Chapter 7 - Demographics

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of marketing is covered in Chapter 7. Of the course of this chapter, Professor Featherman discusses the concept of target marketing, which he defines as "the market segments on which an organization focuses its marketing plan and toward which it directs its marketing efforts". By specifically "targeting" a certain type of individual, companies can create products/services that appeal to their target market and can generally assume the same purchasing habits amongst the entire target market. In order to gain enough information about a desired target market, market researchers often turn to demographics in order to propell themselves into deeper, more extensive, target market research. Featherman defines demographics as "statistics that measure observably aspects of a population, including size, age, gender, ethnic group, income, education, occupation, and family structure". When a market researcher acquires the demographics of a certain area, they can predict how their product/service will do considering the amount of individuals in the area that can be classified as a target market. Demographics can reveal a small target market in a previous assumed profitable area and discover a large target market in a region they least expected. An extremely general example of demographics can be seen in the picture above, classifying Facebook use per country during January 2008. If, for example, a company wanted to promote a product in February via an online networking website, this graph indicates that the target market would most likely be located in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, the top three countries with the most Facebook use in January 2008.

Chapter 6 - Inelastic Demand

Business to Business relations is the primary focus of Chapter 6. Throughout the chapter, Professor Featherman discusses the various forms of business to business relations such as B2B e-commerce, B2B markets, and purchase/selling techniques frequently used between partnering organiztions. In Business to Business markets, companies supply one another with essential parts, ingredients, and materials needed to run their organization. Often times, these Business to Business relations reflect the concept of inelastic demand. Featherman states that inelastic demand occurs when there is a "demand in which changes in price have little or no effect on the amount demanded". Many organizations simply cannot bounce around from one supplier to the next, thus creating inelastic demand for many business to business relations in which organizations are willing to pay for the product being supplied despite flucuations in price. The graph above depicts an inelastic demand. With quantity demanded on the X axis and price on the Y axis, it is easy to see that reasonable variations in price have little effect on the actual quantity demanded.

Chapter 4 - Ethnographic Study

In chapter 5, Professor Featherman describes the various strategies used in market research in order to gain a more accurate assumption of why their product appeals to its target market and if not, what is inhibbiting the acceptance of their product amonst the target market. One research method discussed by Featherman is the process of ethnographic studies, where market researchers observe of people in their own homes or communities, and how they use the product or product category in question. Since ethnographic study tactics emphasize strict observation, consumers do not feel the pressure of telling a market researcher simply what they want to hear and not their true feelings. One example of an ethnographic study could be the observation of a new brand of beer in a local bar. Market researchers can determine how popular the beer is becoming amongst the community and possibly overhear crucial reactions to the product itself, its packaging, etc. However, in this example it should be noted that market researchers should not give into the temptation of consuming alcohol while researching in order to gain useful information and not end up being an empty-handed hungover employee the next day.

Chapter 5 - Subliminal Advertising

Consumer behavior is the main topic discussed in chapter 5. When analyzing consumer behavior, market researchers aim toward revealing the process involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, and dispose of goods & services to satisfy their needs. In turn, marketers often propose different strategies to help accelerate the consumer behavior process, either directly or indirectly. One form of indirectly activing consumer behavior is through subliminal advertising. Professor Featherman describes subliminal advertising as "hidden messages in vendor messages. these are messages that are not consciously received, but they still affect consumer decisions - such as hidden shapes in pictures, or perhaps the use of music or noises in TV ads." Take this into consideration, a videoclip of the show Iron Chef (linked provided at bottom of blog), shows gormet chefs competing to make the most ecsquisite meal. Sadly, most Iron Chef viewers are not expert chefs and even though they may be interested in preparing an extravagent meal, most of the time viewers will settle with any food in order to spark the hunger they feel from watching the show. Carefully watch the video and see if you notice any subliminal advertising. If you paid attention, around 44 seconds into the video the McDonald's logo flashes onto the screen. Descrete and simple, the logo alone may have been responsible for increased sales shortly after being aired on television. Broadcasting error? I think not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMzbwa6PvEE