Regional Impact of the Arab Defeat in 1967 War Essay

Regional Impact of the Arab Defeat in 1967 War - Essay Example As a result multiple wars have been fought till date. These wars are not limited to one particular neighbor, rather all the major regional states have had a share of conflict and war with Israel. The 1967 Arab Israel war was part of the same hostile environment between the regional states who did not accept one another’s dominance. Keywords: Jewish settlements, 1973 war, diplomatic breakthrough, liberation movements. 1967 Arab Israel War: The war that fought over a period of Six days (Morgan, 2008, 195) was significant on multiple accounts. It had an impact on the contemporary political affairs as well as the future of Middle East. It was based on the animosity and hostility towards one another that had been in breeding for long. The major players of this war were Israel on one end, Egypt, Jordan and Syria as the Arab states on other (Robbers, 2006, 466). It not only allowed determination of power control in that phase of history, but also led to future determinations, wars, s ettlements, and political strength and say of each state against other in the continuous battle of supremacy in the region. Brief background of the war: There were number of events that led to the war, and it was not an event based on the immediate military offensive against one another rather the scope and reasons behind the war stretched to political, social, and territorial. Several years before the 1967 war, small battles and confrontations had taken place, this along with the establishment of the guerilla styled armed groups who were to launch undeclared offensives against Israel in different ways. In the same capacity the outcome of the war was not just accomplishment of edge over the enemy in one domain rather multiple faceted impact based outcome. Participant states: Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria constituted the major players of the war. Causes of the war: The causes of the war stretched from short term to long term hostilities and numerous political maneuvers against one another. Apart from the periodic territorial aggrandizements as alleged by different parities, the core point of content held against each other was that of 1948 settlements and establishment of the Jewish state. No Arab states had recognized Israel as a legitimate state and as a result of it did not engage itself in any political or diplomatic activity. In the preceding years after the 1948 settlements, the issues rose on individual and bilateral level between each state, with issues arising between Israel and Egypt first, followed by Israel and Jordan and the continuous issues with Palestine and other neighbors. The issue of Waterways usage: Israel and Egypt were locked into dispute over the control and dominance over the waterways, being paralleled in to territories and waterways connecting them, the two aimed to use the water sources to maximum benefit. Israel and Egypt were engaged in an accord in 1949 over the case of Suez Canal and other adjoining areas (Kohn, 2006, 29), thro ugh this agreement a mid way retreat was established, however over period of time, both parties blamed one another for the violations and disruption of the agreements settled in the 50s and 60s decade. The occurrence of the war took place at a time period when United Nations monitoring units would complete the mission. Alleged cross border infiltration and usage of the friendly states against Israel was a point of concern as well that can be termed as a precipitating factor of the 1967 war. This included the infiltration of Palestinians and other undercover groups into Jordan and Syria where its border areas were allegedly used against Israel for various offensives. Despite being a multiple force and multiple armies, Arab states were of no match against the Israel forces

How Does Steinbeck Presents Curleys Wife in of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

How Does Steinbeck Presents Curleys Wife in of Mice and Men Essay Curley’s wife is a significant personality in the novel. John Steinbeck presents her in different ways during the novel and uses different methods to influence the reader’s judgement, for instance through her look, as she is a complex character. Significantly Steinbeck makes it clear that nurture turns her into the person she is in the novel, her nature is different. He uses language to show us who she is as revealed by colour and light symbolism; incongruity of her appearance and the setting; simile. For the majority of the book she is labelled in a negative way as a treacherous, kittenish character which could be interpreted as a replication of the way civilization observed the character of women in the novel. Sometimes, Steinbeck includes thoughts denouncing Curley’s wife. He also points out some of her good qualities. Due to this, readers can interpret for themselves if Steinbeck thinks highly of her, or if he does not like her. Nevertheless later in the book Steinbeck deploys the reader into seeing her as complex, and feeling consideration for Curley’s wife; revealing her as a victim, anxious and secluded in a man’s world. Although he may go back and forth on Curley’s wife, in the end, Steinbeck is mainly condemning her. Steinbeck explores her as attractive towards man through her beauty and an attention seeker. In the passage the first words that Steinbeck uses are that â€Å"Both men glanced up,† and through this we are introduced to Curley’s wife through her effect on men and not through any notion of herself, which Steinbeck does to show us she is only worthy for the use of men. The word glanced up shows that she want men to look at her for she is has the beauty of an actress. Not extended moment when Steinbeck exaggerates â€Å"the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway way cut off. † Here, Steinbeck uses the light symbolically to highlight how imposing she is and present the idea that she is the obstacle to a better life. The image of Curley’s wife casting a shadow across the bunkhouse hints at trouble to come later in the novel. It soon becomes apparent that Curley’s wife is an outsider of the group when it states, â€Å"A girl was standing there looking in,† hence is a metaphor for the segregation she senses. It could be insightful of the gender roles at the time; women were only desired for men’s erotic desires rather than their company. One could also deduce it as how likewise to a ‘girl’, (which she ironically is no longer), she is in search of thoughtfulness and requires all eyes to be on her by standing in the sight of the whole world and might be realised as attempting to listen in on their conversation – both very juvenile schemes. Therefore Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in â€Å"Of Mice and Men† as someone who is very eye-catching and courtesy inquirer. On the other hand, he portrays her as isolated and discriminated by men as she is excluded for being female, which sometimes lead to violence. This is illustrated when she is called ‘tart’, ‘jailbait’, and ‘bitch’ by the men on the ranch; henceforth the ranch is a very hostile and misogynistic place. Curley’s Wife is an outsider and seems very out of place. She is frequently found in examine for companionship on the ranch as her recently found marriage does not give her the warmth she desires, as she states to Lennie â€Å"I don’t like Curley he aint a nice fella,† and due to this she often tries to cooperate with the other men although she is never allowed as they think a â€Å"ranch aint no place for a girl. † Carlson also states of how a â€Å"women should be at home where she belongs. † The fact that she is excluded from a place of physical work is symptomatic of how women were exposed during the 1930’s. They were not predictable to do work, but in its place stay at home and raise a family. Curley’ wife feels apprehensive because of the solitude she feels and it is made clear she is exasperated with this condition, â€Å"none of them care how I gotta live. † Nonetheless, the reader is presented with a side to an apparently playful and occasionally vindictive character. In chapter 5, Steinbeck permits Curley’s Wife’s character to eloquent emotions of loneliness, â€Å"I get lonely† and â€Å"I get awful lonely†. The use of repetition is used to give emphasis to the remoteness and frustration of not being able to talk to â€Å"nobody but Curley†, her hindrance which incessantly exteriors as she speaks to Lennie. Moreover, for the period of the scene Steinbeck describes as such â€Å"And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away†. The word â€Å"tumbled† recommends her frantic need to communicate to people, at the same time as the expression â€Å"passion† demonstrates her authority and strength needed to interconnect. Yet, what is predominantly conspicuous is she is used to people walking away from her when she speaks, this generates such consideration for her. In this chapter she is also presented as a moderate and approachable character, as Steinbeck describes â€Å"she consoled him. ‘Don’t you worry any’ [†¦] she moved closer to him and spoke soothingly. † The fact that she spoke â€Å"soothingly† suggests that she has a kind nature, and asked in a maternal way when Lennie needed such gentleness. The reader can then relate this sudden behaviour transformation and her upcoming, but the syrupiness she bounces off blurs the reader’s sight to floral it. All the way through the novel as similar to Crooks, Curley’s Wife is not named. This highlights her lack of identity on the ranch and how she is viewed as the property of her husband as well as the word â€Å"live† indicates that she also is a living human being who wants to fulfil her dreams and desires but it would be impossible for her. As a result of her insecurities, she tries to combat her loneliness and sequestration by resorting to violence. Her vicious attacks on Crooks to getting him â€Å"strung up on a tree† and the attacks on Lennie due to his mental disability show how loneliness can not only change a person, but destroy them. All of the emotions Curley’s Wife encounters come as a result of the loneliness she feels, and these clearly represent of what a terrifying character she is. Therefore Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife as isolated and discriminate due to her gender of a female throughout the novel. Equally, at the end of the novel, she is presented as innocent and purified from all the trouble through the description of her appearance. This can be seen in chapter 6 when Steinbeck explains â€Å"Curleys wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head, and her lips were parted. As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment. † From this passage, the reader can acknowledge the real Curley’s wife but at the same time feel sorry for her as her dream was unfulfilled. The phrase â€Å"meanness ( ) plannings (†¦) discontent (†¦) were all gone from her face† shows that she is no longer vicious and dangerous as all the negativity vanished. Most importantly the phrase â€Å"roughed cheeks and reddened lips† conveys that her dream is unfulfilled and the repetition of â€Å"stopped† to emphasise stillness and the feelings of time standing still. Therefore Steinbeck does not present her as a negative character, but at the time of her death he shows the reader the real her as it was not her nature but nurture that made her what she was. In contrast Curley’s Wife at first is portrayed as a revolting unpleasant woman. Curley’s Wife is described by Steinbeck many times as â€Å"roughed lips and wide-spaced eyes. Her fingernails were red. † this causes the reader to think of her as he says so. Nonetheless, despite these brutal views of her, the reader is presented with a side to a seemingly flirtatious and sometimes malevolent character. The repetition of the colour â€Å"red† denotes the fact that she is very dangerous and cause lot of trouble as the colour red is frequently associated to blood and murder which foreshadows the scenes later on in the novel. An alternative interpretation could be that red is also represent as the colour of love and she is wanting to be love, but many readers would link it to her actress personality as most actress love to dress a lot. Not so long, Steinbeck describes her hair as â€Å"her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages,† and this simile shocks the reader because sausages are disliked and filthy, so linking it to her means that she is also disliked. Furthermore as sausages do not match with hair, the same way she is not suitable for a place like the ranch. Therefore Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as a woman who is dangerous and disliked by linking her with words that supports the point. John Steinbeck points out many flaws in Curley’s wife. For example, he does this when he writes, â€Å"she leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward† (Page 51). In this statement, Steinbeck is pointing out that Curley’s wife always tries to instigate something. He also describes her body image and how provocative she is, always looking for attention. Steinbeck says many more things to condemn Curley’s wife, but that is not all that he says about her. Steinbeck also defends Curley’s wife. He writes of how lonely she is, and describes her as innocent as the rabbits and puppy killed by another character, Lennie. For instance, Curley’s wife says, â€Å"Think I don’t want to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time? †(Page 77). In this statement, Curley’s wife implies that she is tired of being lonely and wants to talk to other people. As much as Steinbeck appears to flip-flop on his view of Curley’s wife, readers can draw different conclusions.

Global toy market

Global toy market 1.0 Background 1.1. Global toy industry Scenario More than 80% of global toy market is generated by three Continents i.e. Europe, North America and Asia. With the recent financial turmoil, the value of toy industry has decreased in two consecutive years, from US$78.67 billion in year 2007 to US$75.033 billion. The shrinking market size is mainly attributed by Western countries, particularly Europe. On the side of the world, Asia registered upward trend in market share for toy market. Chart 1 World Toy Market Scenario NPD analysts attribute the downward trend in global market value for toy industry to the following reasons Low unit price particularly in year end, which intensified further by the financial crises Cannibalization by other games categories namely video games, electronic games etc. In developed market, the per capita usage for toys is high as they are considered to be an important aid in a childs development vis-a-vis a wasteful expenditure in developing nations. The scenario is illustrated in below table:- Table 1 Toy expenditure Country Kids population in 2008 (million) Spending per kid in 2008 (US$) Total available market in 2008 (US$) United States 61.6 $281 $17.31 billion Japan 17.4 $286 $5 billion China 267.4 $17 $4.5 billion United Kingdom 10.3 $348 $3.6 billion France 11.9 $293 $3.5 billion Germany 11.4 $223 $2.5 billion Brazil 52.9 $38 $2.01 billion India 361.4 $5 $1.8 billion Mexico 32.6 $53 $1.7 billion Italy 7.9 $185 $1.5 billion Source: NDP Group, 2009 1.2 Toy Industry Structure Toys are classified into four broad categories, namely Traditional Toys which consist of action figures, dolls, playsets, stuffed animals, models, and other related products Board games Video Games Casino Games Accessories. Globally, the market is dominated by four large players viz: Mattel, Lego, Hasbro Bandai with Mattel the largest and selling toys under the brand Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price etc. Table 2 Global toy makers product portfolio Toy maker Traditional toys brands Board games Video Games Licensing product Mattel Barbie, Break the Safeâ„ ¢, Hot Wheels ®, Matchbox ®, American Girl ®, Fisher-Price ®, Little People ®, Rescue Heroesâ„ ¢, Power Wheels ® UNO Barbie CareNCure, UNO, Barbie Girls, Hot Wheels etc Disney, Warner Bros., Pixar, Viacom International Inc., Sesame Workshop Hasbro My Little Pony, SpongeBob, Toy Story Monopoly, Pictureka, Scrabble Monkeybar Transformer, G.I. Joe, Incredible Hulk, Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Wolverine, Disney, Iron Man Bai Dan Ben 10, Power Ranger, Dragon Ball, Digimon, Blue Dragon NIL Kamen Rider, Harumika, Tamaguchi, Mugen Pop PopTM Ben 10, Power Ranger, Dragon Ball, Ultraman MGA Entertainment Bratz range, Zapf Creation, Little Tikes, Baby born, Chou Chou, MGA games, My-ePets 3D, Resue PetsTM NIL NIL NIL Disney Disney characters NIL Disney characters Disney characters LEGO LEGO bricks NIL LEGO NIL Takara Tomy Plarail, Pocker Moser, Transformers, Tomica die-cast vechicles, Yumel and Nerul, Licca doll line Jinsei Games Tasinoko Production, Game software Disney characters There are several market signals have impacted to toy market. Globally, toy manufacturers are partnering with companies from other sectors, like fast-food chains in their merchandise promotion campaigns, e.g. McDonald Mushrooming of dedicated malls/stores for toys is becoming increasingly visible e.g. Toy â€Å"Râ€Å" us Retail consolidation in overseas markets has changed the landscape for toy exporters. Production of movies based on toy characters for television audience is a unique trend for promoting toy sales in the US. Toy makers are entering into licensing deals with movie studios to make products in the image of film characters e.g. Disney, Sony Picture, Bai Dan etc. 1.3 Mattel Inc. 1.3.1 Mattel Inc. founded by Harold Matt Matson and Elliot Handler (hence the name matt-el) and incorporated in 1948 with Headquarter in Hawethorne, Los Angeles County, California and later relocate to El Segundo, CA in 1990. Barbie was brainchild by Elliot and Ruth Handler co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company. Ruth came up with the idea for Barbie after watching her daughter, Barbara Handler, play with paper dolls. The three-dimensional model for Barbie was a Germen doll Mattel refashioned the doll into an all-American version and named it after Barbara, who was then a teenager. Barbies boyfriend, Ken, was introduced in 1961 and named after Barbaras brother. 1.3.2 Since establishment, Mattels product portfolio has grown from its flagship brand, Barbie, to toy cars, board games, dolls, cuddly toys and education toys – Mattel offers comprehensive product lines to cater for different age groups – new born to adult segments. This can encourage repeat customer and attract different customer profiles with its range of different toys. Table 3 Mattel Inc.s product range by market segments Market segment Brand Infant Pre-school School Kids Tweens @ Pre-teens Teens (12 years above) Adults / Parents Barbie P P P P Fisher Price P P P Hot Wheel P P Tyco Toys P P P American Girls P P Sesame Street P P P UNO P P Scramble P P P MyScene Dolls P 1.3.3 Mattels Corporate Structure 1.3.4 Business Model Broadly, Mattel Inc.s businesses are segmented by geographically – domestically and internally. Mattels presence at Canada, Latin America, European, Asian countries, Australia, and New Zealand. 1.3.5 Along its establishment in the market, Mattel has gone through several hypes and downs†¦ Table 4 Mattel Inc. Events in chronological order Success stories Failures * 1959 – Barbie debut * 1965 – Enters Educational Market with See ‘N Say * 1968 – Hot Wheels Introduced * 1977 – Ventures into Electronic Game Market * 1993 – Merges with Fisher-Price * 1996 – Introduces Tickle Me Elmo * 1998 – Fisher-Price takes control of Infant and Preschool Character Brands * 1998- Acquired Pleasant Company, the maker of the American Girl collection, which is a series of historical dolls, books and accessories * Mattel says the average American girl owns ten Barbie dolls, and two are sold somewhere in the world every second * As a teenage fashion model, Barbie has worn many fabulous fashions. Beginning with her trademark black and white striped swimsuit and swirled ponytail, Barbie has followed style trends as well as blazed her own fashion trail. She even inspired some of fashions top designers * Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday in 2009. * Mattels Barbie opened her first flagship store on March 6, 2009, six-story showpiece at Shanghai . The store will also be a testing ground for new marketing strategies and services, including a design center where visitors can create their own dolls * Sold The Learning Company at a lost in year 2000 * Toxic Toys Scandal. Recalled millions of China-made toys as potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint that may have exceeded the US Federal limit of 600 part per million. 18.2 million items were recalled in total in year 2007. 2.0 Mattels Vision and Mission Jennifer 2.1 Mattels Philanthropic Vision To make a meaningful difference, one child at a time. 2.2 Mattels Philanthropic Mission Mattel makes a difference in the global community by effectively serving children in need. Partnering with charitable organizations dedicated to directly serving children, Mattel creates joy through the Mattel Childrens Foundation, product donations, grant making and the work of employee volunteers. We also enrich the lives of Mattel employees by identifying diverse volunteer opportunities and supporting their personal contributions through the matching gifts program. 2.3 Mattels Philanthropic Values We intend to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children in need around the world through our interactions how we play with our communities, our partners, and our volunteers. Play with Passion: By making a meaningful and lasting impact on children globally. Play Together: By forming deep partnerships to enrich the communities in which we work and play, and engaging Mattel employees in our efforts. Play Fair: By acting with unwavering integrity in all aspects of our work. Play to Grow: By striving to make long term differences in the lives of children in need and seeking continuous improvement. 3.0 The External Assessment Ezuan Issues to discuss: Opportunities An alliance with an Asian company, Bandai Weakening dollar makes Mattels products more affordable in many of these new markets greatest pressures to adapting products with the constant changing of society * etc Threats Children abandon tangible toys such Hot Wheels and Barbie for more interactive and technological products. Need extreme careful to protect customers legal and moral reputations by respecting the privacy of the children and their families, which is put in jeopardy every time the website asks a minor to provide information. Global recession problems breaking into foreign markets due to cultural barriers After-effect of Toxic Toys Scandal with 18.2 million items were recalled in total in year 2007 Etc External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix Key Internal Factors Weightage Rating Weighted score Opportunities 1. Barbie an recognizable brand worldwide 0.1 4 0.4 2. Weakening dollar makes results market affordability 0.1 3 0.3 3. Favorable US tariff law 0.05 3 0.15 Threats 1. Children abandon tangible toys for more interactive and technological products. 0.1 1 0.2 2. Global recession cause reduce spending or down trading for toy 0.05 1 0.1 3. Cultural barriers hinder market penetration 0.1 1 0.1 4. High product substitution 0.1 1 0.1 5. Government Regulations and Environmental Quality 0.05 2 0.2 6. Higher bargain power from retailers 0.05 2 0.2 7. Raw material subject to price fluctuation 0.05 2 0.1 8. Highly seasonal business 0.05 2 0.1 9. Rising in ‘cyber @ virtual games 0.1 1 0.1 10. Unpredictable shift in the play patterns of Gen X kids ‘Netizen 0.1 1 0.1 Total 1.00 2.15 Note: Weight factor: 0.0 (not important) to 1.0 (very important) Rating scale: 1 = Major Weakness 2 = Minor Weakness = Minor Strength 4 = Major Strength. Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) for Mattel Inc. Wght. Mattel Inc. Hasbro Bai Dan MGA Ent. Disney LEGO Takara Tomy Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Rating WS Global Market share 0.10 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 2 0.2 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 Product Quality 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Product variation 0.15 4 0.6 4 0.6 3 0.45 2 0.3 4 0.6 2 0.6 3 0.6 Price competitive 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 4 0.4 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Technology Innovation 0.10 2 0.2 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Management Experience 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 Financial position 0.10 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.1 Customer loyalty 0.15 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 2 0.3 Global expansion 0.10 3 0.3 4 0.4 4 0.4 2 0.3 4 0.4 4 0.4 2 0.1 Total 1.00 3.0 3.1 3.05 2.7 3.2 3.2 2.7 4.0 The Internal Assessment Ezuan Issues to be discussed: Strengths Long history in toy industry Preferred brand by customers Releasing new product annually follows a code of ethics, as well as requiring ethical actions of their suppliers. contributes to the communities merged with or struck licensing deals with a number of other established brands, including Disney, Fisher Price, Nascar, and even Microsoft. time delivery of products to retailers has soared in recent years from 50% to 90%, due to improvements in information systems and warehouse facilities. product availability has been improved in specific market with collaborative efforts with international firms, specifically Bandai Co. of Japan. able to simultaneously cater products to each markets taste, and maintain high flexibility and low costs by simplifying packaging strategies etc Weaknesses * Until the acquisition of Fisher Price, most of Mattels attempts to expand beyond their primary market of childrens toys were largely unsuccessful  · Etc Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) matrix Key Internal Factors Weightage Rating Weighted score Strengths 1. Barbie as a long established brand – 60 years 0.05 4 0.2 2. Recognizable brand portfolio 0.10 4 0.4 3. Wide product range to cater various life stage 0.10 4 0.4 4. New product launch annually 0.05 3 0.15 5. Business Integrity 0.05 3 0.15 6. Corporate Social Responsibility 0.05 3 0.15 7. Strategic partnership with Microsoft, Disney, BanDai 0.10 3 0.3 8. Energetic management team 0.05 3 0.15 9. Efficient automation of SCM 0.05 3 0.15 10. Trade names and trademarks as significant assets 0.05 4 0.2 Weaknesses 1. Unprofitable mergers and acquisitions 0.05 2 0.1 2. Slipping popularity of their core product, Barbie. 0.10 1 0.1 3. After-effect of Toxic Toys Scandal 0.10 1 0.1 4. History of management struggles and uncertainty 0.05 2 0.1 5. Royalty expense for license agreement 0.05 2 0.1 6. Liquidity problems or bankruptcy of key customers Total 1.00 2.75 Note: Weight factor: 0.0 (not important) to 1.0 (very important) Rating scale: 1 = Major Weakness 2 = Minor Weakness = Minor Strength 4 = Major Strength. 5.0 Strategies in Action Jennifer 6.0 Strategy Analysis and Choice Ismi Strengths [S] Weaknesses [W] Opportunities [O] Threats [T] 7.0 Implementing Strategies 7.1 Background The growth plan for Mattel Inc will be:- Maintaining its Corporate Social Responsibility – sustain its commitment to children, business partners, suppliers and environment Expending its territories with product diversification and business sustainability – strengthen and gain market share Zero product recall to boost up its brand image Below illustrate the direction for Mattel Inc. to concentrate in:- 7.2.0 Mattel Inc.s Direction 7.2.1 Management Operation Strategies The massive recall incidence in 2007 Christmas season will be an occasion to be remembered for Mattel Inc. Thus it is essential for Mattel to enhance its working relationship with their suppliers and business partners. Mattels product lines are manufactured in both company-owned facilities and through third-party manufacturers and the market demand is highly seasonal driven. In order to mitigate, it is crucial for Mattel to ensure just-in-time inventory practices to reduce backlog of orders. Mattel is committed to executing Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP) policy in all areas of its business, i.e. to all parties that manufacture, assemble, or distribute any product, or package bearing the Mattel logo, and, will only engage business partners commit to GMP. Mattel will ensure full compliance of GMP by its business partners, and will assist them in meeting GMP requirements. The GMP principles are to ensure there is a holistic approach that all the key stakeholders are being well care off. To ensure the closed monitoring the third party manufacturers, Mattel need to set up Centre of Excellence (CoE) in selected geographical areas strategically. The main function of the CoE is to embark manufacturing intelligent and ensure smooth execution of GMP and developing best practice in the manufacturing for their strategic partners. 7.3 Marketing Strategies 7.3.1 Segmentation Currently, Mattels product range is catered to wide range of age group, Market segment Brand Infant Toddlers Pre-School Kids Tweens @ Pre-teens Teens (12 years above) Adults / Parents Barbie

Christopher Columbus Essay example -- History

Christopher Columbus is credited as the audacious voyager who challenged modern thinking and found the land now known as the Americas. Columbus not only discovered new lands, but also opened trade with natives and brought substantial wealth and glory to the major European powers. In addition, his ventures not only enabled the spread of the gospel to pagan peoples, but also set the stage for the emergence of the United States of America. Without Christopher Columbus the United States would not have been a separate state for over 500 years or more or not at all. However, despite all that Columbus did, people still fail to recognize the tribulations he undertook before he set off in his first ship. The public is unable to comprehend, despite years of education, the internal struggles and the ridicule Columbus was forced to endure for just believing in what he thought was correct (Philips 13). His courage in the face of this ridicule is what makes Columbus a national hero in that age as well as now. Christopher Columbus’ acts of perseverance, his moral courage, and his adventurous spirit continue to inspire the people of today. Through this intercourse, Christopher Columbus’ work has not ended, for it is everlasting as it persists to imbue the people of today with the ability to succeed in the face of an unknown future. Christopher Columbus’ perseverance and persistence have long been a trait of the philosophy of modern thinking. Columbus displayed high acts of persistence as he rode the waves of uncertainty to the land of success. When Columbus sought audience with King of Portugal in 1485, he was humiliatingly denied funding for his proposed idea to sail west to get to India. If Columbus had given up at this first sign of failure... ...make our decisions accordingly. Works Cited 123Holiday. "Christopher Columbus Biography." Columbus Day. Microsoft Encarta, 2 May 2003. Web. 27 Nov. 2010 http://columbusday.123holiday.net/christopher_columbus.html. Cohen, J.M. (1969) The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus: Being His Own Log- Book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narrative Drawn from the Life of the Admiral by His Son Hernando Colon and Others. London UK: Penguin Classics. Davidson, Miles H. (1997) Columbus Then and Now: A Life Reexamined, Norman and London, University of Oklahoma Press. Khurana, Simran. "Quotations: Hope." Quotes Quotations. 2001. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. . Phillips, W. D. and C. R. Phillips (1992) The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.

Patchwork 3 †Analysis and Comparison of Both Pre-Existing

The Musee du Louvre and its Pyramid, and St Paul’s Cathedral with the nearby 30 St Mary Axe were the chosen topics by both members of our group. All of these buildings are iconic building within their cities, and all were designed and built with vastly different contexts and purposes in mind. In this essay we will compare and contrast the different buildings in a manner that will help us understand the juxtaposition of old and new buildings.We will also investigate what made the contemporary buildings in question switch status from controversial to widely accepted as unique and brilliant pieces of architecture. After considering the different context(s) and style(s) of the building we will present our informed personal opinions based upon our research, to reach a conclusion in accordance with the research question. Before we undertake an analysis we will quickly summarise what has been aforementioned in Patchworks 1 & 2. The two buildings that one of the members of the group r esearched were the Musee du Louvre and the Pyramide du Louvre.The Musee as it stands now, was designed by Pierre Lescot for the King of France (at the time Francis I), however the designed and context of the building was radical and completely out of context with the western European style of its time (THOMPSON, Renaissance Paris: Architecture & Growth 1475-1600, p183). The style of architecture that the Louvre is of Renaissance origin, the architect; Pierre Lescot was said to have never visited Italy, and studied Italian Renaissance architecture only from third parties.Meaning his point of reference was only that of textbooks, sketches and other architects (HANSER, Architecture of France, 2006, p116). However this does not mean he didn’t manage to create a Renaissance style building, the design and style of the Louvre is typical of the Renaissance, with the over-ornamentation and relief, and not plain surfaces. These are examples of typical French Renaissance over-decoration (MOORE, Character of Renaissance Architecture, 1905, p200). In patchwork 2 the focus was on the Pyramide du Louvre (a. k. a.The Louvre Pyramid), the design of which was done by I M Pei (as part of a commission by the president Francois Mitterrand). The need for a reception/ welcome area for the museum was urgent, but space was scarce. Pei constructed an idea to go underground, topped with a pyramid made of glass and steel. A somewhat radical idea when considering a high-tech architectural construction would be positioned next to the Renaissance era architecture of the Louvre Museum (PIMLOTT, Without and Within: Essays on Territory and the Interior, 2007, p255; HEYER.American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century, 1993, p275-278). Of course placing a pyramid (being a symbol of burial, and of an entirely different culture) in front of The Louvre did not go too smoothly with the public, and many criticised both Pei and Mitterrand’s intentions. However the pyramid was not a direct connotation to Ancient Egypt, but rather a fresh approach to a classical design.Mitterrand was also criticised for blocking the view of the historical buildings by putting the pyramid in the middle of the courtyard, but due to its semi-transparent nature the pyramid juxtaposes The Louvre perfectly with the contrast of transparency and opaqueness (RUSTOW, ‘Transparent Contradictions’: Pei’s Pyramid at The Louvre, 2006, p6). The two buildings that the other member of the group researched were St Paul’s Cathedral designed by Christopher Wren, (construction finished in 1677), and 30 St Mary’s Axe designed by Norman Foster and partners, (construction finished in 2003).Both these buildings were built to replace previously destroyed buildings. St Paul’s was built to replace old St Paul’s which was one of the biggest buildings in Europe at the time. Most of the building was destroyed by the Great Fire of London an d in 1668 a Royal Warrant was issued for the complete demolition of old St Paul’s (GERAGHTY bbc. co. uk). Also in the time period between 1540 and 1650 the population grew by five or six fold. (ALLISON – Architects and architecture of London page 48) Ken ALLINSON notes, â€Å"it is against this background that Wren set about creating St Pauls cathedral†.Wren chose white Portland stone which had been used to great success by architects before him, one example being Nicholas HAWKSMOOR’s St Mary’s Church (GLANCY- The story of architecture page 84-85). 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and Partners and AUP Engineers and was built for the insurance company Swiss RE. Swiss Re had been working out of a number of buildings in London and the company was looking to build one building that would replace all previous buildings to help unify the company.The purpose of this focusing on one building was â€Å"getting people to interact, exchange ideaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s, become a creative community† in the words of John COOMBER the then CEO of Swiss Re when they planned to build 30 St Mary Axe. Many locations were considered for the building but in 1992 a bomb with 100lbs of Semtex destroyed the Baltic Exchange (POWELL, 30 St Mary Axe A tower for London, 2006, page 14). This presented the ideal location for 30 St Mary Axe to be built. The initial plans for 30 St Mary Axe were for a much bigger building than the one finally constructed.To gain planning permission Norman Foster and partners had to scale down the design. The design was described by London advisory committee as being â€Å"unduly dominant and assertive by reason of its height, form, bulk, massing and relationship to nearby high buildings†. (POWELL, 30 St Mary Axe A tower for London, 2006, page 19) One comparison to be made between St Paul’s Cathedral and the 30 St Mary Axe, and The Louvre and its Pyramid; is that of context at the time of design and constru ction. The London buildings were both designed and created within the context of their era.St Paul’s was designed at the start of an English-Baroque movement (similar to that of other European movements, but much more conservative). (WHINNEY, Wren, 1971, p81; GLANCY, The Story of Architecture, 2000, p84), It follows very baroque traits, which would have appeared on other buildings built before it. The Cathedral was built in the context of its surroundings. The same could also be said about the 30 St Mary Axe. It was built in a very modern era where the style of high tech/modern architecture is very common. Therefore relating to the quote at hand, we believe that the London buildings are rooted in the context of their surroundings.On the other hand, this conclusion cannot be said for The Louvre, and especially not for The Pyramid. The Musee du Louvre, (at the time, Palais du Louvre) was built as a one of a kind building, it did not follow a style that was already prominent in Paris, or indeed most parts of France at time of design and construction. We did agree that following completion; The Louvre did fit the style more closely when the renaissance and baroque movement swept through France, therefore more buildings of a similar style/context appeared.Thus creating relevance to the Louvre’s style. As for the Pyramid, although it is an interesting juxtaposition with the older style Louvre; its context is not rooted with The Louvre. Had it been constructed near l’Arche de la Defense, in the more industrial part of Paris, then yes it would have context within it’s surrounding(s). This is probably the reason that it caused so much controversy upon completion, and seen as such an out of place building.Another comparison that we made is that the London buildings were used to replace buildings that had been pre-existent and consequently destroyed (Old St Paul’s by the Great Fire of 1666, and The Baltic Exchange by an IRA terrorist at tack). This means that the context of which the new buildings are built upon is relevant to their purpose now. Old St Paul’s and the previous buildings before it had always been that of a religious context: Roman temple, Saxon church and a Norman church (ALLINSON, Architects and Architecture of London, 2006, p49).The Baltic Exchange being the predecessor of the St Mary Axe means that the financial context of the building has remained, being in the heart of London’s financial district brings this truth home, along with the unison of all five ‘Swiss Re’ buildings into one, again follows the financial context of the building (Swiss Re is a major insurance company). The difference between them and The Louvre and The Pyramid is that both Louvre and Pyramid were built for purpose and not to replace older buildings.The Louvre, originally a fortress-turned-palace was stripped of its living necessities and turned into a museum, no building was required. The Pyramid was designed and built because of a lack of reception and link to all wings of the museum. Both are original builds and as a result have created their own context within their surroundings as opposed to relying on the context of its surroundings to determine the style. To conclude, as a group we believe that the context of a building is not simply rooted in the setting, and building can determine the context of a setting just as much as a setting can determine the context of a building.We were given two examples, one in London where the setting has driven the context, and the other in Paris where a new style had changed the context. So to relate to the original quote by Dalibor Vesely, the relationship between buildings and intervening spaces is formal, but where the context is rooted is a chicken-or-egg question; one will govern the other, but this is likely to change based of multiple factors including location and the purpose of the building. [Word count with references: 1619] W ord count without references: 1512] Bibliography †¢Renaissance Paris: Architecture and Growth 1475-1600, David THOMPSON, University of California Press, Los Angeles 1984 Extract paraphrased, page 183 †¢Architecture of France, David A. HANSER, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 Extract paraphrased, page 116 †¢Character of Renaissance Architecture, Charles Herbert Moore, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1905 Extract paraphrased, page 200 †¢Without and Within: Essays on Territory and the Interior, Mark PIMLOTT, 2007, Episode Publishers.Extract paraphrased, page 255 †¢American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century, Paul HEYER, 1993, John Wiley and Sons. Extract paraphrased, page 275 – 278 †¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœTransparent Contradictions’: Pei’s Pyramid at The Louvre, Stephen L. RUSTOW, 2006 Paper given at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians Extract paraphrased, page 6 †¢30 St Mary Axe A tower f or London: Kenneth POWELL, published by Merrell 2006 Page 13 – 15 †¢2000+ London: Sam LUBELL, published by Maconcelli press 2008Page 164 -165 †¢Article published by Dr Anthony GERAGHTY 17-02-2011 http://www. bbc. co. uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gallery_st_pauls_01. shtml(Referenced on the 19-11-2011) †¢Margret WHINNEY: Wren, Published by Hudson 1971 Page 81 – 84 †¢Christian NORBERG-SCHULZ: Baroque Architecture, published by Electra architecture, 2000 Page 194 – 195 †¢Jonathan GLANCY: The Story of Architecture, published by DK, 2000 Page 84 – 85 †¢Ken ALLINSON – Architects and Architecture of London, published by Architectural Press, 2008

The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy

The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy Throw a piece of swag at a marketing conference and you’ll (lightly) hit someone who can tell you about the importance of an email list. They’re not wrong. Despite new and flashy marketing channels constantly popping up, email remains one of the strongest for so many companies. According to eMarketer, 73% of in-house marketers worldwide said that email marketing provided a strong ROI in 2017, making it the most commonly reported answer in their survey. But most of the email marketing advice  out there is focused on building your list. Collecting subscribers. Hoarding fans. They don’t explain how to actually turn those subscribers into leads and customers. Remember, building your list is only the first step in the email marketing process and converting your audience into customers. If you don’t use that list wisely and plan how to move subscribers to the next step, the rest of the buyer’s journey will never take place. But when used strategically, email marketing is one of the most all-encompassing marketing channels you can use. It doesn’t just build an audience or generate leads, it’s incredibly effective in every single stage of the sales funnel. From capturing visitors at the awareness stage to nurturing current customers and retaining them long-term, email reliably gets results. Does this make you want to shape up your strategy  ASAP? Good. It’ll be worth it. Before you get to work, let’s break down what your email strategy should accomplish at every stage of the customer journey, and examples and ideas to get your brainstorming started. The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy by @thatbberg via @Table of Contents: Step 1: Generate Leads at the Top of the Funnel Step 2: Nurture Leads in the Middle of the Funnel Step 3: Convert Customers at the Bottom of the Funnel Step 4: Activate Customers and Retain Them Forever Step 1: Generate Leads at the Top of the Funnel Building your list may not be the beginning and end of a strong email marketing strategy, as some marketers make it out to be, but it’s definitely the start of the process. Email opt-ins are one of the best ways to capture website and social media visitors at the top of the marketing funnel who aren’t yet ready to buy. When someone comes to your blog, for example, and enjoys the content and overall experience but isn’t ready to buy your product, subscribing to your email list is an alternative call-to-action that still brings them closer to becoming a customer. Someone handing you their email is essentially inviting you to market to them, as long as you provide value as well. Given how hard it can be to reach your audience on other platforms, say algorithm-determined news feeds, you want this direct relationship with as many people in your audience as possible. But they’re just as aware of how personal giving you their email address is, compared to something like following you on Instagram. Because of that, getting strangers to subscribe to your email list can be a challenge - especially if they’ve got hundreds of emails in their inbox already. Here’s how you can rise to the challenge and more to build a thriving, converting list of subscribers, based on ’s own success building a list of over 300,000: Send a Value-Packed Weekly Newsletter The email newsletters we’re talking about aren’t just your PDF pamphlet or weekly sales promos some businesses will call a newsletter. No, we mean high-value content that inspires, nurtures, and converts. That’s what a good newsletter looks like, for example ’s own weekly recap of new marketing advice, both from here on the blog and around the web. (Image source: https://.com/blog/how-to-make-an-email-newsletter/) In an era where we’re obsessed with custom lead magnets and interactive webinars and newer, flashier content types, it takes great content to make one worth signing up for. To make sure your newsletter can stand on its own in terms of attracting subscribers, make sure to: Determine a focused goal to base your newsletter strategy around, such as generating or nurturing qualified leads, driving customer renewals, etc. Create a theme and content strategy  your newsletters can follow, like ’s theme of the latest content to help marketers achieve their goals. Write newsletter copy that cultivates your brand. They may have an old reputation for being promotional and impersonal, some of the more popular modern newsletters, like TheSkimm  and The Hustle, build such an engaged community by developing strong brand voices  and personalities. Anyone can get started, no fancy technology needed. MailChimp  is free to get started with and powers some of the most popular brands on the internet, so you can start simple with it and build your strategies out further as you scale. Offer Lead Magnets Like Free Tools and Resources If sending a value-based newsletter every week for the foreseeable future, in addition to any more promotional emails, doesn’t fit into your content strategy, there are lots of other ways to attract new subscribers. For example, trading a free asset in exchange for a reader’s email address is a great way to provide a ton of extra value without the ongoing content creation  a newsletter can involve. You can create and develop the lead magnet once and promote and mention it in blog posts and other content for months. Trading a free asset in exchange for a reader’s email address is a great way to provide a ton of...Popular and easy-to-create lead magnets include: Checklists and cheat sheets Fillable or printable workbooks Ebooks Spreadsheet and document templates You can also take free offers to the next level and instead of creating a PDF or downloadable asset, you can create an interactive tool subscribers can get get ongoing value from. Some great examples include ’s Headline Analyzer, Mention’s Brand Grader, and Unbounce’s Landing Page Analyzer. Run Email Courses and Challenges To combine the educational value of content offers with the ongoing value of tools, something like an email course or challenge can give you the best of both options. They can involve a full series of emails, as opposed to a single downloadable asset. This can both help content feel more manageable to consumers, and help you build up a relationship with them over the course of a few days instead of a one-time transaction. You can choose to educate your new subscribers over the course of a few days, such a free 5-day email course, or focus on more action-oriented content with a challenge to achieve a certain result within the length of the offer. Hold Audience-Building Live Webinars The final lead generation tool to mention today is live webinars. Live, video-based content is a powerful tool at every stage of the funnel, so it will be mentioned again, but one of the most valuable elements of webinars is how willing people are to hand over an email to attend them. That makes them gold for lead generation, especially when you really perfect it. Lead generation webinars can be done over and over on the same topic and taken on tour to new audiences, like a virtual public speaking circuit. Lead generation webinars can be done over and over on the same topic and taken on tour to new...This exact strategy was a major factor in growing ConvertKit  from $98k to $625k in monthly recurring revenue. ConvertKit’s marketing team used collaborative webinars with affiliates to build an early audience and community around their product. They were able to perform the same webinar more than 150 times, each time to a new audience that converted incredibly well. Years later, it’s a tactic they continue today. With marketing-focused webinar tools that let you worry more about the content than technology, it’s become easy for businesses of any size to build full marketing campaigns around webinars. For example, ClickMeeting  is one option that’s not just for running webinars, but converting from them with features like built-in call-to-action buttons. (Image source: https://clickmeeting.com/tools) Step 2: Nurture Leads in the Middle of the Funnel Okay, you’ve found a lead gen tactic that works for you. Once you’re generating leads and subscribers, you need to do something with them. Next, you want to: Qualify them as potential customers, and Segment them according to your team’s buyer personas Once you’ve qualified someone and matched them to a buyer persona, you can match them to your most relevant product, service, value proposition, etc., and then plan emails that strategically guide them towards purchase. It sounds complicated, but with most email marketing and marketing automation software, it’s done easily and automatically. For example, you can segment your leads before ever interacting with them based on simple information, like: Which lead magnet, form, or web page they subscribed through Website and subscriber behavior Demographic information Lead scoring can be done the same way. And remember, drip sequences are your friend! By consistently emailing leads, you keep them engaged and have the opportunity to learn more about them through their opens, clicks, and replies. By consistently emailing leads, you keep them engaged and have the opportunity to learn more about...During nurturing, you want to continue providing value, building trust, and developing a relationship with your lead up until the final moment before they convert. Each email is a new opportunity to build more rapport with them as well as learn about their behavior and customize your marketing accordingly. You want to build up to the moment of conversion: where you’re talking to the right person with the right message and the right timing. How do you do that? Here are some of the types of emails that nurture leads and get them to the next stage of the sales funnel. Use Self-Segmentation Emails A self-segmentation email presents different options to your leads and lets them select which is most relevant. You can then move them into appropriate email segments based on which option or options they click. You have lots of options for how you can segment, based on what’s most useful to your business: What types of content they prefer Which topics they’re most interested in Goal or reason for signing up for your list This works great as a welcome or confirmation email when someone first signs up, but you can ask someone to self-segment more than once and at any point in the buyer’s journey. Everyone appreciates the promise of more relevant and useful emails. Everyone appreciates the promise of more relevant and useful emails.Send Case Studies and Customer Stories As you start to introduce your leads more directly to your product, you want to do as much as you can to help them see themselves using your product or service. While segmentation so you can more specifically talk to people is great, you need to â€Å"show† as well as â€Å"tell.† Sending leads case studies, success stories, testimonials, and other social proof featuring customers similar to them will do that. Keep Providing Free Resources Til The End Finally, continuing to offer free content that’s jammed with value will continue to make an impact throughout the funnel. As a lead moves through your nurturing content and you learn more about them, you can even get more relevant, personal, and valuable with that content. For example, by shifting the topics of your webinars from broader content to more solution-specific ideas, you can use them for nurturing as well as lead generation. Monitoring software Mention, for example, offers both topical webinars like those discussed above (like one they hosted with !), as well as more product-focused webinars that are ridiculously helpful for those already interested in them. (Image source: https://info.mention.com/live-training) If you do provide multiple formats of nurturing content, like adding webinars to your email sequences, make sure you’re able to track results both per channel and for your whole funnel. For example, marketing dashboards like Cyfe  let you pull in information from multiple apps and tools to track all stages and locations of the funnel in one place. You would just add pre-built widgets for your tools like Google Analytics, InfusionSoft, and Unbounce at their proper places in your funnel map. (Image source: https://www.cyfe.com/marketing-dashboard) Step 3: Convert Customers at the Bottom of the Funnel Congrats! Your email lead gen and nurturing are fantastic and have primed leads perfectly. You’ve shown value, built a relationship, and fired off all the psychological triggers  that have people ready to buy. This is obviously what you’ve been waiting for, the moment when your funnel (literally) pays off. With your email marketing funnel so carefully set up with the steps we’ve gone over, like using segmentation to provide super personalized value, you have a great chance of converting a new customer. And segmentation is about to come in handy yet again. In addition to using it to deliver more personalized nurturing campaigns, you can use it to offer your product or service in the most relevant way possible to each individual prospect. Between automated funnels and sequences and your seasonal/regular marketing calendar, you have lots of options for reaching your customers, all of which will be more successful the better the rest of your funnel is segmented. By combining segmentation with different conversion strategies like those listed below, you’re sure to be within reach once your customer has reached their moment of decision and purchase. Recommended Reading: How to Create a Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360%" Retarget Subscribers With Emails and Ads Once again, at this point you’re searching for that perfect moment when your prospect is ready to buy. At this point, you’ve built up enough of a reputation with them that ads placed in front of them will convert well. (Image source: https://okdork.com/how-to-spend-your-first-100-on-retargeting-ads/) You don’t need to stick to just email to reach them affordably - retargeting ads  can be some of the most cost-effective kinds of paid marketing. For example, AppSumo  was able to achieve a 224% ROI from a recent retargeting campaign. That said, email retargeting may be all you need, especially with your warmest leads, like e-commerce abandoned carts. Abandoned cart emails  find people who’ve essentially already decided to buy your product, so offering it one more time is often an easy win. (Image source: https://support.bigcommerce.com/articles/Public/Using-the-Abandoned-Cart-Saver) When Henna Caravan  first started using retargeting and abandoned cart emails, it had a major impact on acquisition of first-time customers. Founder Jessica McQueen explained to BigCommerce what it was like watching the results come in: â€Å"That’s turned into the most exciting part of my day, seeing an abandoned cart get converted into a sale...I had no idea that people were leaving their cart empty and how much was sitting on the table at the end of the day.† Create Time and Urgency-Based Offers Another great way to convert well-nurtured prospects is through offers based on limited time and other urgency factors. By building authentic and ethical deadlines  into your marketing, like expiring offers and discounts, into your funnel, you give warm prospects a reason to convert today versus next week. A great tool for this, for example, is Deadline Funnel. It lets you easily create customized deadlines and scarcity offers for each lead, based on different email and website activity. So you could trigger a funnel with an expiring deadline for: New leads who’ve just signed up for your list Existing customers to celebrate occasions like birthdays Prospects who have visited certain high-intent pages on your website It’s a â€Å"get ‘em while they’re hot† approach that can lead to crazy high conversion rates when the situation is right. Recommended Reading: How to Effectively Measure Marketing ROI With Google Analytics and a Simple Formula Onboard Free Trial Users Finally, if you’re selling something with some kind of free trial like software, you can’t assume that they’re sold once they’ve signed up for a free trial. The true conversion - them becoming a paying customer - hasn’t happened yet. You still need to further engage and nurture them, and this is where it matter most. You can introduce tutorials, use cases, and more product-related content to get them to the final purchase point. For example, as noted in Val Geisler’s onboarding teardown, Mixmax  sends their free users an introduction to the product in the form of an email course or educational sequence. (Image source: valgeisler.com/email-onboarding-tear-down-mixmax/ Step 4: Activate Customers and Retain Them Forever Once someone becomes a customer and reaches the bottom of the sales funnel, you might think your job as a marketer is over. Sorry, but that’s not the case. Retaining customers and extending your relationship with them lets you optimize your lifetime customer value and increase your marketing ROI. So once someone becomes a customer, enjoy a very brief break, because soon it’s time to start working towards their next conversion. Email is one of the best ways to keep in touch with and nurture them here, too. You want to continually prove and increase value, let customers improve their experience, and make your product sticky in their lives, so they’ll renew, upsell, refill, or whatever you need them to do. It’s not too different from nurturing prospective customers, except that you can and should talk about your products and services more directly to keep customers engaged. And there are so many ways to do that. Recommended Reading: How to Select Marketing Metrics and KPIs to Monitor Keep Customers Engaged With Your Product One important way to use email is to keep people needing what you offer. Whether it’s an app, physical product, or service, remind them and help them keep it in their lives. (Image source: mine) I love the way Grammarly  does this. Since I use the free Chrome plugin running in the background, it’s not always at the forefront of my mind. But their weekly progress report emails giving me helpful stats and compliments (â€Å"You were quite the busy bee†), along with CTAs to use and upgrade my free account never let it fade to the background for long. Find Organic Upsell and Cross-Sell Opportunities In addition to keeping customers coming back, you also want to find opportunities to sell them bigger or related offers. The key to doing this without coming off as pushy, you’ll want to look for ways to recommend things in the context of the value you provide and your customer’s life. (Image source: mine) A great example of this is Care/Of vitamins. They send frequent product-based emails and newsletters that are super helpful and insightful, customized based on what products you buy from them. It allows customers to learn more about their health and products they’re already, and get even more free value. They win you over so well that the upsells and calls-to-action in the emails are completely natural and truly enticing. Activate Advocates With Referral and Word-of-Mouth Campaigns Finally, getting customers to buy again isn’t the only way to get more value and ROI from them. Customers have friends, colleagues, neighbors, and other people who might be your perfect customers. Advocacy marketing, referrals, and word-of-mouth let you use happy customers to find new ones just like them. While it takes a more mature product and funnel and should only be offered to satisfied and engaged customers, incentivizing already satisfied customers to share that satisfaction. Create a Yellow Brick Road With Your Email Funnels By now, you’ve seen multiple ways you can use email marketing at every stage of the sales funnel: You can generate leads with lead magnets, challenges, and other valuable free content Nurture those leads by segmenting and personalizing your emails and communication Convert them with retargeting, urgency, and epic onboarding Keep customers engaged long-term with customer emails and recommendations Whatever is holding back your funnel from achieving your marketing goals, you can pinpoint what stage of the journey is the problem and create an email funnel strategy to solve it.

Yanmamo essays

Yanmamo essays There are many differences between the South American Yanomamo culture and the North American culture that we have adapted to, but just at there is culture diversity between us, we have some similarities. The ethnography, which is chose, was Yanomamo written by Napoleon A. Chagnon, anthropologists. Chagnon tells us how to it was to live among the Yanomamo family, political and warfare system versus the American Culture. The Yanomamo are of patrilineal culture, male oriented and very sexist. For some reason they believe that, they are superior to women, so do some men in American culture. However, they are jolted back reality when the law gets involved, unfortunately Yanomamo men dont have this wake up call. Marriage is cross-cultural perspective. Yanomamo marriages are much different from that of American marriages. Yanomamo women are treated as materialistic objects and promised by their father or brother to a Yanomamo man in return for reciprocity. The reciprocity could be another Yanomamo women or political alliances. The trades are often practiced in the Yanomamo culture. Polygamy is also a part of the Yanomamo culture. Yanomamo women are kept in the males possession. The Yanomamo man tries to collect as many wives as he possibly can in order to demonstrate his power and masculinity. As polygamy in American Culture is referred to as bigamy which is against the law. Besides, polygamy, the practice of infanticide plays a role in the lack of women in their society. Yanomamo prefer to parent a male child rather than a female child, so in case a female is born she is killed at birth. This again proved their sexist beliefs that women are inferior. Many Yanomamo women fearing their husbands kill a female infant to avoid disappointing their so-called better half. To the people of American culture certain procedures of murdering a new born baby would be considered brutal, horrific and muti...

Building Customer Loyalty Essays

Building Customer Loyalty Essays Building Customer Loyalty Essay Building Customer Loyalty Essay This data will then be used for a progression of reports to determine status of the purchase order as It runs through the system. The principle goal is by customer provide a precise status of a purchase order that is submitted electronically. Over the last 10 years our company has fought with lost electronic orders and no outlook into status. The appeal has been generated to produce a database for customer service to retrieve, to be able to have one click access to status of a purchase order effortlessly. Also vital is a register of any impending lost orders for search to confirm customers are not asking on orders we have not yet handled. This will also help to outline metrics around order handling times to set standards for what is occurring today and create enhancements in those processing times. There will be seven tables in this database source system customer data, order data, corrections table data, comparison results table, drop ship corrections, end system data, and workflow status. The source system table will be comprised of columns for customer name, customer purchase order number, status, and transmitted date. The customer table will comprise of columns for customer name and customer number. Corrections table will offer columns for customer purchase order number, system reference data, date received and error message. Drop ship table will consist of customer purchase order number and error message. Workflow table will merely have customer purchase order number and status. End system table will comprise the data related to the sales order, sales order number, order date, customer purchase order number, and order status. Lastly the comparison table will be the output results of assessing all the tables together against the source yester table to end with a complied catalog of all orders by date selection with each status point. Since customer purchase order number is the shared Join element from each table it will be the main connection point. Some of the data covers additional data In the same domain as the purchase order number so It will be essential to have logic that focuses on this to prevent replication of rows. The data design will be text or numeric based on the type of data to certify that joins work accurately. This database will contain macros permitting user to import all the data effortlessly without having o key information manually, as well as permit for manual entry of data. It will also comprise of macros that complete the required reports so the users can implement one click reporting where conceivable. This will ensure stability in the output data. The data as It Is Introduced will be Joined to the primary tables Instead of generating new ones can time so Tanat over time tanner Is a comprehensive teases going Deck adequately to confirm users have sufficient data to offer status on any purchase order collected electronically. The primary scope of the database is orders located by EDI or electronic data interchange amongst customers and supplier. The long term goal is to also comprise outbound invoice and advance shipping notification data to be able to do same evaluations by customer or date range with status of those documents as well. The advantage of this database is to deliver better control over our data management and be able to arrange for quicker replies to our customers when asking about incoming purchase order documents. Today the data is fragmented and not offered in one location rendering it tough to track the full status of a particular purchase order. In conclusion the database will be managed by customer service and information system support personnel to deliver statements to customers on electronic orders. Retaining the reports for any orders that have not produced a sales order with one click response allows for customer service to be further proactive on possible lost order data. Possessing this data before the customer inquiries to get the request into the system and make available fulfillment updates once the customers demand will increase the affiliation between supplier and customer.

Mysterious mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mysterious mythology - Essay Example According to the myth, the brave hero Marduk kills a human embodiment of Tiamat and builds a new Universe. "First, he splits Tiamat's fallen body into two parts. With one half of her body, he creates the visible heavens; the other half he secures in the Underworld with a bolt, so that her waters cannot escape" (Alford, 2005). Then, Marduk constructs Heaven and organizes new constellations. Thus, the main scenario is following : 'The Order struggled the Chaos and won the right to possess Unviverse". The personification of the Order is an immortal hero, who is able to construct as well as destruct, so on the ruins of Chaotic Universe he builds a new one, which follows his strict rules and fits his scheme. It is important to mention that the myth also refers to an archetype of rebirth, since the body of fallen Apsu-Tiamat was used to create a new universe. Egyptian creation myth has many similarities, even though it is geocentric and narrates about the 'old Earth' which turned to chaotic state, since it existed between death and living. The character of the Great God frees the Earth from its body - and takes up, to the skies. "At the same time, the proto-earth gathers itself together, rises up from the watery abyss, splits open, and ejects the primeval matter from which the sky-ocean, the stars, the Sun, and the Moon will be born. This is the myth of the separation of the heavens from the earth" (Alford, 2005). The separation is followed by creation of upper and underworlds, heaven and stars. That is to say, the myth is connected with cataclysm, and the creation provides an understanding that ancient Egyptians adored Sun and prayed for its 'rebirth' (sunrise) to the Great God daily. Furthermore, the myth reflects the belief of supernatural power of Moon (which changes its position and size), starts and the Nile River, which influenced agriculture a lot. All of these usual, frequent events of nature were a continuous reminder of the power of new beginning which follows the death. The embodiment of Chaos in Egyptian mythology is a 'proto-Earth' which was destructed by the new order and renewed by the constructive power of Highest Deity.Ancient Greeks worshipped the Sun, the Moon and Olympic gods who easily controlled natural powers. While the adoration of the Sun and the Moon is traditional for ancient religions, the adoration of a special Olymplic race of gods has great meaning for the whole system of religion. The Greek creation also starts with cataclysms, which follow one another as well as generations of the proto-gods, and new gods had been replacing older deities until the world was created. Olympian gods represented natural forces in Greek mythology and there were gods of light, darkness, fertility, life, death, who participated in the creation of mankind. Thus, in ancient Greeks as an agricultural civiliz ation, focused on the natural forces as the main determinants of creation. Furthermore, the element of 'Chaos vs. Order struggle' is presented in an idea of chaotically changing generations of gods and titans, who finally came to a certain consent and constructed our planet.To my view, these three myths explain global cataclysm, which lead

Computers and Computer Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Computers and Computer Networks - Essay Example Parameters for this layer are the destination addresses. The Network Layer is associated with routing and directing data to different networks. Likewise, Local area networks, Wide area networks and Metropolitan Area Networks. The Transport layer is associated with check and balance of data packets. It ensures complete delivery of data in terms of files or messages. The Session Layer is associated with maintaining data sessions between different nodes on the network. It also analyzes and prevents collisions between data channels by prioritizing them. The Presentation Layer is associated with presenting the data by converting protocols from data conversion techniques, encryption techniques, binary conversion techniques etc. The Application layer is associated with software including email software, client / server software, FTP software, and much more. Network Components Functionality A simple definition of regenerative repeater is available in network dictionary which states it as â⠂¬Å"a device which regenerates incoming digital signals and then retransmit these signals on an outgoing circuit† The regenerative repeaters are the network devices, installed within the network to regenerate signals that may become weak or unreachable to the destination, due to long distance. These devices are implemented in long distance wired networks for transferring data geographically from one network to the other. As signals, are evolved via network cables, they become weak and attenuated over a certain distance within the same network, resulting in unreachable signals to the destination. This is where regenerative repeaters are useful as they regenerate signals received on their ports and sends the regenerated signals to all the other ports connected on the other end. Moreover, regenerative repeaters do not maintain a database as compare to Ethernet switches and operates on Physical Layer of the OSI model. Furthermore, regenerative repeaters are not compatible for rege nerating signals via two different networks. For instance, the regeneration of signals between a token ring network and Ethernet network is not supported. For example, there are two network locations, where the distance between the two is above 100 meters, repeaters are required to synchronize uninterruptible transmission of data from one network to the other. Otherwise, the attenuation may disturb the digital signals and may not reach the distance, which is above 100 meters. A simplest of definition for a network device known as bridge is as follows â€Å"Local Bridge is a bridge that directly interconnects networks in the same geographical area† (Local Bridge. 2007). Bridge has capabilities to develop network segments. The segments are developed to eliminate unnecessary broadcasting from some workstations or a department on the network. Consequently, the performance of the network will be efficient as bridges can segregate workstation from the network. As these devices oper ate on data link layer of the OSI model, it is implemented to amplify distance between network segments, allowing room for more workstations, to be attached within the same network. Moreover, the segregation of affected workstations from the network, eliminates network congestions and traffic choking. Bridges do not deal with the information available in the higher levels of the

ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 27

ART - Essay Example The flower vessel has got a lid or rather covering with the same decorations as those of the pot itself. This cube and the flower pot are placed on the extreme left of the picture. The second cube is placed on a large square of the same colour (light blue). Just like the first cube, this second cube is also placed on the brown wooden floor. Unlike the first cube, this cube is brightly illuminated of the three cubes and is at the central part of the photograph. On top of it are five dolls and a vase of flowers. The flowers are of various colours, ranging from pink to white. The first doll on the left hand side is bigger and taller than the others and looks like that of a middle-aged lady. She has white and pink flowers on her dark hair and she seems to be holding a bunch of flowers on her left hand .The second doll is small and is that of an old lady who appears to be sited down. She has got blue top with white sleeves and a pink dress. Next to this doll is another doll of an old man, maybe the same age with this lady and has got a grey fully grown beard. He is wearing a green top with khaki bright-brown trousers. He is also sited down. Next to these two dolls are two children whose sex is not very clear. The one next to the old man is dressed in purple top and bright-brown trousers as well. The next doll is dressed in pink top and brown trousers. These two appear to be in good moods and they appear like they are hugging and kissing. They are all sited except for the first one who is standing in what appears to be a green mat. At the background is a very clear reflection from the bright lighting and a shadow of this cube, the dolls and the flowers. Next to this is the last cube which is identical to the first one only that it is dimly illuminated and therefore its colour appears a little bit dull. On top is a flower

Archplot in the film Die Hard Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Archplot in the film Die Hard - Movie Review Example These struggles must represent the protagonist's particular desire to achieve his objectives against the antagonistic force. There is a linear time frame which characterises the temporal features of the story. This linear time frame is produced as a result of discrete and causally related events. The final feature of the Archplot is the nature of the story's ending. The ending leaves no room for doubt as to the fate of the characters. The ending, in short, is characterised by a finality which cannot be altered. This essay will argue that, in nearly all respects, the Die Hard screenplay conforms closely to the main features of the Archplot. This screenplay pursues the fundamental features noted by McKee, and a textual analysis of the screenplay will be employed to analyse each of these features of the Archplot, respectively. There is a preliminary question as to whether the main protagonist is active or passive. The protagonist in Die Hard is John McClane, a New York City police officer. The script introduces him as "mid-thirties, good-looking, athletic and tired from his trip" (Die Hard: 3). He has a Beretta pistol visible through his open jacket and, in an early attempt to establish the protagonist as an active character, the script contrasts him with a fellow airline passenger when "McClane turns, looks at the Babbit clone next to him. Caught, he tenses, holds his armrests in exaggerated fear" (Die Hard: 3). The Babbit reference is to a famous American literary work which bemoans the passivity and the helplessness of the working man. The physical description of the protagonist, the gun, and the explicit literary reference seek to immediately establish McClane as the anti-Babbit, or the opposite of passive and helpless. McKee establishes various guidelines, or commandments if you will, for creating an active protagonist within the Archplot framework. First, the action must always be within the control of the protagonist. This does not require that the protagonist drive the action forward, indeed the protagonist may be placed in a reactionary role, but that the protagonist is always connected in some way to the plot as it unfolds. Second, the plot must pose challenges and obstacles for the protagonist; in this way, an active protagonist is one whom is presented with barriers to the achievement of certain goals and objectives. Finally, the active protagonist is characterised by an event or a situation which throws his life out of balance or in some other way renders him vulnerable to an antagonistic force. The John McClane character conforms extraordinarily close to McKee's notion of an active protagonist. Die Hard begins and ends with the protagonist. John McClane comes to Los Angeles, becomes embroiled in an adversarial conflict, reigns supreme in the conflict, disposes of the adversary, and then continues to enjoy the original purpose of his visit. As an initial matter, McClane is perfectly tailored for the conflict which he encounters, describing himself as "a New York cop who used to be a New York kid, and I got six months backlog of New York scumbags I'm still trying to put behind bars. I don't just get up

Color-blind racism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Color-blind racism - Essay Example The study aims at discussing colour-blind prejudice and explaining how neoliberal was drawn on old thoughts and experiences of race. Critics allege that many people apply the use of colour- blindness as way of avoiding the subject of prejudice and racial bias. The term is used to weaken populace legal right achieved by some minority collections. In the United States for instance, the country was made by settlers. Roads and canals were built by Irish while the Chinese were employed to finish the transcontinental railway line (Carl 1). Due to the competition among the settlers and workers especially from China, they were forced to resolve to less in order to retain jobs. Thus, the employer has effectively removed the difference between illegal and lawful settlers. They all lined up outside the company long before the doors were unlocked to be the first to start work. Around the globe, neo-liberalism has been inflicted by strong financial organizations like the World Bank, and the international monetary finance. World nations are told to minimize their import restriction, monetary controls and duty. The process of neo-liberalism was made possible in order to protect their sovereignty as well as competitive gain (Massey 124). They are informed to allow internationals the right to control banks, industries and public utilities and to exploit natural reserves. The exploration was to be done without restrictions in order to endorse all round economic development. In the current global economy, capitalist market strategy has taken grasp across the globe more than any time in history. It attracted more region of the planet and a growing section of the populace into capitalistic social connection. The outcome is an increasingly rough development and ever-greater social disruptions worldwide. At the time of the North America free trade agreement (NAFTA) cooperation, for instance, Mexican President Carlos

Journal Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Journal - Coursework Example Education today starts at a very young age, at the level of preschool and kindergarten classes. However, modern education seems to have taken a detour, as it had deviated from its primary purpose, which is to prepare kids for the larger things in life, to be productive adult citizens. In this regard, I find the list to be very clear; I had gone over each item and found everything to be clear enough for me. Each expectation on that list can be considered as very reasonable and logical. A particular skill that I want to develop this semester is engagement in the childrens play and along this line, in exploration of childrens skills through careful monitoring of childrens play. I am a very shy person and it is this one characteristic trait which I must overcome so I can be an effective teacher to kids. At first glance, it should not be too difficult because I am basically dealing with small children, and yet kids these days are very smart too and able to discern whether their teacher is correctly engaged with them or not. It is then necessary for me to deal with them in a natural and spontaneous way, to hide my shyness with intentional interactions in order to make a positive difference in these little childrens lives. Teachers today must also be researchers, to be more effective at their task of educating young minds, like choosing the right curriculum to use in their learning programs. The curriculum for children today has been commercialized and compartmentalized, to the extent that time spent on learning has been rigidly regimented, and the time is too short. This time-based approach is not conducive to a quality learning environment. The process of learning is harried; play for children is no longer fun for them and so learning suffers a lot. In childrens educational curriculum today, quality is ill-defined and so objectives are muddled or murk. The first strategy to help kids is to support play, provide support, and observe. Moreover, the emphasis on

Archplot in the film Die Hard Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Archplot in the film Die Hard - Movie Review Example These struggles must represent the protagonist's particular desire to achieve his objectives against the antagonistic force. There is a linear time frame which characterises the temporal features of the story. This linear time frame is produced as a result of discrete and causally related events. The final feature of the Archplot is the nature of the story's ending. The ending leaves no room for doubt as to the fate of the characters. The ending, in short, is characterised by a finality which cannot be altered. This essay will argue that, in nearly all respects, the Die Hard screenplay conforms closely to the main features of the Archplot. This screenplay pursues the fundamental features noted by McKee, and a textual analysis of the screenplay will be employed to analyse each of these features of the Archplot, respectively. There is a preliminary question as to whether the main protagonist is active or passive. The protagonist in Die Hard is John McClane, a New York City police officer. The script introduces him as "mid-thirties, good-looking, athletic and tired from his trip" (Die Hard: 3). He has a Beretta pistol visible through his open jacket and, in an early attempt to establish the protagonist as an active character, the script contrasts him with a fellow airline passenger when "McClane turns, looks at the Babbit clone next to him. Caught, he tenses, holds his armrests in exaggerated fear" (Die Hard: 3). The Babbit reference is to a famous American literary work which bemoans the passivity and the helplessness of the working man. The physical description of the protagonist, the gun, and the explicit literary reference seek to immediately establish McClane as the anti-Babbit, or the opposite of passive and helpless. McKee establishes various guidelines, or commandments if you will, for creating an active protagonist within the Archplot framework. First, the action must always be within the control of the protagonist. This does not require that the protagonist drive the action forward, indeed the protagonist may be placed in a reactionary role, but that the protagonist is always connected in some way to the plot as it unfolds. Second, the plot must pose challenges and obstacles for the protagonist; in this way, an active protagonist is one whom is presented with barriers to the achievement of certain goals and objectives. Finally, the active protagonist is characterised by an event or a situation which throws his life out of balance or in some other way renders him vulnerable to an antagonistic force. The John McClane character conforms extraordinarily close to McKee's notion of an active protagonist. Die Hard begins and ends with the protagonist. John McClane comes to Los Angeles, becomes embroiled in an adversarial conflict, reigns supreme in the conflict, disposes of the adversary, and then continues to enjoy the original purpose of his visit. As an initial matter, McClane is perfectly tailored for the conflict which he encounters, describing himself as "a New York cop who used to be a New York kid, and I got six months backlog of New York scumbags I'm still trying to put behind bars. I don't just get up

Journal Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Journal - Coursework Example Education today starts at a very young age, at the level of preschool and kindergarten classes. However, modern education seems to have taken a detour, as it had deviated from its primary purpose, which is to prepare kids for the larger things in life, to be productive adult citizens. In this regard, I find the list to be very clear; I had gone over each item and found everything to be clear enough for me. Each expectation on that list can be considered as very reasonable and logical. A particular skill that I want to develop this semester is engagement in the childrens play and along this line, in exploration of childrens skills through careful monitoring of childrens play. I am a very shy person and it is this one characteristic trait which I must overcome so I can be an effective teacher to kids. At first glance, it should not be too difficult because I am basically dealing with small children, and yet kids these days are very smart too and able to discern whether their teacher is correctly engaged with them or not. It is then necessary for me to deal with them in a natural and spontaneous way, to hide my shyness with intentional interactions in order to make a positive difference in these little childrens lives. Teachers today must also be researchers, to be more effective at their task of educating young minds, like choosing the right curriculum to use in their learning programs. The curriculum for children today has been commercialized and compartmentalized, to the extent that time spent on learning has been rigidly regimented, and the time is too short. This time-based approach is not conducive to a quality learning environment. The process of learning is harried; play for children is no longer fun for them and so learning suffers a lot. In childrens educational curriculum today, quality is ill-defined and so objectives are muddled or murk. The first strategy to help kids is to support play, provide support, and observe. Moreover, the emphasis on

Fact Sheet Essay Example for Free

Fact Sheet Essay n the United States, there are approximately 1.7 million people who are suffering from limb loss. There are around 185,000 amputation related discharges in the U.S annually. Limb loss is greatest among those who are suffering from diabetes. Most of these people resort to the use of artificial limbs and joints. The use of prosthetics or the artificial limbs and joints is not new in science. The use thereof can be traced back to ancient Egypt. However, the formal use of artificial legs and amputation as life saving measures were only recognized in 1529 through the efforts of Ambroise Pare. Despite the evolution and introduction of different kinds of prosthetics, the three main parts remain to be the same. These three basic parts are the pylon, socket and suspension system. Among the modern prosthetics used is the Micro-Processor C-leg. This type of prosthetic is quite costly but the effects thereof are satisfying. Through this leg, a disabled patient can walk, climb, ride a bicycle and even play golf. The use of prosthetics provides wide range of advantages. Among the notable advantages is the mobility that it provides to the disabled patient. Another is the restoration of self-confidence in the patient by allowing him to function normally. Â  Among the disadvantages are intrinsic and extrinsic pain, skin complications, as well as limited movement. Despite the fact that prosthetics allow one to perform his daily tasks, this does not mean that the artificial leg is as efficient as the normal arms or legs.

Implementation Of New Product Service Or Process Purpose Marketing Essay

Implementation Of New Product Service Or Process Purpose Marketing Essay KELLOGG is the worlds leading producer of cereal products with total sales volume of nearly $13 billion during 2008. Kellogg products are manufactured in 19 countries and marketed in more than 180 countries around the world. Major Kelloggs products include crackers, Toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles and vegetarian foods (http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/ Accessed on March 03, 2011). The company famous brands include all- bran, corn flakes, keebler, pop-tarts, eggo, cheez-it, nutri-grain, rice krispies, bearnaked, morningstar farms, famous amos, special K, and frosted mini-wheats. Mission statement: Kellogg is a global company committed to building long-term growth in volume and profit and to enhancing its worldwide leadership position by providing nutritious food products of superior value http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/ Accessed on March 03, 2011) In a rapidly changing and competitive business environment, it is not easy to predict: future trends in consumer tastes and preferences competitors actions market conditions. Creating new products or making changes to existing brands involves making investment decisions, in the hope of making a return. Weighing up future returns against an investment is crucial and involves an element of risk, because the future is never certain. Previous experience, together with market research information helps to predict future events and outcomes. However, all business activities involve some element of risk. There is often a link between risk and return. More the risk, the higher the likely returns (or profits); however, a balance needs to be struck. In making a decision to develop a new brand, it needs to decide how much investment to make and to forecast the likelihood of a successful outcome. Decision makers aim to develop a long-term strategy to meet a range of objectives such as: growing market share developing a unique market position creating consumer or brand loyalty generating a targeted level of profit. This case study describes a major investment in Kelloggs All-Bran. It illustrates business case for the new product and identifies how the companys investment in new product development serves to strengthen a global brand. Later part of the essay will reflect an outline plan which identifies resources required for the project that is materials, equipment, labour, and training and development of staff 2. LAUNCHING OF KELLOGGs ALL-BRAN 2.1) NEED IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS: In an uncertain world where the organisations strategy is to focus on products and brands that are either the market leader or in a strong position the company believes that this focus upon core and successful products enables it to provide consistent and reliable returns and rewards for its stakeholders. Before proceeding with the change, Kellogg carried out some detailed market research with consumers to discover their thoughts and feelings. There are two main approaches to market research i.e.: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research involves working in detail with a relatively small number of consumers e.g. observing and listening to them talking in small groups in which they discuss the brand, products, packaging, advertising ideas, etc. The qualitative research helped Kellogg to develop the concept of a family of fibre brands. The advertising and promotional materials with which the consumer groups worked were very similar to the end promotions that Kellogg wished to communicate. Quantitative research involved using questionnaire and survey approaches with a much larger sample of targeted consumers to estimate the impact on sales if these changes were put into market. Kelloggs undertook market research by answering the questions as per questionaire-1 in Appendix. In September 2004, Kellogg planned to introduce a new product i.e. All-Bran to make the benefits more relevant to consumers. Promotion of feel great message was featured on 8 million packs and on the All-Bran website. It focused on the fact that high-fibre diets may help people to feel lighter and more energetic as well as aiding the digestive system. Bran which is high in fiber is needed in a humans diet. It is best to be used in moderation to gain the positive health it promotes. The high bran, high fibre cereal has been designed to aid a healthy digestive system and to help people control their morning eating habits; without compromising on taste! Research showed that consumers see cereals as a natural product. This is a strong selling point. It makes it vital to feature the ingredients on the packaging. This is because All-Bran range can be seen as part of a daily healthy diet (http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-studybuilding-brand-order-to-sustain-its-life-cycle Accessed on March 03, 2011). 2.2) OBJECTIVES: By setting up SMART (specific, measurable, achievable or agreed, realistic and time-related) objectives Kellogg would know whether each objective for launching All-Bran had been achieved. The objectives were clear and were communicated to all staff. This made sure that all staff agreed to follow certain actions to achieve the stated aims. By setting these objectives Kellogg set a direction that would take the business to where it wanted to be three years into the future. Major objectives include; encourage and support physical activity among all sections of the population use resources to sponsor activities and run physical activity focused community programmes for its consumers and the public in general increase the association between Kellogg and physical activity use the cereal packs to communicate the balance message to consumers introduce food labeling that would enable consumers to make decisions about the right balance of food 2.3) TARGET MARKET: It is the process of evaluating each market segment and select one or more segments to enter. Premiums and gifts are outstanding tools for call to mind initial trial, brand switching, and repeat purchase. Now and then company is able to target because they are financially strong and they can arrange a vast product line. People aged 55 and over are the target markets of Kelloggs ALL BRAN .Kelloggs ALL BRAN are easily available in urban and rural areas all over the country. It has been targeted every segment and we can say that Kellogg has a fragmented market. Market attractiveness factors for All-bran include market, size, differentiation possibilities, bargaining power of customers, seasonality, distribution, product growth and stage in product life cycle Main factors influencing marketing of a product are; a) Economic and technological factors i.e. Investment intensity, Industry capacity, Technology, Barriers to entry and exit and Access to supplies b) Competitive i.e. competitive structure, competitive groupings, substitute products, price, and Individual competitor analysis 3. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The product life cycle is the period over which it appeals to customers and can be illustrated in a series of stages showing how consumer interest, and hence sales, has altered over time. Kelloggs All-Bran has a long and distinguished history. Like many other famous products, however, it is important from time to time to re-energize its life cycle. To prolong the life cycle of a brand or product an organisation needs to use skilful marketing techniques to inject new life into the product. The traditional product life-cycle shows how a product goes through 4 stages during its life in the market place. At each stage in the product life-cycle, there is a close relationship between sales and profit so when a product goes into decline, profit decreases. When a product is introduced to the market, growth is slow due to limited awareness. As the product is establishing itself, sales will start to increase during the period of growth. As the product reaches maturity, the company needs to inject new life into the product; either by creating brand extensions or variants otherwise the product will reach maturity and start to decline. All-Bran is standing on the maturity stage with 65% of total market share. To stay spirited in the market it needs to introduce time to time new offers and flavors and different promotional schemes. Manufacturing capability is another key issue. If launches of new products are successful in global markets, Kelloggs must have the manufacturing capaci ty to meet consumer demand as well as the supply chain necessary to reach those consumers. When a company like Kelloggs is investigating a change in its marketing it can consider four elements (http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-studyusing-new-product-development-to-grow-a-brand Accessed on May 03, 2011) of marketing mix or 4Ps: 3.1) PRODUCT: This is about meeting changing needs and wants of customers through offers. The growth in healthier lifestyles creates opportunities for Kelloggs to increase the number of products for this segment. In case of ALL BRAN, the product is the cereal production by the company. Core Product is cereal, for breakfast and as a snack. Actual product is high quality level; different tastes, flavors, packaging and the symbol K. Augmented product provides tastes and energy as well as nutritional ingredients. 3.2) PRICE: Pricing decision is very important because the survival of a company in the market depends upon pricing decision. Pricing strategy depends on pricing objectives. The amount a company charges for its product is important in determining sales. Super brands like Kelloggs can charge a premium because of the strength of the brand and product quality. 3.3) PLACE: Where customers can purchase the product is also an important factor in determining sales. If a brand like All-Bran is not stocked in supermarkets where most purchases are made, sales will be lost. 3.4) PROMOTION: The marketing mix activities of a product planning, pricing, and distribution are performed mainly within the organization or between the organization and its marketing partners. However, with promotional activities, the firm communicates directly with potential customers. Kelloggs uses above the line promotion like TV advertising as well as below the line promotion like on-pack promotions and sampling. The market research revealed several matters that Kellogg needed to address when alerting the public to changes in the brand family. 1. Some consumers might find the act of placing a range of separate products under the All-Bran brand confusing. The solution was to ensure that packs clearly display both the power brand name (All-Bran) and also the product name (e.g. Bran Flakes). 2. Research showed that consumers see cereals as a natural product. This is a strong selling point. It makes it vital to feature the ingredients on the packaging. 3. To give the campaign maximum impact, Kellogg carefully co-ordinated television and radio advertising, PR and in-store promotions. These encouraged consumers to try out and reappraise the revamped products. A products life cycle may last only a few months (e.g. with a fad, or craze) or, as with Special K, for many years. Although it was a successful product, Kelloggs recognised the opportunity to stretch the brand by investments that would: revitalize it extend and further develop its growth phase and Help to delay the onset of the maturity phase. 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MARKET 4.1) MARKETING ENVIRONMENT: This can be divided into two broad categories; a) Micro Environment: The Micro Environment of the Kellog consists off; The Company: has to take other groups or departments of company into account. Such as finance, research and development, purchasing, operation, accounting department. Suppliers: Kelloggs obtains its raw materials of wheat, corn, cocoa, rice and sugar from primary suppliers around the world. It is a large-scale manufacturer and stores sufficient stocks to meet customer orders. Marketing Intermediaries Kelloggs does not sell its breakfast cereals directly to consumers. It uses intermediaries like wholesalers, supermarkets, high street stores and hotels. Kelloggs has major relationships in the tertiary sector. These include the major retail supermarkets such as Tesco and ASDA and some of the wholesale sector such as Makro. Customers: The Kelloggs Company mainly focuses on customer market that consists of people aged 55 and over and weight conscious people. Competitors: Nestle is the only competitor of Kellogg. b. Macro Environment: The external factors which affect a companys planning and performance, and are beyond its control: for example, socio-economic, legal and technological change (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_macro_environment_of_Kellogg) There are many environmental issues which should be looked at to get the broader picture of Kelloggs Company. These issues can be grouped into six categories: political, economical, social-demographic, technological, legal and ethical. The acronym for this is a Pestle analysis. Political /Legal Environment: UK has a stable political environment hence, private enterprise is encouraged, which gives Kellogg an opportunity to introduce new products and improve the existing ones. Economic Environment: Economic factors are those that affect consumer buying behavior. As this is an era of great depression, there is a change in the income of the consumer so the sales of Kellogg are affected by this. Natural Environment: The natural environment of Kelloggs involves all the natural resources that are needed as inputs by the company and are affected by market activities. Theyve set themselves a number of targets to meet by 2015, and are constantly checking their progress along the way so they can see how theyre doing. By 2015 they aim to have reduced all of the following by 15-20% per metric tonne of food produced since 2005. Energy use Greenhouse gas emissions Water use Waste sent to landfill (For waste to landfill, they achieved a 41.5% reduction by 2009 and have set themselves a new target of a further 20% reduction by 2015 against a 2009 baseline.) Socio-cultural Environment: UK has a tradition of eating cereal as a breakfast so Kellogg has got high market. Technological Environment:: UK has good infrastructure and distribution channel which again is highly favorable for Kellogg to grow further. Responding to the Marketing Environment: Kelloggs has utilized integrated business units and compensation incentive systems to increase the accountability of the cash expenditure and improve the functionality of the organization. Products sales have been increasing in the UK as well as in other countries. The pricing and availability of the product determines the profitability of a product. Streamlining many of the operations in recent times has helped the Kellogg increase the profit margin. More resources could therefore be spent on the marketing and advertisement of products. In addition, Kelloggs also increased the number and frequency of promotional offers more toys and DVDs in cereal boxes, tie-ins with movies and charitable donations to local schools and charities. In 2002, a new strategy of Volume to Value was introduced throughout the company. 4.2) MARKET SEGMENTATION PROCESS The process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment. Today Kelloggs is doing its business in United states, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, United Kingdom, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. In this project we are only discussing its market segmentation in United Kingdom. They are segmenting the market in the form of geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. All-Bran Original is available in Australia, Somalia, USA, Canada, Colombia, UK, Italy, Mexico, France, Japan, Latin America, and South Africa 4.3) MARKET TARGETTING PROCESS After dividing the market into various segments, the Kellogg Company has to decide which segment it can serve better. So first they evaluated each segments. They want the sets of buyers who share common needs and characteristics to serve. Kellogg mainly used undifferentiated (mass) marketing strategy because cereal will always be mass marketed. They have to do business on large scale so Kellogg Company is using mass marketing. 4.4) PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS New product development process of product starts with idea generation. Commercialization Product Development Marketing Strategy Development Idea Generation Test Marketing Business Analysis Concept Development Testing Idea Screening 5. USE OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL RESOURCES Use of internal and external resources is crucial in the launch of a new product. 5.1) INTERNAL RESOURCES: Idea of Kelloggs came from; Product development teams Formal research and development (asked consumers through questionnaires ) Brains of its executives, scientists, engineers, manufacturing staff and salespeople Companies successful entrepreneurial programs (encourages employee to think about new cereal product ) Value innovation program 5.2) EXTERNAL RESOURCES: Customers (through questionnaires) Competitors (Kelloggs get clue about their new product by watching competitors ads, analyze the sales, and then decide). Distributors Suppliers (tell company about new concepts, techniques and materials that can be used to develop new products). 6. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS: a) Kellogg All Bran is the only large, very high fibre brand in the market place. Private label provides the main competition. b) The general public remains highly aware of ALL BRAN c) The ALL BRAN brand is strong; consumers associate it with healthy activity. WEAKNESS: a) Awareness of the brand had been declining because of little promotional (e.g. advertising) activity in recent years. b) Compared with leading brands such as Kellogg corn flakes, the individual fibre products have limited scale, making it hard to make advertising investment economic. c) The preposition that a fibre cereal keeps you regular is less motivating to consumers than in the past. Consumers now more interested in products inner health OPPORTUNITIES a) People are looking to eat more healthily b) The rapid growth of non cereal products that meet inner health need (pro biotic drinks and yogurts) c) In the UK the number of people over 55(the products main consumers) continues to increase. THREATS: a) The sales of private labels fibre cereal is growing. b) There is a consumers trend towards the tastier cereal 7. CONCLUSION By creating the power brand All-Bran and providing the right sort of well researched promotional support, Kellogg has been able to inject renewed vigor into a family of related products. Through appropriate promotional activities and more relevant messages, Kellogg has re-awakened consumers interest in products that can play an important part in developing a healthy diet in a health-conscious world. Regular campaigns of promotional activity are helpful in enabling all organizations to sustain their own life cycle and those of their brands and products. It is early days in evaluating the success of the marketing activity supporting All-Bran but the signs are good. Appendix: Primary Research: Survey questionnaire-1 What changes taking place in society are likely to affect the product? How might new technologies affect our business? What are likely to be the future market trends? Where are the opportunities within the market place? What new categories would appeal to the target market? How far do consumers think the brand could stretch into the market for different product categories? Survey questionnaire-2 1. What is age bracket do you belong to? 13-16 yrs 17-30 yrs 31-39 yrs 39 yrs or above 2. Which income bracket do you belong to? GBP 50-200 GBP 200-500 GBP 500-1000 GBP 1000 above 3. What is your marital status? Single Married 4. What is the brand of the cereal that you usually purchase? Nestle Kellogg 5. Is ALL BRAN your favorite cereal? Yes No 6. How often do you purchase cereal? Everyday Once a week Once a month 7. Please rank accordingly to the characteristics of ALL BRANS: a) Taste b)Price c) Flavor d) Packaging 1=least preferred 5=most preferred 1 2 3 4 5 8. Do you like the ads of ALL BRAN? Yes No 9. What flavors of Kellogg do you like the most? Corn flakes All bran Rice kripsies Special K