Monthly Archives: February 2018

by | Tuesday, February 27, 2018 · 6:09 am

For Valentine’s Day, a Pizzeria Made of Chocolate

 

In keeping with the season of love and Valentine’s Day, Canadian food company Dr. Oetker opened a pop-up pizzeria in Toronto that was entirely made of chocolate! Yes, you read this correctly; the whole restaurant is made of chocolate. Not only is the pizza made of chocolate, but so is everything else in the restaurant. This includes tables, walls, artwork, light fixtures, flowers, and even the pizza oven is made of chocolate. (Not sure why the oven doesn’t melt.)

If all this still isn’t enough chocolate for you, even a chocolate diamond was created! Heart In Diamond, a man-made diamond company, broke down a Cioccolato chocolate pizza into powder form, then placed it into a high-pressure, high-temperature oven for 120 days and created a half-carat diamond ring.

The unique chocolate dessert pizza has a chocolate crust and is topped with chocolate sauce, dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate shavings, and white chocolate chunks.

Feeling a sugar rush?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What is the craziest thing they have ever seen made of chocolate?
  2. Show the video: https://youtu.be/9AbGf374dt0
  3. Show the pizza on the company Web site: http://www.oetker.ca/ca-en/our-products/ristorante-thin-crust/cioccolato/cioccolato.html
  4. Discuss the importance of clearly defining a target market.
  5. What is the target market for this product?
  6. Divide students into teams and have each team develop a profile of the target market. Include demographics, psychographics, behaviors, values, attitudes, etc.
  7. Based on the target market profile, what makes this product unique for these customers?

Source:  Brandchannel.com (12 Feb., 2018). World’s first chocolate pizzeria is open through Valentine’s Day.

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by | Thursday, February 22, 2018 · 6:03 am

Will You Be My Valentine?

Love is in the air. And, it is also in the aisle (store aisle that is). When true love is on the line, Americans are ready to spend. According to the National Retail Federation, spending on Valentine’s Day this year is projected to be nearly $19.6 billion! That’s an average of $143.56 for each American.

What kind of love tokens will be given? Well, roughly 19% will give (and receive) jewelry for a total of $4.7 billion, and 35% of us will go out for a romantic dinner. Sigh…

Other statistics that show how much we love:

  • 55% give candy to loved ones (especially chocolate)
  • 114 million Valentine’s cards will be given
  • 9 million marriage proposals offered

And it doesn’t stop with our beloved partners. It extends to schools, where we spend an average of $7.26 on children’s classmates and teachers, and on our pets who receive $5.50 worth of goodies. Even our co-workers get in the action with an average of $4.79 spent.

Finally, “gifts of experience” such as concert or event tickets are popular and 24% of people plan to give such a gift. Lest we forget about mobile, more than 50% plan to use their smartphones to help with decisions, and 36.9% will use smartphone to research gift giving.

What did you give and receive?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What did they give, and receive, on Valentine’s Day?
  2. Show a video on spending for Valentine’s Day: http://cnn.it/2Bsoigt
  3. Show NRF graphs on spending: https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/nrf-says-consumers-will-spend-near-record-196-billion-valentines-day
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a unique promotion for a Valentine’s Day experience gift.
  5. Have students vote on the most creative idea.

Source:  National Retail Federation

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by | Tuesday, February 20, 2018 · 6:49 am

Super Bowl 2018 Advertising

With hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, the Super Bowl has become one of the premier venues for marketers. The thrills, the chills, the laughter, the tears – and that’s just the advertisements! At a cost of $5 million for 30 seconds of air time, the Super Bowl is also the most expensive advertising placement of any event or show. Add the costs of designing and producing ads, plus the integration into other marketing tactics, and a company can easily spend upwards of $6 million at a single event.

Love them or hate them, Super Bowl advertisements have become a talking point during and after the game. It’s a big stage, and can also be a big risk. With an audience of 103 million viewers, the 52nd Super Bowl is one of the most watched TV program in U.S. history. And, days later, we are still watching ads, arguing about them, and measuring results.

Watch the ads – which ad is your favorite?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Bring up one of the Web sites that have all the Super Bowl ads: http://admeter.usatoday.com/results/2018
  2. Divide the students into teams.  Have each team select a Super Bowl ad to analyze and present in class.
  3. What is the target market, key message, and offer from the ad?
  4. How does the ad integrate with a company’s other advertisements?
  5. Are the messages integrated with a company’s Web site and social media?
  6. As a class, after each commercial have students assign one to five stars for the advertisements. Which advertisement won the class vote?

Source:  Ad Age Daily, Brandchannel.com, USA Today, other news sources

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