Marketing Case: UFC

Marketing Case: UFC's Evolution from an underground company into a corporate giant

- The Ultimate Fighting Championship was founded in November 1993 by Rorion Gracie, Art Davie, John Milius, Campbell Mclaren, and Bob Meyrowitz. The company/league was created to see which martial arts discipline was the most dominant. Fighters from different disciplines were recruited and put against one another inside of a octagon shaped steel cage. Their first event UFC  1, used an 8 man elimination tournament formant, with the winner receiving $50,000. 

- Throughout the 90's and early 2000's, the company faced major controversies and backlash from the general public and some politicians. The sport was seen as barbarical and unethical by the masses. With politicians like John McCain claiming the UFC was a form of "human cockfighting." Mccain forced the company to comply to regulations. To counter the naysayers and the controversy, the UFC established a new way of doing things: addition of weight classes, complying with sanctioned athletic commissions, and addition of rules.

- In 2001 UFC was bought by Zuffa LLC, and appointed Dana White as its president. White is credited with transforming the relatively small company into a prolific corporation, basically, he catapulted the company into the mainstream. White is known to be an avid twitter user, going as far as calling twitter "the greatest marketing tool in the world." He loves it because he can directly engage with fans and promote events leading up to their start, etc.

- Milestones include: 2014 Rebook Deal, Deal with Fox in 2011, 2016 UFC was sold for $4 billion, held their first event at Madison Square Garden in 2016, and in 2017 they had a huge cross promotion super fight: the face of UFC Conor McGregor vs Boxing's Floyd Mayweather.

- Revenue: UFC is a private company, therefore they can't disclose much information to the general public, but in an interview Dana White stated that in 2015, the company made around $600 million in revenues.

- Value Proposition: They provide a new form of sports entertainment that can't be found in other pro sports leagues. And they are gender inclusive, meaning that females and males compete in the same league, same pay per view events, and sometimes they even get to headline the event. Females compete with other females, and males compete with other males, no battle of the sexes or anything like that. Another thing to add to the proposition is that UFC is fun and wild, who doesn't like seeing action? Last but not least, the UFC is the number one fight league in the world, they provide the best match ups and fights as well as the best quality in regards to promoting and delivering quality to its fans.

- I would not change anything about the company, why? Because Dana White got turned down by investors and other sources of funds when he was trying to build the company. Somehow through hard work and perseverance, he catapulted the underdog company into the corporation gian it is now, and it's still growing as there's still a lot of space and available mediums to deliver its product/service offerings.

Sources:

• http://www.ufc.com/news/reebok-ufc-announce-landmark-apparel-deal?id=
• https://www.cbssports.com/mma/news/reports-ufc-sells-for-4-billion-to-wme-img-dana-white-remains-president/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5leKNVSXsqw
• https://www.foxsports.com/ufc/haymaker/story/ufc-has-grown-on-one-time-enemy-mccain-020414
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRCRCgh5pE

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Week 2 Marketing Blog

Topic 1: Social Listening 

1. What brand did you select?                                                                                                          I chose the brand H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB. It is a Swedish multinational clothing-retail company known for producing clothing specializing in fast fashion for men, women, and children and teenagers.
2. What is its Value Proposition?
   H&M is a brand associated with top fashion and top designers but yet keeps the prices low for most products, in addition, they have a lot of celebrity endorsements to reinforce its attractive image.
3. What are 3 good and bad things that  people are saying about your chosen brand?       Due to recent controversial advertisement which featured a black kid wearing a hoodie with the words "the coolest monkey in the jungle," most of the things that people were saying about H & M were negative.  Negative comments include: "There's a White Supremacist who works for H&M who thought it was funny to make a black boy model a hoodie that said 'Coolest Monkey In The Jungle'," and "black kid is the monkey, and another ad feature a white kid being the 'survival expert.' And  know folks are pretending like they don't know that black children have always been racially characterized as monkeys, H&M screwed up." Another negative comment  was, "I'm hysterical over the lack of awareness by H&M." I say that what people were saying about H&M was reasonable (especially from the perspective of a person of African/Black descent) because racism is something that will not be tolerated by the masses in this day and age, even if H&M did not intend for the ad to be racist.                                                                                                                                                                                                       I did find some positive things people were saying about the brand and some even stood up for the brand's advertisement by saying things like, "I thought the hoodie was cute, sue me." Another positive comment (more or less), "H&M is a non American company. Non native brands do not have to be familiar with USA's historical conflicts." What they were saying made sense from their point of view (they were looking ad the ad as nothing more than a hoodie and a child), but most of the people that were saying positive comments about the brand were Caucasian so it would make sense that the negative comments outweighs the positive.                          
4.  What aspects relate to marketing, please explain? What's the challenge facing the brand?  Due to controversy and backlash about a potentially racist hoodie, H&M had to offer an apology and hire a diversity leader, customers are the focus of marketing's activities so it was wise for them to do that to turn their customer's frown upside down. Another aspect that relates to marketing is social listening, H&M was forced to listen to what people were saying on social media and then proceeded to fix those complaints.                                                                                                                                                                
5.  If you were the brand manager, how would you respond to customers? If I was the brand manager and I experienced backlash about the hoodie, I would offer a sincere apology on all the social media platforms that the brand uses. I would let them know the hoodie was designed with no racist intent, and that the product would be discontinued and removed from all stores.

Topic 2: Marketing In The News

1. Summary: Adidas is growing from a conceptual perspective and from a broad view. It has been making full use of the digital opportunity, whereas other retailers are struggling to compete online. The company has also been focusing and emphasizing quality growth and margins to boost its stock performance. It has been gaining popularity and growing in countries such as China and the USA, with sales going up from 6 % to 11% in the US. Adidas' ability to innovate, react fast to changing trends as well as to market demand, distribution discipline, and its degree of diversification by product is leading the company to a prosperous future in the stock market while spooking its competitors who are struggling to keep a constant growth rate.                                                                                                                                                                                  
2. Marketing Issue and/or challenge: Adidas has found a way to fully exploit its online opportunity and could possibly make and reap big profits.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
   
3. How was the issue or challenge addressed? Response (good or bad?): Adidas sees a lot of potential in the sportswear industry because that industry grows from 4% to 6% a year. They are competing against other brands by making full use of the digital opportunity in addition to reacting fast to changing trends and emphasizing quality growth. To reinforce the issue, they are offering new and differentiated product portfolio. It is also focusing on scale and recognizing trends before they happen, things like this are diving the company to higher profits.                                                                                                
   
4. Value Proposition: Adidas offers innovative trendy apparel and shoes for leisure and athletic performance, with high pricing to reinforce its premium image/positioning standing.                              
   
5. What did you learn and can apply in this class? I learned that for a company/brand to truly stand out in a competitive industry, they must take full advantage of whatever opportunity that presents itself and capitalize on the results. I also learned that it is useful to react fast to changing trends and recognize trends before they happen, it's like the saying "the early bird gets the warm." Also offering a remarkable product one that is trendy but also unique, will give an advantage over competitors because it will be appealing to see something innovative and stylish.

Article Link: http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/adidas-stock-price-has-found-a-way-to-fully-exploit-its-online-opportunity-and-it-could-make-a-killing-2018-1-1013326915

Company Link: https://www.adidas.com/us/

Week 1 Marketing Blog

                                                 TOPIC 1: ABOUT YOU

What prompted you to enroll in this course? It's a Business major required class, and the topic has interested me for quite a while because it appeals to my interest despite me not knowing much about this topic yet.

Are you a business/marketing major? I am a business major, but I'm still deciding which business path (marketing, biz info. systems, accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, business administration, etc.).


What are you most interested in learning about marketing? How to use and understand the concept of the blend between business marketing and social medial platforms.


Tell us something you are passionate about outside of college? Watching sports news and sports video blogs that talk about topics such as "what if Lebron James played in the NCAA's before going pro? How would it affect the 2003 NBA draft?" or "Whatever happened to NBA's Tracy McGrady?" I also like to watch highlight clips of various sports whether it be basketball, mma, boxing, or some other sport that I might not enjoy to watch but I thought the highlight clip was worth watching. Another passion of mine is exercising to stay healthy and vent out some extra energy, since I tend to have ADD and OCD like symptoms, and exercise is crucial in managing these symptoms. Another passion of mine is pets, I have been fond of those cute furry creatures since I was a toddler and still continue to be as of today. In addition to the stuff above I have mentioned, I am also fond of the medical cannabis industry, it might be a controversial topic and some might be against it, but I think cannabis has many health benefits to offer as its value proposition, and I hope to be part of that growing industry soon.



                                         Topic 2: MARKETING IN THE NEWS

1. Summarize the article. (What were the three main points or takeaways?)

• The Marijuana/Cannabis Industry is getting bigger and its evolving, supersized to be exact, and the old ways don't work any more for growers/cannabis businesses, so they must adapt to new methods to boost and manage their sales to keep up with their competition. The main method growers will have to deal will is scaling up and re-branding itself, which is producing their goods at large volume via technology and changing its image to gain more acceptance. In addition to the bright future of the Cannabis Industry, the technology it will need will come from the industrial equipment, which will boost some of those industrial businesses sales (the ones that want to sell their products to the cannabis businesses).

What's the Value Proposition of the company or organization involved?

• High Standards marketing agency offers specialized, sophisticated, informative events

What's the main point that applies to marketing?

•  Cannabis is re-branding itself to increase its potential in this rapidly growing industry in order gain nationwide mainstream acceptance and boosts its sales. The events it produces focuses on integrating cannabis with lifestyle activities that people already enjoy, such as dining, shopping, spa, wellness and similar experiences.

What was unique and/or new about the marketing approach?

• There are many benefits to re-branding marijuana since it's growing so fast, there are many sub markets (recreational market, medical user market, edible market, etc.) as well that need to be served and marijuana needs to change its image to have more endorsements from famous celebrities to reinforce and support its re-branding efforts.

What did you learn from the article?

• If one is to be involved in the Cannabis Industry, one must always be hustling and take an aggressive approach in all aspects of business as that industry is growing at a rapid pace, and this industry needs a a branding makeover to accommodate the skyrocket grow pace. Slacking is not acceptable and one has to use whatever new methods (new marketing plans, collaborating with the industrial equipment industry, etc) is available as it will pave the way for this evolution. The stereotype of users being "lazy stoners" needs to be completely eliminated if this industry is to reach its ultimate goal (mainstream acceptance/legalization in all states), re-branding/new marketing strategies is a must have it every cannabis biz arsenal.

Article Link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300656

Organization Website: https://www.highstandardsagency.com/

Intro To Gary V. Video
- Times are changing and that applies to the way professional do things. ADAPT!!!!
- Love it or don't do it
- Listen to customers, all of them, each and every one of them, make them happy and satisfied.
- Hustle (passion, work ethic, etc.)
- It's about brand Equity in yourself.
- Patience
- 17 months M-F  did tv
- What do I want to do everyday for the rest of my live?
- Biz Model
- Legacy greater than currency
- Connect to your user base anyway possible.
Note on how Rob can most help me succeed in this class: please provide examples of the latest/current trends that are relevant to the Marketing/Biz world.

Value Proposition
1. Unique 2. What Benefits Does It Promise To Consumers? 3. What Is their Competitive Advantage?

Examples of Value Proposition: The Car Industry
BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine
Ford Trucks - Built Tough
Toyota - Let's Go Places - Long Lasting/Reliable
Lexis - $/Luxury Cars
Tesla - Environment Friendly/Electric cars.

Example #2
Nike - Value Prop - "Just Do It"
Dutch Bros - Value Prop - Quick (Drive Thru)/FRIENDLY (it's the vibe they give out, not so much about the coffee).
Starbucks - Value Prop -Status, Free WiFi, Sit Down/Feel like home environment/cozy.-
*value proposition is not so much about the product itself but rather the vibe and environment, at least for dutch and Starbucks*