Marketing Analysis: Planters Nuts Case Study Solution

This case study analysis examines the challenges faced by Planters Nuts in 2012, exploring factors such as declining sales, shifting consumer preferences, and increased competition from brands like Diamond Almonds and Wonderful Pistachios. The analysis investigates Planters' current market positioning, strengths, and weaknesses, focusing on consumer perceptions of peanuts versus almonds and pistachios. The document provides a comprehensive overview of Planters' marketing communication strategies and offers recommendations for repositioning the brand, including targeting health-conscious consumers, highlighting the health benefits of nuts, and adapting to market trends. The analysis covers the three Cs (Customer, Competitors, and Company), nutritional values, and market share data to support its conclusions. Finally, the analysis suggests strategic actions for the new management, including segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) strategies to improve market share and brand perception.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATION
MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Planters Nuts:
Question 1.
Why is Planters struggling in 2012?
There are certain reasons for Planter to struggle in the year of 2012. Considering the
rich history of Planter, it has become a famous snack brand in the United States. The decline
of 23% is one of the most significant aspect that can influence the organization (Dolan and
Ngwe 2019). To analyse the impact it important to consider the three Cs that are Customer,
Competitors and Company (Usui 2017).
 Customer: Customer is one of the most important part that the organization is
involved in the process of selling nuts in different product verticals such as Cashew,
Peanuts and Mixed Nuts. The product line-up of the company is inclusive of only
nuts. However, there is significant need of almonds and pistachios as it was
considered healthier at that time.
 Competitors: Competitors were involved in the process of increasing their line-up of
products by including almonds along with pistachios that have impacted the sales of
Planters Nuts as there was a significant need among the customers. These competitors
are Diamond Almonds and Wonderful Pistachios.
Competitors Value Proposition
Wonderful Pistachios More Healthy and Tasty than other nuts
Diamond Almonds A great snack that will be benefiting the
health
 Company: The Climate of the market was showing a trend of healthier living and
while the growing competition among the player in the nut industry made it difficult

2MARKETING COMMUNICATION
for Planters Nut. Incorporation of these three aspects tell that Planters Nut have
struggled to understand the market trend and analyse the customer need that have led
to their struggle during the year 2012.
Question 2.
Why do consumers think almonds and pistachios are healthier than peanuts?
Consumers’ perception for Almond and Pistachios being healthier is based on the
minerals they get from these two. However, it has been seen that there are significant minerals in
Nuts too but there was a perception of the consumers about Almonds and Pistachios being
healthier. According to the case it has been seen that there is significant evidence that there are
similar benefits from all the nuts but the trend was to promote Almonds and Pistachios as a much
healthier product for the consumers. This is one of the major factors that have contributed to the
struggle of Planters Nut in 2012. The competitor has made its efforts to ensure the rise in the
consumer demand for Almonds and Pistachios that will be responsible for the diminishing growth
of nuts. According to the case, it has been seen that the growth in the Almonds and Pistachios has
impacted the household penetration in the US, which was +24% together whereas the penetration
for the nuts was in negative figures (Dolan and Ngwe 2019). However, it has been observed that
cashews and pistachios are one of the significant sources of copper which could have been one of
the most influential factors that are associated with the perception of the health-conscious
consumers.
Peanuts Almonds Pistachios Cashews
Magnesium Good Source Good Source N/A Good Source
Manganese Good Source Excellent Source Excellent Source Good Source
Copper N/A Good Source Excellent Source Good Source
Question 3.
Fig1: Nutrition Values
Source: Dolan and Ngwe 2019

3MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Analyze Planters’ current positioning from the perspective of the Audience, Benefits,
Compelling reason to buy.
The struggle was one of the most compelling aspects that are associated with Planters
Nut in terms of being a healthy consumable product. The positioning among the consumer is
one of the most important aspects that have impacted the sales of the company (Dolan and
Ngwe 2019). According to the case study, the current positioning of the company among the
consumers is one of the major factors and this states that consumers are most accustomed
with associating the brand with being more of a snack instead of being a healthy consumable.
This has been one of the major factors for the decline in sales. As it has been observed that
there is an absence of any significant health benefit from the Almonds and Pistachios, it is the
competitor’s effective way to market the Almond and Pistachios as a healthy alternative
compared to nuts for the snack. The case study states that the brand of the nuts is associated
with the development of the perception of their product as a snack rather being a health nut.
This has enabled the top of mind recall, unaided awareness along with aided awareness to be
very high for the brand.
2012
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20% 19%
13%
12%
16%
15%
Peanuts Cashews Mixed Nuts Almonds Pistachios
Fig2: Market Share
Source: Dolan and Ngwe 2019

4MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Question 4.
(i) What are Planters’ strengths and weaknesses?
(ii) Do you see a foundation for Planters to stem the decline and grow in the future?
(i) The study states that there is an existence of the factors that have been the
strengths of the company (Dolan and Ngwe 2019). The key strengths of the
company are the reputation of the brand. The brand is having a significance
among the perception of the consumers as it turns out to be one of the major
brands that are associated with selling nuts. There is another strength that has been
identified from the case is the market presence compared to another brand.
However, the key weakness of the company is an integrated marketing
communication. This is one of the major factors that have contributed to the
struggle of the company. The marketing of the other competitors was more
effective in projecting the almonds and pistachios as a more healthy option the
nuts. The advertisement for the competitors shows the difference.
(ii) Planters Nut themselves were involved in the development of the factor that has
contributed towards the struggle in 2012 (Dolan and Ngwe 2019). Their rigid
approach towards the development of the perception of their brand as a healthy
brand was one of the main reason for their struggle. This has enabled the situation
to become more favourable for the competition. Their approach to promoting the
products was more to be a snack instead of a healthy product lead to their
declining future. This has been one of the major factors that has impacted the
perception of the consumers. Their low advertisement spending shows their

5MARKETING COMMUNICATION
negative attitude towards developing the perception of projecting the snack a
healthy produc
Planters Blue Diamond Wonderful
0
5
10
15
20
25
15.4
16.2
21.4
US Advertisement Spending ($ Million)
US Advertisement Spending ($ Million)
Question 5.
What positioning would you recommend for Planters going forward.
Looking forward Planter Nut must incorporate some of the strategies that will be
helpful for the company. The target segment of the company might also need to be altered.
The positioning strategy that must be taken by the company is to incorporate the changes that
will be liable for the development of the factors such as health benefits, needs to be projected
to the customer. Positioning is one of the most crucial strategic decision for the organization
(Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy and Pervan 2015). This is one of the major aspects that is
associated with the perception of the consumers. The brand is having its own image in the
mind of the consumers as a snack (Dolan and Ngwe 2019). However, the effort should be
taken by the company to project nuts as a healthy snack as they are recognized as a reputed
brand in the industry for providing quality products. Understanding consumer behavior does
provide a competitive advantage to the organization (Oladepo and Abimbola 2015). The
Fig3: US Advertisement Spending
Source: Dolan and Ngwe 2019

6MARKETING COMMUNICATION
company does enjoy the top of mind recall but as a brand that is associated with only selling
nuts. Thus, this area needs to be recognized by the company and target the segments by
projecting their products not as a snack instead of a healthy snack.
Planters Blue Diamond
Almonds
Wonderful
Pistachios
Top of Mind Recall 71% 2% 1%
Unaided Recall 81% 16% 3%
Aided Recall 92% 84% 26%
Question 6.
Based on the above analysis, what should the new management do?
There is a significant challenge for the management of the company and it is one of
the major factors that will be responsible for the future of Planter Nut. This is one of the
significant challenges for the company that needs to addressed and the potential solutions
Fig3: Perception of the Consumers
Source: Dolan and Ngwe 2019
Old Perceptual
Map
Recommended
Perceptual Map
Snack
High
Snack
Low
Healthy
Low
Healthy
High
Snack
High
Snack
Low
Healthy
Low
Healthy
High
Fig4: Recommended Perceptual Map
Source: Created by Author

7MARKETING COMMUNICATION
need to be applied in order to incorporate the modifications that are required to change the
perception of the consumers. The management must be flexible in terms of communicating
the value proposition of the product as it becomes significantly important to address the
issues that will be liable for the development of the market. The communication needs to be
clear and the health benefits of the nuts need to be communicated. The management should
design a plan that will be helpful for the company to address the issues that are related to the
development of the products and marketing of the product. So to summarize the following
approaches can be taken by the organization:
 Take more creative approach towards advertisement
 Deliver the message with key value proposition to the consumers
 Make the organization more flexible and dynamic so it can adapt the changes
However apart from STP the management should adopt is stated below:
Segmentation Target Positioning
 Based on the Psychograph
the company should do the
following: Segment their
market based on the Healthy
Products and Snacks
 Based on the Demography:
The company should
segment their products
based on 3 age categories
such as 10-30, 30-50 and 50+
 The main target
for the brand
must be the
people who are
involved in
consuming nuts as
a snack.
The company should
position their brand image
as a healthy snack that can
add a value to their life.

8MARKETING COMMUNICATION
References
J. Dolan, R. and Ngwe, D. 2019. Planters Nuts. [Online] Hbr.org. Available at:
https://hbr.org/product/planters-nuts/516004-PDF-ENG [Accessed 17 Mar. 2019].
Oladepo, O.I. and Abimbola, O.S., 2015. The influence of brand image and promotional mix
on consumer buying decision-a study of beverage consumers in Lagos State, Nigeria. British
journal of marketing studies, 3(4), pp.97-109.
Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Percy, L. and Pervan, S., 2015. Strategic brand management. Oxford
University Press, USA.
Usui, K., 2017. The development of marketing management: The case of the USA c. 1910-
1940. Routledge.