Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

I would be considered part of the Millennials (or Generation Y) born between 1977 and 2000. They are considered to be very technology savvy by growing up in a world that is saturated with it. “One thing that all of the Millennials have in common is their utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life.” (Marketing, an Introduction, 73) I am an avid user of technology, I use a computer every day, sometimes even for hours on end, I cannot remember a time that I have not been in proximity to a computer of some sort. This goes on to list technology such as cellphones, satellite TV, iPods, and online social networks, and I have used and grown up with each of these things mentioned here . “According to another study, 77 percent of Millennials frequent social networking sites and 71 percent use instant messaging.” (Marketing, an Introduction, 73) I am not one to frequent most social media sites, though it wouldn’t be too difficult for me to wind up on it like most do. “Rather than having mass marketing messages pushed at them, they prefer to seek out information and engage in two-way brand conversations.” (Marketing, an Introduction, 73) I can relate to this in a few ways as well. Whenever I decide to buy just about any piece of technology, I find myself reading reviews and visiting various websites and forums for opinions and peoples experiences with the product I am looking up. I tend to be a bit more skeptical if I can’t find much on something or if what I am finding is negative, but if that is the case I can usually use these same resources to find a similar product or service that will do what I want without hassle. Technology has been a present and major part of my life and I have embraced it.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Wells Fargo is one company that donates a portion of its profits to charity. This is a bank that, with their profits, donates a portion of them to numerous charities. Their donations are ones toward communities of people to create a better state of living. From their website it says, “At Wells Fargo, we embrace our responsibility to be a leading corporate citizen and the opportunity to create more resilient, sustainable communities through our operations and actions.” (https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/charitable/) This statement from their website just is a quick summary of what the purpose of their donations are for. There is also a map on this page going state by state on the guidelines for the charity given as well. They have been donating for a number of years now and they continue to donate because of their support for the growth of the economy by donating to nonprofit organizations and schools. They are one of the most generous companies in terms of their donations according to this article from Forbes, “One company that did up their charitable giving last year: Wells Fargo. The multinational banking and financial services firm tops the list of the companies that gave away the most cash in 2012.” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/07/16/americas-most-generous-companies/#511d6e1e2f83)  This article also states that Wells Fargo donated 1.3% of its pretax profits, in 2011 that was over 315 million dollars. That money then went to almost 20,000 nonprofit charities, these include environmental, community development, arts and culture, and many more, and they also support education by donating to schools as well. This further puts forth a positive image of this company as it shows that they support not just communities, but various aspects inside of those communities as well. They contribute to help communities and education to invest in the future through education, community development, human services and more.

EOC: Boston Consulting Group

The video game industry has proven itself to be a profitable industry with the various games and interfaces that people have used. This is an industry with has a great deal of consumers. “According to The Entertainment Software Association, this is an industry with 155 million American users. In 2014, American consumer spending within this industry was $22.41 billion.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yura-bryant/getting-your-piece-of-the_b_8273850.html). This is an industry where there are plenty of people and that they are willing to spend money on aspects of this industry, whether it be consoles or games. There are various ways that people can play the games, and these interfaces can be profitable in and of themselves. There are the consoles, of which are mainly the Xbox, PlayStation 4, and Wii U. The other major interface that is a competitor to these major consoles, and that is the PC. Even with competition from that last system consoles are still fairing well. “While many have predicted the slow decline of consoles, the segment is holding up well. Total console games are expected to grow from $8.84 billion in 2014 to $11 billion in 2019, a CAGR of 4.5 percent.” (http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/02/u-s-games-industry-forecast-to-grow-30-to-19-6b-by-2019/). The PlayStation 4 has sold 18.5 million units, the Xbox One has 10 million, while the Wii U hasn’t sold as well, the additional accessories have proven to be profitable. For consoles digital console games are expected to grow from 1.17 billion in 2014 to 3.27 billion by 2019. On the PC side, PC game revenues are expected to grow from 3.28 billion from 2014 to 4.53 billion by 2019. “Sales of traditional video game hardware (such as consoles and handheld gaming systems) and software in 2014 topped $22.4 billion, according to the Entertainment Software Association—an 8% increase from 2012.” (http://fortune.com/2015/08/06/video-game-developer-jobs/). There is a market for both console and PC games. Overall it appears that considering both consoles and PC, the star is the mobile game appears to have the most growth, the question mark is are TV games, the cash cow is the Xbox and play station 4, and the dog is the Wii.

EOC: Great Customer Service

I have had great experiences with customer service at Zia Records. They are a record store that sells both new and used records as well as CDs, DVDs, Blu Rays, Books and other various items as well. It is great as finding certain used record albums here is usually less expensive than buying them online, and you can inspect everything yourself. The staff has always treated me nice and is willing to help you with searching for certain items that may be difficult to find. The store is organized in a way that is easy to understand without much difficulty at all. The atmosphere is relaxed and inviting making browsing the fairly large selection of items very enjoyable. I have been to other record stores in town and so far this has been the best experiences that I have had. The prices are reasonable and they have a great wide selection and it is enjoyable going through their used section as well either for better deals, want an older edition, or in records, some older records that are not on other media. One quote from the book would be, “Delighted customers not only make repeat purchases, they become willing marketing partners and “customer evangelists” who spread the word about their good experiences to others.” (Marketing, an introduction, 14) This has held true with me, if it comes up in conversation I am always willing to suggest this place if I believe they may have what you are looking for and if they don’t, you can go to the front desk and have them order it and hold it for you, but I really haven’t had to do that yet. Overall I have had great experiences with Zia Records and I plan on continue to recommend and shop here as well.

EOC: My Voice

The world of audio is everywhere and that greatly fascinates me. I could be watching a movie, listening to music, or even playing a game, in today’s world audio is an important aspect of all that media, and I am glad to be part of it. I have been fascinated with music most of my life, I’ve enjoyed many films and TV shows, played games, and been to live events. All these sounds I am hearing were played back to me were carefully recorded, balanced, and then replayed for me. What my goal is would be to make what you hear come across as clearly and cleanly as I can make it based on what it is being made for. I take great pride when I create or help create something that is of a high fidelity. With all the various media we have, there is always something that needs sound. I am part of the audio industry, and that means I have to think of how I can make something sound as great as I possibly can. It doesn’t matter if it is recording, live, in post-production, or anything when I work on something I feel compelled to make what I am working on sound as great as possible.