Category Archives: Classroom Activities

by | Tuesday, February 20, 2024 · 7:46 am

Super Bowl LVIII Sets a Viewing Record!

Winter may be cold, but the Super Bowl game always pumps up the heat! The thrills, the chills, the excitement and surprises – and that’s just the advertisements! The Super Bowl has become one of the premier venues for marketers. And, according to Nielsen and CBS, this year’s event broke a viewing audience record at 123.4 million. (The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance certainly helped to increase female and youth viewership.)

At a cost of a $7 million for 30 seconds of air time, the Super Bowl is also the most expensive advertising placement of any event or show. Add to the air time the costs of designing and producing ads, plus the integration into other marketing tactics, and a company can easily spend upwards of $8 million on a single day.

However, the ads aren’t limited to just the Super Bowl viewers; 39 brands released their ads in advance of the game as well. There were also a number of new brands making their Super Bowl debut, including Starry (owned by PepsiCo), Etsy, SNAP, Nerds, Lindt, and more.

Love them or hate them, Super Bowl advertisements have become a talking point before, during, and after the game. More than 50 brands took out ads designed to help them stand out to consumers, many with high-profile athletes and celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Jennifer Aniston, and Michael Cera.

While the metrics for sales linked to Super Bowl ads won’t be available for months, many respondents watching the game stated they would be open to purchasing products by Doritos, M&Ms, and Budweiser. Ads also led to increased global YouTube views with Booking.com, T-Mobile, and Beyonce’ (of course) generating the most engagement and social mentions.

Commercials were all over the place with top ads as ranked by viewers going to State Farm, Dunkin’, Kia, Uber Eats, Dove, and NFL. And for animal lovers, the Budweiser Clydesdale horses made an appearance and were in fine form.

Which ad is your favorite this year?  

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show one of the Web sites that have all the Super Bowl ads: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/2024/02/12/best-super-bowl-2024-commercials-ad-meter-rankings/72538932007/
  2. Divide 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 promotions?
  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.
  7. Which advertisement won the class vote?

Source:  Koblin, J. (12 February 2024). Super Bowl viewership rose to 123.4 million, a record high. New York Times; Nerkar, S. (6 February 2024). $7 million for 30 seconds? To advertisers, the Super Bowl is worth it. New York Times; Schultz, E. J. (12 February 2024). Super Bowl alert: Big game ad winners and losers. Ad Age Daily; other news sources.

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by | Saturday, February 17, 2024 · 11:40 am

Vending Machines Evolve

Distribution, food, global marketing, innovation, market segmentation, merchandising, packaging, retail, shopping, supply chain

Vending machines are everywhere – and we do mean everywhere, and selling virtually everything possible. There are in stores, hallways, dorms, offices, laundry mats, gas stations, train stations, airports, and more. And now we don’t even need coins or cash to make a purchase – we can use phones and credit cards.

One might think that not everything can come from a vending machine, but they neglect to factor in how creative people can be, as well as products consumers want as convenience items. In Las Vegas, one can buy comfortable shoes from a vending machine. In California, hospital workers can get lab coats and masks (free). In Tennessee schools provide access to basic hygiene products (also free) to students. And that is just scratching the surface; there are vending machines that dispense pizza, eggs, fresh food, ramen, underwear, and even gold.

Recently The Donut Trap, a bakery business in Minneapolis, spent months with vending machine manufacturers to come up with a vending machine that keeps homemade donuts fresh, and serves them without smearing or smushing the donut frosting.

Vending machines can also serve the public good. For example, many cities are now deploying Narcan vending machines to help keep people from dying due to drug overdose. Free of charge, the Narcan kits provide doses of Narcan (naloxone) in risky areas.

According to the National Automatic Merchandising Association, the vending machine industry accounts for $34.9 billion in sales. And it’s growing in size, shape, and purpose. Called Micro Markets, vending provides retail areas where consumers can pick up products, review nutrition information, and more as they shop open coolers, use self-checkout and cashless payment.

But perhaps no geography has as many vending machines as Japan, with an estimated total of 5 million machines nationwide (out of 17 million machines worldwide). They carry something for everyone – from bananas to flying fish soup!

Now that’s convenience!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Poll students: Where are vending machines? What do they buy form vending machines? Why buy from vending machines?
  2. Show video about wild vending machines (this is long, so make sure to preview it and select the video section to show in class): https://youtu.be/4CTZXG6_Qqs?si=mkE70k8HASU1rJin
  3. Show the National Automatic Merchandising Associate (NAMA) site: https://namanow.org/
  4. Show video about Narcan vending machines: https://youtu.be/LVTVzS4t6S8?si=GY1VKbrSB-vlS9Qh
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a concept for a vending machine.
  6. Develop a marketing plan for the new vending machine. What will it stock? Where will it be placed? How will it be promoted?

Source:  Gibbs, K. (31 January 2024). Hygiene vending machines offer a fresh start for students in Rutherford County schools. News Channel 5  Nashville; Kovanis, G. (19 January 2024). 100 Narcan vending machines coming to Wayne County. Detroit Free Press; Williams, N. (22 December 2023). Vending evolution. Minneapolis Star Tribune; other news sources.

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by | Wednesday, January 31, 2024 · 8:01 am

Not An Average Cup of Coffee

If you love coffee, this article is for you. Heck, even if you don’t love coffee, this information may interest you.

How much did you pay for your last cup of coffee? How much are you willing to pay for a good cup of coffee? A great cup of coffee? An extraordinary cup of coffee? How much would you pay for coffee with beans that were fermented in elephant poop?

Yes, you read that correctly. And the coffee from elephant poop is roughly $150 for two-servings of the brew, or $1,500 for a pound of beans. That is, if you can find the coffee as it has a very limited supply; production is only about 500 pounds per year.

How does one get such coffee? It starts with captive Asian elephants that consume a mix of coffee and fruit. Their stomachs ferment the mixture, which eliminates its bitterness. 

This isn’t the only type of coffee made from animal poop. There is also bird-poop coffee as well as monkey-chewed coffee beans. Plus, a ‘naturally refined’ coffee from the poop of a type of cat called civets. (It’s important to note that some of these coffees are produced from animals that are not well cared-for in captivity.)

Here is a list of a few of the most expensive coffees in the world:

  1. Black Ivory – $1,500 per pound (fermented by elephants)
  2. Ospina Gran Café – $1,400 per pound
  3. Kopi Luwak – $600 per pound (fermented by civets)
  4. El Injerto Peaberry – $500 per pound
  5. Esmeralda Geisha – $350 per pound

Shall we go get a cup of Joe?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Poll students: How much do they usually pay for a cup of coffee? Now, how much would they pay for great coffee, and for unique coffee?
  2. This is a great topic for pricing. Discuss the six steps for pricing (determining objectives, estimating demand, determining cost/profit relationships, select price level, set list price, and make adjustments).
  3. Discuss the various pricing models in class: demand-oriented, cost-oriented, profit-oriented, and competition-oriented.
  4. For these products, divide students into groups and have each group work on any/all of the six steps.
  5. Show the Black Ivory coffee site: https://blackivorycoffee.com/
  6. Ospina Gran Café: https://www.ospinacoffee.com/products/index.html
  7. Kopi Luwak: https://www.kayakopi.com/
  8. Divide students into teams.
  9. Have each team select a unique coffee and define the target market.
  10. Teams should prepare a marketing plan for product and market.
  11. What will they emphasize?

Source:  Bradley, M. (6 November 2023). Not your average cup of Joe: The 11 most expensive coffees. Luxe.digital; Maron, D. (12 December 2023). $1,500 for ‘naturally refined’ coffee? Here’s what that phrase really means. National Geographic.

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