Situation: Year 1 of TINY BUBBLES® rollout did not reach original goals, falling behind in trajected ACV numbers and projected retail sales. With a rush to get the product in stores, many parts of the brand’s plan was not fully executed. Problem/Opportunity: There will be a continued sales loss projected for Year 2 if TINY BUBBLES® does not reshape its brand plan to stick out in the competitive category. The TINY BUBBLES® brand may be delisted from retailers if it does not bring in customers and make money for the retail store. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® Brand should focus on improving the product before trying to expand any more. Part of the reason people are not seeking out TINY BUBBLES® isn’t only because it is in off-shelf displays but also because compared to other Hard Seltzer Brands TINY BUBBLES® doesn’t stand out with its lack of creative packaging and lower ABV and higher prices than other Hard Seltzer packs. Recommendation Analysis ● Begin by making new flavors in addition to our original line. This can possibly be a soda line, with classic flavors like Cola, Lemon Lime, Orange, and Rootbeer. Currently in the Hard Seltzer market there are brands that have Lemonade lines, Punch lines, and classic lines (wildberry, mango, etc.). By filling the gap and making a soda line we can engage a new customer base with flavors that are currently missing. ● Increase the alcohol by volume from 3.8% to 4.5%-5%. To compete with other Hard Seltzers TINY BUBBLES® must add more alcohol to each can, especially because TINY BUBBLES® is already above the average cost of Hard Seltzers. The customer should be paying for at least, if not more, alcohol per can. ● Graphics must have more color that pops out against the white can. On the fruit (original) line, have both fruits crash into each other to make the consumer believe that this is a combination of flavors most Seltzers don’t have. ● Introduce a tall boy option that has more alcohol by volume (around 7% to 8%) that can compete with Truly Extra, which has an ABV of 8%. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Design team to execute new can designs with more colors and exciting graphics.. ● Begin testing new flavors and pull focus groups to get an idea of what flavor lines customers want in the hard seltzer category. ● Work with the manufacturer to decide how TINY BUBBLES® can increase its ABV.
Situation: Year 1 of TINY BUBBLES® primarily targeted big-city residents between the ages of 24 and 34 who make up only 15% of the total hard seltzer consumers. They also are only self-classified “occasional hard seltzer drinkers”, which means they are not purchasing a good amount of hard seltzers. If we want to up our revenue, we must attract either a wider audience or one that is drinking more Hard Seltzer. Problem/Opportunity: For Year 2 of TINY BUBBLES® we must either change our consumer target to a group that takes up more of the market, and drinks more seltzers monthly, or make our current market buy even more hard seltzer. It will be easier to attract an audience that is already drinking a lot of hard seltzer rather than changing the behavior of our current audience. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® should shift their primary target market to “confident collegians”. We will most likely still have followers from our original primary audience but they are not drinking enough alcohol to continue to focus on them. We need an audience that has the opportunity to grow, or is already a heavy drinker (e.g. college students). Recommendation Analysis ● College students aged 21-23 years old make up 25% of total Hard Seltzer consumers which is an increase of 10 percentage points from our previous audience. There will be room to grow, and this audience most likely rates themselves as more than “occasional drinkers”. ● College students are a primary market for alcoholic beverages, but most don’t have the money to pay for more expensive options like cocktails in a can, so they default to beer or seltzer. We can market ourselves as the taste that beer lacks. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● The research director should do a Simmons Oneview run of 21-23 year olds, and what they prefer to drink. Find out what flavors they enjoy, for example, classic sodas, lemonade, punch, tropical, fruit, etc. Whatever one they favor, we should make a line of. ● The brand team should adjust our slogan to target collegiate students. Possibly something about our taste and the party centered mindset… for example “We make weekends taste good”. ● To target college students we should make sure we are in liquor stores on college campuses, possibly having the option to taste test in store.
Situation: In the latest quarter, TINY BUBBLES® has seen a loss of sales and a decrease of its share in the hard seltzer category currently holding only 0.1 pts. Larger brands are remaining still while smaller brands in the category are declining in sales. Problem/Opportunity: In the upcoming quarter, TINY BUBBLES® has a lot of room to grow. If we alter different aspects of the 4P’s, specifically lower price and stop production of the 24 pack, we may be able to reach more customers and make TINY BUBBLES® worth it to purchase. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® should begin by lowering the price to something that is even lower than other Hard Seltzer brands. Also, we should focus on our 12 packs and get rid of the 24 pack, at least for the next year. Also, TINY BUBBLES® must begin to focus on Costco and stand alone liquor stores instead of Walmart and Target. We should also try to put out taste samples in new store locations. Recommendation Analysis ● Prices for the 12 packs should decrease to at least $20 to compete with other brands in the category, but could also go lower to $19 because there was an increase in hard seltzer sold while on TPR. This means that people were more likely to buy seltzer while it was cheaper. ● Stop production of the 24 pack because it is driving our losses. Focus on 12 packs especially because we are still a relatively new company so people are not ready to commit to getting 24 cans of our product, we can possibly reintroduce once our U/S/W of the 12 pack is at least 2.0. Currently our U/S/W for the 24 pack is 0.4-0.5. ● Expand our products into club stores (Costco and Sam’s Club) as well as independent liquor stores, focusing on larger cities and college campuses. Sales in the category decreased in stores like Walmart and Target, which we are currently focusing on. Costco, Sam’s Club, and liquor stores continued to see gains, which means we have more of a likelihood to sell in these locations. ● In the new stores we will be entering, we should begin by offering taste samples so customers can realize they enjoy our flavors compared to companies they might default too. We can also add a promotion of $1-$2 off if the customer buys a 12 pack in the same visit when they tasted it. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Immediate halt in 24 pack production (End of week) ● Brand team should do a store walk in Costco, Sam’s Club, and many liquor stores (by the end of February) ● Sales team should contact the club stores and liquor stores. See if we can get into their stores as soon as possible, even if that means off the home location. (Throughout February and March) ● Begin to offer taste tests in store with redemption of $2 off if they buy it during that trip. (Throughout February and March, stop promotion by April)
Situation: TINY BUBBLES® must make a presentation for Walmart buyers addressing TINY BUBBLES® performance since its launch in Walmart stores. The goal is to get Walmart to allow us to keep the same shelf space distribution. Problem/Opportunity: Walmart is looking to possibly decrease the TINY BUBBLES® shelf space due to our products not selling as much as other category standards. The 24 pack is below the standard 1.0 U/S/W and that pack is taking the same amount of space as two 12 packs. Recommendation: Tell the Walmart buyer that we will stop production of the 24 pack and replace it with more 12 packs and a new flavor line. Focus on the fact that the 12 pack is staying steady in its distribution, but that we will also be lowering the price which may interest new buyers. Also, for the next 2 months we will be giving a price promotion in 50% of packages so people are interested to try a new hard seltzer and possibly get a coupon for their next purchase, also gaining repeat customers. Recommendation Analysis ● Stop distribution of 24 packs to Walmart because they are below the standard 1.0 U/S/W. New customers are more inclined to try a 12 pack before committing to a 24 pack, which is why we should currently focus on 12 pack distribution to gain a new consumer base. Also, the 24 packs are worth 2x of the shelf space which means we can instead try new flavor lines with 12 packs instead of taking up so much space with the same line. ● Continue with the current 12 packs because they have remained steady and will be a safe bet to continue while also creating new flavor lines. Also, lower the 12 pack price to $19-20 dollars in order to stay competitive with other brands. ● Create a new 12 pack flavor line called the “Smoothie Pack”. Lemonade packs, punch packs, and standard citrus packs are already very established so in order to further break into the category we need to create something new. Include flavors like strawberry banana, mango pineapple, berry, and orange tumeric. Emphasize that you can also add this to frozen fruit or ice to make your hard seltzer into a real smoothie. ● Introduce a Walmart promotion where there will be a $3 off coupon in 50% of TINY BUBBLES® packages. This will create a want to “find” the coupon by buying more packs. This should be somewhat reminiscent of McDonalds monopoly, but on a smaller scale with greater odds. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Create a presentation will all of the recommendation points (done by tomorrow morning) ● Begin to test new smoothie pack flavors (by the end of February) ● Advertisements for our new promotion “game” within Walmart stores (end of week)
Situation: TINY BUBBLES® parent company is decreasing their media budget in the coming year. TINY BUBBLES® must decide on a new strategy for advertising money and how to efficiently spend our new $5MM budget. Problem/Opportunity: With a decreased media budget of 5 million dollars, TINY BUBBLES® must rethink their strategy by weighing each platform’s CPM and ROI to see what makes the most amount of sense with this money. Although the budget has decreased, TINY BUBBLES® can still create a new marketing strategy to reach different audiences than last year. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® should allocate its paid media budget on 2 main platforms. The first will be spending $1MM on podcasts to reach 10,000,000 impressions. Next, we should spend $3,000,000 on TikTok to reach 50 million impressions. The remaining $1 million should be saved for any future crisis campaigns we must do in the next year. All of these should be focusing on our new college audience (21-25 year olds). Recommendation Analysis ● Buying a podcast campaign will cost $1,000,000 with a CPM of 100. The ROI is 1.5, which is above the $1 standard. Podcasts that college students listen to will be the target partner. With a large audience that aligns with our target market, we will be able to get people interested in TINY BUBBLES® while they are listening to a podcast and walking around campus. ● Buying a TikTok campaign will take up a large portion of our money but it is the app that most people 21-25 are using. With a low CPM ($60), we will be able to reach a larger new audience while using their favorite tik tok influencers to do so. ● Radio has one of the only ROI’s at $1 or above (other than podcasts), but it is important for the audience to see our product and since we are already campaigning through podcasts we don’t think using radio is the best other option. Instead, I believe we should save the remaining $1MM to keep for any response media we may need to create. We can also use it for smaller campaigns on Facebook and Instagram when launching new flavor packs. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Marketing team #1 begin to make plans for podcast campaigns ○ Pitch script ideas by end of March ○ Research different podcast options while keeping in mind they should target young people (aged 21-25) by end of March ● Marketing team #2 begin to make plans for TikTok campaigns ○ Research users that fit our brand and have an audience who is in college or just recently graduated (One that can get you started is Darcy McQueen who constantly posts “Get ready to go out with me” videos) throughout March and April
Campaign
Impressions
Cost
CPM
Sales-Attr.
ROI
Podcast
10,000,000
1,000,000
100
2,500,000
1.5
Magazine
5,000,000
750,000
150
800,000
0.067
Radio
25,000,000
1,200,000
48
2,400,000
1
TikTok
50,000,000
3,000,000
60
5,000,000
0.67
30,000,000
2,000,000
66.67
3,500,000
0.75
10,000,000
800,000
80
600,000
-0.25
2,000,000
2,000,000
1000
100,000
-0.95
Situation: With the launch of the TINY BUBBLES® Hydrated Hard Seltzer line there is a limited amount of space on the packaging’s face panel. We must pick our three most important claims, features, or RTB’s. Problem/Opportunity: With the limited space on the TINY BUBBLES® Hydrated line’s face panel, we must decide what customers care about the most and what new customers might see that would make them pick our brand over competitors. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® Hydration packaging must first feature the name of the line with the slogan “Hydration Doesn’t End Here” underneath. The second most important claim for packaging is “electrolytes in every can”, to communicate what makes this a hydrated line. Finally, TINY BUBBLES® should still have 5% ABV on the front packaging to make sure that consumer’s know this although electrolytes are added, there is no loss in alcohol. Recommendation Analysis ● By having “TINY BUBBLES® Hydrated Hard Seltzer” with “Hydration doesn’t end here” as the biggest text on the packaging, consumers will see that this is different from other hard seltzer’s in the category. The word Hydration alone will hopefully make the customer do a double take while choosing their seltzer. We also need the slogan because we want it to be known that this line is like a 2 in 1, no choice is needed between hydrating and drinking alcohol. ● Having “electrolytes in every can'' somewhere in the bottom right side of packaging will explain to customers why this is called a hydration line. We cannot have the title and slogan of this product without explaining where the hydration claim comes from. ● Finally, it is still incredibly important to include 5% ABV although this is becoming a category ante. With the hydration claim, consumers might believe that this would mean less alcohol or maybe even no alcohol and we need to make sure that is set straight before questions arise and they move on to the next product. Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Creation of packaging mock ups (End of week) ● Pull together another focus group to see if graphics are appealing and what they think the product is (by April 14th) ● Approval from focus groups and creation of packaging (End of April)
Situation: OmniscientComm pitched three different creative options to the TINY BUBBLES® team. We must decide what option goes best with the release of our new Hydrated line. The 3 options: ● The first, a campaign creative approach centered around TINY BUBBLES’ ability to “unlock the fun” in social situations common among your consumer prime prospect...TINY BUBBLES as the “key” to lubrication in relevant and familiar social settings and life stage milestones for your target audience ● The second, a creative approach appealing to the rational, pragmatic side of the prime prospect’s beliefs and behaviors regarding the hard seltzer category...a flashier, harder-hitting version of your brand concept brought to life through video and sound with a laser-focus on the core claim, features, and RTBs that made your concept so appealing to the target audience ● The third, a creative approach that so totally subverts the existing hard seltzer category through unexpected yet entertaining ad campaign hallmarks...wacky characters, infectious music and memorable situations designed to carve a truly unique space in the consumer’s mind for TINY BUBBLES to occupy Problem/Opportunity: We have three great options of campaign strategies but we need to choose what we believe is the best and most aligned with our brand. This creative choice can either help the expansion of TINY BUBBLES® by aligning with the new line or it can push us back by spending money on something that wont align with our audience. Recommendation: TINY BUBBLES® should continue working with OmiscientComm on the second creative option. With the launch of the Hydrated line, it is incredibly important that the customer understands the benefits in order for them to go out and seek the products. The big idea of this campaign is that we have a new product that combines alcohol and hydration, that is what should be the most important. We should not overshadow this feature by using the third approach and some issues may come up with the first idea. Recommendation Analysis ● We should move forward with the creative approach of emphasizing the major prospects of TINY BUBBLES® Hydrated line. The most important part of this launch is the fact that the seltzers include added electrolytes to promote hydration while drinking. This is a feature that has gained a lot of interest in focus groups, which is why our creativity should focus on it. ○ Our “big idea” of this product release is to release a product that hasn’t been done before. This product is different from others because it is a 2 in 1 combining alcohol and electrolytes. The belief, based on focus groups, is that people want that feature and that is why our creative needs to align with that idea. ● We shouldn’t do the third approach because our product is already different from other products in the category and we don’t want to create a commercial that falls into “Vampire Creativity” where it is too unique to the point of the audience forgetting the brand or even getting annoyed.
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Creative approach number 1 has already been done, and confident collegians already know what alcohol does to them. They are going to buy alcohol because they already believe that it is what causes enjoyment on a night out so we don’t have to prove it to them. Also, any audience that sees the advertisement that has dealt with alcoholism either individually or through friends and family may look down on the fact that we are trying to make alcohol the only way to have fun.
Key Next Steps: Approval of this recommendation and: ● Brainstorm specific ideas that the creative should center around (come up with a plan for the main commercial by the end of tomorrow’s meeting) ● Begin to film campaign (End of April) ● Put together another focus group and show them advertisement options (May 15th)