How could you apply this in starting own business

Assignment Help Business Management

Reference no: EM133265359

Assignment:

GOING VIRAL MAKES FOR A HEALTHIER FIRM65

Dr. Bob Wagstaff (a biochemist and nutritionist) developed the Orabrush to scrape bad breath-causing particles off the tongue. He got the Orabrush patented and approved by the FDA. He got it manufactured and worked hard to get it onto the shelves of drugstores and supermarkets. He had some success with smaller chains, but sales were below his expectations. He tried making an infomercial, which cost him around $40,000, but it produced only a few hundred more Orabrush sales. Thinking bigger marketing clout would make the product into a success, he tried marketing the patent to oral hygiene companies, but no one took him up on his offer.

He went to a marketing class at Brigham Young University and received advice from students in the class. He hoped that the young people could tell him how to sell more Orabrushes over the Internet. A survey a class team conducted showed 92 percent of the respondents wouldn't buy an Orabrush online, and the students on the team concluded that the Internet approach was not workable. However, another student in the class, Jeffrey Harmon, had a different interpretation. Jeffrey suggested that with millions of people watching videos on the Internet every day, getting 8 percent of that group to buy an Orabrush would still be an enormous market.

After class "Dr. Bob" asked Jeffrey to help him market Orabrush on the web, giving Jeffrey his old motorcycle as payment. Jeffrey recruited a co-worker named Austin Craig to be the video's pitchman for $100. He got scriptwriter friend Joel Ackerman to write the script and film major Devin Graham to film the video. Total cost? About $500. It was actually recorded in the back room of a pool hall-so that really is a clinking sound in the background of the video. The video went viral on YouTube, racking up millions of views and igniting sales of the Orabrush, with close to 1 million brushes sold over the next two years.

CASE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think a YouTube video worked better than a professionally done infomercial?

2. How were Dr. Bob and Jeffrey able to get so much done for so little money? How could you apply this in starting your own business?

3. Dr. Bob had tried traditional media and pursuing traditional outlets for the Orabrush. Why do you think his sales were not up to his expectations?

4. Explain how having 8 percent of the potential market to draw from could still be a worthwhile strategy for a small business.

Reference no: EM133265359

Questions Cloud

Why is the simultaneous targeting of the money supply : Why is the simultaneous targeting of the money supply and interest rates sometimes impossible to achieve?

What are the order consequences of removing these sanctions : How can the Problem be Quantified? What are the 2nd & 3rd order consequences of removing these sanctions?

Compare the international ethical scandal involving oracle : Compare the latest international ethical scandal involving Oracle to the earlier one from the last decade.

Prepare a video summary of the firm financial ratios : Annual Report Research a company's annual report. Prepare a video summary of the firm's financial ratios and financial statements.

How could you apply this in starting own business : How were Dr. Bob and Jeffrey able to get so much done for so little money? How could you apply this in starting your own business?

Do you perceive an ethical dilemma : Do you perceive an ethical dilemma? What would be the likely impact of following the controller's suggestions? Who would benefit? Who would be injured?

Discuss corporate behavior and moral agency : In the lecture notes for chapter 4 on capitalism I briefly raised the topic of corporate behavior and moral agency.

Explain the positive factors or the greenwashing found in ad : Explain the positive factors or the greenwashing found in the ad. (Hint: Sometimes even the good can exaggerate, resulting in some greenwashing.)

Should be concerned that regulation : Should we be concerned that regulation that are too strict might inadvertently strangle innovation and, like other civilizations who chose to shut down inquiry.

User Account

All Pages