Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/04/news/companies/elon-musk-model-s-fire/index.html

Last week, videos of a Tesla Model S car catching on fire went viral around the Internet. As a result of this, Tesla Motors Inc’s shares have dropped 6 percent, knocking almost $3 billion of the company’s market value. According to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, the fire only started because of a large metal shape object on the road. The large metal object punched a 3-inch hole through an armour plate that protects the battery under the passenger compartment, and sparked a flame. In the US, around 190,000 vehicle fires occur each year. Less than 1 percent of the cars sold in the U.S. are electric, which shows the unlikely odds of this happening.

The Model S was not rated only a 5-star safety rating in every subcategory, but was also listed as the most popular pure electric vehicle in the United States. Ever since this video, there have been huge declines in sales, as well as a lot of negative publicity in the media. This incident shows how important brand reputation is in relation to the stock market. The power of choice that consumers have greatly impacts the company’s market value in the market.  It’s good for a brand to uphold a strong reputation that can withstand unexpected occurrences. I’m really curious to see how Tesla Motors will respond to this situation and what they will do to gain back their losses.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/wifi-enabled-vehicles-coming-to-canada/article14536108/

Just when we thought the technological advancement of having WiFi campus-wide at UBC was already amazing, something even more amazing is about to come. Rogers Communication Inc. and Sprint Corp. are teaming up together to introduce a “connected car” wireless service next year. This will allow Canadian drivers to have access to high-speed Internet while they are on the road, as well as “—news, sports scores, weather alerts, driving directions and vehicle diagnostics.” Equipped wireless modems and SIM cards will also be hooked up to each vehicle, making WiFi purchases and “hotspot” zones available. Rogers believes there will be close to 100 million connected cars globally by 2016.

As amazing as this sounds, I have to stop and ask myself if people really need this technology in a car. In my opinion, I believe having WiFi in a vehicle will not only defeat the purpose of a vehicle’s main objective, but will also distract drivers. Driving laws now prohibit the use of cellphones when driving and physically having the cellphone in your hand while you’re behind the wheel is now illegal. It is also proven that distracted driving is the number one cause of deaths. Are companies really putting the lives of the consumers first? Is the government going to step in? I guess we will have to wait and find out!

Today, ninety-five percent of music downloads around the world are illegal. The availability of free music downloads has been a major ongoing problem in the music industry and has cost the music industry $12.5 billion dollars in economic losses. So a question arises: What can artists do at this point? Artists today are producing less music today as they feel that pivoting into the fashion and movie industries could generate more profit. Jay Z on the other hand, chose to deal with these threats differently.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/samsung-magna-carta-app/

Jay Z partnered up with Samsung for the release of his newest album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. This deal cost Samsung $20 million, and $5 million dollars went into purchasing one million of these albums. Samsung device owners were able to benefit from this as many were able to get the album for free, three days before the actual release date of the albums. Knowing that Samsung spends $4 billion dollars on marketing per year, this marketing campaign was proven to be affordable and effective, leading towards more sales and brand awareness. Jay Z benefited from this deal as well, as he was guaranteed a platinum album and $5 million in sales before his album was even released.

This deal allowed Jay Z to cut out some of the costs of the middlemen (stores, distribution and printing), thus allowing him to profit more. He is successful for creating a new method for modern artists to make money and is looked upon as a powerful businessman.

Inside “Magna Carta Holy Grail” with JAY Z + Samsung

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B–ZARCwSIE