Marketing Essentials: Cadbury's Role and Marketing Plan Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Cadbury's marketing strategies. It begins with an introduction to the fundamental concepts of marketing, including the identification and development of products, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional techniques. The report then delves into the specific roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within Cadbury, examining how marketing communicates with consumers, advertises products, and builds brand image. Furthermore, it explores the relation of marketing to the broader context of Cadbury, analyzing how the company considers societal needs and adapts to changing consumer preferences. The report also includes a comparison of marketing mix components across different organizations and concludes with the development and evaluation of a marketing plan for Cadbury, offering insights into the company's approach to product packaging, advertising, and overall market presence. The report draws on various academic sources to support its findings and provide a well-rounded understanding of Cadbury's marketing practices.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS
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Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1: Role of marketing and its interrelations with the functional units......................................4
P1 Explanation of the roles and the responsibilities of the function of marketing for Cadbury.....4
P2 Relation of the roles of marketing to a wider context for Cadbury............................................6
Task 2: Comparison within different organizations regarding the use of the components of
marketing mix..................................................................................................................................8
P3 Comparison of marketing mix in order to achieve the marketing objectives.............................8
Task 3: Development and evaluation of a marketing plan............................................................11
P4 Marketing plan for Cadbury.....................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference list.................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
The process of marketing involves the promotion and the sales of the product which also
includes the research on the market and the advertisement of the products as well. The marketing
concept consists of the various elements including the identification of the product and the
development of the same, the determination of the suitable price of the product to be sold, the
channel to be used for the distribution and the development of the strategies for the promotion of
the created products. The aim of the study is to explore the role of marketing in the company
Cadbury and developing a proper marketing plan after having analyzed the marketing mix.
Cadbury and developing a proper marketing plan after having analyzed the marketing mix.
Cadbury is a company which falls under the confectionary industry and was founded in the UK.
The initial products of the company at the time of starting the company were coffee, tea, and the
liquid chocolate which the people drank (cadbury.co.uk 2017). Later, the dairy milk bar was
launched by the company which was found to be exceptional due to the high content of milk.
The response of the people was fantastic regarding this product and the company started
increasing the production. Slowly and gradually, the company started growing and started
producing products with variations in taste and essence. The company attracted massive numbers
of customers with the use of adequate advertising techniques and marketing strategies. This fact
is evident from the figures of
the revenue of the company which has reached £ 11,346,002,000 in the year 2011.
Figure 1: Cadbury logo
(Source: cadbury.co.uk. 2017)
Task 1: Role of marketing and its interrelations with the functional units
P1 Explanation of the roles and the responsibilities of the function of
marketing for Cadbury (M1, D1)
The basic role of marketing is to communicate is to establish the effective communication with
the convince them to buy the products by providing them with appropriate and attractive reasons
for purchasing the products.
According to Dibb and Simkin (2013, p.25), one of the most important jobs of the marketing
department is to advertise the product. There are various methods of advertisements which can
be used for this purpose. The marketing department needs to take up the responsibility of
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retaining the people who have once become the customer of the organization. This further helps
in the image building process of a company. The advertisements done by Cadbury are very
attractive as they use the ideas which are easily able to create connections with the people. It
makes use of different media for the advertisement purpose. These media include the television,
newspapers, and the social media as well. The children are mostly attracted to chocolates.
However, they would choose any chocolate irrespective of the brand. In that case, the company
made the strategy to target the adults for the advertisements. The basic concept is to try to spread
messages through the advertisements which are appealing to the people. The use of the
emotional elements in the advertisements makes it more effective and attractive. These
advertisements create a deep impact on the mind of the people and therefore the people are able
to remember these advertisements. As stated by Berkowitz (2016, p.12), the advertisements are
the drivers of the sales of the products.
Figure 2: Marketing Functions
(Source: Malhotra et al. 2013, p.52 )
Another aspect of marketing is the fixing of the price of the products (Malhotra et al. 2013,
p.52). Cadbury produces various edibles like the chocolate bars, drinks, and bags and boxes. As
the products are designed for the customers of all types, the cost of the products has been kept
within the range which is reachable to a mass of people. Initially, the company started with the
production of coffee and owing to the success of the business, it started launching new products
like the chocolates and other confectionaries. The products of the company are edibles and
therefore the people of all the ages and all the classes come under the target customers of the
company. Owing to this, the company has a huge customer base and therefore the business has
witnessed immense success in terms of expansion of the business, sales and revenue and the
customer satisfaction as well.
The packaging of products is equally important in the marketing process. The main motive of
packaging is protecting the product against getting damaged. After having manufactured, the
products need to transport to the stores for the selling. As mentioned by Pike (2015, p.67), the
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packages of the products must be attractive so that the customers find it appealing when they
take a look at the package of the product. Cadbury has followed the same strategy and the
packaging of the products is highly attractive. All the products have been packaged based on a
specific design and a specific color. The design on the cover of the products generally contains
the image of the product present inside. For example, the cover of the chocolate has an attractive
image of the chocolate on it. This stimulates the level of interest to consume the product.
The company is involved in the effective promotion of the products. It participated in various
events where it made direct connections with the audience. It also sponsored various events and
launched various campaigns. Owing to the appropriate implementation of the marketing
strategies, the company was successfully able to replace the conventional sweets with the
chocolates. Hamzah and Sutanto (2016, p.36) said that the use of social media for connecting
with the people and collecting their views and suggestions regarding the products was highly
effective in gaining a competitive advantage in the market by making continuous improvements
and enhancements in the products and the range of products.
P2 Relation of the roles of marketing to a wider context for Cadbury (M2, D1)
At a broader level, the marketing deals with providing the society with significant benefits. In
this context, the organizations are not only focused on the sales of the products but also try to
add to the value of the society (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014, p.130). The initial step in this process
is the analysis of the needs of the people. With the growth and the development of the
technology and the other aspects of the environment, the lifestyle and the standard of living of
the people have changed substantially. With this change, the choice and the demands of the
people have also changed. The facilities which were earlier considered to be a luxury are now
emerging into a basic necessity. According to Datta et al. (2016, p.3), these factors need to be
considered for the creation of the products. With the growth in the employment, the people have
become inclined towards the enjoyments and celebrations.
The people have started getting attracted towards the different cultures and they are ready to
accept the changes in the conventional methods and ways of living. Cadbury has analyzed these
factors and come up with a wide range of products which add to the taste and likings of the
people. It provides something extra which is different from the conventional food and drink. The
price of the products is decided in accordance with the products which exist in the market as a
competition. The prices of different products range from a very low price to higher price.
Leonidou et al. (2013, p.170) stated that this makes it available for the people with different
levels of income. The price is kept reasonable so that the competing products do not take the
advantage by selling their products at a lower price.
The distribution system of the products needs to judiciously select so that the products are
available to a maximum number of people. The company has a global presence and the products
are available in almost all the areas of the countries irrespective of the geographical conditions of
the place. The company is found to operate in over 50 countries. The initial setup was founded in
the United Kingdom. The brand image was strongly built and the response of the customers was
found to be positive. In response to the acceptance of the customers, the company went on to
spread the business all over the countries and ultimately established the business in various
countries like Ireland, United states, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, and Malta. As a
result, the company successfully gained the second position in the global market after the
Wrigley's.
With the wide variety of products and the massive demand of the people, the company involved
in the expansion of the labor force. The company put up various offices at different locations. All
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these offices required numerous employees ranging from the labors working for the productions
to the employees at the higher level including the managers and higher authorities. According to
Mintz and Currim (2013, p.20), this has helped in providing employment to a large number of
people all over the world. It can be drawn that these companies contribute a great deal to
improving the economy of the country. The multinational companies like Cadbury also add to
the global economy.
In addition to all this, the ideas used for the advertisements of the products have the concept of
spreading some meaningful messages which add to value to the society. These messages are
often capable of developing a positive attitude and behavior within the people and especially the
growing children (Fan et al. 2015, p.32). Cadbury has also designed some advertisements
depicting the beauty of relationships, strength of mental power and the feeling of happiness
experienced while caring for our loved ones. All these advertisements have successfully left a
deep impact on the minds of the people and have helped in discovering the beautiful aspects of
the daily lives.
The company puts in great effort in managing its human resources, this helps in motivating the
employees and help them perform better. This increase the overall level of performance attained
by the firm; this leads to a path of higher growth and higher profit margin.
The finance of the firm is strong and helps it in adopting new policies and procedure which are
beneficial to the growth of the business. In this regard it can be also stated that it helps in
adopting the best HRM policies to keep its work force happy.
As the finances are strong are strong the company employs latest and state of the art technology
in its production process, this helps in reducing the cost and better the quality for its product. In
this regard it can be stated that this helps the company to provide goods of best quality at the
least cost which helps it in gaining competitive advantage over its competitors.
In incorporating and managing all these strong administration is required, the company has this
and it has been evident from here.
Task 2: Comparison within different organizations regarding the use of the
components of marketing mix
P3 Comparison of marketing mix in order to achieve the marketing objectives
(M3, D2)
Marketing is an evolving process in the business environment which involves a lot of discipline
and innovative marketing techniques. Most of the top companies who stay ahead in this
environment have adopted the idea of marketing in their business. On the other hand, the
companies who have not yet adopted this technique find themselves left behind. According to
Wei et al. (2014, p.55), one fundamental technique that has been adapted by all those top
companies is the marketing mix or to state it in a more simple way, the 7ps of marketing. The
7ps are placed where the business is made available. Price is the amount by which the product is
made available. The product is the substance which the consumers want to buy. Promotion is the
technique by which the customers are made aware of the product. The process is the services
which are available to the customer both before and after its selling. People are the employees
involved in production and selling of the product. Physical evidence is the tangible form of
evidence related to the product. Besides, there is another ‘P' which is termed as an extended
version of the marketing mix. That P is Productivity and Quality (Papadopoulos and Heslop,
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2014, p.66). It is a form of guarantee offered by the producers to the consumers that their product
is a genuine one. This helps in building trust among the customers.
Figure 3: 7P’s of Marketing
(Source: Authors creation)
Product
Product section of Cadbury involves long listing. Some customers even get surprised to see the
variety of products offered by the company. Dairy milk, five stars, Cadbury eclair, Perk,
Bournville are in the chocolate section. Whereas, there are another biscuit and other beverages
section where there are oreo, bournvita, mouth fresheners. On the other hand, desserts offered by
Mcdonald's are divided into four sections – Milk shakes, pies, cookies and ice creams. The milk
shake section includes chocolate shake, vanilla shake. Whereas, the ice cream section includes
Sundays, Mc flurry, and cone ice creams. Pie section consist of apple pie, straw berry cream pie
and the cookie section includes Oat meal cookie and chocolate chip cookie
Ryan (2014, p.45) said that the pricing strategies of Cadbury are very innovative. Pricing
technique is mostly based on position and location of the business. They check the pricing of the
competitors and set accordingly. They also prefer competitive pricing techniques and discounting
techniques which depend on the consumer demand. Whereas the pricing strategy of Mcdonald’s
mostly depends on the location and per-capita income of the country. Products of The Burger
King are making strong competition in the market with McDonalds. They have strategies which
can make adverse effect on the product marketing of the chosen company.
Promotion
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The promotion strategy of Cadbury involves targeting of a particular age. They mostly target the
younger generations and children who are fond of eating chocolates and biscuits. They have
segmented their products according to different age groups (Miquel-Romero et al. 2014, p.671).
They have even set the price of different products accordingly. Like Cadbury Bournville is
targeted for the youth so its cost is a little higher than that of the dairy milk. The promotion of
Mcdonald's is also more or less similar to Cadbury in this case. They mostly target the youths,
those who are fond of fast foods and processed products. On the other hand the promotion
strategies used by the burger king are well attractive for the customers and the customers also do
buy their products as well and this has to concern about by McDonalds.
Place
Cadbury has set up its production centers at the places where the transportation and production
cost are minimum for them. This helps is the manufacturing process and ultimately affects their
profits. They also set their retail shops in those places where the sale process could get
maximum. However, Sheth and Sisodia (2015, p.88) stated that Mcdonald’s focus that their
production units are evenly spread all over the world. They target various regions when
production place is involved. They set up various delivery units at different regions so that their
ordered products could reach the consumer on time. Place to market are selected by the burger
king are effective and the marketing strategies are well established and they are with proper
analysis of the target market place. This may create tough competition with the chosen company.
McDonalds does not offer their products to the rural areas where they have much scope of
making business. There are various rural areas with many developments as well and the
company does nor analyze them and lose the scope of marketing their products.
People
Cadbury mostly targets the younger generations of the buyer. The age group from 4 to 15 mainly
likes to eat sweet and milk products. Now a day, it can be seen that Cadbury is extending their
age group to younger generations. They are even introducing new flavors to target those
consumers. Whereas, MacDonald's especially focuses on youth generations from age group 15 to
35. The generation which involves the college goers to friend groups, those who like to celebrate
various occasions. The target customers of the burger king are of various financial aspects.
However the chosen organization has the strategies to market only at the urban areas with the
people available there.
Process
According to Weinstein and Pohlman (2015, p.132), Cadbury pays an extra attention to
satisfying their customers. They prefer customer feedbacks with extra care. They even organize
various conferences where they take customer opinions about their products so that they can
improve their existing products and serve their target audiences much better. The food
processing technique of McDonald's is very much transparent so that the consumers can
thoroughly see what the foods they are having are. They can even judge their hygienic values
and standard of food that is being served. McDonalds does have their processing of the foods
with better management however the other company such as the burger king also provides well
managed foods to their customers. There are large scopes for the burger king and the McDonalds
would lose their target customers at certain level of time.
Physical evidence
Both Cadbury and Mcdonald's takes very much care for the manufacturing area and their
hygienist factor. They try to keep their production and sales unit free of dirt so that the consumer
gets a good impression about their hygienic levels. Both of them serve their foods in attractive
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packets so that the customer have a good impression about the food even before they eat it. They
keep the customer psychological effects into account when serving their products. They even
focus that they stay one step ahead of their rivals when offering customer services.
Marketing strategies used by Mcdonald's are mostly to meet their long-term as well as short-term
goals. They always analyze their targets regularly to keep themselves ahead in the competition.
Cadbury also tries to lead their confectionary industry. So both of the companies hold the
marketing mix as an important criterion for their success. They both take this 8ps as a vital part
of their business. They even set their market goals and objectives related to this marketing mix.
They even invest a lot of manpower and money for a swift working of their brand and factory.
They also started to use social media as an important factor in promoting their respective brand.
Every aspect of the organization is to be managed effectively by operation manager.
Task 3: Development and evaluation of a marketing plan
P4 Marketing plan for Cadbury (M4, D2)
The marketing plan basically deals with developing the objectives of the business and defining
the steps to be followed for the accomplishment of the same. There are several steps in the
process of developing a marketing plan. A marketing plan is to be developed for Cadbury and it
will be done by following the steps as discussed hereby:
Figure 4: Marketing plan
(Source: Ryan, 2016, p.13)
Budgeting and resources
It is important to formulate a budget before delving into any activity. This helps in conducting
the program or the initiative in the proper way. In case of a business it is all the more important,
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profit and loss is associated with it. If budgeting is flawed it can be sated that it hampers the
process of manufacturing and operational activity due lack of loose out on opportunity due to
under utilization of fund. In this regard it can be further stated that the procurement of resources
are important. If a firms fails to procure resources in an optimum way it will have problems in
delivering quality product or have problems in matching the cost. This will result in budgeting
problems and eventually result in loss.
Development of the plan of action
This step deals with the definition of the goals. The main objective of Cadbury is to focus on the
customer needs and providing them with the best range of confectioneries. The company is going
to launch a new chocolate bar and for that particular product, they are developing a proper
marketing plan. This will be named as the Mocha. The specialty of this chocolate will be that it
will have the essence of coffee and high content of protein.The target customers for the chocolate
are not limited to any specific group or range of people. This chocolate will be a launched at the
beginning of the festive season. This will be beneficial for the company as the people will be
inclined towards buying the chocolates as gifts for the relatives in the festivals.
Analysis of the present situation
The second step in the process is to examine the existing condition of the company. This requires
the consideration of several factors which directly or indirectly influence the company. It is very
important for the determination of the exact position of the company within the market. The
present situation of the company is analyzed with the help of SWOT analysis. This method of
analysis requires the evaluation of the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats related to
the organization. The swot analysis has been carried out in reference to Cadbury and the findings
are discussed as follows:
Strength: The brand image of Cadbury is very strong which ultimately leads to a very high level
of customer loyalty. This enables the company to charge a premium amount from the customers
as it is confident enough that the customers will pay the amount as they have already developed a
strong liking towards the products. Ryan (2016, p.13) explained that due to the efficient quality
of the products and the ability to meet the demands and the expectations of the company the
company stands among the leaders in the industry and has a worldwide presence. The company
has a competitive advantage in the market due to the wide variations in the products. The
company has created a wonderful tag line for the advertisement purpose and therefore has been
successful in winning the hearts of a large number of people.
Weakness: The basic weakness of the company is that the products are not available in the rural
areas due to the unavailability of connectivity. In addition to this, the recent news about the
presence of insects and unwanted particles in the products has raised a number of questions
regarding the image of the brand. According to Rallapalli and Montgomery (2015, p. 70), this
kind of complaints in such a famous and reputed brand is not acceptable. The company needs to
monitor the quality of the products so that these mistakes are not repeated in the future because
these mistakes if repeatedly discovered can prove to be image destroying for the brand. In the
recent time, there have been a few controversies regarding the product. Some bacteria were
encountered in the product which was said to be caused due to the leakage of some pipe. The
rectifications of this fault lead to a monetary loss to the company. Moreover, the recalling of the
product due to the error in labeling also added to the weakness.
Opportunities: Solomon (2014, p.3) stated that the weakness can be rectified and used as an
opportunity. The company can take the desired steps in order to increase the availability of
products in the rural market. This will enhance the turnover of the company and the brand name
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as well. The company can try to create the chocolates with different flavors and different essence
as the difference in the taste is often welcome by the consumers. The chocolates can be small
chocolates, bars, little shots and large packs as well. Increasing the diversity of the products can
also be taken as an opportunity.
Threats: The people in today’s world are becoming more conscious regarding the health. In that
case, the people are inclined towards decreasing the consumption of chocolates. The increasing
cost of the raw materials may lead to increase in the cost of the product which may ultimately
affect the sales. The sales may also get decreased due to inflation (Sah and Fugh-Berman, 2013,
p.3). In addition to these factors, the rising competition in the industry is also a threat to the
company and the appropriate steps must be taken in order to overpower the competitors.
Development of marketing strategy
After having analyzed the different factors affecting the current scenario, the strategy for
marketing is to be developed. The marketing strategy of Cadbury is developed in three steps
which include segmentation, positioning, and targeting. The company carries out the
segmentation on the basis of the demographics, psychographic and the behavioral factors.
According to Felzensztein et al. (2014, p.840), these factors include the range of income of the
people and the population of a particular area. People of all age groups and all income range
come under the customer base of the company. This is because the chocolates and the drinks
produced by the company are consumed by all the people. However, the different products are
created for the different class of peoples. There are some products with a higher price which are
meant for the customers who have a higher scale of income and are capable of paying higher
amounts for the chocolates. Examples these products are Bournville and Cadbury Temptations.
Also, there are some products which are affordable by the people with a lower income. The cost
of the new product will also be kept moderate so that all the people can buy the chocolate. The
company is completely devoted towards the provision of quality for building the reputation and
involved in the continuous improvement of the quality. Hallbäck and Gabrielsson (2013, p.1020)
said that the two main competitive advantages of the company are the brand equity and
distribution. The products are widely available however the volume in the urban areas is larger
due to the demand of the economy. The distribution of the product will follow a 3-tier approach
where the product flows from the wholesaler to the customers through the retailers.
Implementation of the plan
The implementation of the plan requires the procedures like the allocation of the resources and
preparation of the budget. The budget will be prepared for the various activities involved in the
launch of the new product. The process of the production will be properly monitored so that the
mistakes earlier made are not repeated this time. The feedback from the customers regarding the
earlier products will also be kept in consideration during the production. The resources will be
judiciously allocated so that the production is completed with the time constraint while
maintaining all the quality constraints. The operations and the procedures of the workflow will
be evaluated on a regular basis so that the problems arising can be mitigated at an early stage.
This will also help in the smooth advancement of the process of manufacturing.
Monitoring and controlling
Monitoring and controlling is an important part in implementing a marketing plan. The
monitoring section helps in identifying the areas of problem which requires attention. This will
help in addressing the issue and adopt measure to rectify it. It also helps in monitoring the market
condition as well. In the controlling part the firm or the organization can control it activities in
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marketing the product as evident from the monitoring exercise, either by expanding or
contracting the activities.
Conclusion
In this particular study the marketing strategies in the company Cadbury has been explored in
details. The major roles and responsibilities of the marketing department have been discussed.
The marketing plays a vital role in selling the products created by the company. Marketing is
also involved in creating a reputation of the company on the global market by making use of the
ethical means of promotion. This can be done by associating the products with some creative
thoughts. The use of lovely slogans and wonderful ideas for advertising the products helps in
establishing a secure position in the hearts of the viewers. In this way, the reputation of the
company gets enhanced and creates a positive impact on the people. The marketing mix is used
for the achievement of proper marketing of the products. This requires the consideration of
several factors like the choice of the category of product, the cost of the product, the methods of
promoting the products, the people to be approached and the process to be followed for the
production and distribution of the product. The marketing mix used by Cadbury and Mcdonald's
have been compared and the effects of the same have been evaluated. It has been established that
the reason behind the success of Cadbury is the proper development of the strategies of
marketing and the understanding of the customer needs.
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