INTODUCTION TO MARKETING

Based on the information provided in the case study, create an integrated marketing communication (IMC) for NOBU Hotels. Please include at least 4 promotional mix tools and describe the promotion/activity with sufficient details for each.

Traveling in Nobu Style: Converting Restaurant Patrons to Hotel Guests

The name “Nobu” is synonymous with an exceptional Japanese dining experience, perfected by chef Nobu Matsuhisa over a more than 30-year career. Matsuhisa, together with actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, opened the first Nobu restaurant in 1994 and to date, there are now 38 Nobu restaurants worldwide.

But if you talk to Trevor Horwell, the CEO of Nobu Hospitality, Nobu represents much more than just a restaurant experience. It’s a true lifestyle brand that also encompasses a relatively small, but growing portfolio of luxury hotels, too — eight of which are open now, and eight more are in the pipeline.

Horwell’s primary focus as CEO is to continue to grow the Nobu Hotels brand and as he opens up diners’ eyes to the fact that cannot only eat at a Nobu but stay at one, too, he hasn’t forgotten the brand’s origins in the process.

“We don’t normally do a hotel unless we think that a Nobu Restaurant can do well in that location,” said Horwell. “That’s very important because what we want to do first and foremost is to make sure there is a draw for locals, and that really comes down to the Nobu Restaurant.” Horwell said the majority of his Nobu hotel restaurant diners — 80 percent on average — are local residents, not hotel guests. “It’s not like a tourist restaurant. We like to attract the locals. We want that built-in customer.”

“We are defined by the restaurant, in a way,” he said. “We play to our strengths. If you look at the hotel business today, the majority of hotels are suffering because they don’t lead with food and beverage. don’t have strong food-and-beverage concepts, and a lot of hotels are losing money. Today, we play to our strengths because that is one area that we do very, very well, and we bring in locals.”

The idea to launch Nobu Hotels, he said, came from the fact that when Nobu Restaurants were located inside of a hotel, they “were the draw for the hotel and we were bringing in customers.”

“If I only convert 5 percent of my customers in Nobu Restaurant to stay in our hotels, then at the end of the day, we’re filling out hotels. It’s not a tall order to do that, and you can do that very well and very quickly if you offer the right product.”

Nobu Hotels has the advantage of having built its brand over a 24-year period with its restaurants first, followed by the first Nobu hotel that opened within Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013.

“The first focus for us, really, is to expose the brand to our restaurant customers,” Horwell said. “We touch all types of Nobu customers. And we also provide instant identity. If you put ‘Nobu Hotel’ on a hotel, the word ‘Nobu’ says something and it attracts a certain type of customer.” Horwell said that, for example, when the first Nobu opened, the hotel had “more than one billion media impressions.”

So, what’s next for the brand, and how does Horwell plan to grow Nobu Hotels? He explained, “We’re not driven by reservations systems because we’re small. It isn’t as if we need a huge reservations system to fill a 400-room hotel. That’s why a lot of these corporations do well, because they have the reservations platform to fill the big hotels.” Nobu Hotels, by comparison, average anywhere from 100 to 150 rooms generally.

“The reason why those young lifestyle brands have emerged is because they’re like us. They are entrepreneurial, they’re unique because it’s a concept that’s come from the heart, from whoever is the original founder. But when it’s absorbed by a corporation, the whole thing changes. At the end of the day, the specialness is lost because then the corporation’s running it, and then, I think you lose what your original concept was all about. I think that’s the biggest issue.”

Horwell also doesn’t necessarily think of Nobu Hotels as occupying a place in luxury hospitality, instead referring to the brand as “special.”

“I look at our hotels not as luxury,” he said. “I look at them as special. I like us to be special, in each location we’re in. ‘Luxury’ is a word that’s used too much in terms of ‘everything is luxury today.’ For us, we’re ‘special.'”

“That’s why I’m saying, from a company perspective, we’re very entrepreneurial.

Today’s evolving luxury traveler is seeking “youthfulness” no matter what age they are, and they are “very curious and very adventurous. Because of that, it’s important for hospitality brands, Nobu included, to not just say they’re unique but to really offer unique experiences. He pointed to Nobu Ryokan Malibu in California as an example. The 16-room retreat overlooks the beach and is right by the ocean, and right next door to the Nobu Restaurant in Malibu. It becomes a destination, and that’s something Nobu wants to offer.

It’s also a different concept from what the other Nobu Hotels have. While Nobu Hotels are places where there’s an emphasis on bringing in the locals, the Ryokans are meant to be more private.

“The Ryokan is actually a place where people don’t want to necessarily be seen,” Horwell explained. “It’s a hideaway, a retreat. You can only book through a general manager and it’s a special place.” He added, “We will do more Ryokans, definitely, in locations that we think is right.”

A major focus for Nobu Hotels is to grow the company and the brand with the right talent and partners, as well as make sure that the Nobu Hotels brand is reaching the right consumers.

“The most important thing, from our perspective, is to build a relationship with our existing customers,” he said. “It’s about, first and foremost, on digital, working our databases. We like to do that through email, through a lot of channels. We just brought on a new head of digital. Capturing data is very, very important now, and that’s something that is a main focus and her team.”

“I think the main thing for us is the customer relationship management (CRM) because you can do so much with it,” he said. “You can know your customer. It’s one part of the business that we are heavily focused in in and we can extract a lot of information from that.”

In addition to beefing up its customer relationship management system, Nobu is also testing out a loyalty partnership, of sorts. The Nobu London Shoreditch joined Design Hotels last year, giving the property access to distribution on Design Hotels’ site, as well as a connection to the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. Three Nobu hotels are also members of Leading Hotels of the World. “A lot of our customers aren’t driven by points,” he said. “When I travel, I don’t go for points. I want to stay in a hotel where I enjoy the staff, the food and beverage, the products — all of that — and I will pay a premium for it.”

Appendix A
Additional Information about NOBU

Nobu Hotels

"A Place to go and be seen"

By “wrapping” the concept of a luxurious boutique hotel around energized public spaces, Nobu Hotels creates powerful stages for shared experiences of excitement and escapism. Featuring the best of everything with imaginative new restaurants, high- energy bars, relaxing rejuvenation, distinctive service, remarkable retail and an air of celebrity, Nobu Hotels will afford guests and privileged owners the most exclusive entry into unparalleled experiences that lay at the crossroads of innovation and imagination.

Source:

Excerpted from ‘Nobu Hotels CEO on a Restaurant-First Approach to Hospitality’ by D. Ting. Skift – March 22, 2018. +Experts and image from Nobu restaurant and hotel website

Question: Identify TWO target segments for the NOBU brand and briefly describe each using the relevant concepts covered in this course

Traveling in Nobu Style: Converting Restaurant Patrons to Hotel Guests

The name “Nobu” is synonymous with an exceptional Japanese dining experience, perfected by chef Nobu Matsuhisa over a more than 30-year career. Matsuhisa, together with actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, opened the first Nobu restaurant in 1994 and to date, there are now 38 Nobu restaurants worldwide.

But if you talk to Trevor Horwell, the CEO of Nobu Hospitality, Nobu represents much more than just a restaurant experience. It’s a true lifestyle brand that also encompasses a relatively small, but growing portfolio of luxury hotels, too — eight of which are open now, and eight more are in the pipeline.

Horwell’s primary focus as CEO is to continue to grow the Nobu Hotels brand and as he opens up diners’ eyes to the fact that cannot only eat at a Nobu but stay at one, too, he hasn’t forgotten the brand’s origins in the process.

“We don’t normally do a hotel unless we think that a Nobu Restaurant can do well in that location,” said Horwell. “That’s very important because what we want to do first and foremost is to make sure there is a draw for locals, and that really comes down to the Nobu Restaurant.” Horwell said the majority of his Nobu hotel restaurant diners — 80 percent on average — are local residents, not hotel guests. “It’s not like a tourist restaurant. We like to attract the locals. We want that built-in customer.”

“We are defined by the restaurant, in a way,” he said. “We play to our strengths. If you look at the hotel business today, the majority of hotels are suffering because they don’t lead with food and beverage. don’t have strong food-and-beverage concepts, and a lot of hotels are losing money. Today, we play to our strengths because that is one area that we do very, very well, and we bring in locals.”

The idea to launch Nobu Hotels, he said, came from the fact that when Nobu Restaurants were located inside of a hotel, they “were the draw for the hotel and we were bringing in customers.”

“If I only convert 5 percent of my customers in Nobu Restaurant to stay in our hotels, then at the end of the day, we’re filling out hotels. It’s not a tall order to do that, and you can do that very well and very quickly if you offer the right product.”

Nobu Hotels has the advantage of having built its brand over a 24-year period with its restaurants first, followed by the first Nobu hotel that opened within Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013.

“The first focus for us, really, is to expose the brand to our restaurant customers,” Horwell said. “We touch all types of Nobu customers. And we also provide instant identity. If you put ‘Nobu Hotel’ on a hotel, the word ‘Nobu’ says something and it attracts a certain type of customer.” Horwell said that, for example, when the first Nobu opened, the hotel had “more than one billion media impressions.”

So, what’s next for the brand, and how does Horwell plan to grow Nobu Hotels? He explained, “We’re not driven by reservations systems because we’re small. It isn’t as if we need a huge reservations system to fill a 400-room hotel. That’s why a lot of these corporations do well, because they have the reservations platform to fill the big hotels.” Nobu Hotels, by comparison, average anywhere from 100 to 150 rooms generally.

“The reason why those young lifestyle brands have emerged is because they’re like us. They are entrepreneurial, they’re unique because it’s a concept that’s come from the heart, from whoever is the original founder. But when it’s absorbed by a corporation, the whole thing changes. At the end of the day, the specialness is lost because then the corporation’s running it, and then, I think you lose what your original concept was all about. I think that’s the biggest issue.”

Horwell also doesn’t necessarily think of Nobu Hotels as occupying a place in luxury hospitality, instead referring to the brand as “special.”

“I look at our hotels not as luxury,” he said. “I look at them as special. I like us to be special, in each location we’re in. ‘Luxury’ is a word that’s used too much in terms of ‘everything is luxury today.’ For us, we’re ‘special.'”

“That’s why I’m saying, from a company perspective, we’re very entrepreneurial.

Today’s evolving luxury traveler is seeking “youthfulness” no matter what age they are, and they are “very curious and very adventurous. Because of that, it’s important for hospitality brands, Nobu included, to not just say they’re unique but to really offer unique experiences. He pointed to Nobu Ryokan Malibu in California as an example. The 16-room retreat overlooks the beach and is right by the ocean, and right next door to the Nobu Restaurant in Malibu. It becomes a destination, and that’s something Nobu wants to offer.

It’s also a different concept from what the other Nobu Hotels have. While Nobu Hotels are places where there’s an emphasis on bringing in the locals, the Ryokans are meant to be more private.

“The Ryokan is actually a place where people don’t want to necessarily be seen,” Horwell explained. “It’s a hideaway, a retreat. You can only book through a general manager and it’s a special place.” He added, “We will do more Ryokans, definitely, in locations that we think is right.”

A major focus for Nobu Hotels is to grow the company and the brand with the right talent and partners, as well as make sure that the Nobu Hotels brand is reaching the right consumers.

“The most important thing, from our perspective, is to build a relationship with our existing customers,” he said. “It’s about, first and foremost, on digital, working our databases. We like to do that through email, through a lot of channels. We just brought on a new head of digital. Capturing data is very, very important now, and that’s something that is a main focus and her team.”

“I think the main thing for us is the customer relationship management (CRM) because you can do so much with it,” he said. “You can know your customer. It’s one part of the business that we are heavily focused in in and we can extract a lot of information from that.”

In addition to beefing up its customer relationship management system, Nobu is also testing out a loyalty partnership, of sorts. The Nobu London Shoreditch joined Design Hotels last year, giving the property access to distribution on Design Hotels’ site, as well as a connection to the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. Three Nobu hotels are also members of Leading Hotels of the World. “A lot of our customers aren’t driven by points,” he said. “When I travel, I don’t go for points. I want to stay in a hotel where I enjoy the staff, the food and beverage, the products — all of that — and I will pay a premium for it.”

Appendix A
Additional Information about NOBU

Nobu Hotels

"A Place to go and be seen"

By “wrapping” the concept of a luxurious boutique hotel around energized public spaces, Nobu Hotels creates powerful stages for shared experiences of excitement and escapism. Featuring the best of everything with imaginative new restaurants, high- energy bars, relaxing rejuvenation, distinctive service, remarkable retail and an air of celebrity, Nobu Hotels will afford guests and privileged owners the most exclusive entry into unparalleled experiences that lay at the crossroads of innovation and imagination.

Source:

Excerpted from ‘Nobu Hotels CEO on a Restaurant-First Approach to Hospitality’ by D. Ting. Skift – March 22, 2018. +Experts and image from Nobu restaurant and hotel website

First Saudi cinema in 35 years to open on April 18 AMC plans to open its first new movie theater in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on April 18 Some 350 cinemas with more than 2,500 screens will be opened by 2030. The Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information has signed an agreement with AMC to open around 40 cinemas in 15 cities in Saudi Arabia over the next five years. The license, the first of its kind, will allow one of the world’s largest film companies, to operate cinemas in the Kingdom. Under the license, AMC plans to open its first new movie theater in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in April 18. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Fund in November 2017 to discuss potential trade cooperation opportunities. Saudi Arabia, with a population of 32 million, mostly under the age of 30, is expected to be the region’s largest market for movie theaters. Last December, the Ministry of Culture and Information announced that commercial cinemas would be allowed to operate in the Kingdom starting from 2018, for the first time in more than 35 years. Dr. Awad bin Saleh Al-Awad, Minister of Culture and Information, said that granting the first license provides important investment opportunities for the cinema industry. He pointed out that the Saudi market is large and most of the population is under the age of 30, so they are eager to watch their favorite films in their country. He added that the goal of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 is to improve the quality of life by providing additional leisure opportunities. He pointed out that the opening of cinemas will help support the local economy and contribute to the creation of new jobs. The cinemas will not require men and women to sit separately, a source told Reuters on Wednesday. Vision 2030 has set a target of raising Saudi Arabia’s annual spending on cultural and recreational activities from 2.9% of total Saudi household spending to 6% by 2030. Adam Aron, CEO of AMC, said the company is following with great admiration the creative movement of development projects in the Kingdom to open new economic sectors. “We are looking forward to providing entertainment services that will enable everyone to spend an enjoyable time playing world-class film shows across the Kingdom. AMC’s entry into the Saudi Arabian market comes in partnership with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) through its wholly-owned Leisure Development and Investment Company. The move to allow movie theaters to open up a local market with annual ticket sales of up to $1bn is what makes other leading movie chains keen to enter as the largest market in the Gulf region. AMC Theaters is an American movie theater chain owned and operated by Wanda Group. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the American theater market ahead of Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark Theaters.

Conduct SWOT and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) Analysis for the Cinema Industry.

Discuss the challenges of Saudi Entrepreneurs to enter Cinema Industry in KSA

The 4M company has a work center with a single turret lathe. Jobs arrive at this work center according to a Poisson process at a mean rate of 2 jobs per day, The lathe processing time has an exponential distribution with a mean of 0.25 day per job.

a) On average, how many jobs are waiting.in the work center?

b) On average, how long will a job stay in the center?

c).Since each job takes a big space, the waiting jobs are currently waiting in the warehouse. The production manager is proposing to add a storage space near the lathe. If an arriving job will have at least 90% chance waiting near the lathe, how big should be the storage space near the lathe?

Nilam Patel is the primary stockholder in two hotel corporations. One corporation owns a 90‐room economy property located in the suburbs of a large western town. The other corporation is a 350‐room full‐service convention hotel in the downtown city center for which Nilam has employed a management company to operate the property. Nilam is preparing balance sheets for both properties using a common size format. Complete the two balance sheets. Then answer the questions that follow.

1. What was the amount of cash in the 90‐room property's Cash in House Banks account at year end?
2. What is the amount of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts in the 350‐room property? Do you think it is excessive? Explain your answer?
3. What would explain the lack of a beverage inventory value in the 90‐room hotel?
4. What was the dollar amount of Total Assets in the 90‐room hotel?
5. What was the dollar amount of Total Assets in the 350‐room hotel?
6. What was the dollar amount of Current Maturities of Long‐Term Debt in the 350‐room property? Why is that amount likely so much higher than for the 90‐room property?
7. What was the dollar amount of Paid in Capital for the 90‐room property?
8. What is the Owners' Equity percentage of Total Assets in the 90‐room property? What is it in the 350‐room property?

1. 8. BONUS: Nilam Patel is the primary stockholder in two hotel corporations. One corporation owns a 90‐room economy property located in the suburbs of a large western town. The other corporation is a 350‐room full‐service convention hotel in the downtown city center for which Nilam has employed a management company to operate the property. Nilam is preparing balance sheets for both properties using a common size format. Complete the two balance sheets. Then answer the questions that follow.

   Nilam Patel's Two Hotel's Balance Sheets

   	December 31		Common Size
   	90‐Room Property	350‐Room Property	90‐Room Property (%)	350‐Room Property (%)
   ASSETS
   Current Assets
   Cash
   Cash in House Banks		$86,000
   Cash in Demand Deposits	85,000	330,250
   Total Cash	103,500	416,250
   Short‐Term Investments	56,000	165,000
   Receivables
   Accounts Receivable	150,000	327,150
   Notes Receivable	35,000	136,250
   Other	750	30,800
   Total Receivables	185,750	494,200
   Less Allowance for Doubtful Accounts	19,250
   Net Receivables	166,500	431,900	1.4	1.1
   Due from Management Company	—	50,000	0.0	0.1
   Food Inventories	15,125	69,750	0.1	0.2
   Beverage Inventories	—	42,550	0.0	0.1
   Gift Shop Inventories	300	6,950	0.0	0.0
   Supplies Inventories	6,550	13,550	0.1	0.0
   Prepaid Expenses	56,000	120,100	0.5	0.3
   Deferred Income Taxes—Current	48,000	135,000	0.4	0.3
   Total Current Assets
   Investments	72,500	274,150	0.6	0.7
   Property and Equipment
   Land	2,000,000	8,450,000
   Building	6,500,000	18,500,000
   Leaseholds and Leasehold improvements	2,037,250	5,850,000
   Furnishings and Equipment	1,288,000	3,105,000
   Total Property and Equipment	11,825,250	35,905,000
   Less Accumulated Depreciation and Amortization	575,000	2,575,000
   Net Property and Equipment	11,250,250	38,480,000
   Other Assets
   Intangible Assets	—	75,000	0.0	0.2
   Deferred Income Taxes—Non‐current	66,000	158,000	0.6	0.4
   Operating Equipment	35,100	111,000	0.3	0.3
   Restricted Cash	25,000	95,000	0.2	0.2
   Total Other Assets	126,100	439,000	1.1	1.1
   TOTAL ASSETS			100.0	100.0
   LIABILITIES AND OWNERS' EQUITY
   Current Liabilities
   Notes Payable
   Banks	17,500	116,250	0.1	0.3
   Others	8,000	17,500	0.1	0.0
   Total Notes Payable	25,500	133,750	0.2	0.3
   Accounts Payable	2,500	125,100
   Accrued Expenses	45,000	42,500
   Advance Deposits	500	42,250
   Income Taxes Payable	15,000	78,000
   Deferred Income Taxes—Current	40,000	235,000
   Current Maturities of Long‐Term Debt	420,000
   Other	50,000	58,000
   Total Current Liabilities	598,500	2,399,600	5.0	5.9
   Long‐term Debt, Net of Current Maturities
   Mortgage Note		24,383,030
   Obligations Under Capital Leases	18,000	385,000	0.2	0.9
   Total Long‐Term Liabilities	6,868,000
   Owners' Equity
   Common Stock	500,000	2,000,000
   Paid in Capital		8,711,500
   Retained Earnings	879,325	2,765,070
   Total Owners' Equity	4,434,325	13,476,570
   TOTAL LIABILITIES AND OWNERS' EQUITY			100	100

   1. What was the amount of cash in the 90‐room property's Cash in House Banks account at year end?
   2. What is the amount of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts in the 350‐room property? Do you think it is excessive? Explain your answer?
   3. What would explain the lack of a beverage inventory value in the 90‐room hotel?
   4. What was the dollar amount of Total Assets in the 90‐room hotel?
   5. What was the dollar amount of Total Assets in the 350‐room hotel?
   6. What was the dollar amount of Current Maturities of Long‐Term Debt in the 350‐room property? Why is that amount likely so much higher than for the 90‐room property?
   7. What was the dollar amount of Paid in Capital for the 90‐room property?
   8. What is the Owners' Equity percentage of Total Assets in the 90‐room property? What is it in the 350‐room property?

The following payments and receipts are related to land, land improvements, and buildings acquired for use in a wholesale ceramic business. The receipts are identified by an asterisk.

Allocation to Fixed Asset Accounts

Please edit for clarity and conciseness The following document may contain errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviation, number style, word division, and vocabulary.

Memco Construction 187 W. Euclid Avenue, Glenview, ILL 60025

www.memco.com

April 19, 2015

PROJECT: IDOT Letting Item #83 Contract No. 79371

DuPage County

Dear Mr. Estes—

Memco Construction is pleased to submit a road construction proposal for the above project. Our company has been providing quality materials and subcontracting services for highway reconstruction projects for over twenty-three years. Our most recent jobs in Illinois have included Illinois State Route 60 resurfacing, and reconstructing Illinois tollway 294.

Should you have any questions about this proposal please contact me at the company 847-672-0344, extension #30) or by email at [email protected].

Based on the scope of the work outlined: the total cost of this job is projected by us to run ninety-nine thousand, two hundred eighty-three dollars. Because material quantities can vary once a project gets underway a separate page will be attached by us to this letter detailing our per-unit fees. Final charges will be based on the exact quantity of materials used for the job, and anything that accedes this estimate will be added of course.

Our proposal assumes that the following items will be furnished by other contractors (at no cost to Memco). All forms, earthwork and clearing; All prep work; Water at project site; Traffic control setup, devices, and maintenance—Location for staging, stockpiling, and storing material and equipment at job sight.

If we win this bid, we are already to begin when the appropriate contracts have been signed by us and by you.

If you’ve have any questions, contact me at the phone number listed below.

Sincerely,

Kris Beiersdorf

Memco Construction

Office: (847) 352-9742, ext. 30

Fax: (847) 352-6595

Email: [email protected]

?

In a park there is a population of 750 mice that are either brown or white in color. Of this population, in which brown is dominant to white, approximately 305 individuals are white. Assuming that the population is at equilibrium for this gene/locus, answer the following.

(a) Calculate the allele frequencies and genotype frequencies. Show your work below using proper symbols (p,2pq, etc.). Perform all calculations to three decimal places. (Note: you will not be scored on part A, but you need to do the work in part A first to help you with the bonus.)

BONUS: After the previous predictions were made, actual samples were obtained from all individuals in the population described above. Genetic analyses were done, and it was found that of those that were brown, 80 are BB and 365 are Bb. Is the population above at equilibrium? Use the chi-square test to determine this. a. (Make sure to show your work.) b. State whether the population is at equilibrium and (c) explain your answer. (4)

A park ranger thanks that there is a relationship between the number of bugs in a forest and the total number of forest fires that aria of the forest experiences. The ranger takes a count of the number of bugs they catch in several traps over the course of the season and the number of fires that they experienced in those areas.

1. Please define what a correlation coefficient represents? (2)
2. What is the correlation coefficient for the data above? Show work for full credit? (3)
3. Does correlation imply causation? Why or why not?(2)
4. You want to test if there is correlation between the two data sets. You are going to use a .10 alpha for your study.
   1. Write down the null-hypotheses and alternative hypotheses for the test above: (2)
   2. What does the test say about the data above, is there evidence of correlation? Can we reject the null hypotheses? (2)