Noreaster Maximizing Revenue

According the Kettle and Keller (201 2), this analysis will help to identify areas that affect a company's ability to earn profits. BOA is the leading financial service provider in twenty-three major cities. They are also the number one in online & mobile banking and mortgage services. They strengths lies within building a strong brand, multiple financial service offerings, engaging customers, and customer service. However, their weakness became prevalent when the decision was to made to only offer mobile banking to customers who already had an online banking account.This left an untapped market exposed to competition and BOA risked losing customers and reducing their market share. BOA also ignored a large mobile market of non smart phone users who would use the SMS-technology for mobile banking. This left 85% of potential mobile phone customers available to be snatched by competition, such as Comparing Chase ; who decided to roll- out their mobile banking with mobile messaging. Iden tifying the external opportunities and threats are also important for a company to remain competitive.Kettle and Keller (2012) define marketing opportunity as an area of buyer need an interest that a company determines to be profitable. BOA decision to enter into the mobile banking industry was critical to their long-term success. In the case study, several forecasts were reported to show the future projections of mobile phone users and mobile banking transactions to grow 600% by 2014. Additional opportunities to service their mobile banking customers is available as customer needs and technology changes. The main threat that BOA faces is their competition.There are ten banks that support almost 50% of the U. S. Market. While BOA is the currently the largest, their competition still exists and offers similar services. Another threat that exists is the customers apprehension to use online or mobile banking. The case study states that 1% of BOA customers used online banking. Customers states that they didn't see the value in online-banking concerns about security, and cost of data usage through cell- phone providers. BOA should focus on addressing these concerns in order to build their mobile banking customers.

Respecting Others Religions Essay

I think it is very important to respect other peoples religions because it can create a conflicts between people, perfect examples of conflicts because of religion are the wars that go on in the world today. You must be conscious and respectful when talking about other peoples religions, insulting someone else’s religion is insulting something very meaningful to them and also insulting them. Just because people do not share the same religion does not make either more or less smart,pure,evil. If you look at the bigger picture, most religions share common teachings,beliefs,and morals to live by such as have compassion and respect for everyone,all humanity is united,peace and nonviolence,and no killing,lying,or stealing. Another reason to be respectful towards someone else religion is because it can bring different cultures closer together. Respecting and accepting each others religions means one less reason to discriminate others and less conflicts and fights. You can respect someone else’s religion by trying to understand their beliefs and their point of view of the world, you don’t have to agree with it and you don’t need to practice it but you do not need to disrespect it if you strongly disagree or attempt to make them change their religion simply because you do not agree with theirs. A simple way to avoid problems when or misunderstanding when going to another country is to study a bit about the basic customs and religion before you go. Also, do not judge someone by the religion they follow, judge them on their character as a person, do not discriminate them because they practice a different religion from yours because they could be a very kind and intelligent person and you will never know. I think that we can all learn something from each others religions like I learned from Buddhism that the way to stop suffering is to stop wanting worldly things, and that is true. We always want more of anything, so we are never truly happy, and the way to achieve inner peace is to stop wanting and to accept and value the things that we already possess and cherish the things that do not cost money yet bring happiness. I believe that wether you choose to follow different religions or not you at all you still learn from one another and it can make the world a better place. We just need to learn to accept,understand,and be willing to learn from one another. By being respectful to one another we can form new bonds and bring people closer together,you don’t all need to follow the same religion to be a good person. To be a good person is the choice you have to make on your own. I think we should all respect each others beliefs and treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. Religions may seem silly to some people, and sometimes it seems silly to me too, but it is what gives people hope,what keeps them on the right path to be a good person,what inspires them to try to learn and try their best and it just gives them hope. Religion in the end is a choice and you should be free to believe what you want to believe or not believe in anything at all but you should always be respected for your choices.

Roman Empire and Red Figure Style

This tool is used to engrave lines through the slip of the unfired vase. burin 18. Red figure style of vase painting was introduced whom? By a student of exekias known as the andokides 19. Greek vase painting is represented in these two styles. Black figure and red figure style. 20. Who signed the vase â€Å"Achilles and Ajax playing Draught†? Euxitheos and Euphronios. 21 . The mixture of clay and water that is painted on the vase before firing. slip 22. The black figure Style idealized representations, sought to equate the perfection of art with harmonies of natural order. 23.The Greek used what method to cast the bronze figure of Zeus? Lost-wax methods 24. In the 7th C. BCE the Greek artist began to do this to their artwork. naturalism 25. The Greeks are different from the Eygptians in depicting their gods in what way? The ideal athletic human form. 26. Who was the popular god of drama . Dionysus 27. In Greek art the beginnings are represented is what style? Nude pics 28. In the pantheon of Greek god he is consider the leader among gods. Zues 29. Acropolis mean. Highest city 30. Greece's central city is named and dedicated to what god? Athens and dedicated o Athena. 31 .The Greeks had a love of what? Wisdom and beautification especially of the human body. 32. During the classical period the Greeks began to produce life size figurative sculptures and constructed marble temples. 33. What race commemorates the bravery of a courier during the Perisan invasion. Twenty six mile marathon race 34. After the Persian invasion this leader began to rebuild Greece's temples. Pericles 35. A geometric style vase is characterized by . several horizontal bands and geometric motifs Dipyplon vases were used tor what purpose? Grave markers 37. The female counterpart of the Kouros figure is the kore 38.The sacred hill above Athens which contains the ancient Athenians' Temples is . Acropolis 39. Who was the Roman Emperor that converted to Christianity? Constantine the Great 40. What Roman structure had an altar that was dedicated to â€Å"gods yet to be discovered†. Pantheon 41 . â€Å"The Altar of Peace† was built to commemorate what? The Pax Romana (roman preace) 42. The arena floor of the amphitheater was landscaped with trees and large rocks 43. â€Å"The Pont du Gard† is comprised of rows of short barrel, or tunnel vaults and is an xample of these Roman invention such as_basilica ulpia 44. The Column of Trajan† is as tall as what? The height of the hill that stood at this site. 45. The art of the Roman Republic was strongly influenced by both _etruscans and greek art. 46. The word â€Å"amphitheater† means around theater 47. The Arch of Titus commemorates Titius' conquest of. the victory in the Jewish War . 48. The Flavian Amphitheater was commissioned by the emperor 49. Trajan's column friezes depict his victory over the _Dacians Vaspasian. 50. The Pantheon's dome's weight was lessened by sunken decorative panel s Called cotters 51 .

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Summary - Essay Example However whether obtaining ISO 9001 certificate and the registration process efforts impact or benefit competitiveness and profitability need to be critically analyzed. The aim of the present paper is to summarize the article written by Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour (222) for the International Journal Services and Operations Management, titled â€Å"Relationships among ISO 9001, competitive dimensions and profitability† to understand and bring light on this perspective. 2. Summary of the article The main purpose of Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour (222) article is â€Å"to better understand the relationships among ISO 9001 certification, competitive dimensions and profitability by focusing on two major industries in the USA†. The research was conducted using survey questionnaire. 2.1 Background and Hypothesis The authors introduced their article by stressing upon the ISO 9001 certification importance and its impact on improvement of quality. They also stated that significant discipli ne is needed in ISO 9001 implementation and its principles ensure that output consistency can be improved by procedures that are well planned and documented, resulting in achieving the goals of quality improvement and reduction of cost easily. ... However as customers’ needs are dynamic so is the world class manufacturing company’s operations strategy. Thus authors have conducted an empirical research to also understand the present relationship between registration efforts of ISO 9001 and firm’s profitability and its four competitive dimensions. After conducting a thorough past literature review Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour (224) tested nine hypothesis that are illustrated using the below figure The nine hypothesis tested in this research are listed below â€Å"H1 ISO 9001 registration efforts have a positive effect on quality. H2 ISO 9001 registration efforts have a positive effect on cost reduction. H3 ISO 9001 registration efforts have a positive effect on flexibility. H4 ISO 9001 registration efforts have a positive effect on dependability. H5 ISO 9000 registration efforts have a positive effect on profitability H6 Quality has a positive effect on profitability H7 Cost reduction has a positive effect on p rofitability H8 Flexibility has a positive effect on profitability† (Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour 225-226) Figure 1: Theoretical model – Relationships among ISO 9001, Competitive dimensions and profitability (Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour (227) 3. Research Design and Methodology The research was conducted using a questionnaire and sample was selected with due process for the survey. The questionnaire was developed based on literature review and later reviewed for content validation by external judges. The survey was tested for â€Å"clarity, relevance and technical accuracy† by the collaborative program in Massachusetts and all facets of the survey were commented upon (Han, Sim and Ebrahimpour,

Applying Social Influence Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Applying Social Influence Theories - Essay Example The message chosen to advertise this product is based on people’s need to confirm to their self – assigned roles of conservationist, environment conscious person; green warrior; or providing care-giver. It would go something thus: â€Å"You are amongst those people who are attempting to help the environment in so many small and big ways. You love the planet; and so do we. You want to make the world a better place; and so do we. Our little contribution is this range of organic snacks; developed from sustainable products all through. These recipes draw inspiration from age old traditional snacks across ethnicities. Our snacks are healthier, more nutritious, while being just as tasty as other competing brands. And as a bonus; they will help you protect the environment as well. Even the wrapping is eco-friendly! Yes, they have a shorter shelf life; but that won’t matter sine they will be long gone before that date. So help us help you make this world a better place. Question 2 Social influence is the process of affecting the opinions, attitudes, behaviors and desires of a number of people through the use of persuasive messages. This influence need not always be exerted in the first person; and can be done through the media in order to reach a large number of people.

The Importance of Academic Journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Importance of Academic Journals - Essay Example One of the objects of analysis for the purpose of this assignment is the article â€Å"The Influence of Culture and Market Orientation of Service Brands: Insights from Irish Banking and Retail Firms† published in the Journal of Services Marketing. The essence of this journal is to analyze the fundamental relationship between a service firms culture and its brand as well as the development and implementation of brand values. The journal is written by two professors who have a reputation for an experience both in academia and in consultancy to firms in the service industry. Due to this, they use their experiences in the lecture halls, research work and in managing or consultancy to real business to examine two important things in business: the service sector and branding. The service sector is not given so much prominence in research. Most research work is done for companies that produce tangible products. Thus, these two professors produce a research on a topic that is fairly r are and they do this to give people in specialized niches like banking to get an insight into things and trends in the modern society. Healey identifies branding from three separate angles. First of all, they argue that a brand is the name of a product or service. The second facade is that a brand is the legal trademark of a given product or service. Thirdly, a brand is a belief or view that is connected to a given product or service. Davis identifies that brand encompasses the perception or the kind of emotion that a given product or service invokes in a person when it is mentioned. Thus, Barclays can be seen as a brand on its own. Barclays comes with a unique business identity that has a legal existence that is separate from its owners. Additionally, Barclays incites some kind of mindset or emotions in people who hear about it.

Business law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business law - Assignment Example In this context, what LaMance points out is relevant. According to him, a hotel has to take a set of legal measures to avoid liability. If the hotel management fails to take adequate measures to ensure the safety of its guests, then the hotel management would be held liable for its negligent acts. First, the hotel management should be able to anticipate possible safety threats within the hotel environment. If the hotel is really aware of the degree of intensity of criminal acts, it can take adequate safety measures to address those issues. As LakMance proposes, the hotel management can install surveillance cameras or hire more security guards to ensure the safety of guests and their valuables. In addition to anticipating risk factors, the hotel should communicate proper warning to guests to make them aware of the safety threats identified. Finally, hotels have also the responsibility to maintain their properties properly. To illustrate, easy access windows and faulty door locks may s ometimes assist criminals to break into rooms. Hence, the hotel management has to make certain that its properties are managed properly. In the Freda case, there is a possibility to argue that the Gullies Hotel management did not take adequate measures to ensure the safety of the guest’s valuable even though the management has been aware of the theft issues within the hotel environment. However, it must be noted that the Gullies’ management had arranged special facilities at the reception for keeping the valuables of their clients. Despite theft warning and special security facilities, Freda left the hotel leaving cash and expensive jewelries in her room and this negligence resulted in the theft of her valuables. Question 2 The doctrine of precedent is one of the fundamental and oldest features of the English legal system. In addition, it is considered to be the heart of the common law system. â€Å"The doctrine of precedent states that a decision made by a court in o ne case is binding on other courts in later cases involving similar facts† (as qtd in Harris199). The most potential benefit of the doctrine of precedent is that it promotes uniformity within the law. More precisely, it meets the general conception of justice by treating similar cases in the similar manner. The basic concepts of the doctrine of precedent have been well stated and are easy to understand. According to this doctrine, as Harris points out, all courts must adhere to the previous decisions made by superior courts in similar cases. The second rule of the doctrine of precedent sates that current decisions made by courts will be applied to all future cases which have similar facts (199-200). However, law experts argue that this feature may lead to interpretation difficulties for the courts. As discussed already, adherence to precedent is helpful to maintain a system of stable laws, which in turn promotes the predictability of laws and provides individuals with a greate r degree of security. As legal advisors point out, the doctrine of precedent is essential to make certain that laws develop in accordance with changing views of the society only and hence laws clearly reflect morals and expectations of the society as well. Since the doctrine of

Cruise industry in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cruise industry in India - Essay Example the stars. SIMPLICITY: Planning a cruise is simple; you're on board, nearly all expenses are pre- paid so vacation becomes hassle-free. FAMILY : Ideal for family vacation. PAMPERING. Regardless of your budget, all cruise lines pamper their guests with first- class service around the clock. SATISFACTION : It's a fact that cruises have a higher percentage of satisfied customers than any other vacation experience The cruise industry is the most exciting and fastest growing segment of the travel industry throughout the world today. The cruise market is strong throughout the world and particularly in the USA and UK. Currently, the Caribbean holds almost 67% of the market share in the total global cruise industry whilst the Far East (Asian Region) holds only 2%. The cruise companies targeting Indian customers feel that the cruise market segment in India is now coming of age. Not yet into the number game in terms of passengers, cruise liners have demarcated their market segments and clientele. Realising the competition and the objective, these companies have set their targets towards capturing the vast potential.The Indian travel industry can be virtually described as a melting pot of possibilities. India with its vast beautiful coastline and long historical and cultural traditions, theatre and performing art can be developed as a popular tourist destination for cruise tourism. The emerging trends like the rise in the standard of living, Modern lifestyle, enhanced economic standards, competitive work culture and the revelation of internet based technology in tourism and travel has made the planning vacation easier. Indian information technology... Indian information technology prowess lead to more economic stability and young and highly paid generation are looking for some unique experience. Cruise as depicted above have every component which gives a wonderful experience in a isolated ambience with first class facilities. The base price for a cruise from a short haul has suddenly opened up this segment to a seemingly infinite market. Eying this potential, cruise liners globally have drawing special strategies for the Indian market. Cruise companies are offering designer packages for their target audience. The promotional and marketing strategies are meticulously designed to suit the Indian consumer. Although the cruise liners had made their entry in the Indian market a few years ago, the operators are optimistic about the growth. The growth would be possible only by creating awareness about the entire experience of cruising as they realize that as a product, cruising is fairly new to the Indian travelers. The level of awarenes s with regards to cruising as a vacation option has increased considerably over the last few years. Cruising was considered to be either for the retired and the elderly or the rich and famous. Now-a-days honeymooners, entrepreneurs, senior corporate executives, adventure traffic and families are all part of clientele.

Affecting change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Affecting change - Essay Example The Organizational culture is ever more implicit as a grave component within the conception of high performance within work areas.An organization's established principles, approaches,viewpoints,objects,along with behaviors all consist of its civilization moreover facilitate in originating a sense of regulation, stability,as well as obligation. Not merely does the business as a whole comprise of a culture, however it usually contains several subcultures. Considering the culture at mutual levels is significant for the reason that a single workplace plan will not essentially maintain in the best way the conflicting job cultures. An analytical instrument, with established strength as well as dependability, has been developed that categorizes associations within four dissimilar cultural types: teaming up. Each one of these has dissimilar operational characteristics that associate with dissimilar ecological features as well as qualities. Evaluating a corporation culture as well as subcultu res provides place of work planners as well as instigators with an institution on which to assemble an atmosphere to hold up the way an organization functions and expresses itself. The bottom line in using organizational culture assessments is to help create workplace explanations with both interior as well as exterior reimbursements that eventually effected in enhanced trade performance (Paton, 2008, pg 208). The established methods of control and the current departmental and organizational cultures: Gene one is faced with an amalgamation of Strong as well as a weak culture: An organizational culture can be marked as strong or else weak based on reasonableness of the central values amongst the corporations team members along with the amount of dedication that the associates have to these core values. Considering the situation of Gene One the higher the sheerness as well as commitment, the stronger the culture, it has helped in boosting the opportunities of behaviour reliability between their respective team members, at the same time as a weak culture within Gene One has inaugurated opportunities for every one of the team members showing apprehensions exclusive to themselves. They have been following the cultural model as a result it has required the managers to toil very sternly at determining the surroundings, nevertheless in a technique that it has always assisted the argument towards developing employees whose principles as well as viewpoints manage their behaviour. Experts have articulated the administrators as an entity being dependable for crafting a forceful optimistic apparition, being an optimistic role mock-up who outlines itself within the human resources a sagacity that the corporations leaders will permit them to administer moreover be in power of their individual personal learning progression. The leaders are also occupied in lining up the corporation's remuneration as well as regulation systems with the novel way of thinking. Don has realized that leaders are then fundamentally occupied in change management however in a very delicate as well as indirect manner than within the conventional change management procedure. As a leader Don has also been able to a certain extent realize that are moreover the protectors of their culture, dependable for guaranteeing that the significant cultural principles are preserved. In a number of cases this may perhaps necessitate them to interpret as well as be aware of what these standards are. The culture of the company Gene one, these days could accordingly be portrayed as being extremely performance oriented along with being eventually profit slanting. The time industrialized a set of dysfunctional values and norms that needed more than subtle adjustment if the company was to stay alive. It is as a result is not astounding that this redecoration was not talented peaceably. The most spectacular change has been in the leader who has moved from being a

Specification and Design Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Specification and Design - Dissertation Example For instance crime scenes where a person had been shot, when the medics arrive, they had to wait for the police before they could save the individual, therefore the sponsors found the need for a communication system where the information from an emergency scene would reach all the people involved in the emergency simultaneously. The aim of the project, therefore, is to create a communication system where information that originated from a scene of emergency would reach all the people involved at the same time, therefore, hasten the pace of response. In this project, the solution that would enable the integration of all the people involved in response in one call would be the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In designing the VoIP, a software will be designed that will enable a victim of an emergency to communicate with several departments that are responsible for responding to a certain emergency. The software will be designed in such a way that for instance when it is a fi re emergency, the relevant personnel will be notified which will be different from the case of a crime scene. This will be enabled by the programming which when a person chooses the type of an emergency, the software will direct the calls to the specific departments that are responsible to respond to the emergency. There will be no major modifications, however, due to the sophistication of crime and to avoid tampering of the software by criminals, the security protocol of the software will be improved to match the best practices in the communication sector. Literature survey With the current paces in technology where there is the increasing number of service that is available over a wire and wireless connections, the technology is changing from narrowband such as telephones over wires to the wideband where the services that previously used the narrowband would migrate and use the wideband. According to Bonometti article, â€Å"competitive business advantages in the era of unified s uper convergence† digital convergence will expand by entailing the following. Improved evenness in information flow between the cable and cable-less communication technologies, which will be the outcome of changes in cable-less technology, standards and protocol. Real dependence between gadgets, platforms and the multimedia types that they support. The third thing that digital convergence will entail is the intelligence functions such as the semantic web and other machine-based interactions and embedded applications that enable content searches in rich media (Bonometti, 2009, p 248-257). A study by William and Russell on Huawei, which is a technology firm, based in China where it has always been believed that the country is the greatest copier of technologies that have been developed by other countries. In this study, they found out that despite Huawei being a global leader in the provision of Softswitch platform that is used in VoIP, it has been involved in developing of tech nologies in the next generation networks (NGN) that provide for the multimedia solution across different platforms such as mobile phones, landlines, and television sets. The article â€Å"Customized Executive Learning: a Business Model for the Twenty-First Century† by Jamie Anderson and Gert-Jan.

Nothing Succeds Like Success Essay Example for Free

Nothing Succeds Like Success Essay All desire success but only a chosen can be fortunate enough to get it. What is the secret of their success? What makes them a chosen few out of thousands of people struggling uselessly? Why all men and women cannot be the creators of their own destiny? Why does the spotlight shine over only a handful of people? As we all think about success, the first couple of things that come to our minds are†¦riches†¦wealth†¦a big name†¦famous. There is nothing as sweet as success. And it is the sweetest when reached through sweat and hard work. Success is the crowning glory and comes only after fighting a battle full of risks. It is the success, which motivates man to work tirelessly, and urges man beat himself and become his own competition. â€Å"Run after Excellency and success shall follow,† means that success is also overvalued sometimes. If you work hard to become the best in the field, success would come to you naturally. For example: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough first step. A newspaper editor fired him because, he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didnt last too long and ended with financial ruin and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked. There are infinite examples of people who made it in their early life but what about those who don’t. Do they give up? Or keep trying until they finally hit the perfect chord? Why can’t they succeed? Why do people believe that if you fail once there is no chance of success later in life? That’s because our fear of loss is greater than the fear of gain. This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasnt always as well judged as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and screwed up his sixth grade examinations. After school he faced many years of diplomatic failures, as he was crushed in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the withered old age of 62. Success teaches us many lessons in life like never giving up and trying till we finally reach to our goal. It also teaches us that no matter how high the hurdles are, you must always keep your eye on your goal. â€Å"Successful people don’t do different things, they just do things differently.†

Socially Useful Productive Activity Essay Example for Free

Socially Useful Productive Activity Essay Even my NGO (Deepalaya) had apprehensions as to how much we will be able to contribute in such a short time span. But after going through the whole exercise I can say that this course will surely be one of the highlights of my two year PGDM. SUPA helped me create a bond with Deepalaya that will definitely last a lifetime. I always wanted an NGO that is involved in education, so Deepalaya was perfect choice. Not only had it made me sensitive towards people who are underprivileged it also gave me a sense of pride of being a part of a worthy cause. It was an eye-opener to see that so many things that we take for granted are a distant dream for the majority in our country. If my work changes the life of even one child I would consider these 22 days being worth every single second. So I take this opportunity to specially thank Prof. J. Philip, President XIME and Prof. S. D. Tyagaraj, Dean XIME for coming up with such an innovative and socially responsible course. I am surprised that XIME is the only management institute that offers such a course, after all it’s not just the corporate’ that require efficient management. In a country like ours where there is extreme inequality in the society it becomes absolutely imperative that people like us come forward and contribute in our own little way. Today management professionals are venturing into social welfare, I hope this XIME initiative gives a boost to this trend and that many more institute’ follow suit. When I pass out of XIME one and a half years from now and look back at the two years I spent here, I would rate SUPA above all the other courses that I studied. At this point I have to acknowledge a few people who made my involvement with Deepalaya fruitful; Mr. The answer came pretty quickly, it was ‘Education’. Education is the only cause that I could see myself joining because I consider it to be the difference between success and failure. In our country literacy rate is just 66%, which is way below what we are achieving for. I am not just talking about formal education but also professional as well as vocational education. These high levels of illiteracy create a workforce that is unskilled and is unable to achieve its maximum potential. It is the reason why education has been the focus of our government, with ‘Right to Education’ being a big step. Education gives you a platform from which you build a career for yourself and become a responsible citizen. ‘Money is a current asset but education is a fixed one that gives dividends in the long run’. So finding an NGO with its roots deep into education was my primary focus. Once I decided on the cause, I started searching for an NGO in Delhi/NCR which serves the cause that is close to my heart. I have been lucky to be born in a family that could afford my education. So I was looking for an organization that helps in educating people who are not so lucky. Our course outlines that we have to get in touch with that other part of society. Deepalaya fit the bill perfectly as its primary focus was on education, especially child education. Every person you educate is a small effort in making a ‘self reliant’ society, which is Deepalaya’s motto. My own background check confirmed the credibility of the NGO so I didn’t think twice about sending an application. I am glad that it was accepted and I got a chance to make good friends and contribute to the society in my own personal way. SUPA Report: Denny Thomas Page 4 About Deepalaya Vision

Summary Of The Wedding Novel English Literature Essay

Summary Of The Wedding Novel English Literature Essay One of the most anticipated events of this special month is the wedding of one of the daughters of New Berns best lawyer, Wilson Lewis. His daughter Anna is finally engaged to her long time boyfriend, Keith, and to make it more special their getting married at the date Wilson and his wife, Jane, got married. However, there was one problem; they only got one week to prepare this wedding. How can everything be possible? Preparing this wedding wasnt easy but soon all their hard work paid off. The wedding will take place in Noah Calhouns house and garden, the place where Jane grew up and the place where Janes sister, Kate, also got married. This place was special for the whole family, but a week ago this house was a complete disaster. It had been abandoned for years since Noah and his late wife, Allie moved into Creekside. Miracle, I thought, was the reason why from where I am looking now this place was magnificent. http://www.sweetgumbottom.com/images/garden-weddings_header.jpg Not only did they finished this house in a matter of days, they were also able to get a photographer, a caterer provided by Henry MacDonald, and a musician, John Peterson, to play during the wedding and the reception. All may seem impossible but they did it. Everything was perfect and the one thing I admired the most was the rose garden designed with five beautiful hearts. No doubt for sure that they spent a lot of money, from my early conversation with Wilson, he does not have one bit of regret as long as his daughter is happy at her wedding. It had been a long wait and finally John Peterson began to play the piano and I knew at that very moment the bride is on her way to the aisle. To my surprise, Anna was not a bride. She was just an ordinary guess wearing the same dress as her sister, Leslie. I was confused at first but when Jane walked in her dress with a bridal veil and a bouquet, I knew she was the bride we were all waiting for. This is one of the most unforgettable weddings that ever happened here in New Bern. Not only was there twist in the end, we also gained so much knowledge about love in this wedding. We come to realize that love is not just a word but the action you take to make it happen. Wilson and Jane had a tough thirty years of marriage but they learned to be love and fall in love all over again. Anything is possible when it comes to love so never ever give up on it! The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks contains a lot of cause and effect relationships towards the two main characters. The novel started of on August 23, 2002 when Wilson forgot about their twenty-ninth anniversary. This was the day Wilson finally comes to understand that Jane might have fallen out of love with him. Forgetting their anniversary was not the only reason why they grew apart. All of the causes built up to one strong force that strike down the bowling pins in just one hit. First of all, Jane and Wilson grew up from two completely different families. Wilson growing up mostly alone as both his parents work as one of the most trusted lawyers in Washington, D.C., never experienced what love really is. He never knew the exact meaning of romance or even how to be romantic. In the other hand, Jane grew up in a family full of love, romance, and happiness. Through her parents is where Jane learned what love truly is. Another major cause occurred at their own wedding. Every girl in this world wants their dream wedding to come to reality. However, Jane never got hers. Wilson wanting to start a law firm as a new law graduate did not want to spend more money than needed. Also as a man, Wilson wanted to pay for the expenses of the wedding from his own pocket. He didnt want to rely on anyone especially to Janes parents. Then their honeymoon didnt even last a whole weekend since he has to get back to work right away. As the new provider for the family, Wilson wanted the best for his family. He wants his children, Anna, Joseph, and Leslie, to have a good education and a good life. He achieved this by spending almost every minute of his life working. Spending little time at home brought major consequences. He left the responsibility of raising kids to Jane. He missed birthdays, school plays, and soccer games. Wilson basically missed his children growing up. Lastly, Wilson forgot about their anniversary after being drowned in work the whole day. This became the turning point of what seems to be the end of their happy marriage. Jane and Wilson now barely speak to each other. Even though, they live in one roof, it seems like neither of them exist. Jane then fled to New York to their son, Joseph, to spend some time to think and according to Joseph, Jane was crying ever since he picked her up the airport to the minute she dropped her back. That she didnt want to come back but she knew she had to because Wilson needs her. All these made Wilson realize that he can never live life without Jane, since because the day they met until now his love for his wife grew more and stronger. The second cause and effect that occurred in this novel was the day after the forgotten anniversary, when Wilson finally realize that he has to do something that will make Jane fall in love with him all over again. First, he started to wake up extra early to walk around the neighborhood and loss some weight. Luckily, he got another chance to prove that he can change when Anna announces that she was getting married. Wilson became a big help in the wedding. Since Jane has been constantly busy he started to cook dinner for them and when Jane needed help with anything he was always there. He helped arrange the guest list, caterer, rentals, music, and most especially Noahs house, where the wedding and the reception will be held. With the help of Noah, Wilson learned to become more romantic and start to express his feelings to Jane more often. When everything was going smoothly, Wilson decided to arrange a romantic dinner Thursday evening before the day of the wedding. He taped a note to the front door saying, Welcome home, darling. Your surprise awaits you insideà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Sparks 207). When Jane opened up the door she saw a living room full of lit candles, scattered rose petals on the floor, and another note. Each note brings in another task that will bring Jane closer to where Wilson was. After Jane took a bath and refreshed herself, a limousine that will reveal the place where shell meet Wilson, awaits her The limousine arrived in front of Noahs house. Jane, blindfolded, was surprised the second she was finally able to open her eyes. The house looked the same exact way it did the years when Jane was growing. Then on the porch, was a romantic table Wilson set up for their dinner date. When Wilson was cooking their dinner, he asked Jane to grab his apron in her room upstairs, but instead of an apron Jane found a letter. The letter contained every memory they made together, Wilsons feelings towards Jane that he was not able to show, all his regrets, and sincere apology of every minute he wasted in the office not realizing that everything is falling out of place. Together with that letter was a photo album, which has pictures of the two of them through the years. Wilson took every small step to court his wife and everything step became worthwhile when Jane learned to love him all over again. Wilsons biggest step was when he finally revealed his secret. The wedding Jane thought was for her daughter, Anna, was actually her wedding all along. Wilson was finally able to give Jane the wedding she always wanted. A year worth of planning became a complete success. At that day, Wilson discovered that second chances can really happen, I learned that its possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when theres a lifetime of disappointment between them (Sparks 263). Even if, your second chance can be your last chance, it will never hurt to try. You will never know, maybe this second chance can be start of a new beginning in your life. I am not lying when I say that Nicholas Sparks is my favorite author of all time. Your books were the ones who changed my views towards reading. It always brings out the fun in reading and brings out every emotion of a human being has. We laugh, we get angry, we cry, and we learn to love. Your books not only bring emotions but also provide valuable lessons that can be used in reality. Ive read a lot of your written works. For example, Ive read A Walk to Remember, Dear John, At First Sight, the Last Song, and The Wedding. All these books have different stories, but they share one thing in common, they contain a twist of faith in each of its major characters. Anything you least expect always happen that stop us, readers, from closing the book. I am not afraid to say that I cried in each of these books I read written by you. If only I have all the time in the world, Ill be honored to read every novel you ever written. As a great author, most of your books had been turn to movies. However, I hate it when they change the story from the book and sort of ruined it. The only ones that are not greatly ruined in my opinion were The Last Song and A Walk to Remember. I also do not like it when others who enjoyed the movies do not even give any honor to you and your work. You are the reason why we have phenomenal movies like The Notebook that almost every American still enjoy to this day. You are really the best and I hope that youll continue to write more beautiful novels and inspired many more of your readers like me.

A Rose For Emily - In Memory Of Emily Grierson Essay -- essays researc

In the short story  ¡Ã‚ §A Rose for Emily, ¡Ã‚ ¨ (1930) William Faulkner presents Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s instable state of mind through a missed sequence of events. Faulkner arranges the story in fractured time and then introduces characters who contribute to the development of Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s personality. The theme of isolation is also presented by Faulkner ¡Ã‚ ¦s descriptive words and symbolic images. Faulkner uses anachronism to illustrate Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s confused mind. The story is split into five sections. The first section begins with Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s funeral and moves on to her past. Faulkner first recaptures the dispensation of Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s taxes in 1894, he continues by illustrating Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s nature no to accepts new concepts. When the  ¡Ã‚ §next generation, with its more modern ideas ¡Ã‚ ¨ comes along, Miss Emily refuses to accept them (1009). Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s mixed feeling about the past is reflected in the structure of the story. Unlike most stories, the narrator does not continue the plot with the next chronological event rather presents one that happened two years earlier. This switch once again mirrors Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s unclear state of mind. The story ¡Ã‚ ¦s disjointed time frame not only reflects a puzzled memory but it also suggests Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s unwillingness to move along with time. While the reader reads through time and expects the story to be in sequence, Faulkner deliberately switches the time back and forth to emphasize Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s desire to stay in past. After the author introduces the character of Miss Emily, he goes back even further into the past to explain why Miss Emily possesses her unique personality. He also contributes to the development of Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s personality through the introduction of her father, Homer Barron, and Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s great aunt who all influence her maturity and experience of life. The primary figure in Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s life is her father. Faulkner uses this relationship to reveal Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s reserved nature. Because her father is an upper class figure, some of his ways of thinking has  ¡Ã‚ §thwarted [Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s] life ¡Ã‚ ¨ (1013). Miss Emily has always been kept in confined environments that only her father knows what she will do. The event of her father ¡Ã‚ ¦s death is a shock to Miss Emily because the guidance of her father is gone. This explains Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s behavior after her father ¡Ã‚ ¦s death as well as her reaction to another ... ...ulkner ¡Ã‚ ¦s short story  ¡Ã‚ §A Rose for Emily ¡Ã‚ ¨ uses many literary devices such as plot to emphasize the theme of mixed memory. While most stores are written in chronological order, this story is broken up into characters to build up Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s personality both externally and internally. While Faulkner uses Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s father and homer Barron to affect miss Emily in her environment, Faulkner also old lady Wyatt to suggest the possible inheritance of this unexplainable behavior from her family. Descriptive words are another big part of the story since Faulkner uses them to describe the themes of old age and isolation. While  ¡Ã‚ §coquettish decay ¡Ã‚ ¨ and  ¡Ã‚ §tarnished gold head ¡Ã‚ ¨ is used to compare old to new,  ¡Ã‚ §noblesse oblique ¡Ã‚ ¨ is used to reflect Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s past. Not only does Faulkner use descriptive words to describe Miss Emily, but he also uses symbolism. Throughout the story, Faulkner uses the description of Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s house to refer to Miss Emily herself. Miss Emily ¡Ã‚ ¦s once normal behavior and deterioration is captured in the house ¡Ã‚ ¦s old-fashioned look and the decayed look. Faulkner uses all these literary devices to present the themes of mixed memory, old age and isolation.

Somerset Maugham Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Somerset Maugham Somerset Maugham was born on January 25, 1874 in Paris where his father was the solicitor to the British Embassy. However, he was orphaned at the age of ten and lived with his uncle, the vicar of Whitstable, in England. Maugham was educated in England studying literature and philosophy at Heidelberg University. In 1897 he qualified as a surgeon from St. Thomas’ medical school and practiced for a year in the slums of London. However, he abandoned medicine after the success of his first two novels. Maugham is best known as a successful novelist and playwright, but he never gained serious recognitions for his works. The young author lived in Paris for ten years before publishing his first novel Liza of Lambeth in 1897. His first play A Man of Honour went into production in 1903 and by 1904 four of his plays were running simultaneously in London. The plays were interested with social satire and he was considered an extremely gifted playwright during this time. These early successes provided a foundation for his later works. His semi-auto bibliographical breakthrough novel Of Human Bondage in 1915 is considered one of his best works. The story follows the life of Philip Carey who loses his parents early in life and tracks his progress into early manhood. In 1919, he published the novel Moon and Sixpence that was loosely based on the life and experiences of the painter Paul Gauguin. This French artist rejected the social contracts of European society and departed to Tahiti where his unconventional scenes of Tahitian life captured the interest and imagination of numerous Europeans. Maugh am himself made a trip to Tahiti to become better acquainted with the circumstances surrounding Gauguin’s experienc... ...ajor novels that Maugham wrote. There is also a list of all the works Maugham produced during his lifetime. Knitting Circle Somerset Maugham. South Bank University. 11 November 2002 http://www.sbu.ac.uk/stafflag/wsmaugham.html>. This is a South Bank University page that sums up some major events in Maugham’s life and focuses on the issue of his sexual preference. This page has highlights some key events between Maugham and Gerald Haxton. There is also a short list of Maugham’s works at the end of the page. Annotation: A fabulous reference site including philosophy resource links by historical time period, philosophic subject, tradition, or school of thought. Books: Bronowski, Jacob. The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination. Yale University Press. New Haven: 1978. Everson, Stephen. Epistemology. Cambridge University Press. New York: 1990.

Industrial Music :: essays research papers

Industrial Music Rock and roll is dead. It's a fact. During the eighties romp of techno and fashion bands, people forgot all about it. In the late eighties and early nineties alternative music tried to save rock and roll, but it was too big of a category. If a band didn't sing country or rap, they were considered alternative. Every alternative band had their own idea of music, and it all spread apart, running farther away from rock. Finally, when alternative became more defined and broke off into categories, one specific type of alternative offspring, industrial music, made the best attempt in a decade to revive the long forgotten era of rock and roll. The only problem with this new rock is that it was angered from being forgotten for over a decade and now it's back, filled with angst and hatred. Industrial music has weaved rock and roll with evil and misery. The founder and leader of the industrial revolution is the band Nine Inch Nails. Most people do not classify Nine Inch Nails as a band though. The writer, producer, lead vocalist, keyboarder and guitarist of the band is Trent Reznor. For the past two years, Trent has been the artist of the year in Spin magazine and NIN has been the number two band of the year. In 1994, Nine Inch Nails was announced MTV's band of the year. This was a great honor because MTV spends most of it's time with rap and hip-hop. When NIN's first album came out in 1989, it was mostly rock and roll with a techno twist, containing songs full of depressing, suicidal lyrics. Then as the next two albums arose, Trent became more evil with his music, using machines and pretty much anything he could find that would make his music sound angered and irritated. This hard, twisted music, backed up by words of pure hatred started the industrial ball rolling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One band that has tried to lighten up industrial just a tad is KMFDM, a German industrial band. The band name stands for Klein Mitlied Fuhr Das Merhiet, which is Little pity for the tyranny. Instead of using the suicidal, evil lyrics, KMFDM has used their music as more of a philosophical communication. They sing about how screwed up they think the world is and how much we are controlled by people we didn't know existed. The lyrics may sound depressing still, but the music is a little more upbeat. KMFDM got rid of the tortured machine sounds and added horns and synthesizers, making the music sound more digital and less like grinding gears.

Child Beauty Pageant

Formal Outline: Child Beauty pageant Introduction: 1. How many of you guys have heard or seen the show Toddler and Tiaras? It’s a show where toddlers and young children take stage wearing make ups, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on beauty, personality and costumes. Tiaras are following families on their guest for sparkly crowns, big tittles, and lots of cash. 2. Preview : I think child beauty pageant is absolutely unacceptable. Children should be on the play ground playing games, be active and have fun not, wear makeup and have fake tan and get judged for their â€Å"beauty†. . Thesis: We should show and teach the younger generation that beauty is not everything; we should not let little young girls participate in beauty contest. They are growing too fast, they don’t even understand the whole thing and usually they are dragged by their parents & you don’t even know if that’s actually something the child wants to do. Body : 1. First main point : Is beauty everything? What are we really teaching these young kids? When a interviewer asks most child beauty contestants â€Å"which one would you rather be? Smart or beautiful? and most of them answered beautiful, this is something not a little 5-8 year old should be responding. It’s scary enough to know that they have an idea of what beauty means, this is something we should only worry about when we are older. * Sub point: These beauty pageant contests has taught them that being beautiful means being fake and superficial. * Sub point: They are growing too fast, makeup and hair products can do a lot of harm to little kids face and their hair. * Sub point: I understand that some pageant are for scholarships, good cause and family bonding time but there are always other ways you can do those things.I think entering a beauty contest is little bit extreme and can really ruin how kids feel about themselves and the world. * Sub point: It wouldn’t be bad if they are doi ng natural beauty contest, I don’t have anything against them but most of the child beauty pageant are not. Transition: some parents take the beauty pageant too far and far too serious because some of them took drastic measures. Second main point: Botox 1. This is one of the most ridiculous I have ever seen and heard â€Å"a mother injected her 8-year old daughter with Botox. † (Good morning America)The mother said â€Å"I knew she was complaining about her face, having wrinkles, and things like that when I brought it up to Britney she was all for it† 2. What kid needs Botox for wrinkles? And do these parents do whatever their children ask for? I don’t want to judge how to raise their own children but injecting your own kid with Botox is crossing the line. She also admitted that she was actually encouraged by other stage mothers and they do it to their children. 3. The Botox procedure is done by the mother herself; she is not even a doctor? When they aske d little Britney if Botox hurt she said â€Å" yes but its less than getting her legs waxed†Transition: Is it really for their children? Why are these parents taking it so far? Third main point: 1. Of course all these pageant moms say they are doing this for their kid, but teaching their kids to being superficial and fake is not the right way. They want their kid to win, they make it important for their kids to win and these young kids are being pressure to win â€Å"beauty† contest. The parents usually say it makes their daughter feels beautiful, confidences and get use to pressure, what if they lose? What does that do to the kid? 2. These kids are not ready for those things; they need to learn those slowly.Growing up too fast is bad for them and giving them a mental picture that beauty is everything. Conclusion : Which brings me back to my first main point: that we should be teaching our kids to have fun and tell them how education is important and outside beauty is important. The only beauty they should know is about inner beauty and being a nice person not about make ups and being skinny. Clincher: In conclusion, I hope all of you guys feels the same way as me or at least close to it because these little kids don’t need to be judged on their â€Å"beauty† don’t let them ruin their childhood and say NO to child beauty pageant.

Marketing – Chanel, Nike, Hot Topic

1. Within the United States, especially in Southern California, an individual's appearance is crucial because it is used to make a first impression. A person is judged by what they wear and how they look. For example, it is probable that many people would perceive a person wearing ratty clothes as uneducated and irresponsible while a person looking pristine in a designer ensemble is assumed to be intelligent and successful. In every city, there are multiple fashion brands with different styles and ranges of apparel and accessories.Every season, new styles and designs are created which influence society. It appears as if more types of clothing exist than the actual number of people. With so many different alternatives of fashion, the fashion industry is trying to please too many customers with variety. There are currently various styles to choose from, and the clothes people wear categorize or label them long before they realize it. The three fashion brands that will be analyzed exten sively are Chanel, Nike, and Hot Topic. These brands have apparel but are completely different in their target audience.Chanel is a prestigious high-fashion brand; Nike is a popular athletic line; Hot Topic is musically and artistically edgier with a smaller target audience between the three. With these apparel brands, a person wearing each would be labeled or even stereotyped. One wearing a Chanel’s 2012 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear designer outfit with a white jacket, lambskin dress with pearls, and a glass pearl belt would be labeled as rich, successful, and intelligent. Another wearing Nike running apparel consisting of a shirt, shorts, and footwear is someone athletic and always on the go.An individual in a Hot Topic black graphic music t-shirt with plug piercings would be stereotyped as â€Å"Goth†, tough, or edgy. 2. 2. | | | Geographic| * Located at tourist hot-spots * Found in shopping malls or shopping streets * Fashion Capitals * Where social status is import ant * Higher standard costs of living * North America: U. S. A, Mexico, Canada * Asia * Europe * Middle East * Oceania * South America| * Located in areas with daily physical activity * Near sports-oriented regions * Nike stores found in shopping malls or its brand is found in multiple athletic ear stores * United States * Europe * Canada * Africa * Australia * India * Indonesia * Malaysia * Middle East * New Zealand * Philippines * Singapore * United Kingdom| * This brand is mostly geared to the style of North America where it originated. * Found in shopping malls * United States * Puerto Rico * Ontario * Suburban living| Chanel’s headquarter is located in Paris, France where the fashion brand originated. The store is located worldwide near tourist attractions. The main travel destination that people choose to plan their vacation is where a Chanel store is mostly likely to be found.The idea is that people who travel to hot-spots tend to be upper middle or upper class, so the y have sufficient funds to purchase the Chanel brand. Chanel is one of the top designer brands known globally, so it is located in fashion capitals: New York City, Paris, Milan, Rome, China, Los Angeles, Miami, etc. Nike’s headquarter is located in Washington County, Oregon. This athletic brand is one the top sports line. Its stores are located globally and more widespread compared to the other two brands. Also, Nike brand products can be found in multiple athletic equipment stores: Sport Chalet, Finish Line, etc.Nike is one of the most common sports brands that it is stocked in any department store with a small section for athletic wear: Nordstrom, Macys, Bloomingdales, etc. It is found in areas where physical activities are part of daily routines. All parts of the world take part in sports, which can be seen through the Olympics and the country’s own specific sport. Hot Topic’s headquarter is in Industry, California. The style of this brand is geared towards A mericans which is why stores are only located in various areas of North America. They are mostly located in suburban shopping malls where the younger demographic spends their free time. | | | Demographic| * Age: * 30-60 years * Gender: * Female * Social Status: * Upper Class * Annual Household Income: * at least $125,000 * Ethnic: * Caucasian * European * Asian American * Family Life Cycle: * Young single * Young married without children * Middle-aged without children * Middle-aged without dependent children| * Age: * 8-50 years * Gender: * Male * Female * Social Status: * Middle Class * Upper Class * Annual Household Income * at least $50,000 * Ethnic: Widespread among diverse groups * Family Life Cycle: * Young single * Young married or divorced with/without children * Middle-aged married or divorced with or without dependent children| * Age: * 12-20 years * Gender: * Male * Female * Social Status: * Middle Class * Annual Household Income: * $50,000-$100,000 * Ethnic: * Caucasian * Asian American * Hispanic American * African American * Canadian * Family Life Cycle: * Young Single| Chanel’s customers range between thirty to sixty years old.It only has apparel for older women because they are typically upper class with an annual household income of at least $125,000. Since Chanel is an expensive designer brand, not many ethnic groups are associated with it. The main ethnic groups are European, Caucasian, and Asian American. Europeans and Americans have higher household incomes, so they are able to afford the high prices. They’re young and single, young married without children, middle-aged without children, and middle-aged without dependent children, so they have more money for luxuries because they have no dependents.Nike has a wider spectrum of customers from the age of eight to fifty years old. Females and males of all different ages take part in some sort of physical activity or exercise. Nike products are of quality, so their product line i tems vary in price; therefore, anybody of middle or upper class can afford it on a household income of at least $50,000 annually. This brand is global, so it targets a variety of diverse ethnic groups. Its market is for all family life cycles: young who exercise regularly or married with children having to run errands. Hot Topic’s customers are female and male tweens or teens from the age of twelve to twenty.It can be seen that teenagers with less valued education shop there. The style is targeted to young single children, mainly middle class with an annual household income of $50,000-$100,000. It targets mainly those living in North America: Caucasian, Asian American, Hispanic American, African American, and Canadian. | | | | Psychographic| * Personality: * Fashionistas * Opinion Leaders * Motives: * Status * Trendy * Perceived quality * Lifestyles: * High-class lifestyle * Follow trends/styles * Enjoy luxuries * High-maintenance * Materialistic * Geodemographics: * Popular global cities * Fashion apitals * Upper class communities * Upper middle class suburbs| * Personality: * Athletic * Opinion Leaders * Relaxed * Motives: * Trendy * Quality * Exercise * Every-day attire * Reliability * Comfort * Lifestyles: * Health conscious * Sports-oriented * Always on the go * Geodemographics: * Heavily populated communities * Sports-oriented regions * Cities with professional sports teams| * Personality: * Edgy * Punk * Music lover * Motives: * Unique * Contrast Hollywood * Music Preference * Lifestyles: * Opposite of Pop magazines * Prideful to be independent of trends * More about music than societal trends * Geodemographics: * Young communities that appreciate music * Areas unaffected by magazine trends * Middle class suburbs * Regions with less valued education| Chanel targets fashionistas, people who wear high-end and trendy clothes. They are opinion leaders who influence the rest of society. For example, celebrities wear Chanel which creates the brand†™s popularity.Customers shop at Chanel because they want status which is to follow up-to-date trends and styles in today’s society. These people have a high-class lifestyle who enjoy luxuries, are high-maintenance, and very materialistic. Due to Chanel being a high-end brand, one of its key factors is its price because expensive items give people the perception of high quality. Chanel clusters potential customers in popular global cities where the communities are typically upper class. It’s vital for Chanel to target people living in fashion capitals, such as Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, Milan, etc. Nike targets athletes who are health conscious and sports-oriented.Those who also wear Nike are opinion leaders which are why the brand is endorsed by well-known athletes from Michael Jordan to Roger Federer. Aside from athletes, Nike also targets customers for the product’s quality, reliability, and comfort. Nike clusters potential customers in heavily populated com munities, cities with famous professional sports teams, and sports-oriented regions. Hot Topic targets young communities that appreciate music. This brand started off with selling products based on music artists and bands. It targets a younger dynamic group who wants to be unique and despises the typical Hollywood pop culture trends. People with a less valued education tend to shop at Hot Topic which is why the brand is stereotyped for those who are â€Å"punks. † | | | | Benefits Sought| Extreme quality * Social status recognition * Aspirational reference group * Up-to-date on trends * Self-esteem| * Long-lasting quality * Increased training * Improvement as an athlete * Comfort * Aspirational reference group| * To be unique and different * Broadcast their music and art interests * Make a statement against pop culture trends| Chanel is instantly recognized as one of the top leading high fashion designer brands in the world. Due to its expensive prices, people assume it to po ssess prestigious quality before they buy their first item. Aside from quality, the fact that the apparel and accessories are well known to be costly is utilized as a means of social status recognition.Any individual wearing a dress, jacket, or glass pearl belt can be instantly deemed as wealthy or financially well-off. Chanel has been deemed as an extravagant brand which is advertised by models and celebrities. It is found in the majority of fashion magazines which targets customers who want to be up-to-date on trends, so they can boost their self-esteem. From the opinion leaders influencing society, customers purchase from this fashion line because they want to be in the aspirational reference group of high class or celebrity status. Nike is a top athletic brand for apparel, gear, and footwear. Nike’s mission statement is â€Å"To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. Due to the brand’s publicity and marketing, it creates a customer percept ion of quality that will last longer than generic sports brands. Along with the public stir of the brand, it targets customers in the aspirational reference group because they want to associate themselves with their favorite athlete or celebrity who wears the product. Aside from the trend, Nike is mainly intended for athletes to increase and improve their training which is why Nike has a product line for each type of sport: running, basketball, tennis, etc. Hot Topic started off trying to be unique and different with the brand’s main focus on music other than typical pop.It first became popular with its t-shirts of multiple rock and metal bands. It is a way for customers, mainly teenagers, to broadcast their love of music. Their mission statement is â€Å"At Hot Topic, we believe music and the arts make everyone's life a whole lot better, so we've decided to enrich kids' lives by enabling them to express themselves musically and artistically! † The brand understands th at there are audiences out there who don’t prefer the pop culture trends, so this is a brand that encompasses and pleases them as well. | 3. The Marketing Mix| | | | | | | | | * Apparel:| * Apparel:| * Apparel:| | * Dresses| * Shorts| * Pants| * Jackets| * Bras| * Shorts| | * Accessories| * Jackets| * Band T-shirt| | * Glass pearl belt| * Hoodies| * Body Jewelry: | | * Footwear:| * Long-sleeve shirt| * Plug earrings| | * Heel boots| * Short-sleeve shirt| * Clothes graphics| | * Brand name| * T-shirts| * Cotton Fabric| | * Brand mark| * Footwear:| * Quality| | * Fabric: | * Running| * Customer Satisfaction| | * Cotton Tweed| * Gear:| * After-purchase service| | * Lambskin| * Socks| * 30 day return policy| | * Coated washed denim| * Customer ability to customize footwear| | | * Glass Pearl| * Quality| | * Quality| * Color| | | * Value| * Brand name| | | * Packaging| * Brand mark| | | * Customer Service| * Fabric| | | * Lifetime warranty by manufacturing defect| * Value * Custom er Service| | | * Customer satisfaction| * Customer Satisfaction| | | | * 30 day return policy| | | | | | | | * Market price * Each article of clothing is at least $1,000 US| * Range in prices * Clearance/Sale Items * Discount deals * Retail store coupons| * Affordable price * Clearance/Sales Items * Discount deals * Regular store deals| | * Rarely discounted| * Outlet warehouses| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | * Fashion magazines| * Magazines| * Music Magazines| | * Celebrity Endorsement| * TV advertisements * TV Shows| * Radio * Internet| | * Celebrity Advertisement| * Celebrity Endorsement| * Sales promotion * Music endorsements| | * Celebrity Events * Award Shows| * Sponsorships * Radio| * Musician/Artist sponsors| | * Fashion Shows| * Sales Promotion| * Music/Art Events| | * TV shows| * Internet| | | * Internet: Subscription| * Sports Events| | | * Beginning of the season unveiling| * Outdoor advertisements| | | * Boutique Window| * Newspapers| | | | | | | | | | * Exclusive Boutique * Extravagant store design| * Shopping Mall * Athletic Store Team * Sold Online| * Shopping Mall * Store has music, darker, artistic theme| | * High-End Shopping Mall| * Warehouse * Outlets| * Warehouse * Sold Online| | * High-income areas| * Trucking| * Outlets| | * Fashion streets| * Air-Mail| * Trucking| | * Air-Mail| * Department Stores| * Air-Mail| | * Boutique Window| * Distribution| * Shelf Placement| | * Shelf Placement:| * Shelf Placement:| * Glass Case Display| | * Near front of store * In plain sight * Not sold online| * Reaching Distance * Middle of the store| * Hanging on racks| | | | | The PRODUCT is the easiest designed strategy in the marketing mix compared to the place, promotion, and price.Chanel’s apparel includes a dress, jacket, belt, and boots. The dress is made out of cotton tweed, lambskin, and precious pearls; the jacket is created from cotton tweed; the heeled boots are coated washed denim. The fabric provides value to customers who believe that they receive extreme quality from their purchase. These high paying customers purchase each of these items for their fabric, instead of going to a generic store full of regular cotton, spandex, and polyester. They desire the feeling of riches when they are covered in beautiful pearls and soft lambskin. Aside from the physical units, the product comes with the brand name and brand mark.In the fashion industry, a person isn’t initially asked about the fabric or the material. They are asked about the brand because a top designer name is seen as prestigious and extravagant which is why the number one fashion question is, â€Å"Who are you wearing? † In the end, fashion is not completely about whether or not an outfit looks good on a person. If the outfit is a brand name, it is put on a higher pedestal than other attire. Along with the ensemble, customer service is a key factor because Chanel clients are loyal. Chanel is popular with upper class clientele who associate themselves with the brand because of its social status; only the wealthy can purchase more than one article of Chanel clothing.The fashion line has excellent customer service to maintain their high clients’ satisfaction before and after their purchase. When purchasing the product, the client also buys a lifetime warranty. However, this warranty only applies to any manufacturing defects or malfunctions. After women enjoy the fabulous customer service and purchase this ensemble, they are given their items in the well-known Chanel packaging. If the clothes were a gift, the store would wrap them in a black box with the white Chanel logo along with tissue paper and white ribbons free of charge. If the clothes were just part of a shopping spree, they will be wrapped in tissue paper and carefully placed in the signature black Chanel shopping bag.All the packaging and added extravagances of the product will be donned with the brand name and brand mark because that is the main reason why women purchase from this fashion line. This Chanel outfit provides women with beauty and grace. Running apparel from Nike includes footwear, socks, shorts, and a shirt. The shoes are made with gel and soft cushion, so it can absorb the shock when a runner’s feet pounds the pavement. A runner can’t have shoes without thick socks. The shorts can either be loose or tight to keep the runner feeling cool and dry. The shirt can be a Dri-fit that keeps the runner warm, cool, comfortable, and dry. With women, some of the shirts come with a bra inside the top.Similar to Chanel, Nike is one of the top leading brands in its athletic department, so athletes purchase the products for the brand name and brand mark. Due to it being a popular brand, it is presumed to have extreme quality which athletes desire to improve their training. Each article of clothing has the brand name and brand mark stamped on it, and each of the footwear has the brand mark largely displayed on all sid es of the shoe. Nike footwear is unique because it enables customers the opportunity to put their own input into the design of their shoe; they can customize their own version with different colors, shapes, and designs. Nike makes sure to provide excellent service in which the employees must be knowledgeable about every product for each type of sport it carries.A customer is able to rely on the employees to consider the client’s best interest. Nike also wants to ensure customer satisfaction which is why it guarantees customers a trial run of the product; if they are not happy with the item after the first couple days of testing them, they can return it. Otherwise, they have 30 day full refund policy. Hot Topic’s outfit is comprised of band t-shirts, pants, shorts, and plugged earrings. The pants and shorts are made from basic cotton or denim. The band t-shirts are partly made of cotton and polyester. The plug earrings are simply plastic. Their customers don’t co nsider the value or quality of the apparel as much as the color or graphics.This brand mainly factors the customers’ appreciation of music, art, and expression which leads to customer satisfaction. Hot Topic provides excellent customer service before and after a purchase. The majority of society stereotypes those who adorn Hot Topic clothes as lazy, dirty, tough, â€Å"Goth†, and punk; however, the employees are approachable and energetic. After a purchase, a customer can go back to the store or browse their website to learn how to care for their purchase: how to properly wash their denim, iron their cotton t-shirts, or clean their leather purchases. Along with the purchase, customers are given a 30 day period to return their items for a full refund. The PRICE is a second factor that sways customers to purchase an item.The Chanel outfit is costly and sold at market price because it is a luxury clothing line. The only way to know the cost of the clothes is to physically walk into any of the boutiques; the prices aren’t displayed on the boutique website. The majority of each article of clothing from Chanel is at least $1,000 US. This outfit targets the wealthy, so they easily have the sufficient funds to purchase these big-ticket items. Due to the customer’s high income, the price of the apparel isn’t of great concern; they only want onlookers to recognize that their clothes are expensive. The brand is rarely, close to never, discounted because it wants to keep its sense of richness.If Chanel were to have discounts, then people of lower status may purchase the items which will discourage the wealthy who don’t want to be associated with that type of people. Therefore, once the market price is set, it is unchanging once the product item arrives at each boutique. The Nike running outfit’s target audience includes those of middle class, so the price is affordable. Since upper class citizens purchase this product as we ll, the prices vary depending on the quality, color, and design of the fabric. For example, mesh running shorts would be cheaper than dri-fit shorts. New products are set at market price for at least the first six months after its arrival in a Nike store or department store.Discounts and sales are offered for the items when there is few supply of it left or when the seasons are about to change. The pieces of this running apparel are also distributed to retail and department stores. These department stores, such as Sports Authority, Sport Chalet, or Finish Line do provide its customers with discount coupons. For example, if they make a purchase of $100 before tax, they can receive $15 off the final total amount. Nike has multiple product items in its product lines, so there is an easiness to determine the price for each. Between the three outfits, Hot Topic is the least expensive because the clothes target a young demographic population who don’t have as much money to spend.Ev en though the clothes are affordable to begin with, the brand always has multiple discounts in store and online. When a new supply of clothes is distributed to the retail stores, the price of clothes that have been there for a couple of months is lowered. There is no such thing as a particular style for each season. Abundant deals for any type of clothing attract tweens and teens who are spending their free time shopping and loitering at local shopping malls with friends and family. Teens appeal to stores with signs for deals, sales, clearance, and discounts; they want the best deals to save their money and allowance. Hot Topic is flexible in determining the price of the products as it acknowledges its young demographic market.A good PROMOTION strategy is vital to increase sales, attract new customers, and maintain frequent shoppers. This entire Chanel wardrobe is pricey because they are promoted as apparel for the rich and powerful. This designer combination of the dress, jacket, b elt, and boots is first previewed at an elaborate fashion show. Chanel executives choose a particular model or celebrity who can display the elegance, beauty, and style of each apparel. After the initial preview of a fashion show, the clothes will be advertised in popular fashion magazines: Vogue, Elle, In-Style, etc. Each of the advertisements has an elegant theme where the models are showing the extravagance and beauty that each piece of clothing and accessory offers.The advertisement's background is typically a fancy setting which captivates wealthy customers. After the initial unveiling at a fashion show, a celebrity may have the opportunity to purchase the outfit before the product is distributed to the boutiques. From this, a celebrity can where this outfit at a celebrity event: award show, charity event, or red carpet event. At all of these events, there is paparazzi and fashion news coverage who ask what the celebrity is wearing and who designed it. These celebrity events ar e widely broadcasted, so thousands of audiences will see the outfit firsthand. After the fashion show and celebrity advertisements, the outfit is be distributed exclusively to the Chanel boutiques worldwide.Due to the outfit being part of the 2012 Spring/Summer collection line, Chanel will promote the outfit by placing the entire ensemble in the store's display window, so people on a shopping spree can see. Typically, the best and new outfits are displayed at the front of the store and each piece article of clothing is placed next to each other on the racks and shelves. Due to Nike having the greater target audience between the three, it promotes the products at a higher rate. A marketing team would promote the outfit by advertising in various magazines, billboards, TV channels, sports events, radio, and online. The visual advertisements in magazines, billboards, TV, and the internet may portray an average person running in the clothes. An average person is used to model the running outfit because it needs to be relatable to the customer.Popular athletes also endorse the product by wearing them daily or in advertisements because customers want to associate or relate themselves to celebrities: Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, etc. Beyond the pictures and models, the advertisements include a motivating statement that encourages everybody to be active. These clothes are also advertised online and in newspapers; Nike purchases ad space from newspapers and popular websites, such as Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, etc. which the majority of their target audience views. The company also puts their advertising statement describing the running apparel and its benefits on popular radio stations, so people can tune in and listen.However, the main promotion strategy Nike has is at sports events. This outfit is geared towards athletes, so the best promotion strategy is to advertise when sports fans or other athletes are watching. The running clothes’ main targe t audience is athletes, so it locates, displays, and advertises itself closest to where all the other athletes are. There are also sales promotions in newspapers, magazines, and on the radio to attract people who want to purchase the items but can’t afford to unless they were at an affordable deal. Hot Topic focuses on artistic expression and a love of music; therefore, it would advertise the outfit in music magazines.This fashion brand’s main attraction is the band t-shirts which is why they are advertised in music magazines, so a band or singer’s fans can buy their t-shirts. Fans want to support and broadcast their love and appreciation of an artist or music group. Hot Topic’s slogan is â€Å"Everything about the music. † which is why it is also promoted on the radio and popular music websites. In order to attracted customers, it would advertise about upcoming sales promotion. A major promoting strategy key is that the clothes have music endorsem ents or musician and artist sponsors. These musicians and artists sometimes take part in the design and style of the clothes; therefore, their fans would be ncreasingly interested to their products. Wherever the particular clothes are placed in the store, the musician, band, or artist would have their name and photo plastered next to the products to capture fans’ attentions. There are also advertisements at music and art events which is where their primary target audiences spend their social time. The demographic is younger in age, so the brand promotes the clothes with constant sales and deals to attract them. These tweens and teens wouldn’t even be able to afford the cheapest item at Chanel. The PLACE or distribution strategy is vital with making the outfits available when and where customers want them.The Chanel outfit is sold exclusively in their boutiques; it isn’t sold in department stores or online. As of September 2010, there are only 310 locations world wide. These Chanel boutiques are only located in high-end shopping malls where the high end customers shop: South Coast Plaza, Beverly Hills Mall, etc. Aside from shopping malls, these boutiques are placed in high-end fashion districts. A woman who spontaneously decides to go shopping would want to go to Chanel where she feels most comfortable and convenient. These stores wouldn’t be placed in low-income cities, such as the Bronx or Compton. The product is only placed in high income cities where its target audience lives.All of the clothes and its accessories are designed and manufactured in Paris, France where its headquarters is located. Once each piece of clothing is manufactured, it is distributed exclusively to each boutique through air-mail. These items are to be handled with care when it is being distributed because a client would not want to pay a high price for a defective item. The Chanel clothes are never in warehouses or outlets because it destroys the luxury aspe ct of the brand. When each of the products arrives in the boutique, it is first placed in the boutique window where customers can see a look of the entire outfit before they enter the store.The boutique window is the place where customers can have an idea of what they could potentially wear, shop, and purchase. It must be decorated lavishly to attract customers and entice them to walk into the store. Due to the extreme quality and benefit perception of the clothes, the store needs to have an extravagant and contemporary design. The outfit is brand new, so it would be placed near the front of the store in plain sight for the customers to have an easy access. The main factor of Chanel is that it has to be placed in high-income areas where its target audience predominantly lives. Nike’s outfit is more affordable and universal, so it is distributed in more diverse areas than Chanel and Hot Topic.Nike has its individual stores placed worldwide; however, the products can also be fo und in department stores, including Nordstrom, Macys, Finish Line, Sports Chalet, etc. Wherever the items are placed, it would be in the athletic or sporting apparel to be easily located. In the Nike stores, there would be an athletic store theme to attract customers who tend to be athletic and active. These products are placed and distributed to shopping malls where these retail stores are mainly located. When it comes to shopping, people of all incomes would most likely go to the nearest shopping mall which is why the Nike running clothes are dispersed throughout different retail stores.Due to Nike having the perception of quality, stores would place its items within reaching distance on the shelves. Department stores would generally place the Nike products in the middle of the store, so customers can also browse other types of brand items as they try to locate the Nike items. The running items are made in countries outside of the United States, so it would need to be air-mailed a nd trucked to various parts of the world. If customers want a better deal, they could locate any Nike warehouse and purchase the products directly from there, so they don’t have to pay the few extra dollars to cover the trucking and transportation costs.Nike has a few outlets where clothes from different sport seasons are placed to allow customers to purchase the items at a discounted rate. Customers across the globe utilize the Nike running brand, so the clothes and shoes are also sold online through the Nike website or the individual retail stores’ websites. Nike understands that its items are highly universal to all age and ethnic groups; therefore, it considers multiple locations to sell their running apparel. Hot Topic’s target audience is smaller due to their younger age. Most tweens and teens spend their free time at shopping malls where the stores are located. The store has an artistic, dark, music theme which encompasses the types of customers.The pants are hanging on racks near the back of the store because they aren’t as important as the tops and t-shirts. The t-shirts are folded and displayed on the walls of the stores behind glass coverings. A customer can walk up to the side of an entire wall, look at the different graphics and designs, and locate it on the shelves underneath the glass casings. The plug earrings are placed in the middle of the store in a large glass case near the cash register, so employees can keep an eye on the jewelry. The products are manufactured outside of the United States, so it has to be air-mailed and trucked to the different 642 locations only in the United States and Canada.The clothes are mass produced, so the clothes are first sent to warehouses that then send a certain supply amount of the clothes to each of the stores. These products are also sold online at their exclusive website where additional items are found because they aren’t sold in stores. There are also a few outlets be cause the brand needs to be affordable for the younger population. When comparing the place of all three competitors, Nike has the best distribution because it has a more universal audience based on age, geography, ethnicity, and social class. 4. When comparing the competitors’ web sites, Chanel has a well-thought design but is the least user friendly of the three. The site is easy to maneuver through, but it isn’t as simple as Nike or Hot Topic.The website’s design is based on the clothing season and separated by outfits rather than separating each product by â€Å"tops, bottoms, dresses, etc. † as other clothing websites do. It appears as if Chanel is set on which article of clothing matches with each other. For example, a certain dress can only be worn with a particular jacket, belt, or shoes. The website doesn’t appear to allow a customer to mix and match the apparel to their liking. When a user clicks each individual outfit, there is an excell ent screen shot and display of a model walking on the runway. Whichever direction the mouse cursor moves, the web page would follow the motion and give a better view of the entire outfit.For example, after a person clicks on the initial outfit link, a large screen shot would appear that covers the whole page. When they would move the mouse cursor down, they could see the rest of the outfit, such as the shoes. With each outfit, there is a short description of each article of clothing’s fabric and material. The website provides most of the needed information for the outfit, except for the price. They don’t include the price because only the rich and wealthy would shop at Chanel, and they have enough money to not care or consider the price as most other shoppers. Due to Chanel’s target audience as high-end customers who are fashionistas, the website also includes footage of multiple fashion shows where they can view the different apparel and styles.Women who shop a t Chanel tend to care about fashion, so the website is interactive in allowing them to view exclusive fashion shows and see pictures and footage of the workings inside the Chanel studio. There is a â€Å"Chanel News† link that keeps loyal Chanel customers up-to-date on any upcoming events and gives them exclusive behind the scene workings. If a user wanted to stay updated on the clothing line, they can subscribe to the website to be notified of any new products. Aside from the clothes, the website provides a store locator based on the geographic world region. Chanel’s website is unique because it has a different design and theme due to it not providing users the ability to purchase the items online.It gives off the true essence of how important fashion is to some women. When entering the Nike website, the user has to first select a language than the country which applies to them. This shows the universal and global effect of this brand. The site is user friendly as it separates each product into the sport it associates with. Running shoes or apparel would be found in the link for running while basketball shorts would be found under the basketball link. The website is more than just shopping for apparel. There is a link for customers to shop individually, and there are individual site links where people who are interested in different sports can click.For example, if one were to click the running site, there would be a narrow range of products to shop from. Also, there are training tips, events, news, and footage. This website would be the most user friendly in comparison of the three because it considers the different types of users and their individual needs. For example, there is a list of shoe options a customer can choose from. They can choose footwear for their different foot condition and the degree of support they need. Even though it may be difficult for a consumer to determine which product they need from all of the options, it is better to allow the different factors for people who are short or tall, flatfooted, and lightweight or plus sized.A user can easily choose between the links if they were to shop for tops, shoes, gear, fan gear, bottoms, or shirts. Each of the products has descriptions where it discusses the product’s benefits, fit, fabric, design, origins, and directions on after-care. Along with the product’s highlights, the website shares featured technology, such as how Dri-FIT works. There are also size charts to help customers figure out their most suitable measurements. Customers have the capability of posting and reading reviews where consumers rate the product based on its size, fit, comfort, and durability. The videos that the website provides show average people in the Nike products running and exercising in everyday places.Since customers can purchase items online, they have the ability to check their order status and know where it is in the processing procedures. Athletes are und er physical and mental pressure when they are training, so the website provides motivational and encouraging quotes and expressions. At the bottom of the webpage, there is a link to find the nearest store location to the user. There is also an opportunity for people to take pictures and send them to Nike about how they keep active and healthy. Users can also follow Nike through Twitter and YouTube. Hot Topic is also user friendly because it has a younger target audience. The website has more options and functions aside from buying apparel because younger generations are more tech savvy.It is easy for a user to locate their needs because the clothing, accessories, and shoes are split up into categories at the top of the webpage: New Arrivals, Clothing, T-shirts, Denim, Accessories, and Shoes. There is also an option to choose what a user wants to see, such as male, female, or unisex apparel. The products are easily narrowed into subcategories of tops, bottoms, dresses, hoodies, swim, intimates, and kid sizes. The site provides a size chart to allow users to figure out which size is most suitable to their personal measurements. Next to the tabs that depict the clothes, there is a link for deals and clearance items. All the deals that the store is currently offering are largely advertised in red font that jumps from the black background color.The deals are the first to be seen when a user uses the website. If a user wanted a specific band t-shirt, there is a feature at the bottom of the webpage to shop by their favorite artist. Also at the bottom of the webpage, there are clothes being advertised as â€Å"Girls & Guys Most Wanted. † It is a way to further advertise a popular item. Whatever band, artist, or musician is trending at the time, the website shows the pictures and links of top artists, so a user is automatically sent to view products associated with that group or person. When a user chooses a particular item, there is a brief description of the i tem depicting the fabric, graphics, price, and directions on how to care for the product.Beyond the apparel, there are news and videos about certain bands which include music videos or exclusive interviews. The website allows a user to find the nearest store from their location. There is also a â€Å"wish list† feature where a person can put certain items on that list and send them to friends and family who can view it. There are quick links to YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. A person can also have the opportunity to learn about jobs and model opportunities. Hot Topic has links about the store’s purpose and social responsibility. 5. A survey was given to fifteen women of different ages, who have various fashion styles, to get an idea if the three competitors successfully established themselves in the fashion industry.These women are a mix of those who know about the fashion industry, are clueless about fashion, love to be stylish, and don’t care what th ey wear. 1. When purchasing an outfit, which competitor provides the best quality? a. Coco Chanel80% b. Nike, Inc. 13. 33% c. Hot Topic6. 67% 2. Which competitor has the best deals for its brand of clothes? a. Coco Chanel0% b. Nike, Inc. 66. 67% c. Hot Topic33. 33% 3. Who is Hot Topic’s target audience? a. Music lovers13. 33% b. Goths66. 67% c. Artists0% d. Fashionistas0% e. Other20% 4. Which competitor is more universal? a. Coco Chanel0% b. Nike, Inc. 100% c. Hot Topic0% 5. If you were to receive money for a shopping spree, which competitor would you choose to shop at? a. Coco Chanel53. 34% b. Nike, Inc. 33. 33% c. Hot Topic13. 33%Based on the response percentages, it does appear that the competitors position themselves accurately to their main target audience. However, the majority of the poll believed that Chanel provided the best quality of the three. The younger and older demographic seemed to share the same perception of Chanel’s quality which may be a result of its brand image and high prices. The two who chose Nike said it had better quality because it was more suitable to their needs; they both are twenty years old. The only person who chose Hot Topic to have the better quality only shops at that store and is biased because she has a dislike of designer fashion brands. Due to it being a top fashion line, Chanel is successful in setting itself as a quality leader.When it comes to the better deals, nobody chose Chanel as having a good price for its own style of clothing. Even the five older women chose Nike instead because they believed Chanel was pricey. This doesn’t affect Chanel because they aren’t trying to be a price leader which is why their prices are through the roof. Their clients are wealthy who don’t care too much about the costs, so price isn’t one of Chanel’s top priorities; it only sets high prices to keep the concept of riches and luxury. Five women chose Hot Topic as the price leader betwe en the three competitors because they shop at the store on a regular basis. Hot Topic is doing a good job at marketing the products at affordable prices for the younger generations.However, across the spectrum of age and ethnicity, the majority chose Nike as the price leader because it reaches a greater market-place than Hot Topic. Nike targets various types of people, so they are more knowledgeable about the products than those of Hot Topic which targets strictly a younger demographic. Hot Topic’s mission statement is about enabling kids to express themselves musically and artistically. The company expects its target consumers to see them as one who allows people to share their appreciation of music and art. However, less than 15% of the poll shows people believing that the company’s consumers are music lovers. The two who answered that the store is designed for music lovers are knowledgeable about the store and shop there frequently.Aside from music, nobody believed that the brand was geared towards those who loved art. Over 65% of the poll assumes that â€Å"Goths† wear the clothes due to its black, dark, bold styles. People within the age of Hot Topic’s target consumers had a different view of the store than the actual company. Even though these people range in usage rate of Hot Topic’s clothes, they know about the style and products, but they stereotype the typical consumers. The three young girls who chose â€Å"other† shop at this store on a regular basis, but they don’t have any knowledge about what the company is trying to project to its audience. When asked which competitor is the most universal, all fifteen women chose Nike.They understand and agree with Nike’s mission to affect and influence different type of consumers globally. They know that more people of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicity, income, etc. purchase Nike goods rather than the upscale apparel of Chanel and the musical s tyling of Hot Topic. Therefore, Nike is doing an excellent job when they are internationally expanding their 452 worldwide while Chanel is a company with only 310 stores worldwide. Nike’s ability to target a large market-place justifies their goal of increasing the number of stores to 738 between 2010 and 2015. If the fifteen women received free money to go on a shopping spree, they fit directly into each of the competitor’s target audiences.The women who fit into Chanel’s target range of being at least thirty years old or a fashionista chose to have a fun day with Chanel. The other women who chose to purchase from Nike are athletes and don’t favor over-priced brand names, such as Chanel. These women want comfort and don’t consider the â€Å"in-style† fashion culture. Even though they were to obtain free money, they wanted to purchase as much as they can with the great Nike deals. The few who chose to shop at Hot Topic are frequent shoppers. They are not fashionistas or athletes. They are nineteen years old with a love art, music, and free expression. In the end, all three competitors are successful in reaching their main target audiences. 6. CHANEL – SWOT Analysis | STRENGTHS| WEAKNESSES| Reputation * Quality * Brand image * Wealthy target market * High demand & popularity * Fashion industry knowledge * Value added products * International Company * Elegant, sophisticated, luxury Concept * Knowledgeable employees * Exclusively owned designs (Tweed Fabric, embroidery, decorative chain, button)| * Small target market * High Price * Exclusively for women * Recession * Limited Production Designs| OPPORTUNITIES| THREATS| * Expand design production * Increase ad campaigns * Target new audiences: Men| * Counterfeits * Similar design by competitors * Cheaper competitors * Change in fashion trend|Since Chanel was founded in 1909, it has accomplished an exquisite reputation of quality, beauty, and luxury in the fashion i ndustry. The popularity of this brand is the reason why it has been strong for a long time. Even people who don’t shop at Chanel know about the clothing line and believe in its product’s extreme quality. The greatest strength Chanel has is its brand image which entices women to purchase and desire the extravagant products. Women mainly purchase the Chanel items in order to show other women that they are wearing Chanel, which is why the brand mark needs to be visible. As of 2010, Chanel’s net income is â‚ ¬280. 3 million and revenue is â‚ ¬1. 809 billion.The reason for its financial and fashion success is its wealthy target market of high income women and celebrities. Even men who don’t know anything about the fashion industry know that Chanel is popular for women. This brand is one of the top fashion designers, so it has an extended knowledge of the industry: current styles, marketable designs, and clothing production. The brand image, quality, and reputation of Chanel add value to its products for women who are fashionistas and all about brand names because they love the elegant, sophisticated, luxury concept. It is an international company, so it is able to reach its wealthy clients globally.The employees must be knowledgeable about the popular fashions, have an artistic, creative vision, and understand the benefits of each article of clothing. Chanel exclusively owns certain fabrics and designs that competitors do not have: tweed fabric, decorative chain, distinguished button, and detailed embroidery. Even though Chanel has wealthy customers, the fact that their target market is small is a weakness. Statistically, there is less high income than middle income or low income households. Chanel only designs and produces clothes for women, so that narrows its target market further. Other top brand name designers, such as Gucci or Louis Vuitton, advertise to male and female shoppers.Chanel’s small consumer percentage limit s its capabilities of expanding and selling to a larger audience. This company also limits itself when it comes to the production designs. The clothes that it designs are similar to each other. There hasn’t been much room for new styles, fabrics, or designs. With the economy suffering the past several years, the company’s high prices decrease the number of sales. When people are trying to save money, they are more likely to refrain from purchasing fruitless items and luxuries. With Chanel being trendy and influential in the fashion industry, they have opportunities to experiment. The company can attempt at expanding its design production.Instead of strictly designing the typical types of styles, it can add a few different styles, so it can target a larger audience group. In order to expand its company to have a wider range, it could produce apparel for men in addition to the existing men’s fragrance. This way, it attracts a larger scope of wealthy males and fema les. If it were to expand its designs, target audience, and production, the brand would increase its ad campaigns to men magazines, TV shows, and male celebrities. One threat that Chanel and most companies in the fashion industry faces is the possible change in fashion trends. A particular style of clothing or brand may only be popular for a short period of time.Even though Chanel has sustained its popularity for over a century, it needs to keep in mind that fashion is constantly changing. It has to be updated and advertised to a large range of people. If the company doesn’t take the opportunity to expand on its scope of style, other competitors may come out with similar designs. With these similar designs, competitors will offer a lower price than Chanel. Chanel would currently have more consumers, but the high prices hold many people back. With fashion, people always want to have a certain product from a designer, but they may not be able to afford it. Top designer companie s have the threat of counterfeit products. For example, a Chanel handbag costs at least $1,000; however, a person can sell that same fake bag for $10.It is hard for some to tell the difference between a counterfeit and authentic item without proper investigation. 7. Chanel has an excellent customer relationship management style when it comes to dealing with their loyal customers. Once customers make their first purchase, usually with a credit card, their information is captured in their data base, so employees can look back to see what was purchased. This data base allows the company to locate their customers’ locations and highlight any similar products that may interest the customer in the future. This information gathers basic demographic information, frequency of purchase, price of the purchase, and distance from their home to the boutique. On the ompany’s website, fashionistas or loyal customers are able to subscribe to the site in order to be alerted on new fashi on/accessories, fragrance/makeup/skincare, and fine jewelry/watches arrivals. Customers feel they have an insider look and importance. However, there is a legal statement on the webpage for users to understand that the company isn’t liable for any risk that a user may face. Aside from the email list, the top priority customers receive a personal letter or phone call to invite them to the store to preview a new collection. In addition, Chanel’s knowledge management is strong in bringing customers back. Women appreciate the feeling of being important and special which is why interaction between a company representative and the customer is important.Most of the customers are loyal, so this allows a representative to build a relationship with a customer and further understand their needs, wants, and desires. As far as I can tell, I believe that Chanel has a better customer relationship management than Nike and Hot Topic because it has a smaller target audience that they ca n place more emphasis and concentration on. A smaller range of customers allows the employees to interact with customers on a personal level. Chanel, Nike, and Hot Topic address the lifetime value that their customers represent. All three have an after care service where they can either go on the website or return to the store if they have any questions. The three competitors deal with their customers in their own way.Chanel has a personal relationship interaction with its clients; Nike gives customers frequent purchaser awards; Hot Topic has a friendly service where it gives customers the will to return and purchase from the company in the future. 8. When it comes to a community outreach program, Chanel hosts charity events for different causes. They tend to have fashion shows or benefit dinners where celebrities host, attend, or advertise the event to attract people to attend or donate. For example, Chanel had a benefit dinner with Kate Hudson for the Natural Resources Defense Cou ncil’s Ocean Initiative. All the money received from ticket attendance went straight to the charity. Nike addresses the societal marketing concept better than Chanel.The company has charity events, similar to Chanel, where celebrities attend dinners and shows; the profits from the tickets directly fund some charitable cause. Besides the charity events, the company believes in recycling. In 1993, Nike started their â€Å"Reuse-a-Shoe† program in an effort to keep their shoes out of landfills. Over the past nineteen years since this program begun, it was able to recycle over one and a half million pairs of shoes each year. The shoes and clothes that it produces are all recyclable in order to help clean up the environment. Nike also builds basketball courts and outdoor activity areas for schools and the Boys and Girls Club.On Hot Topic’s website, there is a link to help users learn about the company’s social responsibility. They make sure to provide their cu stomers with products produced legally and responsibly. The company has each manufacturer and product provider abide to their strict standards that prohibit forced labor, child labor, harassment, and abuse. Hot Topic ensures that employers provide health, safety, sufficient wages, and benefits to employees. 9. Since the downturn of the economy in 2005, Chanel had some difficulty. People during those times lost their jobs or were fearful of their termination. As a result, many started to save money by cutting out any unnecessary spending of luxurious that included Chanel products.The company’s revenue declined for a few years; however, as the economy is slowly recovering, the revenue is increasing gradually. The main reason for its short decline in profit is its small target audience becoming smaller and prices remained expensive. Nike had its own share of hardship as its steady revenue dropped drastically in the beginning of 2009. Even though Nike’s products are more u niversal and targets a larger audience than Chanel and Hot Topic, it couldn’t escape the fact that people ceased to shop for clothes during the recession. Since that huge drop in 2009, Nike has positively gained much profit. As the years go by, its income statement shows that their income and profits are increasing by several hundred thousands of dollars.For Nike to increase its profits and keep its sustainability, it reduced its expenses thirty to fifty percent. Chanel is growing back to what it originally was before the recession, while Nike has continued to soar since the company was founded in 1964. Hot Topic was founded in 1988 and reached great success starting in 2000. It was doing well until the downturn of the economy. The company’s main consumers are tweens and teens which are the reasons why it has a challenging time gaining back its past success. As the years go by, the income statement shows that the company’s total revenue is decreasing. In January 2011, it peaked at its greatest operating loss; however in January 2012, it decreased that amount but is still operating at a loss.Hot Topic is attempting at earning back its profits by attracting people with constant deals which have been working at a slow pace. 10. Personal or relationship selling affects the final consumer who buys the Chanel outfit. Chanel requires all the different supplies of the final product to comply with certain guidelines and rules. The company verifies its supply chain. It is constantly verifying its supply chains to address risks of any human trafficking and slavery. They research their suppliers because they don't take part in forced labor. Chanel also conducts selected audits of suppliers, including audits about the conditions of work and the use of forced labor.They conduct internal and external audits that may or may not be announced prior to the investigation. Training is also provided for employees with direct responsibility for supply chain mana gement. In the facilitating functions, Chanel researches its channel members through audits and extends credit and other financial services to facilitate the flow of goods through the channel to the final consumer. During the transactional functions, they contact potential customers, promote products, and solicit orders. They also negotiation how many goods or services to buy and sell, so they don't have an oversupply of goods because their target audience is smaller than other clothing boutiques.They also select the type of transportation to use which is presumably air-mail because the outfit is primarily manufactured in France. There are trucking distributions, but the items are carefully packaged to ensure safety. The outfits are delivered prior to the start of the season that it is being sold in, so top priority customers can have the first look. Chanel also assumes risk of owning any inventory because some pieces of the outfit may not be as popular as the other. 11. Chanel†™s best clients are frequent customers. They aren't necessarily categorized as being only high dollar people because all of the shoppers are wealthy. This company is a designer line, so its preferred customers are constantly making purchases.When it comes to the outfit comprised of the boots, dress, jacket, and belt, Chanel could get their frequent customers to order more by sending them letters, emails, notices, or phone calls about a new arrival of clothing or accessories that may be to their liking. Chanel employees would be able to collect customer’s information from their data storage and segment which new products can be associated and sold to a particular shopper. For example, this particular outfit is all white, so an employee can suggest to whoever purchased the clothes to buy a matching handbag, sunglasses, hat, broach, or scarf. These women are top paying fashionistas who trust the knowledge of people working in the fashion industry, so they would be more incline d to purchase items that can be easily incorporated into their outfit.From this, Chanel can suggest outfits to these customers during every different season; they can suggest a new particular jacket, dress, shoes, or accessory. 12. Personally being into fashion, I love the extravagance and beauty that Chanel’s campaigns exude. The photography and its design are exquisite. I don’t have a favorite ad in mind, but I love the ads where the photos are taken in outdoor scenery. The nature setting is captivating because the beauty of nature is combined with the apparel's beauty. I love art, so I favor the black and white ads. Black and white photos seem to have a unique, elegant, and classy feeling because it’s vintage. Chanel also tends to have advertisements where a model would be in a dark room and have the light shine on her while she’s wearing the clothes.The dark room makes the audience automatically draw their eyes to the bright light illuminating from th e Chanel clothes. Overall, I believe that the photography and lighting of the campaigns play a bigger role than the background scenery. The way the light shines on the models make them appear to be a doll and completely flawless. I assume that I love the Chanel advertisement campaigns because I yearn for the company's luxurious clothes along with the beauty and elegance that it provides customers. If I had the money, I know that I would be a loyal, frequent customer. Nike's ad campaigns are realistic, encouraging, and motivational. My favorite Nike advertisements are of photos that capture natural, regular athletes in their movement.I love viewing the different body movements, whether it is of them running, dancing, or stretching. The photos are taken in great detail, so you can see each movement that the athlete makes. The body movements give a sense of abstract artwork which I admire. The appearance of an athlete's easy movements with Nike's inspiring quotes is very motivational. I feel as if Nike does a better job than the three competitors at engaging and relating to their audiences. Sometimes, I appreciate a simple ad that captures a certain moment without any need of being over detailed or having popular celebrities. The Nike ad campaigns tend to have more computer graphics design with colors that are truly captivating.The motivational words make me feel as if it is just simple to get up and do a physical activity, even though it may not be. With TV commercials, the company has a narrator dictate similar encouraging quotes in a voice that is too powerful to ignore. I am impressed with how simple Nike's advertising campaign can be; however, it i