Week 10 EOC -- Volkswagen

The term Volkswagen in German means family car, the fact that VW has presented itself this way since its start in the 1930s proves that a car company can remain true to what it is and what it believes and still create sellable, dependable vehicles. While they have extended their line beyond just the beetle and have entered into a little higher market with the Touareg SUV Volkswagen and remained pretty true to form, still offering very affordable cars that get great gas mileage and are dependable cars. Ten fun facts about VW, enjoy.

*The idea for the Beetle came from Adolph Hitler, who while in prison in 1924 following the unsuccessful putsch on the Federal German capital. Hitler conceived of an idea to solve Germany's unemployment problem, the Government would build special roads (autobahns) for motor vehicles. He would also mass-produce a car ( the peoples car, the Volkswagen ) which the average man in the street would be able to buy.

*The Design's for the Volkswagen were not finalized until 1933 and the Volkswagen finally saw the light of day in 1939

*Ferdinand Porsche, in April 1934 was given the important task of designing this special car within 10 months

*Audi and Volkswagens use the same parts bin

*The Karmann Ghia was first produced in 1956 to spice up the VW product line

*Volkswagen had innovative advertising campaigns, combining witty humor with simple facts.

*Volkswagens have been produced in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and the USA. The US plant in Virginia closed in 1988.

*Brazil and Mexico still produce VW vehicles.

*Almost 22 million air cooled Beetles were produced before their discontinuation in 2003.

*On 24 May 2005 VW presented a Touran (it’s 100,000,000th vehicle) to the German President’s wife Eva Louise Köhler.

(sites used include, VW Fun Facts, Volkswagen Trivia, and Volkswagen-Talk.com)

Week 9 EOC -- McDonalds

While the idea of a $10 hamburger at McDonalds may seem outrageous to some I think that it is definitely a possibility if the chain made a few small changes to the menu. Right now eating organically produced food that was raised close the restaurant is the new craze across the nation among the bourgeois masses. The fact that this food is all natural and seemingly not mass produced in a foreign country allows for a higher price tag. In essence if McDonalds were to add higher quality meals to their menu they would be able to charge more. If for instance they began offering whole wheat buns, farm raised fresh beef patties, and organic vegetables the price tag would go up and perhaps the type of clientele would expand as well allowing the chain to reach even further in its never ending quest to be number one. Other options may be to consider offering baked yukon gold french fries, a higher quality potato than that of it’s ‘Idaho spud’ counterpart and healthier than the deep frying of their regular fries allowing for a higher price tag to accompany the organic burger. Making these changes would more than likely not be a huge strain on the company as they already have all the necessary equipment to make the hamburgers, they would just have to order better ingredients, and I would assume that they have some sort of oven/heating device in which they would be able to bake the fries. If McDonalds were willing to make these and perhaps some other changes, I see no reason why they would not be able to feature a $10 hamburger on their menu.

Week 8 EOC -- UPC

Introducing a new fragrance at this time from an unknown company would be difficult. Entering a market that already has so many options makes it that much more important for my fragrance to have something that will make it stand out. Cimeta Argent is a fragrance for a very particular man, a man who knows what he wants and has the means to get it. He is a man who knows about and has a personal style and a way of doing things and he chooses new products for their ability to enhance these activities. In this sense I feel that the main competition for a fragrance like Cimeta Argent is the men’s line of fragrances produced by Tom Ford; including Tom Ford for Men, Black Orchid, and Grey Vetitver.

The stand out selling factor for Tom Ford for Men is the fact that it was the first fragrance to utilize the fragrance of the Indian cypriol root that ‘emits an animalistic sensuality and endows the scent with its sexiness.’ The fragrance also utilizes the scent of the Moroccan grapefruit flower which only blossoms for three weeks out of the year to make the scent even more special. (Tom Ford for Men)

Black Orchid is set apart by the amount and the variety of scents that the fragrance utilizes. While all of the scents are of a floral or woodsy background, they are combined in a new, intoxicating way. The opening notes of black truffle immediately draw the customer in with their inviting aroma, a smell that is known immediately but that one may have no conscious memory of. (Truffles) The scent continues with the scent of the signature Tom Ford black orchid mixed with other dark fruits and ends in vanilla mixed with warm balsam, creating a fragrance for a more reserved man than Tom Ford for Men. (Black Orchid)

Grey Vetiver is the newest addition and known perhaps for its simplicity as opposed to the other brands fragrances. Opening with orange flower and sage it slowly makes its way to a warm base of amber wood and vetiver root. The vetiver used in the fragrance is extracted in a unique method used only by the Tom Ford company and is said by connoisseurs to make for the most distinctly elegant vetiver scent available, therefore creating Grey Vetiver’s niche market. (Grey Vetiver)


Cimeta Argent takes from the Tom Ford brand the idea that scents can be an elegant combination of the most exotic ingredients and still function as a beautiful creation both alone and when worn. However, something that the three fragrances above do not have is the art of subtlety. Once applied, the fragrances are very strong and distinctive, everyone will know that someone wearing a Tom Ford fragrance has arrived. The appeal of Cimeta Argent is that it is a more sensual fragrance. It is a fragrance that is able to combine exotic flavors in a way that makes them only known to the user and those to whom the user becomes closely acquainted. This subtlety allows those who became acquainted with the user to have another means of remembrance, a unique method that will keep them connected until next they meet. Scent memories are perhaps the most lasting, they are connected to emotional memories which we are able to recall more accurately for longer periods of time than those of sight alone. (Sense of Smell Institute) Cimeta Argent will make any man memorable, the rest is up to you.

Fragrance Pitch -- Week 7 EOC

Cimeta Argent


He walks into the room and people stop. Silently, he is able to transfix them just by being present. Is it his dress, his face, his manner? He makes his way to the bar, orders an old fashioned, and converses with friends. She can’t take her eyes off of him, she needs to know more, she needs to know him. She makes her way towards him, unknowing what force is drawing her to him. She stops. He looks. She knows. The rest is up to him.

Cimeta Argent is an intoxicating mix of spicy cinnamon with a hint of exotic fennel seed once it reaches its base. The journey from the top notes will take one on an olfactory adventure through the woodsy forests of the South India where we extract the finest sandalwood oils by hand, and finally ending in the jungles of Sri Lanka where we again hand pick cinnamon plants for their special spicy notes and enhance those notes with the slightest hint of fennel to add an extra layer to the base. Cimeta Argent is a scent for the man who appreciates the finer things life has to offer and the financial capacity to do so. The scent will be available exclusively at Haute New York, Henri Bendel, and Barney's locations in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Cimeta Argent is a fragrance for the man who is confident in himself and allows this confidence to radiate throughout a room so that people notice him, and the fragrance ads a distinctive scent that they will remember him by. Cimeta Argent, the rest is up to you.

Week 5 EOC

The super bowl is a time for many to join together with friends and family and be social rather than watching the football game itself. I know that many of the people I spoke with said that the commercials are the best part and many watch for just that reason. This year my favorite commercial was the ad created for Volkswagon. It was a kitchy ad, one that spoke to the companies roots and reminded us of a game that we played in our youth. When we were younger there was a game, the slug bug game, whenever a VW bug passed by on the road you ‘slugged’ the person sitting next to you and said the color of the bug that just drove by. VW expanded this idea in their commercial to every one of their product lines. There were people in everyday situations, jogging, riding the bus, walking to work, who were slugging their neighbors as a new VW Toureg or VW Jetta passed by, while still stating the color of the vehicle. VW I think has always had ingenious marketing strategies, this one being that it will remind us of our youth and a time of innocence and may persuade purchasers to go to their products that they remember from their youth. In the past though VW has also done well, with their 1960s Lemon ad they went above and beyond by showing a car that looked perfectly fine and saying that ‘we pluck the lemons, you get the plums.’ It is interesting because bugs at the time were being called lemons by those who were fond of American made vehicles. This ad from the super bowl I feel will become another one of these ‘lemon’ ads. One that shows that while VW has a commitment to excellence they are also willing to poke fun at their corporate image to make themselves more relatable to the general populous.

Week 4 EOC -- Part 2

While Mad Men is a very historically accurate portrayal of time in the American past, it also portrays with vivid accuracy the advertising and marketing world of then, and also of now. In episode one we watched as Don was trying to come up with an advertising campaign that would still make people want to purchase Lucky Strike cigarettes even though Reader’s Digest had just pronounced them unhealthy. As a firm it would seem that Sterling Cooper went through all the necessary steps. They did research, they found a target market, all Don had to do was put this information together and create an advertising campaign. This is where things got tumultuous. The marketing director proposed that there is a psychological function in which people have a ‘death wish’ that they will smoke no matter what. Don was also told on at least two occasions that people smoke and will continue to smoke. Don had to throw all this information aside, he is not a marketer, he is not trying to get people a product that they want or need, he is trying to sell a product to the people. He knew he needed a way to make people purchase the product and that was not by telling them that since they were going to die anyway they might as well smoke Lucky Strikes while doing it. Though the marketing research provided him with information, it was his job as an ad man to take that information further and create a product or image for people to purchase.

Week 4 EOC -- Part One

In 1984 the Macintosh by Apple was introduced to the world. I think that the ad that was used in particular shows how much Apple knows about its customers wants, as well as foreshadows the company’s marketing prowess. The ad came at a time of uncertainty in the world. People were just getting over the fear that was spread needlessly about communists taking over the country and after reading 1984 by George Orwell many were scared of what the future may become, if the government grew too large and began taking over their lives and they end up becoming just like everyone else. I think that Apple was also trying to use this as a metaphor for IBM the other major producer of personal computers. IBM at the time was ‘the man’ the big corporation that was only worried about sales and profits and making sure that everyone had this piece of equipment that would change their lives. There were no other producers of the personal computer at the time and IBM was becoming a monopoly, not a choice by consumers but the only option, one that would perhaps grow so large that they may lose their basic freedom of choice. Apple wanted to change that, they wanted to produce a product that not only performed well and was easier to use, but they also created another option for the individual purchasing the personal computer. No longer were they bound to buy a product because it was the only one available, they had a choice, a fundamental right that as Americans we believe we deserve. No longer would IBM become a large monster taking over our lives, we were saved, saved by Apple.

Week 3 EOC

The goal of most companies it would seem, other than making profits, is to provide great customer service in the hopes that customers will continue to return to their brands (thus making greater profits). Nowhere was this more apparent than the first time I purchased an Apple computer. It was my second year at the University of Utah and my HP Pavilion computer had just crashed. I tried numerous times to get the computer fixed in a prompt matter but no matter which store I took it to get it fixed it was not going to happen quickly nor at a price point in which purchasing another computer wasn’t the better option. After the hassle with the company, and my general ambivalence toward the Microsoft operating systems, I decided that it was time to purchase a MacBook. The process was amazingly simple from the very beginning, I logged onto apple.com to set up a personal selling appointment and told my parents to come into town. When we first walked into the store we were greeted immediately, me by name since I worked at the store next door and spent all my breaks in their store browsing and buying products, and our expert Matt showed us to the MacBooks. We outlined what I used my computer for the most and Matt was easily able to explain and showcase the numerous models and inform us as to which one was probably the most prudent choice for me. The best part about the experience however was probably at the end when we checked out. The Apple Genius’ were able to extract all my files from previous crashed hard drive and import and organize them onto my new Mac as well as pre set up my wireless internet connection from the store and installing some programs that we had purchased at the store. This in and of itself was spectacular, but what was even better was that they had originally said it may take a day for them to complete this task (we purchased the computer on a Saturday, a very busy time for the store) however they had it set up and ready for me to use in a matter of hours. I was ecstatic and will never turn back to another non-Apple version of a product. The experience in turn also made my father dispose of our two family desktop PCs that we had at our house as well as his personal laptop and purchase two new iMacs and a MacBook Pro for himself, and then also a MacBook Pro for my sister to match mine when she graduated high school this past year. The exceptional customer service at Apple only solidified my loyalty to their brand, but it changed the mind of my father (seeing as the rest of us were already Apple fanatics) and they gained his loyalty as well.

Week 2 EOC - Part 2

Being born in 1988 I am part of what sociologists have deemed ‘Generation Y’. According to our text Generation Yers like myself seem to be impatient, family oriented, inquisitive, opinionated, diverse, have good time management skills, are street smart, and are connected. Personally I feel that I fall into most if not all of these categories. I know myself to be very impatient, if I want something I want it now and I am very into the feeling of instant gratification. Being family oriented is probably the one area in which I fall the least. While I am very close with my mother, father, sister, and my father’s parents, I can take or leave the many numerous other members of my extended family. My mother’s family is very large and therefore very hard to keep up with and it can at times get exhausting, and other than my grandparents, my father’s family and I do not have anything in common and therefore I am prone to dislike them. I am very inquisitive, once I decide that I want to know how something works or why something is happening I study it very intently until I know the ins and outs of the entire subject. Any of my friends and family will be able to ascertain as to my opinions, and the fervor with which I voice them. I try to make myself the poster child of being politically correct and relish in the opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds and learn about them and their cultures. I love travelling and hope to one day be able to say that I have been around most of the different cultures of the world. I am definitely a time manager, everything is planned, and all of my calendars are synched with alerts warning me when something is coming. I think that all my generation can say that they are without a doubt ‘street smart’ and connected. Growing up with such vast experiences and 24 hour news channels we have become desensitized to violence and have become aware of the world around us. We have also done this through social networking. Websites such as Myspace and Facebook have allowed us to meet different people around the globe and interact with them in ways that were not available to previous generations. I am glad that I am a Gen Yer, growing up in other way than the one that I have seems quite pedestrian.

Week 2 EOC - Part 1

Growing up my favorite fast food was the Wendy's chicken nuggets kids meal. I have always enjoyed chicken over red meat, and since I was young obviously a kids meal and the chicken nuggets were perfect. I always preferred Wendy's as opposed to either McDonalds or Burger King because I enjoyed their french fries more and (I was raised in Wyoming so this is ok to say) I enjoyed their ranch more. We didn’t eat out very often as children, my mother has always enjoyed cooking so we at a home more often than not but I did always enjoy the few times when she would stop and pick up something quick from Wendy's on her way home from the skating rink, or my sisters soccer practice, or any other errands that she may have been running. They now have healthier side choices which would have been nice when I was growing up but I survived without them somehow. Wendy's Kid's Meal

Week 1 EOC

I am THE fashion enthusiast. I watch every runway show and salivate at the opportunity to produce them. With my business background I hope to run and operate my own fashion show production and PR company Haute Productions. I relish in the opportunity of being offered new challenges and creating exceptionally unique answers to those challenges. I offer design houses a new way of looking at the traditional runway show by turning the show into an all encompassing event including lighting, video, music, and food in order to make their show memorable in the minds of some of the greatest magazine editors in the world, but without compromising the design houses’ unique brand identity. Each year I also hope to partner closely with IMG to produce and help ensure that all the shows at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York as well as the others around the world are scheduled, planned, and completed successfully to the designer’s wishes as well as the company’s expectations. I hope to give back to the industry by creating new internship and mentorship opportunities in my company in order to give students the chance to see for themselves what is expected in the industry and give them a stepping stone to further their careers.