MKG721 Marketing Plan

Introduction

The report is prepared to discuss about the development of a food marketing strategy for a particular branded product within the food and beverage industry of Australia. The branded product chosen here is the V Energy Drink in Australia introduced by Frucor. The purpose of the report is to identify the key market segments where the product can be successful along with the factors contributing to the influencing of consumer buying behaviors. To manage this, it will be important to analyze the industry and target market segments, identify the buying behaviors and decision making by consumers, conduct the marketing mix and manage the marketing activities, which will assist in developing the most effective marketing strategies required to make the product successful in the marketplace within the emerging food sector in Australia through obtaining of knowledge and information regarding the consumers’ buying decisions (frucorsuntory.com 2018).

Analysis of industry and product

The food sector in Australia is quote large and it has helped in making the energy drinks companies survive in the killer competitive environment with much ease and effectiveness. Frucor, also known as the Frucor Suntory is a leading Australasian drinks company and has been a market leader in delivering good quality energy drinks all over Australia and New Zealand.  The Sports drink sector in Australia has been categorized into Liquid Ready to Drink and the market segments are divided into regular and sugar free. Based on various researches and surveys, it has been found that the total volume of sales for the sports and energy drinks has increased by more than 12 percent in the past few years, which shows consistent growth until now (Kelly et al. 2015). Due to this, the unit process has also increased to A$6.83 per liter for the energy drinks and the production units have also focused on effective marketing strategies and techniques to foster promotional activities and advertisements for enhancing the sales revenue.

Figure: General environment of energy drinks industry (Hair Jr and Lukas 2014)

V Energy drink has been produced by the Australasian beverage manufacturer named Frucor and it has been a success with market share over 45 percent IN Australia and 60 percent in New Zealand. With a broader customer base of sports drinks when compared with the energy drinks sector and the demands remaining confined to the young adults, the market share for V is not more than 50 percent in Australia. V is available in different sizes and has been introduced in the market to target the young adults for ensuring that they feel energetic and refreshed, furthermore remain satisfied with the consumption of this drink (Pulker, Scott and Pollard 2018). The product will further be successful once more innovative marketing approaches and strategies will be implemented to raise awareness among people and improve the brand image and reputation, furthermore attract more clients and influence their consumer buying behaviors and decisions. The key components of the product are carbonated water, caffeine, taurine, caramel coloring, B vitamins and Guarana extract that are healthy for consumption and thus has been considered as a major energy drink to boost energy and make clients feel refreshed at the same time too (Hair Jr and Lukas 2014).

Figure: V Energy drink (Hair Jr and Lukas 2014)

Targeted market segments

The market trends are based on the different market segments consisting of the young adults and matured individuals. The market segments are targeted through proper identification of the geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral segments for understanding the consumers’ buying behaviors regarding their choice for the energy drink, considering the fact that the energy drinks sector was dominated by Red Bull at a time. V energy drink is the market leader in energy rinks and thus it these different segments will be targeted and then the right marketing strategy shall be implemented for generating higher revenue in business (Freeman et al. 2014).   

Demographic

The demographic segments include the various components like age, gender, income or background of the individuals that can influence their buying behaviors. The young generation consumers are mainly targeted by the company while the older generation, also known as the baby boomers will be more focused on consuming some other beverage items like coffee or tea rather than having the energy drink (Nikolova and Inman 2018). Thus, more focus has been on the young male individuals who want to feel refreshed and energized while the marketing to female individuals by producing low calorie and low sugar energy drinks.

Geographic

The segmentation of market will be done based on various parts of the world where the products will be available along with the assessment of market density and market size (Hemmerling, Hamm and Spiller 2015). V Energy drinks manage geographic segmentation through advertisements and promotional activities for the urban locations having higher density.

Psychographic

The individuals associated closely with sports activities and athletes are more interested in the energy drinks to feel vitalized and at the same time, gain the required amount of energy to carry out the activities much easily. It will assist the young adults to feel energized and consider it as a new trend before going to gym and sweat it out (Hanssens et al. 2014).

Figure: Market segmentation (Hanssens et al. 2014)

Consumers’ buying behaviors and decision making process

For a particular branded product like V Energy Drink in Australia, the factors that influence the consumer buying behaviors and decisions are important to be assessed. It can help in analyzing the ways individuals can make a particular purchase and how their behaviors will likely get influenced. Thus, the consumer buying behaviors or decision making prices are related to the processes of selection, purchase, consumption and later making a post purchase decision too considering the satisfaction level achieved by them. The cultural factors including the personal values and beliefs regarding the energy drink, their personal needs can vary from people to people. Due to this, it is important for the marketers to analyze the culture within the different groups and regions, furthermore assess whether the local culture is adopted or not to understand the buying behaviors of customers (Lovelock and Patterson 2015). The social factors include reference groups who might have specified about the positives of the product and even the family members are responsible for influencing the buying decision making. The personal factors include the level of income achieved, lifestyle behaviors and economic situation and occupation. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs illustrates the need of customers to buy a specific product, i.e., V Energy drink (Sultan, Wong and Sigala 2018).

Figure: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model (Sultan, Wong and Sigala 2018)

The five major steps related to the buying behaviors and decisions made by customers are stated in the diagram below.

Figure: Consumer buying decision process (Robinson, Getz and Dolnicar 2018)

Identification of problem- The purchasing process starts with the consumer identifying the problem and understanding the need to purchase something that can resolve the issue. The V Energy drink is marketed to people who need to boost their energy level and those who may feel stressed out at certain times.

Search for information- The identification of problem is followed by finding out the solutions to overcome the problem and gain higher satisfaction level. The information about the product can be obtained from families, friends who may have tried the product or from commercial advertisements and from social media platforms where the product has been advertised (Robinson, Getz and Dolnicar 2018).

Evaluating alternatives- The alternatives are evaluated and checked whether it will be able to fulfill their needs and preferences or not.

Purchasing decision- Finally, the purchasing decision will be made through assessment of functional risks associated with the product performance, and whether the product has been value for money or not to keep them satisfied as a whole (von Meyer-Höfer, von der Wense and Spiller 2015).

Post purchase behavior- Making a decision about whether the product can be purchased later again or not based on the clients’ needs and requirements being fulfilled after purchase.

Marketing mix

The marketing mix elements are products, price, place and promotions done for marketing the V Energy Drink in Australia.

Product- V Energy Drink is the market leader in energy drinks in Australia and can even be considered as the best produced by Frucor. The signature design consisting of the green color is recognizable easily from the other energy drinks and it has been a craze among the customers because of its typical mix of taurine, caffeine, B vitamins and other energy boosters along with carbonated water. The most important thing that sets the product apart from other energy drinks is the Guarana (Casado, Rundle-Thiele and Dietrich 2017). It is good for the athletes and sportspersons and cannot create any such notable health or safety risks in spite of the higher level of energy produced in body after consuming the energy drink.

Price- The prices are friendly, which can also make customers feel attracted towards the brand and choose it from the wide range of other energy drinks available in the market. The product is targeted at the young adults and students, due to which fair prices are set, though based on the sales channels used. The energy drink price starts from $6 and can increase along with additional discounts provided on the higher price range products, which has created convenience for the clients to make purchases.

Place – The product is made available in all over Australia and New Zealand. V Eneregy drink is accessible to the customers by mak9ng it available at convenience stores and at the retail companies like Woolworths, Wesfarmers to boost the sales and increase profit level (Dolnicar, Grün and Leisch 2018).

Promotion- Few popular athletes have endorsed the brand, which has created craze among the clients and this has been an effective promotional strategy. The additional discounts offered on the products along with the involvement of social media platforms have further helped in promoting the brand product and create larger customer base.  

Figure: Market segmentation based on the mix components (Dolnicar, Grün and Leisch 2018)

Marketing activities and strategies to influence consumer decision making process

For the past few years, the total volume sales has increased to more than 20 percent for the energy drinks introduced by Frucor and the same will be possible with its ongoing marketing efforts prioritized on enhancing awareness among people regarding the new brand product named V Energy. The key market segment consists of the young adults who are aware of the energy drink product and has been avid buyers of the brand products of Frucor, Australia. The competitive brand positioning will be possible to position the products and services properly in the market segment and stay ahead of the competitors in business (Arsil et al. 2018). This can also make the customers aware of amount of energy that they can get and at what price.

To maintain a good brand position, the company has maintained ethical standing by fulfilling the corporate social responsibilities like sponsoring the Life Education Trust by allowing the children to access health based education programs and even sponsored Books in Homes to provide education to all. The targeted demographic segment consists of the audiences falling in the age group of 18 to 25 and may be going to college, universities or may be focused on sports activities. To manage proper brand positioning, the company has developed a social and digital marketing strategy by spending on digital channels and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter to evolve and obtain growth. With the immense competition created due to the emergence of Mother Energy drink and Red Bull, the company has focused on providing discounts to deliver value for money product, which can create convenience for them to purchase the product on a consistent manner (Pedersen, Aschemann-Witzel and Thøgersen 2018).

 The market positioning and brand positioning will be effective because of its effectiveness of strategic implementation and involving the marketing of brand products for establishing a positive brand image within the consumers’ minds within the target market. The delivery of products and targeting the right consumer segment, i.e., here the demographic market segment consisting of individuals aged between 18 to 24 will help in positioning the brand product appropriately. Frucor can use the cost leadership strategy to position itself in the consumers’ minds and crate positive mindsets by making V Energy drink available at a lower price compared to its competitors to compete within the marketplace (Hanssens et al. 2014). The product differentiation will be possible by bringing something unique and innovative so that the customer can find differentiable product feature and focus on V Energy drink rather than switching on to some other energy brand (frucorsuntory.com 2018).  

Conclusion

The report was prepared to demonstrate the marketing strategy to be followed by Frucor to market the V Energy drink and ensure generating higher revenue in business along with competitive advantage. Due to this, the analysis of energy industry and the particular product was done to focus on the targeted market segments comprising of the individuals aged between 18 to 25 years. The marketing mix elements were assessed along with the implementation of effective strategies like brand positioning, differentiation and cost leadership strategy to create a sustainable position and put marketing efforts required to make V Energy drink successful in Australia.  

References

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