No Sex is Free Sex

"When social and market norms collide, trouble sets in. Take sex again. A guy takes a girl out for dinner and a movie, and he pays the bills. They go out again, and he pays the bills once more. They go out a third time, and he’s still springing for the meal and the entertainment. At this point, he’s hoping for at least a passionate kiss at the front door. His wallet is getting perilously thin, but worse is what’s going on in his head: he’s having trouble reconciling the social norm (courtship) with the market norm (money for sex). On the fourth date he casually mentions how much this romance is costing him. Now he’s crossed the line. Violation! She calls him a beast and storms off. He should have known that one can’t mix social and market norms-especially in this case-without implying that the lady is a tramp. He should also have remembered the immortal words of Woody Allen:“The most expensive sex is free sex.”"

-Dan Ariely

To look at sex from an economists prospective I am going to look at the cash flow that goes into both a relationship (free sex) and an escort service(paid-for sex). While I do have a lot of experience in the dating field, I have zero experience in the escort arena.

To remedy my predicament, I will look at America's favorite prostitute, Vivian Ward. I am of course referring to Julia Roberts's role in Pretty Woman. For one week with Viv, Edwards pays $3,000 (or $100 for one hour), and at the end of the week they have sex. Now we have a point of comparison.

Remember all girls are different, so the amount of money poured into a relationship will vary. These numbers are skewed towards my last "new relationship". To remissness on the start of a relationship is remembering a simpler time when your boyfriend was still trying to impress you; when he still opened the doors, didn't fart in front of you, and best of all payed for everything. Another quick disclaimer before we get into dollars:The last man who "courted" me was not your average joe, he had lots of money and spent it on, well me. Now let's get into the details.

The first time I hung out with above average joe was when I drove 14 hours to see him. That seems like a cost I accrued, but he reimbursed my driving expenses. Charge one: 200 dollars. That night we went out to dinner at Musashi Japanese Steakhouse. As I just recently found out this place was featured on Travel Channel as being on of the best steak restaurants in the country. Before dinner we got a few sushi rolls and at dinner I got the Katana special and a hot tea to drink; it was delicious. If we exclude his meal, because he probably would have spent that much on food anyways, I totaled about 53 dollars of a meal. This is just day one and we are already at 253 dollars

To keep the rest of the blog short and sweet I will total amounts up and we can just add from there. The next day we went to lunch at Rounders, a sports bar nearby. My meal was only about twenty dollars, but my drink was eight. 281 for those keeping a running total. Not so bad so far, but that night we went downtown.

I had one drink at Lily Bar&Lounge for twenty dollars, yes twenty dollars for one cocktail, before hitting the rest of the town. The price for both of us to ride the "Paris" Eiffel Tower I will include because he would not have ridden it if not for me. The total cost wasn't bad, only 28 dollars. Prior to riding up the Eiffel Tower, I downed a yard drink. Actually turned into a really cool ceramic souvenir so I was happy with it, but it still cost 17 dollars. I was told from Paris we went to some restaurant called Noodles and I ordered a Pad Thai. I assure you, I do not remember being there and I certainly did not eat one bit. For this untouched meal, he payed 19 dollars.In all actuality other things could have been bought and expenses could have been higher, but from what I remember, we are looking at 365 dollars.

Here I was saying I was going to keep this short and sweet, and I'm still getting into details about my nights! The next day was miserable. All I wanted to do was stay in bed, but a lunch date had already been made and I had to pretend to be up to the task. I feel the worst about not being able to eat at this restaurant because I have heard many stories of how amazing Lotus of Siam is. All I know is the second I walked in the door and aromas of Thai food hit my nose, I was off to the bathroom. While every number I have given you is taken from the website because I never actually saw a bill, I REALLY didn't see the bill at Lotus. I do however remember a hundred dollar bill being thrown on the table, and how good the leftovers tasted days later. After many more hours of recovery, that night we ate at the highlight of my trip- Craftsteak. On a side note, I love Top Chef. That is why no dollar amount in the world would have made me as happy as eating at Tom Colicchio's restaurant. Now back to the matter at hand. The entree I had is not on the menu anymore, so we will call my portion of dinner:wine, dinner, two side dishes, and dessert 100 dollars.

In three days we're 565 dollars. None of this includes tip, none of this includes opportunity costs, and none of this is actually getting the guy laid. I could go on to the next time, and the time after that we hung out, but let's just say each time he spent more and each time had the same result. Counting time, effort, emotional pain, and actual money put in if you aren't looking for love, you might as well avoid women

Sex Doesn't Sell Itself

I haven't written a blog in almost a month. So, I did what any lost writer does; I turned to my friends for inspiration. I'm not sure if this has to do with the fact that most of my friends are males, but that aside we are kickin' it Salt n' Pepa style you know talking about sex, baby.

Everyone has heard the saying sex sells it's even viewed to some as a hypernorm or global truth. That being said, when you are selling a product that actually is used while people are having sex wouldn't it sell itself? Even if sex sells is a hypernorm condom companies still face the same international marketing problems as any other multinational corporation.

The video bellow shows "the worlds best condom ads" many of which worked in one country, but were not successful or even banned in another.

A clear point made in the video is while sex sells is globally known the line between what is too racy and what is air-able is fuzzier. In European countries, nudity and sexuality are commonly used in advertisements, but across the pond a millisecond of Janet Jackson's nipple is shown on live television and fines are slapped down so fast it would make your head spin. Now, the British are seen to be the most similar to us culture wise, but not when it comes to nudity in advertisements.

The more I sift through and find funny condom commercials the more I find commercials that are banned in one country or even up to ten countries. Maybe condom commercials should stick to a platform like youtube where they don't have to risk getting banned, but the controversy generated by the ads being banned is just free publicity for the company. In closing, there may not be a formula to make a global commercial, but there is a commercial to get globally banned :)

Better Late Than Never...

Superbowl weekend I was not only disappointed by the winner of The Super Bowl, but also the caliber of commercials. In past years I have anxiously awaited The Super Bowl the way a little kid awaits Christmas. Each commercial break is like unwrapping a new present and the wait kills me. This year I felt like the kid who got coal in his stocking as I was extremely with each present unwrapped.

There were a few gems among the clutter. So without further ado, here are my five favorite (or the only five I can remember) commercials of this year’s Super Bowl.

Taco Bell has always had a way of mixing quirky images and broken Spanish that makes me fall in amo. This year I was not let down by their Live Mas campaign.

There are few things I crave more after a good night on the town then a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I can relate to quirky elders of this commercial who raged hard and were craving some (as I affectionately call it) T-Bell after. The music in the background and the ridiculous situations just added to why this commercial is so memorable to me.

For anyone who has ever wondered what won't Meatloaf do for love, M&Ms attempted to answer that question. This isn't the first commercial to employ this tactic. My favorite of the "what I won't do for love" series was the Dr Pepper commercial of the early 2000's.

The red M&M starts out doing similar things like cuddling on the couch watching chick flicks. When the commercial takes a turn for worst the women is trying to eat "Mr Red" by icing him, baking him into a cake, and other various methods of "enhancing" chocolate.

I really enjoyed the Audi commercial where this poor boy doesn't have a date to prom so his dad lends him his Audi. The kid, I'm assuming because the Audi made him feel like such a BAMF, walks into the prom no fear and does every teen boy's fantasy, kisses the prom queen. The next scene shows the boy driving away with a black eye and a smile on his face.

Any car that can make you forget you got punched in the eye is a winner in my book. Live out your dreams kids, live out your dreams.

I know it may depend on who you ask, but Gangnam Style is not overplayed and it still makes me smile. That being said, I've always been a fan of the Pistachio commercials. I love how they inject their bright green color into every character they use i.e everyone know Charlie Brown's shirt is yellow with the zig-zag strip, and because his shirt is so iconic turning it bright green while keeping the strip did not take away from the Charlie Brown image. I enjoyed the pistachios doing the gangnam dance too.

What I thought to be the cleverest of the commercial came from an unlikely. While Budlight usual goes the route of man drinks beer man gets girl this year they went a different route. Throughout the course of the 2012 football season, they have shown us some weird superstitions people believe helps their team win. I've been a fan of these series of commercials the whole season, and was not disappointed by their finale in the Super Bowl. During (almost) every commercial break a new either a Ravens or a 49ers fan would pop into Stevie Wonder the king of superstition himself's lair and wish for the opposing team to loose.

The colors used were indicative of NOLA which is where the Super Bowl was held and a voodoo theme for such a town only makes sense. All in all very well done and my favorite commercial of 2013's Super Bowl.

Runner Up

Amy Pohler and Best Buy. Mainly because Parks and Recreation is my favorite TV show and instead of seeing Amy Pohler I saw Leslie Knope being her typical ridiculous self.

My opinions are very different from the pro's and maybe what I like is very different from what you like too, so here are some other evaluations from some real columnists .

The Invisible Push: Benedict XVI > Adam Smith?

I am not Catholic nor was I raised in a catholic family, but since I was 16 I have partaken in lent. Everyone knows what fat Tuesday is, the last day of Mardi Gras, and a very popular day for college students to live like there's no tomorrow. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and lasts for the forty days until Easter. People have always asked me if you're not Catholic why give up anything; I have always seen lent as a good practice of self control, kind of like a new year's resolution, but much shorter and easier to follow through.

I usually like to look into the darker side of consumer behavior and believe in general people have no self control in the items they buy. As Adam Smith taught me, people will act in their own self interest.Take new years resolution's for example, people tend to resolve to change something they do not like about themselves and it is in there self interest to change it.The gym will empty out towards the end of January when it is in their self interest to do something better with their time. Generally people do what they want. Lent however, is a time when people give up something they love to test their self control. A contradiction to my typical beliefs on how human behavior works.

Thinking about what to give up for lent this year has made me remember some good and bad ideas I've had through the eight years I've observed it. If you too are struggling with ideas of what to give up hopefully reading through some of my failures and successes will give you inspiration.

The first year I thought a forty day fast from something I loved sounded like a good idea, I gave up soda which I actually am grateful for was because the habit stuck. The next year I became more adventurous and gave up something I adored; I gave up chocolate. The day lent started by boyfriend at the time had no idea I practiced lent(because I wasn't Catholic), and bought me a Hershey Sundae Pie. That pie sat in my freezer for the next five weeks until I could finally eat it.

Makeup was actually not as difficult to give up as I imagined it to be. Every morning instead of putting on mascara I would use an eyelash curler to make my eyes pop without also applying the black stuff. The best part of giving up makeup was the extra half hour of sleep I gained in the morning.

For such a plain tasting food, potatoes were WAY more difficult than I thought, and have the most amusing story to go with them.I remember waiting in line at the Bruger's Bagels in the Kent State Student Center starving and hoping the line would just move faster. The nice gentlemen behind the counter offered my friend, Lisa, and me a sample of a new bagel type they were offering. When I went to tell the man I thought it was delicious I caught the description of the bagel out of the corner of my eye...Potato. I immediately spit it out and started rubbing down my tongue with a napkin. By the time I got to place my order everyone sitting by Bruger's Bagels must have thought I was out of my damn mind.

I don't remember what I gave up the year I turned 20,but the year I was turning 21 I gave up alcohol. Genius, I know. The year after that sweets, and last year could have been swearing but I'm not sure.

In many of these anecdotes I betrayed Adam Smith's sense of self interest and controlled my inner urges. An economist may not be proud, but maybe the Pope would.

Multiple Selves: Exam One

This is my written exam for the reason I write this blog. You may find the content interesting, you may not, but there is a new blog post to come before the end of the week :D

To please the physical self we buy staple foods or medicine when we don’t feel well, but other than that the only self we make purchases for is the ideal self. I look around my room and think to myself why do I own everything I have? I have a large movie collection because I like to see myself as a movie snob, I own books to make me look like I read more often than I actually do, and I spend why too much on clothes because that’s how I think I should look. I guess an argument could be made that I buy textbooks for my actual self, because in actuality I am not a movie critic, a literary expert, or a person who can afford the clothes I wear, but rather I’m a student.

Belk describes extension of the physical self in his work, Possessions and the Extended Self. Possessions details how people get so attached to items they own they no longer feel whole if those items were ever to be lost. In a person’s mind, these items become part of their physical selves. As consumers we “convince ourselves… that we would be a different person without them” (Belk 145). In a person’s psyche we have two selves the actual and the ideal self. As a marketer it is our job to bridge the gap between what is ones fantasy and their reality (Solomon 169). Most consumers will do as Meghan Daum did and “exert a great deal of energy trying to get realities to match fantasies” (Daum). In order to do so marketers will use the four “P’s” of marketing to create that fantasy for a customer. Dichter believes “ taps into hidden desires and urges”. I think these urges aren't so much hidden, but rather part of our ideal self that is not fully exposed.

Product creation is crucial to create an ideal self. For an easy example we can look at the Betty Crocker cake mixes for example. When women only added water to the product it was threatening to the women’s sense of self. She felt under valued and therefore the product did not sell. (Dichter) It is not that adding eggs instead of just water made women anymore of a baker than the other, but her perception of her ideal self was not being lived up to. When consumer’s put so much clout on a product and how the possession affects their value (Solomon 165) it opens a huge door for marketers to reach inside human psyche to produce a product that will help one create their ideal self.

Consumer’s start to develop immunities to advertisements (The Persuaders) and reaching them through the clutter becomes harder and harder everyday. Coming up with clever promotions are how to show people your product extends the physical self. Sex and the City was and still is a show with a cult like following. The show created characters likely to be your ideal self. Whether you’re a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha tuning in each week to see what you should be doing if you were your perfect self became a ritual for many women.

Absolut saw this show as a promotions Mecca. They wove a whole character’s story line into their vodka. At the end of a hard working day what did the women of SatC drink other than an Absolut Hunk. While it maybe a stretch to some that seeing your favorite T.V character drinking a certain cocktail means that is the cocktail you should also be drinking, to the women who saw themselves as say Samantha, it was a must. (The Persuaders) The placement and promotion perfectly tapped into the women who “chose some products… to help reach an ideal standard” (Solomon 168).

If reading Meghan Daum’s blog did nothing else it taught me people who have a strong sense of an ideal self will pay more to reach their ideal standard. Companies can charge more for frivolous goods because that is why you buy. “The increasingly common definition of getting by… has more to do with keeping up appearances than keeping things under control” (Daum). “Some people seem to be more sensitive in general to the image they communicate to other” (Solomon 172). The people like that, the people like Meghan or even me will pay large amounts of money for things we just don’t really need.

“Contemporary consumption also shows that the feeling of identify invested in material objects can be extraordinarily high” (Belk 144). That statement is truer now than 24 years ago when it was written. The physical, actual and ideal self become closer to one person as possessions become a stronger part of what defines us.

Six Degrees of Panera Bread

The game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" was started because people like finding arbitrary links between things. It's actually just how the human brain works; it sees things and links them together. While things like the food and music industry may not seem to have much in common, I am going to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to bring the two together.

First Degree of Bacon

I've actually never played Six Degrees, but I think I already named a starting and ending point so here goes nothing. We have the food industry: a place where I have been involved in since I was old enough to hold a job, where the profit margins are smaller than perceived,and companies do whatever they can to increase those profit margins...or so we think.

Second Degree of Bacon

My second job and first stable job was at Panera Bread. Upon moving to Montana, I was surprised to find Panera had not made its way here yet. For my Montana friends and any others who have not eaten at a Panera, Panera is a quick casual dining restaurant. The restaurant is divided into two sections a bakery and a cafe. The bakery side sells an array of sweets and breakfast items like cookies, brownies, bagels and quiches. In addition, they also sell coffee shop drinks (not to mention the best chai tea). The cafe side sells soups, sandwiches, and salads. Panera's real claim to fame was the introduction of a quick casual dining experience.

Third Degree of Bacon

As a former employee of Panera I know they have always tried to better the community surrounding them. At the end of the day Panera puts all the bakery items which have not sold and places them in a bag for collection the next morning by a local charity. Lately Panera has raised the bar on community involvement by setting up "Panera Cares" cafes across the United States.

Fourth Degree of Bacon

Panera Cares is set up to allow customers pay what they can afford of their purchase and volunteer to work off the rest of what is due.Why go to a Panera Cares instead of a local soup kitchen? Panera Bread wanted the ability to offer the "Panera Experience" to everyone. While soup kitchens have a general negative vibe when you walk in, Panera Cares offers the same environment any other Panera Bread would even down to the menu.

...the non-profit cafe has two goals. The first is to raise awareness about food insecurity. The second is to give those who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from a sense of dignity

Fifth Degree of Bacon

The biggest splash I can recall of a "pay what you can" business model was when Radiohead released their seventh studio album, "In Rainbows", in 2007. Against the advice of their label, Radiohead released "In Rainbows" to the general public on the internet. The entire album was free to download for three months before hard copies were sold in stores. While on the internet the album generated more money than their previous album, "Hail to the Thief", and out sold both Hail and"Amnesiac" in total sales.

Sixth Degree of Bacon

Once available in stores, "In Rainbows" debuted number one on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Album Charts. Rainbows also precluded the most successful tour Radiohead has had to date. Not only did fans take notice of the true value of this album, but so did the music industry. Rainbows earned two Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Special Limited Edition Package. The last time Radiohead had won a Grammy prior to 2009 was three albums ago when they won a Grammy the Best Alternative Music Album for "Kid A".

Preliminary numbers for Panera Cares look promising. Maybe Panera will have the same impact on the food industry that Radiohead had on the music industry maybe not, but Panera's attempt to change perceptions of food security the same way Radiohead changed the music industry's opinion on downloading music is admirable.

How to Lose Customers and Alienate Yourself: When Segmenting Goes Too Far

The image above is a marketing campaign created for Dr Pepper Ten. The marketing department at Dr Pepper put together a campaign in an attempt to make their diet drink seem "more manly". As you can imagine, the campaign was a flop. Not only did the campaign get attacked as being sexist, but it upset the base customer of diet drinks- women.

Dr Pepper Ten is the prime example of losing customers and alienating yourself. Other companies have been much more successful at extreme segmentation without over alienating to the point of the product tanking.

When IKEA first started in 1953 their goal was to target the "young at heart" consumer. Many of their commercials would make fun of old "tacky" items that would be seen in your grandma's house.

Unlike Dr Pepper Ten, IKEA was successfull in correctly segementing their target market without alienating other potential customers. In a class I am taking we are having the same struggle so many marketers have had; how do you reach your target market without having other potential customers be repulsed?

Here's some background information on the project: Glidden has an exclusivity deal with Walmart i.e Glidden is the only paint brand Walmart can sell, but no one is aware Walmart sells paint and those who are aware doubt Walmart's ability to carry high quality paint. As a class, it is our job to produce a marketing campaign that will increase paint sales at Walmart within female Millennials, young renters, and baby boomers. Within the given budget in the spread of the demographic we decided to focus on the Millennials and young renters. Thus far we have struggled to find an idea that doesn't alienate the baby boomers, without coming off too boring/done before.

We do all agree on the headline- "Paint Fearlessly", but the class is generally torn over two headline ideas. We have a "Face Your Fears" campaign and an "It's Okay to Make Mistakes" campaign. While the "Face Your Fears" campaign has broad mass appeal, it is quite boring. Then we have a riskier "fail" campaign (can you see what side I'm leaning towards). The idea behind the "fail" campaign is the word after fail will change in every advertisement i.e Fail Beautifully, Fail Gracefully, Fail Smarter etc, and a picture will go with the headline that shows the painter even if some kind of mistake is made while the project can still came out beautifully.

Because the class is exactly 50/50 on the two campaigns I pose the question to you, what do you think about the word fail? Do you think the use of the word fail will alienate the baby boomers? Do you have any suggestions on how we could make the idea more market friendly?

Thanks for reading and an advanced thanks for giving me insight