Toyota Uses Unique Marketing Strategy For Scion

"Pssst ... have you heard about Scion?" That's the buzz Toyota hopes is spreading about its upcoming line of Scion cars geared toward Generation Y. The brand was unveiled at the 2002 New York auto show and will slowly get up to speed over the course of about a year. Why so slow? Toyota needs to let potential buyers find the brand, rather than shove it in their face with TV, radio and print ads.

The 8- to 25-year-old age group--collectively known as Gen Y--has long been a marketing and advertising target. But these kids are a fickle bunch. They don't want to be marketed to. Toyota, hoping to piggyback off the recent music-driven, youth advertising triumphs from Volkswagen and Mitsubishi, wants a crack at this hard-to-crack market.

Breaking All The Rules So it has ditched traditional marketing methods, such as surveys and focus groups, and instead has hit clubs and other places that attract young people. Toyota has held parties, featuring musicians and fashion folks, and has been stationed at art galleries, independent film openings and "rave" parties in California. At each venue, Scion representatives are throwing around the word "Scion," trying to build a slow but steady rapport with the kids.

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http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/1270196.html?page=1

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Netflix vs. Blockbuster

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Netflix came up with a brilliantly simple concept when it launched its service in 1999: rent DVDs by mail for a flat monthly fee. You choose the movies you want on the Netflix Web site, receive from one to eight discs at a time (depending on the pricing plan you've chosen), and--using a prepaid envelope--return them in the mail whenever you're finished viewing. The set monthly billing rate means that the decades-old bane of the video store--late fees--is a thing of the past. In fact, not only has Netflix's pricing strategy prompted brick-and-mortar rival Blockbuster to adopt a "no late fees" strategy at its retail stores, the old-line video rental giant has chosen to fight Netflix as well, offering a very similar online rental service starting in August 2004 that's since been enhanced by limited integration with its brick-and-mortar video stores. With retailing superpower Wal-Mart already having pulled out and Amazon opting for digital delivery with its Unbox service, here's how the two main players in the online DVD rental market stack up against one another.

Nike likely to cut 2009 marketing budget

CHICAGO, Feb 11 - Nike Inc will likely "just do it," cutting its marketing budget this year as part of its push to reduce expenses.

The world's largest athletic shoe and clothing maker said late on Tuesday it would cut up to 1,400 jobs, or 4 percent of its workforce, as part of a review aimed at bringing products to market faster.

Nike's reining in ad spending, sports sponsorships and endorsement deals was not only likely, but could be done without hurting its dominant position, analysts said.

"They have such penetration in their marketing budget that they can use attrition to cut off contracts," Robert Boland, professor of sports management at New York University, said of Nike's various sports contracts.

"You'll definitely see a different allocation and you'll definitely see some reduction," he added. "When you're the biggest, you have the power to do that."

Companies such as General Motors Corp and FedEx Corp have cut marketing budgets, including sports-related spending, in response to the recession.

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http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/apparel/100050342-1-nike-likely-cut-2009-marketing.html

Nike's 4Ps

Nike is a global sports shoe giant company. It is the largest seller of athletic footwear in the world, holding the lion share of 33% of the global market. The company has production facilities in Asia, sales facilities in almost 200 countries, and customer service and other operational units worldwide.

The marketing mix or the 4 Ps of Marketing are Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion. Nike's 4Ps are the following

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http://corporate-marketing-branding.suite101.com/article.cfm/audit_on_nikes_marketing_strategies

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AMD launches Fusion strategy

Those of you who’ve been eagerly following AMD’s processor announcements over the last few months will know that AMD is working on a new product codenamed Fusion, which can feature an integrated GPU inside the CPU package. It’s a project for which the Fusion name makes perfect sense, but AMD has now launched a new Fusion marketing campaign in which the word ‘Fusion’ encompasses pretty much everything that AMD does.

AMD’s chief marketing officer, Nigel Dessau, explained the move, saying that AMD was the first company to develop dual-core x86 processors, native quad-core CPUs and 64-bit x86 CPUs. ‘What we’ve been known for is doing the next thing first,’ explained Dessau, but AMD didn’t know the best way of getting this across to the market.

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http://www.bit-tech.net/custompc/news/604872/amd-launches-fusion-strategy.html

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Verizon is Empathizing its Coverage Through TV Ads

As we all have probably seen on TV, Verizon's new commercials where a single person is followed by Verizon employees wherever they go, tries to empathize Verizon's great national coverage. Verizon is spending a large amount of money on these TV ads, but people still complain about their pricing strategy.

US Lacrosse and Clif Bar Reach Marketing Partnership

US Lacrosse announced today that it has agreed to a joint marketing agreement with Clif Bar & Co., one of the leading manufacturers of energy foods in the country. The partnership was established by 361° Sports + Event Marketing, New York.

The agreement creates a youth fundraising program featuring CLIF ZBaR, the first kids' snack created to comply with SB-19, California's Senate Bill limiting fat and sugar in foods offered within the state's school system. The program will allow US Lacrosse league administrators to order and sell ZBaRs at a discount, retaining 50 percent of the profits to fund league activities. Click here for program details.

“We are thrilled to work with Clif Bar,” said Glen Schorr, US Lacrosse managing director of marketing and branding. “They make quality products that fuel athletes, and are working with us to establish programs that will benefit our members.”

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http://www.uslacrosse.org/news/2007/clibar.phtml

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