A brand basically provides for the mental picture of what a particular product is all about. It provides consumers an understanding of a product, its background and history, and how the owners of the brand want to influence the consumers into buying that product (Smith, 2015).
One can say that a brand's ownership is that of the company that developed and produced the brand. That is not the case when it comes to brand perception. Brand perception, on the other hand, is owned by the consumers (Smith, 2015). What the consumers think about your product, what they make out of it, how they perceive it, makes your brand. This is in spite and regardless of how you present your product. In this case, Julie seems to have fallen short on how she translated and communicated her brand's story via its packaging. It was obvious, as seen in the Dragon's Den, that when asked how she would tell her brand's story without having to tell the customers herself, she was not able to give an acceptable answer. The packaging did not reflect the story behind the product. If this is the case, then we can expect that consumers might not be able to give value to the back-story of the product, thus affecting their decision on whether to buy the product or not.
We can also say that Julie failed to give the brand its personality, making it a lot difficult to stand out and create an impact on both the shop owner and the consumers. The brand's current tie-up with a major supermarket chain and its placement has proven that the brand is perceived as a secondary to much stronger brands since the cereal was placed on bottom shelves. However, it is clear that Julie has a specific target market in mind. She is appealing to the health-conscious market with its placement in various health food stores and its participation in health fairs as its marketing platform.
Alternative Generation
We have identified in this case that the main concern of the company is the mainstream distribution of the cereal products. In order to properly address this issue and get profits in, we have determined that first, a marketing firm should be hired to properly implement efforts to rebrand and promote the products. Secondly, probably entertain the possibility of entering into a partnership and Julie to actually go back to school for continuing education.
Hire a Marketing Firm
Having foregone going to business school to open up her business might not have been the best move for Julie. Her inexperience plus the fact that she lacks the necessary knowledge to efficiently run a business, have largely contributed to her company’s slow climb to success. Employing a marketing firm to hand the brand’s promotion and most importantly the recommended rebranding, is definitely the cost-efficient move at this point. This way, Julie’s limited resources can be maximized.
Rebranding
Rebranding is the process of altering a specific element of a brand, may it be its logo or brand name or even how a brand is conveyed in its packaging, in the hopes of producing a more relevant product (Gunelius, 2016). In this case, the type of rebranding that must be implemented should be a combination of both proactive and reactive rebranding. According to Gunelius (2016), proactive rebranding is needed if the company is foreseeing an imminent threat to their business. While reactive rebranding is usually done if the company, due to a significant event or competitor activity, is needing for an “overhaul” in order for it to keep its market share.
Mom’s Healthy Secret cereal products, with its low sales, faces the threat of closure if the company does not do anything to uplift the brand. With rebranding, the company might be able to reach a new segment of the market and attract all age groups, thus increasing its exposure.
Being new in the cereal business, it is very difficult to get the momentum needed to get sales going. With numerous well-established cereal brands in the market, gaining foothold in the industry is a daunting task. In this case, the original branding of the cereal products was obviously not effective as it was perceived dated and clichéd. Competition might just be what Julie’s company needs for them to jumpstart their rebranding process.
Partnership
In the reality show Dragon’s Den (2012), Julie attempted to valuate her company five-fold. However, this has proven to be an overestimation of how the company was actually perceived, with Julie going home without the external investment she was banking on to save her business. Julie believed in her company so much, thinking that she only needed just a little bit more to make it, made her reject the potential partner’s “fair” offer. Opening the company up to a partnership with a larger company is a step in the right direction since this will, for one, present itself to take advantage of the already in place distribution channel of the larger company. Secondly, Julie’s company can also implement the established systems and procedures of the larger company.
Continuing Education
With Julie’s company in the brink of closing shop, this might be the time for her to take those courses she intended to take prior to opening up her business. The additional knowledge she will gain from business school would definitely reinforce her experience and will definitely put structure to her company.
Decision Criteria
The enumerated decision criteria below aims to put framework on what needs to be done to curtail the losses suffered by Julie’s company and at the same time, gain the market share needed for profitable growth.
Gain Self Space in Major Supermarket Chain(s) within the year
The brand’s current tie-up with a grocery chain is not helping the company to gain a foothold in the industry. Being on the bottom shelves, Julie’s cereals is not visible to consumers. The company’s main goal is to gain presence in these high traffic supermarket chains to get noticed. For the company to be kept afloat, this has to be done within the year.
Increase Customer Satisfaction
Competition is harsh with the number of cereal brands existing in the market. Julie is trying to market her brand as a functional cereal, which she claims is the first of its kind. They need to deliver on this branding to ensure customer satisfaction.
Increase sales by 20%
The price of almost $6 per bag for a new cereal brand, is a steep price to pay, most especially if one is buying out of curiosity. This price point, from the company’s point of view, is the valuation of their product commensurate to what it can offer in exchange. From the customer’s first purchase, if all claims have been met by the product, repeat business is hoped for. The company should continue tweaking this curiosity for sales growth.
Cost
With the increase in sales comes a decline in the cost. Continuing to increase sales would definitely put the company in the green. The additional savings on cost could be used as additional marketing funds to promote the product more and can come to a point that the company can start giving back to its loyal customers via gift with purchase promotions, frequent shoppers schemes, etc. to finally make its mark in the industry.
References
Gunelius, S. (2016). AYTM: Rebranding Essentials – Part 1: Why Rebrand? Retrieved from https://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/rebranding-essentials-why-rebrand/
Interisano, J. (Director) & Tighe, T. (Producer). (2012). Dragon’s Den: Mom’s Healthy Secret [Video]. Canada: CBC Television.
Paskevicius, M. (2015). VIUTube Buying – Perfect Health. Retrieved from https://viutube.viu.ca/id/0_qyspvp60
Smith, K. (2015, November 25). Brandwatch Blog. Marketing: The Importance of Brand Perception. Retrieved from https://www.brandwatch.com/2015/11/marketing-the-importance-of-brand-perception
