Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

You're correct about maturity meaning any new product has to fight for share.

Share of market, share of shelf space, share of mind.

Other factors in industry maturity may include:

1. Limited opportunities for technological advancement
2. Stable polito-legal environment (contrast a new beer launch vs introduction of alco-pops, yeah so what vs you are corrupting our kids)
3. Existing Distribution Channels (and competition for share of channel)
4. Opportunity for differentiation - maybe? It's important to be different to encourage trial and change of brand, but not so much so that prospects feel they are stepping out of their comfortable category.

Hope this helps.

ChrisB

Are you in Summer school?

University doesn't start until march 1st ( for me anyway). I am also a second year student. I go to the University of Otago.

If you are at Otago, it would seem very strange that the lectures just say just read the text book, and the tutors are not very helpful. Maybe i was just lucky about the tutors i got, but they helped me a lot in first year. You should talk to your class rep ( if you have one) about the bad feeling you are getting from the marketing department.

In my marketing classes i openly debated what they were teaching ( i was mostly proven wrong but i was able to get a few points across that made them think)

Personally i only drink budwiser and heineken and limit myself to three or four bottles at a time, i don't binge like most people.

Budweiser is the most expensive, the way it differentiates it self it that it is imported from the USA and has the Beach wood fermentation and it TASTES GREAT unlike NZ beer which is boring and waterary. It is seen on TV ALL the time in America Tv, like in Smallville,The OC, and others.

And it is also seem in movies like X-men 2, Spider man, Shaw shank's redemption.

Budweiser has an advantage because it is a NICHE product. It has very loyal customers, it has set it self up as a Working Man's Beer.

Here are some budwiser ads:

https://files2.inspire.net.nz/Movies/Advertisements/Wassup/budweiser-alien-... (4480 kb)

https://files2.inspire.net.nz/Movies/Advertisements/Bud-Dog/budweiser-fat-d... (2256 kb)

https://files2.inspire.net.nz/Movies/Advertisements/Bud/budweiser-girl-inva... (1074 kb)

https://files2.inspire.net.nz/Movies/Advertisements/Bud/budweiser-what-are-...
(2199 kb)

https://files2.inspire.net.nz/Movies/Advertisements/Pizza-wassup/Wassup_Piz... (4250 kb)

You will need Apple Quick time player installed to view them, it free and can be downloaded here:

https://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qt/

or Irfan View ( this is much better), it can play Mp3s and Mov , mpegs and view a lot of images.

https://www.irfanview.com/

A few tips for getting the most other of the forum:

when posting a question post it in the right category

tell us what you think when posting ( like you have done here)

stay involved in the conversation and answer the questions that the experts have asked.

tell us what you have done so far like read the text book, and done a google search but also tell as some of the ideas that you have got from your research.

don't just post the homework question, put it in to your own words.

If you are in Dunedin maybe we could get into a study group, i am looking for some smart people to form a group with.

My email is in my profile, just click on my name.

(Also don't take Shelly's comment to seriously she is very smart, and very shape tounged but very helpful when you ask the right question)

Carl Crawford

Lillian

There's a great resource here www.quickmba.com which will help you with a lot of the frameworks and principles you need to learn.

Lecturers who state hard and fast rules about marketing x being transactional and marketing y being about relationships, they may never have worked in a real marketing role (i.e. outside academe) in their lives.

Cut them some slack; they probably believe it when they say it.

But know this: University is where you learn how to learn, when you get into the real world you have to discover what you don't know, which takes time and trouble and requires an open mind. So accept them for what they are but know that there is life beyond the walls of Auckland Uni.

So back you your question - Budweiser differentiated itself from local NZ brands... Did you mean which brands?

Do you drink beer? What beer do they sell in the Uni bar? Or in the pubs at the bottom of Queen St?

Which beers do they sell in those swanky restaurants that face onto the America's Cup docks?

Why do you think the are brands different between the swanky restaurants and the spit and sawdust places?

If you don't drink beer, grab your self a cadre of local students who do. Ask them what they drink. While they are still sober, ask them why. Ask them their perceptions of the local brands versus Budweiser, and why.

Remember your lecturers don't actually care about Budweisers strategy, international competitiveness or success in the marketplace. They want to see you have a basic grasp of the principles involved.

Have you tried looking at any other questions to see if you can answer them? Maybe you can build some points up for yourself that way!

Good Luck.

ChrisB

ARRR i see you are in Auckland, that's why they are cold and frosty, they are a different breed there. Too many people cramed into a small space.

I did my first year last year, and am going to start my secound year in a few months.

And to answer your question, no i dont know much, but i have been reading a lot of marketing books online and i KNOW how to use google more effectivly than most people. Also i spend alot of time on Marketingprofs ( they actually hired me to do some work for them on the resoure library )

Take the tutorial on www.googelguide.com (beginner and advanced)

I am tooooooo dam lazy to do summer school, to much work in a small amount of time.

hopefully you too will become a regullar member on KHE, it would be nice to have another student online how does not do a post and run.

sorry for any spelling mistakes, i am at work and dont have mcuh time to answer questions

Lillian

Questions only get less responses when their questions are ill thought-through, the student drops out of the thread, and appears to expect everything handed to them on a plate.

Students get good responses if they have honestly thought about their problem, offer some proposed ideas for tackling it, and ask the professionals here what they think of their work, rather than to do their thinking for them.

There's a difference, and it is not subtle. One type o student is diligent, resourceful, and looking to improve themselves by working hard and seeking wiser counsel. The other, well, they're just a bit dim and a lot lazy.

Carl, obviously, is one of the hard workers who is improving his marketing, if not his spelling, in leaps and bounds. One day, I expect he will be a fine marketing recruit for a company.

Now, you need to stay in this discussion and maintain focus... Where are you at with your thinking?

(Oh yeah, nagging comes free here too!)

ChrisB

Well the way i protect myself is to put in my report appendix that i got help from marketing profs and then put the question address in the report, then on the report i place that a little star beside the quote or idea that i got from KHE (markertingprofs). At the bottom of the page i then write a star with the address to the question that gave me the help.

When i hand it in i write a little note on the front cover saying for them to make sure other people have not copyied my ideas. So post your name in a question so they can know it was you.

I actually caught 3 people useing my ideas in there reports taht way and they got kicked out of university for plagerisum, where as i got a nice note saying that i will go far in life by doing what i am doing.

so post what you think!

Sure, but universities have access to complex anti-plagiarism software which allows them to compare student's texts against the whole web.

Plus, if someone copies your stuff, and you published it here first, you could use that as evidence.

BTW don't you think lecturers read this site? Some of the people answering students questions are themselves senior academics, researchers, PhD students and professors!

OK, if you develop a cure for cancer, maybe don't publish it here first, go see an IP lawyer instead, but we are considering a less lofty output here, I suspect.

And is a marketing/business degree competitive? I thought it was about demonstrating a level of competency and understanding. Later on they may put you into teams or consortiums with these people who you suspect are only after you for your mind.

Now a project on beer... That would have to have been my dream research project, and although I researched it deeply at Uni, I never got asked to write a paper on it.

So how are you getting on with all the ideas you've been given? You aren't procrastinating, are you?

Cheers

ChrisB