Crescent Case Essay

- Negative connotation attached to health beverages’ by the public (one assumes that if something is healthy it won’t taste nice)

I believe sport drinks are overhyped because it's no different than having a soda or juice because it's all extra calories.

Energy Inc. (Energy, or the Company), which operates in the oil industry, is a U.S. subsidiary of a U.K. entity that prepares its financial statements in accordance with IFRS and U.S. GAAP. A draft law in a country where Energy operates in, which requires a cleanup of land already contaminated, will possibly be enacted shortly after the year-end.

Case 12-02 To Recognize or Not to Recognize, That Is the Question Shakespeare Inc. (“Shakespeare” or the “Company”) is a privately held book printing and publishing company with a December 31 year-end. The summary balance sheet as of December 31, 2010, included: Current assets Noncurrent assets Total assets Current liabilities Noncurrent liabilities Total liabilities Total shareholder equity $ 6,500,000 28,250,000 $34,750,000 $ 4,500,000 13,750,000 $18,250,000 $16,500,000

Shakespeare Inc., a private publishing company issued its F/S on March 20, 2012. There were several accruals and events that the management of Shakespeare is considering to determine if they should be recognized or disclosed in Dec 31, 2011 F/S. In my opinion, the important things to focus on subsequent events are the period they effect and if their influence is material or not, so that in conclusion, the F/S are fairly presented.

The Affordable Blended Smoothie, Inc. will be producing a healthy non-alcoholic product. As more families and the society continue struggle to maintain healthy lifestyles, the new beverage comes at the right time in remedying the situation. The new energy drink will be suitable to all classes of people regardless of their age, educational level, income, gender, or ethnic affiliation. However, we will be able to employ targeted marketing where the marketing strategies for the company will be directed to rising middle class in Virginia (Wit, 2010).

In recent studies sports drinks like Gatorade, PowerAde, and Muscle Milk have been proven to be not fully truthful about their nutritional value and the impact it will have on some people.

There are (3) reasons why I have chosen energy drinks as my NAB. First off, there is a growing market for energy drinks. Red Bull and Monster Beverage Corporation, together, form over 80% of domestic energy drinks volumes by estimates. Dollar sales for energy drinks grew almost 6% to $6.67 Billion in measured channels in 2013, which propelled sales growth for convenience stores (Team, 2014). A growing thirst for caffeinated “energy” drinks, which include the likes of Red Bull, Monster, and Rock star, has spurred a heart-thumping surge in sales. Globally, the energy drink industry has gone from a $3.8-billion business in 1999, to a $27.5-billion

Strengths: * Sports drinks one of the fastest growing categories of the beverage market. * Healthy and active lifestyle. * Higher levels of income and education. * Easy to carry to the gym and playing field/court. * Isn’t carbonated. * Easy to ingest and digest. * Excellent source of antioxidant vitamins and minerals.

Both competition and market size are of major importance when one explores the positioning of a product. In the case of Crescent Pure, this is vital as Ryan must determine the level of competition that will be faced if the product is marketed as either an energy or sport drink. In the case of an energy product, it should be noticed that there is heavy market dominance by Together, Freight, Razor, Torque and Steller, as they account for roughly 85% of the market. Despite this, it should be seen that the average price point for a 5oz can is $2.99 which is notably higher than Crescent’s $2.75 pricing. Additionally, the market size for sport drinks is of particular interest as it is estimated to grow to $8.5 billion by the year 2013. This, coupled with the fact that the market had grown 40% between the period 2010 – 2012, makes this sector of particular interest to PDB.

The energy drink industry must have a SWOT Analysis just like any other industry in order to assess the market before entering. The strengths in the energy drink industry are its “quick fix” for consumers; their products serve as a quick burst of energy for their target consumers of people on the go. Other strengths include the high brand awareness and relative attractiveness in the industry. Everyone knows what energy drinks are and the purpose they serve so companies in this industry do not have a problem integrating their product into the energy drink industry; this serves as a critical success factor in the industry. Energy drinks being relatively attractive in the industry is a definite strength in terms of advertising because often energy drinks are portrayed as that “must have” product that the consumer cannot go without.

The target consumer market that should be chosen for a new energy beverage brand is males between the ages of 15 and 26. Marketing to this age group falls between the 12 to 34 year olds that estimate to make up 70 percent of the energy drink market (Kerin & Peterson, 2010). This would allow them to still market to the heavy users but would be able to narrow it down to a specific age group within the market. Marketing to this group would allow you to focus on groups such as high school & college students, athletes, and young adults entering the work force or newly parents. The students that would be using the energy products can use it for staying up to study or to help wake up and be alert in class. Athletes could use this product for refocusing after a workout or practice so they would crash. Young adults could use this energy drink for staying up in there social life late at night or to make sure they are awake in the morning for that new job to impress the boss. A different market would be the parents of a newborn. Markets like this could be beneficial because parents want to stay up to feed their new born and make sure everything is okay during the day especially after a sleepless night or two. Marketing to specific target markets helps companies clarify what the product is used for and how it can be beneficial instead of having it say we

Portland Drake Beverages (PDB) had acquired Crescent Pure, a non-alcoholic, all natural energy enhancing and hydrating functional beverage. Having organic ingredients as the bases of Crescent Pure beverages made the perfect acquisition for extending the PDB organic brand to more markets. These multiple attributes made the drink an attractive product for the consumer, but the necessity to position it, sparked a debate. Some people wanted to market it as an energy drink, while others wanted to market it as a hydrating drink. The VP of marketing, Sarah Ryan, thought that although Crescent Pure fit both of these categories, there was an alternative option. The third option would be to position the new beverages as healthy drinks, this would be a broader market positioning strategy, one that a transcendent product like Crescent Pure, could fulfill. The concern was to simultaneously position the drink in the most lucrative market, while also ensuring that the drinks attributes aligned with the market consumers’ needs.

Energy drinks have outperformed the growth in carbonates in the last few years, and present a substantial opportunity for beverage manufacturers to extract further growth from their sales. There are many driving forces of change and critical success factors in the energy drink industry. Companies such as Coke Cola and Pepsi contend with criticism from health officials due to the excessive caffeine in most high-energy drinks. However, before the 2000’s consumers were accustomed to carbonated soft drinks as the traditional beverage. The shift to an energy drink, sports drink, and vitamin enhanced waters increased sales while becoming an alternative beverage choice for a fast-paced mobile society. Therefore, this industry endures many

The energy drinks market is a highly competitive market making it difficult for new brands to compete with the larger corporations such as, Monster Energy who are partnered with the Coca Cola Company (The Coca-Cola Company, 2015) holding 39% of the market and Red-bull who have the largest share at 42% (Mitchell, 2015). This means that a unique entry to market is required to initially stand out in the market, as the target consumers for the leading energy drink brands are generally interested in sports, the brand will be focusing on the gaming community. This led to the brand name Quest to capture interest in the gaming community, Quest aims to fill a gap in the market where other sports related energy