Marketing Plan
Atlantic Quench Cranberries
Marketing Plan
Introduction:
The report is all about the overview of the marketing strategy should be adopted by AQC as AQC Inc (Atlantic Quench Cranberries) is one of popular and prevalent juice company mainly operating in United Kingdom and North America. The owner of the company is the suppliers and this is reason that structure of organization is little bit than conventional company, which is an agricultural co-operative society. The products of AQC Inc are so popular that whenever people think of cranberries, they ought to say the name AQC juices. The products of AQC become popular in UK market after winning North American juice market.
Executive Summary:
AQC is an agricultural co-operative business organization and a popular name in fruit juice industry selling different flavored cranberry juice and dried cranberries. The corporation is now owned by about 46 North American and 630 cranberry grapefruit farmers. It is assumed that two third of world’s total raw cranberries are produced by the members of AQC. ACCI’s eight cranberry grower owners have an annual production of 2.3 million kilograms of elegant and tasty red vine-ripened berries. The high standards of ACCI’s growing and processing partners assure customers home-made taste and uniqueness. It achieved huge success in not even North American territory but also other part of the world such as United Kingdom. Niche marketing, high quality product and new product development helped the corporation to become top fruit juice producer and to establish itself as a top brand of the world. Company is currently work on serving customer being a healthy brand name as customer groups are getting more health cautious
Product Overview:
AQC’s primary product is cranberries and juice but it also serves dried cranberries. In addition to this, product overview describes the product produced by AQC. The company is concerned for taste and freshness is an important factor in the selection of their experienced partners. The products are made with the finest recipes and the highest harvesting standards in the industry.
Non Juice Items
Juice Items
Item Name
Features
Item Name
Features
Cranberries (Fresh)
Served with raw and fresh cranberries
Juice Max
100% juice
Cranberries (New Dried)
A Dried supplement form of cranberries
Grab ‘n’ Go
Based on single serving
New Conserve
in many restaurant, the recipes of Cranberry Fruit Conserve id very popular
Cranberry Original Juice
Pure juice mainly made out of raw cranberries
Cranberry Sauces
Cranberry jelly is a relish or sauce made out of cranberries
Cranberry Mixed Juice
100% original juice of Cranberry with different mix flavors
Juice Drinks (Cranberry Cordial)
Considered as the Cranberry's delicious recipe with different flavors
Nutrition facts of Cranberry Juice:
Market Summary:
The soft drink industry is actually made up of two major manufacturing systems that, taken together, bring soft drinks to the market. These two systems fall into distinct categories: (1) flavoring syrup and concentrate manufacturing and (2) soft drink manufacturing.
Marketing is an important component of the industry chain, used to generate demand and build consumer loyalty but industry as a whole faces challenges as a result of the slumping economy and changes in consumers’ consumption patterns due to increased health consciousness.
Segmentation, targeting, and positioning of the market (STP)
Fruit is delicious and almost favorite to people of all ages and also it serves as a nutrition element and it can be see that AQC is using niche marketing before and again huge success from that but they need changes in some marketing aspects for responding to customer needs and wants. Fruit is delicious and almost favorite to people of all ages and also it serves as a nutrition element and it is believed by the AQC that consumer health will continue to drive future trends. From the beginning health issues are main concern of developing new product by the company. Naturally cranberries contain no sugar. For the next year marketing strategy of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. should be focused on children as children, older people and middle ages are pretty much health cautious and from them children like juices very much.
Changes to standard governing the sale of food and drink in schools have favored fruit juice and juice drinks at the expense of carbonates as nutrition standards are introduced in the schools of UK in September 2006. The target of the company in the next year will be children and for reaching children the marketing strategy should focus on the parents. In addition to this, changes to advertising rules make marketing to children more difficult, parents will increasingly become the target. For entering fully in the children market the company needs to introduce new juice containing omega-3, anti-oxidants which is specified the authority. This is an opportunity for the company to gain more market share Surrounding children in UK. To reach children marketing strategy should be implemented focusing the parents and launching white cranberry juice drink in smaller pack or same type drink could be effective catching children market.
According to the current trends within the children product positioning for children should be based on interesting and colorful theme. Brand image within the minds of children can be increased by by establishing a specific theme for the children and colorful packaging. According to marketing investigators, kids are the second major consumer of juice. They like different tests and colors and according to market research kids are going to love cranberry juice if it is mixed with delicious flavors. Also an amazing name of the juice pack help boosting sales. It is the relative competitive comparison of competitor’s products occupying in a given market as perceived by the target market. Our juice helps to maintain good health which create a value in consumer mind about this product motivate them to buy frequently.
Marketing Mix:
Product: Naturally, cranberries do not contain sugar as cranberry juice and dried cranberries are pretty much appealing as well as healthy. The products of the company achieved so much success by mixing the sweetened element that makes them tasty. Whenever people think cranberry, they think of Atlantic Quench.
Place: The company is based on United States. Being strategic alliance with Coca Cola opens the door of opportunity to be marketed in the other part of the world as AQC achieved most of the juice market share in North America as well as it achieved huge success in United Kingdom.
Price: Introducing smaller pack for children can help in reducing price as being competitive market the pricing should be lower for new product. In penetration pricing profit is expected to make in volume as Penetration pricing would be effective for gaining new market share. For introducing new product and capturing market share penetration pricing strategy is quite helpful.
Promotion: AQC mainly used TVC in promotional campaigns. Advertisement focused on health issues should be continued in the upcoming year. Usefulness of cranberry in maintaining good health is proved by research and AQC is trying to spread this. So their promotional campaigns are focused on health consciousness which is pretty much successful.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths of Atlantic Quench Inc.:
Focus on health
Natural ingredients
Variety of flavors
Non alcoholic
Healthy lifestyle trends
Adequate raw material supply
Long history & success
Weakness of Atlantic Quench Inc.:
The Atlantic Quench Inc. is late to respond the current market trends.
Weak marketing strategy is observed from the beginning as they only focused on traditional way pf marketing.
Fear for internal dispute as it was happened earlier so it could be a fear for directors.
The co-operative has a history of internal big dispute which cause damage in the business structure.
Owners are the suppliers so if any internal malfunction happens the business could be damaged badly.
Opportunities of Atlantic Quench Inc.:
The company has strong growth rates every year which is pretty much promising.
Trend of consuming healthy item on snacks.
Fruit juice is considered as a healthy food item without any doubt.
Impulse buying behavior of consumer leads to purchasing fruit juice drinks in preference to confectionery.
Fourfold increase in manufacturing capacity for Crantanas.
The juice sector is increasingly gaining market share from the carbonated sector.
New product development and profitable distribution channel set up opportunity being strategic partner of Coca-Cola.
Long term strategic alliance with Coca-Cola opens a door of opportunities for the company.
Threats for Atlantic Quench Inc.:
High taxation rate in different country may slower business expansion.
Economic instability affects the sales as juice is not a mandatory food item.
Strong competitors are already existed in the market.
New companies are attracted toward the business as cranberry is proved to be a healthy food item.
Price wars with competitors.
Marketing Strategy:
The advertisement and promotional campaign are launched focusing combined humor, health benefits and the American heritage of cranberry as AQC follows traditional television advertisement and magazine advertisement. Some changes are needed to increase brand image and boost the sales globally. Though it is traditional the company was able to achieve huge success on this campaign. Based on its huge success, it is time to launch the product in more regions. Cranberry juices are already a popular food item in the North America and United Kingdom. And for doing that Atlantic Quench needs to develop strong marketing strategies. The next year marketing strategy should be focused on these areas-
Product price.
Product quality.
Superior test.
Online marketing
Product Availability.
Magazines, Television, Newspaper or radio are conventional way of marketing. Now online marketing is mandatory for organization to increase brand awareness. I would like to suggest that the next year marketing and promotional activity should be based on internet marketing as AQC lacks online marketing pretty much. For doing that general strategies are to develop a strong website, facebook page. Publishing powerful contents, blogs and so on. For doing that the company needs to increase marketing expenditure on online activity rather than television advertisement.
Social Marketing Strategy:
Creating an active twitter account where regular tweets on products and event updates will ensure interactivity.
Maintaining facebook fan page and sharing contents in page to get connected with consumers.
Followers will be encouraged to tweet their suggestions on flavors.
The company should take more advantage of long relationship with consumers. Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. is an old company. Many Atlantic Quench farmers are third- and fourth-generation owners and one is seventh-generation. Atlantic Quench should take advantage of the feeling we sometimes associate with their cranberry juice by launching promotional campaigns that could make consumers reminisce on those days when they were younger drinking Cranberry juice. Many consumers have been drinking the juices for a long time. The health benefits of cranberry juice should be used strongly in the advertisement and promotions. This will certainly make them buying the products for them and their children or acquaintances as well as maintaining customer relationship.
Brand Packaging & Labeling:
New labeling should be introduced for the children small pack based on the cartoon, toys, colorful images, and other trends currently influence children. Though AQC adopted innovative packaging and labeling, it should bring some change in order to attracting children. Also they should look into the fact that it must not impact the parents negatively. The company already using recyclable glass, cans, cartons or polyethylene terephthalate (PET2) plastic bottles which can be recycled. They launched a campaign based on this environmental benefits. New campaign and promotional activity should be launched more longer based on this theme that the products of AQC are totally environmental friendly. Introducing clear juice bottles may have some utility. Showing the color of juice can be established a theme that they are drinking pure cranberry juice with no concentrate.
Competitors Analysis:
Fruit juice is a competitive market. Now we are going to show the competitors of Atlantic Quench. All of these brands produce the same featured product as Atlantic Quench Cranberries, which is none of these brands, were made from concentrate. Thus, all of these brands create same natural juice value as Atlantic Quench. Three clear competitors are detected in regard with brand value; Cappy Brand (Minute Maid Orange Juice), Coca-Cola Company (Simply Orange) and PepsiCo Inc. These companies are not cranberry producer but launching global operation AQC will be needed to fight with these fruit juice brands.
The PepsiCo Inc.: PepsiCo is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. The company is responsible for the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of these goods. Its products include a variety of sweet, salty and grain-based snack. In addition to this, non-CSDs and CSDs. It has 18 brands in its portfolio and is headquartered in New York. PepsiCo is divided into three business units: PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB), PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF) and PepsiCo International (PI). These three business units are further divided into six reportable segments: Quaker Foods North America (QFNA); Frito-Lay North America (FLNA); PAB; Europe; and Asia, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA) and the Latin American food and snack businesses (LAF);.
The Coca-Cola Company: Coca-Cola owns or licenses more than 500 brands across all categories of soft drinks. Coca-Cola is a leading distributor, manufacturer, and marketer of soft drink syrups and concentrates. Though Atlantic Quench has a strategic alliance with the Coca-Cola Company, it is one of major competitors. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Until 2010, Coca-Cola sold its syrups and concentrates to a number of contracted independent bottlers that would produce, bottle, and distribute the final product. In February 2010, Coca-Cola bought out the remaining interests in Coca-Cola Enterprises, the main contracted bottler, giving the Coca-Cola Company control over 90% of the North American volume
Suggestions & Recommendation:
In this report, the current market condition of juice market as well as assumption on future has been made. And the strategies to gain more market share which need to implement is provided. Nevertheless, the company should start to thinking about capturing more markets. AQC is a popular and old company having good reputation. Like most of the organization the organization has to deal with some internal issues. Though it faced some internal problems previously, the administration came with plan to solve the issues. Chuck Berrie, CEO of Atlantic Quench handled the situation quite impressively. So the administrative should always think about the welfare and expectation of the member of the co -operative. Current marketing plan of the company is based on the health benefits generated by cranberries. They should carry the campaign with more effective planning and promotional activity. Mainly middle class and upper class income level people are pretty much health conscious. The company should launch two products based on these two segments. And children should be another prior segment. For gaining more children new product development is needed. In the upcoming year the company budget should allocate more for market research in order to develop new products for children. Also appropriate marketing and promotion campaign must be launched targeting the children and the parents to let them know the benefits of cranberries. As the members are the suppliers and the owners so keeping them happy should be first priority of the administration. Without their support any plan will be in vain initially.
In order to increase brand image and customer interaction, the company needs to engage in social media marketing. Now Facebook, Twitter provide effective business service to the organizations by paid and non-paid programs. Social media marketing is not an expensive tool. So no need to increase marketing expenditure a lot for social media interactions. Televisions advertising, newspaper, magazine advertisement should be carried on along with online marketing.
The products of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. achieve great success in North America and UK. So it is high time to launching the products more global scale. It is not a short term action. The company should be starting preparation more for global launch. At first they should target the regions where the products will be turned into profitable. For that they should increase market research activity to identify profitable target market and marketing strategies.
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