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MOS 3320B
Marketing for MOS
Midterm
Winter 2022
H. Hallett
Upload your completed Exam to the assignment tab when complete. Submissions must be in
the approved format (Word doc). You may cut and paste pictures/diagrams if you wish.

The exam is in four parts
Skim the entire exam before beginning.
I Undercover Colors (52 marks)
II DrinkSafe Technologies (13 marks)
III Von Dutch (15 marks)
IV Forecasting (10 marks)


Undercover Colors

Undercover Colors is releasing a test that screens for some date rape drugs.
Source: Undercover Colors
Undercover Colors, the start-up that made headlines four years ago for developing a nail polish that would
detect date rape drugs is finally releasing a test kit for sale starting Thursday September 6th, 2018.
The tests, which use just a few drops of liquid, look and operate much like a pregnancy test. They can
detect Xanax or its generic alprazolam, Valium (diazepam) and flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol, said
CEO Barbara Cook. They do not screen for other common date rape drugs, such as GHB or ketamine.
Four classmates at North Carolina State University came up with the idea more than four years ago. The
thinking was to give women a way to quickly and discreetly test their drinks at bars and parties with nail polish
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that changed colors when dipped into drinks laced with date rape drugs. It would take a few years for the
science to catch up.
Date rape drugs are used in a fraction of all sexual assaults, but they still can put people in dangerous
situations. They’re tasteless and odorless, making them nearly impossible to detect and can make people
drowsy or even cause them to black out.
The Undercover tests are small enough to carry in a purse or wallet and can be purchased online for $34.99 for
a five-test starter kit or $49.99 for 10 tests.
It takes about a minute to process and looks like a quarter-sized medallion with a foil coating on one side that
resembles a miniature pregnancy test when peeled back. Women can either drop the liquid on the test or
dunk it into a drink. The readout displays one dark pink line if the drink is bad or two lines if it’s OK.
“We’re focused mostly on getting product out there, and we want to hear the first story of how this helps
someone because that will make it all worth it,” said Undercover Colors’ director of research and
development, Nick Letourneau, adding that it could eventually display a pattern or a written word like newer
pregnancy tests do.
Letourneau said scientists got the nail polish technology to a point where it was working, but executives
decided to shelve it in favor of something that could be used more easily by both men and women. Their
market research showed surprising demand from men, and not just in the LGBTQ community, he said.
“The technology works,” Cook said. “The form in which that technology was to be delivered is the thing that
has evolved over time and to get it into a form that helps most people in the best way is to begin with is here.”
They also created a stick-on nail, but it isn’t available for public sale yet.
Private investors, including Mike Hockenberry, Marjorie Kaufman, Liz Pharo and Mark Cuban, have backed
Undercover Colors, Cook said. The start-up has not received any institutional investor or venture capital funds.

Undercover Colors’ date rape drug test can be attached to a phone.
Source: Undercover Colors
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1. Perform a situation analysis for Undercover Colors (Environmental
Scan/competition + SWOT) (24 marks)

2. If you were going to do marketing research for Undercover Colors, how would you
go about it? (10 marks)

3. Using the information provided and the STP process, outline a marketing strategy
(Target + 4 Ps) for the management team. You cannot change the current prices,
but you can change or introduce new products. (18 marks)

Drink Safe
Drinksafe technologies, a leader in Date Rape Drug Detection is a Tallahassee Florida based company that is
owned by Lance Norris. Since 2014, Drink Safe Technologies has created an innovative coaster and test strip
that will detect Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and Ketamine, the drug most commonly used to spike a drink
for date rape purposes. DST has been featured in many media outlets including the Today Show twice, Tampa
Bay Times, and many other national and international outlets. Drink Safe Technologies has gained a long list
of satisfied customers, some of which are seen their testimonial page. Drink Safe is developing relationships
with distributors, bloggers, podcasters, and others
1. Coaster .85
Triple play individual Date Rape Test kits $1.00
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10 pack of date rape test strips $7.50

Promotional Branded Date Rape Drug Detection Coasters
Coaster .85




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Imagine you are interviewing for the job of Canadian marketing manager at Drink Safe
Technologies. The management team has never included a marketer before, therefore you
must explain all concepts to them.
1. Thoroughly explain the product life cycle to the team and where you think their
product is in that cycle. (10 marks)
2. Explain to the team their generic strategic options. Use Drinksafe products, give
examples. (8 marks)
3. Using consumer behaviour process to discuss adoption of this product. (5 Marks)

Von Dutch



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The Untold Story of Von Dutch excerpted from The New York
Times Ilana Kaplan Nov. 17, 2021
Behind the brand that made trucker hats hot in the early 2000s is a messy corporate origin tale, filled
with sabotage and greed.
The early 2000s have been back in style for what feels like forever now, reviving demand for the
velour tracksuits, low-rise jeans, rhinestone-studded baby tees and trucker hats that defined an era of
consumerism. Now, a new docuseries aims to examine the legacy of one of the aughts’ most sought-
after brands.
At the crux of the story is the question: What does it mean to build a brand on another person’s
likeness? After all, Mr. Renzi said, Von Dutch “was basically just a re-appropriation of Kenny
Howard’s artwork.”
Kenneth Robert Howard was a mechanic and car detailer turned mid-century artist who made work
under the name Von Dutch. He began adorning hot rods in the 1950s with pin stripes, flames and
flying eyeballs, all of which became hallmarks of a subcultural movement known as Kustom Kulture.
Howard’s death in 1992, several people sought to capitalize on his name and influence. (Ironicly, he
way famously indifferent about the rights to his work, dismissing copyrights and patents as an “ego
trip”).
“It was basically this grab by a lot of people that claim that they came up with the idea or went
through the proper steps to own something that you never really should be able to own in the first
place,” Mr. Renzi said.


Ed Boswell, an art collector in Los Angeles, is often cited as the founder of Von Dutch and appears in
the documentary to stake his claim to its success. (The Times did not reach Mr. Boswell for comment
before publication.) But it wasn’t until 1996, when Mr. Howard’s daughters sold the rights to the Von
Dutch name to Michael Cassel, a former drug dealer who pivoted to clothing design after serving four
years in prison, that Von Dutch became the clothing company people know today.
Mr. Cassel and Robert Vaughn, his mentee, took Mr. Howard’s artistic signature and made it the logo
for Von Dutch Originals, an apparel line that would turn working-class signifiers into markers of cool.
“Trucker chic”.
Emma McClendon, a fashion historian and the author of “Power Mode,” noted the tension between
the brand’s trendiness and its roots. “There’s implicit power dynamics in the appropriation of
garments like this because you can pick and choose what garments you’re wearing, but leave behind
the labor and legacy of people who originally wore these garments in the context that they wore them
in,” she said in a phone interview.
Booth Moore, the West Coast executive editor of Women’s Wear Daily, noted the irony of the hat
appearing on Ms. Hilton and Ms. Richie as they performed manual labor on their reality show “The
Simple Life.” But, she said, “most of the people who were wearing it at that time had absolutely no
idea what the brand was about.”
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Tonny Sorensen, an investor and taekwondo champion, took over as the C.E.O. of Von Dutch in 2000,
at a point when the company was seeking funding. Mr. Sorensen hired the French fashion
designer Christian Audigier to help commercialize Von Dutch and extend its reach with famous
clientele. Under his direction, Mr. Cassel and Mr. Vaughn believed the brand was “selling out.” Why?
The brand was extending to such things as children’s wear and dog shirts.

Von Dutch dog purse.

By the late 2000s, Von Dutch began to experience a rapid decline, unfortunately gaining the
nickname “Von Douche”.
“We probably created influencer culture back in the day,” Mr. Sorensen said in a phone interview.
“We were the first ones who worked symbiotically with celebrities.” Mr. Audigier ended up leaving
Von Dutch to join the tattoo art-inspired line Ed Hardy in 2004, by which point the trucker hats ($42-
$125) were helping the company bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
Tracey Mills, a fashion entrepreneur, helped steer the company’s celebrity marketing efforts. “I was
trying to bring in the biggest stars I knew and put it in the biggest videos, putting it on Ashton
Kutcher when he was doing ‘Punk’d,’ which was the biggest show,” he said. “But I think over time
once the culture starts to see big artists in it, then everybody wants it.”
That heyday, however, lasted only a few years; in 2009, Mr. Sorensen sold Von Dutch to Groupe
Royer, a French footwear company.
“He just was looking for any opportunistic buyer,” said Ed Goldman, the acting general manager of
Von Dutch North America. While production never ceased, and the company never went bankrupt, its
appeal waned. “It just became this cult of cool,” Ms. Moore said. “Until it wasn’t.”
In 2019, Mr. Goldman was enlisted to help revive the Von Dutch brand and figure out how to market
it to a new generation of shoppers. “The brand had a very strong connection within the hip-hop
community, which was where the light was shining still during the kind of downfall era,” Mr.
Goldman said. Over the last couple years, Megan Thee Stallion and Saweetie have been spotted in Von
Dutch, and last month, the brand released a streetwear collection with Young Thug.
ADVERTISE

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The company also brought back some of the brand’s most iconic pieces and logos. The classic trucker
hat is currently Von Dutch’s top-selling item, according to the company; its bowling bags are a close
second. After Travis Scott wore a pair of vintage wide-leg Von Dutch jeans while on tour in 2018, the
brand rereleased the style. It’s currently sold out, Mr. Goldman said.
Some stylists in Los Angeles are banking on nostalgia for the brand, including Sankara Xasha Turé,
who dressed Saweetie in a tie-dye Von Dutch sweatsuit last year. Ms. Turé recalled the rapper’s ex-
boyfriend Quavo borrowing one of her sweatsuits and showcasing it on Instagram, too. “It’s one of
those ‘I must have it’ type of deals,” she said.
Von Dutch, a privately-owned company, is focused on e-commerce these days. However, the line can
also be found at a limited selection of street wear retailers across the U.S. While the company would
not disclose its earnings, Mr. Goldman described the growth as “astronomical.”

1. What happened to this Brand? Why did Mr. Sorensen need an “opportunistic
buyer”? (7 marks)

2. Can you explain the similarity between the story of Von Dutch and the story of Ray
Ban? (8marks)




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Forecasting
1. Suppose that the demand in period 1 was 7 units and the demand in period 2 was 9 units.
Assume that the forecast for period 1 was 5 units. If the firm uses exponential smoothing
with an α=0.20, what should be the forecast for period 3? (5 marks)

2.The mean absolute deviation of the data set: 12, 19,10, 18, 21 (5 marks)