SSquirt is a carbonated soft drink that belongs to Dr Pepper / Seven Up, Inc. It is one of the leading brands that dominate market shares in the soft drink segment in the USA. Squirt is one of the best selling brands among citrus flavored drinks and its sales volume tends to stagnate faced with the huge marketing budgets allocated by its two main competitors: the Coca Cola Company and The Pepsi Company. The market is witnessing tremendous growth due to the arrival of new consumers, new behaviors and also the introduction of new organizational capabilities.
Integrating the best marketing techniques, enhancing reputation and brand image of the product, providing a good positioning in order to remain competitive and raising the level of sales in this market where competition is fierce are few of the measures required for the development of the brand.
Commonly, we can say that the US inhabitants are heavy consumers of carbonated soft drinks. In 2000, there was more consumption of carbonated soft drinks than water. Their consumption amounted 849 eight-ounce servings per year, which represents about 2.3 eight-ounce servings per day.
Furthermore, we can notice that the consumption of carbonated soft drinks also depends on the age factor. The biggest consumers are in the age group of 20 to 49 years who constitute the largest part of the US total population. People over 25 years seem to consume diet carbonated drinks, It has also been observed that regular sugared drinks are heavily consumed by the African and Hispanic American teenagers.
[...] Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Coca-Cola Company and The Pepsi Cola Company are the main leaders of the soft drink market and compete to win market shares. These three companies hold over 90% of soft drink sales. Collectively, they account for the 10 brands in the top ten carbonated soft drinks. The soft drinks market is highly competitive; the three giants are waging a fierce competition. Squirt is located in a different category, because the brand doesn't provide cola. But Squirt competes with Mellow Yellow, Surge, Mountain Dew, which are brands of its major competitors. [...]
[...] Squirt to reach this growth objective would be to develop a different market targeting and positioning strategy, even mixing both current and FCB recommended strategies. External analysis Customer analysis Commonly, we can say that the US inhabitants are heavy consumers of carbonated soft drinks. In 2000, there was more consumption of carbonated soft drinks than water. Their consumption amounted 849 eight-ounce servings per year, which represents about 2.3 eight-ounce servings per day. Furthermore, we can notice that the consumption of carbonated soft drinks also depends on the age factor. [...]
[...] In 1994, Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) recommended, and brand management agreed, that Squirt's unique thirst-quenching attribute should be the dominant positioning dimension for the development of the brand. Squirt targeted adults, in the age group of 18-44 years. Advertising for Squirt emphasized the cool, experiential nature” of the brand with the message: “Beyond the ordinary refreshment the great citrus taste is incredibly thirst quenching.” Due to the acquisition of Dr Pepper/Seven Up by Cadbury Schweppes PLC, in mid-1995, FCB was asked to revise its creative strategy. This was because of the creative execution that was a bit too intense to fuse with the brand. [...]
[...] The only brand who focuses on this attribute is Citra, but it has less sales volume (exhibit 6 of the case study). W2-O2: As mentioned before, the Hispanic market is a growing market. If Squirt wants to gain a bigger sales volume and market share, they should adapt to the advertising and promotion of their brand. In fact, they have to turn their weakness into an opportunity, for example by advertising in Spanish language. W1-T1: Marketing is very important in the CSD market. [...]
[...] Instead of catering to ideas that Squirt focus on isotonic beverages for the athletically active consumer segment, Squirt's creative strategy migrated to “everyday, on-the-go experiences.” The emphasis on Squirt's thirst-quenching benefit was now portrayed in “spunky, lively, sociable, colorful, and music-driven” advertising vignettes that depicted fun-loving, individualistic young adults. The target market was also narrowed to adults, within the age group of 18-34 years. As a result, the introduction of Citra by Coca-Cola, Squirt's positioning and creative execution were revisited in 1999 and again in 2000, no changes were made. [...]
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