Monday, December 15, 2008

The Value

Price is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain benefits of having or using a product service. (Marketing an Introduction page.263)

We are keeping the traditional price for our comic which is $2.99. We are in all sense of the word a comic book and we will price our product as one. We want to give our consumers the sense that what they are buying is more than what they are paying for. It is a cook book, a entertaining a narrative and also a collectible.

As a collectible the price of the comics will grow in value with age. It will put our product in a position of high value with a low cost.

Good pricing begins with a complete understanding of the value that a product or service creates for customers. (Marketing an Introduction page.264)

New in Development


Given the rapid changes in consumer tastes, technology and competition, companies must develop a steady stream of new products and services. (Marketing an Introduction page.239)

The new and improvements

A company typically has to generate many ideas in order to find new good ones. (Marketing an Introduction page.240)

Here in Avengers Ink, we are always trying to brainstorm ideas to turn our comic book into a strong brand. We would like to expand from just comic books to other tangible items, like toys, kitchen hardware, movies and video games. We would like to turn the main characters into a brand, like how Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan is a brand.

We are going to do this by generating new ideas past being just a cook book.

VegUns seal of approval (branding and services)


To be a successful in our endeavors, we need to understand where our product falls in the product and service classification category. We understand that cookbooks and comics are a want and not a need. So therefor it is a specialty product. Specialty products are consumer products and services with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort. (Marketing an Introduction page.2o1)

Because it is a specialty item, our goal is to turn our product into a very recognizable brand, to the vegan and vegetarian market. If a vegetarian doesn't know anything about being vegan, they can at least identify the characters in "The Veguns" comic book. The comic will provide them with high-quality recipes and art. The perceptions about our brand needs to be high because of the market we want. Our customers buy high quality foods, so the quality of our comics should be just as high.

Brands are more than just names and symbols. Brands represent consumers' perceptions and feelings about a product and its performance everything that the product or service means to consumers.(Marketing an Introduction page.115)

The feeling and perception we want for our product is that it is cool, hip, sexy and trendy to be vegan. The best way to grab a young market is to create and associate something they are familiar with. Like a movie. Since there is an increase in sales for comics from comic book movies, we think a comic book movie for our product is a good way to build a strong brand. The movie will contain the same perceptions we want to get for the book, which is, our product is cool, hip, sexy and trendy.

Market Segmentation Vol. 2

Suppose a company is fortunate enough to discover several potential competitive advantages. It now must choose the one on which it will build its positioning. (Marketing an Introduction page.187)

Our advantage over other cookbooks is how we can create our products around our customer trends. Since trends are always changing and our comic is released bi-monthly, we can the style of our comic to fit the trend. The content will reflect the trend of the moment, including story line, recipes and even art work. Certain popular artist, chefs and writers will be hired based on trend. Most recipe books are updated yearly, by then consumers have grown tired of a product and move on to something new.

Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation is dividing a market into smaller groups of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics or behaviors who might require separate products or marketing mixes. (Marketing an Introduction page.165)

Our market Segment consist of four main groups.

Vegans- Already familiar to the lifestyle
Vegetarians (potential vegans)- The group that just needs that extra push to become a full vegan, but they can also benefit from our Vegan Comic Cook Book.
Health Food Shoppers- The regulars at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. They eat meat, but is not strict to that diet.
Comic Book Enthusiast- The customers who read it for the narrative more than the recipes.

As you can see each segment are potential loyal customers. We will run our advertisement based on characteristics of that area. So if Eugene, Oregon's segment is vegetarian prominent. Then we will construct our marketing strategy around them.

Oh behav(ior)

Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most large companies research consumer buying decisions in great detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how much they buy, when they buy and why they buy. (Marketing an Introduction page.129)

Luckily our target demographic is very controlled group of consumers. Because of their dietary choices, there is a limited amount of stores or restaurants they can purchase from. It is much easier to control their diet if it is cooked in their own homes. Not a lot of places offer organic products that is free of meat by products. This is a big marketing advantage, because we can heavily advertise these places with our product. We can do an exact placement of the comic books in these stores that vegans and vegetarians shop in, including major bookstores (Barnes and Noble and Borders). We will not be wasting any resources because our distribution strategy will be direct to our target demographic.

Lifetstyle, is a person's pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics (Marketing an Introduction page.136)

The vegan lifestyle in it's simple definition is an animal by product free diet and fashion. It is a lifestyle that was practiced by hippies and has gained popularity in recent years, by the health conscious middle class and wealthy. It gained it by down playing the self righteous reputation of being vegan and turning the lifestyle into a trend. Our comic book adds to the trend and it will gain momentum from it. Our plan is to hit trendy stores like Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble and Long Life Veggie, to show people that being vegan is more than just food. That it is a disciplined lifestyle, a "COOL" lifestyle reserved for the fit and beautiful.