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Design some IB style questions based on a real life piece of news.

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Here's my news: Brazil hopes the world will get a taste for its favourite spirit

Here's my questions...

1. Define....

2. Explain...

3. Discuss...

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Here's my news: Cheetos (Yes, the Food) Are Now Making Beauty Products

Here are my questions...

1. Define the term market differentiation

2. Explain what market Cheetos tried to reach by creating this new product

3. Discuss whether this was an effective or non-effective example of market differentiation

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Here's my news: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/21/fender-sales-boom-as-guitar-playing-surges-during-the-pandemic.html

Here's my questions...

1. Define: Product differentiation

2. Explain:

3. Discuss...

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Business was looking pretty grim for Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the legendary guitar maker, when the coronavirus pandemic reached U.S. shores last March. Suddenly, 90% of its worldwide dealers' physical stores closed, as did many of its online sellers' distribution centers. Fender's factories in Corona, California, and Ensenada, Mexico, shut down, furloughing hundreds of employees. Its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, shuttered, as did its Hollywood hub, where CEO Andy Mooney and his management team work.

"We were looking over the edge of an abyss, frankly, and went into company preservation mode," Mooney told CNBC in late October, while still running things from his home in L.A. after summering in Long Island. He and every other one of Fender's roughly 2,000 employees took up to 50% pay cuts. "We just tightened our belt."

Well, in the topsy-turvy world that Covid-19 has wrought, Fender's bad fortunes have since turned upside down - to the merry melody of record-setting sales, estimated by Mooney to top $700 million this year, rising nearly 17% from last year's more than $600 million. "We are anticipating 2021 being another record year," he predicted, "no matter how the pandemic plays out."

As much pain as the pandemic initially inflicted upon Fender, the virus has also produced a balm. The turnaround actually began in late March with what Mooney describes as "purely a goodwill gesture" to the unexpectedly housebound public looking to take up hobbies other than baking bread and riding bikes. The company offered Fender Play, the online video platform for learning guitar, bass and ukulele introduced in July 2017, free for 90 days to the first 100,000 subscribers.

Fender hit that mark the very first day, reached a half million sign-ups the first week and settled at about 930,000 subscribers by June. Nearly 20% of the newcomers were under 24, and 70% were under 45, the company reported. Female users accounted for 45% of the new wave, compared with 30% before the pandemic. "I never would have possibly predicted that," Mooney said, noting that the same offer has been extended to the end of this year.

Simultaneously, Fender saw sales of Stratocasters, Telecasters, Jazzmasters, Precision basses and other iconic electric guitar models surge, along with orders for acoustic guitars, ukuleles, amplifiers, home-recording equipment and other gear. Fender models selling for under $500 grew 92% from mid-March to mid-October; most were acoustic guitars bought online by beginners. More experienced players go for pricier electric guitars, ranging from an entry-level Strat for around $700 to an Acoustasonic for $3,300.

When Fender reopened the factories in April, it rehired laid-off workers and added extra shifts to keep up with demand. Plus, it had ample inventory to support the flood of online sales among its U.S. network of about 1,000 authorized dealers. "Our distribution centers, owned by third parties, never closed, even as dealers' did," Mooney explained. "We shipped product directly to consumers on their behalf." Most Fender branded guitars are manufactured in Corona and Ensenada, though some are produced in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Besides its own e-commerce operation - accelerated since Mooney was hired in 2015 - Fender sells online through pure-play instrument e-tailers such as Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Sweetwater and Thomann, headquartered in Germany, as well as Amazon, Walmart and Target. Pre-Covid, half of Fender's sales were online, Mooney said, and have since swelled to 70%.

"At Sweetwater, we are seeing 50% to 100% year-over-year growth across most guitar brands, both acoustic and electric guitars, and at all price points," said Mike Clem, the website's chief digital officer. "Some beginner instruments are seeing triple-digit YOY growth."

Fender, founded in 1946 by radio repairman turned guitar inventor Leo Fender in Fullerton, California, still relies on hundreds of bricks-and-mortar music stores, a key gateway to the brand ubiquitous among rock and rollers past and present, including Buddy Holly, Dick Dale, Bonnie Raitt, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Susan Tedeschi and John Mayer.

Guitar Center, a prominent Fender seller based in Westlake Village, California, closed most of its nearly 300 locations when the pandemic hit. "We saw a shift of consumers to our e-commerce channels," said Michael Doyle, senior vice president, guitar and tech merchandising. That translated to a triple-digit sales growth for Fender and other top guitar brands on its website, particularly among new strummers.

"Covid buying trends have re-emphasized the importance of the beginner player," Doyle added. "In fact, we expect that one of our hottest deals of the holidays will be a Guitar Center exclusive entry-level Fender Guitar Pack," featuring a Squier Stratocaster electric guitar and Frontman amp for $220. (Nonetheless, Guitar Center, the nation's largest musical instrument retailer - which generated $2.3 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal year, but is mired in about $1.3 billion in debt - missed a $45-million interest payment last month and filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 13 concurrent with a debt restructuring plan, with the hope of balancing its books by early next year and its business operations continuing uninterrupted.)

While the pandemic played havoc with Fender's 2020, the company has been steadily retuning its marketing strategy under Mooney, who previously boosted brands for Quiksilver, Disney and Nike. Another Nike alumnus, Evan Jones, was hired as Fender's first-ever chief marketing officer around the same time Mooney arrived. "The company has shifted from trade-based to consumer-based marketing," Jones said. "We've built a full-fledged, integrated organization that allows us to invest in community-building through social channels, CRM and a visual ecosystem."

Covid buying trends have re-emphasized the importance of the beginner [guitar] player. In fact, we expect that one of our hottest deals of the holidays will be a Guitar Center exclusive entry-level Fender Guitar Pack.

senior vice president, Guitar Center

That organization - along with Fender's design and production operations - was put to the test in October when it introduced the American Professional II series, the second generation of its flagship electric guitars and basses. Fender hired Wieden+Kennedy, known for its Nike ads, to work alongside its in-house creative team to develop a campaign dubbed "For One. For All." The launch included producing videos starring 20 professional guitarists playing the new models and heralding their improvements. "They're able to articulate what the instruments do as well as or better than any product reviews," Jones maintained.

The design process for the new series began more than two years ago, said Justin Norvell, executive vice president of products. "We talked to players, beginners to pros, to figure out what drives them, inspires them, what they're looking for," he said. So, while the new Strat, Telecaster and other updated models look like their classic selves, changes were made to the necks, fingerboards and pickups to improve sound and feel. "A lot of that comes down to manufacturing technology and quality control to create instruments that are easier to play," Norvell said.

Norvell coordinated that effort with Fender's executive vice president of operations, Ed Magee, who was challenged with gearing up the factories after the pandemic shutdowns. "We brought back most of the furloughed employees," he said, and reconfigured workstations to allow for social distancing. "We had to source masks and other PPE," he added. "We had to innovate on the fly, but worker safety comes first."

The culmination of the design and production efforts is when a guitarist straps on a Fender, like the new Acoustasonic Strat Nile Rodgers recently got his hands on. A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, he and his bandmate, the late bassist Bernard Edwards, created a funky disco sound in the early 1970s that defined an entire era with enduring hits like "Good Times" and "Le Freak."

Rodgers still plays the white 1960 Strat, nicknamed the Hitmaker, that he traded for at a pawn shop in Hialeah, Florida, in 1973, but is developing a different sound on the Acoustasonic, an acoustic and electric hybrid. "When I got the instrument, I started practicing on it and came up with a whole new concept," he said. The result is heard on a song, "Inside the Box," and video he made with Fender, highlighting the instrument's multiple voice pairings.

The experience has inspired Rodgers to practice relentlessly and compose dozens of new songs while locked down at home in Westport, Connecticut. "I made a promise to myself - I'm 68 now - that by the time I'm 69, I'm going to be a better guitar player."

Katie Pruitt, 26, an up-and-coming country/folk/pop vocalist and guitarist and songwriter, is a comparative neophyte whose mother introduced her to the guitar as a kid growing up outside of Atlanta. "She played in our church, and I learned basic chords from her," Pruitt said. She kept at it through high school and joined a band while attending Belmont University in Nashville, where she now lives and makes music.

Pruitt's parents bought her a Strat she still plays, "and I got a Jazzmaster that I also used in making 'Expectations,'" she said, referring to her debut album, released in February. She promotes both the record and the Jazzmaster, among the American Professional II models, in a "Fender Sessions" video, featuring the title song, made with her current band. Like so many musicians whose live concerts have been canceled during the pandemic, Pruitt has been using the at-home time to work on new material. "My mind is fully submerged into writing a second record," she said.

While Fender may well help spawn new artists from the beginners taking its online lessons and buying its instruments in droves, Mooney said research revealed that "90% of first-time players who pick up the guitar abandon it in the first year." But on the flip side of that sharp drop off, he added, the 10% who remain committed buy several more guitars. "They have a lifetime value of $10,000," he calculated, "and that's a $1 billion bubble on top of sustainable, organic growth."

No wonder Mooney is optimistic about not only Fender's future, but that of the entire fretted instruments industry - which last year topped $8 billion, according to research organization Music Trades - that it dominates. "I keep reminding people that we're a growth company operating in a growth industry."
The pandemic has changed the way people create and consume content and access entertainment. But are these changes permanent? Join the CNBC Evolve Livestream on December 3 for a conversation about changing consumer trends and how far media companies should go in changing their strategies to reach their customers and meet their needs.

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Fender sales boom as guitar playing surges during the pandemic

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Business was looking pretty grim for Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the legendary guitar maker, when the coronavirus pandemic reached U.S. shores last March. Suddenly, 90% of its worldwide dealers' physical stores closed, as did many of its online sellers' distribution centers. Fender's factories in Corona, California, and Ensenada, Mexico, shut down, furloughing hundreds of employees.

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My news: Tesla implements the new yoke steering wheel

1. Define the term product differentiation

2. Explain why Tesla chose to use a different steering wheel design

3. Discuss the impacts this may have on Tesla as a business

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Here's my news: Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Ice Cream arrives at Marble Slab Creamery

Here's my questions...

1. Define the term market differentiation

2. Explain why Cheetos decided to create an ice cream product

3. Discuss whether the impacts this may have on Cheetos's profits

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Here's my news: " ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ First-Day Global Trailer Views Smash ‘Avengers: Endgame’s All-Time Record"

Here's my questions...

1. Define a possible advertisement method that caused "Spider-Man: No Way Home" to gain consumers' interest.

2. Discuss why Marvel's consumers are more interested in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" than "Avengers: Endgame"

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Here's my news: The new Apple card

Here's my questions.

1. outline, how apple made there security better and secured than others

2. Explain, why this is easier and faster than other cards

3. Discuss why this apple card is different from other cards

https://money.yahoo.com/apple-card-best-features-154545463.html

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Apple ( AAPL) is reinventing itself so it no longer depends solely on the iPhone, and the latest example of this change comes via the tech giant's new Apple Card credit card. Available to select customers starting Tuesday, Aug. 6, and rolling out to consumers nationwide later this month, the Goldman Sachs-backed Apple Card is the company's first foray into the credit card industry.

It's an interesting move on Apple's part, and it's bringing its consumer tech knowledge to bear in crafting the card from sign-up to payment. These are the best features of the Apple Card.

1. Sign up is incredibly easy

Apple has made signing up for the Apple Card as painless as possible. To get a card, you open the Apple Wallet app on your iPhone, tap on the Apple Card sign-up tab, enter your information and you're set. The process takes about a minute, and Apple doesn't collect the information you provide. Instead, Goldman Sachs uses the information to perform a real-time credit check to ensure you qualify for the card.

Once you're approved, you can start using the card for online and contactless purchases instantly. You don't have to wait for a physical card to come in the mail.

2. The card looks, well, pretty cool

Apple Pay is accepted at about 70% of retailers in the U.S., but there are times when you'll inevitably need a physical card. To that end, Apple has crafted a laser-etched titanium card that looks as sleek as anything the company has ever made.

Though the card is made of metal, it's incredibly lightweight. Apple says it purposely decided against using steel like other credit cards, because doing so would make the company's card heavier.

There are no numbers on the front or back of the card, either. In fact, outside of your name and some branding, the card is completely blank. Apple says this serves as a security feature to help prevent duplication of your card number.

Apple stores the card's number and security digits in the Apple Card section of your Apple Wallet app, which you can use to make purchases online at sites that don't support Apple Pay.

3. Security is a priority

Apple says it's taking a privacy-focused approach to its card that should help protect users from hacks and stolen cards. The digital card itself is given a unique number that is created and stored on your iPhone in what Apple calls its Secure Element.

Each purchase you make then gets a dynamic code created by your phone when you authorize your transaction. You authorize your transaction using either Face ID or Touch ID, which ensures that you're the person making the purchase.

Had your card stolen? You can report it missing via the Apple Card tab in the Apple Wallet app, and get a new one sent to your right away. What's more, you can request a new virtual Apple Card number in the app and get it immediately.

As far as your private information, Apple says that Goldman Sachs has agreed to keep user data private, which means the bank won't provide your information to any third parties for advertising.

4. You can see where you made your purchases

We all put charges on our cards at bars, restaurants, bars...more bars, and then forget that we even made the purchases when the time comes to pay our monthly bill. Running through your list of transactions can be confusing thanks to the opaque way in which many card makers provide you with your charge details.

To make it easier, Apple Card pinpoints your transactions to the location in which you made your purchase using Apple Maps. To view this, open the transactions tab, then tap on the transaction to see where you were charged. Apple, however, never sees where you spent money. In fact, the company doesn't get any of your transaction information.

Charges are broken down into different categories and assigned specific colors so you can better see where you're spending most often, and cut down where you want.

5. It helps you visualize your interest and payments

The Apple Card app provides you with a large wheel at the top of the screen that serves as a visual representation of your monthly bill. At the center of the wheel is your full balance, and around it is a slider that you can adjust to set your payment amount.

Setting your payment amount also provides you with the interest fees you'll incur if you don't pay off your entire balance. Along the wheels are what Apple refers to as nudges that help give you a visual identifier to push you to pay slightly more toward your balance each month.

6. Cash back is available the next day

The Apple Card offers 3% cash back on purchases through the Apple Store or App Store, 2% cash back when using Apple Pay either online or through contactless payments, and 1% cash back when using the physical Apple Card.

Apple says that your cash back will be available the day after you make a purchase, and can be loaded onto your Apple Cash card within Apple Wallet to use as regular cash. You can also have the amount moved over to a bank account, or send it to friends via Apple Messages.

The company also shows you how much cash back you get with each purchase you make by listing the percentage you earn through every transaction.
More from Dan: Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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The Apple Card isn't your typical credit card - Here are its best features

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Apple ( AAPL) is reinventing itself so it no longer depends solely on the iPhone, and the latest example of this change comes via the tech giant's new Apple Card credit card. Available to select customers starting Tuesday, Aug.

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News : Colgate kitchen entrees (failed)

1. Define market differentiation
2. Explain how in this case, brand recognition was actually harming their business
3. Recommend another brand extension/new product which might have brought more success

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Here's my business: Lush - they sell handmade and vegetarian cosmetic products (they are never tested on animals as well)

1. Define the term product differentiation.
2. Explain how ethics is important in marketing.
3. Discuss how product differentiation helped Lush become successful as a business.

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Here's my news: New gaming PC Steam Deck

Here's my questions...

1. Define...

2. Explain...

3. Discuss...