Men’s nail polish hitting the market place.

Men’s nail polish we often think is out of the question, but is starting to show up in kick boxing and martial arts, to cover up banged up nails. Its started with Former Ultimate Fighting Championship star Chuck Liddell, he started to sport a pink polish during fights. He said that it would occasionally help him chat up women, along with seeing polish on famous actors. AS a retired fighter, he started his own cosmetic line, which included polish paint that were named “manly colors” Such as “burnin rubber” and “gasoline”.  His website he says is way over the top, pointing out that it’s just for males. After he saw his sales increasing to males that aren't into fighting and don’t have ruined nails, “just looking for a bit of flare” he softened his marketing approach. The company sells about 400 pens a month.  Female nail polish industry is still at an all time high, but because of the flexibility of social norms, male nail polish is being accepted into the market. In the years past It was thought as less masculine because you were taking care of yourself, but today, men are seeing the importance of taking care of yourself. I think this website proves that we are pressured by celebrities to use certain products. Have you ever been more likely to use a product that you've seen a celebrity use? 

Alpha Nailart official website- http://www.alphanail.com/#starterkit

Alpha nailart Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPBA2HKPus

Article- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/mens-nail-polish-joins-the-cosmetics-market#r=nav-f-story

What managers do

Leaders are different from managers in many ways. The article made a list of these differences between managers and leaders. I think the most important difference between the two is that managers focuses on the systems and structure of their organization and leaders focuses on the people within the organization. It's good that managers want to make sure their organization is running smoothly but making sure their employees are happy is more important. When the employees are happy, the customers are satisfied. Managers just want to make sure their organization is controlled, and reaches the goals by doing things the right way. As a leader, they want their employees to feel they can be trusted, to excel in their work by giving them confidence and to make sure they do the right thing, for example, business ethics. 

Response to Lindsey's post about Value and Service.

After reading Lindsey's article on Customer's value and stratification  it made me reflect on who I am as a consumer. I am a college student, so I try not to spend money, because I simply don't have any! There are certain products that I buy because I like how they work and they are just the products that I buy. So yes, I base my value of a product more on the physical product. I base the value on what it does for me, where I find the product, and sometimes the ingredients. The service that I get at the the place of purchase doesn't normally affect if I buy the product again. If it is a product that I buy normally then the service doesn't matter, but if I am at a specialty store, and the attitudes are bad, and the service is bad, than I would probably not go back to that location. 

OraBrush Marketing Stratergy

This is a response to an article about Marketing a new product for battling dog breath. Found on Yahoo Finance.com

Through the research of the mouth, it is said that bad breath comes from bacteria on a the toungue rather the teeth. Tongue scrapping is a common practice in other parts of the world, but in the US, the CEO of Orabrush admits that it’s not common in the US.  So, one thing people hate more than  their own bad breath? DOG BREATH. Instead of focusing on marketing to people, they would market to dog owners, making a tongue scrapper for dogs. By creating a scrapper with a beef flavored paste, the dog just licks the scrapper. Instead of struggling with your pet, you are giving them a treat. And in the long run, you are benefitting. The result of this product is a happy owner! No longer nauseating dog breath.

I saw this Youtube marketing video a while back, I don’t even own a dog, and I thought it would be a fantastic idea. This company took orders for their new idea, instead of just putting it on shelves.  And this worked for them!

This is the Human orabrush that didn’t catch on in the US.

 Article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/million-dollar-idea-battling-dog-161209227.html

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96EbDtMptU

In response to regulation

I also don’t believe that regulation is effective, as the government would like to think that it is. An example would be alcohol… Touchy subject… But on the other hand I definitely think that there should be regulations in the work place, and I think that is important to have a minimum wage. I think that the work place would take advantage of not having one. I know that being a small business owner is hard, and there are struggles financially, and if there is anywhere to cut corners, those corners will be cut. I can also see there being a mess in bigger companies, over working their employees, and taking advantage of all of their hard work, just to make an extra buck.

http://pocketwaffle.blogspot.com/

In response to Collaboration and Creativity.

I feel like Facebook has almost changed everything about daily activities. It has changed how you are hired, when applying for a job, and especially how we meet people. I know its not good for us to be so open online. What would be so different about our culture if there was no Facebook? I feel like I would be emailing a lot more to keep in touch with my grandmother. I digress. I’m not one to have a creative mind, and thinking about how much more collaborative Facebook could get, are just in my wildest dreams. If we compare Facebook and Google plus, Google you can have hang outs and do a lot more with, but why isn’t it as popular? Maybe they will upgrade, buying more of Google’s technology. http://mo-blog-kjohnson.blogspot.com/

(RED) Marketing details.

After the launch of (RED) it was stated that $100 million was spent on marketing, while only actually a quarter of that was given to charity. The industry should realize that this is not good advertisement for the company. I think that there is no reason for the criticism to be justified, because they should have seen this coming. I understand that Oprah was supporting the cause, but there was no reason to spend way more on a "good" cause than what was actually given. My thought is that they must have assumed that there was going to be a time where they wouldn't have to spend a lot on marketing, and they would have gotten the funds to donate, but when will that time come? If I was a personal supporter of (RED) then I would stop supporting the company, because their mission behind the marketing that they have done doesn't seem credible to me. Unfortunately, there is a part of their supporters (ones who buy their product) that will never know how much they spent on marketing, and how little was actually given to charity. They will continue to buy the (RED) symbol, thinking that they are doing well. When really the facts don’t match up.