• Business Model Generation Read the Section on Patterns: pages 56 to 119
• "Business Models on the Web " (download article)
• Warby Parker Taking Eyewear to the Web.
• Dollar Shave Club: Using old media to sell on the web.
• Bonobos: From Clicks to Bricks.
• More on Warby: From the Editor of the Economist
• The Mobile Internet is Changing Brick and Mortar Retail: "Hointer a New Way to Shop"
• Recorded Breeze: Emerging Business Models on the Web
• Personal Branding Assignment
• Continue working on team assignment

One of the most interesting topics this week to me is showrooming.  The idea is that brick-and-mortar stores have consumers that come to their stores just to physically look at a product that they will later purchase online from a different online retailer.   I personally will admit to doing this,  I have went to a store here in town to check something out that I will later purchase online for cheaper.

Another good read was about the Dollar Shave Club.  I have heard of this before this class.  I actually was just thinking about this company a few months ago when I went to buy more razors at the store.  Every time I go buy razors I tell myself I should sign up for the subscription.  Like Michael Dubi, founder of Dollar Shave Club, says in the interview they are a lifestyle company.  The company was built on the humorous video.  Without that off the wall video the business would have never took of the way it did.  The business now provides upgrades to to the standard subscription including shave butter and "buttwipes".  

The Warby Parker article was another interesting topic.  I don't wear glasses and most of the time when I hear someone talking about purchasing glasses they are complaining about the choices or price.  When I was a kid I remember my friends that wear glasses and their worst fear was having to tell their parents that their $400 pair of glasses broke while playing.  What Warby Parker has done with the glasses industry it amazing.  Providing stylish affordable glasses with a personal experience.  

Learning Goals/Tasks for Week 3:

• Chapter 1: "The Origins of Social Media," in The New Influencers, pp. 1-14. (Download content.)
• “The Death of Segmentation: IBM VP talks segments of one consumer.
• Video: Seth Godin: Ted Talk on: How to Get Your Ideas Spre
• Podcast: "Gil Frisbie and Frank Acito of Indiana University: The Long Tail"
•  Twitter and Brand Building assignment
• The Point of Twitter (from NPR "On the Media" program of April 23, 2010; 9 minutes)
• The Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Report

This week was a pretty busy week for me, school, work, and personal.  Unfortunately  I found myself scrambling to do most of my homework for this class today (Sunday)  I was out of town most of the week for work and then I was out of town Friday evening to Sunday morning for a friends wedding.  It is officially summer and it sure felt like it here in Northern Illinois.  We had humid heat followed by violent rains followed by more humid heat. Overall it was a good week and weekend.  

This was a big week in this class.  A lot of information to take in.  I learned more about Twitter this week during the assignment and also a new topic to me, the long tail.  I considered myself to be a casual Twitter user.  I mostly follow people and check out tweets on a weekly basis. This assignment helped me focus in on one brand an monitor how they use Twitter to build their brand.  I focused my assignment on TaylorMade Golf.  I followed them closely for five days a witnessed them promoting their brand with links, photos, and retweets.  They do a great job promoting their brand and their products.  The links take you right to their site to order their products.  The week I followed them just happened to be the week after one of their players, Justin Rose, won the US Open.  this is one of four major championships in the PGA season.  They provided links for followers to purchase the exact equipment he used.

The Long Tail was another interesting topic.  This is another marketing topic that I have some general knowledge of but haven't ever been formally taught about.  The Rhapsody song specific long tail was a pretty amazing analysis that is similar to other markets.  Something that I found interesting was that the "non hits" in the long tail when combined rival the amount of hits.  This makes sense when you look at a chart of the long tail but is interesting to think about.  The article used the example that Barnes and Nobel carriers 100,000 titles and one quarter of  Amazon's book sales is outside the top 100,000 titles.  This is a perfect example of how the long tail adds up.

Learning Goals/Tasks for Week 2:

• Read "Introduction: The Dawn of the Human Network" -Complete
• Read "How to Build Your Start-up Without Building Code" - Complete
• Podcast: Information Liquidity with slides and audio - Complete
• Connect with team members and start Marketing Information Assignment - Complete
• Read The Social Marketing Playbook - Complete
• Watch Crowdsourcing Evolution - Complete 

The two required readings for this week were "Introduction: The Dawn of the Human Network" and "How to Build Your Start-up Without Building Code".  Both of these readings were great info.  The Dawn of the Human Network was about Crowdsourceing.  I had never really heard of this word before this week.  I knew of this practice but never knew that it was called Crowdsourcing.  It really is an amazing thing that essentially wouldn't be possible without the internet.  The whole is idea that you can get best ideas and results on projects from a crowd of people.   This practice has changed the way most development companies work.  They hone in on the "wsidom of the crowd".  I think about opensource software and online multiplayer computer games.  Crowsourcing have made these what they are today.  Opensource programs are developed by a population of developers that all are basically volunteering to develop free programs for people to use.  Mutiplayer computer games use crowdsourcing when the crowd help develop new custom maps or features that were not originally offered with the original game.

"How to Build Your Start-up Without Building Code" was another great read.  This read was an actual how-to guide.  It was an interesting read and makes you really think of all the things that go into starting a web business.  This article is a must read for any entrepreneur that is starting a business.  It touched on the basic steps and tools needed for starting a web business.

Week 1

Learning Goals/Tasks for Week 1:

• Get Familiar With the Format of the Course -Complete
• Create Blog on Blogger - Complete
• Create Twitter Account for this Course - Complete
• Read Made to Engage - Complete
• Read First 50 Pages of Text - Complete
• Watch Course Intro Video - Complete

Coming into this class I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of how technology is continuously influencing and changing marketing. The Made to Engage reading opened my eyes to how fast the internet has changed and is continuing to chang the way companies manage their brands. Some points in the reading described how company's have different approaches to using social media for their brands and various ways consumers determine the success of brands everyday.

The main topic from this reading is the need for companies to be dynamic in today's Live Web. It is very important for companies to manage their brands in real time and react immediately to changes in the market.   Web 2.0 is all about collaborating and socializing with consumers rather than controlling the experience and just informing them. 

First Blog Post Ever

Hey my name is Joe and this is my first blog post ever.  I have read many blogs but never really took the time to start one.  This blog was created for my Indiana University Kelley MBA class X501 Marketing in the Era of Digital Technology.  This will be my weekly blog spot for this class and I will be posting various items here along with my comments and ideas.