Ben Esbaum

Today we started our 5 day program, and although at times it did seem slow, it ended up being a pretty productive and useful introduction to marketing.  We started out the day with 2 sessions in the morning that served as a primer for the rest of the week.  We learned the basics of marketing and the 4 P’s of the marketing mix.  Our instructor Roland is pretty funny, although at times it seems like most of the group won’t open up to his humor, which is really their loss.  He is very well-versed and experienced in marketing and has a laundry list of product design and marketing accomplishments. 

For the afternoon we made a trip to Broad Ripple to visit Monon Coffee, one of the many small, independently-owned coffee shops trying to compete with Starbucks.  Our second morning session was devoted to the total employee marketing scheme of Starbucks, in which every employee is depended on to build up the company’s name and loyal customer base.  So the goal of the visit was to see how a small coffee shop attempted to compete in the coffee industry.  It was pretty interesting to see the differences in the way in which the company was managed and the customers were treated.  Monon Coffee offered a nice change of pace to the quick in and out and often times impersonal nature of Starbucks.  One of the most interesting aspects of Monon Coffee was the honor system they utilized for their regular coffee brews.  They trusted customers to pay for the coffee they dispensed on a side counter of the shop’s main service counter.  Although the products were very similar, the atmosphere of Monon Coffee seemed much different and a bit more inviting.

After the visit, we had a short break and then ended the day with a short session on American Express and their most recent attempt at product extension: their OPEN program.  The program is designed to help small businesses with little access to credit, called microenterprises, obtain the appropriate funds to grow their businesses.

Picture: Roland Morin listens to students' ideas.