Monday, 29 March 2010

Are Celebrities worth their pay ?

Of the questions set for Advances modules, and the Applied Management Project this has been one of the most interesting ones to find information for.

Most people have opinions about whether a nurse deserves the same wage as a premiership footballer, but finding information on the topic can prove challenging.

The nature of capitalism is that we are complicit in the huge fees / salaries paid to celebrities.
How would our quality of life be changed if film stars and musicians didn't exist ?

These are some of the issues which need discussion here, and there is little factual information to support your views. One source does spring to mind however.

Are the richest people really celebs ? Take a look at the Sunday Times Rich list ( published annually ) and it will become apparent that industrialists / bankers and CEO's are the real Fat Cats....


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/article6169048.ece

Project Management e-books

When the MSc in Project Management began in 2009 many of the books were bought electronically. These are therefore available for all to use if your topic includes anything in this field.

PIE Charts on FAME





If your project involves comparing the top companies in a particular sector you might wish to show this using a PIE Chart.

Depicted here are UK airline companies for example ( by profit ).

Get in touch if you want me to show you how to use FAME in this way alan.bullimore@beds.ac.uk

I am doing sessions for accounting students on this database in April.

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Junk Mail RIP ?


Haywood, M (2010) Personalisation : does this mean more effecient marketing and the end of junk mail ? Market Leader Journal, Quarter 2 accessed via WARC [online] through http://library.beds.ac.uk/ on 25th March 2010


Is it really the case, as argued here, that targeting us individually means we'll never get another pizza ad through the door ? Perhaps not, but the above article is a useful look at new marketing methods, and it also predicts the demise of the loyalty card.


A really good look at the future of marketing methods ( as pictured on my somewhat old fashioned PC ! )

Marketing and new social media


Do marketing methods alter radically if you are using Social Media ( Facebook, Twitter ) rather than more traditional marketing techniques ?



From a recent article on MediaTel Neil Perkin assesses some of the main of using Social Media for Marketing benefits. For more detail visit his blog
http://neilperkin.typepad.com/

I hope that I've not misrepresented him here.
1. Fans, even virtual ones, have made a commitment. You have found out who they are...
2. Engaged users ( fans/friends ) care more than searchers
3. Those who interact are advocates ( they tell their mates ? )
4. Search engine weight is improved by having lots of fans.
5. You've found loads of people..now you can target them
6. Interacting with your customers is easier.
7. Different marketing strategies can now be employed
( I got puzzled here about what these might be )
8. Advertising through social media sites will become ever-
more important.
9. Real time feedback ( see no.6 presumably )
10. Your audience awaits ( everyone is on Facebook already )
Perkin, N (2010) Social Media : maximise your business's potential accessed via MediaTel [online] http://library.beds.ac.uk/ on March 23rd 2010

Friday, 19 March 2010

Repositioning the Brand

  • A few years ago all sorts of threats faced McDonalds. These included :
  1. Publicity surrounding the McLibel 2
  • Accusations by author Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation

Morgan Spurlock's film "Supersize Me"

and the insulting phrase " McJob" defined as unstimulating low paid work with few prospects.

To some extent the brand has repositioned itself in the recent past :

Introducing a staff website, with online training for it's 67,000 Brititish employees

A new BTEC qualifation in "work skills" for employees

Reducing fat content in fries, and converting chip fat to biofuel

Phasing out the bright livery in favour of more muted chocolate and green colours

Providing wi-fi access

Killer Facts

A record growth in sales in 2009 was announced in January ( 11% growth over 2008 )

More coffee sold ( in Britain ) than Starbucks and Costa put together

Edge, S ( 2010) Welcome to McWorld, Daily Express, Saturday 13th March p.36-37


Friday, 12 March 2010

Watch this space...


For the price of a train fare to London the free lectures at University College London might be worth considering.




I went to an excellent talk this week on :


Do Books Have a Future by Prof Iain Stevenson ( UCL Centre for Publishing )


The prof's conclusion was ...yes


  • e book reading technology is still at an early stage ( less than 1/5 of 1% own them )

  • Book publishing is booming, and a considerable contribution to the UK GDP

  • one of the most popular internet sites is actually a market for print books...amazon.com



Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Future of the Post Office



Against my expectations Mary Portas ( Daily Telegraph Magazine, Saturday 6th March ) was quite kind to the Post Office, and not too cutting in her comments.

www.telegraph.co.uk/maryportas

If you are doing a question on the future of the Royal Mail / Post Office you will also find some official reports in full-text on :

www.parliament.uk

As well as the Mediatel Database...


Lots of information in print form in the Advertising Statistics Yearbook.
This is found on Park Street Level 1, Luton LRC
Stats material on all forms of media is available :
Newspapers
Magazines
Television
Cinema
Internet
Useful in particular to measure the effect of the recession on advertising.

Friday, 5 March 2010

Green / Sustainable / Eco Businesses

If you are looking for examples of green companies in the UK it might be worth checking The Sunday Times Green List. This will give you an indication of organisations who are promintly green.


In 2009 the top 60 included:

BT

Tesco

Willmott Dixon


You could check the company websites to see how green issues are promoted.


Information about the Green List can be found using the Newsbank Database, or the Times own website ( it was launched in October )


Don't forget also the Keynote Database market research report :


The Green and Ethical Consumer (2008)

Argos or online ?


Each week the Daily Telegraph saturday magazine does a one page feature on a UK business . This week ( 27th Feb ) it was the turn of Argos.
The articles have usually concluded that online shopping is a major threat to business, and particularly in this instance. Argos doesn't even give you the tactile pleasure of most high street stores.
Previous studies can be viewed at
Next week she'll be looking at how the Post Office might survive.
For UK business these case studies appear to be a valuable supplement to our databases Marketline and Keynote

Monday, 1 March 2010

Store Loyalty Cards


Yahoo has recently agreed a deal with Nectar, the Sainsbury's loyalty card


This opt-in scheme will provide information for the search engine to target ads based on purchases.


2000 card-holders have already opted in.


Reported Daily Telegraph(2010) Advertisers use high street buying habits to target shoppers online, 13th February, p.13