Football hero Essay Example for Free

Football hero Essay The book I read was Football Champ by Time Green. The setting of the book is Atlanta, Georgia during the fall. The main places in the story are the Atlanta Falcons Stadium, Troy’s middle school and football field, and Troy’s house. The story is written in first person because Troy (the main character) is telling the story. There is figurative language in this story. On page 229 a simile is used that says â€Å"he’s big and slow like a turtle†. There is also an idiom on page 57 that says â€Å"the Duluth fans poured over the fence, swarming the end zone†. The main character of Football Champ is Troy. He is a middle school football player and a football genius. Troy is strong, brave, and good hearted. Another main character is Seth who is a NFL linebacker and dating Troy’s mom. Seth is kind, strong, and fights for what he believes in. Troy’s mom is another important character. She is caring and kind. She takes care of Seth and Troy. Troy’s best friends, Nathan and Tate, are middle school football players. They care about Troy and help him solve the problems caused by Peele, the main bad guy. Peele is a reporter trying to destroy Troy and Seth. The main problem in the story is Peel and Seth’s doctor working together to destroy Seth’s football career by lying about Seth using steroids. Peel also lies about Troy and convinces the NFL that Troy is stealing the other team’s playbooks. Peel is trying to do this because he blames Seth for ruining his football career. Troy and his friends solve the problem by going to Seth’s doctor and getting him to tell the truth about Seth on DVD. Troy and Seth prove that Troy did not steal the playbooks by going to one of the other NFL owners and showing him that Troy is a real football genius. Seth gets to continue in the NFL and Troy gets to work with the Atlanta Falcons. The moral of Football Champ is to never give up. I figured this out when Troy played his middle school football games. The other teams were always bigger and better, but Troy and his team never gave up. They ended up winning all of their games. They proved to everyone who doubted them that they were wrong. The book Football Champs was amazing in my opinion. It was hard for me to put this book down because it was fun to read. I would recommend this book to 5th and 6th graders because it was made for them. I chose this book because I love football and the author is Tim Green. He has a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons.

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case Josefina Vasquez According to (PRSA, 2009), in 2009, the company Dominos pizza experienced a tremendous PR crisis because of a couple of their employees. In fact, in a restaurants kitchen, in a slow working day, the two of them, with the employee uniforms, contaminated some food ingredients and then placed them onto sandwiches and pizza; they recorded a video and later posted it on YouTube. This video reached more than one million views in just three days because it became viral. The company realized that social media has the power to turn small incidents into huge marketing crises. This is a real case very interesting to analyze from the point of view of public relations and ethics. Because something simple could be the cause of the failure or success of significant companies, and what would construct the difference are the decisions taken in crises. In this review, we will be looking at this case from the point of view of the public relations professional and the ethical bases and how this addresses companies direction. Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case According to (PRSA, 2009), the vice president, the communication team and the rest of Dominos corporate members sooner became aware of this situation. The first reaction was anger, but they channeled into action. The company proceeded to intercept the store, the authors of the video, took away the videos, and the company pressed charges against them. One of the first actions was to find out if the contaminated food was finally delivered to a client, fortunately, it was not. Domino has had the plan to introduce the company to Facebook, Twitter and some other social media sites by 2009 just before the crisis, but they did it during the crisis in order to communicate with the active core audience. The CEO decided to the response by YouTube instead of distributing a press release because even at a million views, they thought there were 307 million people in America, so they focused on that audience. They received criticism from the media during the first twenty-four hours, because people thought that they were not doing anything about it. The company understood that the most important thing was to keep the companys credibility with customers. Dominos pizza learned that is so important to keep in touch with media web community all times. (Randallreilly.com, 2015) stated that the company listened to their audience and later they admitted that their product was awful, so that, they started a campaign called Pizza Turnaround, in order to acknowledge the problems they were facing and reinvent their pizza, this along with an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Problem Statement. The companys PR team faced an important challenge. The company had a disadvantageous place due to the lack of presence on social networks. Dominos faced the dilemma of obviating persons opinion by denying, and only focus on defending their brand or putting on the customers side and reinforcing their product. This crisis could have undermined this large multinational company, so they had to deal with some ethical principles such as fairness, honesty, expertise and loyalty. Personal Critique of the Case. In this context, is important to point out the conflict management life cycle concept from (Wilcox, Cameron and Reber, n.d.) which has a proactive, strategic, reactive and recovery phases, and the way the companys PR professional applied it during this situation. The proactive phase involves crisis-planning, issues tracking by creating strategy plans in ways that address the emerging issue. The strategic phase allows organizations to place itself favorably in anticipation of actions. The reactive phase occurs when the issue or conflict reaches a critical level of impact; it involves the implementation of crisis management plan, crisis communication and conflict resolution. The recovery phase involves reputation management and image restoration. PR professionals at Dominos pizza implemented both the reactive and recovery phases as well, once the issue became critical. They initiated a crisis management plan by establishing communication channels with the target audience through social media. They also implemented reputation management and image restoration when they decided to reinvent their pizza with a campaign called Pizza Turnaround by using an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Once the crisis was overcome, they started implementing the proactive and strategic phases of establishing constant communication with customers through social media channels, with a strategy to pay special attention to customer feedback. References Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. and Reber, B. (n.d.). Public relations. PRSA. (2009). Dominos Delivers During Crisis: The Companys Step-by-Step Response After a Vulgar Video Goes Viral. [online] Available at: http://apps.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/8226/102/Domino_s_Delivers_During_Crisis_The_Company_s_Step#.WNMO7PkrLIV [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Randallreilly.com. (2015). Dominos Pizza: A Case Study in Customer Feedback | Randall-Reilly. [online] Available at: http://www.randallreilly.com/dominos-pizza-a-case-study-in-customer-feedback/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies 1. Introduction Business strategies are largely unique to individual business organisations and depend upon the objectives of their primary stakeholders, namely the shareholders and the senior management. While these two entities are the main decision makers for the road maps followed by firms, which they exercise through formulation and articulation of objectives, mission statements, and strategies, many other issues like product or service features, strengths and weaknesses of business organisations, economic, legal and political environments, nature and intensity of competition, opportunities and threats, environmental and ecological needs, as well as technological advances, often play major roles in determining and implementing business strategy. Work in these areas, by management experts, have led to the development and construction of models and theories that attempt to elaborate, explain and demystify these issues. The tackling of these challenges previously depended upon the thought processe s and ingenuity of business owners, and played vital roles in the successes or failures of business organisations. The work of Igor Ansoff and Michael Porter led to the enunciation of well known strategic models for growth and the Five Forces theory for analysis of competitiveness. These tools, as well as decision making aids like SWOT and PESTLE analyses have become commonplace in today’s business scenario, and are widely used by managers all over the world. While most growth strategies deal with marketing, other areas like production, human resource, information technology and finance also need goal setting, and are important to overall strategy for optimisation of organisational wealth. Total Quality Management, for example has emerged in recent years as a necessary item in every strategic manager’s toolbox for achievement of organisational objectives. Apart from these tools, business strategies for growth and shareholder wealth appreciation are also influenced by t he ethics and value systems of individual corporations; while many firms chose to forsake both growth and profitability for ethics, the reverse, as evinced by scams like Enron and WorldCom is equally true. Every so often, companies in the same industry, and operating in the same national or global environment, adopt sharply different strategies with spectacularly divergent results. Search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista existed for years before Google arrived on the scene and swept everything before it. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer, formed much after the end of the Second World War, entered the car market of the United States in the face of widespread scepticism, and over a few decades, orchestrated a business strategy that saw it overtake Ford, the iconic American car making giant. Among British companies, the last two decades saw the rise and rise of the retailing company, Tesco. The company changed its down market â€Å"pile them high, sell them cheap† public perception to emerge as the largest retailer in the country, first overtaking the much older market leader Sainsbury’s and then proceeding to widen the gap until its’ market share was twice that of its erstwhile condescending rival. This assignment aims to examine and analyse the different strategies adopted by these companies, which have similar products and services, and also operate in the same environment. 2. Commentary and Analysis Business organisations constantly face challenges in every sphere of activity, be they in marketing, sales, production, workforce, human resource management, information technology development, or in raising and controlling finances. Many of these challenges arise from the social, political and economical environments in which organisations operate. While businesses in the UK operate in democratic and market friendly environments with institutionalised legal and financial systems, they need to conform to the stipulations laid down by numerous regulatory bodies (of the UK and the EU) and governmental organisations, and that too in almost all operating areas. Furthermore, firms with global operations have to frequently function in conformity with different environmental requirements, necessitated by dissimilar political and legal systems, or by widely divergent local, infrastructural or market conditions. Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s both entered the UK retail market, as small convenience stores, not much different from the many such establishments that exist all over the UK. Both organisations outgrew and outperformed other businesses in their genre to become colossal retailing chains with countrywide presences. Sainsbury’s, a much older firm than Tesco’s was the market leader in the UK retailing sector, until 1995, when it was overtaken by Tesco’s. a. Sainsbury’s J Sainsbury, plc, is one of Britain’s most famous firms, represented across the country, through its chain of supermarket stores that operate under the Sainsbury’s brand. Apart from supermarkets, the company operates convenience stores, an internet-based home delivery shopping service, and Sainsbury’s Bank. The company, originally started as a partnership in 1869, and while incorporated as a private company as far back as 1922, listed on the London Stock Exchange only in 1973, in what was until then the LSE’s largest stock issue. Sainsbury’s grew to become the UK’s largest supermarket company and retained its privileged position for much of the twentieth century. Tesco’s overtook Sainsbury’s in 1995, and ASDA/ Wal-Mart relegated it to third position in 2003. (J Sainsbury, 2007) While the business, in the beginning, grew organically into a chain of convenience stores, its first major strategic decision came, in 1950, with the opening of the first self service store, in Croyden, London. This initiative was followed by increasing the number of self service stores, expanding the range of non food goods, opening of hyper markets, acquisition of smaller chains, and commencement of operations in Scotland and North Ireland. The company grew to become the country’s largest supermarket chain, fuelled by increasing economic affluence, changing buying habits, customer convenience, and the ability of Sainsbury’s to provide a large and diverse range of products under one roof. Large Sainsbury’s stores typically stock 50,000 products, of which 50% are home brands. While the company grew slowly in its initial years, real growth came only in the post war years, with the development of a strong market economy, economic prosperity, increased spending powe r, and customer desire for a large range of better quality goods. Sainsbury’s responded to this changed economic environment, by concentrating on the increasing and upwardly mobile middle class. The company refrained from taking too many risks or initiatives, possibly feeling that its reputation would enable it to grow steadily and retain market leadership. The strategy of least resistance was interspersed by a few initiatives like the introduction of Do it Yourself (DIY) products, and acquisition of chains like Bell’s Stores, Jackson’s Stores, and JB Beaumont, which served to add to and broaden its customer base. The company has more than 750 stores today, and with a turnover in the range of 16 billion GBP, is one of UK’s more successful corporates. A prima facie assessment regarding the company’s response to business and environmental challenges would tend to give credit to the company’s corporate strategies in an extremely competitive bus iness environment. This assessment would however be substantially incorrect. Even as the company continued to grow steadily, in both profits and sales, through the 1990s and into the 21st century (except for the difficult years of 2004 and 2005), it was overtaken, first by Tesco’s in 1995, and later by ASDA in 2003. Tesco’s , which had a turnover of less than 11 billion GBP in 1994 saw its sales touch 38 billion GBP in 2006 and now sells more than twice of what Sainsbury’s does. Very apparently, Sainsbury’s has committed serious errors in handling and responding to business and environmental challenges, and has yielded the high ground in supermarket retailing to younger and possibly more effective competition. b. Tesco’s Growth Path Tesco’s started off as a small one man grocery operation, in 1919, in London’s East End. It took Jack Cohen, the founder, 10 more years to start his first store, in 1929, a full 60 years after Sainsbury’s. The company grew organically in the initial years, spurred by Cohen’s hard work. In the beginning business strategy revolved around providing cheap and economical goods, (pile them high, sell them cheap) espousal of trading stamps to induce customers, and relentless opening of new stores. Strategies, broadly similar to those followed by Sainsbury’s in the post war years led Cohen to open Tesco’s first self service store in 1947, and the first supermarket in 1956. In retrospect, Cohen’s better understanding of the demands and changing moods of customers is possibly evinced by his decision to open his self service store, a full three years earlier than Sainsbury’s. When Cohen resigned, in 1977, the company had achieved significant growth and traction but was still much behind Sainsbury’s, both in size and reputation. The years that followed Cohen’s handing over of Tesco’s leadership were marked by strategic swings designed to take the company away from its image of a purveyor of cheap and low quality goods. This period saw the management launch an aggressive campaign for market share, a multi dimensional effort that involved (a) rapid expansion of stores, (b) acquisition of medium sized supermarket chains, (c) entry and consolidation in a number of foreign markets, (d) large scale expansion of non food products, (e) opening of a number of hypermarkets, (f) introduction of loyalty cards, and (g) exploitation of online markets. The company assessed the existing national and global environment and felt that it would be able to work towards significant increases in sales and profitability and make it into a global leader from i ts status of a lowly down market UK based retailer. These strategies, combined with effective systems and operational implementation, enabled Tesco’s to power past Sainsbury’s, the British market leader, and establish itself as the third largest retailer in Europe. With sales of 38 billion GBP and 2 billion GBP in profits, Tesco is today the undisputed market leader, way ahead of both Sainsbury’s and ASDA. It played for glory and won hands down. (Pringle and Cohen, 2007) c. Management of Environmental Conditions In the early 1960s, Cohen lobbied Parliament to have the Retail Price Maintenance (RPM) act abolished, efforts supported by Edward Heath. The RPM allowed manufacturers and suppliers to set the price of goods thus preventing large retailers, who could buy in bulk and had greater buying power, from benefiting from economies of scale and undercutting the prices of smaller shops. To get â€Å"around† this, Tesco offered another incentive to get customers through the doors Green Shield Stamps. These were collected by customers when they spent money in the store, and were then traded for goods in a catalogue. An effective discount (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) This extract serves to illustrate Tesco’s response to environmental challenges and the many innovative ways the company found to constantly improve customer value. The emergence of Thatcherism, in the 80s, coupled with the break up of the Soviet Union, the consolidation of a unipolar world, sharp improvements in internet technology, and the commencement of globalisation, created a number of opportunities that Tesco was quick to spot, grab, and exploit. The company closed down 500 stores, revamped and modernised hundreds of others. Store formats like Tesco, Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, and One Stop, catered to distinct sizes, products, and locations, and ranged from small street corner shops to huge all inclusive supermarkets. The company was quick to realise that its image as a purveyor of cheap products, with its perceived down market connotations, would not help growth in a society that was rapidly becoming richer, and did not hesitate to close down its coupon scheme. In a br illiant segmentation exercise, the company created three product categories, good, better, and best, across most of its product lines. While this enabled customers to access different price ranges, it also allowed the company to access an â€Å"inclusive† and huge market. Sainsbury’s, which had traditionally catered to the middle class clientele with zealously protected margins, tried to enlarge its product base, but was unable to make any headway, because of its lesser supplier base and inferior logistical capability. (Pringle and Gordon, 2007) Tesco’s introduced customer loyalty cards in 1995. While it took Sainsbury some time to catch up with the idea, the two companies used it for widely divergent aims. Even as Sainsbury’s used the cards primarily to drive repeat visits and purchases, Tesco’s processed the information feedback from the loyalty card customers, to assess customer demands and needs, and keep on adding to its product range. The company also foresaw the potential of the internet and globalisation, and established profitable online sales channels, as well as successful overseas forays. Tesco’s international business now accounts for nearly 25% of company sales, and the immediate priority is to drive it up to 50% of company revenue. Apart from maintaining strong market leadership, Tesco is now focussing on two major areas that are propelling the company’s growth and increasing the gap between the company and its competitors. Its aggressive growth in the non-foods market means that it is possibly selling more clothes than Next and more health and beauty products than all the others put together. (Hunter, 2006) The company has set up base in numerous countries in Europe and Asia and should soon have a significant presence in the USA. â€Å"Indeed, some 60% of Tesco’s floor space is now based outside of the UK.† (Hunter, 2006) Sainsbury’s, on the other hand has been too busy handling its inadequate stocking mechanism, half empty shelves, and falling market share, to be able to pay much attention to new thrust areas, and opportunities, made available by changes in environmental conditions and advances in technology. (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) 3. Conclusion While this analysis does not intend to eulogise Tesco’s management practices, or its planned and meticulous exploitation of available opportunities, the stark difference in the working of Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s tend to make any comparative analysis of strategy, and management practice, enormously one sided. Even as Tesco was using feedback from its loyalty card scheme to add enormously to its product range, Sainsbury’s was trying to adamantly protect its margins and cutting down on service quality, practices that inevitably led to further customer dissatisfaction and loss of market share. It was not until 2004, a full 9 years after Tesco overtook it, that the company realised that its major problem lay in under stocked shelves, inadequate logistics and poor supply chain management. While Sainsbury’s strategy appeared to be one of risk avoidance and slow growth, in reality it proved to be akin to that of an ostrich in the face of danger. The company however still remains a respected and successful retailer. Recent initiatives, taken after a change in top management, have seen a priority shift and led to revived sales, reduced costs and improved profitability. The company has its heart in the right place and contributes a much higher percentage of its post tax profit to charity than Tesco. The tremendous success of Tesco, in assessing customer needs and environmental opportunities, came about because of a new aggression that evinced itself after the departure of jack Cohen and is an indicator of the possibilities that exist for Sainsbury. The fact that Tesco lagged behind Sainsbury’s until 1995 is proof of the levels to which Sainsbury can aspire without being impractically optimistic. Sainsbury’s has a number of strengths, namely its goodwill in the UK market, access to enormous amount of shop space and property that have been built up over the years, very strong domain knowledge in the retailing business, and adequate capital resources. The company has also become active in the online segment, the fastest growing market segment in the retailing market. It however definitely needs to scan the environment constantly, look for new opportunities, upgrade technology, and be more fleet footed in responding to opportunities and challenges. Both the companies have seen rapid departures from existing strategies after changes in top level management. Strange as it may appear, changes in management appear to have been critical to Tesco seeing opportunities that were not explored earlier. Sainsbury’s too has commenced implementation of measures that should have logically been done much earlier, only after a change of guard at the top. The solution to the paradox possibly lies in realising that management theories, practices and strategies, in most cases, become relevant only if the CEO thinks them fit. The boss is the key. Bibliography Annual report and Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/fullfinancials/notestofinancialstatements5.shtml Annual Review and Summary Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/summaryfinancials Cavazza, M, 2007, Sainsburys bid is very close, thisismoney.co.uk., Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=418580in_page_id=3 Cole, R, 2007, Sainsbury’s progress offers reason to hold even if no bid comes, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing Hunter, H, 2006, Revolution in the British aisles: why Tesco will continue to rule the roost, msn.money, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from money.uk.msn.com/Investing/Insight/Special_Features/Markets_Comment/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1054991 J Sainsbury, 2007, Wikipedia, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Sainsbury Jordan, D, 2007, Tchenguiz adds to Sainsbury stake, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article1578864.ece 2 Apr 2007 Pringle, H, and Gordon, W, 2007, The Tesco Story, customerserviceworld.com., Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.ecustomerserviceworld.com/earticlesstore_articles.asp?type=articleid Tesco, 2007, Retrieved May 25, 2007 from www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=A8E0E60508F94A8DBA909E2ABB5F2CC7 Tesco,  A corporate profile, 2004, Corporate watch, Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?bid=28

parent teacher relationships Essay -- essays research papers

How often would you say you raise questions about what your child’s/youngest child’s teacher is doing to provide an education for your child? Have you done anything to get to know your child’s teacher or teachers? Have you done anything to get to know your child’s teacher or teachers? Have you done anything to help your child’s teacher or teachers get to know your child and his or her strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes? How well do you think you understand what is expected of you as a parent or guardian by your child’s teacher or teachers? Thinking about your involvement with your child’s school, would you say you feel like an insider or an outsider? Do you feel like you are a full partner in the process of educating your child, or would you say that your involvement in your child’s education is less than that? Students are usually given grades of A, B, C, D or F to describe the quality of their work .... [H]ow would you grade the school your child/youngest child attends? Are you a parent, guardian, or grandparent who is responsible for providing fairly regular parenting care for one or more children who are school age or younger? What grade or grades are your children in? How often do you attend parent-teacher conferences – all the time, most of the time, sometimes, seldom or never? Generally speaking, how productive would you say parent-teacher conferences are for you - very productive, mostly productive, only a little productive, or not productive at al...

Impact of World War 2 on Canada :: essays research papers

The result of the Second World War fundamentally changed Canada and its economy started booming. There are many reasons for this change and if you remember, World War I also made a big impact on the development of Canada. However, in the next few paragraphs I will talk about how Canada gained much more respect and autonomy from the Second World War than ever before and also the change from a country into an industrialized nation. After greatly contributing to the war, especially in the Battle of the Atlantic, Canada ended up having the 3rd largest navy and 4th largest air force. Now, for such a small nation of only around 11 to 12 million, this was a large military force. Since Canada had done so well in the war (already their second world war as a country) Canada started to grow further and further apart from Mother Britain. There was a feeling a greater sense of pride and a more nationalistic notion. Canadians everywhere no longer saw themselves as British, Scottish, or American, they were Canadian. Canada was now a respected country, and I might add, a pretty powerful one too. Canada also became a leader internationally as well. With such an enormous military contribution during the war, other countries began to recognize the success of Canada. People wanted to know more about Canada. Consequently, the war advanced Canada’s sense of identity. Before the war, Canada’s most important sector in its economy was agriculture. However, this was changing drastically after and during the war as industry began to take over as being more important. Canadian production of war material, food supplies, and raw materials had been crucial during the war. After the war, it was only natural that big investments were being made in mining, production, transportation, and services industries. Canadian cities were becoming very important contributors to the economy. This was also bringing in waves of post-war immigration, the backbone of Canada’s multicultural society we know today. Because of Canada’s boost in the industrial economy and its status in World War II, job options were abundant. By 1942 there was a full employment as hundreds and thousands of Canadian men and women found work in war industries.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

The Class of 2012. How long have we heard these words applied to us? Long years starting with broken crayons in kindergarten to inside-out sweatshirts in middle school to late English essays — 13 years of learning from the simplest counting to complicated algebra and calculus, from reciting our ABCs to reading Shakespeare. Imagine, us coming out of our respective middle schools into this monster of a campus. With three times as many people — people who drive. People who have cars and are legal adults. We’ve been here for four years. Count the quarters: there are 16 of them. Remember freshmen year: that infatuation with older students, and how being friends with a senior gave you immeasurable social status? There were some sophomores who didn’t tease us for being freshmen, and we clung to them. Remember walking in late to every class on the first day of school, and maybe the second... maybe the third... Every morning we rode the yellow school bus. Our first pep assembly was amazingly loud and we walked out half-deaf. The cheerleaders were trying to get us to shout something, alter we figured out it was "double-oh." Remember when our "commitment to graduation" banner was stolen out of the library? And that first last, day of school: promising to meet everyone again come September. Four down, 12 to go. Sophomore year. Well, maybe by the time we were sophomores we may not have been completely settled into our own high-school persona but at least we knew where we were. And maybe, that first day of school, we still were late to every single class. We learned the meaning of the word â€Å"sophomoric† that year, and teased the freshmen, getting some symbolic retribution for what the sophomores did to use the year before. Eventually... ...ers ago, so were we. Yesterday has passed. Now we stand on the brink of adulthood. We have counted the cost, we’ve counted the quarters and paid the price, we’ve paid four years. Sixteen quarters. Right now we all have a legacy that we’ve left on Ayer High School, a legacy developed from four years of walking down the halls, eight semesters of sitting in the classrooms and sixteen quarters of developing our personalities. We were the anxious freshmen, the obnoxious sophomores, the lazy juniors and the graduating seniors. But, in 10 years, who are we going to be? Will we still drink Sobes, Jones or Yogochinos? Have the same wallpaper on our computer monitors? Will we still fly out at any hour of the night to go to Dick’s or Taco Bell? Whatever the answers, what we’ve each learned here will remain at the core of the people we become. We are the Class of 2006.

Creative play writing – Monologue

Rob is a thirty-five year old man, married to Lucy and has one child named Luke aged three. The monologue is set with him sitting in a chair at home holding his sons teddy, reflecting on his life. However it wasn't always like this†¦. Pause Waste of money these are (picking up Luke's teddy). Luke never plays with it! At least he has a roof over his head and a nice loving family. It wasn't like this for me when I was a child. I was never loved or properly cared for, I never used to get what the other kids did for Christmas and my birthday. That's why I left home when I was seventeen, went on the streets looking for work and that's when I got in to the habit. I just couldn't stop. I made frequent visits to Tom, the alcohol related doctor about my drink problem. The one that stands out the most was when I was about twenty and it was my birthday. I went to the pub, like usual with whatever money I could find or steal to pay for the drink. I don't remember much of the night except for the landlord telling me I had had too much and that the drink I was drinking was my last one. He had told me time and time again to get out because the pub had been closed for half an hour. I don't remember anything else but waking up in the alcohol unit at the local hospital feeling very ill with awful pain in my throat and chest. Yes, my stomach had been pumped out†¦again. â€Å"Not you again ROB!† Tom had said annoyingly. I could tell Tom had had enough of my visits and this time was going to do something about it. † No more drink Rob, how many times, you cant live this way anymore† I clearly remember him saying. At the time I didn't agree with any of this but in hindsight he was totally right, although I was young and foolish at the time. Tom tried his very best to help me by giving social services a call, who came and spoke to me about my alcohol addiction and accommodation. They said they would help move me out of the â€Å"rough area of Birmingham†. I bluntly refused saying things like â€Å"I'm fine† and â€Å"I don't need any help†, when quite plainly I did! Pause A few days later a got a job in a local cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. I was on three pound fifty an hour as well, which of course all went on booze. As I didn't know many people I often felt depressed and very lonely. The only thing that kept me going was that one day things would be different, things would change. How lucky I turned out to be†¦. Pause I lost the job in the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, due to not turning up in the mornings, on several occasions, due to hangovers. Life wasn't good, I just couldn't help myself drinking, I just couldn't stop. As I had no money to buy the drink with I went a few days without it. I became very ill, and had no money to even get some medicine or pills. I tried committing suicide several times, although thankfully unsuccessfully, and was found by this oldish woman, about sixty or so, lying on a park bench dying. Oli Lee 4P She took me by the hand saying â€Å"I'll help you son†, and I gratefully followed her. We walked back to her car (which I immediately thought of stealing, but I couldn't drive) and got in. As left the park, back to her house I thought that I should give her a chance and not steal anything and see where it got me. When we did eventually get back to her house Madge, which I later found out was her name and was married to Pete who was at the time out on business, quickly got me inside and fed me. â€Å"Come on eat this†, she said encouragingly, offering me a roast dinner. I accepted and ate it all very quickly. It was the nicest meal I have ever tasted and still remember it to this day. I had some medicine to help my desperation for alcohol which I had mentioned to her and then had a bath and went to bed. Pause I clearly remember waking up to the large silhouette of a man leaning over the bed staring at me. â€Å"Hello son†, he had said. â€Å"Madge has told me all about you. Says she's seen you regularly in the park looking for food and shelter. Says you might need help?† I said nothing. Who did he think he was, how did they â€Å"know† me? How does HE know I need help? I kept all these thoughts to myself though which proved a very good decision. My gut reaction was to steal what I could and get out of there, but they had taken me in so I didn't follow the reaction. It turned out that Pete was the manager of a large computer group, Packard Bell. He was looking for a new receptionist type person for his company's warehouse. When he asked me to do this, I accepted without any questions. This was a major turning point in my life. Madge and Pete were extremely kind, and I worked as the receptionist there for about three years. I knew that I had outstayed my welcome with Madge and Pete so I bought a house, just down the road, with the money I had saved and bonuses Pete had given me. Pause Scene is set in his living room with his wife Lucy sitting next to him. Life was great, a far cry from when I was an alcoholic living on the streets. I had even met a woman named Lucy to whom I am now married. We have a son called Luke who is just starting Nursery school. I could never have dreamt this would happen and it is all down to Madge and Pete. I have also been reunited with my own family who are very proud of me for changing my life and finding happiness now.

Changing Paradigms of Rebranding Strategies

According to the AMA (American Marketing Association), commemorate is a foretell, landmark, sign, symbol, design, or a conspiracy of ein truth used to uniquely mention a producers goods and serve and differentiate them from competitors. Specifi gripey, a score is a fig yahoo. com logo, jingle bus 2 minutes, Maggie, slogan sense and simplicity, PHILIPS, package design, spokesperson, color Red color, Vodaf champion which consumers associate degree with a specific harvest-tide. REBRANDING-WHAT IS IT?Re labeling occurs when a produce or value developed with one discolouration, comp each or crossing inception affiliation is commercializeed or distri hardlyed with a virgin and different identity. It is usu any(a)y more than than exclusively a agitate in swords logo and otherwise looking transforms and should involve radical spays to the differentiate name, double merchandising scheme and ad themes. In gild to complete Re grimeing, s foreveral areas should be reviewed including positioning, personality, cluster of electric chargefulness fors, logo, company, identity and muckle former to the create of a scratch name.Re ticking can find place for a cutting harvest-feast, a mature product, or correct evolution products. In some(a) looks, a ingrained re blade whitethorn non be inf each(prenominal)ible but rather a fond(p) re blot. When a brand has been substantially realized but whitethorn be let ondated or take aways refreshing out-of-pocket to modern products or services, partial Restigmatisation whitethorn be more appropriate. It is critical that the brand nurse thats been developed everyplace the years not be eliminated. insidious agitates to update it may be all that is inevit equal to get the message crossways and revitalize sales.It is cardinal to differentiate between Rebranding of a product versus repositioning of a product. move may involve a change in any of the tradeing mix elements in an essay to respond to declining sales or market part. The determination in repositioning is to target actual products at saucy markets or atoms. Repositioning may be part of Rebranding carry. In contrast, Rebranding should involve a total change to fundamental company elements such as mission statements, values and widely recognized logos in an effort to realize the companys brand accurately reflect what it offers.WHEN SHOULD REBRANDING OCCURS Rebranding is appropriate and essential chthonian several circumstances in arrange to discover success in product and service de arrest lovery. Often, a company has adapted their products to keep competitive in the market to the extent the companys brand may no longer accurately reflect what if offers. In this case, a study brand overhaul is necessary. A cock-a-hoop quantity of acquisitions or merging of companies may require Rebranding in place to adequately reflect the new, large company.When is Rebranding necessary? DRIVER S OF REBRANDING The ii major reasons of rebranding are corporate restructuring and modifying the outdoor(a) acquaintances. The following text highlights more drivers that call for rebranding cypher Outliving the usefulness Sometimes, a brand might outlive the purpose for which it was created. In such a scenario, it is more cap satisfactory to change the name of brand and whence continue or prune the product depending upon the market requirement. Values change Sometimes, the value that promoters want to display to the audience by the brands change, and that is why they find out to change the brand name as sound. Mergers and acquisitions Cases exchangeable the nuclear fusion reaction and acquisitions force the corporates to dawn a new identity for themselves, as it was seen in the case of Air Deccan and Kingfisher. However, while conducting the rebranding exercise, the companies should conduct a thorough compend of the values and the attributes for which the brand name o f the merging companies stand for and hence alone a new name should be adopted or the rare one should be changed. Confused brands In the case of UTI bank which changed its name to axis of rotation bank, the brand UTI was associated with many other instituted in different streams fiscal strength, had to go for rebranding. CONSIDERATIONS FOR REBRANDING make outline of the target market A company indulging in a rebranding exercise impart not standardized to indulge into the exercise at the woo of its lively nodes. Therefore, a thorough analysis of the profile of the living customers is warranted. The rebranding exercise may attract new segments of the market but should not drive away the existing segments being served by the market. Nature of brand equity A thorough analysis of brand equity and the nature of its standing(a) in the eyes of its s wipe outh centenarianers should be conducted in front going for dropping an already well established name, because if the new na me fails to live up to the expectations of the stakeholders, it may result in a huge loss in price of the sales and goodwill of the firm and done these two elements, on the value of the firm. Project trouble It is generally the marketing department who takes up the withdrawership billet in implementing the rebranding exercise and tries to seek out and surmount the challenges ahead.However, in many cases, it is the visiting card of directors with the external ad agency who decide upon the rebranding exercise and implement it. Staff participation The supply involvement is seen at conglomerate trains of the government and they are basically consulted to spread out notice and brain storm on the new brand name and the like. Customer af sporty Though not many organizations go for customer feedback before rebranding themselves, feedback is sought in a more subtle and apprehensive way from the customers. Since confidentially is a touch on for such an exercise, the rebrand ing campaign was not make more broad establish.OBSTACLES Time devour Most of the organizations found brand building time consuming and they failed to estimate the subscribe to time for conducting the exercise. Internal Resistance Employee morale is greatly affected by the attitudes associated with the organization they utilisation with, so many a times a change in brand name greatly affects their want and willingness to work for their responses. PREREQUISITES OF A achieverFUL REBRANDING EXERCISE. go across Vision The top management should catch a clear vision around the organization and the counselling in which it wants to take the organization.It also should have a fair idea as to what does it want to get through the rebranding exercise. Engagement of staff The staff should be engaged at all levels across the organization to have a feeling or unanimity and coalition towards the entire exercise. Thorough Planning The rebranding exercise should be thoroughly planned and if indispensability be, contingency plans should be prepared for any crisis. Rebranding is a difficult exercise to follow up and it requires a lot of planning and a very minute detailed set of goals and milestones in the execution phase to hear the smooth implementation of the rebranding exercise. fitting Resources Adequate resources should be provided to the organization in terms of manpower, money and other resources. The complexity in execution especially in the conversation process calls for expert intervention in the entire process and the dispassionate placard and wide k instantaneouslyledge of the experts becomes a necessary in such projects. Communication The conference with the stake holders should be consistent, clear and four-sided to win their confidence towards the entire exercise. shock on the Financial Markets A firm exists for the maximization of distributeholders wealth and it is in that locationfore very classic for the organization, to study the short term impact of the rebranding exercise on the financial markets and the organization should plan as to how it is going to deal with the short term impacts on the stock market prices of the rebranding exercise. TYPES OF REBRANDING EXERCISE 1) Reiterating These companies need not change their brand name, their label are strong enough and the brand essence has not changed over a period of years. ) Renaming Some companies may go for renaming themselves to display the change in the possession structure and to reflect the new possessors identity in the name or the logo of the company. 3) Redefining Some companies may go for redefining the qualities and attributes attached to it. It is done to give the company a new direction and also convey to the stake holders a change in the ownership intention and the new direction of the company. 4) Restarting These organizations feel a need not only to change the attributes attached to their brands but also the brand name calling ltogether. This happens when an existing brand departs from or enters into a new product line. 5) abridgment rat Name Companies normally go for an abstract brand name, because their abstraction lends them the tractability of getting associated with other products also. Moreover, it is also seen that service organizations prefer more abstract names as they want to convey more complex messages than the product based organizations. REBRANDING SUCCESS Several well-k this instantn companies have act Rebranding in re cent years.In some cases the Rebranding effort has been all encompassing for the company and in other cases a few changes were all that were necessary in order to en certain success. Hindustan Unilever limited Hindustan Lever, a 51. 6 per cent subsidiary of Unilever plc formed in 1956, is the largest FMCG society in India. It operates in two segments internal and personal care products such as soaps, detergents, oral care products, hair care products, skin care products, cosmetic s, deodorants and fragrances, and food and beverages such as tea, coffee, wheat flour, salt, ice creams and culinary products.With a turnover of over US$ 2200 million in 2003, HLL employs over 40,000 mess across the country. Coca-Cola India Coca-Cola is a leading sham in the Indian beverage market with a 60 per cent share in the carbonated soft assimilates segment, 36 per cent share in harvest-festival drinks segment and 33 per cent share in the packaged water segment. In 2004, Coca-Cola sold 7 billion packs of its brands to more than 230 million consumers across 4,700 towns and 175,000 villages. The company has two-fold its volumes and trebled its profits between 2001 and 2004. Coca-Cola continues to re-affirm its commitment to India through active Citizenship Efforts. All its plants in India first mate with local NGOs to alleviate local biotic community issues in numerous small ways. It boasts of spick credentials on quality. Coca-Cola has succeeded in pique of an extreme ly price-sensitive consumer with entrenched beverage exercise habits tea, nimbu-paani (lemonade) and a fragmented and geographically dispersed retail market, and a high levy milieu. Intel India Intel India was established in 1988 in Bangalore, and has now grown to let in the maximum bet of Intel divisions in any country remote the United States.Indias increasing IT and applied science talent pool, has ensured that the majority of work done at Intel India is software and hardware engineering and has also established the Intel India Design Centre, as Intels largest non-manufacturing site internationally. Intel has over 2,000 employees, of whom 1,200 work at the development centre. Significant market development groups include education and Intel Capital, which helps Intel make strategic investments in technology and online start-ups. Intel has invested US$ 60 million in root word in India. REBRANDING FAILURESFor every successful Rebranding story, there is at least one synonym ic misadventure. The example given below outlines some of the reasons why Rebranding does not always succeed. late Coke One of the most infamous rebranding failure stories in history is that of modern Coke. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola Company took one of its biggest risks by announcing it was changing the conventionalism for the worlds most popular soft drink. The clapperclaw which followed was heard around the world. The motivation shtup the formula change was a fall market share which the company believed to be the results of its arch rival Pepsi-Cola.During the 1970s, the Pepsi Challenge campaign seemed to erode the century market level(p) further. The company felt compelled to do something as it appeared consumers particularly the baby boomer market, had a perceptiveness for sweeter drinks. Coke experimented with a new sweeter formula and market tests indicated the new formula was preferred overwhelmingly to both stock Coke and Pepsi. A first refer of pending disast er was when focus groups indicated vexation upon finding out they were tasting a possible new Coca-Cola and threatened to barricade drinking coke altogether.Nevertheless, the company relied severely on the market analysis and investigate and put togethered new coke in April of 1985. sign results were promising but the bound that followed to the highest degree took the company down. The company did not reckon in the rich, cultural history fastened to the original coke. even up though gustation tests continued to indicate a preference for the sweeter drink, brand trueheartedty was staunch for the undefiled coke and consumers boycotted the new coke as a result. With in 3 months, coca-cola was obligate to make for back classic coke, which resulted in a resurgence of sales to bring coca-cola to the fore front once again.Eventually, bare-assed Coke became Coke II and is to the highest degree unavailable in distribution today. So what went terms? Research was extensive, lead support the rebranding and an extensive advertizing campaign was despatched. by chance the company should have listened to that minority segment in the focus groups who were offended that Coca-Cola would even think nigh changing its formula(which it in reality did any way when it changed from a chicken feed sweetness to a more tinny high fructose corn sirup sweetener). This was a hint of the cultural backlash that would result, particularly from the southern U.S. where coke was a part of the regional identity. Perhaps the launch was not successfully implemented. Pepsi was able to strategically maneuver advertising by claiming they had win the cola wars prior to the official launch of late Coke. In addition, Coca-Colas CEO was ad-lib for the launching news conference resulting in alienation of reporters. He could not reply simple questions rough the taste change. What ever the reason revolutionary Coke is now history and coke classic with other coke products maintai n a lead in overall sales.Volume for the classic brand has risen 24 percent since 1984 make it the No. 1 soft drink in the land since 1987. It is interesting how loyal consumers can be to a brand once you take it away temporarily. The rebranding failure actually led to revitalization of the existing brand and a newfound regard as by company leadership for the farming surrounding the original Coca-Cola product. MISTAKES MADE WHEN REBRANDING pretermit of True transplant It is important to conceive that rebranding signals change. Your brand is more than your logo or corporate colors.Simply repacking the goods and providing some new designs will not get results you need. Putting a new cover on an old book doesnt make it new. Brands include every thing from customer perception and experience to quality, look and feel, customer care and retail and web environments. clear sure the changes instilled are all encompassing or customers will catch on expeditious and make a fast departu re. wish of Quality Research Research is required in order to be able to establish a plan for rebranding. on-going and prospective customers must be snarly when creating solutions.Knowing customer attitudes and desires is essential in order to discontinue the product they want in the way they want it delivered. In addition, research should be interpreted flowly or the rebranding efforts can take a wrong direction. Coca-cola performed extensive research but discounted a portion of it which ultimately became very important foreshadowing of things to come. Ignoring Brand Equity By ignoring existing brand equity when rebranding, a company faces the risk of alienating and by and by losing existing loyal customers. This was evident during the assay rebranding of coke.The company assumed all customers would like and want the taste of new coke because they didnt understand the extent of the current brand loyalty. AT & T took this into thoughtfulness after merging with Southwester n toll to ensure customers were comfortable and unconcerned about any loss of service. Basing Rebranding on announce Just as rebranding is not exclusively repacking the product, neither is it simply the advertising campaign. Brand strategy should be the core dot leading advertising advertising should not lead brand strategy.Interestingly, some rebranding efforts may not include traditional advertising. Make sure the rebranding campaign is more than advertising or nothing will change for the company. Inability to Analyze the Positioning The lit revealed that Repositioning is one of the most important drivers for rebranding. Positioning is not what company does with the product its all about what they do with the mind of the target audience, and what customers think about the company. So, it is vital for rebranding to clarify and refine the positioning.Both the premise as well as want positioning of the company should be apparent. overlook of Top Level Support Even though th e rebranding may be innate(p) in the marketing department, it should be owned and supported by the top level managers especially the CEO. The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is the only authority who can drive change in all the functional areas across the organization. The CEO needs to set the vision and lead rebranding to ensure that product, Service & wad are aligned and determined to deliver the implied promises through rebranding. CONCLUSIONAs branding trends continue to evolve, rebranding success seems to depend on the ability to adapt to the rapidly evolving media environment and taking advantage of new opportunities to orbital cavity the target audience. In order to pillow competitive, companies will need to embrace gamey media to spread the message to younger and techsavvy customers. virgin methods include blogs, pod casts, mobile phone-based programming, and tender networks. However, a balance must be maintained with traditional methods of media in order to reach and retain the existing customer base. In order to rebrand successfully, key move need to be taken in the process.Companies who embrace the elements of rebranding usually are able to obtain their goals. Companies who fail to address all of the elements of rebranding often make mistakes and succumb to failure. So does rebranding work? Yes, and NO. It works when it is based on quality information, has the support of leadership and employees, is well-planned, provide adequate training, is integrated throughout the whole company, has a well-balanced multi-media advertising campaign that communicates the brand message consistently across multiple platforms, is customer driven, and is evaluated on an on-going basis to determine if alterations are need.When these elements are not present, the chance of rebranding success diminishes rapidly. EXHIBITS IBM doddery unsanded pic pic Hindustan Lever limited Hindustan Unilever Limited venerable hot pic pic Indian brook sexagenarian stark naked pic pic pic pic pic PHILIPS Old New pic pic COMPAQ Old New pic pic HUTCH Vodafone Old New pic pic APPLE Old New pic pic KFC Old New pic pic AIWA Old New pic pic KODAK Old New pic pic SATYAM MAHINDRA SATYAM Old New pic pic VIDEOCON Old New pic pic CANARA BANK Old New pic pic JET AIRWAYS Old New pic pic BANK OF BARODA Old New pic pic faith Old New pic pic pic BIBLIOGRAPHY Kotler, Keller, Koshy, Jha. Marketing Management, 13th Edition, Pearson Education. YLR Moorthi, Brand Management, The Indian setting,2006, Vikas publishing house pvt ltd. Bhavishya, The journal of futurist managers, Jan-Mar 2008. Dr. M. A. Azeem, Prof. T. Venkat Ram Raj, December-2008,Rebranding A business tyrannical, Indian Journal of Marketing, Page no 15-21. M. Saeed, Ravinder vinayek, Narender kumar, September-2008, Rebranding An emerging brand marketing strategy (Trends, Issues and challenges), Indian Journal of Marketing, Page no 3-10.WEBLIOGRAPHY http//blong. styleapple. com http//images. google. co. in/imgres? imgurl=http//remade. files. wordpress. com/2008/01/canarabankbeforeafter. jpg http//www. mobilepandit. com/2005/12/07/rebranding-reliance-infocom www. thehindubussinessline. com Change in Service Name Change Change in Product Acquisitions & Mergers Change in market Place New Product Launch Rebranding