Month: November 2010

Product line depth
Starbucks is well known for its product line depth. They have a variety of drinks that they have to offer. They serve hot chocolate, cappuccinos, lattes, Mochas, espressos, macchiatos, tea, frappuccinos, smoothies, and of course, their high quality brewed coffee. This is appealing to coffee drinkers because there are many more drinks that are offered so one can get their fix of caffeine.

To address recent changes in consumer preferences, Starbucks has further increased its depth by adding a new product. They have released a drink that is directly trying to compete with energy drinks. Many young caffeine consumers choose to drink energy drinks over coffee. Starbucks is clearly trying to take some of the market share that energy drinks have to offer. Starbucks’ new drink is called “Doubleshot.”  It is an espresso drink that is bottled in the exact type of can that energy drinks are bottled in. They even advertise it as a “Premium” energy coffee drink.

They come in several different flavours:

– Energy+Cinnamon Dolce Drink
– Energy+Coffee Drink
– Energy+Mocha Drink
– Energy+Vanilla Drink

Thought this was pretty cool. So for all you energy drink fans, check these out!

It is clear that Mcdonald’s is marketing to price sensative consumers. This advertisment raises the issue of companies (like starbucks) charging much higher prices for essentially the same product. By simply having this statement “Four bucks is dumb,” and showing the McDonald’s logo, consumers can safely assume that Mcdonald’s coffe is cheaper than $4.00.In addition, It lets consumers know that McDonald’s is making a better effort to compete in the coffee market. As a result, consumers will now seriously consider McDonald’s for their coffee. Customers will bee attracted to the low price of their coffe, but also because of the extensive menu and other products that McDonald’s has to offer. So overall, I think this advertisement is very simple but very effective.

So i was looking through other students’ blogs and came across this advertisement
from Norbert Ma’s Blog. Check it out.
This advertisement reminds me of a couple other advertisements Pepsi has done.

Pepsi has done a good job diversifying its product as well:

Pepsi is clearly trying to target young men with their “Pepsi Max” soft drink. This product is directly competing with Coke Zero. They have done a good job at marketing their product.

And finally, There have been many funy commercials where Coke and Pepsi have been poking fun at each other (like in Norbert’s blog):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkgZFI4ZT0I

European experts estimate that up to 40 per cent of single vehicle crashes could be avoided if all cars had ESC

What Is ESC?

According to wikipedia,

“Electronic stability control (ESC) is a computerized technology that improves the safety of a vehicle’s stability by detecting and minimizing skids. When ESC detects loss of steering control, it automatically applies the brakes to help “steer” the vehicle where the driver intends to go. Braking is automatically applied to individual wheel, such as the outer front wheel to counter oversteer or the inner rear wheel to counter understeer. Some ESC systems also reduce engine power until control is regained. ESC does not improve a vehicle’s cornering performance, it rather helps minimize the loss of control. According to IIHS and NHTSA, one-third of fatal accidents could have been prevented by the technology

To give you a first hand look at what exactly this does, check out this very good video on youtbe on ESC.

As you can see from the video, ESC would prevent many accidents and car crashes. I think this is something that should be manditory in cars today.

However, the most frightening thing about ESC, is the fact that hardly anyone knows about it and its benefits. I think that it is important that people are made aware of its benefits.

My uncle, Glen Nicholson,  is actually a very strong advocate for ESC, and has been urging the government to make it manditory in all new vehicles. Here is an article featuring him in the news. http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/10/30/esc-canada.html

This leaves me with two questions for you:
Did you know what ESC was before reading this blog?
Would you pay the extra money to get ESC in your vehicle?