Last Chances Juicy Drinks - Case Study Example

Last Chance Brand Development Outline Executive Summary Introduction Overview of the organisation and the brand Brand positioning strategy i. Target market ii. Competitor Analysis iii. POPs and PODs Building Brand Equity i. Brand awareness ii. Selection and justification of brand Elements iii. Brand image iv. Brand associations Communication strategy i. Message and creative strategy ii. Media Mix Measuring Brand equity Assumptions and Recommendation Conclusion References Executive Summary Last Chance entry into the soft drinks market in Europe is one of the success stories of the company. Last chance has been able to position itself as a high quality producer of soft drinks. The company currently leads in sales volumes in the European market having appreciated the public health developments discrediting carbonated drinks. The company’s promotion of its non carbonated soft drinks with a nutritive value has made it responsive to the consumer needs consequently becoming a favourite soft drink vendor to most European consumers. The health benefits associated with the drinks because of their nutritive value has given Last Chance a niche over their competitors. Continuous promotions of these benefits in Asia and Australian market will be one of the necessary campaigns during the initial launch of the products. As the Last Chance’s Juicy drink brand penetrates the lucrative Asia and Australian markets, the strength of the brand needs further emphasis as a sweet, healthy and a rejuvenating drink relevant for the whole population. The strength of the product is in its innovativeness in production quality and customer responsiveness. This report is for the launch of Last Chance’s Juicy drink brand and based on the market research develops a market penetration strategy for the brand. The reports assess the necessary brand equity elements necessary to be emphasised for the success launch and penetration of the brand into the Asian and Australian market. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Overview of the organisation and the brand 4 Brand description 5 Building Brand Equity 7 Communication strategy 10 Measuring Brand equity 11 Assumptions and Recommendation 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction Last Chance Corporation is founded on a platform of change and new way of doing things. The company having been in a competitive market where taste and preferences is very critical has learned to outdo their competitors through quality management and appreciation of total product concept. The company has been in the soft drinks industry for the more than 20 years and this earned the brand the necessary awareness in the market. This brand report will analyse the next strategy for Last Chance to penetrate the lucrative Asia and Austria market where the soft drinks market has been in an endless and steady growth for the last 10 years. The company having been the market leader in the UK for the last 8 years is strategically prepared to face off with other soft drinks giants like the Coca cola and Sweppes. The company’s strengths in the line of non carbonated soft drinks and variety of tastes has been one of the core advantages but still the company’s strategy in the Asia and Australian market depends on the market research and brand positioning in the market. The report based on a solid and efficient market research proposes a multidimensional market penetration and brand position strategy. The implementation of the report will enable last chance in the launch of its Juicy soft drinks into the Australian and Asian market. Overview of the organisation and the brand Last Chance Corporation was founded in 1980 as Soft drinks Company in London. The company is associated with its variety of non carbonated soft drinks and has been the market leader in the UK for the last 8 years. Other products of the company include Last Chance Sports and Last Chance Perfumes for the male gender. Last Chance intends to launch a new brand; Juicy drink for the Australian and Asian market. The company’s diversification based on its strong soft drink customer relationship eased the market penetration for the other sub brands. Brand leverage concept actually worked well since most of the Soft drink consumers were sports fans and this facilities faster acceptance of the Last Chance Sports products and Perfumes. The cornerstone of Last Chance’s success in the soft drinks market is in their customer responsiveness and quality mechanisms. The company’s appreciation of the new consumer demand requirements in the soft drinks market and producing non carbonated and nutritious product will facilitate faster market penetration (Moore, 1999). Most of the soft drinks associated with the Last Chance are known to be sweet, nutritious and non-carbonated. Last Chance’s soft drinks have been associated with health living, great taste and used by great people. Juicy drink brand being new in Asia and Australian market requires a steady market research to identify the values and attributes needed in the brand in order to be accepted in the market. The brand strength is that the Juicy drinks are already being used in the international functions where most sports and foreign relations ambassadors of this market region have participated. Last Chance’s Juicy drinks plans to leverage on its international acceptance of its sister brands of Last Chance and other strategies based on quality production and vigorous brand awareness programme in order to penetrate the market. Brand description Brand positioning strategy involves delivering of the relevant information to the market regarding the brand (Moore, 1999). The brand positioning involves eliciting the right perceptions regarding the brand in the customers mind. In order to create a relevant brand positioning of Juicy drinks from Last Chance, it is necessary that a proper market research is done in order to identify the customers’ ideal drinks, economic status, values and even their drinking habits (Loibl, 2009). This understanding ensures that brand positioning is based on the understanding of the customer (Provost, 2007). Juicy drink should be positioned as a healthy and rejuvenating drink. Juicy drinks should be available in different flavours so as to affirm the nutritious aspect of the drink. From the market research the following consumer attributes in the Asia and Australian market are almost similar and a common strategy for brand development will be applied (Provost, 2007).The market will not be segregated since most of the consumers do value communal bonding and activities. i. Target market The regional target market is Asia and Australia. The market penetration strategy for Last Chance’s Juicy drink should not be limited to a particular market niche but rather to the whole population. Juicy drink should be positioned as a whole family and population drink. Juicy drink should not position itself as fitting to a particular generation but rather a whole population drink (Shama, 1993). This is to enforce Asia’s culture of communal bonding aspects as regards taking meals and drinks. The non exclusion of children in the drinks makes it a favourite drink during meals in the family setup. The Australian market is in way dynamic in that it is a preferences driven market (Libman, 2006). The Juicy drink product should therefore target opinion leaders like the famous sports and entertainment personality to promote the drink. The target market here is still the whole populations but it should strategically begin with the youth who are the 70% of the Australian population according to the market research (Carlson, 2008). The youth are mostly associated with the celebrities hence the brand development concept of having a hero promoter will capture them. ii. Competitor Analysis The main competitors of Juicy drinks are mainly carbonated drinks manufacturers, mainly Coca cola and Sweppes. Both competitors have been in the Asia and Australia market for a long time but dealing with drinks with no nutritive value (Stole & Livesay, 2007). The competitors of Last Chance have been active promoters of entertainment events and sports in Australia and Asia. The competitor’s financial base is substantially solid but Last Chance strategy should be based on creating the relevant consumer awareness. iii. POPs and PODs Points of parity- POPs These are attributes shared by Juicy and their competitors’ products especially Coca cola’s coke and Fanta drinks. Both are soft drinks Packaged in bottles and cans Points of Difference-PODs Juicy drinks are nutritious and having food supplements Juicy drinks are healthy drinks hence taken even by young children Unique logo and colours Product innovation Competitive prices Consumer and public health research responsiveness Building Brand Equity Brand equity is that inherent value of a brand in the mind of the consumer. This is a very important aspect that will determine the strength of the brand in the market. It is associated with the total product concept where the product will meet all the needs of the consumer (Bagozzi, 1993). For the Juicy drink the brand equity in the London market has been based its nutritive value, competitive pricing and customer awareness and knowledge. Brand pricing is one of the critical aspects in the establishment of brand equity. The pricing strategy should be that of a slightly higher price than that of other soft drinks in order to reflect the nutritive value in the drink. This will enable the consumers to appreciate that the drink as truly nutritive (Aaker, 2007). Brand packing should also be done in unique bottles with designs that should be trademarked and patented in order to secure the property in the designs (Aaker, 2007). The packing designs should take into consideration the consumers desired volumes of the drink while offering variety of quantities. Last Chance should create a brand mantra for its Juicy drink. The mantra should incorporate the core aspects intended to be achieved in the brand positioning (Berthon & Napoli, 2008). The proposed mantra should strengthen the brand position of healthy living and rejuvenating aspects of the drink. i. Brand awareness Last Chance should make known its Juicy drinks in the Asia and Australian market. Brand awareness is created mostly through advertising campaigns that will ensure recognition of Juicy drinks by majority of the population. As stated by Aaker (2007) juicy drinks of the Last Chance should be given a relevant and clear identity. The name of the products Juicy drink and their associated logos should be unique and needs to be emphasised through advertising in order for the consumers to have the awareness of the brand. Apart from its quality aspects, Juicy drinks should always be in the minds of the consumer. It is therefore necessary to have a continuous strategic advertisement mix that will capture the larger market in creating the brand awareness (Cervino & Cubillo, 2004). The Logo, name and other related trademarks should also continuously be in the customers minds through frequent reminder advertisements. Juicy drinks market awareness strategies should create consumer purchase motivation that should be reflected in the sales volumes. ii. Selection of brand Elements Juicy drinks being a sweet, healthy and energising drink should select brand elements identifying it as enhancing this positioning. The marketing campaigns should always depict a state of healthy living and its associated characteristics like great performance in sports, children growth and even improvement of health of the invalids (Hart & Tzokas, 1999). The brand name “Juicy” creates the impression of the extracts from fruits that are sweet. The brand name is unique and differentiates the products of Last Chance to that of the competitors. Last Chance should also strive to develop as relevant logo or trade mark that should uphold the brand recognition and functional attributes (Cui, 2003). iii. Brand image Last Chance’s Juicy drink image should be enhanced a healthy, rejuvenating drink of all times and by all people. Juicy drinks image should be synonymous with the personality of an excellent sports personality. The health qualities of the Juicy drinks should be made public and qualified by a health professional association. Juicy drinks can be seen to affirm the health qualities by sponsoring health related public functions (Cui, 2003). This will associate the brand with health and will create a relevant image in the minds of the consumers. iv. Brand associations Juicy drinks should be made known to the market by creating a relevant association that will uphold the brands identity contact of being a sweet, healthy and all times drink. The drink should endeavour to have a positive relationship with the sports people and also the medical experts in order to give the brand the necessary leverage for the customers’ acceptance as a healthy drink. The brand marketing programme should be aligned to the positioning of the brand (Hart & Tzokas, 1999). The sponsorship of sports especially Rugby especially in Australia where the sport is most prevalent and cricket in Asia will ensure that Juicy drinks’ positioning is enhanced. Communication strategy Communication strategy is one of the main pillars in creating customer awareness and knowledge of a brand. This attributes have direct impact on the establishment of the brand equity necessary for the successful market penetration and dominance (Agarwal, 2000). The communication strategy being an agent for product positioning is very critical and should be responsive to the market needs and intended product positioning strategy (Fullerton, 2005). The strategy should have a clear picture of the expected feelings to be elicited in the customers’ mind and the intended relationship to be established. i. Creative strategy Juicy drinks’ message should be that of a drink for all times by all people and a drink of healthy living and rejuvenation. To drive the message home and achieve the expected results of customer usage of the products and increased sales, the creative strategy needs to put into consideration the customer values and habits (La Roche, 2005). In order to promote the health related aspects of the brand, the drink should always put up a communication strategy that will be sport related. Juicy drinks will need to sponsor sporting event that will depict the users of the products being the healthiest people in the population. The drink should also have an iconic sports person being its ambassador. The communication strategy should be creative and integrated so as to ensure coherent communication of the same message. Different players should harmonise their product communications so that one message is passed on to all the stakeholders. The merger of public relations team, marketing and advertising, production and even the supply chain team to one team responsible for the promotion of the brand requires not only creativity but also objectivity and harmony in communication (La Roche, 2005). Creative strategy will ensure that brand awareness in the minds of the potential consumers will be enhanced consequently leading to brand knowledge (Moore, 1999). ii. Media Mix The media mix in the communication strategy will ensure that almost all the population in the region are reached with the Juicy drinks’ message of healthy drinking. According to Lee and Chen (2005) the media mix should include TV commercials, sports sponsorship, radio commercials, Billboards and even health related fundraising sponsorship. For the effective market penetration, Juicy drink should communicate the same message using strategically selected media relevant to capturing the whole market. The message in Juicy drink adverts should always be around healthy living and rejuvenation. Juicy Drinks marketing should take advantage of mobile and web technologies in the brand communication so as to reach a wider market. Use of mobile short messaging flyers will enable the brand to create a faster market presence (Lee & Chen, 2005). Use of creative visual outdoor designs in bill boards will also enable the brand to be easily felt as part of the community. Measuring Brand equity Brand equity is one asset which requires valuation in order to evaluate success or failure of the brand. Brand equity measurement will be a reflective benchmark that will attest to the successful brand positioning or otherwise. It is therefore imperative that the company’s efforts be evaluated in order to assess the relevance of the branding strategy (Randall, 2003). Brand equity measurement includes the brand loyalty by customers, market share, market trends and sensitivity to the competitors’ actions (Maritz, 2008). This attributes will always be measured to assess the effectiveness of the brand and the responsiveness of the customers to the branding activities. Assumptions and Recommendation The assumptions in the proposed brand development report include the following; Fair and consistent govern policy on foreign investments Minimum changes in consumer preferences. Political stability of Asia and Australia. Availability of funds For a sustained competitiveness and enhanced brand equity, the following recommendations will enhance Juicy drinks brand equity; Frequent market research and brand equity audits to assess the relevance of the drink to the market. Continuous product innovation to ensure a sustained market leadership Improved relationships with the market by engaging in corporate social responsibility by Last Chance. The proposed brand implementation plan necessary to enhance the achievement of the brand objectives of penetrating and becoming the market leader in Asia and Australia region is as below. Action/Activity Responsibility a) Establishment of brand steering committee CEO/ Management b) Development of brand vision CEO/ Management/ Employees c) Facilitating networking and cooperation CEO/ Management/ Employees d) Establishment of branding infrastructure CEO/ Management/ Employees e) Brand concept synthesis and consumer testing CEO/ Management/ Employees f) Brand launch CEO/ Management/ Employees Conclusion Last Chance’s Juicy drinks Market penetration into Asia and Australian market requires an intensive brand development strategy. The strategy should be able to uphold Last Chance values of creativity and innovation, customer satisfaction and environmental friendliness. Juicy drinks brand development should uphold the brands awareness as a sweet, healthy and rejuvenating drink. Proper brand positioning will ensure that the brand ignites consumer purchase motivation which is the key to successful marketing and branding. 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