Seminar assignments - situation analysis for pure blonde PDF

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Situation Analysis for Pure Blonde...

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1003MKT Introduction to Marketing Situation Analysis for Pure Blonde

Name: Danika Selway. Jordan Polglase, Madeline McCullagh, Lyra Rainger, Jacques Farnworth-Wood Tutorial Time: 10:00 – 10:50 Tutor: A.Goldsmeid Due Date: 13/05/2016 Word Count:

Executive Summary Pure Blonde is a competing brand in the Australian brewing companies. It’s been in Australia’s market, providing this service since the 1850’s. However, Pure Blonde has failed to make them selves known which has caused in an decline of sales. This suggests that Pure Blonde has room for improvement across their products. This reports has aimed to reposition Pure Blonde. By not approaching the correct target market the product has failed to succeed. Although, Pure blonde is still not the lowest in sales and market share for Alcohol, it is amongst the lowest competitors. This allows potential for higher sales from multiple audiences. Very minimal marketing and out-dated packaging are main reasons not allowing Pure Blonde to succeed. The objectives that have been put forth for Pure Blonde is to increase market share from 1.8% by 25% in 12 months by using marketing and communication strategies. Targeting multiple audiences and forming awareness by 40% of a younger market will achieve this. Aiming for 75% of that younger market to be able to recall Pure Blonde within the next 12 months. This will be achievable by updated advertising and lowering costs. To achieve these objectives, strategies are going to be put in place; price strategies, changing packaging, expanding target markets and advertising campaigns. Social media advertisements will play a major part in getting our target market aware, as well as incorporating calorie counts on the label. The target market will be changed to expand to reach out to 18+ year olds, instead of focusing on middle ages. Finally, the price will be adjusted to match competing brands. The updated Pure Blonde will be evaluated quarterly to examine how the product is sitting in the market and if any adjustments need to be make. By doing this, it will allow more control of the new product, to help assist in achieving our goals and objectives. This marketing strategy has been applied over a 12-month period. Recommendations and conclusions will be set as a way to measure if the marketing plan has been successful. Having recommendations will allow for future growth for the company and product, which will give the brand a secured platform to create the next step for the product.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2

COMPANY BACKGROUND

5

SITUATION ANALYSIS

6

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

7

PESTLE ANALYSIS

9

COMPANY ANALYSIS

11

SWOT ANALYSIS

11

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

12

TARGET MARKETING AND POSITIONING

13

MARKET POSITIONING STRATEGY

15

MARKETING STRATEGIES

17

EVALUATION AND CONTROL - MOO

18

IMPLEMENTATION AND SCHEDULE

19

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

20

REFERENCES

21

Introduction Carlton and United Breweries (CUB, 2014) is an Australian owned brewing company operating nationally to provide consumers with the latest refreshing beverages. They have been providing this service since the 1850’s. CUB produces a wide range of alcoholic beverages, creating a diverse range of products to provide for all consumers, however consumer consumption in previous and current years has stagnated. An example would be CUB’s Pure Blonde, which has seen its attempt to excel in the Australian beer market met with a recent decline in customer satisfaction. Pure Blonde, launched in 2004, is one of CUB’s recent products aimed at an already established and flooded market. It initially gained momentum but quickly declined due to a changing market. It’s crucial to re-structure this product to establish as a competitor in the developing market.

Company Background CUB established in Melbourne, Australia, gathered national reputation for the production of many famous beers, ciders and spirits. CUB was involved in a take over by multinational brewery SABMiller in 2011 broadening the opportunities for the company to establish itself more globally and with better resources (www.cub.com.au, 2015). They have attempted to adapt to the changing market with their new product Pure Blonde (www.cub.com.au, 2015). The market for alcoholic beverages is a competitive and recently a changing market, this holds a major opportunity for this product to capitalise on market change. This would require a repositioning of the Pure Blonde product to reintroduce it to such a competitive market. Owned by SABMiller, CUB has a predicted 36% value share in 2014, but has lost it's title as Australia’s largest brewery with a previous value of 46% in 2011 has showed a 10% decrease since 2011 and 2014 (Euromonitor.com, 2015).

Situation Analysis The current market of alcohol beverages is dominated by two major breweries in Australia, Lion PTY (Kirin) at 40.1%, Fosters Group PTY (CUB and SABMiller) at 36.8% and other at 23.1%. This current market is a monopolistic market which Lion PTY currently leading with a 3% increase of market shares between 2011-2014 (Euromonitor.com, 2015), compared to Fosters Group PTY showing a 10% decline between 2011-2014 (Euromonitor, 2015). With both companies still major breweries in Australia it is the slow decline of consumption of beer that is the major concern with -5% growth of beer between 2009-2014 (Euromonitor, 2015). Through analysing these trends in which CUB have followed on a continuous trend, it’s evident that CUB marketing schemes are dull and ineffective which a market repositioning is needed to take advantage of this new consumer market.

Product Life Cycle Having Pure Blonde coming to the end of its maturity and hitting the decline stage of the product life so soon after launch is problematic. Products such as Victoria Bitter and XXXX Gold are long standing products that have a much larger growth and a

longer maturity rate shown in their brand shares 9.9% (XXXX) and 8.6% (VB) in 2014(Euromonitor, 2015). After enviable decline the re-positioning market plan is expected to reignite the product for consumers seeing it surpass established competitors. Environmental Analysis Australia’s current political situation as a liberal democracy, which aims for free trade between counties, creating a foundation of trade agreements boosting CUB export. Australia is a country with a strong economy and middle working class with a reasonable amount of disposable income, which can be spent on luxuries such as alcohol. Socio-culturally Australian’s are brand loyal with alcohol but also have a sociocultural stereotype of being heavy drinkers but this stereotype is becoming out dated with the country becoming less tolerant with consumers drinking less and drinks with a lower alcohol %. Technological advancement in the field of production has developed the industry into a fast and versatile market. Legally Australia is considering changing the legal drinking age to 21,while also the new lockout laws being rolled out across the country are affecting alcohol sales. The environment in which CUB operates or plans to expand would be restricted to environmental surroundings such as, weather, geographical location and global changes in climate.

PESTLE Analysis

POLITICAL

ECONOMIC

SOCIO-CULTURAL

● Liberal democracy (economist outlook) ● Favourable for business and government relations



Supports middle class lifestyle



Australia has a drinking culture but becoming less



Australians are known to be brand loyal in the case of

tolerant alcohol

TECHNOLOGICAL

LEGAL

ENVIRONMENTAL



New machinery



Better equipment for manufacturing



Australia consideration of changing legal drinking age



Australia’s new lock out laws



Aware of environmental surrounding



If production creates environmental problems

to 21

Competitor Analysis Three major competitors in the Australian brewery market are Anheauser-Busch, Kirin Holdings and Heineken. Kirin Holdings act with the same intentions as CUB, producing a similar line of products and act similarly with cost making Kirin Holdings one of CUB major competitors. Anheauser-Busch and Heineken poses a threat for CUB market as their products are internationally recognised but not in Australian due to poor marketing. Imported beers are gaining interest with 4% growth between 2013-2014 within the Australian beer market (Euromonitor, 2015). Competitive Market Summary Competitor

Target

Product

Price

Market Anheuser-Busch InBev NV

21+ males Young and sporty

Middle aged and sporty

Weakness

6x 355ml=

Promotion

Convenienc

Good promotion,

Used with a

$19.99

in movies

e store

can be used with

lime or lemon

lemon or lime / 6x 355ml = $14.90

rice 18+ males

Strength/

Corona

brewed using

Co Ltd

Distribution

al

Budweiser

Kirin Holdings

Promotion

higher price

Advertising sporting events

XXXX

6x 375ml =

TV ad’s

Lower alcohol

$13.99

aimed at

provides a range

middle

of products /

aged males

appeals to only 1

for middle aged men Toohey’s

6x 375ml = $15.99

Bottle shop

Bottle shop Sponsors

Full strength

Cheaper,

category of population

the

beer

Maroons and Blues origin teams

Heineken NV

18+ males

Heineken

6x 330ml =

TV ad’s

Convenienc

Good coverage

Young and

Full strength

$18.49

Sponsors

e store

through sponsor /

sporty

beer

Champions League

smaller bottle

(Portal.euromonitor.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au, 2015)

Company Analysis CUB SWOT analysis showcases the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are present in the business. CUB offers myriads of strengths as a company that include their establishment in Australian culture for over 100 years providing reliability and consistency to their customer base. On top of this, their diverse range of products has proven to satisfy a range of target audiences whilst still retaining their consumer’s loyalty. In contrast to their strengths, CUB also present weaknesses throughout their company. This is inclusive of a perfect market which further results in slow market share growth. After the analysis of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities for improvement have been revealed which include the expansion of sales into foreign markets and greater brand recognition. Threats that are presented, and that can result in the downfall of CUB include the proposal of a raised drinking age, from the age of 18 years to 21 years and the newly established lock out laws. These factors will effect and narrow the size of the demographic target audience whom can consume alcohol and therefore purchase Pure Blonde.

SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS



Well established (100 years in the market)



Performs well nationally



Diverse range of product for

WEAKNESES



Perfect market results in slow market share growth

customers 

Loyalty in customers

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS





Lack of international marketing (international reputation e.g. Anheuser-Busch) Greater brand recognition



Raise of drinking age



Lock out law

Goals and Objectives Sales Objectives To increase market share for Pure Blonde from 1.8% by 25% in 12 months by using marketing and communication objectives. Marketing Objectives Targeting multiple audiences. Forming awareness for Pure Blonde among 40% of a target market within 12 months. Communication Objectives Broaden our consumer market, aiming to have 75% of population be able to recall product in the next 12 months.

Using good communication to a broadened target market (18-40 year olds) and providing awareness of the low carbs in Pure Blonde, it will attract and influence a large amount of people towards this specific product. Once product awareness has increased, so will sales and thus creating a higher profit. Usually after maturation, sales commonly start to decrease; loyalty throughout our customers will be a factor in upholding sales along with improving the marketing strategies as time progresses.

Target Marketing and Positioning

Although Pure Blonde has many competitors our good should be seen as need/satisfying item due to the unique trait of having less carbs then other beers on the market. The hypothesised ideal target market for the restabilised Pure Blonde will consist largely of middle-aged males from 18 - 35. This particular market belong to the lower-middle class of society with a varied income ranging from $25,000 - $80,000 annually. The three different profiles presented will be analysed in accordance within 4 main segmentation categories which include; Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic and Behavioural.

Segmentation Variables Product

Pure Blonde

Demographic

Geographic

Psychographic

Behavioural

Variables

Variables

Variables

Variables

Age

Australian Wide

Lifestyle

Occasion of use

Gender

Volume

Marital status

Readiness to buy

Income

Profile Market Segments

Profile Segment

Demographic

Geographic

Psychographic

Behavioural

Profile 1

65+ year olds

Rural

Responsible

Wine drinker at dinner

Health

Retired

conscious

150ml/day

Women Orders in bulk Pensioner ($15,000-

online

$35,000)

Profile Segment

Demographic

Geographic

Psychographic

Behavioural

Profile 2

18-35 year olds

City, CBD

Hard working

Weekend drinker

Party Animal

Men

Half a Single

case/week

$25,000$80,000 salary

Profile Segment

Demographic

Geographic

Profile 3

30-40 year olds

Suburban

Men/Female Married $40,000-$120,000

Psychographic

Behavioural

Family

Drinks on

orientated

special occasions e.g. Anniversaries

With the new relaunch of Pure Blonde, the primary target market will be 18-35 year old man. The population consists of hard working singles, who like to party on weekends with their friends. With an average income being between $25,000 $80,000, placing them in lower-middle class in society. This particular population is financially stable and has disposable income. However, although they have disposable income they still expect the product to meet certain standards e.g. value for money. Due to their geographic location, in the city the product is easily accessible and could increase impulse purchasing.

Market Positioning Strategy Positioning strategy Due to the failed maturity of Pure Blonde it has resulted in stagnated sales compared to competitors such as XXXX Gold, VB and Tooheys. In order to present this brand as a real market competitor many steps and processes need to be implemented to change the consumer’s image of the product. Currently Pure Blonde produces a high cost product, which is also perceived as a low quality product targeting the middle aged men (25-45).

Positioning attributes In order to reposition Pure Blonde the initial step is a change of the target market. The targeted age will be extended to 18-45 for a broader consumer range and an increase in yearly sales due to the increased brand recognition. In addition to this the price of the product will be changed due to the competitive prices of other brands. The competition pricing will reflect the needs of a middle class society and appeal to a younger audience with possible lower disposable income.

Marketing Strategies Product Pure Blonde is a popular product with a loyal and growing fan base that has existed since its release in 2004. The product is a full strength beer with a standard 1.3 drinks per individual bottle. Pure Blonde produces a high quality product with 70% less carbohydrates than a standard beer, along with their promise of no artificial preservatives. In August of 2015 the product was re-established as a ‘super low carb’ beer, decreasing the carbohydrate count to 80% less than its competitors, along with now being low in gluten. A prior survey has shown that 67% of a survey group consisting of 2000 participants actively support calorie labelling being added onto alcoholic beverages (“RSPH reach over 200 million with alcohol calorie labelling campaign,” 2015). Having this knowledge we will ensure to incorporate a calorie labelling on the front of the bottle. The product is packaged in a green bottle with a white label, while all major competing brands such as XXXX Gold, VB, Tooheys New and Carlton Dry all incorporate red into their labelling. Red can be linked to excitement as it is considered an exciting, arousing, and stimulating colour to the eye itself (Labrecque and Milne, 2009). From this knowledge it is decided that Pure Blonde will be changed from a green bottle with a white label to a green bottle with a red label. Promotion Pure blonde is aiming to form awareness among 40% of a younger market and aiming to have 75% of the population to be ale to recall the product over a 12-month period. To gain this promotion is a key factor. When producing the new product, a free offer of a stubby holder with ever 6 packs purchase, with 6 different styles to collect. A very common form of advertising is sponsored Instagram and Facebook advertisements. This is a very relevant way of getting our brand across as we are aiming for a “younger crowd”, with our target market primarily using this app. According to Kaur (2014), there is a correlation between age and the use of social

media. Making it quite obvious that social media must be incorporated in today’s promotional strategies.

Price Competition pricing will be most effective when repositioning Pure Blonde, based upon other leading brands, such as XXXX gold, VB and Tooheys New. A 6 pack for XXXX gold is sold for $13.99 and is the best selling, where as Pure Blonde is $16.99. To attack the competition we have to fall into the same price category. By matching the price with the brand with the most market share it is aimed to increase sales. Place Effecti...