This case describes the various aspects of carbonated soft drink industry and the focuses on Squirt’s annual advertising and promotion plan in 2001. Squirt is a brand under the Dr Pepper/Seven Up, inc. The brand manager was concerned about the market targeting and product positioning and consulted advertising agency, Foote, Cone & Belding.
The case also focuses on the entire industry structure and the marketing techniques used by the various leading companies so the Squirt’s annual advertising and promotion plan can be successful, and proper techniques to be used to target the growing Hispanic community in the markets where Squirt was popular. . The main aspect for the marketing planning for the brand, Squirt, is to focus on the positioning analysis, advertising and promotion expenditures, and competitor spending. The case also shows the opportunity in the Hispanic market and plan development for the target market.Problem Identification The main problem discussed in this case is the market targeting and product positioning of Squirt to better promote the product and increase sales.
The market targeting and product positioning must be determined for advertising and promotion plan development. To achieve this, Squirt has to reinforce the company’s marketing strategy to be able to maintain their existing reputation and brand awareness for the products and still obtain enough profit to be a successful company.By following the strategy planning suggested by the marketing agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, Squirt has to product a new carbonated soft drink which is competitive with the leading companies such as Coca-cola brand and Pepsi-Cola brand. The other major problem is the budget. Budget must be allocated to different market targeting and product positioning, for example running bilingual media advertising and bottler promotion campaign for Hispanic community.
Another problem is the risk in expending the Squirt carbonated soft drink market to other countries. Case Analysis The important marketing aspect discussed in this case is the target market and product positioning within the market. According to the case, Squirt is popular as a thirst-quenching product, the fact should be the main focus and other strategies should be directed towards this quality. The brand management and Foote, Cone & Belding want to use this quality as a positioning dimension on which to build their brand.The major target for Squirt is the adult age group 18-44 years old.
Squirt is positioned as the “hip, cool, experiential nature: and with the message: “Beyond the ordinary refreshment-the great citrus taste is incredibly thirst quenching. ” The sub brand Ruby Red Squirt is poisoned as a “fruity bold way to refresh your thirst. ” The current tag line is “Squirt your thirst. ” The position of the products was evaluated in 1999 and in 2000 without any changes.In this case, the advertizing agency made few recommendations to the positioning strategy. They recommended that Squirt also should be targeted towards the younger demographic population, especially the age of 18-24 year old range.
This addition to the target is because the age group of 18-24 is the largest consumer of carbonated soft drinks and the “thirst-quenching” quality of the product would be more appealing to this age group.
