Reliance Baking Soda of Stewart Corporation - Essay Example

Case study; Reliance Baking SodaBrief explanation of the caseThe case involves Stewart Corporation and its product, Reliance Baking Soda (RBS). In essence, a new Domestic Brand Director, Anna Regnante, has been brought, on board, to spearhead the Corporation’s goal of increasing profit by 10%, through developing a 2008 budget P & L. Regnante, contemplates increasing the profit by majorly marketing RBS. RBS is a favorite because it is an established brand; however, Regnante is doubtful if RBS will generate the required profit since is an old-fashioned and mainstay product.

In the case, to develop a definitive plan, Regnante conducts a background research on past promotion strategies of RBS.Analysis of the CaseRegnante has been promoted to a higher position that requires her managerial experience and decision-making skills to be put in practice, in addition, prove that she is worth the position of Domestic Brand Director. Moreover, the first task that has come with this position is very challenging. The task of increasing the Corporation’s profit by 10%, through developing a 2008 budget P& L, calls for strategic thinking.

Regnante’s plan aimed at achieving the goal of increasing profit by 10% starts by collecting information pertaining to past promotional strategies of RBS. RBS has a considerable market share since its competitors, private label brands, only enjoy 30% of the market share, and this is a good opportunity on the side of the corporation. Regnante’s plan of achieving the stated goal has been fueled up by a 2006 consumer survey. The survey purports that RBS enjoys excellent brand awareness and loyalty, but on the flipside, it suffers from low advertisement.

Regnante is aware that generating an additional profit of 10% through Marketing RBS, which is an old-fashioned and mainstay product will require a monitored expenditure. This means that whatever amount the Corporation spends on promotion should be worthwhile, and thus, she has embarked on scrutinizing past promotional strategies of RBS. The marketing mixes that Regnante has put into consideration are distribution, pricing, advertising, consumer promotion and trade promotion (Ferrell & Hartline 15).

In distribution, RBS has an opportunity since the highest percentage of grocery stores, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs and drug stores stock the product. The distribution of RBS also has strength because the sales agents handling retail and wholesale of the product are paid through bonus on sales targets. When it comes to pricing, in the last five years the selling price of RBS was changed three times. RBS’s advertising has been geared towards informing the consumers on new ways of using the product.

Other ways in which RBS has been marketed include consumer and trade promotions.DecisionAfter careful scrutiny and discussions with different departmental managers, Rengante came across a number of options, which would assist in increasing the Corporations profit by 10% before overhead, SGA and taxes. These include; developing a push marketing plan that would stimulate trade interest, conduct more advertisement that would suggest new uses of RBS, increase the expenditure on consumer promotion, conduct consumer promotion and trade promotion independently and focus on performance based trade promotions.

Ultimately, her final decisions were going to be influenced by determining the effectiveness of the consumer and trade strategies that were implemented by her predecessor and any positive results that would come through price increment. Regnante’s strategic plan entailed deciding whether marketing expenditure needed any changes, and taking into consideration long-terms effects of the changes.Works CitedFerrell O. C. & Hartline, Michael. Marketing Strategy. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.