EOC Week 8: Creative Concept

Radio is still a good medium to get information across most people spend a lot of time in their cars commuting and just cruising around.  You have 30 seconds to get your point across and get people to get interested in your product which can definitely be a challenge.  So my creative concept for promoting my bar is going to be a radio commercial that I will write and produce myself.  I have all the tools necessary and the talent needed to put it all together.  The plan would be to broadcast it on the stations that my ideal cliental would be listening too.  I would also find a way to get onto Pandora and other internet stations because people listen to them more than actual radio I feel like.  Some people have Pandora constantly going on in their house, and nobody buys the actual version with no commercials so everyone has to listen to them.  What I would also like to do is actually put up the different recipes for the beer that we will brew in the brewery.  I have been making beer for the past 5 years and have created my own recipes but would also look up some different ones too.  This is to make sure that we have a wide variety to attract all different kinds of beer lovers to the brewery.  I believe that with this commercial done with quality and advertising our beers will strongly encourage people to visit and keep visiting the restaurant.  

Implement Evaluation Control

In conclusion, this place is open to people of all ages, and back rounds.  People will know what to expect from the second they walk in the door to the moment they leave.  They will want to come back again and again just to have that amazing experience again.  Our beer will be of the best quality and have the best quality control in the city.  It well be held to the highest standard and the same will be said for our food.  Which is made using the ingredients of the beer to give it a special flavor and taste.  I have learned a lot about what it takes to out together a marketing plan, and I am excited to put this plan into action to develop what I believe is exactly what this city needs.  I haven’t seen anything else like this in the entire city and I am excited to offer it to the people of Henderson. 

Price

Prices, prices, prices, isn’t this the most important thing in business right now?  With our economy the way it is right now everybody is looking for the best deal and the biggest bargain.  People are looking for that happy hour or two for one deal at any bar or restaurant.  Applebee’s and their two for 20 menu seems to be leading the way in this regard.  I’m not saying that our beer is going to be cheap, after doing the research on prices for ingredients on all the different recipes I’ve determined that every beer needs to be at least four dollars to make come out even.  Of course we don’t want to come out even we want to make money, so obviously we are going to have to charge more.  We will have two different sizes of mugs, 16 oz and 22 oz, which is typical for most restaurants.  The 16 will cost five dollars and the 22 seven, and after researching prices in other bars I have found that this is definitely a reasonable price especially for home made beer. To deliver on its value proposition, the firm must first create a need-satisfying market offering (product). It must decide how much it will charge for the offering (price) and how it will make the offering available to target consumers (place). Finally, it must communicate with target customers about the offering and persuade them of its merits (promotion). (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,13).  Competition will always seem to drive down the amount that you can charge for you product though. In these days of intense price competition, service marketers often complain about the difficulty of differentiating their services from those of competitors. To the extent that customers view the services of different providers as similar, they care less about the provider than the price. (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,226).  We can very well charge a few dollars more than any other place unless our product is vastly superior to what they have to offer.

Distribution

Giving a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute the company’s products in their territories. (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,G10).  This is what the book defines as Exclusive distribution.  I can’t imagine that’s a good idea for business to just be exclusive to certain companies but I can see how that could make the certain company a lot of money.  I can’t say our restaurant has something that is need to distribute outside of the restaurant.  I would say that everything is in house; unless the product becomes so successful that we could expand to bottling and selling the beer to grocery stores. Stocking the product in as many outlets as possible, (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,G10).  This is called Intensive distribution which sounds like a good idea because why wouldn’t you want your product to be in as many places as possible so people can get it wherever they are.  Finding the distributing means is probably the hardest part.  Finding vendors who can help you are few and far between, Working at a restaurant right now I do know of a few vendors but all they do is supply restaurant so I will have to deal with them to get what I need for our restaurant but hopefully if it becomes successful enough they can help with distributing our product to other stores/restaurants too.

Promotion

Promotion is a little difficult in this town, because you  have to contend with the places on the strip.  Radio seems to still be the best way to get to people these days.  However a lot of people don’t listen to the radio so we have to find other ways to get our products name out there. “Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,54). “It must communicate with target customers about the offering and persuade them of its merits (promotion).” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,13).  This is what they book says about promotion, it needs to be blended with all the other techniques to have a successful marketing plan.  Promotion could be the most important step though because how else are people going to know about your product?  Word of mouth however may just be the most important way of promoting our restaurant.  People who have been are going to tell their friends about the experience that that had at our place, people are going to trust what they say more that they are going to trust some television or radio commercial.  It does cost a lot of money to do this kind of promotion however, The most logical budget-setting method is the objective-and-task method, whereby the company sets its promotion budget based on what it wants to accomplish with promotion. This budgeting method entails (1) defining specific promotion objectives, (2) determining the tasks needed to achieve these objectives, and (3) estimating the costs of performing these tasks. The sum of these costs is the proposed promotion budget. (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,389).  Most companies when trying to save money their promotion is the first thing to get removed from the budget when it could actually become the thing that saves them if they can learn to do it correctly.  Hopefully we have done it correctly.

Product

My product is pretty easy to figure out just from the name of the restaurant, it’s called House of Brews so obviously we make and sell beer.  However the product itself is a whole lot more than that. “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. Products include more than just tangible objects, such as cars, computers, or cell phones. Broadly defined, “products” also include services, events, persons, places, organizations, ideas, or mixes of these. Thus, an Apple iPhone, a Toyota Camry, and a Caffé Mocha at Starbucks are products. But so are a trip to Las Vegas, Fidelity online investment services, and advice from your family doctor.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,209).  This is the books definition of a product so it really can be anything.  Our product is more than just beer.  I want the brewers themselves to be the bartenders because who knows more about the beer we make than the people who made it. “Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.” (Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,209).  I actually do believe that the restaurant itself more so than the products offered are our product,  People can go and get a beer anywhere and yes if our beer is good people will come back because it’s the only place that they can get it.  However if the atmosphere is not to their liking then no matter how good the beer is they won’t come back for it.  People will come back because our product is superior to anyplace else in Henderson.  We also will have the most knowledgeable and friendly staff around.

Target Market Strategy

Target market

    A set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve.(pG10)Target market strategy, the question should be what is our target market?  I would say it is a wide variety of people from all different age groups.  The drinking law is set at age 21 but since we are a restaurant too our market is people of all ages.  Typical advertising strategies will be used to gain a typical restaurant following.  Everything from local television to local radio commercials will be used, also targeting the channels and times when most people are listening or watching.  So that would be from 7 am to 9 am while they are commuting to work.  From 4pm to 6 pm when they are commuting home.  Also from 7pm to 10 pm on the local channels that are watched the most and have the most popular shows on them.  The point here is to get people to know the name House of Brews, the name is  funny and clever and not easy to forget.  They will hear enough about it to make them curious about what the place is like.  Once they come in for dinner hopefully they atmosphere and the prices will make them want to come back again.  We aren't planning any specials like "happy hour" to lure people in.  We are just hoping the normal prices are resonable enough that they won't mind paying it.  People know that local brews are going to cost a little bit more than your average Budweiser, but people are coming for something different than that so are expecting it.  They know it's a higher quality beer and they know it will cost them a bit more than just a lame beer at a bar.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is what every business needs to do while it is developing its business plan.  The book defines it as,” The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis, by which it evaluates the company’s overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives.(Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, 55) Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance(.Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler, 55)”  So here we will determine all of those things for my bar called “House of Brews”.

S:  Strengths are beer making knowledge, also people skills and training my employees with this knowledge.  Also my resources with knowledgeable professional beer makers that I have contacts with; finally my own knowledge having bartended for 4 years in my younger days.  There’s the fact that people are going to drink beer and alcohol no matter what it costs some people are addicts.

W:  Weakesses include myself being too nice and doing whatever it takes to get people to come in, even I that means lowering prices or happy hour prices.  Also I have never run a business before just worked for one so I have no idea everything that goes along with that.

O:  Oppourtunities included being that we are in an alcohol friendly city, people who live here hate going to the strip so if they can find that sort of atmosphere elsewhere in the city they will come back over and over again. 

T:  The biggest threat being the strip itself.  I cannot compete with the amount of money and resources that the hotels on the strip have.  Also there are many other brew houses in the area that already have established clients so how will I pull them away from those places and into mine.

Objectives

The objectives are similar to what any person that opens a bar would be.  No it's not just to sell beer and alcohol, it's similar to the business mission statement that was previously stated in other blogs.  We want more than just to sell beer, we want to establish ourselves as the premier pub and restaurant in the greater Henderson area.  "Strategic planning sets the stage for the rest of the planning in the firm. Companies usually prepare annual plans, long-range plans, and strategic plans. The annual and long-range plans deal with the company’s current businesses and how to keep them going. In contrast, the strategic plan involves adapting the firm to take advantage of opportunities in its constantly changing environment."(Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,39)  Planning is one part of the objectives and only through planning can you hope to achieve your objectives.
Objectives can probably change from time to time.  Like right now the objective is just to get this project off the ground and get the money and support to get the place going.  After that the objective will be to start the production precess, including building the building and brewing the beer and developing the menu and food items needed to order and a food supplier too.  Once all that is achieved then we can finally start the advertising process leading up to the opening and developing a customer following.

Business Mission Statement

The book defines a mission statement as follows,” A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purpose—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. A clear mission statement acts as an “invisible hand” that guides people in the organization.”(Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,page 39)  It honestly says nothing about money at all.  What it does is tell people what your goal as a business is.  We all know the ultimate goal is to make money so you don’t even have to say that.  It’s easy to say hey we sell beer and good food at a reasonable price.  Yeah people get that; the mission statement should be about how you are different from the rest of your competition.  “Mission statements should be market oriented and defined in terms of satisfying basic customer needs. Products and technologies eventually become outdated, but basic market needs may last forever.”(Marketing An Introduction, Armstrong/Kotler,page 40)

The Mission Statement for my business: a bar/restaurant called "House of Brews" is as follows.  To provide quality service and product to the patrons of the restaurant, using creative and advanced ideas about brewing beer.

BOC Week 8: Progress on my final project

I’m excited about my bar idea, honestly if I did it for real I think it could be a really good idea.  I found a place to build it in too.  People love beer and a lot of people like new ideas and original beers that they have never seen or tasted before.  I talked to a few culinary people to see if they had any ideas that could involve beer in the recipes.  They like the idea of it and got to work looking for recipes for me, I’m excited for what they could make for it.  If I did the idea for real I may hire these people to design the menu for me.  If you go to these type of places here in the city they always seem to be busy but of course it’s a certain kind of person that goes into it.  I would say it’s more of a younger crowd willing to try new things.  Sometimes some of the older people are kind of set in their ways and aren’t really willing to try new things.  So I’d definitely try to market my product to the younger crowd maybe around the university and malls.  Places where the younger crowd would visit and see the advertisements.  I have gone around and polled people that I know as well as various clients that come into the restaurant I currently work in and 80% of the people polled said they would at least give it a shot and go eat one time, mostly just to try the different beers.

Week 7 EOC: Bar Pitch

So I’ve just been given every man’s dream scenario, the ok to create and market his own bar!  Oh man so many ideas going through my head right now.  What can I do?  What kind of bar should it be?  What kind of drinks do I serve?  Should I have gambling?  I mean this is of course Las Vegas.  So when it came time to decide what it should be I thought about what I’m good at and what makes me happy.  Beer of course, beer is one of my favorite things in the world.  Not only do I love to consume it but I can also make it as well.  So why not put my talents to good use and create a brewery that not only makes beer and serves it there but also uses the beer in the recipes for the restaurant.  Obviously I would have to create at least a half dozen beers to serve, good thing I have my own recipes that I’ve created and written down.  Also with the help of my Brother who makes beer with me and my father we can come up with a whole bunch of different flavors to serve.  Let’s face it different people like different kinds of beer so we are going to have to develop everything from a light lager to a heavy stout.  From a lightweight cider to a heavy hoppy IPA with 9% alcohol content!  I myself have been searching around the city to find a good area to start this brewery, and I’ve found a few looking online for already established buildings for sale with liquor licenses.  Fortunately I have found a few places but one in particular is 5000 square foot recently remodeled area in 2011 that has a big bar and is big enough I can cut it in half to make half of it the brewing area.

EOC Week 6: Me X 3

The first thing that defines me would definitely have to be my guitar.  It's a John Mayer signature series Fender Strata-caster  the one you think of when you think of fender guitars.  It's easy to explain why because music is my life and this guitar is my weapon of choice to make the music that I love.  I love the Strats because they are light weight and I love the twangy kind of sound that you get out of this particular guitar.  Also anyone who knows me knows John Mayer is pretty much my Idol, heck people here at school gave me the nickname John Mayer.  It's my favorite possession and one that I use more than any other thing that I own.


The next is definitely my car, it's a Blue Subaru WRX.  Since they first came out in 2002 I have wanted one, and i finally got one two years ago.  I call her Smurffette because she is blue.  One of the reasons I got it is because of the color, blue is my favorite color especially that shade of blue because it's a bit darker pretty much the color of the Smurfs.  It kinda of symbolizes me as a young man, it's definitely a young man's car but a young man who has been successful so far in life and I would say I have been because I have made enough money to afford it.  It also is fast without being really a sports car, it's turbo charged and a stick shift which makes it feel super race car like and I love it so much.


The last is actually the shirt I am currently wearing.  It's a Nike pro kind of warm up shirt but with the logo of my favorite football team, The Denver Broncos.  I mean two minutes into interaction with me and you will find out that I am a huge Broncos fan, not only that just sports in general I love.  I wear this shirt every Sunday during football season, not so much for good luck because they have had good and horrible seasons whether or not I wear the jersey but just as a symbol.  You see it and immediately you know oh he's a Broncos fan.  I will sport it whether or not they win or not either, I'm not ashamed in the least and I'm not a band wagoner at all, I have loved them since I was 5 years old.  Seen them win two Super-bowls and also go 4 - 12 and have the second overall pick in the draft.  This shirt is just me explained perfectly, it's sporty and informative at the same time without being too flashy.

Week 5 EOC: Superbowl Commercial

So far and away the best commercial of the super bowl was the GoDaddy.com commercial with the nerdy dude making out with the hott girl.  It was also the most controversial because the kiss lasted for so long and the sound was really intense, once again proving that sound is the most important thing in the a production like that and I’m in the right business. "Go Daddy always stood for sexy. We said, you need to stand for more, you need to stand for smart," this is a quote from the commercial’s director who they hired specifically for the commercial. (http://www.buzzfeed.com/tessastuart/go-daddys-superbowl-kiss-creator-defends-the-cont)  To be honest I think its genius while others thought that it was disgusting, but you remember it don’t you?   “On Tuesday, GoDaddy revealed that the Monday following the Super Bowl was the biggest sales day in the history of the company. “(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/05/go-daddy-super-bowl-nerd-kiss-ad-biggest-sales-day-ever_n_2623541.html)  So there you go advertising does work and when you do it right it works well.  I don’t understand why people hated on it so much, you know what superbowl commercials are, you know that they are supposed to be funny.  What happened to our sense of humor as people?  Oh she’s hot and he’s kinda a nerd it could never happen in real life.  That’s why it was so hilarious!!  Somehow according to popwatch.com 77% of people voting said that it was the worst commercial.  Now I’m thinking that’s a good and a bad thing.  The most important thing is to be memorable and honestly it’s the only commercial that I remember and I wasn’t even drinking during the game.  They are always know for making commercials like this, honestly I think some of the other ones are even worse.  The ones with Danica and Jillian in the shower or naked or being drawn on?  Why didn’t those create more of a negative buzz than this one, just because they’re making out?  Come on people grow up and get a fricken sense of humor!!!!

EOC Week 4

If I was to create an app, oh man I hate to say it but their aren't too many new good original ideas out there.  It would have to be an app that searched songwriters up no matter what song you wanted to check.  I would have a data base that not only showed the performer but also the person or people who wrote the song itself.  I know a lot of famous performers don't write their own songs, it's usually a group of people working together, especially nowadays.  I like to take pride in the fact I perform every instrument in everyone of my songs and have had no help from anyone else at all.  Songwriters I feel do not get enough credit for the beautiful things they create and too much credit goes to the person singing or playing it.  One day I do hope to be a professional songwriter, because I do feel like that's the hardest thing in the world to do and I'd like to think that I'm pretty damn good at it.  If you to my sound cloud: https://soundcloud.com/peter-sullivan-5 you can see all the stuff I've come up with, yeah you don't have to tell me it's good I already know.  So in searching I can't seem to find another app like this, there are ones that tell you about the performer but not all the song credits.  So maybe if I had the resources to develop it I would love too although I don't know how I could make any money off of it because I wouldn't want to charge people to download it.