Individual Brand Plan for Last Chance - Case Study Example

Executive Summary Last Chance has to look towards ensuring that they are able to target the correct customer in the age bracket 12 to 24 years and has to look towards developing their branding strategy by looking towards including different variables like consumer confidence and the growth in the overall perception of the brand. To achieve it Last Chance will have to look towards ensuring that they are able to spread awareness through the use of different media and ensure a communication strategy which helps the customer to understand the product and the brand better. This will help Last Chance to be able to grow its market and bring about the transformation through which more and more customers will look towards the products and services of the company. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Assumptions 3 Positioning Strategy 4 Target Market 5 Competitor Analysis 7 POP’s & POD’s 9 Brand Equity 9 Brand Awareness 10 Brand Element 12 Brand Image 12 Brand Association 13 Communication Strategy 13 Measuring Brand Equity 14 Recommendations 14 Conclusion 15 References 16 Introduction Companies looking towards long term profitability and growth have to look towards determining the manner in which brand awareness will be generated and the strategies that will be used to increase brand equity. Last Chance is looking towards diversification of their business and is aiming at soft brink beverage industry due to strong growth and demand for the products and services that the sector is witnessing. This makes it important that Last Chance looks towards identifying the potential market and based on it looks towards developing strategies which is aimed towards improving the brand equity. This report looks towards finding out the strategies that Last Chance will look towards incorporating in determining the brand image and the different factors and areas that the company looks towards working on so that overall brand awareness is created. This report thereby will explain thoroughly the manner in Last Chance will be able to create the require brand awareness and equity through which their soft drink gets accepted among the people. This will help to ensure that the overall performance of Last Chance improves and they are able to mobilize the funding and ensure maximum productivity. Assumptions The assumptions which have to be considered while developing the brand strategy are as The branding strategy is based on the present market condition which might change at the time of implementation The branding strategy has been developed based on the manner in which the other players in the market develops their strategies Current information which are secondary information have been used and no primary research to gather information from the customer has been done Positioning Strategy Last Chance has looked towards developing a positioning strategy where they are able to target the market that they have determined i.e. in the age bracket 12 to 24 years. The positioning strategy has been developed by Last Chance after looking at the different positioning strategy being followed by other players which is as follows (Brassington and Pettitt, 2001) Based on the above positioning strategy that different type of drinks that are available in the market Last Chance has looked towards determining their positioning strategy which ensures that it goes with the market requirements and has looked towards providing a drink which us a mixture and has different characteristics of a carbonated drink, juices and energy drinks. This will ensure that the positioning strategy followed by Last Chance for their soft drink looks as follows The above chart thereby highlights that the positioning strategy that Last Chance has looked towards adopting which will ensure that they are able to ensure maximum efficiency and based on it has looked towards ensuring that the required brand awareness campaign and strategies can be developed. Target Market Last Chance has looked towards identifying the market they are looking to tap and is based on the following fundamentals Who are they? People in the age of 12 to 24. What do they buy? Teenagers look towards purchasing products from companies which helps them to be associated with the brand and looks towards pushing themselves for purchasing the product as well When do they buy it? Teenagers look towards purchasing the product when they are able to associate themselves with the product which creates an urge and desire to purchase the same How do they choose? Teenagers look towards choosing products which are associated with their age and avoid products which are old and outdated. They look towards products and services which signifies their trend Why they prefer a product? Teenagers purchase a product when they are able to associate themselves or someone else with the product or services that is being offered How they respond to a marketing program? Teenagers look for slogans or words which are catchy and flashy so that it captures their imagination. They look towards products or services which are able to create a positive impression on them about the product and services. The target market thereby is people in the age 12 to 24 years of age who are geographically spread over the entire region. This market thereby looks towards a mixture of tween and older high school students (Abernathy, 2004). The prime reason for choosing the target market is that tween looks towards spending an average of $9 per week and is valued to be growing and is as $43 billion (Arernathy, 2004). Apart from the tween the high school students provide another exemplary example where the population base is slowly growing and is around 40.6 million people that falls in this age. Determining the target market based on it helps to understand the manner in which Last Chance has been able to identify the target market and people they are looking toards targeting for their soft drink. Competitor Analysis Last Chance has to face stiff competition while looking towards providing their products to the customers who will require that they are able to differentiate their services in such a manner that it helps to increase the relevance and importance of services. Last Chance faces both direct and indirect competition the description of which is as follows (Simkin and Cheng, 2007) The direct competitors are as The indirect competitors are as It shows that the degree of competition for Last Chance is very stiff which will require that they look towards advertising their product and services and look towards creating a differentiation point based on which they are able to cater to a niche market. The slight advantage that Last Chance is that they are looking towards a products which is differentiated from other as seen in the positioning strategy which will thereby look towards ensuring that they are able to provide better services and products to its customers. POPs & PODs Last Chance while looking towards formulating their strategy for brand equity and awareness has looked towards identifying the PODs and POPs which will help to identify the manner in which the product will be able to match the others in the market. Looking at the point of parity is that that soft drink that Last Chance is placing will help to quench thirst as well as provide energy. This is more or less similar to other drinks which are available in the market. This has helped to establish similarity between the different soft drinks that are available and has made it look like a similar product A look at the point of difference will help to understand that unlike other drink which is aimed at either providing energy or is carbonated Last Chance has developed their soft drink which is mixture of all. This thereby ensures that the difference between the product in the market is established and it will help Last Chance to create the difference base don which better facilities can be rendered and point of difference can be established. Brand Equity Last Chance has to look towards developing strategies through which they are able to create brand equity for their product. This can be achieved when the company is able to use its factors in such a manner that they are able to ensure that people i.e. teenagers are able to associate with the product. This will help Last Chance to ensure that they are able to create awareness and develop a halo effect around their brand. This will make people look towards the same product and services and will be achieved over a period of time. This will require that proper strategies are drawn and implemented which will help to create brand awareness and will ensure increased satisfaction level for the customers. Last Chance while looking towards creating awareness and developing brand equity have to keep in mind the rules and regulations that the government has enacted. This will require that the company looks towards ensuring that the advertising in not directed towards children below the age of 12 and looks to provide some healthy message and shows the manner in which teenagers will benefit. This will have to create a positive impression on the mind of the people and will ensure that they are able to make people associate with the brand. This will thereby develop and create a framework through which better recognition is created with the brand In addition to it strategies have to be framed which looks towards finding out a mechanism through which the increasing concern of health and obesity is highlighted. This should be presented before the public as Last Chance by using it as a way to gain popularity for their product will ensure that they are able to create awareness and develop brand equity. Over a longer period of time Last Chance by being able to work on the required fundamentals and direction will be able to bring a difference through which brand equity will be developed. Brand Awareness Last Chance while looking towards developing brand awareness has to develop strategies through which they are able to market their product and create awareness among the people. This will require that Last Chance looks towards incorporating different elements and ensure that a strategy which uses different substance is developed so that based on it proper brand awareness campaign can be developed and is as Television: Last Chance has to look towards using television as a medium to spread awareness about the product. The fact that the viewership for television is growing at a rapid pace it is imperative that Last Chance understands the manner in which they will use television for advertising their products. This will thereby ensure that Last Chance is able to increase their chance of spreading awareness and will make it easy for people to recognize the products when the see it. Radio: Last Chance can also look towards using radio as a medium of spreading awareness as people listening to radio is slowly rising. This will require that Last Chance develops some catchy slogan or voice modulation which makes the customer remember about the product. Also having extensive marketing will ensure that they are able to develop fundamentals based on which proper relation can be developed and remembrance of the product can be increased. Print: Last Chance can also look towards using the print media to create awareness about their products where they can draw the attention of the target consumer by highlighting the different features and qualities that their drink has. This will help to ensure that they are able to make people understand the manner in which they are able to understand the benefit that the customer will get from the product and will ensure that the company is able to create proper brand awareness strategy. New Media: Last Chance also has to look towards using the growth of new media like different social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook which will help the soft drink company to ensure that they are able to spread awareness. This will act as a platform through which more and more people can be reached and will help to find out the perception of the people towards the brand as well. This will thereby help Last Chance to formulate strategies which will help to build long term brand relationship. Traditional Promotional Activities: Last Chance also has to take the help of traditional promotional activities as it will help them to interact with a large customer base and provide an opportunity through which the brand is able to persuade people and make them purchase the product. This will help to ensure that more and more awareness is generated which will help in long term positive relationship and ensure development of brand equity. Brand Element Last Chance has to ensure that the brand element is developed in such a manner that it helps to ensure easy reminding, provides meaning, is liked and can be easily understood. This makes it imperative that the name and logo chosen by Last Chance is such that people are able to associate with the product. In addition to it captions and jingles should be developed in such a manner that it helps the customers to remember it. This will help Last Chance to ensure that people find easy association with the brand and are able to remember it easily (Drummond and Ensor, 2001). In addition to it Last Chance has to look towards ensuring that the color and design that they choose for their product is such that it makes it easy for the person to remember and associate with the brand. This will help to develop the required dimensions through which Last Chance will be able to provide better services. It will also help Last Chance to ensure that the targeted audience is able to understand the product better and will help them to create brand equity in the market. Brand Image Last Chance has to look towards developing brand image for their soft drink as it will help the targeted customers to understand the brand better. This will require that the company looks towards presenting a clear and good image by ensuring that they highlight the actual content of the product and the manner it will effectively help customers to be able to ensure maximum benefit. This will also require that Last Chance looks towards taking help to others in the industry and market which will help them to present a clear and sound image of the company and will help to highlight the actual benefit that the consumers consuming the drink will be able to get. Brand Association Last Chance also has to look towards ensuring that the consumers are able to associate their product with something. This will help to ensure that the customers remember the product when they look towards the object which helps them to be associated with the product. The organization can look towards choosing a celebrity, a theme, or and other method which will help to ensure that the customer is easily able to identify his habits and purchasing habit with the product. Care has to be maintained in ensuring that Last Chance looks towards finding out a mechanism through which they will be able to generate positive response and should be aimed at creating a structure through which maximum association with the brand can be generated (Kenneth, 2004). Communication Strategy Last Chance has to look towards ensuring that the communication methodology chosen by them ensures transparency and bring forward the actual truth. Last Chance can look towards using television, print, radio and other form of social networking sites along with different promotional campaign to ensure that they are able to communicate clearly with the customers. This will help to ensure that the objectives and the manner in which the objectives will be achieved will be clear. This will help to create a positive relationship as it will help to bring the required change and ensure that the strategy to communicate is clear. In addition to it Last Chance can also look towards taking specialized services of different health care organization and people through which they are able to ensure that maximum information about their product is spread. This will also require that Last Chance looks at working on the different strategies through which the overall message can be clearly communicated. Measuring Brand Equity Last Chance can look towards measuring their brand equity by analyzing the manner in which the customers are willing to pay extra over their cost and the increasing demand which has resulted in the growth of brand. The overall brand equity will thereby look to include different variables and will be based on the manner the soft drink company is able to place itself in the market. This will thereby look towards identifying the different aspect like customer confidence on the brand, demand for the product, increasing awareness and the willingness to pay more for the product. This will thereby help to understand the manner in Last Chance has been able to grow its soft drink and ensure better demand from the customers. Recommendations Last Chance has to look towards ensuring that they are able to target the correct customer in the age bracket 12 to 24 years and has to look towards developing their branding strategy by looking towards including different variables like consumer confidence and the growth in the overll perception of the brand. To achieve it Last Chance will have to look towards ensuring that they are able to spread awareness through the use of different media and ensure a communication strategy which helps the customer to understand the product and the brand better. This will help Last Chance to be able to grow its market and bring about the transformation through which more and more customers will look towards the products and services of the company. Conclusion Last Chance has to look towards developing strategies which looks toward identifying the different fundamentals so that the overall potential to establish a brand for its soft drink market can be developed. This will require working on the different parameter which will help to ensure that overall benefit is gained. This will thereby help to ensure maximum effectiveness and will help Last Chance to be able to create a halo effect through which the demand for their product increases. References Abernathy, R. (2004). Tween Market 101. TD Monthly. Retrieved on November 16, 2011 from http://www.toydirectory.com/monthly/article.asp?id=918 Brassington, J. and Pettitt, M. (2001). Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall Drummond, G. and Ensor, J. (2001). Strategic Marketing, planning and control, 2nd Edition, Butterworth Heinemann. Kenneth, H. (2004). Brand Loyalty 2004. Retrieved on November 16, 2011 from http://www.brandkeys.com/news/press/102504Brandweek.Loyalty.pdf Simkin, L. and Cheng, A. (2007), Making Intelligence and Planning, Understanding Competitors’ Strategies: The Practitioner-Academic Gap, 15 (3), 124-134 Read More