Introduction
The United Kingdom (UK) organic industry is riding a trend where many customers are choosing to buy organic foods, as opposed to processed foods (Holmes 2015; Depoe 2014; Barone et al. 2015). As such, there is an emerging market offering that can create a new pool of customers for Unilever (the company does not have a dominant organic food product in the snacks market) (Klostermann & Tukker 2013). There is an increase in the number of companies operating in the organic food sector; thus, it is important for Unilever to differentiate its products from the competitors. Creating a good marketing strategy is not enough to catapult Unilever’s products to the top of the market; there needs to be a serious marketing communications plan to support it.
The purpose of this report is to create the effective marketing communications plan that would enhance the success of Unilever’s Nudie snack. The plan would have a consistent message that would resonate with other elements of the company’s marketing mix. The report explains the steps that would be followed in creating this marketing plan and outlines an analysis of how the internal and external environments would influence it. It also shows how the scheduling and budgeting plan would influence this strategy. Lastly, we will show an evaluation strategy to interrogate the success of the communications plan because success is not only measured by sales numbers, but also by other metrics, such as customer loyalty, brand image and the likes.
Product and Brand Strategy
The Product
The proposed market offering is an organic snack bar that people could consume in-between meals, or as a substitute meal. The snack bar is mostly designed to appeal to young men.
Product Composition Justification
Both genders have different nutritional requirements because of hormonal differences and physical requirements. Generally, men require 2,500 kcal (compared to women’s 2,000 kcal), 55g of protein per day (compared to women’s 45g), 300g of carbohydrates per day (compared to women’s 230g), and 120g of sugar (compared to 90g of sugar to women) (Food and Drink Federation 2016; Lee & Johnson 2013). The Nudie snack bar was made with these nutritional requirements in mind. There are five levels of the product as described below
Table 1: Levels of Product – Nudie
The Brand
As mentioned in this report, Nudie would be a sub-brand of Unilever’s products.
Why Unilever?
Unilever is among the world’s most iconic global brands. The company has more than 400 food brands, which rake in more than one billion shillings in annual revenues for the company (Parboteeah & Cullen 2013). With a market presence in hundreds of countries around the world, the company not only has the experience of launching and marketing new products, but also the financial muscle and the technical expertise to do so.
What is in it For Unilever?
Unilever’s products are mainly categorized into four sections – refreshments, home care, personal care and foods (Parboteeah & Cullen 2013). Although the Nudie snack bar would generally fall under the foods category, Unilever would add an organic foods segment to this portfolio, thereby allowing it to exploit the trend towards organic food consumption in the UK and around the world. This value would fit into the competence section of Aaker’s model (Shin 2013; Shrimp 2010). The diagram below explains this positioning in the wider context of brand personality.
As highlighted in the diagram above, launching the Nudie snack bar would create excitement in the food sector.
Definition of Campaign Objectives
To create objectives for the marketing communications plan, we will use the hierarchy of communications model, which aims to build brand awareness through encouraging customers to make sound purchase decisions, developing customer conviction, developing a preference for Nudie, developing a liking for the product, amassing knowledge about the product, and, lastly, creating awareness about it (Mooij 2013). We will also use the DRIP model to formulate our objectives. This model focuses on persuasion, informing customers about the product, reinforcement, and differentiation (Mooij 2013). Based on this model, the SMART objectives are as follows:
- Create brand awareness for Nudie by being able to reach at least 50% of this market in the first year
- Create a strong brand loyalty in at least 20% of the market by the end of the first year of launching the new product
Environmental Analysis
Macro Environment Analysis
Our situation analysis would commence through a generic analysis of the microenvironment in the UK organic food market. To do so, we will employ the PESTEL tool of analysis. The table below represents a PESTEL analysis of the UK.
Table 2: PESTEL Analysis for the UK
The most important factor to consider from our PESTEL analysis is the political implications of operating in the UK. Concerns about “Brexit” are also important to consider in our analysis. There are other vital things to consider about the legal implications of operating in the country as well because we expect stricter health and nutritional regulations on organic products in the next five years.
Microenvironment Auditing
Our microenvironment analysis will mostly focus on understanding the organic food industry in the UK. To do so, we will use the porter’s five-force analysis tool. First, we analyse the industry. The organic foods market has witnessed a steady growth in the total volume of products purchased in the sector. According to Cottle (2016), the industry reports a 4% increase in value every year. This is a good performance considering the overall food and drink industry grows by -1% annually. The following chart shows this trend:
The UK snack bar market is estimated to be worth $821 million (Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada 2014). The market share for organic snack bars in the UK is as shown below.
An analysis of this industry using the porter’s five-force analysis reveals the following findings.
Internal Analysis
This section of the report will explore the internal environment of Unilever and the unique dynamics of the Nudie product. The goal is to explore the company’s internal dynamics and product’s characteristics that would merge with the external environmental dynamics to provide a perfect platform for the launch of the marketing communication plan for the Nudie snack bar (Blythe 2008; Jaffari 2015). We use the SWOT analysis described in the appendix section to show how we would exploit the strengths and opportunities to overcome the threats and weaknesses.
Target Market Analysis
The table below shows our segmentation criterion:
Table 3: Target Market
Positioning
The purpose of the positioning strategy is to exploit the existing market opportunities in the UK organic food segment and to fulfil the product needs of the consumers (Lane et al. 2008). Our positing strategy would be based on the VRIN model as shown below.
Table 4: Positioning according to VRIN model
The Campaign
Creative Strategy
The communications strategy would premise on an understanding that the product is low-involvement. As such, the product design and packaging would be instrumental in creating awareness about the product. The overall campaign slogan for the brand would be “Nudie, a man’s best Bet!”
Visuals – The marketing plan would be communicated via billboards and digital marketing platforms, such as social media sites.
Messaging – The main message communicated to the customers would be that of health and fitness. This is why we have used the “best bet” slogan because the target market would be made to believe that Nudie would be the best bet for all their nutritional needs (Barone et al. 2015).
Customer Profile
According to De Pelsmacker et al. (2007), it is important to know the customer profile of the target audience to successfully launch a product that would address their unique needs. To do so, we will use the VALS 2 model, which helps us to identify the target market as health-conscious and young males. As highlighted in this paper, the typical customer would possibly be between 15 years and 35 years. He would most likely be a student or in his first or second job. We also estimate that this type of customer would be smart, educated and able to understand the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.
Media Strategy and Tactics
We would use the scheduling strategy to meet the needs of the type of customer mentioned above. The overall media strategy would be as follows:
Digital Advertising
The digital media strategy would hinge on three key platforms, social media networking sites, YouTube, and website development. The website would be the main platform because the plan is to set up an independent website for Nudie. The primary purpose of this website would be to develop customer relations, where customers could give their feedback about Nudie and the company could respond accordingly (Ryan & Jones 2012). Social media would also be a key tenet of the digital advertisement strategy because the target market is a young demographic, which is dominant on social media (Picton & Broderick 2005). Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat would be the preferable social networking sites for the marketing communication plan. YouTube adverts would also help to strengthen this strategy because the company would create online videos that would pop up as adverts.
Place Advertisement
Billboard: Billboards would be placed at selective spots near entertainment hubs where young people frequent and near institutions of learning. The goal is to reach the widest target market possible.
Transit Media: Adverts would be placed on vehicles, buses and on trains to reach a diverse pool of customers. Millions of people use these transport modes daily. More than 50% of them are aged 18-35 (British Parliament 2013). The logic is that this advertisement strategy would reach young customers who would not be exposed to billboards.
Schedule and Budget
In the scheduling strategy, advertisements would be booming the whole year for all the media channels, except for billboards and transit media. Three months out of 12 would be used to change the billboard strategy because we believe billboards could get monotonous if they run throughout the year. Transit media would be used for 7 months only because it is expensive. Thus, the scheduling strategy would contain a blend of flighting and continuous media strategies (Fill 2009).
Table 5: Scheduling Strategy
Post-Campaign Evaluation
Table 6: Post-campaign evaluation
Conclusion
This market communication plan is important for the successful launch of the Nudie Snack bar. This report has shown that the plan involves a combination of several steps that involve the analysis of the external and internal environments of Unilever and the product. The growing trend supporting the rise of organic food industry is the main market opportunity and a driver for the launch of Nudie. We deduce that the strong financial position of Unilever and its wide market outreach present opportunities for launching the product. For example, the market outreach would be instrumental in providing a strong distribution plan for Nudie because Unilever has such an existing network for its existing brands. The target market would be young customers. The selected media communications strategies would hinge on a digital marketing and billboard advertisement strategy. The goal of choosing these communication channels is to create strong brand awareness about Nudie, increase brand loyalty and create a strong bond with customers.
Reference List
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