Because of the automotive industry’s problems with recalls while in the process of trying to battle the poor economy, the people in car dealer marketing have had to become more prepared in terms or who to target for what vehicles and more creative to get people interested in the product. car dealer websites have had to be a lot better more efficient when it comes to being easy to navigate and understand in order to drive customers to various dealerships. Over the past few years, it has been quite entertaining to see how different auto companies have come to target very specific customers with their advertising campaigns. This article gives three different examples of automakers that have the knowledge and ability to narrow their consumer market to a pretty small fraction of total auto consumers, simply through their advertising campaigns.

The Toyota Sienna is very noticeably marketed towards those customers who have families. Their latest television ads star parents, who before they had children said they never wanted a mini-van, now love their mini-van because of all the space and the ability to play movies or television shows for their kids. The commercial even gives a glimpse of the mother having a relaxing moment in her mini-van. So not only is the commercial targeting moms and dads with kids, it has narrowed its market even further by looking at moms and dads who never intended or intends to have a mini-van. Toyota is attempting to make it feel like it is the fashionable parents who drive mini-vans and enjoy it at the same time.

The Mini-Cooper is targeted towards the young, very fashionable market. The mini-cooper targets the young ones who want to have fun with their vehicle and those who want a more personalized experience with their automobile. In large cities, mini-cooper has been able to put up screens that send a personalized message to the individual driving the car as soon as the sign registers that specific car is in the area.

The Nissan Cube is marketed towards the young, ages 16-25, market with its pricing and simply customized features. This automobile can be made personal anyway the driver wants. There is also an Internet component can go to try different seat, dashboard, and outside paint colors. There are also different options in terms of features of the car, like a CD player or built-in satellite radio that is unlike quite a few other automobiles. The pricing on these types of vehicles is set lower than the average automobile to entice the younger people to purchase this kind of vehicle.

It is pretty fascinating to see how each automobile industry is doing market segmentation. With every different kind of automobile, you will be able to see a very clear difference between each when it comes to how the vehicle is branded and sold to customers. Another pretty new example of automakers targeting specific markets is Toyota with the Prius. The Prius is marketed towards anyone who cares a lot for the environment and those who like to be the first to have the latest technology. It will be interesting in the coming years to see how the auto-industry is able to get over the economic downturn and if any of the auto-makers will increase their target market to include more consumers.

Despite the boom in low-cost netbooks in recent years thanks to the poor economy and cash-strapped consumers, a recent Digitimes article reports that HP and Dell are actually reducing their investments in the 10-inch netbook market. In fact, HP is considering quitting the 10-inch segment altogether to focus on its 11.6-inch AMD notebooks as the Intel Pine Trail netbooks have not been very profitable.

This is due largely to the fact that there is too much competition in this market where price is the only significant differentiator. For the time being, Acer, Asus, and Samsung have no intention to follow suit as netbooks still account for a large portion of their sales.

In the 80′s and 90′s, Americans spent money in a very carefree way which has resulted in an instant gratification generation now . This particular generation has also been living beyond their means and are now having to learn ways to handle their finances better with the current poor economy and recession. One of the things they are learning is how to maintain their property and take care of them and having electronics or appliances in their house fixed instead of purchasing new ones when they break . For example, if you are having computer trouble, find a service that can do macbook repair or macbook screen repair rather than purchasing a new computer.

With so much technology and electronics being used everyday by the American people, it is important to understand what you can do to maintain these items as well as where to go if the item breaks or is not working right. With laptop computers, I-pods, I-phones and other cell phones, the number of things that can go wrong is quite high. The more advanced the technology is, the higher] the incidence of something technological things are expensive to begin with, you should take care of them and find a reputable dealer than can fix it if it breaks. With the economy in such trouble, Americans are realizing that they can not spend money on whatever they want anymore and being frugal and smart are now in fashion.

Other items to consider maintaining and fixing are the appliances that are in your home. If your dishwasher goes kaput, look into having it fixed instead of just tossing it away and purchasing a new one, like so many people used to do. Other appliances that homeowners should maintain to keep them working better and longer are the furnace and air conditioning for your heating and cooling needs. Keeping it clean and repaired will save you a lot of money down the road .

This lesson of taking care of your property and keeping them for a long time seems like such a simple one but it is something that has been lost along the way on the younger generations. This younger generation is now learning the lessons from the older generation on ways to save their money and be wise about what they buy. The failing of our economy has forced a lot of big spenders to take a look on how they need to change their spending habits and be smart for the future.

With this generation being so used to getting whatever they want with a credit card, this recession has been a great thing to help them to understand that is not the best way to live. Now it is thought to be cool to save money and to be smart about what you buy . People are now downsizing realizing that that big house is much more than what they need and the older computer that they have works just fine after it is updated.

By Shane McGlaun

Before the global economy went into the crapper, many businesses held quarterly or more frequent meetings to talk strategy and other items. Many firms flew employees in from all around the country to attend these meetings. With the poor economy today, flying people in has become too expensive and many businesses are going to video conferencing instead.

Samsung has announced a new video conferencing LCD called the VC240 that integrates all of the components needed for HD desktop video conferencing into a 24-inch LCD that works as a computer monitor as well.

The VC240 uses V2oIP for communications and is compatible with all other VoIP systems and SIP control units. Video is compressed with the H.264 codec and the camera is a 5-megapixel unit with a noise-canceling microphone. Contrast ratio on the LCD is 1000:1 and the VC240 will ship this fall for $1,999.

Samsung

By Chris Scott Barr

Monster Cables is a company well-known for suing other people for uttering the word “monster” when not referring to their products. Oh, and they produce overpriced cables. Unfortunately it would seem that the poor economy and sheer amount of lawsuits over trademark infringement have really taken their toll on the company. As you can see from their latest product, the MCC AV50 Home Theater Controller, they had to let go their entire design team.

Normally I wouldn’t bother writing about a $50 universal remote, but this thin is too hideous to pass up. Sure, if it were coming from some unknown company out of China, I wouldn’t have given it a second glance. Yet somehow this is being sold by Monster Cable. I suppose if you needed a remote to fit in with your living room which has been modeled after the original Enterprise, then this might do.

[ Monster Cable ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]