Kool-Aid Marketing Strategy Essay

dominant positions of the Big Three: Kellogg, General Mills, and Philip Morris. The 1993 year-end

One of the advantages that Kool-Aid has over the dominant players is its portability and easiness of distribution. Since Kool-Aid was invented for the purpose of reducing shipping cost and comes in small packets or tubes, it is extremely cheap to ship compared to the bottled and canned drinks that most of the soft drink companies are offering. It also does not take up space and therefore reduces space and cost for the retail stores to display Kool-Aid in the store. The distribution advantage is there, so Kool-Aid’s main focus should be creating demand and to be on consumers’ consideration set in order to compete with the dominant players in the juice/punch category. However, multinationals such as Coke and Pepsi are also very profitable in the concentration category by selling their products through fast food chains and convenient stores, which allow them to be profitable in both as bottlers and concentration producers. In order to compete with companies like Coke and Pepsi, Kool-Aid needs to offer “ready to drink” products that are bottled or

Gatorade is a flagship brand of PepsiCo and has a commanding 75% market share of the sports nutrition beverage marketplace globally, being sold into 80 different countries according to the latest PepsiCo annual report published in late 2011. Gatorade's success in branding and product marketing has actually expanded the global market for sports nutrition beverages during the late 1990s and into the 21rst century. Recently however the company has faced many channels including product line extensions of the last decade which failed to deliver strong results (Pollack, 1997) and a more critical analysis of their ingredients as many of their beverages are sold in public schools (Tallon, 2009). Despite these challenges however, Gatorade continues to experience strong market share and growth. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate and provide recommendations for each of the four areas of the marketing mix including product, price, promotion and place or distribution.

The existing concentrate business is largely controlled by Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) and PepsiCo (Pepsi), together claiming a combined 72% of the U.S. carbonated soft drink (CSD) market sales volume in 2009. Refer to Exhibit 1 for an illustration of the CSD industry value chain. For more than a century, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have maintained growth and large market shares through mastering five competitive forces, shown in Exhibit 2, that drive profitability and shape the industry structure.

Kool-Aid is a favorite childhood drink of mine. One of the big things I think of when I hear the word “Kool-Aid” is the mascot, which is a giant pitcher of Kool-Aid called Kool-Aid Man. I remember seeing commercials of the mascot with children enjoying summer playing outside, then stopping for a refreshing beverage. I can remember coming home from school, getting the pitcher out of the fridge full of lemon flavored Kool-Aid.

Moreover, some key activities are shown regarding to time in the period from the beginning of 2011 until the end of this year.

Discuss what is meant by the term “customer orientation”. Illustrate with examples how companies demonstrate their customer orientation by reference to at least two elements of the marketing mix.

The soft drink industry in the United States is a highly profitably, but competitive market. In 2000 alone, consumers on average drank 53 gallons of soft drinks per person a year. There are three major companies that hold the majority of sales in the carbonated soft drink industry in the United States. They are the Coca Cola Company with 44.1% market share, followed by The Pepsi-Cola Company with 31.4% market share, and Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. with 14.7% market share. Each company respectively has numerous brands that it sales. These top brands account for almost 73% of soft drink sales in the United States. Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. owns two of the top ten

1.The company I chose to research is the, Coca-Cola Company. Their company mission is to “refresh the world” and spread happiness, which can be seen in the media advertising. Although this company is sold in stores, there is the option for online buying as well. Its URL is, http://www.coca-colastore.com. While this URL, is the company’s actual website, http://www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company. This online website allows customers to buy Coca-Cola products “Share-a-Coke” and Coke brand merchandise (Moye, 2015).

Kraft is clearly a strong competitor, as they remain one of the top contenders in each of their industries. They are able to strongly differentiate their products from those of other companies to capture a large share of the markets they participate in. They have a wide array of products that can serve as subsituties for each other to keep consumers within their brands, but give them options on which products to consume.

| Weaknesses: * Pays extra payment for new flavor. * More expensive to produce than other sports drinks. * Deciding the segment to target. * How to position the product in the mind of its potential consumers

The intent of this analysis is to evaluate what the Gatorade brand means in today's market, how it has evolved over time, and which target markets the company is considering today. Competitors to Gatorade are also assessed.

Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. is the company which produces the brand Squirt. “Squirt is a caffeine-free, low sodium carbonated soft drink brand with a distinctive blend of grapefruit juices that gives it a tangy, fresh citrus taste. Squirt is the best selling carbonated grapefruit soft drink brand in the U.S.” (Kerin and Peterson, 2010) Kate Cox, the brand manager responsible for Squirt believes that market targeting and product positioning are key elements in Squirt’s advertising and promotional plan development. This case study will provide a summary and analysis of Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.’s options and the examination into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities.

Portland Drake Beverages (PDB) had acquired Crescent Pure, a non-alcoholic, all natural energy enhancing and hydrating functional beverage. Having organic ingredients as the bases of Crescent Pure beverages made the perfect acquisition for extending the PDB organic brand to more markets. These multiple attributes made the drink an attractive product for the consumer, but the necessity to position it, sparked a debate. Some people wanted to market it as an energy drink, while others wanted to market it as a hydrating drink. The VP of marketing, Sarah Ryan, thought that although Crescent Pure fit both of these categories, there was an alternative option. The third option would be to position the new beverages as healthy drinks, this would be a broader market positioning strategy, one that a transcendent product like Crescent Pure, could fulfill. The concern was to simultaneously position the drink in the most lucrative market, while also ensuring that the drinks attributes aligned with the market consumers’ needs.

There are more than 900 registered brand names in the US. The top 10 brands are marketed by the 3 leading US soft drinks companies which are Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper/7up. The cola flavor is the most popular of carbonated soft drinks in the US with 65.7% of the market share. The orange flavor comes in 3rd with only 3.9% of the market share. As far as market segments are concerned there are only two segments; the regular carbonated soft drink and the diet carbonated soft drink (Kerin & Peterson, 2007).