Monthly Archives: March 2017

Love is in the Air – and so are Tacos!

Taco Bell has been expanding its offerings the past few years as it competes with other fast food outfits. But still, how can a fast food outlet truly differentiate from the competition? What could a company do that would be first-to-market? Hmmm….

Taco Bell has an idea on an offer that is really unique – weddings! That’s right, weddings!

Beginning this summer, Taco Bell will hold weddings at its new Las Vegas Cantina restaurant. For only $600, couples can get a wedding ceremony held inside the restaurant, including an ordained minister, with as little as four hours advance notice. And that’s not all! There is also a private area in the restaurant for a reception with up to 15 of your closest family and friends. And, if you forgot to buy a gift, there is a selection of custom merchandise including sauce packet garters, bow ties, champagne flutes, and a Taco 12-pack along with Cinnabon Delights cake for dessert. Forgot the bouquet? No worries. A sauce packet bouquet is also available for brides.

Located on the Las Vegas strip, the new restaurant features two-stories, modern design and art work, VIP lounge, DJ booth, open-kitchen viewing, and serves beer and Twisted Freezes 24-hours.

Ready to tie the knot?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Where was the last wedding they attended?
  2. Show the Taco Bell site: https://www.tacobell.com/loveandtacos
  3. Poll students again: Who would consider getting married there? Why or why not?
  4. Discuss the various promotional tactics that can be used for launching a product.
  5. Have students come up with tactics and list all the tactics on the white board (ex: billboards, print, direct mail, etc.).
  6. Divide students into groups to work on this exercise.
  7. For Taco Bell weddings, have each team select three different tactics. For each tactic, explain why it was selected and how it will be used.

Source: Time magazine, Mashable, other news sources  

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Wedding Registry Idea – Pizza!

Wedding registries are used around the nation to help guest select gifts for the bride and groom. Usually, wedding registry items tend to be about the new household – appliances, china, dishes, towels, bedding, luggage, household items, and more. Predictable, and perhaps a tad boring for brides and grooms who might want a more unique type of gift. After all, why be limited by the types of things your parents would have placed on their (old-fashioned) wedding registry? Think more modern.

For the new millennial couples, the wedding registry can now include their preferences for pizza. Domino’s now offers a unique Wedding Registry Web site. Some of the savory, and cheesy, options for the bride and groom include:

  • The 2 a.m. Bachelor Party Feast – $60
  • Cater the Bachelorette Party – $60
  • The Wedding Night – $25
  • Thank You Card-a-thon – $30
  • Low-Key Date Night – $30
  • Post-Honeymoon Adjustment to Real Life – $25

Couples can register online, and gifts can be ordered with a personalized message for the happy couple.

Think outside of the box instead. Or should we say, inside the box – as long as the box contains a pizza!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students about the weddings they have been to, and the gifts they gave.
  2. Show brief video on Fortune’s Web site: http://fortune.com/2017/02/08/dominos-pizza-wedding-registry/
  3. Show the Domino’s Wedding Registry site: https://dominosweddingregistry.com/
  4. Poll students again: Who would buy this, or want to receive it?
  5. Discuss the importance of clearly defining a target market.
  6. Divide students into teams and have each team develop a profile of a target market f. Include demographics, psychographics, behaviors, values, attitudes, etc.
  7. Based on the target market profile, what makes this product unique for these customers?

Source: Fortune magazine, other news sources

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Register Robot System in Japan

Do you ever get tired of waiting in line to check out of a grocery store? In the future, the check-out process will be streamlined, using more robotic registers. Recently, Panasonic teamed with Lawson food stores in Japan for a trial run of its new robotic check-out system. The “Reji-Robo” robotic check-out uses RFID tags to scan the items in a shopper’s basket, and then even bags the groceries automatically. (RFID tags are thin, small electronics components that wirelessly communicate within a short distance.)

Panasonic’s robotic check-out is somewhat similar to Amazon Go’s concept store in Seattle. However, with Reji-Robo, customers get a sensor-equipped basket when they walk into the stores, then choose items and place them into the smart basket. In a step beyond Amazon Go, the Panasonic basket once placed in to the robotic check-out system, automatically computes the transaction, the bottom of the basket opens, and the items are automatically lowered into plastic bags for the shopper.

The RFID system also holds promise to speed up the supply chain, increase accuracy, improve productivity, and improve inventory control and tracking.

What’s in your basket?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss some of the more frustrating and costly parts of retail and shopping.
  2. Show the Panasonic video: https://youtu.be/Hpp-3Ver7ig
  3. If students are not familiar with Amazon Go, view the video and concept at: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=16008589011#
  4. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  5. Which strategy is Panasonic using for this product? Why?
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain why that strategy could be used to market robotic check-out systems.

Source: Brandchannel.com

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