Throughout my high school career I was the manager at an Ice Cream and Coffee shop in White Rock. My duties included staffing, cash out, customer complaints and most importantly inventory. Inventory was easily the most difficult of all tasks as if there isn’t enough of the product you want to sell, not only do you lose customer loyalty but you lose a considerable amount of profits. The company we buy our ice cream from is fairly small, and therefore when we get product shipped it takes quite a while and can have many obstacles on the way to the store. This problem presented itself numerous times as the supplier couldn’t make enough ice cream for the amount we had requested for our store. Our inventory was close to none during the busiest time of the year, this presented itself as a nightmare for the owner of our shop leaving the employees with the daunting task of explaining the situation to our valued customers. After it had happened twice we confronted the supplier and came to a solution resulting in increased profit and customer satisfaction.

The economic recession that we are currently recovering from, affected my family directly. My dad is a realtor so once people stop buying houses, he stops making money. The housing market is the blueprint to how the economy is performing, due to the high opportunity cost of homes. The recession began by banks in the states offering unforgivable loans to unqualified home buyers. As soon as the economy took a downturn my family started whipping out the coupons. Although my dad had money saved up for a time like this, it was still important for us as a family to establish what was deemed to be an essential “need” rather than an essential “want.” For a teenage boy this concept is hard to grasp; however, by the end of the recession I fully understood the difference. It has made me much more socially aware and empathetic towards those who live on a lower income. As much as the recession was a downfall for not only my family but for most families, it taught me to always be prepared for the bad times and that it is quite possible to live life to the fullest without having a bank full of cash.

Understandably, business courses are all trying to teach us how to be excellent leaders of innovation who can pinpoint a great idea and make it a reality. This is what happened with Organizational Behaviour, we were put into groups and asked to make a fantasy product. Our group chose to start an organization that uses soccer to teach underdeveloped and politically unstable countries to organize themselves in a democratic matter. Now how does this tie in with COMM 101? Well, in class we were taught about value propositions and product positioning. As soon as we had come up with the idea for “GOAL!” I immediately turned to my COMM 101 notes to better analyse our product and determine the right strategy to take. We first asked our selves “To”, who would be our target audience? We chose various African nations as for the most part their political systems are undeveloped and could benefit from a structured yet fun environment. Our brand is Goal – Strengthening Communities through Soccer, we decided to take a sport that is common throughout Africa and create a a tournament where kids from communities get together in a friendly competition. The captain of each team is elected by all members of their community with hopes that upon their return they will take a leadership role in the community. Our organization is in the category of Non-Profit, the purpose isn’t to raise money but rather to establish social order and independence in communities throughout Africa.

Free the Children is a canadian based organization that encourages kids to help kids who face child labour worldwide. Founded by Craig Kielburger at the age of 12 it has now grown to an internationally renowned organization that allows kids a voice. In our society today there is no shortage of people wanting to help out around the world, it is for this reason we have canvassers who knock on our door during dinner or telemarketers who never seize to catch you during your favourite show. As a non-profit organization is important to present your cause in a way that touches people, that make them feel guilty enough to want to help. Free the Children is the first organization that provides children with a lesson plan on how to help. They offer numerous programs that allow kids to partake in raising funds and awareness worldwide. This marketing strategy has undoubtedly brought Free the Children much success and has contributed to them being one of the top non-profit organizations in the world today. I as a member of the Free the Children Mobilizers would like to encourage everyone to “like” We Day on facebook as it donates 1$ to the organization every time. This is one of the many innovative charity fundraisers that Free the Children offers.

When we think of a press section at a hockey game or at a concert, we think of professional news reporters, camera men and the media. The thought of giving Bloggers the right to enter the press section brings me much skepticism. Although the media can bend stories and elaborate on points that aren’t always reputable, they do maintain a certain level of ethics which sensors language and nudity. Bloggers are not required to follow such ethics as their public is the world wide web. The Vancouver Canucks will be holding a training session in Kelowna and are experimenting with this idea to try raise publicity; however, Bloggers must follow the same code as the media. This is a prime example of a business warping the normality of ethics to improve marketing strategies. This will also give the Canucks free publicity in the sense that they will be the first sports team to allow Bloggers to a professional game. Although they propose a resignation of rights if the Bloggers breach the ethical code, the cyber world is full of loopholes that see no morals.

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When a new product is introduced, our first question as consumers is “Why should we buy this product?” This North American brand obsession continues with the presentation of the “Nano” from Indian auto makers Tata. At just over 3 meters long, this car attempts to shake up the auto market by boasting 4 doors and the basic necessities of motorized transportation. The first question that comes to my mind when even considering the purchase of this car is; how can a car that costs $2500 attract serious car buyers who are concerned about their safety and comfort? This notion then led me to think about the marketing strategy behind Ryan Air, a European airline that charges next to nothing for a flight. The second thought that crossed my mind was, who would want a car that small? After researching the Smart Car brand, brought to North America by Mercedes-Benz, I noticed many similarities in the scepticism of North Americans. In 2006 a survey was conducted in America and concluded that the biggest worry of this new brand was the size. Smart Car has proven itself in the North American market, providing an eco-friendly “miniature” car, why can’t Tata’s Nano follow suit?

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