The presentation is the summary analysis of one of the Harvard Business Cases, Launching Krispy Natural. This assignment was done during an internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

1. Launching
Krispy Natural
Cracking the Product Management Code
Harvard Business School Case

2. What is Krispy Natural?
Krispy Natural is the repositioned
cracker product of the “Pemberton
Products” which is the snack food
division of “Candler Enterprises”

3. Main Characters
Ashley Marne
Executive Vice
President of sales
and marketing at
Pemberton
Patricia Williams
Pemberton
President
Brendon Fredrick
Marketing
Director for
Pemberton

4. WHAT IS
THE CURRENT
SITUATION ?

5. 1)Krispy Natural, a newly launched product to
compete with the established big brands
such as Kraft, Kelogg and Pepperidge Farm.
2)The test market results are out and Fredrick
is trying to analyze them.
3)It has already failed once, with the launch of
Krispy, positioned as single-serve cracker
package.

6. CURRENT SITUATION OF KRISPY

7. OBJECTIVES OF
THE CASE

8. 1)Formulate a marketing strategy to properly
advertise and position the brand as salty
cracker package to compete established
brands at national level.
2)Study the market research data and test
market results to adjust the strategy
accordingly.
3)Predict the moves of competitors and counter
the strategy they would initiate after our
product launch.

9. OPPORTUNITIES
IN
THE CASE

10. 1)The overall market was large and segments
like crackers-with-filling were expected to
grow 10-14% per year.
2)Kraft was continuously losing share to
smaller companies and brands.
3)Consumer dissatisfaction with the flavor and
taste experience of current cracker brands.

11. MARKETING
STRATEGY
FORMULATED

12. PRODUCT BASIS
1)Improving taste to build the preference of
customers over competitors.
2)Expanding in multiple-serving category.
3)Indulging healthy ingredients to gain the
preference of the major American population.

13. RESULTS WITH PRODUCT MODIFICATION

14. MARKETING BASIS
1)Chose the pull strategy and trade promotions
to make the brand worthy in the minds of the
customers.
2)Keeping a premium price strategy and
applying discounts along with less quantity of
crackers in same package size.
3)Longer shelf life and efficient DSD systems.

15. PROJECTIONS WITH THIS
STRATEGY

16. TEST MARKET PLAN
1)Launching the product in Columbus, Ohio and
three cities in South-Eastern US.
2)Hiring special agents named “Krispy Force”
to market the product in Columbus but not in
the other three cities.
3)Expecting a shelf space of 15% and 9% share
of the cracker category.

17. ADVERTISING PLANS for COLUMBUS CITY

18. TEST MARKET RESULTS

19. CONCLUSIONS DRAWN
1)The success of Krispy Natural in the
Columbus city can be one of the outcomes of
the special “Krispy Force” representatives.
2)The positive test market results were driven
by significant price discounts, couponing, and
sampling.
3)Southeast results could also be poorer
because of the existing low priced products of
Krispy in the market.

20. CHALLENGES AHEAD
1)Expanding the brand nationally won’t work
on the pillars of sampling, discounting and
couponing.
2)Expecting and getting ready for the potential
competitive responses with the national roll-
out.
3)The rise of a new cracker product line by the
most successful brand in the category, Frito-
Lay.

21. POTENTIAL COMPETITIVE RESPONSES

22. AMENDMENTS REQUIRED
To achieve a projected national sale
as shown in the adjacent picture ,
there should be some solutions or
alternative. Some of them can be →
1)Cover all the retail stores’ displays to catch
maximum attention of the customers.
2)Keep introducing new products with varying
prices so as to optimally fit maximum
population without any discounts/couponing.

23. AMENDMENTS REQUIRED(CONT.)
1) To stick to the premium prices, the quality,
taste and flavors must be good enough to break
even the costs and gain customer loyalty.
2) They should restart the “Grab and Go” campaign
to have an upper hand over competitors in this
generation.
3) Develop strong brand equity and hence, loyalty
among various segments before the competitive
responses.

24. AMENDMENTS REQUIRED(CONT.)
1) A “Brand Mantra” and creative use of resources
can help gain the company competitive
advantage.
2) Going head on with Frito-Lay must require
sharp focus on producing more line of products
with flavors favouring the target market.
3) Some incentives like couponing and “Brand
Club” ideas can help the buyers of the product
to get loyal to the brand.

25. DISCLAIMER
These slides have been created by Adhirath Kabra, IIT Bombay, during a
marketing internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.
ADHIRATH
KABRA
PROF.
SAMEER
MATHUR