Marketing Chapter 10 Blooms Comprehension Difficulty Moderate Describe The Primary Demographic Characteristics Vans Target Audience

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Bloom’s: Comprehension

Difficulty: Moderate

2. Describe the primary demographic characteristics of Vans’ target audience. How do you

think these will change in the next 20 years?

CB Scenario Video

An advertisement for Discover Card contrasts two types of family vacations. The father of a

family lists the activities they’ve undertaken during “learning” family vacations—watching a

cow give birth, cleaning up after an accident at a nuclear plant, improving family dynamics

through role play. The kids in the family are not impressed by any of these. However, families

that want a fun vacation, the advertisement says, use Discover Card to visit Universal Orlando

Resort.

1. Briefly explain the roles and values of the family that prefers the “learning” family

vacations.

2. How do families who prefer to have “fun” vacations exemplify the latest trends in

consumer cultures?

3. Describe the advertising and marketing strategies used by Discover Card.

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promotional and marketing strategy that attracts their target segments.

BUSPROG: Analytic

DISC: Customer | Diversity

LO: 10-2

LO: 10-5

Topic: A-head: Major U.S. Microcultures

Topic: A-head: Major Cultural and Demographic Trends

Bloom’s: Application

Difficulty: Moderate

Part 3 In-Text Case Answers

Case 3-1 RateMyProfessors.com: Does This Site Really Help in Choosing Classes?

1. What assumptions can you make about managerial decision making, as it relates to the

Millennial generation, from the case?

2. Did Tom and Alex follow a logical and rational managerial decision-making process in

determining their class schedules? Why, or why not?

3. Identify the group influence that the information provided on RateMyProfessors.com

places on Tom and Alex?

4. Describe the types of interpersonal influence that the information provided on

RateMyProfessors.com places on Tom and Alex.

5. What influence do consumer ratings that fall either above or below the norm have on your

managerial decision-making process? For example, when a professor (or an Amazon.com

product) is rated with 3 stars, what strength do you place on the few individual reviews that

rate them with 1 star or 5 stars?

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Answer: Instructors will get many answers revolving around 2 arguments:

a) The 1 star and 5 star ratings were anomalies and should be disregarded since there

are always some dissatisfied or exuberant customers.

b) The 1 star and 5 star ratings are the most valuable ratings to read and scrutinize the

dialogue of the review. That’s where reading what the consumer wrote is most

important.

Case 3-2 Collegiate Sporting Events Attendance: Reaching Students through Social Media

1. What factors will likely have the greatest impact on student attendance at a basketball

game for your university?

2. What is culture? How would your university go about creating a unique culture to capture

student attendance for your university?

3. What are the benefits and dangers that universities face by including social media in their

marketing campaigns?

4. What types of social media campaigns could a sports marketing director implement to gain

student awareness? Explain your answer.

5. Not all college sports venues are the same. For example, football is played in a stadium,

and golf is an event where smaller crowds follow the players. What challenges and benefits

does this create for a university trying to increase attendance at sporting events?

Case 3-3 The Millennial Generation

1. Can the Millennial generation be considered a microculture?

2. What type of social power, if any, does the Millennial generation hold?

3. How have social media and group influence helped define the Millennial generation?

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4. What generation has been called the boomerang kids? Why?

5. What makes the Millennial Generation so different from the preceding generations?

Part 3 Online Case Answers

Visit www.login.cengage.com to access the online case studies for CB.

Does Culture Affect Sales? A Hawaiian Perspective

1. What should Mr. Smith evaluate prior to entry into the Hawaiian market?

2. Does racial diversity contribute to the consumer’s view of a product?

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3. If Mr. Smith plans on marketing to all of the Hawaiian Islands, what key points should he

evaluate?

4. Besides evaluating the demographics and geographics of the Hawaiian market, what other

considerations should be evaluated?

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the added income in each family unit, there is a strong view that the renovation in the

kitchen is something that the consumer wants.

Busy Being Retired

1. Do you think that society expects retired people to stay busy? Explain, and give examples.

2. Do you have busy, retired people in your own family? Are these family members expected

to be available to help out as needed? If so, explain what you’ve seen in your own family.

What is the downside, if any, of expecting retired people to be busy all of the time?

3. What do you think are the marketing implications for a retired group of people that are

busy all the time?

4. Look at television commercials and magazine advertisements that feature older consumers.

What types of activities are they engaged in? Ask someone much older than you (a parent

or grandparent) what types of advertisements they recall seeing that feature older

consumers. Compare how they have changed from one period to the next.

On the Cutting Edge with Fiskars

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interest for you as a consumer? Explain.

Love Me Do: How the Beatles Became THE BEATLES

1. Discuss the various reference groups that have influence over Maxwell’s appreciation (or

lack of appreciation as the case may be) of The Beatles and their music.

2. Discuss the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing as part of what has made The

Beatles into THE BEATLES.

3. What part might culture have to play in the generational transcendence of The Beatles and

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their music?

4. Lucy plans for the two to join an online community focused on The Beatles: Rock Band.

How might this constitute a subculture?

5. Despite The Beatles’ popularity, why is it that some consumers are turned off by the

music?

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matter) by The Beatles’ music may have a lot to do with the group or culture that the

individual belongs to in addition to their appreciation of the music.

Consumer Culture Case

1. According to the text, consumer culture is defined as the commonly held societal beliefs

that define what is socially gratifying. How does this case defy commonly held societal

beliefs in American consumer culture? What core societal values (CSV) dimensions are

most involved?

2. Imagine yourself as the store manager of the grocery store where Al is shopping. How

might you address his needs and the needs of the growing numbers of singles without

compromising the needs of the families that also shop at your store?

3. What problems directly related to socialization and culture do you see within this case?

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4. What other emerging markets can you think of that may need to be addressed by grocery

stores? How might they best address these markets?

The Newton Case

1. Why did a brand community develop around the Newton?

2. Why did the Newton brand community thrive after Apple abandoned the Newton?

3. Could the Newton brand community have existed without the Internet? Why, or why not?

Part 3 Video Case

To view the Part 3 video case, go to the CB companion website login.cengage.com.

Fantasy Inn

Time: This video is between 3–5 minutes long.

Concepts Illustrated in the Video

• Consumer culture

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• Subculture

• Cultural norms

• Tradition

• Etiquette/manners

• Reference groups

Synopsis

Vanessa, a junior account executive, is scouting out locations to hold an upcoming event. She

meets with Ivan, the general manager of the Fantasy Inn. Vanessa is coordinating an upcoming

event with people from around the world. Cultural sensitivity is a prime concern for her event.

Teaching Objectives for the Video Case

• Understand how culture provides the true meaning of objects and activities.

• Understand the different types of reference groups that influence consumers and how

reference groups influence value perceptions.

Critical Thinking Questions—Suggested Answers

1. If you were Vanessa, what would you do if faced with a similar situation? Where could

you get information on different cultures?

2. Explain the concept of consumer culture. How does it impact a business dinner in the

United States?

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3. What would the expected cultural norm be for the upcoming business dinner that

Vanessa’s company is hosting?