Aims and Objectives
Aims and objectives are important to all businesses because; aims are general board statements of the business purpose; for example: to survive, to become a market leader, and to provide an excellent service or product. Objectives are a much firmer statement of the purpose. It is said that objectives have to be SMART, this means that;
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic (Relevant)
- Time-related.
The following are examples of SMART objectives.
- Success in meeting objectives is measurable-it will be the difference between 98%. 99% and 100%
- A 99% success rate may be an achievable objective – whereas 100% may not be.
- The managers of the organization will know whether a figure of 99% is realistic given previous performance.
- The objectives are related to specific time periods. Typically SMART objectives need to be achieved within a given period of time.
SMART objectives give a much more precision to the overall business aims.
Cadbury’s is an international company, that is proud of their long heritage, the company is respectful of the social and natural environment in which the company operate, they support their consumers, customers and also their colleagues, they are passionate about success. Cadbury’s market and sell many unique brands, which being or give pleasure to millions of consumer from around the world every day. The company as been successful over 200 years, the company’s success is built on the understanding of the needs of the consumers, the customer but also the stakeholders, but also by operating to set of clear defined values. As the world changes, obligations of the business to society has broadened of the years. Yet the company wants to ensure that the continuation of the company’s heritage.
The Cadbury Schweppes objectives for the 2004-2007 period are: this information was gather from the Cadbury Schweppes website.
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“To operate in a wide range of markets.
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To give satisfaction to customers.
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Have a good reputation.
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To maximise sales.
- And to reinforce our reputation as a Company which motivates, develops and rewards employees for superior performance and makes a difference in the communities in which the business does.”
In pursuit of the Cadbury Schweppes’s goal of superior shareowner returns, three external financial performance goals have been set for 2004-2007 period. The following were taken for the same site. These are:
- “Turnover growth of between 3% and 5% per annum at constant currency.
- Underlying operating margin growth (before goodwill/intangibles amortisation and exceptional items) of between 50 and 75 basis points per annum at constant currency.
- And free cash flow (as explained on page 17 of our Report & Accounts and Form 20-F) totalling £1.5 billion over the four year period.”
The company’s statement of purpose and the values provides the company with a clear framework of their strategic intent and also how the company can conducts their business. (Taken from the Cadbury Schweppes website.)
“The company’s main purpose is working together to create brands that people love. The company’s objective is to consistently deliver superior shareowner returns”
Cadbury’s are committed to the above objective although the company does not operate in isolation. They have obligations to their consumer, customers and also their suppliers. Cadbury’s also have obligations to their colleagues and to the society but also communities and the natural environment in which the company operate.
The company’s purpose and values are a blend the heritage of Cadbury’s past with the demands of the future to establish the company’s guiding principles and the values for the way the company’s operates the business world-wide.
The company Cadbury Schweppes are committed to the highest standards of the corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. They are committed to the ethical business practices, honesty and to fair dealing and also full compliance with all the laws that affecting the company
Task B
Cadbury’s promotional campaign used to suit the needs of the business's target market. Cadburys advertises its products on television, Internet, billposter, in beverages and confectionery business by hanging posters. Promotional campaign helps Cadbury to achieve its objectives, which is "to be the Number one producer in the market". By achieving this objective it would lead them to achieve the other objective, such as "maximising profit etc.
There were three clear elements in this process: from the website of Cadbury Schweppes.
1. “The use of consumer research to identify a significant market opportunity;
2. Product research and development combined with extensive consumer testing;
3. Massive trade and consumer hype generated by a national launch.”
Cadbury's media buying agency Carat was responsible for fixing the problem of the increasing costs of television advertising. The result was the sponsorship of Coronation Street allowed Cadbury to stand out in a cluttered confectionery market harnessing unique Cadbury brand values and positioning that competitors couldn’t match. Cadburys improve their promotion campaign, the posters and TV ads are changes very year. The ads are always bright, colourful and interesting. TV ads such as the advert for the Cadburys crème eggs, that is show in during the breaks of Coronation Street. In which a man and woman are sitting on a sofa, the woman is give the man Cadburys mini crème eggs, after she as given him two or three he gives her the remote control for TV. Other adverts like the “happiness” ad’s which are adverts that have animal to represents the happiness of the people in the ad. For example the happiness sheep: A bland worker is going through his report when he stumbles across a bar of Dairy Milk, Happiness the sheep appears and talks the worker into not being boring. Cadburys also uses billboards posters and posters on the front of vending machines. For example The Eggmeister Returns poster. This is dark blue with a crème egg with a bite out of it. And the words “The Eggmeister Returns” in white and yellow writing. When Cadburys were sponsoring “Coronation street” they had many different adverts that were show when the show starting and ended and during the breaks in the show.
Cadburys products are purchased daily in their millions around the world and unless the company can consistently provide quality, value and satisfaction that their consumers expected or they will switch allegiance.
Cadburys products fulfil a broad range of needs. Cadburys confectionery offers energy, taste, rewards and gift opportunities. Cadburys cater for these fundamental needs in a range of products which offer a huge variety of ingredients and styles. Variety is important. In their business freedom of choice means not only the freedom to seek new combinations of old favourites, but also new experiences.
Cadburys cater for a wide range markets, gender and age and also by brand. The above also is used to segment the market which Cadburys operates. Segmentation is important as it helps Cadburys to promote specific brands towards a specific target market. Segmentation is easy to use as it is basically group people by their gender, age and interests.
Cadburys has very large target market, as they sell their products to people of all ages, from under 12, under 21 and 21 and over aimed at both males and females. As the company targets young and old alike their ads and posters must be aimed at the group which the product is for. Cadburys targets in many ways they use posters, billboards television ads. Also by sponsorship, as Cadburys sponsor the nation’s favourite soap “Coronation Street”, this is generally aimed towards the females and some males.
Specialist media services were provided by Barsby Rowe Media Consultancy which have continued to advise on the cost efficiency and viewer ship of the campaign while also helping Cadbury to fully exploit the huge volume and also range of the audience exposure that sponsoring Coronation Street would provide.
Cadburys campaign helps to meet their aims and objectives of
- To operate in a wide range of markets
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To give satisfaction to customers.
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Have a good reputation.
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To maximise sales.
The statistics that are shown below show how Cadburys is meeting its objective to maximise sales but also to satisfy their customers. These are recent statistics (1999-2000) for Cadbury and Schweppes, which show that Cadbury and Schweppes are successful business. From the Cadbury Schweppes site
Task C
The Marketing Mix is about preparing people to buy the company’s products. Even if the best product is sold in the appropriate place and at the right price, the product may still experience poor sales, especially if the promotional support is ineffective. The high levels of promotional support are necessary because of the intense competition in the markets. Promotion is special because that promotional approach can be heavily influenced by the other parts of the marketing mix (product, price, packaging and distribution method or place.
The products features and what type of people, who might enjoy the benefits of the product. These benefits have to be included in any promotional activity. These aspects are more difficult to convey.
The Marketing Mix
Product
Cadbury's offers a wide range of products for many different people. Cadbury's has chocolate aimed at children, 16-25year old, 25 plus, males and females. The products are often constantly reviewed and developed to ensure they are relevant to the company’s consumers. The new product development is a vitally important activity within the company. The product development can be costly to the company.
There are five stages in a product’s life cycle.
- The first stage is known as “Introduction” this is when the product is first launched into the market place. The highest percentage of failure happens at this stage for example; high costs, low sales volumes, limited distribution etc.
- The second stage is known as “Growth” this is the market acceptance stage. Where the sales and profits start to rise.
- The third stage is known as “Maturity” during this stage the product sales are still increasing at a slow rate. The profits of the manufactures and the retailers start to decline.
- The fourth stage is known as “Decline” as the demand for the product falls. The cost control becomes more important. The company considers abandonment of the product
- The fifth stage is known as “Rejuvenation” at the end of maturity stage, the “me-too” product introduction. The product can be modified, adapted to promote more sales in the growth period.
Price
The factors that affect the price charged by companies are the costs of what they have paid for like the advertising, promotion and the market research. The main factors that influence the company price are the prices of their competitors. If the company wants to increase their percentage of the market, the company will have to have competitive prices. For example; it would not make good business sense for Cadbury's Dairy Milk bar to be priced at 50p when the Galaxy is only 30p, because the consumers are just going to buy the Galaxy because it's so much cheaper. The price also depends on whether the company wants to maximise the profits or the sales. A company that wants to maximise profits would use the cutthroat method of business pricing their products at high prices and hope that the consumer will buy their products. The price also depends on the demand for the product. If the product is easily accessible the prices will be very competitive, whereas if the product is difficult to find the prices will be a lot higher. This is same for the competition if there is a lot of competition in one-area the prices are going to be priced competitively. If there is no competition in the area the prices will be higher. The products are intended to be sold where there is demand for them if there is no demand the prices are not going to be very high. The Cadbury's SnowFlake was very difficult to get established once it was released. This reflected the price it was released at 30p but due to demand the price rose to 38p. There are many different prices used to enter the market for example:
- Competitive pricing
- Odd pricing
- Promotional pricing
- Discounted pricing
- Seasonal pricing
Cadburys price range from £0.30p to about £0.40 for the small bars where as the larger bars are price about £1:00 to about £3.00. Cadburys pricing strategy is that they use competitive pricing.
Place
Cadburys products are available almost everywhere. There is a widely available mass market for both the new and old products, but also that the products are widely available. After Cadbury's has manufactured the product it is then distributed to wholesalers and supermarket depots. The wholesalers then sell the products to independent retailers and the depots then transport the products to local supermarkets. Business can choose to sell the company’s products through wholesalers, retailers, by using vending machines, also by directly to the consumers or using a combination of all them. Wholesalers stock a wide range of goods; these goods are then sold to businesses such as retailers. There are several categories of retailers. The basic channels of distribution are:
- Direct or the indirect channels
- Single or the multiple channels
- Length of channels
- Types of intermediaries
- Number of intermediaries at each levels
- Payment terms within each channel
There are five main channel intermediaries
- The wholesalers – break down the “bulk”. They buy from the producers and sell smaller quantities to the retailers. They provides storage facilities. The wholesalers reduce the contact cost between the producer and the consumer. The wholesaler takes some of the marketing responsibility.
- Agent – are mainly used in the international markets. The commission agent only secures orders, and not title of the goods. The control is difficult because of the culture differences. The training and motivation are expensive.
- Internet – products are sold to a geographically disperse market. Can target and focus on specific segments. The costs of set-up are relatively low. The uses of e-commerce technology for the payment, and shopping software.
- Retailers – they have stronger personal relationship with consumer. Retailers stock a large variety of products. They offer the consumers credit. They price the final product.
- Distribution – the customer’s access to the product. The major consideration factors in the exchange process.
Promotion
Cadbury's use two methods of advertising. They use above the line and below advertising. Above the line is what the company has to pay for e.g. Television adverts and newspaper spreads. Below the line is advertising the company does not have to pay for E.g. Point of sale advertising this is advertising where the product is sold, word of mouth, competitions, giving the radio stations free boxes for competitions and asking the DJ's to try one on air and special offers.
Whatever the objectives of promotion, they will only be achieved by select the right promotional mix and the right medium to reach the target market. The promotional mix is made up of four possible ingredients.
- Advertising
- Personal selling
- Publicity
- Sales Promotions
Advertising – this is a paid form of non-personal communication, what is used to create awareness and to persuade and also to inform the consumers about the product. While pointing out the products beneficial features and comparing the product to that of competitive products. If the product has no sample beneficial features the business can uses a unique selling proposition (USP). As the initial cost can be expensive, the cost can limit its uses in the promotional mix. Examples are; television, radio, newspapers, magazines, brochures, outdoor displays, flyers, catalogues and directories.
Personal selling – Informing the customers and persuading them to purchases the product. This is a high cost method of promotion. The aim of personal selling is to inform the existing and potential customers about the products.
Publicity – this is a non-personal communicational. Publicity is any activity aimed at the media and is undertaken to generate news or information on the business or their products. Public relations – is defined as the “management of the corporate reputation. This can cover the business conferences, open days, events and awards celebrations.
Merchandising – the method that a manufacturer uses to ensure that the retailer sells as many of his products as quickly as possible. The manufacturer gives the retailer advice from either the worker force or merchandising specialists.
Packaging
The role of packaging in the marketing mix is that it is used in containing, protecting the product, and it also helps to promote the product. In the recent years this as become more important because the increasing number of branded products. Packaging to successful it needs to be distinctive and recognisable and it should fit in well with the brand. The packaging images appropriate to that of the target markets. For example Cadburys packaging is bright and colourful and also all the packaging has the company logo, this is so that the customers know what they are buying. The packaging also the famous slogan of Cadburys "glass and a half of full cream milk in every half pound" with the picture of milk pouring into the chocolate bar, is one of the all-time greats of British advertising. All most all of Cadburys products show this picture, somewhere on the packaging.
Task D
PRODUCT
Cadburys have products that are suitable for their target markets. Cadbury puts their logo onto all package products, and adds a certain quality to their chocolate.
PRICE
Cadburys price their products competitively with their competitors. Cadburys products can be found in most local corner shops, Cadburys chocolates are price at the same price as their competitor:
Example; Cadbury whole nut would cost 35 pence, while a Mars bar and Galaxy bar could also cost 35 pence.
PLACE
Cadbury sells anywhere where there is a demand for their products, special if there many customers that want to buy their products. Cadbury would sell their products to shops (business) that deals with beverages and confectionery like (Iceland, Sainsbury, Kwick Save, Tesco, Asda, Safeway) and also in post offices and newsagents and in vending machines.
PROMOTION
Through Cadburys promotional activities it can be clearly seen that they have been guided by their promotional and marketing objectives of "maximising profit” and also “to increase the sales”.
Achievement of these objectives enables the business to meet the business objectives of being “Number one product in a given market”. Cadburys Company are the number one seller of chocolate confectionary product on the market, in the Europe and world-wide.