Response to Brendan's Post

My response is to the question that Brendan asked at the end of his post that talked about professional athletes and them being role models. Who are the athletes you look up to, and would you want your child, or future child looking up to that same person?
First off I want to say that I do agree with some of the things that you said about how there are many professional athletes that do some pretty stupid things. You would think that if someone was a professional athlete they would be a little bit more cautious about the situations they put themselves in. I also have one thing to add and that is that you are going to have the bad people in any situation that you have in life whether it be professional athletics or simply life.
I am going to give you an example of two players in the NBA that have come from nothing and made themselves what I call role models and someone that I would want my child to look up too if they so choose. The two players are Lebron James and Kevin Garnett. In high school Kevin Garnett couldn't even afford shoes so he had to borrow some not to mention having to hide the fact that he was playing basketball from his mother. In Lebron's case he moved from housing development to housing development throughout his childhood in Akron, Ohio.
These two player play with such passion and effort that it is had for anyone who is watching to appreciate them. As an athlete you must appreciate the accomplishment of both players. They have set themselves apart from many in the league as two of the premiere players. They lead both of their team by example and are very active in there communities.
I believe that it is all up to the person on what they want to do with their lives. Professional athletes are given very unique opportunities to play the sports that they love. It is up to them whether they want to work hard and be a good athlete and human being or waste the opportunity they are given. I don't think you should make and assumption about a whole organization because a couple of bad seeds.
Do you think it is the decision of the person whether they want to be a role model or not?

Articles Response

I thought the discussion on direct mail verses e-mailing was very interesting. It noted that many companies had switched from the hand signed direct mailing to e-mailing because direct mail had gotten to costly. What they didn’t realize was the fact that customers really appreciated the idea of the direct mail and were concerned when they didn’t receive their cards. The benefits of direct mail are that they are much more appealing then an e-mail which would encourage more customers to take the time and read them. The other benefit is that by sending the direct mail firms are able to add a personal touch to the cards or special offers that larger companies may not be able to offer.
Barcodes seem like a good idea because as you are reading a magazine you are able to scan the bar code right off the page in the magazine and look into the item in more depth. One issue that I can see is the fact that people may not have and I Phone or Blackberry that has internet capabilities and a down load specifically for this process. I know that it mentions making the process possible for the simplest phones through texts, but it just seems unlikely to me.
I do believe that maybe some day e-marketing will that the place of direct mail, but I don’t think that it will happen for a long period of time. Everyday it seems like there is a new technology that makes something faster or more efficient which is good for this country, yet in the business world there are still going to be those people that want a personal connection to those who they are buying from. This is why I believe you will see a lot of companies using e-marketing along with direct mail so they can continue with the personal aspect of things.
The two business areas that come to mind when you think of successful direct mail marketing are Golf Courses and Car Dealerships. Every year right around Christmas time I always get a letter from the golf course that I play at saying they were very happy to have me as a member of the club and hope to see me back next year. Inside the letter is a list of the rates that they are going to be charging and a membership application to be filled in and sent back out. I know almost all of the people who work their by name so they fact that they take the time to send these out show a bit of appreciation and also makes me want to renew my membership with them the following spring.
The second area that I can see direct mail marketing working is in Car Sales. When you go out and spend anywhere from fifth teen thousand to forty thousand dollars on a new vehicular you expect to get some good treatment from the dealership. I am not saying they have to do big things for you, but it would mean a lot at least to me that they take the five minutes of their day to call me and ask me how my new truck is working rather then an e-mail. Even a letter sent to me would mean more then an e-mail they could be sending to hundreds of other customers at the same time. By doing this they could be adding a personal feel to the purchase and also make you feel better about going back to the same dealership when it is time again to get a new vehicle.

Should Facebook be fair Game?

I know that there are a lot of students at KSC that are a part of facebook. It is a great way to stay in touch with friends from home that go to other schools along with friends here at Keene State. Your are able to put personal information, and pictures from activities that you have been apart throughout your life. I think that facebook is a decent idea because I am able to keep in touch with my friends as i mentioned before.
There is one aspect of this that does concern me. Most of the students that are in our marketing class are either junior or seniors which means in the near future we are all going to be looking for a job that we can use the skills we have learned here at KSC. I know this sounds like it has nothing to do with Marketing or business but it really does. I was talking to my uncle who is Vice President for a company back in my home town. He had just had a conference with some individuals that showed them how to look someone up on the Internet specifically facebook.
The whole point of them looking people up was to check out people who had applied for jobs and see what they have been up too. I was really caught off guard by the fact that there really are companies that are doing this as a sort of back ground check for those who what to become a employee of that company.
Do you think this is a real fair or accurate things to measure and applicant by?