Marketing Plan for Sports Drink Container - Assignment Example

Marketing Plan for new sports drink container An aluminum packaging of the sports drink that stays cool for 6 hours is new in the market. Although sports drink has been around for some time, the shift from bottle to aluminum can that sustains its coolness for six hours is a new kind of packaging and technology that needs an introduction in the market so that it is envisioned that an appropriate strategy and a marketing plan is in order. A marketing plan of a company needs to have a vision and a mission statement of what it wants to become.

The mission statement will guide strategists in the company of the kind of activities it will pursue. For KBP, (THE ASSUMED NAME), the following mission/vision, marketing plan and strategies are discussed: Vision Statement: KBP strives to be a leading company in the energy drinks sector through its responsiveness to the sports’ needs. Mission statement: KBP seeks to attract health conscious customers in the current and developing markets through the introduction of an original packaging; similarly, it strives to lead the industry through innovativeness and quality of its products.

Target market: As the basic product is a sports drink, target market are health conscious people found in athletics associations, clubs, gyms, runners and walkers in organized sports in the United States. Services: Having identified the market, KBP should now identify the products it will launch. It should be able to state the identifying services, distribution, and costs. a. The product. Company should study branding, and design. The design should carry the message KBP wants to convey to customers, like KBP energy drink “assists in your quest for a healthier happy self.” B. Distribution.

Plan should describe how the products will be distributed. It could be thru a franchise, setting up of a subsidiary, distributorship, by a partnership, or by a business consolidation . For example, Coca-Cola Company, on Sept. 12, 2012 announced a business consolidation to complete formation of a unified North American structure for purposes of strengthening market position. C. Costs. Marketing plan should include targets of costs. A separate study is needed to arrive at costing, but a plan should always have costing.

Spell out marketing plan and strategies: Different strategies and plan are needed for each target market. Kassel in her texts in Marketing Library Services (1999) points out that the key to an effective strategy and marketing plan is to understand the behavior of the prospective customer, why will they want to buy KBP sports drink, and what type of strategy will they respond to. Kassel advises advertising in print media, radio, television, and internet is one sure way of reaching people. Advertising should be continuous for retentive and recall purposes.

For introductory, company may offer discounts for bulk sales. Product availability should be properly emphasized. Developing write-ups in journals and publication, and explaining benefits of the product form part of public relations campaign. Be prepared to spend largely for introductory campaign to sustain interest and gather attention. It will take quite a while before an ROI is reached during introductory stage. Identifying competition: As part of the planning process, the company must be able to establish its competitors.

KBP should be able to identify its strengths and witnesses and what it wants to emphasize. Once the competitors are identified, KBP can now make an assessment why the product has an edge over its competitors and claim benefits to users. Establish a measurable goals: Establishing measurable goals would entail projections of how many customers are targeted, how far would you like to reach your targets, the amount of income you would want to generate and the available skills and resources you want to commit.

In effect, you will be preparing a budget for the strategies that you want to develop. For example, KBP would like to reach all the 50 states of The United States, but in so doing it should also assess if its available manpower and resources could meet the demands. If resources and manpower are limited, strategies will be designed according to its limitations. Monitoring results: When the plan is already ongoing, marketing plan does not stop yet, because one has to evaluate results, see if strategies and plan are working.

If it is not doing well, something might be wrong, so remedial measures are stepped up. References Kassel, A. (1999, June). How to write a marketing plan. Marketing Library Services, 3(5). Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/mls/jun99/how-to.htm