Week 4 EOC: Marketing at work

The consumer relationship between the product and themselves is a tricky one. The fact that you could have the best product in the world and it's proven to work more efficiently than anything on the market and is half the price, does not mean that it will attract the attention of your targeted buyers. The main element in building the desired relationship is marketing and advertising. Without the correct type of marketing strategy and an ineffective advertising campaign, no matter how superior your product is, it will fall on deaf ears.
Building this strategy and recognizing the correct path to take in order to reach your buyers is an entirely different circumstance. According to a CSXT purchasing executive, the company “evaluates many cost factors before awarding … a locomotive contract. This shows the process of how a product is processed before being used or "sent out" for business.
Environmental impact, fuel consumption, reliability, serviceability [are] all key elements in this decision.” But also important is “the value of our ongoing partnership with GE.” Again this shows that a lot of thought is put into a product and its evaluation before actually being produced or put on the shelf for a customer to ponder.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

Video game sales are down due to the nations recession. people are not buying new video games as much anymore because industry leaders are promoting updates and add-ons that help to enrich older games to keep them up with the times.


"Sales of new videogames, consoles and accessories in U.S. retail stores fell 20% to $515.6 million, down from $647.2 million the same time a year ago, according to survey data from NPD Group."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-videogame-industry-sales-fall-by-one-fifth-2012-09-06

"Sales of Internet-delivered content, micro-transactions and mobile applications amounted to $391 million in sales, while rentals and used-game sales rang in at $104 million."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-videogame-industry-sales-fall-by-one-fifth-2012-09-06

These statistics are a clear indicator that more people are purchasing in-game content or add-ons from sources like "Xbox Live" or "Playstation Network" rather than buying a new game to add to their arsenal. Why buy the new Assassin's Creed when you haven't finished downloading and playing the rest of the old one? In this aspect, gamers can actually wait to buy the "new" games for several months, this means that the $59.99 price tag has, in most cases, dropped significantly and is now a more affordable game. Meanwhile, $20-30 can get you more content for a two year old game than the one that just came out and is twice the price.


Last week, Amazon blamed weak quarterly results from its media business on a decline in videogame sales. "You're seeing an industry slowdown in games and consoles," said Amazon finance chief Tom Szutak in a conference call
This directly supports the fact that consumers are not willing to put out the money to buy a new console when they can stay home and save money by playing the same games they've had or update one of them to make it more interesting. I think a lot of the "plunge" has come from the uprise of apps and smartphone games and media. These apps are now making entertainment and games available on the go without spending a fortune to buy an entirely new platform just to enjoy the experience of a new game environment.

Week 1 EOC: Customer Service

So I was interested in buying a new computer as I needed something powerful enough to run the programs I needed to use for school. I got onto one of my favorite websites for audio related equipment www.sweetwater.com. After searching for about 5 seconds, I found the sweetwater creation stations. I looked through the four models and decided on the one that I was interested in, the Creation Station 1500. It was unclear from the description if the processing power and hardware were going to be enough to run my programs to my satisfaction. I don't normally try to talk to salesmen as I am not interested in being hit up to buy extra things that I don't need for prices that I don't want to pay. This time however, I took a chance and emailed the regional representative, Allen. The only reason I decided to talk to one of the representatives was because everybody I know who has used sweetwater swears by them and refuses to use anybody else for their audio/video needs. Within about 30 min, I received a response from the rep containing a precise answer to my question as well as a question of his own. Surprisingly his question was not something like "have you considered this item instead?" or "how about this to go along with it?". He asked me what my current machine was so he could assist me with whether I even need to spend the money on a new computer or not. I was pleasantly surprised that I was not being asked to fulfill a quota or rack up commission. I replied back with a rather complicated answer and another question. I soon recieved a phone call from a number I didn't recognize so I ignored it and waited to see if they left a message. I checked the message later and it was Allen. He said that because of the complexity of my last email, he felt more comfortable talking to me over the phone so that I wouldn't be confused by his answer. Again, I was both surprised and very appreciative. At this point, I didn't need anymore information about sweetwater to know that I would never use anybody else. I returned Allen's phone call and we talked for about two hours. First about my inquiry about the computer, then about how I'm an audio student and the techniques and equipment I'm familiar with and his opinions and experience with them. Then a little about his family and what it's like to work at sweetwater, and my family life and my future career.
   After all said and done, I ended up buying a different computer from sweetwater, for less money and more power for what I needed because Allen asked me the right questions and helped me to find the correct equipment for my purpose. I have now talked with Allen several times about other items I've purchased from sweetwater. He asked me, jokingly at one point "are you making you're own studio now Kyle? I see you've purchased all these items and I was wondering if I could rent some time from you?"
  Sweetwater is based out of Indiana. It is far away and I've never been to their location, however, I refuse to buy anything from anybody else. I will often make trips to Guitar Center and Sam Ash to see the items I want in person before I buy them, but I always get on sweetwater when I'm ready to buy. Their customer service is fantastic. Their webiste is very well made and easy to use. Their prices are great, and most of all, their in-house warranties and return policies are worth every penny. I can't see myself using anybody but Sweetwater for the rest of my life.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

My name is Kyle Fite, as you can see from my blog name. I am currently an Audio/Video student at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. I will be graduating in March of 2013 and pursuing a career in the US Navy. I am working on my degree out of passion for a hobby that I started with when I was in middle school.
   Starting in sixth grade I became a saxophone player. Throughout middle school and high school I went from playing one instrument (Alto Saxophone) to playing twelve instruments and winning multiple awards both at the state and national level. My passion for music and for sound as a whole is one that accompanies me through every moment of every day. I find rhythm and music in everything around me, and am fascinated with how the sound is made or produced and actively try to dissect how it was created. My original goal was to enter the military by way of the US Naval Academy. Plans went awry and that didn't work out. After searching for a path to take I came up with the Art Institute due to my love of music and the sounds of the earth. I quickly became familiar with the hardware and software associated with my field and also with the industries many sub fields and those industries around me. I am now a very proficient audio, video, and visual FX creator and editor. I have done several pieces which showcase my various skill sets.
  Within audio I am very familiar with post production sound. Things like sound design, foley, mixing/mastering in post, video capturing/editing, cinematography, lighting, set design as well as authoring and branding. With visual FX I have found another passion. I am efficient with After Effects, Encore, Premier, Illustrator, Photoshop, Etc. I taught myself everything I know about vis effects and love to create new things, or backwards engineer effects that I've seen from feature films or indie movies that intrigue me.
   I wish to use the knowledge from my college career as a fallback for when I leave the Navy later in life. I wanted a degree specifically so I could be an officer. I originally wanted to fly, however, after speaking with a few colleagues and searching within myself, I am now undertaking a SEAL training challenge to prepare me for the most intense training in the world Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training (BUD/s).