Week 2

This week, we had our first joint class with the Honors Engineering students.  After discussing our many "bugs" and choosing six, we split into six groups.  My group consists of three business students and two engineers. For our "SMART Project", my group is to create a prototype of and market a breathalyzer controlled locker.  These lockers would theoretically be placed in bars and would hold the car keys of those who are drinking. At the end of the night, they would blow into the breathalyzer and the door would unlock only if the BAC level is below the legal state level.  If it is not, then an Uber or taxi ride home would be set up.  This would save the lives of countless people, who would then not make the mistake of drinking and driving.

This week we also discussed key points from Chapter 4 of our textbook.  My takeaway from this discussion was the importance of the 5 C's of Marketing.

The 5 C's:

• Company
• Consumer
• Competitors
• Collaborators
• Context

We spent most of the time discussing Context and the factors within it that will affect the market.  These include Social, Demographic, Economic, Technological, Political/Legal, and Competitor.  The Social aspect includes cultural factors, such as trends.  The Demographic component includes race, age, households, and generation gaps, while the Economic component simply means income.  Technology explains the increase in robotics and automation, while the Political/Legal component describes differences in ideologies, beliefs, and laws. Competitors include different competitive advantages that companies can have, such as low cost(Walmart) and differentiation(Apple).

In addition to the SMART Project and concepts from the textbook, we also watched another Shark Tank clip about the product DDP Yoga. They pitched their DVD-at-home-yoga company to the sharks, asking for $200,000 and 5%.  The duo tried to reinvent yoga, and make it more manly.  They argued that it not your typical yoga, and could rehabilitate while combining strength training and flexibility into the program. All five sharks ultimately denied their requests and backed out.  One of the sharks raised a point when she said, "I don't like to invest in companies that are based on trends". 

I both agree and disagree with the Shark's claim.  I believe that if created and marketed strategically, a product based on a trend could succeed.  I also believe that this is very rare, and is a big risk to do so.  More times than not, trends fade away as quickly as they came.  Back when I was in middle school, every had or wanted Silly Bandz.  These bracelets were on the wrists of everyone in school; they were collected and traded in classes and during lunch.  Everyone had them...for about three weeks.  This fad quickly became a thing of the past, and although they were popular, everyone quickly forgot about them.  Silly Bandz were extremely successful for a short while, but as soon as everyone caught on to them, they began to fade away. Trends are this short lived because our culture is ever-changing. It is difficult to know what is going to be the "new thing" next and what is going to go out of style.  Although, if done correctly, I do believe that companies based on trends can succeed.  Companies, like DDP Yoga, with a lot of work could succeed.  If the product was marketed in a way that lead the customer to believe that this product is not just a fad, and could last, it is possible. This would require the right marketing strategy, though.