Wednesday, November 27, 2013

CH. 11 DEVELOPING AND MANAGING PRODUCTS.

A key part of what FUHU does to this point is maintaining sales during their present growth stage in the Product Life Cycle for the Nabi 2.


  Below is an excerpt from INC magazine dated September 2013, which details the companies moves in the growth stage.



" It's the first Android tablet for children, and it sold 1.2 million units last year, generating $118 million in revenue--explosive sales that led to 42,148 percent growth in three years. The Nabi is adorable. It's possible the men who run Fuhu were adorable once. Now they

Because the company makes only $5 or $10 profit on the Nabi devices themselves, this is where the money is. Later, Mitchell shows me removable stickers, called Nabi Frames, that retail for $5.99. "These are awesome," he says, his eyes gleaming like Christmas morning. "It's like printing money, right?"
September will be a big month for Fuhu, if everything goes as planned. The company will release an audio dock attachment that converts the Nabi into a karaoke machine. There will be a special-edition Disney Nabi, preloaded with Disney videos, that will sell exclusively at Best Buy, and a special-edition Nickelodeon Nabi that will sell exclusively at Walmart. There will be a Dream Tablet, designed especially for DreamWorks. DreamWorks Animation, which committed $5 million to Fuhu's latest $65 million round of funding (putting the company's value at $280 million), now has an executive on Fuhu's board.
Mitchell and Fujioka believe this is just the beginning. Mitchell sees the Nabi as a distribution channel for children's content of all kinds. "At the end of the year, I'm going to have four million screens out there," says Mitchell. "That's like a whole TV network." Fuhu has a partnership with Japanese mobile provider KDDI to produce a Japanese version of Fooz Kids, and later this year Fuhu will launch in China--looking to use the Huis and their Foxconn connections to help the company sell not just to affluent Chinese consumers but to the whole education system. Fuhu is also taking another crack at Pinq, this time with a line of home audio products."

Friday, November 22, 2013

CH. 18

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING.

Social media may be described as any tool or service that uses the internet to facilitate conversation.

 timecontrols.jpg


Time Controls

Why we like it: nabi Time Controls helps parents manage children’s screen time by setting time limits and enforces them through nabi – a character that interacts with children to let them know their time is up. Time Controls also allows parents to gain real insight into what their children are doing on the tablet and for how long. Most importantly, Time Controls encourages children to learn and earn by rewarding time spent on educational apps with more playtime on their favorite apps and games. Ages: Ages 3 to 10. Great for special needs.

2013_Gold.jpgPrice: Free, preloaded on nabi 2 tablet ($179.99)
www.nabitablet.com

The above was taken from the National Parenting Publication Awards website.

There is an interesting relationship going on here that I feel is relevant to the discussion. This review site gives also the pricing information and website details. It would be expected from a so called independent review site we would expect some amount of impartiality. This is not however the case. Here the reviewer acts as a medium to go to the marketers website. Their is much ambiguity in Review Sites.

What is learnt from social media however is that is redefines the mold from which marketing operates as a whole. Content now is not made for television but some maintain close to 70% visibility on social media. As in my product the NABI 2, you will be hard pressed to see a commercial airing on ABC Nightly news however if it is shown it will be on Saturday morning cartoons that  being a teaser to an app it has online.


Friday, November 15, 2013

CH. 10

PRODUCT CONCEPTS

    FUHU has a Shopping Product which is defined as a product that requires comparison shopping because it is usually more expensive than a convenience product in the form of the Nabi 2. FUHU  product width consists of the following:
  • Nabi 2 (ideal age 7-10)
  • Nabi Jr.(ideal age 3-6)
  • Nabi XD(ideal age 11-14)
However each tablet is recommended for a specific age group which means they have separated kids along a product depth chart as well by age. Instead of making only one Nabi to fit all they have made Nabi for different age groupings which allow for profit maximization throughout the line. Both its breadth and its depth in making products for multiple age groups combined with different marketing campaign aimed at different segments of the population allows the company to keep its BRAND NAME popular through the population. FUHU has gone ahead and rebranded and reposition so to speak via advertising to target audience. In my previous blog entry FUHU via its agency of record DRAFTfcb L.A. have done commercials that target different ethnic, social, economic and cultural groups. This recognizes the simple fact that one way of portraying a product may not be well received in a target market versus another commercial. To reiterate how rebranding for different markets is important I will redo the commercials this time taking a broader look at how parents would be attracted to either version of the product. How it appeals to how they grow their morals customs and general American subcultural groups.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

CH. 17

Personal Selling and Sales Management


Much of Nabi sales comes from its products interaction with its user base its kids. The following and above commercials shows the 3 different customer bases they will attract. That of young kids that watch Nick Jr. and those from urban America and those from a picket fence backdrop.
 
 
 
The following commercial is from a more picket fence backdrop:
 
 
 
 

Friday, November 1, 2013

Ch. 16

Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotions.


FUHU has launched an innovative advertising campaign led by award winning Draftfcb L.A. as its agency of record(AOR) . The commercial above shows FUHU comparative advertising against its Amazon Kindle competitor.


Fuhu also uses one of the eleven executional styles to advertise its products above that of LIFESTYLE.


FUHU also uses commercials to show another of the Eleven Executional Styles for Advertising that of DEMONSTRATION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Holly Robinson Peete Joins Fuhu, Inc. as nabi Brand Ambassador

 
Fuhu, Inc., the creators of the award-winning nabi tablets for kids, announced today, mother, actress and philanthropist Holly Robinson Peete has joined the company as a brand ambassador for its nabi family of products made just for kids. Holly Robinson Peete will help educate parents on the benefits of integrating a tablet into their children's lives as a key tool for both learning and entertainment. She will also spearhead the company's autism program, Inspire, as lead strategist.