In Response to Abby Hajec

"It costs anywhere between $2 and $3 million dollars just for a 30 second commercial. With the economy on the upturn, do you think people are really in the market for buying a brand new Mercedes?"

I agree with you Abby about how incredibly expensive it is to buy only a 30 second commercial! It's outrageous, but they must be doing it for a reason. The Superbowl is one of the most watched events on television, so marketers see that as an excellent opportunity to show their products, no matter the cost. I don't think that in the economy today people are out rushing to buy new cars, however the commercials are very eye catching. I like The Force commercial by Volkswagon, it kept me intriged because I had no idea what it was going to be about. The other commercial that stood out to me was another Volkswagon commercial for the Beetle. 

 

It will be interesting to see if car sales actually rise or not after all of these Superbowl commercials. How much money  are car companies willing to spend on their advertisements?

A Virtual Shopping Experience?

Marketers are finding new ways to be more effective within stores and improving customer satisfaction. Retail store customer satisfaction is decreasing 15% each year, which raises a huge problem with marketers. I found a lot of information about this from a Wall Street Journal Article entitled, Luring Shoppers to Stores. They are now finding new ways to market not only outside of the physical store, but inside the store right when you arrive. They are using new virtual technology in order to be more intriguing to customers. Some examples are as followed:

J.C Penney uses a “Find More” feature in some stores which allows customers to view a wide range of their merchandise, e-mail themselves or others different items from the store, and get product recommendations

In 289 Stop and Shop stores they are incorporating a hand held scanner which allows customers to see the discounts on certain items, view a history of scanned items. They can even place deli orders and pick them up once they’re done shopping for convenience; it’s almost like a FASTPASS at an amusement park!

IPG is incorporating avatar mannequins that you can virtually dress and choose outfits before you try them on, or buy them. They are also intruding a virtual mirror which allows you to scan clothes and virtually project what it will look like on your body shape before even stepping foot into the dressing room.

Other stores are trying to use mobile phones to send discounts and promotions straight to their phones. Stores such as Dunkin Donuts and Best Buy are trying to incorporate this into their marketing strategy.

The question I must asks is how effective is this? I guess we will have to wait and see, it is definitely an expensive way to intrigue customers but the return may be worth it. Could all of the technology be a turn off to potential customers?