Marketing Report: Principles and Soft Drink Market Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing principles applied to the launch of a new, healthy soft drink. It begins with an overview of the marketing planning process, including market research, target market identification, product description, competitive analysis, mission statement development, marketing strategies, pricing and branding, budgeting, and goal setting. The report then presents a PESTEL analysis, examining the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting the soft drink's market. Micro-environmental factors such as customers, competitors, the organization, the market, suppliers, and intermediaries are also considered. The importance of a strong and coordinated extended marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence) is highlighted, emphasizing its role in guiding marketing efforts and achieving a competitive advantage. The report further delves into market segmentation, differentiating between B2C and B2B approaches and outlining relevant targeting methods. Finally, it identifies the primary target market for the new soft drink based on demographics, benefits, behavior, and lifestyle characteristics, focusing on adolescents, young adults, and health-conscious consumers. The report emphasizes strategies for effective customer engagement and brand loyalty.

Principles of Marketing

Table of Contents
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Section – 1....................................................................................................................................2
Section – 2....................................................................................................................................5
Section – 3....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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MAIN BODY
Section – 1
1. Marketing planning process can be defined as a process involving planning related to the
marketing of a product or a service. Such a process is a complicated process which involves
various components that are explained as follows:
1. Market Research – Research of the market based on the collection, organisation and
analysis of the data collected about the current market in which the soft drinks are being
sold and consumed (Otles and Sakalli, 2019). Such research will include areas like
dynamics of market, patterns depicted by the market, customers based on their needs,
buying decisions, market segmentation, demographics and target markets, products,
current sales in the industry, benchmarks set by the industry and the suppliers.
2. Target Market – The targeted market in which such new soft drink is to be launched and
description of such markets.
3. Product – Description of the produce i.e., in this case the new soft drink which is healthy
and contains less sugar. The relevance of the market with the new soft drink to be
launched.
4. Competition – Description of the competition the new soft drink will be facing in the
target market. And what will the entity do to face such competition like developing a
unique selling proposition (USP) i.e., what is so unique about your product which will
make you stand apart and what are the strategies of the competitors regarding the same.
5. Mission Statement – Such a statement will include the mission of the entity with the
launching of the new soft drink (Ajiero and Campbell, 2018). The mission statement will
include the information regarding the key target market in which the product is going to
be sold, type of product and the USP of the product.
6. Market Strategies – It explains the marketing strategies that will be used by the entity to
market the new soft drink like networking, direct marketing, advertising, websites, direct
or personal selling, training programs, trade shows, etc.
7. Price, Positioning & Branding – Utilization of the data collected in the market research,
determining the strategies for fixing of the prices of the new soft drinks, the positioning
of the new soft drinks in the market and how will the branding be achieved in the market.
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8. Budget – It is the most important part of marketing process. Fix the budget that the entity
can spend on the marketing of the new soft drink including the affordability of the
strategies, outsourcing if required and in – house arrangements.
9. Marketing Goals – Set goals relating to the marketing of the new soft drink which shall
be essentially quantifiable (Hung, 2018). Such goals may include to sell 100 products per
week and many more.
10. Monitor the Results – Monitoring of the results is very important and it can be done by
doing surveys, tracking of sales and other factors.
2. PESTEL Analysis of the new soft drink:
POLITICAL ECONOMIC
 Rulings and guidelines issued by the
government on nutritional disclosures
on the packaging of the new soft drink.
 Regulations & standards regarding food
safety and labelling framed by EU.
 Effect of Brexit on the trade tariffs, cost
of the ingredients, etc.
 Taxation policies and levies applicable
on the profits of the entity.
 Costing of raw ingredients on the
production cost of the soft drink and
resultant price for the customers.
 Availability of other substitutes at a
cheaper rate.
SOCIO-CULTURAL TECHNOLOGICAL
 Always changing customer tastes and
preferences.
 Awareness of the public towards
healthier drinks.
 Level of social responsibility
performed by the entity.
 Updated methods of production which
will also include recycling.
 Using of plastic which will be
recyclable.
ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL
 Reliance on natural ingredients coming
from the nature.
 Commitment towards the sustainability
of the nature and effects of
withdrawing such natural ingredients
 Mandatory compliance with the legal
framework of the UK government
related to taxation, health and safety,
etc.
 Compliance with the laws relating to
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from the nature (Belyaeva, Rudawska
and Lopatkova, 2020).
 Reduction of carbon footprint.
 The effects of the Paris Agreement
signed by the UK and its effect on its
addressing the issues of climatic
changes.
 Reduction of wastages and water use.
the food manufacturing like Food and
Drink Innovation Network 2016.
 Effects of the Competition Law.
 Significant changes due to Brexit.
 Legislations of EU relating to
employment, health and safety.
 Compliances relating to financial
reporting and corporate governance.
Relevant micro-environmental factors that will affect the marketing of new soft drink in
the market:
 Customers – The most important factor are the customers who will be consuming the
soft drinks to be launched in the market therefore, the tastes and preferences of the
customers shall be regularly analysed.
 Competitors – The other entities who will be competing in the market for the share of
revenue, profits, market share, etc. (Zim and Zahan, 2019). Therefore, awareness of the
competition is very vital to be aware of any upcoming threats and to tackle them.
 Organization – Analysis of self is also very important to know the strengths and
weaknesses of the new soft drink.
 Market – The structure of the market shall be studied to analyse price sensitivity,
technology, supply chain, etc.
 Suppliers – Vendors and suppliers of raw material and equipment for manufacturing of
the new soft drink are the lifeline of any entity.
 Intermediaries – Intermediaries in the process of production from first stage till they are
reached to the final consumer are very important.
3. Importance of strong and coordinated extended marketing mix:
Extended marketing mix includes 7 main factors namely – product, price, place,
promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Extended marketing mix takes into
consideration the marketing of services also, in addition to the goods to be marketed. Such
marketing mix guide the entity through the tedious process of marketing of the product i.e., soft
drink. Product is what the company sells i.e., soft drink in this case, place tells how the product
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will be sold, price is the money value of the file, promotion included methods to promote, people
include the persons behind the company, processes is the manner of the operations and physical
evidence are resources used to complete the mix. It allows the marketing strategies to be defined
in a well versed system (Toma and Catana, 2021). The completion of the properly functional
marketing plan can be achieved by identification of each part of the marketing mix. Such a
marketing mix will lead to the entity stand out among its competitors and gain the competitive
advantage over its competitors. Considering each component of the extended marketing mix will
assist the entity to come up with an individual marketing campaign and achieve efficiency in
each component namely product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence.
In case of definition of a business plan, marketing mix is the most vital part of the organization
to provide with the budgeting for marketing of the goods and services like in this case of the new
soft drink to be introduced (Extended Marketing Mix: What It Is and Why It's Useful, 2020). In
this case the product will be the soft drink, price will be of such soft drink, place as in how the
soft drink will be lost, promotion will be of such new soft drink in the target market, people who
are working for production of such drink, processes of the manufacturing of such soft drink and
physical evidence are the resources used to complete the marketing mix of such soft drink.
Section – 2
a) The market involves B2C i.e., business to consumer and B2B i.e., business to business. This
means that the goods or services can be sold to ultimate consumers i.e., individuals or can
also be sold to other business entities. Naturally, the market needs to be segmented between
these business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) by using various
approaches which will obviously be different in both the cases (Camilleri, 2018). Both the
marketing segmentation cases will depend upon the definition of goal and the message,
confirming target market and identifying of the channel of communication with the target
audience. This marketing segmentation shall be effective.
B2C business will focus on the tastes and preferences of the customers and concentrate
on their emotions to attract them towards the product (5 Requirements for Effective
Segmentation, 2018). Such emotions may relate to looking good in the product, feeling great
about the usage of the product and finding internal happiness from having the product.
Whereas, B2B businesses keeps in mind its needs and the business impact but such
businesses reacts emotionally too as it also consists of humans working in it. Therefore, to
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attract the B2B customers the entity needs to be focused on time saving, money saving and
revenue boosting strategies and marketing campaigns.
Approaches towards B2C segmentation –
 Behavioural data: This includes engagement of the customer with the brand like the
browsing on the website, loyalty towards the brand, social media interactions, etc.
 Geographical data: This includes segmenting customers based on the location to
provide customized deals and offers.
 Psychological data: This includes segmentation based on the lifestyle, values, social
class, personality, etc. of the customers.
 Demographic data: This includes segmentation based on the factors like gender, age,
income, religion, education, occupation, etc.
Approaches towards B2B segmentation –
 Profile data: This includes factors like company size, revenue, industry, tech, job title,
function, seniority, skill, etc.
 Intent data: This includes companies that are in need of the products made and factors
like consumption of content, searches and reviews.
 Engagement data: This includes segmentation based on lead forms, interactions in trade
show, sales meetings and email engagement.
b) Targeting methods used for B2C market includes the following:
 Treating the potential customers of the entity as humans and not just a source of revenue
who will give money for the new soft drinks that will be sold to them. Connect to them
on a human level and addressing the issues personally faced by the customers.
 Hosting of engaging and creative contests and game shows so that the consumers can
participate freely and has the chance of winning something for free. Such contests can be
held on social media or any other platform or place.
 Giving away free affordable gifts with every purchase like a small recharge with every
bottle of the soft drink. This will attract the customers to buy more soft drink and indulge
the habit of consuming such a drink.
 Using the most trending platforms and social media to advertise the soft drinks displaying
its nature of being healthy and sustainable towards the nature. More and more followers
on the social media will mean greater acknowledgment by the public towards the product.
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Primary target in case of new soft drink:
 Demographics: Demographically, primary target in case of new soft drinks will be
adolescents and young adults mostly of the age group of 10 to 25 years.
 Benefits: Considering the beneficial aspects of the new soft drink i.e., healthy, low on
sugar and environment friendly in terms of usage of plastic packaging. The primary
targets are the younger customers within the age group of 10 to 25 years and also the
people of the age group of 20 to 40 years.
 Behavioural: In case of behavioural aspect the primary target with this new soft drink
will again be the adolescents and young adults between the age group of 10 to 40 years
being the age group most active on the social media and accessing the websites and also
loyalty towards the brand.
 Lifestyle: Keeping in mind the lifestyle characteristic, the primary target of the entity in
case of new soft drinks is again the adolescents and young of the age group between 10 to
40 years because the lifestyle of such an age group will involve more consumption of
such soft drinks keeping in mind the health benefits of such drinks and sustainable nature
of such soft drinks.
c) Positioning means presenting the products and its benefits to the specific target audience.
Such a target audience is determined by an extensive marketing research and identification of
the focus group (How to Identify Your Target Audience: A Guide for Soft Drinks
Manufacturers and Bottlers? 2018). This extensive marketing research will assist the entities
in determination of the audience which is best suited for the new product to be launched and
will receive the most favourable response form the said audience (Iyer and et.al., 2019). Such
positioning will also involve identification of the benefits of the product which will be most
attractive for the customers and thus allow the target audience to differentiate the product
from the rest of the competitor’s products in the market.
The entity shall position its new soft drinks as a refreshing, thirst – quenching and healthy
beverage catering to children, adolescents and young adults along with its objectives of
sustaining the environment by preventing the use of plastic for its bottles and other packaging
(Fayvishenko, 2018). The drinks shall also be associated with consuming while having a fun
time with the family and friends without risking the health of the consumers. The objective is
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to be consistent in marketing the soft drink and produce a premium quality beverage which
gives value for money to the consumer.
Section – 3
New Soft Drink Product
Product The product under consideration here is a new
soft drink. Such a new soft drink will have an
enhanced focus and concern towards health of
its consumers and also focus on cutting down
the levels of sugar in the drink (Pell and et.al.,
2019). Also, the entity is concerned about the
usage of plastic bottles for its packaging. The
new soft drink will be available in various
flavours as per the tastes and preferences of the
consumers which will be determined through
marketing planning process through market
research. The entity also aims to design the
packaging of this drink attractive and colourful
to attract the customers.
Also, the entity is planning to produce brand
related accessories, gears and other products of
the brand when increased sales volume is
achieved.
Place It is aimed to market, promote and sell the new
soft drink in the UK by catering to the needs
and requirements of its target audience by
distribution of the soft drink through various
channels of distribution like supermarkets,
mini – markets, grocery stores, restaurants, fast
food restaurant chains, retail and wholesale
chains, etc. But the more focus is on the fast
food chains as people prefer to have such
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drinks with some snack. However, the
distribution of this drink is not planned to be
done through online sales channels but can be
done in the future depending upon the response
of the customers towards the new soft drink.
Price The pricing strategy of the new soft drink is
market – oriented and levels of pricing will be
dependent upon various factors such as
environment encapsulating competitors,
demand of the product, purchasing power of
the customer, etc. The entity shall adopt the
market – penetration strategy since it is new in
the market to capture a good market share it
needs to deliver a good quality product at a
lower price than others to penetrate in the
target market. Such target market includes
children, adolescents, young adults and the
people who prefer healthy drinks with a low
level of sugar. Such pricing strategy will
enable the entity to build a strong competitive
position in the market.
Promotion The soda and beverage industry has an intense
level of competition. Top players in the
industry spends tons of money on advertising
their products in their target market to achieve
high revenues and profits. Therefore, the entity
for the promotion of new soft drink will be
utilizing both traditional and modern channels
like television advertisements, social media
advertisements, hoardings and posters on the
side paths and highways, online commercials,
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print media, sponsorships, etc. The entity is
looking forward to sponsoring certain
significant events in the future to have access
to more customers of its targeted age group and
also others if possible.
People Being in the industry of fierce competition and
targeting the customers who are children,
adolescents and young adults in the age group
of 10 to 40, it will be needing to employ large
number of human resources and thus will
require focusing on strategic human resource
management. Such human resource
management will allow empowerment of the
employee and thus lead to maximization of job
satisfaction. Also, retention of the employees
employed is very important therefore, system
of recognition and rewards to the employees
will also be developed which will also motivate
the employees to work harder.
Physical Evidence The physical operations of the entity related to
the manufacturing of the new soft drink needs
to be spread out across the different parts of the
UK to facilitate the distribution of product
wherever and whenever needed (Gillison, Grey
and Griffin, 2020). The physical infrastructure
of the entity is also necessary which will
include its factories and offices, manufacturing
units of the drink, its headquarters and other
regional offices across various corners of the
country (Bridge, Flint and Tench, 2020). The
physical evidence of the new soft drink will
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include the bottles and other packaging
material including the promotional material. As
the entity is planning to launch related
accessories of the brand so the related
accessories and merchandize will also be part
of the physical evidence. Also, the logo which
is visible on the packaging, advertisements and
other promotional material will be the part of
the physical evidence.
Processes The processes will include the bottling partners
of the entity across the UK and the
manufacturing process which it follows to
produce a healthy drink which is low on sugar
levels and being sustainable towards the
environment on the issue of usage of plastic
bottles (Scarborough and et.al., 2020). Such
process needs to be carefully monitored as it is
the basis for achieving the objectives and goals
set by the entity. Also, the large network
distribution which it will be making and
maintaining is the part of the processes in the
mix. The distribution channels of the finished
products to the ultimate consumers which shall
be efficient and effective and environmentally
and sustainably focused.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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intention in food and beverage industry. Revista de Cercetare Şi Intervenţie Socială. (61).
pp.122-133.
Ajiero, I. and Campbell, D., 2018. Benchmarking water use in the UK food and drink sector:
Case study of three water-intensive dairy products. Water Conservation Science and
Engineering. 3(1). pp.1-17.
Belyaeva, Z., Rudawska, E. D. and Lopatkova, Y., 2020. Sustainable business model in food and
beverage industry–a case of Western and Central and Eastern European countries. British
Food Journal. 122(5). pp.1573-1592.
Zim, Z. S. and Zahan, M., 2019. Local versus global brands: The internationalization process in
Food and Beverage Industry. The Business & Management Review. 10(5). pp.58-66.
Camilleri, M. A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel marketing,
tourism economics and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Iyer, P. and et.al., 2019. Market orientation, positioning strategy and brand
performance. Industrial Marketing Management. 81. pp.16-29.
Fayvishenko, D., 2018. Formation of brand positioning strategy. Baltic Journal of Economic
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Toma, S. G. and Catana, S., 2021. Linking Customer Experience With The Extended Marketing
Mix. Annals-Economy Series. 5. pp.105-109.
Scarborough, P. and et.al., 2020. Impact of the announcement and implementation of the UK
Soft Drinks Industry Levy on sugar content, price, product size and number of available
soft drinks in the UK, 2015-19: A controlled interrupted time series analysis. PLoS
medicine. 17(2). p. e1003025.
Pell, D. and et.al., 2019. Support for, and perceived effectiveness of, the UK soft drinks industry
levy among UK adults: cross-sectional analysis of the International Food Policy
Study. BMJ open. 9(3). p. e026698.
Bridge, G., Flint, S. W. and Tench, R., 2020. An exploration of the portrayal of the UK soft
drinks industry levy in UK national newspapers. Public Health Nutrition. 23(17).
pp.3241-3249.
Gillison, F., Grey, E. and Griffin, T., 2020. Parents’ perceptions and responses to the UK soft
drinks industry levy. Journal of nutrition education and behaviour. 52(6). pp.626-631.
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How to Identify Your Target Audience: A Guide for Soft Drinks Manufacturers and Bottlers?
2018. [Online]. Available through: <https://l.rccolainternational.com/blog/how-to-
identify-your-target-audience-a-guide-for-soft-drinks-manufacturers-and-bottlers>
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