Marketing Communications on Drinks Market - Case Study Example

Introduction The UK soft drinks market is undergoing transition as consumers lay greater stress on health and well being. The market for carbonated drinks has thus been reducing while the market for bottled water and juices is increasing. Today the consumer is well informed and they are increasingly aware that carbonated drinks contain excessive levels of benzene (DBR, 2006). The market for juices is much stronger than for carbonated drinks. The soft drinks market growth is largely attributed to availability of the healthy beverages and its perceived health benefits. Consumer characteristics The average consumer is UK is becoming health conscious while at the same time there has been a shift in consumer tastes. Since 2005 there has been a change in the consumer demand and tastes (Farr, 2006). With an increases in the demand for premium soft-drinks, the fruit drinks had a 20% increase to GBP196m while the energy drinks segment had an increase of ten percent in terms of value. Those companies with healthier products have an edge over others as the trend is providing them with newer opportunity as consumers are willing to pay for products that fit into the better-for-you category. They want healthy drinks that provide something extra to their diet. These have no sugar, additives or colorings and include vitamins and minerals. Energy drinks have also flooded the market. Soft drinks market has even grown ahead of beer and spirits as consumers prefer healthier juice drinks (Farr, 2006). Competition Their main competitors include Tango Clear, Britvic, 7-Up, Pepsico, which has taken over Ardea Beverage. The UK soft drinks market stood at 13.8 liters in 2005 and is expected to grow to 15.4 billion liters by 2010 (Zenith, 2006). It is expected that the functional and healthy soft drink market will expand to 33.5bn liters by 2009 with a compound annual growth rate of 10.6% between 2007 and 2009 (Cooper, 2007). Innocent Drinks are amongst the main competitors for Feel Good and they hold 66% share of the UK market and have invested GBP8m in 2007 to build brand awareness (Lewis, 2007). The target market consists of adults with a slight bias towards the women interested in health. The women are always struggling for time and look for quicker alternatives when it comes to Product positioning Feel Good, a healthy drink, makes ‘coming to work enjoyable’ and actually tastes good. Feel Good has tremendous growth potential considering it is not a carbonated drink and a functional drink – it has all natural flavors and is truly meant to make a person feel good. The market share of Feel Good is very small – just a million bottles per month against the total consumption of over 14 billion liters. It is thus very well positioned in the soft drinks market in the UK but it needs the right marketing strategy to capture the market. Product positioning has to be done keeping in mind that the target audience is composed of both sexes but with a slight bias towards women in the case of functional drinks. The intended customers include the retail stores as well. Marketing communication objectives Today markets have become highly fragmented with fierce competition, reduced marketing budgets, shorter product life-cycles and limited growth (Eubank & Simulin, 2004). To capture a sizeable market, Feel Good needs to have the right marketing strategy in place backed by marketing communication mix. To satisfy the customer needs, they have to be first identified and anticipated and then the marketing efforts directed accordingly. The effectiveness of marketing depends largely on how the marketer communicates with the customer about the product. Marketing communication is a step beyond the four P’s of marketing. Marketing communication includes packaging, advertising through different channels, and promoting the organization itself as a brand. In the words of Kotler (2000), many communication channels are integrated to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the organization and its products (cited by Proctor & Kitchen 2002). The four major marketing communications mix which would be employed for the promotion of Feel Good are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations. An organization needs to change the marketing communication mix as the market situation demands. Intensive selling is the most important marketing communications factor (Avlonitis & Papastathopoulou, 2000). Marketing communication would aim to recognize the brand Feel Good and have people recognize them. Marketing communications strategy Evaluation of the marketing communication tools There has been a significant change in the concept of branding. It is no more about branding the product line but the company itself is promoted as a brand. Competitive market forces have compelled the organization to promote the organization itself as a brand. Branding would involve the right communication about the product, the message through packaging and can be controlled through the right advertising. The advertising should deliver the intended positioning. Packaging is another important factor as shelves are crowded with similar looking products making the choice for consumers difficult. Packaging is an important tool for branding and communication, especially in packaged food market. Competition in the food industry is very intense and packaging is an essential part of the selling process. Self-service counters in retail marketing further add to the importance of packaging where the packaging serves the role of the salesperson. Packaging plays a critical role for marketing communications (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Rundh (2006) asserts that innovative packaging can change the product perception and create a new market position. Selective consumers make their purchase decision based on information written on the package. This makes it important that the manufacturers should print correct information. Communications through advertising depends upon the market to be captured. Companies usually conduct communication audit to determine how effective their advertisements are. Customers were interested in their own success rather than the company’s strengths (Cliff, 1998). Any organization indulging in advertising campaign must have a strong message to attract customers. Select the right channels for sales should be keeping in mind the target consumers. There is a shift towards relationship marketing and just approaching the C-stores or the health retailers is not sufficient. Proposed communication mix and media plan Branding The name Feel Good is able to sell itself as a brand as it actually tastes good and creates a friendly, positive feeling. All the three products that they have contain natural fruity goodness and Vitamin C. The flavor and sweetness are natural and makes a person truly feel good. Feel Good has capitalized on the consumer insight that ‘despite eating and drinking better, they are not happier’. Through the Feel Good drinks, the organization wants to send the message this drink would make them as happy as people were fifty years ago. They aim to make people smile by spreading a feelgoodness more relevant. Since they are promoting the organization as a brand, the message has to be friendly and fun and encouraging people to join in. the idea is to get pl involved and make them smile. This can be achieved when the organization is sold as a brand. Advertising Men and women process advertising messages differently with the women being more sensitive to the product of risk. Advertising should reflect the changing needs of the women to which they respond positively. Hence Feel Good should concentrate on creating awareness through the internet as it is an important form of communication and entertainment for the women. Women also use the internet for retail purchases and as most retail chains like Tesco and Sainsbury offer online purchases Feel Good should tie up with them for their sales and advertising. This message which must instantly capture the imagination of the customer should convey the essential qualities upon which its products / services are built. Packaging Half the consumers who enter the stores have not made brand choices, as several brands are all acceptable to them. For such shoppers, packaging communicates the advantages of the food products inside. In UK 61 percent people look for product information on food labels. Visual image on packaging include graphics, product photography, color combinations and the layout. Impressions made on the initial contact have long-lasting effect and since consumers are pressed for time, whatever catches their attention helps them to make the buying decision. Channels of distribution There are now Boost Juice Stores in Manchester and Oxford; Crussh is another chain which offers such drinks (Lewis, 2007). People are hard pressed for time and would like to visit one store for all their requirements. Hence it makes sense to sell through such chains which offer sandwiches and healthy drinks under one roof. It is essential that target audience is able to identify the health benefits from the drink. The USP should be used in the packaging and in marketing the product. They are not interested in scientific facts but in being convinced that they would benefit from the drink. Creative solution with mock-up material Marketing communications perform three functions: to inform, to remind, and to persuade. The first two forms of marketing communications may be performed by the traditional model but the persuasion function for differentiating the brand is difficult through the traditional model. Marketing through the internet offers a departure from the traditional marketing environments (Hoffman, Novak & Chatterjee, 2000). Internet can be used as an interactive medium for personal selling. To promote the organization as a brand, the right advertising and awareness of the product is essential. Since the intended target is the adults’ category with special emphasis on women, the advertising should carry messages that attract the women. As women are avid internet browsers, some contests can be held on ‘healthy body and mind which makes a person Feel Good’. The rewards for every participant should be a pack of Feel Good which becomes personal selling. Feedback form should be sent as a follow up measure. This is line with marketing communications theory which suggests that it is not enough to listen to the customer, it is essential to understand the customer (Olorunniwo, Hsu & Udo, 2006). For referring friends, additional rewards in the form of more packs of the drink should be given. This is also based on the premise that word-of-mouth (WOD) publicity would arise through personal recommendations of friends. This is expected to be an important linkage between customer experience and enhancement of business. Negative WOM and publicity can also adversely affect the brand (Grace & O’Cass, 2005). There has to be a two-way communication and all communication efforts should enhance relationships (Gronroos, 2004). Packaging should carry the message as well. The packaging should not be an abstract figure or shape but a woman smiling despite having two children around her. This would demonstrate that a woman can feel good even with growing children around. A woman with a divine smile would carry the message of feel good. Packaging should specially highlight the ingredients and the natural sweetness of the product. Packaging should also depict a slim figure which is a symbol of good health as obesity is a major concern in UK. Innovation directs the leader to set challenging targets (Zien & Buckler, 1997). Marketing communication should reach a range of stakeholders and other players peripheral to the target market and which influence the business success (Clulow, 2006). Scratch cards can be introduced o every purchase which would carry special offers. The retailer in question would also be granted extra margin, which would attract the retailers to stock the product. Evaluation of the communication mix The product already has a customer base of 20,000 and with the right communication mix this could go up substantially because of the target segment. Secondly, energy and functional drinks are now preferred over the carbonated drinks and since 2005, it has experience growth. Lifestyle changes have taken place and the trend has shifted towards health and well being. The marketing communication mix aims to attract consumers based on health and well being. Obesity is a major concern and Feel Good does not use any additives or artificial flavors. It contains only natural sweetness and flavor which will be used in advertisements. Since there has been a consistent growth in the functional drinks segment, despite competitors, there is a huge gap and tremendous potential for Feel Good to seize a market share. Internet as the advertising and selling media would be able to attract the target segment – women who spend much more time on the internet. Thus, the prospects for Feel Good in the UK market are very bright provided it adopts the right marketing communication mix. References: Avlonitis, G. 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