Seminar 5 Marketplace Research

1.      Research Development

A.)Marketplace research- Is an organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers. Using our primary and secondary target markets, we conducted research on the city of San Diego and the state of California.

·         The median age of San Diego's population is 35.6, with over one-quarter under the age of 20 and only 11% over 65.

• 41.3% of San Diego's talented workforce over the age of 25 has at least a bachelor's degree.
• In December of 2010, there were 696,100 people in the local labor force, with 626,100 employed. The unemployment rate was 10.1%.
• Median Household Income (in 2009 dollars) is $70,149.

·         The lifestyle in San Diego is pretty much whatever you are in to San Diego has something to offer. After researching websites and reading blogs some people that live or have lived in San Diego feel that it can be pretty boring, and slightly conservative, while others rave about living in a culturally diverse city with tons of things to do. The makeup of the city is young working professionals and there are plenty things to do if you are into outdoor activities, college nightlife, and enjoy breweries, burgers, and tacos. One daunting aspect is the cost of households and the cost of living is one of the highest in the United States. This can lead to a lack of disposable income.

B.)Marketplace Observation-

1.)    Primary target Audience: San Diego has a median annual income of $62,962. Most people from San Diego tend to be active and with all the beautiful weather enjoy spending time outside. The median annual income sounds like it is a decent salary but the fact is the cost of living in San Diego is very high. According to Don Bauder of the San Diego Reader, The county’s cost of living (groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous) is 29.2 percent higher than the nation’s, according to the cost-of-living index published quarterly by a research organization that goes by the acronym ACCRA. However, San Diegans’ median household income is only 12.3 percent above the nations. The result is a very high living costs, moderate incomes…a huge gap between money in and money out for most households (Bauder, 2014).   This can lead to people in the San Diego area not really having disposable incomes. San Diego residents are paying for a lifestyle that does not really afford them the luxury of doing much. San Diego is a little slower-paced than Los Angeles or the Bay Area. San Diego is not the focal point of an industry the same way that the Bay Area is associated with high tech work, or Los Angeles is associated with the entertainment business. While San Diego does have a quite active local economy, more people move there just because it seems like a nice place to live, rather than because they are trying their fortune in the startup lottery or hoping to make it big on the silver screen (Anonymous, 2012).

2.)    Secondary target Audience: State of California has a cost of living issue; the state creates a lot of money. According to Norisa Diaz, The state’s economy would be considered the world is eighth largest if it were a country, with a GDP of $2.312 trillion (Diaz, 2015). Although they create this massive amount of social wealth through their labor, workers in the state find themselves in desperate living conditions, as they are squeezed out of housing in one of the country’s most inflated markets. Especially inflated were rents in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose—cities with some of the highest costs of living in the country. Of the 3.2 million households below the Real Cost Measure, “87 percent have at least one working adult, and 76 percent of those are working 48 weeks per year or more. Currently, the California minimum wage is $9 an hour ($18,720/year). A $13.25 hourly wage would amount to $27,560 annually, while raising it to $15 an hour would equal $30,000. These figures expose as completely inadequate the demand of a $15/hour minimum wage by a section of the Democratic Party and the trade unions. The “Fight for 15” does not even meet the Real Cost Measure, and cannot ensure that even the most basic needs for families are met.

C.)            Survey

1.) How many hours do you work in a week?

2.) Do you rent or own your home?

3.) Do you live alone or with roommates?

4.) How old are you?

5.) Do you have any children?

6.) What do you like to do on your free time? 

7.) Have you ever visited the San Diego Zoo?

8.) Have you ever heard about all the extra programs that the San Diego Zoo offers?

9.) If you have children, would you be likely to enroll you kids in a program offered at the San Diego Zoo?

10.) If you do not have any children would you yourself be likely to enroll in a program offered at the San Diego Zoo?

11.) What programs would you be likely to enroll in?

2. Precedent Studies

a. Advertising Strategy

 Many families come to the San Diego Zoo, so first make sure that they are the ones that the organization is aiming for. This is the target market; using social media will be one of the most effective ways to get to this demographic. Placing ads onto sites such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube would be beneficial to the organization.        

Families live very busy lives and spend lots of time in the car taking their children to sporting events, or other activities so making sure to spend some of the advertising budget on the radio is another great way to get people that live in the local area to get to the zoo. Many billboards are now electronic and are less expensive; this is a great way to remind parents that they can spend some quality time with their children.

b. Precedent Studies

The San Diego Zoo could benefit from spending more efforts in their wilderness sleepover program. The organization needs to promote the wilderness sleepover on social media, the radio and on their website. The zoo needs to give a discount to get people aware of the wilderness sleepover. This will get people’s attention. They could use a local Boy Scout or Girl Scout to start the promotion. Another idea for the zoo would to be a girl’s night out at the zoo. This would also help promote the activity. They have had a lack of sales in the wilderness sleepover and this could help gain sales.

3. Marketing Programs and Marketing Strategies

a. Advertising

The San Diego Zoo has already done many different ways with their advertising. They are up to date when it comes to advertising. When you go onto their website, they have Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and vine. These are some of the major ways to advertise, when organizations use social media they are able to get their name known as well as experiences those others have had. Blogging is a new hit that everyone must have to be successful and of course, the San Diego Zoo already does this as well. It is an important part of advertising your organization. When people can see what you are doing, it is a great tool to use.

Some things that the San Diego Zoo can do to improve their Advertising is to send out video emails about the zoo, maybe with some of the animals to get people’s attention. When you send out a video email, it will grab them. This is free, all they have to do is get permission from people to send this to them. They could have a link posted to their webpage so that people can sign up.

Mobil is another great way to advertise. Utilizing the San Diego Zoo app to get people to want to come back. Mobile devices entertain many children and if they have something on their app that the children can use such as a counting game or did you find what animal. It would be interactive and would keep their attention.

Sales promotions

-     Consumer: A consumer promotion with the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Safari Park can add value to any retail or on-park program a company is considering by increasing sales and traffic. Partners with similar goals and objectives are desired to best support the marketing needs of that company.

-     Trade: The San Diego Zoo works in conjunction with the stores of Costco, AAA, and Retail Me Not, just to name a few. These organizations provide coupons and discounts to the San Diego Zoo consumers. By doing so, the zoo is promoting themselves through more outlets than just their website and at the zoo itself. In addition, using other outlets gives consumers more chances to see promotional items regarding the zoo, and allows the consumer to receive discounts, which is an incentive for them to come to the zoo.

Public relations

The public relations department at the San Diego Zoo is a great source of information. Consumers can contact the public relations department if they have questions about the zoo, are planning a trip to the zoo or if they have a technical questions regarding their Website. San Diego Zoo’s public relations department also provides consumers with press releases regarding births of new animals, bonding times between mother and baby, and consumer promotions that are available at a particular time.

Personal selling

At the San Diego Zoo, those at guest services and the zookeepers do the personal selling. These services include gift shops, food facilities, and public relations. Because the zoo is a non-profit organization and they are not trying to sell a product, it is up to the workers of guest services to talk face-to-face with the consumers. The zookeepers may also do personal selling when they are teaching an educational workshop or camp. It is the job of these animal experts to inform or “sell” their knowledge about the animals to the consumers.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing at the San Diego Zoo is done through many different channels. The zoo’s online interactive Website, online display ads, and press releases are just a few of the ways the consumers are marketed to. Having and interactive Website allows the consumers to see the latest events and entertainment at the zoo. With creative online display ads, the zoo is able to show great pictures of the zoo animals and real time videos of the animals. Press releases give the opportunity for the zoo to announce the arrival of a newborn animal, which allows the consumer to plan a trip to see the new animal.

References

Media. (n.d.). San Diego Zoo Public Relations. Retrieved on December 7, 2015, from website: http://media.sandiegozoo.org/

San Diego Zoo. (n.d.). Promotions. Retrieved on December 7, 2015, from website: http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/partnership/promotions

Seminar 4 Consumer and Stakeholders

1.    1.   Consumer and Stakeholder

Current Consumer Characteristics

There are many characteristics of the current consumer at the San Diego Zoo. These characteristics range from the age of the consumer to their interests. The people who visit the zoo enjoy viewing and learning about animals and nature. The San Diego Zoo is 100 acres, providing consumers plenty of animal exhibits and plant life throughout the zoo, therefore, many of the consumers are active and able to walk through the zoo. Also, many people who visit the zoo have a membership, which provides consumers with a full year of free unlimited admission to both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. With so many exhibits and attractions, the consumers of the San Diego Zoo have many different characteristics.

Demographics

The San Diego Zoo has millions of visitors each year and there are many demographics that make up these visitors. The zoo visitors are primarily woman, mainly mothers, with an average age between 25 and 35. The average household income of the visitors to the San Diego Zoo is between $50,000 and $75,000 annually (San Diego Zoo, n.d.). Two out of three adults visits the zoo with a child and the average visit is approximately four hours.

Physiographic

As with consumer characteristics and demographics of the San Diego Zoo, the physiographic aspects of the zoo vary as well. Physiographic includes the personalities, values, and interests of the consumers. The personality types of the consumer consists of caring, energetic, loving, and curious. The zoo has many animal conservation programs to help endangered and rescued animals, and this is an aspect that the consumer values. They like to see that the animals are being helped and endangered animals are being protected. Families enjoy seeing animals up close, and feel better about companies that support wildlife conservation. Consumers are interested in animals, learning about animals and plant life, and seeing animals in proposed natural environment.

d. Stakeholder’s Characteristics

Stakeholders have a number of ways that can define them. According to Brad Egeland, a stake holder has one or more of the following characteristics. A stakeholder is someone who stands to gain or lose through the success or failure of the project, provides funding for the project, has invested resources in the project, participates in (works on) the project, is affected by the outputs of the project, is affected by the outcome of the project, is in the “chain of accountability” (Egeland, 2011).The board of directors have a number of people on the board who are directly involved with the zoo. One role is being responsible for setting policy and maintaining the organization’s role as a leader in conservation and animal care, lead the team devoted to friend-raising and fund-raising efforts to support San Diego Zoo Global’s animal care, conservation and education programs (Zoo, 2015). The San Diego zoo membership offers members special privileges within the zoo and members can even join donor clubs where money that is donated keeps the zoo funded. All these characteristics make these people stakeholders because they participate, provide funding and invested resources, as well as being affect by the outcome of certain projects or donations.

e. Primary

Primary stakeholders are those who have a direct interest in a company. The San Diego Zoo is unique in the fact that it is a non-profit organization, has a 12 person board of trustees and an executive director, as well as has over 250,000 zoological memberships, and 130,000 child memberships. These people as well as the zoo staff are the primary stakeholders. The zoological memberships and children memberships directly tie into the business itself so these people would have a direct interest in the San Diego Zoo.

f. Secondary

Secondary stakeholders are people or groups that are indirectly affected, either positively or negatively, by an effort or the actions of an agency, institution, or organization.  The San Diego Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the world and one of the main tourist attractions for the San Diego area. According to wanderbat.com, about 5,000,000 visitors are attracted to the zoo each year, which is a relatively high number of annual visitors compared to other zoos (Wanderbat, 2015). This high traffic of visitors to the zoo affects the local economy and surrounding businesses. Everywhere in the San Diego area has a stake in how the San Diego Zoo does.  Hotels gain business, restaurants see an increase in diners, the city of San Diego could be vastly different if the San Diego zoo was not located within the city.

 2. Strategic Target Audience

a.Primary target Audience:

The residence of San Diego, since they have such a high population. They are located near the zoo and would be able to get there more often to take advantages of the membership. With the San Diego California areas population at 1,338,348 there are many people that would like to go to the zoo. The age range that we would target are between 33 and 37 years old. According to city-data.com there are 59% of the population in San Diego are families, this means that we need to make sure that we are targeting families in the San Diego area. 

b.  Secondary Primary Audience

The State of California has an estimate population of 38,802,500 according to the quickfact.cenus.org. The median income for the state is $61,094 as of 2009-2013. (quickfacts.cenus.org) with the population being mainly, females and children that would be the target audience for the state. Instead of targeting the families it would be a better opportunity to target women and children. 

References

Egeland, B. (2011, January 30). Defining the Stakeholder - Part 1. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from Project Management Tips: http://pmtips.net/Blog/defining-stakeholder-part-1

Wanderbat. (2015, November 28). San Diego Zoo. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from Wanderbat: http://zoos.wanderbat.com/l/1/San-Diego-Zoo

 San Diego Zoo. (n.d.). Visitor demographics. Retrieved on December 1, 2015, from website: https://www.aza.org/visitor-demographics/

Zoo, S. D. (2015, Novemeber 28). About the oard of directors. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from San   Diego Zoo: http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/content/key-leaders

Seminar 3 Industry and Competitive Situation

1. Industry and Marketplace

a. The Industry

The San Diego Zoo is very well known for their many animals that they have. They provide many natural habitats for the animals that they have saved. The zoo also does many things to try to save the endangered animals and they sometimes are able to give the animals mates for them.

The main type of industry for the San Diego Zoo is the tourism aspect. According to www.sandiego.org the zoo has about 34 million visitors each year that spend $9.2 billion annually.  (San Diego Tourism Industry Research, n.d.) With the many visitors every year, they have to have many employees to make the experience unforgettable for their consumers, so that they will come back. They employ over 173,000 people in the area (San Diego Tourism Industry Research, n.d.) Giving many people in the local area work.

** (San Diego Tourism Industry Research, n.d.)

This industry is expected to grow at a steady rate of the next few years. This industry is expected to stay. The rate which they are growing and the things that the zoo is doing is outstanding.

b. Definition of the Industry

An industry is one organization or a group of companies produces the same product. With the San Diego Zoo, this might be where they get the animals or their food.  (Difference between Market and Industry, 2015)

c. Shape of the Industry

The industry is growing as shown in the chart above. There is an attraction for the product. Millions of people come to the zoo every year.

** (Zoological Society of San Diego)

**(Sea world Entertainment 2014 Annual Report)

When you compare the San Diego zoo to one of their competition such as Sea World, you can see that there is a lot of room for the company to grow. If their competition can bring in more than they do, it is very possible that they can continue to grow over the next ten years.

d. Development of the Industry

The zoos of today look nothing like the zoos of the past. With most zoos starting to look at conservation and the protection of wildlife more seriously, the need for creating as natural of a habitat for animals as possible has changed the zoo industry.  Zoos today combine technology along with increased vegetation and have a focus on education for visitors. According to research done by students for the European tourism futures institute (ETFI), in the 21st century, exhibit design continues to develop as zoos seek to better fulfill their objectives. The latest generation of exhibits combines technology, new construction techniques and a variety of additional interpretive media to create what has been referred to as an immersion experience (institute, 2015). After research was conducted by ETFI the most important thing for visitors were the animals. Visitors want access to animals, but more importantly they want the well-being of the animals to be the primary focus of the zoo. What visitors valued most of all were “happy looking animals” in spacious natural surroundings (institute, 2015). This has all lead to a conservation approach and developed into an educational experience. Today visitors can watch animals on camera when they are not readily available to see in their surroundings, watch animals on live web-cams from the zoo website, observe studies of animal behavior, and get the chance to pet and feed animals and gain an understanding on what they can do to help save endangered animals.

e. The Marketplace

According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), there are over 10,000 zoos worldwide. In the U.S. alone, the Department of Agriculture licenses 2,400 "animal exhibitors," of which 212 are members of the AZA, an organization that requires high standards of animal care, science, and conservation (Fravel, 2003). According to the association of zoo and aquariums, zoos and aquariums have over 181 million annual visitors - more visitors than NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB annual attendance combined. Visitors are primarily women or mothers who are in the age 25-35 and have a household income of $50,000 - $75,000 and two out of three adults visits a zoo with a child and 50% of adults visit an aquarium with a child.

f. Current Condition of the Marketplace

The world around us is changing fast. Species of wildlife are facing global extinction on a massive scale. About 21% of the world's mammal species, about 12% of the bird species and about 33% of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Zoo is taking a holistic approach to wildlife conservation. While the Zoo has been involved in helping save endangered species for decades, our goal today is create a sustainable future for wildlife and for people around the world. Ultimately, we need to help save the ecosystems on which animals and humans depend (Zoo, 2015).

g. Changes in the Marketplace

There are many changes that are happening in zoos around the country. One of the major changes is creating raceways that allow animals to walk around the zoo. These raceways may connect animal enclosures together, expanding the areas open to species for exploration and exercise. By creating these raceways, the animals are allowed to have more space instead of just being trapped in one enclosure. The changes also allow zoo visitors to see zoos as more dynamic institutions and less like museums (Young, 2014). These changes are not cheap, but they are cheaper than building new exhibits for the animals, yet provide a better experience for the visitors and the animals. Let the link below give you a personal look at these mesh raceways.

https://youtu.be/Zq4HjpoHxkk

2. Competitive Situation 

Direct Competitors

Orange County Zoo: Located in Irvine Regional Park in Orange, CA. This zoo exhibits animals and plants native to the southwestern United States.

Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens: This 133 acre zoo is located in Los Angeles, CA. The zoo is home to more than 1,100 mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles and 800 different plant species.

Santa Ana Zoo: Located in Prentice Park in Santa Ana, CA. This zoo is 20-acre zoo focusing on the animals and plants of Central and South America.

Living Desert Zoo & Gardens: This zoo is located in Palm Desert, CA and exhibits animals and plants from around the world.

Indirect Competitors

Aquarium of the Pacific: This aquarium located in Long Beach, CA is home to more than 11, 000 ocean animals, and representing nearly 500 species.

Knott’s Berry Farm: Knott’s is a 160-acre amusement park located in Buena Park, CA. They offer dozens of rides, shows, roller coasters, and attractions.

Disneyland Park: Originally Disneyland, is located in Anaheim, CA. Disneyland Park is Walt Disney’s original theme park and is divided in 8 extravagantly themed lands.

LEGOLAND California: This theme park is located 30 minutes north of San Diego in Carlsbad, CA. It has more than 60 rides, shows and attractions. This park is also home to SEA LIFE Aquarium and the world’s first LEGOLAND Water Park.

 

 

 

References

(n.d.). Retrieved from San Diego Toursim Industry Reasearch: www.sandiego.org/industry-research.aspx

Difference between Mareket and Industry. (2015, march 19). Retrieved from http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-market-and-vs-industry/

Fravel, L. (2003, November 13). Critics Question Zoos' Commitment to Conservation. Retrieved from National Geographic:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1113_031113_zoorole.html

institute, t. E. (2015, April 20). Next-Generation Zoos. Retrieved from ETFI: http://www.etfi.eu/blog?blog_id=86890

Sea world Entertainment 2014 Annual Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://s1.q4cdn.com/392447382/files/doc_financials/Annual%20Reports/2014-SEAS-Annual-Report.pdf

Young, R. (2014). Zoos of the future break down the enclosure walls. Retrieved on November 22, 2015, from website:http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/zoos-of-the-future-break-down-the-enclosure-walls/

Zoo, S. L. (2015, November 20). Why Zoos Matter. Retrieved from Saint Louis Zoo:http://www.stlzoo.org/about/whyzoosmatter/

Zoological Society of San Diego. (n.d.). Retrieved from            http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/sites/all/themes/zoostrap/downloads/financial-reports/SDZG2014FinancialStatement.pdf