Pandora Radio: Safe or Unsafe?

Pandora Radio is a popular and widely used application used on smartphones and internet browsers across America. This radio services allows users to search by artist, song or genre and it will coordinate a set of tracks similar to your search. How safe is Pandora radio, however, with our information? A recent article from the NY Times states (view article):

"The online radio service Pandora has received a subpoena from a federal grand jury investigating whether popular smartphone applications share information about their users with advertisers and other third parties."

What exactly does this mean, you ask? Pandora uses our information and delivers it to other companies to track how we interact with the service for advertising purposes. This type of issue seems to be coming up in other sites that we use frequently. The FTC is proposing a "DO NOT TRACK" tool so users will not have their information shared. I think this goes to show how unsafe the internet really is. One minute, a new innovative product or service is being discovered and the next, information is being passed back and forth that hasn't been agreed upon.

What is your opinion? Is this sharing of personal information going too far? Or, is it okay for companies to do without our consent?

Response to Dale Aubin

"Most people will be using the internet more and more so its time to really make sure that your firm has the most information into the world of online advertising and you will have a really good shot in the future. Do you agree with this or do you think that there is limited future in online advertising?"


I certainly agree that companies should advertise alot of their products and services online, however I think they should continue to market in other ways as well. Like Dale said, technology is advancing at a very rapid pace and companies are trying to keep up with it as best as they can. I think that advertising on Facebook is becoming more and more popular nowadays. Facebook uses a technique that they can actually tell what you have previously searched the web for. When they find out this information they post websites on the side of your "Facebook Wall" to coincide with those interests. This is a good technique to get new products out in the open if people are unfamiliar with them. Although I completely agree with online advertising I think Television, Newspapers, Magazines and Billboards are all still very good ways. By having a variety, it allows you to show your company to all types of people in the market! 


What other types of online ad's do you think are becoming more widely used?

Starbucks and Keurig team up!

I recently read an article that I found very interesting regarding a new partnership. The ever so popular "Keurig" coffee just created a deal with Starbucks to sell their coffee. After hearing this, my initial reaction was why would Green Mountain do such a thing? I thought that would hurt the sales of Green Mountain coffee flavors but the stock market thought differently. Turns out stock prices jumped 41 percent after this news broke out. 

"Green Mountain has now secured partnerships with almost every major coffee brand in the country" (Boston Globe).


 After finishing this article, I realized what a good marketing plan this was. Why not make a deal to sell one of the most popular coffee brands in one of the most used coffee makers? This is going to benefit both Starbucks and Green Mountain and I think they will see tremendous profits as their outcome. Do you agree that this is a good idea, or do you think one of these companys will hurt in the long run?



Source: Green Mountain and Starbucks- Boston Globe

Response to Chris Cheever

Recently Apple launched their iPad 2 which Steve Jobs appearing briefly from his medical leave. An article from cnbc.com stated that "Shares of Apple jumped immediately following reports of Job's presence...Now my question is are these corporate and technological geniuses over idolized? Or are people not looking past the face of these companies?


I personally feel, that Steve Jobs deserves to be idolized as much as he is. He is the creator and genius, among other things, for creating all of these Apple products. Now I agree that he is not the ONLY sole important figure to the company, I do think that he is a billionaire for a reason. People have been investing their money into the stock market, buying shares of Apple because they see success. When news headlines flash saying he is ill, they immediately sell their stock. I recently learned in my Financial Management class that the stock market mirrors the economy. If people are spending hundreds of dollars a share for Apple, they are willing to make the risk of it failing. When CNBC says that Job's is present again in the company, it shows stockholders that the creative genius behind the iPad and iPhone is back in action!

THE OVER$PENT AMERICAN

We recently watched a movie titled "The Overspent American" in our Marketing class. The movie, in summary, described the economy as "money hungry" and how everyone strives to be the best in the community.


What are the latest items of conspicuous consumption today? Do we see a continuing trend in what the video identifies as the “overspent American”? How does marketing today play a role in these trends today?

Lately, the biggest thing that America has been spending their money on is Apple products. The iPad, iPhone and even MacBook have all been a growing interest for consumers. Americans across the United States are making these luxury purchases, regardless if they have the money or not. The film discussed how consumers used to not be as competitive and used to purchase luxury items only if they had the money. Nowadays, everyone is competing left and right for the biggest house, biggest car and best clothing. This is causing credit card debt to sky rocket. Marketing today plays a very crucial role in Americans wanting to look the best. In previous years, very little if any, clothing had labels on the outside. Now, everywhere you look teenagers and adults are wearing major designers. The movie described a time that they took 3 of the same t-shirt and put 3 different labels on the outside. They asked consumers to put the t-shirts in order by quality. Instead of realizing that they were all created the same, the consumers ranked them in order of popularity, with Polo being first and Lands End being last. This is a technique that marketers use to get their products into the hands of America. Many people will only buy a certain brand of clothing, car or electronic, regardless of the price. All of this has been causing massive amounts of debt and competition like no other. 


What are your views on consumers "over spending"?

Response to Ashley Guidi

Ashley stated in her recent blog post:

"If we all took the time to question how often we go in to the store with a set list of items and actually stick to it, without grabbing that extra, "special buy", i think we would find that we buy a lot more than we actually need.

How often do you go into a supermarket and buy exactly what you need?"

I find this to be a very interesting question. My mother goes grocery shopping as much as twice a week sometimes and I always find her coming home with so much more than she went in to get. After reading Ashley's blog, I found a few points to be very interesting. She said that grocery stores put the most attractive products for children on the lower level so the little children are at eye level. I can remember back to when I was younger always begging my mom to get certain things. I think this is a good marketing technique for the grocery stores to use because if every customer purchases a few extras they can certainly generate alot of profit after just one day. I try and go into the grocery store with a full stomach because I find that I will purchase things that I want at that specific time. I think it is hard for people to stick to their lists because they'll see certain things on sale and it will trigger a new meal idea for the week. Once that idea pops into their head, they will need to find all of the other ingredients to make the meal and soon enough they have purchased 5 extra things! Another point that Ashley made was that there is always a display of candy and magazines at the cash register. People will just grab a pack of gum or a magazine and there's another $2. dollars. If you multiply that by 250 customers a day thats an additional $500 of revenue!

Segments of Windham, NH

I recently typed the zip code of my hometown, Windham NH, into "MyBestSegments" to see what types of variables and segments make up my town. The two that stood out the most and that I agreed with are: 

"Big Fish, Small Pond"

Older, upper-class, college-educated professionals, the members of Big Fish, Small Pond are often among the leading citizens of their small-town communities. These upscale, empty-nesting couples enjoy the trappings of success, including belonging to country clubs, maintaining large investment portfolios, and spending freely on computer technology. "Country Squires" The wealthiest residents in exurban America live in Country Squires, an oasis for affluent Baby Boomers who've fled the city for the charms of small-town living. In their bucolic communities noted for their recently built homes on sprawling properties, the families of executives live in six-figure comfort. Country Squires enjoy country club sports like golf, tennis, and swimming as well as skiing, boating, and biking. I agree with these two segments because Windham is a very small and mostly residential with a fairly small population. For the people that live here, I see them being on the upscale side because Windham has the highest per capita income in New Hampshire. My family also lives on a golf course so I can relating to "belonging to a country club." Also, many of the businesses that are part of Windham are very small and can fit in with the "country" atmosphere that they describe. We recently built a Shaw's Supermarket and a Dunkin Donuts Coffee shop, but besides that, the shops and restaurants are mostly family owned or sole proprietorships. What does MyBestSegments say about your hometown?