Matthew Ho's Blog

Groupon has turned down Google’s $6 billion offer.

For restaurants, I see some benefits for Groupon far beyond exposure, sampling their menus or offering discounts.

Looking at a restaurants “off-season”, there are certain nights that are often more profitable than other nights.

For example, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a restaurant may have 2 full sittings. On a Monday, they may barely be able to fill 1 full sitting. This Monday night, on average, can be seen as an off season for the restaurant. Instead of closing the restaurant on that given night, a restaurant can offer a coupon on Groupon that will allow them to cover some fixed costs of being open.

For any restaurant to be open, an X amount of employees (chefs, waitresses, bartenders) must be on sight regardless of the amount of customers. Along with the necessary food supplies and rent/ payments with the property. This being said, a restaurant can obviously scale back on their employees and goods, but they cannot scale down to the point where it may be too risky. They still need a standard amount of servers and foods for any night. Offering a coupon that allows them to cover these costs (maybe 20% off instead of 50% off) will allow for some revenue to be brought in during an off-season night while still open.

In this case, I feel that “filling seats” will still bring in revenue during a dead night and help cover some fixed costs as long as they calculate the amount discounted accordingly.

Michael Vick was charged with torturing and killing dogs in his Virginia home and was sentenced to spend 23 months in jail. The Philadelphia Eagles made an investment in Michael Vick and provided a second chance for one of the greatest athletes to ever play in the NFL. A one year deal worth $1.6 million and a second year option worth $5.2 million dollars was seen as risky by most general managers and owners of the league. However, this investment has proven to be very successful for the Eagles Organization. Vick is a strong MVP candidate and has been playing at a All-Pro level. This is a remarkable come back as the most football he played before during his jail sentence was in the prison football league. His performance on and off the field has to led to praise by many NFL analysts. The Eagle’s investment has resulted in a highly popular and productive player; resulting in a strong record and high attendance. Michael Vick is now the face of the Philadelphia Eagles franchise and has taken his second chance to grow into the man that is worthy of a role model.

Rosewood Movement

Kanye West has always been known for being unique- innovative, “different”, trend setter. His latest innovation has really caught my attention. Being claimed as one of the “Best Tweeter of All Time”, Kanye West has used social media to spread his brand. He has also taken on a record label named G.O.O.D. Music (Getting out our dreams). Part of his G.O.O.D. Music initiative, Kanye West has also taken upon his G.O.O.D. Friday’s where he releases a new song for free to download every Friday. He may be not making any profits from these free downloads that is provided through his website, but the release of his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, has already surpassed 500,000 sales in the first week. At a price of $1.29 a song, or $14.99 on itunes, Kanye West’s 5th album has received $7,500,000 dollars in revenue.

By exposing samples of songs on his new album, Kanye West was able to receive feedback from his fans, and create enormous hype around his work. Receiving 5/5 stars from the Rolling Stone, high reviews from the New York Times, and many other fantastic reviews. This strategy and marketing has resulted in major financial benefits, as well as a highly popular album.

Frito-Lay sponsors the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, one of five Bowl Championship Series games. This season, the Fiesta Bowl is the host for the BCS National Championship game; a game that draws in over 30 million viewers.

Glendale, Arizona consists of a 36% Latino or Hispanic population, and the Tostitos tortillas are under the genre of Mexican cuisine. This brand exposure associated Tositios with the passion, pride, and excitement of college football. Many of these games have attendance over 70,000 fans. Not only does Tostitos gain enormous brand exposure during the Fiesta Bowl, but they are also promoting a product often found at football games. Many households put on parties for major sporting events like the BCS National Championship and tortilla chips are a very popular item sold in stadiums and bought as snacks for football parties. Tostitos has found a major sporting event that has a relation to their product. By investing into the Fiesta Bowl, they boost their marketing campaign by gaining exposure to an audience and demographic suited for their product.

Call 911! Apple has killed the CD (compact disk)!

It all started with the change of their itunes logo when releasing itunes 10.0

Next was the release of the Macbook Air, which has no optical drive

And finally, they introduced the Mac App Store

This innovation has led to shift in smaller, thinner, lighter, and optical drive-less laptops. Much like the extinction of the floppy disk, the compact disk is soon to be erased. Apple has used the power of their brand name to take on this initiative. After seeing the success of their mobile app store, bringing an app store to personal computers is a very good investment. This initiative not only allows for Apple to receive profits from apps sold through their store, but also allows more developers to create applications for Apple products. And by offering more opportunities for 3rd-party developers and consumers, more Apple products such as their Mac series will attract interest from potential buyers. The Macbook Air is the future of Laptops, and Apple’s app store will soon change the way consumers purchase programs for their computers.

Facebook

Facebook is now a multi-billion company. Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard roommates developed an online website that has grown to have over 500 million users. Their mission is to give,”people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” Facebook wasn’t the first of its kind, but it was the best. Websites such as Myspace and Flickr tried to do what Facebook does, but neither have been as successful.

They created a website that allows people to share photos, reconnect with friends, plan events, and create groups. In many ways, people have changed the way they communicate with others through Facebook. It has become part of an everyday routine for most people, and is now a significant part of every user’s day-to-day activities.

Facebook has now even changed the way people shop. They have recently introduced their places app, which allows user’s to use GPS on their mobile devices to let people know where others are. This application (app) has also incorporated a feature that allows users to view discounts within their given area. This mobile app changes the idea of the “coupon” and now allows companies to approach marketing in way suited for a new technologically accustomed society.

Social Media.

It started as an Iphone application and has grown into one of my favorite websites. What exactly is Urbanspoon.com? It is an IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned restaurant information/recommendation service competing directly with OpenTable according to Wikipedia. I see it as a form of social media. People are able to post their own reviews and ratings of restaurants; as well as comments and pictures. Many members also leave links to their own blogs, and in depth reviews of restaurants. The site also features a top 10 in fine dining and cheap eats. A restaurant can make or break its reputation on urbanspoon. A high rating can draw attention to the restaurant and result in more customers, and a poor rating may result in less seats being filled per night. Urbanspoon can also help a smaller restaurant that is just opening or looking to increase its seatings.

Vij’s Restaurants Lamb

Urbanspoon is a form social media. Hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to follow my dreams of opening a restaurant and use a website like Urbanspoon to promote my passion to the world.

Marketing. Positioning. Put two and two together and you get success. (Generally Speaking)

Apple’s Ipad was the first of its kind. A tablet that brought functions such as multimedia, web browsing, gaming, and productive applications all within a 9.7 inch display.

Blackberry has recently released their own tablet. A very powerful device, that on paper, is superior the the Ipad. (However, the Ipad is the first generation model and it is expected that Apple will be releasing a 2nd generation Ipad for 2011.) The Playbook is set to be released sometime in 2011, and is already being considered a serious competitor for the Ipad.

Apple’s marketing campaign emphasizes that they have revolutionized how we use technology in our everyday lives, and that it is only going to improve. When thinking of a device like the Playbook and Ipad, most people think of an Ipad before the word tablet. Even if the Playbook has better technical specifications, Apple is already a better known brand with regards to tablets.

Apple’s positioning provides a difficult entrance into the consumers mind for products like Blackberry’s Playbook. Apple’s product is the first of its kind, and first in a consumer’s mind.

B. Edwards 2 Receptions 87 Yards 1 Touchdown 67 Yards Longest Reception
Fairly impressive stats for a NFL receiver.[NFL.com]

How exactly do business ethics and sports relate to each other? Wide receiver Braylon Edwards of the New York Jets was charged with a DUI on September 21st, and played football on Sunday. The Jets’ management were, “very disappointed about Braylon Edwards’ actions,” and even though he, “failed to follow Jets guidelines of discipline,” he was allowed to score a key touchdown in Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins.

An organization like the Jets require to meet a certain standard in profits. Attendance, merchandise, and sales within the stadium are all very important, especially after moving into a brand new New Meadowlands Stadium. Their performance on the field also relates to the amount of tickets they sell and television ratings they receive. After all, getting a W (win) in football is the most important thing in the game. So does an organization like the Jets practice proper ethics or allow their superstar to score touchdowns?

Anssi Vanjoki says using Android is like peeing in your pants for warmth.

With all the class discussions about marketing of cars and the consumer’s preferences, I couldn’t help but come across Vanjoki’s statement regarding the android operating system. So what exactly does Vanjoki mean by, “Finnish boys who ‘pee in their pants’ for warmth in the winter?” I see it as a way of saying that Android (an operating system designed by Google) may look like a nice alternative now, it may not be the best decision for the company’s future.

“Relying on Android as the universal OS may lead to “permanently low profitability” with users failing to distinguish among different brands if they all offer the same experience.”

I agree with statement, as I have discovered competition in business is relentless. A company must provide something original and fresh in order to keep consumers excited about their brand. Of course, there are situations involving customer loyalty, but the cell phone industry seems to be obsessed with the latest and greatest pieces of technology in smaller and sexier form factors. Nokia plans on using a new operating system named MeeGo as their future operating system. Or should they jump on the android bandwagon.