The aim of this assignment is to recommend an appropriate marketing mix for the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk range based on market research. I will do this by the following objectives:
1. To carry out primary research, this will be done by a questionnaire, which has a sample size of 1000, and the sampling method will be random sampling. This will give me quantitative data, which then can be analysed by putting into graphs. This information will then be used to make recommendations for a suitable marketing mix for the Dairy Milk range of products.
2. I will research on the Dairy Milk products to find out their product range, brand names, life cycles, and distribution channels and why it is important for Dairy Milk to have a Unique Selling Point (USP) when comparing with other competitors. This will be useful for the marketing mix section.
3. I will research on the price for Dairy Milk products, looking at pricing strategies and competitor prices. I will find out which one is the most value for money.
4. I will research into the place where Dairy Milk is sold and what distribution channels they have. I will go to different retail outlets to see if they are accessible enough. I will then recommend a suitable distribution channel for Dairy Milk
Background
A one-man business opened in 1824 by a young Quaker, John Cadbury, in Bull Street, Birmingham, was to be he foundation of Cadbury’s Limited, now one of the world’s largest producers of chocolate.
Cadbury’s Limited is the confectionery division of Cadbury’s Schweppes PLC, a major force in the confectionery and soft drinks international market. Cadbury is the leader in the UK chocolate confectionery market with 13 brands in the list of top 30 chocolate brands.
Cadbury’s Limited operates in the secondary sector. They manufacture chocolate.
Product
Dairy Milk offers chocolate from Buttons up to 2kg blocks to suit all occasions. Dairy Milk is sold in a product range rather than one product, as this will give consumers a wider variety of choices.
Cadbury’s is a market-orientated firm. They research into what consumers want before developing a product. This will ensure a market for the product.
Dairy milk is a mass-market product, aiming at a large number of consumers.
Cadbury’s uses brand names such as Dairy Milk to attract consumers to their new products by their well-know name. No other company can use this name for their product.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk was first launched in 1905. Today Dairy Milk is still at the ‘maturity’ stage in terms of the product life cycle. Sales rose by 1% in 2000, although the rate of growth is slowing down, it has not yet reached the saturation stage.
To extend the life cycle of Dairy milk chocolate, Cadbury’s have re-launched the product by changing the appearance of the packaging to make the product ‘newer’ and ‘improved’, to persuade consumers to continue to buy its products.
The Unique Selling Point (USP) is important because it makes the product different from the competition. Cadbury’s is well known and is a “world-wide favourite chocolate.” This gives it an advantage over other competitors, as it is popular and well known.
Price
Cadbury’s use competitor pricing as their pricing strategy. They often use penetration to introduce a new product.
Cadbury’s charge between �0.35 for a 49g bar to �4.99 for 400g. Cadbury’s chocolate is a luxury good and has many competitors but has inelastic demand. This is because it is a brand name product. This means if Cadbury’s increased their price by a certain percentage, e.g. 10%. The demand will fall by less than 10%.
Since the mid 1980s, the grocery trade has become a very important confectionery retail category along with the traditional Confectioner, Tobacconist and Newsagent (CTN) businesses.
Cadbury’s use other outlets which are not their own to sell their products. Since chocolate is a convenience good, it needs to be located within close reach of consumers.
Cadbury’s is looking to improve this area of the 4p’s considerably. They will increase massively the number of vending machines, which are operated. Schools and workplaces are especially going to be targeted, as this will make the chocolate more accessible.
Promotion
Cadbury’s are decreasing the amount of advertising they do on television because of the increasing fragmentation of television. With the increasing number of channels available, it is difficult to get the exposure to a large percentage of the population. Cadbury’s sponsors a television soap called Coronation Street. The idea was to have Britain’s favorite chocolate sponsoring Britain’s favorite soap. Sponsorship to Coronation street is the most successful sponsorship in the British TV history.
Promotion gets people to acknowledge a product; the disadvantage of promoting on television maybe that the viewers get fed up seeing it time and time again. Sponsoring also costs Cadbury’s a lot of money.
The “glass and a half of full cream milk in every half pound” slogan with the picture of milk pouring into the chocolate bar, is one of the all-time ‘greats’ of British advertising.
With the new contemporary look for Cadbury’s DAIRY MILK MEGABRAND, a new advertising direction linked “the glass and a half of milk”, the basis of the uniqueness and quality of the brand with the best tasting chocolate.
The foundation of the advertising in all media is “the chocolate and a half” message.
They have started to move into more communications based promotions including SPAM Banners ads and emails on the internet and text messaging particularly for products aimed at teenagers.
Packaging
Packaging is the 5th P of Cadbury’s marketing mix. This means that they consider packaging an important factor. They look to add value for customers while cutting manufacturing costs.
