The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int : Critical Reasoning (CR)

amanarora87

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

27 Apr 2015, 11:14

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How can the correct answer be "D" when the stimulus clearly states that no advertising was done on tv or in newspapers. So it is logical to assume that it was probably word of mouth that caused popularity to increase. And obviously word of mouth led to the brand's success which in turn may have caused it to be discussed on tv shows. If it isn't popular to begin with, it would probably never be discussed on a news show in any case.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

27 Apr 2015, 23:16

Kindly let me know why the answer should not be C and is D.
D again goes back to reinforce that ,ultimately, the media attention is required. However, option C helps break that.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

28 Apr 2015, 03:59

itzmyzone911- yes you are right. The key is the phrase "novel marketing approach". I didn't catch that. Thank you for pointing it out.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

06 Jul 2015, 00:46

Personal Recommendation will result in word of mouth publicity .So (c) can be an option .

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Manish Khare

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

06 Jul 2015, 19:42

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Hello,

Lot of debate between c and d :!:

Well C is incorrect because we cannot assume that personal recommendation will increase sales.

C states "most of" customers are from "personal recommendation". Now if the total number of customers are say, 10 mio (between 5-10 Mio) would be most but what about, if N=100 mio, in later case 51-100 mio would be most. So the thing is do not interpret "most of" as evidence of increase in sales.

D on the other hand based on existing evidence in the argument "increased media exposure is critical factor".

Hope it helps.

Please hit +1 kudos to appreciate.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

24 Jan 2016, 15:36

aritranew wrote:

Kindly let me know why the answer should not be C and is D.
D again goes back to reinforce that ,ultimately, the media attention is required. However, option C helps break that.

A got the same result, and for the same reason, but with the added reasoning that we are told that the shoes are "not advertised on radio and television".

Advertising takes many forms including publicity, press releases, and product placement in any possible place or manner. I would interpret all of these activities as advertising, and therefore the Veritas answer is inconsistent with their own wording.

B

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

26 Jan 2016, 06:51

B , C, D seemed tempting to me

(B) Its tell even though the brand did not used media but they have other non celebrity spokesperson. If that is true then , its low-price -strategy is not the actually effective policy. It is getting popular otherwise.
So this does not explain that - Not media exposure but low price coupled with same quality is the key

(C) Again here , the option says the customers are coming through personal recommendation . Hence the low-price strategy is not the key. Rather , the recommendation is the key. So this explains - Not media exposure but personal recommendation is the key to success. Fails to prove that LOW PRICE is the key

(D) Hmm.... This says that Novel marketing approach is advertised time and again. So it shows that instead of advertising the product itself , company has played it smart.They have advertised the Strategy that is - low price coupled with same good quality. And that worked.
buddying athletes spending a hefty amount for years just to get a quality has now found a way. And advertisements drew the attention.
This really plains the Paradox . Hence the Answer is D !!

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

26 Jan 2016, 09:52

lamode wrote:

aritranew wrote:

Kindly let me know why the answer should not be C and is D.
D again goes back to reinforce that ,ultimately, the media attention is required. However, option C helps break that.

A got the same result, and for the same reason, but with the added reasoning that we are told that the shoes are "not advertised on radio and television".

Advertising takes many forms including publicity, press releases, and product placement in any possible place or manner. I would interpret all of these activities as advertising, and therefore the Veritas answer is inconsistent with their own wording.

Being covered on a news show is not advertising. When a politician is being discussed on Fox News, no one thinks that politician is being advertised. The story might have a positive angle, but news companies are still expected to be independent (lol!). Likewise, if a news channel decided to run a segment on an up and coming shoe brand, that is not advertising on behalf of the shoe company. No money is being exchanged. It IS media attention though and so produces the same effect as marketing that traditional shoe companies do, thereby eliminating the discrepancy.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

08 Jul 2016, 09:16

The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the introduction of expensive products backed by celebrity athlete endorsements and sophisticated brand marketing on radio and television. Since then, it has become accepted that companies simply cannot compete in this industry without a great deal of media exposure. However, the most popular new brand of athletic footwear in the last year is not advertised on radio and television, and positions its product as "half the price - just as good."

Which of the following best explains the apparent discrepancy above?

A. The new brand of footwear is constructed along the same lines as the products made by more expensive brands...........construction is related to marketing. OFS

B. The new footwear brand has several celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes..............mere presence cannot substitute for advertisement on radio and television. OFS

C. Most of the new brand's customers have come from personal recommendations...............personal recommnedations must be minimal and cannot equal to media exposure.

D. The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on several popular news shows...........This explains the paradox. All reality show participants say that they are not there for mere fame but they get it by saying that. :wink:

E. Last year, the new footwear brand had sales that were less than half of the sales of the leading brand in the field..........this does not explain paradox but exxagerates it.

B

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

10 Jul 2016, 10:52

itzmyzone911 wrote:

Gosh!! As usual, another Veritas toughie!!...Took approximately 3 min. to knock off A, B and E and another 3 min to choose between C and D...Finally narrowed down to D

...At the end of it, I just hope that the OA is indeed correct..

My insights as follows:

Kindly note the key words as highlighted...

However, the most popular new brand of athletic footwear in the last year is not advertised on radio and television, and positions its product as "half the price - just as good."

Find the option that brings out the 'brand's popularity quotient' inspite of an absence of advertising efforts put in by the new brand. Also, NOTE that just because no there are no advertisements on radio/ TV, need not mean that there is no media exposure. With these thoughts in mind, attack the options

The new brand of footwear is constructed along the same lines as the products made by more expensive brands.
...so what?? Expensive need not imply popularity. Stimulus just indicates introduction of expensive and sophisticated products No mention of popularity..KILL

The new footwear brand has several celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes.
..Celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes-->again celebrity people need not be the reason for the popularity of the brand...quite likely that these celebrities are one of those belonging to a genre very less known and hence providing no link to the popularity factor

Most of the new brand's customers have come from personal recommendations.
..Actually this intensifies the paradox further. If most of the consumers have come from personal recommendations, how can it be popular?? 'Popular' implies that the brand is well known across a wide public spectrum...In order to sell popular products, personal recommendations would be least necessary...

The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on several popular news shows.
...Catch your bait!! :twisted:

This is it!!! Mind you, this option is very much compatible with the stimulus that says that there is no advertising of the product...The company's novel marketing approach being covered on TV is different from the product itself being advertised over television. Also, as this is covered on SEVERAL POPULAR news shows...this proves that the brand is at least well-known amongst the public at large. This option indeed covers the two key factors in the last sentence popularity without advertisement

Last year, the new footwear brand had sales that were less than half of the sales of the leading brand in the field.
...Guess, no need to explain this one.

Good explanation indded! , cheers

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

11 Jul 2016, 15:53

It is clearly D folks. Nothing to really complain on it. C is wrong because it is not answering to the discrepancy just making it worse actually.

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The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

13 Oct 2017, 19:24

rajgurinder wrote:

The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the introduction of expensive products backed by celebrity athlete endorsements and sophisticated brand marketing on radio and television. Since then, it has become accepted that companies simply cannot compete in this industry without a great deal of media exposure. However, the most popular new brand of athletic footwear in the last year is not advertised on radio and television, and positions its product as "half the price—just as good."

Which of the following best explains the apparent discrepancy above?

(A) The new brand of footwear is constructed along the same lines as the products made by more expensive brands.

(B) The new footwear brand has several celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes.

(C) Most of the new brand's customers have come from personal recommendations.

(D) The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on several popular news shows.

(E) Last year, the new footwear brand had sales that were less than half of the sales of the leading brand in the field.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Answer: D

Explanation: The apparent discrepancy is that

1) it is accepted that a great deal of media exposure is needed to succeed in this field but

2) the new brand has succeeded without radio and television ads.

Choice D makes it clear that the brand DOES get media exposure – through the news stories – without actually advertising.

(A) This might explain something about its popularity, but does not address the issue of media exposure

(B) This does not address the issue of media exposure.

(C) We are told that one needs media exposure to compete, but word-of-mouth is not media exposure, so this choice does not explain the apparent discrepancy.

(E) This information is irrelevant background data.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

05 Jul 2018, 23:36

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VeritasPrepKarishma wrote:

rajgurinder wrote:

The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the introduction of expensive products backed by celebrity athlete endorsements and sophisticated brand marketing on radio and television. Since then, it has become accepted that companies simply cannot compete in this industry without a great deal of media exposure. However, the most popular new brand of athletic footwear in the last year is not advertised on radio and television, and positions its product as "half the price - just as good."

Which of the following best explains the apparent discrepancy above?

The new brand of footwear is constructed along the same lines as the products made by more expensive brands.

The new footwear brand has several celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes.

Most of the new brand's customers have come from personal recommendations.

The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on several popular news shows.

Last year, the new footwear brand had sales that were less than half of the sales of the leading brand in the field.

Kudos please, if it helps you

Clarification for (C) vs (D):

Argument:
It has become accepted that companies simply cannot compete in this industry without a great deal of media exposure.
The most popular new brand of athletic footwear in the last year is not advertised on radio and television, and positions its product as "half the price - just as good."

There is a paradox here: Companies cannot compete without media exposure. But this new company has become very popular without advertising.

To resolve the paradox, you have to find the option that explains how both sides of the paradox can hold. You cannot negate one side and say that media exposure is not necessary. You have to find an option that keeps both sides true and bridges the gap with an explanation.

Only (D) is able to do that - The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on several popular news shows.

The company's marketing approach involves no advertising. But this novel approach has got media exposure on news shows. So though no advertising was done, still media exposure happened and the company became popular. It keeps both sides of the paradox true but still bridges the gap.

(C) Most of the new brand's customers have come from personal recommendations.
This negates one side of the paradox - that media exposure is necessary to compete. It doesn't explain the paradox.

Answer (D)

Responding to a pm:

Quote:

First they were using media but now a new company that happens to be popular is not using media. So, the question to answer here is how is this new company able to be popular by not using media as an avenue? C is the only option that addresses this.

Not right. You don't have to figure out how the new company is flourishing. You have to resolve this - "media exposure is necessary but this new company is apparently flourishing without it".
Note that our problem is how can the company flourish without media exposure; not what is it actually using to flourish. Others could have used the same strategy but it has been established that without media exposure, no matter what strategy you use, you don't succeed.

(D) tells us that though the company is not advertising its products, its approach has been advertised far and wide. So this helps resolve both sides. The advertisement has happened for the company even though it hasn't itself advertised its products. Hence, the company did not succeed without media exposure - it did get media exposure, just in a different form.

B

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

20 Sep 2018, 02:21

I got this on the Veritas Mock and did not like either of the options that well. Now I see why.
The Option D mentioned 'some' instead of 'several' on the mock. This creates a major difference.

I clearly see why B doesn't work. People who are motivated by athletes are the TG and they may or may not be motivated by Actors.

D looked half baked with the 'some'. A marketing campaign, and some media attention is different. When we say a company markets its brand on TV, it has a budget, takes slots, gets adverts made etc, these showcase at preset intervals for a present period of time. Now this thing cannot be replaced by ONLY SOME media coverage. Say 2-3 or maybe even 10.

Several makes sense, it say 75% channels cover their marketing campaign, that's substantial. Most of their TG would have known about the brand.

Any thoughts, how can the answer still be D if the 'several' is 'some' instead. Don't find it convincing.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

20 Sep 2018, 08:36

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tann412 wrote:

I got this on the Veritas Mock and did not like either of the options that well. Now I see why.
The Option D mentioned 'some' instead of 'several' on the mock. This creates a major difference.

I clearly see why B doesn't work. People who are motivated by athletes are the TG and they may or may not be motivated by Actors.

D looked half baked with the 'some'. A marketing campaign, and some media attention is different. When we say a company markets its brand on TV, it has a budget, takes slots, gets adverts made etc, these showcase at preset intervals for a present period of time. Now this thing cannot be replaced by ONLY SOME media coverage. Say 2-3 or maybe even 10.

Several makes sense, it say 75% channels cover their marketing campaign, that's substantial. Most of their TG would have known about the brand.

Any thoughts, how can the answer still be D if the 'several' is 'some' instead. Don't find it convincing.

"some" vs "several" makes no difference.
Note: The company's novel marketing approach has been repeatedly covered on some popular news shows.

The above two highlighted words give enough information. "Some" does not mean 5% or 10%. "Some" means at least 1. It could be 1 or 3 or 10 or 100.
Who says that there are 100 popular news shows and only 2 of them carry the ad? There could be 4 popular channels and perhaps 3 carry the ad.
It doesn't matter in any case. As I said, the highlighted words show the intent of the option - to say that it got good coverage in news.

B

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

05 Sep 2020, 14:52

I have a solution that might look simplistic but worked for me.
The passage describes a causal relationship.
X: Marketing
Y: Success
Given: NOT(X) => NOT(Y) (Without marketing a company can't be successful)
We can say, X=>Y (Boolean logic)
i.e., The new company company is successful => Marketing was done

Hence, we can assume marketing was somehow done. How?
Option D suggests that the product got its marketing through repeated coverage on news shows.
This resolves the paradox. Hence, D

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

22 Nov 2020, 16:33

This is a Resolve Paradox question.

We are told that no one can compete in the athletic footwear industry without media exposure. However, the most popular new athletic footwear brand was not advertised on radio or television. How is this possible?

A and E can quickly be eliminated.

B doesn't really resolve the paradox. Perhaps the footwear brand has several celebrity spokespeople who are not athletes; however, this does not address media exposure.

C, like B, doesn't address media exposure. C is out.

D says that the company's marketing approach has been covered on news shows. The shoe brand is indirectly gaining publicity from these news shows. Correct.

Answer is D.

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Re: The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int [#permalink]

22 Nov 2020, 16:33

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The athletic footwear industry was revolutionized years ago by the int