Rebranding the Product Twinkie Coursework

Introduction

Rebranding is changing the image of a product without altering the product so much that it becomes different from what it is. It involves improving the quality of the product to meet the customer requirements and fulfil the customers’ expectations.

Moreover, rebranding makes a product gain the market share and bring a different image of improvement and service quality. It promotes the loyalty of the customers as well as attracts the new customers hence increasing the market.

The positioning of the product

The Twinkie product is highly priced, making it unaffordable to the majority of the target market. It’s packaged in high quantities. This makes the majority of the small families avoid buying the product. The colour of its packaging is also debateable; It is not attractive to the majority of the consumers.

The company has a poor advertising and general marketing strategies which makes the product less famous than similar products in the market. It employs advertising the product in monthly issues of magazines and overreliance of the few customers to participate in making the product known by others. The advertising space provided is still small and invisible. The company fears spending money in marketing. This makes it perform poorly in the market. The mother company also has low experienced marketing department hence highlighting their failures. There is a complaint from diabetic customers that the ingredient balancing is an issue with this product. They say it contains too much sugar, making it dangerous to them. This has led to decreased gain in market share. This is due to the majority of consumers who are diabetic.

Compared to other substitute and similar products, Twinkie has not quite penetrated the market well. It is an old product though some of the above mentioned challenges have made it almost stagnant in growth. The numerous similar products from other companies have undoubtedly gained a lot of customer loyalty and market share.

Although this product has slow growth in the market, it is worthy to note that it has its market strengths. To begin with, this is a universal product; has no significant segment of the consumer market. This can make the product great in the market should it meet the required improvements. Secondly, the company is found in a central position, surrounded by the consumers (Nagle 83). This can make the company achieve the target sales should the customer loyalty be built by the company through a solid marketing strategy. Finally, the product majority of consumers cannot do without these kinds of products. The customers value the company highly.

The product will undergo radical changes with an aim of improving its appearance and quality to the customers. The packaging colour will be red. The product is to be packed in small and more economical quantities for economical purposes. The company will reduce the amount of sugar in the product. Moreover, the prices will be reduced by half.

Advertising strategy

The Twinkie product is a perishable product. Consumers buy this product on daily basis. Therefore, it should be advertised well in order to increase its share in the current market. The following are the methods identified for marketing this precious commodity.

Firstly, the product will be given first priority in the website of the company and other famous websites. Every Twinkie advert will include several large images highlighting different flavours. We will produce the images with the right colour and show all the ingredients used to make the product. The labelling of ingredients will be clear and easily readable. Other websites contacted to help in advertising will have the same information.

In addition to that, the marketing team will offer free gifts and free samples to our customers. The loyal customers will be rewarded by giving them 50% discount for every end of the year purchase. This discount information should be freely available in all advertising media used (Hooley 75). The loyalty of a customer is measured by the frequency of visit to paramount shops and the amount they spend on buying the product per year.

Thirdly, this product will be advertised in leading newspapers. It will appear on the selected papers at least twice a week in the beginning of next year and then be done twice thereafter. The advertising funds will be made available before any other funds to curb the problem of competition and other threats (Ferrell 13).

Participation of our staff in public functions and charity activities will also play a crucial role in marketing our product. The staff will organize these functions and attend them quarterly. The functions will include giving the public different varieties of our products and entertaining them as our customers enjoy using our product.

Finally, the product will be advertised on national radio and TV stations. All adverts will be organized to appear just before the news. This is the time when most viewers will be met and therefore our esteemed customers will increase hence improving the image of the company.

References

Ferrell O and Hartline M (2010) Marketing Strategy (5^th Ed) California: South-Western College.

Hooley G, Saunders J, Piercy N and Nicoulaud B. Marketing Strategy Competitive Positioning (4^th Ed.) California: South-Western College.

Nagle T, Hogan Jand Zale J (2010) The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing (5^th Ed) New Jersey: Prentice Hall.