Week 4 EOC: The Cult of Apple

MyPOV - Imagine that you can take a photograph and rather than sharing to a private network you can post it to a world map and everyone can see exactly what you’ve captured from your lens. Welcome to MyPOV, it has no private users as all photos become part of a network but are still copyrighted to the original photographer. Rights to the photo can be sold for private use to individuals or businesses if contacted by an individual directly. The photographer can upload pictures to this app and most photos consist of locations, scenery, and other stills of their choosing but it’s not limited to those. The photos show a different user how the area looks from the perspective of the photographer and is then geo-tagged to a “Geo Map.” This consists of 2 types of views, city and country. City is more specific to businesses, streets, and local areas whereas country is specific to landmarks, national parks, and larger scale areas. People can take pictures of exact areas and give users a look at what the area, business, street, etc. looks like. Users can report or flag pictures that seem inappropriate and they will be hidden until verified appropriate or deleted. It can make a person explore what the area in a small town in Michigan looks like, what a concert hall looks like in Jacksonville, and how the different parts of a city park looks like. This is basically allowing a person to walk in the steps of someone who uploaded pictures before them. It can spark a vacation to a remote island because of all the pictures that have been posted before it, then you can try to find the exact location that a different user stood in to take the photograph.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

Since my youth I’ve had access to a vast amount of various technology. Whether it was seeing my mom take a cell phone call in our vehicle, or inserting a floppy disk into a computer to boot up a game I was surrounded with intuitive technology that seemed to be adapted to make users comfortable. I’ve never thought much about how my Sega Genesis takes a cartridge with a computer chip inside and transform that to a video game that I see, control, and really enjoy but I know that it works. It’s true what is said in our textbook, “They [Millennials] don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life.” (Marketing: An Introduction Pg. 73). I completely agree with that statement because as I got older I feel attached at the hip to my smartphone. Every piece of digital technology that I come across has a purpose and because of all the prior technology I received it seems so easy to learn its purpose. With the constant upgrades of the innovative technology we are always wanting the new smartphone, computer, TV, etc. and have revolved our lives around them because it significantly speeds up the communication aspect of our lives. The book also describes Millennials as people who “prefer to seek out information and engage in two-way brand conversations.” (Marketing: An Introduction Pg. 73). I have personally done many background checks and contacted businesses directly to get further information about a product or service they provide. If I don’t get a clear answer, no response, or even a bad response I won’t support that business unless something changes. As much as I didn’t want to believe that I am in fact a Millennial, after this class I understand that I have all the qualities of this generation. I just wonder what generation will come next and what type of people they will be.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money For Good

Hearing about companies that donate 100% of their profits is a new concept of business that is becoming more popular. Basically they are trying to change the way we look at business and rather than a single individual making too much money to know what to do with they are giving away profits for a good cause. I found that Cozzee is a company that is doing just that and even better, they let the consumer choose which cause they would like to support. They have 8 different causes that you can choose from and each have information about how the funds will be used. They even have a counter of how much they are trying to raise for the specific cause and how close they are to the goal. I believe it’s a good marketing strategy to donate profits for the sake of good, but not all companies that are trying to get into that type of business model have the same good intentions. They’re have already been numerous companies that are taking advantage of the model and giving away a small percentage of money because the CEOs and top level management are paying themselves a very high income which means less money is available to donate. After reading our class book though it is a great concept for a business model. I mean who doesn’t enjoy getting a product and then knowing that the profits of their purchase are being used to support good in the world. The book says, “cause-related marketing can greatly benefit both the company and the cause. The company gains an effective marketing tool while building a more positive public image.” (Marketing: An Introduction Pg. 88) This basically means that if done effectively it can benefit the business and making stronger ties with the community.