Situation or SWOT Analysis

In order for our marketing to be successful we must understand the current and potential environment our product will be  marketed in. We must analyze, our strengths, weaknesses, opportunites, and threats. Our strengths are that we don’t really have any competing products that offer what we offer. Our product is fun for kids and adults. Our product is not just food, but an activity. We are selling an activity for the whole family, not just food. We have a competitive advantage on the marketplace because we are a unique product that is appealing to families.  “Without a competitive advantage, target customers do not perceive any reason to patronize an organization instead of its competitors. The notion of competitive advantage means that a successful firm will stake out a position unique in some manner from its rivals.”( Lamb, Charles W. MKTG 9, 9th Edition, p. 25). When you are the only product, people will buy. Our weaknesses would definitely come down to costs, and price points. Our product is much more elaborate than a tube of cookie dough. It is a kit of products and different colors of dough that are moldable or edible. So the challenges would be convincing customers that the extra cost of our cookies is worth the experience. “When examining external opportunities and threats, marketing managers must analyze aspects of the marketing environment. This process is called environmental scanning—the collection and interpretation of information about forces, events, and relationships in the external environment that may affect the future of the organization or the implementation of the marketing plan.” (Lamb, Charles W. MKTG 9, 9th Edition, pg. 22). Our opportunities are being aware of social trends and adapting., maybe licensing out with other popular brands such as Star Wars or Spongebob. If our product continues to progress and stay on social trends it definitely gives us opportunity to market new products, sell, and grow. Our threats would be the much bigger companies copying our product or something similar. They have more resources and could probably be at a lower price point. Costs are very important, but can also be reduced in many ways. “A product/service differentiation competitive advantage exists when a firm provides something that is unique and valuable to buyers beyond simply offering a lower price than that of the competition.” (Lamb, Charles W. MKTG 9, 9th Edition. P 22). It is important we stay ahead of our competitors in providing a better product that is worth the cost differences. Cost isn’t everything.

Objectives

Our objective as a new company is to enter all major grocery store chains around the United States within our first 6 months. We want to be in Wal-mart, Target, Kroger, Vons, and many others. Getting our product available to the mass public is most important for us. We believe our objective is realistic and measureable. As Mr. Lamb from the Marketing textbook states, “Managers should develop objectives that have a chance of being met. For example, it may be unrealistic for start-up firms or new products to command dominant market share, given other competitors in the marketplace.” We don’t plan to dominate the marketshare of the cookie business, but we plan to shake it up and put ourselves on the map. We believe people will love our product; it just needs to get to them.

Business Mission Statement

“The foundation of any marketing plan is the firm's mission statement, which answers the question “What business are we in?” (Lamb, Charles W. MKTG 9, 9th Edition, p. 21). Our mission is to provide families with a fun activity that has benefits to not just kids, but parents as well. Anyone can get the kids together and bake normal, plain cookies. Also, anyone could get regular playdoh and make fun sculptures. Why not bring both activities together into one, fun and delicious product. Our product is edible playdoh cookie dough, and it is the answer to a fun family activity for all. Kids can have fun building all sorts of different cookie creations with our various colors, and everyone gets to enjoy the delicious baked cookies! We are in the business of creating happiness and fun for all.

Week 7 EOC: Pitch

Everyone loves chocolate, but no one loves chocolate more than kids! My product aims to make chocolate into a fun activity for kids, and the whole family. We are presenting edible play-doh cookie dough. The product comes in fun chocolate flavors, in different colors. So children will be able to mold the cookie dough into anything they want, and then pop them into the oven and bake them, and then enjoy! Kids and parents can enjoy this activity by creating fun faces, flowers, animals, and whatever creations they come up with. Then the creations can be eaten by the whole family. The kit will come with 4 different colors, yellow, green, blue, and red. It will have different flavors including chocolate, cookies and cream, and white chocolate. It will also come with some cookie cutters to assist you in your creations, and a book of ideas of things you can create. The product is a toy, and a dessert all in one and there is nothing like it on the market. The goal would be to get it into grocery stores right next to the other cookie doughs, and give the customer this fun filled option. This is a wonderful gift or just a fun thing to do any night of the week.

Week 6 EOC: Me x3

My first item that I really enjoy would have to be my iPhone. My iPhone is customized to everything I enjoy and like. It keeps me close to family and friends and also engaged to whats happening in the world.

My second item would be my sports jerseys. I love my jerseys because it represents me and the teams I like. I wear them when I goto the games, or watching on TV. Whenever I bring them out that means I am going to do something I enjoy.


My third item would be my macbook. My macbook was expensive, and has all of my work that I have done. It has all of my creative programs that give me opportunity to create.

Week 5 EOC: this is what has my interest

This Documentary shows us how the best Japanese denim is made.

http://hypebeast.com/2016/7/weaving-shibusa-japanese-denim-documentary

This post has my attention because I found it extremely interesting why the japanses denim sets itself above the rest. These artisans have such love for their denim, and it is well known in the fashion industry that Japanese denim is the best. The craftsmanship and quality is amazing. They consider their denim art. Their knowledge of the different denims is so interesting, specializing in vintage denim. The shuttle machines they use are almost vintage, and the time and quality put into every step of the process of making their denims is above the rest.

Is Kanye West Adidas’ winning formula?

http://hypebeast.com/2016/8/kanye-west-adidas

This article has my attention because the rise of Adidas in the last year has been incredible to watch. The main reason seems to be just one man, Kanye West. I find that incredible since he is such a controversial figure. North American sales have jumped 32% in the second quarter. They are outperforming all of the competition including Nike and Under Armour. They have outperformed all of their expectations and shoes have nearly doubled in price. The Kanye West edition products sell out immediately, and shoes are on EBAY for average of north of 1000$ USD. Adidas is definitely the “in” brand right now, and most of the thanks goes to Kanye West and his influence on the fashion culture.

Check out the 3D printed shoes Adidas is giving its Olympic Athletes

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/08/11/adidas-3d-printed-shoes-olympics/

This article has my attention because 3D printing and the Olympics both are huge interests to me. The shoes look pretty incredible and they are 3d printed. I have been following this subject for years and the progress is amazing. The shoes don’t need any glue or stitching. The Olympic athletes are the first to get their hands on them. The shoes have been approved for long distance running and there is no set release date on them yet.

Week 4 EOC: My New App

If I was to create a new app for my iphone, I would create an app that could track exactly where my golf ball lands, to make it easier to find it. So many times in golf you hit a bad shot and lose your ball, or even sometimes you hit a good shot and can not believe you can’t find your ball. So you go looking through bushes and everywhere possible, maybe even finding other people’s golf balls and not finding yours. It really bothers me and makes me scratch my head, and makes my score on the round worse. If I created the app I would sell chipped golf balls alongside with the free app, and you could Bluetooth your phone to the golf balls, and track them on the app to their exact location. It sounds like a brilliant idea, and it probably is already invented but I haven’t looked. I think many people would be interested in the product, and it would be really useful since most people aren’t great at golf. The challenge would be to make the golf balls competitively priced so the customer feels they are getting a really cool and useful app, and helping their golf game for no more extra money than they would have been spending before. You may be able to make up the cost in the microchip with ads on the app, so essentially we are now a golf ball company.