Essay About Saxonville Sausage Companysummary Of The Case And National Italian Sausage Brand

Saxonville Sausage Company Case
Ma. Carissa Regina B. CartagenaFebruary 16, 2015CASE: SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE COMPANYSUMMARY OF THE CASE:Saxonville, a national producer of fresh bratwurst and breakfast sausages, sells a local/regional Italian sausage namely Vivio which has the potential to become a national category leader, thereby allowing the company to achieve its profit objectives the next fiscal year.The weak positioning and limited distribution of the current products suggests a call to re-launch it that is better suited at the national level. Through a careful evaluation and organized implementation plan by “Project Score” team, marketing strategies and concepts have been detailed out.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:The Statement of the Problem is: Which positioning concept should Saxonville use in order to effectively launch a national Italian sausage brand?OBJECTIVES:Since the case states that the company has already set its target market, this analysis now aims to achieve the following objectives:To determine whether Family Connection Concept or Clever Cooking Concept is the most applicable positioning concept to effectively re-brand the Italian Sausage product;To identify the marketing ploys which shall be implemented by Saxonville to support the positioning concept chosen;To give a brand identity that will truly depict the Italian sausage’s market positioning;To ascertain a way to increase availability of the Italian sausages in supermarkets nationwide;To establish a way to avoid or to minimize the cannibalization of Saxonville’s other sausage categories.AREAS OF CONSIDERATION (S.W.O.T. MATRIX ANALYSIS)S.W.O.T MATRIXStrengths Strong Brand Equity – Considering that the brand is owned by a well-established and reputable family business in the sausage industry, potential customers perceive it as a trusted or good brand.  The brand has a clear target market and its core values that are already identified by the team behind Project Score.The brand’s price is at par with top competitors.The company already has an existing national distribution network for other categories.5. The brand has matched the category growth of Italian Sausage across all producers in the retail sausage market.Weaknesses1. It does not have a clear market positioning or brand identity (name, symbol, logo type, details). 2. The brand is not supported by extensive advertising and other promotional efforts.3. The brand is available in only 16% of the large supermarkets.4. It is considered a poor brand name and creates confusion in other geographies due to its German heritage. 5.  It has poor packaging.6. There is no product differentiation even if it is priced comparably with competitor brands.Opportunities Increase in target market’s population, thereby possible increase in their consumption;There are no existing national competitors for Italian sausages;The Italian sausage was the only category that shows growth among all products in the sausage industry. Strategy: Leverage on the existing national distribution network of Saxonville’s bratwurst and breakfast sausages in order to pioneer the nationalized Italian sausage and increase its availability in the market.Strategy: Tap the national and growing market with a clearer positioning concept, marketing tactics and brand identity that are congruent with the target market and core values it intends to cater.ThreatsThere exists a growing competition with 29 local yet established brands which may also embark on launching a national Italian sausage.There can be risk of cannibalizing bratswurt and breakfast sausages.Strategy: Since Italian Sausage now has a clear target market set, communicate clearly the target market segmentation and positioning for other categories to avoid possible cannibalization.  Strategy: Invest in extensive marketing or promotional tactics to support the positioning concept to be chosen.