Do You Know What Marketing Is?

Thank you all who voted for me in the BYU MBA mustache contest. I did not win, but I did get a lot of double takes and funny looks from people. Below are the contestants. I think it was Eric Moyle who won.

The MBA program gave us Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off this week in hopes the additional time would assist us in securing an internship. I'm in the process of applying to a whole slew of interesting companies like Toyota (you know I love my truck), Walt Disney, TMobile, Intuit, Humana, Harley-Davidson, and Suzuki Motorsports. The economic downturn has slimmed the number of opportunities this year and I expect my application is one of hundreds to each of these companies. As I've been spending so much time thinking about marketing jobs and such, I've realized that a lot of people really don't know what marketing is. Others confuse advertising with marketing. Let me break it down fo ya:

Let's say you own a company......how about a hip jeans company?

So you've got this business that makes super cool jeans and you figure you can charge an arm and a leg for them. You get your materials super cheap from China and have people here in the States design and produce the jeans. Awesome. Now what? This is where Marketing comes in. It answers questions like:

• Who are you going to try and sell your jeans to? Cowboys? Moms? Stylistas? Emo kids?


• How much will they pay? $40? $14o?
  
• Where will we sell your jeans? Nordstroms? Target? Costco? Online?


• What are we going to tell people about your jeans and how? Should we say they're high quality and high cost or low cost and great value? Do we advertise on TV? Magazine ads? Should we use a celebrity?
  

Thankfully, your Marketing Department has all the answers. They conducted thousands of surveys and determined how to best spend your cash promoting your cool new jeans. Based on the resources you have coming in from China and the data acquired by your Marketing Dept., your company can make the most profit by producing black jeans with lots of buckles and selling them to Goths. This pleases you since you've always had a secret fascination with people who paint there faces white and wear black clothes.

YESSSSSS!

Your Marketing head recommends selling your jeans through a well known Goth-jean retailer located in malls: Hot Topic !!! You LOVE Hot Topic.

The Marketing Manager gets on the phone with the Advertising Manager and asks him to create an ad using celebrity Angelina Jolie and our jeans. We will run an ad in GOTHMOPOLITAN. Goths world wide will be buying our jeans in no time. WE WILL SOON BE RICH THANKS TO THE GOTHS (and your marketing dept.).

Aren't you glad you have a Marketing department? These guys are.

Life and Times on the BUS

So I've been taking the express bus to Salt Lake everyday for work. It really isn't as bad as it sounds (or at least as bad as I thought it would be, only being familiar with Phoenix public transportation). For the most part the people I encounter on the bus are students or working professionals so there usually aren't any weird smells or uncomfortable dynamics.... USUALLY. The other day I had to sit next to this kid... apparently he was really tired. I'm pretty sure he was a student and so I felt bad waking him up. I guess I just didn't know what to do? Maybe you guys can help me out. Do you elbow the guy in the ribs and embarrass him? Not sure. After he repeatedly woke up, shook it off, and then fell right back asleep on MY shoulder I had to take a picture. Too funny to pass up.

Ice skating

... Or just about!



This is our driveway. I know it's hard to tell that's what it is since it is covered in a 4" layer of solid ice! Try walking in heels on this stuff. I guess this is my big fat welcome to Utah's winter.

I love my husband... and he loves his technology!

Have any of you seen the show intervention? I think I might turn Curtis in for an addiction to technology. I'm not really sure I can call it an addiction as I've recently found out it may be a genetic defect. (Thank you Ray!) Here are some of his favorite toys:

1. The blackberry... this is a dangerous one. It keeps you connected with texts, emails and even facebook! Once you go here there's no going back!



2. The ipod... now this one I can't blame him for. It's a worldwide craze and I love it too!


3. The laptop. Thank goodness for this one... he couldn't be an MBA student without it!

4. The webcam. Ray and Diane got this for us for Christmas and we LOVE it! (Although I've heard the chances of them visiting us have now exponentially decreased since they "see" us all the time.) Truly it's been really fun to video chat with friends and family. It's almost like being in the same room with them! If you don't have google video chat yet, download it today!

6. Last but not least, my personal nemesis, the Playstation 3. Now granted it can play bluerays... but who buys those at $30 a pop? My house is now a war zone with the latest and greatest Call of Duty 5.





I must admit that if I leave my phone at home I feel like I've left without my right leg. I feel so disconnected without it. Would you call that "withdrawals"?

Anyway, here's to living in 2009! We can't live without this stuff!

Christmustache

Happy Holidays to everyone from the Heymans. I hope you had as much fun during Christmas as Candace and I. We enjoyed spending time with both Candace's family and mine. Candace's best friend Chelsea got married so we were able to party with them, too. We feel extremely blessed having spent time with loved ones during the season of remembering our Savior's birth.


Have you made your 2009 goals yet? If not, make a goal to do it. Here are some of mine:

- No traffic tickets in '09 (is it possible?)
- Less TV watching on Sunday
- workout regularly
- Get an internship by Valentine's Day
- Shave my mustache


Yes, I have a mustache. Its really more of a seasonal Christmustache. I'm actually participating in a competition with other MBA students to see who can grow the best stache over the Holiday Break. The competition won't know what hit them! Below is a chronological look at the growth of the most awesome, filthy, stylish red mustache ever. But first, let us tip our hats to some great mustaches:

Day 1, at Candace's work party in Salt Lake






Umm, Day 10 or so. I had to grow a beard in order to hide my would-be mustache from my anti-stache wife. In this pic, we're on our way to our family fave Mexican restaurant Guedo's.





Dang I look good, but Candace and Bubby got me beat.




This is my "I lub you" face for Candace.





Day 17, I just keep getting hotter.









CHANDLER IS NOT JUST A CITY, ITS A WAY OF LIFE.






Cbug isnt a fan of my mustache, but I like her with one.

This is my used car salesman look.

My old friend Ryan Nichols was in town and he invited us to go shooting with him. Here's Bug taking aim.

We had an array of targets ranging from a baseball, to cantoloupe, to an old printer.

Justin and I.

Here's to 2009, from Curtis, Candace, and our mustache.

BYU MBA Christmas parrrrty

Early this December the MBA students had a Christmas party. My family's favorite, pianist Jon Schmidt, played for a while. It was pretty fun to get together with my friends and their wives. So my class has 150 students divided into 3 sections. Each section has 10 groups of 5. Here are four members of my group and their significant other: Chris and Courtney Brasher, Jesse Carman and his girlfriend Eungen, me, Cbug, Derek and his wife Rebecca.



Schmidty



Dmoney and his wife. They are our eating out friends.



Cbug BEGGED me to take Homecoming poses in front of the Christmas decorations.



Ooooooooh! This one is a gem!

Always classic.

AZ, AZ,...Where Art Thou?

How would you like to wake up to your car looking like this? YOU WOULDN'T! That's a lot of snow to scrape off my windows and windshield!





Its definitely going to be a WHITE Christmas.







Here's our place. We're a little apartment above our neighbor's garage. 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom.









Our front door is under the little ledge on the side of our house. Its brand new so its clean. Candace and I like it, and we're only a 60 second walk from church.