Week 10 EOC: Benefits VS. Features

The benefits and features of Creamy Dreamy differ, but hold the same importance to our customers. Our features include but are not limited to the availability of our trucks, the different types of products for different types of customers, friendly customer service, and new up to date music playing from our speakers. All of these things create the scenery that helps you to enjoy experience with us.  The availability of our trucks make it easy for us to be found in a close neighborhood, or busy tourist location, this not only makes us easy to find, but benefits  us as a company to draw in new and curious customers. The different types of products for different types of customers are a thought out process which entails our selection process depending on our choice of consumer.  Because we’re a company that focuses mainly on kids we have to include kid-friendly flavors such as the originals chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, as well as the notable figure-shaped ice cream bars that kids seem to swarm to.  Friendly customer service, and well-known up to date music is a given when working with people period. The selection of music, employees that can give the customer the right type of feeling is always the key in a business’ success.  

Our benefits are the things we create and offer with our customer’s well being in mind. This would include our thorough research and expression on Diabetes awareness, the size portions and chart to help control the intake of sugar, carbs, and calories. Other benefits include the thought our process of choosing well known ice cream favorites, the condition in which our product is made and handled, and especially the taste. 

To sum it up, customers who will buy from us for our features choose us because we offer the experience of a nostalgic visit to the “Ice Cream Man,” but with all the technological correct pluses of the future.  Customers who buy from us for our benefits know we offer great taste, great selection, and great care.  

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch(2)

Direct Pitch
Do you remember your childhood days, lounging in the park, or playing outside your house, and you hear the familiar jingle of the ice cream truck? Ice Cream trucks, and trolleys are a good investment especially here in the desert where it’s hot, and you need something cool. I plan to take it a step further, not just an “ice cream” truck, but a ice dessert truck. We’ll serve ice cream bars, scoops, smoothies, shakes, and much more.  Diabetes has become very common, and for those who are we’ll be serving sugar free, and fat free desserts.  The design of the truck will stick close to home of the original ice cream truck, only decorated with designs to awaken your “inner child.”

Explanation
According to our book, "Marketing: An introduction," "Product quality is the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied customer needs." The quality of my product will be to satisfy the sweet tooth, cool seeking, simple child inside our bodies. Most of my customer base will still be children, but I doubt even working adults, and the elderly could resist sweet's temptation for long. "Marketing: An introduction," also states "a sensational style may grab attention and produce pleasing aesthetics, but it does not necessarily make the product perform better. Unlike style, design is more than skin deep—it goes to the very heart of a product. Good design contributes to a product’s usefulness as well as to its looks." 

"Creamy Dreamy," what I plan to call my brand, will feature both style and design, appealing to both child and adult with varying the childhood nostalgia of old, and blending it with the benefits of the new age. Variations of classic music such as tunes by "Frank Sinatra," and "Nat King," as well as some of today's greatest hits will draw in crowds from all ages. The atmosphere itself will be the easy access, quick service, and sweet satisfying of the old-fashioned trucks, but also include more on the menu, more pleasing customer service, and be well wary of the health benefits adults worry about today such as weight-loss, and diabetes. 

Outline

Brand: “Creamy Dreamy” Trucks and Trolleys

Product and Support Services: Ice cream products including: Shakes, smoothies, scoops, snow-cones, etc. Experience and services will be to awaken the old-style “Ice cream truck” or “ice cream man” services. We’ll use more up to date, but easy listening music, instead of the reoccurring “pop goes the weasel” jingle. Wide open window on one side to provide multiple person service,  a wide panel below showing our menu of flavors and products

Packaging: We’ll use well known brands of ice cream such as Hagen Daas, Breyers, and Ben & Jerry’s and possibly bring in old labels and retro favorites.   The truck itself will be styled as an old-fashioned ice cream truck, but decorated with pictures, and designs that would awaken the “inner child.”

Labeling:  our main tabloid will be “Awaken your inner child…” and a few of the added statements will include; “child friendly,” “sugar free approved,” “rich and tasty,” “cool and comforting,” and a our company name and centered location. We could also include our route times with a map to show where they can find us during certain times so people can come to us when they feel the craving.

Objectives

 According to Marketing: An Introduction,"Each company must find the game plan for long-run survival and growth that makes the most sense given its specific situation, opportunities, objectives, and resources. This is the focus of strategic planning—the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization’s goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities." In short, every company must have a plan for success. Objectives are short term goals in which every business should set before launching their products. These short term goals should be realistic, but fetched so to test outselves and how far we can go to achieve greatness

For my project the goals in which I've listed are as follows:

• Create a name, and decide on product
• Decide on target consumer, and create a menu that will attain to their tastes
• Get menu approved from the American Diabetes Association
• Design Truck in which will attract attention and give customers a "feel good" mood.
• Design Poster that will create attention and give off the kind of vibe that will allow our company to be approved by the consumer masses
• Get plan and project approved and graded by backers and Head of Marketing
• Final Goal: Launch Product and wow the consumer masses with a Line of Creamy Dreamy Ice Cream Trucks.

These goals were set to my ideal timeline. I put them in order of importance as well as the most logical order to get them done. The name and product were easiest to handle, for they were already in my mind as the project was explained. The consumer and menu was created under personal preference, for Diabetes runs in my family. Getting approval from the American Diabees Association was key to the menu, for it gives assurance to the product and media support. After these were set, everything else just fell in line.

Week 8 EOC: My Creative Content

My creative content for my marketing project will revolve around my talent as a photographer. I have already started on a variety of pictures and posters revolving around my truck, and the type of crowd I want to lure in. I started with a picture of a regular yellow food truck, plain, no pictures, no writing, and then photo shopping it with my logo and catch phrases. The main catch of the picture will be to show the noticeable well recognized trucks, as well as the comforts it offers, such as: child friendly environment, tasty treats, easy access, and most importantly ADA(American Diabetes Association) approved. Although the picture is rough, I approve the way it turned out and I don’t plan on changing much on it.

The second picture I plan to be my main marketing poster, a billboard that I could post on freeways, street sides, or marquees on the strip. The idea is a girl enjoying her ice-cream and going into that dreamy state whenever you experience something very fresh, delicious, or relaxing. The girl is barely noticeable, the highlights of her body showing, but the rest whitened out to give it the “dream-like” appearance. The ice cream in her hand will stick out as will the expression on her face to accent “awe” moment.  Across the white background my label will be posted in a variety of sizes along with the Truck name “Creamy Dreamy.” Three words will then follow to describe the feelings you will experience when experiencing our Truck’s atmosphere and ice cream. The words are still in debate, I was originally thinking “cool, comforting, and comatose,” but comatose just seemed to scream “diabetic coma” or “DRUGS,”  so the mind still thinking there.

Finally the last will be pictures telling a story. A young woman is out in the heat, suffering, hot, miserable, and alone. Suddenly, she hears something that catches her attention. She looks around, and sees it! She’s smiling and happy and running out towards the street. The final picture will have her waving goodbye, with an ice cream in her hand and a happy content expression on her face. This will elevate the “old-fashioned” ice cream trucks that ever kid looked forward to whenever they hear the familiar music.

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

Direct Pitch
Do you remember your childhood days, lounging in the park, or playing outside your house, and you hear the familiar jingle of the ice cream truck? Ice Cream trucks, and trolleys are a good investment especially here in the desert where it’s hot, and you need something cool. I plan to take it a step further, not just an “ice cream” truck, but a ice dessert truck. We’ll serve ice cream bars, scoops, smoothies, shakes, and much more.  Diabetes has become very common, and for those who are we’ll be serving sugar free, and fat free desserts.  The design of the truck will stick close to home of the original ice cream truck, only decorated with designs to awaken your “inner child.”

Explanation
According to our book, "Marketing: An introduction," "Product quality is the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied customer needs." The quality of my product will be to satisfy the sweet tooth, cool seeking, simple child inside our bodies. Most of my customer base will still be children, but I doubt even working adults, and the elderly could resist sweet's temptation for long. "Marketing: An introduction," also states "a sensational style may grab attention and produce pleasing aesthetics, but it does not necessarily make the product perform better. Unlike style, design is more than skin deep—it goes to the very heart of a product. Good design contributes to a product’s usefulness as well as to its looks." 

"Creamy Dreamy," what I plan to call my brand, will feature both style and design, appealing to both child and adult with varying the childhood nostalgia of old, and blending it with the benefits of the new age. Variations of classic music such as tunes by "Frank Sinatra," and "Nat King," as well as some of today's greatest hits will draw in crowds from all ages. The atmosphere itself will be the easy access, quick service, and sweet satisfying of the old-fashioned trucks, but also include more on the menu, more pleasing customer service, and be well wary of the health benefits adults worry about today such as weight-loss, and diabetes. 

Outline

Brand: “Creamy Dreamy” Trucks and Trolleys

Product and Support Services: Ice cream products including: Shakes, smoothies, scoops, snow-cones, etc. Experience and services will be to awaken the old-style “Ice cream truck” or “ice cream man” services. We’ll use more up to date, but easy listening music, instead of the reoccurring “pop goes the weasel” jingle. Wide open window on one side to provide multiple person service,  a wide panel below showing our menu of flavors and products

Packaging: We’ll use well known brands of ice cream such as Hagen Daas, Breyers, and Ben & Jerry’s and possibly bring in old labels and retro favorites.   The truck itself will be styled as an old-fashioned ice cream truck, but decorated with pictures, and designs that would awaken the “inner child.”

Labeling:  our main tabloid will be “Awaken your inner child…” and a few of the added statements will include; “child friendly,” “sugar free approved,” “rich and tasty,” “cool and comforting,” and a our company name and centered location. We could also include our route times with a map to show where they can find us during certain times so people can come to us when they feel the craving.

Promotion

A good promotion is like good advertising. It deals with the mass media of consumers, and announces your product to the world. Promotion can also attain to certain details of your product which will make it more recognizable and therefore more popular.  The problems with this particular kind of promotion are that the product must live up to its promoting “name” or the reputation and their fore the customer’s trust all goes down the drain. “Companies must do much more than simply shout out their positions in ad slogans and taglines. They must first live the slogan. For example, when Staples’ research revealed that it should differentiate itself on the basis of “an easier shopping experience,” the office supply retailer held back its “Staples: That was easy” marketing campaign for more than a year. First, it remade its stores to actually deliver the promised positioning” (Marketing: An Introduction Pg. 195)

With that said, here are the plans I’ve made to promote my product:

Slogans

“Cold, Comforting, and Care-free”

·         Ice Cream from “Creamy Dreamy” is a reminder of what Ice Cream is really about. A reminder that Ice Cream is a delicious treat, sweet to the taste, cold for blistering hot weather, a comforting snack for bad days, and when you taste it you’ll have no other care in the world.

“Awaken your Inner Child”

·         Ice Cream’s target consumers are children, but to get to the children, you have to first past the parental approval.  Creamy Dreamy’s slogan will not only let parents know we’re a child friendly company, but also a company they can relate to their own childhood.

Design

Classic Heart Design

•       A classic heart shape has so many meanings. It can represent love, care, friendship, and even health.

•       A friendly company like Creamy Dreamy takes pride in wearing a classic symbol, and in colors that are easy on the eyes, and cool in thought. You think cold colors, you think blue.

Outside Support

                American Diabetes Association (ADA)

·         Diabetes is a disease that has become more and more common in our society. It affects not only adults, but children as well.

·         Those diagnosed with diabetes are limited on the amount of sugar intake a day, and have to watch their serving sizes.

·         With this information, and the approval of ADA, Creamy Dreamy plans to include sugar free products, portion sizes, and a counting card menu which lists the counting points and nutritionals facts about each product.

Creamy Dreamy Poster

Creamy Dreamy Truck

Simple Heart Design

ADA

Distribution

As I explained in my Product segment I don't plan on using a lot of distribution from other companies. Distribution is a big hassle and spreads the profits to a thin stretch. I don't consider exclusive distributing, for according to Marketing: An Introduction "some producers purposely limit the number of intermediaries handling their products. The extreme form of this practice is exclusive distribution, in which the producer gives only a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute its products in their territories."

Another good reason why I plan to deal with the consumer myself is the possibilities of Channel conflicts. According to Markting: An Introduction,  "Channel Conflicts is disagreement among marketing channel members on goals, roles, and rewards—who should do what and for what rewards." If any dispute wil be made, I prefer it to be a Horizontal Conflict. "Horizontal conflict occurs among firms at the same level of the channel." (Marketing: An Introduction pg. 315) Though they also say that some conflict and competition can be healthy, personally I'm a pacifist, the less conflict and arguments the better. 

For the most part most of the distribution will be on my part, for the truck itself will sell bars and ice cream novelties of different origin. Depending on what sellls most and what sells well will determine whether I will continue to act as distributer for these products. As far as distributing the truck I plan to spread it across countries, starting in Vegas and than working out state, so eventually I will be needing to seek further distribution.

Figure 10.2 Pg.315

Implement Evaluation Control

"Managing the marketing process requires the four marketing management functions shown in Figure 2.6—analysis, planning, implementation, and control. The company first develops companywide strategic plans and then translates them into marketing and other plans for each division, product, and brand. Through implementation, the company turns the plans into actions. Control consists of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing activities and taking corrective action where needed. Finally, marketing analysis provides information and evaluations needed for all of the other marketing activities."


Figure 2.6 Marketing: An Introduction

The quote and figure above is knowledge you need in order to understand marketing. It's a basic study that you must Analyze your idea, Plan your strategy, Implement your thoughts, and control your results with facts and data that backs your results.

Throughout this project I took each step and considered many possibilities, suggestions, and results, and took the ones that best suited myself and my ideals. I analyzed my notes about the ideal Food Truck, weighing what options I had and decided on the Ice Cream Truck. I planned my strategy, target consumer, and my creative content. Implemented my findings and used them. Finally I controlled it all by backing up my findings and choices with facts, and data that would sway my consumers and backers to my ideals.

Product

My product, the Creamy Dreamy Ice Cream Trucks, I consider a convenience product. "Convenience products are consumer products and services that customers usually buy frequently, immediately, and with a minimum of comparison and buying effort."  The reason I find it a convenience product is because I intend to fulfill all these needs with it. Ice cream is a food that is bought frequently, whether by kids, parents, elderly, etc. In fact, Ice Cream is the most sold dessert in America which is a great investment to the food truck industry.

The Creamy Dreamy Trucks will be a cool wave during those hot blistering summers. For like the traditional ice cream trucks we all know and love we will serve ice cool comfort, and unlike the traditional trucks we will be bigger, not only serving the brand favorite bars, but also the soft serve ice cream you normally have to go to restraunt locations to receive.

The photo I've included is just a brush of the ideas I have for the truck design. I would definitely prefer to use bright happy colors, soft pastels, and then of course the simple heart design  brushed here and there with our name Written straight across. With the name we will include pictures of happy customers, and labels that will list our plus points to the consumers: such as "ADA approved," "Sugar-Free Products sold," etc.

A debate has been made about the soft-serve ice cream. I've chewed over the idea of using brand name products such as Dreyers, but I prefer that we just make our own ice cream. One, we won't have to spread out the profits from distributing, and two we can control the ingredients used. On top of that it’s far too much hassle. “Marketing logistics—also called physical distribution—involves planning, implementing, and controlling the physical flow of goods, services, and related information from points of origin to points of consumption to meet customer requirements at a profit. In short, it involves getting the right product to the right customer in the right place at the right time.”(Marketing: An Introduction Pg.328)

Target Marketing Strategy

According to Marketing: An Introduction, "A marketing strategy consists of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, the marketing mix, and marketing expenditure levels. It outlines how the company intends to create value for target customers in order to capture value in return."

According to the American Diabetes Association; “When you have diabetes, you need to make day-to-day and often hour-to-hour decisions about treating blood glucose, exercise and healthy eating. Making those decisions is much easier if you keep track of that data, but tracking that data can be overwhelming.”At Creamy Dreamy, our main marketing point is our attention to the growing diabetic citizens, especially children.  “Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children and adolescents; about 151,000 people below the age of 20 years have diabetes.” (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/projects/cda2.htm)

As a person who has a whole family of Diabetics I often worry about their sugar intake, what they’re eating, how much, what’s good for them, etc. For the Ice-cream business this could put a big damper on sales if the right amounts of flavor and sugarless ingredients aren’t used. It’s a great benefit to have a menu that included sugar-free products. Sugar-free products aren't enough, however. We must remember that sugar-free doesn't necessarily mean fat-free or calories free. Which is why I also propose a portion size system which will control the amount of ice-cream, sugar-free or not, to help even further.

Our Menu and portioning is carefully selected not only as a method for helping diabetic patrons, but also as a way for parents and health concerned patrons to control the amounts of ice cream consumed. This strategy shows our company cares. "Many managers think that “doing things right” (implementation) is as important as, or even more important than, “doing the right things” (strategy). The fact is that both are critical to success, and companies can gain competitive advantages through effective implementation."(Marketing: An Introduction)

Truck Menu

(Red means offered Sugar-Free)

(Blue means offered in portioned sizes)

(Purple means offered in both)

Old Fashioned cones

Chocolate

Vanilla

Strawberry

Chocolate Chip

Neapolitan

Sherbet (lemon, cherry, lime, orange)

Mint Chocolate Chip

Cookie Dough

Shakes

Chocolate

Vanilla

Strawberry

Chocolate Chip

Neapolitan

Sherbet (lemon, cherry, lime, orange)

Mint Chocolate Chip

Cookie Dough

Pumpkin

Cheesecake (Vanilla with regular or Sugar-free cheesecake bites blended together)

Smoothies

Cherry

Orange

Strawberry

Tropical Wave

Blue Raspberry

Watermelon

Strawberry Lemonade

Lemonade

Good Humor

Reese’s bar

Oreo bar

Strawberry Shortcake bar

King Cone

Sundae

Oreo Cyclone Cone

Klondike Products

Original Klondike Bar

Klondike NASCAR Bar

Klondike Crunch

Oreo

Big Bear

ChocoTaco

Popsicle

Fudgesicle

Creamsicle

SnowCone

BigStick

Mega Missile

Firecracker

Scribbler

Pushpop

Lick-a-color

Hyperstripe

Cherry confusion Cup

Lightning Lemon Cup

Children’s favorites

Sponge Bob Bar

Dora Bar

Snoopy Bar

Tweety Bar

Spiderman Bar

WWE Bar

Nascar Bar

Due to travel access the Trailer Menu will consist of Children’s Favorites, Popcicles, Klondike, and Good Bars only. It will not offer the smoothies, original cones, or shakes.

Value and Pricing

Pricing and Value go hand in hand with my mission statement. The value of my product relies on the experience in which my consumers expect to get when buying my ice cream. Price covers not only the ice cream, but also the experience, the help, and the consideration my company offers with dealing with costumers. This theory is based on a quote from Makrting: An Introduction, for it states:"In the narrowest sense, price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. More broadly, price is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service."  

With this in mind the company's products will be priced on not only it's target customer, but it's competition as well. Our main competition is not only Brand named stores such as Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone, but also the family owned business trucks that charges a lot less than any normal ice cream stand. Market an Introduction reads,  "If consumers perceive that the company’s product or service provides greater value, the company can charge a higher price. If consumers perceive less value relative to competing products, the company must either charge a lower price or change customer perceptions to justify a higher price." Our truck will have to match our value in order to compete against these lower costs the family owned businesses offer, and stay low enough so it's prices are better than the high marked prices of Brand names.

For traditional ice cream truck novelties and bars, we'll stick to low cost market pricing set by the traditional ice cream trucks, but raise it to match our truck's value. For Example, where a normal Klondike Bar would be anywhere between $1.00-$1.25 we shall raise it a quarter more $1.25-$1.50. 

For the soft served ice cream we will not be matching or raising the prices, but instead we'll be lowering them to compete against the high quality stores.We will compete not only with our lower pricing, but our diverting styles as well. Cold Stone is known for it's unique serving by mixing nuts, fruits and candy into their ice cream on a frozen granite stone ledge, hence the name. This style, is the company's high market value point. Ours will rely heavily on not only the taste of our ice cream, but a cool and comforting atmosphere we will provide at our various locations.

SWOT

The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) outline of a company is a strategy builder for outlining the plus and minuses of the company itself. “Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.” 

SWOT Outline for Creamy Dreamy

•Strengths

•ADA Support

•New company means broader areas to expand, changing names, slogans, or designs to better our chances.

•Weaknesses

•Diets, health programs, obesity

•High cost of low sugar ingredients

•Opportunities

•Expandable: Parks, Stadiums, & other large tourist areas

•There will always be someone who wants ice cream

•Child & Parent target Consumers

•Threats

•Well known names like Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone, and Ben& Jerry’s. Do people want well-known Brand Names? 

As listed above, the SWOT outline for Creamy Dreamy is no different. To just summarize let’s skim over a few of the listed traits. For strengths I’ve listed ADA support. ADA, or the American Diabetes Association, is not only a company that alerts about Diabetes awareness, but researches and funds for Diabetic treatment and cure. To have their support on our “serving plan” would show not only the care for our customers well being, but also support that our items and plans are legit to the consumer eye.

For Weaknesses I’ve listed the common diets and health issues. There will always be people who will look at ice cream and scream “oh god the calories,” or “do you know how much sugar is in that?” This doesn’t just apply to diabetics but real health nuts, lactose intolerants, and obese consumers on a diet plan. Now our “serving plan” is supposed to help rectify this notion, but it is still a high risk what with the amount of obese and weight concerned Americans that are in our society today.

  For Opportunities we have our target consumers, which happen to be the highest growing collection of consumers up to date, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. I believe that the child and parent consumers are higher target because of a theory I like to call the “I want a pony” theory. A child has no sense of money handling, all they know how to do is want. They want toys, they want food, they want new clothes, this and that and the parent is responsible on drawing the line of what the child can have and cannot have. Luckily for us, ice Cream is the highest selling desert product in the entire United States.

Finally, threats, and our biggest concern is that customers will want brand names they’re familiar with and names that they know they can trust in the ice cream business. As a new company just breaking out we have to break the mold, offer something new, and yet give the customers what they want. We have to compete directly to companies like Baskin Robbins, and Cold Stone who have been favorite by America for YEARS.

Mission Statement

My Mission Statement: Make kids feel like adults, and adults feel like kids.

According to Marketing: An introduction, "The aim of marketing is to affect how customers think about and behave toward the organization and its market offerings. But to affect the whats, whens, and hows of buying behavior, marketers must first understand the whys." The point of my mission statement is to expand on the feelings of our consumers. Creamy Dreamy is supposed to represent a new type of Ice Cream truck, or Ice Cream man, by awakening the thoughts and feelings of our consumers to their childhood state. Kids will want us because we offer the Ice Cream truck experience. What is that experience? It's the feeling a kid gets when they hear the familiar jingle, and are excited for the opportunity to buy their own ice cream.

Let us walk into the mind of a kid for a moment:

• "I've saved up my allowance all week, I finally get the chance to spend it on what I want. I want Ice Cream."
• "Mom, can I have a dollar for the Ice Cream man?"

These and other types of scenarios lead up to the same thing. Kids want to buy their own ice cream. Why? It's because when they pay for something themselves they're taking that first step into adult hood, they want to feel and be treated like an adult, a real customer.  At Creamy Dreamy we want them to not only feel like adults, but we want to treat them like adults.

As for the adults we want them to stop thinking like adults. We want them to remember those days out in the park, or waiting outside their cozy little neighborhoods and remember what it felt like to be a kid. We don't want them to think, "I can just buy a box from the store, it's cheaper," or "I shouldn't, way too much sugar and carbs." We want our adult consumers to be able to say, "That brings me back," or "Why not, it's been too long." All the while still have their best interests with our sugar free products and portion sizes.