Final Marketing Plan: Creative Content

I have prepared and photographed my Cuban Stuffed Nachos. I used a Canon DSLR with a telephoto lens. I lit the shot using limo studio white lights. Preparation and plating took about 3 hours, but I am happy with the product. This creative content was able to identify with my interests in photography and culinary.

Week 10 EOC: Road Map to Success

Week 10 EOC: Road Map to Success

                Working on any project can be very time consuming and can take a toll of you physically and mentally, especially when you are dealing with a large workload. Just imagining all the work you have to do can turn you off to the idea of getting started. I know that for my marketing class I have a ton of assignments and a major project to get finished by next week. When I have a ton of work to do I like to break things down and kind of make a list of what I need to do and start with the easiest thing. I mean a start is a start and when you can get at least something completed it makes any more progress easier to move on to. Basically, here is a list of the top ten things I have to have complete and ready by next week for my final class. I have arranged the tasks from hardest to easiest, in my opinion.

1. Final marketing plan

2. Creative content

3. Phileas Fog adventure story

4. Swot analysis

5. Business mission statement

6. Quotes

7. Read textbook chapters

8. Missing EOC’s

9. Proper blog set up

10. Proper Twitter set up

                In order to achieve these goals I have already began brainstorming and drafting many segments of my final marketing plan and compiling a resource of quotes to choose from to support my research and plan. I have bought the ingredients to prepare the food and own all the equipment needed to complete my creative content photograph as well as record a radio commercial. My Phileas Fog story is in the works right now. I am caught up on most of my EOC’s and only have 2 chapters left of the book to read. My blog is set up almost perfect and I have all of the tweets that I need for the class but just need to have my profile set up properly. In all honesty I was kind of worried about how I was going to handle my work this week and the beginning of my post, but now, I feel pretty confident about how I am going to complete everything.

Week 9 EOC: My Creative Content

Week 9 EOC: My Creative Content

                Nothing draws people to good food like good looking food. Everybody can understand that a first impression, or first “image” is everything. This concept becomes extremely relevant when discussing restaurant and food type products. Most businesses try to provide enough customer satisfaction so after you come through the door needing something, you keep coming back. When it comes to food, a picture can be the way of getting a customer to show up that first time. A good representation of your product can take you a long way. For example, take the fast food giant McDonalds. Advertisement after advertisement McDonalds manages to release outstanding visual representations of their food and we all know that McDonalds does NOT taste or look how it does in the commercial, but we keep going back.

                For this project I will be preparing a serving of my Cuban Stuffed Nachos and trying to accomplish a professional, quality looking picture of my food. I will be using my home oven and ingredients to prepare my dish as best I can. For the photograph itself I will be using a Canon Sl1 DSLR camera with a wide angle and/or telephoto lens. (depending on which I prefer) The image will be lit in front of a green or white screen using Limo studio lighting equipment, or if quality can be improved, the food will be photographed in one of the light boxes at school. I will use Photoshop to edit and help correct and bring my final photograph to the quality I am seeking.

                For this project I am also considering, but not completely committed to creating a radio commercial for Phileas Fog’s Cuban Stuffed Nachos. The commercial will run either 15 seconds or 30 seconds long. I will record voice of the commercial using an akg 420 multi pattern condenser microphone. The signal will be processed by a Scarlett 2i2 audio interface into the software, Pro Tools, where the commercial will be edited to perfection. I will compose/perform a live Spanish classical guitar piece as background music for the commercial as well to make it complete. Again, the radio commercial may not be definite. I may provide solely the picture if the commercial can’t be created, provide the commercial if the picture can’t be created, or provide both. I’d just like to make sure I have some viable options for my creative content.

Implementation, Evaluation, & Control

Final Market Plan: Implementation, Evaluation, and Control

So this is where it really matters. Implementation, evaluation, and control, or basically, how would this work out in the real world and how we would be motivated to achieve our goals and success. In order to reach our high standards of success Phileas Fogg will implement extremely tight supply channels and customer relationships in order to provide the highest profit, steadiest product/workflow, and dependable service model. We will have meetings with our intermediaries very often and will cut those not pulling their wait or working up to Phileas Fogg's standards. We will not have some half-ran saloon disrespected and putting a damper on our designer brand. Phileas Fogg will stay up to date on social media and advertisements that identify with our target demographic. Basically "instead of throwing more one-way commercial messages at ad-weary consumers," (Pg. 142) we're going to try to reach out to people and be more involved with their daily lives and conversation.

I had my Cuban Stuffed Nachos prepared and I had a few of my friends who work at a bar, and even the bar manager, try my food. They all enjoyed it and said it tasted very good, it had a nice savory flavor that a lot of bar foods and snacks are loved for. I agreed that it would be nice alongside a drink because the heavy salt content would encourage a customer to buy more drinks.  They even asked if I would mind if they decided to put it on their menu. I took this as a sign of a good idea actually working out.

Price

Final Marketing Plan: Price

             “Price is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service.” (Pg 275). Cuban Stuffed Nachos are planned to be sold at a set price of $6.99 for a regular bag of containing around 35 stuffed nachos, or a serving for about 3 people, to the restaurants we supply. We suggest that restaurants serve that same portion as a share-able appetizer. We also suggest the idea that they could be sold as an add on to a meal or drink as a side. Maybe to be included in a platter with other foods because they aren’t messy. Also because they come in decent sized pieces, restaurants may be able to sell them in the same fashion some places sell wings; a different price for a different set amount of pieces. Bulk orders of bags of nachos will be offered at discounted prices relating to the amount of the order. 

Promotion

Final Marketing Plan: Promotion

            How are we going to get people to want the product? What steps can we take to ensure that people will be seeking out the stuffed nachos. “Consumers usually face a broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need. How do they choose among these many market offerings?” (pg 7). It is important as well that we acknowledge that there is competition in the bar snack food market. Phileas Fogg boasts the position of having access to the highest quality ingredients from around the world to be offered at your local bar for cheap price. These dishes have been simplified and refined into a designer cuisine suitable for luxurious events and locations. Cuban Stuffed Nachos will be promoted as a great, easy to share bar snack or appetizer with a little exotic flavor to help enhance the experience and conversation. 

"Retailers are always searching for new marketing strategies to attract and hold customers.” Pg 352). Phileas Fogg will always be deeply involved with their customers and their opinions and interests in the product in order to always adapt and reflect a steady position in marketing trends. 

Distribution

Final Marketing Plan: Distribution

            Many companies struggle if they do not have a proper plan in place to distribute their products and goods. You need to know how you are going to get the food from where it is produced to the restaurants you supply and then to their customers without any lost quality or product. You can’t just trust anyone to sell your product though. “Between intensive and exclusive distribution lies selective distribution—the use of more than one, but fewer than all, of the intermediaries who are willing to carry a company’s products.” (Pg 324). By utilizing selective distribution Phileas Fogg will be able to work closely and form strong relationships with the companies that sell our product in order to ensure the highest possible customer satisfaction. If a company isn’t handling our product well enough we will be able to cut them off before we come to a loss. It will be important that “when selecting intermediaries, the company should determine what characteristics distinguish the better ones.” (Pg 325). Our company will only provide our products where the resellers work as hard as we do to ensure the highest quality and customer satisfaction through the practice of selective distribution.

Product

Final Marketing Plan: Product

            The most important and constantly perfected part of any corporation that offers services or goods is obviously the product or good itself. What is a product? What is Phileas Fogg’s product? “We define a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.” (Pg 208). The product must be able to retain a value as well as provide an experience that will help a customer return.

            Cuban Stuffed Nachos will be a perfect restaurant/bar snack or appetizer. They are easy to share and will not leave a mess behind or make your hands dirty. The product will basically be composed of a small bite sized chip filled with all the elements of a nacho platter. Cheese, spices and other delicious ingredients. Portion size and price can be decided by the restaurant themselves when offered to customers. 

Target Market Strategy

Final Marketing Plan: Target Market Strategy

            This part of a marketing plan can be the most challenging for many companies. “Most companies have moved away from mass marketing and toward target marketing—identifying market segments, selecting one or more of them, and developing products and marketing programs tailored to each.” (Pg 174). Who exactly are we selling are product to, and how are we going to make them want it? Selecting the proper demographic can mean everything to your product, I mean imagine if they opened up a water park in Siberia. Demographics are labeled as “the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation, and other statistics.” (Pg  71) I aim to identify with a younger demographic of people. I would wish to launch Cuban Stuffed Nachos as a bar/ club food that friends would be able to share and enjoy together. The nachos could be plated a nice way and served with a side of sauce allowing for optimal look, refinery, and sharing capability.

            “Consumers make many buying decisions every day, and the buying decision is the focal point of the marketer’s effort.” (Pg 137). In order to target this type of demographic Cuban Stuffed Nachos will be advertised in a bar/restaurant type setting with kids around the age of 21 enjoying the food and a nice night out. Before serving, the nachos will be stored in a container with an illustration of the origin of the food as well as a story of Phileas Fogg’s adventure in Cuba, so an enticing advert of a Cuban paradise. “People vary in their emphasis on serving themselves versus serving others. Some people seek personal pleasure, wanting fun, change, and escape” (Pg 89). This kind of advertisement will identify with the younger demographics’ want to travel and want to see the world combined with the idea that eating this food will make them feel as if they were living a Cuban paradise.

            My hope is that men will be willing to buy this food as a simple appetizer to share with friends or for a small snack at the bar or club to share with a woman. Nothing goes better with an alcoholic drink than heavy amounts of salt encouraging more thirst and the likely fact that a customer will spend more time and money at your place of business. 

SWOT Analysis

Final Marketing Plan: SWOT Analysis

            When creating a product or service there are several aspects of your product which need the utmost attention. Companies need to take time in deciding what their strengths are in order to take advantage of the opportunities that may come their way. A business has to analyze the weaknesses as well as the threats that may face them as well. The weakest links need to be identified and fixed, and the threats need to be targeted and shut down. If a company can identify a possible threat, then there is more chance any issue can be avoided and then the company can focus more attention on their strengths and being successful. A strength Phileas Fogg has is knowing that “cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence on consumer behavior”. (Pg 137).

            Cuban Stuffed Nachos and Phileas Fogg’s strengths include offering a valuable experience, brand reputation, media reputation, high brand loyalty, distribution, cleanliness, designer gourmet food quality, culturally friendly, resources and resource areas, and the fact that consumers are drawn towards savory snacks and love to indulge in the delicious broad range of flavors that are loved and easily achievable.

            Phileas Fogg knows that “the marketer’s job does not end when the product is bought.” (Pg 153) We will always follow up on our products and with our suppliers to ensure that customers and everyone involved in the chain of making the food to delivering it is happy.

            Cuban Stuffed Nachos and Phileas Fogg’s weaknesses include an over-reliance on marketing innovations, low variety of dessert like snacks, slightly more expensive than other snacks, and low variety of healthy options.

Cuban Stuffed Nachos and Phileas Fogg’s opportunities include the exposure and demand for exotic experiences and cuisines, an innovation of a snack, chance to expand selectively into other channels, and forming long lasting relationships with supply chains.

Cuban Stuffed Nachos and Phileas Fogg’s threats include that there are already many competitors in the market, an increasing focus on health, competitor’s prices, brands may introduce new variants of my snack, and world events causing issues getting authentic ingredients.

Objectives

Final Marketing Plan: Objectives

            It is important that a company lay out its goals/objectives and their motivation to accomplish them. In doing so it is important that they understand what their strengths are in order to “find ways in which the company can best use its strengths to take advantage of attractive opportunities in the environment” (pg 43). The main goal of Phileas Fogg is to instill an experience resembling the authenticity and culture from somewhere around the world through a designer snack. With Cuban Stuffed Nachos Phileas Fogg aims to invest in a strong customer experience and bring together people at restaurants and bars with a dining experience they could share together without any feelings of bad manners or remorse. Phileas Fogg also strives to provide the best service and highest quality, fresh, and authentic ingredients in their designer meals. We will create customer value through strong relationships with our channels as well as with our customers. A well-known marketing quote goes “It’s how we gain a renewed relationship with consumers who have less inclination to listen to [companies with whom] they do not have strong and valued relationships.” (Pg 4). Phileas Fogg will always pursue our long lasting customer relationships and valued experience of our snacks. 

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

Final Marketing Plan: Pitch

Businesses have to get that in 2016 you can’t just have a product and sell it. “Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale— ‘telling and selling’—but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs.” (Pg. 5). Your product has to offer value, or an experience worth something to somebody. Cuban Stuffed Nachos create an enjoyable exotic ambience that bring together friends and lovers. These delicious, deep friend crisps combine an authentic Cuban recipe with a favorite American style of gourmet cooking. Best washed down with a beer with your buddies or shared with a drink at a bar with a significant other.

            Cuban Stuffed Nachos look and taste exactly as it sounds. This designer snack would be made by taking cheese and other Cuban ingredients and sealing them into small chip sized bites with a batter mixed with spicy crushed chips and then deep frying them. They would be served in a decent sized bowl (size most likely decided by restaurant) with a side of sauce to be dipped into. They would work great as an appetizer or work well with other foods in a sampler dish because they are easy to share. For bars and clubs, the stuffed nachos could be offered as a small snack to share for customers. The benefit of having stuffed nachos is that people would be able to eat nachos in public without the hassle of creating a mess on their plate, their hands, and possibly themselves. This way of serving nachos would be a way of refining and rebranding a classic meal into something of a higher quality and taste. A way to turn a common meal shared on the couch into a gourmet dish to be served at restaurants and bars. 

Business Mission Statement

Final Marketing Plan: Business Mission Statement

            If we were to break marketing down to the basics you’d see that the basic reason for purchasing a product or service is based off a need of some kind. Companies and their products used to have to only to satisfy a markets needs and wants, but now the world expects a higher value for their dollar. People are driven by a “more for less” kind of attitude. “Today, as products and services become more commoditized, many companies are moving to a new level in creating value for their customers.” (Pg 209). Marketers have to be able to understand people and interpret subtle messages from the public.  “To create value for customers and to build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want” (Pg 101).

 Businesses of all kinds have to find a way to represent what their mission or objective is as a company. What need are they trying to satisfy or what purpose are they serve shows what the company to working towards in their future. It is important for a mission statement to show a passion and understanding for the market and product, as well as identify with a customer’s wants and needs. Many mission statements identify with creating a satisfactory experience for the customers and the company’s willingness to do so. “Taking good care of customers starts with a deep-down, customer-focused culture.” (Pg, 4) Now a day customers want to always get the best value for their money and value can come in many ways. As customer service, an amazing product, a great price, and many more. Company decisions regarding several different important issues can affect the way the public views the business and their moral values. A mission statement should never be in conflict with a company’s future decisions or plans. “Marketers should carefully consider public policy issues and regulations regarding acquiring or dropping products, patent protection, product quality and safety, and product warranties.” (Pg 264). A well-crafted mission statement can prove a company’s objectives and passion to accomplish them while inciting the customer’s interest.

To put it simply, “an organization exists to accomplish something, and this purpose should be clearly stated.” (Pg 39) I have created a business statement that I believe reflects the goals and ethical strategy of Phileas Fogg and identifies with the necessity of creating a customer focused mission.

“The customer can rely on us to competently simplify unique cuisine as well as endeavor to interactively create an excellent customer service driven environment.”

Week 6 EOC: Me Times Three

The other day I was in my marketing class at the Art Institute and we were discussing what items seem to have unique value to a person. We were talking about what items or things really seem to make a person who they are, for example owning a custom built Xbox 1 is something that really makes a gamer a gamer. They would not be the person they are or try to be without their things, without their Xbox. I brought up this conversation to my family and it led to some really serious discussions about self discovery and material possessions. I came to the conclusion that it is not objects that make us who we are, even if we need these things to do our jobs, but I decided to take a step back and consider, what are the three things in my life that make me who I am?
So the three things I figured played the most important role in my life and really represented who I am were my guitar, my computer, and my camera. Is it kind of sad that two of them are pieces of technology? I decided that my guitar was very representative of myself because I am a musician. I have played music since I was very little and actually majored in classical guitar in high school. Music has been a huge love of mine and part of  my life that I don't believe I could ever let go. I want to work in the music industry when I'm older as well, which brings me to my next item in my list, my computer. If I'm not making music on an instrument, I'm probably doing it using a computer. Being an audio/video guy, I spend A LOT of time on my computer mixing and processing mine and other peoples music, as well as editing videos and other things. My computer is where I do most of my work and where I keep all my projects. My computer pretty much has anything and everything of value to me on it. Last of all my camera. I love my camera. It's just a simple Canon dslr, but I bring it everywhere. I am always trying to capture memories and document my life and other work. Me and my significant other like to make vlog posts as well so we are constantly attached to the device. The camera also contributes to my computer usage because I love to photo shop my pictures and edit my videos myself.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting  

Now a days with all of our technology and inter connectivity it isn't necessary for someone to go into a place of work to apply for a job, have an interview, and be hired all on location. This is 2016, so its about time to say good bye to in person job recruitment and hello to the new world of job boards. How exciting. The largest website for finding professional workers and free lancers for employment is LinkedIn, but there are many other job board sites and social media websites competing for this market of job hunting. One of them being the social media giant, Facebook. Job recruiters from tons of companies have taken to the walls and the groups of Facebook looking for potential employees. Waste Management Inc. is a company doing a large employee search of 1500 recruits, "In addition to posting jobs and videos of current employees on its Facebook page, the company has recruiters and other employees find user groups and join discussions." ( file:///C:/Users/student/Downloads/Job%20Recruiters%20Turn%20to%20Facebook%20to%20Find%20Candidates%20-%20WSJ.pdf ) 

Not only are companies looking into social media websites like Twitter and Instagram for employees, but they are looking for consumers and customers that are willing to to be brand ambassadors for their company. Companies are trying to find customers that will advertise, share, and represent their product throughout social media in order to boost their branding and social media marketing. Recruiters will work very carefully to select the proper people to endorse their brands, "Marketers select their brand ambassadors very carefully, based on customers’ devotion to a brand and the size of their social circles." ( https://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/#/books/9780558851903/cfi/6/8!/4/2/10/18/10/6/28/2@0:100 ) They ensure that the brand will be recognized and that the ROI in marketing will be worth it.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

EOC: Making Money for Good

America is famous for its huge companies that chase after your money, pay their employees too little, and have that one CEO who is making 4 billion dollars a day. So many companies profit so much and take so much from society but do not have anything to offer, or at least do not choose to offer back. So which companies are the ones that give back? Which corporations are the type to donate to charity and medical research?  Internationally known bank Wells Fargo has been known to always treat their clients well and apparently give much more as well. In 2013 Wells Fargo donated 275.4 million dollars towards affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and education initiatives. One of Wells Fargo's strongest positions is for the betterment of education. A large percent of their donations go towards educational institutions. "Wells Fargo matches dollar-for-dollar employees donations towards accredited public or private educational institutions."( https://doublethedonation.com/blog/2014/08/top-10-companies-that-donated-to-charity/ ) Coca-Cola also realized the importance of giving back to the community. Being an internationally selling product the company decided to give back locally to many countries and territories. "In 2015, The

Coca-Cola Foundation gave back more than $84.5 million to directly benefit nearly 300 organizations across more than 70 countries." ( http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/the-coca-cola-foundation/) For being the largest retailer in most countries WalMart tops the list of the most charitable corporation. Walmart donated $311,607,280 to various causes. The company has taken a strong stance against hunger. I guess that kind of makes sense of why they can get away with selling ramen for 15 cents a package. Walmart offers extremely affordable prices and other ways customers can go about receiving their product through various means.  "The company reached the halfway mark on a five-year, $2-billion commitment to combat hunger in the United States" ( https://philanthropy.com/article/10-Companies-That-Gave-the/150507 )

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

All I have to say is wow, just wow. It gets harder and harder to believe what kind of things servers can get away with now a days. Just the other day I was at this pizza place, I'll spare the restaurants name, and I have never been more surprised. So I walk into this place alone, it is pretty nice, it has a bar and a couple seats where you can gamble and I see a few open tables so I ask the hostess if I could take a seat. She tells me to just wait one moment. I see this girl walk over to one of the servers to tell her that she was about to get sat and that she would have to help me. They talked for a moment and then the hostess came back up to me and told me it was going to be about a 10 minute wait because there were reservations made by another party. (No large parties showed while I was there)

It was obvious that the server told the hostess to make me wait, even though they had open tables, so I waited. 

Finally I am sat and the waitress comes and takes my drink order. About 15 minutes goes by and I see my waitress pass by me about 4-5 times until I have to wave her down to ask where my drink was. She apologized and about 5 minutes later the hostess from earlier brought me my drink and took my order for my food. I ordered a buffalo pizza and some of their famous fries my friends had told me about. About 25 minutes goes by and I am not seen by anyone, my drink has been empty for about 15 minutes and I am starving. 

One interesting fact to take in about this place is the kitchen. You can see the kitchen and the small heated table where the food comes out. I watched the servers take the food from the heated table and bring it to their tables. You could see what was being made and when it came out so naturally I was watching the table waiting for my pizza to be ready. After about 30 minutes it came out on the table. And it sat... And it sat... And it sat for another 10 minutes. I watched my waitress walk by my pizza FOUR times and not even glance at the table. Nope she wasn't running her food, but I did see her talking to some guys at the bar. 

I got up, walked over to the table that had the food on it and grabbed my pizza and my fries and brought it back to my table to eat it since no server was going to bring it for me. The food was good. Sadly a little cold, but overall the food was pretty good. The waitress did not see me for the rest of the night. The hostess handled my bill and brought me my to go boxes. I left her a tip, but all I left my waitress was a messy table to clean up.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

My Voice

    What is sound? Is it what comes out of your headphones? Is it big? Is it small? Sound is what makes you come alive at your favorite concert. Sound is what makes your foot start tapping

when the radio comes on. Sound is energy. It is a vibration whose waveform can be manipulated to deliver many results. You can tell someone you love them with a melody or text in secret with the mosquito tone. Sound can tell a story or express a moral. Sound can heal the sick and balance the human body. It is a challenge for many for master the manipulation of sound and a long journey. Join me on mine as I explore the vast world of audio engineering and sound production.  

    I have been working in the realm of audio for the better second half of my life and have found a love and joy for sound that outweighs any feeling I’ve ever had. It is hard to say that it is even work, I love every aspect of it. From spending hours on end just coiling up some xlr’s or patch cables to recording my buddies live drum concert. I have worked with multiple artists and have been a field recordist and mixer for a film production company based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. I consider every project as a new challenge and step in my journey. I gather experience and knowledge from every session and will continue to add gains to my repertoire of knowledge till the day I go deaf.

Week 4 EOC: A New App

Week 4 EOC: A New App

Say hello to the new way of “blocking” on social media. Last week you and you’re boyfriend broke up, and it didn’t end well or maybe you and your best friend made the decision to part ways on not the most positive terms. You don’t want to see them again because you know the kind of effect it will have on you and your well-being. It’s common for people to have a really hard time moving on from someone, especially with social media making them so easy to see and find. You can’t get on your phone or your favorite websites without stumbling upon some bad memories, but what if you could? What if we had an app on our phone that could lead us away from the bad memories and terrible pictures you took together. An app that can prevent stalkers or other internet menaces or “trollers”. A possible way to just get yourself as far away as you can from those annoying, repetitive accounts you see posting the same bulls*** on twitter every single day. I’m talking about an app that will help you steer clear from what you don’t want to see, and help keep those that you don’t want from seeing you. This app could be programmed into several different devices, and work along with many other apps. I think a good name for the app would be “Cutem’off”. After the app is downloaded to your phone it will link itself to all of your social media profiles, then from some interface within the app you can share the name of the person you don’t want to see and choose between whether they can see you, you can see them, or both. After your selection is chosen the app will search back as far in time as it can though your profile and remove all and any trace of existence of that person in the past and prevent all future posts. Say good bye to “blocking” and simply just cut them off.

Week 2 EOC: Gaming and the BCG

What average lazy American doesn’t love to come home after a long day, plop themselves on the couch, pick up their controller, load up Call of Duty, microwave some pizza rolls, and vegetate until it’s time for bed? I mean nothing is better than action packed entertainment then being the one in control of the action. In the 2016 world of interactive technology, streaming, and digital downloads gaming companies were thought be able to stay afloat the deepening sea of the recession. Now the big question, and what everybody ACTUALLY cares about, where do I invest? What is going to make me the most money? First let’s break it down.

Investing is hard, and if you’re like most people you have no idea what to do when you see a list of numbers and percentages. The Boston Consulting Group has kept use of the same growth-share matrix to establish quality classifications of a company’s strategic business units, or SBUs. They differentiate between four main categories. The first being Star which is a SBU with high growth, high share, and need large investments to support their rapid growth. The second is a Cash Cow. This type of SBU have a low growth, high share, and usually need less investment. The third category and type of company you’re less likely to invest in would be a Dog. SBUs that are Dogs are low growth and low share. They usually generate enough business to maintain themselves, but do not really profit or grow. The fourth and final category is question mark which are companies that could really go either way. These are usually new companies that have seen good and bad results and have to ability to either take off, or not. So what gaming company is the smartest to put your money into? First we should probably classify them based on their BCG category.

Let’s take a look at all of the gaming consoles and companies around the market right now. Some popular types include Xbox, Playstation, Wii, Steam Machine, virtual reality systems, and mobile games. They all offer tons of different games and genres of games to occupy your time with.

                First let’s find our star. In the past couple years we have seen the use and application of mobile devices skyrocket in all types of industries. Mobile apps and games are easy to download, affordable, and can be accessed almost anywhere at any time. I like to say we are living in the ADHD generation. Everyone has such a short attention span now a days that people don’t want to spend more than a couple minutes playing a game. They want something they can do while they wait in line for a couple minutes instead of having to glue their eyes to a television screen for hours on end playing the same game. People have given their time and money to apps and mobile games. According to “Flurry” a mobile analytics company “mobile app usage continued to see significant growth over the past year, with overall app usage up by 76% in 2014.” (http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/06/app-usage-grew-76-in-2014-with-shopping-apps-leading-the-way/) Usage of apps are growing very rapidly, and as user/device interactivity grows the need for fast, compact, mobile technology will as well.

                Now for our cash cow. For a very long time gaming consoles have been the standard medium for playing interactive video games. The basic idea is you get your box that you can put a disk into, a controller that handles the movement and navigation of the game and system, and a tv to project the image of the game onto. The neat thing about console games is that compatible games will always work. For instance, all Xbox 360 video games use an Xbox as their medium for playing and will work as long as the disk isn’t damaged, while with computers some game work on different operating systems or have several requirements that people cannot always meet technologically. Gaming systems like the Xbox 1 have online marketplaces where people can interact and “There are now 48 million active Xbox Live users, a 30 percent increase from the same period a year ago.”(http://www.ibtimes.com/microsoft-msft-q2-2016-earnings-xbox-live-shows-strong-holiday-growth-2284983) This online experience provides tons of room and possibility for growth with console games. Companies are now offering digital downloads of games which lets people not have to keep track of disks or deal with damaged disks, and there are new games constantly coming out which usually leads to an increase in the market of buying the gaming console that can support those new games.

                There are a lot of ideas in the gaming industry that could go either way in terms of success, but one competitor catching a lot of attention right now is virtual reality gaming systems. This is our Question Mark. There have been good results and bad results from virtual reality games. One problem many are coming to terms with in this kind of technology is that it is tough on our mental. A lot of people claim to experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, and other motion sickness related side effects when playing virtual reality games. On the other hand this kind of gaming is the most immersive way of playing yet and when it comes to serious gamers, interactivity is everything. With virtual reality you can be an actual part of the action without really being there. Many people are attracted to this idea, but virtual reality may be suited to an audience of serious gamers and while it is nice to have available, the market may just be too small to really take over.

                So lastly, let’s get to the Dog. So what is the last thing is the gaming community that you want to put your money into? Surprisingly the console I would have to put in this category would be the Steam Machine. Made by a company called Steam that provides a medium for downloading, streaming, and playing computer games. Computer games as a whole are losing their place in the gaming industry. Making a game that matches all the tech requirements and can be used on all operating systems is nearly impossible. With this obstacle in mind it is very hard for a computer game company to create a product that is usable by their audience. They will lose money and sales simply because people cannot use the game. I would think that streaming games would be a venture that our generation would pick up on very quickly, but the results from the Steam Machine prove differently. “By trying to appeal to everyone, the Steam Machine is instead failing to build an audience and is beginning to show the symptoms of a flop.” (http://gamingillustrated.com/why-steam-machines-will-fail/)