Source: https://36552247blog.wordpress.com/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 03:52:48+00:00

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^This one doesn’t make me think at all, just hungry.
Red Bull will be releasing 3 flavors of its drink: cranberry (meh), lime (meh), and blueberry (hmmm…this could be interesting) as seen above.
‘Bout time! Red Bull GmbH (the company that owns Red Bull and a small handful of other drinks) made €4.253 billion in 2011 (that’s revenue, not profit), and while they probably make a lot of money through sponsorships, and licensing its name, the bulk of their product sales probably comes from their signature drink. Diversifying their product line is probably overdue at this point. While releasing 3 flavors (even if there’s only 1 potentially good flavor imo) is a step in the right direction, they should leverage the power of their brand name more.
The energy drink category is getting awfully crowded with 5-hour Energy, Monster, Amp, NOS, Full throttle, Venom Energy, etc etc. And several of them are owned by PepsiCo (AMP) and Coca-Cola Company (NOS, Full Throttle) which probably have a bit more money to spend in pushing their products out vs. Red Bull. And in a growth market such as energy drinks, PepsiCo & Coca-Cola will probably want to expand and grab as much market share as possible to offset falling soda sales. Simply, the energy drink market is increasingly competitive with more players with more muscle behind the drinks.
Red Bull has an advantage though, ask people to name the first energy drink that comes to mind and Red Bull will probably be the first one for a large number of people. Have them name the first 2-3 brands that come to mind, and it’ll likely be in the top 2-3 of almost everyone. They have a recognizable brand name. And most people who drink it probably like it, more than just ‘grabbing whatever’s available,’ not everybody, and possibly not even a majority of Red Bull drinkers. But probably a number of people do (or hey, maybe’s it’s just me). Red Bull drinkers have a positive brand image and a connection to it. Use that! Leverage the brand name and expand Red Bull products.
Now extending brands is a risky business, it has to be done well, and possibly more importantly, organically. One need only look at brand extensions such as Hooters Air, Coca-Cola Blak (coffee-flavored cola…no really), the multitude of celebrity-endorsed products, and, (thanks for this one, google search!) BiC underwear to see cautionary tales when it comes to brand extensions. And yes, BiC, as in the company that makes pens.
Extend into energy bars! That’s a category that should be relatively stable for the next several years at least. Adventurers and outdoors people will always provide a market for that, and people on the go (9-to-5ers, students, busy parents) would grab them as impulse purchases at check-outs, convenience stores, etc, if not outright buy boxes of them. And the whole category of ‘energy bars’ is pretty broad, there’s the category for mountaineers and cyclists who wanted something to sustain energy for a long period of time that may cost a bit more, protein bars for weightlifters/gym rats, and then the more natural stuff that’s been around for awhile: the Nutri-Grain bars, Granola Bars, Chewy Bars. Not strictly ‘energy bars,’ but granola/chewy/nutri-grain bars were energy bars before energy bars were energy bars, right?
Red Bull could target any of these sectors, or, eventually all of them. Or a combination, use “whole grain oats, wholesome grain, dried fruit packed with nutrients and vitamins” etc etc etc to project the wholesome good-for-your-body image and sell it as an energy bar. It gets a foot into the energy bar market while appealing to those in the granola/chewy/nutri-grain bar segment (though pricing could need to be navigated carefully as energy bars will probably be pricier vs. nutrigrain/granola/chewy is a bit more bulk-buying inexpensiveness).
Basically, in order to cut costs Wal-Mart schedules fewer hours for its employees–>less employees having to do more work–>worst customer service & less time to get shelves restocked–>customers flock to other retailers & hurts Wal-Mart’s bottom line–>who then schedules less hours in order to keep its finances profitable–>the cycle repeats.
Of course, several grains of salt must be taken when trying to extrapolate the stories of several people from a couple of stores to the whole company, but, the company did has ranked/tied for last place in the American Customer Satisfaction index for 6 years running, so there’s that. Again, it’s just one survey, but when you hear Wal-Mart, is ‘customer satisfaction’ the first words that pop into your head? Is it even one of the first 5 phrases?
Voyager 1 Spacecraft Leaves Solar System—Launched all the way back in 1977, the NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 traveled beyond the solar system earlier this week. Voyager 1 is still transmitting data back, 35½ years after being launched (longer than most people use their cars!). It is the farthest man-made object from the Earth.
Tonight Show Drama Pt. 3: Leno out, Fallon in 2014?—Many entertainment industry magazines had been reporting on potential plans to have Jimmy Fallon (current host of the Late Night show) take over the Tonight Show in 2014, either in the fall or February to capitalize on the ability to promote it during the Winter Olympics. Things hit a fever pitch when the New York Times published an article that made it seem like a certainty. With ABC moving Jimmy Kimmel earlier in direct competition to Leno and Letterman and scoring solid ratings as well as Leno’s jokes at NBC’s ratings not going over well with some of NBC’s executive, they may be more than willing to show Leno the way out, though given Leno’s history with the Tonight Show, that may be easier said than done.
Chemical Attack in Syria?—Reports of a chemical attack in Syria have yet to be confirmed. Both the Syrian government and Opposition Forces accuse the other of using chemical weapons. Some say after the rocket attack, some had trouble breathing, that there was a smell of chlorine, and pink smoke visible but victims had no visible wounds on their bodies. The veracity of a chemical attack uncertain. The Syrian government has said that if it had chemical weapons (as widely believed), it would not use it against its people and President Obama has stated that use of them would be a “red line” that would most likely cause America to directly intervene in the 2-year-old civil war.
Cyprus Bailout—After initially rejecting a bailout plan that would put into place a levy on the bank deposits of anyone with savings, the Cyprus government has reached an agreement with European powers on new bailout plan for the country that includes “drastically shrinking its banking sector, cutting its budget, implementing structural reforms, privatize state assets” and holders of bank accounts with over €100,000 facing heavy losses. The likely alternative would have been bankruptcy and Cyprus being the first country to leave the Eurozone. Parliaments in several Eurozone countries need to approve the deal, expected to be finished around mid-April.
Upset is the Name of the Game in March Madness 2013—#1-seed Gonzaga is knocked out by #9-seed Wichita St. in the third round while #2-Georgetown was one of the victims of 15-seed’s Florida Gulf Coast University’s path to become the first ever 15-seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Multiple other higher-ranked seeds such as Notre Dame, New Mexico, Kansas State, Wisconsin, UNLV, UCLA were toppled by lower-seeds such as Iowa State, Harvard, La Salle, Ole Miss, California and Minnesota.
2 games done, and 1 in progress and my bracket is pleased. It’s Michigan’s morning with both Michigan and Michigan St. winning by double-digit margins (78-53 over VCU and 70-24 over Memphis respectively). About a quarter into the Louisville and Colorado St. game and it’s a little too tight for my liking (24-19).
9:13p Overlooked upsets from round 1 are having a mixed day, Harvard was easily beaten by Arizona, but 12-seed Oregon beat 4-seed Saint Louis, playing like it’s got a chip on its shoulder, that chip is probably from being seeded 12th when many say they should’ve gotten a much higher ranking.
Butler played probably the best game of the day against Marquette, with the latter unfortunately narrowly beating out Butler in a nailbiter 74-72.
#1-seed Gonzaga continues to struggle against much lower seeded teams, trailing Wichita St. for much of the first half, managing a lead in the second half, but now down 62-61 with 3:17 left. Come on Gonzaga! You’ve since proved you didn’t deserve the #1 seed but please make it a little further, for the sake of my bracket! Amazing run of 5 consecutive 3-pointers in a row by the two teams though.
Syracuse wit ha decent 8-point lead over California at the half.
10:14p #9-seed Wichita St. beats #1-seed Gonzaga (who was a 15-game winning streak). There goes my bracket. Ugh West region, you are just tearing up brackets left and right. Good job Wichita St. though.
March Madness 2013 (Day 2): 64 Teams, Pt. 2–David v. Goliath cont.
2:57p And the story of the underdog upsetting higher-seeded teams continues. Woke up to see 2 games had finished, Duke beat Albany, as expected, and Mississippi triumphed over Wisconsin, wait, what? Didn’t I have Wisconsin going to the Sweet 16? A quick check at my bracket revealed that, alas, that was so. Things aren’t looking so great in the 3 ongoing games, La Salle is has a double-digit lead over my pick Kansas St. 42-26, though after seeing how La Salle played against Boise St. in the First Four game, a part of me is okay with this as they’re a good team, an underdog I can’t begrudge for winning if it messes up my bracket a bit.
On the other hand, not okay with Temple edging out NC State 76-72 (though that lead was 18 points at some point in time, so kudos to NC State for closing that gap considerably). Second-seeded Miami with a commanding 31-point lead over Pacific thusfar, but the evenly-matched game I’m keeping my eye on is that of Creighton v. Cincinnati. Score’s too tight to be hopeful/discouraged either way at the half. With 3 games done and played and 3 in progress, 2 games didn’t go my bracket’s way, and it’s shaping up to 3 bracket busters, 2 easy picks, and 1 up in the air.
4:22p Mixed bag, Creighton pulled off a 67-63 nailbiter win over Cincinnati (great game), but the underdog upset train continues to barrel on as Kansas St (4 seed) was narrowly beat by 13-seed La Salle, Kansas managed to close the gap to a very close 63-61, but in the end La Salle won, like I said before, I like La Salle and this messing up of my bracket isn’t the worst thing as it hurts everyone’s bracket in my tournament since nobody saw this one coming. The game to watch right now is Illinois (7 seed) v. Colorado (10 seed). I picked Colorado over Illinois based on their records and stats, that may have been a mistake seeing as how I didn’t give enough weight to Illinois’s tough schedule, it may be only one of 2 teams going into the tournament with an overall loss record in its conference, but that’s due to this tough schedule in one of the most competitive conferences this season (Big 10). Illinois leads Colorado 37-21 going into halftime. Yikes. This also doesn’t bode well for the Minnesota v. UCLA game tonight as Minnesota’s schedule may have been even tougher than Illinois, preparing them for tournament play. Well, at least Indiana is beating JMU thusfar.
Back to the Creighton v. Cincinnati game for a second, honorable mention to Doug McDermott who made all 11 of his free throws and contributed 27 points overall to the game.
The Last 4 of the 64 The last 4 games of the second round is being played right now. And yes, the trend of strong resistance from lower-seeded teams continue. At halftime, #1-seed (ranked by many as the #3 or #2 team) Kansas is trailing 16-seed Western Kentucky by a point (31-30). On the one hand, if Kansas doesn’t pull off a win, it would do more damage to my bracket than any other incorrect call, but on the other hand, it would seriously hamper everyone else’s (some who had Kansas going farther than I did).
The beginning of the second half of the Oklahoma v. San Diego State game finds them both tied with 38 points each, hoping San Diego St. wins this one.
The beginning of the second half of Iowa St. vs. Notre Dame finds Iowa ahead 39-25.
And, the big one. UCLA v. Minnesota. Little point-scoring early on, Minnesota’s defense was strong in stopping UCLA scoring early on, then scoring 2 and 3-pointers here and there while keeping UCLA’s offense to a minimal, but as halftime nears MN has opened up an ever-widening gap, now 33-19. UCLA just isn’t getting the rebounds it needs to make up for it’s many, many missed shots. Minnesota now has the momentum and it’s tough to see UCLA getting into a groove. Shows me to turn my back on the Gophers.
Well, 3-for-4 in the last 4 games, why oh why didn’t I go with Minnesota. Kansas, Iowa St. and San Diego pulled through. All in all, 21 games called correctly and 11 wrong in the first 32 games Only 8 games to watch tomorrow!
Best Game of Day 2: Creighton v. Cincinnati. Colorado put up a good fight against Illinois too.
As for yesterday, best game would probably be either buzzer-beater Marquette v. Davidson or wild upset Harvard v. New Mexico.

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