Marketing

"Live" shopping is trending right now. For many young people, it may seem like a new thing. But it actually started in the US in 1982. The Home Shopping Network (HSN) started a cable channel to sell goods on live TV. Other shopping channels followed, and they still exist today. Hosts show clothing, home goods, jewelry, etc., in real time (not pre-recorded). Viewers can call in and buy whatever is being shown.

New smartphones come on the market at least every year. Each model has its own pros and cons, giving that company the opportunity to beat out its nearest competitors for a share of the market. But it's a tough market! If you were going to introduce a new phone, you'd need to make it pretty special.

That's exactly the task required here: you and your teacher are going to come up with a new phone and create an ad that will persuade consumers to buy it.

Try to include two or more of the following power words:

Recently on Twitter, an advertisement went viral. In it, the long-time mascot Mr. Peanut (pictured above) nobly sacrificed himself to save his two travel companions. Mr. Peanut can be recognized the world over for his eccentric top hat, cane and monocle. He was 104, and by all accounts, in amazing shape considering his age. 

A "rant" is passionate, typically angry, speech or writing about a particular topic.

The topic of this rant from 2013 is the failure of marketing schools to prepare students for the new internet-based marketing industry. 

Retail giant Aeon Co. has renovated 13 outlets across the country to cater to seniors, offering earlier opening hours and services that encourage asatomo (morning friends) get-togethers.

Kohei Nakahara, a store manager, canvassed elderly people who frequent nearby parks to better understand their needs. “We brought what they want to do into our store, and it resulted in them staying longer. We want to make the store a place like a community hall for neighbors,” he said.

Uniqlo has made the most of inexpensive labor in Asia to become a leading global SPA player. But making goods overseas is not necessarily compatible with responding quickly to customer needs. That is why the company is rethinking the typical approach of churning out products in emerging economies.

To more swiftly respond to customer needs, the company is working on a system for sending out goods in as few as 10 days. To achieve that, airplanes will be essential, although costly.

Amazon swooped in to buy the high-end grocer Whole Foods on Friday, paying $13.7 billion, or $42 a share—a healthy 27% premium on the previous day's closing price.

So what's in it for Amazon?

There are a couple of strategic plays at work for the online retail giant.

For starters, acquiring Whole Foods' 440 US stores—many of them in prime locations—could bolster the network for AmazonFresh, the company's grocery delivery service.

Instagram will see a double-digit user gain in Germany in 2017, according to eMarketer’s first-ever estimate for that social network’s use in the country, led by adoption by younger users.

But Facebook’s gains will slow to a trickle as user penetration for the country’s leading social network plateaus.

Instagram has enjoyed strong user growth in Germany in recent years, and that expansion will continue in 2017.