiday season, having sold more consoles than Sony or Nintendo during the months of November and December." (Brown, 2015) Which could very well put the "Xbox One" as a cash cow. A surprising contender on the Gamespot website, was the "PC". This was listed in the best gaming consoles, which many can agree has taken over the gaming world. "If you've splurged, or are planning to splurge, on a 4K TV for the living room, the only way to play games at such a high resolution is with a PC." Making the PC a game exclusive console.

Week 1: EOC Great Customer Service

      I have experienced many instances of great customer service. My favorite would have to be when I was at Universal Studios, I stayed at Cabana Bay where there was a gift store for Universal Studios and the associates inside the store were extremely patient. Many people were there for Harry Potter merchandise and the entire corner was crowded with 2 associates answering their questions. They were very patient and took their time, making sure they got to every questions. I haven't seen a place so crowded yet so helpful with their customers. It was summer and the theme park was extremely popular. There were many unruly customers that the associates had to deal with, including a mother that was angry about the amount that was needed to pay for the house robes (Robes that are worn by the students in each Hogwarts house). This issue was completely out of their control, but they handled the angry woman, gracefully. I applaud them, because I also work in retail and I know how hard it can be to deal with very disrespectful customers. I made it in and put of the gift shop rather quickly in comparison to some other stores, that are only half as busy.