Marketing Strategy Report: Pringles Brand and Market Analysis

This report delves into the crucial role of branding in achieving competitive advantage within the marketing landscape. It begins by defining branding and its strategic value, emphasizing its impact on customer perception, brand loyalty, and market share. The report then explores various branding strategies, including Porter's value chain, marketing mix, competitive and promotional pricing, customer-centered, and corporate branding approaches. The core of the report focuses on an in-depth analysis of the Pringles brand, examining its external environment, market share, profitability, and competitive forces using Porter's Five Forces model. An internal analysis of Pringles' core competencies and a SWOT analysis are also provided. The report concludes with recommendations for Pringles and a discussion on the importance of Strategic Marketing Planning (SMP), its value to the organization, and individual impact. The report highlights the significance of research and development, brand positioning, internal branding, and customer orientation as key branding elements for achieving a sustainable competitive edge.

Marketing Strategy 1
MARKETING STRATEGY
By Student’s Name
Submission date
Word count: 2999 words
Marketing Strategy 1

Marketing Strategy 2
Abstract
Competition and globalization in Asia, Australia, and other developed countries have resulted in
a decline in market share, organization failure and loss of jobs in the hotel industry. The
marketing problems in the hotel industry arise in the event of developing a good brand that will
help gain competitive advantage. The aim of this report is to discuss brand values and strategic
brand values of motor industry and how they affect in achieving competitive advantage. The
result showed that research and development, brand positioning, internal branding and customer
orientation are important branding elements for gaining competitive advantage. Branding is the
only strategy to win competitive advantage. Internal and external analysis of organization
environment was discussed. This was done through analysis of market share and life cycles,
profitability and demand factors, porters five forces model and SWOT analysis.
Marketing Strategy 2

Marketing Strategy 3
Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Strategic value of branding..............................................................................................................3
Porter value chain strategy...............................................................................................................4
Marketing mix strategy....................................................................................................................4
Competitive pricing strategy............................................................................................................5
Promotional pricing strategy............................................................................................................5
Customer-centered strategy.............................................................................................................5
Corporate branding strategy............................................................................................................6
Task 2..............................................................................................................................................7
Introduction......................................................................................................................................7
External Environment of Pringles Company Analysis....................................................................7
Industry market share and life cycle analysis..................................................................................7
Profitability and demand factors for Pringle...................................................................................8
Marketing Strategy 3

Marketing Strategy 4
Porter’s five forces model analysis of Pringles Company...............................................................8
Internal analysis of Pringles Company..........................................................................................10
Core competence Pringles..........................................................................................................10
SWOT analysis Pringles............................................................................................................10
Value chain analysis of Pringles....................................................................................................12
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................12
Task 3............................................................................................................................................13
Importance of SMP......................................................................................................................13
Value for SMP..............................................................................................................................14
Value to the organization...........................................................................................................14
Individual...................................................................................................................................15
Communication..........................................................................................................................15
Evaluation and control...................................................................................................................15
Reference List................................................................................................................................17
Task 1
Introduction
Marketing Strategy 4

Marketing Strategy 5
Branding is an important feature in marketing. Branding determines organization failure or
success. Branding holds the largest share in the organization and it is what an organization does
to build the perception of customers that their product s and services in the market are unique
and better than those from other firms. Branding is using the trademark of a company in order to
position itself in a specific product.
The goal of branding is to get additional sales and enhance equity in order to increase perceived
quality, improve recognition, increase brand loyalty and increase customer base. The marketing
problems in the hotel industry arise in the event of developing a good brand that will help gain
competitive advantage. This problem needs marketing approach and marketing thoughts that will
help the organization focus on the best strategy to use on the product as well as company to be
superior among their competitors (Egan, 2007, p. 12).
Strategic value of branding
Branding strategy has acted as a solution of product strategies in the strategic marketing for the
company. A company can only create a better strategy by having a good and clear objective.
Brand values will work well with laid out strategies. It is the role of the marketing department to
implement these strategies for effective branding. Branding strategy aims at creating a long-term
solution for gaining competitive advantage.
Value refers to promise and satisfaction of experience and guaranteed profits in future. Brand
value shows a positive differentiation impact on the recognition of brand on customer experience
with the product and service investigated. The value of the brand can be seen in five
Marketing Strategy 5

Marketing Strategy 6
perspectives: respect, integrity, innovation, customer centricity and excellence (Kahn, 2005, p.
234).
Porter value chain strategy
Porter in his study suggested that for a company to be successful they need to use more than one
value activities in a way that results in more values than for the competitors. First, it will help
the company to assess, analyze changes and dynamics of the market and evaluate the current
structures. Secondly, it will assist determine the profitability of the company and competition
strategy by looking at the strengths and threats of the company. Thirdly, it will help them make
informed decisions on whether to increase capacity in other sectors or develop strategies.
Fourthly, it helps the company to determine and understand the importance of services and
products in ascertaining potential profits. Finally, it will help the company to identify the
strengths as well as threats to improve their company and avoid such mistakes (Knox, 2004, p.
232).
Marketing mix strategy
The brand is a term, name, symbol, sign, design, and logo or a combination of any of these that
are used to identify products and services of one supplier and differentiate it from the
competitors. Brand value has a history in the management and fall under product category.
Branding achieves its objective through marketing mix. This marketing mix involves price,
product, promotion, and place. This will help marketers to have a strong network for distribution
i.e. services of distributors, manufacturers, and retailers to sell products through convenience
stores, hypermarkets, discount stores, corner stores and supermarkets in order to reach wider
Marketing Strategy 6

Marketing Strategy 7
coverage. Mixing all these attributes creates a strong brand than the competitor (Knox, 2004, p.
230).
Competitive pricing strategy
Have various pricing strategies that allow an organization to satisfy its customers. Consider
prices as a differentiating factor with distinct features e.g. accessibility, affordability, high
quality and great taste. This will ensure its products are at the same level with those of
competitors to retain customer loyalty. The company can offer a variety of incentives e.g.
discounts and bulk deals (Knowles, 2000, p. 123).
Promotional pricing strategy
Have a regular promotion strategy in order to increase sales volume. This will lead to maximum
sales and extra profits within a short time. There is two fields research branding i.e. consumer
behavior and brand management. Consumer behavior focuses on the perspective of external
customers while brand management focuses on internal brand perspective.
Customer-centered strategy
A brand will help gain customer confidence. It motivates consumer attitudes and feelings
towards the good or service. These attitudes depend on the experience with the good/ service.
Brand awareness creates a perception of quality, attributes and brand loyalty. A company can
gain competitive advantage through cost reduction- this must be accompanied by acceptable
quality and differentiation. This is because one brand can be cheap and its attributes easily
imitated. Differentiation is used to compete in the market (Callon, 1996).
Marketing Strategy 7

Marketing Strategy 8
Branding values are achieved when the company focuses on:
 Strategic competitiveness- the goal of competitive advantage is attained when managers
of organization successfully implement and formulates strategy that has value
 Sustainable strategies- the Competitive advantage is gained when organization use
strategies that have not been used by their main competitors.
 Profitability more than average- Investors will benefit as they will be satisfied since
profit rate and projected revenue will be promising.
Corporate branding strategy
It is developed when the company brands its name and other company’s product under one
name. This assists to convey the mission, vision, intention, and values of the company. It is cost
effective and aims to create preference, differentiation and extends value beyond consumers and
stakeholders.
Task 2
Marketing Strategy 8

Marketing Strategy 9
Introduction
Pringles is one of the American brands of potato snack chips. It began the year 1967. It is owned
by Kellogg’s. It became the fourth largest the year 2012. It operates in 140 countries with a
market share of 2.2 % globally. Their main product is potato snack. Gamble and Procter created
a better chip to meet customer complaints about greasy, stale and broken chips. Other products
includes saddle shape chips, crisps (Robson, 2002, p. 122).
External Environment of Pringles Company Analysis
Pringles competes and operates in retail snack industry in the UK. The company was affected by
changing customer needs, revenue changes and change in market structures. Due to these
changes customers spent less on leisure and choose to buy products of the low price of the
quality they want. Pringle's main competitors are Lay and Great Value.
Industry market share and life cycle analysis
The company is the second largest snack provider with various product flavors. Their market
share in the industry is 2.2 % in 2012 thus having power to market trends (Shiffman & Kanuk,
2009, p. 145).
Profitability and demand factors for Pringle
The demand for the product is determined by the attitudes of consumers, pricing, availability,
disposable income and investment income and population. Unemployment creates a reduced
Marketing Strategy 9

Marketing Strategy 10
disposable income and wages leading to recession. This causes profitability and revenue to
decrease. Increase in disposable income improves the economy and company at large. Attitude
concerning their health determines the demand of the product. There is a shift in diet and healthy
eating among customers. This is a potential threat as consumers become aware of the problems
related to obesity and weight loss. Menus have changed towards the use of healthy flavors.
Porter’s five forces model analysis of Pringles Company
According to Kahn (2005, p. 48), Porter's five forces refers to factors that determine the
company competition e.g. industry rivalry, suppliers, customers, new entrants and alternative
products. Even though the strength of forces differs between industries, when they are put
together they help determine profitability. It affects the investment, prices, market share, profit
margins and volume of the industry. These forces include:
New entrant threat
Threats of new entrants are due to:
 Product differentiation of the company including brand identification to ensure customers
loyalty.
 Reduction in the cost of a unit of product or economies of scale.
 The frequency of switching costs to absorb the cost of the buyer and supplier.
 Accessibility to channels of distribution.
 Independent of scale which leads to cost disadvantages.
It is moderate because there are few threats of new entrants into the market as the government
has restricted entry requirements to discourage more competitors in the market. The snack
Marketing Strategy 10

Marketing Strategy 11
industry has a monopolistic structure of the market. In the local market, there is no competition
since new entrants have moderately succeeded (Porter, 2008).
Substitute threat
It is high because there are alternative to the chip that includes flavored chip, low-calorie chip,
and crisps. The organization has no costs of switching thus making a threat to be high.
Buyers bargaining power
Buyers buying patterns is moderate because since there are many. The organization offers
differentiated goods depending on a wide consumer base thus the low volume of purchase. There
is no switching cost for substitutes (Ohmae, 1982, p. 123).
Suppliers bargaining power
Suppliers bargaining power varies from moderate to low since inputs are locally grown in select
regions thus reducing switching cost between suppliers and substitutes. The scale and size of
Pringles make it dominate its suppliers (Shiffman & Kanuk, 2009, p. 321).
Rivalry
Rivalry ranges from moderate to high because the organization has a monopolistic market
structure being the second largest holder of the market share. Customers have switching costs
and can move to other competitors. Pringles has to continue differentiating its products
(Thompson, et al., 2010, p. 45).
Internal analysis of Pringles Company
Core competence Pringles
Marketing Strategy 11

Marketing Strategy 12
The core competence is comparing their product with satisfaction once you taste their food. They
want to differentiate their product by having good quality snacks. Their brand strategy is based
on selling bagged chips and crispy crunch thus giving consumers a unique experience (Egan,
2007, p. 67).
SWOT analysis Pringles
Strengths
It has a strong position in the market and brand recognition globally. It maintains its market
share of 2.2 % in the US. It operates in more than 140 countries. It is a recognized brand of
potato chip and rated as 2nd largest in the world. It enhances its brand equity in the brand logo,
licensing and quality products. It has also enjoyed economies of scale with a good networked
channel and relationship with suppliers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008, p. 89).
Weaknesses of Pringles
They have expensive products due to differentiating products using quality flavors. During the
economic decline, customers switch to competitors who sell at low price. Organization
cannibalization has led to overcrowding in the market. This is out of rapid expansions and
reduces market growth rate (Callon, 1996, p. 66).
Opportunities for Pringles
First, they have an opportunity to expand into the emerging markets. Cannibalization is a
strategy to create a chance and gap to the international markets such as Canada and Ireland.
Second, they have an opportunity to advance in technology. They can use mobile applications for
making payments, collections, and orders. Third, use new channels of distribution for delivery of
products by diversifying the distribution systems in order to increase revenue. Last, they can
Marketing Strategy 12