1. Case Study Dr Pepper/Seven Up:
Squirt
New Marketing and Advertising Plan
To Stimulate Growth
Prepared by:
Rawa William

2. Summary
• Squirt is a brand of grapefruit flavored soda
that has seen flat growth in recent years.
• While it is still the best selling brand of
grapefruit flavored soda in the U.S. market, it
has recently lost ground to offerings from
both Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co.

3. Proposed Courses of Action
1. The flat sales of Squirt need to be boosted
before competing brands begin to erode the
market share enjoyed by Squirt. Squirt maintains
a low budget compared to the direct competitors,
while keeping double the case volume of all
competition combined. They should expand
more money on advertising, especially in the
Hispanic Spanish language markets. In order to
grow the brand they need to spend more money
on promotion (rebranding).

4. Courses of Action
2. Considering Squirt's current position they
do not have broad enough target market.
They need to target the younger teen
demographic, as well as the younger ethnic
markets. Squirt's "thirst quenching" attribute
is great for the Southwestern U.S. where the
year round temperatures are high. Southern
California also has an outdoor lifestyle that
lends itself to a thirst quenching drink.

5. Courses of Action
3. The growing Hispanic population could be a
major area of growth for the Squirt brand. Squirt
needs to advertise on the major Spanish
language television stations, Telemundo and
Univision. They also need to revisit their
distribution strategies in the emerging Hispanic
markets. Since Hispanics like to shop in mom
and pop markets they need to have the
products available there. They also need to
make sure that the advertising message fits in
with the Hispanic preference for reality based,
real world messages.

6. Recommended Course of Action
• In order to grow sales Squirt should use a
synthesis of all three courses of action. Their
current branding needs to be joined with the
Hispanic marketing effort. They also need to
spend more money on advertising overall,
including the Hispanic market.

7. SWOT
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• Grapefruit soft drink leader. They also have
the highest brand recognition in the grapefruit
soft drink market.
• However DPSU does not have the market
share and resources that are enjoyed by Coca-
Cola and Pepsi Co's offerings. This leaves them
with a smaller advertising budget.

8. SWOT
• Opportunities and Threats
• With a growing Hispanic population that
enjoys grape fruit soda there is a large area to
grow the flat sales of the Squirt brand.
• The larger advertising budgets of competitors
can be a threat to maintaining market share
with a brand with flat sales.

9. Porters Five Forces Analysis
• The bargaining power of customers
• In the soft drink industry customers have the
bargaining power. Soft drinks are an elastic
product, and not necessary for daily life.
• Customers however do not usually want to
buy in bulk, and prefer soft drinks to be
located in convenience locations. This means
that Squirt is able to charge more in exchange
for convenience.

10. Porters Five Forces Analysis
• The bargaining power of suppliers
• Squirt has good power over its suppliers.
Considering that creating syrup concentrate
does not require a complicated process or
exotic materials. Squirt can easily substitute
one supplier for another.

11. Porters Five Forces Analysis
• The threat of new entrants
• The market is 90% controlled by DPSU, Coca-
Cola, and Pepsi Co. These companies also
control the top 10 brands in the United States.
• This means that entering into the market is
not impossible, but gaining a large foothold is
not probable. However with a $60 billion
dollar per year industry there is also room for
a new entrants.

12. Porters Five Forces Analysis
• The threat of substitute products
• Squirt has 2 direct competitors in the grapefruit
segment, and many other competitors in the citrus
category.
• There are also 900 registered brands of soda in the U.S.
Squirt however does not have a product that is
positioned and targeted to the same group with the
same taste. In the case of the soda market however
there are plenty of other soda brands.
• Squirt also positioned itself as thirst quenching. This
places squirt into competition with other beverages
including water and sport drinks.

13. Porters Five Forces Analysis
• The soft drink industry has much competition.
Pepsi and Coke have been battling over the Cola
market for years.
• Squirt being a non-cola soft drink places it into a
different category. The major competition comes
from Mellow Yellow and Mountain Dew, and well
as Citra and Fresca.
• The competitors are spending large sums of
money on advertising and trying to gain market
share over Squirt.