University Marketing Report: Crescent Energy Drink Market Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Crescent, an energy drink by Portland Beverage, focusing on its market positioning, and strategies. The report begins with an executive summary and a detailed situational audit, including PESTLE analysis, competitive framework, and identification of current segmentation, target markets, USP, and CRM. It then delves into generic strategies, SWOT analysis, objectives, tactics, and the marketing mix strategy for Crescent. The report also covers marketing implementation, budget considerations, and key performance indicators (KPIs). The analysis emphasizes the potential of Crescent as an energy drink, considering the growth of the energy drink market and the increasing health consciousness of consumers. The report aims to create a sustainable market position for Crescent by addressing issues affecting business profit and sales through effective marketing activities. Key aspects include the product's differentiators, such as its refreshing taste, natural and organic ingredients, and its targeting of health-conscious consumers. The report concludes that Crescent should be positioned as an energy drink due to the market's growth and consumer trends.

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Principles of marketing
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Executive summary
The report was prepared to focus on the principles of marketing considering the
positioning of Crescent by PDB as a energy or sports drink. There were several issues
responsible for affecting the business profit and sales and thus proper marketing activities were
needed to be enabled for creating a sustainable position. The situational audit provided relevant
information about the macro and micro environmental factors affecting business with the use of
PESTLE analysis and by differentiators of the product included great taste, natural and organic
ingredients used, etc. The product has been aimed at the health conscious customers and it was
essential for managing proper cost and marketing techniques to create brand awareness among
people and enhance the sales revenue and profit level. From the positioning and marketing
implementation, it could be finalized that Crescent should be more favorable, if considered as
energy drinks, because of the growth of energy drinks market and people becoming more
conscious about their health nowadays.

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Table of Contents
Principles of marketing................................................................................................................................1
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................3
PESTLE analysis.....................................................................................................................................5
Competitive framework...........................................................................................................................7
Generic strategies....................................................................................................................................7
Segmentation, target market, positioning, USP and CRM.......................................................................8
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................................9
Objectives and issues.................................................................................................................................10
Tactics.......................................................................................................................................................10
Marketing mix strategy..........................................................................................................................10
Marketing implementation........................................................................................................................11
Budget.......................................................................................................................................................12
Controls KPI’s metrics..............................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................13

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Situational audit
The marketing activities are focused on positioning the Portland Beverage’s Crescent as
an energy or sports drink. Being a non-alcoholic beverage item, the product is targeted at the
health conscious clients for making them feel energized and refreshed. The vision of PDB is to
work with Crescent by acquiring it while the mission is to deliver exceptional customers’
services (Armstrong et al. 2014). The differentiator includes the product’s refreshing taste and
energizing ingredients present in it along with containing low caffeine and mainly consists of
organic juices.
Crescent is considered more of an energy drink rather than a sports drink, because the
market size for the energy drinks has been growing constantly by 40 percent, which creates
enough scopes for reaching new heights of success in terms of profit and competitive advantage.
Most of the consumers who prefer the energy drinks are between the ages of 18 to 34 years
(portlandbeverage.com 2018).
PESTLE analysis
Macro
Political- Pressure on taurine and caffeine rates along with increased health concerns have made
PDB to offer something unique and new that holds healthy features such as natural fruit juices
and other ingredients required to revitalize individuals and feel refreshed. Government’s
implications related to consumption of energy drinks on health has been considered and this will
allow for introducing Crescent as a n alternative to energy drink with better and healthy
components present in it (Posner, Williams and Posner 2015).

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Economic- High prices often de-motivate clients and with the increase in demands for
alternative beverage items, PDB should be able to gain success by offering Crescent to clients at
reasonable prices. The people with moderate household income are mainly targeted to create
Crescent’s maturity in the growth market of carbonates soft drinks.
Social- Based on the demographic conditions like ageing population and health concerns among
people, Crescent will be targeting health conscious consumer while the company could also
provide employment opportunities to people.
Technological- The advancement of technology and use of internet and social media platforms
will enhance the brand awareness among people about the product to be launched.
Legal- Implementation of restrictive laws due to concerns about energy drinks’ impact on health
must be considered by PDB and launch Crescent that can meet the needs of /health conscious
clients and at the same time, do not create any negative health impacts (Asiedu 2016).
Environmental- The increased needs for natural ingredients will definitely aloe Crescent to
become first choice for clients due to the presence of healthy components, especially natural fruit
juices.
Micro
The competitors of PDB’s Crescent are Together, Fright, Torque, Razor, Stellar, etc.,
which holds 85 percent of the revenue generated within the market. The introduction of the new
product named Crescent will require a proper team that has knowledge about the product and the

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ingredient to be used for enhancing its taste and quality along with use of natural juices that can
be a craze among the health conscious customers (Littler 2015).
Competitive framework
Figure: Competitive framework (Kaliappen and Hilman 2013)
Generic strategies
Cost leadership strategy could be used by PDB to gain higher market share by attracting
the price-sensitive clients through setting lower prices for the products. By setting lower prices,
positive mindsets will be created among the clients along with utilization of assets properly too.
The differentiation strategy will enable differentiating the product, services from other company
products, and ensures that the clients are able to recognize the products and check whether their
needs and requirements could be met not when compared to the products and services offered by
other companies in the energy drinks industry (Kaliappen and Hilman 2013). The focus

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strategies are implemented for targeting the right market segments and putting good marketing
effort for remaining competitive within the business environment as well.
Segmentation, target market, positioning, USP and CRM
The market segmentation allows for segmenting the marketplace into different portions
consisting of different types of consumers. The company’s target market is segmented based on
the health conscious consumers and those who are aged between 18 to 34 years, which has been
the main target market for Crescent (portlandbeverage.com 2018). The market growth for energy
drinks is 40 percent, which is quite higher than 9 percent of sports drinks. The demographic
segments include the people with household income below $42500 and also those who are more
inclined towards sports activities thus creating scopes for the new energy drink to create a good
position within the energy drinks industry (Canhoto, Clark and Fennemore 2013).
The USP of Crescent are its natural ingredients including natural fruit juices and other
components that are healthy for people and can both keep them refreshed as well as energized
without creating any negative side effects on health. The launch of Crescent could also capitalize
on the growth of organic food and beverages, which should bring more clients towards the
company with much ease and efficiency. The price of Crescent is quite low as well, i.e., $2.75.
The positioning should be possible for Crescent as an energy drink that could provide the
market with alternatives considered as healthy. The organic certification and lack of caffeine
content should be great differentiators for the energy drinks available in the market (Helm and
Gritsch 2014). The artificial sweetener and excessive stimulants have created adverse health
effects and thus, PDB could position the product y stating about the positive attributes of the

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products, furthermore this could allow the clients to remain aligned with the online consumer
demographics of Crescent, PDB.
CRM has enabled PDB to offer products that are healthy while at the same time,
introduced a wide range of both energy and sports drinks to cater the needs of people. The
internet connectivity along with the use of social media platforms by PDB could assist in making
more people aware of Crescent, its features and health impacts. The CRM department should
also respond to queries of clients and provide them with solutions to keep them satisfied and
influence their buying behaviors too (Armstrong et al. 2014).
SWOT analysis
Strengths
Lower level of sugar and caffeine
Healthier alternatives to other energy drinks
aimed at health conscious clients
Organic and natural ingredients present in
Crescent
Weaknesses
The caffeine percentage is very low
Poor brand knowledge and awareness among
the customers
Inaccurate marketing strategies of PDB
Lack of CRM approaches
Opportunities
Growth of energy drinks market
Middle of locavore movement
The functional beverages could recover the
economic benefits
Threats
Presence of multiple competitors
Prices are low, though questions the organic
label for the product
Poor brand awareness and lack of knowledge

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among customers
1) Target markets- The target markets comprise of segments that hold clients who are health
conscious while the other targeted market segments include people aged between 18 to 34 years,
to which the product named Crescent has been targeted.
2) Differentiation – Differentiation variables include refreshing quality, taste, natural and organic
fruit juice extracts and ingredients required to meet both quality and dietary standards and are
safe to consume.
3) Competition- The competitors often pose threats to the company and few of these include
Texas Frozen Foods Limited Co, Glanbia (B) Limited, etc.
4) CRM- The company uses advanced technologies and social media platforms to engage with
the clients and keep close interactions with clients for facilitating their behaviors and enhancing
the customer service relationships too.
5) Existing mix- Existing mix include the products that were old and were unable to meet the
dietary requirements while the clients wanted something uniqye and innovative that can be
refreshing as well as healthy for them.
Objectives and issues
 To create Crescent’s broader appeal with the positioning strategy focusing on health,
wellbeing and natural ingredients

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 To ensure that the customers are well aware of the product through promotional activities
and advertisements for increasing sales and gain bigger market share
 To implement proper promotional strategies for enhancing brand knowledge and
awareness among customers, thereby improve their ability to make purchase decisions.
The growth of energy drinks market act as a great opportunity for PDB to create something
unique, i.e., include healthy and natural ingredients for making the health conscious clients
inclined towards the company product. The issues were mainly due to lack of understanding
about whether to position Crescent as energy or sports drink (Asiedu 2016). With the
demographic factors assessed and segmentation being prioritized, it would be easy to attract
more clients and generate higher business revenue too (portlandbeverage.com 2018).

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Figure: Positioning map (Asiedu 2016)
Figure: Ansoff matrix (portlandbeverage.com 2018)
Market penetration- The target markets are identified and Cresecnt is being introduced
Market development- Making the product available at reasonable prices for developing the
market and fulfilling clients’ expectations
Product development- To develop the product and make it appealing among the different
market segments
Diversification- Though it is unrelated, still it assumes providing differentiable features in
the product to make clients find it easy to understand the products of PDB from other similar
products offered by other companies

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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Tactics
Marketing mix strategy
Product- Healthy and natural energy drink consisting of organic ingredients that are good for
health
Price- The price for the energy drink is $2.75
Place – The Company aims to distribute products in Melbourne, Sydney and in Washington,
California. The products are distributed through retail stores like Tesco, Wal-Mart too.
Promotion- The event sponsorships, social media involvement and promotions done through
advertisements on televisions and newspapers could further allow PDB to reach the health
conscious target audiences quickly
Marketing implementation
The digital platforms such as involvement of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram could be
beneficial for proper branding while use of websites would allow clients to purchase Crescent
online and brand awareness could be created. The demographic profiles should be assessed and
proper information about the product must be dispersed among them to influence them and make
healthier choices of the energy rink. The prices set must be inclined with the organic label, which
could favor the chances of influencing consumer-buying behaviors (Canhoto, Clark and
Fennemore 2013). The costs should be around $200 for managing a proper website and
involvement of digital platform to integrate the marketing communications with the business
goals quite comprehensively (portlandbeverage.com 2018).

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Budget
Figure: Budget (Canhoto, Clark and Fennemore 2013)
Controls KPI’s metrics
The KPI’s metrics are controllable based on the monitoring of website visits and
transforming those into enhanced sales. It is an effective marketing technique that acts as
Conversion Rate Optimization to convert the website traffic, i.e., the people who have visited the
website of PDB into sales. This is beneficial for facilitating the online responses provided by
clients and business and at the same time, improves the relationship between business and its
clients. More clients would be attracted and this would allow for higher revenue generation and
gaining competitive advantage in business.

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References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Asiedu, E., 2016. How to create and sustain a strategic marketing plan through the 4p’s of
Innovation: With reference to Red Bull energy drink company.
Canhoto, A.I., Clark, M. and Fennemore, P., 2013. Emerging segmentation practices in the age
of the social customer. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21(5), pp.413-428.
Helm, R. and Gritsch, S., 2014. Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix
strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets. International Business
Review, 23(2), pp.418-428.
Kaliappen, N. and Hilman, H., 2013. Enhancing organizational performance through strategic
alignment of cost leadership strategy and competitor orientation. Middle-East Journal of
Scientific Research, 18(10), pp.1411-1416.
Littler, D., 2015. Cost leadership strategy. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, pp.1-1.
portlandbeverage.com. (2018). Portland Beverage. [online] Available at:
http://portlandbeverage.com/ [Accessed 24 Nov. 2018].
Posner, H., Williams, S. and Posner, H., 2015. Marketing fashion: strategy, branding and
promotion. Laurence King Publishing.