As the Marketing Manager of this ice cream firm, CALMOR, I have written this report detailing the marketing strategy for the launching and selling of a new ice cream

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Introduction

As the Marketing Manager of this ice cream firm, CALMOR, I have written this report detailing the marketing strategy for the launching and selling of a new ice cream containing liqueur, as the ice cream liqueur would contain at least 6% alcohol, there are restrictions as to where it can be sold. With a budget of £5 million, I have also detailed where this budget is to be allocated. Located within the Appendix are the mind maps and action plans that I have produced to help me follow the principles of marketing in investigating, launching, and selling liqueur ice creams.

Marketing and marketing research affects the choice of the marketing strategy used because it is the results that the marketing research has produced that will guide me as to what is the best ways in which to get the product onto and made a success of in the marketplace. Also so that we can ascertain the best marketing mix that would apply to the product to be launched.

      C1        The Marketing Strategy requires Research to find out:
  • Customer Requirements – Is there a market for liqueur ice creams?
  • The Right Products to Develop to Meet Customer Needs – Which liqueurs would the consumer’s prefer/buy the most? Which product variation is preferred?
  • How to Position the Product in Relation to Other Products – Where to sell/to whom?
  • The Right Marketing Mix – Is the product right?, Is it sold in the right places?, At the right price?, Is the product promoted in the right places to get maximum exposure to potential customers?

  This would also include the suitability of the marketing and launching of the product. The acceptability of the product, whether the risk of launching this product is acceptable to the company. The feasibility of whether the product will work within the existing ice cream market. In order to successfully launch and market this product, primary and secondary research needs to be conducted. The primary research will be relied upon to find out all of the above points. The secondary research will be any relevant research that uses existing sources of information, internal and external factors that will influence how, where, and any restrictions there may be on the launching and selling of this product. This would include looking at the marketing models of P.E.S.T.L. and S.W.O.T.

Decisions have to be made as to how, where, when, and who to launch this product to. The objectives within this report are therefore

  • Achievable-The aim of getting the product onto the market and recognised and eventually profitable
  • Understandable-The aim of getting all involved in the project, to know what is expected of them and how.
  • Challenging-The aim of getting the product recognised after launch date
  • Measurable-If the product has not achieved its challenge, the adjustments that are made to ensure that it will reach it.

Good Marketing research will give me sufficient information to make marketing strategic decisions. It should not be a ‘one-off’ occurrence, which takes place as part of a new product development but continuously on going so that information is collected and analysed for future planning and decision-making purposes.

 

Marketing Research

     E1

The budget that was allocated to conduct the marketing research was £500,000. Part of the primary Marketing Research that has been conducted is a questionnaire that I have compiled to find out if there would be a market for this product. The questionnaires were asked of customers and staff within Sainsbury’s, South Ruislip, Middlesex. (To validate the questionnaires, only people over 18 were asked of their opinions). All copies of the questionnaires can be found within section C2a. As this is a college assignment only 30 were compiled and completed, if this were a real situation then at least two thousand would be required to get a good knowledge of public opinion across the U.K. To successfully evaluate the results of the questionnaires, each one has been read through and the answers noted and all of the questionnaires have been tallied.

Questionnaires were also devised to be asked of the managers/proprietors of licensed premises to obtain their opinions of the sale-ability of this product.

The summary of the research is that Bailey’s liqueur is the most popular, the pack of individual portions was preferred to the lolly, and the most desired place to purchase the product was in supermarkets. The most popular price for the lolly was £1.30, and for the pack of four individual portions was between £2.50-£3.00. There would also be a market for liqueur ice cream within restaurants and public houses. For the advertising aspect The Mirror, ITV, Channel Four and the basic Sky channels would be the best to advertise within. The most popular programme watched by the respondents was Friends. There were the magazines that were bought the most often by respondents. The most popular magazines were, four magazines all of which are aimed at women- Elle, Woman’s Own, Glamour and Take A Break.

Therefore the conclusion of the primary research is that there would be a market for this product, sold within the supermarkets as a pack of four individual portions, and at a price that is cost effective for the ice cream portions. The advertising on the Television channels would be most beneficial if it was done during the evening time.

Magazines and The Mirror newspaper would be good sources to advertise in.

The managers/proprietors views were mixed; some thought this product would sell, whereas others thought that it would not.

The secondary research that has been conducted is of the different areas involved within marketing. The rival ice cream manufacturers, their products and where they are sold. What liqueur flavours were available to purchase. Trends and growth within the ice cream industry was also researched into. The Duty that is paid on alcohol. The advertising rates of the different aspects of promotion that are going to be used. The current Bank of England interest and general mortgage rates. The restrictions’ are concerning the licensing laws.

Research Information

The results of this questionnaire are as follows:          

     E1

   50% of those asked were aged 18-30

   13% were aged 31-45

   25% were aged 46-60

        12% were aged 60+

From the 5th question ‘What is your most favourite liqueur?’ The liqueur that got answered the most was Baileys; the next was Tia Maria.

The 6th question was ‘What is you second favourite liqueur?’ The liqueur that got the most replies was Tia Maria; the runner up was Cointreau.

The conclusion from these two questions is that Baileys is the most popular liqueur and Tia Maria is the second favourite. Therefore the liqueur flavour that would most likely sell the best would be Baileys, and if another flavour were to be considered then Tia Maria should be launched, and then Cointreau.

Although most people preferred the idea of individual portions (58%); the most popular pack size was four, still 42% of respondents said they would prefer to purchase the lolly. None of those asked put six as their preferred size of the pack. As question 11 (‘What price would you be willing to pay for the lolly?’) was an open-ended question, and required the respondents to put their own views of the price that they would be willing to pay, I have taken the mean price and this has worked out to be £1.30 per lolly. This price although the most popular is not cost effective. A cost effective minimum price that should be charged is £1.99.

The price most preferred by 40% of respondents for a pack of four individual portions was between £2.50-£3.00, although this price is also the most popular it is not a cost effective price

Whereas only 23% preferred between £3.00-£4.00 as the price they would be willing to pay, this price would be a more effective price.

The most popular place to purchase the lolly was within the supermarket, with nearly 70% of respondents preferring it. Next popular was local licensed shops with 20% then Off-licenses with 11% of respondents.

The most popular place to purchase the pack of individual portions was in the supermarkets with a massive 94% of respondents preferring here to only 3% preferring the Off-license or the Local licensed shop.

Question 16, was ‘What television channels do you watch the most? Tick all that apply’

The television channels that were watched the most were ITV with 59% and Channel Four also with 59%. This tells us that most advertising that is wanted to be done on television should be done on these two channels. As questions 17 and 18, are about the receiving of sky and cable channels these should also be considered as very possible avenues of advertising, although these television packages vary a lot, 56% of respondents still have access to them.

To find out the best possible time in which to advertise, the respondents were asked what their favourite programmes were. This is so that adverts could be placed within the commercial breaks of these programmes to get the best possible audiences. The responses were very varied, from soaps to cartoons (The Simpsons) and Murder Mysteries to car programmes, although the most popular programme was Friends with 27%, Sex in the City came a close second with 20%.

The most popular newspaper bought by respondents was The Mirror; this had 33% of answers. Although there were four magazines that were the most popular, nineteen different magazines were bought by the respondents and because of the high number of magazines that the respondents buy; many of these would be optional advertising tools. All of the most popular bought magazines each had 13% of the replies, the magazines were Take A Break, (which is a competition based women’s magazine). Glamour, Elle and Woman’s Own (which are women’s fashion magazine).

The results of the questionnaires asked of the manager/proprietors is mixed, this is because some did not think that this product would sell very well. This would be a geo-demographic aspect as the questionnaires were asked within a small area within Middlesex. Although the best selling liqueur, within these premises does correspond with the favourite liqueur of the respondents.

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The secondary information retrieved has told me what products are already available and if there are any existing liqueur ice creams (only available in America, it is called Blend’s). There are some luxurious ice creams available in many different flavours, but none with the same amount of alcohol content as this product, this tells me that this product has a good chance of selling as there is no other like it already on the market. The competitors Websites were used to gain information about their products, some research into what products were available was conducted by going into some ...

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