Web Marketing Class -- Kyle Ashby

I am currently taking a class in Web Marketing with Professor Kyle Ashby. He asked that we answer the following questions.

Q1) When you think of great web marketing or use of social media who, or what companies, come to mind?

A1) Mexican Coca Cola comes to mind. I'll tell you why. When preparing to answer this question, I asked myself, "Which company has marketed themselves thoroughly enough to have even cynical me visit their social media page?"
The truth is I have only ever visited one social media page that was not a friend's page. It was the page for Mexican Coca Cola.
The reason? Like many other people, I love Mexican Coca Cola! It is made with real sugar as opposed to the high fructose corn syrup used in the United States and thus, has a richer flavor.
The taste was different enough to have me Google the term "Mexican Coca Cola." I found a news story about the trend of people pressuring Coca Cola to sell more Mexican Coke in places other than San Diego (which is where I lived at the time). I found a Facebook page. The page was simply titled "Mexican Coke." It currently has over 20,000 fans.
Mexican Coke has been so well received that, in response, Pepsi created "Pepsi Throwback" which is a Pepsi made with real sugar.
Coca Cola is a company that has mastered their marketing. From inventing the American Santa Claus to successfully marketing Coke Zero, they have succeeded in selling the aura of their product.

Q2) Why do these people or companies stand out?

A2) Coca Cola stands out because they are always marketing. There are commercials, sponsorships, restaurant cups, and even theme park coupons on their soda cans.

Q3) What elements of their marketing would you consider good or effective?

A3) One of the brilliant things Coca Cola did was to make Coke Zero a cool marketable drink that at the heart of things, was essentially diet coke with a sugar substitute. Their Coke Zero bottles have a lot more black in them than the usual red for regular coke or gray in Diet Coke. This creates a new, yet recognizable look. And the design is what I would call a newer look.

Fake ATM Hacker Story Doesn't Last Long

An article was recently featured on PCworld.com that claims a fake ATM was placed in Las Vegas' Riviera Hotel that posed as a malfunctioning machine in order to syphon information from people's bank cards. The problem--apparently there was a hacker conference in the hotel during the incident and the ATM was quickly discovered as a fraud.
This story sounds awesome but reeks of (Stephen)Glass-esque yellow journalism. It may turn out the story is true but reading the story brings up so many red flags.
There are no authorities quoted in the piece. There is not even a real person quoted but only a guy that goes by "Priest." On top of that, no higher ups from the hotel or (still unnamed) police department were mentioned.
The author, Robert McMillan of IDG News Service is either a bad journalist for not contacting authorities or lazy.
I thought about calling the hotel myself but I thought, "why me?"

Two Teams Make Trades And Still Suck

The Sacramento Kings traded Brad Miller and John Salmons to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Andres Nocioni and Drew Gooden.

The Sacramento Kings have been looking to move Salmons, a talented Shooting guard, and his 18.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Salmons' productivity meant Kevin Martin, the future of the franchise, sometimes had to play out of position at point guard. With Salmons gone, Martin can now play shooting guard.

The Chicago Bulls are happy to see Nocioni, a one-dimensional player, and underachiever Drew Gooden, go. Salmons is a better overall backcourt player than Nocioni and the same can be said of Miller over Gooden.

So why did the Kings make this trade? The salary cap!
2010...

Oklahoma City Blunder

So it's been about eight months since I last posted. My excuse: I am a lazy mofo. A lot of shit has happened but we'll stick with the recent news.

Tyson Chandler was recently traded from the New Orleans Hornets to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for veterans Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and some guy I have never heard of that was probably only included for financial reasons. My first impression was that this was a horrible trade for the Hornets because surely Chandler had to be one of the top rebounders in the league. I was wrong. I have a rule: If you are at least 7-feet-tall and don't average at least 10 rebounds per game YOU SUCK! According to that rule, Tyson Chandler sucks. Last season he averaged 11.8 points per game and 11.7 rebounds per game. This season, the 7-foot-1-inch 26-year-old is averaging 8.8 points and 8.3 rebounds while playing four less minutes per. Considering that the Thunder do not have a point guard like Chris Paul that can alley-oop the ball to the big man, Chandler's offensive (in more than one respect) statistics should decline.

It's obvious the Hornets made this deal for financial reasons. Smith's expiring contract is worth $4.8 million and Wilcox's expiring contract is worth $6.7 million. This is a great deal when considering that Chandler is owed $24.6 million after this season. The Hornets are getting ready for that well-awaited 2010 free-agent class.

The Hornets made a great deal because the team had no chance of winning a championship this season anyway. As Simon from American Idol would say, "Hornets, if it's any consolation, you wouldn't have won anyway."

P.S. The OKC Thunder are still gonna suck but it will cost them a lot more money.

Don't Trust Ric Bucher

There have been allegations lately from former NBA referee Tim Donaghy claiming that game 6 of the 2002 western conference finals was fixed. In that game the Lakers shot twenty-something free throws in the fourth quarter. ESPN analyst Michael Wilbon, of Pardon The Interruption, said that he was not going to immediately judge Donaghy because he remembers writing a column about that game that pointed out how ridiculous the refereeing was. This column ran long before the referee scandal started. On Tuesday's PTI, Wilbon said he still stands by his opinion that in that game 6 he witnessed the, "worst playoff officiating I have ever seen, ever."

On Tuesday, ESPN analyst Ric Bucher defended the Lakers by saying that when he first heard the allegations he found them laughable. Bucher then stated that, current Boston Celtic and former Sacramento King, Scott Pollard, whom played in the now infamous game, said he found the officiating curious. Bucher then said that Pollard's comments were taken out of context. Bucher proceeded to rationalized in a way that favored the Lakers.

What really got on my nerves was that Bucher didn't point out that he is good friends with Kobe Bryant. About one year ago when the whole "Kobe wants a trade" stories were going around it was Bucher that would break stories first because of his relationship with the Laker star.

So, forgive me if I don't take Bucher's opinion on this subject seriously. They guy has a vested interest in politicising in favor of the Lakers and his friend Bryant. Bucher's popularity and job security with ESPN revolve around the fact that he will be the guy to break a story about Bryant or be the first analyst to cite "a Lakers insider" in a story.