MARKETING STRATEGY
Product
Compared to competitors, Peter Pan lacks variety of products. There are currently four main products with different flavors. The original flavor has six different branch products, the natural flavor has two, the honey flavor has three, and the simply ground flavor has two. The brand currently does not offer on-the-go single serve packages or nut butters like other brands. Recently, cashew and almond butter and hazelnut and cookie spreads have become increasingly popular. Anne Marie Chaker, author of “Alternatives to Peanut Butter are Taking Over Lunch,” mentions that since the creation of nut butters, peanut butter sales and market share have declined by 4% and 13% respectively.[1] Peter Pan needs to take advantage of opportunity for nut butters while it is popular. Creating more products will also grow brand awareness and keep Peter Pan competitive. Packaging In order for Peter Pan to keep up with trends, it needs a minor redesign on some of its packaging. To keep the nostalgic appeal, the two main peanut butters, creamy and crunchy, will have a throwback design. However, we will use a pulsing advertising technique to keep the consumers interested. Keeping the original flavors with the same packaging will still allow older generations to recognize the brand even with new packaging of the different flavors. The newer peanut butter flavors will have a newer packaging, while maintaining the logo, font and color scheme. Other brands use different styles with their different products, and doing this differentiates them from each other making it easy to distinguish what flavor they are. Peter Pan needs to adopt this trend because it not only attracts the customer to see all the different types of flavors, but it is also easy to pick out the flavor they came to the store looking for. Additional Products As mentioned earlier, Peter Pan needs more variety of flavors and products. Unlike competitors, Peter Pan does not offer nut butter spreads and many healthier versions. According to Eat This, Peter Pan’s Original Crunchy and Creamy Peanut Butter rank the top two unhealthiest peanut butters for consumers; one serving of Peter Pan Creamy Original “has more fat and sodium than a small order of McDonald’s French Fries.”[2] Although they offer a few healthier options, they need to offer more. Older generations often look into the nutritional value of products, and if Peter Pan is the unhealthiest peanut butter option, newly targeted customers may shy away from purchasing the product. Jif currently offers a peanut butter that has Omega-3 mixed in with it, making it appealing to those that take daily supplements. If Peter Pan were to create peanut or nut butters that also mix in essential nutrients and vitamins, the older generation would be more inclined to buy it since many of them are given supplements to maintain a healthy body with aging. With the increasing popularity of hazelnut and cookie spreads, Peter Pan will need to take advantage of this and create these different spreads that offer an alternative to peanut butter. Competitors have been selling these types of spreads for a few years and have put Peter Pan at a disadvantage. |
Place
Peter Pan’s distribution system will be fairly standard when compared to other food product producers. With very few ingredients, procurement of our raw materials will be simplified, with our main ingredients being raw peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, and vegetable oil, with all of our ingredients (other than the peanuts) being bought at cost in bulk from vendors with high reputations for quality. For the procurement of our peanuts we will have a dedicated team of procurement specialists whose job is two fold: they will find farmers who produce peanuts of the quantity and quality we are looking for and persuade them to sell us their stock, and to maintain relations with these suppliers. Once we purchase our ingredients they will be sent to our processing plant in Georgia, where all of our varieties of peanut butter will be produced. The remainder of the distribution system is fairly simple, consisting of simple shipping of our finished goods to our distributors nationwide (primarily grocery and convenience stores) for final sale. Our sales team, who will promote the sale of our products in these different locations, will identify these distributors, and maintain a good relationship with each vendor. |
Promotion
The older consumers who make up our target market segment purchase our product due in part to nostalgia. Our promotional campaigns will emphasize this and use channels that these older consumers frequently interact with. This includes stores, television advertisements on channels like TV Land, QVC, and Food Network, advertisements and coupons in some newspapers, and a sponsorship of an episode of a select Food Network show. TV Promotions For our TV promotions, we will show commercials reminiscent to past advertisements that highlight our product’s history. For instance, scenes from older television programs, as well as commercials showing scenes of a family using peanut butter, with a grandparent mentioning how for 60 years they’ve been using Peter Pan. The aim of our television promotions is to bring consumers in store, where we will have direct selling of our products through in-store sampling, and when applicable, product comparisons. These will show the quality of our product, and drive sales. Sponsorship A sponsorship of a Food Network show aims to showcase the product in action, in a unique method. Contestants on the chosen show will create delicious meals utilizing Peter Pan peanut butter. As part of the agreement with the Food Network, the labels will always be facing the camera. The show will mention the name and the product’s positive attributes Newspapers Data from Pew Research Center (Figure 1, Appendix B) shows that the age groups who read still read newspapers over the past four years overlaps with our target market. The baby boomers and above read the newspaper almost religiously, as part of their morning and/or night rituals. Placing Peter Pan advertisements and coupons in papers will expose it to the consumers who either already purchase it or similar ones who are most likely to purchase it in the future. Another possibility will be a feature in many newspapers’ Recipe or Food sections. This could be a paid placement or partnership with a cook. This method would be more interactive and intriguing for consumers rather than a coupon. Social Media Other than these promotions, we will utilize social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. We will use both to promote new product line additions and to communicate with any consumers wishing to make inquiries, as well as displaying high quality images of our products and recipes. While our target market will most likely not access these platforms, their low cost of maintenance will ensure that those who do have access to additional promotions. We also have the added benefit of being available to reach certain individuals outside of our target market who may be swayed from their current purchasing habits. [1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/alternatives-to-peanut-butter-are-taking-over-lunch-1444148988 [2] http://www.eatthis.com/peanut-butter-ranked |