Digital Marketing Strategy for Slice Brand of PepsiCo

This report discusses the digital marketing strategy for the Slice brand of PepsiCo, targeting children under the age of 15. It includes smart objectives, buyer persona, and strategies for brand building, creating new products, driving customer satisfaction, increasing word-of-mouth recommendations, generating leads, managing reputation, and integrated marketing.

Assessment 3
Organization Name:
Product/Service:
Student Name/No:
Date Submitted:
Word Count:
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Table of Contents
Section One: Buyer Persona.......................................................................................................4
Section Two: Objectives............................................................................................................9
Section Three: Strategy Statement...........................................................................................11
Section Four: Strategy..............................................................................................................12
Section Five: Conclusion.........................................................................................................17
Reference List..........................................................................................................................18
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Executive Summary
This report is about the digital marketing strategy for the Slice brand of PepsiCo company.
The ideal customer for the PepsiCo product Slice is mostly children under the age of 15.
Although the soft drink product Slice is enjoyed by people of all ages, it is most popular
among children due to its sweet mango flavour. Apart from children, adults, especially
females prefer Slice more than male adults who prefer other products. Based on the customer
profile various smart objectives have been presented against which appropriate strategies
have been built. The report provides a conclusive view on the use of social media platforms
for promoting Slice and also improve the quality and flavour of their product based on
customer feedback. The three social media strategies used by slice can be used using the right
tactics. The use of celebrity ad campaign can be launched, but instead of using international
celebrities and public figures, they can hire national and local facilities based on the country
or region in which they are promoting.
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SECTION ONE: BUYER PERSONA
The identification and profiling of the target customers of Slice have been mentioned below
for developing a journey mapping of the buyer. However, as the customers are identified
through digital space, demographics of the customers have not been used as it is quite
meaningless in the digital context (Cruz & Karatzas, 2016). For understanding the buyer
persona, the various elements of their identity and profile have been mentioned in the
customer journey mapping table presented below.
Element Content
Who
The ideal customer for the PepsiCo product Slice is mostly children
under the age of 15. Although the soft drink product Slice is enjoyed by
people of all ages, it is most popular among children due to its sweet
mango flavour. Apart from children, adults, especially females prefer
Slice more than male adults who prefer other products. Additionally, as
Slice is a cold drink and has a mango flavour, it is also popular among
people of countries that have a warmer climate compared to countries
that have cold weather. It is quite a favorite drink in countries like India
due to its hot and humid climate and people who suffer the heat during
the day time, especially children prefer a chilled mango drink to quench
their thirst.
What As most prevalent in countries with warmer climates, the buyer persona
has some specific goals based on their geographic location and culture
(Newberry & Collins, 2017). The primary goal of the buyer persona is to
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Element Content
quench their thirst in the hot and humid weather with a cold beverage.
However, there are multiple choices of soft drinks to fulfil their goal.
However, as mango is a trendy fruit in countries like India, a cold
beverage flavoured like mango is very useful in the hot summer days.
Also, as people sweat a lot in the summer, a refreshing drink is very
rejuvenating for them, and the added sugar in the beverage acts as a
source of energy for the ideal target customers of the product.
Where
Presently in the digital world, an internet presence is very high in almost
all countries. Even in developing countries like India, the use of the
internet and social media is also growing, and due to its vast population,
it has one of the highest per day social media activities in the world
(Gamble, 2018). As the product Slice is mostly targeted towards children
and young adults, they are almost available in the online social platform
through their smartphones and not so much active in traditional
marketing mediums like television, radio, banner and hoardings.
Compared to their online presence, their offline presence is not so much
and using social media marketing strategy is much more useful for the
target customer group.
Content Social media is a wild combination of multiple contents, and it is tough
to pin out any specific content that the buyer persona might prefer.
However, based on the demographics and culture, a moderate estimation
is possible about their preference of content (Anderl, Becker, Von
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Element Content
Wangenheim & Schumann, 2016). As the target customer of Slice is
mostly young people, they are much more interested in pop culture and
western culture. Additionally, they also have a keen interest in the
celebrity gossips of movie stars, singers and tv actors. This type of
preference can be used to gain their attention and use it to promote the
product and brand name through social media marketing.
Channels
The channels through which the organization can promote their brand
name and product are mostly social media platforms and some other
traditional forms of marketing channels. As almost 75% of the world
population is available on Facebook and 37% on Twitter, using these two
social network channels to reach out to the target customers is the best
way to promote the product (Rosenbaum, Otalora& Ramírez, 2017).
Additionally, they can also use other traditional channels like television
ad which still has quite a reach in the target customer persona.
Trust
touchpoints
As the target customer persona mostly prefers content based on pop
culture and celebrity lifestyles, using recognised and well-known
celebrities and movie stars in advertising campaigns in the social media
is very useful to gain the attention of the public. Using these ad
campaigns in social media as well as other traditional medium is useful
for brand promotion and recognition. Using a social media platform with
the preferred content of the target customers is the best way to create
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Element Content
brand trust among the customers (Lemon &Verhoef, 2016).
Pain
touchpoints
It is quite possible that the buyer persona is unhappy with our brand,
content or channels and as an organization, we should be careful about
their objections. About the brand, Slice is a carbonated sweet drink, and
many customers are against such products as excessive consumption on a
daily basis might have health concerns. The high sugar content in the
beverage is a significant area of concern for many activists who are
against the promotion of such unhealthy drinks. As for the content, using
celebrities for ad campaigns are ideal for promoting the product as they
have high popularity, but in case a celebrity is in some kind of
controversial scenario, it is also harmful to the brand that they are
promoting. As of the channels, social media being a top-rated channel,
there is hardly any objection regarding the use of this type of channel.
However, lately, concerns about sharing of private data of customers to
consumer-based organizations have been a significant concern as people
are manipulated through social media into buying certain products and
prefer certain contents (Bernard &Andritsos, 2017).
Customer,
consumer or
influencer
The role of the buyer persona as a customer is to trust the brand, get
accustomed to the product and prefer it over other cold beverages due to
social media marketing. As a consumer, it is quite common to get
manipulated through social media marketing and celebrity ad campaigns
to prefer Slice over other beverages. For the role as an influencer,
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Element Content
recommending other friends and family about buying the same brand is
useful for the company as word of mouth in such product promotions are
very helpful (Stein &Ramaseshan, 2016).
‘They say.'
"Slice is refreshing and tastes very similar to fresh mangoes even when it
is not the season for mangoes."
‘We say.'
“The taste of pure mango fun in every sip.”
Keywords
Young, active, high presence in social media, pop culture savvy, easily
manipulated, mango lover, addicted to sugary drinks, updated on
celebrity gossips, etc.
Table 1: Buyer Persona
Source: created by the author
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SECTION TWO: OBJECTIVES
The smart objectives of the campaign of Slice to promote the brand through social media are
based on the opportunities mentioned in the SWOT and PESTLE analysis of the brand and
product. The strategic objectives can be gained by combining the overall goal of the
organization and the practicalities of completing sales actions. Based on these smart
objectives, a short-term strategy and campaign for the product will be developed. The smart
objectives of Slice are as follows.
Build Brand:
Specific
It is necessary to build the separate brand value of Slice as a popular product of PepsiCo
Measurable
Having a very strong brand awareness in the market along with high brand positioning.
Achievable As social media has the very strong reach to the target young customers of Slice,
a social media advertising campaign through popular celebrities will be helpful in promoting
the brand and also keep the customers enthusiastic about the product (Iglesias, Ind & Alfaro,
2017)
Relevant
It is necessary to build brand value through social media marketing.
Time-bound
3 months.
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Create New Products:
Specific
Developing new products based on customer choices is a great driver for selling a product
Measurable
The company can gain essential and valuable feedback through an online poll in the social
media platform about the quality and flavour of the product.
Achievable
Based on their choices and preferences about the product, the data from the customers can be
combined with the creativity of the product team in the company to develop a completely
new product which will gain popularity among the customers.
Relevant
Developing new products helps in prioritizing customer preferences will make the product
very attractive for them (Pansari& Kumar, 2017)
Time-bound
3months.
Drive Customer Satisfaction:
Specific
Slice also wants to address the concerns of the customers about the product.
Measurable
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they should keep in mind that too much interaction with customers might result in nagging
issues and might backfire if customers start complaining about them (Hill & Alexander,
2017)
Achievable
Feedback from the customers can be used to improve the quality and flavour of the product
further.
Relevant
Keeping the interaction limited would help to gain valuable insights about the product
Time-bound
3 months.
Increase Word-of-Mouth Recommendations:
Specific
Boost sales of their product through recommendations via word of mouth.
Measurable
As customers become satisfied with their product, recommending the products to others
increase sales.
Achievable
If the company can target a specific range of customers through their social media marketing
strategies, recommendations from these customers to their friends and family would help
further to increase the sales of the product (Zhang, Hu, Guo & Liu, 2017).
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Relevant
In the present consumer market, word of mouth is an essential tool to boost sales of the
product.
Time-bound
3 months
Generate Leads:
Specific
The company must take customer feedback during each step of the customer journey mapping.
Measurable
Customer feedback about their experience with the company and how they interact with the
company on a personal level.
Achievable
Interacting with the customers on a personal level through the exchange of email and the mobile
number would enable them to gain valuable data about the product (Umashankar, Ward & Dahl,
2017).
Relevant
This information and data at every stage of the customer journey are helpful in keeping the
customers active in product development and complete the sale.
Time-bound
2 months
Managing Reputation:
Specific
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The slice should employ the crisis communication management team to handle such a situation.
Measurable
The slice should monitor any such activities across the social media platform.
Achievable
In case of any controversy about the brand or a public figure representing the brand, the
reputation of the brand should be maintained through crisis communication management to keep
the buyer persona of the brand intact (Hannington, 2016).
Relevant
Companies can face a crisis situation at any time.
Time-bound
3 months
Integrated Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising:
Specific
The slice should try a combined strategy that caters to all these aspects of marketing together.
Measurable
It is essential that Slice does not separate integrated marketing, public relations and advertising.
Achievable
This can be done by using the customer data to plan the strategy and would help to meet the
demands of marketing equally, public relations and advertising (Blakeman, 2018).
Relevant
Integrated marketing, public relations and advertising are all interconnected and should be
utilized together for maximum benefits.
Time-bound
2 months
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SECTION THREE: STRATEGY STATEMENT
The 8C strategic development guidelines will be used to develop a strategy statement, and
this can be achieved through conceptualizing digital marketing across multiple channels.
Three separate digital standalone strategies will be used to promote the brand name of Slice
among the target customers that would help to establish brand trust among the customers,
promote an improved product of the brand and also increase the sales. Additionally, a
cohesive approach with these digital strategies will be made through a traditional form of
marketing which would further establish these digital strategies (Thompson, Strickland &
Gamble, 2015). The owned/ bought/ earned model has been used for the development of the
strategy provided with proper evidence and justification.
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SECTION FOUR: STRATEGY
8 C’s Strategic Development
The 8 C’s strategic development guideline has been used by Slice to develop a
comprehensive marketing plan that would drive the success of the brand in the future. The
various factors of this strategic development have been described below.
Categorize: Slice must conduct research on the various social media platforms to understand
which of the available platforms has the highest reach to the target audience of the company
(Singh, Singh & Singh, 2017). As Facebook has the highest user of young people, Slice
should use their advertising campaign through the social media platform to reach out to the
maximum number of customers.
Comprehend: As every social media platform have its own unique algorithm that uses the
current trend of products in the market and view them to the users (Cacciolatti& Lee,2016).
By studying the trend and pattern of the other advertisements on Facebook, Slice can use
their advertisement campaign to target the maximum potential customers during the peak
hour of the day.
Converse: Simply promoting a product is never attractive to customers. The use of company
social responsibility (CSR) is useful in the ad campaign by raising various environmental
concerns and then promoting the product through those social issues are much more effective
in gaining customer attention and linger in their mind for a greater amount of time (Felix,
Rauschnabel&Hinsch, 2017).
Collaborate: Collaborating with various members of the social media website helps to build
connections. This is very helpful in case of Slice if it is able to get more attention from the
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members. Using a connection to build up the company audience is a great strategic method
that Slice can use at the moment.
Contribute: Social media platforms like Facebook collect user data about websites that the
user is simultaneously using while on the social platform. This is generally done through
accessing browser cookie and cache information. It is within the best interest of Slice to
collaborate with Facebook to gain that invaluable information about user data and can use
that to target other websites that the users are also using. The company can also share their
own knowledge with the social media platform and can gain the reputation of a respected
member and expert for the social media company (Kumar,2018). Mutual sharing of user data
is helpful for both parties.
Connect: Associating the brand name with other big companies from other fields is really
helpful to cater to a wider range of audiences. As big companies have a great reputation and
brand value in the market, associating their own name with them would create a synergy
effect, and the company can gain a free promotion from those companies as well. Sponsoring
large events with other companies and providing great customer services would enable those
big companies to praise Slice in their own ad campaigns and marketing plans (Vien, 2015).
Community: Arranging an online poll on the choice of soft drinks and beverages is essential
to gain customer feedback and what they expect from the company. The user community in
social media platforms can be utilized to gain such valuable feedback. Furthermore,
interacting with the customers in the online polls would also act as a source of free promotion
to the customers participating in the polls (Tuten& Solomon, 2017).
Convert: As companies can have multiple desired outcomes from each social media platform,
using the right strategy is necessary to essential to use the platform to its full potential. As
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Instagram use hashtags and Facebook use keywords, converting the outcomes of the
company to the respective method would help to quickly promote their product and reach out
to the maximum number of audiences. Gaining knowledge about the ways of using a website
and customizing each post is essential to become the top searched result in those websites
(Sajid,2016).
Digital Standalone Strategies
Slice has chosen three standalone strategies on the online social media platforms to promote
their product and increase their sales and interest among customers. These three social media
marketing strategies have been mentioned below.
A) Celebrity Ad Campaign
As the target customers of Slice are mostly young people, an ad campaign with international
celebrities like movie stars would help to gain the attention of the target customers. This ad
campaign would consist of multiple images and video clips of movie stars drinking Slice on
various circumstances. Using a recognizable face would help the company to associate the
product with famous people who have the ability to gain public attention fast and
effectively(Ashley &Tuten, 2015). This ad campaign would be circulated across both
Facebook and Twitter as they have the highest target audience reach of customers. Slice is
using this strategy as their primary method of promoting the brand name and product.
B) Sponsoring Social Event
Due to the high concern about climate change and global warming since the past decade,
companies are using CSR strategies to promote their product. The concept of social events
helps the organization gain a reputation as a result of their contribution to society while also
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promoting their products. Slice can arrange for the planting of mango and other fruit trees
social event as a part of their ‘Green Earth' campaign where they will be promoting the
plantation of green trees in dry regions to combat climate change. This social event will be
completely sponsored by Slice and using the mango tree as their representation of their
beverage will help to promote their product and increase sales. The promotion of this event
will be displayed on multiple social media platform to raise awareness and also increase their
sales and brand value (Lovett &Staelin, 2016).
C) Online Poll
An online voting poll can be conducted by Slice for gaining customer preference about the
choice of drink they prefer during the hot summer months. Using such an online poll will
help to gain customer attention and also gain their feedback on why they prefer their choice
of drink. Also, such online polls in social media platforms act as a form of free promotion for
the company for the users that participate in the online poll (Thornhill, Xie& Lee, 2017).
Traditional Marketing Strategy
A traditional marketing strategy like using banners and hoardings in popular public places
can be used to promote the ‘Green Earth' campaign, and elderly customers who are not so
much active on social media can also learn about their social initiative for fighting climate
change. The use of this traditional marketing strategy needs to used in cohesion with social
media marketing to gain maximum benefit and cover maximum audiences.
Justification
The use of 8 C’s Strategy in social media marketing is essential on multiple levels as it
provides valuable knowledge about what the marketing trends are and how to properly use
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various social media platforms for promoting brand products. The system of sharing user data
and associating the brand with other big companies help to establish a positive influence on
the brand through the eyes of the customers. Collaborating with other big companies and
contributing to the society and community is also helpful for keeping the brand reputation
intact while increasing the potential customers over time. The three online social media
strategies are useful in their own unique ways. Using international celebrities for promoting
brands and products are quite popular in marketing and customers who are young generally
get interested in products that have celebrities associated with them. Using the social
initiative to promote the product is also a helpful strategy as such activities put the company
in a positive light about their contribution to the society, community and environment
(Khamis, Ang & Welling, 2017). The online polling system is an additional way of free
promotion that companies use from time to time to keep the customers interested and
accustomed to their products. The traditional strategy used along with the online methods
helps to gain the attention of offline customers as well and cover the entire spectrum of the
target audience.
The concept of owned paid and earned media can also be used by Slice for gaining customer
popularity. They are as follows.
Owned media are the properties owned by the business meant to promote their products.
They include the company website, mobile sites, official blogs and dedicated social media
pages and channels. Paid media are advertisements used by the company to promote its
product in third-party channels. They include pay per click websites, display ads, paid
influencers, paid content promotion, social media ads and sponsored initiatives (Dutot,
Lacalle Galvez & Versailles, 2016). Earned media are activities that other people share based
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on their personal experience about the product. They include mentions of products, shares on
the personal timeline, reviews, reposts and recommendations from individual customers.
Slice can use all these types of media for targeting their product on the customers all across
the social media platform and online platforms.
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SECTION FIVE: CONCLUSION
The report provides a conclusive view on the use of social media platforms for promoting
Slice and also improve the quality and flavour of their product based on customer feedback.
The three social media strategies used by slice can be used using the right tactics. The use of
celebrity ad campaign can be launched, but instead of using international celebrities and
public figures, they can hire national and local facilities based on the country or region in
which they are promoting. This would easily gain more popularity than using a common face
for every place across the world. Also, the social event on climate change can be conducted
near the World Earth Day on April 22 which would further prioritize their cause and promote
their initiative in a more positive light. Using such tactics for these social media strategies
would further make their campaigns powerful and be able to reach more customers and
increase the reputation of the company.
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