Pepperidge Farm hits the Target November 22, 2010
Pepperidge Farm
Company
Pepperidge Farm was founded in 1937 by a housewife in Connecticut with the hopes of creating a great tasting bread without artificial ingredients. Throughout the 40s and 50s, this small company started making a name for itself spreading the name of Pepperidge Farm and offering more and more new product lines. Up to present-day, Pepperidge Farm has stayed true to its roots of offering artificial free foods, even through expansions and partnerships with other companies.
Brand
Milano cookies are a part of the product mix under the brand of Pepperidge Farm. This brand includes a variety of breads, cookies, and other baked goods. The brand has made a name for itself as a home-made, delicious, and natural group of products. Consumers trust this brand because of the longevity of its career. This is a brand name that people have grown up with.
Product
The product being promoted in this advertisement is Milano cookies. Milanos are very well known cookies glued together by rich dark chocolate, very delicious. These cookies are considered by many to be of better quality than other cookies and tend to run more expensive than the other leading brands.
Target Audience
The target audience for this decadent treat in the advertisement would be people looking for a more elegant experience with their cookies. The ad positions the cookies placed elegantly on a dish. Because of this, the target audience might also be people wanting to impress at a gathering they are planning to host. These cookies aren’t like cookies that the normal housewife could create in her kitchen. These are considered fancier. Therefore, Milano cookies target audience isn’t normally the parent looking for a normal treat for their kids. These cookies are meant for the more experienced palate. According to Prizm‘s segments, this market segmentation would be within the urban uptown, elite suburbs, the affluentials, and the landed gentry mix.
Positioning & Differentiation
For Milanos, it is well known down the cookie aisle that they are different than their market competitors. They differentiate themselves from the normal run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie. Milanos offer something more sophisticated to those in the market to buy cookies. Milanos have made a name for themselves as being more refined cookie. The words used in this advertisement to describe the cookie says it, “pure dark chocolate, light exquisite cookie”. Exquisite is the term chosen by Pepperidge Farm to describe their top selling cookie. Chips Ahoy are simply irresistible, not exquisite.
AIDA
The basic objectives of promotion can be explained in something that is called the AIDA model. The main categories used in the AIDA model are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. The advertisement for Milano cookies caught the attention of the audience by the images of the delicious cookies. With the way the pictures are, everyone should want to eat one. Pepperidge Farm kept our interest by the vivid description of the cookie itself. The desire for the cookies was meant to be so strong that, as consumers we are meant to spring into action of tasting the cookies ourselves.
Target
Company
Since 1902, the Target company has striven to provide the best quality products at the lowest prices. This company is franchised internationally. Target has become a well known company that sells many different types of goods; including food, media, clothes, and furniture. Target stores have been around for over a hundred years, and its longevity and huge monetary success are proof that they are a company that will be around in the long run.
Brand
The brand for this company includes the logo of the bullseye. This logo involves the visual of hitting a good deal in the bullseye. The “target” goal of the people that want to shop there is to save money. Target’s brand is represented by the quality goods that are offered at reasonably low prices. Target has recently also been making a name for itself as being more trendy than other stores like itself. The brand that they are issuing with the commercial is of a company that meets every need that a mom could anticipate.
Product
The product being offered in the advertisement are savings. The prices of many different food and household items are flashed across the screen as the mother uses them. These savings are what the company is appealing to potential consumers. Also, what is being advertised is the variety of products that Target stores offer to consumers. The mom in the commercial has food, vitamins, and other things that she uses.
Target Audience
The target audience for this Target commercial are moms with hectic schedules around the holidays. Target offers them a place to get everything they need at low prices, making their crazy lives that much easier. The commercial implies that if she shops at the store then she will have time to play with her kids and keep everything else on schedule at the same time. According to Prizm‘s market segmentations, the target audience for this commercial would include people from mostly the suburban segment from the low to mid income range.
Positioning & Differentiation
What differentiates the product that Target offers from that of its competitors, such as Walmart and Meijer, is the family atmosphere. With this advertisement, Target is centering around the importance of family and spending more time with them. Target also emphasizes the savings in time and money that the shopper with accrue when shopping at Target. The shopper will save time because the store offers a variety of products in the same location. The shopper will also save money with all of the great deals to be made at the store.
AIDA
With the AIDA model, the main categories are again Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. For the Target commercial, they grabbed the audience’s attention by playing music and having somewhat humorous images telling the story that they were telling. They kept the audience’s interest by using items that their target audience would purchase. Target initiated desire while showing the low prices of the objects that peaked the audience’s interest. Finally, the Target commercial initiated an action by stating at the end that the low prices would only last a short while, urging consumers to take advantage of the savings now.
Case Study of Harvest Farm Foods, Inc. October 19, 2010
Harvest Farm Foods, Inc. is a company that has been around for 127 years and provides canned and frozen food to the country. In late 2008, there was a stockholders revolt that forced the then president of the company to resign. The new president, Patrick Webb has been trying to figure out why the company hasn’t grown or increased its profits like its competitors. There are some strengths that the company should improve on, and some threats the company should destroy all together, as seen below in the S.W.O.T. analysis.
| Helpful | Hurtful | |
| Internal | Strengths
-carried by major supermarket chains -varied product line -well known name after being around for 127 years |
Weaknesses
-not placed in any smaller stores -low profit levels -sales volume has not increased recently -expanding horizontally |
| External | Opportunities
-new product markets available to expand to -place products in smaller stores -expand product line vertically -ability to produce new products |
Threats
-competitors took advantage of expanding vertically -customers are unselective -no control over price in the market -chain store pricing is very particular |
Internal Strengths
The fact that the company of Harvest Farm Foods has been in business for 127 years can be seen as a strength of the corporation. That is a long time to become a well known brand and make a name for itself. The longevity of this business is testament to the fact that it can persevere through the years. While creating a name for itself, Harvest Farm Foods has been able to be placed in major supermarket chains. This is a strength because being in a well known store that has many locations across the country is a great way to get your brand noticed and, therefore, purchased. Along with the great location, Harvest Farm Foods provides a varied product line. They can appeal to many different buyers with their variety of frozen and canned foods.
Internal Weaknesses
Even though being placed in major supermarkets is a strength of the company, not being placed in smaller markets can be considered a weakness. There is a condition of the company that to be placed in a store, the store must be able to sell a majority of the Harvest Farm Foods product line. This is a condition that many local stores don’t have the ability to meet. This is a loss of possible profits for the company. The company in recent years has had a few problems with expanding profits. Also, Harvest Farm Foods hasn’t been able to dramatically increase their sales volume. Their profits and sales volume have remained fairly stable over the past couple years, however their costs are expanding rapidly. Another weakness is that in hopes of fixing their sales problem, Harvest Farm Foods decided to expand horizontally. This hasn’t helped the company overcome their problems, instead it added to their already growing expenses.
External Opportunities
There are several opportunities in the frozen and canned food industry which Harvest Farm Foods could take advantage. Harvest Farm Foods is able and willing to produce any product that they feel will sell. Harvest Farm’s competitors have taken advantage of this opportunity and started producing frozen meals. Harvest Farm Foods have only focused on frozen and canned vegetables, fruits, pickles, and condiments. Another opportunity available would be to place the company’s products in smaller stores along with the large supermarket chains. This would greatly increase the audience that would see the products available from the Harvest Farms Food brand.
External Threats
One of the main external threats affecting Harvest Farm Foods is that the customers that buy their products are very unselective. When the consumers are shopping for the types of products that this company makes, they aren’t very brand oriented. They shop for the best price and convenience. This causes problems with creating a name for the brand. Also, with only placing their products in supermarket chains, they have very little effect over the pricing when the products are in the store. The stores have allowance incentives to get companies’ brands displayed in their stores. This means that the company must pay more in order for their merchandise to get noticed.
Market Situation
The size of the market for this type of product hasn’t grown much over the years. It has remained relatively stable in its size. No company has any say in the prices that their products are being charged. The market, mostly the stores, makes the prices for this type of product.
Target Buyer
There isn’t necessarily a certain type of person who buys frozen and canned vegetables. However, this general public when buying this type of good isn’t very picky when it comes to brands. The customer looks for the cheapest price, which is set by the store. The canned and frozen vegetable industry isn’t very much brand oriented.
Product Situation
The product line that Harvest Farm Foods, Inc. provides is a line of 65 different items including canned and frozen foods. This could include either fruits or vegetables.
Placement Situation
There is a condition of having the line of Harvest Farm Foods products in any store. The store must be willing to carry most of the 65 items in the line. This causes problems when smaller stores aren’t available to carry more than a few of the different products in the line. Because of this stipulation, 88% of Harvest Farm Foods products are found in major supermarket chain stores.
Price Situation
Pricing is difficult in this industry because most of the pricing isn’t set by the producers but by the wholesalers of the product. Chain stores, where a vast majority of Harvest Farm Food’s market is located, choose which products they want to be promoted. To be granted this promotion, the producer is sometimes required to give a price allowance.
Promotions Situation
The promotions of the brand itself are basically in the control of the chain supermarkets that the company decides to place its product. This is because they choose who to promote in the aisle placement and displays based normally on an allowance paid by the company to the chain.
Statement of Problem
The main problem of Harvest Farm Foods, Inc. is that it needs to rearrange its marketing concept to satisfy the customers at a profit. Over the past several years, the company hasn’t been making the profit that it should be compared to what its competitors are making.
Solution/Recommendations
There are many different solutions that can help resolve the issue of the lack of growth in profits. One would be to expand the brand vertically. The competitors of Harvest Farm Foods have expanded vertically and are doing well for themselves. This means developing adjustments to the products that the company already produces and making them better and different. In the past, the company has just focused on expanding horizontally meaning that it would create brand new products and try to sell them. Harvest Farm Foods should work on making what they already have better.
Another solution would be to lift the limitations on what stores can carry the Harvest Farm Foods products. If there wasn’t the stipulation with how many products of the product line need to be carried by the store. This would broaden the place in which the product would be seen. And since the customer isn’t too particular in the type of frozen or canned food they buy, it won’t matter to them all that much that majority of the product line won’t be displayed in a smaller store.
These are just two very tangible recommendations to the problem Harvest Farm Foods, Inc. has run into. This company has been around for 127 years. If some small changes are made, it is quite possible that it will be around for another 127.
Social Media Affects Me September 30, 2010
Social media is a part of almost everyone’s day to day life, whether they realize it or not. Simply hearing about Ashton Kutcher’s tweets makes you a part of the phenomenon. Social media is a very helpful tool, if learned how to use it correctly.
In my personal life, social media has made it possible for me to connect to people I never would have. I have only a little experience with social media on the professional level. Over the summer, I worked at an art store. That store has a Facebook page. Even if I didn’t work on that particular day I still was connected to the goings on through the useful tool of social media.
Although my experience with social media on a professional level is very limited, I feel that this will definitely change in the future. It is very important in the business world to keep track of the competitors and what they are doing right and wrong. Social media makes this task that much simpler. Not only do businesses need to keep track of their competitors, but they must also keep in touch with their customers. It is very easy through tools like Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with many people at once.
Even though this is a rapidly growing and developing market, social media plays an important part in how interacting is in these highly technology based days. When used correctly, social media could potentially cause many things to change, from advertising to talking to your family. Learning and adapting to changes in social media is crucial to be successful in your personal and professional life.
Hello world! September 21, 2010
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