Advertising here, advertising there

Fellow student Avery Cowan submitted a link, which appears in the title, about advertisers' attempts to cut through clutter.

This article explains how advertising affects people’s daily lives. We see advertisements at the store, in the home, and on the street. Many advertisements are viewed and mentally noted without even realizing it. The article also looks at how advertisers seek out new, untraditional ways to get people’s attention. There is so much clutter in all advertising mediums these days that it is hard for companies and products to stand out among the others. The article goes on to point out that it is no longer the bigger budget has the best ads, but instead the most innovative and creative ways of presenting ads that capture a person’s attention. With advertising at an incredible high, it is easy to see how it can become an intrusion on people’s lives and daily activities. It seems that nothing is holding advertising agencies back from figuring out the newest and best way to get into people’s minds. In closing, the article refers to the movie Minority Report starring Tom Cruise and what the landscape might look like in 2054.

Rubric & SWOT Review

I have posted the rubric from the HCA case along with the SWOT we wrote in class. Please review them before submitting the SWOT and case for PapaJohn, which is due July 28 according to our syllabus.

• Rubric


• SWOT

Also, I returned the previous cases, NBB and Base Pro Shop, to the respective writers. They should have forwarded the case with my remarks to the rest of the group. Please review my comments as you prepare this case.

Chevy's Slow Going rEvolution

Update 07.26.04

Volkswagen announced declining profits and issued a profit warning in this Associated Press wire story. VW blamed everything but the obvious for slowing sales in North America and Europe. Namely, the German manufacturer needs to reposition the Jetta and the Golf.

Toyota's attempts to woo Generation Y buyers have missed the mark so far in this New York Times article. The second largest carmaker will drop the slow selling Celica and MR2. The Scion's first two vehicles, xA and xB, have inched off the sales line. The problem bedeviling the Scion also bit Honda with the Element.

End

When Toyota was designing its first Lexus vehicle, the engineers poured through junkyards across Europe, the United States and Japan. They looked at how cars aged. What pieces broke? What equipment fell apart? The results were in subtle but appreciated touches.

For example, fabric seam was across the seat. For the Lexus, engineers stretched the leather across the seat and stitched on the side. This meant the seat would last longer, and Lexus has been atop almost every customer satisfaction survey since its introduction. Toyota showed it was adept at understanding competitive intelligence.

As a side note, David Halberstam wrote an exhaustive, and illuminating account of the automobile industry called Reckoning. To understand how Japanese nameplates thrashed the American, look at how Nissan stayed with its market orientation strategy even when sales were terrible.

In this Wall Street Journal article, Chevrolet appears hopelessly stuck in its product orientation. The Cobalt lacks the buzz of the Scion, the angles of the Focus, the longevity of the Civic. In short, it is another piece of Chevy metal.

If I were running Chevy, I would pour through every junkyard looking at Jettas. I would listen to every Jetta owner. I would read every Jetta web site. Why? Because the Jetta is over priced, satisfaction as a measure of quality is dropping, and sales have slowed to an inch worm's pace. This is a great time for a rival to knock down Volkswagen while the German car builder struggles with its own self inflicted wounds.

If Chevy could out Jetta VW, then it would be the small car sales leader and not the Koreans or the Japanese. Of course, to accomplish that objective requires Chevy become a market oriented company and that barrier may prove too high.

Hidden Cost to EDLP

Fellow student Rachel Griffin submitted the following comments

Wal-Mart executes a nearly perfect marketing strategy, which is hard to beat. But is that good for the welfare of our country? I think Wal-Mart is an example of too much marketing. They enjoy a competitive advantage with all the 5 Ps are in place, but they ignore what society needs in favor of profits. I think the government should step in and prevent this from happening.

The US government took similar action against Microsoft. Why not Wal-Mart? The laws against monopolies don’t apply to Wal-Mart but soon they will. And small towns across the nation have unemployment rates through the roof because very few retailers can compete. Isn’t that a monopoly?

Wal-Mart’s CEO earned $1.2 million in salary and $4.2 million in bonus while at the same time they won’t pay their hourly employees a few hours of overtime. In her book “Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America,” Barbra Ehrenreich went to work at Wal-Mart and struggled to make ends meet. She had more than the average worker with a car and $1,000 for emergencies and no children. If she couldn’t do it, what makes anyone think an average wage worker can?

Wal-Mart is going to be the decline of our country because they have a strong competitive advantage. Shouldn’t there be federal intervention against this kind of company? Isn’t it the government’s responsibility to protect the impoverished people of the nation? Didn’t anyone see this coming?

This New York Times article presents more commentary on Wal-Mart. This web site, Wal-Mart Watch, also provides links to information about the company.