Assignment 2-2

Icons of our time have influenced behavior and impacted our lives culturally. They are easily recognized and target an emotion. Starbucks has transformed America with their desirable coffee. Starbucks has made drinking coffee trendy. With a touch of sophistication and almost five bucks for a grande mocha latte, Starbucks has achieved their goal of cultural dominance. Drinking at Starbucks makes one feel a part of an elite group, because of the social recognition of finest coffee house. While lately Starbucks has seen a decline in sales due to the economy, it is still ubiquitous.

Napster paved the way of downloading music from the internet onto a computer then transferring onto devices, such as I-Pods, MP3 players, and etc. The hold up was that all the music was totally free. This made music artists and record companies irate. The billion dollar industry was taking a major hit with Napster pirating music. The term “pirating” became known as stealing music from the internet. After all said and done, the owner of Napster and music pirates were prosecuted.
Who can compare to how Target made discount shopping trendy? With their marketing tactics, Target took it to a different level. Being stylish and affordable is how they hurdled over the competition by reporting $63.4 billion dollars in revenue for 2007 (Target Annual Report, 2007). To attain their growth Target teamed up with popular designers made style affordable. Continuing with their unique advantage, Target is still everyday life with flare.

Reference:
Target Annual Report (2007). Investors. Target Corporation. Retrieved on May 28, 2009 from http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-030795