About Me / Marketing in the News

About Me....

Born and raised in our local community.  A alumni member of the South Albany "Rebels" and decided, to marry my high school sweetheart.  Happy to announce we have made it through the past 25-years together.  We have two very talented kids, a daughter who just turned 18 and graduates from Central Linn High School in two months.  My son who is 15 and a Freshman at the same school. Most of my career was dedicated to the medical field.  My previous work experience included Surgery Scheduling, Credentialing and Emergency Room Operations Staff.  Currently, I'm working with a local community bank that encourages me to continue my business education with emphasis in the marketing field.  After much discussion, I decided to take the leap and dual enroll at the eCampus at OSU and Linn-Benton Community College.  Outside of school, I attend many sponsorship events as a representative of the Bank.  I enjoy flying and would love to finish my pilots license one day.  I serve as a Planning Commissioner on the City of Tangent Council. 

I'm interested in Marketing because my brain has always been able to think out-side the box. I really enjoy being creative and getting paid for it.



"Marketing in the News"


Volkswagen: VW Beer

What goes good with partying all night and driving home?

How about a German made beer by your favorite Volkswagen brand vehicle.

Car accidents in Argentina had grown by 25% in 2017, due to intoxicated related driving.  The automobile maker of the German brand, VW wanted to change these stats.  They decided to create a beer, that can be social but responsible if chosen to be the designated driver.  The marketing campaign pitch -a beer with which you can “drive responsibly” and allow you “have fun having a good time with friends”,  After three attempts, they feel they finally created a satisfying beer that contains 0.0% alcohol.  This was an amazing concept to me because even non-alcoholic beers contains a little alcohol content.

The ad begins with a black and white history of Germans love for crafting a good beer.  Then moves to the beautiful German design sketch of an automobiles. It makes you smile a little inside, then BOOM, a car running through an intersection with a car crash.  The commercial then explains "these two things can't be mixed."  So you instantly begin to think this is a Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) commercial.  We all know that drinking beer and driving home is the dumbest mistake, you could possibly make.  Knowing several people that have made this mistake, it's nothing short of ruining your life.  The thought of putting yourself in the position of possibility hurting yourself or even worse, taking another life because of poor judgement.

The reason this article grabbed my attention is because having personally lost a close friend due to drinking and driving. This beer encourages you drink all night long and still drive home.  Research shows that after 21-days you create a habit.  This commercial sends the wrong message because what if a young person gets in the habit of drinking, VW Beer, all night and driving friends home.  Well, the next time you go to a different city and they don't have your VW Beer.  It's still a habit for you at this point and the thought crosses your mind.  Yes, I understand they're trying to promote drinking socially and driving everyone safe home but it fails short of the right thing to do.  If you have friends that are going to pressure you to drink maybe these are not the friends you should have in your life.

The VW Beer commercial has value propositions because it makes you stop and think.  This beer stands out  because it's promoting safe drinking and driving.  I think you could argue both sides of this commercial.  The consumer could think, wow, what a great idea.  Although, I didn't take away from this commercial it was a responsible thing to do, others might disagree.

The marketing relevance was directed to a younger generation.  Part of this commercial glamourized the "Coolest Clubs" sell VW Beer.  I asked, my 18 year old daughter to watch this ad and give me her opinion.  The conclusion after previewing, "I think, the VW Beer is a good idea.  It allows you to drink with your friends and then go home safe."  This will be the marketing challenge because everyone's perspective about drinking and driving is different.  Due to my personal history with drinking and driving, I have a different outlook, than my 18-year old daughter.  This will be a struggle for the company.

The marketing approach was creative.  It was generated to a certain niche market.  The campaign claims to focus on change and raise awareness instead of showing the dangers of drinking and driving.  There is a reason this is the first automobile company in history, whom ever crafted a beer, the two together are just an oxymoron .