Getting User Input and Concatenation The input() function Used to get user input Returns a string value Can be concatenated with other strings Concatenation Joining two or more strings together Use the + operator for concatenation Example name = input("What is your name? ") print("Hello, " + name) ValueError Occurs when an operation or function receives a value of an inappropriate type Example: Trying to convert a string to an integer using the int() function and the string does not contain a number age = int(input("What is your age? ")) Displaying Results Use the print() function Accepts any number of arguments Separate arguments with commas Age Calculator Concept Create a program that calculates a user's age Get user's birth year and current year Calculate the difference between the two Display the result using the print() function birth_year = int(input("What year were you born? ")) current_year = int(input("What is the current year? ")) age = current_year - birth_year print("You are " + str(age) + " years old.") Getting User Input and Concatenation Use the input() function Get user input as a string Concatenate strings with the + operator Display results with the print() function Handle ValueErrors as needed

OneClass: Getting User Input and Concatenation The input() function Used to get user input Returns a ...

few years, British Sky Broadcasting has transformed the way people in Britain watch and use their television. Before Sky, people could never have imagined ordering a pizza or sending an email from their set. Today it's an accepted thing.

Part of Sky's success has been in its brand - in defining what makes Sky special and in expressing that difference visually, in products and in the actions of people in the company. And that brand has become one of the company's greatest assets. Brands help companies build a relationship with a customer. A good brand not only helps differentiate a company, it also helps the customer feel something as a result. A pair of Nike trainers might make a person feel more fashionable. A Sony minidisc player might make a person feel they are at the cutting edge of miniature technology. A Rolls Royce might make a person feel that they have reached the top.

Some brands even go beyond that and become so well known that they become generic. This means they're used as a general term for that type of product, even if it's a competitor's product. Walkmans, and Hoovers are a good example. People Hoover the carpet, even if they're really using an Electrolux.

A brand helps customer recognition and enables recognition to be spread by word of mouth as well as by advertising. A brand also adds value. It can allow a company to offer its products at a premium, without reducing the customers' perception of value for money. It also allows a company to extend what they offer to the customer - if a customer trusts one product from that company, they are more likely to trust (and buy) another product from the same company.

That is why Sky has invested so much in its brand. As the first entrant 16 years ago in the field of multichannel television, it had the opportunity to build strong recognition and to even establish itself as the generic brand for multichannel television.

Source: (viewed 10 February 2019)

QUESTIONS

1. In the above article, "if a customer trusts one product from that company, they are more likely to trust (and buy) another product from the same company". Discuss different ways that companies can use to increase brand loyalty. Justify your answers with relevant examples. (5 marks) (500 words)

2. In the above article "brand has become one of the company's greatest assets". Do you agree? Justify your answers with arguments and examples. (5 marks) (500 words)

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CASE STUDY

THE ETHICS OF GLOBAL TOBACCO MARKETING

Cigarette smoking was once considered to be elegant and glamorous. Movie stars, athletes, politicians, and other public figures were often photographed holding or smoking a cigarette, and tobacco companies aggressively pushed their products as a basic commodity in the same way firms today market soft drinks and fast foods. Driven in part by the allure of fashion and in part by this aggressive marketing, the annual consumption of cigarettes by U.S. smokers increased steadily from 54 per person in 1900 to a high of 4.345 in 1963.

In 1964, however, things began to change. The U.S. Surgeon General released a report that demonstrated a clear link between cigarettes and lung cancer. During subsequent years numerous reforms were put in place that affected the ability of tobacco firms to market their products in the United States. Among the most stringent were bans on television and radio advertising, mandatory warning labels on cigarette packages, high sales taxes, and age restrictions for the legal purchase of cigarettes. There measures, combined with increased public awareness, caused the annual consumption of cigarettes by U.S. smokers to drop to less than 2,500 in 1999.

There are three major international cigarette makers today. Phillip Morris, the world's largest, is a U.S. firm that manufactures such brands as Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Parliament, and Virginia Slims. R.J. Reynolds, also a U.S. firm, markets Camel, Doral, Salem, Winston, and other brands. British American tobacco (BAT), a British firm, sells such brands as Kool, Raleigh, Viceroy (BAT's U.S. operation is called Brown & Williamson).

As pressures to curb cigarette smoking in the United States increased during the 1970 s and 1980 s, the big three sought to diversify their tobacco sales geographically by focusing their efforts on markets other than Western Europe on North America. These new markets offer two major advantages. First, many of them place few restrictions on tobacco sales. Second. growth prospects in these markets are higher because of rising incomes and reductions in trade restrictions.

Central and Eastern Europe offer significant opportunities. Communist government officials actively promoted the use of cigarettes and vodka. These commodities were cheap to make, and their addictive character helped maintain order and discipline in society. Indeed, after the collapse of communism and the move toward an open market in Russia, cigarette shortages caused riots in Moscow. Not surprisingly, then, cigarette makers rushed to enter the former Sovier, bloc countries, where total annual cigarette consumption is estimated to be as high as 700 billion, compared to 500 billion in the United States.

Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and British American Tobacco have discovered that consumers in this region crave affordable, high-quality, Western-style products. Cigarettes seem to fill at least part of the bill. The three firms have plastered cities throughout Central and Eastern Europe with billboards featuring the Marlboro Man - an icon of America, the West, freedom - or symbols of other Western brands. Not surprisingly, the number of smokers in Central and Eastern Europe continues to escalate. Philip Morris sis perhaps the most successful firm in this region so far, partly because it was able to buy the Czech cigarette monopoly, Tabak, in 1992 during that country's privatization program. Philip Morris also has purchased majority interests in formerly state-owned cigarette factories in Hungary, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. The other major producers also have staked out positions in the region. R.J. Reynolds operated two joint ventures in Ukraine with local companies, and BAT bought a controlling interest in Uzbekistan's leading cigarette producer.

Asia is another major battlefield. The Japanese have long been heavy smoker. The Japanese market was essentially closed to foreign firms until the Bush administration in the late 1980 s pressured the Japanese to reduce their high tariffs on imported cigarettes and end Japan Tobacco's monopoly over the domestic market. Because Japanese consumers have long been interested in products they strongly associate with the United States (such as Levi Strauss jeans, McDonald's restaurants, and Disney films). U.S. cigarette makers are now finding Japan a fertile market for their brands.

These efforts and strategies have been very controversial, raising ethical concerns about the behavior of the firms and the U.S. government. Critics argue, for example, that the tobacco giants are being socially irresponsible by taking advantage of uninformed, impressionable consumers who do not fully understand the health risks of smoking.

The tobacco companies respond that they are doing nothing wrong. They point out that local governments, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, have encouraged their investment. They also note that they are simply taking advantage of legal market opportunities that already exist. Indeed, failing to do just what they are doing might seem to be a distinct to their stockholders and employees.