This is my life in a nutshell (or a blog if you will)
Posted by Jeff Ignacio on December 31, 2006 under Random Entries | 
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Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! I will be back from vacation in a few days and more posts will be up. Until then, have a great holiday with friends and family!
Posted by Jeff Ignacio on December 28, 2006 under Business, Pop Culture, Random Entries | Be the First to Comment
Currently I am reading Buzz Marketing by Mark Hughes. The book focuses on marketing strategies that help generate buzz. Buzz is the phenomenon of where people start conversations about a particular product or service. Phrases such as ‘You won’t believe this’ or ‘you have to check this out’ all are monikers of a buzzing conversation. The streets, television, magazines, and almost every type of medium you can think of are overexposing me, you, and everyone we know with advertising. Sure we ignore them, but every once in awhile you start to find that you can’t ignore all marketing.
Take the Nintendo Wii for example. Did someone tell you how great the Wii is? Perhaps it’s the limited supply of consoles and the feeling of exclusivity among its owners that has everyone else wondering what is so great about the Wii. The feeling of secrecy, the feeling of being in ‘the know’, and the fact that it is so damn hard to get one that help create its buzz.
Has anyone walked into Abercrombie lately? I remember a few years back when A&F was all the rage among young women. Ads were strewn with attractive, young, muscular Caucasian males. But recently A&F was forced into a settlement of $40 million dollars in a class action lawsuit (read more here). The claimants (African American, Asians, and women) who applied or had worked for A&F received settlement checks. Back to my point. Upon walking in you’ll notice the changes the firm has gone through to clean up its image. You’ll see your ocassional ethnic model set in front of a beach setting wearing A&F clothing. But more strangely you’ll hear the blasting volume of techno and trance music reverberating throughout the retail store.
When I close my eyes and hear the word Abercrombie I think of: White males & female models, plain colored clothing with a bird logo, and the beach. When I think of the beach and music I think of rock or punk music. So why is it that trance and techno is blaring out the store entrance? Is it to create buzz by saying ‘hey, we’re different now!’ I haven’t quite wrapped my head around this one just yet, but hopefully I will soon!
One last departing note as well: The Super Mario Brothers. Where in the world did a Japanese company come up with the idea to put two Italian brothers/plumbers to fight a world of giant lizards and two-footed mushrooms all in the middle of a bunch of Carribean-like video game music???? Geniuses!
Posted by Jeff Ignacio on under Business | Be the First to Comment
Tomorrow morning I head out for Northern California to spend New Year’s Eve in San Francisco. But I wanted to get one last post in before I head out for a few days.
Currently I am having a discussion with a friend of mine regarding the incentives in real estate. For example, the parties involved in a real estate transaction are: the Agent(s), the Seller(s), and the Buyer(s). Below are the general motivations of each:
Agent – Receive the highest commission that he/she can.
Seller – To sell for the highest price possible (unless he/she is a desperate and motivated seller).
Buyer – To buy for the lowest price possible.
The Agent needs to first get a listing from the Seller in order to obtain the exclusive authorization to represent the Seller in the sale of the property. Agent tells Seller the qualities that make him/her the best person to work with in order to sell this property ‘quickly’ and for the ‘highest’ price possible. Agent fields a few calls, if they work full time, and attempts to get the Seller the highest offers. However, the Agent has the incentive to receive the commission ASAP. Waiting around isn’t fun for a check lying in wait. The Agent then takes the offer from the Buyer, which is lower then listed price, and then presents offer to Seller. Agent then has the incentive to convince the Seller that this is a good priced offer and any counteroffers should be near the offer.
The incentive for the Agent to get the highest commission still exists… but the Agent’s need for speed on the commission also comes into play. The fastest commission is not always what is best for the Seller. Often times you will see a Seller receive much less than if he/she had waited to work for a highly skilled and honest agent.
I just thought I’d throw this out there for the hell of it.