Building a brand in order to sustain its life cycle

Preparing to make a strategic change

Before committing resources to creating the family of All-Bran brands, Kellogg needed to conduct research to discover whether a change was worth making and the nature of these changes.

This involved carrying out a SWOT analysis to identify:

Strengths of the All-Bran brand

Weaknesses

Opportunities existing in the market

Threats - e.g. from competitors.

All-Bran's product life cycle

Kellogg created All-Bran as a product and the fibre sector of the cereal market in the 1930s. From then onwards the product experienced steady growth with the company injecting regular promotional spends to support product development.

The most spectacular growth was in the 1980s with widespread publicity for the 'F' Plan Diet from nutritionists and health experts. This diet had an impact similar to that of the Atkins Diet in recent years. Following this, the Kellogg 'bran' range has been moving into a more mature stage.

Because the product is mature, Kellogg has looked to re-brand a range of fibre cereals in order to inject renewed growth and interest. The company has run a £3 million campaign that urges consumers to re-appraise these products. Large investment was needed to support the strategy and to evaluate the consumer response.

Identifying the benefits

Kellogg needed to identify the benefits that would result from any changes it made. An important advantage related to managing the product range. Kellogg identified which of its existing fibre based products offered the best present and future prospects and decided to concentrate on those.

This simplification made it easier to manage the product portfolio. Managers could concentrate on the common elements of the chosen range and focus marketing activity on them. This action produced management and marketing economies of scale, rather than production economies - the complexity of manufacturing individual products has not been reduced. The smaller brands were pulled together into the All-Bran range.

Kellogg's market research showed that, in choosing a cereal product, consumers place high priority on taste. Although they want a healthier cereal, it still must taste good. So Kellogg decided to develop new 'tastier' products under the single All-Bran umbrella, such as Bran Flakes Yoghurty.

Pulling a range of fibre products together under a single brand also made it easier to communicate with the target audiences through a shared communication plan.

Research and promotion

Research

Before proceeding with the change, Kellogg carried out some detailed market research with consumers to discover their thoughts and feelings. There are two main approaches to market research:

• qualitative
• quantitative.

Qualitative research involves working in detail with a relatively small number of consumers e.g. observing and listening to them talking in small groups in which they discuss the brand, products, packaging, advertising ideas, etc.

This qualitative research helped to assess consumers' perceptions e.g. by giving them pictures of possible new packaging and letting them give their views on the benefits of the product and reasons why they use fibre based cereals. The qualitative research also helped Kellogg to develop the concept of a family of fibre brands. The advertising and promotional materials with which the consumer groups worked were very similar to the end promotions that Kellogg wished to communicate.

Once the qualitative market research was complete it was possible to test the concept through quantitative research. This involved using questionnaire and survey approaches with a much larger sample of targeted consumersto estimate the impact on sales if these changes were put into market.

Promotion

The market research revealed several matters that Ke

llogg needed to address when alerting the public to changes in the brand family:

1.Some consumers might find the act of placing a range of separate products under the All-Bran brand confusing. The solution was to ensure that packs clearly display both the power brand name (All-Bran) and also the product name (e.g. Bran Flakes).

To maintain continuity, it was vital to use consistent type fonts and colours from the old packaging, as well as introducing the flash 'new name, same great taste'. To support consumer understanding of the new range, the back of each pack featured a range sell detailing the different attributes of each of the products in the range. This allowed consumers to make purchase decisions on the basis of taste and the amount of fibre they require in their diet.

2.Research showed that consumers see cereals as a 'natural product'. This is a strong selling

point. It makes it vital to feature the ingredients on the packaging. This is because the All-Bran range can be seen as part of a daily healthy diet. For example, the latest addition to the All-Bran range, the delicious Bran Flakes Yoghurty, claims to promote users' inner health by providing 17% of daily fibre needs.

3.To give the campaign maximum impact, Kellogg carefully co-ordinated television and radio advertising, PR and in-store promotions. These encouraged consumers to try out and reappraise the revamped products. For example, in September 2004, Kellogg introduced the All-Bran 'Feel Great in a Fortnight' Challenge.

This campaign was designed to make the brands benefit more relevant to consumers. Adopting the 'feel great' message moved the brand away from the outdated 'keeps you regular' message and into the feel good territory of better inner health. This promotion featured on 8 million packs and on the All-Bran website. It used William Shatner, best remembered from Star Trek's Starship Enterprise!

The challenge invited consumers to eat one bowl of any of the cereals in the All-Bran range for two weeks and see if they could feel the benefit. It focused on the fact that high-fibre diets may help people to feel lighter and more energetic as well as aiding the digestive system.

Conclusion

If a business wants to make a product's total sales grow, it must carefully consider how best to extend its life cycle.

By creating the powerbrand 'All-Bran' and providing the right sort of well researched promotional support, Kellogg has been able to inject renewed vigour into a family of related products. Through appropriate promotional activities and more relevant messages, Kellogg has re-awakened consumers' interest in products that can play an important part in developing a healthy diet in a health-conscious world.

Regular campaigns of promotional activity are helpful in enabling all organisations to sustain their own life cycle and those of their brands and products. It is early days in evaluating the success of the marketing activity supporting All-Bran but the signs are good.

Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/building-a-brand-in-order-to-sustain-its-life-cycle/conclusion.html#ixzz205cPdBYa

Creating a new and exciting brand - Cafe Cadbury A Cadbury Schweppes case study

Introduction

Everyone knows about Cadbury and what it represents. The Cadbury Masterbrand is the flagship for a variety of well known distinctive products including Flake, Dairy Milk, Crunchie and Roses. Each of these products has its own place in the public imagination because we have grown up with them and they have associations for us with events in our personal histories.

Since 1990, Cadbury has developed and implemented an expanding programme of presence marketing as an effective way to promote the Cadbury Masterbrand in the UK. The strategy has been to select high profile sites in theme parks, shopping malls and airports to communicate Cadbury values and increase the availability of products.

This case study examines the creation of a new and exciting brand - Café Cadbury - which shows how detailed thought has been applied to making this a successful venture which extends the Cadbury reputation by providing a high profile presence and by giving consumers even more reasons to choose Cadbury.

The pilot Café Cadbury was opened on 8th October 2000 in an attractive three-storey 18th century Georgian building in the centre of Bath, a busy tourist destination and World Heritage City. The location was carefully chosen to position the new brand as a premium experience for the discerning customer. Café Cadbury is an exciting all day premium café and gift experience also offering a take-out service on the ground floor.

Brand positioning

Brand positioning involves creating a position in the market place for a product. Café Cadbury involves providing consumers with a 3D experience of the brand in which they enjoy a premium offer. Consumers are able to experience the brand in a real physical environment. Café Cadbury provides a warm, contemporary, friendly environment where customers can indulge themselves with Cadbury's chocolate.

To secure this premium position, Cadbury set out to differentiate the experience from coffee shops and chocolate retailers on the high streets or in shopping centres/malls. The total Café Cadbury experience exposes the customer to chocolate indulgence. The emphasis is on chocolate, offering the customer a range of products and experiences they cannot find elsewhere.

The illustration across highlights that the heart of the offer is the chocolate experience delivered within the theatre of a premium café location. Supporting this is a retail offer including chocolates and gifts as well as takeaway products

Brand values

Brand values are those things that a particular brand stands for - eg reliability, quality, etc. In selecting values for Café Cadbury, a prime consideration was to select values which reinforce the message to customers 'choose Cadbury'.

The key values are:

• Premium - A premium catering and shopping experience for indulgent chocolate and non-chocolate products in a quality environment.
• High quality - The best coffee, unique cakes and fresh baguettes.
• Friendly service - Café Cadbury staff are trained to treat customers as guests and to welcome them from the first minute they enter the Café
• Novelty - The emphasis in product development at the Café is on innovation eg. spiced chocolate or a full size chocolate football.
• Celebrating Cadbury Chocolate - A variety of dark chocolate is used, but all of the milk chocolate delivers the real taste of Cadbury's chocolate.
• Adult appeal - The emphasis is on catering for adult taste, but because children love Cadbury's chocolate they are also provided for with a children's meal packed in a Yowie gift box.
• Relaxing - The Café provides a relaxing atmosphere as a result of the friendly service, the interior decoration and general ambience.
• Contemporary - The design and atmosphere of the Café is modern, innovative and dynamic.

Delivering business objectives

In carrying out any business strategy it is first necessary to create a set of objectives to provide a clear direction and to monitor success over time.

Four objectives were established in setting up Café Cadbury. These were:

1. to communicate Cadbury's Master-brand values, projecting a modern and relevant image
2. to change public perceptions by associating Cadbury with premium 'special' chocolate as well as everyday products
3. to reduce Cadbury's dependence on traditional retail channels by developing alternative routes to market
4. to generate incremental income.



A number of measures were chosen to track performance in meeting these objectives:

• the number of customers who walk through the door
• the number of diners
• the media value of the site
• quantified attitude measurements for Café Cadbury customers and the local population to assess perceptions of the Cadbury's Masterbrand.

Cadbury Schweppes | Creating a new and exciting brand - Cafe Cadbury

The target market

It is essential to have a clear picture of the type of people that make up your core target market. Armed with this information you can then select how to best reach and appeal to this market.



Following Cadbury's research into the Gifting market, the company analysed market research into the coffee bar and cafémarkets. Cadbury's then carried out its own research which confirmed that the café concept would particularly attract ABC1 women aged 25-45. This research has been confirmed by experience.

Currently, 75 per cent of customers are female and 74 per cent of customers are ABC1.

Cadbury Schweppes | Creating a new and exciting brand - Cafe Cadbury

Choosing the right location

Knowing the target market, Cadbury was then able to research the right locations to attract 25-45 year old females with high disposable incomes who were regular café users.

In addition, it was necessary to take into account a number of business and practical criteria the location must have:

• a prime site location in the main shopping area of a city with 100,000 people and an upmarket populative mix
• a double shop frontage for maximum visibility
• a high number of shoppers all year round - average weekly footfall of 50,000, peaking 5,000 per hour during the week and 10,000 per hour on Saturdays
• a size between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet
• planning permission for catering and retailing.

The building required a prestigious location and character to support the luxury and indulgence of the experience.

Getting this right was vital because retailing and catering support each other, for example:

• the customer's experience of high quality, indulgent catering reinforces the premium image of the retail products they buy
• restaurant-quality cakes and chocolates can be sold at higher prices in this atmosphere
• when customers try products in the café's seating area or Cadbury Lounge, they may wish to buy them as gifts and take home purchases.

Cadbury's aim is for customers to aspire to eat and shop in Café Cadbury, so the view of the shop frontage is important. A double frontage is ideal so that people can see, at a glance from the street, the range of products and services by looking in. Outside seating also draws attention to the food and drink offer.

Design guidelines

Design is always important. The design of Café Cadbury seeks to make sure that customers enjoy a unique, shopping and catering experience as they make their journey around it from entrance to departure. Efficient links between back of house facilities, support and the front of house are needed to service the needs of customers.

Once the customer enters the retail area, the counter and its displays are clearly visible serving both the retail and takeaway products. The counter is designed to appeal to adults and is sophisticated and modern, made of warm cherry timber and trimmed in clean stainless steel. As the customer walks over the timber floor, their footsteps add to the hard-edged, busy sound in this part of the Café Cadbury. The customer moves on to browse the retail display fixtures. These show premium chocolate and non-chocolate offers.

From the retail area, clear signage encourages a visit to the café area upstairs. A recording of café noise is played at the foot of the stairs to reassure customers that there is activity on the first floor. A range of music plays in the café including jazz and soul to reflect the tastes of the target market.

At the counter the customers choose from a tempting range of cakes, savoury food, ice- cream and drinks, served by friendly employees. Most customers stay in the café area for 15-20 minutes.

When the customer wants an even more indulgent experience, signal points are to the lounge area. The furniture is the strongest demonstration of the lounge's distinctive identity. A combination of the soft chairs and low tables creates a special, related feeling of being in someone's lounge at home.

When the customer leaves Café Cadbury, their purchases are packed

Corporate identity

As a flagship for the Cadbury Masterbrand the interior and exterior of the Cafés are designed to communicate the brand's distinctiveness, that it is part of the Cadbury family.

The Café Cadbury corporate identityis made up of three related design elements:

• Cadbury's Masterbrand
• Café Cadbury logo, colour palette, typographic style and image palette
• Café Cadbury icons which help to illustrate and signpost the total offer.

These design elements are used carefully within the café environment to provide a strong and consistent image.

Positioning the brand

Everything about the café needs to reflect the requirements of the target market. For example, the menus are carefully tailored to the requirements of the target audience at different times of the day. The savoury menu contains freshly baked baguettes with innovative fillings and hot panini. The cake menu includes a range of fresh cakes and there is a wide choice of ice-creams all served with Cadbury's chocolate.

There are all sorts of categories of retail products including:

• Traditional/familiar eg Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Roses and Milk Tray
• Chocolate experience eg liquid chocolate fondue and truffles
• Indulgence/gifting eg champagne hearts
• Self-eat eg fudge ranges and ice-creams
• Novelty/kids eg full size chocolate footballs.

Prices charged in Café Cadbury are slightly higher than in coffee shops like Starbucks to reflect the premium positioning of the brand.

Operating Café Cadbury

Café Cadbury is not run by Cadbury. Instead Cadbury pays a fee to an independent operator to run and staff Café Cadbury.

This means that Cadbury are able to control the quality of the café without being drawn into the day-to-day operation. An Operator's Agreement was drawn up which includes the performance criteria which guarantees that the café will meet with the objectives established by Cadbury.

Conclusion

Cadbury is one of the best known brands in the world today. It is a brand which is associated with high levels of quality and customer satisfaction.

The ongoing growth of Café Cadbury provides a flagship that further helps to enhance the reputation of the Cadbury Masterbrand. At the same time, it provides customers with the opportunity to indulge themselves in the enjoyment of high quality products in a welcoming environment.

Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cadbury-schweppes/creating-a-new-and-exciting-brand-cafe-cadbury/conclusion.html#ixzz205Yn11vP

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) Matrix

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) matrix is a strategic management tool for auditing or evaluating major strengths and weaknesses in functional areas of a business.

IFE matrix also provides a basis for identifying and evaluating relationships among those areas. The Internal Factor Evaluation matrix or short IFE matrix is used in strategy formulation.

The IFE Matrix together with the EFE matrix is a strategy-formulation tool that can be utilized to evaluate how a company is performing in regards to identified internal strengths and weaknesses of a company. The IFE matrix method conceptually relates to the Balanced Scorecard method in some aspects.

How can I create the IFE matrix?

The IFE matrix can be created using the following five steps:

Key internal factors...

1. Conduct internal audit and identify both strengths and weaknesses in all your business areas.
2. It is suggested you identify 10 to 20 internal factors, but the more you can provide for the IFE matrix, the better.
3. The number of factors has no effect on the range of total weighted scores (discussed below) because the weights always sum to 1.0, but it helps to diminish estimate errors resulting from subjective ratings.
4. First, list strengths and then weaknesses. It is wise to be as specific and objective as possible. You can for example use percentages, ratios, and comparative numbers.

Weights...

1. Having identified strengths and weaknesses, the core of the IFE matrix, assign a weight that ranges from 0.00 to 1.00 to each factor.
2. The weight assigned to a given factor indicates the relative importance of the factor.
3. Zero means not important. One indicates very important.
4. If you work with more than 10 factors in your IFE matrix, it can be easier to assign weights using the 0 to 100 scale instead of 0.00 to 1.00.
5. Regardless of whether a key factor is an internal strength or weakness, factors with the greatest importance in your organizational performance should be assigned the highest weights.
6. After you assign weight to individual factors, make sure the sum of all weights equals 1.00 (or 100 if using the 0 to 100 scale weights).
7. The weight assigned to a given factor indicates the relative importance of the factor to being successful in the firm's industry.
8. Weights are industry based.

Rating...

1. Assign a 1 to X rating to each factor.
2. Your rating scale can be per your preference. Practitioners usually use rating on the scale from 1 to 4.
3. Rating captures whether the factor represents a major weakness (rating = 1), a minor weakness (rating = 2), a minor strength (rating = 3), or a major strength (rating = 4). If you use the rating scale 1 to 4, then strengths must receive a 4 or 3 rating and weaknesses must receive a 1 or 2 rating.
4. Ratings are company based.

Multiply...

1. Now we can get to the IFE matrix math. Multiply each factor's weight by its rating. This will give you a weighted score for each factor.

Sum...

1. The last step in constructing the IFE matrix is to sum the weighted scores for each factor. This provides the total weighted score for your business.

Example of IFE matrix

The following table provides an example of an IFE matrix.

 

What values does the IFE matrix take?

Regardless of how many factors are included in an IFE Matrix, the total weighted score can range from a low of 1.0 to a high of 4.0 (assuming you used the 1 to 4 rating scale). The average score you can possibly get is 2.5.

 

Why is the average 2.5 and not 2.0?

1. You have 4 factors, each has weight 0.25. Factors have the following rating: 1, 4, 1, 4.
2. This will result in individual weighted scores 0.25, 1, 0.25, and 1 for factors 1 through 4.
3. If you add them up, you will get total IFE matrix weighted score 2.5 which is also the average in this case.

Total weighted scores well below 2.5 point to internally weak business. Scores significantly above 2.5 indicate a strong internal position.

What if a key internal factor is both a strength and a weakness in IFE matrix?

When a key internal factor is both a strength and a weakness, then include the factor twice in the IFE Matrix. The same factor is treated as two independent factors in this case. Assign weight and also rating to both factors.

What are the benefits of the IFE matrix?

1. To explain the benefits, we have to start with talking about one disadvantage.
2. IFE matrix or method is very much subjective; after all other methods such as the TOWS or SWOT matrix are subjective as well. IFE is trying to ease some of the subjectivity by introducing numbers into the concept.
3. Intuitive judgments are required in populating the IFE matrix with factors. But, having to assign weights and ratings to individual factors brings a bit of empirical nature into the model.

How does the IFE matrix differ from the SWOT matrix method?

One difference is already obvious. It is the weights and ratings.

This difference leads to another one. While it is suggested that the SWOT matrix is populated with only a handful of factors, the opposite is the case with the IFE matrix.

Populating each quadrant of the SWOT matrix with a large number of factors can lead to the point where we are over-analyzing the object of our analysis. This does not happen with IFE matrix. Including many factors into the IFE matrix leads to each factor having only a small weight. Therefore, if we are subjective and assign unrealistic rating to some factor, it will not matter very much because that particular factor has only a small weight (=small importance) in the whole matrix.