The Positioning of Jif Peanut Butter in Today's Market

Since 1928, the H. B. Reese company's been making the irresistible combination of chocolate and peanut butter known as the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The significance of this artifact in the american culture and history is, without a doubt, vastly significant. As a confection, both peanut butter and chocolate pack a strong punch in their own right. They are often main ingredients in cookies, cakes, ice creams, and other desserts and treats.They're familiar… there’s something instinctively American and close to home about them both. It is no wonder they need very little persuasion of the American people to become the number one most popular candy in the United States by a wide margin.

General Overview: Kroger and Publix Supermarkets are both dominating competitors in the grocery store market. Providing customers with low prices, unbeatable deals and a unique quality of products is what both companies strive for. The purpose of this report is to present our analysis of two competing companies within the same industry. Through research we have explored, analyzed and applied our learnings of information systems through comparing the websites, social media usage of each company, marketability and competitive advantages of Kroger and Publix Supermarkets. In this report we will present our findings of the objectives above and further compare and contrast the two companies.

Social media has become an influential ground for consumers to share their opinions about a company’s brand and products. In addition, it helps in having a strong brand that produces positive relations and distinguish the brand from competitors, is a critical component for effective marketing. According to Dahlén and Lange (2009) “the quality of the product is not the evident factor when it comes to purchasing a product, the deciding factor depends on how the brand is perceived” (Para. 1). This demonstrates the importance of incorporating social media as a tool to promote brands, allow for interactions, and customer satisfaction by engaging with customers more frequently for feedbacks or reviews. Thus create an opportunity for the company to show its devotion to their customers, and initiate good reputation, which can increase sales. In other words, social media has the ability to upsurge the awareness for businesses as well as the brand.

In 2006, Kellogg’s launches Special K forest berries and Special K honey almond. A year later, Special K Advantage (fibre) appears in Australia. The last flavor is Special K chocolatey flakes, launched in 2009. The packaging has barely changed since its creation: white background, to represent the purity of the product, and the milk, the big symbol in the middle for the product identity, and some flakes on the right side, for the product representation. There has been an evolution of the nutritional information: now the main compositions are on the front side of the package (sugar, fat, calories). It is part of the strategy to position the product as a partner in weight loss. Te product is considered as a good quality, thanks to its characteristics (benefits for the consumer), and the “Our guarantee to you”, a little section on the left side of the box, explaining that Kellogg has a quality system that assures the highest quality standards to deliver the best product to the consumer. The target of Special K is women, from 20 to 40 years old. Women who try to look and feel good, who are working or raising their children, who want to conciliate their activities with their femininity. Women are represented next to the mention “99% fat free”, and on the back side of the box. Usually they are slim, active and happy. The strategy of Special K is to accompany women all day long, with different products, and to propose them to eat cereals not only for

Trader Joe’s chief executives have been careful in their expanding of the brand to more geographic locations, and they must continue to seek out their target market of “intelligent, educated, inquisitive individuals” and settle around them.

Although Kudler Fine Foods has chosen two very specific markets to target, a more thorough understanding of those target markets is needed to deliver what they want. One of KFF’s target markets is gourmands. KFF’s research focus in this area has been primarily on the supply side: Kathy monitors what products the competition is offering, what products are advertised in gourmet magazines, and what products are shown at gourmet conventions and websites. To discover what gourmands want, KFF also needs to research the demand side. Mining on-line blogs and gourmet food forums are two ways KFF can increase its understanding of what gourmands want. Customer surveys, such as the ones KFF currently uses in-store, can also be revised and used both in-store and on-line. Specific areas to be researched include:

The last research method used was an interview with John D. Smith, Marketing Director of Fisher Products. The company Fisher Products has had tremendous success using the social media marketing strategy. John D. Smith was interviewed because of his pioneering effort in the use of social media for advertising. A 30 minute interview was conducted with questions pertaining to the company’s use of social media and their

Despite these statistics only 31% of SME businesses actively operate a social media engagement strategy, this is an opportunity for the already tech-savvy company (Ravensdale, 2015). Doughnut Time 's social media team regularly posts photos of its gourmet treats on Instagram, where it has more than 80,000 followers, as well as on Facebook, where the Doughnut Time page has received more than 55,000 (Schlesinger, 2016). When analysing these main factors, Doughnut Time appears to be posed for product development, taking advantage of opportunities through the use of menu innovation and promotion deals (Newstex, 2014).

Peanut butter is sold primarily as a bread spread, and secondarily as an ingredient for other meals. The distribution of peanut butter is about 70% creamy to 30% crunchy (Kellogg). In 2005, peanut butter had a U.S. household penetration rate of 93%, with an even higher percentage in households with children (see Exhibit 2A). Jif has historically averaged near 40% of the market share (Kellogg).

Quaker Oats emerged from a turn of the century merger of three milling companies over 130 years ago. It grew to become one of the top companies in the world by providing reliable quality to its first customers. Quaker Oats has been able to build a reputation of offering healthy, wholesome breakfast foods by targeting female supermarket customers. Although advertising has gone from a “warm, healthy breakfast” to delivering messages about “vitamins and minerals essential to a female metabolism” (Standaert, 2003), the target market is the same. Quaker is also hoping to reach nutrition professionals and health-food retailers. According to Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive Officer of Pepsico (parent company of Quaker Oats), they “…do not market to kids under 12…” since they “…do not have a nutritious product…” they feel comfortable marketing to young kids (Farey-Jones, 2010).

Today Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Becel Margarine was launched in 1978 as a premium priced product, positioned as the heart healthy margarine of choice. Previously, the Becel brand had been positioned as the heart healthy margarine of choice in Europe for twenty years prior to Canadian introduction. Despite unique positioning Becel struggled for many years gaining only 8.1 percent market share by 1991. Unilever considered several options for growing the Becel brand, such as, price decreases, repositioning the product, and dramatic increases in advertising support. In 1991 Lipton devised the strategy “living a life that is young at heart”. This strategy was very successful with its current target market, 65 and above. In the butter and margarine category, butter holds fifty percent of the market. The Dairy Bureau of Canada positions butter as tasty and natural, which is conveying that margarine is processed and does not taste as good. However, that is not true, margarine is better for you than butter and does suit consumers’ tastes. In addition, the health focus of the butter and margarine market is growing. More and more competitors are positioning their product as healthy for the consumer. For example, Parmalat is a brand of butter that has just entered the margarine market to compete with Becel with the brand Lactantia.

The case focuses on Kellogg’s Special K brand and considers how the marketing of this has changed over time. Marketing is not static – it must be developed as market conditions and customer expectations change.

In introduction stage KFC-J entered the market using market-skimming strategy as indicated in the U.S standard manual. Their products were high price and targeted only upper class. Gradually in 1972 after heavy losses in Osaka and start-up challenges, as a market strategy, Weston and his team adjusted prices to compete with typical Japanese take-out products. They also adjusted their prices to suit the middle class in order to penetrate the market.

Jollibee was able to build its dominant position in Philippines fast food market due to several important factors. Jollibee had a major advantage since they were already in the market and had a low barrier to entry. Since Jollibee had a low barrier to entry and knowledge and relationships with the local produce and meat sellers, they were able to provide customers with lower prices. The ability to provide lower prices made Jollibee a dominant force in the fast food market in the Philippines. Also, their recipes were catered to the taste of the Philippines market and what the customers were already accustomed to eating. The development of the “Five F’s” was crucial in establishing a purpose and a sort of mission statement, flavorful food, fun, flexibility, and families. The marketing strategy to implement the bee mascot helped create a connection between the brand and the youth. Thus strategy helped create brand recognition and further strengthened their market share. Jollibee made a good decision when they were in need of capital. They were able to avoid debt and interest by raising funds internally. Without having the liability of debt and interest, Jollibee was able to focus on growing the company and taking on McDonalds.

The last alternative would be to continue with what the company has already done and just produce many of the products. This choice would mean waiting in vain for another growth in the product’s life cycle. Ms. Jill could supply and distribute more, making the product very available. In case the other brands lack supplies, the consumers in grocer stores can conveniently choose the Snacks to Go products because of its availability.