Kool-Aid Marketing Strategy

Kool-Aid, a brand that offers flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Foods is part of the soft drink industry. Three main players control the soft drink industry and they are Coke (42.8%), Pepsi (31.1%), and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (15%). First of all, a soft drink is defined as any drink that contains water, but not alcohol. This includes soda, juice/punch, energy drink, tea, sports drink, and water. There are more than a thousand different soft drinks in the U.S. market, and among the one thousand variety of drinks, the three main players offer about 400 of them (40%). Since the three dominant brands pretty much control the market, most of the small players compete by offering inexpensive drinks that are often only sold in particular retail chain such as Sam’s Choice and Shasta Beverages. They also compete in the newer category of soft drinks such as tea and energy

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 soft-drink industry capitalizing on creating the best product. Each product has a different taste, formula, and color to entice the consumer. It is important for the product to remain innovative in order to keep the consumers interested. The suppliers can easily differ, because they do not hold much value or put

The target audience for this product is children and their families. I think the obvious symbol of this is all the commercials I have ever seen, have always had children in it. Also, the cartoon pitcher “Kool-Aid Man” is target towards children, since it’s essentially a cartoon. I suppose most cartoons are not targeted towards adults. I have looked up Kool-Aid commercials, starting in the 1950’s, and even then it included Kool-Aid Man. In a video of commercials from the 1950’s-1990s, each commercial was different. The 1950s commercial had children in it, and a mother figure, who did an example on how to make it. There was also a catchy jingle. The 1960s commercial had the jingle “make friends with Kool-Aid,” which ended up getting stuck in my head, as a successful jingle should. This same pattern goes same with the rest of the commercials until this day. Another pattern that tends to stick with the commercials are a number of different catchy slogans.

One of the alternatives for Squirt is to reinforce the marketing strategies. They should consistently advertise their carbonated grapefruit soft drink in United States for long period of time, which will lead to high brand awareness and loyalty. The budget spend on advertising by Squirt is less than the competitors’ budget. Squirt should also use their budget towards making their advertising more appealing to the targeted age group, research and development process to achieve higher quality standard for their product. Also further research and development is recommended by Foote, Cone & Belding to compete with their competitors such as Coca-Cola and

could be geared towards females in an attempt to capture drinkers of Coca Cola’s Tab. In addition, males’ ages 35 to 54 consume energy beverages at a rate slightly lower than males under age 24. An energy beverage with similar stimulant effects as most energy drinks but has other health benefits (i.e. Vitamin Water, Odwalla, Naked) could also attract the abovementioned consumers.

Hawaiian Punch is the top-selling fruit punch drink in the United States, contributing to the ninety-nine percent brand awareness among U.S. consumers. The product line in 2004 consisted of eleven flavors, with the original Fruit Juicy Red flavor being the most popular brand with a wide margin. A Hawaiian Punch light version of Fruit Juicy Red was recently introduced with sixty percent less sugar. At first, the traditional focus of Hawaiian Punch was centered towards children; however, the company now wants to refocus its positioning statement. Another brand consideration is the innovation of a new flavor into both finished goods and direct store delivery networks. The third concern is to address allowances relative to innovation in Hawaiian Punch finished goods and Direct Store Delivery (DSD) networks and to media advertising. Give the previous considerations; we have developed new marketing proposals for future marketing decisions.

End users are those individuals walking in the company stores, ordering a smoothie and a cookie, paying the cashier and then telling her friend how wonderful the ambiance is. This buyer segment does not purchase large amounts of product at one time and likely chooses Jamba because of the quality of the ingredients. With no switching costs and a growing industry offering many options, patrons of smoothie cafés can freely purchase their delightful cool beverage anywhere. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the number of stores within the “snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars” industry grew from 36,036 in 2002 to 49,463 in 2007 [ (U.S. Census Bureau) ]. This trend means that Jamba Juice will have to increase customer loyalty to battle the increased competition.

As we all go about our day, we rush to place to place. Around us there are things for sale, people everywhere trying to make money. As we are rushing around, we all tend to get thirsty as we have a thousand things going on. In America we have dozens of choices when it comes to soft drinks, although the two most widely known are Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Many are often stuck between choosing Coke or Pepsi; even though they are slightly different in appearance, taste, and price it makes a world of difference to the customer.

| 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

Hawaiian Punch has much less control over the sale and distribution of the brand in the direct to store network and sold much less in volume, but does receive very high gross margin contribution after marketing. This network accounts for only eighteen percent of total brand sales but contributes forty-one percent of the gross contribution of the brand. The target market is also different from the finished goods network. In the direct to store model the target market is households with children six to seventeen years old, focusing on teenagers. This needs to continue since this category, carbonated soft drinks, is over twenty-eight percent of the total beverage market and has been growing in both volume and market share. By being in this distribution network, it allows for not only additional sales but the ability to target a different market segment, the teenage; who most likely drank Hawaiian Punch from the juice aisle and now will choose it from the carbonated drinks aisle.

Gatorade has emerged as the global leader in sports nutrition beverages by continually managing their brand to signify high energy, athletic excellence combine with one of the most efficient new product development and introduced processes in the beverage industry. As a result of being able to consistently synchronize these many components of their business so well, Gatorade today holds a 75% market share in the sports nutrition market globally today. Gatorade is owned by PepsiCo, which has made it possible for the company to sell in 80 countries today. Gatorade relies heavily on the PepsiCo distribution and retail network globally. Gatorades' revolutionary approach to managing branding for beverages has served to increase the total market size for this product category globally (Huang, Sarigöllü, 2012). Despite the continued widespread adoption of Gatorade as a healthy energy drink, the company has encountered resistance to its brand and the ingredients used for creating the many variations of Gatorade energy drinks (Tallon, 2009). Despite these setbacks the Gatorade brand continues to experience exceptional growth and stability over time.

In contrast, Squirt has many external opportunities which are not currently being sought through the market strategy. One opportunity is to gain market share and percentage of sales in the U.S. by focusing on the correct target audience and their wants and needs as previously discussed. America’s consumption of soft drinks per person is on the rise. Also citrus flavored soft drinks have not been introduced to all of the areas of the country which leaves the opportunity to gain market share. Studies show that consumers want more fruit flavored beverages which are exactly what Squirt products are. This is an opportune time to lay the ground work for a national campaign which will target increased ethnic groups and capture a larger market share.

The Coca Cola company is perceived to be the most famous trademark on the globe, and it is equally so. The company claims more than 400 brands that appeal to a wide range of individuals throughout the world. They are in a position to fulfill needs of every one of their buyers making their experience with their beverages a better one. The entity’s drinks entice a lot of people across all races, age, and gender. Coca Cola is outstanding for its overall popularity as its items are sold in over four hundred countries in the world, while major contenders like Pepsi are just available in very few countries. Such a competitive advantage has placed

Other key marketing mix failures that affected Snapple in the Quaker era fall under the promotion and product umbrellas. Quaker did not follow regular advertising schedules, ceased Snapple’s partnership with Wendy Kaufman, and beside reducing the numbers of flavors available, was also unable to introduce new ones quickly enough. The started selling the product in larger sizes (32 and 64 ounces bottle), but this initiative was another flop: bottles of that size were suitable for Gatorade, not for a leisure beverage like Snapple, customers simply would not buy it. These choices elicited negative response in consumers who stopped perceiving Snapple as a funky and fashionable brand; the beverage’s healthy reputation was damaged too. It is rather clear that Quaker’s executives did not fully understand the Snapple brand and erroneously modified its marketing mix. This failure resulted in the rise of a deleterious discrepancy between the experiential value and benefits customers were used to and expected form Snapple, and the brand’s altered nature. In synthesis, Quaker tried to transplant a marketing mix and execution strategy to a recipient who was not suitable for it, and Snapple, its distributors, and its customers ultimately suffered from