Pemberton, a snack food division of Candler Enterprises, is looking to launch a new line of healthier crackers called Krispy Natural. They test marketed the product in Columbus, Ohio and the Southeastern US, achieving mixed results. While the product was well received and gained market share in Columbus, it struggled in the Southeast. The document recommends a national rollout of Krispy Natural with a modified marketing strategy for different regions. It also suggests partnering with entertainment companies to target children and developing healthier options for specific demographics.

1. LAUNCHING KRISPY NATURAL

2. INTRODUCTION TO PEMBERTON
• Snack food division of Candler Enterprises
(beverage and snack goods manufacturer)
• Generated revenue of 5 Bn USD at a Profit
after tax of 7.7% (contributes 28% to
Candler’s revenue) in 2011.
• Market leader in cookie and bakery snacks
segment
• Direct Store Delivery (DSD) system to go
straight from company distribution centres
to retail outlets.
• Have dozens of plants and product
development labs.

3. PEMBERTON’S KEY PEOPLE
• Patricia Williams; President
• Burt Spivey; Chief Operating
Officer
• Ashley Marne; Executive Vice
President (Marketing & Sales)
• Brandon Fredrick; Marketing
Director

4. GETTING STARTED WITH SALTY SNACKS
• Crackers constitute a dependable
and strong segment of the salty
snacks, ahead of potato chips.
• Retail sales of crackers in 2011 stood
at 6.9 Bn USD.
• Crackers with filling largest subset
(tied with saltines) at 9% share.
• Slated to grow at 10-14% in the
coming years (strongest predicted
growth in the crackers segment)

5. SEGMENTATION OF CRACKERS
9%
9%
6%
1%1%
74%
All other
Bread sticks
Matzoh
Graham crackers
Crackers with filling
Saltines

6. I need
healthy
snacks I need tasty
snacks
Pemberton: That’ll
be my marketing
strategy! Health and
taste combined!

7. COMPETITORS
Pepperidge farm
Kraft
Kellogg

8. CATCH!
• Kraft and Kellogg are losing
market share
• Pepperidge only competitor on
growth track
• Healthier, premium priced
products set to grow
• Frito Lay set to introduce a
whole line of crackers in the
near future

9. LET’S GET STARTED!
• Pemberton acquires Krispy Inc.
• Offered crackers-with-filling
and ‘all other’ crackers
• Operated in Southeastern US
states
• Couldn’t live up to expectations

10. REVAMPED MARKETING STRATEGY
• Improved product taste and
quality
• Rebranding to ‘Krispy natural’
• Multiple serving package sizes
and more options in flavour
• Heavy advertising and
promotion to end customer
• ‘Pull’ instead of ‘push’ strategy
adopted (focus on consumers,
not retailers and distributors)

11. • Utilisation of DSD (Direct Store
Delivery) (Optimisation to
account for longer shelf life)
• Management of shelf-inventory
and in-store merchandising
• Premium pricing
• Growth rate projected at 16 and
21% in 2nd and 3rd years from
1st year sales of 500 mn USD

12. TEST MARKET PLAN & RESULTS
• Officially launched in Columbus and trio of
cities in Southeastern US.
• Aim to secure 15% shelf space in each
supermarket
• Achieved double the target set in Columbus
(18%); indicative of promising results in new
areas; ‘Krispy Force’ representatives’
instrumental, category volume up by 30%
• Did not achieve (10%) set target of 15% in
the Southeast. Indicative of hurdles in
repositioning Krispy
• Shelf space and display activity below
expectations, low introductory discount (15%)
decided as the cause
• Overall a mixed response received from sales
& channel; advertising hit the mark whereas
flavour claims found to be inflated

13. PROMOTIONAL PLAN-COLUMBUS, OHIO
1 month blitz advertising
Flighted advertising from months 2-6
‘Like Us’ campaign from months 3-5
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6
Sampling
In store
sampling
with coupon
In store
sampling
with coupon
Newspaper
sampling
Newspaper
sampling
Couponing Newspaper Shelfpad Electronic Newspaper Shelf pad

14. Month 1
Months 2-4
Months 5-6

15. GO NATIONAL?
• In favour:
• Positive purchase intent
• Over 2:1 ratio in taste
preference
• Segment set to grow at a high
rate (10-14%)
• 18% market share attained in a
place with no previous
presence

16. • Against:
• Flat crackers taste preference
ratio not as high as crackers-
with-filling
• Modest increase of 1% in the
Southeast (indicative of no
major improvement in quality)
• Threat of Frito-Lay entering
and sweeping the market

17. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Rolling out the product nationally is
recommended
• National projection at year 1 well above the
minimum sales expectations of 500 mn USD.
• Tied with and ahead of 3rd biggest
competitor ( Pepperidge Farm) in test market
areas (Southeast and Columbus,
respectively)
• Different roll out strategy for mature markets
(Southeast) recommended
• Promotional association with Theme parks,
entertainment conglomerates recommended
for reaching out to children
• Healthier versions for diabetics, elderly
people to be marketed that way;
Recommended

18. SUMMARY
• Introduction to PEMBERTON
• PEMBERTON’S Key People
• Getting Started With Salty Snacks
• Segmentation of Crackers
• Competitors
• Catch
• Let’s get started
• Revamped Marketing Strategy
• Test Market Plan and Results
• Promotional Plan; Columbus, Ohio
• Go National
• Recommendations

19. -ISHIRA MUNSHI